10. Drake
Drake
Olivia is on my mind all weekend, and I’m excited about Monday morning and the chance to see her again.
I looked her up on social media and saw some of her pictures, but nothing does her justice.
All weekend, I wanted nothing more than to hold her in my arms and brush her sandy blonde hair behind her ears while kissing her.
When I get to the office, she's not in yet. I'm a little surprised by that considering I'm running late, and part of me worries she might not come back.
We crossed a line on Friday, and I should have known better than to sleep with an employee. There are countless Human Resources policies in place to ensure things like this don't happen.
On top of the HR violations and the publicity scandal I would no doubt be under if the media caught wind of our indiscretion, my business is new. A scandal could ruin my business. Nobody wants to invest in a company where the CEO is accused of sexual harassment.
I try to focus on work for the first few hours.
I have an important meeting with a medical device startup that I've been investing in at noon, and I need to prepare for it.
The founder of the startup, Lionel, is branching into a new field of devices, and he's looking for additional funding.
This company is one of our prime investments.
If I'm going to encourage other people to give us their money to invest in this company, I need to understand every facet of their business.
Tyler walks into the office with a plate filled with muffins and cookies and drops a printed report on my desk before taking a seat across from me and digging into his food. I can smell it, and I know that Olivia baked it. I try to keep myself from looking toward her through the glass, but I can't.
My eyes lock on her as she laughs and jokes with a couple of employees while pouring something into a baking pan.
She looks carefree and calm like she was able to put everything behind her.
I don’t know why that upsets me. I know we agreed that forgetting about what happened would be the best plan, but I can't forget about her.
I can't forget how she tasted, how her breath quickened when we kissed, and how her nails felt digging into my back.
I don't want to forget.
“Lionel's a bit of a health nut, so I asked Olivia to make some gluten-free vegan cookies for him and his team,” Tyler says, biting into a chocolate chip cookie with a surprised smile. “It tastes just like the real thing.”
I tear my eyes away from her, wishing I didn't have to. “She's talented. Definitely a good idea to hire her.”
Joseph knocks on the door with Lionel and a group of his employees behind him just then, and I gesture for them to come in.
They take a seat, and Tyler offers them the cookies.
As I suspected, Olivia’s baking is a hit, and everyone offers their compliments even though she's not in the room.
Then, Lionel sets up his computer in front of the flat screen on the side of the room to give us his presentation.
Tyler and I sit on the couch across from the TV and watch as he and his team discuss their newest idea.
It's a medical robot that can calculate the proper dosages for medications and dispense them. It will save time with doctors and nurses in hospitals and allow them to focus on patient care. It’ll also help hospitals avoid pill theft, an issue that every hospital deals with.
We spend several hours discussing each facet of the product before taking a short break for lunch to order from a nearby Chinese restaurant.
Each of the employees Lionel brought with him is a head of a department at the startup, and each makes a case as to why this will benefit based on their research and reports.
While this isn't a lifesaving product, it’s something that I think could be easily marketed to hospitals.
Avoiding pill theft alone is probably worth it for many hospitals.
After they finish their presentation and go over some of the details of their funding requests, I tell them I'll think about it and say goodbye.
It's nearing 5 p.m. by the time the meeting is over, and I feel the brain fog kicking in.
I look out at the office and see that most of my employees have already wrapped up their work for the day and headed home.
Many employers have strict rules about leaving before 5 p.m. As long as my employees get their work done for the day, I don't care when they leave.
If they want to finish everything in the first couple of hours and spend the rest of the day at home with their families, more power to them.
Olivia is still in the kitchen, and my eyes meet hers. It's the first time she's acknowledged me today, and I can't slow my racing heart as I watch her. Then someone approaches and asks her a question, which diverts her attention from me.
I turn back to my computer and try to wrap up my notes about the meeting and form a few coherent thoughts about it. I need to stop thinking about Olivia and focus on work. That's what's important.
Before I can wrap everything up for the day, my door opens, and Olivia is standing there, pressing her back against the glass and looking over at me. I smile when I see her and lean back in my chair, looking through the window to see if anyone else is still in the office.
