Chapter Twelve
“Hi, my name is Jacob, but you can call me Jake.” The man in front of me was cute with an endearing look on his face and I knew immediately that I liked him.
“Nice to meet you, Jake.” I smiled at the boyish look on his face. He had big brown earnest eyes and his dark hair was slightly too long as it flopped in his face.
“You too…” He paused and gave me a grin. “I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name?”
“Oh, it’s Lacey,” I said with a small giggle. Was he flirting with me? I’d been walking around the conference room for about thirty minutes waiting on Henry to finish up whatever he was doing and Jacob was the first person to actually talk to me. It felt nice to finally be acknowledged by someone and it didn’t hurt that he was a handsome young man.
“A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Nice to meet you, Lacey.” He reached his hand through his hair and cleared his throat before speaking again. “So are you here looking for a job?” he asked and I could see him surveying my nonprofessional outfit that consisted of holey faded blue jeans and my favorite sweater that read I Only Miss You When I’m Bored. I had deliberately dressed down so that Henry didn’t think I wanted to look good for him, but I realized now that maybe I’d dressed down a bit too much.
“No, I’m not here looking for a job.” I laughed and looked down at my clothes. “Good thing, right? Or I definitely wouldn’t be getting many interviews.
“Well, you never know.” He grinned at me again and I wondered if he was flirting with me and if I should say something to let him know that I was here with the boss of the company. Well, kind of. I wasn’t really here with Henry. I was there to see Henry and that was something quite different.
“What about you? Are you here for a job or…” My voice trailed off as I felt someone staring at me. I looked around the room and I saw Henry looking at me from about twenty feet away with narrowed eyes and an annoyed expression.
“Oh no, I work here. I’m in mergers and acquisitions and got sent to represent the department.” He made a face. “Basically I’m bitch for the day. I’ll be taking résumés, doing first interviews. That sort of thing.”
“Sounds fun.”
“Very exciting.” He laughed again and as I looked at him, his eyes gazed into mine deeply. “So what are you doing at this job fair then, if not here for a job?”
“You wouldn’t believe me, even if I told you,” I said, wondering what I was doing here. And what could I really say. I was here with Henry, but not in any official capacity. We weren’t in a relationship. He’d made it very clear to me that he wasn’t looking for a girlfriend and what we had was not official. And I was or had at least pretended to be okay with that. I wasn’t going to tell Jake that I’d slept with the head of the company and stalked him and now thought I might be in love with him.
“Try me,” he said and he leaned toward me flirtatiously. However, his expression changed in seconds as he looked across the room and I saw him looking down at his watch. “Darn, I have to get to my table in a few minutes. I don’t suppose I can convince you to join me there for a few minutes while I set up?”
“Sure, I can help you, if you want.” I looked to see what had gotten his attention and I wasn’t surprised to see Henry still looking over. I turned away quickly as he started to mouth something to me. I wasn’t just going to go running when he called.
“That would be awesome. Thank you, Lacey.” He beamed at me. “And maybe after that, I’ll be brave enough to ask you for your number.”
“You seem plenty brave to me,” I said laughing as well, caught up by how openly interested he was being. I wasn’t used to guys showing so much interest so quickly. A part of me liked it; even though I was totally taken with Henry. Maybe this was what I needed. Maybe Eliza was right. Maybe I needed another guy. Maybe Jake could be the one for me. Maybe he’d help me get over Henry. He didn’t seem like he was the sort of guy to tell me not to fall in love with him.
“So does that mean I can get your number then?” His eyes widened and the look of excitement on his face made me grin.
“I should tell you something…” I started and he made a face.
“Don’t tell me you have a boyfriend?” He groaned.
“Actually no I don’t.” I laughed, though my stomach twisted as I said that.
“No you don’t what?” A deep voice interjected into the conversation and I looked over and saw that Henry had joined us. Which made my stomach jump and twist even more.
“Oh.” I looked up at him and blushed. I didn’t really want to get into this conversation with him. It was weird being so close to him again.
“Oh, hi, Henry.” Jake said with another grin. “This is Lacey.” He nodded toward me. “And she was just giving me the good news that she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
“Oh really…” Henry looked at me and gave me a look with thin lips before turning back to Jake. “And the fact that she doesn’t have a boyfriend came up because?”
“I was just asking for her number.” Jake laughed. “What can I say? I see a beautiful smart woman and I can’t help myself.”
