For His Pleasure: The Boxed Set, Books 1-6 (For His Pleasure, For His Taking, For His Keeping, For His Honor, For His Trust, For His Forever) (59 page)

“I’m just going off my gut instinct.”

He glanced sideways at her. “She’s going to be dealing with one of the most important days of our lives, so I hope your instincts are on target.”

“You keep saying you trust me, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like you do.”

“I do, I’m just giving my input. Like you keep asking me to.”

“So,” Nicole asked, “does that mean you want me to use this celebrity wedding planner?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“I like Marcie.”

“Then we’ll use Marcie. Absolutely.”

She sighed. “I feel like we’re not on the same page lately.”

Red glanced at her again. “Well, I’m super busy and now you’re getting busy with wedding stuff. Things are going to probably feel a little weird for awhile.”

“And we haven’t been close lately.”

“Every relationship has its ups and downs.”

“I don’t want to become one of those couples.”

He smiled a little. “One of what couples?”

“One of those couples that says every relationship has its ups and downs, and you know it means they’re sick of one another. And they’re probably always in a down cycle but they pretend that its just the natural way of things.”

Red didn’t say anything for a long time. When he did, his voice was low and somber. “I don’t want to be one of those couples either. I love you. What can I do?”

She sighed with relief. “You can support me about our wedding.”

He put his hand on her leg and rubbed it. She felt a thrill as she always felt when he touched her, and Nicole realized all it took was a simple look or touch for her to know that he still cared and that they were fine. “I support you one hundred thousand percent and I always will,” he said. “I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel anything different.”

They arrived at the office and went inside. Nicole hadn’t seen the place in a few days and was surprised at all of the changes. There was office furniture, for one thing.

Nice office furniture. There were some paintings on the walls and photographs.

“It feels like a real office now,” she said.

“Let’s go in the conference room,” Red replied, waving at one of his employees.

“When do we bring in the cubicles?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No. I don’t want cubicles anymore. I don’t care if they’re efficient. People hate them and I won’t use them.”

“But what if you need the space for more workers?”

“Shit, I’ll let the employees vote on it. If they want to keep their offices and do a little more work, or if they want to start having cubicles and more coworkers to lighten the load. My bet is they choose to keep their own offices and do more work.”

They walked into the conference room and sat down together on one side of the table. “I just realized,” she said. “I’ve never been on the other side of an interview before.

I’ve only been the interviewee.”

Red laughed and leaned in for a quick kiss. “First time for everything, huh?”

“I’m nervous now. My palms are sweating.”

“Relax and watch. You can focus on getting an impression of the person while I ask the questions.”

He passed her the resumes of the people coming in for interviews that afternoon.

There were five people, all with great qualifications (way better than hers), and Nicole thought she’d have hired any one of them in a pinch. At least, based on their resumes.

When they actually came in to interview, it was a bit of a different story.

Nicole was surprised to find that she could tell almost instantly that someone wouldn’t be a good fit working for Red. One guy was twitchy and nervous, and his lips were white and pasty like he’d just eaten a box of chalk.

Then there was a woman who had an impressive resume, but when Red quizzed her on what she’d done previously, she seemed bizarrely clueless—as if she’d made up her entire work history.

But then there were a couple of good candidates, too.

One was a very attractive young woman, probably only two or three years older than Nicole, with a killer resume and a confident demeanor. She sat across from them with a friendly smile and talked about her college soccer playing and how playing in a competitive team environment had made her unafraid to take risks.

“Tell me what it means to take risks professionally,” Red said to her.

The woman, whose name was Gia, sat up straight in her chair and met his gaze levelly. “It means that I take bold risks when they’re warranted. For instance, when I came out of high school, I was heavily recruited by some of the lesser-known division one colleges. I knew I’d get a scholarship and a spot on the starting team if I wanted it.”

“But you didn’t go with any of those smaller programs?”

She shook her head no. “I tried out as a walk-on at Duke and made the team. I started all four years, and I qualified for scholarships three of those years.”

“Very nice,” Red replied, exchanging a glance with Nicole.

