Uber Bossy: A Small Town Romantic Comedy (Jobs From Hell Book 2) Page 14

  “No—” My voice cracked and I had to clear my throat. “No underwear?”

  She shrugged and climbed in to straddle me. “Figured if I played my cards right, I’d get lucky tonight. No need for extra barriers to gettin’ lucky.”

  I agreed. Wholeheartedly.

  The door clicked shut and it was just us.

  I lifted her up, wishing we were at the hotel and I could rip her shirt off and feast on her bare breasts. She slid down my length, her breath whooshing out as she sank down fully. Forget boobs. This was heaven with or without a gorgeous rack to bury my face in. I threw my head back and hit the headrest instead, reminding me we were in a tiny car.

  She giggled and I felt it where our bodies were connected. Oh shit, I felt everything.

  “Wait. I don’t have a condom, Nora.” Jesus, I couldn’t believe I forgot.

  She rolled her hips and I nearly swallowed my tongue.

  “Seriously, you gotta stop or—”

  “I’m on birth control and since micro penis was years ago, I’m pretty sure you got nothing to worry about,” she whispered, grabbing my hair and teasing her lips down the side of my face. “I trust you.”

  She lifted up and sank back down again, the feeling of her surrounding me and taking the pleasure she wanted enough to make me forget that it was me who shouldn’t have been trusting her. My trust placed with the wrong person was evidenced by the sleeping baby just a couple feet behind us in his car seat.

  Nora stopped, her head coming up so she could stare into my eyes. After just a moment, she lifted back up and off, and even that had me on the edge of embarrassing myself. She made to climb off me and into the driver’s seat. I grabbed her hips and pulled her back to sit on my lap, though I didn’t enter her again.

  “Where are you—”

  “I’m sorry. I promise you I’m clean and I’m on birth control, but I totally understand, given Red’s sudden appearance last year, that you don’t trust me.” Her gaze was on my arm and I missed her already.

  Not her body. Well, yeah, I did miss that. But I missed the way we felt connected just a minute ago. Like we were having a moment. One of those rare moments in time where everything is perfect. Now she thought I didn’t trust her.

  “No, it’s not that I don’t trust you, Nora. It’s just that I’ve had multiple reasons not to trust anybody and—”

  “It’s okay. I get it. You’ll trust me when I’ve earned it.”

  I shook my head and pulled the curtain of her hair away from her face so I could see her eyes. The sparkle was gone and it wasn’t an act meant to manipulate me. That much I knew.

  “Hey. I have a condom in my wallet. But maybe afterward we should talk and I’ll tell you why it’s not your fault I have issues with trust. It’s not you, Nora, it’s me.”

  She leaned her cheek into my hand. Her quickness to trust me and give me another shot after I just hurt her feelings made that unidentifiable wave of emotion bubble up until it threatened to consume me. I didn’t know what this girl was doing to me, but I was equally loving it and terrified of it.

  After protection was in place, she swung her leg over to straddle me again. Our skin was sticky from the humid summer air that afforded no breeze in the small car to cool us off. I looked outside the window to make sure we still had an empty parking lot. Thank God we’d parked beneath a huge tree that provided privacy. As much as I wanted Nora right this second, I didn’t want someone to see her and spread nasty rumors about her.

  Red made a noise in his car seat. We both froze, Nora’s hand on my cock, hovering just above it, about to impale herself on me. I gritted my teeth to keep from surging up into her and to hell with a wide-awake baby. I swiveled my head quietly to see his head thrash about in his car seat and then still, eyes remaining shut.

  “Hurry,” I whispered to Nora, desperate for her.

  Nora sprang into action, slamming down on me and lifting back up again like she was some sort of rodeo cowgirl on a mission to win a belt buckle. I clung to her hips, lecturing myself on not coming right there on the spot. I needed Nora to be closer to the edge where I was dangling by a thread, so I used my thumbs to spread her open, watching as my length sank into her again and again. Bad move, as the sight just made me crazier. I found the nub I knew would make her wild, alternately rubbing and pressing down hard, silently begging for her to let go.

