Sudden Devotion (22 page)

“Well, in that case, I’d like to offer my congratulations.” Alan held out a hand to him.

Mitch shook his hand reluctantly. “Thanks, but could I get a paper towel instead?”

* * * *

Sara stood outside the war room door and listened to Mitch talk to Claudia. This was stupid, she thought. Why was she finding it harder and harder to leave him here every night with her? She trusted Mitch. She really did. Claudia, on the other hand, was another story. Her spiteful bitchiness was one thing. Sara couldn’t shake the feeling that she was capable of much worse though. She took a deep breath, refusing to be intimidated by her, and walked in the room.

Her uneasiness was quickly swept aside by the giant smile Mitch gave her. “I just wanted to say goodbye before I went home.” She reached over and handed him a bag from the deli downstairs. She had just had it delivered. It was his favorite sandwich, a Reuben on dark pumpernickel bread with extra sauerkraut. “I wasn’t sure how late you were going to be, so I ordered you a sandwich.”

Mitch got up from the table, and leaned over and gave Sara a big, crushing hug. “Let me walk you to your car.”

She felt a smug satisfaction at him showing her such affection in front of Claudia.

“No, the sooner you get done here, the sooner you can come home,” Sara said. They hadn’t really made it public knowledge that he had been staying at her place, but she felt no remorse about spilling the beans in front of Claudia.

“Okay, at least let me walk you to the elevator.” He put his arm around her and told Claudia over his shoulder, “I’ll be back.”

He walked her to the elevator where there was a lot of kissing. He had begged her to let him “take a ride” in the elevator with her. She had insisted though that he get back to work so he could get home. He reluctantly agreed and moped back inside, giving her a pouty face before winking.

She smiled and waved as she got on the elevator. Why couldn’t she shake this uneasiness? Something inside her screamed not to leave him here. She couldn’t figure out why. “Get a hold of yourself,” Sara chided herself. She was being ridiculous. If she could handle walking in on Claudia in Mitch’s lap, then she could certainly manage it if he worked on some trial documents with her for a few hours. She drove home and eased it to the back of her mind. Not allowing it to consume her.

* * * *

Mitch walked back in the war room and proceeded to get back to work. Feeling no need to talk to Claudia unless absolutely necessary, he worked in silence. A half an hour or more had passed when Claudia had gotten up to stretch.

“I’m going to go heat up a frozen dinner I brought. I’ll be back. You want a soda or anything?” she asked him in a casual, old buddy demeanor.

He stared at her. Hating her for all of the crap she pulled. “No thanks. I think I’ll get my own.”

She shrugged. “Suit yourself then.”

Thirty minutes later, Mitch balled up the paper sack which had held his sandwich and guzzled the last of his coke. “I’ll be back. I’m going to wash up.”

“Okay, I’m going to make a fresh pot of coffee, do you want some?” she asked him, again casually, like an old friend.

He studied her expression, looking for signs of deceit. Surprisingly, he didn’t see any underhanded scheming going on. And if he was going to be honest with himself, he would have to admit that she had remained professional and tactful all day today, including this evening. She had behaved like the perfect secretary.

“Sure, black’s fine.” He left to go to the men’s room.

Five minutes later, Mitch walked back in. Claudia sat there sorting some documents and didn’t look up at him. On his side of the table was a cup of steaming black coffee. He walked over and took a sip of it and set it back down. “It’s good. Thank you.”

She looked up at him and smiled. Not like a seductress or a she-cat, but like a nice woman. “Sure.” She shrugged. “Who knows, maybe one day we can be friends.” And she went back to work.

Mitch sat puzzled for a minute. This woman had been hounding him relentlessly for six weeks now. She had gone out of her way to make Sara’s life hell, and now she was acting like a normal person. Could she have given up? Did she finally understand that her pursuit of him was a lost cause? He was skeptical but decided he had too much work to do to worry about it now. He reached for his coffee and drank some more as he began reading the discovery documents that sat before him.

