He pressed the vibrator firmly against my clit and didn’t let up.
One orgasm became two and then three before I tried to wiggle free, overly sensitive.
“Please, Sir…” I begged.
He relented. Bless him. The vibrator disappeared, and he stroked my skin lightly as
I floated all the way back to Earth.
I blinked as I regained some small sense of myself.
“Beautiful, baby.”
I nodded. Oh God. I was in so much trouble.
Chapter Seventeen
While I caught my breath, Riley untied my limbs and then climbed up beside me, turned
me on my side, and spooned me from behind. He held himself up on one elbow and set
his chin on my shoulder. As he brushed a lock of hair from my face, he murmured, “Now,
let’s talk about Christine.”
I sighed. Who wanted to talk about their boyfriend’s ex-fiancée right after awesome
sexual escapades? But I knew he didn’t mean it that way. I sobered. “What’s there
to say? That crazy woman is going to ruin my life by forcing me to resign from a job
I love. It’s pretty clear to me.”
“She isn’t.”
I twisted my head to face him and narrowed my gaze. “How do you propose to stop her?”
I regretted that question immediately when his smile spread.
“Baby, do not underestimate me.”
I knew he had money—shit tons. I did
not
, however, want him to fling that money around to bail me out. “Riley…” We’d only
been together a few days. It seemed like longer, but it wasn’t long enough for him
to wade into my problems.
He set a finger over my lips. “Let me handle this.”
I untangled myself from his grip so fast, his eyes went wide as I sat up and twisted
around to face him. So what if I was naked and my breasts were bare? “No.” I shook
my head. The last thing I wanted was for Riley to “handle it.” “Please. This is my
job. I’m in the middle of a big project. It’s huge for me. I don’t want to risk it
getting fucked up.”
“What project? When’s it due?”
“Thursday. And it’s a marketing proposal for Link.”
“The cell phone company?”
“Yes. This is the biggest account I’ve handled. Hell, it’s the third largest account
Talent Marketing has received. I’m putting together the advertising campaign.”
Riley stared at me for several seconds, not looking convinced. Finally, he licked
his lips. “She’ll eat you alive.”
I shook my head faster. “I won’t let her. It’s good. Hopefully I can knock her socks
off with my abilities, and she’ll leave me alone.”
Riley grabbed my hand and squeezed. “Thursday?”
I nodded.
“That’s in two days.”
“Yes. I’ve been on this for a month. I’ll be ready. As soon as Christine sees how
hard I have worked on this, I’m hoping she’ll realize I’m not that bad of a human
being. I know this client better than anyone in the office. My presentation is almost
done. I feel good about it.”
“I don’t like it, baby.”
“I know. But please, let me try to win her over without bringing you into it. Maybe
if I make her think I don’t lean on you for anything, she’ll respect me.”
He chuckled, a dry sound that made me flinch. And then he wrapped his larger hand
all the way around mine and squeezed tighter. “I don’t know how that woman got a job
at Talent Marketing Group, but you’re more qualified than she is to run that department.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m nowhere near qualified to run a department, Riley. That’s insane.”
“I never said you were. I simply stated that you were
more
qualified than Christine. And don’t undersell yourself. I’m sure you’re amazing at
what you do.” He reached up to stroke a finger down my cheek. “She’s up to something.
I don’t want you to get hurt in her path.”
“I won’t. I’m tough.”
He grinned wider. “Don’t I know it.” He blew out a breath and continued. “I’ll give
you two days. If things go south between now and then, I trust you’ll tell me.”
I closed my eyes and nodded. If he were anyone else, I would lie my way through this
mess to keep him from meddling. But I knew if I lied to Riley, he would find out,
and I probably wouldn’t enjoy the consequences.
* * * *
Somehow I skated through Wednesday without more than a few pursed lips and tight gazes
from Christine. She peeked over my shoulder several times to observe my work, but
she said nothing while I worked feverishly to finish my presentation.
I stayed later than everyone on my floor that night, preferring to have the presentation
done before I went home just in case Christine considered “Thursday” to mean nine
in the morning. I didn’t want to take a chance on her chastising me in front of everyone
for not being ready to present when I arrived.
By eight o’clock I was finished. I saved my work to the hard drive, the cloud, and
a CD. I wasn’t taking any chances something would happen to my work between Wednesday
evening and Thursday morning. Even a catastrophic event couldn’t possibly wipe out
all three venues.
I was exhausted when I got home and poured myself a glass of wine before settling
on my couch to put my feet up and relax. My hands shook. I couldn’t focus on anything
but worrying about the next day.
When my phone rang, I smiled at the name running across the top.
Riley.
“Hey,” I answered.
“How’d it go today?”
“I finished. And your ex didn’t bother me, at least not verbally.”
He chuckled. “Thank God I never married that bitch. And I know exactly what you mean.
She can shoot daggers with her eyes.”
Those were my exact thoughts. “Maybe she’s done bothering me. Do you suppose she knew
we fought that night at Sky and maybe even saw me leave without you?”
“Don’t bet on it. Has she ever mentioned me?”
“Nope.”
“Calm before the storm, baby. Call me tomorrow as soon as you finish with her.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“Sleep well, Cheyenne.”
“You too. Bye.” I hung up and resumed staring into space, taking another long drink
of my wine. I needed to eat something. Arriving at work Thursday after a liquid dinner
was a bad plan.
* * * *
I was up early after tossing and turning all night. I even arrived at work by eight
in the morning before anyone else—except Christine Parson. She was already in her
office and on the phone when I arrived.
She hung up and called my name as I walked by. “Cheyenne. Good to see you being a
team player this morning. I’ll expect to see your presentation in five minutes.” She
didn’t even glance up as she spoke.
