A tingle of sensation ran up my spine. Maybe tonight was the night I would find out. I didn't say that though. I didn't want to come off as being too eager.
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, I don't know. As body parts go, it's not the most beautiful."
"I suppose not," he seemed to agree.
"They say the size of a man's hands are an indication of the size of his…" I let him fill in the blank.
"No kidding." Stephen held up his hand to look at it. I looked as well, and while the palm was a decent size, his fingers seemed short and stubby. I wondered how much truth there was to that myth, and what that meant for Stephen’s dick.
Our waiter showed up at the table and I quickly perused the menu to find something to order. As I did, Stephen's phone beeped with the message. He pulled out the device to answer it.
He tapped away at something and then set his phone on the table, looking up at me. "Sorry about that. It's work." Stephen was an accountant which sounded really boring, but in fact he could regale me with all sorts of crazy tales about the way the rich spent their money and the nefarious ways they tried to hide it or scam the taxman.
We ordered dinner and chatted like we normally did, easily and on a variety of topics that made me even more eager to see where this relationship could go. After dinner we ordered more drinks and some dessert.
While we waited for them to come, I excused myself to go to the little girl's room. I rechecked my hair and makeup, and spritzed on more perfume. I tugged the bodice of my dress down just a little bit more so that maybe when I went back to the table, Stephan might get the hint about another dessert that was possible.
As I walked back to the table, his back was to me, his head down like he was checking his phone again. I slinked up behind him and bent over intending to whisper sweet nothings, or maybe sexy somethings, into his ear. My eyes glanced down to his phone screen and I realized that he wasn't responding to work. Not unless his work involved a woman exposing her tits to him.
I'm wet and waiting, Stephen, the text under her picture said.
My dick is hard for you, he texted back as he took a picture of the bulge in his lap.
"You son of a bitch!"
He jerked, turning back to look at me as he put his phone face down on the table.
"Seriously, you're sexting somebody else while you're on a date with me?" I couldn’t decide if I was more angry or more humiliated.
He gave a shrug as he looked around the restaurant. I think he was more worried about me making a scene and embarrassing him than having been caught texting another woman. "We're just having fun, right?"
I leaned forward and as I suspected, his gaze drifted down to the hint of cleavage I’d just created for him.
"I was willing to have fun tonight, but I don't do dogs." I straightened, grabbed the ice water and dumped it in his lap, hoping it shrank his dick. Unable to resist, I said, “Your hands are short and stubby anyway.” Then I turned on my heel, and left the restaurant as fast as I could.
As I drove back to my apartment, I decided I was more pissed than hurt, which was a good sign. It meant I wasn’t too into him yet. I was glad I found out about his cheating ways now before I actually fell too deep. It was a reminder that love like my sister and Ryan had was an anomaly. Over half of marriages failed and there was probably a significant number of those that didn't, that should. Wedded bliss and happily ever after was something sold by jewelers and florists.
It was time to return to my old way of doing things. Casually dating but nothing serious. I needed to focus on my work, on my career. There was no room in my life for love and it was time I stopped looking for it.
3
Hunter
Once I made my decision that I wasn't going to interview Natalie, I thought the issue was done and over with. I knew I'd probably have to bullshit my way through an explanation to Kellie and Ryan, but I figured I could do that by explaining all the stellar applicants we had for the position. But then as I went through all the applications, two issues arose. One was that the applicants were only so-so. The second was there was an application from Natalie.
God dammit. But I didn't immediately give in then. During one of the meetings that all my brothers and I had to discuss business, I brought up the fact that it would be inappropriate to consider Natalie for the position.
"She's perfectly qualified for the position," Ryan said. "She's done some freelance marketing work in the past, and she's extremely creative artistically. I think she would be a great asset."
"She's a part-time barista, part-time freelancer, and part-time artist. This job requires somebody that is looking to have a career, not somebody biding their time until they can finally stop being a starving artist," I argued.
"He has a point," my brother, Carter, said, who for the most part had looked indifferent until this point.
Still, I was eager for the support. I looked over to Noah, my ne'er-do-well brother who had his feet kicked up on the table looking bored. He shrugged in his usual indifference.
"We don't have time to fuck around on this," Ryan said, his voice getting terse. “We’re getting too close to launch in the European market.
I’d have thought that after a free fake Tuscan wedding and a weeklong honeymoon in which he fell in love with his assistant, he'd be in a better mood, especially where this European expansion was involved. The man who would put on this wedding and honeymoon, Christian La Mont, clearly liked Ryan, so why his panties were all in a bunch, I couldn’t figure out.