A half an hour later, Mitch was straining his eyes to stay awake. The past couple of weeks had really affected his sleep. He wasn’t completely complaining. A lot of those sleepless nights were because he got to make love with Sara. He had to laugh. He might talk dirty to her and tell her that he was going to fuck her, but he loved her so much, that making love was the only way to describe how his heart clenched every time he held her to him so intimately.

God, he was tired. “I’ll be back. Did you make a whole pot of this because I’m beat?”

Claudia took the final swig of her cup. “Yeah, I did. Here, I need some, too. Why don’t you hand me your cup.”

Mitch was too tired to do anything but hand it to her. “Thanks.” He watched Claudia walk out of the room and felt his vision swim. For a second, he thought maybe there was two of her. He shook his head and slapped his hands against his cheeks. He got up from his chair and began walking. He couldn’t remember ever getting this tired this fast. Maybe he was coming down with something. He sat down on the small leather couch at the far end of the room. Maybe if he just rested his eyes for a minute, he would feel refreshed. He laid his head against the back of the couch and shut them.

Claudia came back in the room. She looked over at Mitch sleeping on the couch and set the mugs down on the table. Quirking a brow, she walked toward him. “Mitch?” she waited for an answer. When one hadn’t come, she tried again. “Mitch, can you hear me?” This time, she nudged his shoulder. But he was in deep sleep, completely unaware of what was going on around him.

“Finally.” Claudia reached down and started undoing his belt buckle. He was such a large man, she had a hard time maneuvering his body to remove all of his clothes. Ten minutes later, she was breathless. Mitch’s clothes were scattered on the floor, and all she had left to do, now, was take off her own clothes.

Her eyes twinkled in admiration of his finely-sculpted body. She thought he would be fit. But, she hadn’t been prepared for the sinew that lay before her eyes. She actually regretted having to do things this way now. It would be much more fun if he was awake, and they could fuck. She knew just by looking at him that he would be good.

Once she was completely stripped of her clothes and they were strewn just as haphazardly as his were, she climbed on top of him to snuggle against his chest. After all, she had to give the appearance of a satiated couple after a night of lustful sex. She closed her eyes in an attempt to get some rest of her own. She wished she hadn’t put both of the sleeping pills in Mitch’s coffee. She could have used one. Tomorrow morning was going to be a very eventful one, and she wanted to get as much beauty sleep as possible.

* * * *

Sara had tried to sleep several times through the night but was unable. She wasn’t sure if it was the uneasy feeling that had plagued her all afternoon and evening. Or, if it was the fact that Mitch always checked in with her before she went to bed, but he hadn’t tonight. At first, she just went to bed and tried to ignore the pit in her stomach. She didn’t want to be one of those whiny girlfriends that called when he was trying to get some work done.

But at two a.m. she had caved and called his cell phone. There was no answer. She waited a while thinking he would call her back, but he didn’t. By three o’clock, she was in full-blown panic mode. She convinced herself that she had every reason to be worried, so she called again. And again and again and again.

Finally, she thought maybe he had left his cell phone in his desk drawer. He had done it before. With huge relief, she relaxed. Just wanting to hear his voice, she called the main office number and then dialed the extension for the war room. Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner?

But, as she was thinking how silly she had been all night, she was troubled by the ringing on the other end. After no answer, she called the office back and this time tried his office phone. She alternated between calling the two extensions and his cell phone for another three hours. It was now after six a.m., and she hadn’t been to bed. Telling herself she would not give in to her stupid insecurities, she got ready for work like it was any normal morning.

At 7:15, Sara walked through the lobby and into the elevator. She knew she was nearly an hour early for work, but she hadn’t been able to relax at home. If she could just walk in and see that Mitch had fallen asleep at his desk, she would be able to breathe easy again.

* * * *

“What about you?” George asked Theo as he set down his cup of coffee on the break room table.

