What They Don't Know (Won't Hurt Them Trilogy #1) (21 page)

“Traitor!” I yell.

“So c'mon, Bria, tell
me.”

“Tell you what?”

“You’re not going
to keep me in the dark on this one are you?” She folds her arms and
begins pouting. She's acting like a spoiled brat.

“You're too old for
that, Lisa,” I laugh. “Look, there's some company business he has
with Bryant and Mr. Wilke. I'm just the liaison between all of them.”

“Does it have to do
with the merger?” she questions.

“Yes.”

“Okay, is he
married?”

“Whaaa.” I must
sound like a minion, because she laughs.

“C'mon, Bria, give me
something.”

“Lisa, I'm not sure
if he's married or not; that's not a discussion we've had.” It's
the truth. I don't know if he ever was married or still is. All
that's been discussed between Cruz and me is what makes my lower lady
wet. I shake myself out of that thought. Lisa is sitting in the chair
designated for Cruz with her arms still folded.

“Okay, Bria, I'm
going to ask him to ladies’ night.”

“Like hell you are!
Hence why it’s
ladies’
night
. Besides, I need a drink after the way this week has
gone.”

“C'mon, Bria, you can
invite Bryant.”

Holy shit, Lisa doesn't
know.

“Lisa, Bryant won't
be able to make it,” I say in a soft tone.

“Why? What's up with
pretty boy?”

Lisa has always had a
love-hate relationship with Bryant after their drunken kiss. I swear
these people are too old for one-night stands or the whole, “there
was a lot of alcohol involved” excuse.

“Bryant had a slight
accident.”

“OH MY GOD! He was in
a car accident!”

“No, Lisa, no.” I
see how grapevine rumors start. Tell one person something, have ten
people repeat it or at least try to repeat the same thing. It will
escalate to a long, drawn-out story that probably won’t even
involve the actual subject it starts with.

“Well, what kind of
accident?”

“He… he OD’d on
some sex drug and had alcohol poisoning.” Her eyes widen.

“Oh, my God, Bria!”
Her hand is over her mouth while she speaks through it.

“Yeah, so he won't be
joining us.”

“What exactly
happened?” she questions further. I roll my eyes.

“He was out with
Cass.”

She gasps. “That
bitch!”

“Right,” I
continue. “She gave him the drugs; she fed him the drinks. She
called Cruz's phone and told him he was in the hospital, which is
where he is now.”

“Cruz contacted you?”

I go silent. I can't
reveal that Cruz was and has been at my house for the past three
days.

“Yeah, he told me
that she was calling the last known number in Bryant’s phone.”

“What?”

“Exactly what I said;
she also told Cruz that she wasn't going to babysit someone who
couldn't hold his liquor.”

“Are you serious?”
Lisa squeals.

“Yes, I was pissed
when I saw her at the hospital.”

“Bria, you should’ve
kicked her ass.”

“I did.”

“No way!”

“Yeah, I was out for
blood.”

“Oh, how I wish I
were a fly on that wall.” She goes to high-five me and my door
swings open. We both stop mid hand slap. Cruz is standing in the
doorway with an unexpected look in his eye. He stares at me as if
I’ve committed a heinous crime. We both lower our hands. Lisa moves
toward Cruz. She extends her hand. “Hi, I’m Lisa… Lisa Fields,
Bria’s co-worker. If you need any help with anything that Bria
can’t help you with, I’m just one office door down.”

You can’t be serious.
I’m standing there with my mouth slightly open at how she just
disregarded me.

“Cruz King, nice to
meet you, Lisa.” She’s still holding his hand while Cruz has the
company laptop I assigned to him in the other. I take the laptop from
him because I can see where this is going. I turn back to him with
one eyebrow up. He hasn’t stopped looking at me even with Lisa
still in his face.

“I’ll let you know
if I need anything; but I’m sure Bria has everything I need.” He
raises one-eyebrow back at me.

“Lisa, have you
looked over this week’s business plans?” She’s still standing
in front of Cruz with a Cheshire cat smile. “
Lisaaa
,”
I sing.

“Yeah, of course,
it’s done, Bria. You know Bria and I are going out for drinks on
Saturday night. It’s an official unofficial ladies’ night that we
have every other week. You can join us if you like?”

