Distracted (3 page)

Kennedy

When I checked my email first thing in the morning, I just knew my eyes had to be playing tricks on me. I hadn’t put my contacts in yet, so maybe my lack of complete 20/20 vision was causing an issue because there was no way I had read what I thought I read in the contract Bryson sent me from his personal email even though I was expecting it from Leslie.

I mean, he couldn’t be serious, right?

Any consensual sex between Mr. Bryson Harris and Ms. Kennedy Wilson may be deemed grounds for immediate termination unless specified beforehand.

I read it a few times over to make sure I didn’t miss the,
“Just kidding”
. But sure enough, that was nowhere to be found.

What kind of cocky son-of-a-bitch would even think about putting something like that in an employee contract?

Only someone like Bryson who could handpick his women - employees included - to meet his every need. Considering he was a NBA champion, Rookie of the Year, GQ cover kind of guy, I really shouldn’t have been surprised. I guess it was just the fact that my name was actually listed in print like I would even
think
about doing such a thing that bothered me.

Not that Bryson couldn’t get it under other circumstances.

He definitely,
definitely
could.

That beard, those mystical eyes, the tattoos…

I bit my bottom lip a little harder to wake me from the daydream.

This was my job, my first opportunity to prove myself, and I refused to risk it all before it could even begin.

As if he could sense my frustration through the wavelengths of the earth, I received a text.

Did you get your contract? -B$

BS is right…

I climbed out of bed, trying not to wake Landon as I headed to the living room to reply.

Kennedy: I did.

Any questions? -B$

In all honesty, nothing had stood out besides that one little thing. In fact, Bryson had set terms that were better than I could’ve imagined. I thought about just saying no and pretending like I hadn’t even seen the part that was lingering in my head. But that would’ve been me punking out as always, so I replied with my true thoughts.

Kennedy: Umm… what’s up with this whole consensual sex thing? Isn’t that unethical?

I waited a few long, anxious moments before multiple texts came through.

No. Unethical is trying to sue for doing something we both enjoyed… thoroughly. -B$

It’s just a protection, that’s all. -B$

No pun intended. ;) -B$

Crap.

Why had I even said anything?

After the night before, I knew it didn’t take much for me to get out of character when it came to Bryson. So how I had managed to set myself up for failure even though he wasn’t physically present was beyond me.

If I was single, I probably would’ve came up with something slick to say back. Something that hinted at, “I’m feeling you too.” But that was hardly the case, so I texted back like a regular employee.

Kennedy: Understood.

I was just getting ready to go back to bed and check on Landon until my phone vibrated in my hand again.

Great. See you later. ;) -B$

I stopped in the middle of the hallway, immediately flashing over to his email to make sure I hadn’t missed any plans or meetings. When I saw there was nothing, and couldn’t think of anything he or Leslie had mentioned off the top of my head, I replied back.

Kennedy: Later? What’s later?

His response came quick.

I’m taking you to dinner to celebrate you accepting the position. -B$

No way.

There was no way I could let Bryson -
my boss, be damned
- take me to dinner. Dinner was way too intimate of a setting to even think about having to survive a whole one alone with him.

Kennedy: You really don’t have to do that, Bryson.

I want to. -B$

I sighed, trying to come up with a way out. It wasn’t really a good look to skip out on getting to know my boss which would more than likely give me better insight on his personal style.

But dinner?

Kennedy: Can we do lunch instead?

At least with lunch, it would be light outside. And since Landon had plans to grade papers all afternoon, going to lunch with my boss wouldn’t sound too sketchy. In fact, he’d probably be proud of me for even mentioning willingly doing something social.

That works too. I’ll send a car around 1. Wear something casual. -B$

Bryson

I was desperate to see where her head was at.

Her texts weren’t giving enough for me to be able to tell if she was picking up on my little hints; if she was feeling the vibe that
I
felt when I was around her. It hardly seemed possible that I had only met her yesterday, but I suppose that helped explain why I couldn’t get her off of my mind.

Kennedy was gorgeous.

She knew that and I knew that, so of course I wanted to fuck her.

Well… actually I take that back.

Kennedy wasn’t the type of girl I could just have sex with and toss to the side. Kennedy was the type of girl I wanted to wine and dine, come up with some corny ass jokes to tell her just to see her smile. The type of girl I wanted sitting courtside at my games before I brought her home for some slow, long love-making to celebrate. She deserved the bubble bath, strawberries, and champagne treatment. Not the quickie in the backseat kind. And from what I could tell about her, she wasn’t exactly the type to get down like that anyway. I mean, even the fact that she wanted to do lunch instead of dinner showed me she was willing to duck and dodge the pleasure to focus on the business. But I had something in store to test her willpower.

