The following morning, Carys rushed back to her apartment.She was vacillating between telling herself that the previous night had been wrong, and smiling dreamily at the memories of the pleasure Rafi had given her.
But as soon as she stepped through the door of her own apartment, Carys could tell something was…off.Everything was still where it should be and yet…something was wrong.Carys looked around, not sure why she was hesitating.Instead of heading directly to her bedroom to shower and change, she stood very still, listening.
After several minutes and nothing moved, no one burst out from behind a doorway, Carys could breathe again.
“You’re being silly!”she whispered to herself.Taking a deep breath, she forced her feet to carry her deeper into her apartment.She was cautious, looking around.
“No one is here,” she whispered, still looking around.
She dumped her tote bag on her neatly made bed and…!Wait.Why was her bed made?Had she done that yesterday morning?Carys hated making her bed.It was both a rebellion, because her stepmother and father had forced her to make her bed every morning, grounding her if it wasn’t up to her stepmother’s very particular standards.Plus, she simply didn’t see the point of making the bed every morning.Why make the bed when one is just going to mess it up again later?
Nervously turning away from the neatly made bed, she stepped into her bathroom.Was everything…cleaner than before?Was she losing her mind?Carys might not make her bed every morning, but she was relatively clean.Still, she didn’t remember her bathroom beingthisclean.Everything seemed to sparkle!
But…who would break into her apartment to clean?Burglars simply didn’t do that!Nothing was missing, everything was just…cleaner than she remembered.
“This is nuts!”she muttered and ignored the oddities.“You’re running late for work!”
She jumped into the shower, then dressed.If Carys put more effort into her appearance this morning, it was simply because she felt so good.After being with Rafi last night, she felt…happier than usual.Plus, he’d given her the green light on her marketing ideas.Life was pretty good!
Yeah, she knew that last night with him had been a one night stand.Still, it had been nice.
No, “nice” wasn’t a strong enough word.It had been…!“Wow!”she whispered as she pulled on a pair of black knee high boots to go with her black skirt and pink sweater.Grinning, she fluffed her hair, checked her lipstick, then grabbed her bag and headed out the door to work.Was there an extra bounce to her step?
Carys chuckled quietly as she headed for the subway.“You’re being silly,” she scolded herself, then stuck her earbuds in to listen to the news on the ride to work.
Chapter 11
Thirty minutes later, Carys stepped into the office feeling…strange.Had she really done all of that with Rafi last night?Had she truly released her inhibitions and just…exploded with pleasure?She’d dated her last boyfriend for six months before she’d had sex with him.And she’d given in only because he’d threatened to break up with her if she didn’t.
It hadn’t been awful, but her experiences in the past had been nothing like last night.She’d climaxed…five, no six times all told.After they’d fallen asleep the first time, he’d woken her up to make love to her all over again.It had been…shocking on so many levels.
Even now as she walked to her tedious, beige cubicle, her body thrummed with the echoes of last night’s sensations.It was as if…she’d just spent the night in the arms of a man whoenjoyedpleasuring a woman.No, it was more than that.Rafi hadn’t just enjoyed pleasuring her.It was almost as if he’d become obsessed with finding new ways to pleasure her.
She should be exhausted.However, she actually felt more alive, awake, and aware of the world than she’d ever felt before.
Sitting down at her computer, she sifted through the project she’d started yesterday.But before she could really get started, a female voice interrupted her.
“You’re not going to win, you know.”
Carys looked up to find Tanya, the assistant director for her department, leaning over the short wall of her cubicle.The woman looked smug and triumphant.
Carys blinked, wondering if she’d missed something while she’d been thinking about Rafi.“I’m sorry?What am I not going to win?”
“Him,” she smiled with confidence, tilting her head toward the end of the hallway.“Our new boss.”She smirked, sliding a finger along the V collar of her silk blouse.“The manwillbe mine.”
“Who?”Carys asked, genuinely perplexed.
Tanya laughed, shaking her head at Carys’s confusion.Usually, Tanya wore her hair up, with understated makeup.She normally dressed as the professional she was.But today, her makeup was heavier, sexier, and her hair was down around her shoulders.Plus, the silk blouse she’d chosen was tighter and nearly see-through.Tanya hadn’t bothered to fasten the top three buttons.She looked…extremely sexy and clearly knew it.
Tanya leaned closer, smirking.“I’m going to get our new boss.”She pushed away from Carys’s office “wall”, sliding her hands down over her tight skirt pointedly.“We had dinner last night.So just keep your puppy-love eyes off him.”She leaned closer again, her eyes turning angry.“Because he’smine!”
Tanya turned and stalked away, her hips swaying.Carys mentally replayed the conversation, wondering if her supervisor had lost her mind.Had Tanyareallyjust claimed to have gone out to dinner with Rafi last night?That was impossible, because he’d been with Carys.
She nearly laughed out loud, but since some of her co-workers were walking in, settling down at their work stations, Carys suppressed her amusement and focused on her work.Yesterday, Rafi had mentioned that he’d liked her ideas, so she pulled up the other products that the company manufactured.She leaned over her sketchbook, her pencil flying over the paper as she fleshed out ideas.She figured that the concept could be a branding solution for them, with all of their advertising having the same feel, the same subconscious message.It would take several years and a more cohesive message, but eventually, all of the products would be thought of with the same positive message.She was thinking along the lines of that sports company’s motto of “just do it”.
However, her thoughts kept straying to last night.And this morning.She’d snuck out early this morning while Rafi slept.That’s when she’d gotten a good look at the hotel in which he was staying.At first, she’d thought it was his home, but when she’d gone down in the elevator, she’d stepped out into a hotel.One of the hotels in which she and Andi had hoped to come and have cocktails one day.After they’d saved up enough money to afford the luxurious treat.
Carys was busy working on several new ideas when she suddenly realized that she was famished!She’d skipped lunch yesterday and…well, she and Rafi had dinner but she hadn’t eaten much of it.Now Tanya was bragging about how she’d had dinner with Rafi last night, and…!
