"He took all three." Ben announced and smiled as James jumped in celebration.
"Yes! My goodness, Rita is amazing. Three designs before 24 hours and they all got accepted? She's a genius!"
Ben nodded, indeed, she was, he thought, nodding at the applause from his staff who'd gathered at his open door for the call to Mr. Uwa. He watched as James dispersed the staff and shut his door.
"We're celebrating," he enthused.
Ben nodded, grinning, though his mind wasn't on their win. He was surprised that he wasn't excited about the initial millions Mr. Uwa transferred into the company account for the project. The need to succeed and clear his name had taken a backseat to his prospective one night with Rita.
Without warning, he was plagued with flash visions of sinking his hands into her long mane, biting her neck and leaving marks on her fair, perfect skin, pulling back her shirt and getting the first glimpse of her breasts and the colour of her nipple...
"Ben!"
"Hmm," he looked up absentmindedly; James must have been speaking to him while he was lost in...lust. Jesus, when had this happen? Rita had always been a nuisance, he'd never viewed her in a sensual way, but one suggestion to share a night 'fucking' as she'd said, and he was jittery like a teenager about to have his first sexual experience.
"You never told me what Rita's conditions were."
James gave him a steady look, his eyes speculative. Could he tell him? What would he think of him? He'd been trying to clear his name from a sex scandal and now he'd consciously walked into one, because it would be a scandal if found out. So, he tightened his lips and smiled.
"She was right, it's something I can easily handle." James grinned. "You mentioned celebrating, can we do that now?" Ben looked away from James and busied with arranging his table and shutting his laptop.
"Sure. Let me grab my phone."
When he left the office, Ben grabbed his phone and dialled Rita's number. He couldn't sit still, so he paced to the window and looked out without seeing the view. His breath hitched when she answered the call.
"He took all three." His announcement sounded sober and Rita must have noticed because she said nothing. "I'll be free on Friday."
***
Ben couldn't concentrate at work and he knew why. It was Friday.
In the last two days, he'd communicated with Rita through text. They'd both sounded as though they were making arrangements for a work event instead of a night of debauchery.
He'd agreed to meet at her house by 6:30pm; she'd texted him her address. Should he bring something, perhaps, a bottle of wine? He didn't even know if she liked wine. He didn't know anything about her and he realized, to his dismay that he wanted to. He wanted to know more than her genius in graphic design. He wanted to know how she'd gotten into graphics, a rare skill for women. He wanted to know everything about her.
At 4:15pm, Ben gave in and packed up. James waved him off as he announced he was leaving and he was glad that his friend hadn't insisted on finding out why he was leaving early as opposed to his culture of leaving last.
Ben stopped on his way home and bought wine. When he got home, he took a shot of brandy, yet it did nothing to calm his anxiety. After choosing and rejecting several shirts because he didn't want to seem like he was trying to impress her, Ben dropped on the floor of his room and did twenty press-ups.
This was unbelievable. If someone had told him he would be eager for sexual relations with the crazy woman he'd met on that Tuesday morning, over a month ago, he'd have laughed the person to death.
He'd been semi-aroused all day. And despite the exercise to calm his nerves and cold shower, the damn thing seemed to increase as the time drew near. It would be embarrassing to show up at Rita's house with a protruding fly like a pervert.
"Damn it." Ben muttered as he shut the shower and stared down at his bobbing erection. A thought crossed his mind, would she think he was too big or would she appreciate his unusual girth? He'd had women who complained about his being too big and even the thought of those unpleasant scenarios couldn't reduce his excitement.
Growling his frustration he grabbed his length, rubbing from the base to the tip, slowly at first, but when he shut his eyes, all he could see was Rita and his hand quickened. It was like a collage of moments he wasn't aware had been saved in his memory bank. He could see her eyes twinkle when laughing, could see her flirting with him, her voice when she said outrageous things to him, he could see how she bit her lower lip and he groaned in his bathroom imagining that mouth on his dick.
He could see her on her knees, those hazel eyes staring at him through her lashes while she sucked him. Her mouth would be full and bulging with his length...Ben came at that imagery. He whimpered as his hand squeezed out cream from his semi-hard dick.
"Fuck." He muttered; Rita was driving him crazy.
Ben was shutting his shower after rinsing off when he heard his phone ring from the room. He grabbed his towel and hurried over to the bed even though the ringing had stopped. He looked at the caller's ID and frowned. "Gbenga?"
Why was his colleague at the Lagos branch calling him? They'd all believed that slutty Nneka when she'd accused him of trying to rape her at the company's mid-year gala. The problem was, he couldn't defend himself because he'd been so drunk, the whole party remained a blur. He'd always been able to hold his liquor but he couldn't understand why that party had been different.
His phone rang again. Ben stared at it and contemplated ignoring the call. At the last second he picked it, and he was glad he had. The problem was, by the time the call ended, his phone wasn't just hot and burning his ear, the time had flown to 9:34pm.