A Life Like This (Life #1) (16 page)

I go to my room and change into my oversized college t-shirt. It’s actually Joey’s, but I stole it from him. It’s a perfect sleep shirt. I wash my face and brush my teeth. Roger walks up next to me so I know he is done out back. I lock everything up then hop in bed with my phone and laptop. Of course, I have an email from Blake waiting for me when I open up my laptop.

Good Enough?

Angelica,

I hope the flowers were to your liking. I found them to be exotically beautiful and rare. I wanted to give you something different and I hope you liked them. I hope they were not too much. I didn’t mean to over step any boundaries either. I just wanted to wish you a good first day back. I hope your return went well. Good Night.

Always

-Blake

Fuck!
I didn’t thank him for the flowers.
Shit!
I got so caught up in my day that I totally forgot. Funny how that works when most of my day was spent talking about them. He sounds so concerned in his email. Like a boy who is scared he pushed a little too far. Damn it, I’m so insensitive! I respond quickly.

Forgive Me

Blake,

I’m so so sorry. I meant to write you as soon as I got into the office, but the day got ahead of me. I’m so sorry. I LOVED them. They are beautiful, the talk of the office. They smell heavenly. It was so kind of you to send them to me. You really didn’t have to. The company during my run and the coffee were more than enough for me! :) Goodnight, Blake.

-Ang

xoxoxo

I feel so bad I didn’t send him a quick thank-you text or email. God, I’m such an idiot! He emails me back immediately.

Thank God

Ang,

I thought I might have scared you away. Please don’t apologize. I’m just glad you liked them. I should have figured you would have been swamped today. Please dismiss my prior email where I babbled like a little girl. ;) Sweet dreams, Angelica.

-Blake

xoxoxo

Ha, nothing like a man who admits he might have sounded a little needy. Damn it, can this man do no wrong? I think I’m done waiting for that to happen. I need to just embrace him. God knows I’ve said that before.

What Email?

B,

Sweet Dreams.

-A

xo

With that, I turn off my laptop and tuck myself into bed. Blake Harper is officially breaking down my walls, and you know what? I’m excited about it. I fall asleep quickly thinking about Blake.

I wake up to the sound of my alarm. Ugh, I seriously hate that sound. Roger is already giving me my morning kisses. I pat his head. “Hey, big boy, let me get ready and we will go.” I go pee then brush my teeth. Morning breath is my number one pet peeve, even my own. I carefully choose my running outfit today. Perhaps a tall, handsome man will be waiting for me outside. I find a nice pair of fitted black Capri workout pants and a tight purple long sleeve top. One of my favorites because it has thumbholes. It’s the small things that make me happy. I throw my hair up in a messy ponytail, and then put on a matching head band. I leash up Roger and head out the door.

To my disappointment, there is no tall, handsome man waiting for me outside of my door, just the cold chill. I sigh, more at myself that I would get my hopes up so much. If he were here, I would have thought he was smothering me. I can’t win. I shake off my thoughts and let Roger lead us to the left down the steps, per usual. We make it three miles before turning around. We did it in record time today. Fifty minutes flat. Shit, I didn’t even realize we were running so fast. I’m not even tired. Weird.

Once we get home, I feed Roger then run through my morning routine. I decide today I’m going to put a little more effort in my work attire as well. Getting myself dolled up always makes me happy. I stand in my closet for about ten minutes before I finally decide on what to wear. A beautifully fitted black Max Mara Jersey dress with nude Jimmy Choo’s is what I’ve decided on. The fit of this dress is amazing, one of my all-time favorites. You can clearly tell I have huge tits and my ass looks good in it too. I do my makeup and straighten my hair before checking myself out in the mirror.

“What do you think, Rog?” He barks loudly, making me smile. That will have to do. “Thanks, boy.” I lock up the back door then grab my bag. I hurriedly head out the door and walk straight into Blake’s arms.

“Damn it, Blake, we gotta stop meeting this way!” I smack him in the chest as I fix my dress and hair.

