Indulgence (3 page)

“Remember my promise. Use the stairs at your own risk, both up and down.” A devilish grin spread across his face as he ducked back into the office, shutting the door behind him.

“Well, damn. The man is definitely more than I can handle in one sitting.” She mumbled to herself as she followed the wall signs to the elevator. When she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the bay doors, she had a miniature meltdown. Hair mussed, lips kiss swollen, tiny abrasions peppering her skin from his delicious stubble. The marks made her pause to remember each deliberate swipe, meant to knock her to her knees. She ushered herself into the spacious room, fought off the rampant fantasies of elevator sex from her mind, and counted down each level as she rode to the lobby.

No sign of the wicked witch as she took a hesitant step out. A security guard waved at her.

“Love your chocolate raspberry truffles. Come back soon.”

“Always love a happy customer. Stop in and I’ll give you a box of new treats I’ve drummed up.” She winked at the guard, slipped on her sunglasses, then exited the building.

Chapter Three

“You must be some kind of stupid.”

Khristos looked up from his computer to see his little sister propped against the doorway to his office, with her hip hugging the door. “Who’s watching your shop if you’re here to antagonize me?”

“It’s seven in the evening. You know, if you’d open the blinds, you’d see the sun is setting and it’s time to go home, you workaholic. Lysandros is just as bad as you are. I just left his office.” She stepped into his office, set a container down on his desk, and dropped onto the couch. If she knew what activity he’d recently done on said couch, she’d jump up quicker than shit.

“I actually took the entire morning off. I’m just catching up now. So why am I all kinds of stupid?” He opened the top of the steaming container. His stomach rumbled loudly, reminding him he needed to eat. “You spoil me, and good, Lysandros is taking being responsible better than I’d have ever imagined. Dad retired at a good time and made our brother step up, instead of letting him live off the trust fund.” The aroma of his favorite dishes made his mouth water. Dolmades, grape leaves stuffed with rice, onions, and ground lamb took up one section. Psito, leg of lamb roasted with potatoes, filled the rest of the plate.

“If I didn’t, you’d both waste away, be glad he didn’t hear you call him by his first name. He’s on this ‘call me Maximos’ kick right now. Plus, being the bachelors you are, Mom would kill me for not feeding you. Dad would be disappointed. So, gonna tell me why you fired Suzanne? She cried to Mama, who called to grill me, and I didn’t have an answer or time to get into it with her. And, is that a hickey on your neck? Don’t tell me you’re gonna revert to your player ways again.”

“I hardly look emaciated.” He opened the plastic cutlery packet she’d brought and dug into the delicious food. After a bite, he looked up. “Suzanne is not professional, and really, after today, I decided I’d rather have to answer the fucking phones myself, than deal with her snobbish attitude. You could always come back and work for me, sis.”

He ate while his sister snorted, unbraided her long, black hair, and stared him down. She wanted more information, and appeared determined enough to wait it out to get what she came for. The little gossip knew better, if he even mentioned liking a female for more than a quick fuck, the little traitor would run to mama and then a wedding would be planned. Ignoring her, he continued to enjoy dinner. A crinkling bag caught his attention.

“Ah-ha, thought that would get your attention. I may or may have not brought some karydopitas.

“You play dirty. You know I love those almond cakes soaked in honey.”

“Tell me what I want to know, and maybe this can be all yours. Besides, I didn’t give Lysandros any. You get all the dessert, so long as you dish. You know you want this, why make yourself suffer by watching me eat every single piece in front of you.” She wiggled the bagged dessert.

“You should show more gratitude to the big brother who’s made sure you have gotten everything you’ve ever wished for.” Playing the gratitude card normally worked in his favor. His sister opened the bag and popped a piece of the treasured dessert in her mouth. “You are so cruel to me, sis.”

“Spill it. Give me something to tell our ma so she’ll back off.”

“I see how you are. Feeding me is a form of extracting information. Fine.” He put down the fork and pushed the empty plate into his trash bin. “Suzanne had explicit orders to bring an expected guest visiting, up the elevator, and instead made my guest climb twenty-three flights of stairs.”

Dareia’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide as saucers. “No way she’d flagrantly disobey a direct order from the King of Kings.”

Khristos shrugged. “She did, and now she’s jobless. Thanks for dinner.”

