by Tyler, Nella
He knew I wasn’t going to listen to anything he had to say if it involved staying away from a woman. I needed my women in my life and Alicia was for sure someone I needed. My mind couldn’t stop thinking about her. Which was strange considering I still hadn’t slept with her yet.
The fact that I had not slept with her just drove my desire for her even more. I couldn’t wait to have her naked in my bed. My body needed to feel her skin underneath me, our bodies moving together; this needed to happen tonight. I couldn’t wait any longer.
“I don’t think she’s trouble. I think she might have gotten herself in over her head with this financial stuff and her company. But she’s a good woman; I think I’ll risk another date with her.”
“Evan, you’re going to regret this. You know its called insider trading if you are found to have had knowledge about the IPO before it came out.”
Mike always had to bring things back to the serious side. He had a knack for making sure I remembered the consequences of my actions, in all areas of my life. Even when we were kids he was the one who would try and talk me out of stupid shit. Throughout college, I had these grand plans and Mike would always try and talk me down. In the end though, I usually convinced him to take part in my wild ways instead of him convincing me to stop whatever my plan was.
“I didn’t know anything about her company that wasn’t public.”
“Well if you start fucking her the day her company goes public, that’s going to look pretty suspicious.”
Mike had a point. It would look pretty shady on my part if something came out down the road about Alicia and her company and I was seen dating her the night of the IPO. I felt a twinge of concern wash over my body as I contemplated what Mike tried to say.
He obviously was coming from a concern from me and just wanted me to stay out of trouble. I also didn’t want to be implicated in anything that might look like I did anything wrong, but I really had not done anything wrong.
Up until that moment, I had only researched Alicia’s company using all the available public information. Even the information Rebecca had gathered was all public record. I felt like we were had a stand still. If I moved forward with my investigation of Alicia’s company, I would likely have to start doing research that wasn’t quiet as legal as what had happened so far.
“I need to get more information. What if that Bill guy is trying to frame her? What if he’s the one cooking the books and she knows nothing about it? I really need to get inside and get more information.”
“Evan, get inside her or get inside the company?”
“Both,” I said as we both laughed.
“You are going down a slippery slope, Evan. This girl could really be in deep with some money laundering or crazy shit like that. You don’t need your name attached to any of it. Lay low and don’t cause any trouble.”
“Me? Cause trouble? Never!”
“Seriously, Evan, don’t be seen in public with her and don’t let anyone you knew see you out together. You can’t have your name anywhere near this when whatever she is hiding becomes public.”
“I’ll do my best, Mike. I do like to spend time in the privacy of my bedroom. Perhaps I’ll convince her to do our date there.”
Mike continued to shake his head as he walked me out and we said out goodbyes. His next clients were already there and I took my cue to get going.
Chapter 15
I loaded myself into the Uber and made my way over to the restaurant Alicia and I had decided to meet at. This time it was her choice and I was more than excited to see where we would be eating. The day had been really long and I was exhausted, but not tired enough to give up on date number three with Alicia.
The car pulled up in front of the address that Alicia had given me, but when I got out I didn’t see a restaurant anywhere around. There was a beauty salon, a travel store and a kid’s trampoline business. I sent a text to Alicia to see if she had arrived yet; she was going to have to come and get me since I had no idea where the restaurant was.
“Fancy seeing you here,” Alicia said as she came around the corner.
“Well, don’t you look sporty.”
Alicia had on some skin tight yoga pants and a t-shirt—certainly not something I would have expected her to be wearing on a date. But she looked happy. Her face had a huge smile on it and I couldn’t help but smile back at her. She looked like a different woman. All the torment of the IPO seemed to be gone and she was much more relaxed.
“I need to burn off some energy and thought a little jumping around would do.”
“Oh,I can help you burn off some energy, let’s go back to my place,” I winked at Alicia.
“I brought you some shorts and a t-shirt. Let’s get in there and have some fun.”
Alicia totally ignored my flirting and before I could protest she was inside and signing us up to bounce on some giant trampolines. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why she thought this was going to be a good idea. It looked like something children and teenagers did, not grown adults. But I wasn’t about to give up on our third date so fast. I wanted to bring her home; I wanted to get some naked alone time. So if I had to jump on some trampolines, then that was exactly what I intended to do.
Once we had placed our things into lockers and I had changed, we walked up to the entrance of the trampoline room. When I say room, I mean a very large area that was filled with giant trampolines. They were all along the ground and even the walls. Each of them placed together with padding around the edges. I couldn’t help but smile. It actually looked like a lot of fun.
I watched for a minute as Alicia bounced into the room and made her way to the other side.
“Come on, Evan,” she yelled toward me.
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to kill myself in here,” I yelled back as I tried to walk into the room.
Soon after walking a few steps on the trampolines I decided to put a little more bounce into my steps. Before I knew it I was jumping along just like a teenager. It was fun. It was exhilarating. I couldn’t stop smiling.
“Now, isn’t this more fun than dinner and drinks?” Alicia asked as she bounced as high as she could in front of me.
