Wife and Girlfriend

Chapter 13

Hunter

I'd blown it. Fucked up royally pushing her like that without even knowing if she reciprocated any of the feelings I had for her. And now, she was gone.

Having tried to save face with Stephanie, who was coming into my office for a prescheduled meeting, I apologized and promised to reschedule before rushing to the elevator banks and trying to catch Tani.

But I'd been too late, and it was only when I'd returned to her desk that I realized that she didn't even have her phone on her.

That's how freaked out she'd been at my kiss. She'd left everything, her purse and all her electronics, at her desk.

Fuck. She didn't even have her wallet.

I knew that she'd have to come back to the office at some point. I wasn't expecting that it would be the next day. So, should I sit and wait for her?

A part of me thought about just gathering up her things and showing up at her place with them, but I'd burnt through any bridges that we'd built between us over the last couple of weeks since she'd begun working for me. There was no point in denying it.

I wanted to explain and apologize if need be as well.

Tani, just come back.

So, I didn't leave my office. I couldn't. I needed to make this right with her. I just hoped that she'd show up eventually.

What if she quit?

Honestly, the last thing I was concerned about was whether she'd report me to HR. Any response from her would've been better than none at all. I just wanted to hear from her. It was tearing a hole in my chest, thinking that she'd disappear from my office or my life without so much as a goodbye.

No, she'd let me apologize, at least.

But she'd been responsive to me? I'd felt her coming apart in my hands. Maybe the reason she'd run out was because she knew that Stephanie was on her way down for our meeting.

I rationalized and strategized things in so many different ways. And each time, arrived at the same result.

I need to find Tani.

So, the next time her cellphone rang with the picture of a woman whose name on her phone was 'Sissy' with eyes that matched Tani's, I picked up.

"Hello?"

Otanyi

"I thought you said you said you were going to cook for me?" it was the only thing I thought of to say. I'd already told him a million times already that his home was beautiful. And that had been putting it modestly.

Milli and I would've called this place a McMansion because there was nothing mini about it.

I couldn't believe that he lived in this big place all alone. But I doubted that he'd be inviting a woman over if he had a wife and kids stashed somewhere.

"Patience, patience. I can see that someone is ready to eat," he laughed as his guided tour finally ended in an enormous gourmet kitchen with marble that had a name I couldn't pronounce or repeat and an oversized island that must have been made custom to accommodate his tall frame. He was at least six-four, I reasoned.

But he definitely knew his way around a kitchen because he had the entire floor smelling like my mother's kitchen inside twenty minutes from the time he'd finished showing me around.

I wouldn't tell him this so soon, but I loved the way his apron cinched at the waist, accentuating his broad shoulders and muscular thighs.

He'd stripped down to a tee shirt when he'd begun preparing whatever it was that smelt so heavenly, and I was having difficulty not getting distracted each time he moved to open a draw, added some seasoning, or moved a pot handle. The way the back of his arms flexed every time would no doubt be haunting my dreams tonight.