I was sure she wasn’t expecting to have lunch at my crib, but I figured it was a good place to start getting to know each other.

For the job that is.

The doorbell rang signaling her arrival and I licked my lips excited to see what her reaction to me was gonna be. I pulled the door open and got an even better reaction than I could’ve imagined. Her eyes slowly scanned my exposed body, right down to the towel wrapped around my waist.

“Up here, Kennedy,” I teased.

Her mocha brown skin turned rosy as she put her hands over her face. “
Oh.
Oh! I’m…
wow
. Can we start over?”

I laughed as I pulled her inside by the hand, shutting the door behind us. Then I gave her the same onceover she had already given me. I quickly learned that her idea of dressing casual was totally different than anything I could’ve thought of. She made her skin-tight jeans and thigh-high boots, with a sequined blazer thrown over a plain tee look fresh out of someone’s print Ad. But considering her occupation, I suppose I should’ve been more specific.

“Well, welcome to my house.”

She looked straight up at my vaulted ceilings as she asked, “You live in this humongous house all by yourself?”

I shrugged. “For now; yeah. Just waiting for the right woman to turn it into a home I guess.”

She flashed her eyes at me like I had said something crazy, but it was the God honest truth regardless of how it may have sounded to her. Having whatever girl I wanted, when I wanted her was getting old. And after falling out with the girl I saw as the closest thing to “right”, a replacement sounded better than ever.

“Makes sense. Now can we talk about why you’re in a towel?”

Easy access.

“I figured I’d give you your first test. To dress me that is.”

She didn’t flinch as she answered, “Oh. Okay. Well where’s your closet?”

“In the bedroom.”

Still no flinching.

“O... kay. So where’s your bedroom?”

“Upstairs,” I said with a flirtatious smile to test her.

She only returned my smile with a politer one as she said, “Lead the way.”

She followed me up the stairs and I paused at the door of my master suite to ask, “You ready to see where the magic happens?”

“Very funny, Bryson. Come on before you catch a cold being out here all naked.”

“Well, I’m not
all
naked. But I can definitely make that happen if that’s what you prefer.”

There’s the flinch.

She gulped before she pushed out, “Towel is fine. Let’s get to the closet.”

I opened the door and allowed her to step in first so I could get a good view of her ass.

Damn, I shouldn’t have done that.

My towel did nothing to hide my natural, bodily reaction to a fine ass woman being in my bedroom.

She looked around with wide eyes as she said, “Wow. This is amazing, Bryson. You actually have pretty good taste.”

I walked over to the closet with Kennedy in tow, turning on the light as I replied, “I wish I could take the credit, but I have to give that to Leslie’s wife. She’s an interior designer.”

She was already sorting through my clothes, but stopped once she realized what I had said. “Wait a minute. Leslie’s a…?”

“Lesbian? Yeah. She finds you just as sexy as I do.”

She brushed off my little compliment as she replied, “Wow. I never would’ve guessed that one.”

I leaned against the center island of drawers as I asked, “What? That I find you sexy as hell?”

Her voice was low as she answered, “No. I guessed that.”

I couldn’t help but tease, “Ohhhh, so I got a little cocky one on my hands?”

She refused to give me her eyes, instead focusing on the clothes as she responded, “Not at all. I just hear you, even when you don’t think I do.”

“So you’re just ignoring me?”

“No. I’m…” she paused, letting her head fall into my shirts that were hung on the top rack of my closet before she continued, “Bryson, I told you already. I’m engaged.”

So I wasn’t hearing things last night. It really should’ve been no surprise that Kennedy was taken. All the good ones were usually off the market.

But I had to take a peek at her hand again before I asked, “If you’re engaged, why aren’t you wearing a ring?”

“It’s… I don’t know.” She resumed her job of finding me an outfit as she said, “I keep forgetting to put it on. Still not use to the whole thing.”

“Ah, so it’s a new engagement. How long have you guys been together?”

She answered short and direct, “A year and a half.”

“Not even two years and he already popped the question? You must have some bomb ass pussy.”

She yanked a shirt down, causing the hanger to fly off the rack as she said, “Excuse me?”

I challenged her, taking the few steps over to where she stood. “That’s the only way you could’ve locked him down that fast. Bomb ass pussy, bomb ass head game…”

“Bomb ass personality?! Jesus, you can’t possibly be this shallow.” She stepped away angrily, going to the side of the closet my pants were kept.

“I was just joking with you, Kennedy. Relax.”

“Whatever. Here, throw this on.” She tossed me the shirt she had pulled down and a pair of jeans from across the room. I dropped my towel right in front of her just for shits and giggles and you would’ve thought she saw a ghost.

