Mr. Handsome: A Billionaire Romance (14 page)

“Well, maybe tomorrow I could show up at your job…”

Jeffrey’s expression grew so excited I had to laugh.

“Yes! Yes,
please
come by so we can have sex in one of the janitor’s closets,” Jeffrey begged me and I laughed again.

“You’re such a little kid, Jeffrey,” I said with a joking admonishment.

“Only when it comes to you. When you’re around, I feel I can be myself, even Victor hasn’t seen how goofy I can get.”  Jeffrey grinned and I giggled. “Then again, I think I just like to hear you laugh.”

Jeffrey had a tender expression on his face while he looked at me and I bit my lip before taking another drink of my wine. He started actually cooking dinner and my mouth watered at the scents coming from that stove.

“Jeffrey, the smell is killing me, when will it be ready?” I asked impatiently while peeking over at the sautéing veggies.

Jeffrey finally added the shrimp and cooked them for a short while before it was ready.

“I just have to make the sauce really quickly and then we can eat.”

Jeffrey made the creamy garlic sauce and then plated everything for us. He came to sit down next to me and I took a bite of the shrimp pasta with garlic sauce. The food touched my soul, it was that good. Jeffrey smiled at me while I ate and moaned at how good the food was.

“Is it weird that I’m getting a little turned on by how much you’re enjoying my cooking?” I giggled and Jeffrey grinned.

After dinner, I brought up the awkward topic of my going back home for the night.

“Do you have to leave? Can’t you just pack another bag and then come right back?” Jeffrey asked, he was completely serious.

“Seriously, Jeffrey? We haven’t been apart since our first date…”

Jeffrey was no longer playful or cajoling, he was becoming more and more serious.

“Yes, seriously. I don’t like being away from you and I know I won’t get any sleep without you in my bed,” he said bluntly.

I stared at him in shock, I just didn’t know what to think.

“Jeffrey, this is…going really fast, I think we should be able to spend a night away from each other,” I protested.

“Says who? Don’t you want to be with me, too?” I did…but I just didn’t know if that was healthy, quite frankly. “So why are we even discussing it then? You’ll pack a bag and then come back here to spend the night with me.”

I sighed and then gave in.

“Fine, but I’m driving Ol’ Betty back, I like having my own car,” I said almost petulantly.

“You mean you like having your
old
car.” Jeffrey lifted an eyebrow at me and I gave him a hard stare.

“Don’t hate on my car, she and I have been through a lot.” I defended Betty and Jeffrey simply rolled his eyes at me.

“Fine, I’ll have Carl drop you off at your apartment, but if you aren’t back in at most an hour, I’m coming to you and you’re getting a spanking.”

I looked at Jeffrey as if he couldn’t be serious.

“Go ahead and think I’m joking, it’ll be all the more surprising when it happens,” Jeffrey said in a promising tone.

A small thrill ran through me and I bit my lip. I didn’t know how I felt about that possibility, but it was intriguing. Maybe I’d misbehave…

I hurried outside to Carl and the car so we could go to my apartment where I packed for a few extra days and nights. Just as I was heading down to my car, my cell phone started to ring, it was probably Jeffrey calling to make sure I was on the way back. I answered without looking at the number on the screen.

“Hey, is this Christina Rothschild?” The professionally polite male voice on the other end of the line was definitely not Jeffrey. I glanced at the screen and saw it was one of the team managers at Six Fountain Marketing.

“Uh, yes this is she, how can I help you?” I asked politely while trying not to seem too eager.

“Great! My name is Austin Price and I’m one of the team managers at Six Fountain Marketing. It recently came to my attention that you applied with us a while back, but we somehow overlooked you, which was a big mistake, because you have a glowing resume and we’d really like for you to join us at Six Fountain.”

A huge smile spread across my face and I wanted to jump for joy, they actually called!

“Yes, I would definitely like to work with the company, you guys were one of my top picks when I graduated college.” I kept my voice calm and collected, I didn’t want Austin to think I was too eager, I also didn’t want him to think I wasn’t eager enough.

“Awesome, that’s what I love to hear right now. So can we set up an interview for tomorrow, say lunch time at around eleven-thirty?” I made arrangements with Austin to meet him at a deli on Madison Avenue, not too far from the company’s building. We ended the call and I drove back to Jeffrey’s feeling excited for the next day.

“Oh good, you’re back, so no spanking today,” Jeffrey said as he opened the door to let me in once I was at his place. I rolled my eyes and kissed him on the cheek before walking inside excitedly.

“Austin from Six Fountain called me! I’m having an interview with him tomorrow over lunch!” I was too excited to notice the slightly bothered wrinkle to Jeffrey’s brow as I told him the news.

“That was a quick response, congratulations. So you spoke to an Austin and not say…a Ronnie, who happened to be a woman when I spoke on the phone with her?”

I did notice that comment and my excitement died down a little.

“Jeffrey, Austin Price could potentially turn out to be my
boss
, plus, Jeffrey Bates, there’s certainly nothing for
you
to worry about.” I began to see why he got so upset whenever I doubted myself in front of him, it wasn’t very attractive.