  “Come on, baby.”

  Nora’s legs started to shake right before she sank down one last time and froze. Her back arched as if possessed and then she slumped forward and bit my shoulder through my shirt. An almost silent keening noise gave me the permission I needed. Two more pumps into her spasming body and I was joining her, the night sky stretching across my vision as everything faded.

  I felt light-headed, from the orgasm ripped from my soul or from the heat fogging up the windows or from the damn goat stare-down, I didn’t know. All I knew was I was right where I wanted to be, surrounded by Nora. I swiped her hair away from her face and blew on her skin. She had to be as hot as I was.

  “Here we are again, back in the car together.” I winked at her and she laughed silently.

  “Not how I envisioned giving rides,” she whispered.

  Something twisted in my gut. “I should hope not.”

  She swiped her finger across my upper lip. “Just for you, my former-mustached mystery man.”

  “What if this were real, Nora?”

  The words were out of my mouth and floating in the stifling air before I could pull them back and swallow them down. I hadn’t meant to say that. Or had I?

  Nora swallowed hard, her eyes round. She sat up and slithered away from me while I died a slow death. I handed her the shorts that had somehow made it into the car. She tugged them on while I covered myself back up and pocketed the condom. Only after starting the car and cranking the air-conditioning system did she swivel to look at me. My heart raced and I wasn’t sure if it was due to her turning me down or if it was because I was afraid she’d actually agree.

  Her hand hovered in the air before coming to rest on my arm. There was sympathy in her eyes that had me grinding my teeth.

  “While I would love to entertain that idea, I think we need to talk about some things first. You were so adamant about remaining single. Why is that and what’s changed?”

  I sighed, knowing this conversation was necessary, but not looking forward to it just the same. However, Nora deserved to know the truth and if I did want something real between us, then she needed to know what kind of nutjob she was getting involved with.

  “Okay, it’s a long story, but it starts when I was about twenty-two. I started dating a girl. Jen Olson. Sounds so normal, right? Well, she was beautiful, tall, smart. She loved to talk to me about the business I had just started and gave me some great feedback. She was everything I thought a guy like me could want. Until one day four years later, I walk into my board room at the office and she’s standing there with my entire board. All of them staring at me like I was the one imposing on them. The whole time I’d been sharing my life with her, she’d been planning a corporate coup.”

  Nora gasped, the noise pulling me out of the story to see she’d lost the sympathy. In its place was a fire that helped soothe the wound I’d carried with me ever since.

  “She got quite a few members of my board to believe her lies. That I was unstable and would run the company into the ground if they didn’t kick me out. It took me three months of working round the clock to fix things and ultimately keep my company. I literally slept at the office to get everything done and to make sure she didn’t step foot on my property again.”

  There was no feeling better by reciting what happened. No therapy for having gotten it off my chest. There was just shame. I wasn’t proud that I’d been duped. There was even a small part of me that believed she was right. If I was gullible enough to believe her for four years, I certainly wasn’t capable of running a company that employed seventy people and changed the fast-food industry as
a whole.

  “Jayden,” Nora whispered softly. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. That the one person you trusted turned on you. That must have felt awful.”

  I nodded. “It was awful, but I regained control and then sold the food-delivery company for close to twenty million dollars, so joke’s on her.”

  Nora’s eyes went soft again. “No, I meant it must have been awful to have your trust broken. To no longer trust in yourself to choose the right people to surround yourself with. That’s the loss in the situation, not the company issue.”

  Her words hit home. Shame for showing any weakness reared its ugly, familiar head and I wanted to throw open the door and run away. Funny thing was the shame that had been flooding my system for years now with nowhere to go but to swirl inside my chest and irritate the hell out of me started to dissipate.

  I frowned, wondering what was going on. “How’d you do that?”