She didn’t turn away, instead choosing to cover her eyes with her hands as she screeched, “Bryson! What do you think you’re doing?!”

I shrugged, trying to hold back my laugh as I said, “I’m getting dressed, Kennedy. Throwing on some clothes like you told me to.”

“You could’ve at least let me get out of here first.”

Though that was probably true, I had no problem reminding her, “Kennedy, you’re engaged to be married. If you only have eyes for your future husband, you shouldn’t be worried about my dick; right?”

She could only sigh, knowing I was right. So instead of arguing the facts, she insisted, “Just… give me a warning next time, please.”

Kennedy

Lunch with Bryson was…
nice
.

Though after seeing his dick, I hardly imagined things getting anywhere near back to normal. But they had in a way that made me excited about working with him. He wasn’t always the sexually-charged, cocky jock-type that he appeared to be. He was actually a decent guy, with a more than positive outlook on life.

The time had flown by and since it was getting relatively late and I knew Landon would be checking in soon, I decided to head home. Bryson looked a little disappointed when I told him, like he didn’t want me to go. But I knew for my own sake it was mandatory.

We stood at the door together as I waited for the driver to pull up.

“Considering what you usually wear, I’m surprised you had so many gems in your closet,” I teased.

His eyes bore into mine as he replied, “So you’re one of those passive types, huh? The kind that gives slick, little backhanded compliments?”

“Contrary to popular belief, every woman doesn’t fall into a category. Some women simply don’t unveil every personality trait the first couple of times they meet someone.
Some of us
… some of us like to keep things a mystery until the friendship develops. You know, allow things to unfold.”

“So basically what you’re saying is you’re an undercover freak.”

How in the world…?!

“What?! No! That’s not what I’m saying at all.”

He smirked as he said, “All I heard was unlike most women, you keep your legs closed until you’re comfortable with someone. Is that accurate?”

How do I answer this without cussing him out or sounding ridiculous?

“As true as that may be, that’s still not what I said. And how did we even get to that? We were talking about your wardrobe.”

He flashed me one of his panty-wetting smiles as he said, “My mind tends to deviate when I’d prefer another topic. I apologize.”

I tried not to appear too amused, offering him a smile that only held half of his enthusiasm as I changed the subject. “Well I appreciate the hospitality and you showing me your closet. I have a pretty good idea of how we should move forward, what things we need to add, and what God-awful things we need to get rid of. So just send me your schedule and we can plan for the week accordingly.”

He gave me a nod as he replied, “Will do.”

Before I could get away, he pulled me into a hug that felt so like home I began to relax. With his arms slung against my waist, he gave me a little kiss to my forehead like we were old friends and had done this a million times.

Kennedy, what are you doing?!

I pulled away in disbelief that things had even gotten to that point so fast. But looking at Bryson with his guilty little smirk told me exactly why I had become so vulnerable.

I had to be more careful.

&

“Hey babe. I’m making your favorite.”

I found Landon in the kitchen wearing only an apron and sweatpants slung low against his waist as he stirred his famous homemade sauce on the stove. Between that and the fresh flowers on the counter with a card tucked in the middle, the guilt of spending time with Bryson hit me clean in the chest.

I’m a terrible fiancé.

“
Wow
. It smells so good. But I’m not really hungry. Had a big lunch.” I even put a hand to my stomach to emphasize how full I was.

He kept stirring as he tossed over his shoulder, “Oh yeah? How’d that go?”

I tried to sound nonchalant as I responded, “It went well. Got a good idea of his wardrobe so we can start building a better one.”

He turned the sauce down, wiping his hands with a towel before pulling me slung against his body and telling me, “I’m so proud of you.” Then he sealed his praises with a kiss, the familiarity of his lips resonating with my soul.

But before I could lean in for a second dose, my phone vibrated against the counter. I peeked over Landon’s shoulder to see the message before I was forced to push it to the ground. I just knew my screen was cracked, but that was small scale compared to the disaster that could’ve happened if Landon had seen what popped up.

He slowly looked down to the ground at my sacrificed phone. “Aww damn, how’d that happen?”

I shrugged, acting surprised as if I hadn’t done the damage myself. “I don’t know. I guess it just vibrated right off the counter.”

My little white lie actually worked as he replied, “Well I know a few people that fix electronics on the side at the school. Want me to take it in when I get off work tomorrow?”

“NO! I mean…
no
, it’s fine. I’ll do it. I have time in the morning.”

He smiled, giving me another kiss as he said, “Whatever you say, babe.”

I licked my lips as I watched him take off his apron, revealing his perfectly sculpted chest and v-shaped abs as he tossed it on the counter. Landon was as fine as they came, a sight for sore eyes really. But I’d be damned if my mind wasn’t on the picture message I was forced to destroy my phone over.