“I do like to watch you bounce.”
“I really needed a stress reliever today. Thanks for coming with me.”
“Sure thing. I always wanted to bounce myself to death with a beautiful woman. It’s one of those things that I just had to do before I die of a heart attack from the market.”
I bounced myself over toward Alicia and we took turns on the trampoline. As one of us bounced up, the other came down. We had the giant apparatus to ourselves and continued to take turns as we talked.
“Thanks again,” she said.
“You are more than welcome. I’m actually having fun. This is a great workout. I think we should come here in the mornings before work.”
“I think they actually have a workout class in the mornings. We should totally come. I bet it’s filled with busty moms in spandex bouncing up and down for an hour. You would have a blast.”
“Yeah, just what I need; a morning hard on before going to work.”
Alicia laughed and I couldn’t help but stop and stare at her. She was truly beautiful when she laughed. It stopped my breath.
“Why are you staring at me?”
I couldn’t help it. As I watched her, Alicia looked happy. She looked like this was her normal self. I wanted to see more of this woman. I wanted to see her happy. I liked to see her happy. I liked this side of her.
“You are beautiful.”
No games, no bullshit. She was beautiful. The way her hair bounced with her as she moved up and down. Her smile, damn that smile was amazing. She brightened up the entire room as her vibrant energy filled it. I was mesmerized.
“You’re staring,” she said as she continued to bounce.
“I can’t help myself.”
“Well stop it,” Alicia stuck out her tongue and proceeded to bounce all the way to the
other side of the room.
She bounced up against the wall and then bounced her way back over toward me.
“I’ll race you to the other side. Whoever wins gets to decide what we do next,” I said as we both leaned against the edge of the trampolines.
“Ready, set, go!” Alicia yelled and then took off bouncing toward the other side.
“That’s cheating,” I said as I took off after her.
She was much more experienced and I could tell, but I had more strength in my bounce than her and I quickly overtook her. In just a couple bounces, I had made it to the other side of the room and waited for her to get there.
I smiled ear to ear as she bounced up to me.
“Oh, you have some secret skills; I see how it is.”
“Yes, I’m secretly a trampoline ninja. I just use my investing persona to cover up my real identity.”
“Oh, I normally hate it when people lie to me, but a bouncing trampoline ninja is probably something you should keep on the down low.”
I grabbed her and pulled Alicia toward me. By this time both of us had stopped bouncing and we were smack dab in the middle of a moment. Her eyes locked onto mine and I felt the electricity between us. It was undeniable; she couldn’t fight it, neither could I.
“I’ll try not to overpower you with my ninja skills.”
“Mmm, yes keep those ninja skills to yourself,” Alicia said as she leaned in even closer to me.
I couldn’t resist another second. I grabbed her and lifted her up off the ground.
Alicia wrapped her legs around me and I held onto her. My hands gripped her ass and we looked into each other’s eyes. If I could have fucked her right there, I would have. But instead I decided to take a different approach.
My lips made a move toward her neck and I just tucked them in there. Gently I kissed her, but then just held onto her and hugged her tight. It felt good. She felt good. I wanted to stay like that for as long as she would allow.
Alicia wrapped her arms around my neck and held on.
We stayed wrapped in each other’s arms for longer than I had ever held a woman before. It was a weird feeling, yet it felt so right. She had just had one of the most exhausting days of her life, maybe that was why she held on so tight. I wasn’t sure, but for whatever reason, it was perfect.
“So, where should we go next?” Alicia asked.
“Ice cream. I think we need ice cream,” I said.
“Really, ice cream. That’s where you want to go?”
“Yes.”
“Nowhere else?”
I had to laugh. I did want to take her back to my house, but there was something else going on between us and I needed to explore it some more. I needed to take her someplace where we could relax and really get to know each other.
“Nope. I’d really like to take you for some ice cream,” I smiled as I let Alicia down so she could stand up.
“Ok, let’s go get some ice cream.”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the trampoline room and toward the locker rooms. As we each went to the locker room to change, I felt like I was giddy like a teenager.
With a quick change we were on our way toward the local ice cream parlor.
My normal dating game had already been totally blown up; there was no coming back from it now. I had just spent the last hour bouncing on trampolines, which was for sure nothing I would have taken a woman to do.
“I haven’t gone for ice cream in years,” Alicia said as we walked down the boardwalk toward the ice cream parlor near the ocean.
“Neither have I. So are you excited that today is almost over and you survived your IPO?”
“Oh yes! I haven’t slept in days as I prepared for this. I can’t wait to get a good night’s sleep.”
“I bet you are exhausted. How are your employees? Were they really excited about today?”
“Not really, most of my employees don’t understand the idea of stocks. To be honest I don’t even fully understand. That’s why I have Bill.”
“Oh, the guy you ran from?”
Alicia laughed as she remembered the other day when we took off down the hallway away from her financial VP. It was quiet the scene and still made me laugh to think about it also.
