“My client will meet you in the car shortly. It was nice meeting you, Emily. Have a wonderful weekend.” She smiled as I climbed into the black car, and the words registered into my mind.
“Wait, what? You’re not coming?” I asked, growing even more nervous at the thought of her familiar face being absent with the stranger I was about to meet.
“You’ll be fine” was all she said, before she shut the door of the car.
I looked around the dark vehicle nervously, my breathing becoming heavier as the silence of the car suffocated me.
It felt like forever had gone by before the door on the other side of the car opened, and my head snapped towards the tall figure who just spent half a million dollars on me. He got into the car, shut the door behind him, and told the chauffeur in front to drive off – all while I continuously stared at him in shock.
“Come on, Shortcake,” Adrian smirked. “I told you I’d take care of it.”
Chapter Nine
“Come on, say something!” Adrian chuckled as he unlocked the door to his penthouse suite.
I continued glaring, staying silent as the rattling of the keys echoed throughout the empty top level loudly. The door clicked open, and he turned to face me fully, smirking in amusement.
“’Thank you Adrian,’” he said in a slightly higher-pitched tone than his usual one. “’You’re the best boss ever.’”
My glare stayed.
He let out a sigh before pulling me into his torso by wrapping his arm around my waist, and I instantly tried to wriggle out of his stone-like grip. “You’re not as happy as I thought you’d be, Shortcake,” he muttered, looking down at me with a slight pout to his lips.
I stopped trying to wriggle out of his grip momentarily to look up and give him a look of disbelief. “Not as happy as you’d thought I’d be? What part am I supposed to be happy about? Coming to your apartment where you’d probably be even worse than someone who bid on me at the auction, or the fact that you didn’t tell me about your brilliant plan to ‘take care of it’ to begin with? How did you do it anyway? I thought you weren’t allowed to participate since it was your charity fundraiser.”
“I didn’t participate,” he stated with a grin as he led us inside, still holding me in his iron grip. He closed and locked the door behind us.
“Yes you did! You bid on m-”
“I didn’t bid on anybody. ‘A client on the phone’ did,” he pointed out with a smug expression, throwing his keys on the counter near the door. I groaned in annoyance before pulling out of his hold and throwing my bag onto the sofa in the living room – beginning my silent treatment rule once again.
Adrian chuckled from behind me as he followed me down the hall to the bathroom I showered in last time. I slammed the door shut before he could comment and instantly stripped off my clothing before jumping into the large glass shower area and turned on the gushing hot water.
Once I felt squeaky clean and no longer pissed off, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel that was hanging on the towel rack around my body securely before going over to the mirror and wiping off the steam that blurred my reflection and looking for a hairbrush in the drawers. Once I found one, I quickly ran it through my hair, before grabbing the other towel available in the bathroom and wrapping it around the newly tamed blonde locks. A firm knock sounded at the door just as I finished balancing the towel on my head, and I looked over at it and frowned.
“Shortcake, I have clothes for you.” Adrian’s deep voice came out slightly muffled from behind the door, and the realisation of my lack of pajamas registered in my mind just then.
Sighing, I walked over to the door and cracked it open, sticking one arm out for Adrian to put the clothes in. I waited for the soft feel of material to surround my grip. But instead of clothing, my hand was met with another hand, just as Adrian pulled me out of the bathroom. I let out a startled scream. When my eyes met Adrian’s amused gaze, I gave him a look of disbelief. He barely noticed, as his eyes scanned my body hungrily.
“Adrian! Let go.” I tried to pry my arm out of his grip while also trying to hold up the towel securely.
“I invited you into my home and let you use my shower. The least you could’ve done was invite me in there with you,” he said in a tone of mock exasperation.
I groaned, suddenly feeling tired. “I knew this was going to happen.”
“You knew what was going to happen?” Adrian asked, and I looked back up to meet his curious expression.
“That this is how my entire time with you was going to turn out,” I explained. “You’ll keep trying to either see me or get me naked, all the while making comments like that to make me either uncomfortable or angry – purely for your own entertainment.”
“You know me so well,” he said smugly, and I rolled my eyes.
“Unfortunately.”
I used the opportunity to yank my arm out of his hold due to the short distraction. He chuckled when I began glaring again, and held out the clothes he put together for me to wear. I snatched them from him, before stomping over to the room I had gotten dressed in last time and slammed the door shut once again.
I pouted as I slipped on my bra, and decided to text Amy and Rita at the same time:
Do you want to know who I went home with? Adrian Kingston.
Whoop-di-do!
If you have any sort of affection for me – save me!
And don’t tell anyone about this.
He wasn’t supposed to participate.
Wish me luck with Satan in human form :(
I didn’t wait for their replies as I walked out of the bedroom wearing another one of Adrian’s boxers, this one royal blue, and one of his shirts that came down to my knees. This one had ‘The Beatles’ logo printed on it.
“Are you hungry?” Adrian asked once I entered the living room. I placed my dress and heels on a secluded chair in the corner of the living room and strolled over to the leather sofa, ignoring his presence completely.
I heard him chuckle as I made myself comfortable on the corner of the sofa and switched on the large flat screen television that was positioned in front of me. I tried to disregard the feeling of the leather of the sofa sinking beside me as he sat down.
“Come on, Shortcake,” he implored, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling my body closer to his. “Talk to me.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and glared at the screen, continuing my silent treatment. He let out a full-fledged laugh. I tried to keep my expression neutral, even though his real laugh – not his usual arrogant chuckle – had an effect on me I couldn’t yet understand.