Page 22 of His Curvy Temptation

“I’m not scared of you,” I say.

“You’re not?”

His voice has changed. Elijah sounds genuinely surprised, taken aback as though I’d just said something unbelievable, impossible, like “The sky is green” or “I have three eyes”.

“No,” I say slowly. “I’m not scared of you…should I be?”

“Maybe,” he says quietly. “I wouldn’t blame you if you were.”

It’s strange, the way our conversation has shifted so many times in only a few minutes. From cold, to warm and friendly, and now cold again as I feel Elijah pulling back, pulling away from me as though I’ve said something wrong.

Damn. This guy is harder to figure out than one of those jumbo sized twelve-by-twelve Rubik’s Cubes.

“Let me take you to dinner,” Elijah says, shifting the subject and his tone all at the same time. “I want to make it up to you. I need to show you that not all of us are bad.”

“‘All of us’?” I ask.

“All of us rich guys,” he says. “Some of us are actually pretty nice. Just a few bad eggs. Dan was a bad egg. So? I fired him. And I’m pretty sure I scared him so bad while doing it that he pissed his pants in front of the entire office.”

I laugh.

“Dinner, huh?” I ask. “That sounds…nice. But tonight is bad. I have to study.”

“What about Friday night?”

“I have to work,” I sigh.

“I could always call the spa and demand that Nick let me have all of your Friday evening appointments for myself,” he suggests, sounding perfectly serious.

“Don’t you dare!” I gasp. “You can’t cancel all of my regulars, they’ll be so disappointed. Besides – I can’t go on a date while I’m technically on the clock at work. Nick would kill me if he found out.”

“Why? I’d pay the spa for the appointments, so it’s not like your boss would be out any money.”

I sigh, unable to find the words to explain to Elijah that his idea is a terrible one, one that puts my professional reputation in jeopardy while pretty much sealing the deal on any rumors that this creep Dan might have started around Elijah’s office about me doingmorethan just massaging Elijah’s back up on the seventeenth floor in his relaxation room.

I mean…even if I’d get away with sneaking off to go on a date during work time, those rumors are the last thing I need right as I’m about to graduate college and finally begin a fresh start as an up and coming business woman.

I want to be taken seriously. I want to prove to others that I’ve got what it takes to make it. Not that I slept my way to the top, getting favors from rich guys in exchange for sexual favors.

Fuck that.

I’m about to try to explain all of this to Elijah over the phone when he lets out a heavy sigh.

“Fine, forget about Friday,” he relents in a dark voice. “But if you tell me you’re also busy on Saturday, I might have to go down to that spa myself and have a word with your boss Nick about these inhumane working hours for smart and beautiful women.”

Biting my lip at the sudden complement, I glance at the dry erase calendar stuck to my refrigerator door. Miraculously, this Saturday happens to be free.

An open Saturday night is rare for me, and I have no plans for it…other than refreshing the online grade-book every five minutes to see if any of my exam results have been uploaded yet.

“I’m free on Saturday,” I say to him quickly.

“Good,” he says, “Because Saturday evening, you’re mine.”

8

Elijah

For the restof the week, I’m in an unusually good mood. My assistant Rebecca notices immediately, raising her eyebrows when I order something different for my morning coffee and breakfast, telling herself to get herself something too.

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