Ring, ring… My work phone ringing makes me jump and drags me back in to the present moment. Ring, ring… Perhaps Latesha realizes that this isn’t the time or place for any chat. Ring, ring… I need to get my head back in the game, to focus on the company. Me and her can sort things out later on.

  ***

  Everyone begins to filter out and I know that I should do as well, but I can’t just yet. I have already spoken to my mother and asked if she can have Amelia a little later tonight to give me some more time which she is happy about, so I need to confront what’s going on Right here, right now. I know that I’m not paranoid now, I’m sure that I am on the right path with my fears because not only has Latesha ignored me all day long, when she has been forced to speak to me for work purposes, she has been cold and distant. I have upset her.

  “Can I have a word?” I ask her quietly just before she leaves. “Do you mind? Just a moment.”

  “Erm, sure.” She doesn’t look like she wants anything to do with me now which upsets me. This has to be my fault, doesn’t it? There isn’t any other explanation for why she would suddenly turn her back on me like this. I’m going to have to get to the bottom of this for work purposes as well as our personal connection. Whatever that may be. “Do you need me to bring my calendar or anything like that? Is this work related?”

  “No, just you will be fine. This will only take a moment.” I sound so awkward and stiff.

  She walks in to my office and takes a seat, but as she stares at me her arms folded across her chest to keep herself away from me. I can feel the coldness rolling off her in waves and it makes me deathly anxious.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask with a tremble in my voice. “You seem a little off with me today?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” She shrugs one shoulder at me. “After last night. You just walked out on me like it was nothing.” Uh oh, I can feel the volcano about to erupt. I don’t know why, but I’m sure that I deserve it. “You didn’t even stick around to talk to me after we hooked up. You just kinda zipped your trousers up and went. I don’t know how you normally treat the women in your life, but I know my worth and I am more than a whore.”

  “Oh my God.” I let out a shocked gasp. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to treat you like that. I didn’t think…”

  “It’s customary to be kind to women who you have had anything with. I don’t get why you would just say goodbye and leave. I honestly sat here for a while really feeling like shit about it all.”

  I rake my fingers through my hair, hating how rusty I have become. Of course, I should have treated her better, that’s just common sense. I honestly want to punch myself. No wonder Latesha hasn’t been able to look at me all day. I don’t think that I will be able to look at myself any time soon either.

  “Sorry, I…” I don’t have any excuse for my behavior. Nothing I can share anyway. I can’t make her understand, can I? Because I have kept my private life so private from everyone else. This isn’t the time for me to pop that I actually have a daughter waiting for me at home and she needs me home. “I’m sorry.”

  “I thought you were smooth, Zack,” she tells me with a curiosity lacing her tone. “I assumed that you were a play boy, but how you acted last night makes me think that you don’t have any experience with women at all.”

  “Huh, that might be more the truth.” I might as well be humble and as honest as I can be without revealing all. “I don’t know why you would assume that I’m a play boy because that isn’t me at all…”

  “That’s curious.” Latesha cocks her head to one side and stares at me with awe. Her arms un fold and she loosens up thank goodness. I much prefer the warmth from this woman because the cold is hard to take. “I guess there is a lot that I don’t know about you, Mr. Ward. There is a lot still to learn.”

  As the warmth comes, so does a wave of seduction, sucking me in and making my head spin. She is lust personified, sex on legs, and I would love nothing more than to take her up against my desk and to fuck her hard… but I don’t think more random sex is the best way for me to apologize for my behavior.

  Plus, that will put me in a vulnerable situation, and the strange way that she has me feeling right now means I could easily spill everything. I keep my professional and private life separate. Maybe I can find a compartment for a romantic life as well… I know that it’s dangerous to add something else in to the mix, it could unbalance me in a heartbeat, but there is something about the way that Latesha is looking at me through her eye lashes which makes me want to try. Giving it a go can’t hurt, surely? Especially when she makes me feel a way that I haven’t before. I’m pretty sure that this is even different to the early days with Karen. This is better.

  “Let me take you out for a drink,” I offer with a smile. “I clearly have a lot to make up for, so let me start right now. There is a nice bar just around the corner. We could go and have a chat.”

  “Ah, that sounds nice.” Her grin stretches from ear to ear. “That way I might be able to peel back some of your onion layers. I might get to know the big bad boss man who isn’t a play boy after all.”

  I have already asked Mom for more time and I know that she will be happy with Amelia, so I can have this separate compartment. Even if it’s just for now. I hold out my arm to her and she links her arm through it so we can head to the bar together. Sure, the whole boss and employee line is a dangerous one, but the electricity darting and shooting through my body at her mere touch convinces me that this is going to be a good idea. Or fun anyway.

  It’s been a long time since I have had a good time, so why the hell not?

  “So, I guess I don’t need to ask you how many women you have brought to this bar then?” she asks with a chuckle. “Since you aren’t exactly used to dating around. Wow, that’s going to take some getting used to…”

  “You are the first one,” I tell her honestly. “I have only ever been with friends before.”

