CHAPTER 3
1928 Words
RI IIII NNNN GGGG!!!
Kristen jumped, startled.
“What?!” She mumbled and rubbed her eyes. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was barely six am.
“What the…” she muttered again when her cell began to beep. She grabbed it and her brows furrowed at the strange number. She never got strange calls.
“Who is this?” She barked at the receiver.
“Kristen…” a deep voice growled.
Kristen’s eyes almost popped from their sockets.
“Mr. Lodge?!” she asked, surprised.
“Be at the office in thirty minutes.”
“In thirty minutes?! It’s barely six!” She yelled, but the call dropped before she could finish.
She groaned and squirmed about on her bed.
‘What have I done to myself?’ She wondered. ‘What slave scuffle have I signed in to?’
“Thirty minutes?” She whispered to herself again in disbelief. “This has to be a joke!”
But it wasn’t.
She had known that jokes about his being kind would not be taken well. She was sure that was what she was being punished for.
She groaned again and rubbed her eyes. She snuggled up to a pillow, and in the process, her eyes landed on the clock again.
“Be at the office in thirty minutes.”
Kristen jumped up with a start and flew to the shower. She was out in less than ten minutes and hurried to her medium-sized closet.
She hated many things, but the top of that list was planning outfits. Only if she had planned one yesterday would these transitions have been smoother. She sighed and grabbed a pink number, packed her hair in a bun, and ran a gloss on her lips. There was barely time to toast, so she nibbled on some bread slices and grabbed her purse.
She wanted so badly to roll in bed and chug in another five hours, but that was just a pipe dream. As a general rule, she hated Tuesdays, but this was proving to be the worst Tuesday she had ever experienced.
She ran out the front door to the porch and stopped to scan the yard for the little, white shape that had bound up to her from the shrubs the first day she moved in, and licked her face like a long-lost relative.
The dog was nowhere to be found, so she grabbed her coat and shut her door. She ran down the short stairs and made for the street. She was almost stepping off her walkway when her little furry friend came running.
“There you are!” She yelled and knelt on the ground. Late or not, she was not leaving without petting the lonely dog. It barked excitedly while licking her hand and face before flipping over and stretching its legs.
Kristen grinned and rubbed her stomach.
“I have a horrible boss, Furry. So I need all the luck I can get,” she whispered. “So, wish me luck!”
She jumped up and ran to find a cab. Soon she was in one heading to the office.
“Please step on it,” she begged the Hispanic man, but he only hissed at her.
“You should have woken earlier,” he spat coldly, and followed it up by driving at a slower pace.
Kristen’s heart was in her mouth for the rest of the ride until they arrived at the office building. She busted out the door and fled to the elevator. The elevator seemed to crawl too and she almost lost her mind.
She was fuming by the time it finally stopped on her floor. Her head hurt and her stomach rumbled. Again, she was slightly contemplating murder. But she couldn’t think of a good way without ending up in jail. She sighed and walked quickly out of the elevator. She decided to head to her office and stow her purse before heading to his. She needed to look like she had arrived a few minutes ago.
She opened her office door and ran in.
“You are late,” a voice said, and she froze in her tracks.
She turned slowly to see Mr. Lodge was standing behind her in a strong suit and with his usual glare. This time, his glare made Kristen feel angrier. She was the one he awakened hours before nine. Why did he get to be the angry one too?!
“I said, you are late,” he repeated, his perfect brows bunched together in a frown.
Kristen counted to five to calm her nerves before speaking. “In my defense…” she began.
“Save it,” he cut her off.
She considered throwing her laptop at him.
“Listen,” he cut into her, plotting unconsciously. “An oil rig I have been chasing is finally open for sale, and I’m traveling to inspect it. I will be gone for a while, and since that’s not an excuse to slack, I need you to take down these instructions before I leave,” he added, opening a file.
Kristen felt her eyes pop. Was he leaving?!
She nodded slowly at his words, but deep within, she was leaping for joy. A few days free from Mr. Jerk was a dream come true. She would even have free hours to search for her father!
“Why are you smiling?” The question caught her off guard and she blinked.
“Huh?”
“Your face, it changed. You seemed to brighten up.”
“I did? Oh, it’s nothing. I tend to smile a lot,” she fibbed quickly.
Mr. Lodge didn’t look away. His eyes searched her face for several seconds, then, to her chagrin, he shut the file.
