A Workplace Affair (8 page)

“Of course, anything else you need me to do?”

“Yes, I need you to buy a dress.” I could almost hear him smiling through the phone. “The party is in three weeks, you have two tickets, and it is a formal event.” Good thing I have Carter with me. He gives me a few more details, as I’m about to hang up, he stops me, “Victoria, I’d advise you to remember, I don’t share.” With that warning he hangs up, no goodbye, just click and he’s gone. I tuck my notepad away and do a kind of sashay back over to Sage and Carter.

“And what is that hip struttin’ walk all about, Miss Thang?” Carter notices before Sage does.

“Oh, I just have some good news.” Both of them look at me expectantly. “Carter, you feel like helping us buy some dresses?” He puts his hands on his hips and cocks his head to one side.

“Stupid question girl, what kind of dresses are you looking for?”

“The formal kind; that is if Sage will go to my company’s anniversary party with me?” Sage almost drops the clothes she’s carrying.

“A night of champagne, good food, and handsome men? I guess I could suffer through that.” We take our purchases up to the counter and pay before walking next door to have lunch. I wait until after we order to tell Sage the other news.

“Oh Sage, I do have some bad news.” I know it’s not nice, but I have to.  “You have three weeks to bake two thousand cupcakes.” As expected, her jaw drops.

“Seriously?” She signals for the waiter to come by and orders a glass of wine.

“Yes Sage, I’m serious, how much would you charge for that?” She grabs a pen from her purse and starts to scribble on her napkin, after about two minutes she looks up at me wide eyed.

“Is five thousand too much?” I look at her calculations and see that she’s under estimated.

“Six thousand it is!” Looks like I have an expense report to fill out tomorrow. We enjoy our lunch and discuss design ideas, deciding to set the cupcakes up to create one big company logo.  After lunch we head to meet a friend of Carter’s who is a fashion designer. We end up in Vining’s at her studio apartment, her name is Piper and by the time we get there she’s already started sketching some designs for us. Apparently Carter has already sent her some pictures of the two of us for inspiration. Her loft if full of mannequins dressed in beautiful designs that have been hand sewn by Piper. She stands us one at a time, on a platform and takes some measurements. Once she has those written down she shows us the sketches, there is one design for each of us and she’s nailed it. We spend a little time playing dress up in Pipers designs before we look at fabric choices for our dresses. Paying a deposit, we make plans to come back in three weeks, the day of the party, to pick them up. Dropping Sage off at the bakery, I head back to the hotel to leave some cupcakes as a surprise for Leland.

Chapter 20

I feel empty standing in my suite alone. Looking around, I cannot wait until Victoria gets here. As I light each candle, I begin to wonder how she will react. It occurs to me that I don’t really know her all that well, and she might not be as excited as me when she gets here. Standing back I enjoy the scent, her scent, in the air. I can’t believe I actually miss her. I’ve only known her two days and she’s been gone for nine hours, but I miss her. What the hell is wrong with me?

Heading out to the balcony, I set the table up in the perfect spot, a woman as beautiful as Victoria deserves a beautiful view. Just as I finish I hear the elevator arrive and look out at the skyline. I can hear her as she comes out onto the terrace.

“How was your day?” I keep my back to her, and try to hide the nerves I am beginning to feel.

“Great, how about yours?”  She walks over and stands beside me, having her so close, I feel more complete.

“Better now.” I smile down at her and put an arm around her shoulders, resisting the urge to hold on forever, “Hungry?”

Chapter 21

Walking into the suite I get a surprise myself, the room is covered with the soft glow of hundreds of candles. I can see Leland out on the balcony enjoying a drink, he had to have heard the elevator, but he doesn’t move. Setting the cupcakes on the bar, I join him outside. Out on the balcony there are more candles and a table set up with dinner for two.

“How was your day?” He keeps his back to me, and he seems lost in thought.

“Great, how about yours?” I walk over a join him, enjoying the view.

“Better now.” He smiles down at me and slides an arm around my shoulder. “Hungry?”

“Starving, what’s for dinner?” We walk together to the table, pulling my chair out, he gives me the seat with the best view. As I look out I enjoy seeing the Atlanta skyline as the sun starts to dip below the horizon casting a pink glow across the sky.