“I see no issue if you always end up in my arms.” He smiles at me. His hands are on my arms and I instantly have goose bumps.

“Sly, aren’t you? You caught me as I was heading out. What’s up?” Silently, he just stares at me for a minute. “Blake?” I wave my hand in front of his face. He grabs it quickly and kisses the top of it.

“I’m sorry. I was just admiring your beauty. You’re perfect, Angelica.” He is still holding my hand and he kisses it again. I pull my hand away and fiddle with my hair.

“Stop it, Blake.” I’m literally blushing like a child and digging the toe of my heel in the concrete. How embarrassing can I get?

“You truly need to learn to take a compliment, Angelica. I don’t say anything I don’t mean.” He grabs my hand yet again and leads me down the stairs to his waiting town car. “I’m sorry I missed your morning run. I wanted to be there, but I had a conference call I could not miss, forgive me?” I just stare at him, still blushing.

“You don’t have to apologize, Blake. I wasn’t expecting you,” I lie.

He puts his finger under my chin and lifts up my face. “It’s cute when you try and lie.” I smack his hand away.

“Shut up. What do you need, Blake?” Damn it, I sounded colder than I meant to.

He smiles down at me; he is so patient with me. God, I don’t deserve this guy. “Well, to make it up to you for missing your run you didn’t expect me at but that I wanted to be there for, I thought I would pick you up and we can grab Starbucks together.” I laugh at his rundown of events. I can’t say no now that I was a total bitch to him and I’m going to Starbucks anyway, so why not.

“I’d love to.” He opens the door for me and I slide in. He walks to the other side and sits next to me; then the driver takes off. “Thank you for the lift.”

“You’re most welcome, Angelica. I don’t know how you walk so elegantly in those shoes, let alone work in them all day. They are sexy as fuck, but I don’t get heels.” I look at him shocked.

“Blake, did you just swear?” He looks down at our intertwined fingers.

“I’m sorry.”

“Ha, don’t apologize. It doesn’t happen often. I’ll just point it out every time it does.”

“Well, thanks for that.”

“Thank you for the compliment on my heels. Trust me, it took me a while to master these bad boys. I used to wear them everywhere, no matter what I was wearing just so I could master the walk. Joey has some very incriminating pictures of me in heels and pajamas, and not cute pajamas either.” We both laugh.

“Hmm, I’ll have to talk to him about those.”

“Don’t you dare!” I smack his arm.

“You are feisty this morning. I think you might have given me a bruise.” He rubs his arm.

“Humph, whatever. What will you tell all the women when they see you shirtless with a bruise on your arm?” I smile coyly at him. His smile is gone and he is now frowning at me. Actually, he looks pissed.

“Angelica, stop. I’ve told you before that I wanted you and
only
you. When will you accept that? The only person who will be seeing me without a shirt on is you. So bruise me up, baby, you’re the one who’s going to be looking not me.”

He is staring right into my eyes and I’m lost. I unbuckle my seatbelt and climb on his lap. My lips are on his before he knows what’s happening. I don’t know why that turned me on so much, but it did. I know I can’t fuck him in the backseat, so I will just make out with him until he is seeing stars. His hand is in my hair holding me to him. I open my mouth and he slips his tongue in. God, he’s a good kisser; that’s even more of a turn on. His growing erection beneath me lets me know how turned on he is too. I rub my ass on him and he moans into my mouth. Biting his bottom lip gently, I pull my mouth away from his. We’re both breathing heavily as the car pulls to the side of the road, and we just stare at one another. I kiss him chastely on the lips one final time before sliding off his lap. He hops out of the car quickly and walks over to my door. On the way, I can’t help but notice he is adjusting himself. Once my door is opened, I grab my bag and walk out. “Thanks for the ride, Blake.” He grabs me around the waist and pulls me to him.

“I should be thanking you for the ride. I might have to pick you up every day if that’s what will happen.” He kisses my forehead and we walk into Starbucks hand and hand.