I could feel my face burning a bright red as I stood there waiting for Henry to say something in response to Jake’s comment. I had no idea what I was supposed to say now. Was I supposed to tell Jake that I was here because of Henry?
“So did you get the number?” Henry’s voice was lower, tighter and as I looked at him, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. A part of me was upset. Didn’t he care that another guy was asking for my number?
“Well you walked up just as she was about to give it to me.”
“I did, huh?” Henry gave me a look. “Don’t let me stop you from handing out your number to strange men, Lacey.”
“You didn’t stop me,” I said, this time my voice held the tight tone. He was such an asshole.
“Go ahead then. Give it to him now.” Henry’s voice was cold. “I think Jake has to get to his table in a few minutes, so I doubt he can spend the rest of the day here standing with you waiting for you to remember your number.”
“Yeah, I do.” Jake looked guilty and then ruefully smiled at me. “Oh and Lacey, this is Henry James, my boss and well, the boss of the whole company.” He gave me an impish look. “So I kinda have to listen to what he tells me to do.”
“Only kinda?” Henry said and raised an eyebrow.
“Well, not just kinda.” Jake laughed. “I definitely have to listen to what you tell me to do if I want to keep my job.”
“And you want to keep your job, I assume?” Henry asked with a sardonic laugh.
“Of course,” Jake said and then glanced at me. “Do you want to come over with me to my table and help me set up and then you can give me your number?”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to Lacey for a second,” Henry said and Jake gave a surprised look at us both. “Then she can run back to you and give you her number and you can make your plans to do whatever you want to do and go on lots of hot dates.”
“I don’t know that we’ll…” Jake started to look uncomfortable as Henry’s voice became obviously harsher.
“I’ll meet you at your table in a few seconds, Jake,” I said with a sweet smile, annoyed at Henry’s words and attitude, but not wanting to show it. “What is it I can help you with, Henry?”
“What is it you can help me with?” His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned as he stared at me. “What do you think?
“I have no idea.” I shrugged, feeling annoyed and wishing that I hadn’t come and joined him today after all. Why exactly had I fallen for this guy? “You’re the one that said you wanted to discuss something with me.”
“I think I’ll just be over there,” Jake said and gave me a quick pat on the arm before he headed over to his table.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Henry hissed at me as Jake stepped away and he grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the side of the room.
“What the hell is your problem?” I asked him as I stood next to the wall, my arm burning from his touch.
“What the hell is my problem? You come here with me and expect me to be okay that you’re picking up other men? Men that work for me.”
“Are you kidding me right now? How am I picking up other men?” My eyes widened and I shook my head at him. “I was just talking to Jake. And I didn’t come here with you, I came here to meet up with you. And I’ve just been walking and waiting around for the last hour or so. I’m lucky Jake even came up to me. He seems like a nice guy.”
“And you were about to give him your number,” he hissed and his eyes narrowed at me. “What do you think he was going to do with your number?”
“Who says I was going to give him my number?” I snapped. “Yes, he asked but who says I was going to give it to him?”
“You sure looked like you were eager and were going to give it to him.” His eyes flashed at me. “And he’s an attractive young man. I’m sure you’d be happy to spend a night with him.”
“How dare you?” I gasped, my hand flying to his face, but he grabbed my wrist before I was able to slap him. “You’re such an asshole. How dare you talk to me like that?”
“I’m just speaking the truth.” His lips were thinned as he glanced at me. “You seem to get around town. Me two nights ago, who knows what guy last night, now you’re trying to have Jake tonight.”
“Oh my God, you’re incorrigible,” I said as I pulled away from him, my nostrils flaring. “Are we done here?”
“No, we’re not done until I say we’re done.”
“I want to leave.”
“You’re not leaving until I say you’re leaving. You hear me.”
“You’re so bossy.” I sighed. “You’re not my boss.”
“Yes, I am.” He reached a hand up and stroked the side of my face.
“No, you’re not.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“In the bedroom, I am definitely your boss.”
“Ha, that’s all you care about.” I said and shook my head.
“What?” he growled. “We’ve only been together once. I don’t think that’s all I want. Is that what you think I want?” He tilted his head and stared at my face. “Tell me, Lacey, what is it you think I want.”
“Sex. S-E-X.” I spelled it out slowly. “Ooh, big bad Henry is a wolf in the bedroom, watch out ladies, he’s coming to get you.”
