Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
K ingston
Skye is pretending to laugh at something Angelica is saying, but I can tell that she’s uncomfortable. Her date, Camden is an even bigger douche than he’d initially appeared and I feel guilty for convincing her to stay. I’m not even sure why I did. Okay, maybe that’s a lie.
She’d taken my breath away when I’d seen her standing there in her white dress. I’ve never seen her looking quite like that. She’s beautiful no matter what she does with her hair or what she wears, but she’s absolutely stunning tonight. And it’s clearly wasted on Camden.
“So I said to Nick, ‘you can’t hog all the coke, you’re not the only one that wants to get high.’” Camden slams his fist on the table as he chuckles at his overly long story. “So he turns to me and says, in his best Tony Montana voice.” He pauses and looks over at Skye. “He’s from Scarface.”
“I know who Tony Montana is,” she says through gritted teeth.
“He was played by Al Pacino.” Camden presses his fingers to his thumb and moves his hand up and down. “He?—”
“So, Angelica, how was Europe?” I cut Camden off as I talk to my date. “Tell us about your latest trip.”
“I had so much fun in Prague.” She leans forward and plays with her long hair. “I met two men from Denmark and they showed me what it means to be a Viking.” She presses her hand to her lips. “Oops, didn’t mean to make you jealous.” She winks. “Or did I?”
"So then the tall, sporty football player." Angelica pauses and licks her lips. "He tells me to get on all fours." She pauses slightly, as she arches her back. "Sorry. I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I Kingston?” She gives him fuck me eyes and I want to tell her that we can all tell exactly what she’s trying to do, but I keep my mouth shut.
I look at her and don't say anything. I can see that Camden's eyes are glued to her and that he's absolutely loving the conversation. I don't want to be rude and tell Angelica that I couldn't care less how many men she did in Prague. I can tell from Skye's look that she's in shock and not sure what to think of the situation.
"Oh my gosh. Then what happened?" Camden says, almost gawking. "Did you have a threesome?"
"Well, women don't tell their secrets," she says, playing with her blonde hair and winking at him.
"Holy shit, Batman," he says. "I'd love to have a threesome. I mean, especially with someone as gorgeous as you."
Angelica giggles slightly. "Well, I'm sure your friend here would be more than willing." She looks over at Skye. "I do believe the homely women are much more likely to?—"
"She's not homely," I interrupt Angelica, and she frowns at me.
"Excuse me?"
"She's not homely." I look over at Skye. "She's a beautiful woman."
"If you like the sort that looks like they came in on the last train." She looks Skye up and down in disdain. "Where did you get your dress?"
"Does it matter?" Skye asks.
"I'm just curious." Angelica sniffs. “It’s weird that you're at a nice restaurant in New York City with a very handsome man and you chose to wear that? It looks like it came from Goodwill. Or are you from Idaho? Is it a potato sack?”
"Even if it did come from Goodwill, I see nothing wrong with that, but I got it on Amazon."
"Amazon?" Angelica titters. "Like the website online? You bought a dress on Amazon?"
"Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?" Skye says, starting to sound incensed.
"I mean, who buys their dresses on an online website? What did that cost you, like five dollars?"
Skye presses her lips together and looks over at me as if to say, “I hate you.”
"That's enough, Angelica," I say, staring at my date. "That's uncalled for."
"What? I'm just saying maybe you should pay her a bit more if she can only afford to wear dresses like that."
"I kinda agree. I wasn't going to say anything," Camden says. "But I was thinking you'd..." He pauses and sips some of his beer.
"You were thinking what?" Skye says, standing up. "You know what? Why don't the three of you enjoy your dinner and have a threesome or do whatever you want to do because I'm out of here." She looks down at me. "And do not call me. Do not text me. I will see you on Monday morning."
She leaves the table and I stare at Angelica and then at Camden. "Excuse me a second." I jump up and follow behind Skye. I grab her by the wrist and pull her to me.
"What are you doing?" she says, glaring at me, her eyes flashing.
"You're mad at me?” I realize I’m still holding her wrist. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to grab you like that.”
"Yeah, I'm mad at you. I should have just left as soon as I realized Camden was a dick. But no, you convinced me to stay and now your stupid girlfriend has been insulting me the entire evening and?—"
"She's not my girlfriend," I interrupt her.
"Well, you slept with her."
I stare at her for a couple of seconds. "Years ago."
"Yeah, and you're not going to bang her again tonight?"
I look down at her and shake my head. "She's not the one I'm interested in banging," I say softly.
Her eyes widen slightly and she gasps. "I know you're not trying to imply what I think you're trying to imply," she says, her face going a delightful color of red.
"What do you think I'm trying to imply?"