I can’t help but notice all the stares he is getting from women, and a few men. Along with those stares comes death glares for me. It makes me smile. I don’t know why, but I love pissing people off. We head over to the long line and stand next to one another. While we wait, I curl up into his side and he kisses the top of my head. Such an intimate gesture. The woman waiting at the bar for her coffee is now full-on glaring at me, so I wink at her. She gasps, clearly knowing she wasn’t as coy as she thought. I laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Blake asks me.

“That woman at the bar was giving me a death glare while simultaneously giving you puppy eyes. I winked at her and she gasped in shock.” I tilt my head in her direction. She is staring at her shoes now.

“Let them stare all they want, baby. That’s all they get to do. You on the other hand...” He leaves the sentence hanging as he drags his fingertips up my arms and a trail of goose bumps follows his path. My God, did he just call me baby? I never thought I would like that lame nickname, but it’s really doing something for me right now.

We eventually order our drinks. Mine is waiting at the register, of course, and luckily, Blake just wanted a coffee black, so they poured it quickly. Blake paid for our drinks and beat me to leaving the tip. I just shake my head at him.

“How can you drink that black? That’s seriously sick.”

“I don’t. I only like French vanilla creamer, so I just order the coffee then fix it to my liking at my office.”

“Oh, my God! Me too!”
I exclaim a little too loudly. “I only drink black coffee if it has French vanilla creamer in it. That’s why I’ll only make it at home or order it at a restaurant I know they stock it at.” I smile at him, and he shakes his head.

“Ha Ha, I will also only go to restaurants for breakfast if I know they carry it, and let me tell you it’s not many.”

“No, it’s not. We should just carry our own.”

“Or we can just always wake up in my penthouse and have coffee there. I always have French vanilla creamer.” He winks at me, sly dog.

“Ohhhh, good one.” I poke his chest. “I bet you try that with all the ladies.” I gasp. Shit, I didn’t mean to say that. His face is hard again. “Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. I take it back. Forgive me?” I stand in front of him, pull his head down to mine and kiss him gently.

“Now I do, yes.”

“Good.” I pull my phone out of my bag to check the time. “Jeez, the morning flew by with you. I’m sorry to cut this short, but I have a big presentation I have to prep for. I’ll call you after work?” He pulls me to him and kisses me deeply.

“I’m sorry for keeping you. I can’t seem to keep my hands off you. Yes, please call me after work. I would love to treat you to dinner.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s a mutual feeling. I would love to have dinner with you. I’ll call you.” With that, I walk out of the coffee shop and head to my office with the biggest smile I’ve worn in a long time.

Walking into my building, I notice Charlie is out and a man, albeit a very handsome man, I don’t recognize is at his desk. I walk over to ask about Charlie, but the man beats me to the punch.

“You must be Ms. Cane. Hello, I’m David. Charlie is out with the flu.” I stare at him perplexed as to how he knows who I am. Seeming to know I’m curious why he just told me that, he keeps talking. “Charlie told me I would see a beautiful woman enter the building, and when said women looked over at the desk and saw that he was not here, she would come and ask about him. Seeing as you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on, I assumed it was you.” I instantly blush, but I don’t break eye contact.

“Well, aren’t you a little forward?” I wink at him as I back away from the desk. “Thank you for the information, David. Please tell Charlie I wish him well.” I turn my back to him quickly and smile.

The ride up the elevator is quick. The twenty-sixth floor is a little more crowded this morning as I make my way back to my office. I wave at Rosie along the way. As I open my door, the smell of the flowers is beautiful. Blake’s handsome smile is once again on the forefront of my mind, as are his perfect lips. I reach into my purse to shoot him a quick text message.

The flowers smell even better today. Thinking of you.

Ang

I don’t even reach my desk before my phone dings.

They don’t smell nearly as good as you. I miss you already.

Blake

He always knows just what to say. I miss him already too. But I won’t tell him that, or he may storm into my office and try to whisk me away, and I wouldn’t try to stop him.

