by Claire Adams
“Of course, sir; let me look at the account. Do you have the card with you?”
“Here it is.”
I handed over the card and tried to maintain my firm stance with the man. Unfortunately, he was so insistent on being friendly and helpful that it was hard for me to continue to stay angry. After watching him type into the computer for at least five minutes, I finally gave in and sat in one of the extremely plush and comfortable chairs across from his desk.
“Did you know that there is a Rose Baker still attached to this account as an authorized signer?” the bank manager said as he turned and looked at me from his computer.
“That’s my ex-wife. She shouldn’t be on the account anymore.”
“Actually, the account was opened by the both of you. If you’d like to remove her, I’ll just need to have her come in here and sign some paperwork.”
“That’s fine, but it still doesn’t tell me why the account was declined.”
“You’re right, sir. It looks like Rose had this credit card listed as a backup source for her PayPal account. Several charges went through in one day and triggered a fraud alert. Unfortunately, they did try to call you a couple of days ago and did not receive a return call regarding if the charges were yours or not. So, the account was put into fraud status for your protection.”
I had received two voicemails from the bank that I had forgotten to return. They didn’t say they were from a fraud department, though, only generic messages to call them back. I had totally blown them off.
“Let me call her and see if she can come down,” I said, ignoring the fact that I had messed up by not returning the banker’s calls about the account.
“Sure. I’ve got some business to do with another client. Feel free to step out and then just have one of the tellers grab me when you’re ready to have Rose sign the necessary paperwork.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I went out to the lobby and then out to the street so I could call Rose and see if she would come down to the bank. I really didn’t care all that much about the charges made on the account, I just didn’t want my card being flagged for fraud or the embarrassment of having it declined.
“Hey,” I said when Carlos answered Rose’s phone. “Is Rose around?”
“Yep.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“I don’t know, can you?”
“Carlos, I don’t have time for this crap. Get Rose.”
“Brandon, I hear you’re doing some day trading. You should be careful with that stuff,” Carlos said. “I hear a lot of crack downs are going on and people are getting arrested.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I’m just trying to be helpful, bro. I’m sure Rose has told you I’m working with the government undercover. I hear things all the time. I would hate for you to get mixed up in something like that.”
“I swear to God, if I find out you’ve had anything to do with what’s going on with my bank account, I’m going to come over there and kick your ass.”
“Why, what’s going on with your bank account?” Carlos asked.
“Just get Rose,” I said loud enough that people on the street were now paying attention to me.
Carlos took his time going to get Rose and when she finally got on the phone, I felt like I was going to explode. My anger had been building up since my card was declined and I no longer wanted to explain anything over the phone.
“Can you come down to First Trust Bank? Your name is still on an account and we need to fix that.”
“Does it have to be today? I’m in the middle of something.”
“Yes, and after dealing with that ass of a fiancé you have, I think coming down here is the least you can do for me,” I said.
“What did he say now?”
“Never mind. Can you just come down and get this taken care of? I’ve had a crazy day.”
“Sure, I’ll be down in twenty minutes.”
“Thanks,” I said before hanging up the phone.
It was probably going to take her more like an hour with the traffic, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. I wasn’t about to leave the bank until I had everything worked out.
My whole week had seemed to be one weird occurrence after another. First the flag on my trading account, then my Dating the Rich account profile was totally messed up, and now this. Something was definitely going on, and I was starting to get nervous.
The mess up with my Dating the Rich account had taken out all my preferences and allowed anyone to message me, and I’d be charged for it. Again, it wasn’t about the money, but I did hate having all those messages and knowing I wasn’t going to be responding to any of them. I was interested in Del now; there was no need for me to keep looking for other women.
Del had been very helpful when I called her and talked about the errors I was getting. The website seemed to be having ongoing problems, and I ended up just making my profile hidden so I wouldn’t have to mess with it any longer. There really was no need for me to even log in. Del and I were exclusively communicating via text messaging and phone calls, and I wasn’t talking to any other women from the website.
“Thanks for coming,” I said as Rose got out of an Uber in front of the bank.
“Sorry it took so long; you know how traffic is.”
“No problem. So apparently, you’ve got a PayPal account that’s connected to this card,” I said. “A bunch of charges came through and they froze the card for fraud. When I came down to fix it, they said it was still connected to your account.”
“Crap, I’m sorry. I’ll pay you back,” she said.
“Oh, come on. I don’t care about that, but I don’t want to have my card declined when I’m out. That’s embarrassing.”
“Brandon, I understand. Let’s get it fixed.”
Rose and I got along well. Actually, getting divorced had been the best thing to ever happen to our relationship. When the demands of being a couple were taken off of us, we were finally able to go back to being friends, which seemed like a happy place for our relationship.
I still had regrets over our marriage ending, but it was always wrapped up in the sadness over losing my son. Both of us knew that we weren’t going to be able to move forward in our lives if we had stayed together; it just wasn’t going to work for us. Maybe some couples could make it work, but not us.