“You think I’m a big bad wolf?” He grinned lasciviously at me and my heart fluttered, even though I didn’t want it to. I looked away from him, annoyed at the way my body felt being close to him, even when he was annoying the shit out of me.
“You act like you think that’s a good thing.”
“You don’t think it’s a good thing that I like to eat you.”
“Henry.” My face flushed as I chastised him.
“What?” He gave me an innocent smile. “Would you like me to eat you now?”
“Henry.” I hit him in the arm. “You’re entirely inappropriate.”
“I’m inappropriate?” He leaned closer to me and winked. “Since when?”
“Since forever.”
“Since forever?” He laughed and then leaned closer toward my ear. “My office is close to here if you want me to eat you out now. I’m feeling a bit peckish if I’m being honest.”
“You’re a pig, you know that, Henry James?”
“I haven’t heard you complain about my piggish ways before.” He laughed and then licked his lips slowly. “In fact, you seemed to enjoy my piggish ways the other night.”
“Henry James, I’m going to walk away from you now.”
“Where you headed to? Jake’s table?” he growled, his face darkening.
“Is that where you want me to go to?” I gave him my sweetest smile. “Do you think he’d be a good match for me?”
“You what?” His eyes narrowed at me as he hissed. His face seemed to darken and I felt a perverse pleasure that I was upsetting him. “Are you trying to rile me up, Lacey?”
“Whatever are you talking about, Henry? Would I ever try to do that?” I opened my eyes innocently. “You’re the one suggesting that I should go over to Jake’s table. I was asking if you thought he’d be a good match for me?” I paused for a second. “I mean, as per our agreement, we have nothing. You don’t even want me to start to develop feelings for you.”
“You’re really trying to get a rise out of me, aren’t you?” He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him again and then lowered his face, so that his sparkling gems of eyes were staring into mine. “Do not go over to Jake’s table do you hear me? You’re forbidden from talking to him again.”
“I’m forbidden from talking to him?” I looked up at him and half-laughed. “You can’t forbid me from anything.”
“You wanna bet?” He licked his lips and his eyes fell to my mouth.
“I don’t need to bet anything,” I said as I shook my head slightly, my heart starting to race as I looked at his lips. My free hand moved unconsciously to his chest and ran down to his stomach, loving the feel of his taut body beneath his soft silky shirt.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Henry said and his hand caught mine and held it against his stomach tightly.
“Oh?” His hand felt hot against my skin and I could feel desire swooping through my body. I just wanted to lay my head against his chest and have him hold me close to him. I wanted him to be my protector, my comforter, my warmth. I let out an inner sigh as I realized just how dependent I was becoming on having him in my life. And that wasn’t a good thing for me or for him. I knew that feelings meant that I would end up getting hurt. Feelings meant that I was opening myself up to heartache and pain. And I was really loath to do that. Really really loath. I didn’t want to get my heart broken. I didn’t want to experience the agony of feeling rejected and not knowing what was going to happen next in my life. I felt him hardening against me and something stirred in my blood.
“Let’s go to my office,” he whispered in my ear.
“Why?” I whispered back up at him, my panties starting to feel wet.
“I want to eat you out and then fuck you. Hard,” he growled in my ear as he pushed his manhood into me, so that I was fully aware of how erect he was.
I stared up at him and as I looked at his face, I could feel my heart melting. That was what made the decision for me. I pulled away from him quickly and shook my head.
“No,” I said and hurried away from him. “Jake is waiting for me. I said I’d help him set up. You can finish whatever it was you were doing before and then we can talk about whatever it is you wanted to talk about.” The words rushed out of my mouth quickly and I hurried away from him. I wasn’t sure where the courage had come from, but as I walked away, I was proud of myself. I didn’t want to be the girl that kept succumbing to the guy that didn’t really want her. I wanted to be the girl that the guy couldn’t get out of his head because he wanted her so badly.
***
“Hey, you,” I said as I walked up to Jake at his table. “Sorry about that.”
“I didn’t realize that you knew Henry.” He gave me a quick, yet searching look. He seemed a lot cooler than he had before and I wondered if he had seen Henry and I in the corner.
“Yeah, not that well though,” I said lightly. “My best friend is dating a guy whose sister is married to his brother.” I laughed. “That sounds a lot more complicated than it is.”
“It certainly does, but I think I understood.” Jake smiled at me a lot more warmly this time. “So you and Henry are family friends ish?”
