Tugging at the cuffs of his dress shirt, he slipped into the back of his waiting limousine. As his driver wove through the traffic towards his office, he looked out the window, but he didn’t see the tall buildings or the pedestrians as they made their way to their destinations. Instead, he saw Pepper, naked and writhing in his bed, her eyes begging him to make love to her.
And he would! Damn it, he would make love to her with such control that she would be sobbing out her release. And she wouldn’t run away from him again!
With that decision made, he focused on work.
Or tried to. Furious and disgusted with himself, he muttered curses whenever he found himself thinking about Pepper and her delectable body.
By the end of the day, he was beside himself with rage over how such a small woman could ruin his concentration so completely!
“What’s wrong with you?” Nancy asked, staring into Pepper’s glazed eyes. Again.
Pepper jerked upright, blinking owlishly at her friend and partner. “Um…?”
“You’ve been walking around here all day like a zombie, running into tables and tripping over bolts of fabric. People ask you questions and you don’t even hear them, do you?”
“Questions?” she parroted, feeling a bit queasy. “And I haven’t tripped over anything.”
Nancy snorted. “Pepper, you’ve walked into three different work tables today and tripped over the rolls of fabric in the corner, knocking all six bolts onto the floor. Then you just walked away as if nothing happened. Louise straightened them up, then came to me. Everyone is worried about you.” Nancy leaned over Pepper’s desk. “What’s going on? Has something happened to Sloane or Rayne?” she asked, referring to Pepper’s sisters.
“No!” she gasped in reply. “At least, I hope not!” She blinked, then grabbed her phone and sent a quick message to their group chat, asking if they were okay and if her nieces and nephews were good.
Nancy waited only long enough for Pepper to finish the text message before continuing. “Okay, so if the family is okay, as far as you know, what gives? Why are you so out of it today?”
“I’m fine,” Pepper asserted, gathering up some of the designs on her desk and pulling them into a haphazard pile. “I’m just…”
“Pepper, normally, you are a whirlwind of energy. Your normal entry into the building is like a burst of energy. You’re so full of ideas and excitement, we all just stare in amazement.”
“I’m not like that!” she replied, feeling silly.
Nancy chuckled softly. “You have no idea, Pepper. But today, you walked through the door with your sweater buttoned weird and you looked lost.”
Pepper rolled her eyes, but Nancy only looked pointedly down at Pepper’s sweater. When Pepper glanced down at herself, she groaned. Sure enough, she’d buttoned four of the six buttons on her cardigan this morning, but the fourth button was looped into the third buttonhole, throwing off the line. “Good grief,” she muttered, her fingers flying to fix the situation. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Nancy threw her arms up in the air. “I did!” she exclaimed. “Several times! Plus Louise and Jenny mentioned it.”
“Oh.” Pepper cringed, biting her lip as her fingers fiddled with the buttons that were now straight. “I’m just…feeling a little off. Everyone has an off day once in a while.”
Nancy’s tone softened. “That’s definitely true. But I’ve worked with you for the past several years and you don’t.”
“I don’t what?”
“Have an off day,” she explained. “You’re always the wonderful, kind, vivacious boss who comes in with the most amazing ideas and lights everyone up. So I ask again. What gives?”
Pepper stared, not sure how to explain. “Um…I sort of…well, I met a guy,” she finally admitted.
Nancy’s eyes widened in surprise. “Well, that’s great! I’m happy for you. But…what’s the problem?”
Oh no! That definitely wasn’t a question Pepper was going to answer! No way! “Well, he’s just…a little out of my league,” she finally explained.
Nancy snorted. “Honey, you’re gorgeous, creative, successful, and have a figure to die for. You’re in everyone’s league!” She took the designs from Pepper, who was only curling the corners of the papers anyway. “What makes you think that he’s out of your league?”
“He’s just…very wealthy and…I think that he’s used to a different kind of woman.”
Nancy flipped through the designs. “I like this one,” she said, flipping it around for Pepper before sliding it back into the stack. “But as for this man, if he’s been with other women in the past, and he’s still single, then he hasn’t found the woman he wants yet. So, they are in his past, Pepper. Not his future.” Nancy turned, heading out the door. “Remember that.”
Pepper stared at the empty doorway, but her heart still ached. She’d never see Dimitri again. She knew that. He’d been so furious when she’d called a halt last night. The whole drive back to her place, he’d been rigid with his anger and she’d sat stiffly beside him, not sure how to get him out of his funk.
Around midnight, when she still hadn’t been able to relax enough to fall asleep, it occurred to her that they shouldn’t even be fooling around with each other if she didn’t know the man well enough to talk to him about his anger. That was
