The One who got Away

I pulled my clothes on and watched as she pulled on fresh, sexy panties and a new bra. She lifted her arms up in the air, allowing a sweet but sexy sundress to cascade over her curves. She grabbed a sweater and sat down at her makeup table, brushing her hair. She looked back at me, smiling as she pulled her hair into a ponytail and touched up her makeup just enough to look fresh and bright. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She nodded toward a pair of wedge sandals sitting on the floor against the wall, so I grabbed them and walked over, holding them close to me as I bent over and kissed her lip-glossed lips.

We walked out of the room, and I watched as Ronni skipped into the kitchen and planted a huge kiss on her roommate’s cheek.

“This is Maria,” she said happily. “Maria, this is Nathan.”

I leaned over and kissed the top of her hand, flashing her a smile. Her stern face melted slowly away, and she looked into Ronni’s eyes, seeing that she was happy. Maria laughed as Ronni’s excitement trickled over into her. I wanted Maria to like me, especially if I was going to be with Ronni and help them get their business off the ground. If Ronni believed in Maria, I knew I could take that as a solid fact.

We left the house and jumped into my car, letting the top down now that the clouds had cleared and the sun warmed the air. It was a slow start to summer in San Diego this year, but I didn’t mind the eighty degree days at all. Ronni looked over at me, her ponytail whipping around in the wind, and her smile brightening up my day.

We got to the restaurant, and they took us straight back to a table, realizing who I was. My father and mother used to have brunch here every weekend, but they didn’t bring us kids. It was kind of their date night but with brunch instead. I could remember my mother putting on a beautiful dress, doing her hair just perfectly, and dabbing a tiny bit of perfume on her neck. She always hummed on Saturdays, and I knew it was because she got to spend quality time with my father, something that was few and far between with him running the company. However, no matter how busy their lives got, my father always made sure to clear his schedule for Saturday afternoon brunch with my mother.

We sat closely together, sipping our mimosas and looking over the menu. Everything looked delicious, so instead of picking I asked the waitress to bring us one of everything. Ronni’s eyes lit up at that. The waitress laughed and smiled, seeing the love surging between Ronni and me. When she left to put our order in, I leaned back in the chair and put my arm around Ronni. We watched the people coming in and out of the restaurant. The older women were dressed in their Sunday best with large hats and every piece of jewelry they could fit on their hands. The younger crowd was prim, pressed, and proper, laughing and talking amongst themselves as they enjoyed the beginning of a life of luxury. Ronni and I looked up at the door as a loud giggle broke through the low murmur of voices. It was Nick, walking in with a tall blonde girl, dressed like she was ready to go to the club.

“That’s the woman he ditched me for last night,” Ronni said, giggling. “Seems she didn’t get to change her clothes, and neither did Nick.”

I thought about how often Nick stayed at the Del and how if he had gone to his place, he would be wearing different clothing. They mus

t have decided to stay at the hotel last night, which meant Nick had no intention of keeping this girl around past brunch. If he thought he would want to fuck a girl again, he would take them to his house in the hills, but if he knew it was a one and done, he would bring them to the Del, feed them brunch, more because he was hungry than anything else, and then put them in a cab back to whatever hole they crawled out from. He was so predictable.

The hostess took them to a table across the room, but Nick had already spotted Ronni and me. Ronni had switched her attention to her hot tea, but I sat meeting Nick’s angry glare. The blonde was fawning all over him, but he ignored her, sending angry daggers in my direction. I actually found it to be quite humorous, and I smiled a condescending smile in his direction. As soon as the waitress arrived with the food, though, I brought my attention back to the present, ignoring him for the rest of brunch.

We feasted on every breakfast food you could possibly imagine, laughing as people looked over at us and smiled. They figured we were a young couple in love, enjoying our breakfast on cloud nine. I kept my arm around Ronni, keeping her close to my side. I hated the idea that eventually I would have to let go and get to work. Weekends didn’t stop me from having client meetings. When we were done, I had the food boxed up and told Ronni to take it home for her and Maria.

“You’ll instantly win Maria’s heart,” she said, laughing. “That girl is so thin, but she can eat more than most men.”

