"You have two seconds to explain why I had to see my daughter on television kissing one of America's richest men, AND HER BOSS?" Mama Parker was on the phone bright and early, drilling some sense into her little girl.
"Mom, its okay I promise. Don't worry about it," She was her parent's last child which meant her parents would always worry more about her than her brothers and sisters. Even though she the stable one, at least she thought that she was.
"Mom, it's nothing really to explain. We've just spent a lot of time together in the last few years so we decided to try to see if there's anything between us," She explained as she felt strong arms around her waist.
"Did Jeremy get the bus okay?" Twice every week, some of the mothers of the younger children in the neighbourhood would take turns taking all of the kids to the bus and do the evening pickups. The community spirit was one of the reasons that she continued to live in this neighbourhood. In many ways it reminded her of her home in Jamaica, where she had grown up before moving to the city when she was nineteen.
"He did. He ran off when he saw the other kids waiting at the bottom of the drive," He whispered so that her mother couldn't hear them. True to his word, they had slept in the same bed without being intimate. It was obvious that her son had taken a shine to him and would not allow him to leave until he was on the bus.
She smiled but her mother was giving her a piece of her mind. "Is he coming down with you and my grandchild?" She asked with disguist. She bit her lip nervously, knowing that she needed a new strategy if they would make this work, so that her mother wouldn't kill him as soon as they landed in Jamaica.
"Yes mom, he's coming," Knowing that she needed privacy, he left the room leaving her to hash it out with her mom. For the next few minutes,she listened as her mother listed a million and one reasons why she didn't want a man who was on the Forbes Richest Men Under 40 list living under her roof for a week.
"Mom, he's not like that. Just relax, we'll be there tomorrow okay," She had been packing since early morning, getting most of her things packed away, but she had to wait until her son hopped off the schoolbus to finish the long task.
She disconnected the call, finding a note on the refrigerator for her from Alex.
I need you at work a.s.a.p. There is something we need to discuss.
Sighing heavily, she showered and changed, fixing her hair and applying her warpaint. She choose one of her new purchases, a fitted grey workdress which accentuated all of her womanly features. The original design had a high neckline but it did horrible things to her bustline so Justin had altered it for her, making it lower so that her girls wouldn't suffocate.
By the time that she arrived, he was pacing in his office, looking more and more like the rake that she loathed."What do you want?"She asked harshly, glaring him down from behind her wire frames.
"Is that any way to greet the man who slept in your bed all night?"He asked, his gaze on her body which as some of his male friends would say was stacked. It didn't help that she was wearing a dress he wanted to tear off her and was wearing that faint perfume that drove him crazy.
"We didn't have sex, so your point is invalid," She bit her lip knowing that if her sitter hadn't called, she would have woken in his bed, her body would have that after sex glow. And maybe...just maybe he would act less like a sex starved menopausal woman.
"I still know that you want me," He was taunting her now but it didn't seem all that funny to her, especially when the reason that she had flaked had been that she had to take her of her child. She spun on her heel leaving him alone in the office, with his suit-wearing-smug-ass-self.
If he wanted to play dirty, she would cut him so deep that it would set him in the line for the next few days. If he thought his preschool behavior would fly during her vacation, he had another thing coming. She had one preschooler and did not want another one in her life even though she technically had agreed to this.
A shadow fell across her desk, but she couldn't help but smile when she saw who it was. The same mailroom clerk who had ruffled Alex's feathers, stood in front of her, holding out her mail. Hakeem Mnekeba (ma-kay-buh) was gorgeous, with strong South African features and a muscular physique. "Good morning Hakeem, how are you this morning?" She asked leaning across the desk biting the tip of her pen. She knew that Alex could see her through the webcam feature that he had installed in the office to check on productivity in the office.
"I am wonderful my African sister, my fiancee and I finally set a date for our wedding," She smiled but she wanted to get Alex to know she was done playing around with him. The mood swings were quickly getting old. As charming as he was, he reminded her too much of Jace..Jace the waste.
"Are you going to have it in South Africa like you wanted to?" He shook hs head and she smiled weakly. For people like Hakeem who still believed in happy ever after, she was truly happy but she gave up on the idea long ago. All it took for her was to be thrown out on the streets wearing nothing but a terry robe to remind herself how love could turn sour in a split second.
"How fast does that cart go?" The devil came out from his office resting a whole new stack of files on her desk. Hakeem whispered something under his breath winking at her before pushing his mail cart to the next section of the office, whistling loudly.
"I need these filed before the end of the day," She looked up into those eyes that had been so compassionate last night but now were hard with no life behind them. She wanted to give him a slap to break the egotistical personality.
"I'm technically on vacation, so you're going to have to file them yourself," She grabbed her bag and left him there by his lonesome. As she walked, she could hear snickers from some of her co-workers and guessed that the tabloids were out and the news of their relationship was finally leaked. She had been surprised that no one had mentioned it earlier, but she knew it was partially because she had come into the office late.
"She's like all the others, I don't know why she is acting so damn high and mighty," One of the women said from one of the stalls. She checked her reflection and reapplied her lipstick, more eavesdropping than fixated on how her makeup looked.
