Ruthless

by Deborah Bladon

She holds me tight and whispers the words she always does when we say goodbye. “Look both ways before you cross the street, my sweet Dolly.”

  ***

  “I’ll come in for a glass of water, and then I’m heading out.” Max exits the elevator first, leading the way down the corridor toward my apartment. “I’m stuck doing inventory this week, so I’m going back to the store.”

  I walk quickly to keep up with him. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’ll change and go with you.”

  He spins on his heel to face me. “You don’t have to do that. I can handle it on my own.”

  “I’m going with you.” I march past him. “Let me throw on a pair of yoga pants, and a T-shirt and we’ll head back uptown.”

  I hear his footsteps behind me as I reach the door to my apartment. It’s slightly ajar. Voices seep out from inside.

  I recognize my sister’s husky tone, but there’s something about that other voice. Why does it sound so familiar to me?

  Pushing open the door, I face the man having a random conversation with Gina about the weather.

  “Hot boss is here,” Max drawls from behind me.

  The sound of his voice lures Barrett’s gaze to us. Gina’s follows. With a wink, she tosses me a knowing smile. “Bella, look who dropped in to see you.”

  Chapter 28

  Bella

  “Why are you here?”

  It’s not the best way to greet your boss, but the words tumble out of my mouth because I’m in shock. My apartment is my safe place. I come here after work to unwind and hide from the stress of my day.

  Duke hasn’t been here. I would never have invited him because I cherish my personal space, but apparently, Barrett Adler doesn’t understand boundaries and the fact that I’m not tied to him twenty-four seven. Wait. Maybe I am considering the size of my paycheck.

  Gina taps me on my shoulder. “Manners, young lady.”

  It’s one of our mom’s favorite sayings. We throw it at each other every chance we get. This time I don’t find it funny.

  “Your boss is here to see you,” Gina announces from beside me. “Why don’t you invite him to sit down?”

  I turn to make a face at her. It’s my shut-the-hell-up-Gina look, but she’s gone in for a hug from my best friend.

  I hear Max whispering to her about the black jumpsuit and boots she’s wearing.

  “Isabella?” Barrett’s hand lands on my forearm. “The pens you ordered this afternoon arrived at the office.”

  What? He came to my apartment to tell me that the shopping site lived up to their promise of same-day delivery?

  He’s still wearing the jeans, black sweater, and suit jacket he was earlier. It looks like he rushed over to give me the good news.

  “That’s great,” I reply because what am I supposed to say.

  “I brought the other item you ordered over.”

  My brow knits in confusion as I drop my gaze to his hand and the brown paper shopping bag in it. I recognize the logo on the bag. It’s from the deli a block from the office. I order lunch from there at least once a week. I noticed an empty bag on the foyer table in Barrett’s penthouse, so I assumed he took my lead and tried the pastrami on rye for himself.

  I lean forward to try and peer in the bag, but he’s gripping the twine handles so tightly in his fist that I can’t see what’s inside.

  A pat on my shoulder lures my attention away from the bag.

  I turn to see Max staring at me. “You haven’t introduced me to this handsome man yet.”

  The emphasis on the word handsome doesn’t get lost on me, or Barrett. When I glance at him, his lips are twitching in a suppressed smile.

  With anxiety twisting my stomach in a tight knot, I give Max my best not-now-Max look, but it has as much impact as the look I shot my sister earlier.

  “I’m Max Polley. I’m Bella’s best friend.” Max pushes me aside to approach Barrett.

  Barrett extends a hand to Max. “Barrett Adler. It’s good to meet you.”

  “Bella has told me a lot about you,” Max says, giving Barrett’s hand a shake that lasts two seconds too long.

  I sigh. “I haven’t.”

  Barrett’s gaze drops to my face. “What exactly has Isabella told you about me?”

  “Isabella,” Max repeats in his best swoony voice. “I tried to call her that when we were kids but she kicked me in the knee. How times have changed.”

  Needing this to be over, I grab Barrett’s attention again. “I told Max I had a new boss. That’s the extent of our conversation about you.”

  “No, it’s not,” Max jumps in. “She said that you…”

  “What’s in the bag?” I interrupt because I want Barrett out of here.

  The walls feel like they’re closing in on me, even though the apartment is spacious. We’re all gathered in the foyer. Barrett keeps stealing glances at the living room. It’s decorated in an array of oversized navy and gray furniture pieces that were given to Gina by a company in New Jersey in exchange for an online shout-out to her millions of followers.

  I’m not inviting him to take a seat so he can get comfortable. I want him to go, but first I need to know what the hell is in that bag since I didn’t order anything but the black ink pens.

  Barrett’s gaze slides over my sister and Max before it lands back on me. “I need to speak with you privately.”

  “We’re leaving.” Gina turns her attention to Max. “’I’m on my way to a boutique in Tribeca for a clothing line launch party. If you’re headed home we can ride the subway together.”

  “I’m going to that party with you.” He scoops her hand in his. “Consider me your plus one.”

  This time I turn to both of them and say what I want, instead of tossing them warning looks that fly right over their heads. “Don’t go yet.”

  Max leans forward to plant a kiss on my cheek. “I know we had a date to count sneakers, but I can’t turn down a launch party with this beauty.”

  Gina flicks her long brown hair over her shoulder. “I’ll be back before midnight, but I can crash at Max’s place if you want the apartment to yourself tonight.”

  They giggle in unison.

  “It was good to meet you, Barrett,” Gina says, reaching for the doorknob.

  “I’ll second that,” Max chimes in.

  Just as they’re walking out the door, Barrett calls after them. “Enjoy your evening.”

  I shut the door behind them before I turn to face him. I’ll clear this up quickly so he can leave and I can breathe again. “I only ordered pens today. If something else was shipped with them, it’s the store’s mistake. I’ll return it tomorrow and have the amount credited back to Garent’s account.”

  He runs his fingers along his jawline. “I called the customer service number listed on the packing slip after I opened the box. They assured me that there were two items in the cart when you placed the order. The box of pens and this.”

  Before I can ask what the second item is, he reaches into the brown bag and yanks out a rectangular box.

  Oh my God.

  There is a vibrator in my boss’s hand.

  Chapter 29

  Barrett

  I could have handled this tomorrow in the office. I probably should have, but I’m not a man who puts off an important conversation. Besides, curiosity brought me to Isabella’s apartment. I wanted to see where my executive assistant spends her nights.

  Meeting her sister and her best friend was a bonus. Max Polley seems like a good guy. Gina is just as I imagined she’d be. She’s attractive but in a much different way than Isabella is.

  Gina is pretty. Isabella is the type of beautiful that graces this earth once in a lifetime.

  At the moment, her skin is flushed pink, and her blue eyes are wide. I shocked the hell out of her when I pulled the vibrator out of the bag.

  The box was delivered no more than five minutes after she left the office for the day. I set it on her desk but decided to pry it open to see how many pens she’d or
dered. I laughed out loud when I saw it was two hundred. I expected ten, maybe twenty, but Isabella saw fit to go for the best deal.

  The laughter went up a notch when I noticed the other item in the box.

  I ordered take-out from a deli near the office and sat down to debate what the fuck to do. By the time I swallowed the last bite of food, I had formulated the ingenious plan to swing by here to deliver the vibrator to my executive assistant.

  Not a squeak has left her pouty lips since I showed her what’s in my hand, so I clear my throat. “You did order this, didn’t you?”

  I’ve cornered her. We both know she ordered the damn thing. My question is why charge it to the company? She knows better. I don’t give a shit about the money. I’ll bury the small amount under entertainment expenses, but I’d like to understand how this made sense to her.

  Her bottom lip trembles and for a split second I think she might start crying. I don’t know her well, but that seems out of character. Isabella has proven that she can go toe-to-toe with me. I can’t imagine her crumbling under the weight of embarrassment.

  She sucks in a deep breath and manages a small smile. “It’s a funny story.”

  I hold back a chuckle. Still holding the vibrator, I lean my shoulder against the foyer wall. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

  Her gaze darts to the living area before it lands back on my face. “Do you want to sit down?”

  That’s an invitation I didn’t expect. Pushing the box at her, I nod. “You take this, and I’ll take a seat.”

  ***

  After handing me a glass of cold water, Isabella settles into an armchair that faces the gray couch I’m sitting on. The apartment’s décor looks like it jumped off the pages of a magazine. It’s got a much more welcoming feel than the penthouse I’m learning to call home.

  Emptying the tall glass in one large swallow, I place it on the distressed wood coffee table and wait for her to start talking.

  Anxiously picking at the nail polish on her thumb, she keeps her gaze pinned to her lap. I watch as her lips move silently as if she’s rehearsing what she’s about to say.

  “It was a mistake,” she blurts out. “I put that in my shopping cart a couple of weeks ago because mine is wearing out.”

  She wore out a vibrator?

  A fleeting image of her in my lap riding my cock with abandon flashes in front of me. I choke it back with a cough. “What did you just say?”

  “Nothing.” She taps the middle of her forehead with her index finger. “I thought I put that item in the shopping cart in my personal account, but obviously, I was mistaken. I must have been logged into the Garent Industries account when I did that.”

  It’s an innocent mistake, but I let her go on because she’s still drilling away at that nail polish.

  “Right before Duke left, he told me to work at home for a day, so I brought my office laptop here.” She sighs. “That was the day I was looking for a new… anyways, I added it to my cart so I could think about it. When I went to order the pens today, I didn’t check the cart. That was my mistake. I’ll return the fun and done tomorrow.”

  I huff out a laugh. “Fun and done?”

  Her eyes widen with the realization that she let those words slip out. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “You call that,” I pause to jerk a thumb over my shoulder at the box sitting on her foyer table. “You call it a fun and done?”

  I have to admit I’ve heard a host of names batted around for vibrators, but this is the first time I’ve heard anyone call one that.

  She crosses her legs and then uncrosses them. “That’s what it is. I have fun with it, and then it’s done, and I put it away.”

  I give her credit for not buckling during this conversation. She’s held her own, even looking me straight in the eye when she delivered the answer to my last question.

