Indulgence (184 page)

XO ~J

P.S. I like your XO ~C

I placed the phone back in my purse, ran upstairs with my
bags and traded my jeans for some cut-off sweats. Once I got back downstairs I
cranked the radio and dove head first into unpacking.

~ JAMES ~

I found the boutique, parked and grabbed the garment bag out
of the back. Rushing inside, I found a little old lady behind the counter.
There were all sorts of dresses on a dozen or so different racks.

“Can I help you, sir?”

I looked to the little old lady who seemed to be almost half
my height. “I’m returning this dress for Miss Charles.”

“Oh!” She looked me up and down with hungry eyes which
caused me to chuckle. “She caught herself quite a specimen did she?” She winked
at me. “Would you like to look around?”

I looked at my watch. I really shouldn’t have kept Melissa
waiting any longer, but I was intrigued by the shop. “You wouldn’t happen to
have Miss Charles’s measurements on file, would you?”

“
Now
you’re talking. I do and her dress for this
weekend is ready to be picked up, too.”

“Is she renting that one as well?”

“Yes, sir. It’s quite a stunning dress, especially on her
with all that red hair and ivory skin. It’s a shame she’ll only wear it once.”

“May I see it?”

“Now Mr…”

“You can call me James, James Benedict. It’ll be our little
secret.” I winked at her.

“If you say so.” She walked into the back room.

I still had the other dress with me and noticed some hooks
by the front desk, so I walked over and hung it up. A few moments passed before
she walked out from the back room with a large garment bag in tow. She hung it
up next to the other dress and unzipped the bag.

“Lovely, isn’t it?”

I was taken aback by the shade of blue. “It’s almost the
exact color of her eyes.” She nodded in agreement.

“I might be willing to sell it James, James Benedict.”

“What did you have in mind?” She perked up and we got down to
business.

~ CASSIDY ~

I had made a lot of progress after spending several hours
unpacking. All my kitchen boxes were empty and I loaded the dishes into the
dishwasher to give them a once over before use. Finding a note pad, I took note
of some odds and ends that I needed from the store. There was a knock on the
door; I wasn’t expecting anyone.

I headed to the door and opened it up. “Cal!” I threw my
arms around his neck and gave him a big squeeze. “What are you doing here?”

“I come bearing Chinese and helping hands.” He smirked at me
as he held up a plastic bag full of Chinese takeout.

“You rock! Come on in. Watch your step. No work tonight?” He
nodded confirming it was his night off. “You have your tux for Friday?”

He screwed up his face in disgust. “Yes. You owe me!”

“I know!” I opened the bags and placed the food on the
counter. “You got enough food for an army.”

“You know me, I can never decide and you’re always eating my
sesame chicken.” He winked at me.

There was another knock at the door. What the heck? Oh,
shit. If it was James, this wasn’t going to go over well. Cal never forgot a
face. I was not ready to have this discussion with him.

“You going to get it or am I?” Cal looked to me.

“I’ll get it; you just get the dishes out of the
dishwasher.” I rushed toward the door and took a deep breath before opening it.
“Jane! What are you doing here?” I noticed a cab sitting at my curb.

“Sorry, Cassidy. I hope I’m not intruding. Mom and I wanted
to give you this.” She handed me a large wrapped box. “It’s a thank you for the
hard work with the masquerade.”

“Oh wow, thank you. You didn’t have to go to all that
trouble.” She stood there as I noticed a gift bag in her other hand. “Please,
come in. The place is a wreck. I’m unpacking, but my brother is here with Chinese.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you had company…”

“Nonsense. I insist.” I gently pulled her inside and waved
the cab off.

“Ok, one second, I need to pay the cabby.” She hurried down
the stairs to the cab while I went back inside.

I remembered Mrs. Whitford mentioning that Jane had just
moved back home a few months prior. She was living across the country with a
real ‘douchebag’, or so her mom said. I liked Jane and thought maybe I could
pick her brain about James. I moved a few boxes to clear space for the gift
box. The front door closed and Jane made her way inside.

“Jane, this is my brother Calvin.”