Nicole merely nodded noncommittally.

After Gia, the other possible candidate was a man named Rick. Rick was older, probably in his late twenties, and a bit effeminate. He wore glasses and clothes that made him resemble Alton Brown from The Food Network Channel. Red didn’t seem quite as taken with Rick, but Nicole got along quite well with him.

Her favorite moment of the interview was when Red had asked Rick what he did for fun, outside of work.

“I’m kind of into playing poker,” Rick said.

Red sat up in his seat, his eyes bright with interest. “I love poker. What do you play? What’s your game?”

Rick smiled. “I play some Texas Hold ‘Em.”

“Me too,” Red had replied. “Maybe we’ll play some time.”

“Oh, and I like Omaha.”

“Really?”

“Hi Lo, Stud, PLO.”

“So you’re basically a card shark.”

“I did win a satellite to the Main Event three years ago, and I cashed for fifty thousand dollars.”

When Rick left, Red turned to Nicole. “Was that guy for real?”

“I think you’re just intimidated because you realized he’s better at poker than you.”

Later on, Red and Nicole were walking down the street to grab some dinner, and Nicole was confused about who they should hire.

Red pressed her for a decision. “Tell me who you liked best,” he said.

“I liked Rick and Gia the best, by far,” she told him.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Either one of them could do the job.”

She looked at him as they walked arm in arm. “You liked Gia a lot,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “That was clear as day.”

Red shook his head at her. “Don’t make it about that,” he said.

“She’s incredibly attractive.”

“She’s okay, but not my type.”

“Are you sure about that?” Nicole asked him.

He smiled at her. “I’m very sure. Gia’s young and overconfident and she’s got a lot to learn.”

“I seem to remember you enjoy teaching.”

“Not anymore. My teaching career is over, I’m happily retired.”

Nicole laughed, but her stomach was churning. She didn’t like that this was making her feel so strange. “What about Rick?” she asked him.

“He’s very attractive too,” Red deadpanned.

“I’m serious.”

“He’s fine. I don’t think he’s a great fit, but he’ll do.”

Nicole wasn’t sure what to think. “I liked Rick a lot. To be honest, I got a really nice, sweet vibe from him. I think he’d make the office a fun place to work.”

“He’d probably have everyone playing poker after hours.”

“You don’t like him?”

Red smiled. “I like whoever you like, honey. You decide.”

“So I can totally make this call,” she said.

“Yup.” He kept walking without breaking stride.

When she brought it up again later, Red still didn’t want to discuss the two choices.

He told her to simply inform him who she wanted to hire, or if she wanted to keep looking instead.

At home, Nicole stewed over the issue. Finally, she called Danielle and explained her dilemma.

“So who would you choose if they were both guys?” Danielle asked her.

Nicole considered this. “I can’t even imagine Gia as a man. She’s so feminine and cute and sexy.”

“Do you dislike her because you’re threatened by her?”

“I just can’t tell,” Nicole said. “I don’t want to hire someone who’s not right for the position just because I’m insecure.”

“You have no reason to be insecure,” Danielle told her. “Red loves you.”

“Thanks,” Nicole said. “I just wish I could figure out what I’m feeling. Do I not like her because she’s competition, or because I just have a bad feeling about her?”

“I say, go with your gut and hire Rick.”

Nicole groaned in frustration. “The thing is, I don’t really believe he’s as good a fit for Red’s style of work. Red likes people who enjoy confrontation and competition.”

“So the girl, then. You said she played Division 1 soccer. That’s, like, the ultimate competition.”

“But she might be a total bitch.”

“Nicole, you’re overthinking this thing. The truth is, it doesn’t really matter that much who you hire. Red’s going to be fine either way.”

Nicole agreed with her, but inside she was still fighting to understand her issue with making this decision. Rather than belabor the point, however, she asked Danielle how things were going between her and Kane Wright.

Danielle got quiet for a little while. “Things are getting a little strange,” she admitted.

“How so?”

“Kane has a temper. Sometimes he just yells at me for the stupidest things.”