"You're not trying to say that you want to bang me, are you? Especially not after the conversation that we had just yesterday when you told me that?—"
"Do you ever shut up Skye?" I say, leaning toward her, my lips so close to hers. I want to kiss her. I want to taste her.
"You can't talk to me like that."
"But I just did," I say softly.
"You're my boss. You can't..."
"I can't what? You can't tell me that you haven't thought about me kissing you at least once."
"Kingston Chase, are you crazy? Literally just yesterday?—"
"Literally just yesterday I said something that I shouldn't have said, and tonight I'm saying something else that I also probably shouldn't say. But if you're upset because you think I'm going to take Angelica to my home and bang the living daylights out of her, that's not going to happen. She's an old friend that I may or may not have hooked up with in the past, but she's not the one that I've been staring at all evening wondering what she tastes like."
Skye licks her lips nervously. "Super unprofessional."
"I know, and that's why I'm not going to do anything about it. But you've had a shitty evening and I figured why not make you feel better about your night?"
Her jaw drops. "What? You think you telling me that you want to bang me is going to make me feel better about my disastrous date?" Her lips twist. "You are so full of yourself."
"But there's a little smile on your face," I say. My finger runs up her wrist and I can feel her heart racing. "It's okay to be attracted to me."
"I'm not attracted to you." She blinks.
"You know that's a telltale sign."
"What are you talking about? What's a telltale sign?"
"Every time you lie, you blink and look away and your nose twitches every so slightly."
"My nose does not twitch."
"It does. Just like a little bunny rabbit," I say. "I've noticed it."
"You have?"
"Yeah. I am pretty observant. Just like I've noticed you checking me out."
"I'm not checking you out, Kingston. I..." She presses her lips together and her nose twitches slightly. She glares at me. "Fine. I have perhaps admired the clothes that you wear. The clothes , not you in particular. It could be any man in the clothes that you wear. I just think that you have a nice sense of fashion." She licks her lips again. "Sue me."
"I don't think it would be worth suing you seeing as you don't have much money." I grin.
"Really?"
"Sorry. Too soon?"
"Yes." She takes a deep breath. "I'm not going back to that table, by the way. I'm leaving."
"But aren't you hungry?"
"Yeah. I'm going to grab a slice of pizza and go home and hang out with my roommate."
I stare at her for a couple of seconds before looking back at the table. Angelica and Camden seem to be flirting. "Let's go then."
"What?" Skye looks at me in shock. "What do you mean let's go? Your date is waiting on you."
"And maybe I am over the date."
"You're not going to tell her?"
I stare down at her, my eyes light with glee. "I can, or I can let them enjoy a date together.” I shrug because I don’t really care.
Skye's eyes widen. ”You would just leave your date like that?"
"She was rude to you. I don't like people being rude to those I..." I pause.
"To those you what?"
"To those who work for me," I say quickly. "You're my assistant, and as such, you deserve respect and no woman that I take on a dinner date is going to disrespect my assistant."
"Yeah. Okay," she says. "Just you, huh?"
"I mean, I don't find that I disrespect you. I try to be honest with you."
"I guess." She shrugs and makes a little face and a feeling of shame washes through me.
“If I have disrespected you and hurt your feelings, I’m sorry. I know I’m not perfect?—.”
“You can say that again.”
“I’m trying to be a better man.” I’m not going to say for you . I’m not going to be some Hallmark Channel sap, but the sentiment is the same. I feel like I’ve let my macho chauvinistic humor allow me to treat her like a piece of meat and I don’t want to be that man anymore. I want to show her that, while I find her sexy as hell, I still want to be the sort of man that sees her mind first.
“You’re not the worst man ever.” She grins. “You’re not the best, but you’re definitely not the worst.”
"Come on." I grab her by the arm and we leave the restaurant. We step outside and she bursts out laughing.
"I cannot believe we just left them."
"Why not? They deserve each other."
"I guess so. So you really didn't have any plans to sleep with her tonight?" she asks me, and I just stare into Skye's green eyes.
The fact of the matter is, when I'd contacted Angelica, I hadn't really had any plans. If sex had happened, I wouldn't have been upset, but it wasn't like that was something I'd been looking for. For some reason though, I don't want to tell Skye that. I don't want to tell Skye that the only reason I invited Angelica out was to get Skye out of my mind. But as soon as I'd seen her in her white dress and her slinky heels, all thoughts of Angelica had vanished.
"I don't know what you want me to say," I say. "Had you thought about hooking up with Camden tonight?"
"I never hook up on a first date," she says, shaking her head. "Never."
"Second date?" I ask curiously.
"Nope."
"Third date?" I ask in surprise.
"Nope."
"So what are we talking here? Three months, four months?"
"Nope." She gives me a coy little smile. "And it's none of your business anyway."
