The Lost One (Lost Series Book 1) (18 page)

“I know you like this place. I saw you there the day I ran into you on the street, and before you ask, no, I didn’t follow you. It just so happened I was really looking for a present for my sister and you were there at the right moment. Oh, and she liked the bracelet by the way.” I’m sure my mouth is hanging open in surprise.

Snapping out of my dumb moment and find my voice and ask, “So why didn’t you come talk to me at Jerry’s?”

“You were busy and I didn’t want to be rude by interrupting,” he says, placing a box of food in front of me and sitting back down.

“Okay, fair enough. I forgive you, but next time, please interrupt,” I respond.

As we open our boxes and dig into our delicious meals, the sun disappears and the little lights shine brightly, setting a beautiful scene for the night. It’s a peaceful surrounding. I look out to the city, feeling full and fatty from my huge meal. I am grateful for the effort
Corban has made to make me feel special; my heart surges with joy.

Corban
clears his throat, and I avert my eyes, meeting his. Is it time for dessert? A giggle escapes my lips. His brow furrows in confusion from my outburst.

“What’s so funny?” he queries.

“Oh, nothing I want to admit right now.”

“Okay, well, maybe I’ll ask again later,” he says with a mischievous look upon his face. I would put money on it that he knows exactly what I’m thinking, which is the thought of being in his bed with him and reliving our lovely moments from this morning.

He might even try a few new things with me, which I am all for! I want him every which way I can have him. As nervous as I feel right now, I know it will multiply tenfold by the time we get to his apartment. I’m sure I will be bouncing with anticipation. Should I really be this eager to bed him again? Oh, who cares? You only live once and I plan on taking each moment and every opportunity and living them to the fullest and having fun.

“Now it’s my turn for a few questions,”
Corban says out of the blue. I know there will be the personal questions, and I don’t know what I’ll tell him.

“All right, shoot,” I answer a little unsure, fixing myself up and sitting a little taller in my chair.

“Why did you move to New York?”

“Umm…because I have always wanted to.
It has been a dream for a long time, and I finally made the bold choice to do it.”

“Why did your family move to America?”

“Dad was in the Army and was transferred here and here we stayed,” I reply, taking a large mouthful of the sweet wine before me. Maybe I can have the whole bottle to calm these waves of uneasiness within me. I’m sure the questions are coming.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” And there it
is, the dreaded question. My stomach dives to ground level, crashing with a new pain shooting through it.

Moments pass and I realise I haven’t answered him, but he sits here waiting patiently. “Yes, a sister,” I reply, my tone even and etched with sorrow. I try to mask the nerves and mixture of emotions coursing through me and fail miserably.

“Oh… Where does she live?” He is totally oblivious to my reaction to his question. He sounds shocked that I hadn’t mentioned her before.

“In Philadelphia.”
Yep, let’s stick with the small answers. Short and perhaps not so sweet.

“Cool. What’s her name?” He keeps shooting me right between the eyes. I know they are simple and small questions, but he doesn’t know the weight to those questions. I don’t want to go into details about losing my sister and the pathetic scum who destroyed her life, and mine along with it.

“Abby,” I reply, my voice dejected, distant and hollow

As if picking up on my short answers, he stands, walking toward me, and helping me out of my seat, he encircles me in the safety of his arms. I will myself not to cry, but I feel the moisture building in my eyes. I blink furiously, stopping them in their tracks.

“It’s okay, beautiful. Sorry I asked. Would you like to talk about it?” His voice is tender and concerned.

Why is it I can’t just accept the fact she is gone and there is nothing I can do about it, and move on? I want to be able to talk about it openly with people like
Corban who has clearly woven his way into my life. He has made the list of people who mean the world to me. So then, why can’t I bring myself to speak to him about Abby?

“I’m sorry. Look, I just don’t want to talk about that part of my life yet.” My throat constricts, making it very hard to talk, especially with the huge lump that has formed.

We stand here in silence, wrapped in each other’s arms for what seems like ages. My body has calmed down; the lump is gone and my heart rate is racing normally. Corban has pulled me back together by the simple act of holding me. I know not all of me has been mended, but I’m sure, over time, he will make me a hundred percent whole again.

“Do you want to come down to my apartment or would you like to go home?” The tenderness in his words
are seeping into my skin, causing goose bumps to flow over my body.

I tear myself away and gaze up at his dazzling face. I see the worry in them. Knowing that concern is entirely for
me, fills me with such emotion. I want nothing more than to have him lying beside me as I hungrily ravish every part of him, pleasing him.

I lean into him, giving him my answer with a highly intoxicating, passionate kiss. As our tongues explore, my hands roam up under his tight shirt, grazing my finger over his smooth chiselled chest. I have the sudden urge to rip his shirt from his body. The pounding in my ribcage gets louder as does my breathing.

Corban’s hands brush against my body, which causes my belly to have a burning sensation course through it. Every trace he places on my skin makes me more and more hungry for him.

I stop kissing him, as hard as it is to; he is my own personal remedy I just want more of.

“We can’t keep going up here…” I breathe as I lean back into him, lightly kissing his neck, slowly making my way back to his lips and assaulting them once again.

He stops, grabs my hand, and pulls me along behind him through the door and back into the elevator. My senses are prickly with excitement as to what’s going to happen.
Corban draws me to him and I can sense his excitement, which turns my body heat up a notch. The anticipation is killing me.

Our mouths reconnect as his hands busy themselves on my jeans. I place my hand over his, stopping him from going any further. In only few short moments, the elevator dings. I look at the floor number and see it’s the last floor before the rooftop. I wouldn’t imagine anything less for
Corban; penthouse suite it is. I can’t wait to feel his body against mine.

