Crown's Chance at Love (12 page)

“Why do you say it like that Rin?” he asks.

“Come on Nick. You know what I bring to the table. You know what my schedule is like. Yeah he says he is busy, but he’s never dated anyone that has as much on their plate like I do. Plus, he is like freaking gorgeous. Next time some twenty year old model passes by him, he probably won’t even remember my name.” There it is. My insecurities. I’m not one to show them to anyone, but those closest to me, those who know me better than I know myself at times. Nick happens to be at the top of that list.

“If that’s the case, then he isn’t worth it Rin. Trust me, the guy would be a fucking idiot if he didn’t see the type of woman you are.”

I scoff, “What’s that? A sad lonely widow with too much on her plate juggling so much in the air that she is deathly afraid of it all tumbling down?”

“No. A once in a lifetime woman who shines brighter than the fucking sun,” he states. Plain and simple, this is Nick, honest to the bone with his opinions.

“Nick…”  I start to say.

“No. I know Sabrina, trust me I know. You and I… Shit, if I thought we had even a fucking five percent chance of working out, you wouldn’t be seeing anyone. Trust me honey. But you and I we both know we are just friends. We would be a mess waiting to happen. You know you’re the sister I never wanted. I love you baby girl, and if this guy is an idiot and hurts you, I’ll break his fucking face.” To this I laugh.

How simple it would have been if there had been that connection between Nick and I. We know everything there is to know about one another, it would be easy. To this thought I smile. It really wouldn’t be easy; we would fight like cats and dogs, and life would be completely predictable and filled with suffocating monotony. But we both know that it would never be more than friendship, and if we had tried to make it go further, we’d hate one another for letting the other settle for a lifetime of friendship instead of a lifetime of the whole package. Especially after that night a year ago.That horrible embarrassing night we don’t ever talk about, that we have never told anyone about.

“So what’s his name?” he asks.

“Mike. He works for the corporate offices of Edwards Automotive.”

“The chain of dealerships?” he asks, curiosity piquing his interest.

“Yup. That’s the company he works for. Anyhow he is thirty-nine, never married,” I tell him. I liked that Nick was asking questions and sounded mildly interesting in getting to know things about Mike.

“What did the kids think about him?” Nicks voice sounds cautious.

“They liked him I think. Mark told him where he could find us, that’s how he knew to go to Tutti Frutti last night. Penny chatted him up, but you know thats just Penny’s way, she chats with everyone.”

“And Chris?”

“Believe it or not, Mr. Serious took a liking to Mike. He even rolled meatballs with him. It was nice to see. He talked football with him and from what I can tell Mike’s a big football guy, so they hit it off great,” I say smiling thinking about my beautiful little guy cooking next to Mike.

“Wow,” he says and then stays quiet and I know his silence isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“So, you sure you don’t see something happening with Trish?” I ask and he laughs.

“You will never give up will you?” he asks with a happy tinge in his voice that tells me he is smiling.

“You deserve happiness Nick. You need a good partner in your life, someone to take care of you the way you take care of everyone around you,” I tell him and he scoffs so I continue, “Emmi and I worry about you.”

“I’m okay baby girl,” he says and then sighs. “Look I better get some sleep, promise me you will be careful with this guy okay?”

“I promise Nick.”

“Okay, tell the kids I say ‘hi,’ and we will skype tomorrow okay? Eight your time work okay?”

“Eight tomorrow is fine. I’ll see you then,” and we hang up. I stare out the window thinking about Nick. He took the news pretty well, and I’m glad.

My receptionist Janelle knocks at the door of my office and I look up and smile at her. She’s a tall, curvy blonde twenty-two year old who is working for us to help get herself through school.

“There is a delivery for you at the front, they need you to sign for,” she says, with a big smile on her face and I raise my eyebrow.

I wasn’t expecting anything, but maybe some catalogs or fabric samples have arrived early, I thought to myself. I stand and stretch, my back slightly aching from having been at my desk so long. Straightening my slate grey pencil skirt down, looking down at my white button down sleeveless shirt to make sure no extra buttons have been undone. I walk towards the front of the office, my bright blue heels clicking on the hardwood floors beneath me. I look at my watch and then at the front, and that’s when I see him. Standing there in a black suit, that was most definitely custom tailored to his extremely masculine body. White crisp shirt underneath with the first two buttons popped open. It’s such a classic look, but on him he looks better than classic. It’s utterly delicious. His blue eyes glitter at me and his smile can charm a nun out of her promises of celibacy.

“Hey Mike. What are you doing here?” I ask, not even trying to hide the smile I feel all the way to my eyes..

“I brought you lunch. I called and Janelle here, your lovely receptionist, told me you hadn’t gone out yet, so I thought I’d deliver,” he says and I look at Janelle, poor girl blushing like a schoolgirl, but who could blame her, he has that same affect on me.

“Thanks, come into my office please.”

Mike

He had tried to stay away. He really had. He had tried not to call or text or even e-mail her. He hadn’t heard from her since last night, after he had kissed her goodnight. He had been tempted to throw her into his car and drive to the nearest empty parking lot to make out with her. Kissing her soft lips had been like a slice of heaven and he couldn’t stop thinking about what her lips had felt like beneath his, what her mouth had tasted like. Her scent haunted him, a light coconut scent from the shampoo she used, to the light clean scent of her perfume. All he wanted was to be next to her. He had got home and they had texted back and forth until he just gave in and called her. They had stayed on the phone until she had fallen asleep, and he had wanted to be lying beside her. Shit he had even dreamt about it.

