Page 18 of Winning Her

Then I remembered what Jessi looked like as she told me off: her blonde-brown hair was tied back in a ponytail with wisps falling around her face, her cheeks were lit up a light-pink, and there’d been this small furrow in her brow as she scowled at me. I, of course, found the picture completely endearing because I was a masochist.

Don’t even think about it!

I growled the thought silently to myself, feeling more relaxed as I walked into the elevator for it to take me up. “She is not the woman for you. You decided that long before you left.”

I hadn't been nice about it either.

No matter how rude I’d been to her—was still being, in fact—I’d always liked her. Back before I left, when I was dealing with a lot of family shit, she would always seem to be there when I turned around, no matter how much I kept telling her to leave me alone. Something about her just bugged me.

Her sweet eyes… Her light-brown eyes that always looked at me with so much understanding made me uncomfortable as a teenager when I was more than ready to push away anything and everything in my hurry to get away. Even before she confessed that she wanted me just as much as I wanted her. It wasn’t a surprise. I’d known, just from the look in her eye. It had always made me uncomfortable that she might expect something like that from me.

I knew I wasn’t the loving kind, so when she finally plucked some courage and told me, I had been cruel to her to get her to stop. Fucking, definitely, but loving? I didn’t believe in that shit, and I’d known I couldn’t give her what she wanted.

Love only ever ended badly as far as I’d seen or cared. I had a dad who was absent more often than not and yet complained that I wasn’t there for the family, one I wanted no part of. There was my stepmother, who I couldn’t stand, yet was so eager to please Dad that she’d try to get along with me even as I rebuffed her. I’d known the moment Dad brought her home I wasn’t going to give her a chance to be my stepmother, but that fact didn’t matter.

I hated her, and that was it. There was no reason to think it over; no matter how many times both of them insisted I did.

“Stop being such an arrogant pig!”

The whole thing was driving me fucking insane. I was having conversations with myself in public, and I didn’t even realize it as the elevator doors opened.

“I’m sorry?”

The woman who worked as my dad’s secretary stood on the other side with a shocked expression on her face. I quickly cleared my throat and to stop her thinking that I’d gone insane, I changed the subject.

“Is there any news from my father?” I asked, stepping out of the elevator, and she fell into step beside me as I headed for the office.

“Not yet, sir. He’s still refusing to see you.”

I frowned because it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I was hoping that there’d been some change, but it was clear that there was none.

“Did you at least get a reason as to why?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Were you talking to me?”

Fuck!

I need to get my thoughts back to the business and nothing else. Otherwise, I will go fucking insane.

“Forget it,” I said. “Tell me how things are going and if there’s something I need to do that Dad was supposed to be doing.”

I grumbled to myself silently as she started listing things out beside me and I listened with half an ear. What exactly was the old man planning?

Would Dad continue to refuse to see me until I got so impatient I just knocked his door down? He was lucky I didn’t pack up and go home. If he didn’t want to see me, what reason did I have to stick around?

But the truth was that he wouldn’t be in the office, and my stepmother could hardly handle those affairs. Supposedly all my brothers had been called, but I arrived first because I was the closest, and the other two were yet to get there. I couldn’t just leave the handling of the hotel to the secretary, so took it upon myself to handle my dad’s affairs, or I wouldn’t have been at the hotel at all.

By the time we got to the office, she finished giving me the run down. I listened half-heartedly, my thoughts of the girl from the past now on my mind. I needed to stop thinking about my cock and just my head; there was too much at stake to get distracted by Jessi. I rounded the desk, took off my jacket and draped it on the back of the chair before sitting down. Then I looked back up at my secretary.

“Put off my dad’s meetings for the next couple of days. If he doesn’t improve by then, I’ll see what I can do about it.” I couldn’t just go into his meetings without preparation. I knew my dad, and if I blew things for his precious hotel—though I was confident enough in my abilities to know I wouldn’t, it didn’t hurt to be cautious—he’d make me pay for it. “I’ll need some paperwork from the manager, so call him and ask him to bring them up. Where can I find everything else I need to take care of?”

“I’ll bring the files over to you and call the manager,” she said, making an about turn and marching out of the room without another word or quibble.

One thing about Dad was he had good taste, that was for sure. One wouldn’t be blamed for thinking Dad hired his secretary based on her looks and nothing else. This one was different, she was efficient, which was more than could be said for the others.

I tried to work and looked over contracts with business partners and sheets with hotel costs, but the interlude with Jessi this morning just wouldn’t leave my mind.

I could try to deny it to myself, but she had really got to me with her defiant beauty and courage. She gave me just as much venom as I’d given her at the same time, and it turned out it was a combo guaranteed to make my blood heat up. I’d shake my head every now and then to try to focus, only I’d remember the way she glared at me all over again. In another hour, I hadn't done much, and I was a little hard in my slacks. I groaned to myself and wondered if I’d been alone too long. When was the last time a woman graced my bed?