What They Don't Know (Won't Hurt Them Trilogy #1) (20 page)

He comes back fifteen
minutes later.

“Hey, are you going
to be here for a bit?”

“Yes,” I chuckle.

“What’s funny?”

“Cruz, I’m home.
Why wouldn’t I be?”

He shakes his head.
“It’s dangerous out there, Bria, seriously.” He goes to the
closet and grabs his bag. I’m not sure why, but I feel like I’ve
been punched in the stomach when he starts packing his things in it.
“I’ll be back in a few.”

“You know, Cruz,
don’t bother. I’ll put the alarm on. I’ll be fine.” He looks
at me suspiciously as if he senses my attitude change, and I don’t
give a shit if he does. How dare he? How dare he lick an orgasm out
of me, and then leave. My mental self informs me that Bryant did it.
He didn’t tongue fuck me in the air, but he licked me into an
orgasm and left me on that counter over there. Yes, yes he did.

“You’ll be fine?”
he questions sarcastically.

“I’ll be fine,” I
repeat.

“Fine,” he says.
“I’ll be back in the morning.”

I shake my head. “No
need, Cruz.”

“Riiight,” he says,
disregarding my rejection of him returning in the morning.

“I’ll be back in
the morning,” he repeats. Cruz comes and kneels in front of me to
kiss me on my cheek. I slightly move my face so that he has to lean
further to make contact. He laughs at my action as if he knows I’m
upset that he’s leaving. “See you in the morning.” I say
nothing. He grabs his bag and walks out the door.

“Alarm, Bria,” he
yells over his shoulder. I get up, grab my laptop, and make my way to
the alarm panel. I set it so I can go into my room and relax the rest
of the night. I set my clock alarm an hour earlier than I need to. I
really don’t want to see Cruz. Who knows whom he’s going to do or
see? Whoever the hell it is, he can stay there tonight. I turn on my
laptop. Google search and I are going to get reacquainted tonight.

I type in the search
engine… you know I never knew why it is called a search engine.
I’ll look that up after I research my initial search.

Male orgasm denial…
Holy hell, according to Google, it has advantages with both genders.
It pleasures the female because the male is more energetic without
having an orgasm. He’s more attentive with getting his partner off.
Apparently, you can get a man to perform anything sexually for him to
gain access to his own orgasm. I doubt Cruz would let me stick anal
beads in his ass. Bryant... maybe. Cruz, not so much.

I search further and a
few stories come up. I click one of the stories that’s titled “I’m
not pleased until she comes for me.” I’m curious of course, so I
click on the story. It opens a story on classifieds. Wow, classifieds
promotes stories? I read this story of how this middle-aged man
masturbates until he’s ready to come but stops himself before he
does. He describes in detail what he does up until the moment he
stops; he also describes the feeling that it gives him. He says it
gives him pure satisfaction to deny himself a happy ending. He does
this while his spouse watches, which turns her on to the point where
she has an orgasm. He calls it top off.

I always thought that
topping off was gas related, where the pump automatically stops
before it spills over and… Ohhh, I guess that makes sense.

Anyway, apparently it
gets her off to the point she has an orgasm, which gives him a
reaction to set him off. These people are nuts. He even revealed that
his spouse told him to charge women to watch. How in the hell do you
request that in a post? I notice that this story is in the section
listed “Casual Encounters.” That’s casual? I laugh.

I click on that
particular banner. Are all these stories? I click on one that says,
“I’ll call you mommy but I’m not your son”… Oh, my God.

It’s a post of a man
looking to play out a mommy dearest fantasy, where he wants to be
spanked with a… wire hanger. What the… My eyes are bugging out of
my head. I can’t believe it. He details what type of female he’s
looking for. I scan through some of the posts because my curiosity
always gets the best of me.

Many more sections
focus solely on personals. Strictly Platonic, Miscellaneous Romance,
Missed Connections, and Rants and Raves. Oh my, there’s a section
for men seeking women and vise-versa. Holy Mother of… there’s
also a section for men seeking men, and women seeking women. This is
freaking crazy but there’s some interesting stuff on here.
This
could be useful.
Older women seeking companions. I’ll
have to pick up my search tomorrow; its past eleven and I need to go
to sleep if I’m going to beat Cruz out of the house in the morning.
I close my laptop, prepare my attire for tomorrow, and quickly hop in
bed. It doesn’t take long for sleep to overtake me. The last time I
saw on my clock was 11:37.

