Desire Me

by Kayla C. Oliver

And I was involved with Callum, a man whom I hated upon first meeting him. He also happened to be the owner of a rival company that my boss absolutely fucking hated.

  Where the hell had we gone wrong?

  I glanced at my wristwatch, and when I saw that Harvey was already five minutes late, I decided I would call him and wring his neck over the phone.

  What a pain in my ass.

  But before I’d completed dialing, there was a knock at my door.

  I sighed. “Finally. C’mon in, Harvey. Let’s talk about your manuscript, which I still have not seen any of.”

  “And you’re not going to.”

  I looked up at the sound of a young woman’s voice. It wasn’t Trent Harvey standing in my office, but a young woman who was around my age, maybe a little younger, with thick hair and pale skin. She didn’t do much in the way of makeup, but she was pretty enough. A little plain, but attractive.

  “I’m sorry, but this is a private office, and unless you have an appointment…”

  She shook her head. “I’m here on behalf of Trent Harvey.”

  My eyebrows tugged low over my eyes. Why was I not surprised? He sent some floozy to tell me he wouldn’t be here. How charming. I had half a thought to call Courtney and tell her that some woman was running errands for Harvey, but I didn’t think that was fair. I was out to hurt Courtney right now, emotionally anyway, because I felt slighted. But in a day or so, I might feel differently.

  “Who the hell are you?” I asked flatly.

  “I’m Sarah, Trent’s friend and unofficial secretary.”

  My eyebrows shot up. I hadn’t heard anything about her… had I? Now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure I had heard some mention about a Sarah. From Callum. Something about a young woman the equivalent of a little sister.

  My stance relaxed slightly when I considered her in those terms. “Okay, and in that capacity, what are you doing here?”

  “I’m just here to let you know that Trent won’t be here for the meeting—”

  “You don’t say,” I interjected dryly. I couldn’t say I was even slightly surprised by that, even if I hadn’t expected this Sarah lady.

  She continued without pausing to acknowledge my quip. “—but that you’ll have the manuscript next month.”

  Now that actually was surprising. My eyebrows shot up high on my head, and I thought they might permanently disappear into my hair somewhere, that was how shocked I was by this.

  “I was starting to think I’d never actually get a manuscript,” I told her, half-honestly.

  She pursed her lips together, her eyes narrowing at me. Despite having never met the woman, there was no question in her stance or expression that she did not like me. I wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t. “Trent told you you’d have it. You’ll have it. He’s a man of his word.”

  I snorted indelicately at that. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  Sarah looked like she was about to puff up and say something about my tone, but before she got the chance, the door opened. Dorian poked his head in, grabbing the attention of both of us.

  “Hey, hope I’m not interrupting.” His eyes darted to Sarah and lingered there, his gaze slipping over the whole of her before returning to her face. He stepped farther into the room and offered his hand and a smile to her. “I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Dorian Leeson.”

  Sarah’s sour expression shifted almost instantly, and her voice warmed as she laughed a little. Her hand slipped into his, and they shook as she said, “For just a second I was sure you were going to say Dorian Gray.”

  He laughed, too. “No such luck. I’m afraid I’m only mortal.”

  “But you could be the model for his portrait,” she cooed, her cheeks reddening.

  I rolled my eyes. Seriously? They were flirting in my office. Honest to God, I’m not even here, flirting in my office. Talk about disgusting. Folding my arms across my chest, I tapped the toe of my shoes against the floor as I waited for them to finish their ridiculous flirting and get them both out of my office.

  “You flatter me,” he answered her. They were still shaking hands. “And who would want to paint me if they caught even a glimpse of you.”

  I wanted to gag. Partially because Dorian was a flirt and this was par for the course as far as he was concerned, but also because, really? Her? She wasn’t ugly, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call her beautiful. Definitely not prettier than Dorian. He’d always been on the beautifully masculine side and everyone knew it. This woman? She was the picture the dictionary used to define Plain Jane.

