by Ashley Blake
“It’s nice to meet you as well Elena, I think I have it all figured out but I’ll give you a minute and listen to your little ideas, I guess.”
I was totally stunned that she said that in front of everyone, including Sebastian. I glanced at Carol and Mark who quickly looked at the floor when our eyes met and then I looked at Sebastian. He was checking his phone and was completely oblivious to what Sophia had just said to me. He must have felt me staring at him because he glanced up from his phone and I was sure he could see the look of astonishment on my face because he furrowed his brow and then glanced at everyone else.
“What did I miss?”
“Oh nothing, Elena and I were just discussing when we might be able to get together to discuss strategy.”
She gave me a sly smirk that I wanted to slap right off of her face. I decided not to let her get away with the lie and I held her gaze as the words rolled off my tongue.
“Actually Sophia, that is not what we were discussing. I told you that I was looking forward to working with you and you said that you had it covered but you would give me a minute and would listen to my ideas. Little ideas, were your exact words.”
Her face was beet red and I savored every minute of it. I was not going to let her disrespect me and treat me like I was an idiot. I earned my position and I wanted my ideas to be acknowledged along with hers. She was not going to take credit for everything we did that week.
Sebastian stepped away from Sophia and put his hands in his pockets as he held her gaze, completely annoyed.
“Sophia, I want you two to work together this week, I mean it, together. There is plenty of room for everyone’s ideas and we only hire the best people to come up with those ideas. I always believe that two heads are better than one, so I expect you to work with Elena. Understood?” His words were firm and even.
I could tell that she was completely embarrassed and she looked at the ground as she answered him. “Yes.”
“Good, let’s go eat.” Sebastian and Sophia started walking toward the restaurant and Mark, Carol and I followed behind them.
Mark and Carol looked totally shocked but gave me a small smile behind Sophia’s back and didn’t say a word as we all walked into the restaurant. Dinner was pretty uneventful and Sophia seemed to be pouting through the whole thing, which was really annoying. Sebastian laid out an abbreviated version of the plan for the week and Sunday would be our only day off. We were going back to the States the following Tuesday morning. After dinner Sebastian told us all that he would see us the next morning at 8:30 sharp in the main conference room in the hotel. Everything had been set up for us in anticipation of our arrival so we would all have computers and workstations in the room.
When he left the restaurant I wondered where he was going but I had to push that thought out of my mind because it was almost 9:00 and Clarissa would be meeting me in my room. Mark and Carol were sipping coffee and Sophia was sipping her martini when I said goodnight to everyone. I was almost to the elevator when I heard the loud, clicking heels behind me getting closer. Now what. I stopped and turned to see Sophia’s green eyes glaring at me and I braced myself.
“Elena, why did you do that earlier?”
“Do what?” An exasperated sigh escaped my lips because I didn’t have the patience for her issues.
She narrowed her eyes at me as the blood rushed to her cheeks. I had never noticed how many lines she had around her eyes. When I first saw her at the gala I thought she was probably my age, but when I looked closely she had to have been at least 30. Her dislike of me was starting to make more sense. She still had the hots for Sebastian and he was interested in the younger, fresher version. I wanted to tell her that jealousy was not a good look for her but I didn’t care enough to even waste my breath. I didn’t have time for her petty jealousy.
“Call me out in front of Sebastian! I think that you need to learn what your place is Elena. I can make life very difficult for you at the company and I don’t think you want that.”
She had a lot of nerve, but it didn’t faze me as I narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you threatening me?”
She sneered at me as her green eyes became tiny slits. “You say threaten, I say informing. Don’t step out of line again.”
I wasn’t scared of that bitch. I took a giant step toward her and was about two inches from her face when I lowered my voice to a sharp whisper. “I’m here to do a job and no one is going to get in the way of what I came to do, not even you. You can take your little threat and shove it up your ass!”
I took a step back from her and smoothed the front of my dress and gave her a saccharin filled smile. “I look forward to working with you tomorrow and I can’t wait to show Sebastian our work. Have a nice night.” She stood there stunned as I turned and went to the elevator. I didn’t even look back at her as the elevator opened and then closed behind me.
I was not the type of girl who was intimidated by other women, I never had been and I wasn’t about to start then. I was ready to get to work on brainstorming new strategies and it was important to me that Sebastian could see what I was capable of. I wanted him to be confidant in his choice of me as the new VP of Marketing. I would do everything without Sophia if I had to, even if it meant staying up all night, every night I was in São Paulo. I was still fuming when I went to my room but I was able to let it go when I saw an impeccably dressed woman waiting for me outside my door.
“You must be Clarissa, I’m Elena Sumner and I am so sorry to have kept you waiting.”
She turned and smiled at me. “I just arrived so you have nothing to apologize for. I’m sure that you must be exhausted after the long day that you’ve had so we can make this meeting really quick.”
