by Ashley Blake
Christian looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes and I swear I saw a little twinkle.
“I’m going to break the rules and make an executive decision,” he panted.
My heart began to bang against my chest wall. He was going to let me go. Before I had time to beat myself up about it his words calmed all my fears.
“You have the job, you’re coming with me to Paris. I am going to give you an assignment to complete before we go. Mother will be able to see your vision much more easily this way, and once you complete the assignment we can move on to much bigger things.”
I looked at him kind of surprised. “Oh, okay. Thank you Christian.”
He propped himself up on his elbow and gave me a serious look.
“You’re welcome. I’m looking forward to seeing what else you can do.”
I gave him a flirty smirk.
“What else I can do?”
“Yes. You’re magic in bed and I want to see if everything you touch turns to gold.”
I could feel myself blushing, I had never been told I was magic in bed. I could barely think after that comment so I changed the subject. “What’s this assignment you have for me?”
“I want you to re-decorate my corporate penthouse apartment.”
I sat up, oblivious to the fact that I was completely naked, with a huge grin on my face.
“Really?”
He smiled at me. “Yes, really. I’ll give you a key and I would like for you to go upstairs tomorrow and take a look around and then start working on some ideas.”
“It’s in this building?”
“Yes, I stay there occasionally if I’m too exhausted to go home. Take Evan with you just in case you have any questions, and I will let him know that you are the lead on the project. I’ll leave the key on your desk.”
I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a big hug.
“Thank you.”
When I crawled into my bed later that night, I was so happy I felt like I was floating on clouds.
Chapter Six
Nothing had changed in the office the next day but everything was different for me. It was just before 8:00 and I walked in with a different confidence than I’d had the previous day. Christian Locke was all I could think about and my life had literally been changed in one day. He had a hold on me like no one ever had and I could not wait to see him that day. I walked into my office and there on my desk, as promised, was the key to the penthouse.
Christian told me he would be in later in the day because he had something to take care of early in the morning. I decided to take a walk down to Evan’s office to see if he wanted to go check out the penthouse with me because I was really anxious to get started, and it would be a great distraction from constantly thinking about Christian. He was consuming every millimeter of my mind and I had to force myself to get into work mode. As I strode through the office, my creative juices began to flow as I observed everyone hard at work. Walking by everyone was the reminder I needed to remember I was actually employed at Locke Designs. I could not let my feelings for Christian cloud my brain and distract me from doing what I had wanted to do for so long. That job was my dream job and I was not going to screw it up.
I knocked lightly on Evan’s door, hoping I was not interrupting him, and he told me to come in. As soon as I walked in I could see him in every corner of his office. His vision for design was impeccable and his office was gorgeous. He smiled at me and gave me the quick once over.
“Good morning, sunshine!” He came over to give me a kiss on each cheek and then he pulled back a bit and looked me, his finger circling in the air toward me.
“Something is different.”
I could feel my cheeks turning bright red and prayed he could not tell I had been with Christian. We had decided we were going to keep that between us and the last thing I needed was for the entire firm to be gossiping about me, especially since I was new. It was not the first impression I wanted to make. I wanted people to see my design talent and know that I had earned my position the right way. If word got out that I was sleeping with the boss I was worried that I would never gain the respect of my colleagues.
“No, not really.” I tried to look as innocent as possible.
He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me. “Yes, really. I know what’s going on, sweetie.”
My cheeks felt even hotter and my mouth suddenly went dry. Damn it. “You do?”
“Of course! Christian emailed me to let me know about the penthouse. Congratulations! It is a great first project.”
I slowly exhaled as relief washed over me and didn’t realize I had been holding my breath for as long as I was.
“Yes! Thank you! That is exactly why I am stopping by. Christian wants us to go up there today. Can you go now?”
He glanced at his watch and a really weird look fell over his face and I couldn’t put my finger on what was going on. Was he not interested in helping me with the project? I only asked him because Christian told me to.
“Um, now is not a good time. How about we go up around 2:00?”
I was a little bit bummed that I had to wait so long but it was fine. I was going to need Evan’s help so whenever he was available was good with me. I flashed him a smile before I headed back to my office.
“That sounds perfect.”
I sat at my desk and quickly scanned my calendar for the day. I didn’t have anything until 9:30 so I decided I was going to take a quick sneak peak at the penthouse. I was too impatient to wait until 2:00 and I was only going to look around for five minutes, so I figured there would be no harm in taking a quick glance before Evan and I took the detailed tour. I grabbed the key and rode the elevator to PH, giddy with excitement as I slipped the key in the lock.