Around one in the afternoon he had given in and texted her, and was slightly disappointed when he had not heard back from her. Then disappointment had drifted to worry.
What if she knew who he was,
had been all that had ran through his mind. An hour later he had called her office and talked to her receptionist, Janelle.  She had told him that Sabrina hadn’t gone out to lunch, having been completely busy in her office all morning. Since he couldn’t focus, he went out and grabbed them some lunch to surprise her with.

He had gone to his favorite deli and picked them up sandwiches and drinks, then had stopped by a little bakery his assistant, Robin, had mentioned and had picked up two dozen assorted cupcakes for her office.

Now finally she was standing in front of him, smiling at him, her eyes bright and happy.

“Thanks, come into my office please.”

I follow her, my eyes going to her round ass, and damn it looks fucking wonderful in her tight pencil skirt.  Images of her in my office bent over in front of me, her arms on the flat surface of my desk, as I lift that tight skirt over the roundness of her ass drift into my head and without any control, my body reacts to the images that filter it. My cock starts to twitch to life and I take a deep breath as I try to think about something else. My inability to control my body’s reaction to her surprises me and makes me nervous.

Her office is a little small but nice. She has a couple of pictures of her kids, and a great abstract painting hung up behind her desk.

“That is a great piece, “ I mention to her and she smiles.

“I fell in love with it when I saw it. Thought it would look nice in here,” she smiles, her eyes dancing brightly.

“Did you pick it up at a gallery in LA? “ I ask looking at it again. Something about the painting drew you in, hearts melding together in bright bursts of colors.

“Actually I picked it up at the street fair, you know in Old Town? The artist has a booth there. I like her work. You should see some of her other pieces, they are amazing.”

“We should go this week, they are on Wednesdays right?”

“Yeah. I mean sure, if you want to go, we could,” she says her cheeks slightly pink, almost as if she was surprised that I want to see her again so soon. Shit if she only knew how distracted she made me feel.

“Yeah I do. So tell me, how was your day?” I ask her, trying to ease our nerves a little as we sit in her office. She’s across the way a small light wood desk, making it feel like she was too far from me.

“It was good, it kind of flew by, by the time I realized what time it was, I just figured I should work through lunch, then I got a call from my best friend and I got distracted from returning your text. I’m sorry.”

“Oh no it’s okay. So Emmi is your best friend?”

“Oh no. Umm well yes, but she feels like family since we have  known one another since we were little. My best friend’s name is Nick, the three of us all kind of grew up together. He is in Hong Kong right now, so I was just catching him up on things here.”

“What does he do?” I ask feigning interest.

“Software development. His company is based out of Denver, but he is usually here or traveling all around the world,” she says smiling, obviously proud of her friend.

We ate together, and it was nice to share a meal with her. I loved the way she gave me these shy glances and soft smiles almost as if she couldn’t believe that I was there. Once we finished, I mentioned to her that I had brought cupcakes for her office, but that they were in that car; asking if she wanted to go with me to get them, she smiled at me. As we passed the reception desk, Sabrina asked Janelle to take messages for her for the rest of the day and Janelle smiled at us. Once we were outside I took her hand in mine and she looked up at me, her eyes bright almost like she was caught by surprise.

“How was your work day?” she asks and I sigh.

“Boring. It’s always the same,” I say, and it’s true. I wasn’t sure when, but my job had become monotonous and I didn’t enjoy it, but what could I do?

She leans against my black Range Rover and I stand in front of her. Her soft vanilla scent wrapping around me. I look at her shoulders and I don’t even think twice as my fingertips touch the bare skin and she shivers; I am mesmerized as I watch her skin fill with goosebumps and it stirs something in me. I look up at her, her mouth slightly parted and as her tongue lightly grazes her lower lip, I don’t think twice about closing the space between us. Pining her body between my car and my body.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you all day sweetheart,” I say, hearing her take a deep breath. I’m breathing her in, her arms going to my chest, her eyes dark and slightly hooded.

“I’ve thought about you too,” she says looking at me through her dark eyelashes that frame her beautiful brown eyes.

“Sabrina,” I say, my voice surprising me at how deep it sounds in my ears.

“Hmm?” she purrs biting her lower lip, and fuck I need to kiss her.

“I need to kiss you honey. Tell me right now if you don’t want me to kiss you.”

“Kiss me, “ she whispers, her eyes closing slowly as I lean my head closer to hers, my lips reach hers.

Her lips are so soft and plump and I press mine in harder, her mouth parting for me, my tongue tracing her lower full lip and slightly nipping it. Our kissing surprises me. We kiss like we have been kissing each other our whole lives, instead of it only our second kiss. Something powerful takes over as we kiss completely in sync.Tasting and teasing each other. The kiss going from soft to hot and hard.

Time stands still, yet I remember we are in front of the building where she works, making out like teenagers.  I break the kiss before it gets to be too hot and heavy, but yet when we part and I see her eyes staring back at me, we are both a little breathless. Any plans of slowing down, of not getting hot and heavy are blown out the window when she surprises the hell out of me. She smiles that mischievous little smile of hers, and when she does that I am defenseless. Leaning into me, standing on her tips of her toes, even though she is wearing a pair of sexy five inch heels, her hands going to my back of my neck pulling me in. I can feel her chest pressed against mine. My body aching to feel her skin against mine. Her fingers running through my hair, tugging it with just enough pressure that she only adds fuel to the fire.