Chapter 18
Russ: I’m sorry it’s late, but we should talk. Are you still awake?
I’d gone to bed thinking about him. It was sexy and exhilarating to have him fuck me in the middle of a shoot, and the feeling of him coming inside me replayed in my mind every fifteen minutes.
Squeezing my legs together, I let the thought consume me once again before I responded to his text message. I knew I needed to be strong and not let that man get under my skin. We hadn’t actually had a conversation and there was so much we needed to discuss.
Nina: Good morning, I was knocked out. I agree, we should talk. Are you free now?
“Russ,” I answered my phone ten minutes later. Clearing my throat, I greeted him again. “Hi.”
“I only have about ten minutes before I have to jump on a call, but I just…” He paused. “I wanted to hear your voice.”
I bit my bottom lip as warmth spread throughout my body. Turning onto my side, I rubbed my feet together. “Really?”
“Does that surprise you?”
“Well actually, yeah.”
“What?”
I could hear the confusion in his voice.
“I asked you if we could talk on Monday and you played me,” I explained.
“I didn’t play you. I would never play you.”
“Russ, you didn’t even give me the courtesy of looking at me. You didn’t acknowledge me. You just said no.”
“Nina, look what happened yesterday,” he whispered sharply.
“Hell, look what happened Friday. I told you no because I can’t be around you without wanting you.
I can’t look at you without missing you.
I can’t… I can’t act like I don’t want to be with you.
And I don’t understand what you don’t understand about that. ”
“I understand—”
“If you understood, you wouldn’t have blocked me,” he interrupted.
The vulnerability in his tone triggered something inside me.
“I blocked you because I was mad… and hurt.” Rolling onto my back, I stared at the ceiling.
With tears stinging my eyes and my defenses down, I had no control over the words coming out of my mouth.
“You bring out all of these feelings that—”
I was interrupted by the ringing of his office phone, and I stopped speaking abruptly.
“That what?” he demanded softly.
I swallowed hard, pushing down the words and emotions that threatened to spill out of me.
His phone rang furiously in the silence between us.
“Nina?”
The soft pleading in his voice almost got me to break.
“Shit,” he swore. “Just give me one second.” He seemed to move his cell phone from his face to answer his office phone.
“Yes? Have the quarter four projections looked at one more time before my eleven o’clock.
I have back-to-back meetings until four, so I can’t even squeeze that in today.
But I have something to take care of before the Hampton meeting. Well, you should’ve led with that!”
When he ended the business call, he returned to me. “My eight o’clock meeting is here,” he informed me. “I’m sorry to cut our conversation short, but can we finish this tonight over dinner?”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, that’s fine. Have a good meeting. Bye, Russ.” My words came out in a rush, and I ended the call as soon as humanly possible.
Tossing my phone to the other side of the bed, I buried my face in my pillow.
What the fuck was I about to say?
It was almost scary how little control I had over my feelings when he expressed his. I felt discombobulated. He made me feel things and want things I’d never felt or wanted before. And as impossible as it was for us to have more than we had, I wanted him—badly.
He really did fuck the common sense out of me.
All I could do was shake my head and get my ass up for the day to edit content.
Thursday, 10:56 A.M.
Russ: I just walked into the conference room. I have back-to-back meetings until 4. Dinner tonight, seven o’clock, my place?
Thursday, 11:16 A.M.
Nina: I’ll be there.
I sat my phone on my vanity and exhaled, committing myself to work for the rest of the day.
“I’m about to put it on!” I greeted the camera with my signature opening for the final time. “Get ready with me as I prepare for a dinner date…”
Two hours later, I was dressed, my makeup and hair were done, and the video was completed. I was overdressed for a dinner at his house, but there was so much we needed to talk about and looking my best made me less nervous about it.
I made my way to his address. There wasn’t much traffic on Thursday evening, so I arrived a few minutes earlier than anticipated. I slowed, creeping my way toward the house in the developing neighborhood.
“Nice,” I breathed pulling into the driveway. I parked beside Russ’s car and then climbed out. “Really nice.”
I saw the vision of the area, even though it was the only house that existed on the land at the end of the cul-de-sac. I grabbed the rail and eased up the ten steps that led to the front door. When I reached the top of the landing, I hadn’t even pressed the doorbell when I heard his voice.
