Moonlight (a Melanie King Affair 4 Part Mini-Series - Part 1) (3 page)

BOOK: Moonlight (a Melanie King Affair 4 Part Mini-Series - Part 1)
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The T.A.? Should I be jealous of this T.A.
?
” Warren asked teasingly.

I could
n’
t help but laugh
.“
Well, the T.A. is a woman
.
” I saw visible relief pass through his eyes
.“
Sh
e’
s a lesbian though, so I do
n’
t know Warren, maybe
you
should be jealous
.

I laughed until I saw the heat return to his eyes
.“
What? Do
n’
t tell me yo
u’
re one of
those
guys
.


Melanie, every straight guy is one of
those
guys
,
” he responded, smiling eagerly.


I doubt that. What is it about girl on girl anyway that gets a guy going
?


I do
n’
t know about other guys, or even other girl on girls. But you
?
” He pressed his lips together and looked me up and down
.“
I can picture you standing there, rubbing those beautiful nipples of yours against another womans and the idea of watching her pleasure you? Mmmm
,
” he mindlessly rubbed my hips as he spoke and I could
n’
t help but feel turned on by his own fantasy
.“
Yeah, that
definitely
does something for me. You know what
I’
ll be thinking about tonight
,
” he said, grinning from ear to ear.


Well, you can forget about it Mr. Brown
,
” I said laughing.

He pulled me hard against him and lifted my face to his, gently and tenderly brushing his lips against mine
.“
A fantasy of you is something
I’
ll never forget
,
” he responded under his breath and his kiss became more urgent and frantic
.“
Sometimes
I’
m afraid yo
u’
ll grow tired of me and all this will be over. Yo
u’
ll go back to your life that yo
u’
re meant to live
.

He kissed me deeply again before letting me into the car. I did
n’
t respond to his comment. A part of me did
n’
t know if that time would come either. As we drove back the short way to my house we both remained quiet.


You know you lost, right
?
” I asked him as we approached my house.


This just means
I’
ll need to double the teasing until this weekend
,
” he winked at me and I just rolled my eyes at him. He pulled in front of the house and I quickly stepped outside of the car, wrapping the shawl tightly around my shoulders against the cool night.


Are you going to go straight to sleep
?
” Warren asked as I stepped backward onto the sidewalk, feeling the soft, moist grass give under my sandals.


I think
I’
m going to take a bath first
.


Mmm, I wish I was there washing you
,
” he said.

I wish he were too
.“
You can be there texting me sweet-nothings
.

 


I’
ll take it
,
” he said smiling and I gently closed the door to his Explorer, watching him drive away. I walked back to our house with trepidation. This was the part I hated the most. Wondering if I finally got caught cheating on my husband and his wrath waited on the other side of the door. Or wors
e
– his indifference.

When I stepped into the house I was met with silence.

 

2

 

I grabbed my equipment bag and got to work early. I loved my day with Lilian and Warren had
n’
t texted me the entire day. I knew he was giving me my time with my daughter. I traveled so much for work that my time with her was limited. But, now I was anxious and it had nothing to do with my job.  One thing about working for a nationally syndicated magazine is that the office was mostly always bustling with activity. I got to work just after seven and the parking lot was half full. I waved to Stu, the security guard on duty and vaguely listened to the soft clicking that my flats made against the polished marble floors. I noticed that the top of Stu
s
’ bald head was nearly as shiny as the floor and laughed to mysel
f
– making a mental note to point it out to Warren later.

 

My phone chimed just as I got off the elevator to the eight floor.

 

Have great news

 

I responded to Warrens text.

 

At the office. You here?

 

I got to my desk when I received his response.

 

Will be in late. Chuck will tell you.

 

Charles Hill was my boss and I had no idea why he would have good news for me
from
Warren. The idea terrified me. Even though we both were employed byWorld Geography, we worked in different departments on different floors, which might as well have been different worlds.

 

Warren and my husband both attended law school together. Warren graduating a year ahead of Zachary and it was because of their connection that I even had a chance at the magazine. Even then, with their connections, I barely managed to land the job. There were about a thousand people who wanted my position and about nine-hundred of them who were more qualified. That was seven years ago. Finding work as a photo-journalist was
n’
t easy and if it were
n’
t for my husband and Warren
I’
d probably still be looking for a job.

Charles Hill was a tough boss and even tougher on the new employee he was reluctant to hire. I spent the last seven years proving myself not only to my employers and colleagues, but to myself as well. One of those sacrifices was coming back to work just two weeks post-partum. There were consequences to that decision, though. One that only two people in my life knew about; Warren and my psychologist.