“You know what? I think you should come with me. Go home and pack a bag.”
“Champagne,” Philip nodded to the Hostess.
He was in a celebratory mood. He would soon own the oil rig he had schemed on for months and on smaller wins, his damn Secretary finally dropped her fake smile.
He glanced at her. She was visibly fuming and even her ears were a tinge of red.
‘Finally! It had been a long time coming,’ he thought.
Philip’s Champagne arrived and he took a sip. He had broken through Kristen’s poker face and it felt like a double win. She was still in a pink gown and almost looked like a girly toy, so the glare in her eyes was out of place. Not ugly though. It was funny how her face maintained its beauty even when it looked like she was plotting murder.
.
Philip took sip after sip. By the time his flute was empty, Kristen had fallen asleep. He considered bugging her, maybe spilling some liquid on her face, but that would be taking it way too far. Besides, he had achieved his aim.
He took another offered flute then snuggled into his seat. He needed to enjoy being up in the sky while he could, before the real business negotiations began.
Three hours later, the plane began to descend, and he enjoyed the picturesque countryside below: rolling green hills stretched out, dotted with grazing animals and charming farmhouses. It was a world far away from the bustling city.
The plane landed safely without so much as a bump, and he waited several minutes before sprinkling some water on Kristen.
She sprang awake.
“Rise and shine!” he announced.
*
A guide waiting outside the airport grabbed their bags and drove them to the hotel. It was just like all the hotels he knew: grand, expensive, formal. But all Philip wanted was a bed.
This hotel was huge and wide spread with a long driveway. The flowers and trees and fields added to the scenery. The building itself was quite huge, a two-floored masterpiece with about seventy Victoria-styled rooms and his agent had booked him the largest of all.
The front door of the hotel opened to a large hall with black and white tiles like a chessboard game and they rolled in. If Philip thought Kristen’s short nap would soften her mood, he thought wrong. She was still mad, he could tell. But he took the blame for that. She had thrown daggers at him the second she woke, wiping the liquid from her face, and now he could cut the tension with a blunt, bread knife. Of course, it didn’t help that she was currently wrestling with his bags as well.
They walked into his reserved room first and Philip immediately confirmed the bed was as soft as he liked it. He nodded with satisfaction and turned in time to see Kristen’s eyes dart around the quality suite with child-like wonder. He tried to see the room with his eyes, but all he could see was the loud furniture bereft of warmth.
Philip used to pine for luxury and magnificence and everything in this hotel room screamed it from the furniture to the large TV system in the den, also to the luxury bath that was bubbling hot. But now, he barely noticed them.
“I’ll be going to my room now,” Kristen spoke finally and turned away.
He swiveled to her. “Not yet!”
He didn’t want her leaving, and he didn’t even know why.
“Why?” She turned around. “You suddenly have more paperwork for me?”
Philip knew she meant that sarcastically, but he pretended to take it literally.
“Yes,” he nodded and turned to one of his bags. He drew out some files and stretched them out to her. “I need them ready before tomorrow.” This was the last thing he would do to punish her for that smart remark, he decided.
But Kristen did not take the file. Her face suddenly looked puffy, like it was inflated with air.
“No,” she said finally.
Her voice was so measured and cold it took a while for it to register.
“What?!” Philip asked like he couldn’t believe his ears.
“No, I am not doing any other work tonight.” Her eyes narrowed, and he could see the fire in them. For some reason, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. “If this is so important,” she continued. “I will get to it first thing tomorrow, but not earlier.”
“Are you saying…?”
“…that I am not touching that file tonight? Yes.” It was a defiant blow, but Philip did not feel insulted. He felt something else instead. “I am going to my room and to bed. You can fire me now if you wish, but that is happening.”
Later, Philip realized he should have looked away. He shouldn’t have buried himself in the fire in her eyes.
But he did.
It happened so fast. One second Kristen was turning away, the next Philip’s hands were on her soft cheeks and his lips were on her lips. It started as a simple peck before he decided he wanted more and sucked her lower lip into his mouth. Kristen gasped but did not push him away and that sigh only left him needing more.
Philip deepened the kiss and she buried her hands in his hair and let her tongue slip into h
is mouth. Just like that, his senses fizzled away. He angled his head and grabbed her waist. His senses returned the second she moaned.
- Writer
