The Boy Next Door (82 page)

Over another catered lunch, he asked her more about her parents.  Sherrie told him about their mutual slide into dementia, and gave him examples of their good days and bad days.  As she tearfully explained, it was taking a toll on her own health because of the financial and physical stress.

As she talked about her situation, Joseph found his cock getting distracted by his heart.  She was dedicated to her family and seemed willing to do almost anything to care for them.  It was a rarity these days and he was deeply touched by her sweetness and innocence.

They continued working through the afternoon and into the evening.  Sherrie finally looked down at her watch and gasped loudly.

“I have to go!  It’s almost six and the nurse leaves at five!”

Joseph looked up from their paperwork, startled.

“I’m sorry, Sherrie, I didn’t realize it had gotten so late.  We can finish tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Sir, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I understand.”  Joseph bit back his guttural groan when the ‘sir’ slipped from her lips.

She disappeared into the elevator and he let the groan escape in the privacy of his office.  It seemed that Sherrie was going to drive him crazy one way or the other.  And he was hopelessly falling into her tawny eyes and toffee skin without a life raft.  Joseph ran his palm over his face and tried to dismiss the strong sensation that he was not going to be able to walk away from her.

He tidied up the strewn paperwork that covered the conference table and packed up his laptop for the evening.  With the urgent project at hand, other business had fallen by the wayside, and he needed to spend some time catching up at home.  He bid Daisy a good evening and rode his private elevator down to the parking garage.  His driver was waiting patiently to take him home, and Joseph slid into the back seat wordlessly.  He punched the button to raise the glass partition and sunk back against the leather seat heavily.

After he finished the dinner his private chef had prepared for him, he closed himself into his office and fired up the computer.  He was significantly behind on even reading his emails, let alone addressing any of them.  He vaguely realized how much extra work his recent distraction had probably added to Daisy’s workload and filed a mental note to give her some sort of thank you.

As he scrolled through and fired off a few responses, Joseph’s mind kept drifting back to Sherrie.  This time his thoughts were focused on an entirely different aspect of her, how she worked so diligently to care for her family without a moment’s pause for herself.  His heart felt heavy in his chest when he imagined her weariness and her fatigue and her stress.  By the time he was ready to call it a night, he realized that he had significant feelings for this beautiful young woman.

When he walked into the den, the fireplace was roaring and his butler handed him a glass tumbler full of Scotch.  He sipped it slowly and stared into the dancing flames.  He imagined sitting in front of the fire with his arm around Sherrie, watching the orange and red glow flicker on her tawny cheeks.  In his mind, she was curled into his side closely, letting the heat surround and overtake them.

Joseph almost dropped his glass onto the marble tile when his cell phone vibrated roughly in his pocket.

He switched the phone on and read the text message.  Then he re-read it just to make sure.

thank you again for your understanding and kindness

And with that, Joseph drowned in Sherrie completely.

Chapter Seven

Around six o’clock the next morning, Joseph fired off a quick text message to Sherrie.

Please make arrangements with your nurse to stay late, I will be requiring additional assistance today that may necessitate overtime this evening.

Sherrie sighed but knew that she could not deny her boss.  The nurse staffing company agreed to send over a replacement at five o’clock who would be able to prepare dinner and get her parents down for the night.  She was not used to having an evening away from her home obligations, and despite the fact it would be work, she was almost looking forward to the break.

When Sherrie arrived, Joseph confirmed that she was able to make the arrangements.

“Yes, the service will send someone over just before five to make the transition.  Thank you for letting me know ahead of time, I appreciate it,” she smiled sweetly.

They were making decent progress on their software testing and review, and Sherrie realized that their time was coming to an end.  She found herself more than a little disheartened by the proposition of returning to her daily grind, and even more so by the prospect of not being able to spend time with Joseph.  He was thoughtful and caring about her family situation, his dark eyes twinkled when she smiled at him, and his thickly muscled body was nice on the eyes.

The morning was rather uneventful, just entering data into the trial software to see the results.  But when lunch arrived, Joseph declared that she was to stay but that it would not be a working lunch.

“Sherrie, I know I requested additional time from you today, however, I’m afraid I may have exaggerated the ‘work’ part of that.  I’d like you to come have dinner with me, at my house.  My chef can prepare just about anything you’d like to eat, but I don’t want to eat another meal with you here in the office.”

Sherrie stared at him with her lips parted in surprise.  He was sorely tempted to press his own lips against hers but resisted with every ounce of self-control he could find.

“S-S-Sir?  Are you sure?” she stammered.

“Yes, I am.  And please, call me Joseph.”

“Joseph?  Are you sure?  I mean, I’m not sure what’s…what’s going on here.”

He rested his strong hand on her delicate fingers and smiled softly.  “I’d like to get to know you better.”

He prayed that she could not see the twitching beneath his fly as her body warmth penetrated him through her fingers.

“Joseph?”

“Yes, Sherrie?”

“I think I’d like that very much,” she whispered softly, her cheeks blossoming into dark pink roses.

They finished their work for the afternoon and he escorted her gallantly to his car service via his private elevator.

“You don’t drive?” she chuckled.

“Nah, it just added more stress than I really need,” he said dismissively.

The car was nicer than anything she had ever ridden in, and she stroked the buttery leather gingerly.  He loved how enthralled she was at the little things he took for granted.  He could not wait to show her his estate.

Her full lips fell open when the mansion loomed in front of the car, and he could tell by the sharp rise of her breasts that she was holding her breath in amazement.

“Home sweet home,” he joked.

“It’s…it’s as big as an office building,” she breathed.

“It’s just my little country house,” Joseph grinned.