“Yeah, that’s about right.” I laughed and tried not to think about how my “family friend” had just given me the best orgasm of my life just a couple of days before.
“So, I’m not sure if this is the time I ask for your number again? Or if I should read the signs and not ask again?” He gave me an impish smile and I stared at him with a confused expression.
“What do you mean?”
“I just don’t know if you really want me to have your number. If you really want me to take you out.”
“Of course I do. Why do you think I walked back over to your table?” I asked him, feeling only a twinge of guilt.
“I’m not really sure actually.” He gave me a wry look. “Though, I’m not going to question it.” He then pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. “Go ahead and put your number in my phone please. I want to make sure I get it before I lose my nerve.”
“Lose your nerve?” I giggled as I input my phone number into his phone. “You’re funny.”
“In a good way, I hope?” His face became serious all of a sudden and in that moment, I did feel guilty. Jake was a good guy. A really good guy. I could tell that he had good intentions. I knew then that I had to be careful with him if I decided to go on some dates with him.
“In a very good way.” I nodded. “You seem like you’re a really nice guy, Jake.”
“Uh oh.” He made a face and groaned.
“What?”
“A nice guy? That’s like the kiss of death.”
“No, it’s not. I like nice guys.”
“I sure hope so.” He grinned and then he groaned again.
“What?” I said. “I do like nice guys.”
“I think your family friend wants to talk to you again.”
“Oh?” I looked around and saw that Henry was fast approaching us and this time, he wasn’t even pretending to be friendly. As I saw him approaching, something in me clicked and I knew that if I really wanted a real shot with Henry, I was going to have to try and act a little differently. There comes a moment in every woman’s life when she realizes that she has to have some self-respect and winning a man’s heart is more about the game then it is about making him fall in love with her sweet disposition. For many men, the challenge is in getting the woman that is unavailable. On a very surface level, I knew that, I really did. I also knew that Henry was someone that didn’t want to be gotten, but I couldn’t help that.
“Seems like Henry James is mad at you.” Jake made a face and then started fiddling with some papers on the table in front of him.
“Lacey, are you done?” Henry marched over to us and glared at me. “I need to talk to you about our business endeavor.”
“What do you want?” I snapped at him. He couldn’t keep doing this. He couldn’t keep acting weird and jealous and making me think he could actually care. He was emotionally unavailable to me and he had Claudia. I didn’t know what game he was playing, but I knew that I was going to be the loser unless I changed things drastically and just stopped caring.
“We can discuss it in my office,” he said, looking taken aback. I’d never spoken to him like that before and I knew it had shocked him.
“Give me a minute, okay?” I said dismissively and then lightly tapped Jake on the shoulder. “So you’ll call me?”
“Sure.” He gave me an awkward smile and I flicked my hair back.
“Good. I look forward to it.” I bat my eyelashes at him a few times and then looked back at Henry, the wide smile leaving my face. “Shall we go to your office to discuss this endeavor? I have some other things to do today, so hopefully we can make it quick.”
“We can make it quick all right.” Henry’s eyes narrowed and he looked at my breasts suggestively. “We can make it as quick as you want.”
“I-I…” I stuttered, as my face grew red. “Let’s just go and talk.” I turned around and gave Jake a little wave. “I’ll see you later, Jake.”
***
“Have a seat.” Henry finally spoke as we walked into his office. I stood by the door as he walked over to his desk. I folded my arms across my chest and just stared at him. I wasn’t in the mood for him to try and sweet talk me. Not that he was really a sweet talker.
“No thanks. So why did you want me to come here today? What’s the business endeavor?” I said in a cold voice.
“Are you mad at me?” Henry gave me a teasing smile and I just glared at him. I couldn’t deal with his constant ups and downs.
“What do you think?”
“I think you are. I can make it up to you.”
“How are you going to make it up to me?” I said, my voice sullen.
“I can kiss you and make it all better.”
“I don’t think one of your kisses will make anyone better,” I said snidely, wanting to push and annoy him. “In fact, one of your kisses might make someone feel worse.”
“Really?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Is that what you really think?”
“I don’t think,” I said and then gave him a sweet smile. “I know.”
“Oh yeah.” He half growled as he walked toward me and grabbed me around the waist and pulled me toward him. Before I knew what was happening, he was kissing me hard and I could feel myself swooning. “Did that make you feel sick?” he asked softly as he pulled away from me and looked down at my face.
