“But you still chase thrills,” I said.
“Of course. Who doesn’t?”
I shrugged. “Just sex. Things can’t get complicated.”
“I wholeheartedly agree with that,” he said.
“Good, because I’m not here to get into anything crazy.”
“Me neither.”
“So long as we’re clear.” I started to get up.
“There is one request I’d like to make. Don’t take me wrong, please.”
“What?”
“None of my family knows about what I do. They wouldn’t understand, and they’re pushing me to start looking for somebody.” I sat down, intrigued. “I need your help with that. Do you think you could come with me to some get-togethers and pretend to be my girlfriend?”
“I don’t mind.”
“Nothing crazy. They’re easy to be around. It’s just something that they’ve been hounding me about.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine.”
“Thank you. I know this is a lot for you. I figured all the girls knew why they were here. You know that package is empty, right?”
“Really?”
“The whole thing’s a front.”
“Of course it is.” I got up. “I should go. I have to go slit my cousin’s throat.”
“No, you should thank her.” He grabbed me by the collar and pressed our lips together. When he pulled back, he said, “I’m sorry. I just had to do that.” I couldn’t think of anything to say. I was too shocked. So I just thanked him and walked out.
Chapter 9
Jake
I sat in a sterile conference room at the head of the table, watching as one of our rookie financial analysts set up a presentation on his laptop. My eyelids drooped with boredom. When the projector came on, the numbers blurred together, and I had to blink to clear the image. When I did, I caught a flash of Maria’s face.
It was so vivid that I could actually see her brown irises and smell her cherry Chapstick. My cock hardened at the image. Somebody was going to see if I wasn’t careful, so I scooted my chair forward and lowered it, so the tip wouldn’t rub against the bottom of the table.
The sound of a slide zooming past brought me back to reality. “Our quarterly earnings were up 16 percent, but we’re facing a downturn during the fall and winter in the Midwest.” The analyst pressed a button, and the sound of a bomb blowing up the slide crashed through the room.
I couldn’t pay attention to this. I hadn’t been able to focus on anything but Maria since I’d met her. The analyst kept glancing at me, probably looking for some sign of approval. I gave him a half-smile, and he froze in panic.
“That’s really astute,” I added to make him feel better.
His face went bright red, and he kept going. “The marketing department has sent us a list of proposals so that we can get rid of some of the losses. I’ve attached them in the email I sent you all this morning.”
The other board members looked just as tired as I did. None of us liked sitting through this kind of crap. It was just a way for the departments to impress us so they could keep their jobs and make more money. I didn’t care about our quarterly profits or whether people would go to our restaurants when it was 10 below. I just wanted to run out of there and hunt down Maria.
Finally, the meeting ended, and I left as soon as I could to get my things from my office. My landline started ringing when I was just about to walk out. “Hello?”