“She said yes,” I answered. “I told her to leave all of her stuff behind and I flew her in last night. She’s at the house now.”
“What? That’s great!” He clapped me on the shoulder, his congratulations for the major step I’d taken.
“Yeah, I’m pretty psyched about it,” I said with a smile, because it was true. My dick hardened minutely of its own accord to further prove the point.
We spent the rest of the ride in polite conversation. Mason was never one to pry into my personal affairs unless Polly threatened to withhold sex if he didn’t at least try to get something out of me. I threw him a bone every now and then to keep him out of the doghouse, but he never pushed me. Today was no exception. He knew she was there, but I still hadn’t told either of them who she was.
Mason reminded me that Polly would be stopping by my house after lunch to tend to the shopping and check on the household staff. That freaked me out. Delaine and I hadn’t discussed the specifics of what story we were going to give to my acquaintances, or whether she even wanted to go by her actual name, for that matter. I knew the maids would keep their mouths shut and do their jobs, but not Polly.
I stepped off the elevator and nodded to a couple of other employees in polite greeting as I passed them on the way to my workplace suite in the west corner. Mason’s desk was set up just outside my office. All the exterior spaces had floor-to-ceiling windows, red carpets, and white walls with green accents in the décor—the same color scheme as the red lotus.
I swung open the heavy wooden door to my office and closed it behind me before rushing over to my desk and picking up the telephone to dial my own home. I had to talk to Delaine and make sure we hashed out some details before Hurricane Polly showed up. Polly would start her supersleuthing and would put two and two together, and the truth about our arrangement would be out before I’d even had the chance to get my dick wet. In hindsight, I probably should’ve had all this figured out before I decided to purchase a woman, but you know what they say about hindsight.
There was no answer at the house.
Of course there was no answer. Delaine probably didn’t feel comfortable answering my phone, but I was now beginning to sweat in my suit, imagining all the ways this could blow up in my face when Polly arrived to do her job.
In a panic, I picked up my briefcase and walked back out the door, dialing Samuel on my way past Mason’s desk and telling him to swing back around to pick me up. Mason stopped me before I could make a break for it. “Daniel called and said he’s waiting for you to let him know if you’re dropping by today,” he said, confused.
Daniel Crawford, my uncle the doctor.
“Shit, I forgot all about that. I’ll call him from my cell. Not sure what time I’ll be back, but I have to take care of some things,” I said as I pushed the door open and slipped out into the hall.
You’d think Delaine had sucked out all of my fucking brain cells last night, the way I was screwing up. Maybe she had.
And there was that damn hard-on again …
“Crawford!” David’s voice boomed from the other end of the hall, where his office suite was located, before he started making his way toward me. “What the hell is this about?”
I sighed and turned toward him, my hand already balling into a fist and ready to rebreak his nose if he started trying to push my buttons. For the most part, we were able to stay out of each other’s way, but because we were partners, it was impossible to avoid each other entirely.
“What?” I asked with my teeth clenched.
“Ten percent of what we earned last quarter was sent to charities!” He held the quarterly report out toward me as if I hadn’t already seen it.
“Yeah, so?”
“We agreed on five percent.”
“I don’t know why I bother having the same discussion about this every time I turn around, but here goes nothing,” I spat out in irritation. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with his shit right now, but then again, I never was. “With the bad economy, charities need our help more than ever right now, Stone. The huge tax write-off, not to mention the fact that a good deal of our clients sign on because of our generous charitable efforts, proves even further why donating is not only the right thing to do, but a smart thing to do. Besides, we have more than enough money to spare and you know it.”
It wasn’t until then that I noticed the employees had stopped their daily routines to watch the showdown. It wasn’t the first time, and probably wouldn’t be the last. Of course David would take full advantage of the audience.
“Then maybe you should sell some of your shares to me, and donate that money.” His ugly face smiled smugly before he turned his back on me and walked toward his end of the building.
As much as I was trying to get him to sell out to me, he was doing the same in return. Both of us were too damn stubborn to let the other one win.
His abhorrent behavior in front of our employees and the fact that I knew he didn’t really give a shit about my mother’s dream for Scarlet Lotus to pay it forward, so to speak, made me entertain the thought of knocking every one of the fucker’s teeth out of his oversized head. But I’d learned as a child that two wrongs don’t make a right, and I really was in a hurry, so I slowly counted to ten to regain my composure and forced my feet to move in the opposite direction. I’d deal with him later if need be.
I made my way to the lobby and outside and was relieved to find Samuel already waiting at the curb. Chicago rush hour traffic can be a bitch, but somehow Samuel always seemed to outmaneuver everyone else, and in a stretch limo to boot.
Lanie
Oh … my … good googly-moogly!
Never, and I do mean never, had I ever felt something so insanely pleasurable in all my life.
The wicked things that man did with his fingers and the seductive way he looked at me from under those long, lush lashes, hypnotizing me and my body into obeying his every command. The dirty things his sinful mouth said that made me feel like slapping him and riding his face all at the same time, and don’t even get me started on that tongue and the malevolent way it sang to my nipples. I swear, I think he was speaking in tongues even though not a sound was made, but I sure as hell felt it.
The man was evil incarnate, Satan’s immortal son, and I was doomed. I could feel what little religion was left in my traitorous body being sucked from my soul, turning me into a backsliding sinner. I was going to hell, and I really hoped his fingers met me at the gate.