Calvin turned around to shake Jane’s hand and instead he
started checking her out. I walked behind him and nudged him. “Stop being rude,
Cal,” I whispered.

He stuttered, “Sorry. Jane is it? You can call me Cal.” He
shook her hand. “You like Chinese?”

Jane confirmed that Chinese sounded great. “Oh, here, this
is for you, too.” She gave me the gift bag which was clanking about.

“Jane, really, it’s too much.” I opened the bag and found
three bottles of the champagne from the masquerade.

“Mother said that you really liked it.” I was speechless
knowing that they were over $300 per bottle. I didn’t spend that much on, well,
anything. “Open the box!”

“Yeah, Cass, open the box.” Cal was almost as excited as I
was.

“Holy sh... crap…Jane!” I was shocked at the generosity.
“It’s amazing.”

Jane just shrugged it off. “Please, mom can afford it. It’s
nothing. Get good use out of it!”

“What the hell is it?” Cal looked at it and had no clue what
it was. Jane and I shared a laugh. I explained to him that it was a top of the
line coffee maker that came with several different flavors. “That’s too fancy
for me. I’ll stick with my black coffee, 3 sugars.”

I ran over to hug Jane and thanked her again. We served
ourselves some Chinese and decided to pop one of the bottles of champagne. I
poured each of us a glass before we headed to the living room. We chatted, ate
and drank a little too much, except for Cal who always stopped after one drink.
It was like we’d all been friends forever.

Don’t

~ CASSIDY ~

Cal had taken an immediate and obvious interest in Jane and
it seemed to be mutual. I decided to see just how interested and asked her,
“Jane you’ll be at the auction on Friday, right?” That immediately had Cal’s
attention.

“Oh yeah, can’t get out of that one. What about you, Cal?”

“Yup, I’ll be there. Looking forward to it.” I giggled and
Cal threw me a dirty look.

“Oh, how quickly we change our stripes!” I laughed and he
tossed a pillow at me. Jane seemed to get what I was playing at and blushed.

The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. We were
starting to wrap things up when
Crash into Me
by
DMB
started playing. The radio was off and I suddenly wondered if it
was someone’s ringtone. “Is that your phone?” They both shook their heads.

“Found it.” I saw Cal pull my phone off the charger on the
kitchen counter. “Who’s James?” He was holding the phone out of my reach and
waggling his eyebrows.

“Knock it off, Cal. Give me the phone.” I wasn’t asking
nicely. He tried to hold the phone even higher. Two could play that game. I
grabbed his nipple and twisted. He dropped his arm and I snatched my phone.

“Dammit, Cass, that hurt.” Jane was in stitches.

“Good!” I rushed out the front door and stood on the steps
for some privacy. “When did you change my ring tone?”

“Hello, Cassidy.” He sounded somber and dark.

“You ok?”

“I’m fine. What are you wearing?”

His question caught me off guard. I decided to play along.
“Nothing. What are you wearing?”

“Don’t lie to me, Cassidy.” I sensed that he was smiling on
the other end of the phone.

“How do you know I’m lying, Mr. Benedict?” I was taunting
him.

“Because you’re standing on your front porch,”
What the
hell?
“And if you’re naked on your front porch we’re going to have a
problem.” I started looking up and down the street, but it was too dark to make
out a thing. “Get rid of your company, Cassidy!” I wanted to respond but heard
the call disconnect instead.

“Somebody’s blushing.” Jane stated the obvious as I walked
back in the door.

I shrugged my shoulders and the smile on my face spoke
volumes as I hiccupped. I may have overdone it on the champagne. “You’re
supposed to be on
my
side!” I scolded Jane.

“I should get going. It’s getting late,” Jane said to me
with a wink.

“How are you going to get home?” I asked her.

“Oh yeah.” She pulled her cell out, “I’ll just call a cab.
No biggie.”

“I can take you.”

“
Now
who’s blushing?” I stuck my tongue out at Cal
and Jane. I was giggly and had clearly had too much to drink.

“Who’s James?” he asked me again.

“Ask Jane. I have a feeling she knows him better than I do.”
I faked a yawn and ushered them out the door as nicely as I could. I watched
Cal escort Jane to his truck. As he walked to the driver’s side he waved and
threw me a wink. “Behave!”

