Page 21 of Sex, Lust & Lingerie

“Gloria, I really enjoyed sharing Paris with you.” His voice was soft and breathy.

An avalanche of memories bombarded me. The bath…the Louvre… the room full of flowers…the Ferris wheel…the ring. I glanced down at it. Toi et moi. My aching heart sank to my stomach like a cannonball. Words stayed trapped in my throat, but tears were brewing. I inhaled a deep breath to keep them from falling.

Jaime sensed my distress. The look on his face became one of confusion and concern. He brushed the tip of my braid across my chin. “What’s the matter, angel?”

Calling me “angel” again almost put me over the edge. Keep it together, Gloria. Don’t let this man make you fall apart, my logic pleaded.

“I’m just tired…that’s all.” I was actually worn out by this man. By the way he could play with my body, my mind, and my fragile heart and tear them all apart.

I finally jerked away and leaped out of the car.

“Gloria, wait!”

“Have fun tonight,” I bit out.

“Gloria, it’s not…”

What you think. I’d heard these words once too many times and was over that lame excuse. Cutting him off, I slammed the heavy door shut and sprinted past the doorman into my building. Ty was waiting for me in the elegantly appointed lobby with my luggage piled high on a dolly. I surveyed the statuesque man with the build of Mr. Clean. He could easily trample Jaime if he came after me.

I hurried to the elevator, almost running. I glanced over my shoulder to see if Jaime had followed me into the building. He hadn’t. I would be lying to say I was grateful.

With my fist, I pounded the “UP” button. To my relief, the doors parted instantly and so did my mouth. Looming before me was Victor Holden, the last person I wanted to see. He was clad in an expensive equestrian outfit—a navy riding jacket, tight cream britches, and shiny leather boots. Under one arm was a black velvet helmet and dangling from the hand of the other was a worn leather riding crop. The sight of the latter made me inwardly shudder. Was this the riding crop he’d beaten young Jaime with? While I’d seen Victor in this uniform before, it now revolted and enraged me knowing his history of physical abuse.

His steel-gray eyes, like needles, pierced mine. “Gloria,” he sneered.

“Hello, Victor,” I said icily, the ugly memory of his assault in Paris vivid in my mind. Avoiding his gaze, I stepped into the elevator, expecting him to step out. Except he didn’t. The doors slid closed, and I was trapped inside with him. Alone. Jaime had rescued me from him in Paris, but there was no Jaime Zander in sight now.

Anxiously, I reached for the “Open Door” button to escape. Before I could make contact with it, Victor caught my wrist and, in one swift move, slammed me against the side wall. He pressed his hard-as-nails body against me, painfully crushing my own bruised body. The remains of his lunchtime bourbon lingered on his breath and nauseated me. I squirmed, trying to free myself from his weight, but I was no match for his strength. The man, despite his age, regularly worked out with a trainer in addition to being an accomplished equestrian and was more fit than someone half his age. The elevator remained stagnant. The air thickened. My pulse rate quickened.

He leaned in to me, his foul breath heating my face. “I don’t pay you five million dollars a year and a hefty bonus to fuck your brains out in Paris with that Zander piece of shit.”

Despite my shallow breathing, I held my own and looked straight into his eyes. “I was there on personal business, and I also met with Sandrine, the General Manager of the Champs-Elysées store.”

His lips snarled. “Don’t bullshit me, Gloria. I’m not a patient man.”

My eyes stayed lock on his. Though my heart was racing, I was not going to let him intimidate me. “I know why you hate him.” And why he hates you. My body contorted with fury at the thought of him physically abusing young Jaime.

His face grew glacial. “It doesn’t matter why I hate him. What disturbs me more than his business relationship with Gloria’s Secret is his personal relationship with you. This is no time to be fucking your brains out. In case you didn’t know, while you were getting it on in Paris, there was a big sell off this morning of Gloria’s Secret stock. The stock plunged twenty points. Your job is on the line. There’s a lot of speculation that you’ll be out on your sweet ass soon.”

My stomach knotted up. How was that possible? By all Wall Street estimates, our earnings were solid and our forecast healthy. In fact, before the long weekend, the stock had closed at an all-time high, and many analysts had put Gloria’s Secret stock on their “Buy now” list, expecting further growth. Kevin’s “urgent” emails flashed into my head—the stock crisis, that’s what they must have been about.

Victor’s sinister eyes bore into mine. “I’m not going to save your precious ass, Gloria, unless you give me what I want.”

My blood simmered. He was threatening me. His body pressed harder against mine, his repulsive erection pulsing against me. My eyes clashed with his. “I don’t have to give you anything, Victor, except my commitment to the growth of Gloria’s Secret. This is harassment.”

“You don’t know what harassment is. Let me show you.” Allowing his helmet to tumble onto the floor, he lifted his right hand to my face and pinched a cheek. With the other, he poked my clit with the upper tip of his riding crop.

I winced. “Let go of me, Victor. You’re hurting me.” He poked my clit again and then moved his slimy lips closer to mine. Before they could touch down, the elevator doors parted. Startled, he released me. He quickly picked up his helmet and straightened his riding jacket.

Confession: So much of me wanted to see Jaime standing before me. The fantasy of him grabbing Victor’s riding crop and striking him with it played in my head. Giving the fuckwad what he deserved.

Instead, it was Tyrone with my luggage. Though wishing it had been Jaime, I inwardly sighed with relief. My pulse rate remained accelerated. I was still reeling from Victor’s vicious assault and threat.

Tyrone was a six foot seven hunk of a man that, trust me, you didn’t want to mess with. With a contemptuous huff, Victor stiffly headed out of the elevator. As the doors began to close, he struck his riding crop against one of them, forcing them to open again.

“Have a nice day, Gloria, and think about my offer or Tyrone may be out of a job too.” His chilly voice matched his demeanor as he strode into the lobby.

The whites of Tyrone’s eyes popped. “Waz that man talking about?”

It was no secret that Tyrone despised Victor. Why not? The arrogant Chairman of the Board looked down upon him and had once even told him to his face to go back to the ghetto streets from where he’d come. I literally had to jump between them so that Ty didn’t physically take Victor down. The violent streak in Tyrone was something to be feared.

“Nothing, Ty.”

Astute Tyrone could see I was visibly shaken as I pressed the button for my penthouse. My fingers were jittery. “You okay, Ms. Long?”

I nodded. “Yes, thank you.” Truthfully, as the doors slid closed again and the elevator made its ascent, I felt like the ground was opening beneath me, and I was falling into a deep abyss.

Jaime Zander had fucked with my heart enough in the last forty-eight hours, and now I had to contend with his ruthless stepfather Victor and the possibility of losing everything I had built. The truth was hard to face. I swallowed hard past the painful lump in my throat.

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