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“It’s not my fault that your ass looks luscious in that pencil skirt. It’s been driving me crazy all day. I need to bite you.” I turned my head and bit her neck. She smelled like apples, not coconuts like yesterday. Her knees must have buckled or something, because she fell down a millimeter before I pushed against her body a little harder. I started kissing my way down her neck to her cleavage, which was annoyingly covered by her button-up shirt. One button down. Two.
Then the door swung open.
Interruption
Riley
“What do we have here?” I could hear a woman’s very amused voice next to us. I tore my mouth away from Desmond’s and looked at the doorway.
A woman who looked like she was a foot taller than me was standing in the doorway. I had on heels that were four inches tall. Hers were as high as stripper heels, and she wasn’t a short woman to begin with. Her skirt was scandalously short, barely covering the essentials.
I blushed hard when I saw how funny I looked to her. I wasn’t in the same league as whoever this was. I was barely in the same universe. I crossed my arms, hugging myself. I didn’t know why, but it seemed really cold right now.
“Zara,” Desmond said, his voice carefully neutral. He had been burning up in front of me. Now he was icily cold to this stranger.
“Having a little afternoon delight, darling?” She looked me up and down and smiled even more. “I don’t mind what you do during business hours, as long as you come home.”
Shame washed over me, hot and fast. “Who are you?” I didn’t know that Desmond was involved with anyone else. I’d never have accepted this job if I’d thought he would make a move on me while he was with someone else.
“Don’t you know? I’m sure we’ll be very well acquainted very soon. I’m Zara Rodriguez, his fiancée.” She extended her hand towards me. I saw the glint off of the enormous diamond on her engagement ring.
I swallowed down the bile that rose in my throat. “Fiancée?”
“That’s right. Just ask Desmond. He’s the one who bought me this charmingly tiny bauble.” She stroked her ring, looking like a cat who got the cream.
I’d heard enough. I wiggled away from Desmond and sprinted out the door, heels be damned. As long as I stayed on the balls of my feet, I’d be okay.
“Riley!” I could hear Desmond coming after me, but I hit the bank of elevators and miraculously one of them opened as soon as I hit the button. I guessed that it was still on the floor after Zara came up. Nobody was there to see me and my utter humiliation. I got into the elevator and jammed the “Close Door” button as I watched Zara wrap herself around Desmond like a jungle vine and stop him from running after me.
In the privacy of the elevator, I could feel tears start to fall. I turned my back to the elevator camera and cried quietly. I was dumb to think that Desmond would have actual feelings for me. I knew exactly the kind of man he was. I’d watched him use and discard so many girls. I’d let him kiss me anyway.
He knew what he was doing. When he’d kissed me, tenderly and then ardently, I felt my whole body melting. Pinning me against the wall had gotten me so hot, but it was just a game for him. He had someone waiting for him at home.
Sort of weird that Paul had never mentioned that Desmond had a fiancée, especially since the three of us had been out at the bar just last night. Paul might be ready to chase tail, but he drew the line at cheating, like I did. If he knew that his best friend was going to get married, I felt like he would have said something about it while they were sucking face with those two girls last night.
I stopped crying as the elevator doors opened. At least I could talk to Paul when I got home and get some answers.
Busted
Riley
When I got off the bus and unlocked our door, Paul was sitting in a chair next to our foyer.
“Hey, Paul.” I put a smile on, even though my eyes were probably still red. “How was your day?”
Without a sound, he lifted a yellow envelope. My acceptance letter.
“How could you?” he asked me. I couldn’t read his face. Was he angry? Sad? Upset?
“I want to go to college. You know that.”
“We already agreed that you’d go to ElCo.”
“You decided that I was going to ElCo. I didn’t. I know that I’m already admitted, but I really wanted to focus on a marketing degree in a burgeoning industry. Why can’t you be happy for me?”
“We’ll never be able to afford this.” He threw the envelope down. “Damn it, Riley. I’m trying to keep food on the table and pay our rent, and meanwhile you want to go to one of the most expensive universities in California? How does that make sense? You can transfer there after two years.”
“You just want to keep me at home,” I accused him, bending down to pick up my envelope. “You can’t stand the thought of your baby sister going off to college. Well, I’m going to earn enough money to live off of. I’ve already designated University of SoCal as my first choice, so they’re giving me full tuition. I have to pay a little bit for fees and a whole bunch for housing and food. I’ll figure out my student loans, even if I have to spend the next forty years of my life paying them off. You can’t make my decisions for me, Paul!”
