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14
Oden
As a man who’d always had everything he wanted, I, naturally, thought I had it all. But now, as a man who had everything he needed, I knew I had it all. Work was going accordingly, the first shoot was now wrapped up, and I was certain it would be a success at launch. Kerenza’s body had been mine for weeks now, but recently, there was a shift, I could feel it. Her heart, it was mine now, too.
I knew without a doubt that she would be taking me up on my offer to be more serious.
Grinning to myself, I resumed typing an email to Gayle, letting her know the ‘Maybae’ campaign shoots were finished and ready for the next step in the process: editing and re-touching.
A knock sounded at the door, interrupting me. My eyes drifted to the left-hand corner of my laptop. It was too early for Kerenza to be here, especially when I knew she liked to take her time getting ready. Crossing the room, I pulled open the door, surprised to see Isobel’s tall, thin frame in the doorway.
“Hi!” she gushed, donning a bright smile.
“Hello,” I replied, not bothering to hide the confusion in my voice. I might as well have asked, what are you doing here?
“Can I talk to you for a minute? It’s about work.”
Ah, so that was why she was here.
Stepping back and to the side, I made a sweeping motion with my hand.
“Certainly. Please, come in.”
The words were barely out of my mouth before Isobel had entered my room.
“Wow,” she breathed, looking around. “Your room is much nicer than our dump of a suite.”
“This is a five-star establishment, one of the oldest in the city, it’s far from a dump,” I said reproachfully.
Isobel giggled girlishly, as if I’d just made a flirtatious joke.
I cleared my throat and stepped around her, walking over to the table and chairs that were tucked in the corner near the balcony.
I sat down, hoping Isobel would follow my lead. Due to her overly flirtatious nature, I wasn’t entirely comfortable conducting a work-related meeting with her in my bedroom, but as her boss, what choice did I have? She said she needed to talk about work.
To my dismay, Isobel didn’t follow suit and join me at the table. Instead, she leisurely walked around the room, pausing at the dresser where my toiletry bag and other items were neatly arranged.
“What can I do for you, Isobel?”
Her back was to me as she replied, “I just wanted to commend you. The concept for the ‘Maybae’ campaign was ingenious.”
“Thank you,” I said curtly. “But what was it you wanted to speak to me about? I have a previous engagement to get to shortly.”
At that, she shifted around to face me. Something looked different about her, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Something about her appearance was suddenly…off.
“A ‘previous engagement,’ huh?” The note of derisiveness in her tone rang loud and clear. “By that, I’m assuming you mean Kerenza.” Her nose crinkled when she said the name, and that was enough for me. This conversation was over. No one would badmouth my woman in my presence—ever.
I stood up and slowly crossed the room to where she stood. For a second, she just looked at me. The lust in her eyes was unmistakable. This was starting to get out of hand. I would ask Kerenza if she was comfortable with people knowing about our relationship. If she said yes, I’d be asking her to let Isobel know to keep it work-related when interacting with me.
After a beat of silence, I said, “Let me walk you to the door, Isobel.”
“Sure,” she replied coolly, too coolly.
I could feel her eyes burning a hole in my back as she followed me to the door. As soon as she was in the hallway, I said, “Thanks for stopping by,” and promptly closed the door.
What was it with women like Isobel? The ones who refused to take the hint that was quite literally staring them right in the face? Why humiliate yourself over somebody who was with another woman, and one that you knew personally, at that?
I shook my head, making a mental note to tell Kerenza all about this incident. But not tonight. Tonight, we were going out on the town for our last night in Miami. Tonight, I planned on showing Kerenza just how sweet things could be for us once she agreed to be in a serious, committed relationship.
