I was speechless. I would have loved to say that she had zero effect on me whatsoever, but that would be a bold-faced lie. At least one part of me was really excited to see her, in fact too excited to hide.
Fuck. My easily aroused state must have been some kind of condition I needed to have looked into at some point. She noticed, and once seen, it was hard to unsee.
“Missed me?” she purred.
In spite of my traitorous body’s arousal, my brain wasn’t impressed. “I made it exceedingly clear that we aren’t doing this anymore.” I was having trouble keeping my anger below the surface.
She stood in all her naked glory. “I thought I’d surprise you.”
“How did you get past Sandra? She’s pretty much Fort Knox.”
“It was easy. I don’t think anyone told your prison warden that I was no longer coming.” She slunk over to me, her eyes blazing with lust. “If you really didn’t want to see me again, one would think that would have been the first thing you’d done.”
“I told her to call me if you came to the office, so either someone wasn’t doing their job, or someone is lying.” I had a pretty solid bet which it was.
She sighed dramatically. “Fine, I waited till she left her desk for the copy machine.”
“I need you to leave, I have work to do.” I went to my desk and booted my laptop, trying to not even think about what Caitlyn would do if she ever learned about this.
She followed me to the chair and leaned down to press her lips to my ear. “You don’t want to do your work; you want me. It’s been too long.”
When her hand moved to my crotch, I batted it away. “I’m exclusive with Caitlyn, so I’m not interested in anything casual anymore.”
“Great, you’ve conquered your conquest.” Her hand went back to my fly. “Now you can fuck me.”
I stood up, ready to toss her out of my office when the phone rang. At first, I thought it might be Sandra before realizing my door was still open.
I grabbed Rachel’s wrists, holding them both in front of me. “Stop, get dressed, and leave.” I was pissed.
Instead of doing what I asked, Rachel sank to her knees. “Just a little lovin’ first. Let me make you feel good.”
“Are you completely out of your mind? The fucking door is open and you’re totally fucking naked.” I tried to yank her up, but she went limp like a freaking toddler, and ended up staying where she was.
“Oh, come on. You love a little PDA.” Since I was still holding her wrists, she surprised me by leaning forward and pressing her face to my zipper.
As if I was in some nightmare, I heard the door in the outer office open. I expected to see Sandra, and that would have been bad enough. But — shit, shit, shit — it was Caitlyn. And I’d never seen anyone look more surprised. Or hurt.
I knew what this looked like, I wasn’t a fool. But I also knew what this wasn’t, and from the look that was now taking over Caitlyn’s face, she wasn’t in the mood to believe me.
“Fuck!” I yelled and tried to push Rachel away. The damn woman sprang back, her hands clutching at me again.
“Come on, baby. Now that you’ve fucked your little waitress, it’s my turn again.”
Caitlyn gasped, her hand coming up to her mouth, and Rachel’s head whipped around, seeing her in the outer office for the first time.
Rising slowly from the floor, Rachel made a show of wiping off her mouth, an evil glint in her eyes. “Looks like I won that bet, baby. I owe you a dollar.”
Time stopped, and all I could do was shake my head. No, it’s not true. No, this isn’t what it seems. No. No. No.
Caitlyn whirled and stormed out. This couldn’t be happening.
I went to race after her, but damn Rachel grabbed my leg, slowing my progress. “Get out,” I roared at her, shoving her hands off me. “And don’t you ever come back.”
Bursting into the hallway, the damn elevator door closed before I could get inside. Fuck. That gave her a twenty-three-floor head start. A startled looking Sandra appeared around the corner, a coffee mug in hand.
“What’s wrong?”
I pointed at the office. “Get her out. Call security if necessary. And never let her back in.”
Sandra began to cry. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“It’s okay,” I said as I took off for the stairs. “Not your fault. Just get her out.”
I was dripping sweat by the time I got to the bottom and burst outside. No Caitlyn. Her Volvo was there, a very confused looking valet holding the keys.
“Mr. Preston, the lady left these with me to give you.”
“Where is she?”
He pointed to the cab pulling out onto the street. I took off. This was fucking New York. She’d be snarled in traffic. She wouldn’t get ten feet.
But no.
The one minute I craved a traffic jam, there was none. And even as I ran, the yellow car turned the corner and was gone.
My world shattered and there wasn’t enough rage inside me to glue the pieces back together. I wanted to go back upstairs and rip Rachel apart, but I knew she was just doing what she did, what we did until a few weeks ago. How could she know how much I had tried to change? Had changed?
Thank god Rachel was dressed when I walked back into my office. “So I take it that was the little waitress?”
“Get out.” I looked at Sandra. “Call security.”
Rachel huffed. “No need in that. I’m going.”
But she didn’t fucking move. “Out. Now.”
She cocked her head to the side. “You really like this girl, don’t you? I’ve never seen you have remorse for anything. It was just a blowjob, she’ll get over it. Take her some flowers and give her a few orgasms and she’ll be putty in your hands.” Rachel grabbed her bag and blew me a kiss as she passed by.
“Get out!”
Rachel opened the door, but stopped and turned back. “I’m gonna miss that dick of yours. It was the best fucker in town. Oh, well, maybe I’ll now find a real man without your cock to distract me. See you around.”
Sandra looked like she was about to have a stroke, and I reminded myself to give her a fat bonus.
“I’m sorry,” I told her and meant it.
She relaxed fractionally. “I—”
“Didn’t deserve to witness that,” I finished for her. “It won’t happen again.”
She nodded. “Mr. Preston?”
“Yes?”
“Go after her.” When I just stared, she added, “Not that one.” She wrinkled her nose. “The other. Your girlfriend.”
Yes, she was getting a huge bonus.
I nodded. “I will.”
Not that it did any good.
I camped out on her front porch, but she didn’t come home, and Richard shut his door in my face when I knocked. Tammy gave me the most intense tongue-lashing I’d ever received in my life.
Tail tucked between my legs, Robert drove me back to New York, me pressing the redial button every few minutes. Voicemail every time.
The thing was, I knew I deserved all that nonsense. It’d never occurred to me that Rachel had real feelings for me, but a few days later, she sent an email apologizing and confessing her love.
But she loved the me I was before — cold, ruthless, rich, and wild. Caitlyn had grown to love the man I was trying to become.