I looked up. “Which one is Mike?”
Ben gave me a grin. “The eager-to-please intern.”
“Bastard.”
He laughed. “Karma’s a bitch.” He turned around to leave.
I couldn’t help but open my mouth as he reached the door. “How did you deal when you wanted a woman you couldn’t have?”
Ben stopped and kept his back to me, only turning his head to look at me from the side. “I don’t know. That never happened to me.”
Of course it hadn’t. The likelihood of something like that happening to men like us was close to nil.
I nodded. “Yeah, what was I thinking?”
“Did something happen in London?”
Everything and nothing at the same time. I shook my head. “No, I was just wondering.”
“I see,” he replied, clearly not buying it. “Well, I’ll see you at the board meeting at three.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Dinner tonight? You can catch me up on how the London office is doing.”
I shook my head. “No, tonight I’ll spend time with Irina.” I forced a grin on my face. “A man has needs.”
Ben laughed. “Fair enough, tomorrow then.”
“Yes, tomorrow's fine.”
Ben did follow through with his threat and sent me the talkative intern I wanted to throw out from my forty-second floor window.
Once I got the piles of financial reports by divisions, I shooed him away, only able to take so much of him.
I dove into it and felt happy that my strategy paid off—being lost in my work made me efficiently forget everything else.
“Hugo, baby. Why didn’t you tell me you were back?”
I kept my head down but grimaced at Irina’s softly accented voice.
I had to know my respite would be short lived. Was it the universe's way of punishing me for coveting my little brother’s woman?
I looked up to see Irina standing in front of my closed office door in her short, pink dress and black stilettos. She was dressed like a million bucks, which was almost accurate as I was the one footing most of her bills.
I knew most people thought I was much too young and good looking to be a sugar daddy. I didn’t really see myself as such. I saw it like a patronage and I did it for a couple of reasons. One, for the honesty that transpired in this relationship. I had nothing to offer her except money and she eagerly took it in exchange for sex and company. There was no game to play. She didn’t need to pretend she loved me or enjoy my company—at least, not really. And secondly, I had freedom; she was not my girlfriend, not my partner. She was nothing more than a business transaction, something I would have no guilt leaving behind.
“Irina, sorry, I’m busy. I’ll see you tonight.” I looked back down and gestured my hand toward the door. “Go buy something nice. I'll take you to Giacomo’s tonight.” I fully knew that the idea of expensive clothes and a dinner in the city's most famous Italian restaurant would be enough to distract her.
I realized I'd been wrong when I got a whiff of her Chanel perfume as she approached me.
“Hugo, you seem stressed. Let me help you with that.”
I knew what she meant by that and maybe it was what I needed. I took off my glasses and pulled back my chair before turning it to face her.
She smiled down at me before dropping to her knees between my open legs.
“Let me help you take the pressure off,” she said, licking her lips and trailing a long perfectly manicured finger over the length of my zipper.