“Same. She’s leaving me. She hates me. I was the worst mistake she ever made.” Theo shook his head. “I swear, if it weren’t for the kids, I would blow my brains out right now. I really love her, George. How could I have done it?”

“Shit, don’t ask me. I’m just as fucking stupid. Did I tell you she was a virgin when she married me? She waited her whole life for Mr. Right. Instead, she got stuck with me. Her tears were…damn it. I hated hurting her like that. Do you know she was going to forgive me? She said since I strayed once, it was nothing we couldn’t work past. When I had to tell her it had been going on for four years. God. The memory of the pain in her eyes absolutely killed me.” George had to stop.

Peter stood in the doorway with his arm around Donna. “Got any more of that coffee to spare? We’ve had a rough night.”

Both men eyed the couple standing there. “You told them together?” Theo asked incredulously.

“No,” Peter said. “I found Donna sleeping in her car in the parking lot.”

Donna stood there next to Peter. She didn’t even look like the same woman. Her eyes were swollen and puffy. Her nose was red and had a permanent trail of drainage flowing from it.

“Donna, are you okay?” George asked as he handed her a cup of coffee.

She nodded her head as she began sobbing again. “He hates me. He said, he said he was glad that we hadn’t had kids yet.” She blew her nose and gasped for breath as she continued. “He said he didn’t want a whore to be the mother of his children.”

“Oh, Donna. I’m so sorry.” This came from Theo, who pulled up a chair for her to sit in.

“Why? It’s true. I am a whore. Who else let’s herself get gang-banged by three men and has oral sex with another woman? Everything he said about me was true.” She put her head in her hands. “I love him so much. He’s everything to me.” She looked up at Theo, standing directly in front of her. “What am I going to do without him? I already feel like a part of me has died. I’ve been with him since I was nineteen years old.”

“I don’t know, honey. But, you’re strong. You’ll be okay. We all will,” Peter told them.

“What about you, man? How did Daniella take the news?” George asked somberly.

Peter hesitated before answering. How could he tell him that he had chickened out? When he had gotten home last night, Daniella had taken the experience of their night before and used it. She had bought a movie from one of those seedy establishments off of Route 24 and wanted to watch it with him.

At first, he had told himself that he hadn’t told her because she was so excited about the movie. But he knew that wasn’t true. He was being selfish. He wanted that time with her. Just one more night, he told himself. He would tell her tomorrow, he vowed.

But later that night in bed, she confessed a secret to him. She had told him that for years, she had been worried that he would stray. That she wasn’t woman enough to make him happy. She cried as she lay against his chest and told him how much she loved him. How happy she was that he had loved her enough to be patient and faithful to her for all these years.

After she had opened up about all of her self-doubt, he couldn’t take away her new-found freedom. She told him she felt like a woman, a powerful woman that could make her man happy. She told him over and over again how much he meant to her. It broke his heart when she went down on him, vowing to do anything in her power to make him happy for as long as she lived.

He cried as she loved him so sweetly with her mouth. He couldn’t tell her. It would kill her to hear that he had done everything that she had feared most. And that would kill him.

“Are you okay Peter?” George asked him.

“I’m not ready to talk about it.” Peter turned away. Hoping they didn’t see the deceit in his eyes.

“Listen, I hate to bring up the core of our misery, but has anyone heard from Claudia? I mean, she’s been on meltdown mode for weeks now, hell bent on destroying what was left of our lives and our marriages, and then all of a sudden, she dropped off the radar. I didn’t see her once yesterday. And she didn’t call my office for any of the stupid reasons she usually uses, either,” Theo pointed out to them.

“Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve seen her since a couple of days ago in Peter’s office,” George said, turning to Peter.

“Did she try and call you?” Peter asked Donna.

“No. None of us have talked to her since that day. What does that mean? She never leaves us alone. What is she…?” She quickly turned her head toward the hallway. “Did you hear that? Someone’s here. It’s barely after seven.”