The Lesson

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THE LESSON

~~~~~***~~~~~

by

Bella D’Amato

Copyright 2016 Bella
D’Amato

This eBook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If
you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
purchased for your use only, then please return and purchase your
own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this
author.

DEDICATION

This story is dedicated to my two main men,
Peaches and Cream.

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THE LESSON

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CHAPTER ONE

Beep
.

Bianca Russo typed away, transcribing her
supervisor’s speech for his upcoming convention in Las Vegas, when
she heard the social media alert from her diminished web page. She
ignored it for a moment, concentrating on the speech. Martin Trayne
was the best salesman within Montoya Healthcare, the large
insurance company they worked for. She had worked hard as his
assistant, knowing she could learn enough from him to move into
sales herself.

She knew there were no specific office
policies against checking your social media accounts at work, but
she also knew they didn’t like employees to spend too much time on
social media during office hours. It was an unspoken rule most of
the employees ignored.

Bianca rarely worried about the time she
spent checking her Facebook or Twitter accounts since she knew
there wasn’t another administrative assistant within the company
better than her. No one managed paperwork better than her, no one
understood the intricacies of networking better than her, no one
maintained their supervisors schedule better than her, and no one
worked harder.

Plus, she didn’t look at social media that
much anyway.

Besides,
she
thought,
I have a life outside the office.
Everyone does. They can’t expect the two worlds to stay separate
forever.

Really?
A
little voice inside her asked.
Do you
really have a life outside this office? The only reason you’re so
good at what you do is because you have no life. Work IS your
life.

Go away,
she
told the voice.

Still, she glanced around to make sure no
one lingered near her desk before she opened the page to see what
the message was about.

What she saw stopped her in her tracks.

The alert was for a message sent from
Facebook, not an unusual occurrence, but what
was
unusual was who it came from.

Mason Freeman.

Mason
Freeman
. There was a name she hadn’t thought of in
years.

Liar,
said
the little voice.
You think about him all
the time.

Go away,
she
told the voice as she diminished the page and sat back in her
chair. Mason.

She smiled at first as she thought of him,
then frowned a little as she remembered more.

Mason hadn’t been her first crush, but he’d
been her only love. She had never loved a man like she loved him,
and when things had ended, she withdrew from dating and romance
altogether. Love was too damn hard.

It wasn’t that she lacked for attention. In
fact, her problem was the exact opposite. As hard as she tried to
disguise her lush curves under shapeless suits, and pulled her
thick ebony curls back into a severe bun, her full lips and heavy
lidded eyes the color of emeralds betrayed her. Men often leaned in
a little too close, or shook her hand a little too long. It
happened at work all the time, almost every salesman taking the
time to brush up against her on purpose.

Of course, she maintained a professional
demeanor at all times, and regarded them all with a cool
disinterest until they eventually gave up and moved on. The only
man at work who hadn’t tried to take advantage was Mr. Trayne,
another reason Bianca liked working for him.

She still lived in Portland Oregon, her
hometown, born and raised. She liked the city and saw no reason to
leave.

She’d met Mason at Portland State University
as a fresh twenty-one year old taking her first business
classes.

Bianca had never been overly ambitious, but
she found college to be a liberating experience after living in her
grandfather’s quiet household. She loved him, truly she did, but he
didn’t offer much excitement for a young woman like Bianca.

Her parents had died in a car accident when
she was a toddler, and she had no memory of them. Nonno Joe, her
grandfather, had been the only family she had left. He had taken
her in, raised her and loved her, but it wasn’t until college that
she began to realize there was anything outside the five o’clock
dinners and reruns of Jeopardy before bedtime.

Nonno Joe had been so proud of her when she
started at the university. “The first Russo to go to college,” he
told her, his chest puffing with emotion. “I’m so proud of you, my
sweet girl. I was blessed the day you came into my life.”

Bianca would smile and kiss him on the cheek
as she drove off each morning to class, promising to pay
attention.

