“So basically, it’s the whole fake it until you make it thing?” I asked.
“Absolutely. Most people do it in business but it works just as well when you do it with yourself. But why are you asking all this Jane? What’s on your mind?”
“Well… something happened.” I said awkwardly, unsure of where to start.
She sat up. “Something happened? What? Does it have to do with a guy? Oh I do hope you have some good gossip for me Greiner.”
“Uh… yeah.” Then I went underwater for several seconds and came back up.
She laughed, “Jane! You can’t run away under water. Thankfully you need to come up for a breath eventually. Okay… spill it. Who is this mystery man that’s getting you so tongue tied?”
“Sebastian Taylor.”
I could see the cogs turning in her brain before she gasped, “Wait! THE Sebastian Taylor. As in the guy who runs your casino? As in the hot billionaire? As in… YOUR BOSS? Are you talking about that guy?”
I grinned and then went under water again. When I came back up she cried out, “Jane! Stop that!”
I giggled. “Sorry. Yeah. That guy. My boss. The one and only.”
“And what happened? And don’t think you can get away with just telling me ‘oh not much’ – I want details Jane. DETAILS.”
I got out the pool, wrapped my towel around me and went to lie next to her.
“I had a meeting in his office yesterday. Okay, no that’s not it really. Uh… okay so he asked me out for lunch. It was all through text message and the whole thing seemed a bit flirty. I said no. He kept pushing and I kept saying no. I told him that he was my boss and that it would be strange. Hey why are you rolling your eyes?”
“You turned down a free lunch with a super cute guy? Crazy girl.”
That made me laugh, “Yeah, it does sound a bit crazy out loud. Anyway so, after a bit of back and forth, he restructured the message and told me that he was getting food ordered into his office. He said that he wanted me to come in to do some work and that I was welcome to have some of the food on offer but I also didn’t have to.”
“Clever man. I like the sound of him.”
“Yeah, so I had to go. And for a little while we really did discuss work. And we ate from this huge array of food that he had ordered. But then… well then he started getting a bit flirty again and I started flirting back. Before I knew it he was kissing me. Like proper kissing.”
She burst out laughing, “As opposed to un-proper kissing?”
“Stop mocking me! This is the first time I’ve ever kissed my boss, you know!”
“Well, that’s a good thing. Anyway, then what happened?”
“He locked the door. And obviously that’s when I knew that things were going to go further. And I let it happen. There was just no way that I could turn away from him then. The most gorgeous man in the world was kissing me and I wanted him to do it again and again and again. Then he took off my bra. I was still wearing my blouse, but it was open at the front. And then, he… uh…” I found that I was blushing and I stared longingly at the pool.
“Jane, don’t you dare jump back in that pool. What happened next?”
I took a sip of my drink. Liquid courage and all that. I took another sip. “Uh… well then he took off my panties and went down on me against his desk.”
“JANE! I cannot believe I saw you last night and this morning and you didn’t say a word to me. No wonder you were acting all weird. I thought you were just tired from work. You naughty little scoundrel. So… this beautiful man didn’t ask anything in return?”
“No. But after that happened his phone rang and the secretary said there were people to see him. So I had to quickly sort myself out before they came in. I was on my hands and knees searching for my bra.”
Danielle was laughing and now so was I. “Oh what I would’ve given to see that moment.”
“I had like five minutes to find my bra, put on my bra and then put on my panties. And then make myself look presentable. It didn’t help that ten minutes later he called and asked me to bring in coffee for them all. That’s not normally my job but the receptionist was on her lunch break.”
“So you had to go back in?”
“Yep. And only after did I realize that my skirt was still tucked into my panties. Thankfully the men didn’t see it but Sebastian did.”
Tears were falling down Danielle’s face now. “How do you know he saw it?”
“Because he sent me a text message afterwards letting me know.”
“HE SENT YOU A TEXT MESSAGE. Oh Jane, you’re killing me. This is like a movie.”
