Chapter 24
Jeremiah
The black town car pulled up outside of my apartment building.
Our apartment building. Sadie sat beside me, back in her leggings and a baggy sweatshirt.
Travel clothes, as she called them. A far cry from the dress I had peeled off her just the night before.
The distance that sat between us now in the car was also a far cry from how our bodies intertwined last night, moving in a rhythm that had us both seeing stars.
After returning from the mall yesterday, we never left the hotel bed, except to open the door for the room service we ordered.
Famished from fucking and needing the energy to do it more, we devoured cheeseburgers and fries with two ginger ales on ice.
I didn’t even want to look at the drink menu. Not after the night before.
“Home sweet home,” she murmured, looking up at the large glass building that towered over us. The glass reflected the late afternoon sun, bouncing it back against the other surrounding buildings, and it put to shame.
My driver opened the back door and helped Sadie out of the car, while I stepped out the other side door.
We walked back to the trunk where the driver began pulling out our bags.
Sadie remained quiet, rocking back on her heels.
A nervous habit I had come to learn about her, along with biting her lip.
I was more of a fan of the latter. Even more of a fan of biting it myself.
As my driver handed us each our bags, I thanked him before clearing my throat to fill the silence that had formed between us.
“You need help with that?” I nodded to the large suitcase, whose handle she clutched in her hand.
At the airport, I insisted on buying her a new travel bag, since her nylon duffel bag was stuffed to the brim with her new collection of dresses.
She had looked ridiculous, struggling to carry it through the airport, and refusing my help.
Stubborn thing she was, I was surprised she had even let me buy her the cream ridged suitcase she now had at her side.
“Nope. I’ve got it.”
Of course she did. I refrained from rolling my eyes as she tilted the suitcase on its wheels and headed for the large glass doors that the doorman was holding open in his usual soldier stance.
As I walked past, I put him at ease with a single nod while Sadie warmly thanked him.
I wondered how it looked, us walking in together.
Stares from the tenants in the lobby confirmed my reason to wonder.
Whispered murmurs drifted toward me, filling me with dread.
The assumptions they must have been making…
“Uh, I have to stop by the front desk,” I said suddenly.
Sadie looked at me curiously.
“I’m expecting a package,” I lied.
She nodded and looked like she was about to follow, but I turned and held out my hand. She stared down at it, her brows pulling together, confused at the formality. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she rode this hand. I pushed the memory away.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you on Monday,” I said firmly.
“Right. Of course,” she said, as if fumbling over her words before placing her hand in mine.
I ignored the look or hurt in her eyes, before shaking her hand firmly and turning for the front desk.
The drift of murmurs seemed to halt. My plan had worked.
I had thrown them off. This was just business to anyone who might have any other ideas.
It wasn’t until I heard the roll of Sadie’s suitcase fading across the marble floors that I felt a small sense of relief, but also a small sense of guilt.
I waited a few minutes until I knew she had been taken up to her floor in the elevator, before rolling my suitcase to the row of gold sliding doors.
On the ride up to the top floor, I felt an annoying nagging feeling that I hadn’t made the right move downstairs.
I didn’t know what the right move was. I didn’t know what Sadie was, or this thing between us. I wasn’t one to think twice about something like this. I let out a frustrated sigh and slipped my phone from my pocket and opened my text threat to Kevin: Gym?
Kevin: Be there in ten.
I slid my phone back in my pocket just as the elevator doors opened to the familiar entryway of my apartment.
I pressed my lips into a tight smile. Home sweet home, as Sadie had said.
I fought off the creeping hint of sadness that I was back to reality and no longer tangled in the sheets of a hotel in Dallas with a redhead who tasted like dessert.
Fuck. I needed a workout to clear my head.
When I entered my apartment, I left my suitcase by the front door and padded toward my bedroom.
I rifled through my dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of gray sweats and a black t-shirt, sliding both on.
The comfort of both made my body melt into them after traveling all day in my suit that was now in need of a good press.
Maybe Sadie had a point to wear travel clothes.
I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and my keycard before heading down to the gym.
It was just a few floors down and I felt relieved there wasn’t a chance of running into Sadie there.
The apartment building housed two gyms, a luxury gym on the higher floors for top-tier tenants, and another on the lower level for everyone else.
It was a fitness hierarchy, but I couldn’t complain.
Not when mine had a sauna and steam room.
When I pushed through the frosted glass doors, I spotted Kevin to the left, sitting on a large black mat he had rolled out.
He looked up and gave me a nod as he draped his body over an outstretched leg.
I walked over and grabbed my own mat, rolling out next to him, my body practically screaming for a good stretch after the plane ride.
