Page 26 of Sutton's CEO

In the back of my mind, I was chastising myself. I had planned on taking her to a hotel. But she had offered me a place in her home, and I didn’t like the idea of her being alone. I was certain that this extreme desire to see her safe would fade with time.

Obviously, my male instincts were kicking in because of how Sutton allowed that shitty town to dump on her. It was nothing personal. At least, that is what I kept telling myself.

As we walked into the apartment building, Sutton gasped. “You live here?”

The doorman tried to hide his smile as he greeted me. I gave him a slight nod, the same greeting I had given the man since he started. As he gathered my mail together, Sutton beamed at him.

“Hello,” she said brightly.

The older man blinked. “Well, hello.”

“My name is Sutton,” she said, thrusting her hand out for a handshake.

The man looked from me and then back at Sutton. “My name is Frank. It is a pleasure to meet you, Sutton.”

I have lived in this damn building for ten years. How did I not know the man’s name? The doorman always greeted me as ‘Mr. Williams’ and I gave him a curt nod.

Wrapping my arm around her waist, I started to guide her toward the elevator. I needed to intervene before she did something drastic like invite him over for Sunday dinner.

“Sutton.” My tone was firm. “We need to get going.”

She frowned at me, a furrow in the center of her winged brows. “I was just getting to know Frank.”

The older gentleman stood a little taller at her use of his first name. He cleared his throat and asked, “How are you, Mr. Williams?”

I muttered something akin tofine.I was feeling irritated that Sutton was once again disturbing my perfectly ordered life. I wasn’t used to speaking with everyone we came in contact with. Hell, I didn’t speak directly to Frank or Amanda unless I needed something. They weren’t friends. They were necessary individuals that helped my life run smoothly—nothing more.

“You will have to excuse him, Frank.” Sutton leaned over to whisper something to the doorman.

He chuckled and nodded before wishing her a wonderful evening. Sutton trotted over to me once again and looked up with big eyes. “What now, Mr. Williams?”

“Mark,” I corrected her instinctively. If she could be on a first name basis with my stewardess and doorman, she could sure as fuck remember to call me by my first name.

Chapter Eleven

Sutton

“I’ve created a monster,” Nico chirped happily as we tore through boutique after boutique.

Nico (Mark’s personal shopper) and I were getting along like a house fire. He was unlike any man I had ever met before. His fashion sense was on point and he was funny as hell. A little over five foot nine and slender, Nico was terribly attractive, and I was intimidated by him at first.

He marched straight up to me and told me that he would kill to have my tits and I knew that there was a bosom friend hiding behind all that New York polish and sass. I had convinced Nico to come along on my spa days since Mark insisted that he had too much work to do. After I got there and found out that you spend the majority of the time naked, I was thankful that Mark was at his office and not watching me get every surface of my body polished and glazed.

Don’t even get me started on that Brazilian wax. That motherfucker hurt worse than having a toenail ripped off. Then they wanted to bleach my butthole. Well, a girl from Otterville Falls has to put her foot down somewhere.

Nico, on the other hand, went for the deluxe anal whitening and about laughed his ass off when I asked him if he was a secret porn star.

I am only partially kidding.

Nico and I had just returned from another full afternoon of shopping when Mark saw all the bags and uttered, “It’s about time. Did you leave anything in the shops?”

“A few things,” I replied with a grin. At first, I hadn’t wanted to buy anything because I felt like I was taking Mark’s money. It made me feel dirty in a prostitute kind of way. But after Nico explained to me that we would be using credit cards with my name that attached to my bank account, I may have gone a little crazy.

The day we had returned from our spa visit, Mark had stared at me for a good three minutes before even uttering one word. I wanted to think that was a good thing. That he liked how satiny smooth I looked. How my long, nearly black hair shone like never before. I felt like a fucking goddess.

Nico grinned at Mark unabashed. “Mr. Williams, dressing Sutton is a pleasure. Everything she puts on is fantastic. I wish all of my clients had her figure.

Mark’s jaw tightened, and I could feel his eyes assessing my body. Why did I want him to find me attractive? Sure, he was handsome and completely fuckable. But he was also a self-righteous prick. Ever since we arrived in New York it was ‘Do this,’ ‘You are doing that wrong,’ ‘Don’t use that fork,’ ‘Don’t curse,’ and I’d swear that even my breathing irritated him.

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