“Also, my one button on my blouse hadn’t been done up. The top button. And I did bend down to give those men coffees. I have no idea if they noticed. But yeah… that’s my life.”
“Which is why you asked me about the confidence thing?”
“Pretty much. I’m a bubbling idiot as I’ve now proven to you.”
“You’re confident where it counts Jane. And anyway, you must be doing something right for that thing to happen with Sebastian.”
“I guess. But what am I going to do now? I can’t face him again after what happened. I’m going to die of embarrassment.”
“Why? He obviously likes you. I don’t understand what the problem is. It’s also quite obvious that you like him too.”
“But… he’s my boss Danielle. And anyway, that’s beside the point. I’m not dating anyone anymore. Not for a while anyway. I promised myself that I’d be off men for this year. So nothing more can happen with this.”
“Why? Because of that asshole who left you for your best friend? You do realize he’s your ex-boyfriend? You do realize he cheated on you? So you’re just going to deny yourself because of him?”
“But it’s more than that. I owe it to myself.”
“Exactly. You owe it to yourself.”
“No, you don’t understand. I can’t be with another man like that again. Not now.”
“So you’ll deny yourself a hot billionaire who practically gave you the best orgasm of your life?” Danielle said to me, grinning at that last bit as if she were very pleased with herself.
I was flushed and I suddenly had no idea what to do with my hands or where to look, “I never said it was the best orgasm of my life!”
“Well, was it?” She asked, a cheekiness to her voice.
“Well, yeah, but that’s beside the point.”
She laughed. She had gotten me. “The point is that you have no point. That you are just letting Justin ruin your life. That you’re not allowing yourself a bit of fun. The point is that you are not allowing yourself to move on.”
“I just don’t know Danielle.”
While everything that I had told her was true, what I didn’t tell her was that I was also worried about his reputation. And the fact that he was the type of guy that could drop me and hurt me in an instant. I didn’t tell her about Abbie’s warnings or the amount of girls he had slept with. I was so confused about everything. And she was right, it was the best orgasm of my life, and that part was hard to forget. Also, Sebastian confused me. I knew the type of man that he was but I also saw something in him that was very different to the man that he was portraying himself to be. Or was he just very good at manipulation? Was I just falling right into his trap? I opened my mouth to say something but before I could the doorbell rang.
“I wonder who that is? I’m not expecting anyone.” Danielle got up and went to answer the door. I smiled at how she didn’t even bother to put a towel on. She just walked straight into the house with just her bikini on. Her small bottom moved from side to side as she walked. I wrapped my towel around me in case whoever was at the door came outside.
Danielle emerged with a man in a uniform and a clipboard. He looked extremely nervous and I could see that he kept glancing at Danielle in her yellow bikini. It made me want to laugh.
“Jane, it’s for you.”
“What?” I said, confused.
�
��Hello, are you Jane Greiner?” The man asked me. I nodded. “Well I have a delivery for you that I need you to sign for.” He held out his clipboard while I started at him in confusion.
Chapter 22 - Jane
“A delivery? Are you sure it’s for me?” I asked the delivery man who was still gawking at Danielle.
She put her hands on her hips, which only made his eyes widen, “Uh… dumbo, he already said the delivery was for you. Your name is on the slip. Unless your name is NOT Jane Greiner and you have something you want to tell me?”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. It’s just that I’m not expecting anything. What is it?” I looked around, expecting to see a box hiding behind him or for him to pull out an envelope from his pocket.
“Do you mind signing here and then I’ll show you?” He said. The name tag on his shirt read Charlie. And I wondered if he’d always been Charlie, or whether he’d been Charles once upon a time.
“Sure, sure. Okay, where do I sign?” I quickly signed the papers and then looked expectantly at him.
“You girls are sure going to love this.” He said. “You’ll have to follow me outside though.”
“This is so exciting. Wait, let me get my towel quick. I can’t walk outside in my bikini now can I.” I could literally see as Charlie’s face turned from happy to disappointed when Danielle fetched her towel and wrapped it around her body. I reminded myself to let Danielle know that she needed to be a little bit more aware of the effect that she had on some men. It was good to be confident but it also just as good to be aware.
