I watched as he clenched his jaw, and just from his gaze; I knew that I’d said something wrong.
“Sure, Beverley. You’re right, it’s done and we can move on,” he said in a gruff voice. I opened my mouth and felt my voice crack.
“Umm…thanks,” I said, at a loss of words and Grant squared his shoulders before giving me the once over.
“Good to go?” he asked, in a business like tone. I gulped and nodded. I wished I could throw my arms around his neck and bury my face in his chest, but he was already walking out of the toilet and walking away from me.
I followed him out. Nobody in the bar seemed to have noticed, or at least they weren’t staring at us.
“Grant!” I called out to him, not prepared with what I wanted to say. He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at me.
“Thank you for the offer…for the company I mean. It was very generous of you,” I said, aware of the distance between us. He pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants and nodded his head gently. Without a word, he turned around again and walked out of the bar, leaving me in the darkness of the dingy room.
I should have said more, or I should have told him the truth. But neither of those were an option for me, because Grant Jennings was still way out of my league.
Chapter 16
Grant
I left work early and came back to my house to spend some time alone. The day had been rough because I couldn’t get Beverley out of my mind. I drove with the top down on my convertible and tried to breathe in some fresh air into my lungs. Nothing was helping. I turned the music up and then down and I still couldn’t think straight. All I could think about was how hot the sex with Beverley was and how abruptly it ended. She had thanked me for my business offer when I left the bar, but that was it. She couldn’t care less that we had the most explosive sex of our lives together. Or at least, that what it was for me.
When I went looking for her at her office and then at the bar, my intention had been to talk to her. I knew she was having a hard time selling the company and I didn’t want her to suffer because of it. I also wanted to try my luck in convincing her to come work with me. But, I’d failed on both those accounts. Instead, I had managed to completely loose control and we ended up having sex.
Sex with Beverley was something I fantasized about since college. My preoccupation with Beverley, was something I blamed on my lust for her. So, technically, sleeping with her should have solved that problem for me. As she said, it was done now and we could both move on. But it didn’t seem like I could move on. I had never thought about a woman after having sex with her. This was a first for me and I didn’t know how to deal with it.
Back in my house, I paced around my den. I was still in my clothes from the day, conscious of the smell of Beverley on the fabric, or I could have just been imagining it. Either way, I couldn’t stop wondering what it would have felt like to sleep with her in my house, on my bed, so that we could talk after.
What was happening to me? I felt like I was going insane. Usually, once the job was done and I’d slept with a woman, what I wanted most to put some distance between us. And now, after Beverley, all I could think about was having her again.
I was mad at her, angry at me. I could still her voice ringing in my head. “It’s done now, we can finally move on.” I’d seen the rage in her eyes. She hated me, despised me more now that we had actually done the deed. It was almost like she had slept with me just to punish me. I was sure that she wanted to have nothing to do with me after. Whatever dreams I had of us working together as a team, were now ruined.
With my mind in confusion and my temper rising, I took out my phone and called the lawyer.
“How is the transaction going?” I said into the phone. I must have sounded pissed off, because he started explaining the process to me immediately, almost nervously.
“I don’t care how it’s being done. How much longer till I have full possession of Wade Co?” I barked into the phone.
“We’re waiting for signed papers and a confirmation. A week maximum? We’ll try and speed up the process,” he said and I cut the call. I wasn’t in the mood for small talk.
I clenched my jaw as I flung the phone away from me and it landed on the floor. I saw the screen crack and I turned away from it. I could get a new phone, I thought.
In a week I would own Beverley’s company. I would have won the game and we wouldn’t have to see each other again, just like she wanted.
I wasn’t sure why I was so angry suddenly, when sleeping with Beverley had occupied my mind since I first met her in college. I had been so close to asking her out, sev
eral times. But I had peer pressure to back me into a corner. I was expected to date cheerleaders and sorority girls and Beverley Wade had the reputation of being a nerdy prude in my circles.
Besides, wasn’t it obvious now that she always hated me? She despised my popularity, the fact that I played a sport and also that I managed to be her academic equal. She had probably never even been attracted to me. She had definitely shown no signs of having any desires to even be associated with me. Who was I kidding? It was probably for the best that I’d never asked her out. She would only have turned me down.
I tried to steady my nerves. It was over. The maddening yearning I felt for her since the previous night when she came to my house…was done. I got what I wanted, including her company, why did I care any more?
I switched on the big screen television in the den and sat down on my couch, hoping that I could distract myself. Within a few minutes I switched it off again, because even though my eyes were open, I was only thinking of her. Beverley against the toilet wall, her legs wrapped around me, how green her eyes were and how her nails had dug into my shoulders as she came.
I wanted her again. I wanted more than just a quick fuck in the toilet of a dingy bar. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted, but I wanted something else.
For now, I tried to remind myself that I was going to own her company. If she was so resistant to my good intentions then I wasn’t going to force her any more. She’d get exactly what she wanted.
Chapter 17