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“Oh, bad news, hon?” the woman asked, staring at me. She cocked her head to the side and reminded me of a friendly golden retriever.
I shook my head, even as a low-grade panic began to simmer in my gut. Xadrian had told me we were finished, and honestly, I hadn’t missed him. Did he really think I would just let him into my apartment? Guilt ripped through me. Actually, I would’ve had a lot of trouble telling him no if he’d simply strolled in with his spare key. I bit my lip.
“Ready, sugar! Let’s trim your hair first.” She beamed at me. “Do you have problems with scented things?”
“No.” I was confused about why she needed to ask that. I had no idea what to say to Xadrian because telling someone to go to hell wasn’t really my thing, so in the end, I decided to ignore the text and stuffed the phone back in my pocket. Once I was sitting in the salon chair, the woman used a delicious vanilla scented cool mist to wet down my hair, and I tried to sink into the experience.
“You’re right. I am being spoiled,” I said, feeling surprised as I glanced at her in the mirror.
She laughed, and I smiled along with her. “I’m Andi, and you’re in good hands, baby. Let’s do this!”
About two hours later my muscles were more relaxed than they’d ever been in my life—while I was at the same time bizarrely wound up on the inside—since a massage was also part of the package Albion had paid for. I’d heard repeatedly how well he’d tipped. Maybe Andi was trying to let me know that she thought he was great. I was feeling a little smug when he pulled up along the curb and got out of the truck to stroll around to me. He tugged down the collar of my shirt, then ran his thumb along my perfectly smooth, soft chest.
I held my breath because a real smile played along his lips. Without warning, he tweaked my left nipple through my shirt, and I gasped, leaning in closer to him.
“Mm, very nice,” he murmured, then opened the door for me.
Was that a compliment? Was that the first time he’d ever said anything nice just to be... well, nice? I glanced up at him. “Thank you, Sir.” My cock tried to break through my jeans as he swept an assessing gaze down my body.
Albion buried his nose against my neck, and I bit my lip as he swept his tongue along my pulse point. My knees tried to buckle, and he grasped my waist.
“I can’t wait to taste you later,” he said into my ear. “You smell so sweet.”
My head swam. What was he doing? Why was he doing it? The compliments seemed dangerous, and I might’ve turned and walked away, except the same intense expression as usual was firmly etched onto his face. I gathered my courage and climbed into his vehicle.
“Are we going to go to work now?” I asked when he got behind the steering wheel, then took the vehicle into the thin stream of traffic.
“What are you talking about? We’ve been working all morning,” he said offhand with a wink aimed at me.
Snorting, I settled back and buckled my seat belt. Since it was nearly lunchtime, I wasn’t surprised that he stopped at the usual café his team frequented, the cozy coffee shop, Cosmic Corner. When we reached the door, I spotted Albion’s team inside already. He handed me an iPad, and I almost fumbled it to the ground.
“Take notes,” he snapped, then opened the door and strode inside.
“Yes, Sir,” I said, following after him.
The team mostly ignored me, which was fine. I didn’t know any of them well, and they all probably thought about Xadrian when they saw me. Discomfort clawed through me. I’d managed to forget about his text for a while, but as I took a seat at one of the round wooden tables in the center of the room, the panic from earlier made it difficult to think. I opened the Word document app on the iPad, and Albion frowned at me, but he was too busy talking to everyone else and listening to what they had to say to reprimand me about not paying attention. I barely took any notes at all. When everyone else finished their coffees and started ordering food, I stayed glued in my seat and closed the app.
What was I going to do about Xadrian tonight?
Albion hadn’t said a word to me since we’d come inside, and he continued to more or less ignore me, even though I was sitting right beside him. Each time someone went to the counter and ordered food or drinks, they swiped the company expense card, and at the end of everything, it was handed back to Albion.
Xadrian used to lord the expense card over his team. He would make a big show of paying, if we were getting a meal out. Albion was a colder person than Xadrian in a lot of ways, less emotional, but he was a hell of a lot nicer. I rested my hand on my phone in my pocket and bit my lip.
What was I going to do? What should I say? I had no idea.
“What’s wrong?” Albion asked quietly as everyone else stood from the table after the last person finished eating, already talking about whatever they would be working on for the rest of the day. He studied my face.
“Nothing, Sir,” I said, shaking my head. “Just really relaxed and a little out of it.”
“Albion, what’s the deadline?” Cora asked. She was one of the really job conscious people on the team. Like Albion, she wasn’t exactly friendly, but she did give him her undivided attention.
“Mm. Next Friday. Is a week enough time?”
She nodded and hurried outside.
When he leaned back, he nearly looked happy. “Good. After this, you’re going to do something very important for me at Dillard’s.”
Frowning, I glanced at him. “Sir, what will I be doing at a department store?”