“Hmmm,” I mumbled, too breathless to speak. Butterflies were flying in my stomach and I could feel a thrill of excitement coursing through my body. Why was he so damn attractive?
“Hmmm?” He looked at me cockily. “What does ‘hmm’ mean?”
“What do you think it means?”
“It means that I took your breath away because my kiss was so hot and you now do not know what to say.” He smirked at me and I stuck my tongue out at him.
“You’re so cocky.”
“Does it mean I’m cocky, if it’s true?” He laughed and I just rolled my eyes at him.
“You’re so full of yourself, it’s not even funny.” I just shook my head at him.
“Shall I kiss you again and see if it makes you feel worse this time?” He grinned. “Maybe it will make you feel better.”
“It’s okay, thank you.” I just shook my head. “What did you want to tell me?”
“What did I want to tell you?” He took a step closer to me. “Hmmm…did I want to tell you something or did I want to show you?”
“I’m not in the mood for these games, Henry. If you have nothing else you want to say to me, you really should get back to work and let me get back to mine.”
“Oh, you have something more important you’d rather be doing right now?”
“Yes.” I nodded my head, though that was a lie. I wasn’t really in the mood to write, but I just wanted to be out of his office and away from him.
“What would you rather be doing?” he questioned me and I sighed.
“Henry, really?” I looked at him and frowned slightly. “Does it really matter?”
“No, but I was just curious.” He made a face. “I don’t want you to leave right now.”
“Why?” I asked him, curiously. What did he care?
“Because I wanted to do this.” His hand made its way to my breast and I looked at him with widened eyes.
“What are you doing, Henry?” I could feel myself growing breathless and my legs started trembling. I wanted him to continue; yet I was annoyed at myself for wanting that. He was an asshole. I knew that. He was someone that I should be running from, not to. Yet, I found myself unable to really break away from him.
“I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do since I saw you today.” He grabbed ahold of my face and pulled me toward him and I felt his lips crashing down on mine like a heavy weight against my heart.
“Henry,” I mumbled against his lips, but couldn’t pull myself away. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“But is it a bad idea?” He winked and then continued speaking without waiting for an answer from me. “Stop, don’t answer that? I don’t really mind if it is a good idea or a bad idea. I like them both.”
“I just don’t get you, Henry.” I found it hard not to smile at him. His eyes were so engaging and his sense of humor was so charming. Even after everything that had happened, I was still caught up in him.
“I’m an open book. There’s nothing to get. What do you want to know?”
“I want to know…” I paused, almost shocked that I was about to ask him about Claudia. I couldn’t believe that I was almost about to admit that I even knew who she was. I was out of my right mind. I knew that. I just didn’t want him to know that.
“What is it that you want to know?” He tilted his head and his eyes narrowed as he gazed at me, his expression thoughtful.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It obviously does matter to you,” he said softly and I could see his eyes searching into mine, trying to read what was in my head. I felt nervous as I stared back at him. I had no idea what to say or do at this point. How could I let him know that I was jealous of a girl I’d seen him with in a coffee shop? How could I tell him that I was a crazy person? I knew that I couldn’t so I did the next best thing I could think of.
“Shh, Henry,” I said as I grabbed his face. “Just be quiet for a second.” I pressed my lips onto his and kissed him passionately. His eyes widened for a second as I forced my tongue into his mouth. I could tell that he was surprised by the aggressiveness of my actions. Which was a pretty big surprise to me as well. I reached my hands into his hair and my fingers rubbed against his scalp as I played with his silky tresses. He growled then and I felt him lock his arms behind me and lift me up onto his desk. I wasn’t really sure how it happened, everything was going so quickly, but within a minute, I found myself in nothing but my bra and panties and Henry was standing in front of me butt naked.
“Henry,” I whispered taken aback as he pushed me back on his desk and I felt his fingers reaching between my legs.
“It’s your turn to shh, Lacey,” he said with a wicked grin and I moaned loudly as I felt him rubbing my moist panties before slipping two fingers into them.
“We shouldn’t.” I moaned, but I widened my legs to give him greater access. I almost sighed in relief as I felt him pulling my panties down. “Oh, Henry,” I moaned as he slipped two fingers inside of me and grinned down at me.
“Do you want me to stop?” He pulled his fingers out of me and I frowned.
“No,” I moaned unable to resist. “Don’t stop.”