Fool Me Once (28 page)
He
put the glasses back on and they immediately slid down his nose. He pushed them
back up with an unconscious motion. “Have a good day,” he said, gesturing down
the street toward her building.
She’d
been looking at the gold glints in his eyes and it took a moment for his words to
catch up with her. “Yeah, right,” she said, embarrassed that she’d been caught
staring. “You too.” She turned and walked down the street, wondering what had
just happened.
Chapter
Two
“Morning,
boss.” The receptionist looked up from her ultra modern desk as he entered.
“You look drenched. “Can I get you a coffee?”
“Thanks,
Chloe, that would be great.” Freddie turned into the open space that housed the
staff. Irregular work pods dotted the space; many of them were unoccupied. He
didn’t pay much attention to hours worked. Productivity came second to
creativity in this business, and the teams competed fiercely to come up with
the hottest new games. He made his way to his office in the corner. It was his
one luxury. Other execs in hi-tech businesses loved to be photographed in among
the staff, pretending to be just like everyone else, but when it came right
down to it, he wasn’t like everyone else. He’d built this empire, and the
employees were his responsibility. And it was a responsibility he took seriously.
Chloe
placed the coffee on his favourite coaster and put a small stack of messages in
the middle of his desk.
“Anything
pressing?” He looked at the stack with distaste.
A
fleeting frown passed over the receptionist’s face. What was the matter with
the boss? He usually pounced on the messages like a cat on catnip. Maybe he was
getting a cold.
“Are
you all right?” she asked.
“I’m
fine.” He forced himself to smile.
“Okay
then. There was another call from Mr. Zhou in Taiwan, and a writer from
Gamer
Nation
called to ask about an interview. The rest are fairly
straightforward.”
“Thanks
Chloe.” He picked up the top message and scanned it; a hint for her to go back
to her desk. She left, then stopped to look back after a few steps. He was
staring at the piece of paper.
He
didn’t see the words. He saw Samantha’s face, framed by that impossibly curly
hair. He wondered what it would be like to run his fingers through it. He
shifted in his seat, aroused at the thought.
Was
it only last week that he’d noticed her having coffee a few blocks from his new
condo? It had seemed like a lifetime, waiting to talk to her. Within a few days
he’d discovered that she went there for her morning coffee. So far she’d met
Lauren there every morning…that was a bit of a problem, but if he hung around
he could probably engage her in conversation. Okay, okay, he’d like to engage
her in more than just conversation, but he could be patient. After all, wasn’t
that how he’d built his company?
He
was still holding the message. He dropped it on the desk and looked out the
windows. His accountant had cautioned him against buying this old building, but
fortunately he hadn’t listened. Its value was now four or five times what he’d
paid for it, and from his office on the top floor he could look out over
Vancouver Harbour. He didn’t think less of his accountant–the man was great
with figures but he couldn’t possibly understand the concepts Freddie had
developed ever since he was eleven years old and discovered computer games. The
clear vision that had combined the hundreds of characters he’d sketched with
the latest technology in the gaming field. It had been a heady ascent, and he’d
ridden it to the top.
But
hadn’t got there by daydreaming, and he couldn’t afford to start now. He
tackled the phone messages and went on to his stack of mail.
A
cream coloured envelope caught his eye. It was shaped differently than his
regular business mail, and had been sent to his parents’ address. They’d been
in Hawaii up until last week. He opened it with a letter opener that had been a
gift from one of his suppliers…a stylized wizard’s wand.
Sybil
and John Hunter request the pleasure of your company…
It
was a wedding invitation. He looked for the date and checked his calendar. Two
weeks wasn’t a very long lead time, but that was okay, he was free that
weekend. Impressive…they were booking the entire boutique hotel, and offering
free accommodation for those who wanted to stay over.
He
remembered Ashley Hunter from school; in spite of her privileged upbringing,
she’d been a nice girl. He called up his appointments calendar on his pc, and
as he entered the info, his heart ticked up a notch. Would Samantha be there?
He turned the computer screen aside and caught a blurry reflection of himself.
Who was he kidding? She probably had a boyfriend, or maybe even a fiancé,
although he hadn’t noticed a ring.
He
stood up and went into his private bathroom. Who was that long-haired, poorly
dressed guy looking back at him in the mirror? Had his drive to make his
company the best in Canada superseded everything else…including taking care
of himself? His gaze went back to the man in the mirror. The answer stared back
at him.
*
* *
Samantha
treated herself to a cab ride home after work. She just couldn’t face a bus
ride tonight. She and Cody had a date to go down to Chinatown for dinner, but
based on his track record the past couple of weeks, she couldn’t be sure he’d
actually show up.
“Hi
Babe.” He was seated in the living room, feet up on the coffee table, beer in
hand, and watching the NBA finals on television.
“Hi
yourself.” She smiled at the back of his head. His hair was the colour of the
sand on the beach at English Bay. It curled around his ears and down his neck
and for a moment she was reminded of Freddie. But Cody was nothing like
Freddie. He was the top salesman in the most exclusive car showroom in
Vancouver, he sailed his own boat in the summer, and skied Grouse Mountain
almost every day in the winter. And he could make her weak in the knees just by
looking at her. A curl of desire started to unfurl in the pit of her stomach
and she walked up behind him and nibbled on his ear.
“Care
for an appetizer before we go out?” His cologne tickled her senses and she slid
her hands down his chest.