“Right, so anyway, come with me. Actually… do you want to close your eyes? It will be more dramatic and all that. We can do a big reveal.” Charlie seemed very excited. So either I was getting something cool or else he was still showing off in front of Danielle.
“No! For all I know you’re some weirdo and you’re going to shove us in your car and drive off with us.” I said and then felt bad when I saw the look on his face.
“Ma’am. I am certainly not going to do that. I just thought it would be more fun. That’s all. Never mind then.”
“Sorry. Sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m just not good with surprises.” I wasn’t sure why I was being so snappy with him.
“Well, I think it’s a fabulous idea. And I LOVE surprises.” Said Danielle, who was big fan of secrets and surprises. “Come on Jane. It will be fun. I’ll join you. And if you don’t like whatever it is then you can give it to me.” Charlie beamed at her. I think he was falling in love.
So the two of us closed our eyes. I held Danielle’s hand and she held onto Charlie. Again, something I’d have to warn her about. If we got kidnapped I was totally going to blame her for it.
“Okay, we’re here.” Came Charlie’s voice, “Keep your eyes closed. Okay… are you ready? Now… OPEN!”
We opened our eyes. I looked around in confusion.
“Uh… what am I looking at?”
“Jane Greiner, I would like to present you with… your new car!” He pointed to the bright blue Prius that was parked up the sidewalk. It was obviously brand new and incredibly shiny.
“Excuse me?” Was this a joke? I looked at Danielle, half expecting her to burst out laughing and say ‘got you!’ but she looked just as surprised as me.
“I’m so confused. Are you sure this is for me?”
“Yes, it’s for you. I knew they should’ve put a big bow on it. Then at least it would’ve looked like a gift. Oh sorry. It came with a card!” Here we go. Poor Charlie. This was not the response he was expecting from us. I had a feeling that I would look at the card and see that he’d gotten the whole thing confused. Some lady down the road was probably waiting for this car while I was probably supposed to get some bill that I had forgotten or something. Charlie would have to go through the whole thing again.
“Open the card!” Danielle said. She’d stopped staring at the car and was now jumping up and down in excitement. But when I took too long she just took it from me. “Okay let me open it for you.”
She opened it, read it and then smiled. “It is for you Jane. Here.” She handed me the card.
Jane, I’m so sorry about your car and the accident. I know Mr Honda meant a lot to. Here’s a new one. You can call him Mr Prius. Or Mrs Prius if you prefer. XOXO, Sebastian.
“I told you he liked you!” Danielle said to me and then she looked at Charlie. “Isn’t this exciting? Do you do this often? Bring cars to people?”
“To be honest, this is my first car. I usually deliver boxes and never really get to see what’s inside them. So this was a big deal.”
“How did you get it here?”
“Oh, I drove it here. But my company is just down the road, so I’m going to just walk back. Otherwise I guess I would’ve come with someone else. But you were luckily enough to live super close. I was so excited to bring this to you. And a bit nervous of course. I mean, it’s brand new. I didn’t want anything to happen to it. I had to practically fight all the guys in the office to be the one to take it to you. That’s a cool gift to receive, especially if it’s unexpected – which it clearly was.”
“I cannot believe this. Hey… Jane. What’s wrong? Why are Charlie and I more excited than you?” Danielle was waving a hand in front of my face.
I looked at her as if she were from out of space. I couldn’t believe what was happening and I had no idea why she thought that accepting a car from someone I barely knew was a good idea. I felt sick to my stomach. Is this the kind of man that Sebastian was? Did he just buy his way through life? Had he never heard of something like flowers? Or just a simple ‘I’m sorry’? Even a card would’ve been fine. I would’ve been happy with a card.
