Mr. Arrogant: A Billionaire Romance (11 page)

By the time she went home that day, she was mentally exhausted, and she rested deeply, but not well, for he was still in her dreams, still reaching for her and kissing her. It seemed that the more dreams she had, the closer he got to her. It made her struggle to focus on their friendship so much more difficult, but she was determined to do it, and failure at succeeding in it was not an option for her.

She continued to try to keep her distance from him at work, while busying herself with all of her projects and tasks. Part of the time it worked for her, and she was able to distract herself enough that he wasn’t on her mind as much. The remainder of the time, he was either in the forefront of her thoughts and she could not get him from her mind, or he was in her presence, and it was all she could do to focus on anything but him. Anything but the proximity of him, or the way he watched her, the way he listened to her, the way he smelled or looked, or the way that he made her feel when he stood near her.

He made her feel electric with life, with desire and need, with growing hunger and curiosity, but she continued to push herself as hard as she was able to, to keep him at a distance and be the friend that she knew he believed she was to him.

Jonathon wanted to keep their bond professional; he had apologized for kissing her, and he meant it when he said that he wasn’t going to do it again, but there was such a powerful pull in him toward her, and it was all that he could do to keep his mind on work instead of on the soft look of her skin, the way her clothes clung to her and hinted tauntingly at what was beneath them.

Her eyes caught his sometimes and he could not look away from her. He struggled at times to make himself stay further away from her, rather than getting closer so he could be near her and feel the heat and electricity from her body. The friendship between them grew slowly and carefully, but it grew, and day by day they began to trust each other more, though it was difficult for them both to put up the front of friendship with nothing else behind it.

Two weeks after Naomi had returned to work, she was sitting at her desk while Jonathon was in his office, when she looked up to see a familiar and not entirely welcome person walking toward her. The sharp eyes and pale round face framed by long red hair made her stomach and her teeth clench. She forced herself to turn the corners of her mouth up slightly and she inclined her head a fraction.

“Good afternoon, Miss Grayson.” She said it as politely as she could manage. She was determined to only be friends with Jonathon, but the idea that the woman in front of her close to Jonathon made her stiffen with jealousy.

Susan Grayson looked down her nose at Naomi and turned up one side of her thin lips into a sneer. “Is Mr. Cross in?” she asked in a thin voice.

Naomi drew in a deep breath and nodded curtly. “He is. If you’d like to wait a moment, I will let him know that you are here,” she answered, sensing profound hostility from the chubby woman in front of her.

Susan smirked and shrugged. “Oh no, don’t bother. I’ll just let myself in.” She turned and strode past Naomi’s office and went directly into Jonathon’s office, closing the door behind her.

Naomi closed her eyes and breathed in through her nose, drawing the air deep into her belly before exhaling slowly and opening her eyes again. She let her shoulders relax and she told herself that there was no reason for her to be jealous; Jonathon was her boss and her friend, and no matter what she felt, that was all that there was going to be between them. It should not make any difference to her that Susan was in his office with him, or that he and Susan were close.

She told herself that, but in her heart she wasn’t entirely sure that she believed it. She wasn’t entirely sure that she could get rid of the jealousy she felt. She did her best to focus on her work and try to push the thoughts of the two of them in his office out of her mind.

Jonathon was seated behind his desk when Susan walked in and closed the office door behind her. She looked smug and his stomach tightened and sank slightly as he watched her strutting toward him purposefully.

“Susan, what an unexpected surprise. What are you doing here?” he asked coolly as he stayed still in his seat with his pen poised in his hand.

She smiled broadly at him and walked around his desk to him, leaning her back against it as she faced him and reached her hand down to touch the collar of his shirt. Susan gave him a seductive smile and lowered her eyes slightly as she looked into his. With her other hand, she reached over to unplug his phone. He stretched his hand out to stop her, but she grabbed his hand in hers and looked into his eyes.

“I just thought I would come by to tell you that I want to have dinner with you. I want you to take me out tomorrow night.” She purred with half-concealed coyness, running her finger along his cheek and over his lower lip.

He reached his hand up to hers and grasped it, pulling it away from his face. “I’m busy tomorrow night,” he said shortly, pushing his chair back slightly from her. “You could have saved yourself a trip down here and called.”  He sighed wearily.

She pushed her lips out into a pout and lowered her chin slightly. “Well what fun would that have been? Then I couldn’t have seen you, and I wanted to see you.” She reached her hand toward his face again and his hand flashed up and held hers, stopping it in place as he pushed it gently away from him.

“You should have called. I’m extremely busy today. I really don’t have time to visit and talk.” He looked at his desk and then looked back up at her as if she was in the way of what he was doing.

She shook her head with a sultry smile and leaned down to him, lowering her voice to a smoky velvet smoothness, “Don’t you want to take a little break and see what kind of trouble we can get into?”

He turned his chair away from her and stood up, walking to the front of his desk and looking at her as she turned around where she stood and gazed back at him. He shook his head. “Susan, things haven’t been like that for us in a long time. It’s not going to change. I don’t want that with you anymore, and you know it. We’re different people in different places in our lives now.” He looked at her with a serious expression, his lips set in a firm line, his eyes stern.

She walked around the desk to him, stopping just in front of him. Susan placed her hands on his chest and looked up into his eyes. “Now, Jonathon, you know that there’s more between us than that. We might not be an official couple right now, but you know that daddy and Uncle Phillip want us to be together and get married. You know that I want you. I’ve always wanted you. We’re going to wind up together. You have to know that.” She said with a curling smile.

He frowned at her and furrowed his brow. “I don’t know that. In fact, I’m positive that’s not going to happen with us. How can you stand here and tell me that it will happen when there hasn’t been anything happening between us in ages?”

