WhyGabriel kept inviting the CEO's nephew to his events was beyond him as hewalked over to the couple.
"Gladyou could make it Cipriani," Gabriel gave the man a stinging slap on theback masked in jovial male camaraderie.
Actuallyeverything Derek Cipriani was, was the complete opposite of Gabriel. Nepotismand ass kissing moved Derek to the kush executive seat he resided in now. Notyears of law school and full-time work at a construction company during Texassummers like Gabriel had to endure. No, this kid spent all of his time courtingbusinessmen, showing them good times while fucking every female at the company.Gabriel was no fool, though, excluding the annoying prick and inviting othersfrom work would gain him no favors.
NormallyGabriel could tolerate the guy but watching the prick put the same usedflirting tactics he used at work on Salene in his own Goddamn house just didnot sit well. The forceful slap had the desired purpose of breaking theircontact. Giving Salene a warning glare, Gabriel turned to Derek.
"Yeah,I was just getting to know your friend Salene here." Derek laughed.
Thedoorbell rang interrupting them. Answering the door, Gabriel welcomed some moreof the guys. Turning back around he noticed Salene was gone. Mentally sighingin relief he allowed himself to focus on anything but that woman.
***
Fillingout the last job application Salene shut her laptop and flopped back againstthe pillow in exhaustion, it had been about an hour since she was forced intoexile by Gabriel's accusing stare. Like she wanted to hang around and watchfootball anyways. Salene never could understand the zeal for the sport,especially knowing there was a much better version overseas. Now rugby was aman's sport. Smiling she thought of the wonderfully huge muscled up players whoplayed the sport worldwide. It was almost identical to football but with lesspadding and short shorts on their sexy players. Yes, rugby should highly berecommended to replace American football.
Boredshe decided to call it an early night, she had an interview tomorrow at noonand she wanted to be well rested. Grabbing her clothes, she walked across thedarkened hall to the bathroom. Crossing the hall, she could hear the mufflednoises of talking and laughter coming from the main part of the house where theden was. Since all the guest bedrooms were separated from the master bedroomand other main rooms of the house, her section of the house was pretty muchdeserted.
Closingthe door to the bathroom she started the shower. The bathroom was actuallypretty sizable. It had three doors in total, two pocket doors that led directlyto the cluttered spare bedrooms and one main door to the hall. It was the perfectsplit bathroom for siblings. The tiny house she grew up in with her sixsiblings only had one bathroom in the whole house for everyone to share, so asetup like this would have been a luxury.
Strippingoff her clothes Salene stepped into the hot spray. Washing her hair, shethought of her home back in Fort Lauderdale. Besides her and her sister Biancathey were the only ones to go out of state for college. Pretty much all herfamily thought she was a black sheep, someone who was always acting high andmighty. Naturally her memories trail back to her huge fight with her siblingslast Thanksgiving. Since then she had only spoken to a few of them.
Turningoff the water Salene clinched her eyes at the wave of emotions, doing her bestto push them out of her mind. Pulling back the curtain she stepped over the rimof the tub onto the blue bathmat. With her hair dripping wet around hershoulders she grabbed her towel just as the door swung open.
Face-to-facewith a startled looking Derek, the man she met earlier, Salene felt as if timestopped as his eyes traveled down and up the length of her naked body. Lettingout a piercing scream Salene quickly covered herself with the towel.
"Iam sorry," the hasty apology was followed by the door slamming shut in awhoosh of cold air.
Completelyfrozen in shock Salene stood stone still as she clutched the towel to her body.There was a moment of silence beyond the door before she heard raised voices.In a panic she pulled on her large terrycloth robe and cinched the belt tightaround her waist, her panic rose higher when she heard heavy footsteps stopoutside the bathroom door.
"Salene!"Gabriel's voice thundered through the wooden door.
Nervouslyshe cracked open the door to look up at him, her heart nearly skipped a beatwhen she took in his dark look. Rage hardened his face as he looked down ather, green eyes ablaze with a furious fire as he assessed her simple robe.
"Whatthe fuck happened? Did he touch you?" It was as if he was just waiting forher to confirm his fears so that he may act upon some lethal actions. Even fromthe narrow crack from the open bathroom door Salene could feel the hostilityroll off his rigid body.
"No,"she rushed to answer, she did not want this to go any further. "He just…He just came in as I got out." Her words came out as a whisper as shementally replayed the events.
"Asyou got out?!" He repeated. "Did he see…."
"YesGabriel, he did." Mortified and frustrated she did not want to discuss theembarrassing situation in any further detail.
"Comehere," grabbing her by the shoulders he pushed open the bathroom door andpulled her out.
Pushingher across the hall and into her room he shut the door without a word. Stunned,Salene stood by the door listening. A cacophony of male voices echoed down herhall from the living room. Despite the distance and the shut door Salene couldstill make out Breslin's low timber booming through the walls in anger.
Notable to listen anymore she turned away from the door. Hastily throwing on her underwearand pajamas she avoided her reflection in the new floor length mirror they gotat the garage sale. She did not want to see what that man saw. Just thinking ofhow a stranger saw her completely nude was nearly unbearable. Past boyfriends havenever even been allowed to see her body in such exposing light. Salene hadalways made sure to keep the lights low and the groping of her breast to aminimum. Now some stranger had seen everything.
Crawlingunder the sheets she closed her eyes to the noise from the hall. Too manythings had happened to her in such a short amount of time, being kicked out ofher home, fighting with Breslin nearly every day, and now some strange man hasseen her at her most insecure state. Why was this happening to her, she had followedall the rules in life but things still were not working out? Tears offrustration fell into her pillow as she shut her eyes.
Lostin an abyss of sleep Salene tried to open her eyes at the movement of shadowand light above her. What was that? Was it already morning, was that thesunlight coming in through the window? Struggling past the fatigue she openedher eyes just a crack to see a shadow over her bed. The figure was very tall.Wanting to say something she tried to open her mouth to speak, but nothing cameout. Closing her eyes again she felt the bed dip at her feet just as softfamiliar fur nuzzled into her hand. Opening her eyes again the figure was gone.Looking down she caught a glimpse of Bishop's black eyes staring back at herwhile resting his head on her stomach. Clutching gently at his fur she relaxedback into the pull of sleep.
Chapter 8
Theringing of her cell phone jarred her awake, swiping it off the nightstand sheanswered it without looking.
"Yousound like shit," Gabriel's deep voice drawled languidly on the otherside. "Didn't you tell me you have an interview today at noon?"
"Ohshit," her stomach dropped in fear as she sat up looking at the time onher phone.