  But the woman ate it up. She laughed and her blush deepened, which actually worked in her favor. I had half an interest in telling her to wear a little blush, it looked so attractive on her, but I held my tongue. Last thing I wanted to do was get mixed up in their silliness.

  “I appreciate the compliment, but I highly doubt that’s true,” Sarah said, batting her eyelashes girlishly.

  I doubted it also but was smart enough to keep my mouth shut.

  “Don’t doubt it for a second,” Dorian told her seriously. And then he actually fucking winked.

  I wanted to die. Deciding I’d had enough, I cleared my throat. Both Dorian and Sarah looked startled, as though they’d completely forgotten I was even there. Even though this was my goddamn office. “Thank you for letting me know Mr. Harvey’s revised timeline,” I said diplomatically to Sarah. “I appreciate the effort, but as you can see, I do have other business to attend to.”

  Sarah blinked her large eyes at me, a deer caught in the headlights. She coughed awkwardly, then pulled her hand away from Dorian’s. Finally. “Um, it was a pleasure to meet you,” she told him stiffly.

  Dorian was unfazed by my interruption and her embarrassment both. “The pleasure, I assure you, was definitely all mine.”

  She giggled, then coughed again to try to cover it. She smiled at Dorian and glared at me, then left my office. I’d never been so relieved to see a woman go before.

  Dorian watched her until she was most definitely down the hall and in the elevator. He seemed unusually smitten with her.

  “Not really your type, is she?” I asked pointedly when he was still staring after her, even when the elevator went down.

  He finally turned back to look at me and grinned. “You don’t think so?”

  I shrugged mildly. “I always pictured you with someone more high maintenance.”

  He laughed. “I’m not sure that’s a vote of confidence for me.”

  “We all have our weaknesses,” I told him prettily.

  Shaking his head but still smiling, he propped his hip on the edge of my desk. “I have those papers for you. The ones for Odessa.” He offered them to me.

  I took them gratefully and flipped idly through them. I’d wait until I was home before taking a closer look at them. “Thanks, I’ve been waiting on these.”

  He nodded, pausing. “Was she a new client?” he asked casually.

  I didn’t even look up at him from the papers, smirking at the documents. “No, she’s not. She’s Trent Harvey’s secretary.”

  “A secretary?” He sounded surprised. “She’s got to be more than a secretary.”

  I shook my head. “Secretary. That’s what she told me. Sure she’s still your type?”

  He was pouting slightly, an amusing expression on his handsome face. He was older than me by several years—I’d never asked how many—but he looked about nineteen sometimes. Pouting like this? He could have passed for a high schooler.

  “Jesus, wipe that pitiful look off your face,” I told him with a laugh. “Maybe she’s got more ambitious dreams.”

  He nodded. “Maybe.” Shoving off from my desk, he shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. He was such a kid sometimes. “Regardless. Let me know what’s going on with Harvey, and let me know if there are any more issues with the Odessa project.”

  I thanked him and he left. I thought I was in the clear, but then I received a call at my desk. So
much for getting out of there. I answered it and was surprised to hear the same cool voice of Sarah from earlier. “Sarah?”

  “Sorry. I forgot to tell you that Trent or I will give you a firm date for final delivery in the next day or two,” she explained professionally, really sounding like a secretary. She reminded me of Courtney, which hurt a little bit, to be honest. “Other than that, you’re not going to hear from him. He won’t take your calls. He won’t answer emails. And he’s not going to show up for meetings.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “Nope. That’s how he works. He’s finally got his groove back, so don’t fuck it up by trying to get in his business,” she warned me.

  “Fine,” I bit out. “Oh, since I have you on the line, you’re friends with Harvey, right?”

  There was a pause, then a drawn-out “Yes. Why?”

  “I assume you know Callum as well?” What are you doing, Marnie? A little voice in my head asked me. I ignored it. I knew what the hell I was doing.

  “Of course.” She sounded stiff.

