“Do you think I’m too young for you?” I bit my lip and he laughed.
“If anyone would have asked me how young I would date, I never would have said 22 before I met you.”
“Oh.” I smiled weakly. “And now?”
“And now, I don’t think age matters.”
“So you’d date someone younger than 22?”
“Oh, hell no.” He laughed. “I have a reputation. I’d have nothing in common with someone younger.”
“I see.”
“So you’re mine now, Katie.” He gazed deeply into my eyes. “Move in with me and let me spoil you.” I kissed him then because I didn’t know what to say. How could I tell him that I lived in a dorm on campus? How could I tell him that I was 18 and that there was no way in hell my parents would approve of me cohabitating with a man almost twice my age? A man who had taken my virginity, a man they had never met!
“So, where shall we put the orchid?”
“In the kitchen, by the window.” I pulled away from him slowly. “They like light.”
“Good idea.” He reached into his pocket and smiled at me. “I have something else for you.”
My face went white as I saw him pulling his hand out, oh God, I thought, he’s going to propose.
“Here is a set of keys.”
“Keys?” I looked at him blankly and then laughed as I realized what they were for. “Oh, thank you.”
“Now, let’s go to bed.”
“To bed?”
“I need to have you now. I’ve been dreaming of making love to you since you left.”
“Oh, I thought we were going to eat?”
“You want to eat?” He looked incredulous.
“I’m a bit hungry.” I nodded and then my stomach growled. His eyes crinkled and he laughed heartily before he grabbed my up and swung me around,
“Then eat you shall.” He kissed my forehead and put me back down. “I love you, Katie.” He whispered into my ear. I melted against him and kissed him back passionately. It was the first time he had said those words to me, and it gave me a heady feeling. I stared at the orchids as his hands rubbed my back and smiled. The orchids signaled a change in our relationship; a change I was excited about, even if I wasn’t quite sure how everything was going to work out.
“Are you here for the orientation?” A sharp voice questioned me, and I looked up with a tight smile.
“Yes, I am. Katie Raymond from the New York office.”
“Okay, let me find your packet.” The lady looked back at me with glassy blue eyes, her red hair cut in a sharp bob. She had a nametag on that read Priscilla and I thought the name suited her. A bitchy name for a bitchy-looking person.
“Here.” She handed me a folder roughly. “Walk down the hallway to the elevator, go up to the tenth floor and get out. You’ll see the signs to show you to your first meeting.”
“Thanks,” I nodded and was about to say more, but she was already speaking to the person behind me. I walked to the elevator uncertainly, feeling out-of-place. I didn’t fit in here. Sometimes I wondered if I was cut out for the business world. I waited a few minutes for the elevator and walked in slowly. Part of me wanted to run out and catch a plane back home and just look for another job. I didn’t even bother looking up when the elevator stopped at the next floor. I was debating whether I should just go home when I realized that whoever had entered the elevator hadn’t pressed a button. It was then that I looked up. It was then that my life flashed before my eyes. I fell back against the wall as I stared into his face. He looked different, but he also looked the same. Everything about this moment was so much worse and so much more powerful than I had imagined it would be.
“Hello, Katie.”
“Hello, Brandon.” I whispered and stared at his face, trying to memorize every line and hair for future reference. He took a step toward me, and his hands rested on my shoulders. I swallowed hard and looked up so that our eyes were connected. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine softly.
“That’s for the memories.” He whispered and I smiled at him weakly, tears filling my eyes. I couldn’t believe he’d remembered that line. It had been so many years ago that he’d first said it.
Chapter 3
“That’s for the memories.” Brandon pushed me against the elevator wall as soon as the door closed.
“What memories?” I stared at him, wide-eyed.
“The ones we’re about to make.”
“Huh?”
“Shh!” He placed a finger against my lips. “If you make noise, people may hear.”
“Hear what?” I stared at the glint in his eyes. “Brandon, what are you thinking?”
“You know how I’ve always dreamed of office sex?”
“Uh huh.”
“So, we’re about to have some.”
“We’re not in the office.” I shook my head and then his meaning dawned on me. “What if someone comes in?” I looked at the doorway in a panic.
“No one will come in.” He grinned. “I put a sign on the doors, and we’re stopped right now.”
“Oh my God, Brandon.” My face went bright red. “I don’t know about this.”
“I’m a bad influence, aren’t I?” He bent down and sucked on my neck. “But I just want to have you everywhere.”
“You can have me everywhere in the apartment.” I laughed. “Everywhere and anywhere.”
“Now that we live together, that’s not so much fun.” His fingers ran up my shirt. “That’s safe sex.”
“I thought you were all about safe sex.” I raised an eyebrow at him and he growled as his fingers slipped under my bra and squeezed my ni**les. “Oh,” I moaned.
“You know you want to.” He unbuttoned my shirt, bent his head, and took my nipple in his mouth.
“Oh, Brandon.” I moaned and my hands squeezed his arm muscles. “How can I say no?”
“You can’t. You’re just as insatiable as I am,” he growled as his hand slipped in between my legs. “I’m glad you wore a skirt today.”
“You chose my outfit.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Well, I wanted to see you in your new skirt.”
“Uh huh.”
“And your new thong.” He licked his lips and I laughed, not quite believing how different my life was right now. I had been ‘living’ with Brandon now for two weeks and it was working out quite well. We had a rule where we kept work at work and so I didn’t have to discuss what was going on in the office if I didn’t want to. Brandon had been aghast when I had moved in with one lonely suitcase, I’d made some excuse up about my not having much stuff, which was true: all the furniture belonged to Columbia University. He’d felt so bad for me that he had taken me shopping and showered me with clothes and underwear. I felt a bit like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, only I didn’t mind. He was my boyfriend, not my pimp, and he loved me. It was all okay if he loved me. I mean, I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. I’d never felt so special before, so loved. It almost made me wonder why I had put so much time and effort into my studies in high school, when I could have been dating and having fun. Wasn’t this what life was about? Living and feeling? Not just reading and researching all day. Though, I knew Meg and the others were deeply concerned about the direction my life was going in.