She pushed her lower lip out into a pout and scowled slightly as she slid her hands up his chest and around his neck, locking her fingers there and leaning up toward him on her toes. “It wouldn’t take much for anything to happen between us. Just… a little kiss or two and I think you’d remember why you used to want me so much.”

Out in Naomi’s office, the phone rang and she answered it. A deep voice greeted her. “This is Phillip Cross. I need to speak with my son and he doesn’t appear to be answering his phone. Do you know when he’ll be back in his office?” the old man asked expectantly.

She closed her eyes. Jonathon was in his office with Susan and the door was closed. If he wasn’t answering his phone, it was likely that he didn’t want to be disturbed. “I’m sorry, Mr. Cross, but Jonathon is in a meeting at the moment, and I don’t think that it’s one I am able to disturb. May I take a message?” she asked hesitantly. Turning the owner of the company down for a phone call to be sent through to his son was something that unnerved her.

He grumbled. “I’m not going to wait for him to get out of his meeting; this is important. Go interrupt him and tell him to answer his phone.”

Naomi raised her eyebrows. “Yes, of course, Mr. Cross. I’ll go do that. Please hold on a moment.” She said in resignation. She set the phone in the cradle and stood up, looking at it with concern. Running her hands over her button up sweater dress to smooth the wrinkles out, she lifted her chin and walked to Jonathon’s office door. Twisting the knob, she pushed it open and stopped at one step into his office.

Susan and Jonathon were a breath away from kissing one another, and it made everything in her twist and shudder hard. It felt as if all the blood in her had suddenly gone cold and her lungs had frozen. She could not breathe or move, and they both turned suddenly to look at her.

Jonathon’s eyes grew wide, but Susan’s face contorted in frustration and anger. “How dare you walk straight in here like that! You might well have embarrassed all of us! This is not your office, you little fool; you must knock and wait to be invited in!” Susan snapped hatefully at her.

Naomi blinked and her mouth fell open a little bit. She hadn’t thought too much about what she might find waiting for her in the office, but it wasn’t what she was looking at, and what she was looking at ripped and clawed at her heart.

Jonathon stared at her in horror and panic, and in an instant, he grabbed Susan’s shoulders and pushed her away from him. She turned suddenly and her wide eyes locked on his as she gaped at him.

“Jonathon!” Susan gasped in astonishment.

He tried to take a step toward Naomi and Susan planted her hands on him and pushed against him, stopping him from moving forward. Jonathon felt his chest tighten as he saw the look of shock and pain on Naomi’s beautiful face, and it clenched at his heart. He turned and glared down at Susan and she frowned at him.

Naomi struggled with the chaos that was twisting inside of her. She wanted to unsee what she had seen; she wanted it to not matter to her that she had seen Susan holding him, but something deep in her could not deny that it hurt her. Somehow she found strength at her core and she grasped it tightly.

“Jonathon, your father is on the phone and he asked me to interrupt you and let you know that he wants to talk with you.”  She kept her eyes averted from Susan’s blazing scowl at her, and she turned on her heel and made herself walk out of the room.

“Naomi!” Jonathon called out after her, but she disappeared around the corner out of his sight. He turned swiftly toward Susan and glared hotly at her. “You had no business speaking to her that way. She was doing her job, and nothing that she does is any of your concern. You need to leave, now.” He set his mouth in a firm line.

Susan gasped softly and pushed her lower lip out dejectedly. She narrowed her eyes and tried to take a step toward Jonathon, but he pointed at the door. “Now.”

Insulted, she spun in place and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Jonathon went to his phone and plugged the cord back in and then picked it up.

“Father, I’m not able to talk right now, I’ll call you back when I’m finished here,” he said shortly, and then he dialed Naomi’s desk line.

“Yes?” she answered quietly.

She was wiping at her eyes, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her. Frustration and irritation coursed through her as she wrestled with her heart over the idiocy of being jealous of Susan. Naomi reminded herself for the millionth time that Jonathon was her boss and her friend in that order, and that no matter how she felt about him in her heart, there was no place in the office or in her career or even her life for the longing and desire she felt for him.

She felt utterly foolish at having caved to her wanting rather than remaining removed emotionally and being the model employee she had promised herself that she would be. She had let herself down, and in that failure, there was no forgiveness. She was bitterly disappointed in herself and it had created a sharp edge in her that threatened to take her over.

“Come in right now, please.” He requested firmly but gently.

Hearing his voice and his request made her whole body tense and her heart beat faster. She was sure that he was going to be angry at her for interrupting him for the phone call that his father had made. She knew better, but she had been told by the owner of the company to do it, so she did. Now she was going to have to face Jonathon in answer for her action, as well as feeling the surge of aggravation in her own heart and mind.

She hung up the phone, closing her eyes as she drew in a deep breath, and went to Jonathon’s office. When she walked in, she saw him leaning against the front of his desk with his arms crossed and worry stung her.

He stood up and walked toward her a few steps, and she walked toward him, meeting him partway.

She tried not to think of what had happened in his office with Susan, and instead focused on what he had called her into his office to discuss. She refused to let herself feel humiliated about her jealousy in front of him. It was unthinkable to her. She would have to hold it back as best she could so that he would never see how miserable she was over it and how much of a struggle she was twisted with inside. She stopped just a couple of feet in front of him and lifted her chin, looking up into his eyes, ready for whatever he had to say to her.

He pursed his lips and hesitated, trying to read the dark stormy look in her eyes and the hard set of her mouth. “Naomi, I wish you hadn’t come in when you did-” he began, but she closed her eyes and dropped her head just a little, and stopped him short.