“The door is unlocked. Come in,” Russ greeted me through a speaker.
I smiled, knowing a camera was on me somewhere. “You want me to just walk in.”
“Yes,” he responded with a little chuckle.
I opened the door and stepped inside the foyer. Sexy R & B music hit my ears at the same time as the smell of bacon hit my nostrils. Everything looked new and perfect as I tried to take everything in at once.
I closed the door behind me.
“Russ?” I called out, looking around the brightly lit space. There was a formal room to the right of me, a living room to the left of me, and a hallway in front of me.
“You look absolutely beautiful,” he said as he appeared at the end of the hallway. Dressed in a heather-gray T-shirt with black pants, he looked good. He had a fresh lineup and the biggest smile on his face.
I opened my arms wide and spun around in a circle in my cropped T-shirt and pleated miniskirt. The spin further showed off my legs and the cute sandals. “The skirt is RLF.”
He licked his lips as he drew closer. “I never could’ve imagined that skirt looking that good.”
I smirked. “You like?”
He stopped in front me. “Oh yeah.”
“How much?”
Grabbing my face, he crashed his lips into mine. My arms instinctively wrapped around him, pulling him close. Our mouths moved hungrily over each other. Soft moans escaped us as we kissed harder, deeper.
“Are you ready for what I have for you?” he whispered against my lips.
Reaching between us, I slid my hand over the bulge in his pants. “Yes.”
He gave me a peck. “That’s not what I meant.”
“That’s not for me?”
“Oh, that’s only for you.” He took my hand and brought it to his lips. “But I have something else for you first.”
“I’m intrigued,” I commented as he interlocked our fingers.
“Let me give you part one of the tour.” He took me into the formal living room, the den, and his home office. Just as we approached the kitchen, he turned and smiled. “Are you ready?”
I nodded. “Ready for what?”
The moment we stepped into the kitchen, I stopped in my tracks.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, bringing my free hand to my mouth.
The kitchen was open and beautiful, with gray flooring and white quartz countertops. It was a chef’s dream kitchen. It looked like something out of a magazine. Even still, my eyes kept going back to the biggest bouquet of flowers I’d ever seen.
“These are for you,” he told me, gesturing to the elaborate display.
“Wow…” I went over to table and touched one of the petals. “These are gorgeous.”
“I’m glad you like them.” He slipped his hand across my lower back.
Plucking the card from the display, I looked over my shoulder at him. “It’s so many.”
“Three dozen.” He grabbed my hips and kissed the sensitive spot behind my ear. “For the three months we’ve known each other.”
“I like that,” I murmured, my skin tingling from his lips and his words.
He kissed his way down my neck. “Oh, you like that?”
I grinned. “Yeah, I do.”
“Good,” he replied as I pulled the note from the envelope.
You are my escape.
As I turned to face him, his hands rested on my hips, and he stepped a little closer to me. Our bodies were barely touching, but we were close enough that I could feel the heat emanating from him.
“This is really sweet,” I murmured. “Thank you.”
“I have plans for you. Don’t thank me yet.”
My stomach flipped and I took in a shaky breath.
Before I could say anything, the oven timer started beeping.
“Dinner is ready,” Russ told me as he made his way to the sink. He washed his hands and then looked at me. “I hope you’re hungry.”
I watched him as he pulled bread out of the oven.
Seeing him move effortlessly through the kitchen was sexy.
He carried a tray into another room and then promptly returned with a big smile on his face.
I put my nose against the flowers one more time before I headed his way.
My stomach growled hungrily as I drew closer to the food on the stove.
“It smells great in here,” I told him after washing my hands. “Do you need any help with anything?”
“Everything is done. I just need you to follow me.”
He placed his hand on my lower back and escorted me through a door that led to an elegantly designed dining room.
He’d blocked me from going in during the tour, so I was genuinely impressed with the look and aura of the room.
The table was big, able to seat twelve, with a chandelier hanging above and running the length of it.
There was a big window that overlooked a small body of water.
The two table settings were side by side, facing it.
“Is that a lake? A pond?” I guessed.
“It’s a man-made lake.” He pulled the chair out for me. Once I got in place, he scooted me in. “I just thought it would make for a good view.”
“You were right.”
He kissed the top of my head and then filled our glasses with wine. “I’ll be right back.”