"I'm curious though. Are you a?—"
"I'm not a virgin," she says, glaring at me. "Why? Do I look like a virgin?"
"I don't know what a virgin looks like." I shrug. "I just didn't think you were old-fashioned."
"I like a man to woo me," she says. "I like to know that when I give myself to a man, it's because he respects me for my mind, my body, and my soul. I like to know that?—"
"That sounds kind of unrealistic," I say, laughing.
“Well, that’s kinda rude. Are you calling me unrealistic for wanting a man to respect and love me?”
I frown at the hostility in her tone. “No, sorry, that came out incorrectly. I just meant to say that most men aren’t thinking of your mind and soul when they want to bang. I’m not saying that’s right.” I frown. “Maybe I’m just saying that many of us men are douches.” I run my fingers through my hair as my head pounds. Have I been one of those douches my whole life? I suddenly feel extremely uncomfortable at the reality of my own thought processes when it comes to love and sex. “I want you to find what you want. I’m just saying there are a lot of men who will not offer that.”
“So you’re saying that wanting the entire package is asking too much?”
"No, I'm just saying that sometimes you meet someone and the chemistry is right and the passion is there and all you want to do is rip off their clothes. You’re not thinking about anything else. You know?"
"No," she says, shaking her head, but I can see her staring at my lips.
"You want to go and grab that pizza now?" I ask her.
"I mean, sure." She blinks. "So, have you had a lot of one-night stands?"
"One-night stands?" I asked her. "Where did that come from?"
“Well, if you just follow your passion and want to rip people's clothes off right away and you don't really do relationships, I'm figuring you have a lot of one-night stands."
I stare at her for a couple of seconds. "I can't say that I've had a lot." I reach over and touch the side of her face. "But I can't say that I've had none. You're telling me you've never had a one-night stand?"
"Not because I couldn't if I wanted to," she says, blinking. "I just don't have any interest in that." She bites down on her lip. "So, you going to buy me some pizza now or what?"
"Sure. Pizza and shots?"
"You just want to get me drunk," she says, giggling slightly.
"I just want to make you forget your horrible date with Camden."
"Well then you need to get me a lot of shots because it's going to be a long time before I forget that jackass."
"Yay," I say, raising my hands in the air.
"What are you doing?" she asks me suspiciously.
"I'm just happy to hear you call someone a jackass that isn't me."
"Oh." She wrinkles her cute little nose and I can tell she thinks I’m funny because her eyes light up in that way that tells me she’s laughing inside. "You're stupid. You know that, right?"
"Is that any way to speak to your boss?” I wink at her. “You do know I got a perfect 180 on the LSAT.”
"Maybe not, but right now I'm not thinking of you as my boss.” She sticks her tongue out at me. “And just because you have book smarts, it doesn’t mean you have street smarts.”
"What are you thinking of me as?” I lean forward and catch her eye. I want to stroke her face, but I don’t want to be creepy. I can’t tell her that my love language is touch. Not that it matters. Because we are most certainly not in love.
"I don't know." She shrugs. "My friend for the evening who's going to buy me pizza and copious amounts of alcohol."
"You know that could lead to trouble, right?" I ask her, a glint in my eyes.
"I think that I'll be okay. I can resist your advances."
"Really? Who said there were going to be any advances?"
"Well, it seems to me that you want me," she says.
"Oh, okay. It seems to me that you want me, but don't worry, I can resist your advances as well."
"Really? You can resist my advances? Not that I'm going to make any, but..."
"But what? You don't think I could?"
"I bet you if I told you I wanted you tonight, I could have you."
"Really? You think you could have me tonight if you really wanted?"
"Yeah, I do," she says, nodding. "I don't want you, so I'm not even going to try, but if I did want you, I could have you."
"I don't think so," I say, shaking my head. "Remember, you're my assistant."
"Yeah, and?"
"And I like to keep things professional. I've already told you that. I mean, I'm honest that I find you sexy and attractive and if you weren't my assistant, I'd fuck the living daylights out of you, but I'm not going to cross that line with you, no matter how much you beg me."
"I'm not going to beg you. I wouldn't need to beg you."
"Well, it's a good thing you're not even going to try because I wouldn't want to upset you."
"How would you upset me?"
"By telling you no." I lick my lips.
"You wouldn't tell me no if I really wanted you," she says, her green eyes staring into mine. "I feel like if I really wanted you, I could have you."
"I guess we'll never know," I say. "It's a good thing that you don't really want me."
She presses her lips together. "You really think you're something, don't you, Kingston Chase?"
"No," I say. "Now, come on. Let's go and get that pizza and let me get to learn more about you, Skye. I have a feeling that we're going to become much better friends."