I liked the sound of that. We walked into my suite and sat on the couch and chatted about the types of clothes that I liked.
“Who are your favorite designers Elena?”
“Um, whoever TJMaxx has on clearance?”
Her mouth turned up in amusement and she put her pen down and looked at me. “Tell me what kinds of clothes catch your eye when you see something on someone walking down the street.”
“I like simple dresses that are figure flattering, pants that are comfortable yet flattering, and I like bright colors along with basic black pieces.”
“Okay, that gives me a general idea of what to pull for you, and what about the style of dresses? Do you prefer a dress with sleeves or without sleeves?”
“I really don’t have a preference, I like all kinds of dresses.”
“Okay, that makes things kind of easy for me.”
We talked for a little bit longer and she took a few notes and I gave her my clothing size and my shoe size and we were able to wrap up the meeting in about an hour. She told me that I would have clothes delivered the following day and to pick out what I wanted and put aside what I did not want and it would all be taken care of for me. I did have a girly side so I had to admit that I was excited about getting new shoes and clothes the next day. The last time I went shopping was a couple of months before and I think I bought one dress and that’s it.
It was a little bit after 10 o'clock and I was totally exhausted so I got ready for bed, climbed under the covers and thought about the whirlwind day I had just had. My mind drifted to Sebastian’s soft touch as he unzipped my dress and I couldn’t wait to feel his touch again. I turned on my side in frustration, annoyed that the most gorgeous man I had ever met, who I could not stop thinking about was my boss. My mind was screaming that there was no way it could ever work between us, but my body was ignoring my mind.
Just as I began to drift off I heard a light tapping at the door adjoining our rooms. My eyes flew open in the dark as my chest began to rise and fall with anticipation. I slowly got out of bed and walked toward the door, my dark waves spilling down my back, and my heart thumping against my chest. I heard another light tapping on the door and when I opened it Sebastian stood there, with one arm above his head gently grasping the door frame,
his head resting against his arm. His bare, chiseled chest was screaming to be caressed and he looked sexy as hell as he stood there, eyes filled with lust wearing pajama bottoms, his hair tousled all over his head, literally taking my breath away.
I became painfully aware of my nipples that were hardened underneath the thin fabric of my nightie as my body responded to the sight of him. Sebastian’s eyes moved down to my chest and lingered there for a minute before raising them to mine.
“May I come in?” His deep voice was laced with lust.
My head was screaming no but my body said yes, and without hesitation I stepped aside so that he could come into my room. I closed the door behind him and before I could turn around he had me pressed against the wall, my hands supporting me. I could feel his warm breath against my ear as he stood behind me, very close but not touching me. His fingers left a trail of fire on my neck as he brushed my hair behind my shoulder and followed the length of my hair down my back with his fingers. His gentle caress weakened my knees and I was grateful to have the wall to hold me up. His hand trailed back up my arm causing my skin to tingle under his touch and I leaned back against him and felt a gentle throbbing between my legs and I didn’t want him to stop touching me. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back into him as his lips trailed tiny soft kisses along my neck.
“You are so beautiful Elena.” His voice was filled with lust as his grip tightened around my waist. I could feel his arousal pressed against my backside as he let out a soft groan. He turned me around to face him, pressing me into the wall, and his eyes devoured mine. His hard length was pressed against me and he gently entwined his hands in my hair and slowly leaned down to me. Everything I had been telling myself about keeping our relationship professional flew out the window in that moment. His lips melded to mine as his mouth hungrily devoured mine. His tongue slid over mine in a slow, sensual way and I literally felt weak in my knees. I wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him closer to me, reveling in his delicious kiss. This is what a good kiss is supposed to be like. This is how it’s done.
His hands slowly moved down the sides of my body feeling the curve of my waist and then moved around to my butt and gave it a good squeeze. I raked my fingers through his hair as our tongues tasted and probed each other. My core was throbbing and all I could think was that I wanted my clothes to fall off of me so that I could feel him inside of me. Nothing else mattered to me in that moment. He was my boss but I didn’t care, people would talk but I didn’t care, and he was arrogant but I didn’t care. All I wanted was him and I had never felt that way before, I had never been so mesmerized by a man in my life. Whatever Sebastian wanted me to do I was ready to do it and I didn’t feel bad about it. I finally admitted to myself that I wanted him since the first night I met him.
A soft moan escaped my lips as his hands slipped over my breasts and tweaked my nipples through the nightie. I pressed my hips into his hoping he knew that I was giving him permission to keep going but he suddenly broke away from me leaving me panting in the moonlight streaming through my window.
“I’m sorry Elena, I didn’t mean for this to happen yet but you looked so sexy in that nightgown that I couldn’t resist you. I just wanted to say goodnight and I took it too far.” He ran his hands through his hair in frustration as he looked at the floor and then he raised his piercing dark eyes to mine. “You drive me crazy and even though I want to, it’s not time for us to be together yet.” He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.
