CHAPTER 3DENISE
CHAPTER 3
DENISE
I woke up later than I wanted to, and I probably would’ve slept later if Hugh hadn’t thrown the covers off me and laughed as I tried to run from the cold. He gave me a kiss on the forehead and pointed to some clothes he’d picked out from the closet. The pants were black and stretchy and he’d paired them with a white blouse and my favorite black and white Saint Laurent slingback flats. He’d laid out the red lingerie he’d bought for me and I had to stop the smile on my lips from blossoming into something deeper and more meaningful in my heart.
The idea of him going through my clothes, knowing my style, and putting something cute together to give me a few more minutes of sleep made my stomach somersault.
He gave me so much.
It was weird for me. To take and not be giving far more in return. I was already imposing by inserting him into my drama, but the little things like this told me he liked what we had together. He enjoyed picking my clothes out and waking me up in the morning so we could walk to work.
“Get dressed and we’ll head out,” he said, his fingers drifted across my stomach, telling me that he wanted to do anything and everything that didn’t include going into work. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up to my feet.
I frowned and looked at the phone glued to his other hand, “You could’ve just left without me, you know.”
His mouth smoothed into a line, and he gave me a little push towards the bathroom.
“Get showered,” he said, heading out towards the kitchen. He was, of course, already dressed and ready for the day. The amount of sleep he existed on was inhuman.
Within twenty minutes, I was showered and dressed and throwing my slingbacks into my shoe bag. As I walked toward the kitchen, he was on a call, his phone glued between his shoulder and ear.
“Yeah, that sounds great. Send me over the deck.”
His eyes scanned my body and he motioned toward a blazer on the bar stool by my suitcase. I slipped my shoe bag into my briefcase while he continued his call.
“I’ll call you if I have any suggestions before passing it along. Yeah, no, of course, we can talk about that too. Thanks.”
He hung up as I slid on my blazer. It was a blood-red St. John and my most expensive purchase to date. It fit like a glove, was all edges, and had a belt that tied at the waist and accentuated my hourglass figure. Of course, he went for the priciest piece of clothing I owned. I belted it, feeling the wool against my skin and knowing it pulled the whole ensemble together.
I shouldn’t be surprised, his three-piece suit of the day was charcoal gray, almost black. His light gray tie had a slight red weave in the fabric. Did he subtly have us… matching? This man really was everything.
“Who was that?” I asked, my fingers going to his tie to straighten it. Did he do that on purpose?
“Chris over at Zinc.”
I pictured the twenty-something CEO of Zinc. Since I’d met him, he’d upgraded his Nike sweats to Versace, but he still had an unruly mop of blonde hair on his head.
Hugh sat on his board of directors, and they were well on their way to a successful exit, the holy grail moment when a company is acquired by a larger one or becomes publicly traded.
Zinc was a biopharmaceutical company. That was his niche. I mean, it felt like everything was that man’s niche, but this was where he really shined. He could speak the lingo and scientists trusted him. He knew all the right people, and all of his big exits were doing amazing things in the pharmaceutical space.
“I’ll have to run over to his office sometime this week. He needs a steady hand right now.” I nodded as he held open the overcoat for me to slip on. Running to San Diego and back, sounded exhausting, but if anyone could make it work, it was Hugh.
“I’ll hold it down here if you need to do a quick there and back,” I smiled up at him as he pulled my coat closed.
“I know.” He gave me a slow kiss and leaned close as he sniffed my neck.
“Let’s go before I give you that energy you were asking for last night.” Rolling my eyes, I scoffed as he grabbed our briefcases and a small bag.
“Yeah, sure,” I said, opening the condo door and holding it open for him.
Like he would skip work for pussy…