“I have no idea, I just told Connor to fix something good. I told him it’s his audition to cater the party.” He takes his seat across from me and lifts the dome on his plate and laughs. “It’s a cheeseburger, asshole.” I look at him confused. “He knows he already has the job, this is his way of telling me that.” Lifting the dome on my plate I find the same, and taking a bite I smile. He might know he has the job, but I think this burger was to prove why he had the job. The meat was juicy and tender with just the right amount of grease. There was white cheddar cheese, thick-cut bacon, sautéed onions, and a spicy honey chipotle sauce to accent the flavors. If there was a burger heaven then this was it.

“Best cheeseburger I’ve ever had.” Leland seems distracted again and barely hears me.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, it’s very good.” I wish he’d say what was bothering him. We finish dinner in relative silence and then move inside. The candles are still burning and I notice a hint of lilac scent in the air.

“Leland, is something bothering you?” I can’t take it anymore.

“No babe, I’m ok, just distracted. Will you do me a favor and go grab me a t-shirt from the closet?” That’s odd, why wouldn’t he just grab it himself.

“Sure, I’ll be right back.” I climb the stairs and cross the room to the closet, opening the doors I stop dead, the half of the closet that had been empty just this morning was full, with women’s clothes. That must be what’s bothering him, his girlfriend is here. I grab a shirt and walk calmly down the stairs, vowing that I will not let him see me hurt. It’s only been two days, after-all. When I reach the bottom of the stairs my emotions are threatening to break. I quietly hand him the shirt, grab my purse and head for the elevator.

Chapter 22

What the hell just happened? I stop the elevator before it has a chance to leave.

“Victoria, where are you going?” I get no response, “Please talk to me.” She still refuses to talk to me so I get into the elevator with her. “Are you ok?”

“You could have just told me that you have a girlfriend.” If looks could kill I’d be dead right now.

“What are you talking about? Who the hell told you that?” I’m so confused.

“Your closet told me that, you should have told me. I’m a big girl, Leland. I would have gotten over it.”

“Hahahaha,” I can’t hold my laughter in.

“Just great, now you’re laughing at me.” I grab her by the face and kiss her, she rewards me with a slap to the face.

“Victoria, those clothes are for you.” The anger leaves her face and is replaced with confusion.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I want you to stay here with me. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Carter, he picked everything and brought it up.” I try to touch her but she pulls away.

“Then who did you go to lunch with the other day, and what about the flowers and the chocolates? Explain that!” Wow, there was serious breakdown in communication here.

“My mother, my sister, and my mother again.” Her arms that have been folded across her chest fall to her sides.

“Oh, well now I feel stupid.” She keeps her eyes glued to the floor, “I’m sorry.”

“Victoria, look at me, please.” She hesitates, but finally lifts her eyes to look at me. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I understand how you could think something like that, I’m sorry. Will you stay here with me please? It’s been so nice having you here these last two nights, and I don’t want to be away from you more than I have to be.” It takes her an excruciatingly long time for her to respond, actually she doesn’t respond exactly. As we reach the ground floor, she reaches over and presses the button for the twelfth floor. Damn, I can’t remember the last time I was this happy.

A week later, another obstacle is thrown in our way. On Wednesday, I am coming back from a lunch meeting to do some research on a new potential investment. When I get to her desk, Victoria is not there, so I take a moment to leave the dessert I brought back for her in the drawer where she will put her purse. As soon as I enter my office, I want to run. Sitting on my desk, wearing a trench coat, is a woman I recognize from accounting, Marie, or is it Mary, I’m not sure.

“Can I help you?” I’m kind of afraid that she’s a hostile employee and is going to pull out a gun at any second.

“Maybe we can help each other.” She stands up and opens her trench coat, revealing only thigh-highs underneath. From the desk, she grabs a riding crop and slaps her hand with it. “I know you are attracted to me,” actually I find her kind of manly, “so why don’t you stop pretending and get over here. I won’t tell if you won’t.” I do my best to come up with a nice way of telling her no, but when she turns and bends over my desk I give up.

“Get out.”