  Up until yesterday, me and Latesha only ever had a professional relationship. I don’t have anyone that I consider a friend at work… but I’m easily slipping in to the friendly vibe with Latesha. She’s much easier to ever get on with than I have ever imagined. I feel like I can be myself around her… or a portion of myself anyway which is really nice. I can open myself up a tiny bit and let someone else in.

  Would Amelia like her? God, that thought comes from nowhere. It shocks me how hard it hits me. Of course, I’m not actually considering introducing this woman to my daughter, that would be wild. I can’t bring anyone else in to our family until the past is resolved and we are all able to handle it, but deep down in the depths of my brain, I can imagine them getting on well. To me, Latesha is the sort of woman who Amelia would like…

  God, I’m getting ahead of myself, acting soppy and wild. I really need to get a grip of myself before I end up ruining this by doing something stupid. This is just a drink, just a spontaneous date, nothing to get carried away with. I just need to make up for my shitty behavior last night, to show Latesha that I am not the worst person in the world. Anything else can potentially come afterwards. One step at a time or I will end up inadvertently doing something hurtful all over again. I need to be on top form so Latesha forgives me.

  “So, this is it?” Latesha slides in to the warm and welcoming bar with ease. “This is the bar?”

  She shoots me a confident wink and heads over to the corner of the room to take the table there while I head to the bar to buy us both a drink. I find myself an excitement coursing through my body as I wait for the bar maid to pour us our liquids. For the first time in a very long time, it feels like anything is possible…

  Chapter 7 – Latesha

  Last night when I finally managed to drag my sorry ass out of the office, I went back to my apartment and with the help of Tracey I applied for a million and one other jobs. Anything similar to what I do now and even some things that I’m not even slightly qualified for, just on the off chance that someone would give me the opportunity to get the hell out of the mess that I had created for myself because I was determined to go.

  As far as I was concerned, I wasn’t going to continue working with a man who could treat me so coldly. I knew that I would have to stay for a while because I can’t have no job, but I didn’t think that it would be long.

  But now, I don’t want to go anywhere else in the world. Now, I want to stay with Zack, to see where this might lead. I didn’t even consider the idea that he might just not be good with women. He doesn’t seem the type to struggle around females. He’s so hot that I just thought he had to be smooth, but that isn’t the case.

  It makes me like him even more, knowing that he isn’t this player. It makes me want to get to know more about him because I’m even more convinced that we could have something special. It might have started with sheer sexual chemistry, but I really think that it might become so much more and that thrills me.

  As he hands me a glass of wine and he sits opposite me with his own drink, the fission of excitement bursting and darting through my veins is nearly overwhelming. This is so much fun, I am over the moon.

  “So, Mr. Ward,” I declare with a sing song tone of voice. “It’s nice to see you out of the office.”

  “It’s good to see you out of the office as well,” he declares with a new seductive tone to his voice. “You look good. Not saying that you don’t look awesome in the office as well because you always do.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that you ever noticed me,” I reply, unable to hide my shock. “But thank you.”

  “How could I not notice you, Latesha Aston? You draw attention wherever you go.”

  Oh my God, I’m starting to think that this might have always been a two-way thing. I have always lived under the assumption that I have adored him from afar and that my flirting has always been ignored, but maybe he simply wanted to remain professional because he didn’t want to cross that barrier. My video broke down those barriers and made it impossible for him to keep away from me any longer. Thank goodness.

  I extend my leg out and gently rub it against his, letting him know with my body how much I like him. He smiles and responds by leaning closer to me, allowing me to deeply breathe him in. I half wonder if this is the moment where he finally comes in for the first kiss of the night, the kiss that will seal the deal and ensure that we are more of a fling than a one-night stand. That’s exactly what I want. I need that confirmation.

  Bleep, bleep. But then the magic of the moment is shattered by his cell phone blurting out. Bleep, bleep.

  Zack leans back so I do the same thing. I can’t get irritated because I’m sure that I would be distracted by a message coming through on my cell phone as well. I always like to check anything that happens on my cell phone immediately, so I don’t miss out… I just never thought about how disconnected that made me from the real world before, but now it’s hitting me hard in the face. Watching Zack switch off from me completely when things were so good between us just a moment before is really challenging. I don’t know how to handle it.

  I grab my drink and glug it back, hoping that we can just be me and him again soon enough. Zack reads what is in front of him and types back a message, all while ignoring my existence completely. I’m sure that once up on a time, this sort of behavior would have been considered incredibly rude. Not now though.

  “Sorry about that.” He rests his phone on the table beside him. “So, what were we talking about?”

  I smile through my annoyance because I am determined not to lose more time with this man. “I can’t remember now,” I declare instead. “But I think you were telling me more about yourself…”

  The conversation flows much more easily than I was expecting. It’s almost as if me and Zack have always been friends rather than boss and employee, the dynamic is really easy going and I love it. Although Zack’s cell phone does continue to bleep out every so often and he always looks at it and replies. There is never any consideration of me, which over time starts to over shadow all the goodness that tonight has brought.

  I know that he clearly isn’t great with women, but this is just common decency. If I don’t even deserve him to give me a little bit of his time, then perhaps the rest of it doesn’t matter. The intense sexual chemistry between us, the way that we clearly get on well when he is giving me his attention, the length of time for which I have liked him… none of that means I have to take him being rude to me.

