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There was a time when she would only apply to jobs in her field of study, but thanks to Curtis, those times were long gone. As she parked her car and walked down the busy shopping district near the downtown area, she came to a little cafe with a sign in the window. She walked in and walked up to the barista at the counter.
“Hi,” she said. “Welcome to Piece of Pie Cafe. What can I get for you?”
“I was hoping to apply for a position,” she said. “I noticed the sign in the window.”
“Sure,” she said and handed her an application. “Just fill this out and bring it back up here.”
She took the application and started filling it out in the far corner of the shop. As she went through, filling out her name and address and her work experience, she heard the door jingle with the sound of a customer.
Stella glanced up, then did a double take as she saw it was Curtis. She watched him walk up to the barista, chatting like they were old friends. Her stomach twisted in a knot as she watched them.
Was this how he was blocking her all over town? Rage boiled up inside of her and she looked back down at the application. If she turned it in, she would more than likely get denied if he’s already in her ear spouting nonsense.
Stella balled up the application and tossed it in the trash on the way out, completely discouraged. She really hoped Richard lived up to his end of the bargain. It was pretty obvious that he was the only option she had left.
They would discuss it at dinner. Maybe she’d get a better idea about it all then. It still felt like a long shot, but it was all she had. What more could she do?
She went home and looked through her phone at the last text message he’d sent. This would be fine. When they sat down and talked, she would hammer it all out with him and he would make her feel more secure about it. It would all work out. It had to. Curtis couldn’t win this one. It just had to work out in her favor after everything that she’d been through.
Chapter Eight Richard
The last time he had Stella over for dinner, he’d sent the staff home for the night. When he got back to his house that evening, he only regretted that decision mildly. The house was clean, of course. The staff came in that morning and did their jobs cleaning up the mess in the dining room that had been left behind, but all day, there was the faintest smell of leftover food that had been left to sit out all night. This way of meeting with Stella wasn’t sustainable and he knew he was going to have to come up with something else. Maybe he was going to have to consider having his staff sign NDAs. In the end, that would probably end up being the smarter move. That way they could stick around and clean up after they were done having dinner. Besides, sending them home might be viewed just as suspiciously if someone should ever go snooping around.
In the meantime, he had no other option but to do a repeat performance for that night’s dinner. Have them prepare everything, then send them home for the night. He’d spent the day with his marketing and legal department reworking the paperwork for this deal, which wasn’t easy to do without them knowing what he was doing it for. He’d told me it was for a possible advertising venture and no one questioned it. But why should they? He was the boss after all.
After texting Stella that afternoon, he called home and made sure his staff was on their jobs for dinner. He wanted the place to look appealing when she came over, especially since they would be talking about a little more than just binder adjustments. He was going to need her to be in a good mood for what was to come.
This dinner was going to be focusing on Rebecca’s party. Stella was far from being ready for that kind of event, but they had to start somewhere. She was going to need to know what to expect and how to act when the night finally did come. They had a little time so maybe they could make the whole thing work in a semi-believable fashion. The oldMy Fair Ladymovie came to mind, except Stella was far from Audrey Hepburn.
…maybe not that far. She was just as beautiful, even if she lacked a little of Hepburn’s natural social graces. He had to give her some credit though for her loveliness.
A few minutes before seven, he looked over the meal that had been prepared. Given that there was so much more mess last time, he’d planned for a significantly smaller meal than before. If the meal was too small, he made sure to have hors d'oeuvres laid out in the parlor for after. They had a lot of ground to cover in one night and he didn’t know how long this would take. He only hoped she wouldn’t end up staying there all night as they went over all the changes.
The thought of her staying the night brought up thoughts of their one-night stand. Throughout the day, he was thinking of her and whether she should stay the night again. His mind manufactured snapshots of memories that flashed in and out at random times -- the look in her eyes, on her face, her tits, her ass with his hands on each cheek…
It was all Richard could do not to go running to the bathroom to jerk off every hour. It was strange how that one night was sticking with him, threatening to throw him completely off his game. He needed to keep his focus if he was going to get through this.
The doorbell rang right at seven sharp. He had to say one thing, he liked her punctuality. If she could keep to a decent time frame, then maybe they could blow through all this easily tonight. He was hopeful.
When he opened the door, he was struck completely dumb at the sight of her. She stood outside, this time in a lavender dress that was cut just low enough to reveal her ample cleavage. The dress hugged her round hips but was a respectable length coming down to just above her knees. Outwardly, the dress was a simple lavender thing. Something that he’d seen on a million other women a million other times in his life.
And yet all he wanted to do was rip it off her and have her way with her in the foyer.Focus.
He must have been staring at her for quite some time because she cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows. “Mind if I come in?” she asked. “Or are we doing this on your porch?”
“Apologies,” he said, standing to one side to let her pass. He averted his eyes, keeping them off her round backside and the backs of her shapely thighs.
“Dinner smells really good,” she said. “I guess if you’re answering the door, we’re alone again tonight.”
“Yes,” he said. She smiled politely at him and suddenly the idea that maybe she might have designs on him crossed his mind. They clearly shouldn’t have crossed the line, alcohol or no alcohol
“Listen,” he said. “Before we eat, I feel I should get something out of the way…if you don’t mind.”
“Same,” she said. “I was thinking that maybe we ought to talk before we get started with business.”
He felt his face flush. He hoped that she wasn’t about to profess her love for him. That was the last thing he needed. “Please, let me go first,” he said. “Last night…it was a mistake. We were both drunk and I never intended for things to go as far as it did. I want to apologize to you. I wouldn’t want you to think that I was taking advantage.”
Stella’s smile broadened and she put her hand to her chest, breathing a deep breath. “Oh, thank God,” she said. “I was actually going to say the same thing to you. I’m so glad we’re on the same page. I mean, really. Me and you? We’d have to have been drunk, right?”