“We are so not done with this convo. I see shirt buttons on your floor, a hickey on your neck and a box from that chocolate shop sitting on your counter. My skills of deduction tell me you’re seeing the pretty chocolate shop owner you’ve been drooling over since you bought me my pastry shop.”

Poker face time. Khristos smirked at her so-called deductive skills. “Pretty wild imagination you have there.”

“Deflecting, are we? Now, I know for a fact you definitely like her, as in a lot. You wouldn’t fire just anyone. And…you only bought that location for my shop because it was close to her and me, I…know how you work.”

“You are too nosey, brat,” he growled, and accepted the baggie in her hand.

“Come on. You have to want more than this. We’re all proud that you’ve done so well for us, provided for us when Pa retired.  We both know, if I’d asked him to finance my store, he’d have made me jump through hoops, and I’d have lost the location. You think outside the box, where he thought a pastry shop was a waste of time, you gave me a chance. You deserve more than buying and selling businesses. Don’t you want a family of your own? Kids? I know I’m not ready, but I’m only twenty-two to your thirty-five, and Lysandros is only twenty-five and a man-whore.”

“This is exactly why I don’t include you and Ma in on my dating habits. I have one nice cup of coffee with a girl and you both start talking kids and a family.”

“Coffee? Is what they call it now?” She pointed to his destroyed shirt in the trash and the buttons he’d missed on the floor. You have to tell her, you know, that we’re related. She feels threatened by me, that much is perfectly clear.”

“Quit meddling.” He devoured the dessert and crushed the bag in his hand. Standing, he pitched it in the trash and held his hand out to her. “Let me take you home.”

“No need. I drove. I have a hot date tonight, and I really need it.” She pressed her hand on his chest to ward him off. “Today’s been insane, and there is no way in hell I’m going to give you information to scare off someone who will possibly give me the best night of my life. He’s a good guy, we’ve been seeing each other for months, this is just our first private date. You taught me how to protect myself, how to judge the character of a man. So, you don’t get to get in way of what may happen tonight.” She kissed him on the cheek and slipped out before he could grill her on who, where, and what back-up plan she had in case of emergency.

Great, now he’d worry all night about her safety. Hell, she felt more like a daughter to him than a sister, since he’d pretty much raised her as his kid. The little girl trailing after him in everything he did. His cell buzzed.

I will text you when I get home safe. I know you’ll obsess over me if I don’t. Kisses.

Good, he’d be waiting with his shotgun for her call. As he saved his work and shut off his computer, he ignored the phone ringing on his desk. When his personal cell began to ring, he realized he couldn’t ignore his ma. She’d come find him and then he’d be in deep shit, even as a grown-ass man. One thing you didn’t do was send your ma’s call to voicemail. “Hey, beautiful.” Plastering on a pleasant tone wasn’t as easy as it seemed, especially when he was stressed out.

“Suzanne is such a sweet girl, I can’t for the life of me, figure out why you’d do something so mean as to fire her. Your brother wouldn’t have done that, ya know.”

He’d be too busy trying to fuck her again, and then when he tired of her high-maintenance ass, and her sleeping-up-the-ladder ways, he’d dump her on her pampered ass.

“Ma, she wasn’t a good fit for me, okay? I plan on hiring through a top-notch agency.”

“You two could’ve had something beautiful, she comes from a good family, is gorgeous, we’ve known her family for for years, and I dreamed of being a grandmother by now.” His mom sighed in dejection over the phone.

Khristos gritted his teeth and fought off the throb beginning to take up permanent residence in his brain. “I’m sorry for your loss, Ma. I’m sure those imagined grandkids already have names and plans in that overactive head of yours.”

“Such a smart aleck boy. Don’t patronize me, I will still beat your butt with a spoon.”

“Duly noted, Ma. Is there anything else? I’m trying to leave my building now. Don’t want to talk and drive at the same time.”

“We’re having brunch Sunday with your sister, her date, and Suzanne’s parents. I’d hoped you and Suzie could make up and give me my dream. As the oldest, I wish you’d be ready to find a good woman and give me grandbabies before I die.”

“Ma, you’re not departing this world anytime soon.”
He wanted to say, Not in this life, or the afterlife. Please stop meddling in my love life.
“I promise you one day you’ll have your grandchildren, but that day is not today, tomorrow, or even in the next six months. I’d love to do brunch, but you’ll have to cancel on Suzanne and her parents. I have no desire to sit at a table with that manipulative woman, her equally manipulative mother, and her uptight father.”