Lisa has officially
unofficially hit an all-time desperate low.

“Thanks for the
invitation; I'll sit this one out. I have a few appointments lined up
on Saturday at the gym.”

“You work at a gym?”

“Yes, I do,” Cruz
says reassuringly. He strolls past Lisa and wide-eyes me. He has his
hands in his pockets, like he needs any help complementing the
physique of his ass in those pants.

“So ladies’ night,
huh?”

I just shake my head
because I know where Cruz is going with this.

“Yes, ladies’
night… for ladies.”

“Hmmmm,” he hums as
he turns to Lisa. “If I can make it out of my appointments early,
count me in.”

“I'll even buy you a
drink,” Lisa woos.

Oh, my God… she is
relentless.

“I'll look forward to
it.” Cruz smiles at Lisa. His smile sends a sensation through my
body. I have to take a seat. No need to provoke my libido, quitting
time isn't happening for at least eight more hours. I really hate the
middle of the week; these are the days where I'm working ten plus
hours. There is no way I'm going to satisfy the ache between my
thighs any time soon.

“Hey, Lis, I
apologize; we have a few things to accomplish today.” Cruz turns
and winks at me. I know Lisa can't see him; but Cruz is an arrogant
ass, besides she's wasting her time. This man has made it very clear
that I'm on his agenda.

“Okay, well I hope to
see you again, Mr. King,” Lisa says enticingly. “Good day, Ms.
Watts,” she calls over her shoulder as she saunters out of my
office.

Cruz takes the seat
where I placed the laptop.

“Ladies’ night?”

“Yep…”

“Drinking?”

“Lots…”

“Hmmm.” He hums as
he rubs his jaw. “Flirting?”

“Absolutely,” I say
as I look up from my laptop screen. His eyes flick up at me angrily.
He looks back down at his screen. I feel vindicated as I continue to
stare at him. Cruz slowly lifts his head from staring at the screen.

I'm convinced he is a
different person. His eyes go dark, almost primal; he takes a sip of
his coffee that by now has chilled. Never looking away from me, he
places the cup back on my desk.

“Flirting makes for a
promiscuous night, Bria. Do you do a lot of flirting?”

Still staring at Cruz…
actually staring at his lips. The lips that were on my clit the night
before. He goes and does the one thing my lower lady can't handle
right now. He fucking licks them, a slow seductive swipe of his
tongue over his lips.

“I don't flirt at
all; you just witnessed the flirt of the group.”

“Good for you that
you don’t.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.” He nods,
taking another sip from the cup.

“Why would that be,
Mr. King?”

“I'm not sure how
much longer my cock can hold out not being inside you.”

That did it, somewhere
in Minnesota there's a lady sitting at her damn desk in need of a new
pair of panties… Some lady being me. I hate him right now.

“Are you always…”
I pause.

“A man? Yes,” he
laughs at his own answer. The sound of his chuckle is spirited.

“A perv,” I say.

“No, Bria, I'm not. I
like expressing myself to you.”

“You do, do you?” I
raise both eyebrows questioningly.

“We have work to do,
Bria.”

“You have no idea
what I'm going to say,” I say accusingly.

“You're right. I
don't, but I do know what has to be done with the proposal and
presentations by noon.”

“Why by noon?” I
panic.

“Lunch,” he says as
he winks. I fling the pen I have in my hand at him. He catches it in
his left hand; shit, he's quick.

“Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, no
workplace violence, Ms. Watts.”

Noon is here faster
than expected. I've gone over as many financial reports in three
hours as a girl can. They are backdated as far as four years. Cruz
and I both work through King Commerce financial earnings. We figure
where and why the company isn't profiting year-to-date.

“This is bullshit,”
he grunts.

“I'm not sure what
part you’re speaking about, Cruz; because if this was detected one
to two years earlier, it could have been easily solved, corrected,
and then written off.”

“Now Bryant has to do
what he does to bring it back to its earning point.”

“Yes.” I nod. I
hear a grumble in my stomach. From the look on Cruz's face, he heard
it too.

“Someone's hungry?”

“Well, yeah, Cruz.”

“Did you have
breakfast? Oh, wait... no, someone left the house extra early. Trying
to avoid me?”

Shit,
I'm caught.
“No. I had to get in early. I didn't know
this meeting was happening.”