“Not
now, Babe.” He pushed her away and she staggered backwards. This had never
happened before, and she blinked back tears. “This is a tight game. Later,
okay?”
She
felt as though he’d slapped her in the face. Actually, a slap would have been
preferable. She walked away without a word and poured herself a glass of wine.
This required some thinking. She was beginning to wish she hadn’t told him
about the wedding. He’d accepted enthusiastically; probably counting the number
of new contacts he could make.
She
allowed herself to think back on the number of times he’d disappointed her in
the past month. There were too many, and she didn’t believe in co-incidences.
And now this. Come to think of it, his cologne was too strong…too fresh. What
had he been doing this afternoon? And yet, she had no formal hold on him. She’d
always assumed they were seeing each other exclusively, but there was no spoken
agreement. She looked down at her ring-less hand, her thoughts churning.
“Ready?”
He was standing on the other side of the counter. “I’m hungry.”
Samantha
looked at her empty wine glass. She didn’t recall drinking the wine.
* * *
“I
saw someone from school today,” she said, popping a prawn into her mouth.
“Yeah?
Who?” He glanced up, his tone disinterested.
“Freddie
Howard.”
“And
was he your boyfriend?” He gave her a look that said he thought it was
unlikely.
“No,
he was just a nice guy.”
“What
does he do?” To Cody, job status counted for a lot.
“He
says he’s in IT.”
“Him
and every other loser who doesn’t want to admit they’re in a nowhere job.”
Samantha
had a sudden desire to stand up for Freddie. “Somehow I don’t think he’s a
loser.” Lauren’s words came back to her and she giggled.
“What’s
so funny?” Cody motioned to the server, indicating with an imperious gesture
that he should remove the plates.
Samantha
waited until the server was gone. “Lauren says his nickname in high school was
Tripod.”
Something
shifted in Cody’s eyes. He was not well endowed, and she knew it bothered him.
“So did you fuck him?”
“Cody!”
She looked around the restaurant nervously. “What a terrible thing to say.”
“So
you didn’t.” There was a malicious gleam in his eyes. “But you wish you had.”
“Cody,
that’s enough.” She stood up. “You can either take me home or I can get a cab.”
He
paid and followed her outside. “I’m sorry, Babe.” He brushed a curl away from
her temple, his touch gentle. “I’m a jealous prick.” He pulled her into a quick
embrace and she looked up into his eyes, startled. He was aroused, and she
could feel it. “Know what I’d like to do now? I’d like to take you home and make
love to you.” His voice was low and husky, full of promise. “I want to do
everything to you tonight, just the way you like it.”
She
wavered, caught on the knife edge of indecision. She should stick to her guns
and grab a cab, but he’d apologized…sort of…and the Libra in her wanted to
give him a second chance. He nuzzled her neck and the anger that had been
building all evening faded away.
Chapter Three
“So…tell
Aunty Lauren. Did you talk to Freddie?” Her friend was waiting when she got to
the coffee shop the next morning, asking the question before she even sat down.
“Whoa!”
Lauren’s eyes widened. “What’s that on your neck?”
Samantha’s
hand went to cover the offensive spot. “Cody can get carried away sometimes.”
He’d been almost frantic in his efforts to please her last night.
“For
God’s sake, nobody does hickeys any more. That’s so juvenile!”
Samantha
shrugged. “I’ll dab on a bit more makeup when I get to the office.”
“Good
idea. So back to Freddie. Did you talk to him? Did you check him out? You know,
about the nickname?”
“Yes
and no. I honestly forgot to look at his…you know. But I did talk to him. As
a matter of fact we walked a couple of blocks together.”
“So
what did you find out? Really, Samantha, do I have to drag it out of you word
by word?”
“There’s
not much to tell.”
Unless you count the gorgeous eyes and the charming,
old-fashioned manners.
But there was no way she was going to tell Lauren
about that. Not yet, anyway. “He says he’s in IT.”
“Him
and a million other guys.”
“That’s
what Cody said.” Samantha turned thoughtful. “You know, I mentioned him to Cody
and it seemed to turn him on. He couldn’t wait to get me home and in the sack.
What’s up with that?”
“Can’t
stand the competition, I guess.” Lauren thought for a moment, nodding to herself.
“It’ll do him good.”
“Well
he might have been turned on, but it sure didn’t work for me.”
Lauren
toyed with her coffee. “Why do you do this to yourself, Sam? Why do you stay
with a guy who doesn’t treat you well? You deserve better.”
Samantha
couldn’t look into her friend’s eyes. She allowed her gaze to wander outside,
where people strode by purposefully on their way to work. “It’s my father.”
Lauren
gave her an odd look. “Sorry to break this to you, kid, but your father died
about twenty years ago.”
Samantha
brought her focus back to her friend. “No he didn’t. I made that up and for
some reason my mom let me carry on the little charade.”
“Jeez,
Samantha. Why would you do a thing like that?”
“Because
he left us, that’s why. He walked out and left us when I was just six years
old.” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “He used to call me his princess and then he
left me.” She dabbed at her eyes with a napkin, embarrassed to be seen crying
in public. “I know now that I was just collateral damage in the fight between
my parents, but somehow I never got over the feeling of abandonment. I haven’t
had a lot of relationships, but I’ve always gone out of my way to please.”
Lauren
nodded. “So they won’t leave you.”
“Yeah,
and look where it’s got me.”
“Well
I still think a little competition would be good for Cody.”
***End of Excerpt***
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