“Danielle, I cannot accept this. It’s a brand new car. A CAR! What was he thinking? There’s absolutely no way I’m taking this car. I’m sorry Charlie but you’re just going to have to take it back. I’ll let him know that it was a mad idea. I really do appreciate you bringing it here and I’m so sorry for ruining the whole thing. But I didn’t ask for this.” I was still staring at the car, trying to take it all in. What made it worse was that it really was such a beautiful looking thing. I never in my wildest dreams ever imagined that I would ever own something like that. I found myself almost wanting to accept it but then quickly shook my head and tore my eyes away from it.
“Jane!” Danielle exclaimed, “Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? Of course you can accept this. It’s a gift. Actually it won’t look good if you say no to something like this. Especially since he’s your boss. Imagine you giving someone a gift and then instead of being happy with it they tell you that they don’t want it. You can’t do that to the poor man. Anyway, you don’t even have a car at the moment. And it was Sebastian’s fault for that accident. So he owes you one. Listen, Charlie, Jane has already signed for it so the car is hers. Thank you so much. It was very sweet of you to come over and to surprise us this way. Jane just needs to get over the shock. It’s not every day that someone gets a car delivered to their door. Thank you again. Come on Jane, let’s go inside for a bit.”
“Uh… thank you Charlie.” I didn’t know what else to say or what to do. I just let Danielle lead me inside.
“So, are you going to stop being so rude and be thankful that somebody actually bought you a car?”
“I’m not being rude. It’s just a very hard thing to accept from someone. I didn’t want him to do this. I would’ve managed just fine. I was on my way to sorting out another car.”
“Don’t be silly. We both know you were a long way away from that.”
“Well, yeah. But he didn’t have to buy me something like this. It’s so expensive. I think these go for like $20,000 or something. That is by far the most expensive gift I have ever gotten. If he had gotten me a necklace worth $200 I would’ve STILL thought it was too much.”
“Actually, that one is pretty upgraded, so I think it’s more like $35,000. I don’t know if you peered inside but it seems to have all sorts of fancy gadgets. I think Mrs
Prius is going to bring you a lot more happiness than Mr Honda ever did. Also, Mr Honda still had Justin memories all over him. This is your chance to start afresh with new memories.”
She made a valid point. But all I could think of was the price. Thirty Five thousand dollars! What was he thinking?
“Also, Jane, you must remember that spending $35,000 or whatever it was, is probably nothing to a man like Sebastian. That’s probably pocket change. It’s like you spending $20 on buying someone a gift.”
“I don’t think his $35,000 is equivalent to me spending twenty!”
“Actually, it might be. You forget he’s a multi-billionaire.”
“Oh Danielle, what was he thinking? This is absolutely insane. Look at my hands… I’m shaking.” I held out my hands to show her.
“Well, I’m thinking it means that he likes you, he feels bad about your car and he really wants to give you a present. I’m thinking you should be happy and that you should let him know that you appreciate it. Otherwise… you know… you can give it to me.”
“The car IS pretty awesome. But what message am I giving if I accept his gift?” Surely if I take it then he’s going to think that I want to take the relationship further. That he can just easily buy me with gifts. Surely if I accept then he is going to think that I’m the type of woman that is easily swayed by money.
But Danielle just batted her eyelashes at me and feigned innocence at my question. “I think that if you accept his very generous gift than the message you’re giving is – thank you.”
Chapter 23 - Sebastian
“Will that be all Sir?”
“Mary, you know you can call me Sebastian. I’ve known you for almost two years now!” I said to the cleaner that came in every second day. She was a sweet lady who refused to look me in the eye. She always said please and thank you and she always made it look as if my apartment was immaculate. I could never quite understand how she managed to make it look so polished. I wasn’t always around to see her, but when I did we’d have the same conversation over and over. I was starting to think that she saw it more as a joke now – but perhaps this was just the way she was raised. There was a part of me that liked it – because who didn’t want someone looking at you with that much reverence. And there was a part of me that felt slightly ashamed by it – because she was at least fifteen years my senior.
Auctioned to Him 7: The Contract Page 102