His For The Night

by Helen Cooper

  HIS FOR THE NIGHT

  A NOVELLA

  HELEN COOPER

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2013 by Helen Cooper

  Prologue

  To: Holly Craven

  From: Spencer Giovanni

  Date and Time: Friday, 9:05am

  Re: First Day

  Dear Ms. Craven,

  It is now 9:05am, and you are late. The workday starts at 9:00am. As my new executive assistant, I expect you to be here 5 minutes early. I have a meeting at 10:00am and do not have time to go over anything with you today. So do not bother coming in. Please be at work on Monday at 8:30am, or I will have to withdraw our offer of employment. I know we haven’t met as yet but I do have to tell you that I am already unimpressed at your character.

  Sincerely,

  Spencer Giovanni

  P.S Obviously you will not be paid for work today

  Chapter 1

  “I’m coming to Vegas after all.” Holly sighed into the phone. “I need to get drunk.”

  “Are you okay?” Lacey asked in concern. “Lewis was just saying that this wouldn’t be a fun weekend without you. But we thought you guys couldn’t make it.”

  “Well, Josh just dumped me and I’m coming.”

  “Oh, Holly, are you okay?” Lacey’s voice was anxious. “I thought you said he was going propose?” She whispered.

  “I was wrong.” Holly sighed. “It was horrible, Lacey. He called me boring, and he told me that his life had never been so dull.”

  “He what?” Lacey shouted. “Let me call him please. I want to tell him where he can shove his….”

  “Lacey.” Holly’s voice was exasperated. “Not now. I just can’t believe that he dumped me.”

  “I mean, if I’m honest, I’ve never liked him.” Lacey spoke softly as if she feared upsetting Holly even more. “It’s time to move on.”

  “What a waste of a year.” Holly sighed. “And now my new boss is mad at me as well.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I was late for work, and he emailed me and told me not to bother coming in today.”

  “Oh no, he didn’t?”

  “Oh yes he did. He sounds like a jerk as well. This week cannot get any worse. My boyfriend dumped me, and my boss hates me, already. Yay.” Holly jumped up as she talked. “I’m packing my bag, and I’m going to drive down now.”

  “Awesome. Tonight we can party and get drunk like we did in college.”

  “I think I’m too old to get as drunk as I did in college.” Holly laughed.

  “Holly, we’re only 25. That is not too old.”

  “Well, I sure feel old.”

  “You’re just depressed. Forget Josh, he was a loser. I figure I can say that now, right?” Lacey paused hesitating. “And your new boss travels a lot, right? So it doesn’t matter if he’s a jerk. You’ll barely ever see him.”

  “I know, but this wasn’t really a great way to start a working relationship. I’ve never even met him. He’s going to think his human resources department made a mistake.”

  “Girl, you had like 3 interviews with all the exec’s at that place, right? If he wanted to make the decision, he should have interviewed you himself.”

  “He was in London, working on some merger.” Holly laughed. “A merger that brought in an extra billion dollars in revenue. I don’t think interviewing me was a priority.”

  “A billion dollars--wow.” Lacey exclaimed. “Maybe see if he wants to come to Vegas as well?” She laughed. “Seriously though, Holly, you’re the best at what you do, everyone knows that. Have fun this weekend, and then show up on Monday, and be like wazzup.”

  “Lacey, I don’t even know what he looks like. And from what I can tell, he’s not the sort of guy that would be hanging out in Vegas.” Holly laughed, shaking her head. “I am 100% certain that if I showed up at work on Monday and said “Wazzup” to my boss, the CEO of Giovanni Enterprises, I would be fired on the spot.”

  “He’ll take one look at you and fall in love. He won’t even hear what you said.” She laughed.

  “I’d rather not take that risk and keep my job.” Holly gasped as she looked at the time. “But hey, I’ve got to pack and get on the road before the traffic gets crazy.”

  “Oh, you’re driving? I wish you would have just come up with us.”

  “Well, I thought I was going to be working today and this weekend…” Holly sighed again.

  “Cheer up, Hols, it’ll be okay.” Lacey tried to cheer her best friend up. “I’ll text you our hotel information in a few.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to you later. Bye.” Holly hung up her phone and grabbed her bag. As she did, a plastic bag from Victoria’s Secret fell to the floor, and she sighed. She had bought some sexy underwear and lingerie for Josh in an attempt to spice up their lack-luster sex life, but she had never gotten the chance to wear it. She threw it onto her bed in disgust, not wanting the reminder that her love live was now non-existent. She was still in a state of shock at the fact that Josh had dumped her and called her boring. She had thought she was doing him a favor by dating him. She had been in so many bad relationships with guys that sent her panties swinging that she had felt that it was time to date a ‘safe’ guy. He had bored her and talked about mundane subjects like golf and bird species, but she had sucked it up because she wanted to get married and have a family, and he had seemed like a sure bet. She was still flabbergasted that he had dumped her because he had thought her too boring. She shook her head at the irony of the situation. She was the girl that danced on bar tops in college and had one-night stands on Spring Break. The girl that dyed her brown hair red so that she could show up at her ex-boyfriend’s bachelor party and pretend to be a stripper. She had known he was scum, but when he actually accepted her offer for sex and pulled his pants down, she had run out of the room laughing. She had been glad at that moment that he had ended the relationship. She had never known he was that sleazy.