We went in and visited with the bank manager and within a few moments, had all the issues taken care of on the account and I had access to my card again. Although I had plenty of other credit cards, I was relieved that this particular issue had been taken care of.
“So, what’s up with you and Carlos? Are you still marrying the guy?”
“Yes, Brandon, I’m marrying him. He’s a nice guy. I think you and he would actually get along if you stopped having pissing contests every time the two of you talked.”
“Hey, it’s not me,” I said. “He’s the one who acts like a ten-year-old child when I call and ask for you. Why is he answering your phone, anyways? Is he controlling you? Do you need help getting out of a controlling relationship?” I was joking, but it did annoy me how he had answered her phone.
“Carlos and I don’t have secrets. If my phone rings and he’s around, I’m perfectly fine with him answering it.”
“And, he lets you answer his phone?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow.
I knew damn well that guy wasn’t letting her answer his phone. He seemed like the type of guy who had more secrets than there were closets in his house.
Rose had told me he worked in some sort of undercover job with the government, but she couldn’t tell me any more than that. It seemed a little fishy to me. He was an ex-marine and had a really hard time controlling his anger when I was around. I found it very suspicious that the government would trust him for any of their sensitive jobs. But then again, he probably fit in really well with the criminals if he was working undercover.
“I’m not going to talk abo
ut my relationship, Brandon. I’ll talk to you another time,” Rose said as she hugged me quickly and then turned to grab a cab.
As she turned around, she ran smack dab into a couple of women who were walking past. The collision happened so quickly, I wasn’t sure if she had run into them, or maybe they had all run into each other.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I heard a very familiar voice say.
“Delilah?”
“Oh, hey, Brandon,” she said as she hugged me and then looked at Rose and pulled away.
Although Rose and I weren’t close to each other, it was still clear that she had been there with me and was turning to leave when the collision happened. All three of the women stood there looking each other up and down as I tried to figure out a good way to introduce Delilah and Rose.
“Delilah,” I said as I pulled her close to me. “This is my ex-wife, Rose. Rose, this is my friend, Delilah.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Del said as she reached her hand out to Rose.
“You, too. Brandon didn’t mention that he was dating someone new.”
“Oh, well, we are just friends right now,” Del stumbled as she replied. “I mean, we went on one date, but we are friends for right now,” she repeated.
“Hi, I’m Mattie,” Del’s friend introduced herself and forced her hand to mine and then to Rose, as well. “This is super awkward. So, you’re the ex-wife. Interesting.”
I saw Del’s eyes dart toward Mattie and then back to me. She seemed to be apologizing for her friend, but it was fine with me. I didn’t care what Rose thought of me dating Delilah; in fact, I was a little disappointed that I had used the word friend instead of girlfriend when I introduced the two women.
“Well, I better get going. It was nice meeting you, Delilah,” Rose said kindly. “Talk to you later, Brandon, and sorry for the mishap on the account.”
“No problem,” I said. “Thanks for coming down.”
When Rose was in a cab and out of sight, I felt Del relax a little as my arm wrapped around her lower back. I squeezed her a little and kept her there next to me.
“So, this is the infamous Mattie? It’s nice to meet you officially.”
“You, too. I bet Del wasn’t planning on this happening for a very long time. She likes to keep me in the dark as long as possible and then surprise people with me.”
“Oh, um, all right,” I said, a little confused by what she was talking about.
“Mattie and I were just on our way to lunch. What are you up to?”
“Just a mix up at the bank. It’s amazing that even after so many years, they still had Rose on an account.”
“You know what? I forgot that I have to finish a report before the end of the day,” Mattie said. “I don’t think I’m going to go to lunch. Brandon, could you take Del out for me? I know she’s starving.”
Mattie looked at me and winked as she started to walk away without waiting for me to answer her. I was starting to like this girl already; she had basically forced Del into saying yes to lunch with me. Although, she probably would have agreed anyways.
“I guess you and I are going to lunch. Where were you two heading?”
“We were going for sushi.”
“Then let’s have some sushi,” I said without mentioning that I had just finished eating with Josh.
I really didn’t care if I had to stuff my face with some more food; it was nice to see Del before our Friday date. There was no pressure on us to fill a lot of time, and I knew she had to get back to work. We could just have a nice lunch together.
Del was dressed in a fabulous red skirt and a practically transparent white blouse. I could make out the outline of her lace bra and wanted to ask her if it was the one I gave her, but decided against it.
“It’s nice to see you again,” she said as she grabbed my arm tightly on our walk to the restaurant.
“You, too. I’ve been thinking about our swim all week.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, I’ve been thinking about that shower.”
“Yes, that was a very memorable shower. I think I’ll remember that for a very long time.”
Her soft skin pressed against my fingertips as I gently stroked my hand up and down her arm. The feeling of her skin and mine together seemed like two forces of nature. The more I rubbed her, the more energy my body seemed to have.
