Chapter 7

Gina

I was sitting in the loo, telling myself to get it together. In about twenty minutes, I would be meeting Harry in the conference room to discuss the proposed ideas for his social media campaign. Yesterday, I spent a few hours putting the plan together and designing a few ads that could work. Overall, I was pleased with how everything looked, but he still needed to approve it.
My palms were damp with sweat and my pulse was racing away. There was no point thinking what would happen if I hadn’t said yes to the date. Harry was sleeping with my boss’s wife, and I shouldn’t even be talking to him outside my office hours.
The work in the agency was very draining and I was constantly tired. Sometimes I couldn’t give my students a hundred percent during lessons. There was not enough time in the day to please everyone. The problems with money were holding me back, and I wasn’t prepared to go to the bank. My credit history wasn’t that great, and I wasn’t willing to risk losing the house if anything went wrong.
I was just about to leave when I heard someone’s voice.
“Yes, I’m in my husband’s office at the moment.” The woman was saying. It was Crystal. I would have recognised that high-pitched tone of voice anywhere. “No, I haven’t heard from him. Harry is avoiding me.”
It was time for me to get back to my desk. I wasn’t ready to listen to this conversation, but I was curious to hear what else she had to say about Mr. H. Andrew Davies would have lost it if he knew that his wife was having an affair. I didn’t like him, but I wouldn’t want to be in his position. From the outside, Davies had the perfect marriage, but now I knew that this wasn’t the case.
“Why? Oh, I don’t know, he keeps saying that he’s busy, but it’s just another excuse,” she continued. “I think I have to motivate him a little more. He used to be in the Special Forces. You know how much I like strong, stubborn men.”
There was a pause and Crystal was listening to whoever was on the other line. It was probably her best friend, Nicole, or the other woman who always followed her everywhere. Davies’s family was wealthy, and Crystal had her own beauty salon. Someone else must have been running it for her, because she was always around, occupying that small office just by the conference room.
“Andrew was talking about it. He backed away from that investment years ago, but we don’t talk about business in bed, you know.”
I kept staring down at my fingers, thinking that Crystal must have known him in the past, that’s why I saw them in that changing room. She obviously wasn’t planning to let him go.
Crystal was agreeing with whoever was on the other line. I couldn’t leave now, because she would know that I had been eavesdropping this entire time.
“I don’t know anything about other women. He shuts me down. We are only screwing, you know. I spent a night with him when Andrew was out of town, and I heard him talking in his sleep,” she added.
Moments later, I heard running water and heard her saying that she had to get going. I waited about a minute to make sure that the loo was empty. I didn’t expect him to go out with me and then leave to screw her. Maybe I should have been honest with him yesterday when he cornered me in the hall. Things like that made me uncomfortable, to say the least.
I flushed the toilet and washed my hands, looking at my own reflection in the mirror. My makeup was intact, but I was flustered.
The meeting was in ten minutes and I wasn’t ready. Besides, I was nervous about tonight. Harry picked the only day that I was free. Davies could go to hell with overtime. I was done being exploited and I needed to start saying no more often. On top of that, Nina still wasn’t talking to me. This morning, the atmosphere was tense, and I needed to have a serious discussion with her. The boyfriend talk didn’t get me anywhere. I really had no idea what was happening to this girl, but I wasn’t planning to let her slip further.
At my desk exactly at ten a.m., I smoothed my pencil skirt and took a few deep breaths. Brittany had told me that Erskine was in the conference room waiting for me. I took my laptop with me and headed there aware that my legs were shaking.
Lust rolled over me when I walked inside. He looked up and smiled brightly. I felt desire already building up in my gut, but I was good at pretending that he didn’t affect me.
“Miss Martinez, it’s good to see you again. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you prepared for me,” he said, and then eyed me up and down, basically undressing me with his eyes.
I sat down, made small talk, and then got on with showing him everything I had been working on. It was hard for me to concentrate, but Harry was on his best behaviour today. He didn’t ask any personal questions or make any sexual remarks. It was like he turned into a different man. He listened, asked questions, and we had a really productive morning.
It seemed like the steamy incident from yesterday didn’t even take place.
“See you tonight, Miss Martinez,” he whispered in my ear when I walked him out. The heat rushed down, moving to every nook and cranny of my body.
The elevator door closed, and I stood there wondering what the hell happened in that room. Okay, so he left happy with everything that I prepared. He wanted me to roll out the campaign straight away. After last night, I was in some ways disappointed that he didn’t flirt. Instead he acted completely professional.
“My, my, this guy is so hot. Every time he comes in, I’m melting to the chair,” Brittany sang, fanning herself with a stack of papers. “And he is so intense, the way he looks at you. It’s like he knows all your secrets.”
“I hear you,” I said and headed back to my office to cool off a bit. I sat down, convinced that Harry wasn’t trying anything because we were having dinner later on. He had what he wanted, but I still had no idea how this whole evening would pan out.