“I could say the same to you, little sister!”

As they pulled away I walked back inside. I decided to clear
the dishes and reload the dishwasher. There were probably twenty empty boxes of
various sizes stacked in and beside each other on my living room floor, and
although we’d made a lot of progress unpacking, I still hadn’t found my iPod.
Dammit
.
My phone started playing the same tune again and I rushed to
answer it. “Yes, Mr. Benedict.” I was attempting to give him my best sexy
voice.

“You said you’d call me Sir all night. What are you wearing,
Cassidy?”

My heart started racing. He sounded so sexy and brooding; I
was instantly wet. “Nothing, Sir.”

“Don’t lie to me, Cassidy!” I jumped about a foot off the
floor as I heard the front door slam shut and then he locked it. He came
through the front door without me even knowing he was here.

“Yes, Sir.” I was breathless and he was on me in a
heartbeat.

~ JAMES ~

After I left
Frida’s
, I drove to the office where I
knew Melissa was waiting. I should’ve known better than to keep her waiting.
This was going to go one of two ways; bad or really bad.

I parked in the underground garage, in my designated spot,
and took the elevator up. Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself as the
elevator stopped and the doors opened. I could hear the screaming from where I
stood and I rushed through the double glass doors and headed toward my office.
Jennifer, our secretary, ducked just before a vase shattered above the wall
behind her.

I stormed into my office and roared, “Melissa, enough! Sorry
Jen, I can take it from here.” Jen scuttled out and shut the door behind her
while mumbling profanities. “God dammit, Melissa. What’s the problem now?”

She slithered over like the snake she was, immediately
smiling at my presence. “Hey, baby. I’ve been waiting a long time.” She was
pouting. She started running her hands up and down my arms before I grabbed her
wrists and held her away from me. “I need an advance on my rent.” Now she was
batting her eyelashes at me.

“Stop the bullshit, Melissa. You live in your Dad’s
building.” I escorted her to the couch and made my way to my desk, flopping
down in my chair. “What’s really going on? Are you using again?” She started
fidgeting.

“Nothing, no, it’s all good.”

“You’re sure? The deal is off if...” I glared at her. I
really felt sorry for her. We’d known each other since we were kids. The
biggest mistake I made was taking her to bed.

“No, no, I just got over extended and Daddy has cut me off,
with the exception of a roof over my head. Please James.”

My heart got the better of me and I just wanted her out of
there. I told her I’d help her anyway I could, as long as she stayed clean.
“How much do you need?” She jumped off the couch and threw herself on me.
“Melissa, get off.” I pushed her off me again and headed to my safe.

After Melissa left I got caught up on some business. I
scrolled through my email and dealt with them accordingly. Once I’d checked in
with all the contractors and confirmed all was good, I decided it was enough
for one Saturday. I had struggled to get my mind off Cassidy ever since I left
her on her doorstep.

Things had gone smoother than I had anticipated when I
revealed myself to her. My instincts were correct about the attraction; it was
mutual and intense. I did a quick run through the office and locked up before
leaving.

When I pulled out of the garage I realized it was already
dark. Looking at the dash, I saw that it was already close to eight p.m. I
recalled the morning at the hotel and her responses to my touch, which was
immediate every time. She had welcomed every advance, so why was I so nervous
to show her my kinky side? She was the first woman in a
very
long time I
had
wanted
to get kinky with. Bits and pieces at a time would have to
do. I didn’t want to scare her away by going too fast. I was getting hard just
thinking about tying her up. I decided I had to see her, immediately.

I drove toward her townhouse and couldn’t stop my blood from
boiling when I saw the Ford pickup in her driveway. It took all my strength not
to knock down her door. I parked down the street, after memorizing the plate,
and called Smith. It felt like I waited for far too long for Smith to call
back. Finally, my cell rang.

“Smith, what took so long? Oh, sorry Joe. Yes, whatever
needs to be repaired just do it and send Jennifer the bill. Make sure
everything is working, including the radio.” My call waiting beeped. “I’ll be
in touch tomorrow.” I switched lines. “Smith?”