What had started as one of the most frustrating days I’d had in a very long time, had quickly turned into an invigorating date with a woman I hadn’t stopped thinking about in days. I no longer cared about the mess at the bank or the flag on my trading account. In that moment, all I cared about was seeing Del’s beautiful smile and watching her slip pieces of sushi past her lips.
Perhaps if I was lucky, I’d even manage to get an afternoon kiss out of our date. I let my hand move to the small of her back as we walked into the restaurant, and she shivered slightly at my touch.
“Wow, I like your hands on my body,” she said just before the hostess came to us. “Two please,” she told the hostess and then smiled at me.
She wasn’t going to give me a chance to respond to her comment. Instead, I was left to think about her words and how much she wanted my hands on her body again.
Chapter Eleven
Delilah
When I was around Brandon, my thoughts seemed to fly out of my mouth before I could stop them. Yes, I did like having his hands on my body, but no, I didn’t mean to blurt it out at him as we walked into the restaurant for lunch.
I really wasn’t this girl who had the confidence to say outrageous things like I seemed to do around Brandon. There was just a power I got from the connection between us. My body surged with energy, and it was like I could do and say anything I wanted.
“Would you like to hear today’s specials?” the waitress asked us.
“Yes,” I started to say.
“No, thank you,” Brandon said. “We will need a minute.”
“Take your time,” she said as she gave us both a big smile and then left us alone.
“You like my hands on your body? You can’t tell me that while we are in a restaurant; that’s just plain cruel.”
Brandon looked at me with his green eyes, and I thought he might just kiss me right there in that moment. The desire he had for me was visible and I couldn’t help but tease and play with him just a little bit.
“What? Big, bad Brandon can’t control himself inside a restaurant?” I teased.
“Oh, I can control myself just fine. I’m just worried you won’t be able to,” he said softly as he moved his chair around the table so he was sitting right next to me. “I can be very persuasive when I want to be, and you’ll be putty in my hands. You better be careful.”
His hand slid under the table and gently stroked my knee as he looked over the menu. His brilliant eyes flashed mischievously over toward me every few seconds to see if I had any reaction to his touch. It was fun to watch him as he teased me.
Boy, did I have a reaction. His fingers moved up and down just slightly toward my inner thigh. He was tracing small designs and moving in an unpredictable way, and I couldn’t think at all. I felt a rush of excitement move toward my middle as he applied a little more pressure and let his fingers make small circles slowly as he pushed my shirt up.
“You’re a rotten man,” I whispered.
“What? You can’t handle it?” he said without turning away from the menu. “I could always stop. You just need to admit that you can’t handle it, and I will gladly take my hand away. Or just ask me to stop and I’ll oblige your request.”
“No, don’t stop.”
My words seemed to fuel him as he let his fingers gently stroke the outside of my panties. My hips thrust forward slightly in an attempt to feel him more and more. I didn’t know what I was doing or why I had given in to his teasing, but it felt so good to have his hands on me and I didn’t want him to stop.
If I had had a little more confidence, I would have pulled him into a back room and had hot, public sex with h
im. But that was a little too much for me, and I already felt like everyone in the restaurant was looking at us. Although, Brandon was doing an excellent job of making his movements inconspicuous to anyone except me.
“Are you two ready to order?” the waitress asked as she stood across from us.
There was no way I could talk. It was taking all the energy I had to keep my breathing calm as he teased me. I watched her to see if she had any sign of knowing what was going on under the table, but she didn’t seem to notice at all. Her eyes looked kindly at Brandon and then over to me as she waited for one of us to answer her.
“Yes, what would you like, dear?” Brandon asked as he let one of his fingers slide under the fabric of my panties.
His finger moved softly up and down my body as I tried my best to gather enough energy to respond to the woman. He knew I wasn’t going to be able to talk and purposely put me on the spot. I vowed I would pay him back for this sometime very soon.
“Um, I’d just like some California rolls and an ice…” Oh crap. I stopped talking as his finger slid into me and I had to catch my breath. “An ice water, thank you,” I managed to say before she turned to get Brandon’s order.
Every muscle in my body tensed up as I tried not to get pleasure out of his finger moving inside of me. I looked at the table and counted the silverware, then looked up to the ceiling and counted the tiles. I couldn’t give in. I wouldn’t give in no matter what.
“Can you tell me those specials, please?” Brandon asked as he looked at the waitress, but continued to pleasure me at the same time.
He was torturing me right there in the restaurant. The longer the waitress stayed at the table, the longer I had to hold my composure. I pulled in a deep breath and reached down to hold his hand and try to prevent him from moving, but his finger was already inside of me and he continued to wiggle it in a “come-hither” motion as he listened to the day’s specials.
“I think I’ll have the California rolls, also,” he finally said when she had finished rattling off all of the specials for the day.