* * *

I’m up and out of the
house before Cruz shows up at my doorstep; but the only thing about
being up this early is my favorite coffee shop isn’t open, so
office coffee it is. “Yuck,” I say aloud, thinking about how
often the machine is cleaned. I usually clean it, but I spend too
much time sanitizing that entire area. Time is money in my opinion…
my money. I am not a barista, although my coffee making skills are
requested at times. I bypass the café and pull up to my office
building ten minutes later. No one’s here yet; however, that’s
normal because Mr. Wilke or I are usually the first to arrive anyway.

I park underground and
hotfoot it to the elevator. I’m not a fan of underground parking,
but if anything were to happen, cameras are all around this parking
garage unlike outside. The outside parking lot has cameras; but as
soon as you walk from the parking lot, your ass is free to be taken.
Briefcase in hand, I wait on the elevator to rise to the second
level. I’m going to work an actual full day without all the drama.
I can't wait to throw myself at my work schedule today. It's been a
little hard to do with all the new business I'm involved with. At
some point, I'll need to hire an assistant for myself. Exiting the
elevator, I notice that the front lobby door to the outside parking
area has been opened. Looking around for signs of my boss or even
Lisa, I'm a bit paranoid due to the recent flat tires I adopted
yesterday. I'm fumbling with the alarm panel when I'm scared out of
my skin. “Cruz!” I slap his chest. “You almost gave me a heart
attack! Where the hell did you come from?”

“Now imagine how I
felt when I arrived at your house this morning to find you weren't
there.” How the hell did he get here before me?

“Whatever, Cruz.”

“All right, honey,
you keep defying and avoiding me. It's only going to take longer for
you to enjoy the benefits.”

“Benefits?” I raise
an eyebrow to his comment.

“Yep, of me... all of
me.” He stands so close behind me that the hair on the back of my
neck is standing. It's either that or he's blowing on my neck; either
way, the lower part of me is awake. I move away from him, and just in
time.

“Hello, Ms. Watts,”
my boss cheerfully sings.

“Hi, bo— Mr. Wilke,
how are you this morning?” I had to catch myself. Cruz will
ridicule me for being so comfortable with my boss. He looks to Cruz
then back at me. Mr. Wilke holds out his hand.

“Good morning.”
He’s directing his attention to Cruz.

“Mr. Wilke, this is
Cruz King. Cruz, this is my boss, Mr. Wilke.”

“Oh right, finally
nice to put a name to a face,” he says while shaking Cruz's hand.

“Cruz was just
leaving.”

Cruz shakes his head.
“No, I wasn't,” he replies. I wide-eye him.

“Bria, move aside and
let the man in.” My boss retorts. “He's my 8:30 appointment.”

“Yes, Bria, let me
in,” Cruz says as he walks past me. However, it was probably meant
dirty coming from Cruz. Silly me, I didn't even notice the wall of a
man in a very alluring business suit. I jump at the ass squeezing
Cruz gives me as he passes, which proves my earlier thought.

“Jerk,” I mumble.

“Bria, can you
arrange a space for King to set up for the day. He’ll be working
here today.” Mr. Wilke says as he walks away. Oh God, this is not
happening. “Also, if you can run and get coffee from our favorite
spot down the way when they open.”

“Of course, Mr.
Wilke. Oh, I also have sent your files on the Hemmingway products. As
soon as I get back, you'll have their trades.”

“Good job, love.”

I cringe a little
because I know Cruz has heard Mr. Wilke, even over the phone a few
times. I turn to Cruz who's sitting in one of the chairs in the lobby
area.

“Would you like an
office, conference room, or cubicle?”

“I’d prefer to be
in your office with you.” I look up from what I'm currently doing
on my phone, with a sympathetic “really, you're going to torture
me” look. I can't respond, but he stands and takes a step to close
the gap between us.

“Bria!” my boss
yells and I once again jump out of my skin.

“Yes, Mr. Wilke?”

“Better yet, since
you will be working with Mr. King today, it’s best you set him up
in your office,” he says as he enters the lobby again.

“Oh, okay.”

“Will that be okay
with you, Mr. King?”

“That will be fine.”
Cruz smirks at me. “Please call me Cruz, Mr. Wilke.”

