Late Nights (15 page)

Sasha fought against laughing out loud at Holden. God, he was too much. It was going to take a special woman to make this guy settle down.

“Well, my sisters are single, but I don’t know if they would be too happy if I tried to set them up. However, if you happen to stop by my hotel I would be happy to introduce to them.”

“Great,” Holden told her.

“Are the two of you done?” Sterling asked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “I’m thinking I better get my girlfriend home before I get any more jealous.”

Leaning across the chair, Sasha whispered in Sterling’s ear. “I promise to make your jealousy go away once you get me back to your house.”

Sasha gasped when Sterling jumped up from his chair and pulled her with him. “Holden, sorry about dessert, but Sasha and I need to leave.”

His best friend looked back at Sterling and then her with a knowing grin. “I thought you mentioned on the phone you wanted to discuss a design you wanted me to do for you.”

“Damn it,” Sterling cursed next to her. “I forgot all about the flyers. I left them at home on my desk. I guess there has to be a change of plans. I’ll email you the details either later on tonight or early in the morning,” Sterling said as he tugged her towards the front door.

“Holden, it was so nice to meet you. I had a great time,” Sasha said just as Sterling’s hand touched the doorknob.

“You too, beautiful,” Holden told her. “Hopefully, you and I can have dinner again real soon.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it. If you have dinner with Sasha, I will be in the chair next to hers,” Sterling mumbled under his breath before opening the door. He quickly ushered her out into the warm night air, closing the door behind them.

“God, you sure got me out of Holden’s house in a hurry,” Sasha laughed, walking to the car with Sterling. “I thought your best friend was too entertaining. I can’t believe he’s still single. He’s so hot and funny. Guys like him usually get snatched up pretty fast.”

Stopping in his tracks, Sterling tugged her to his body. “I hate that I’m jealous, but I am. I know you’re into me and not my buddy. But, I
hated
the way you got along with Holden so easily. I wished there wouldn’t be any problems, and damn it there wasn’t.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re still upset about the fun I was having with Holden?” Sasha questioned.

“What if I am?” he tossed back. Sterling hated this feeling. He had never experienced it before and it scared the hell out of him. He never knew love could feel this away…so all consuming.

“I think it might be best if you took me back to my house instead of yours. I don’t want to deal with you and the mood you’re in. I don’t have time for it at all.” Placing her hands on his chest, Sasha pushed him away from her.

Fuck! He didn’t want their night to end because of a stupid argument, which was entirely his fault because it was caused by his insecurity.

“Sasha, wait!” Sterling grabbed her by the arm, but Sasha shook off his touch. “Let me apologize.”

“Don’t. You wanted me to hit it off with your friend and when we did you got jealous for no apparent reason. I just want to go home, take a long bath, and crawl into bed. I don’t have to work tomorrow and I want to sleep late.” Sasha continued to his parked car without another word to him.

Shit! What had he done? Sterling watched Sasha get into the passenger side of the car and then close the door.

Sasha wasn’t scheduled to work at either place tomorrow and he was going to surprise her with a horseback riding trip. He knew how much she loved horses, but never got the chance to ride them as much as she wanted. Now, after the dumb way he acted, he wasn’t going to be able to do any of that with her.

Shoving his fingers through his hair, Sterling slowly walked over to his car. He wasn’t even going to try to convince Sasha into coming to his house. He could tell from the way her head was facing the passenger side window that Sasha wasn’t too interested in anything he had to tell her, least of all an apology. He would let her have tonight, but bright and early tomorrow morning he was going to be at her door bearing gifts.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The following morning, Sterling stood out on Sasha’s porch wondering why in the hell she wasn’t answering her front door. It was too early for her to be up and out for the day. Anyway, it was her day off which meant she would want to sleep a little later than usual. He really needed to apologize to her for acting like such a jerk at Holden’s house.

Last night when they arrived back at her house, Sasha got out of the car and slammed the door shut. She made it inside her house before he even got out of the car. He should have known he was in trouble, because she didn’t speak two words to him during the entire trip. He called Holden when he got back home and apologized to him for acting like a jealous asshole.

Thankfully, he and Holden had been friends for so long that his buddy laughed off his behavior and then congratulated him for finally working up enough courage to ask Sasha out on a real date. In addition, Holden also warned him not to wait too long to put a ring on Sasha’s finger.

Oh, he wasn’t going to wait much longer to make Sasha his wife, but first he had to get her to open the door for him. He knocked again, hoping that she would come this time.

“God, what is it?” Sasha snapped as soon as the front door swung open.

“Good morning, gorgeous.” Grabbing Sasha by the waist with his free hand, Sterling tugged her against his body and planted a quick kiss on her surprised mouth. Sasha tried to resist him, but slowly she gave in, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Baby, I missed you so much last night. I’m sorry I acted like a jealous jerk,” Sterling whispered against Sasha’s swollen lips. “Please forgive me and let me in.”

“I don’t know if I should,” Sasha said, staring up into his eyes. “You were totally out of line last night at Holden’s house. At first, your jealousy was endearing but then it got a little crazy.”

Sighing, Sterling pressed his head against Sasha’s forehead. She was right about his behavior. His attitude was all over the place and she had every single reason not want to be around him this morning.

“Can you forgive me if I promise not to allow my jealousy to take over again?” Sterling asked as he backed Sasha into the house, closing the door behind them.

“I guess I could, but it all depends.” Sasha took a step away from him.

“Depends on what?” he asked, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“If you show me what’s behind your back that smells so good. I’m starving. I was about to fix some breakfast until an impatient but gorgeous man kept knocking at my door.”

From the teasing tone in Sasha’s voice Sterling was beginning to think that he might be out of the dog house, but if he wasn’t this would be the first step in getting him out.

