victoria

 

 

The next few days were a blur for Victoria. She felt as if she was on autopilot. Wake up, shower, coffee, subway, work. Back home. Sleep. Do it all over again. It was exhausting. But there was light at the end of the tunnel – she had something to look forward to on the weekend.

She was surprised to receive an invitation from Bradley so soon after their previous date. Pleasantly surprised. In fact, she had just been thinking about him and all the nasty things she planned to do with him when she received his text message, and it sent her imagination into overdrive.

She just couldn’t say no to seeing him again, especially not after memories of their night together came flooding back to her. And his cocky comments now and then were starting to turn her on, in spite of herself. If it was anyone else saying these things to her, she would have laughed in their face and told them to get lost, but for some reason he received special consideration. She already knew of several reasons: his rock-hard abs and promising stamina.

But that wasn’t all. It turned out he had somewhat of a personality too, and professional drive as well, which was all just some icing on the cake.

Ashley was finally starting to feel better, which pleased her. She hated to see any of her friends in pain, and Ashley especially, because she was so sweet, kind and trusting. The perfect prey for a piece of shit like her ex. Victoria still checked in with her every day, even though her schedule was already jam packed.

It was Wednesday and she was just wrapping up work and preparing for the children’s charity board meeting. She was one of the lawyers on the board; there were members from various professions and sectors, so they had a large base of knowledge and expertise on which to draw in order to run the charity. The Chairman was Richard Laskey, head of the corporate law group and one of the partners at her firm, and he had arranged to hold the meetings in one of the firm’s boardrooms. For his convenience, of course.

She scarfed down a little bit of dinner at her desk and made her way to the meeting. The room was already packed when she got there, and she took a seat near the end of the long, oak table.

“Welcome, Victoria. We’re just waiting for a few more people and then we’ll begin,” said Richard Laskey, dressed in one of his Armani suits, as usual.

“Thanks, Mr. Laskey, nice to see you,” she said politely. One of the useful nuggets of info drilled into her head by her dad was to make sure everyone, and he meant everyone, liked her and respected her, because down the line, she would need those nods of approval in order to make partner herself.

After a few more people filed in and said their hellos, the meeting began.

“As some of you may know, Dr. Petersen is no longer a member of the board, effective immediately. Normally we receive sufficient notice, but in this case, due to circumstances beyond her control, she had to resign on short notice. Let the minutes reflect that we thank her for her tireless service and wish her well in her endeavors. A replacement will be chosen by the special committee within the next week, and the successful candidate will hopefully be able to start next week,” he said.

This was news to Victoria. Dr. Petersen had been a long standing member and truly invaluable for her contributions when it came to any of the health related issues and campaigns that the charity tackled. The rest of the meeting was taken up by standard board business. Usually, Victoria found the meetings interesting, but today her mind wandered. And it always ended up on Bradley and the way he used his hands on her, the way his tongue felt on her body, the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled…She felt herself getting wet just thinking about him and the coming weekend.

“Victoria…Victoria?” The sound of her name being called interrupted her thoughts and she straightened out and blushed bright red. She was mortified. Everyone was staring at her and she imagined they could all read her mind and the filthy thoughts running through it.

“Yes, Mr. Laskey?” she asked quickly.

“Any concerns on the legal front for that drive we’re planning to hold at the firm?”

“Oh, right. No, Mr. Laskey. I’ve reviewed the required forms and have worked through some of the issues, and we’re in the clear.” Phew, she thought she was going to fall flat on her face. It was a good thing she actually did know what she was doing. Get a grip, she told herself. She wasn’t even dating the guy and he was already ruining her career. She gave herself a mental kick in the head.

To her relief, that was the end of the meeting and she was able to shuffle out with the crowd without being called out on her absentmindedness by the Chair. She decided to go straight home rather than go back to her office.

Once home, she kicked off her shoes and plopped down on the couch in an exhausted heap. Suddenly, her phone rang.

It was probably Ashley, since she knew that Victoria got home from her weekly meetings at around this time.

She looked at her phone and her heart skipped a beat. It was Bradley. She didn’t know why she was so surprised – he did tell her he was going to call, and she had no reason to think he had lost interest.

She cleared her throat and answered.

“Hello?” Yikes! Her voice sounded unnaturally high and she imagined that he guessed she must have been thinking of him all day long.

“Nice to hear your voice,” he said.

Unlike her, he sounded breezy and self-assured, the way he always did. He had confidence, energy, and a seductive spirit.

“Same here. Did you think I wouldn’t answer?”

“Don’t be crazy. How could you not?”

“Well, I have to admit, it is actually nice to hear from you. I’ve had a crappy couple of days, so it’s nice to have some human contact.”

“I bet. Well, don’t worry, I’m here for any of your special contact needs.”

She laughed. He had that ability to lighten any situation and make her laugh, she realized.

“Enough about me. How was your day?”

“It was fine. I was just thinking about you. And about last weekend.” He let that hang there, waiting for her response.

“I know, me too. I had lots of fun. But not quite enough.” She laughed nervously. She was being a little more forward than usual.

“Come out this weekend for even more fun, if you dare. My invitation still stands. Think you can make it on Friday? Like I said, I’ll make it worth your while.”

His voice made it clear exactly what kind of fun he had in mind, and it sent her head spinning. The weekend couldn’t come fast enough, and the next few days were going to be pure torture.

“I’m sure you will,” she said quietly and slowly. “Where will we be going? You mentioned your show, right? Where is it?”

“I’ll send you details on Friday. Bring a friend, she’ll enjoy it too, I’m sure. I’ll leave your name on the list at the front so you don’t have to pay for tickets.”

“Thanks…I’ll see you then,” she said. Her heart was pounding, and she was already thinking ahead to what she should wear and what activities they’ll get up to once they’re alone. She knew she’d be bringing Ashley. After all, she had always enjoyed theater. It didn’t occur to her to ask what show it was, figuring it would be more fun to let it be a surprise.

“Can’t wait. Bring your overnight bag, gorgeous.”

“We’ll see…Ok, bye…” She thought she’d explode from all the nervous energy, and called Ashley right away to fill her in. Naturally, she was all in for Friday night. Victoria spent the rest of the evening in a haze, thinking of nothing but Bradley and the weekend of hot fun he promised her.