When I opened the door I literally froze in place. There at the kitchen counter was Christian dressed in nothing but a towel sipping a cup of coffee as he looked out the window at the breathtaking view. He turned toward the door and the look of excitement I expected to see on his face when he saw me was not there. Instead there was a look of panic quickly followed by annoyance. Why is he looking at me like that? I tried to brush off the awkward feeling that was consuming me and I put on my best smile. I wanted him to see that I was happy to see him. Since he wasn’t saying anything I decided to speak first.
“Hey, this is a nice surprise. You did say that you stay here when you’re too tired to go home. I guess I wore you out last night, huh?” My tone was teasing but he was not smiling.
The look on his face did not change. There was no sign of him being happy to see me, nothing at all. If anything, he looked like he wanted me to leave.
“Eva, what are you doing here?” His tone was firm and less than friendly.
I closed the door and started to walk over to him when something stopped me in my tracks.
“Babe, who are you talking to?” The soft female voice floated into the room.
Babe? It all happened in slow motion. The tall, gorgeous blonde emerged from what was probably the bedroom in a light pink negligée, her long blonde locks cascading down her back. Her eyes slowly scanned me as she casually draped her left arm over Christian’s shoulder, and a flash of light nearly blinded me. There on her ring finger was what looked like at least a five carat diamond solitaire. I felt sick to my stomach as I looked at her, looked at his cold eyes and realized what I had just walked in on. Somehow I found my voice and a little bit of courage as I looked at her.
“Who are you?” I asked with trepidation.
She raised an eyebrow and a nasty smirk touched the corner of her mouth.
“I’m Christian’s fiancé. Who are you?”
Christian’s voice boomed throughout the room as he took a step away from her, his eyes filled with fire. “Jessica!”
She was clearly startled by his outburst and so was I. I could feel the tears welling up and the last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of the two of them, so I had to get out of there. I fumbled at the door and dr
opped the key. I decided to just leave it and was almost out the door when Christian grabbed my hand.
“Eva, let me explain.”
I turned sad eyes to him and shook my head.
“I’m such a fool.”
I slowly pulled my hand away and walked out of the apartment. The elevator was still there so I quickly got on right before the doors closed in Christian’s face. The tears fell gently down my cheeks as it hit me that the man I had just spent a beautiful night with was engaged to another woman. I never wanted to see Christian Locke again.
Chapter Seven
I sat in the small conference room staring at my laptop, but seeing nothing on the screen. I felt like I was literally in shock and I also was kicking myself for missing all of the obvious signs. Why did I believe Christian after he lied to me the first time? Of course he was engaged. Whatever made me think that a man like him would actually be single? I felt like such a fool.
I was tucked away in one of the smaller conference rooms on a lower floor because I didn’t want Christian to be able to find me. I had no desire to speak to him and I knew that I would eventually have to because he was my boss, but I needed time. Thankfully I had a meeting that was going to start in a few minutes at 9:30 and then I was booked in several meetings until 2:00. I was dreading meeting Evan at 2:00 to go see the penthouse and I was praying that Christian and that woman would not be there.
My sadness turned to anger as I relived the moments in the penthouse and I relived the way I first met Christian. He knew he wasn’t available and he came after me anyway. He was definitely a man who was used to getting whatever he wanted but he was never going to have me again. I decided I was going to put on my professional face while I was at work and I was not going to let him crack me or cause me to lose my job. I was going to have to act like I had never had any intimate moments with Christian and that was not going to be easy, but it was the only way I was going to be able to function around him. I had dropped my guard and let him get too close but that was never going to happen again. As far as I was concerned, Christian Locke was my boss and nothing more.
My meetings were a great distraction for me and for a little while I didn’t have time to think about the mess with Christian. I was thrust back into reality at about 1:50 p.m. when I realized I had to make my way to Evan’s office so that we could go up to the penthouse. I thought about canceling but could not think of a good reason to justify it without raising red flags with Evan, and that was the last thing that I wanted to do. I didn’t want him to have any idea that something happened with Christian so I decided to just put on a happy face.
Just as I was about to walk into his office I remembered that I did not have the key and I hoped that he had a key because I did not know how I would explain how I lost the key. In trying to get out of the penthouse quickly, I dropped it on the floor and did not pick it up, so I was pretty sure Christian had my copy of the key.
My heart was literally crashing against my chest as I knocked on Evan’s door and I took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as I heard him tell me to come in. His smile was infectious and immediately put me at ease. It was so easy to be around him.
