Secret Surrender (Forever 2)

“Damn it,” he growled, pulling out of me and tying off the condom. He threw it in the trash and plopped down on his back, scooping me up after a second to my new favorite spot on his chest. “How am I ever going to get you off my mind when we have sex like that?”

“And why would I want to be off your mind?” I said coyly.

He gave me a small smile. Then his eyes glazed over as if he were looking off to the horizon. The subtle change in his demeanor was jarring. This must be another one of his sudden shifts. I didn’t want to leave the bed and end the moment, much as I knew I had to, but I could tell for him the moment was already gone.

“Busy day?” I asked, raking my fingers up and down his chest.

Unmoving, he said nothing.

After a moment, I tried again. “Vincent, where are you?”

He shook his head as if warding off an unpleasant thought and looked down at me. His face was another derivative of charming Vincent. The man I’d been with earlier was gone.

“Sorry,” he said. “Lots of work to do. Coffee?”

I hated that he could do that. How could he go from having passionate sex to being all business so quickly? Maybe it was something you had to put up with when you got involved with a man who ran a global empire, but it still bugged me. I nodded because I didn’t trust myself to speak.

When I walked into his kitchen I was greeted by the sight of Vincent making an omelet in his light blue underwear. His impressive bulge strained against the pima cotton even when he wasn’t hard, and it left little to the imagination. With the way the morning light was pouring in his window, the scene looked like something out of a magazine ad—selling anything, so long as it included him.

It was a great recovery. “I didn’t realize breakfast was being served with coffee,” I said.

“Three egg omelet with red and green peppers, onion, jack cheese and ham. I hope that’s all right. I’m a big believer in putting good things into your life if you want good things to come of it.”

“Wise words.” I wondered if Vincent thought of me as a good thing. Or if I thought of him as a good thing. We hadn’t known each other very long; we were still getting to know one another. A good thing could easily turn into a bad one as I’ve figured out from experience. People can be surprising.

He winked. “And yes, you count as a good thing.”

He flipped my omelet deftly onto a plate already containing sliced melon and strawberries and set it on the counter. Pouring me a fresh cup of coffee from a french press, he continued. “I have to go to Rio tonight. I’ll be gone the rest of the week, but we need to keep in contact every day, especially since your ex found out where you live. Are you sure I can’t put you up in a hotel or get you a guard?”

I took the coffee mug from his hand and took a sip, savoring the complex notes. It was so much better than the coffee at the office. “No,” I said. “None of that will be necessary.”

He nodded. “Okay, but after work we’re going to the store before I leave and getting you some protection. Mace, at least. Something else as well. Maybe a gun.”

I was touched he was so concerned about Marty, but I thought he was overreacting. We weren’t dealing with a serial killer here. “That’s fine, but I really think mace will be enough. I don’t need an assault rifle or anything.”

“Eat up, we do need to get to work soon,” he said. “Want me to drop you off at a nearby subway station or at your building? I mean, you know, discretion and all.”

“My building’s fine,” I said. The drop off would be quick enough and Vincent had tinted windows. It wouldn’t be an issue to hide him taking me to work from my firm.

He shrugged. “Great. Remember, we need to hit the store after work, so no staying late.”

I nodded. This swerve between business and affection was going to take some getting used to, but I could probably manage.

***

After getting dropped off in the high style of Vincent’s old Camry, I walked into the office for my first day as a Client Acquisition Manager. Moving my things from my cubicle to my new office took up the first half of the morning. The office was going to be pretty sparse for a while, but it was mine. I was excited.

I planned on starting on some work on Vincent’s account before lunch. I looked for the manila folder containing Vincent’s signed contract along with other information about his assets but couldn’t find it. I realized I must have left it with Richard. I’d have to get it from him.

My office was toward the end of the hall, which meant I had to walk almost the length of the floor to get to Richard’s office. When I got there, I knocked and saw he was on the phone. He glanced at me briefly before gluing his eyes back to the screen.

I waited.

He was on the phone for almost ten minutes before he ended his conversation and got off. Still not glancing at me, he finally spoke. “Yes?”

I took a deep breath. “I think I left the Sorenson files with you. Can I have them?”

He continued typing. “You know those are with records by now.”

“Okay, but I also know you made copies. Can I have those?”

He looked around before finally gracing me with a glance. “Listen, I’m very busy. Go down to records and have copies made there.”

So this was how it was going to be. I understood his annoyance, but he was being a jerk about this. I knew he had to have copies of the file in his office somewhere. He would’ve had them made immediately, and he was so organized it would take him seconds to locate them.

“Richard—”

“I’m busy. Go down to records to get your files.”

“I know you have them here somewhere. I’m happy to—”

“Is there anything else? For the hundredth time, I am very, very busy today.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. “No, that’s all.”

The right thing to do was let him be angry and not feed into it. Still, it hurt that he was being so rude to me. Maybe he was trying to keep me down even though we had the same title. Regardless, I’d have to put up with it for as long as I could.

I went down to records and wrestled with them to get the documents I needed. When I got back to my desk I found I’d received an email from my new boss, Carl Stansworth, asking me to drop by when I had a moment. “When I had a moment” really meant I needed to get there ASAP because he had a small opening in his schedule and wanted to see me during that time. I checked the timestamp and saw it had been sent eighteen minutes ago. That meant I didn’t have long; guys like Carl booked themselves pretty full. I gathered up my stuff and rushed out of my office.