  After that relationship, Holly had decided to tame her wild ways and settle for a nice guy. And when Josh had come along, with his sweet blue eyes and light brown hair, he hadn’t set her heart on fire, but he had seemed safe and dependable. The sex had been lack luster, and he had been fairly dull, but he had also wanted a family pretty soon, and she figured he would make a good father.

  “Well, fuck him.” Holly shook her long brown hair and grabbed the plastic bag off of the bed. “I’m going to wear this tonight for myself, and I’m going to feel sexy, even if nobody gets to see it.” She looked in the mirror and stared at her reflection. He long brown hair hung in waves around her shoulders, and her light brown eyes were afire with anger. All-in-all, she was pleased with what she saw. She was never going to be a super model, but she had what it took to turn an eye or two.

  She grinned to herself and paused as she thought about dolling herself up for the night. “I’m boring?” She growled angrily and grabbed her phone and dialed Josh’s number. He sent her straight to voicemail, and she ranted into the phone. “Josh, this is Holly, your boring ex-girlfriend. I wanted to ask you something: if I’m boring, what are you? Did you win the most boring man in the world prize or something? Do you think anyone gives a shit what kind of worms a bird is looking for? Did you really think my idea of a fun vacation would be to go gator watching with you in the Everglades? I just wanted to let you know that you, Josh Pratt, you are the most boring man I have ever met.” She closed the phone quickly and laughed to herself. She was still feeling a little down due to her boss’ email, but
she knew she was going to get over Josh pretty easily.

  “Maybe now’s not the time for a family.” She mumbled to herself as she flung a short, sexy dress into her bag. “I’m going on 25. I’ve got time.” She sat back on her bed and bit her lip. She knew that she was still young, but it had always been her dream to have a lot of kids, 5-7 in fact. She knew that if she wanted a large family like that, she needed to start pretty soon. She sighed and jumped back up again. This wasn’t the time to think about her ovaries and timeline. That could wait for next week. This weekend she was going to treat herself to a vacation and deal with all the bullshit when she got back. “I’m going to party, party, party.” She danced around as she grabbed a few more items and her car keys. “Vegas, here I come.”

  ***

  Holly was jamming away to Coldplay in her car when she heard her phone beep. Thinking it was Lacey with the hotel information, she pulled over to the side of the highway so she could read the text message and put the hotel information into her GPS. Her breath caught as she saw that what she had received was not a text message but another email from her new boss Spencer Giovanni.

  To: Holly Craven

  From: Spencer Giovanni

  Date and Time: 11:55am

  Re: Where are you?

  Ms. Craven,

  Where are you? I cannot believe that you did not have the initiative to come to the office after my previous email. You do know, I presume, that you are supposed to accompany me to every meeting I go to in Los Angeles. Do not bother coming to the office now. I will see you on Monday, and I will be expecting you at 8:00am.

  Spencer Giovanni

  Holly gasped at the email, and she felt her face going red with anger. “Oh, hell no.” She shouted and hit reply on the phone. She had just about had enough with everyone, and she wasn’t going to just take this crap. She didn’t care if she got fired or not. She typed furiously on her phone and then hit send before she chickened out and changed her mind.

  To: Spencer Giovanni

  From: Holly Craven

  Date and Time: 11:58am

  Re: Where are you?

  Mr. Giovanni aka my new boss,

  I am not in the office right now because I am following the order you gave me in your email this morning. You say I should have taken initiative and still showed up, but why do I have a feeling that you would have considered that impertinent? I was late this morning because I was stopping to pick up a coffee for you. I wanted to make a good impression as this was going to be our first meeting. I will remember to not bother with niceties from now on. I hope you have a great weekend. I know I will. But I’ll be sure to make it to the office at 07:30 am so that you are able to get us much work out of me as possible.

  Yours Sincerely.

  Holly Craven

  Your new assistant

  Take that, Holly thought to herself, though she was slightly worried that she may have to look for a job at Walmart once he received the email. She was surprised to hear another beep on her phone just as she went to start her car again. She held her breath as she opened the new email.

  To: Holly Craven

  From: Spencer Giovanni

  Date and Time: 11:59am

  Re: Where are you?

  Make it 07:00am.

  Spencer Giovanni

  Asshole. She thought to herself. Though she was happy that he hadn’t said don’t bother coming in at all. She started her ignition and got back on the highway. She made good time because she had avoided the after-work weekend trek to Vegas. She hoped that the hours would go by quickly because she wanted to get drunk and forget all about the impending stress she foresaw coming at work. She turned up the volume as she started driving again and changed her playlist to Lil Wayne tracks. She needed to get pumped up, and Coldplay wasn’t going to get her ready for a wild weekend. Because Holly had already decided that this was going to be a weekend to break all records. “I’ll show you boring, Josh.” She screamed out the window and bobbed her head to the R&B music that filled up her car.

