Late Nights (3 page)

Why should she think it would be any different now since they were older?

Tossing the phone back into her purse, Sasha got out of the car with her belongings. This would be the first time in a while that she wouldn’t be the one who apologized when she and Genise had a difference of opinion. She wasn’t the sister who made the mistake. Genise was the one, and she was going to stay firm until her little sister made the first move to fix the problem.

Chapter Three

Walking across the parking lot towards the front doors, Sasha grudgingly shoved the terrible conversation out of her head. As her excitement grew about the new promotional campaign starting today, she crossed her fingers and secretly prayed everything went well for Sterling. She might actually be more keyed up about this grand re-opening than him.

The Hamilton Corporation didn’t have the best track record with their previous managers. One spent more time in the back room talking on the telephone instead of taking care of the business. The one before Sterling got too cozy with a certain female employee and hadn’t put enough time or energy into making the business successful or marketable to the public.

This campaign had to work because it was Sterling’s last chance at making the bedding and furniture store a success. If it failed, he would have a going out of business sale, then liquidate the remaining merchandise and leave town. The mere idea of never seeing him brought a pain to her heart that she had never felt before.

Since Sterling’s arrival, he had shown all the employees how a regional manager should behave by firing all of the old store managers and the female employees they were sleeping with. He was ten times more professional and organized than the men she had worked for. But that was just her humble opinion, which could be a little biased since she was constantly dreaming about what Sterling looked like naked.

When he wasn’t being a brilliant salesman, Sterling spent the rest of his time overseeing his employees. He was self-directed and always setting new goals for himself and the staff.

The heavy sound of footsteps rushing behind her drew Sasha’s attention. In the morning, the parking lot was pretty safe and she never worried about something happening. Nevertheless, she knew better than to park her car so far from the entrance, but she had gotten so caught up talking with Genise. She had forgotten her first rule of parking lot safety—always park in a well-lit place and as close to the front door as possible.

She didn’t realize how long the walk was until right now. Sasha tried not to panic as her heart sped up inside her chest, making it almost too hard to breathe. Her fingers tightened around the car keys in her right hand as the sound of the footsteps grew closer, until it felt like the person was practically on top of her.

“Stop!” a male voice yelled out to her. “Sasha, will you wait a minute?”

Scared out of her wits, Sasha quickened her steps, determined not to glance over her shoulder. Why should she? She was almost at the door. It wouldn’t make any sense for her to stop moving for anyone.

Finally reaching her destination, Sasha shoved the key inside the lock and was about to turn it when a hand touched her on the shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed as she spun around with her purse raised to defend herself. Her eyes locked with Sterling’s stunned expression.

“My God, Mr. Hamilton.” She gasped, trying to catch her breath as her heart continued pounding against her ribs out of lingering fear.

She never saw her boss this early in the morning. What was he doing here scaring the shit out of her? He didn’t usually come into the office for at least another hour. This was one of the reasons she didn’t recognize Sterling’s voice yelling at her.

“You scared the hell out of me. I know you took ten years off my life. What are you doing out here this early? Is there something going on with the campaign?”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Williams,” Sterling apologized, removing his hand from her shoulder. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I thought you heard me calling you. I’ve been yelling at you for a few minutes, but you never turned around. That’s why I was trying to hurry up to catch you.”

Sasha took a step back from Sterling, trying not to show her excitement at seeing him. He was so gorgeous that he could be in the pages of
GQ
, but he was so unaware of how he drew in the opposite sex. She doubted that Sterling realized every time he looked into a woman’s eyes he was making her fall in love, or at least in lust, with him.

Last month, she was standing next to a group of women at work. She overheard them talking about how Sterling was the
only
reason they came to CSC. They weren’t interested in buying anything at all, but only wanted to catch a glimpse of him.

Once, right after she started working for Sterling, she had been unfortunate enough to be around when one of their regular female customers asked him out on a date. However, she immediately left before she found out if he accepted her invitation or not.

How could she get on Rachelle for falling in love with Cash?

It was like the pot calling the kettle black, Sasha hated to admit. But, she was probably worse when it came to Sterling than Rachelle had ever been with Cash. She wasn’t even in Sterling’s presence five minutes after their first meeting and she wanted him with a passion she had never felt before.

“Mr. Hamilton, I’m sorry I didn’t turn around when you were calling me. I was upset over a fight I had a few minutes earlier with my sister Genise,” Sasha answered, staring at his firm lips and wondering what it would feel like to kiss him.

Sterling looked at her a few minutes before nodding. “Genise, I remember meeting her once when she came by to pick you up for lunch,” he said, surprising her. “It’s amazing how much you look alike, but still so different. I wouldn’t have ever guessed you were a triplet.”

Sasha was astounded and secretly pleased Sterling acted like he could tell the difference between her and Genise. His people skills must be better than she gave him credit for, because it usually took people a very long time to tell them apart.

“How can you tell us apart?” Sasha asked, wanting to know if he could genuinely recognize the difference. “Most people are constantly getting me, Genise, and Akisha mixed up,” she continued when Sterling didn’t answer her.

Could this mean Sterling had been paying attention to her without her knowing it? Or could it mean her boss saw something he liked better in Genise instead? God, she hoped that wasn’t the real explanation he could tell them apart so easily. She was very aware of how Sterling’s answer was going to affect her opinion of him.

“It’s really quite easy,” he answered. “You have this gorgeous beauty mark on your right cheek. Honestly, what man in his right mind wouldn’t see how this adds to your loveliness?”

