Page 31 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

Chase

There were about eight hundred manila file folders on my desk, and all of them needed my review and signature.

I was supposed to be working.

I wasn’t.

Instead, I stood at my office window watching the last of the sun’s rays touch the snowy rooftops of the Virginville Motor Lodge across the highway.

Pathetic.

In Victoria’s absence, I was reduced to gazing longingly at her family’s cabins.

The highway was a good metaphor for the rift between us—a rift I caused by asking her to marry me. What made me think I could disappear for seven years and then ask her to enter into a lifelong commitment with me? Because that’s how I intended marriage to be. The modern way of thinking might regard matrimony as a potentially temporary state of affairs, but it wasn’t going to be that way with me. When I put a ring on a woman’s finger, it was staying there.

And I didn’t want any other woman but Victoria Parker.

I’d thought the feeling might go away—that time and distance would reveal my memories as distorted versions of reality. But seeing her again only confirmed what I’d known since I was eighteen years old.

There was one woman in the world for me. One woman who made my cock hard just by entering a room. One woman who exasperated me with her stubbornness. One woman who didn’t let me get away with any bullshit.

A woman who made me want to be a better man. A man of steel, she called me.

But that couldn’t be true. Because one look from her and I melted.

A sigh built in my chest. All day long, I told myself I needed to stay away from the lodge. It was best for me to keep my distance. If I saw her, I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from asking her to marry me again. She’d say no, of course, and then we would fight. Then fighting would lead to sex, and that would just put another knot in the tangled mess we were weaving for ourselves.

Not that I was exactly heartbroken at the prospect of ending up in bed with her. Hell, it was almost worth getting rejected again just to feel her soft skin and inhale her luscious scent. I wanted to see her mahogany hair spread over my thighs while her plump mouth bobbed up and down my cock. I wanted to put her on all fours and take her from behind, my hips slamming into her rounded ass over and over. I wanted to—

A woman’s shriek punctured my thoughts. “You can’t go in there!”

I spun just as the door flew open and Victoria burst inside with Tracy the hotel manager hot on her heels.

Tracy saw me and skidded to a stop, her chest heaving. “Oh! Mr. Valenti. I am so sorry. This”—she gestured curtly to Victoria—“former employee insisted on seeing you in person. I told her no, and she said she would find you herself. I can’t believe—”

“It’s fine, Tracy. You can go.”

“—anyone would have the nerve to—”

“Tracy.”

She stopped. “Yes?”

“It’s okay,” I said gently. “I’ll speak to Ms. Parker.”

“But…” She looked between me and Victoria, a frown pulling down her lipsticked mouth. “You don’t want me to call security?”

Victoria narrowed her gaze.

I stepped around my desk and quickly ushered Tracy to the door. “That won’t be necessary. Ms. Parker and I are old friends.” I flashed the most charming smile I could muster and nudged my still-frowning manager into the hall.

“All right,” she said, her feathers clearly ruffled. “I’ll be at the front desk if you need me.”

“Thank you.”

She darted a look at Victoria through the open doorway, and a knowing look entered her eyes. Without another word, she did an about-face and marched off.

I waited until her French twist disappeared around the corner before reentering the office.

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