“I wanted to wait until we were alone,” Olivia says, and I raise an eyebrow. There are a few things I'd like to do with her while we’re alone. “There's something I want to talk to you about.”
“I'm all ears,” I say, closing my laptop to give her my undivided attention.
She tucks her hair behind her ears, and my heart melts. It's such a simple thing, but it's oddly endearing. Normally when I have a one-night stand, I can easily cut all ties. But I just can't with her.
I have these stupid rules in place to keep women at a distance, and I want to ignore all of them and reach across this desk to kiss her.
“I had dinner with my dad on Saturday,” Olivia says, her voice serious. My heart sinks to my stomach, and I know this isn't good.
If she told Leonard about us, I would already be dead. But that doesn't mean she's not planning to…
“Did you tell him?”
“I haven't. But I can't be around him and lie like this.
I don't have it in me to deceive people,” Olivia says, her voice strained through the stress she feels.
I feel bad for putting her in this position.
I knew what would be at stake for her if we slept together, but it didn't bother me at the time.
“When are you going to tell him?” I want to ask her not to, but I know it's not my choice.
I have a case to argue about her not saying anything, especially because it stands to hurt my business, but the thought of discouraging her because of that seems wrong.
It feels like I'm holding that over her head to keep her silent, and that's not what I want to do.
“I'm not sure. I think I can get away with it for a couple more weeks because I don't see him that often, but I can't keep it in forever.” She exhales and slumps forward in her chair, shaking her head.
“It was such a mistake. I can't believe I got so swept up in the moment that I didn't think about the repercussions. We have to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
She stares at me and waits for me to acknowledge what she said, but I can't do it. She's right, of course, but I don't want to believe it. I want her more than I've wanted a woman for a long time, and I'm not ready to give up just because we're under a little pressure.
“I haven't stopped thinking about you all weekend,” I admit, standing to join her across the desk. “I know it's wrong, but I can't get you out of my mind.”
She stares at me with her baby blue eyes dilating as she parts her lips to say something but loses the words. Her breath quickens and her eyes soften as I reach out my hand to grab hers. She doesn't push me away, and I don't move.
“Tell me you haven't wanted to go back and do it all over again,” I say, reaching for a strand of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. She presses her cheek against my hand while looking at me.
“I can't tell you that,” Olivia whispers, shaking her head. “But that doesn't mean this isn't wrong.”
“I don't care,” I say, leaning closer to her and pressing my mouth against hers. Her lips part as my tongue sweeps over them and slides inside. She tastes like sugar and strawberries.
She moans as I kiss her, and my fingers slide through her hair as I savor how silky it feels against my skin. She reaches for my neck to pull me closer. The blood rushes from my brain to my groin, and I could take her right now on my desk without thinking twice.
I reach between her thighs and slowly begin moving toward her pussy.
I've been starved of her since she left my house on Saturday, and all I want in the world is to hear her moan.
I don't care that we're in the office or that anybody could walk in and see us together.
When I'm with her, nothing else matters.
I rub the outside of her jeans, and she gasps as I tease her, pulling her mouth from me to look down at my hand. Her cheeks are pink, and she bites her lip while I kiss her neck. “Oh, Drake,” she whispers, spreading her legs a little wider.
I pull my hand away and slide it up to unbutton her jeans as my mouth finds hers again. Every sweep of my tongue in her mouth makes me want her more, and I can tell she wants this, too.
The button on her jeans pops open, and I lower my hand inside them to massage her clit. Before I can touch her, Olivia's hands press against my chest, and she pushes me back. She bites her lip again, trying to collect herself. “We can't do this.”
“Nobody has to know,” I say, grabbing her wrists to push them away from my chest so we can get close again. “No one will suspect anything. If Leonard finds out, I'll talk to him. I'll make sure it's okay.”
She shakes her head and reluctantly stands to walk away. “You might be able to ignore the guilt, but I can't. He's my father. I can't lie to him the way I have. It’s not any better that I'm one of your employees.”
“None of that matters,” I say, standing up to dissuade her from leaving.
“It matters to me,” Olivia says defiantly, straightening her spine as she looks me in the eye. “I just need time to think. I mean it when I say we can't let this happen again.”
Before I can say anything to stop her, she storms out of my office and leaves without looking back.