  “Well, do you by any chance know where he is?” I prompted.

  “I assume with Amelia. He’s been with her most of the last week.”

  I froze.

  Amelia? Who the hell was Amelia? And why was he spending the whole week with her when he fucking told me he’d been swamped with work?

  I told myself not to freak out and to be calm. Obviously, there was an explanation for this. I’d just ask Sarah who Amelia was and everything would be fine…

  “I have to go. I’ll text you the date when I get home.”

  Before I had the chance to say another word to her, much less ask who the fuck Amelia was, she’d hung up.

  I clutched my phone to my ear for a long time, listening to the dial tone. As I finally hung up, I had to ask myself: was Callum playing me?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Courtney

  I ended up spending the following evening with Liz and her sister again. We hadn’t had to talk much the previous night as her sister, Amelia, had spent two minutes with us before apologizing and canceling. She cited an important interview as the reason, but I was skeptical.

  Who had themselves dropped off at the restaurant to meet people they’d planned to meet with, only to turn around and cancel their evening events, catch a cab, and go to an interview?

  It was all highly suspect, and I didn’t buy it. She said her phone had been demolished when she got in the car before dinner, but I had a feeling she was lying.

  Or she was really just that ditzy, which was a pretty valid option.

  But tonight, I was meeting up with the sisters again, this time at a nice little eatery with awesome outdoor seating. We put our orders in and made casual conversation.

  Amelia spent a lot of time in Europe, and then along the East Coast, but she was really thrilled to be here in Washington now.

  “Oh, I was going to ask you the other night,” I interjected casually, because whether I was fighting with Marnie or not, I had to know the truth to save my friend from any potential heartache. “Who was the guy that dropped you off?”

  “Oh, Callum? He’s awesome,” she said, her face lighting up and her eyes practically sparkling. If she were the Barbie doll she looked like, I’d have thought someone painted those sparkly little diamonds on her eyes. “I mean, really. Absolutely wonderful. I just wouldn’t know what to do without him.”

  My stomach dropped. Although I wanted to know, I’d secretly been hoping that I was wrong. That there was a reasonable explanation for who this woman was and what her connection to Callum was.

  But this didn’t sound good.

  “Yeah, Amelia is actually staying with him for a little while,” Liz added helpfully. She was seriously bored, stirring her drink which was now just ice. She was hitting the hard stuff early, thank you very much.

  Amelia nodded. “Yeah. He’s so great. He doesn’t even get mad when I leave my bras hanging all over the place or run around in my pj’s.”

  I pictured her scantily clad in lacy underthings and throwing bras all over Callum’s mansion. At least, I assumed it was a mansion. The guy was a fucking billionaire.

  “I’ll bet he doesn’t,” I muttered, then plastered on a smile.

  She smiled back. “I’m so lucky to have him in my life.”

  If she said one more thing about how great Callum was and how lucky she was to be doing him, I was going to lose my shit. So I waved down a waiter and ordered another drink—one for Liz, too. She smiled at me gratefully.

  Feeling rude, I turned to Amelia. “Did you want something other than water?” I asked her.

  Her smile flickered, but she caught herself and forced it wider. “Oh, yes. An iced tea would be awesome. Virgin, please.”

  I shrugged and added, “Also more water.”

  The water nodded, then headed to put in our drink orders.

  “How long were you planning on staying in the area?” Liz asked her stepsister.

  The other woman thought about it for a long moment. “I’m really not sure, but I’ve been thinking about making it permanent.”

  I felt like gagging. This woman thought she was going to be a permanent fixture in Callum’s life, and Callum was still sleeping with Marnie!

  Hell. No.

  I had to tell Marnie. Right now.

  “I’m sorry, I know we just got here, but I swear I’ve already got to pee,” I told the others, smiling like I was embarrassed. I pushed back my chair to stand.

  “Oh, no worries. We’ll wait on the drinks,” Amelia said with a smile. “We really need to catch up anyway.”

