Mr.arrogant(27)

The article that followed under the suggestive headline detailed how  Jonathon Cross and Susan Grayson had become engaged over the the last  week, and how their families would be united; two business magnates  combining beds, homes, and eventually, businesses. The speculation on  just the business aspect of such a merger was unprecedented.

Andrea watched her with wary eyes, and reached for a box of tissue, holding it at the ready.         

     



 

Naomi shook her head as her heart almost stopped beating in her chest  and her eyes flooded and blurred her vision. She couldn't make it all  the way through the article. "That can't be … ." She trailed off quietly  and Andrea yanked a tissue out of the box and held it out for Naomi.  "There's just no way. He can't stand her. There's no way he would marry  her."

"Are you sure about that? Is that just what he told you so he could get  into your pants or do you actually know that?" Andrea pulled two more  tissues from the box and handed them to Naomi, as Naomi wiped at her  face with the first tissue.

"I'm pretty sure!" Naomi said, choking on her own words. "I mean, I don't think he was lying to me."

"When have you seen them together?" Andrea asked, eyeing her carefully.

Naomi held the tissue to her eyes as her throat burned and her chest  tightened. She sniffed and coughed and took a deep breath. "I saw them  at the function at his home. She came up to us and practically dragged  him away from me. They went to talk to their fathers." She answered.

Andrea nodded. "Yeah, so she dragged him away. Then did he ever go back to you at the party after she did that?"

Naomi shook her head. "No. He didn't. He stayed with her and then I  left. I wasn't there much longer after she took him off like she did."

Andrea nodded again. "Then wasn't there the time at the office?" she pressed.

"Yeah, there was the day she came to the office and went right in like  she owned the place. I caught her in his arms, and she was trying to  kiss him. At least, that's what he said; that she was trying to kiss  him." She said it quietly, her mind going back over the horrible moment  that day when she saw them together. "I saw him push her away when he  saw me come in."

Andrea leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees. "You believe him?" she asked pointedly.

Naomi nodded. "I did …  I guess …  I guess that I do. He's not a liar,  Andrea. He told me he can't stand her and he doesn't want to be with  her. He told me that she keeps pushing him to be with her."

She stared at the newspaper in her hand and the lengthy article about  the two of them being engaged. She shook her head. "It can't be true. I  have to talk with him about this. I have to find out what's going on."  She said as pain twisted her heart. "What if it's not true?" she asked,  finally looking up at Andrea.

"What if it is true?" Andrea asked her in return.

Everything in Naomi came to a sudden halt. What if it was true, she  wondered. What if Jonathon really was engaged to Susan Grayson? What  would happen to her and Jonathon? They couldn't very well keep up their  affair. She had known that it would come to an end, but she had no idea  it would come so fast. She thought that she might have more time to be  with him, to continue their affair, and to love the man with her body  that she loved with her heart.

Looking back down at the newspaper and the image of a younger couple,  she had to guess that it must be true, but something about it just  seemed off. Why wouldn't the image of them be newer? Why would he tell  Naomi that he had no interest in Susan and then get engaged to her?

She looked up at Andrea and lifted her chin bravely. "Thank you so much  for bringing this to me. You were right about it being easier to see  here at my home, rather than finding out about it somewhere else, some  other way. I'm going to talk with him about it tomorrow when I get to  work and see what he says." She was sure that there had to be some kind  of answer somewhere; something that made some sort of sense.

Andrea sighed and pushed herself up out of the chair that she had been  sitting in. She reached her arms out and hugged Naomi and then walked to  the front door. "Well girl, you let me know what happens. I'm going to  be waiting on standby to hear what happens with this. I just can't  believe it. You let me know what is really going on, and you let me know  if there is anything you need, okay?"

Naomi nodded and hugged her back. "I will. I love you. Thank you again."  She told Andrea goodbye and then took the newspaper and sat back down  on the sofa, staring at the image of the man she was in love with,  holding a woman she could not stand. She read the article over and over,  until not one word of it made any sense to her, and every letter became  jumbled and meaningless.         

     



 

She fell into a troubled sleep and woke with a heavy heart.

When she got into the office the next day, she kept to herself for the  first part of the morning, and then when she knew that Jonathon had a  small break in his schedule, she walked into his office and closed the  door behind her, locking it. It had become her habit to do that every  time she walked into his office, because their love affair was built on  moments of stolen bliss and swift passion.

Jonathon looked up at her and smiled widely. "There she is. How are you  doing today?" he asked, rising up from his seat and walking toward her.  He wrapped his arms around her and covered her mouth with his, kissing  her tenderly and sweetly as he savored her.

She kissed him back, carefully at first, but as the flames began to rise  in her, she abandoned the care and closed her arms tightly around him.  When they surfaced for air, he looked down at her and grinned. "You are  the absolute highlight of my day. Nothing makes me happier than you do."  He told her with a grin.

She bit her lip and looked down, and then raised her eyes to meet his again. "Is that true?" she asked cautiously.

He blinked in surprise and looked slightly taken aback. "Of course it's true. Why wouldn't it be true?" he queried.

Naomi sighed and handed the newspaper to him. She had been clutching it  in her hand and he hadn't even seen her holding it as she came into his  office.

"What's this?" he asked curiously, taking it from her and looking down  at it. She saw his face contort as the expression of happiness he had  there melted into one of frustration and anger. His cheeks grew red and  he pursed his lips together tightly.

"I can't believe this!" he growled angrily, his eyes skimming over the  words in the article. He reached the end of it and folded the paper and  then flung it into the trash can beside his desk. Naomi had never seen  him angry, and it made her heart pound a little faster.

"So, are you engaged to her?" she asked hesitantly, twisting the tips of her fingers together as her eyes followed him.

He turned and faced her, his eyes dark with anger. "No." he said  adamantly. "I promise you that I am not engaged to her. This is my  father's idea of control. I will not date her, and I will never marry  her!" he swore vehemently.

Naomi felt a surge of relief course through her, washing away the panic  and stress that had tied her body, her heart, and her mind up in knots  since Andrea had put the paper into her hands.

"Naomi, I don't want you to be bothered at all by that," he said, his  voice calming some as he walked to her and swept her up into his arms.  "I promise you that I am not marrying her. I don't want her." he vowed,  looking down into Naomi's sky blue eyes, his gaze falling to her dark  full lips. "I want you. I can't get enough of you. There is no way that I  would let a woman like you go to marry a woman like her. There's no  chance."

He didn't hesitate at all, but lowered his mouth down to hers and kissed  her hard and hungrily, and as he moved his lips against hers, she felt  herself melting into him and she knew that there was nothing at all that  she needed to worry about. The only thing that she would have to do is  admit to him that she was in love with him, and she would.

But she planned to wait for another time when he wasn't angry, when he  wasn't moving his mouth down her neck to her breasts, when he wasn't  pulling her clothes off and tossing them to the floor …  when he wasn't  spreading her thighs and thrusting himself as far as he could into her  body and taking complete and total control over her, making her forget  everything but him.

It would wait until they could spend a romantic weekend together at the bed and breakfast.



A few days later, the fuss and flurry of phone calls and visitors to the  office congratulating Jonathon on his engagement began to die down and  things had almost returned to some semblance of normalcy when Phillip  called in to Jonathon's office and the call went to Naomi because  Jonathon was on the other line.