“Hmm, I’ll consider canceling on them. Gotta go, another call coming in for me. Kisses.” His mother disconnected before he could reply.  The pile of documents on his computer sat ready to be leafed through, signed, marked up with changes or completely rejected. Three women in his life, his mother, sister, and the woman he wanted, no burned, to make his. All three drove him bat-shit crazy.

Twice, he picked up the flirty business card with chocolate-covered strawberries on it to call the woman consuming his every thought. Zoey brought a unique zeal, an optimistic zest for life that he found utterly refreshing. Being around her exuberant innocence made him wish he wasn’t so jaded. Not that he thought her life was a cakewalk, since she’d blurted out her business woes.

In a way, her attitude toward life made him more attracted to her. A woman who didn’t balk at hardship but pressed forward, one who relied on herself, turned him on something fierce. With that thought, he poured himself a nightcap, downed the burning amber, and then closed his eyes.

Unrelenting pounding on the door tore Khristos from a damn good dream. Squinting, he looked up to see the sun’s blinding rays beating through his office windows. He stretched his arms and ran a hand over his five o’clock shadow to relieve the itch. “Come in.” Blinking in rapid succession failed to clear the fog. Lysandro breezed in and clapped him on the back.

“You need to learn to answer your phone. Dariea told me you didn’t call her when you got home. You know how she worries.” His brother set a cup of coffee in front of him.

“I was working. Lost track of time and slept. You do the same thing all the time.” He yawned and accepted the hot drink. “What is it with you guys? I can get my own shit.”

“Yeah, you fired your assistant. Who’s going to get your dry cleaning, order your food and take care of you now? Not that fine-ass Ice Queen you employed.”

“So you bought me coffee and brought my dry cleaning to me?”

Lysandro laughed. “No. I brought you a new temporary assistant who picked up your dry cleaning and coffee. I’m just the delivery guy this morning.”

Khristos growled. His brother caught the sound and quirked a brow. The thought of the younger man entering his domain, even by proxy, to get his coffee, set his teeth on edge. Going to Indulgence was his only downtime in the morning. Plus, after yesterday, he’d imagine Zoey might feel abandoned or whatever women felt like, after the explosive chemistry between them. “Where is this new assistant?”

“Downstairs, learning the ropes from my assistant, Cashmere. I feel bad for stealing her from you, but the girl is insatiable and signed a non-disclosure agreement, giving me full rein to take advantage of her particular skill set. Although, that sweet, spicy thang over at the coffee shop has caught my eye.”

“Back off. Zoey is off-limits to you. Get me?”

“Whoa, I was mentioning her assistant, the feisty one with the tattoos and sexy piercings. I swear she walked right out of a pin-up magazine, and I aim to get acquainted. Bro, you look wiped. Maybe you should head home, shower, take a day off, and chill.”

“How did she seem when you went in?”

“Who? The hot owner? Tired, a bit flustered, maybe, distracted, kept watching the clock and conversing with the group of older gentlemen who took up the seats closest to her.”

“Shit, I have meetings all morning. I don’t have time to go home. Have the new assistant, what’s her name?”

“Josie.”

“Have Josie bring up my things. Thank god, I keep a spare suit here. I have to grab a shower. And have Josie send two dozen white roses to Zoey for my absence this morning, with a note that says thinking of you, sorry I couldn’t make it to grab my coffee this morning. And, brother, leave Marie, her assistant alone, I don’t need another complication while trying to get to know Zoey on a deeper level.”

“You ole’ horn dog, didn’t think you had it in you. A bit too late to stay away, I’m afraid.” Lysandro clapped him on the back. “I already got Marie’s digits and established the first contact. It’s in the bag.”

“You know you’re only trying to get into her pants to give Ma a heart attack. She’s old school.”

“I may be selfish but, she’s so damn hot. If I could I’d hire her to be my assistant and give you Josie, just to have her close to me, I would. Somehow I don’t think your Zoey would let her go without a fight, and an angry woman in high heels is a hazard I want no part of. And brother, Ma isn’t that old school anymore. I dare say she’d be fine with Marie’s body enhancement.”

Khristos chuckled.“ Yeah, maybe, but back to Zoey. I love her in her heels. She has the sexiest black ones with bows, they’re my favorite.”