  Nora smiled and slid her hand down to mine to squeeze it tight. “You and I are more alike than you’d think. I thought for years I was crazy to go to school at night, working so hard to reach my dreams. My mom thought I should just get married and be a stay-at-home mom, which maybe I’ll still do one day, but she never understood why I wanted my degree. Or why I want some office job—a career. So you start to doubt yourself over time. Am I crazy? Do I deserve this? Maybe everyone else is right. And that right there is dangerous territory. That’s when you have to dig deep and stay true to who you are despite the opinions of everyone around you. Sounds like you did it. You got your company back and eventually sold it.”

  I must have been allergic to the pine trees or something because my eyes were burning like crazy. How did this woman, who’d only known the real me for a few weeks, see so far inside my soul? How was it that she felt sympathy for me due to my story, but didn’t even flinch over the money I made selling my company? Women I knew would have latched on to the fact I was rich, not cared about my fledgling confidence in myself.

  “You’re one of a kind, you know that, Nora?” I squeezed her hand.

  She smiled at me tenderly and I couldn’t think of a single moment in time where I felt more content.

  We drove back to the hotel without uttering a single word. We didn’t have to. We just wanted to share space with each other for a little longer.

  If only I could ignore that little voice in the back of my head that whispered I hadn’t been totally honest. Because as much as I’d shared with Nora, I hadn’t actually done what she thought I did. Sure, I got my company back, but I never got back my confidence in trusting people. I hadn’t let anyone in after Jen, so who was the coward now?

  And I definitely hadn’t told Nora the full truth of what I was doing in Auburn Hill.

  Baby steps, I told myself. I’d tell her more and more on my own time, when I felt comfortable. There was no rush.

  15

  Lenora

  I smoothed my sweaty palms down my black pants. If I didn’t get ahold of myself, I’d stutter the whole way through my first interview and blow it. Suddenly I wished I had applied for a few jobs in San Jose if for nothing else but to get some interview experience. Or maybe I should have spent some of my time with Jayden last night getting interview tips.

  “I got the tip, all right,” I muttered to myself and laughed at my own crudeness.

  Where were my friends when I finally had a sex joke? Amelia would be so proud.

  Speaking of, I picked up my phone and shot a text to our group.

  Lenora: Wish me luck. Off to my first professional interview in a few minutes.

  Hazel: You’re going to kick some serious ass, my friend. I better get ready for another party. This time to celebrate your new job!

  Lucille: You don’t need luck, sweet girl. You got this.

  Amelia: Ooh…what are you wearing??

  Amelia: And good luck and all that…

  Lenora: *eyeroll emoji* I’ve got black slacks, heels, a lavender blouse and a black blazer.

  Hazel: THE shoes?? The sexy-dominatrix-here-to-kick-your-ass-and-you’ll-beg-me-for-more shoes?

  I snort-laughed. These girls. My shoes were patent leather stilettos, making me feel like a sexy James Bond girl in them. I could conquer the world in these shoes. As long as it didn’t take more than two hours. That’s how long I could last before my feet felt like there were stakes being driven through them.

  Lenora: Heck yes, THE shoes. They’re what you wear when all your dreams are coming true.

  Lucille: Ahhhh….and now I’m crying. You go out there and grab life by the horns, missy!

  Amelia: I would have said by the balls, but sure, horns work too. ; )

  Lenora: In other news…I think Jayden and I might actually be dating!

  Lucille: Really?? Oh, thank goodness he pulled his head out of his ass.

  Hazel: Squeal!!!

  Amelia: What do you mean “might”?

  Lenora: Well, he asked me last night if we could be something more than just friends with benefits. We talked a lot, but I think I’m going to tell him today that’s what I want too.

  Lucille: We’re happy for you. You deserve all the good things. <3

  Lenora: Thanks, my little Hell Raisers. Love you bunches.

  I closed my phone and tucked it into my faux leather satchel, the one I got on clearance around the holidays, knowing I’d have use for it one day. The conversation with my friends, as ridiculous as it always was, grounded me. Made me realize I had a lot to offer and any company would be lucky to hire me on as I’d work my ass off for them. And I’d do it all in some fancy shoes.