“Alright, but it’s just that you’re hot, you know, you have an effect on guys, even though you don’t notice it.” Jeffrey looked at me pointedly while I sat on his bed. He was putting my clothes away in drawers and I couldn’t help the weird squeeze my heart gave while I witnessed it. What did this all mean? Jeffrey glanced at me as I hadn’t replied to him at all and he noticed my expression.

“Can you not overthink this please? Just let us happen, Christina, I am…” Jeffrey looked oddly hopeful and I sighed deeply before I nodded my head.

“Fine…fine okay, I’ll let…us happen.” I pushed the words out past my fears and roadblocks in my head. Jeffrey was an incredible man and he wanted me, I wanted him too and really why shouldn’t we be together when we at least had that? Jeffrey saw the change in me and he smiled while he closed his drawers shut and then crawled onto me and the bed.

“I’m glad you’re finally on board with this.” He grinned and then kissed me slowly, he took his time exploring my mouth with his and there was a tenderness that utterly captured me.

Jeffrey made love to me then. It was different from all the other times; he was slow and sure and paid attention to every silent cue I gave him. Once we settled in for bed, I was still speechless from the orgasms he gave me and my heart felt oddly full for the first time in a long time. I embraced it rather than questioned it and I couldn’t deny that Jeffrey made me happy, he made me more than happy.

* * *

“Baby, I’m leaving for work…” Jeffrey woke me up gently, he was wearing a grey suit today and a pink tie with matching handkerchief, ever the GQ model. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, it was almost eight o’clock. “Don’t forget to come visit me today alright?” Jeffrey grinned at me boyishly and I smiled sleepily.

“I won’t; I’m looking forward to the janitor’s closet…though if it’s gross, could we do it in your office instead?” I asked and Jeffrey chuckled.

“Baby, we can do it wherever, you just name a place and I’ll make sure we have a measure of privacy.” Jeffrey winked and then kissed me softly on the lips twice before he straightened. “I hope you do great on your interview today, I want to hear how it went.”

I promised to tell Jeffrey all about it afterwards and he couldn’t help but press another kiss to my lips before he left for work. I was then all alone in his giant townhouse with nothing to do until eleven. I definitely couldn’t be unemployed for long. I decided to stay in bed for another hour and I played around on my phone and downloaded a few apps.

Vanessa surprised me by texting me and she asked if I was going to be busy after three-thirty. I told her that I was free and then we made plans to get our nails done together. I was actually kind of nervous for that, I hadn’t had girl talk in a while and didn’t really know if anything changed from the last time I spoke to a girlfriend. I was also a bit nervous because of the fact that Vanessa had known and been friends with Jeffrey for so long.

My morning went by slowly, I mostly over-prepared for my interview and fussed over what to wear. I forced myself to get it together around ten thirty and got ready to go and meet Austin Price for our interview. Traffic wasn’t bad for lunch hour and when I arrived at the deli I found it wasn’t as packed as it should have been.

Maybe it wasn’t that good of a deli, which was also strange because that was grounds for burning and pillaging in the city. Everyone loved a fresh deli sandwich and you couldn’t really go wrong if you had mayo, homemade bread and fresh meat.

“Excuse me, are you Christina Rothschild?” I recognized Austin as the model who gave me kudos the day before for quitting my job with Marissa.

“Hi, yeah, you were the model from yesterday at the shoot, right?” Austin smiled and I nodded; yep, it was definitely him. He had a shock of red hair that was styled into a hipster man-bun and his face was perfectly angular. He had a straight nose, high cheekbones, strong jaw, and an intense brow. His eyes were bright blue and I could easily see how he got into the modeling business.

“That was me, small world isn’t it? Even in this big city,” Austin chuckled and then he led me over to his table where we sat. “So, like I said over the phone, you have an amazing resume and I really,
really
want you on my team and working for Six Fountain.”

I smiled, I guess my hard work in college really paid off.

“I’d definitely love to work at Six Fountain,” I started, Austin nodded, his expression open and he seemed excited about something.

“That’s great, because we’re launching a project for a new brand of rum and you have all the skills I need for this and future projects. My team deals with mainly consumables, mostly beverages, but we do a good job at it so we get a lot of proposals for wine and spirit advertising. At the office, they call us the alcoholics.” Austin chuckled and I found it really refreshing that he was so excited about what he does for a living.
I
wanted to be like that and seeing him made me want to work at Six Fountain that much more.

“It’s been a while since I had to interview anyone, so bear with me.” Austin realized he was rambling and not asking questions. I smiled and told him to take his time. “So, tell me, if someone put a bottle of rum in front of you and told you sell it to the girl sitting behind you, how would you market it to her?”

It was a tough question, but I was prepared for it. The vast majority of women aren’t rum drinkers, but a few do prefer it and a lot will drink it depending on the occasion and necessity.

“Well, I’d leave the bottle of rum on the table before approaching her,” I began and Austin laughed. “Of course, after getting to know the product, I’d start up a conversation and center it around drinks and parties, then mention rum.

“More than likely she won’t like it and I’ll tell her a few aren’t so bad and get her open to trying one I happen to
love
.”

Austin smiled and he sat back in his chair with a pleased expression on his face.

“So how would you get her to at least try it? You’re in a public place, it’s the middle of the day. It’s a Friday, granted, but you’re a complete stranger and the guy, your client, wants to sell his bottle.” Austin was nice and laid back seemingly, but I could tell he was sharp.