“I better head off. See you tomorrow at lunch, sis. Bye, Charlotte.”
I looked over, her eyes locked on mine. It felt like something passed between us, but what? What was it? The shiny band on my left hand suddenly felt like a lead weight, a reminder of everything in my life I had committed to.
“Just call me, Charlie. Everybody else does.” She smiled, batting her eyelashes.
I turned to face her one last time as I stared at the two pools of chocolate brown eyes. They were intoxicating. But why? I had no idea. This wasn’t like me. When it came to women, I was controlled. She wasn’t the first woman to catch my attention while married, though, I’d never done anything forbidden besides flirt. And even then, it lasted two minutes, and the novelty wore off real fast.
But she was different.
“Charlotte, I’m not everybody else,” I told her with confidence.
Her lips pressed together in a slight grimace, and her eyes widened with a longing gaze.
“No, you’re not, Alex,” she stated, never breaking her stare. “You certainly are not.”
LEX
Present Day
“Mr. Edwards.”
Everyone at the table rises, extending their hands. Shaking each one of them in turn, I take a seat and motion for the waiter to come over. This is one of my final meetings before I finally fly out on Monday morning, and I’m itching to get back home.
“Can I have a short black, please?”
The waiter scurries away as I turn to face Mr. Klein and the rest of his associates. The purpose of the meeting today is to discuss our chain of clubs in Manhattan, specifically After Dark, our newest and most profitable club.
Klein produces our latest figures, then delves into our budget. The club is profitable, thanks to reaching full capacity every Friday and Saturday night. The paparazzi swarm the outside as celebrities make it their new favorite spot. Overall, I’m content with the numbers along with the other clubs along the East Coast.
As I look over a paper forecasting this year’s return, I’m distracted by someone laughing at another table. The laugh, sounding almost angelic, if not a little familiar, is making it difficult for me to focus.
To drown out the incessant noise, I focus on Klein’s recommendations for minor improvements we can make to the club to ensure long-term profit.
But then I hear it again.
I turn my head to the left to see where it’s coming from.
A woman is sitting with a man at a table a few feet away. He must be telling her a funny story because her head and shoulders are shaking uncontrollably while her laughter barrels through the restaurant. This fucker is surely going to get laid tonight.
The woman is sitting with her legs crossed to the side. I eye her long, lean, tanned legs right down to her shoes. Oh, fuck me, Louboutins. If there’s one thing I have a fetish over, it’s Louboutin pumps. Something about the black and red screams dominatrix. I adjust my pants slightly under the table, knowing all too well meetings and hard-ons don’t go hand in hand.
It’s almost impossible not to check out the rest of her. She’s wearing a high-waisted gray pencil skirt and a white silk blouse buttoned down low enough I can see the curves of her breasts. Her tits look fabulous, nice and full. What a lucky bastard. Her hair is pinned up, and yes, of course, she’s a brunette. Fuck my life.
“Mr. Edwards?”
Klein breaks me from my daze by producing more spreadsheets, sliding them across to me. Analyzing the graphs on the sheets, my head is unable to shut out the noise.
“Sorry, Mr. Klein, you were talking about profit margins?”
The woman laughs again. I turn to look at the same time she lifts her head. She’s wearing black-rimmed reading glasses, very librarian. Don’t go there again, Edwards. I let out a small breath with the sudden realization at how unprofessional I am being.
Focus.
But something pulls me toward her, this force consuming me without any rhyme or reason. Quickly, I allow myself one last glance to squash this obscene curiosity I have about her.
She turns to look my way, and the most beautiful deep chocolate brown eyes meet with mine, and the second our gaze locks, my heart stops, the beats now at a complete standstill.
This can’t be.