  I put on the blazer and checked myself in the mirror one last time. My hair hung perfectly straight and sleek, reaching just below my shoulders. My makeup was soft, natural, professional. The woman staring back at me seemed older and wiser than who I’d been when I woke up this morning.

  The satchel went on my shoulder, my résumé tucked inside. I grabbed my keys and headed out the door. Mom sat at the kitchen table again with her Bible out, taking notes to help Dad with his next sermon.

  I came up next to her and gave her a side hug. “Bye, Mom. I’m off to wrangle a job like a grown-up.”

  A quick breath of air left her mouth, but she didn’t harp about a career being unnecessary for a woman, so I figured that was a win.

  “You’ll do great, Lenny. They’ll take one look at you, hear the ideas in your head, and be falling all over themselves to get you to work for them. Especially if they’re here in Auburn Hill. Wouldn’t want to start any nasty rumors if you didn’t get it…” Mom lifted her eyebrows, uncharacteristically fierce, and went back to her notebook.

  My jaw dropped. “Mom! You little devil, you.”

  Her cheeks reddened. “Oh you hush,” she muttered, fighting a grin.

  Who knew my straitlaced, preacher’s wife mother would have a teasing, threatening bone in her body? And who knew she believed in me so much?

  I threw my arms around her neck, fighting back the tears. Couldn’t walk into an interview with red-rimmed eyes. “Thank you.”

  She patted my arm and I left, feeling like today was going exactly the way I wanted it to. Even Jayden had opened up to me last night, showing he trusted me. I’d been playing it cool, but I’d already decided to call him after the interview and tell him I wanted us to be real. I wanted to go on real dates and be seen together without worrying about rumors. I wanted to tell my parents and see where this relationship could go.

  It was all coming together. Graduation, job, boyfriend. Things were finally happening for me.

  I just had a feeling about it.

  Poppy waved to me from the other side of the traffic circle, on her way to work spreading mail and gossip in equal measures. Without incident, I left the traffic circle onto Brinestone Way and pulled into the first parking lot on the left. A nondescript tan building with the address I’d been sent regarding the interview was all that marked the lot. Even the parking spaces hadn’t been painted onto the fresh black
top yet.

  A trickle—okay, a flood—of nerves hit my stomach again, realizing I didn’t even know what kind of company I was interviewing with. It could be a motorcycle dealership with scary bike riders with leather chaps and braided gray beards. Or a fish sticks factory. Can you imagine? Coming home smelling like fish every day. Bet they’d have free fish sticks in the break room for holidays. I hated fish. Oh, God. What if it was a waxing salon? I clenched my thighs together in protest. I’d never possessed the motivation required to subject myself to hot wax poured on my skin in a rather delicate region and then ripping out the hairs by the follicles. That’s why God—or someone super genius—created hair removal cream. Smelled like death by chemicals, but it got that hair gone without a single ouchy moment.

  “Nothing to do but face your fears, Lenora,” I said out loud in my car, staring at the entrance on the side of the building. Besides, it was getting hot in here with this suit on. My armpits were already sweating through my blouse, I couldn’t afford more moisture.

  I climbed out, grabbed my satchel, and made my way to the door. Forcing deep breaths, I grabbed the handle and swung it open. A blast of air-conditioning hit my face. Instantly, I felt better. First of all, no smell of fish, and anyone who kept the temperature that low was all right in my book.

  The front desk area was empty, a single solitary clipboard sitting on the granite top. I walked over, being extra careful on the slick tile with these heels. The piece of paper on the clipboard simply stated: Come on back. The only office at the end of the hallway.

  I frowned. That was weird, right? I checked my watch, the one I bought at Target specifically to look like a card-carrying adult, and saw that I was right on time. The sign had to be for me.

  I took another fortifying breath and walked down the hallway, seeing one closed door on the right and one door on the left. There at the end of the hallway, was a door slightly ajar.

  I knocked on the doorjamb and then tugged my suit jacket down and smoothed my hair.