She looked like a seductive angel.
She was wearing the hell out of a pure white dress with some kind of flare curving around around the dress. It hugged every curve perfectly and stopped right below her knees where I found a slit that stopped in the middle of her left thigh.
And her hair...those wavy curls...And her perfume...
This woman is so beautiful and she's all mine.
The second those hazel brown eyes locked with mine, I went to go wrap my arms around her tiny waist. I wanted to squeeze her behind that was sitting so firmly in her white dress, but resisted the urge.
"I only have fifteen minutes with you?" She asked while I buried my face in her neck.
"I own this company." I groaned into her neck. "You can have all the time you want with me."
She tried unwrapping my hands, but they remained locked around her waist. I missed her so much and I just wanted to drown in whatever perfume she was wearing.
"You look breathtaking." I picked her up started walking to my office before closing the door.
"And you look decent." She teased.
My hands trailed to her lower back until I reached her behind and held both her ass cheecks in my hands. I kept caressing them and squeezing them before crashing my lips against hers and kissing those luscious lips of hers.
"Forest." She moaned while I kissed her.
She tried pushing me away, but I slammed her body against mine until she understood that I needed to kiss her and put my hands on that amazing behind of hers.
"You're sleeping over at my place tonight, right?" I asked while sucking and licking her neck. "Last night was terrible. I'm not sleeping without you again."
"I can't." She moaned while digging her hands into my hair. "All my things for work are at my place, Forest. It's a whole system that's been set up. I can't just move everything in one day....Plus..." She cocked a brow at me. "If Lauren is still at your house, then I will most certainly not be there."
I groaned into her neck and this time I let her unwrap my arms from her waist.
"Charlie..." I tried to explain, but she put a finger on my lips.
"I have a feeling you're about to give me a response that's going to end with us fighting." I bit her finger and she promptly pulled it out of my mouth.
"I brought you lunch AND a gift!" She chose to change the subject.
I hadn't noticed it, but she was holding a small lunch bag with her. By the looks of the bag, it was a designer bag, just like every piece of clothing and jewellery she's wearing.
She sat down on one of the couches in my office and put the lunch bag on the table. When she opened the bag and the tupperware, the most amazing aromas wafted through my office.
"Chicken pesto flat bread sandwiches with salad." She said excitedly. "It's healthy and it will fill you up without making you feel sluggish."
I sat down and started munching on the sandwiches.
The second I bit into the first one, a groan left my mouth.
Gosh, this woman can cook.
"You were going to eat Chinese for lunch?" Her eyes were staring at the Chinese food on my desk that Lauren ordered for me.
I nodded my head.
"You should ask your kitchen staff to pack lunch for you." She said nonchalantly before sitting in my lap and kissing my cheeck while I ate the most delicious flat bread sandwiches in the world.
"I keep forgetting to tell them." I answered while swallowing my food.
The moment was perfect. She was in my lap, where she belongs. I was busy munching away at her food and breathing in as much of her perfume as I possibly could.
"I also brought you a gift." She bit my earlobe teasingly.
"This lunch is already a gift, Charlie." She smiled and stood up from my lap before I could grab her.
"Jona." She opened my office door and called for someone. "I'm sorry about that. You can come meet Mr Greyson now."
She opened the door a bit wider and a man with an afro, huge glasses and a very annoyed and bored expression on his face walked through the door.
"Forest", she put her hands together menacingly, "meet your new assistant."
I took a sip out of the bottle of orange juice that she had packed for me.
"I have an assistant already..." I put my food down. "In fact, I have two."
She cocked her head to the side and started walking towards me. The man named Jona still looked bored and annoyed.
"You have one assistant ...and Lauren." She replied. "Jona here is going to fill in for the assistant that's currently on maternity leave so that Lauren can...get back to her job."
The door to my office was luckily closed so Lauren didn't hear any of this.
"No." I stared at her in disbelief.
"Yes." She smiled like I didn't just refuse for this to happen. "Jona will fill in until your assistant comes back."
"Charlie", I tried to explain, "Lauren is my friend. She's been there for me through some really tough times. I can't do that to her. She'll be devastated."
"I know." She smiled like I didn't have a choice in this. "And I also know that Lauren Mitchell is in love with you and thinks she can have you." She caressed my cheeck before kissing me so softly that it felt like a feather touched my lips. "But she can't have you, Forest. No one but me can have you. Just like no one but you can have me ...right?"
I looked at the slender man with an afro and huge glasses that was still standing behind her, looking even more bored than before. I was so focused on Charlie when they arrived that I didn't even notice him.
"Charlie," I held her neck with a hand, "you have NOTHING to worry about. I swear. I belong to you and no one else. Lauren isn't a threat."
She was still smiling...as if she knew that she would get her own way.
"Should I also get a man who's deeply in love with me to come live at my house and follow me around at work?" She caressed my cheeck. "Should I let that man into my house so he can watch us in our most intimate space and then act like he is the victim for invading my and your privacy?"
She was now in my lap and her lips were so close to mine that if she moved an inch closer she would be kissing me.
"Should I let that man hear us as our lovemaking reaches it's climax?...Should I let him see me naked while I make love to the man I love?"
She finally kissed me, but I broke our kiss.
"Charlie..." I tried to protest, but I wasn't really sure what I was going to say.
