AllFreeNovel
Share Us
So finally on Sunday, I decided that I was going to cook for him, regardless of whether he came home or not. I spent the whole day preparing his favorite dish from scratch, and after another “I’m not coming home” text, I figured I would just bring it to him.
I knew where he worked, and once I had proved to the security guard that I was indeed Mrs. Morelli—flashing my new license that I had gotten in the mail the day before—I headed up to his office suite. It took me a while to find exactly where it was because the building was like a maze, but I eventually found the door that had his sign on it.
I knocked first, then walked in. There was a small waiting area with a desk which I assumed was for the personal assistant that he kept talking about. The desk was decorated with a simple orchid in a small white pot next to a silver computer that looked very professional. There was a painting on one wall—simple and elegant with a blue and purple half circle. Color theory in an otherwise colorless room. The composition went with the blue of the orchid.
There wasn’t anyone in there, so I continued to the door across the room. I knocked twice, then entered, figuring if he was on a call or something I didn’t want to make too much noise. The last thing I wanted to do was to be a nuisance, but at the same time, I wanted to see him. It was a bold move, I knew that, but I had to try either way. Maybe this was how we were going to make this thing work, and I really wanted it to work because, as it turned out, I really liked him.
“Hey, Jimmy,” I whispered as I opened the door. “I brought you—”
I stopped talking immediately.
A tall, curvy, Jessica Rabbit-looking woman but with blonde hair was standing awkwardly in front of one of the couches as if she had been sitting on it and then sprung to her feet when I entered. The only thing blocking my complete vision of her was a glass table with a few takeout containers on it. I could see that the dress she wore was bunched up at her waist like she had hurriedly pulled it over her head and forgotten to straighten it out. She was fumbling with the buttons that lined the front of it, but it wasn’t difficult to see the black lace bra that had moments before been flashing Jimmy’s office. Her black stiletto heels were in a heap on the floor by the door.
I froze, one hand holding the dish of lasagna, the other holding the handle to the door. The woman looked up at me with a panicky face, then her total demeanor changed—like she had just flipped a switch. One second she was a fumbling, nervous mess, and the next she was straightening her skirt and coming at me with an outstretched hand and a smile so sweet it could give someone cavities.
“Hi, you must be Mrs. Morelli. I’m Caroline, Jimmy’s PA.”
I just stared at her, not sure what to do. A tornado of emotions was raging inside of me. I knew what it looked like. I knew I couldn’t jump to conclusions. I knew when he spent time at the office he was actually working, but…
Self-doubt was the sky, and it had certainly fallen.
Hehadbeen spending an awful lot of time here at the office, and he hadn’t slept at home since the night we were awoken by his brothers. Was it a coincidence? Or had he gotten too close to me, panicked, and decided to spend time with someone else? Someone else who was ready to have sex with him.
Apparently, I had been staring too long because Caroline took her hand back and fixed her hair.
“Jimmy’s just in the bathroom. He needed a shower to freshen up before returning to work. Can I help you with something?”
“He has a shower in his office?” I asked. Of course, that was the first intelligible thing I was able to get out. My voice sounded weak, and I hated that.
“Yes, he had it installed so he could treat the office like a home away from home,” she explained then sat back down on the couch as if she had every right to be there. I wanted to push her off or make her stand up somehow. I wanted to yell and scream at her because, with all the evidence, it looked like Jimmy had fucked her on the couch and went to take a shower to get rid of the evidence. I didn’t though. I just continued staring, unable to move.
“He, ah… he’s a smart guy,” I managed. She smiled that sweet smile and crossed one leg over the other, her mile-long legs flashing just a little bit of her underwear as she did it.
“Jimmy is brilliant. He’s also very talented. He takes his jobs very,very, seriously,” she gave me a knowing smile and I wanted to throw up.
The lasagna dish fell from my hand and shattered on the floor. The glass breaking was like a wake-up call, and I turned to leave before I went into a stress-induced coma. I didn’t even care that the lasagna I had stressed over for hours had made a mess on his nice, smooth slate-colored floor. I also didn’t care that there was now physical evidence of my having been there. I just wanted to be gone and for the thoughts to stop rolling around in my head.
They didn’t though. Thoughts of Jimmy touching her, taking that dress off of her, tossing her heels into the corner of the room in his passion. Had he fucked her on that couch, or had they used his desk? I certainly didn’t want the details, but my brain was all too happy to fill them in for me.
Caroline hadn’t even been ashamed. Here I was, the man’s wife, and she still had the nerve to want to shake my hand. What was wrong with her? What was wrong with him?
Better yet, what was wrong with me that I was feeling this way? Jimmy and I had only known each other for about a month. Not a long span of time. Actually, it was nothing in the scheme of things, and yet seeing her like that in his office had hurt. I knew I liked Jimmy—actually, had a hell of a crush on him and wanted to do bad, bad things with him in our bed—but I didn’t own him or anything.
Though the thing was, I kind of did. And he owned me, at least on paper. And now he was acting like our marriage meant nothing and…
The thoughts refused to stop torturing me even as I was driving home, unsure if that was where I really wanted to go. Suddenly, the place didn’t seem so inviting anymore.
Chapter 17
Jimmy
Thepastweekhadbeen hell for me. All I wanted to do was go home and be with Natalia. But between deals that were falling through because of an incompetent employee and getting the money together for Ivar, I had way too much on my plate. I barely had time to eat, let alone go home and forget about everything for the night. I couldn’t afford that luxury yet. I hoped she understood, but our conversations all week had been brief and through text, so it was a little hard to tell.
Caroline was a huge help and had offered to stay as long as I stayed. I told her she didn’t have to, but she insisted. She slept on one couch while I had the other if I needed it, but I didn’t do much sleeping. I would review contracts, look for loopholes, and try to find an easy way to access the money for Ivar.
Daniel refused to answer my calls or texts. I wanted to find out what he had done with the money, but that appeared to be a question that would remain unanswered for the moment. I called around to some of his buddies, but no one had seen him in a while. I loved my brother, but he could be slimy when he wanted to be, and this was certainly one of those times. Patrick said he thought he had taken off on a cruise or something when I talked to him a few days after the meeting. My father thought it was hilarious and called it another “Daniel Ditch” moment, but I wasn’t amused. I could afford the money—that wasn’t the problem. It was the fact that my brother was willing to screw me over for it and almost get us all shot that had me concerned. That was a whole other problem entirely that needed to be dealt with.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell Dad what Daniel had done yet. He was in such a good mood with the deal he had struck with Ivar and the fact that the marriage was working out. Ray was like his new best friend. They were always hanging out and doing business deals together. Their business was going pretty well, so I supposed it was a good thing. My father was certainly pleased, anyway. Not wanting to ruin the mood for him, I decided to work on finding Daniel by myself, so hopefully my father would never have to know.