“Well, if you had
stayed home for breakfast, you would have known about this meeting.”

“Touché, Cruz.”

“What's for lunch?”
he says as he stands to stretch his legs.

“I really don't care
at this point, just nothing too heavy.”

“Thai salad from the
deli?” he asks.

“No, Mediterranean.”

He laughs. “I'll get
you there one day.”

“I bet.” I reach
for my briefcase and pull out cash that I know he won't accept. I
hand it to Cruz; he looks appalled, but snatches the bill out of my
hand and stuffs it in his deliciously worn slacks.

“Lemonade, please,”
I yell as he leaves my office.

While Cruz is out, I
fire up classifieds to perform some random searches. I see there's an
array of individuals looking for specific details. I click on one
that reads. “Cherish You”... Why I even want to know is beyond
me. This guy wants someone he can cherish, someone who understands
what it is like to be adored by an appreciative man. How sweet to
say. I enter another area of posts, casual encounters. These titles
are unbelievable. “
Looking for
Lucky?
” I laugh as I open the post and read.

“
Well!
You found him...
”

This post is actually
interesting as I read it.

“
I'm
a cut above the rest and take my job seriously. Any single ladies
need escorting for the night?”

Wow, this is real…
this can't be real. I close that post to open a new one.

“
Hi,
I'm glad you opened my post, I'm not usually into searching for this
particular subject online, but a friend of mine suggested I put an
add on here to see where it leads me. I'm looking for a specific
woman. She has to be fearless, demanding, careful, observant,
discreet, and most importantly she has to be financially inclined.
I'm not looking for a “Suga-Momma” but somewhat like one. I'm
into making women’s fantasies reach levels her lover, boyfriend, or
husband fail to do... I can do that for you.”

This guy is smooth.
It’s funny how he states he isn’t looking for a suga-momma but
somewhat like one. So he's looking for a woman with “suga-momma”
tendencies? Contradicting. He signed his name “
-Seeker”
.
I laugh.

I search for a few more
minutes. I know Cruz will be back with lunch soon. I clean my history
but make a few notes in my phone of search results I may want to
research a little more. One or two have piqued my interest, solely
for my business with Mr. Wilke. Speaking of… a knock on my door.

“Sunshine?”

“Hey, boss.”

“I see you ditched
your boy toy.”

“Boss!”

“He's into you, Bria.
I tried to pick his brain, but he's too clever.” He winks at me.

What's with everyone
winking today? “He's gone out for lunch.”

“Good, put him to
work; how's everything working out?”

“We accomplished a
big task without Bry.”

“Yeah, I'm worried
about that kid.”

“So am I, boss.”

“We'll get him back,
don't worry,” Mr. Wilke assures me. I nod in agreement with him.
“So are you free tonight, Bria? Can you throw something together
last minute if I email you a few details?”

“I can.” I nod in
my chair with my pen in hand. Mr. Wilke leans on my desk; his eyes
are mischievous. “I want to try out the swing set you suggested in
the missus’s suite.” He wiggles his eyebrows and my face heats
up.

“Mr. Wilke you are…”

“Ahem,” I hear in
my doorway. There, standing with a look that could send chills down a
deceased man’s back, is Cruz. His hazel eyes are saying, “I will
bury this man in his already-paid-for grave.”

“Cruz?” Mr. Wilke
says then stands to help Cruz with the bags. Cruz hands me a bag I
guess contains my salad.

“I'll leave you two
to lunch, Bria love, I will email you the details. I'm sure whatever
you decide will be amazing.”

“Okay, bo— Mr.
Wilke, I'll have everything set by E.O.D.”

“Beautiful,” he
says as he turns through my office door and walks out.

“Is he always that—”

“Happy?” I cut Cruz
off.

“No, I was going to
say flamboyant.” I laugh at Cruz's analogy of my boss.

“I guess.”

“I'm going to sit at
your desk and have my lunch; is that okay?”

“That's fine. I'm
going to the cafeteria.”

“You don't want to
have lunch with me?” He looks suspicious as he pulls his food away
from my desk. “Is there a reason you don't want to eat at your own
desk?”

I scrunch up my nose.
“You’re disgusting.” He's insinuating that I may have performed
a sexual act on my desk.