Reaching out, Sterling brushed his calloused thumb over the beauty mark she hated ever since she was a little girl. Several times, she thought about having it removed, but not now after his compliment.

“I didn’t know you had even noticed it,” she whispered, touching the back of Sterling’s warm hand with her fingers.

Sterling gazed at her hand on his and then quickly jerked it away like her touch bothered him. His abrupt withdrawal was like a bucket of ice cold water poured over her feelings. The hurt was instant and quick.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have touched you like I just did. It was very inappropriate since you’re my employee,” Sterling apologized, sliding his hands into the front pockets of his tailored slacks. “I hope you know that I didn’t stop you so I could touch you.”

Sasha tried her best to school her features after hearing Sterling’s confession to her.
Well, if I thought he was hiding any romantic feelings about me, I just found out that he wasn’t.

“So, why did you stop me?” Sasha questioned, trying to keep the sudden hurt she was experiencing out of her voice.

Later on, she would have time to replay this conversation and break it apart in her head when Sterling wasn’t standing right in front of her.

“Was it something important or can it wait until later? I need to get to my office and get my day started. I have a lot to do before the rest of the employees get here.”

A momentary look of concern passed over Sterling’s face before he was able to conceal it. “I was hoping I could talk you into working an extra hour or two tonight. I know its short notice, but I’m crossing my fingers that you will agree to it.”

Was he serious!
Does he really think I would tell him yes after what he just confessed to me?

Sterling practically snatched his hand away from hers and then quickly apologized for touching her like he had committed one of the horrible seven deadly sins. However, in spite of his stinging insult along with the hard blow it caused to her feelings, in his next breath he actually asked her to work an extra shift tonight for him.

Well, Sterling Hamilton was out of his fucking mind. She wasn’t even going to give his question a second thought.

No way in hell!

She wasn’t about to change her plans for Sterling. CSC was his business, not hers. He should be the one working the extra hours. If he wanted someone to work longer so badly then he could call in another employee. Most of the women employed here were half in love with him, so it wouldn’t be a problem to give one of them a call.

But, the saddest part was, before his earlier insult, Sasha knew she would have literally jumped at the chance to spend any extra time with him…
but not now
.

“Sorry, I can’t. I already have dinner plans. I need to leave on time or I’ll end up being late. You will have to get someone else to do it for you, but I know it shouldn’t be hard.”

Spinning away from Sterling, Sasha unlocked the front door and then went inside, leaving him on the other side of the glass door staring after her.

Chapter Four

Standing in the back of the showroom by his office door, Sterling watched as Sasha walked around, taking notes as she watched the employees interact with each other. The yellow dress she was wearing hugged her ass perfectly, and every time she moved it highlighted her best asset.

She looked even sexier today than in his wet dreams last night. He lost count how many times he had woken up with his hand wrapped around his throbbing cock. There hadn’t been a night since he had taken over this part of his family business Sasha hadn’t invaded his dreams.

At first it pissed him off, because a woman he barely knew made him hornier than a teenage boy. She was always very cool and professional towards him while he was fighting daily not to drag her into his office and have sex with her on his desk, or anywhere else around the building.

He finally thought of a way for them to spend some time together alone, but everything backfired when she turned down working late with him.

How did things go so wrong this morning between them?

After two cold showers last night, Sterling spent hours wandering around his empty and lonely house. All he could think about was how he could get closer to Sasha and then the
perfect idea hit. He would ask her to work longer and after they were done he would invite her out to a late dinner. He was positive she would jump at the chance to spend the extra time with him, but he had been so wrong.

She hadn’t given his suggestion time to sink in before she turned him down flat!

Something about Sasha Williams’s personality drew him, making him want to explore the possibility of a relationship Instead of telling her what he was thinking, he always stuck his foot in his mouth, and ultimately pushed her away from him.

Sasha had no idea how much she captivated him. From the first moment he laid eyes on her during the interview process, Sterling knew he only wanted her working for him at Comforts Sleep Company.

He hadn’t planned on being there for the final interviews because his schedule was already full that day, but for some reason he decided to check in with his assistant. It was like something was driving him to be there that day. He had just arrived from Florida and was dead tired, but instead of going to the hotel to sleep off some of his jetlag he instructed his driver to take him to Comforts Sleep Company’s main offices instead.

When he got there, he had noticed a few applicants sitting in the hallway but he eased through a door before anyone had spotted him. He doubted they knew what he looked like since he spent a majority of his time overseas dealing with other parts of the family enterprises. Yet, he didn’t want to take the chance one of them might recognize him.

Sitting behind a two-way mirror in another room, he hadn’t been pleased with any the potential employees because every last one of them had the same, well researched pitch. It was like all of them had studied the same how-to-get-hired book. Honestly, he was a step away from going out the door and telling the remaining applicants to just leave until Sasha arrived wearing a hunter green dress.

The unexpected sight of her made his breath lodge deep inside his throat. Instantly, she captured his attention in a way a woman hadn’t since his broken engagement four years ago. She was truly breathtaking. Watching from the two-way mirror, he couldn’t take his eyes off her during the entire interview.

She had looked so fucking unbelievable that he almost broke his cover, entered the interview room, and hired her on the spot. He didn’t have a doubt in his mind that Sasha would be the perfect person for the new position he was looking to fill.

However, he didn’t let his first instincts rule him. Instead, he stayed put and allowed Charlie to finish up his interview with Ms. Williams. He seriously doubted another interviewee would walk through the same door and completely impress him the way Sasha had with her intelligent and clever responses, but he had to keep a clear head and not allow his cock to determine his decision. It was way too important for his business’s survival.