After law school, my husband went into corporate law working for a major housing development company downtown and Warren went directly to Innis Communications as general counsel, or head of the legal department. Innis happened to own World Geography as well as eight other publications and six news stations. Innis Communications also happened to be headquartered on the twenty-second through twenty-sixth floors. In other words, Warren was a pretty big deal and if he ever came down to my floor to see me or the other way around, people would notice.

He was a part of the Chief Executive team and also happened to be the youngest executive in the history of Innis Communications at the tender age of thirty-nine. Everyone knew who Warren Brown was and there was no reason for one of th
e‘
big dog
s
’ to visit the Wheel. Yet, we found ways to steal time with each other, if even for a few minutes in a stairwell, the cafeteria downstairs, or the charming coffee cart on the first floor.
I’
m pretty sure that Gloria, our designated seventy year old coffee lady who loyally made the perfect non-fat latte every morning for me, was wising up to me and Warren. Fortunately, Gloria did
n’
t seem to care. No one knew that I got my job via the Warren Brown connection, not even my boss. My boss only knew that the powers that be highly recommended me. Now, seven years later, he could not care less. I was his star employee and hoped to stay that way.

 

The Wheel was what everyone in the building nicknamed the pandemonium of the eighth floor. It was constantly whirring with activity and earned its name due to all the moving parts. The six photo-journalists, including myself, reporters, field journalists, research department, editors, editor-in-chief, writers, and production were housed on the eighth floor. Circulation and advertising took up the ninth floor but could be reached by the creaky spiral staircase directly from our floor. I never quite figured out what the architect had in mind when designing it that way, but it just made the frenzy of the Wheel more chaotic and eclecti
c
– a comfortable chaos that I had grown to love and revel in. It reminded me of the movie Superman and I could almost picture Clark Kent gushing over the love of his life, Lois Lane, just under the floor-to-ceiling black pane windows that made up the entire east and south wall. We even had the heavy oak desks and green shaded library lamps adorning each desktop. The smell of paper and ink still lofted through the air even though World Geography had not housed a printing press or typewriter for over a decade. As I made my way to my desk by the window I could hear the coffee machine bubbling its first brew of the day, mixed in with the sounds of the phones ringing, paper shuffling, and voices carrying over each other in conversation.

Before Warren came into my life permanently, I fantasized that Superman would fly in and fall madly and helplessly in love with me, sweeping me off my feet and taking me to the skies during our coffee breaks. 

Then Warren came into my life.

 


Melanie King
!

 

I nearly dropped my bag at the sound of my bos
s’
s voice booming just behind me.

 


Yo
u’
re here early
.

 


Yes, sir
.

 

Charles Hill, or as Warren was allowed to call him, Chuck, was exactly how you would imagine the editor-in-chief of a liberal-adventure publication to look lik
e
– a mixture of urban warfare, cut-throat, demeanor and Costa Rican hiker. Charles Hill had a presence that could
n’
t be denied and was probably the only man in his position that could get away with wearing cargo pants, steel toe boots, and polo shirts to work in a prestigious high-rise building. I think he missed being out in the field because he always looked ready to go on the next assignment - regardless whether he spent the last seventeen years behind the desk.

 


How are those photos coming along from the marathon
?

 

 

He never cared about the local mundane assignments the floor covered. Preferring to be more involved in the more pertinent stories. Who could blame him? Yet, his question about the marathon and his obvious nervousness set me on edge
.“
Almost done sir, I just have a few more to edit
.

 

I heard my phone chime from my bag.

 


Do you need to get that
?

 

I shook my head, hoping that my boss did
n’
t notice my blush. My phone chimed again.

 


Are you sure
?

 

A third chime came again, making me nervous that something was wrong. I quickly looked at my phone just-in-case.

 

I’
m going to fuck you hard on my desk this weekend

 

I hoped my boss did
n’
t see me blush and quickly shoved my phone deep in my bag, hopelessly fumbling with papers as a distraction.

 


Everything okay Ms. King
?

 


Yes, sir, everything is fine
.
” Was he just going to hang out by my desk all day? My phone chimed again.

 

My boss raised his eyebrows curiously at me
.“
Well, Ms. King, I came by to let you know yo
u’
ll be on assignment on the 12
th
for approximately six days covering the 147
th
UN Session in Rome
.

 


Six days? Is
n’
t the session usually only two days
?

 


It is, but ther
e’
s a high-profile protest expected around the session due to the elections. I need you to cover it
.

 

I nodded, but was still unsure what made my boss so uncharacteristically nervous. The trip was in ten days and it was typical of the coverage I did for the magazine.

BOOK: Moonlight (a Melanie King Affair 4 Part Mini-Series - Part 1)
2.38Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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