"I give their relationship two weeks,"
There was silence for a few seconds while the women talked about Alex. As with most of the women in the greater area of Miami, the name alone made them melt into a puddle of goo.
"Didn't she date a high profile athlete and get pregnant to trap him into marrying her?"
Her blood boiled but she decided instead of acting a fool up in the small restroom that she would instead get even. She could act ghetto but instead turned on each pipe in turn, causing the toilets to overflow. Getting familiar with the cleaning staff had taught her that turning on all of the pipes, led to a major catastrophe with the toilet system. She would have to repay Consuela and Marisol later for giving them extra work, knowing they had three other offices to clean but this was about revenge.
NOTHING BUT REVENGE!
Screams filled the bathroom and she giggled as the stream of toilet water shooted upwards towards the ceiling, soaking the two women entirely. She herself had to duck as the water came dangerously close to her. "It's just weave. It'll dry out," She pursed her lips running out of the bathroom as fast as her Choo's would let her.
That felt way too good, she thought to herself whistling a silly tune. She was glad that she didn't smell like toilet water but she couldn't help but feel bad that she had cause someone to suffer so that she would feel better.
She made it to the parking lot before she saw him, leaning against her small Toyota Yaris. His body language was frigid but there was something in his eyes that was almost enjoying the back and forth banter between them. As she walked, she stared him down, pushing past him but gasping when he grabbed her by the waist, flattening her body against his.
"If you ever try what you did again, I will forget about being nice, " His voice was curt, but she felt a fear somewhere deep inside of her. Every day that she worked with him, he felt more and more like Christian Grey and not Alex Hartford. If he thought that his violence would work on her, he was sadly mistaken. His threats fell on death ears.
"I'm not afraid of you," She struggled but his grip was strong, he was ten times more stronger than she was. "You can't hurt me simply because I agreed to this," She struggled and his grip grew tighter.
"Just listen to me...for once listen," His grip loosened, but what he did suprised her. In a split second his lips kissed the area of flesh that he had hurt, pressed butterfly kisses to her wrists. "I'm sorry for hurting you," He apologized sleepishly, finally releasing her hands, using his thumb so that she would look at him.
"One day you will have to tell me who she was... The one that hurt you,"
He cringed saying nothing, but pulled her to him. "There's a photographer watching us, snapping pictures. I can pay him to get rid of the pictures of our squabble but we need to look convincing," His words burned at her,but she nodded, planting her hands against his chest. This was all just a game, a giant act. All they needed was a few months of untamed desire before ending the facade.
For a few minutes, they pretended to be a loving couple, sneaking off for a mid-day makeout sesson. They laughed as though they had lemon rind stuck between their teeth, touched as though they were intimate-which they weren't YET. "You look beautiful today," He nibbled her ear, making her shiver.
"Thank you but I have to go...really," She pulled away from his embrace, finding her car keys and finally getting her way. He finally let her get into her car, watching as she drove off. With no sense of direction, she speeded out of the parking lot, feeling a rush of emotion flood over her.
She couldn't help the first tear that fell.
Nor could she help the second..
Soon she was falling apart, spilling emotion with her tears. It had been years since she had cried, the last time being the day that she had ended things with Jace. She learnt that crying solved nothing, so she laughed to keep from crying, even when she had no money to her name. With her family far away, she had to pick up the broken shards of her life with no support system. With her wits and charmed she had mustered every bit of determination within her and landed the coveted job at Hardford & Associates.
"What have I gotten myself into?" She looked at her reflection in the mirror, gasping at the person she saw. She quickly pulled herself together, driving home, embarrassed about her childish outburst.
It took her hous to figure out why she had cried over an idiot like Alex Hartford, who cared about nothing but himself and his business. I can't be falling for him, I just can't be. She sighed looking down at her packed suitcase, dragging them to the front door, patiently waiting for her little tyke to get off that school bus. Her son was the only male she needed in her life, she swatted her eye again.
A knock on the door startled her from her daydreaming and she didn't bother to pull herself before she answered, looking up to see Alex in front of her, holding a takeout container in his hands. "I brought you dinner. Are you okay?" He asked, wrapping her hands around her, holding her close. The way he held her now had been different from before in the parking lot. "Whatever it is, I'll take care of it," He whispered in her hair, making her shiver in his arms. Everything about this man drove her crazy, and she inhaled his scent, feeling light headed while he carried her across across the room using his free hand to secure their dinner.
"Now will you tell me why you were crying?" He asked stroking her cheek after he set her back on her feet. She shook her head, needing a moment to think clearly. As if it was hard enough to think about the situation that she was in without him invading her personal space, he made things ten times harder by being here.
"Its about Jace," She lied. True, she had her lawyer attempting to get some form of child support from her low-life ex, but that was not the only source of her frustration. The source was standing mere inches from her, seeking answers with those questioning eyes.
"Don't worry about it love, I'll deal with everything," Just like that he was trying to sort out her life. As if they were truly dating and he was her man. Her holiday was going to clear up whether she wanted to be in this arrangement.
She had no idea how she woud make it through the next two weeks.