An hour later, the office is in full swing. Greg and Allen are fine-tuning our presentation as I do some research on an up and coming project. While working on my computer, Rosie calls me and informs me the security firm has to push our meeting back to six due to a scheduling error. That’s later than I would have liked to have been in the office, but it gives us more time to get everything right. At noon, Bill orders the whole floor subs from the local deli. My team takes it to Allen’s office as we go over who is going to say what. I decide to let them speak throughout most of it, seeing as they did the majority of the work and deserve to receive the credit for it. They reluctantly agree, even though they hate talking the most. Usually, I speak first and then they tie up the ends. Now the tables will be turned. It will be good for them, though. After we eat, we all go back to our own offices and work on various projects. At about four, Joey texts me a picture of him at a shoot for some designer jeans. He is wearing jeans and nothing else. He is a beautiful man. I text him back a picture of myself, very proud of my outfit today. His texts back to me reads:

You sexy little bitch, who were you trying to impress today I wonder?

Only Joey would know I dressed like this on purpose.

What, I can’t look good for myself?

He’s going to call bullshit real quick on that one.

BULLSHIT! Nice try though. Love you, gotta go.

Bye, JoJo.

At about five thirty, Rosie goes into the conference room to setup our presentation. Before I go in to join her and the rest of my team, I text Blake that my meeting got pushed to six and that I will call him as soon as I am out. I turn my phone on silent and stick it in my desk drawer. I pull out a mirror and freshen up my makeup. Once I am happy with my face, I head into the conference room with my team. It takes us about fifteen minutes to set up and have folders in front of every seat. I don’t know much about the people coming, only that they are men and there will be five of them. That part of the job doesn’t really matter to me. I focus on the job not the people. Greg and Allen care more about the people. It’s how we balance one another out.

Rosie heads back to her desk when her phone starts to ring. She hurries back after taking the call to inform us that the security firm is here and being sent up. I get butterflies in my stomach every time we are about to meet a potential client. I get so nervous and excited my stomach ties itself in knots. Bill walks into the office right as we hear the elevator ding its arrival. We all stand and walk to the door ready to greet the men. I plaster on my work smile and stand behind the guys. I hear low rumbles as the men walk back toward our conference room. Rosie opens the door for them. She is blocking my view of the men. Once she excuses herself, I can clearly see all five men, and that’s when I see
him
.

The smile on his face makes my skin crawl. I’m frozen to the ground and cannot move. I hear names being exchanged and greetings being said, but I don’t comprehend it. All I can do is stare at the man who ruined my fucking life. He is staring at me knowingly. He’s gotten what he wanted, the element of surprise. I had no idea he would stoop to this level and force me to see him by coming to my work. It takes all the effort my body can manage not to scream at the top of my lungs. My heart is racing so fast and so loud I’m sure everyone in the room can hear it. I’m in such a trance that I don’t notice Bill introducing me to the men in front of me. He looks from me to where I am looking at, or who I am looking at, Edward.

“Angelica, are you all right?” His voice is both authoritative and concerned. No matter how hard I try to respond to him, I can’t. I just stand there, stock-still staring. I see Edward walk in front of the other men and stand in front of me. I feel my body start to shake uncontrollably and no matter how hard I try to stop, my body won’t allow it. Bill stands right in front of me, blocking my view of Edward. “Angelica, talk to me.” I finally break my trance and stare into Bill’s concerned eyes. I feel a barrier break as my eyes fill with tears. I don’t blink because I don’t want them to fall. I just stare at Bill.

“I have to go. I can’t be here.” I turn quickly to leave as Edward steps in front of me and puts his hands on my arms in an attempt to stop me.
“DON’T YOU EVER FUCKING TOUCH ME!”
I shake my arms out of his hold and before I know better, I slap him so hard across the face that my hand stings. “How dare you show up to my work, you sick piece of shit.”

He’s holding his cheek with one hand and staring at me shocked. I have to admit, I’m shocked too. I don’t know what came over me. I rush out of the office, not stopping even when I hear Bill call my name. I sprint to my office to grab my purse then run to the bank of elevators. I smack the button over and over and the elevator doesn’t come. I run to the stairs and sprint down them, not caring that I am in a dress, not caring that I am in heels. I can’t get out of the building fast enough. When I reach the floor level, I burst out of the stair entry like a bat out of hell.