“Fine then, Cruz, I
hope you can deal with the likes of Arrant Watts. Her attitude is
bad, but she gets the job done… well done,” my boss says.

“Oh, I'm sure we'll
be fine. I think I can handle a little spunk. I've worked with her
before. She's a little rough, but she's not that bad.”

“
Helllooooo
,
I’m right here...”

“So you are; get him
set up and go.”

“You can always
indulge in the wonderful office coffee,” I jokingly say to my boss.
His face turns serious; it's a funny sight. He laughs…

“No, seriously, stop
playing around, Bria, and go get my cup.” I laugh at his
seriousness.

“Follow me,” I
scoff, directing Cruz toward my office.

When we arrive in my
office, he eyes the space.

“You're treated
well.”

“I guess. I do what's
asked of me and I'm rewarded handsomely.” Cruz’s frown lines are
visible.

“What do you mean,
what
he
asks of you?”

“Oh, my God! Nothing
like that, you perv.”

“No, your boss is the
perv.”

“Cruz, you can't say
that.”

“Yes, I can,” he
laughs. “Has he tried to sleep with you?”

“No!” I must have
been a bit loud because it makes Cruz look at me suspiciously. “No,
Cruz, he hasn't.” He nods. “I can set you up at my desk across
from me, or you can use this area where you'll have more space.”
I'm standing at the extra desk and table space I have in my office.
I'm failing at making it look appealing to Cruz. He just stands there
with his hands in his pockets, looking at me as if I know what he
wants. And I do, I sigh heavily. “My desk it is.”

When I'm done setting
up a company laptop, making sure Cruz has all the essentials he
needs, I rush out for coffee and breakfast. His arrogant ass had the
audacity to tell me to make sure he has no foam in his mocha latte
and he likes honey for his sweetener. I can't even… this day is
just getting better.

As I'm balancing coffee
to my car, I'm gaining momentum as if I am going to fall. Luckily, a
very attractive brunette who sees me offers me a hand.

“Thank you so much; I
usually don't have this much to bring back,” I tell the brunette.

“Oh, no problem,
sweetie; you looked like you were going to take a tumble. Woman to
woman, I would have laughed, but only after I helped you up.” We
both laugh at her joke.

“Again, thank you…”

“Shanna,” she says
with a warm smile as she holds her hand out for me to shake. I do.

“Nice meeting you,”
I say as I get into my car. She's walking away slowly. I can see she
must have a phone call; she picks it up and her facial expression
changes. I'm guessing she doesn’t want to take that phone call.

* * *

I walk into my office
ten minutes later. Cruz is still meeting with Mr. Wilke. Apparently,
he's been seen by the rest of my co-workers coming in. “Hi, Bria,”
Lisa says, popping her head in my office. I signal her to come in but
pass her as I leave my office on the way to Mr. Wilke's. I sashay
down the hall to my boss's office, I'm not sure why, but it amazes me
how I can turn my girlie essence on and off. I chuckle to myself.

“Here's your coffee,
Mr. King, and yours, Mr. Wilke.” As I flutter my eyelashes at Mr.
Wilke. Knowing fully it will probably piss Cruz off. Mr. Wilke
blushes. “Go on, get out of here; we'll be done shortly, and you
can unleash your sauciness on Mr. King,” he laughs. Cruz eyes me
harshly as I turn and walk out of the office.

“Hi, Lisa, what's
up?”

“What's up? Who is
the debonair god in with Mr. Wilke?” she asks, exhaling heavy. I
look at her accusingly. “What… A girl isn't blind, Bria; he was
here in your office before he went in with Mr. Wilke.”“Yeah, I'm
stuck with him for the day.” She jumps up and closes my door as she
silent screams like a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl.

“I knew you had
something to do with why he's here.”

“No, Lisa, I'm not
the reason; this is all business.” She side-eyes me, as if she
doesn't believe me.

“Lisa, I'm serious.
You better not start any rumors.”

“Oh, honey, it’s
too late for that; one’s already surfacing.”

“Oh God, what now?”
I ask her.

“Nothing really, just
that today you are training your replacement.”

My jaw drops... “What
the hell?”

“Right. I told Tracey
that's not true. I'll replace you.” She's so serious faced for a
minute; I can see the beginning of a curl on her lips. I ball up a
Post-it and throw it at her.