Harry

I popped a couple of pills in my mouth and ran my fingers over my white tie. It was six p.m. and I had a headache. That wasn’t the way I wanted this evening to go. Last night after my encounter in the hall with Miss Martinez, I was buzzing. When I came home, I went straight to the shower to relieve myself. I couldn’t keep walking around with a rock-hard dick.
That didn’t actually help, because I couldn’t stop imagining her in the bedroom. With her skills on the pole and my stamina, we wouldn’t have to leave the room at all. Many people had told me that I wasn’t very patient. I hated waiting for anything or anyone, but women were complicated creatures. If Gina wanted to wait, then I needed to respect that. Who knew what was going on inside that head of hers?
I took a few sips of water and swallowed the painkillers. Most women always wanted something from me: either expensive jewellery, clothes, or an explosive orgasm. Something was telling me that a woman like Gina wasn’t going to be easily impressed. She was self-sufficient and didn’t fall into any category.
Before I joined the army, I had all sorts of plans and aspirations. My parents died when I was young, my uncle was never married, but I knew I wanted to have a family one day. And kids—I was great with kids, always made them laugh, but I kept telling myself I wasn’t ready. I wanted to be ready. Maybe this was the moment I had been waiting for.
I slapped myself hard, leaving a red mark on my cheek. A sudden memory assaulted my mind. It was too late to back away.

Louisa’s tears were rolling down her cheeks. She stood in my kitchen sobbing, and I felt numb. I had no empathy in me, felt no emotions. Fuck, this wasn’t normal.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was just sex, nothing else. She knew from the very beginning that I was incapable of giving her more, of loving her.
It was my fault that I let her believe I had feelings. Now it was all too late.
“Louisa, please, don’t do this. I have told you countless times that I’m a son of a bitch.” I continued saying it. After so many years, I even believed it.
She told me that she loved me yesterday during dinner. I sat there numb, experiencing the trauma from my past all over again. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I had a plan.
Sex between us was off the charts, and I didn’t even realise that we had spent so much time together lately.
Now she had a broken heart, because I wanted to end this relationship. It was time to move on.
She sobbed harder and finally lifted her eyes.
“You’re not a bastard, this is bullshit. You have feelings for me. We can make this work,” she said, and her words only made me angrier. I wasn’t the man for her; my heart was stone cold.
“No, we are not doing this. It’s over, and this was my fault. One night should have been enough.” I kept saying.
“I don’t care about your past, darling. We are already a couple and I love you. There is nothing you can say that will make me change my mind,” she cried, shaking her head.
“It’s over, there is nothing between us. You should leave and forget about me.”

I shook my head, telling myself to get it together. This wasn’t going to happen again. Besides, I didn’t even know if Gina would sleep with me. Panic, yeah, I was making assumptions about her. The bottom line was, Gina wasn’t going to turn into Louisa.
I didn’t want to think about my ex and ruin my evening. She was just a distant memory. I had tried to make it work with her, but my emotions scared me.
Sasha had given me Gina’s address. It turned out that she still lived in the north part of the city, so she must have been there a very long time.
I didn’t think she realised that she never told me where she lived. I wanted to surprise her, showing up at her place early.
The image of Louisa stayed strong in my memory the entire time that I was driving toward the city. She’d cursed me because she’d fallen for me, and I was too stupid to see that she was a great woman. After that day, she told me I would never be happy; she had said I didn’t want to help myself.
When I finally parked the car outside Gina’s house, it was way too early. Maybe she wasn’t even home. I didn’t know what car she was driving. Soon, I gave in to my impatience and I had to see if she was in.
I had no idea what I was doing. Something happened to me last night. We barely knew each other, and I was already doing crazy stuff. She mentioned that she had siblings, and she most likely didn’t want them to know she was going out for a date.
The garden outside was untidy, filled with black bin bags and some old bits of furniture. I didn’t know anything about her circumstances, but she needed a good clean-up.
If this is going to be just sex, then why am I going to so much effort?
Yeah, that was a good question. I hadn’t really dated before, so why the hell did I care about her garden or her background?
Maybe I needed to prove to myself that I could get attached after all. I rang the bell and waited five minutes before a young lad opened the door. For a split second I had a feeling that Sasha had played me. This couldn’t have been the right house.
“Can I help you?” the lad asked. He was tall and wore white trainers with jeans and a grey jumper.
“Yes, I’m here for Gina Martinez, but I think I might have the wrong address,” I muttered, glancing at my watch. The guy narrowed his eyes even more.
“Gina? My sis, Gina?” he repeated with a very thick Scottish accent.
I smiled wider and reached out to shake the young man’s hand.
“Yes, I’m her date.”
Gina’s brother widened his eyes even more, but he did shake my hand.
“Josh, who the hell is that suited guy?” asked someone from behind him.
“You won’t believe it when I tell you. Gina has a date.”