Page 31 of If You Could Only Believe
“I don’t think that’s going to happen, Michael,” she said. “Sophia is so open-minded and unfiltered, I think she’ll want the chance to talk with you about it. And if she does decide she wants nothing more to do with you, she’ll tell you point blank and, at least, you’ll know.”
I set my glass down on the coffee table and ran my hands down my face. “Therein lies the problem, Shane,” I groaned. “I won’t accept it if she says she wants nothing more to do with me.” I turned to face my sister. “I won’t let her go. Not for anything or anybody, Shane.”
Shane smirked before her face lit up with a full smile across her face. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from a Buchanan, Michael.” She leaned in, grabbed my face and planted a kiss on my forehead. “Go get your girl.”
Chapter 17
Sophia~
After one cold dinner, one hot bubble bath, one minor meltdown and three episodes of South Park, I was still an emotional mess.
Time was already trying to reach 10 o’clock, and I still didn’t know what to do about tomorrow. I was almost one hundred percent sure I was fired. I mean…I caused one of the bosses to throw a chair across the room. Who wouldn’t get fired for that?
Not to mention, I slept with said boss and let him do the most obscene things to my body that went way beyond what was appropriate.Christ.For someone with an IQ as high as mine, I sure am doing some stupid things lately.
It wasn’t even Michael’s violent temper that had me all discombobulated. It was going from being a nobody-whom no one noticed-one day to becoming the center of attraction for a Buchanan luncheon. I mean, they discussed Michael and I losing our virginities as if they had been discussing the change in weather. It had been…overwhelming.
And I hadn’t meant to upset Michael, but what I had told him had been the absolute truth. If he was truly serious about dating me, it’d be humiliating for him. Someone who looked as he does, and comes from a family who, all, look like they belong on the cover of fashion magazines, needed someone who was gorgeous on his arm.
I wasnotgorgeous. Hell, I wasn’t even pretty. I was plain and I couldn’t even be bothered to try my hand at makeup to try to improve on that plainness. I was happy being plain and invisible.
But, in one night, Michael Buchanan was able to put me in the spotlight with his forced date to that stupid company party. I just didn’t understand it.
I even thought that maybe he liked unattractive women because we were less of a hassle, but when he told me he had been a virgin, too…well, for the love of all that is pure and untouched. At first, I struggled to believe him, but then, that entire night, Michael had acted like a kid in a candy store. He had wanted a taste of everything. And once we decided to jump out of the plane with no parachutes, the entire weekend had been nothing but desperately fueled sex.
It had been fantastic.
But I hadn’t expected it to last beyond the weekend. I mean, come ooooonnnnnn…we’re talking about Michael Buchanan, here. He could have any woman he wanted…hell, there were probably women out there who were willing to share him; he wasthathot. And, then, the sudden thought of him with other women made my heart hurt. It was the same feeling I had when I fled his office earlier. Now, I wasn’t an expert in relationships or feelings, but I was pretty sure I was experiencing heartbreak of some sort.
What a crappy Monday.
The knock at my door confirmed my crappy Monday assessment, and all I needed was a visit from my mother or sister to top off this day. And, of course, it could only be one of them because no one else ever visited. I was even too despondent to wonder why they were visiting so late. I just figured it had to do with the crappy Monday theme.
I turned the lock and swung the door open, prepared to face off with Satan and her Hell Hound, when my eyes landed on a male chest; a very muscular male chest encased in a blue Quicksilver shirt.
I knew that chest.
I had run my hands and tongue all over it this weekend.
Goddamn it!
I tilted my head and looked into the green…bloodshoteyes of Michael Buchanan. I sighed. “Michael…”
He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and hunched his shoulders like a child in trouble. “May I come in?”
I stepped back and pulled open the door wider to allow him entrance. As he passed me, I got a whiff of his cologne. It’s the same cologne you smell outside the liquor store. “Are you drunk?”
He whipped around to face me, his eyes wide. “No,” he said curtly. “I’m not drunk.”
I shut the door behind me. “Then why do you smell like a bottle of liquor?”
Michael let out a sigh and ran his hands up his face and through his dark tresses. “Because I’ve been drinking,” he said. “A lot. But not enough to be drunk.”
It’s times like this I wish I had a filter. But I didn’t, so...“Why were you drinking? Is it because you have to fire me and it’s causing you undue stress?”
His eyes started blinking and I couldn’t tear my gaze from his thick lashes. “Fire you?Why on earth would you think you were being fired?” he asked incredulously.
I put my hands on my hips and cocked my head at the simpleton. “Oh, I don’t know,” I grated out, sarcastically. “Let’s see…I was going to miss the party. I caused drama at the party with my supervisor. I went home with the HR Manager. I let that same HR Manager do countless things to my naked body. I did countless things tohisnaked body. He did some of my work over the weekend. My supervisor has a serious issue with me and, this time, it’s legit. I ruined a Buchanan luncheon, and I pissed off the HR Manager to the point of violence and, then, I left work a half day early, lying that I wasn’t feeling well,” I recapped. “Do I need another reason to get fired?”