Moving his hand from behind his back, Sterling held up a white paper bag from Sasha’s favorite bakery. He had noticed her bringing something from this shop to work numerous times.

“How did you know I loved their freshly baked donuts?” she asked, taking the bag from him.

Sterling watched the pleasure that crossed Sasha’s face as she opened the bag and took a whiff. “It isn’t fair at all that you brought glazed donuts over to my house for breakfast so I would forgive you.”

Sterling couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he moved Sasha back into his arms, careful not to smash the bag in her hand.

How did he make it so long without having her like this?

Tomorrow was the last day of the promotion at work, and after it ended Sasha was going to be blown away by the plans he had for her. She wasn’t going to see them coming.

“Do you want to stay and have a couple of these with me?” Sasha asked.

As tempting as Sasha’s offer was, Sterling knew if he stayed here that he would be sampling another sweetness that didn’t involve fried dough.

Shit! Why had he told Holden to meet him at work so they could discuss the mock flyer he had emailed him this morning? For a split second, he thought about canceling his meeting with Holden and then decided against it.

The sooner he got finished with Holden, the quicker he could get back here to Sasha. He had so much to tell her. But he wanted to do it without any interruptions from anyone because this was going to be the best day of his life.

“Sweetheart, I would love to stay, but I need to have a meeting with Holden about the flyers,” Sterling sighed, taking a step back from her.

“Oh, I hate you are leaving. But I have a suggestion, how about I show up at Comforts Sleep Company later and we can spend the day together doing something fun?” Sasha suggested. “I don’t know the last time either one of us played hooky from work.”

“Sasha, I love that idea. How about you eat breakfast and then meet me at work? I don’t think my meeting with Holden should take longer than a couple of hours at the most.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Sasha grinned at him.

Today was turning out so much better than he could have ever thought it would. Sterling knew today was going to be the day. He would ask the woman he loved more than anything in the world to become his wife. Life couldn’t get any better for him if he wished for it.

****

“Thanks again for coming to see me. I wasn’t positive you would after the way I acted last night,” Sterling apologized to Holden. “I was total bastard to you.”

“I’m going to tell you the same thing I told you on the phone. Don’t worry about it, a man in love will do a lot of crazy things. Honestly, I thought it was too funny that the great Sterling Hamilton was jealous of me flirting with his girlfriend,” Holden laughed, leaning back in his chair.

“You know I would never do anything like that to you. Our friendship is too valuable to me. You know how I am when it comes to keeping a relationship. I’ll probably be a playboy for the rest of my life. I just hope you like the fast draft of the flyer I did for you. I moved some stuff around on the last one I did.”

“Oh, I doubt you will be single for the rest of your life. You’re still good looking enough to get some poor woman to fall under your spell,” Sterling assured his best friend. “By the way, the mock flyers are perfect. They are just what I wanted.”

“Wonderful. I’ll get them printed out for you and sent back over by courier. However, I’ll believe it when I see it about me falling in love so, enough about me. Have you decided what you’re going to do about Sasha? Are you going to keep her on as an employee after the campaign is over?”

Sterling didn’t have to think about Holden’s question long before he gave his buddy a response. “No, I’m not going to keep Sasha on at Comforts Sleep Company after next week. I won’t have any more need for her here as my employee. I’ll be through with her completely. I can’t keep her here and move on to something better.”

A soft gasp from the doorway made both Sterling and Holden’s heads quickly swing in that direction of the open doorway. Sterling’s heart dropped to his shoes when he spotted Sasha standing there.

“You bastard, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you,” she yelled before she twirled around and raced away.

“Sasha, wait! Let me explain,” Sterling hollered as he jumped up from his chair and went after her.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A month had passed since Sasha heard Sterling’s harsh words at his office. She hadn’t been around him since that horrible day and she wasn’t planning on allowing him back into her life. So, she hid at
Luxury
until he finally got the hint to stay away from her.

Picking up the mail, she sorted through it, hoping it would get her mind off of Sterling and the mistake she made by trusting all of the lies he told her. She was still having problems getting to sleep because every time she closed her eyes she heard Sterling’s words over and over until she couldn’t take it anymore.

Well, she didn’t give Sterling the chance to fire her because she sent him her letter of resignation the same day she overheard his conversation with Holden. Things were over between them now—if she could only get her heart to be in the same place as her head.

“Come in,” she said without bothering to look up from the task she was working on.

“Sasha, can I talk to you for a moment?” a male voice asked her.

Glancing up from the mail, Sasha was stunned to find Holden looking at her. Why was Holden here to see her? They had only met once and that was when she was still dating his best friend.

“What are you doing here? How did you know where I worked?” she asked, confused.

“Sterling told me a while ago about
Luxury
. He was always talking about you any chance he got. He loved when the two of you became a couple and would tell anyone about who would listen.”

Sasha wasn’t in the mood to listen to Holden defend Sterling. He had wasted his time even coming here.

“Holden, if you came to tell me how much Sterling loves me than I don’t want to hear it. I have already quit my job and I’m through with him, so you can leave the same way you came in.”

Walking further into the room, Holden came up to the desk and stared down at her long and hard before speaking. “I can’t believe you’re the same confident and strong woman that Sterling used to praise all the time.

“He used to tell me how you would never back down from a fight, not even with your equally opinionated sisters, but I guess he was wrong about you. Maybe you’re just as scared of a true commitment as him.”

“I’m not scared of anything,” Sasha denied, jumping up out of her seat. “I heard what he told you about me. Why would I want to stay with a man who felt that way? Can you please leave so I can get back to work? Does Sterling even know that you’re here?” she asked, retaking her seat.

“First off, you are scared. I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice. I know the telltale signs from being around Sterling for so many years.”