Finally, it was over, and the red haired woman in the red glasses spoke to her in perfect English. “You must wear this out of the store,” she said, about the final blouse and pants she’d tried on and was still wearing. “That other shirt and skirt—“ the red haired woman made a face and made a shaming gesture with her finger.
“I know, the buttons ripped off—“
The woman turned around and walked away. “Come, come,” she said, opening the door to the changing area.
Ivy walked out and Cullen was there, waiting for her. When he saw her, his eyes widened and he nodded appreciatively. Then he turned and conversed with the French woman again.
They were carrying bags to the register, and the bags were quite clearly filled with the outfits Ivy had been trying on. The employees were still folding some items and putting them in bags as the thin man rang up the clothes.
When the woman left Cullen and went up front to check on their progress, Ivy got the CEO’s attention. “What’s going on here?” she whispered.
“You don’t like the clothes?” he asked, curious and maybe a little concerned.
“No, the clothes are fine…they’re beautiful. But why are they ringing up bags and bags of them? You’re not buying all of that, are you?”
“Yes, but not for you,” he told her, his expression serious. “You’re just the model I was using.”
She felt her stomach clench and she looked down. “Oh. Well…”
“I’m joking, Ivy,” Cullen said, chuckling. “It’s all for you. Of course.”
She looked up at him, then. “That was a mean trick.”
“You were just being so silly, I couldn’t help myself.”
“I can’t accept all of that. It’s got to be thousands of dollars.”
Cullen stroked his chin. “It’s the way I like to do things,” he told her.
“So you do this all the time with your women? Is that why you know the owner so well?”
He laughed. “She’s an old friend of mine. Her husband is a doctor who I’ve known for years.”
“Oh,” Ivy said, feeling silly now.
“You need to trust me,” Cullen said. “I take you very seriously.”
She looked at him and nodded, feeling her pulse speed up. Was she falling for this man? Could she allow herself to do such a stupid thing?
“I’m just not used to any of this. Any of it.”
He nodded. “I know.” He gave her a slight smile. “But you’d better get used to it. I don’t believe in being stingy with those whom I care about.” And then he walked to the front and pulled out his wallet.
Ivy was left standing there, stunned.
Those that I care about.
Cullen just admitted that he cares. About me.
Ivy arrived back at her cubicle sometime later, feeling dazed, her head spinning from everything that had happened that afternoon.
She could hardly believe it.
Cullen had explained to her that he had an appointment when he dropped her off at the office, but he said he’d be having all her new clothes delivered to her apartment so she didn’t need to worry about lugging it all around.
And he’d apparently texted Emma Marks and let her know that Ivy had done some errands for him, and so she had an excuse for being out of pocket for so long.
When Ivy sat back down at her desk again, she felt completely overwhelmed…but in a strangely good way.
Maybe there’s some bizarre method to Cullen Sharpe’s madness. Maybe I really do need to start trusting him.
She smiled to herself, biting her lip as she remembered what he’d done to her just a few hours ago in that café bathroom. Ivy was blushing just thinking about it.
Everyone had known what they’d done—all of those customers and staff. It was enough to make her want to crawl under the desk in embarrassment.
But, on the other hand, it had been hot.
Beyond hot.
She felt her face flushing and her nipples stiffening as she remembered sucking him, taking him all the way in.
It had been intense, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted to do it again. And next time she wanted him to come in her mouth.
Besides, she thought, he admitted he cares.
He said as much.
Ivy took a deep breath and let it out. Regardless, she needed to try and get something done from her pile of work before leaving for the day.
She entered her password into her computer and then started to get back to doing data entry. It was only after about ten minutes of work that she noticed she had a new email.
Probably just some corporate mass email. Or maybe…just maybe…some quick little note from Cullen?
She smiled, imagining that. Hoping it might be something about wanting to see her again later that night.
Ivy pulled up her work email and hoped it wasn’t just some generic interoffice memo, but something directly from Cullen.
Except it wasn’t either of those things.
The email was from Xavier Montrose. At first, she thought it was a joke, maybe Cullen playing a prank on her by pretending to email her as his nemesis. Maybe he was testing her loyalty.
But once she began reading the message, Ivy knew that it wasn’t a joke at all, because Cullen would never have written such things.
Her stomach spun and she got a horribly sour taste in her mouth as she read Xavier’s words of warning.