“Excuse me?” She covers herself as the insult sets in.

“You heard me, I said get out, or would you like me to talk to your boss about what you’re doing on company time?” Tying her coat around her she runs past me and out the door. On her way to the elevators she passes Victoria.

“What was that about?” This is just what I need, another reason for Victoria to doubt me.

“A budding fatal attraction, I’m afraid.” Confusion is clear on her face, so I explain how eventful my morning has been.

Chapter 23

It’s been three weeks since Leland asked me to stay with him, two weeks since Mary’s visit to Leland’s office, and I’ve never been happier. That being said, it’s still in the back of my mind that he’ll be leaving at some point. Today, I don’t have much of a chance to think about that though, because I am currently running around with a million things to do tonight for the anniversary party. Leland, who is normally calm and collected, is even stressed today. Last minute, we had to switch venues for the party because the hall we had booked had also booked a party for the Braves, big wonder who won that contest. So, now I’m sitting on the floor of the ballroom at The Prestige Atlanta filling gift bags, at least all I have to do is go upstairs to get ready. It never occurred to me that I would be this busy, so I enlisted Carter to pick up the dresses from Piper, he arrived ten minutes ago and he’s been bugging me ever since to go get dressed.

“Are you done yet? You know beauty takes time.” He’s just anxious to see the dress because Piper made him promise he wouldn’t peek at it until I was putting it on.

“You know, if you’re so impatient, you could sit your ass down and help me.” I’m waiting for Sage anyway, but it never hurts to have help.

“I’m more of a project coordinator than a manual laborer.” Only Carter would feel that putting things in a bag was manual labor.

“If you help me, I’ll make sure one of these bags disappears.” This is a very tempting offer since these bags each hold over two thousand dollars in merchandise.

“Fine.” Resigned to his fate, he sits down and begins to slowly fill a bag. Even though he’s moving slow, we get finish in about forty-five minutes, and after a quick double-check on everything, we head up to the suite to start getting ready. With four hours until party time, I think we’re fine, but Carter seems worried.

Just as I’m getting out of the shower Leland knocks on the door. “Your friend, Sage, is here,” he gives me a once over while I stand drying off, “and if you want to get ready in time you need to put some clothes on.” Laughing I slip on my robe and head to the top of the stairs. Sage and Carter are hugging and comparing stories of how busy their day was, I’m pretty sure Sage wins.

“Come on up guys, let’s see those dresses.” Turning I push Leland toward the stairs, “Time for you to go have a drink and leave us alone up here.” With a quick kiss before he goes, he obeys my order, heading downstairs.

Carter, Sage, and I rush to the closet like a group of school girls. Hanging there, amidst our clothes, are two purple garment bags just waiting to be opened.

“I still can’t believe you made him take all those clothes back.” Sage, who met Leland about a week ago, has been critically supportive of me staying here with him.

“We compromised, I kept six outfits and all the lingerie, he wanted me to keep it all.” I consider that a win.

“Still, he’s only here for a little while, you should at least come away from it with something.” Sage is a cynic, that’s the only way to describe her. She doesn’t believe in flowers and romance, she believes in hurt and lies. What she doesn’t understand about me, is that as long as I’m happy with him while he’s here, then I have come away with something. Brushing off her cynicism I reach for the zipper on my garment bag and slide it slowly down, for effect, of course. Inside is one of the most beautiful dresses I’ve ever seen. I slide the peach silk through my fingertips and imagine how good it is going to feel against my skin. Carter helps me step into the dress and he and Sage stand back to take a look.

“You look amazing, Vie.” Sage has been overly complementary when it comes to my appearance.

“If I wasn’t gay, Leland would be finding a new date tonight.” They both move slightly so that I can look in the mirror. The bodice of the dress is cut close in a deep V-neck, jeweled bands crisscross between my breasts, running under each one and along the neckline, and crisscross again between my shoulder blades. From the jeweled band under my breasts, the skirt falls loosely to the floor pooling slightly. The back of the dress is bare beyond the straps and starts again low on my hips, with another jeweled band there, trailing a slight train behind me. I hardly recognize myself, my body looks long and elegant, and the smooth fabric accentuates the curve of my breasts and hips.