He went on smiling obnoxiously long after Lexi drained her glass in a single gulp and stormed out of the kitchen. He didn’t chase after her. He’d never chase her. He didn’t have to.
He knew full well that she’d come to him when she was ready, and it was going to be soon. Very. Soon.
CHAPTER 11
Lexi
The bastard. Lexi was pretty sure that this was what reverse psychology at its finest felt like. Maybe this was what war felt like.
Curtis James fed her a pack of lies, a ten-thousand-dollar glass of wine, and declared war on her ass, all in one breath. God, he was smooth. She felt like the entire time she’d known him, he’d been conditioning her, unbeknownst to her, as sneaky as the devil himself. He was Pavlov and she was the dog. Curtis James was also the bell, and now all she had to do was think about him and the salivating started.
Nine days later, she was still firmly embroiled in the oven Curtis thrust her into at his house. He’d shoved her in and slammed the door. She was currently cooking alive. Boiling in her own skin. She was the pot and inside of her, she was brewing up one hell of a lust stew. It burbled and frothed, cooking away with little bits of desire here, some chopped up want there, seasoned all with a pinch of lust. Yeah. It had been nine freaking days and that pot was about to bubble the heck over.
Curtis James showed up on a Tuesday afternoon. He strolled right past her tiny office- she wasn’t complaining, at least she got an office- straight into his. Unlike hers, his wasn’t mostly made of glass. Anyone and everyone could see what she was doing in her little glassed-in world all day long. Curtis James got the sprawling, expensive, lavish office that had once belonged to his father. It looked like the inside of an old gentleman’s club, complete with hardwood, expensive ceiling tiles and beams, wainscoting, and all the upright, high backed furniture and massive old mahogany desk to match. All that was missing was the brandy and cigars, but those were probably stashed in the bottom of Curtis’ desk too.
She watched his broad, suit clad form slip into his office. He shut the door firmly behind him. She wasn’t notified of any meetings for the day, so she was honestly a little surprised he was there. He hadn’t bothered to pop in since she saw him at his house.
Was it possible to love and hate someone at the same time? Correction- to lust and loathe? That was probably more accurate. Love was a strong word. She hated herself because for nine long days and atrociously long nights that stretched on forever, she couldn’t banish his deep lake eyes. She couldn’t wipe the rich baritone of his voice from her ears. She couldn’t forget the taste of him no matter how many times she’d rinsed with mouthwash. She was tempted to use soap, but if it worked like it worked on herself in the shower, it would be pretty damn ineffective. She needed something to remove all those bad things going on inside of her.
Lexi glanced around discreetly before she pulled her phone out of her desk. She made sure she angled herself behind her desk just right so that no one could see her texting up a storm.
Sam and Andrea both had jobs where they could use their phones pretty much as freely as they wanted. Andy wasn’t even at work yet. Sam worked as a receptionist at a dental office. Andy worked at a bakery, but she worked shifts and she was on the two to ten all week.
Lexi wouldn’t have texted during work, as she thought it was pretty bad taste to sit in her office and earn money for doing absolutely nothing work related, but she was desperate for a distraction. Her bestie and her sister also probably feared she’d been abducted or something, seeing as she’d been MIA for so long.
After she sent off a few feeler texts, basically stating that she was still alive, she sat back and waited while her phone blew up.
ANDY: Where the heck have you been? I’ve tried getting you over here all week. You keep coming up with excuses. It’s good to see you’re still alive.
SAM: What happened with your hot boss?
LEXI: Nothing, pervert. Nothing. Nothing and less than nothing. What about drunk guy? Did he make it out alive?
SAM: You haven’t been watching the news?
LEXI: Very funny. Ha, ha, ha.
She inserted the pissed off emoji face. Of course, the guy made it out okay. She was just trying to distract Sam. That, of course, was a no go. Sam liked gossip more than the average person. She wasn’t going to let go of a juicy bit when she’d sunk her teeth into it.