I giggled while resting my head on his shoulder, positioning it so that I had a perfect view of the tennis bracelet. It was easily the most beautiful piece of jewelry I had ever owned. But the more I stared at it, the more I understood it for what it most likely was: a way to win me over, either for dating or just sex.
I refuse to end up like Eva, sobbing uncontrollably over some guy.
So, I straightened my shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes. “Well, I can’t thank you enough, Jorge. It’ll go so well with some of my new work clothes. After being promoted, I figured it was a good excuse to go shopping.”
He picked up on what I was doing, which only seemed to excite him.
As I droned on about my career goals, the two of us spent the rest of the evening dancing around the ballroom. I tried to break away a few times to speak with family and friends, but Jorge was his usual magnetic self. Not once did he look at any of the other women, not even the ones who were wearing significantly more expensive dresses than myself. He planted all of his attention on me.
And that made him even more attractive.
By the time the party was over, I had both a strong buzz and sore feet. “Well, looks like I’m not driving home tonight.”
Jorge tilted his head as he wrapped his arm around my waist. “I’ll gladly drive you home, Ginger. Besides, we live at the same property, remember?”
By the time his Bentley pulled into our parking lot, my head was spinning like crazy, and I was riding a major high. The entire evening had been an enormous success. Guadalupe and Yuslan had pulled the party off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have had a good time. Margo and Eva spent most of the evening discussing her upcoming wedding between Eva’s sobbing, and I had spent nearly all of it pressed up against Jorge.
He walked me to my condo and made sure that I got inside. And just as I was about to close the door, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. “I’ll call you Tuesday evening.”
All I could do was smile while shutting the door, and as it clicked shut, I realized my head was spinning even more so than before.
It must be from all of the champagne. Yeah, just too much champagne.
4
Jorge
Four Days Later
There were many perks to working from home: staying in my pajamas, not having to beat rush-hour traffic, and not having to smell other people’s food wafting from the break room. One of the worst culprits was my secretary. While she was a hard worker and one of the few employees I’d trust with my life, she ate fish nearly every damn day. Her excuse about the horrid smell of her microwaved salmon was its health benefits, but I was close to instituting a no-fish policy in the office.
That was what was running through my mind as I powered up my laptop, the only aroma being my Colombian coffee and a blueberry bagel. But my favorite benefit, however, was not having people know that I was at my desk. Whether it was in Antwerp or Miami, employees flooded my office within seconds of my sitting down. And nothing had been so crucial that my secretary couldn’t have taken care of it, had they only gone to her in the first place.
Once I logged onto the network, I groaned at the number next to my email icon: over a two-hundred messages were waiting for me. The only ones that actually got through to me were those that my assistants couldn’t handle since they had access to my primary account. My secondary email was so private that only a handful of people even knew of its existence.
I overheard some workman talking in the hall outside my door. They were repairing the pool nearby, which was fine by me. Working so many hours didn’t give me nearly enough time to go swimming, which was one of my favorite hobbies. And I couldn’t help but wonder what Ginger would look like in a sexy bikini, both of us drinking margaritas on the beach or beside the rooftop pool. The thought alone caused me to get a bit hard between my legs, so I shook my head and focused on work.
There was far too much on my plate to be getting sidetracked.
One of the organizations was the De Veers Diamond Group. I had inherited a part of it from my father, and it dealt with several diamond mines in Africa. My eyes gravitated to that email first. Since I had such a personal investment in it, I quickly read over their concerns.
Long story short, the miner’s union was demanding an increase in wages. The person who handled that for me was Ria, so I shot her a message on our interoffice communicator. Her status was available, and she usually replied quickly. But there was not even a peep from her that morning.
So, I pulled out my cell phone and sent her a text message. When several minutes passed and she still hadn’t gotten back to me, I grumbled to myself while calling her office phone, dreading her voice so early in the morning. It merely rang and rang, then went to her voicemail.
“Ria, it’s Jorge. I’m forwarding you an email from De Veers Diamond Group. It’s about the laborers working in the mines in Africa. They’re demanding an increase in wages, so please take care of it.”
I poured myself another cup of coffee while awaiting her response. In the past, she’d always been excited about talking with me.
Nothing.
So, I called her cell phone and, of course, got her voicemail.
“Ria, it’s Jorge. I find it hard to believe that you’re not available. Anyway, I just sent you an email from De Veers Diamond Group. Message or call me back to verify you’re taking care of it.”
My personal, vested interest in the diamond group was too big not to address the issue immediately. I stood to lose millions of dollars if it weren’t taken care of because those miners were paramount to our operation. So, when I hadn’t heard from her in over an hour, I sent my own damn reply authorizing her to start negotiations with their union leader ASAP. Then I spent the rest of the day wondering what the hell Ria was doing and praying the workers wouldn’t just walk out without agreeing to start negotiations.
I breathed a sigh of relief when, at fifteen minutes to five, De Veers emailed me back, confirming they agreed to continue mining operations while negotiations got underway.