“Like what?”

“For instance, last night I spilled wine on the rug in the great room. And he just went ballistic, screaming and yelling about how inconsiderate I was. I mean, it was an accident.”

“He shouldn’t treat you like that, Danielle.”

“I think he’s just stressed because of work. Now that he’s taken over Jameson International, things have gotten a little more difficult for him. That company’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Really? How so?”

Danielle was quiet. “I don’t know. But maybe Red was the lucky one in that whole situation.”

A few minutes later, Nicole got off the phone and went up to the study, where Red was reading and drinking a glass of scotch to unwind from the day. Nicole still hated the study—it reminded her of one of the worst nights in their entire relationship.

But Red smiled when he saw her. Even though he was clearly tired, she could tell he was happy.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked, giving a little stretch.

“I was just on the phone with Danielle.”

He swished his scotch around in the glass. “Oh? How is she?”

“Not so good.”

He waited for her to tell him why.

Nicole felt like such a gossip, but she wanted to share with him. Partly because she knew he’d want to know about Kane struggling a little, but also because she’d suddenly realized how lucky she was to be with Red. Red, who never yelled at her for something as stupid as spilling wine on the rug in the great room—even though they didn’t even have a great room. “Danielle says that Kane yells at her,” Nicole told him, finally.

Red’s eyebrows rose a little. “Yells at her? For what?”

“Stupid things. Spilling a drink. Stuff like that.”

He shook his head. “Poor girl, getting stuck with that maniac. Of course, they probably say the same things about us.”

Nicole came closer. “And she also said that he’s struggling with Jameson International.”

Now Red truly perked up. He sat forward in his chair and his face got intense.

“Struggling? In what way?”

“She wasn’t specific. She just said that maybe you were the lucky one in that deal.”

He swished his scotch around his glass again. “Wow, that’s surprising.”

“I feel badly that I even told you this stuff. She’s my friend and I’m running up here and telling you all of her secrets like I work for The Rag or something.”

Red laughed. “Relax. I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“I feel badly.” Nicole shook her head. “Anyway, she helped me make a decision about who to hire to replace me. That’s why I really wanted to come talk to you.”

“Oh?” He seemed less interested now.

“I think we should hire Rick. That’s what my gut tells me.”

He smiled enigmatically. “That’s what I figured.”

“What does that mean?”

He cocked his head at her. “What does what mean?”

“You say that like I’m being a predictable silly girl or something.”

“Not at all,” Red laughed. “But you do seem really tense right now.”

“I am. I’ve been stressing over this hiring stuff.”

“Relax. It’s not a big deal.”

“That’s what Danielle told me, too.”

“Maybe you should listen to her,” Red said. He was looking at Nicole carefully, studying her. “I think I know what your problem is. Why you’re really so tense.”

“What’s that?”

His eyes suddenly changed, flashing with that familiar hungry look as he watched her. “I think you need more direction. I think you need to get out of those constricting clothes you’re wearing.”

Suddenly, her nipples had stiffened under her shirt. The truth was, she did feel rather constricted in these clothes. She was wearing tight jeans and a black sweater and it was all too clingy—the fabric chafed. “I think maybe you have a point about my clothes,”

she admitted, her voice husky with desire for more talk.

He looked her up and down from where he sat. Red sipped his scotch and then tilted the mostly empty glass in her direction. “Take your shoes off,” he said.

Nicole reached down and removed her black boots. Now she was standing in the study in her bare feet. The cool hardwood floor of the study felt nice against the soles of her feet. She was sweating a little, suddenly hotter than she’d been a moment ago.

“Now I want you to remove your sweater,” he told her.

Nicole gratefully pulled her sweater over her head and then let it drop to the floor.

She was wearing only her black bra, panties and jeans now. The air in the room felt nice against her bare skin. And she liked very much the way Red was staring at her body.

She could feel her hardened nipples poking through the sheer fabric of her lacy black bra. Thinking about that made her juices begin to flow, and suddenly she was hit with a wave of heat in her lower parts.