My breathing is ragged, and I am panting uncontrollably. Only now do I notice I have tears running down my face. I look up to find David staring at me. He starts to head in my direction when his phone rings and he turns to answer it. I know it’s Bill, so while his back is turned, I sprint out of the building. I run straight out and hail a cab. I need to get home fast. Luckily, I find one quickly and am home not fifteen minutes later. I overpay the cab driver then sprint inside. As soon as I close the door behind me, Roger is barking like a maniac. I hush him then head up to my room for some Xanax. I need it. I think I’m having a heart attack. I take three, more than I should, but this calls for it. I take them with water, and then strip out of my clothes. I stand in my closet naked, breathing heavily.

I try to calm my breathing, but nothing works. I decide a shot might help. I run to my kitchen, get the Patron out of my freezer and quickly pour myself a shot. Two shots later, I can finally breathe calmly. I finally find my bearings and run back to my room. I know someone will show up at my door checking on me at any second. I quickly change into a fitted Burberry dress and my sky high Louis Vuitton’s. I’m going to Club Next. No one would think to find me there. It’s my only chance. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now. I just need to get away. I grab a clutch out of my closet and quickly fill it with the necessities, and then run out of the front door.  I quickly head down my street, but I hear a car squeal to a stop close behind me, so I quickly duck next to the stairs I am standing next to. I hear feet hit the ground running. My breathing starts to pick up again. I must not let them hear me, whoever they are. Then I hear banging on my door.

“ANGELICA!” It’s Blake. “ANGELICA, OPEN THE DOOR.” I can hear Roger barking from here. Damn it, what am I doing? I just don’t want to face anyone. I can’t face anyone. I just want to be alone. I want to forget that sick fuck ever made eye contact with me, and pretend he didn’t fucking touch me. I feel like I’m going to puke. The yelling brings me back.

“ANGELICA, DAMN IT, OPEN THE DOOR.” Blake sounds so worried. God, why don’t I just run into the safety of his arms?

“Blake, screaming at her like that won’t help. Call Joey.” It’s Bill this time. Shit.
Fuck!
Why? Why did Edward have to show up at my work? How the fuck did Blake even know what happened?

“Joey, you need to get to Angelica’s now. It’s an emergency.” I hear him talking on his phone. I can only imagine how panicked Joey is at getting such a strange phone call. I sink to the floor and wrap my arms around my legs. “Edward showed up at her
Goddamn work!
She freaked out and ran out of the building. Bill and I are at her house and she’s not answering. I need you to come let us in so we can check if she is home.
Hurry up!
” God, he sounds so worried.

“Relax, Blake, you screaming like this isn’t going to make her come to the door.” Bill sounds so calm, but I know he’s confused about what just happened. God, why did I do that? I couldn’t have just pretended I didn’t know him. I had to react. The shots and the pills are starting to creep up on me. I feel my thoughts start to soften. My body starts to loosen. My heart stops racing. Once I am calm again, I peek over the stairs to try to sneak a look at what is happening. Blake and Bill are standing by my door looking down the street. I duck down again before they spot me. I cower deeper into the corner of the staircase and the house so I am nothing but a shadow. Just as I curl up again, I see Joey running toward me, only he doesn’t see me. He is running to my house. My heart slowly speeds up again, fearing he will spot me. Only now with all the drugs and liquor, I really don’t care if they find me.

“She hasn’t opened the door yet?” he shouts as he runs. “Are you two sure she even came home?”

“Where else would she go, Joey?” Blake asks him. I hear Roger bark even louder as the three men enter my home and slam the door behind them. As soon as the door closes, I am on my feet running toward the street. I wave down a taxi and hop in. I tell him to take me to Club Next. As the cab pulls away, I look back and I barely have time to see Blake run out of my house before the cab turns off my street.