“Get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow.” With that, he went back to his room closing the door behind him.
I stood there still wanting him, wanting to feel his hands on my body, hoping he would come back. When it finally hit me that he was gone for the night I slipped back into bed, thoughts of Sebastian flooding my mind. He kissed me and it was good. I was on cloud nine as I drifted off to sleep.
I must have slept like a log because the next morning I woke up completely refreshed and ready to get to work. I smiled to myself as I got ready and butterflies danced in my belly when I thought about Sebastian coming to my room the night before.
We all met in the lobby at 8:30 and I expected Sebastian to give me a look, a wink, or something to show me that he acknowledged that the kiss the night before had happened. But I got nothing. In fact, he barely looked my way and I tried really hard not to let it bother me, but it did. He could have at least said good morning to me. I pushed that out of my mind and decided to just focus on all of the work that lay ahead of me that day. If he was going to ignore me, two could play at that game.
We were escorted to the conference room on the 3rd floor and I quickly set up my things and then walked over to Sophia who was flirting with Sebastian. He hadn’t even so much as looked at me and now I had to deal with her fawning all over him. The whole thing was pissing me off and the more I thought about it, the more I started to think that he just liked having lots of options.
Sebastian Blu had probably always gotten every woman he had ever wanted and maybe he thought I would be another notch on his belt. I couldn’t let that happen, the last thing I needed was to be used and then dumped by a guy, especially him since he was my boss. I had to admit that I’d had a few moments of weakness with, but I was just going to have to ignore those feelings and stick with my original plan. My own boutique hotel was my first priority and I didn’t want to burn any bridges at Blu Sierra along the way. I’d already done a ton of research and my boutique hotel would not be direct competition for Blu Sierra because they did not have any boutique hotels in Miami nor did they have plans to build a boutique hotel.
When Sheldon Blu started in the hotel business his vision was to have opulent, enormous hotels in big cities and boutique hotels in small towns all over the world. I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to compete with them one day because I would probably lose. Anyway, I stood in front of Sophia and loudly cleared my throat. I gave Sebastian a cold glance and then my gaze shifted to Sophia who was sitting practically glued to Sebastian.
“Are you ready to get started?” My voice was firm and I wanted her to know that I was not going to be intimidated by her or her threats.
Sebastian seemed surprised at the tone of my voice but I didn’t care because he didn’t know what she’d said to me the night before. Sophia narrowed her eyes at me and then turned to Sebastian with a bright smile.
“I told Elena we should get started right away this morning so I better go help her.”
She said no such thing but I didn’t want to argue over such a small point. I didn’t want Sebastian to think I was petty so I let her have that little dig but I wasn’t going to let that be a habit.
Sophia and I brainstormed all morning and I was pleasantly surprised to find that she knew what she was talking about. I couldn’t stand her as a person but I couldn’t help but respect her as a businesswoman because she was so smart. I think that she appreciated that I had ideas to share also and I hoped that she recognized that I wasn’t just a pretty face. We worked really well together and by lunchtime I was ready for a break.
“I think we’ve got a good start, don’t you?” I smiled at her fully expecting to have a normal conversation but my smile was met with a sneer.
“We’ve barely scratched the surface.” With that she got up and walked out of the room.
I sat there thoroughly confused and disappointed. Once I saw how well we worked together I was relieved because I didn’t want to have tension with this woman all week and I just knew that we were going to get along, but it looked like I would have to deal with her shitty personality.
Carol and Mark left to go have lunch and Sebastian and I were left alone. I could feel his eyes on me but I didn’t want to give him so much as the time of day with the way he had been ignoring me, so I got up and started to walk out of the room. Sebastian grabbed my arm as I walked by him and stopped me in my tracks.
“Elena, look at me.”
I didn’t want to but I slowly raised my ey
es to his and my breath caught in my throat. He was so beautiful and I was reminded of that the closer he was to me. His piercing dark eyes studied mine and I could feel butterflies gently fluttering in my belly. I tried not to let him affect me but I was powerless under his touch.
“I want you to know that I am not ignoring you, I just can’t give you more attention than the others because they will start to talk and I can’t have that.”
I let the words sink in and then I got pissed. “Why not? Are you ashamed of me, or something? You openly dated Sophia, didn’t you? You say that you want me and we will be together, but no one can know? How do you think that makes me feel?”
I could see that he felt bad as he raked his fingers through his thick waves and looked at me with a bit of regret. “No, I am not ashamed of you, I don’t want you to think that. Elena, things are complicated and I can’t go into detail just yet so you’re going to have to trust me. I do want to be with you but we have to just wait a while before anyone can know.”
“Why?”
“I can’t say but I promise you there is a legitimate reason. We just have to wait for a bit.”