I cringed as I nodded and headed for my desk. Her syrupy voice was a bad omen. I was
so glad I’d stayed late and finished the presentation since clearly I was right. Thursday
meant before dawn to Christine.
After dropping my purse in my drawer, I turned on my computer and waited for it to
boot up.
And waited.
It didn’t come on.
How not shocking.
I fought a grin. The last thing I wanted was for that crazy woman to think she bested
me. She would not.
I slid into Stacy’s cubicle without detection and powered up her computer without
a problem. Thank God we had exchanged log in information months ago. Twice we had
needed to borrow the other’s space when we had a problem. This morning she was saving
my life.
Of course I still had the jump drive in my purse, but if I could get into my email
and send the project directly to Christine through the cloud, all the better.
Five minutes later I was done. Sent.
I stood tall and strode to Christine’s office. “I sent you the link to my presentation.
Would you like me to go over it with you?”
She didn’t even lift her head as she shuffled papers on her desk and feigned incredible
interest in whatever she was working on. “No. That won’t be necessary. I’ll pull it
up when I get a chance and let you know what I think later.”
I blew out a long breath as I walked away, deflated. It was a presentation. One I
would have gone over that day with the board. It had not a damn thing to do with Christine.
Granted, when I’d been assigned that particular marketing campaign a month ago, there
had been no department head for my floor and I had answered to the top floor. But
it seemed now that we had a department manager, she intended to step in and be the
liaison between me and the board.
If she were any other human, like someone from this planet, I wouldn’t find it out
of character. But I didn’t trust Christine. No way in hell that woman would have my
best interests at heart.
I trembled as I slouched in my desk chair. Why on Earth did I ever for one moment
think this would go smoothly? If I wasn’t going to be permitted to present my campaign
personally to the board, I couldn’t even give the speech I had prepared.
Fuck.
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the desk phone and dialed IT. They sent someone to
my floor immediately to fix my computer. I didn’t even want to know what that woman
had done to sabotage it.
I wanted to send a text to Riley and let him know the status, but the last thing I
would be able to stand would be Christine catching me doing something personal on
“her” time. So I refrained.
Ten minutes later, IT had me up and running. The guy smirked and shook his head as
he went by. I said nothing.
“You’re here early,” Stacy said as she rounded the wall between our cubicles.
“Yeah. I had that presentation. Oh, and my computer wouldn’t start. I used yours.
Saved my ass. That’s why it’s already on.”
“No problem.” She shrugged and ducked behind her wall.
The minutes ticked by into hours, and not a word from Christine. I spent the entire
day working on my next project, trying hard not to worry myself sick.
At five I stood, straightened my prim blue skirt suit—the one I’d intentionally worn
to make a presentation that never happened—and headed for Christine’s office.
“Christine?”
She barely lifted her face to acknowledge me. “Yes?”
“Did you have a chance to look over my presentation?”
She sat back and met my gaze finally. “Oh, right. Yes. I looked at it early this morning.
It needs a lot of work, Cheyenne. I’m surprised someone of your level of education
would try to turn that in as a viable option.”
My face flushed. I knew I was every shade of red while she stared at me.
All I could do was blink.
“You could take another stab at it, but that would be a waste of time. I’ll do it
myself.” She lowered her gaze back to her papers and dismissed me without a word.
I hesitated, stunned, unable to decide what to do next. Finally, I walked away, went
back to my cubicle, gathered my stuff, and left. I made it all the way to my car before
I broke down and cried.
I sat in the parking garage, hoping no one saw me, for a long time, unable to drive
through the mess that was my face.
When my phone rang, I jumped.
Riley.
Right. He would call. It was after five and I hadn’t contacted him all day.
I sniffled and answered. “Hi.” My voice was low and unrecognizable even to me.
“Cheyenne?”
“Yeah.” I turned on the car, switched him to blue tooth, and backed out of the spot.
“Talk to me.”
“It didn’t go well.”
“Why didn’t you call?”
“She never even spoke to me until I confronted her at five. I didn’t have anything
to report before now.”
“You’ve been crying,” he stated.
“Yeah. I’m disappointed. Not going to lie.”
“Come to my house. Now.”
I thought for a second as I pulled out of the garage into the Atlanta traffic. He
lived in Buckhead. It would be a haul at this hour. Rush hour traffic would be a mess.
I knew because I’d already done the drive on Tuesday. “I think I’d rather be alone,
if you don’t mind.”
“I do mind. Come to me, Cheyenne. That’s an order. I expect you to drive straight
here. Justine is making a wonderful dinner. There’s always more than enough. I’ll
see you soon.” He hung up.
The man hung up.
Dammit.
My hands shook. Did I have another option?
There was no way I would defy Riley. He wasn’t the sort of man who permitted anyone
to defy him. But I also didn’t like that he was sort of bullying me into doing his
bidding.
On the other hand, he was on my side. I could use the support.
Hell, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be in this predicament. My life was going
along just fine. Either Christine never would have known who I was and therefore wouldn’t
have singled me out, or—and the second option made me shudder—she never would have
been working at Talent Marketing Group in the first place.
The idea that she had taken the job totally out of spite made me want to vomit. How
did she manage to pull strings that were as long as those had to be to get that job
in such a short amount of time after meeting me briefly at Sky? It was preposterous.
And yet, I couldn’t deny it was possible. Not after everything I’d been through since
Monday.
Fuck. That wasn’t the first time I’d seen her. She’d been at the fundraiser the week
before. Somehow that bitch had figured out who I was and gotten a job as my boss between
the Monday afternoon of the fundraiser and Friday night when we conveniently saw her
at Sky.