I wasn’t born yesterday. I knew the come-on line well and welcomed it. I picked up the glass and took a long swig. I needed to get up enough nerve to accept the offer I knew was coming.
“Why, thank you, Kris. A few more nights,” I answered, my cheeks flushing. I drank the rest of the rum and coke and asked for another one. It was in front of me before I even had a chance to think of what I would say if he offered himself to me. I casually glanced around the bar and decided I was his best choice.He’s definitely mine.
“I’m off at midnight,” Kris said quietly, his eyes never leaving mine.
I drank some more and smiled. I could feel the alcohol burn as it flooded down my throat. I could also feel the burn deep inside as it trickled down to my center.Am I really going to do this?I wanted to, and judging by the look he was giving me, he wanted it too. I’d never slept with a man outside of a relationship. I was too straight and narrow for that. But things are changing in my life now. I had an assistant and was hopefully being groomed to make partner if my firm's little spy didn’t ruin that for me.
At the thought of Chris, anger welled inside me, and I looked at Kris. Kris number two.Damn! Or is he Kris number one?Alphabetically, he’s Kris number two, but on a scale of one to ten, he’s Kris number one by a long shot. My head was starting to hurt, and now I was just confusing myself. I was getting drunker by the minute, and it felt great. I looked at Kris, pausing to look at my watch, then said, “Midnight it is.” That gives me a few hours (a woman needed to freshen up for spontaneous sex!). “Room 222,” I told him and smiled sexily.
He grinned, setting my insides on fire.I just told him my room number. I’m doing this! Oh, God.Blood was coursing through my veins at an alarming rate. I’d never done anything this reckless before. I wasn’t sure if I was proud of myself or furious.
I never got a chance to find out because someone sat beside me and asked for a Guinness.No!“Fancy meeting you here,” he said, turning to face me.
What the hell? His hair was back to normal, and he’d changed his clothes. This was the Chris I knew, not the Elvis one.What’s going on?
Kris number two went to serve some younger women at the other end of the bar, and I figured he’d likely move on to them now that Chris was sitting beside me. Chris was ruining a lot for me lately.
“Isn’t it enough that I have to see you at work and every time I go home? Do you have to ruin my time here too?” I asked, anger injected into my words. I slapped down a hundred dollar bill (sure that was enough to pay for both mine and Chris’ tab) and slid off the stool, headed toward the elevators.So much for getting laid tonight.
I’d almost made it into my hotel room safely when the door burst open behind me. Sure I was getting robbed or something, I held my purse over my head and proceeded to let them have it.
“Marilyn, stop! It’s me, Chris.” He held his arms over his head to prevent me from hitting him again and glared at me.
Once I realized I wasn’t getting robbed, I dropped my purse on the chair beside me. “What are you doing in here?” I wobbled and swayed.
Chris caught me before I went down on the floor. He helped me to sit on the small sofa, then moved my purse to another location so he could sit down too. “You alright, Ice Queen?”
I cursed. “Over on the counter is a bottle of whiskey. Want to bring it over here?” I pointed.
Chris looked at me and shook his head. “I think you’d better slow down there, Marilyn.”
“You don’t tell me what to do,” I hurled at him. “Just get me the bottle,” I ordered, glaring at him.
He went over and got the bottle, but before giving it to me, he took a long pull, then sat down again.
“Why are you so angry at me?” Chris asked, rubbing the back of his head.
“Because you’re always…there.I’d like to turn around andnotsee you there. You’re always helping me; except the one time I asked you to help me get that damn file. That wasn’t helpful at all. Why do you have to be so damn helpful?”
I knew I was being mean, but I didn’t know hownotto be that way. I hated the way people saw me, but I didn’t know how to change that about myself, so I vented my anger about myself on others. Chris just happened to be in my path when it all came out. I’d always been taught that I had to be tough to succeed in a man’s world, but sometimes I overreached and came off like a cold-hearted bitch.
“That’s not fair, Marilyn. We talked about that, and I apologized. It wasn’t evenmymistake, other than not checking the file before I left the courthouse. I felt really awful about that. I thought this was water under the bridge? You alluded to the fact that you were over it. You can’t dredge it up againafteryou’ve forgiven me,” Chris shot back.
I pouted and took another long swig. I knew he was right, but I was still a bit upset with him. I wanted to ask him what was going on earlier in the night at the other bar with that girl, but couldn’t get up the nerve, even with the booze. “I’m having a hard time sharing my workload. I’m used to doing it all myself and have a hard time trusting that you’ll do it right,” I admitted.
“That’s fair, after how I screwed up, but lesson learned. I won’t repeat that mistake. I promise. I will triple check absolutely everything. You can trust me,” he said, looking at me with those sweet eyes of his. “I have something I need you to work on for me.”
I raised an eyebrow, despite the headache that was coming on. “What?”
“You need to work on your teamwork skills. I know it’s tough for you not to just take over everything, but you need to learn that you don’t have to do it all by yourself and let others accomplish things even if it’s not the way you would do it. Oh, and you need to be nicer,” Chris said.
I just sat there staring at him. “Did you just speak your mind out to your boss while she was drunk on the floor?”
“I believe I did. Now, let’s get you to bed,” he said, lifting me to my feet.
I swatted him. “I am not going to bed with you. Shame on you. Go!” I pointed to the door as I swooned, landing on the ground with a bigthump.
Chris ran to my rescue and helped me in bed. He put water on my bed table with an aspirin close by. I was out before he even got out the door.