  We’re stepping dangerously close to a line that I can’t cross. I want to tell her to trash the thing and show me the way to her bedroom. She’s doesn’t need anything between her legs but me.

  “I’ll return it first thing in the morning.” Rising to her feet, she looks toward the foyer. “If that’s all, I’ll show you to the door.”

  I can see the fucking door from where I’m sitting, but I take the hint and stand. Buttoning my suit jacket, I look her over.

  This woman shouldn’t be so pent up with sexual energy that she has to resort to a toy so often that she wears the damn thing out. She can go at me all night and into next week if she wants.

  My cock hardens against the inside of my jeans. That’s my cue to take off. “I’ll see you in the morning, Isabella.”

  She leads the way to the door, her ass swaying with each step she takes. The need inside of me only grows. I’m going to have to go home and stroke one out to the thought of her. I’ve done that too many times to count since she started working for me.

  Looking up at me, the gray flecks dance inside her blue irises. “I’m sorry, Mr. Adler. Can we forget this ever happened?”

  “Barrett,” I correct her as I lean down. “I want you to call me Barrett.”

  “Barrett,” she repeats in a hushed whisper. “I’ll send it back tomorrow, and we’ll never speak of it again? You won’t mention it to anyone?”

  She wants my reassurance that I won’t tell Ivan, so I give her that and more. “Consider this our secret.”

  Her lips curve into a smile. “Maybe you’re not so bad after all.”

  “Maybe I’m not.” My gaze roams her face, following the curve of her neck until I reach the valley between her full breasts. When I look back into her eyes, there’s a question there waiting to be asked. “Is there anything else we should talk about, Isabella?”

  With the softest touch of her hand to the center of her chest, she shakes her head. “There’s nothing else. Goodnight.”

  Caught in her spell, I somehow make me way out of her apartment and into the elevator. When the doors slide shut, I let out a deep exhale. “You’re fucked, Adler. You are so fucked.”

  Chapter 30

  Bella

  I should be proud of myself for the way I handled things last night, but I’m too tired to feel anything but numb. I finally gave up trying to sleep shortly after five this morning. I could hear Gina softly snoring behind her bedroom door, so I quietly showered, dried my hair, and applied my makeup.

  I put on a pair of black pants and a light pink sleeveless blouse. It’s not my best look, but with the cute white fitted blazer I slid on over the blouse, it’s presentable enough for a day in the office.

  After Barrett left my apartment last night, I paced the floor for over an hour thinking about what we talked about.

  I was tempted to run out the door to another state to start a new life when he showed me the vibrator, but I made a promise to myself when I was nineteen that I’d never be ashamed of my sexuality.

  I’m a woman. I like sex. I prefer it if it involves a man. That’s not always possible, so I take care of myself if I need to.

  I refused to let the situation overwhelm me. I owned my mistake. It’s an error I plan on fixing as soon as I get to the office. That’s why I tucked the vibrator box in my oversized red purse last night. It’s going right back where it came from. I’ll reorder it when I’m logged into my personal account.

  My biggest hope for today is that there’s no added tension between my boss and me because of last night. He promised that it would be our little secret, and I trust his word. Time will tell if that’s a smart move on my part or not.

  I breeze through the lobby of the Garent Industries building, heading straight for the elevator. My purse is slung over my shoulder, and I have a large coffee from Palla on Fifth in my hand.

  I stopped in there at seven-fifteen. When Palla offered me the larger cup, I took it without question. I’ll need the extra boost of caffeine to get through my longer-than-usual day.

  I could have hung out at home, but I have work I can do. I’ll answer my early morning em
ails until Barrett shows up to give me the day’s itinerary.

  As soon as I arrive on my floor, I know that Barrett has beaten me to the office. His deep voice carries through the space, booming against the walls.

  I take a step off the elevator and freeze. The doors slide shut behind me before it races to another floor.

  “You don’t get it, do you?” Barrett’s voice snaps through the silence. “I’m going to see her whether you like it or not. You can’t dictate who she has a relationship with.”

  I can’t string anything together with those bare-bones pieces of information, so I move closer to his office door, being careful to stay out of his view.

  “I know you’re her father.” He laughs, but it’s not joyful, it’s filled with spite. “She’s an adult. Any control you had over her ended years ago.”

  Whoever she is, she’s damn lucky to have him fighting so hard to be with her.

  “This discussion is over.”

  I inch back toward the corridor that leads to the washroom. I’ll duck in there if need be. I don’t want him to know that I was listening to a private call.

  “Let her live her damn life.” His voice cracks. “Isn’t it time you let her choose?”

  I hear a muted curse followed by footsteps.

  Before he’s out of his office, I’m in the ladies’ room with the door slightly ajar, listening to the tap of his shoe against the concrete floor as he waits for the elevator.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later Barrett strolls off of the elevator with a large cup from Palla on Fifth in his hand and a smirk on his face.

  He’s dressed impeccably today in a light gray suit, a white shirt, and a dark blue tie. The man has excellent taste in clothing and coffee.

  “You’re here early,” he remarks as he nears my desk. “You must have snuck in when I went to get a coffee.”

  Sure. That’s it.