"Up until the weekend I spent with you, only one person had seen me naked, Forest." She got off my lap and suddenly all that seduction that laced her voice was gone. "It's you."
She went to go stand next to Jona, who seemed uninterested in what would sound like the most interesting conversation in the world to most people.
"You and I are reckless when we make love, but I ALWAYS make sure no one BUT you will see me at my most vulnerable." She practically snarled at me. "There were maids and chefs all over your place, but I made sure none of them saw us. I spoke to them and told them how you and I get. They had a laugh about it and told me they understand how young lovers are and said they would make sure they leave a room the second we entered it."
She was furious, but in true Charlotte fashion, she was in full control of her emotions. All that was facing me was that cold stare of hers.
"You wanna know how many times I heard one of the dozen foster parents I got placed with having sex, Forest?" She gritted her teeth.
"Too many to count!" She answered her own question.
"You know what I did when I heard the sounds or when it seemed like people were about to undress infront me?"
"I left the house!" She answered her own question again. "Or I cleared my throat or made a sound so they'd know I was in the room and didn't want want them to continue doing whatever they were doing!"
I stood up and tried to embrace her, but she slapped my hand away.
"Just because I can't cry on cue like Ms Goldilocks there, doesn't mean I don't get hurt, Forest." She took a deep breath before her cold stare turned into what can only be described as a death stare. "Lauren isn't the victim here. I am a victim of that peeping Tom you call your friend."
I was about to respond when a knock at the door interrupted us.
"Lucas," Lauren avoided making eye contact with Charlotte, "the head of accounting just arrived for the meeting."
"Tell her to wait." I responded.
I could tell that she was about to tell me she can't or some other excuse, but we both know she can tell that woman to wait. It might mean pushing back my meetings for the rest of the day, but I can't leave things like this between me and Charlotte.
"Lauren." I just gave her a stern look and she nodded her head and closed the door.
I tried to embrace Charlotte again and this time, although she struggled a bit, she let me hug her.
I never thought about it the way she put it. It never occurred to me that she may have felt violated by Lauren seeing us like that.
"Give Jona two weeks." She sighed against my chest. "He's ten times better than the best assistant in the world. I promise you. He knows everything. If you're not happy after two weeks, he'll come back and work with me."
I glanced at Jona.
He still looked bored, but at least now he was extending a hand to greet me.
"I owe Char a favour." That's the first thing he said. "If I didn't," he glared at Charlie, "I would stay by her side...where I belong."
Charlie rolled her eyes.
"He's grumpy, but trust me", she gave a pleading smile, "Jona. knows. everything."
"Okay." I gave up. "Two weeks. If I'm not impressed after that then he has to go."
"Agreed." She shook my hand as if we were sealing a business deal.
Jona left my office as if he just knew that he was no longer needed. That ability alone is already impressive.
"I should get going." She started heading for the door, but I held onto her hand to stop her.
"I'm sorry, Charlie." I pulled her into my chest. "I'm really sorry. I didn't know that you felt this way about what happened this weekend."
"It's okay." She muttered.
I kept running my fingers through her hair. I wanted to keep holding her and just make this whole thing go away.
"I should get going." She stood on her toes, despite being in immaculate blue heels, and kissed me before she left.
I already knew what was waiting for me while I watched her leaving my office - an angry Lauren.
She marched straight into my office and didn't bother closing the door.
"She's choosing assistants for you now?" she asked with tears in her eyes. "Lucas, you're letting her run your life and she's only been back for like three days!"
She was about to burst into tears.
"How did she even know that you're assistant is on leave?" She bit her lip. " Do you tell her about your company during your pillow talks?"
"Of course not!" I replied angrily at her tone and choice of words.
"Uhm," Jona's head popped into my office as if he wasn't the reason why Lauren is in such a state, "Char. knows. everything." He said lazily. "I may know everything, but Char KNOWS EVERYTHING." He repeated and popped right out of my office.
Lauren scowled at the man, but he seemed unphased by any of it.
"You know this is because of the merger, right?" She pleaded. "If her assistant is here, she'll have someone to tell her everything about the merger and then suddenly things will go wrong and she'll pretend to come to the rescue!"
Before I could respond, she and I heard chuckling outside my office.
I went to go close the door, but found Jona laughing right infront of the door. I was already fucking annoyed with this man.
"Is something funny?" I clenched my fists.
He shook his head and continued laughing. "Yea, actually it is." He replied as if what Lauren said was ridiculous. "Char already knows everything about the Greyson merger. She's the lead counsel for the City of New York. They literally appointed her the second there was even a whisper of the merger."
"What?" Lauren and I said at the same time.
Jona's expression went from amused to shocked and angry. "This is the biggest merger that the city has ever seen." He almost yelled. "And Char is the best M&A lawyer in the state, if not the country. Did you think she was just sitting on the sideline looking pretty?"
He huffed, but then laughed again. The man seemed amused again.
"Everytime a governor, mayor or an entire ministry or department says anything about this merger or rejects or accepts a permit or a license, it's because Charlotte told them to do so." He exclaimed. "Char probably knows more about this merger than anyone in this room...or maybe even this building."
He huffed, chuckled to himself and then left the office.
Lauren shut the door this time so that he wouldn't keep butting into our conversation.