Page 15 of Mr. On Your Knees
“Good afternoon, The Carrington events, how may I help you?” Aaron asked when he picked up the phone.
“Hey Aaron, where’s Mari?” Jared asked.
“Oh, hey Jared. She’s down in the ballroom. Desi needed to get more measurements and she had some tablecloth samples she needed Mari’s approval on.”
Desi was here? In his hotel and he hadn’t known about it?
“Do you want me to call down there and have her come up to see you when she’s finished?”
Did he want Desi to come into his office and sit her pretty ass on his lap? Hell yeah! But he knew Aaron was referring to sending Mari up to see him, not Desi. No, if anything Jared suspected Aaron’s always smiling ass wanted to be in that room with Desi himself with his gaze locked on her the way it always seemed to be during the planning meetings. Even though Jared spent most of that time watching Desi himself, he hadn’t missed Aaron’s over-enthusiastic reaction to her. The thought had him gritting his teeth.
He liked Aaron and really didn’t want to have to give him a warning about looking at Desi too long or even considering being in her personal space. Because both were unacceptable in his book. He also didn’t want his staff to think he was wildin’ out over one of their vendors, even though that’s exactly what it felt like he was doing as he hurriedly exited his office and headed for the elevators.
Moments later he was on the first floor of the hotel. It was nearing five o’clock in the afternoon so the lobby was busy with guests making the four o’clock check-in. He should’ve taken the service elevator down so he could avoid being stopped by any staff or guests but it was too late for that now. With his smile in place, he moved through the lobby, thankful that he was only stopped twice. Once by Congressman Sean Reese and his beautiful assistant, Brandy, both of whom he’d posed for a quick picture with and promised Sean he’d meet up with him sometime next week to catch up and discuss some of the community initiatives they were both interested in. With the State’s governor acting like a whole ass regarding racial equality and a number of other issues, it was up to the communities and their leaders to make sure their voices were heard. He’d taken a couple steps after leaving them considering whether he’d use this weekend to put together a more concise view of his plans for the center and have it ready for that meeting. Sean was one of the few politicians that Jared knew was solid and genuinely concerned about nurturing their youth. Then, he was stopped by Carol in catering whose question was really for Mari and not him, but he agreed to relay it since he was on his way to see Mari anyway.
When he finally cleared the lobby area, he walked past Reflections, one of two of the on-site restaurants, and continued down another long hallway where his steps were cushioned by plush royal blue carpet with a gold filigree design in its center. The three main ballrooms were located in this section of the hotel. Each with a three-hundred-and-twenty-person capacity as well as room divider capabilities that gave them nine additional meeting rooms.
The Juneteenth events would be in the last ballroom because that’s the one that opened to the east patio. That outside area wrapped around to the back of the building which faced the Bay. Jared heard their laughter before he could walk through the open double doors. Laughter that he’d just been reminiscing about in his office.
“Girl, I’m serious. I left his ass standing there holding his dick in his hand.” That was Mari talking and Jared stopped.
“Like I was really going to fuck him in a barn with horses and goats and whatever else just a few feet away. Aaaannnnd, after I’d just gotten my hair done too. Oh, no sir.” Mari chuckled.
He’d never heard her talk like this before. Granted she was his employee and like a sister to him so there’d never been a conversation that would lead to this line of discussion between them, thank the heavens.
“I’m still trippin’ off the fact that he knew you’d come to the rodeo with someone else. And that he went as far as to slip a laxative in your date’s drink just to get some alone time with you,” Desi said.
“Right! Just trash ass behavior. Men are a trip, you can’t trust a thing about them these days,” Mari added.
“Facts,” Desi agreed and Jared’s chest tightened. Is that how she felt about him now?
On their first date Desi had told him about her ex, Daniel. They’d been together for four years, beginning in their sophomore year of college. For the first two years after college, they’d lived together in an apartment. Desi had arrived home after work one evening and was walking through the apartment building’s garage when she saw Daniel and the daytime receptionist in their building, going at it hot and heavy in the backseat of his SUV. She hadn’t even bothered to confront them, just went up to the apartment and made arrangements to have the locks changed. The next day, after Daniel left for work, she packed up all his clothes and the belongings that would fit into black trash bags and took them down to the front desk to sit in front of the receptionist he’d fucked the day before. From there it had been a messy few months before Daniel was completely out of her life.
In addition to Daniel’s cheating, her father had been a serial cheater and her mother had lived with that knowledge all of Desi’s life until her father died on top of his latest mistress six months after Desi’s college graduation.
It was no wonder she’d reacted to his confession the way she had. He hadn’t blamed her for that then and he didn’t now. His only desire was to make her see that what he’d done—or rather what it had appeared that he’d done—was never about her. It had been about his doubts and fears, the ones he’d honed in the years after his mother had left their family.
“That’s why I’m highly selective with who I date now. Men are so damn basic anyway.” Mari continued speaking. “You have a boyfriend, Desi?”
Mari’s question yanked Jared out of his thoughts and had his heart slamming in his chest. He hadn’t considered she might have a man when he’d acted purely on instinct and kissed her until he’d thought they would both pass out. The moment his lips had touched hers Jared had known he wouldn’t stop, not until he’d reminded himself of how good her mouth had tasted. And he did that the second he’d sucked her tongue deep into his mouth. She’d wrapped her arms around his neck, flattening her hands on the back of his head as he released her tongue and sucked her bottom and then top lip. Then it was her turn to take his tongue, her sucking was slower, longer and dangerously sexier. Then their tongues were dueling and he’d pressed so hard into her that she’d arched her back and tilted her head back further to keep from breaking the contact. He kissed her so deeply he felt like he was lost, wandering around in an abyss of pleasure and warmth, moans and sighs. It had ended as quickly and abruptly as it started when she pulled away and rushed out of the room. Taking a second to steady his breathing and after conveying many calming messages to his brick hard dick, he’d left the room as well, waving at Jackie as he’d left the building. He found Desi standing by the passenger door of his truck and from the confused and nervous look on her face had decided she didn’t want to talk about what had just happened. So, he’d gotten into the truck and took her back to where her car was parked at the restaurant. They hadn’t spoken again until the next week when they’d had their first planning meeting.
“No man, no time,” was Desi’s response and Jared breathed a sigh of relief.
“Since opening my business last year, I’ve been focused on getting it off the ground. Plus, like you said, men are so basic with their mind only able to focus on one thing at a time. Besides, I don’t have time to play their games right now.”
Jared dragged a hand over his forehead. In just those few seconds of waiting for her response he’d started sweating.
“Hey, can you grab one of…”
The last word was lost as Jared spun around at the voice just in time to see a tall slender box falling in his direction.
He caught it before it could crash into his face then frowned at Aaron who was shuffling three of the same boxes in his arms.
“Why didn’t you just use a cart?” Jared asked him.
“Thought I could handle it,” Aaron replied. “They’re the plastic sheets of tile for the champagne wall Desi’s going to build. She wanted Mari to see them with the linens and they were just delivered.”
Jared took one of the boxes from Aaron so that he now had two, and Aaron handled the same amount. “Well, let’s get them inside,” he said.
