Sweet Surrender (49 page)

“Dominic, why did you leave? This is my night with you. You can’t just leave me hanging like that,” she huffed.

“I apologise, but I had a call I needed to return,” he lied, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Very well. Can we keep mingling with the crowd, now?”

“After you.” As he followed her into the room, with his hand on her back, Maria mumbled something beside him. Although he didn’t exactly hear what she said, he had a feeling what it was.

He had given his phone to Maria to hold onto. He didn’t want it on him, knowing if Chantal texted or called him, he would end the night early and go straight to her place. But it couldn’t happen like that. He needed to go through with tonight, get it over with.

Standing there, laughing poorly at a joke some gentleman said, he had this weird feeling that someone was watching him. His skin crawled with the uncertainty of who it was. He would look too suspicious to everyone if he just started scanning around the room, but the feeling was not going away.

He told Maria and asked her to look around the room, but she couldn’t see anyone besides the women checking him out. HE excused himself to use the bathroom and Maria followed, leaving Renee with the group chatting away.

“If you’re having this feeling, I think we should leave, Dominic,” she whispered beside him.

“You know I can’t unless a family emergency came up, and even if it did, for real or not, Renee won’t believe it. I need to go through with tonight. If I pull out now, I will only have to reschedule for a later time, and I really don’t want to do that, at all.”

“Ok. She gives me the creeps. There is something about her, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but she it trouble, big trouble.”

“We just need to get through the next however long she wants to be here, and leave. That’s it. After that, we deal with the rest of the night at her place.”

“If you say so, Dominic.”

He knew she did not want to be here, he didn’t either, but this was for the safety of the company. He still hadn’t quite figured out what Renee wanted with him. He knew that being there was about more than just a date.

As he turned around, a sexy blonde was walking quickly across the room with a guy. And she looked a lot like Chantal would if she were there.
Great!
Now she was haunting him for being here when he should be with her in bed, naked and sweating from being together.

They needed to leave this event. He didn’t want to run into any more people that he knew, and if Chantal was here, she was one that he definitely didn’t want to run into. It wouldn’t look good that he was here with Renee and Maria at the event, when he was supposed to be at a meeting.
Shit!
He was so paranoid that she would find out about his secret job and leave him, like his last girlfriend had. He needed to tell her all about it soon.

Walking up to Renee, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his body so she could feel the evidence of his cock, hardening. She rubbed against him, although his erection wasn’t from her, she didn’t need to know it.

Leaning down, he ran his tongue along her ear as he spoke, “I think it’s time to leave, don’t you?”

Turning around in his grip, she slid her hand between them and grabbed him through his pants. “Yes,” she purred.

He nodded towards Maria, and they made their way towards the front entrance. Excusing herself to grab everyone’s belongings, Maria turned around and faced him.

“Dominic, you can’t go through with this.”

“You know I have to do this, Maria. If I don’t, do you know what she will do to the company?”

“I know what will happen. But this is wrong. Just explain to her that you can’t and someone else can do it.”

“She doesn’t want anyone but me. Everything will be fine. Chantal won’t know, and after tonight, I will be telling her everything, whether she likes it or not.”

Renee was heading back to them. “After tonight, nothing will be said about Elite, Inc. Renee signed a contract, if she ever breathes a word about it, it’s a lawsuit.”

“I don’t like this one bit, Dominic. She is up to something, I know she is.”

“Maria, stop. End of story. This will happen, whether you are involved or not,” growled.

Maria froze. “Yes Sir,” she whispered.

“So, who’s place are we going to, Dominic.” Renee asked as she stepped beside them, handing Maria her purse.

“My place. Hope you’re prepared for what’s about to happen tonight.”

“You have no idea how long I have waited for this, Dominic.”

Maria glared at him as they made their way towards the limo, waiting outside for them. He held the door open for Renee, as Maria stood there, staring.

“Maria.”

“I have other plans for tonight, enjoy yours.” Opening her purse, she handed over his phone.

“Remember the rules, Maria.”

“I haven’t forgotten about them, Sir,” she said.

Nodding, he slipped in beside Renee. Once the door was closed, the car moved away from the mansion, leaving Maria standing there watching. He didn’t want what was going to happen once they got back to his place, but they had both signed a contract. If he wanted out of it, then she had the right to say whatever she wanted. Sure, they could all deny it, but what was the point in that?

He needed to do this to keep him, his colleagues, and company hidden from prying eyes. As both of them were sitting there, he glanced over towards Renee. She had a look in her eyes that he knew too well. She was definitely up to something; he just didn’t know exactly what.

Pulling out his phone from his pocket, ready to text Chantal, he noticed he had already received one from her. Bringing it up, he read it.

Chantal: Wish u were with me tonight. It was boring, needed a distraction. I ran into people I didn’t want to see. How is the meeting going?

And there was a reply from him.

Dominic: Busy.

What the fuck?
He never sent anything back to her; he had not had  his phone on him to even reply to her. He checked the time when she had sent her message and the reply he apparently sent. Hers came through at 10:27p.m. and his reply went through five minutes after receiving it.

Dialling her number, listened as it went straight to voicemail.
Shit!
He rang several more times after the first, and still got her voicemail. There was no point in sending a text message, or ringing again was a huge chance that she had the phone switched off after the message he sent her, and he wouldn’t blame her for doing exactly that.

He would have to have a chat with Maria to find out why she would have replied to her message, and why the hell she even looked at his phone in the first place.

The limo turned down his street, and he took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was about to happen. Although he had said the same words to Renee, mentally, he wasn’t ready, not even for a second of it. Shaking himself out of it, he knew it had to be done. Chantal would understand why he had to do what he needed to, when he explained it to her later.