“When did you get in?” he asked.
“Just ten minutes ago,” I said, sitting down on the mat and crossing one arm over my chest, pulling it across me with the other hand.
“How was it?”
“Good. We had a successful trip. Signed James Vincent, some big record label guy.”
“We?” asked Kevin, an eyebrow raised, ignoring my business victory.
“My assistant accompanied me.” I quickly avoided his gaze as I switched arms.
“Ahhh,” he said knowingly.
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh, really?”
“Not entirely.” My lips twitched, giving me away.
Kevin laughed out loud and shook his head.
“I know you, man. So, who is this chick?”
“You actually know her. Well, not really. Remember the redhead we saw the other night when we were at the bar?”
“No shit.” Kevin’s eyes grew wide.
“Yeah, she’s my assistant.”
“And plaything.” Kevin smirked.
I shook my head and let out a deep sigh before filling him in on everything that happened.
From Sadie’s box of sex toys being delivered to the wrong address to our first night together to her coincidentally being my new assistant.
Kevin just sat there with his mouth open as he took it all in.
When I finished explaining everything, he let out a loud laugh.
“You met over a box of sex toys?” he asked, slugging my arm.
“Will you shut up?” I looked around, but everyone was too busy lifting weights with their headphones in.
“If that’s not a meet cute, I don’t know what is.”
“It’s nothing like that,” I said sternly.
“Oh, come on. That’s a hell of an ice breaker. This is like a love story in the making.”
I stood up from my mat and began spraying it down.
“The only thing I love about her is fucking her.” I rolled the mat up and placed it on the rack.
Kevin quietly followed suit, as if knowing he had struck a nerve.
He knew me well enough when to push, and when to back off.
Now, I needed him to back off. I had come here to blow off some steam, not talk about the reason why I needed to.
I stalked to the weight room, perusing the weights until I found the ones I needed. I grunted as I lifted them from the rack. Finding a solid stance on the black foam floor, I began doing bicep curls.
“So, this James Vincent guy…it’s a big deal?” asked Kevin, picking up his own weights.
“Huge,” I said breathlessly. “It’s going to take the firm to the next level, not only in our financial gain but in media coverage.”
“Well, congrats, man.” He began curling the weights up to his shoulders. “Dallas is a cool city. Did you enjoy yourself?”
More than I would like to admit.
“Yeah,” I said nonchalantly. I told him about the hotel and the mall, deliberately leaving Sadie’s name out of it.
There was no way in hell I was going to tell him we shared a room, or that I drank myself into a stupor our first night there, leading her to take care of me.
Just remembering how I couldn’t remember that night made my insides shudder.
I hated that I put myself in that position, and that I had felt comfortable enough to do it with her.
Vulnerable.
That was the word she used. Not a descriptor I particularly enjoyed when it came to myself.
As I began another set of reps, I wondered if I had let myself become too comfortable with Sadie. The thought made my stomach more unsettled than the morning after I had drank that whole damn bottle of vintage cabernet.
Yes, the sex with Sadie was the best I had ever had. Seeing her release her inhibitions and become the woman I have been continuously pushing her to be had been an extreme turn-on. I could still hear her whispered plea as I hovered over her.
Fuck me.
The words had been playing in my head the entire day, making my cock twitch in my pants.
Now, I tuned the words out as I went for a heavier set of weights from the rack.
Kevin eyed me cautiously, as if knowing I was deep in thought.
I grunted as I struggled to get the weights up to my shoulders, only letting out a breath when I succeeded.
I knew I couldn’t fire Sadie, and as much fun as I was having keeping her on her toes at the office and having her as eye candy across from me, maybe it was time to rein things in.
I hated the feeling of ever being in that position of being exposed—or vulnerable—again.
We would have to go back to the business relationship we were meant to have.
CEO and personal assistant. Nothing more.
“Dude, you’re going to throw your back out,” said Kevin.
I huffed a laugh as I took in my beet-red face. He was right. I slammed the weights back on the rack before grabbing a towel to wipe my damp brow.
“This girl has got you all twisted up,” said Kevin, sitting down on a nearby bench.
He was back at it again.
I rolled my eyes. “No.” I said firmly. “She’s just my assistant. Starting Monday, that’s all she will be from here on out.”
“Riiiiight,” said Kevin unconvinced. He stood up and picked up his weights again for another set. The smug expression on his face was a challenge.
I shot him a look and took a sip of ice-cold water.
“I’m serious,” I said with a cool collectedness.
“Yeah, yeah. Good luck with that, man.”
He knew, just as well as I knew, that I would never be able to resist a temptation like Sadie.