Fourteen Days: (Pleasure Series Book 2)

by Amanda Rayne

  “If I wanted to talk to you I wouldn’t have blocked your number.” Just as I was about to hang up he called my name.

  “Ella, please. You have to forgive me.”

  “Forgive you for what? Screwing me after breaking up with me and giving me hope that we would get back together only to have you ask for your ring back by text? Forgive you for marrying the woman you claimed was ‘just your assistant’, or please forgive you for telling me no man would ever really care about me and I’m just a good lay.” I stopped, taking a breath and lowering my voice. It had raised and I noticed people looking at me. When I spoke again, my voice was low; gentle. “I don’t have it in me to forgive you for any of it. I just want you to leave me alone.”

  I didn’t wait for him to say anything. I hung the phone up and blocked the number.

  My mother was already seated when I arrived at the restaurant. As usual she was immaculately dressed: Light gray slacks a plum color shirt and hair upswept into a little bun. Her look accentuated by the dainty pearls around her neck and the ones in her ears.

  “Oh, Ella, you look gorgeous.” She said as I took a seat. Gorgeous? It was something my mother had never said to me before. And the weight of her derision had lifted from her voice and it was light and lively, something I wasn’t used to. Suspicion started to have its way with my thoughts.

  “I ordered us Mimosas.”

  Of course. And she’d probably chase her Mimosa with the Bellini. And maybe a Bloody Mary for the road. Drinking was probably easier than admitting the picture perfect world she presented to the world didn’t make her happy.

  “So what have you been up to on your vacation?” My mom asked after the waiter dropped off the drinks. She watched me with curiosity from over the tip of the glass.

  “Nothing really,” I said. “I really wouldn’t call it a vacation. It was an employer- imposed leave of absence because I wasn’t performing well at work.”

  “Well honey you had been through a lot. But now you’re okay,” she smiled and took another sip from her glass. “Aiden Matthews is quite impressive.” The smile feathered across her lips and quickly widened. “How did you all meet?”

  “At a coffee house.”

  The smile had become a fixture on her face. Her brow rose as she leaned into the table.

  “You know who his father is?” she asked. If I didn’t know any better, I would have suspected my mother was giddy. My mother didn’t do giddy.

  I nodded, “Yes I went to one of his fundraisers two days ago.” The waiter came by just in time to interrupt the questioning I was sure to get.

  When I ordered Belgian waffles my mother changed my order to an egg white omelet with sautéed vegetables. I hated egg white omelets. And when I attempted to change the order she interjected, “Ella, you need to slow down on the carbs. The habits you develop now will stay with you.”

  I chewed on my bottom lip, biting back the words and simply nodded. She ordered an egg white omelet for herself as well and when the waiter left she said, “Aiden is a very handsome man who has an extensive portfolio and comes from a very good family.” She said as she leaned back, taking a long drink from her glass before saying, “Ella, don’t mess this up.”

  This was similar to the speech she gave me about Jason. The air in the restaurant seemed thick and claustrophobic. We were in an open space and yet I had trouble breathing. The same feeling, I always get with my mother. Her expectations and disapproval weighed heavily on me. I wanted to just leave and for a brief moment I considered it but quickly changed my mind. She was my mother. I couldn’t just walk out on her.

  “You’re a beautiful girl but you’ve struggled with your weight and it’s something, as you get older, will be harder. You need to learn to keep it under control. Aiden has a lot of options, be aware of that.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my weight!” I snapped. My mother looked around the room, her lips pulled into a taut line as streaks of pink rose over her face.

  “Ella, keep your voice down,” she warned through clenched perfectly aligned teeth. “Do not act uncivilized in my presence. I was just making a comment.”

  “You weren’t just making a comment. You were doing the same thing you always do and hitting me with these thinly veiled insults. I’m fine with the way I look. My curves. And the fact I work at an average size company with a simple job and will never be part of Corporate America. These are things I’m okay with. And any insecurities I have are because of you.” I responded trying to keep my voice steady but it kept breaking.

  My mother’s features were drawn so tight with anger she was rendered speechless. I was fine with it, because I needed the silence.

  She inhaled a slow breath and when she finally exhaled she relaxed back in the chair. The gentle smile settled on her lips. A display for the other patrons allowing them to think that everything was okay. And that was the performance my mother put on for the world. We didn’t argue. We didn’t yell.

  I took a drink from my glass. “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s quite all right, dear. I’m not quite sure what’s gotten into you but please learn to control it. It’s not very appealing.” She crossed her legs, took another sip from her glass, and laid her heavily disappointed gaze on me. Just get up and leave, I urged myself. But I couldn’t. I’d be the first to admit it, she’d trained me well. We didn’t storm out of restaurants no matter how unpleasant things were. I forced a smile on my face and thanked the waiter as he placed the food in front of us.

  “Please tell me more about Aiden,” she said cutting into her omelet. I continued to stare at mine. The bed of sautéed colorful vegetables still didn’t make it any more appealing.

  “There isn’t anything to tell.”