“Melodi? Melodi?” I hear Rachel calling to me. I’m in a world of my own, thinking about my weekend with Corban.

Looking over at her, she is bouncing with excitement in her seat with a beaming smile across her face.

“So…how did yesterday go?” she loudly whispers from her seat. She is still practically yelling it across to me.

“Did you know about the go-karting?” I whisper angrily at her, but can’t help smiling. I hop up, heading toward her desk, when
Corban steps off the elevator. My heart skips a beat at the sight of him all neatly dressed in his tailored black suit, which fits him perfectly.

I stand at Rachel’s desk as he walks through, stopping in front of me, and placing a warm gentle kiss on my lips. My cheeks burn a little with embarrassment at how he did that with Rachel right here.

“Good morning, girls,” he greets us brightly. “I thought I paid you both to work, not chat?” he jokes.

“Oh, shut up.
Melodi is filling me in on all details of yesterday afternoon,” she says, raising her eyebrows, and trying to get a rise out of him. He doesn’t take the bait, but kisses me again and walks off to his office.

I turn back to
Rach, smiling. “You know I’m not giving you details.”

“Oh, come on!” she begs.

“No way, that’s your brother!”

“Yeah, true…well, tell me how go-karting was then?” she continues her questioning.

“It was okay up until I crashed in to the wall of tires.” Rubbing my chest where the seat belt pulled at my skin, I feel the light bruising.

“I better get back to it. You
wanna do lunch today? I can message Flick.”

“Yeah, for sure, lunch date with my bitches.” On that note, the phone rings. She rolls her eyes, answering, “Yes, big bro…” Pausing, she looks at me with a wicked smirk on her face. “Yep, will let her know, see
ya.”

She looks up at me with a smile that says, ‘you lucky bitch.’ “Bro wants to see you
in his office.
” She then proceeded to pee herself laughing, even to the point of tears. “Well, off you go,” she shoos me away.

I walk toward
Corban’s office where the door is open and waiting. I peek in and see my gorgeous boss man sitting there with a serious look on his face, which instantly changes, brightening up at the sight of me in his doorway.

“Come in, beautiful,” he says in his smooth, deep voice, a playful smile teasing his lips. How do his words, no matter how few, have this effect on me?

I walk in, closing the door behind me. Before I have time to even turn back around, Corban is behind me, his arms caressing me. I instantly melt into him as his mouth places feather like pecks along my neck. I have a somersault party happening within me. My hands rub his arms down to his fingertips as they ravage my chest.

Turning in his arms, I stare into those deep blues and try to speak, but he cuts me off with his mouth upon mine. I pull him closer to me, wanting him, needing him. As I continue to devour him, I delight in his hands upon my body, but never get enough of this man.

I step back, even though my body is screaming at me to take him now, I know this is not the place or time. If this is going to work between us, then at work, it needs to be just that, work…well, maybe with a little fun sometimes. Seriously, how could I be expected to keep my hands off this damn fine man all day?

He looks at me like a lost puppy, and I can’t help but laugh at his cuteness. “What? Now that’s no fun…” Playfully, he lunges at me and a small squeal escapes my lips. I instantly regret it because I’m sure Rachel is listening very closely.
It wouldn’t surprise me if she has a cup to the door trying to hear what’s going on. She is a sex-crazed maniac, always happy to give details about her and Axel, and boy, are they adventurous in the sack.

“No,” I hiss at him through clenched teeth, trying to be quiet. “We can
’t do this here.”

He stops his playing and stands there with a heart-melting, sad look on his face, as though I totally crushed him by saying no.

“Okay…” he sighs in defeat, placing a light kiss upon my lips. I can tell by the look on his face, he doesn’t want to stop kissing me. I’ll have to make it up to him later.

His face holds a question, which he seems to be hesitant to ask, so I throw it at him. “What do you want to ask me?” Folding my arms, I wait for an answer. His shocked eyes meet my face.

“H-how did you know?” he questions.

“Remember when you said I’m like an open book? Well, you’re the exact same. Your eyes tell me things.” Looking into them is like swimming in a sea of answers, which makes the questions unnecessary.

“Okay, well, I was wondering if you’re still going away this week?” The caution in his question sounds like he is secretly hoping I’m not going.

Without hesitation, I reply with an air of confidence in my words, “Yes, as I said, it’s a family thing and I have never missed it.”

“All right. I just wanted to make sure.” There is another question burning in his eyes, but it’s one I don’t think he will ask because of my previous answer.

“
Aww…you gonna miss me?” I tease. I can’t help myself. It’s a good opportunity to see if he might.

It’s kind of a weird relationship we have, if you can call it that. We have slept together two or more times, depending on if you count the numerous times in one night. I smirk at the memories of last night’s antics—the teasing, touching, playing, and the mind blowing…

“Maybe.” He grins, bringing me back from my deep thoughts. He is playing the same teasing game as me. “Depends on if you’re going to miss me.” He reaches for me. I accept his embrace.

“Hmm…” I let him stew on it a bit and decide not to give him the answer he wants. I place a kiss on his cheek and whisper to him, “I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

With that, I step back and race out the door before he can capture me in his arms again, not that I wouldn’t rather be there. I know I’d get lost in the moment and find myself naked in his office, possibly sprawled across his desk. I smile at the thought.

I look at
Rach, who has found her way to my desk. She is staring at me with raised eyebrows and looking me over, assessing my attire to see if there is anything out of place. I smirk at her.

“Just what do you think you’re doing at my desk, you Nosey
Parker.”