  Liz looked at me with wide, pleading eyes. The message was clear: please, for the love of God, don’t take too long. I hurried off to the ladies’ room, feeling a little guilty for leaving Liz in her time of need. But I didn’t need to be. I just needed to make a phone call with a little bit of discretion and privacy.

  I dialed Marnie’s number and prayed that she would answer.

  “C’mon, c’mon, Marnie, pick up,” I hissed, impatiently pacing as the phone rang.

  Just when I thought it was going to go to voicemail, she answered. “What do you want?”

  Her tone was harsh and biting, but I ignored it. This was more important than our little tiff. “Liz’s sister is in town, the Stepford from hell? And she was dropped off yesterday by a man. That man was Callum.”

  There was a pause, and for a second I thought the call had dropped.

  “Hello? Marnie?”

  “I’m here. Who was this woman?”

  “Liz’s stepsister, I told you,” I said, exasperated. “And I wouldn’t necessarily think anything bad, but when I asked about him, she said she was living with him and he didn’t care if she was prancing around in panties or whatever!”

  For a second, all I could hear was Marnie’s breathing, and it didn’t sound like the good kind of breathing. She sounded like she was trying really hard not to panic.

  I felt like a real piece of shit to have to tell her this, but someone had to. I wasn’t going to let her get hurt by a player who was lying to her.

  Like I was.

  “Marnie?” I prompted gently.

  “What’s her name?”

  “Amelia. Why?”

  The next thing I heard was something terrible, something I hadn’t heard from Marnie in years. A sob.

  “Oh, shit,” I muttered.

  She collected herself enough to speak. “Fuck, Court, I was just in a meeting with this girl, Sarah. Jesus, she’s Harvey’s secretary, and I was stupid enough to ask her about Callum. I asked where he’s been lately. She said that he was with Amelia all week!”

  And just like that, it was confirmed. Callum was a lying, cheating son of a bitch.

  “Court, do you think Callum’s cheating on me?”

  I wanted to be able to tell her that he wasn’t. That everything was fine. That they would be great together forever and live happily ever after. But I knew better. “I don’t k
now, Marnie, but… but it really looks that way.”

  Marnie thanked me and suddenly all the anger between us melted away. We were friends, just like we’d always been, and friends stuck together. I wished I was there to comfort her.

  “We’ll get lunch tomorrow,” I promised, and she agreed.

  We hung up then. The whole confirmation had done one thing for certain. It had reaffirmed my theory that all men were inherently assholes.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Marnie

  It was a miracle I didn’t wreck my damn car. Tears streamed down my face for the majority of the drive. My skin was blotchy when I checked it in the rearview mirror, my freckles a deeper shade of red and my pale skin spotted with deep fountains of red. But my makeup was intact.

  I’d never been so grateful for waterproof mascara.

  Not that it matters. I’m here to tell him off, not woo him with my looks.

  The thought tried hard to bring on another bout of tears, but I managed to hold them back. I’d pulled my car to a stop outside of his home, a stylish house with a brick façade and an overgrown fence around the front yard.

  The fact that it had a yard alone spoke of money.

  I got out of my car and slammed it. I steeled myself for the sparring match that was about to take place, but at least I had all the cards. I’d tell him that I knew about Amelia, that I wasn’t going to be played by any man, and if he thought he could have a little something on the side, he had another thing coming.

  I marched up the steps to his front door and knocked. When he didn’t answer immediately, I knocked again. I was about to knock a third time when he finally came to the door.

  “Marnie? What are you doing here?” He was dressed in a pair of sweats that were hanging low on his hips and a white tank top that outlined all of those sexy muscles that I loved so much.

  But not enough to stay with a cheater.

  “Are you a little surprised to see me?” I challenged, working hard to keep the trembling from my voice. “Well, I’ve got news for you, asshole: I know everything. I know what’s going on.”

  His eyebrows rose high on his forehead, and there was a genuine look of surprise on his features.