“Good morning, gorgeous. Are you ready to check out your fabulous new project?”
I smiled, or at least I hoped I was smiling, and casually tossed my hair over my shoulder trying to give the impression that I was calm about the whole thing.
“Absolutely, let’s go check it out.”
“If you have any questions, just let me know, but I was told that I should just let you take a look around, take it all in and come up with your own vision. I’m actually kind of excited to see what you come up with.”
“Oh goodness, no pressure there! Hey, Evan, do you have a key because I seem to have misplaced mine.”
“Sure, let me grab it.”
I secretly breathed a deep sigh of relief as he grabbed his key and we made our way to the elevator. My nerves felt like they had literally liquefied as the elevator climbed to the penthouse and I seriously thought I was going to faint as the elevator door opened. I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to keep it together in front of Evan as he slipped the key into the lock and opened the door. Here we go.
When we walked in my eyes darted around the place quickly trying to figure out if anyone was there, but it was dead silent. I casually glanced down at the floor near the door where I dropped the key just to see if it was there, but, no surprise, it wasn’t. When I realized there was no one in the penthouse I was able to relax and for the first time get a good look at the place, because when I was there earlier I was in such shock I couldn’t even remember what color the walls were.
The penthouse was stunning. The floor-to-ceiling windows let in so much light and I was able to see how large and beautiful the space was. It was already decorated but I instantly had a completely different vision for the place. Since I knew that woman probably lived there I decided I was going to put my personal touches on the place just to leave my mark. I was going to decorate it as if I was decorating a home for Christian and me.
Evan waived his arms around the room. “Well, what do you think?”
“I think we should walk around and check out the entire space, but this main area…it is breathtaking.”
“Come on, let’s go take a tour.”
The penthouse had four bedrooms and 3 ½ bathrooms and was about 5500 square feet. Evan showed me each room and left the master bedroom and master bath for last. As we were taking the tour, it occurred to me that I was probably going to see that woman’s clothes in the closet and I wondered if Evan was going to say anything about that. I decided not to make any comments about it. I was just going to wait to see if he said anything.
When we walked into the bedroom my eyes went straight to the bed and I felt a few pangs of sorrow as I remembered the incredible night we had together on the couch in Christian’s office, but I had to quickly shove those thoughts out of my mind because he was a liar and a cheater. I averted my eyes away from the bed as Evan lightly tapped me on the shoulder.
“Sweetie, prepare to enter a little piece of heaven and, remember, you can do anything you want to with this space.”
He opened the door to the master closet and it was as if angels and a choir were singing at the same time that a halo appeared in the middle of the closet. It was the most stunning closet I have ever seen in my life. The closet was easily the size of the master bedroom but I noticed something strange. There was not one piece of women’s clothing in that closet. I know I didn’t imagine that woman in the penthouse earlier that morning, and I know I heard her say she was his fiancée, so the only conclusion I could come to was the penthouse really was a place where Christian just crashed and they lived together somewhere else.
I must have been standing there with my mouth open because Evan nudged me and had a concerned look on his face.
“Eva, is something wrong?”
I really wanted to tell him that I was confused why there weren’t any women’s clothes in the closet because I knew about the fiancé, but I couldn’t say that.
“No, I’ve just never seen a closet this gorgeous in my life and I can’t believe that I’m going to have the opportunity to design it the way I want. I feel that way about this entire penthouse, but this closet is probably going to be my baby because I’ve always had a vision for my dream closet.”
“Well, you can definitely do whatever you want and don’t forget that I am here to help.”
“So when can I start? And how much time do I have?”
“Christian told me that you can start today and you will have two weeks to complete everything. My one suggestion for you is to really take some time today and tomorrow to get your ideas down on paper and then we can get people in to do everything that you want. Even though we have people ready and waiting to work on this project for you, if you don’t put orders in in the next couple of days you will not meet your two-week deadline.”
“I can unde
rstand that but the only thing I am concerned about is the closet because the closet is going to be completely renovated. I need to add shelving, drawers and an island. Do we have people that can do something like that in such a short amount of time? They probably will have to work around the clock and I’m not sure that’s an option that will be afforded to me.”
“That will not be a problem at all. Like I said, just get your ideas down by tomorrow evening at the latest, submit them to me, and then I will get people in to bring your vision to life. For the next two weeks this is going to be the only thing you are working on and you will be the hands on supervisor so that you can be sure that everything you want is completed to your liking. Did Christian happen to tell you what’s happening in two weeks?”