  “Ella, you can’t be your typical passive self. Do you know who he was married to? You pale in comparison to his ex-wife. She’s a graduate of Sarah Lawrence. And has an MBA from Harvard. She’s ran two very successful political campaigns. And she’s absolutely stunning. You have him now don’t lose him.”

  “I don’t have anything.” This brunch was going worse than I expected. “There isn’t anything between us. We are just hanging out. It’s not very serious.”

  “Well, then you need to change that. Look Ella, he’s what you need. What you want. Okay?”

  Why did I come to this trainwreck? This was just a variation of the conversation she had with me after she’d met Jason. And I was given similar ones after he had cheated on me for the third time and I tried to leave him. The optics of the relationship and how it looked to the world and her friends were always more important than what I wanted or what I needed. It was because of her coercion and desire to display me out like a trophy of her accomplishment that I’d stayed with Jason and forsaking my own happiness for what she felt like was the right person for me.

  The ache and betrayal of her choosing the illusion of happiness over my actual happiness.

  “I don’t want to change that. Right now, I like it being casual and if it doesn’t become anything more—so what. What I’m not going to do is sit here and let you tell me I need to change who I am, put on some dog and pony show to please him, or be miserable because he looks good on paper just so you can flaunt our relationship or us in front of your friends like trophies.”

  “Ella, lower you voice.” She said through clenched teeth. The fire that burned in me made that damn near impossible. I took a minute to compose myself, taking small sips of my drink. I was calmer than I was—which was good because I didn’t want her to think my words were tainted by uncontrolled emotions. I needed her to understand this was coming from me…the real me.

  “Mom,” I said softly. “I want to finish this brunch with you but I will walk out if I have to. Respect my wishes. Aiden is just a man I’m hanging out with. It’s casual and I don’t know if I want it to be more. And if I do, it will because I want it and not because it will impress your friends. Or because I need someone to take care of me. I’m fine. I will not be a specta
cle in the circus you have on display for others to see. I want something real. What I had with Jason wasn’t.” I stopped abruptly and thought about it. “No, it was real. It was real misery and I will never put myself through that again.”

  I knew my mother wouldn’t respond the way she wanted. Several people had already looked up from their table and the demure smile was fixed on her face. A perfect mask for the world to see that was as superficial as the relationship she expected me to have for appearances sake.

  When the waiter returned to ask us if we needed anything else. I gave him the omelet asked him to bring me a Belgian waffle instead. I ate it and my mother teemed with anger, the youthful vibrancy of her skin a result of a very good plastic surgeon was still flushed. She licked her lips before she spoke. “I know you believe that I’m cruel…”

  “I don’t think you’re cruel, Mom. I think you think there is only way to be happy and there isn’t. I think you truly want what is best for us. But I also believe that you care far too much about the appearance of happiness opposed to true happiness. And what I’m starting to see is that sometimes the appearance of it doesn’t seem to match up with the reality.”

  My mother never rebutted my statement but instead the meal devolved into fake pleasantry. I hadn’t made any progress with my mother just staved it for the time being. When whatever was going on with Aiden ended, she would be there to pass judgment and give me her opinions of how I screwed up.

  I walked for nearly twenty minutes before catching a cab back to Aiden’s. When I returned I found him in his office, the Bluetooth headset on his right ear as he looked out the window. His hands were shoved in his pocket. I knocked on the door, he turned and the clench in his jaw, relaxed into a smile. He waved me in and I took a seat on the desk behind him and he turned back to the window.

  “How many times must we have this discussion, Councilman?” he said, turning toward me and wedging his body between my legs.

  “Uh Hmm,” he said into the phone as he kissed me on the cheek, then the neck before slipping his hand under my shirt and over my bra. He made small circles over my nipple until they hardened against my shirt. He grinned, absently responding to his father on the other side.

  “I didn’t agree to do any interviews.”

  I couldn’t make out what his father was saying but his voice raised which only amused Aiden. “I’ll think about it. I have a meeting.” And he snatched the headset off and tossed it on the desk.

  Immediately his touch was missed when he removed it and placed an arm on each side of me. “How was brunch?”

  “Terrible. I don’t think my mom is going to speak to me for a while,” I admitted.

  “Why?”

  I shrugged off the question. I didn’t want to retell the story at least since so much of it revolved around him and making this casual thing something more. Something complicated. Something he definitely didn’t want.

  “Okay. At least tell me what you said. Your mother’s mad at you and she may not talk to you for weeks.” His lips lifted into a devilish smirk. “I on the other have pissed my dad off royally and he won’t stop calling me or forcing his minions to. Spill your secret. Do I need to send you in to do my dirty work?”

  “I didn’t steal one of my mother’s companies,” I pointed out.

  “I didn’t steal his either. I purchased it fair and square.”

  “Something tells me it was anything but ‘fair and square’.”

  Chuckling he pulled moved away, amusement tugged at the corners of his lips. “Well, it wasn’t illegal.”

  “Will I ever find out why you and your father don’t get along?”

  He sighed resting against the wall, near the picturesque window that gave the most stunning view of the city. “It’s irrelevant.”

  “Does it have anything to do with Elizabeth?”

  “Ella, it is irrelevant,” he said in a low steeled voice and a stern appearance that matched.