He felt sick in his gut as they both stepped out of the limo. He knew it would never be the same with Chantal, once he told her all the details. The worst part wasn’t about what would happen tonight; she was going to hate him for what he had been doing behind her back the whole time they were together. The lying, seeing other women while they were together, and the things he did with those women—it really wasn’t going to go well at all.

As he opened his front door, Renee was talking to him, but he wasn’t listening. Deep down to his soul, he knew that after tonight he would lose her for good. No going back to the way things were between them, nothing. Everything would end. He did this to them. Every single thing. He couldn’t tell her his secret that he had been hiding from the very beginning. No matter what words he said, even when he loved her to the end of the earth and beyond, those words wouldn’t matter to her once he told her what needed to be said. It would end, completely. She wouldn’t want anything to do with him after that.

******

J
oey stood at the bar, cleaning glasses as he watched Kristen serve customers, at the end of the counter. He didn’t have very many women working at the bar, since it caused a lot of drama between the fellas. The last one he had, only lasted a week, due to the fact that she slept with customers.

It wasn’t just that either. She went home with Nate last Christmas and that caused Skylar to end things between them. He had also caught her in the act in the back storage room, and then on his damn office desk. It wasn’t just with a few of his male staff; the delivery guys were in there, too. 

Replacing the tray full of dirty glasses, he picked it up and started to walk to the end of the bar. Although it wasn’t packed tonight, he hated not having enough glasses. As he approached where Kristen was, he couldn’t help but overhear what was said between her and the male customer she was serving.

“Come on darling, you know you want to,” the guy slurred.

She laughed. “Not interested, plus I have someone at home waiting for me.”

He never dated any of his workers; it never turned out too well once everything went pear shaped. They all seemed to make some kind of commotion in his bar, making him throw them out and ban them. So, his rule number one was no dating the staff, no matter how bad he wanted in their pants, and Kristen was definitely one of them. But there was no harm in flirting with any of them, either.

The last several days she had proved to him that she could handle any situation, and the workload of the bar, especially when it was a full house. She was cocky in her own way. He couldn’t help but laugh when he arranged several of the biker gangs to come in and make it hell for her. She was shocked at first, once everyone was in. Since it was only her and Bradley on that night, he stood back and watched her work.

Not once did she ask for any help in her area, and he was damn proud of the way she handle everything—even the rowdy, horny, drunk crowd. She never once chatted anyone up. They did to her, both male and female, and she went along with her business like she never heard what they said.

Some went a little too far trying to grab a feel as she delivered drink orders to the tables near the pool tables. But she handled them really well, not once hitting a customer, and Bradley was close by if it went any further, like it usually did on a full night.

The only one thing that pissed him off was that Bradley and she hit it off like wild flowers straight away, once they were introduced. Although he said he wouldn’t date her, he still thought of her under him, over him, any possible way she could get.

The guy that sat opposite her workbench leant over and slapped her on the ass, as she was facing the other way mixing his drink. He stopped where he was and placed his tray down, as she froze where she was.

Kristen turned around with the sweetest smile covering her lips and moved back to the counter, shaking her hips a little more than he had ever seen. Leaning over the counter, she lifted her finger, telling him to lean forward. He high-fived his friend beside him as he leaned forward as she requested.

Joey received a great view down her top, and her bloody ass was sticking out. If he walked behind her, she’d feel the evidence of his cock growing in his jeans.

Her fingers lightly ran along the guys’ open shirt as she whispered something to him. As she said whatever she did, the blood drained from his face, and had him pulling away from her quickly. He looked at his friend and then back to her, promptly removed himself from the front of the bar, and pretty much ran out.

She served his friend, who still looked shocked on what happened, and then moved to the next lot of customers. He couldn’t help but need to know what she had said to him. He sidled up to her and, keeping his lower half away from her body, he whispered, “What did you say to him?”

She turned around, her body only inches away from his. She leaned into him, just enough that she could reply, “I told him that if he ever did that again, it could end two ways. One, I would take him home and show him my knife collection and demonstrate how well I know how to use them, or two, one phone call and he would have a car load of muscled-up, pissed off guys waiting for him in the parking lot.”

He couldn’t help the laugh that erupted out of his mouth at what she said.

“What is so funny?” She stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. His eyes had a mind of their own and landed on her cleavage, pushing against the top of her shirt, ready to fall out.

“Sorry, it’s just hard to believe that he turned around and bolted out of the bar at that. I understand the carload of guys, but the knives? Who are the guys you told him about?”

“The guys you don’t want to meet. And the knives, you could always come over and I can show you what I meant,” she said with a sly grin.

“Really? How good are you, sweetheart?”

“Stop calling me that, I hate it,” she growled.

That tone was so cute coming from her mouth. He loved pushing her buttons and hearing her call him everything under the sun. It was a distraction from thinking of her mouth on him.

He stepped up to her, invading her personal space, and her breathing picked up just the slightest. “You love it, baby.”

Her hands came up, pushing him away from her, but lingered just for an extra second on his chest before she pulled them away.

“No, it shits me off. I have customers to serve, boss.” She pushed past him, walking back down to the end of the bar.

Leaning against the bar, he watched as she shook her ass.
B
loody tease. Laughing, he grabbed his tray and continued to the kitchen. Placing the glasses in the dishwasher, he moved back towards his office. There was so much to do: invoices, wages, orders, etc.

It was never ending, but he loved every single bit of it.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he leant back and stretched his arms above his head. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw it was 11:43p.m. Well, shit. He had been in his office for the past three and a half hours, and really hadn’t accomplished much, besides thinking of all the different things he could do to Kristen.