We laughed as we carried the bags out, still ignoring Nick’s angry stare. We piled the food in the trunk so it wouldn’t blow around and drove slowly back to her house. I walked her in and helped bring the food in, smiling at Maria as I set it in front of her. She laughed and wagged her finger at me.

“You found my weakness, sir.”

Ronni walked me back outside and shut the door behind her for some privacy. I leaned in and kissed her lips softly, running my fingers over her shoulders and back. It was like torture saying goodbye.

“I’m sorry that I have to leave,” I said, sighing. “I have to head into work because I have a meeting later this evening. A lot of my clients don’t care about working weekends.”

“It’s okay,” she said, wrapping her arms around my waist and leaning back to look up at my eyes. “Do you want to get together again?”

“Of course,” I said, laughing. “I wouldn’t even leave now, but my weekend is completely sewn up with business. Sunday is insane, but I’m hoping to make headway with this huge deal that I’ve been working on for about three months now. I think things are finally coming together with it.”

“I understand,” she said, smiling. “Trust me, I would kill baby seals to have that kind of experience. Okay, maybe not baby seals, but I would definitely think about it.”

I laughed loudly and leaned down to kiss her lips. She was so soft and comforting, and I was having a really hard time breaking away. I took in a deep breath and released my grip, stepping back down the walk and toward the car. I blew her a kiss and waved.

“I’ll call you tonight, I promise,” I said as I opened the car door and stepped inside.

As I drove away, I watched her in the rearview mirror. I loved the fact that she was craving experience in business, the same way she used to crave education and knowledge. This girl was going to be trouble when she learned everything she needed to know. There had to be a way I could help her get that knowledge. As I turned toward the center of the city where the office was, I looked over and saw a help wanted sign, and it hit me. That was it. I owned a company that would give her everything she needed. I would hire her to work at the real estate firm. Why didn’t I think of that before?

Chapter Twelve

Ronni

I really didn’t want Nathan to leave the day before, but I knew how important his business was to him. He had taken charge of his father’s company after his mother passed away, and from studying the company as a whole during college, I knew that whatever he was doing was helping to bring the company into the new era. His father was a brilliant man, but he didn’t understand changing times. The company wasn’t in danger at any point, but if Nathan hadn’t come in with the changes he made, eventually the conglomerate would have been broken up and sold to the highest bidder. He was brilliant, just like his father, but he understood what it took for an enterprise to survive a changing economic and political world. They were one of very few real estate companies in the country that actually increased revenue during the economic collapse, while many others barely hung on or folded under the pressure. It was extremely impressive.

So, in the spirit of moving forward and hard work, Maria and I sat down to work out the details of the bikini line and all the logistics that went along with it. She was an exceptional designer, more talented than most of the famous ones I saw in magazines, but just like me, she was just starting out. She sat and listened to everything that Nathan had explained to me, and I patiently went through each step with her so that she could better understand.

She had a designer education, a designer background, and an artist’s mind so I wanted to make things simple but understandable for her. Though I wasn’t going to be designing anything, we were going to be running the company together. Between her amazing work and my business skills, I knew there was no way we could fail at this venture. Luckily for us, Maria came from money, her father being a very successful Latin singer. He loved Maria’s designs and had already set up an account to fund the entire venture, and he didn’t want us to pay him back at all.

I had known since the beginning that Maria had gotten lucky in the parenting department, especially since she didn’t have to pay for college, didn’t have to work at all, and always had money in her bank account. When we decided to move in together, her father came down and picked out the place we lived in, offering to pay for the entire thing. Though it would have been nice to not have the cost of rent, I didn’t feel comfortable having yet another person take care of me, so we settled on a fair price, and I paid my monthly share. Maria thought I was crazy since she knew her father just took that money and put it in her bank account, but it made me feel good to be taking care of myself.

We sat there, brainstorming ideas for what we wanted to call the business, how we wanted to incorporate it legally, and where we really wanted to start. We had a really good list going, and I groaned as my phone went off on the other side of the room. I grabbed it and flipped it open, not even looking at the name on the screen. I cringed at the sound of Nick’s voice on the other end.