  “I’m leaving.” I scrape my chair back once I have finished my wine, which finally drags his face out of his phone screen. “Watching you texting someone else all night long isn’t my idea of fun. You have brought me a drink now and made up for the way that you treated me last night, but we are done here…”

  “Wait.” Zack grabs on to my arm to try and hold me in place, but I shake him off. “Latesha.”

  “No.” I shake my head hard, fighting back tears. “No, Zack, I am going now.”

  As I tear off out of the bar, I am overwhelmed with the sense that I’m not good enough for Zack and that’s why he couldn’t give me his attention. Because I’m not enough. His words might have told me that I’m good enough because apparently, he’s always noticing me even when it doesn’t seem like it, but I don’t feel it now. Whatever was happening on his cell phone took precedence over me, which makes me feel like shit.

  “Latesha.” Before I can fully escape, Zack is back by my side. “Wait, let me explain…”

  “I don’t want your explanation now.” I shake him off. “I wanted your focus before, and I didn’t have it.”

  “I’m sorry, that was rude. I keep acting badly, don’t I? I can’t ever seem to get it right…”

  “Don’t use your lack of experience with women as an excuse,” I spit out. “Because this is just common decency. I deserve to be treated like I am there when I’m with you. Not second best to your cell phone.”

  I try to get away again, but Zack gets hold of me and this time I find him too hard to resist. He tugs me with him in to a dark alley way so small that we are pretty much pressed up next to one another, breathing one another in. I can feel the air coming from his lungs, washing all over my skin, tickling me all over…

  “What do you want?” I hiss in a whisper. “You want me to forgive you? Fine, I do. But that doesn’t mean you can continue to treat me like shit. I won’t have it, Zack. Like I said to you, I deserve more.”

  The next thing that happens stuns me to the core, but somehow in the best way ever. His lips have crashed against mine and his hands are knotted up in my hair, the anger that flooded between us has dissipated and transformed in to wonderful, phenomenal passion instead. I should hate him still, all of the issues that we share haven’t gone anywhere, but instead I find myself rolling against him, my hips grinding in to him, needing him desperately. My rational thoughts have switched off completely and I’m a slave to the sensations he has careering through my system, which is only made worse has his eager fingers cup my breasts and tweak my nipples.

  “Shit, Zack.” I toss my head back as Zack’s lips move off mine and move to my cheeks, my exposed throat, my collar bone. Everywhere he brushes over my skin he leaves electrical buzzing sensations behind. That’s just what his lips are doing to me, never mind his fingers which are grazing all over me, now tucking under my top to brush over the hyper sensitive skin of my torso. “Oh my God,” I groan. “What are you doing to me?”

  I slide my eyes closed and block the rest of the world out, while Zack finds the waist band of my lacy French knickers and he plays with it. He must know that I need his fingers to dive inside, whether we are in public or not, but he’s taunting me, tantalizingly teasing me until I can’t handle it any longer.

  “I want you, Zack,” I whisper, not caring how desperate and needy I sound. “I need you.”

  “You do, huh?” He sounds smug and pleased as he lightly strokes my line of public hair. “How bad?”

  “Oh, fuck. You have no idea how bad.” I grab his shirt, wishing I could feel the muscles underneath. “So bad.”

  “Oh yeah?” I writhe, trying to edge his fingers downwards faster, but Zack won’t be controlled. He has total power over me, and he demands when this is going to happen. But ever so slowly, he reaches my soaking wet slit, my eager core, my throbbing clit which is utterly desperate to be claimed by him.

  “Fuck, you feel good,” he moans with his face buried in my neck. “So wet, so needy.”

  He sounds like he’s in ecstasy as he finally plunges those gorgeous velvety fingers of his deep inside of me. He fucks me with his hand, thrusting and burying himself in to me, giving me exactly what I need. I can’t stop the guttural cries that fly out of my chest as he makes me see stars, it doesn’t even matter that I should be quiet so we don’t get caught, I’m completely lost in the bubble of desire surrounding me and Zack Ward. It’s just me and him, no one else matters, nothing else exists, only the pleasure in my veins.

  “Holy shit.” Then he circles his thumb around my clit in the most incredible feeling pattern I have ever known. Combined with his fingers plunging in to me, I am losing it already. I am on the knife edge of desire, the pressure of pleasure building, the orgasm slowly creeping up on me, ready to eat me up whole…

  And then it shatters through me. It hits me so hard it hurts. I buck and writhe, Zack has to keep hold of me to stop me slamming against him as the bliss jolts my system. His fingers, his hands, his lips, he has every part of me, I finally have every inch of him as well, and it feels better than I ever could have imagined.

  Fucking hell, Zack Ward’s fingers feel even better than I fantasized they would. As I gasp and pant through the post orgasmic bliss, leaning all of my weight against him, I wonder what it will be like if I ever get to fuck him for real. I know that his cock is massive, I’m sure it’ll feel good, I can’t wait to find out.

  Chapter 8 – Zack

  Ring, ring… Ring, ring… Ring, ring…