Page 45 of Through You
I like her and feel at ease in her company. And the sex is incredible.
She was a virgin when we met, and one of the advantages to being her mentor during her sexual awakening was teaching her what satisfies me in addition to helping her discover what pleases her.
When she pulls away, guilt washes over me when I think of Claudia. Then I immediately scold myself. This is my world, and this is how things work. There’s no room for fleeting emotions.
What I share with Cristina needs to be enough. It’s an arrangement of convenienceandI’m attracted to her. I can have total control over this situation. No surprises. No risks.
“Are you hungry?” she asks as she takes a step back. “Look at those dark circles. How long have you gone without sleep?”
“I’m fine,” I reply as I round my desk.
“You don’t have to do this all on your own,” she tells me with reproach. “You know you can ask me for help, right?”
“You’re already doing enough by reviewing the designs I send you every week. Thanks for your feedback—it’s spot-on by the way.” She’s about to protest, but I keep talking. “You don’t work for me, you’re my fiancé.”
I wake my computer and log in, navigating to the internal pages of the company server to check on a few things.
“I’d love to work for you already,” she comments with a sigh as she sits on the edge of my desk next to me and crosses her legs.
I swivel my chair in her direction. “I find it difficult to wrap my head around making a job offer when you’re already an executive director managing a company that’s as big as mine.”
She rolls her eyes.
“Precisely. You better than anyone understands the immense responsibility that comes with the title—dozens of employees, people with families and children to support, could lose their jobs if I were to make a simple mistake.” She stares intently at one of the windows. “I would love to be just another employee and focus solely on doing my job right, putting food on my table and looking after myself instead of being in charge of hundreds of workers.”
“I’m pretty sure that if one of your employees heard that, they’d think you’re ungrateful.”
“Fortunately,youare not one of my employees.” She holds my hand. “And you understand what I mean.”
I nod in agreement because she’s right. Cristina and I understand each other very well.
“I’m going to get you something to eat.”
“How do you manage to have all this free time?”
She winks at me, and leaves the office. My eyes feel heavy and I’m drowning in reports, but this project is very important, and I review every detail several times. If everything goes well, it will be a windfall in profits.
My assistant calls and I put him on speakerphone. “Sir, there’s a woman at reception who would like to come up and see you. Her name is Claudia. She says your mother gave her orders to bring you lunch.”
This takes me by surprise and makes my heart beat a little faster than usual. I haven’t seen Claudia in days. “You can send her up.”
I have a hard time focusing and my eyes keep darting to the door, anticipating her arrival. I play with the pen I’m holding, and keep twirling it, but stop when I hear a light knocking on the door.
“Come in.”
Claudia enters. She’s wearing a pair of hip-hugging jeans that are very flattering, and a blue buttoned-up blouse that accentuates her skin tone.
She looks good in everything she wears. Her black eyes meet mine and I can’t help feeling a sense of relief sweeping over me.
“Hi, sexy.”
“Hi, iceberg.”
Claudia empties the contents of the lunch bag, placing each item on the table in front of the big couch in my office. I sit down next to her and start to devour the food laid out before she’s even done unwrapping everything she brought.
She’s looking intently at me. “Having a difficult week?”
“You have no idea.”