“Oh.  Wait, what?  Your country house?”

“I’m giving you a hard time, this is my home.  The country house is much smaller.”

“You, um, lead a very different life, Sir.”

Joseph shook his finger at her.  “Please, Joseph.  For now.”

She blinked at him and nodded silently.

As previously instructed, the car dropped them off at the front of the house instead of in the garage, so that Sherrie could get the full effect of the marble and mahogany entrance.

She stumbled lightly on her high heels and stared at every fixture and furnishing she could lay her eyes on.

“So beautiful,” she murmured as she admired a painting in the hallway.

He gently led her by the elbow to the dining room, “Are you hungry?”

“Yes, starved actually,” she laughed lightly.

“Let’s see what the chef has whipped up tonight.”

Over the next hour and a half, Sherrie sat at the exquisite table, sipped fruity white wine, and relished every bite of her meal.  They started with a small cup of smoked tomato purée topped with a tiny oval of cheese toast.  The main meal consisted of baked tilapia, fluffy whipped potatoes, grilled asparagus, and steaming fresh dinner rolls.  Joseph kept her relaxed with light conversation and frequent refills of her wine glass.

After dinner, he ushered her to the drawing room where the fire was already burning.  The butler presented them each with a glass of sherry and a dessert plate covered in chocolate cake and fresh strawberries.  She perched on the edge of the leather couch and stared straight into the fire as Joseph took a seat very close to her.

He gently took the glass and plate from her hands and set all of the dishes onto the coffee table.  Sherrie stared at his deep soft eyes as he took her hands in his.  His grip was firm but gentle, and his thumb was tracing light circles on the back of her hand.

“Joseph?  What’s going on?” she asked softly.

“Sherrie, this isn’t a business dinner.  I think that’s been clear.  I have to ask you something, and I would like an honest answer.”

“Of course, si—Joseph.”

He smiled at her self-correction and made a mental note to teach her the difference later.

“I want you to marry me,” he said suddenly.

Sherrie’s deep chocolate eyes widened and she formed a silent “O” with her full rosy lips.

“I care for you, more than I probably should at this point, and I believe we have a lot to offer each other.  I think you have one of the sweetest hearts I’ve ever encountered, and I know I want to know more.  I know my resources could be invaluable to you and your family, and I’m offering myself as part of the deal.”

“Si—Joseph?  Mister Misaka.  I-I-I’m… I don’t know what to say…”

He laughed.  “Say yes, Sherrie!”

Chapter Eight

As Joseph’s car service took her home that evening with a promise to pick her up in the morning, Sherrie ran through the evening in her mind.  Had she really agreed to marry her billionaire boss?  On the spur of the moment?  Her parents would not believe it, but most days they did not even know for certain that she was their daughter.

He would be able to provide so much for them, it was staggering.  Never could she, in her wildest dreams, have imagined such an ending when he had showed up in her doorway at the office.

He seemed eager to move things along after she had consented to the wedding, and she agreed to leave everything in his hands except her own dress.  When he kissed her goodbye that evening, she had felt a different kind of urgency in his touch.  There was a heat in the kiss that he left unspoken.  He wanted more of her, all of her, and not in the sweet and romantic sense.  With his firm body up against her soft curves, she had felt exactly what he wanted from her.

Would she be willing to give him that as well?  It was an assumed part of every marriage, but this was a slightly different arrangement.  She would take it as slowly as he would let her.

The nurse left when she got home, and she slipped off to bed quietly.  Her mind was racing but she needed sleep before she could return to work and pretend that her whole world had not just been shaken like a snow globe.  As she drifted off to sleep, she knew that she had to follow through with a ‘yes’ for her parents.  She was barely keeping things afloat and Joseph could easily help her provide what she wanted to give them.  Luckily, he seemed to understand how important they were to her.

After the car service picked her up the next morning, Sherrie worried all the way to the office about awkwardness and any announcements Joseph felt like making.  When she saw his beaming face, she realized there was little to worry about.

He ushered her into his office and to the small couch in the corner.  She perched on the edge as he closed the door and silently flipped the lock.  He took a seat next to her, their knees brushing lightly.

“Sherrie, I just want you to know that I don’t plan on making a big to-do about our engagement.  I’m thrilled that you said yes, but I know it could make things difficult for you around here if everyone finds out.  And it really is nobody’s business but ours.  Truthfully, Daisy will figure it out eventually.  She’s smart and intuitive, and there is no doubt she has already been thinking there is more between us than one work project.”

He took a deep breath and waited for a response, but plunged forward before actually receiving one.

“I’ve already made arrangements with a wedding coordinator.  I hope that’s okay, but we really do need to finish this personnel software analysis and I’m pretty sure you would like some assistance with the arrangements.  Especially since I’d like this to happen sooner rather than later.”

Sherrie smiled back at him, and for the first time, the smile on her full rosy lips reached all the way to her eyes.  The amber swirled with copper fire, and he could not resist pressing his lips to hers.

She sighed softly at his firm kiss and his hand slid off hers and onto her knee.  His touch was firm yet gentle, hopeful but not demanding.  She slid one hand up his arm and felt the cut of his bicep under his dress shirt.  Joseph inhaled sharply as his cock twitched beneath the fly of his slacks and he knew he was about to get himself into a world of trouble with the beautiful woman in front of him.

Her caramel skin flushed a dark rose as his hand slid higher on her leg.  His fingertips tickled as they snuck under the hem of her skirt but she was surprised at her own reaction.  Instead of gasping and pulling away, she found herself wanting more.  Her thighs fell apart slightly and he accepted her invitation.