  Chapter 2

  “Lacey, answer the phone or call me back now.” Holly sighed into the phone. “I’m on the strip, and I have no idea where you guys are staying.” Holly hung up after leaving her 5th voicemail, and she knew she had to make a decision. Her stomach was growling, and she was so famished that she was considering pulling into a McDonalds drive thru. “I did not come to Vegas to have a Big Mac and fries.” She shook her head and continued driving as slowly as possible. She was starting to get really irritated, and after about ten more minutes of waiting, she decided to just go get herself a hotel room.

  “Where should I stay?” She mumbled out loud as she stared at all the hotels and casinos. “MGM, Bellagio, The Venetian?” She spoke aloud and then slammed her hand down on the wheel. “Hmm, I guess I could make this a real vacation and go to Venice.” She spoke to herself again and calculated it in her mind. She was close to broke and really couldn’t afford it, but she did have a new job, and hopefully if she got fired, she’d at least get one month’s paycheck. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself driving up to the valet outside the Venetian, and she grabbed her bag and hopped out of her car as soon as one of the nimble young men came up to her and grabbed her keys. He gave her a slip, and she smiled at him before heading into the luxurious hotel.

  “Buon Giorno.” She smiled at the doorman and sailed into the hotel as if she were used to staying in such places every time she traveled. This wasn’t the Holiday Inn - that was for damn sure.

  “Sorry, what, ma’am?” The doorman looked at her oddly, rolling his eyes as he took in her Jansport backpack and Levi jeans.

  “Don’t worry about it.” She yelled back, rolling her eyes. She wasn’t going to let anything get her down now that she was here in Vegas. “Hi, I’d like to get a room please.” She smiled at the front desk clerk. “I don’t have a reservation.”

  “Let me see what we have available, ma’am.” The young girl behind the desk smiled at her. Holly smiled gratefully and looked around the lobby. It was huge and majestic, and she was slightly worried that the room was going to make her broke, broker than broke if she was honest with herself. But that’s what credit cards are for, to be spent on last minute vacations and booze, she thought to herself and laughed. Thanks, American Express.

  “Have you stayed with us before, ma’am?”

  “No, and you can call me Holly.” She turned back to the lady. “But I’ve always wanted to go on a gondola ride. And I figured this was cheaper than going to Italy. Not that I can afford to go to Italy. And even if I could, I’m sure my new boss wouldn’t approve. He’s an ass, you see. A real ass.”

  The poor girl behind the desk just smiled and nodded at Holly, but Holly could see the concern and worry in her eyes. She knew that the front desk clerk was worried that she was a mental patient or escaped prisoner. What sane person mumbled about inconsequential information like that to someone they had never met before?

  “We have a suite available, ma’am, if you and your husband would like to…”

  “I don’t have a husband.” Holly started laughing hysterically. “That’s kinda why I’m here. My fiancé, well, boyfriend, who I thought was going to become my fiancé, dumped me. He dumped me. Can you believe that? And he called me boring. I’m not boring. I’m the life of the party. The life of the party, I tell you. Watch this.” The front desk clerk watched in alarm as Holly started twirling around and making beatbox noises. “Hey yo, hey yo, guess who’s here. It’s me, yo, it’s me. Holly the bee.” The front desk clerk cleared her throat, and Holly looked up at her, her face red. “Sorry about that. Look, here’s my American Express. Please give me the cheapest room you have available.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “You can call me Hol…” Holly cut herself off. There was no way this lady wanted to have any sort of familiarity with her. She sighed and waited on the lady quietly when she felt like someone was staring at her. She peeked around and saw a tall man st
anding about 10 feet away from her, looking at her in disdain. He was really handsome, and he looked pretty rich from the look of his suit and shows. His dark brown hair was perfectly coiffed, and his green eyes were spewing his contempt for her. He was brazen as well. He didn’t even avert his gaze as she locked eyes with him. He looked her up and down and sneered at her. She flipped her long brown hair over her shoulders and turned back to the front desk clerk with her face burning.

  “The room is going to be $300 a night. Is that okay?”

  “$300?” Holly’s voice rose. “A night?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “I guess it will have to be okay.” She sighed, and she thought she heard someone laughing behind her. She peeked to the side and saw that the man was staring at her again. This time he raised an eyebrow at her and a sardonic smile crossed his face. She frowned at him and waited for the lady to run her card. She prayed to God that she had enough money left on the card for the charge to go through. She didn’t need another embarrassing mishap and have that horrible man really start laughing at her. She just wanted to hurry to her room, relax in the tub, and order some room service. She hoped Lacey and Lewis would contact her soon because right about now all she wanted to do was watch some TV.