Baron

“I’m sorry, what?” Her voice is laced with excitement and expectation. Turning towards her, I tell her everything that happened and then sit on the couch drained from all the confusion.

“O.M.G. Frannie. Holy cow! How the hell did you not give him any and everything he asked you for?” She asks, jumping up and down as if I just told her I was going to be a princess or something. I roll my eyes at her.

“Look at me, Es. That man makes six figures at the least. He doesn't really want anything permanent with me. Plus, he was sitting next to his girlfriend.” I say, going into the kitchen.

“You don’t know that. She could have been the other man’s wife or something.”

I stop in my tracks. That thought never once occurred to me. Well hell. I slump my shoulders with the realization that I could have missed out on something. It stuns me for a second before I come back to my senses.

“Whatever. It’s over now. The chances that I’ll see him again are slim to none. I am moving on. Besides, I need to figure out the situation with school before I have to go back to Canada.” I tell her, looking in the refrigerator for something to eat.

“I know what you need,” she says, opening the freezer. She turns with two, one-pint tubs of ice cream.

“Ah, you know me so well,” I tell her, laughing.

We sit in the living room watching “Life As We Know It” with Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel until we both can barely keep our eyes open. Walking into my bedroom, I strip out of my clothes and slide under the covers. My body is trying its damndest to recreate the feelings he spurred in me. Turning over, I vow to fight it. There is no sense in starting something I can’t possibly finish. I fall asleep confident I have squelched the hunger for any and everything he promised in that kiss.

Too bad my dreams don’t take the hint. This is going to be a battle. I just hope I win.Chapter ThreeBaronI’ve been on edge for days trying to find her, and the only information that I know is accurate is her place of employment. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been at work for the past three nights and it’s causing me to lose my fucking mind. I head into the office, but for the first time, my mind isn’t on business.

Going into Marquise’s office, I try to waste time before I decide to do something drastic. I know there are a million things I could be doing, but I honestly don’t want to.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he asks.

“Nothing,” I tell him.

“Bullshit. You have been on edge for a while. What’s going on?”

“I met her. You know? The one.” He sets his pen down and looks up at me.

“Really?”

“Yes, but now I can’t find her.”

“What do you know about her?”

“Almost everything, except where she lives.”

“I have a meeting in ten minutes, but I want to discuss this more,” he says.

“Dinner? Thursday?”

“I know the perfect place,” I murmur wryly, thinking of where Frannie works.

My office has an oak desk and two chairs. It also has a seating area with two couches that are facing each other for informal meetings. But I have never had one of those. An informal meeting. It is something I just don’t do...

“Mr. Roades is out to lunch, Mr. Roades,” Duke’s assistant, Ingrid says. Ingrid has been with the company since the beginning and now she has got to probably be around eighty. She always has a look, as if she is a dragon who’s guarding its treasure. To be honest it scares the hell out of me.

“Ingrid, babe. I’ve asked you to call me Baron a million times,” I say sitting on the edge of her desk. She gives me a small smile before removing any trace of it from her face.

“Mr. Roades, it’s not proper. Now, get your skinny ass off of my desk. You know my husband would kick it if he found out you were flirting with me,” she says.

“I won’t tell him if you don’t babe,” I say grinning at her.

“Get out of here with your bad self,” she says, finally laughing. I start to slide off of her desk, but not before taking a handful of candy from the bowl she has sitting on the corner of it.

“Bye Ingrid,” I say with a wave, before heading to Princeton’s office. Considering that he doesn't currently have an assistant, I walk straight into his open office.

“Yo, Prince. Do you want to get some lunch?” I ask. He never looks up at me before replying.

“Sorry Bare. I am swamped today. Besides, I think Ingrid ordered me something,” he says.

“Sounds good,” I say, as I sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk.