Page 768 of One More Kiss

While watching Riley, William arrives with his secretary and walks right up to me with her attached to his arm. Before addressing me, he sends her to the bar for a drink. I immediately tear into him for coming with his secretary, without knowing that he has a few choice words of his own for me.

“What are you doing here with your secretary? You know the rules!” I scold.

“Calm down, calm down. Look, I’ve got this under control. Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t tell me not to worry about it! You are breaking cardinal rules. You better know what you’re doing, and I hope for your sake you have it under control. Your personal shenanigans better not screw with this business!”

William only smirks at me and begins peppering me with his assumptions.

“You know… I’ve noticed how you’ve taken an interest in Riley.”

“What!” I pretend like I don’t know what he’s talking about.

“Oh, don’t ‘what’ me. I know you. Not to mention how you’ve been gawking at her ever since she stepped foot in the building with that little fairy of a man.”

While William’s web is spinning, we’re both looking at Riley and Ross’s canoodling. I grow agitated with every word.

“You have the hots for her, don’t you? Come on, you can admit it, Nick. We are more alike than you would like to admit.”

The more I stare in Riley’s direction, the more entranced I become. The words William spoke almost cause me to slip and admit the truth to myself and to him, but I catch myself. I scoff and deny everything he’s saying and abruptly walk away from him.

“You’re an idiot, and you don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Indistinct chatter and laughter fill the room. I mingle through the crowd to keep myself busy and exchange pleasantries with several politicians, executives, and even the mayor. A few handshakes and champagne glasses later, I spot Riley again. She’s talking to the CEO of a rival company.

I’m sure he’s trying to court her to join their company. I still haven’t figured her out yet, so there’s no telling if she’ll consider what he’s offering, or if she will stay with us. The way things are going between us, she may just go. I guess I’ll find out soon.

Although, I’m not surprised he’s talking to her—not only is she beautiful, but she is smart and very talented. Still, I can’t believe the nerve of some people. There were always people from other companies trying to sink their teeth into their rival companies’ talent. Hell, we have poached some talent ourselves. It’s just a part of the game. You win some and you lose some. But to do it here, at our fundraiser?

The longer I stand here looking at her, the angrier I get. I don’t know if she’s openly flirting, but she tosses her hair over her shoulder and laughs softly. Suddenly, it hits me. Where did her little arm charm disappear to? All this has me fired up, furious and flustered. I need a minute away from it all to gather my composure, so I step outside for a quick smoke.

I feel like I can breathe again once I push through the double doors and walk out onto the terrace. Air filters deep into my lungs while I loosen my necktie. I reach into my inner jacket pocket and take a cigarette and lighter out. I’m not much of a smoker. I only do so when I’m stressed, and today has me stressed and jealous.

No sooner have I lit my cigarette and taken a deep drag of it, Riley pops through the terrace doors and stumbles toward a potted plant. Before I can take a single step towards her, she bends over and vomits violently.

“What the hell!?”

I expel the cigarette smoke out into the air, immediately throw the cigarette onto the ground, and vigorously stub it out with my foot. I rush over to Riley and grab her hair to prevent it from falling into the stream of vomit spewing from her mouth.

“I thought I told you not to drink too much.”

“You are not the boss of me.”

“Contrary to your drunken belief, I am the boss, and it looks like, right about now, I need to be your daddy and give you that spanking I’ve been taunting you with.”

“Oh, maybe, but only during work hours,” she says, in between retching violently.

“Technically, these are working hours. You are here for work.”

She tries to make a snarky response, but another heaving blob of vomit stops her from speaking. Her body tightly clinches in as she pushes her purse under one arm, and the other now grips tightly onto the bottom of my pant leg.

She remains bent over, panting incessantly, after the last heave of sickness erupts from her. I take my handkerchief out of my pocket and hand it to her so she can wipe her mouth.

Why did her boyfriend let her drink so much? If she were mine, she wouldn’t be in this situation. She’d have just enough to drink to take the edge off for the evening. Then I’d take her back to my place, undress her, and ravish her completely.

Holding her hair back away from her face, I ask, “Is that it?”

Riley stands and continues wiping her mouth. She’s now panting in slow, steady breaths. I can see the embarrassment etched into her features.

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