Misguided Heart

Nine

Aston

The week leading up to the wedding was a slow, mundane week. Sloan and I had talked on the phone at least a dozen times, and he even stayed late at work with me on two different occasions to help me get caught up on my work. I spent almost every moment of everyday, hoping and praying that he wouldn’t cancel as my date and was still as interested as he had been on our date. My morning ritual had turned into leaving about a half hour early for work to meet Sloan at the Starbucks on the corner by our office. We would spend exactly twenty-five minutes catching up and sipping our lattes. I would always leave first and reach my office approximately five minutes before he would emerge from the elevators. It all seemed complicated really, but I was happy with how things were going so there was no need to push the boundaries.

The last two days before the wedding turned into mayhem. I had a deadline due and an indecisive author who refused to submit the final drafts of his last two chapters. I swear sometimes authors were worse than actors, and I had worked with my fair share of actors turned authors. Eventually, I would get him to cave and his final chapters would be set in stone. I always win. He didn’t stand a chance. I simply couldn’t wait another day for this week to be over.

Friday morning Sloan had called and cancelled our daily morning coffee. He supposedly had an early conference call he had to be on. I was taken back by his odd behavior, but who was I to question him? I decided last minute to go anyway and get my latte I so adored. As I pushed through the metal doors into Starbucks, I suddenly had an overwhelmingly bad taste in my mouth. Oh god, please don’t let me get sick with one day to go before my ex-fiancé’s wedding.

I walked up to the counter slowly and before I could open my mouth to speak, I turned and ran for the bathroom. I spent the next ten minutes throwing up into the shiny porcelain bowl. I emerged from the stall and smoothed down my skirt and refastened my ponytail. I rinsed my mouth out at least a dozen times, and then headed back out to order my coffee, sans throwing up this time.

Twenty minutes later, I was making my way to my office when Sloan waved me into his office down the hall. I took a deep breath, stood up straight and popped an Altoid into my mouth. I dropped off my latte and purse on Annie’s desk as I moved my feet as quickly as they would allow this morning. I reached his office a moment later and closed the door behind me.

“Good morning beautiful.” He chimed.

“Morning Sloan, how did your conference call go this morning?” I tried not to roll my eyes.

“It went well actually, thanks for asking.” He was being extremely vague.

“Good. So was there a reason you asked me into your office?” I asked sarcastically.

“Of course. I was just wondering if you wanted to get a hotel room tonight and tomorrow night? I just figure we wouldn’t have to rush to the wedding if we were closer and I’m sure the reception will last well past midnight.” He glanced up at me from his desk.

I wasn’t sure how to answer the question properly. We hadn’t stayed the night with each other yet and this all felt like it was moving fast. But then I thought about all those glorious muscles just bursting to be seen, by me.

“Um, well, I don’t know what I would do with Bugsy for two nights.” I was lying of course, my neighbor was always more than happy to babysit my dog.

“I can always hire someone to go over and feed him.” He suggested.

SHIT!

Well, that didn’t work. “You know, Sloan, I would be okay with Saturday night but probably not tonight.” Why was I being so standoffish? It was pretty obvious how much I wanted to be alone with him.

“Oh okay, well then, I guess I will pick you up around three o’clock tomorrow afternoon.” He began messing around on his computer and I knew our conversation was over.

I stood up and walked out of his office without saying good-bye. Why was I pushing him away? I had a gorgeous man right in front of me, wanting to spend two nights with me and I was pushing him in the opposite direction, right out the door. I definitely had issues. I ran my fingers through the end of my ponytail as I made my way back to my office. Annie smiled up at me from her computer but I was too distracted to reciprocate the gesture. I slammed the door to my office and immediately dialed Shelby’s number.

“This is Shelby.” Her voice rang.

“I mean seriously am I just completely stupid and idiotic?” I screamed into the receiver.

“Okay, now tell me what happened so we can divide and conquer. And, hello to you too.” She giggled.

“It’s not funny Shelby. Sloan just called me into his office to invite me to stay the night with him at a hotel tonight and tomorrow after the wedding. What did I do you ask? Well, I proceed to tell him that I didn’t have anyone to watch my dog, but tomorrow night I could make it work. I mean seriously, what is wrong with me?” I let out a sigh.

“Oh honey, what is wrong with you? He is amazing looking and he wants to spend two nights with you? Why did you say no?” She asked. “Hell, I’ll take your place.” She let out a loud laugh. Loud enough that I had to pull the receiver away from my ear if I still wanted an eardrum later.

I thought about it for half a second before I finally figured it out. “I think I’m holding out hope that this whole wedding debacle won’t actually happen.” I slapped myself in the forehead.

“No...you...are...not! You are going to let this wedding happen and you are not going to say anything to anyone. You need to go tell Sloan that you changed your mind and you are going to have a great time, with SLOAN. Why would you even want Nole back in the first place? He is poison.” I could hear the anger in her voice.

“I don’t want him back Shelby. I just hate that I fixed him up right for some other woman to reap the rewards. I’m going to go talk to Sloan, you’re right. I’ll call you later, love you.” I slammed the receiver down and made my way back to Sloan’s office.

His door was open, so I all but invited myself in. “Hey, I’m really sorry to just barge in unannounced, but I changed my mind. I want to spend tonight and tomorrow night with you. That is, if you still want to. I think I just got scared. I’m sorry.” I looked right at him as he stood up and made his way towards me. I slowly started backing up, not being able to judge the intensity in his eyes. He reached behind me and closed the door, and then bent me back and laid a great kiss, right on my lips.

“I’m glad you changed your mind.” He said as he opened the door and gently shooed me away.

I walked back to my office in a daze. Did that just really happen? He was an amazing kisser. If he did other things the way he kissed, I was in deep trouble. I was left longing for more and I can almost bet that was his plan all along. The day dragged on slower than usual. I needed to make sure that I had all the right materials to bring with me on my overnight weekend with Sloan, so I left work about an hour early. I stopped by Victoria Secret and bought a matching navy lace bra and panty set. I hurried home and began packing everything I thought I would need. As I mentally checked things off of my list, I realized that I hadn’t even asked my neighbor to watch Bugsy yet. I quickly ran out the front door and next door to ask Molly if she would mind. She kindly obliged and I quickly ran back home to finish packing.