  I pressed my lips together, he stepped forward, running his finger along the bridge of my nose. “The lovely red streak,” he teased.

  With a half-smile, “Speaking of irrelevant exes, mine called me.”

  His brow furrowed, “I thought you blocked his number.”

  “I did. He called from a different number. I thought it was my mother so I picked it up.”

  Aiden’s defined features hardened, embers of anger flickered in his eyes and his voice was cool and despondent when he spoke. “Give me your phone.”

  “Aiden it’s fine. I blocked the number.”

  He looked at my purse that I’d laid next to me. I picked it up, took out the phone, and handed to him. “Play nice,” I said. But honestly I didn’t care one way or the other.

  Making an attempt at a smile, his lips only barely committed to a partial one. “I always play nice?”

  “Until you don’t.”

  “Of course.” He looked at the log and then called Jason. “No, this isn’t Ella, it’s Aiden, Aiden Matthews.” He turned around and walked to the window where he looked out of it. His hands pressed on the window, his voice dropped, low and with a hint of anger that I hadn’t heard before, even when he spoke with his father. “I’m not sure the game you are playing nor do I care to find out. She told you in uncertain terms to leave her alone. You’ve ignored it. Let me put in plain terms because clearly you didn’t get the hint. The next time you call her or show up uninvited anywhere she is, I will make it my personal mission to destroy you. And I don’t mean that figuratively. I will make you wish you were never born and take great pleasure in doing it.”

  Jason said something that I couldn’t hear but it put a wry smile on Aiden’s face. “Threats are usually bluster, no follow through. This is a promise. The biggest question is: are you willing to test whether I am a man of my word?” And then he hung up the phone.

  “You do not play well with others at all,” I teased.

  He handed me the phone back, grinning. “Of course I do.” His finger brushed over my nipple that was still hard from him playing with it. “I play with you just fine.”

  CHAPTER 7

  “This is what we do, when you choose for our evening activities?” Aiden asked with a smirk as we got out of his car.

  “What, bowling is too low brow and normal for you?” I teased.

  He scoffed, “Bowling isn’t low brow. But I will admit, I thought we were going to end up at one of those wine and paint places.”

  I stopped mid step. “If I would have thought of it, I would have. Dammit. I would like to pick again.”

  “No.” he said firmly opening the door to what I assumed was a bowling alley. It was nicer than anyone I had been too. A bar just a few feet from the alley. A restaurant took up the second level and on the other end a floor to ceiling classed room where people played pool. Each alley had posh burnt orange colored leather modern leather sofas. The alleys were lit in contrasting colors of the unique spherical shaped over-head lights.

  Before we could get settled a server came over to take our order. “Well, this place isn’t normal at all,” I said to Aiden after we’d placed our orders.

  “I told you, I like to bowl.” His brow rose, “Now, should we place a friendly wager before we start?” He asked picking up a ball. A devilish ribald grin. His slid his tongue over his lips moistening them and all I could think about was sex this morning in the kitchen with me bent over the counter. Dressed in jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt that draped over his defined chest and accentuated his firm arms and broad shoulders he looked as sexy and appealing as he did in his suit. Blossoming of heat rose in me. Sex. Pleasure. Lust. They were always present with Aiden. I turned away to focus on something else. I looked around the room, at the crowd. I directed my attention to the people playing pool, the music, the bar and restaurant, anything other than my body entangled with Aiden’s, feeling his hard cock inside of me.

  “Nope. Not until I see how good you are.” I said.

  Aiden’s ball hit the pins in the mid
dle and once again he’d gotten a strike for the fifth time in a row. He walked back to me and gave me nonchalant shrug. “Can we place a bet for the next game?”

  I looked at the score, “Nope.”

  Aiden came up behind me, his lips brushed against my ear, his tongue teased at my lobe as he whispered, “What’s the fun in that?”

  I pushed him away, “That’s why I’m losing. You keep distracting me.”

  He laughed, “Yeah, that’s why you’re losing. It has nothing to do with the fact you haven’t picked up a spare at all. Is four your favorite number? You don’t seem to be able to knock down more than that.”

  Just as I started to roll the ball, I heard a soft voice behind us call Aiden’s name. I turned to find a tall brunette. Her curly hair cascaded over her shoulders, the light reflected over her light green eyes giving them a brilliant glint. Her blue form fitting shirt was flattering against her apricot skin.

  “Jessy, how are you?” He gave her a quick hug. She lingered holding on to him long after he had dropped his arms from her. Standing inches from each other. There was an indecipherable chemistry that I couldn’t put my finger on. A sensuality that reverberated off them, a lust that lingered just too long. Did he just have this kind of connection with all women?

  Eventually she released him, but her attention stayed fastened on him until the man with her offered his hand to Aiden, “Hi, I am Todd, Jessica’s fiancé,”

  She raised her finger displaying a large princess cut diamond that was too large for her slender long fingers.

  “Congratulations. Please join us for a drink, to celebrate,” Aiden offered.

  “We’ll have to take rain check; we are meeting people.” Todd said, taking Jessy’s hand whose attention remained fixed on Aiden. He guided her down a few lanes, down where a group of six was waiting for them.