“Yes. He’s such a stick in the mud. Never wants to let me have any fun.”
“Why would he let you? Aren’t you in charge?”
“It’s a figure of speech, Evan. He’s in charge of the money and always trying to keep me on track. He’s really good at his job.”
I wanted to ask so many questions. I wanted to delve deep into the information about her past company and how Bill had been involved in that one too. But I had to be careful, I couldn’t scare her off now; we had started to build up a good relationship.
“How long has he worked with you?”
“Oh he’s been around forever. He was hired on with my first company and then moved to this one when things went wrong.”
“What happened?”
“Oh, nothing too crazy. But Bill was the one who got me out of some bad situations and made it so I could restart with this company. I’m forever indebted to him,” Alicia said as she looked off toward the ocean.
She seemed to think of Bill as more than just her Vice President. She admired him, I could see it in her eyes. But what I didn’t know was why she looked up to him so much. If he had been in charge of her finances back in the previous company, he had done a poor job. Didn’t she see that he should have made sure no money laundering had happened? Why couldn’t she see that this Bill guy was the best target for who was in charge of the money at her old company. Bill Yobi probably knew exactly what had happened there and he likely knew exactly what was going on with Alicia’s current company as well.
“It’s good you have someone you can trust,” I said as we finally arrived at the ice cream parlor.
There was no need for me to try and pit Alicia against her VP—at least at that moment there wasn’t. But the second I could prove he was doing something wrong, I was going to have to show Alicia. I knew for a fact that she had no idea about anything wrong with her company financials. My gut told me that she ran her business on the up and up. If there was wrong doing going on then she didn’t know about it.
“How do you feel about a banana split?” Alicia asked as we looked over the menu.
“I feel good about it.”
I wrapped my arms around her as I stood behind Alicia. We ordered at the window and then sat down to wait. I couldn’t stop smiling. I had not smiled that much in years. There was just something about being there with Alicia that had my mouth stuck in a permanent smile.
As we sat and ate our banana split, I had to think that it was the first real date I had had in such a long time. Most of my dates consisted of me taking a girl to dinner before fucking her. Typically I wasn’t interested in getting to know them. I wasn’t interested in anything about them, but I knew that I had to at least take them to dinner if we were going to fuck. Not all girls, of course, but most of them.
But as I shoved pieces of banana and ice cream into my mouth, I felt like I was on a true date. I had butterflies in my stomach when I asked her questions and I couldn’t help but want to make her laugh over and over again. It was a nice feeling, a genuine feeling, and I wanted to see Alicia again very soon.
“How’s date number four looking?” I said with a wink as I walked Alicia to her taxi.
“Oh, yes. I think number four sounds like your opportunity to get lucky,” Alicia mocked me, but I didn’t mind.
“A friend of mine has a gallery opening in a couple days. Would you be interested? Nothing fancy, just a low key event.”
“I’d love to, text me the information.”
Without warning Alicia got up on her tippy toes and kissed me. I was shocked and tried to reach for her but she was already on her way into the cab. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, more like a friendly kiss on the lips. Certainly nothing like what I wanted to give her.
I wanted to bring her back to my bed. I wanted to feel her naked body underneath me as I slid inside of her. I wanted to hear her scream out my name as her body orgasmed with pleasure. But instead, I was left standing on the curb with a stomach full of sugary ice cream and a goofy smile on my face.
Chapter 16
I couldn’t get over how easy Alicia was to talk to. It wasn’t something I was use to having when I was around a woman. I didn’t feel like I had to pretend, well only a little. I did still have to leave out the details about my work. I didn’t want her to think I was only dating her because of her company. Although, technically that was the truth, if she wasn’t the CEO of ALL Warren clothing then I never would have gone to find her.
Tuesday was an exhausting day. I could barely keep my eyes opened when I arrived at work. My late night hadn’t been because of my date though, just my thoughts of Alicia. After spending time with her on our date I couldn’t imagine that she was involved in hiding financial information. But I also couldn’t imagine that she didn’t know. How could someone run a company and not know where all of the money came from or went out to? It didn’t make sense.
The other thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was her creamy soft skin and how it would feel pressed up against my body. Time after time she had refused me, more than any other woman had ever done. It wasn’t something I was use to and certainly I wasn’t alright with it. I knew I would have her eventually, I just didn’t know how long I would have to wait for her.
My typical theory of just moving on to the next one wouldn’t work in Alicia’s case. I needed to wait her out. I needed to figure out what it was that would drive her wild and get her to finally give in to her desire for me.
I knew she wanted me. Everything about the way she interacted with me told me she wanted me. The way her eyes looked at me. The feeling I got in the pit of my stomach when she was near. The electricity between us when we touched. It was all a sign that we needed to get naked and let our bodies play with each other.
By lunch time I had finished all my research for the day and made my necessary trades. There was no need to stick around so I decided to try stopping by Alicia’s temporary office building down the street. She had set up shop for the months leading up to her IPO and they were preparing for New York Fashion Week which was only another month away.