It was in economics that she first saw
Mason. He sprawled in his seat more than he sat, choosing a desk in
the last row so he could lean back against the wall. Bianca walked
into the classroom the first day and saw him, his head lolling back
against the wall, seemingly asleep.

She frowned a little and shook her head in
disapproval just as he opened his eyes and stared directly at
her.

Her own eyes widened when his caramel
colored eyes captured hers for a moment, then he smiled lazily,
exposing gleaming white teeth. Bianca had very little experience
with men, but even she recognized his smile as that of a predator.
Everything about him invited her in; his broad shoulders, dark
chocolate locks brushing his forehead, his deliberate five o’clock
shadow, wide jaw and cheekbones slashing across his face like
carved granite. For a moment, her imagination ran wild as she
imagined him unclothed and she couldn’t stop herself from blushing
when she finally gained control of her thoughts.

He grinned wider, the light glinting off his
teeth.

He knows,
she
thought as her heart skipped a beat.
He
knows exactly what I was thinking.

He continued to smile at her as his gaze
dropped to her lips, her neck, her chest, all the way down to her
feet and back up again. By the time his eyes met hers again, she
knew he was picturing her unclothed as well.

She frowned, making sure he caught her
disapproving look before she lifted her chin defiantly and found a
seat, turning her back to him.

The rest of the hour she could barely
concentrate. She was certain he watched her the entire time,
although how she knew, she couldn’t say. It was all she could do to
not turn around to check. She forced herself to stay still the
entire class, and by the end she felt as if she could jump right
out of her own skin.

When the class finally ended, she leapt from
her seat and hurried for the door without looking at him again. She
burst out of the building, squinting under the bright fall sun, and
breathed deeply as she paused on the stairs. The fresh air calmed
her for a moment until she heard a deep voice behind her.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re running
away from me?”

She gasped and spun around, nearly falling
over as she ran face first into his chest.

He laughed. “Easy there,” he told her as his
broad hands grasped her shoulders, steadying her. She held her
breath as she looked up. And continued to look up. At five seven,
Bianca was by no means a short woman, but he was easily half a foot
taller than her.

By the time her eyes reached his face, she
found him smiling down at her, one eyebrow quirked, giving him a
rakish expression.

“I- I-,” she stammered, and found she
couldn’t speak.
I must look like an idiot
with my mouth hanging open.

His grin widened, and he reached over to
place a finger under her chin and gently closed her mouth. “I’m
Mason,” he told her as his thumb lingered just a moment too long on
her jaw after her mouth was closed. “Mason Freeman.”

As he withdrew his hand, she could swear the
same thumb brushed ever so softly against her lips, but the
sensation was so slight and over so quickly, she couldn’t be sure.
Her heart beat an erratic tattoo inside her chest.

“This is where you tell me your name too,”
he laughed again. “I’m Mason,” he pointed at his chest, “and you
are …” He pointed at her, his finger grazing the collar of her
blouse, and Bianca wanted to scream with embarrassment when she
felt her breasts tighten and pull at the mere nearness of his
hand.

He knows,
the
small voice inside her jeered.
He knows
exactly what he’s doing to you.

Shut up,
she
told the voice, and managed to finally muster up a whispered
response. “Bianca.” She tried to swallow but her throat felt like
sandpaper. “My name is Bianca Russo.”

“Bianca,” he smiled. “A sweet Italian name
for a sweet Italian girl.” He reached for her hand, his thumb
grazing her palm, the sensation shooting through her body all the
way to her core. “Will you let me take you to dinner, sweet
Bianca?”

Staring at him, she knew he was trouble, saw
it in the playful glint of his eyes and the mischievous grin
dancing across his face, but as his thumb caressed her hand she
found herself powerless to say no.

Instead, she nodded wordlessly.

“Tonight?” he pushed.

She nodded again, writing her address down
on a scrap of paper before fleeing down the brick stairs of the
campus building.

CHAPTER TWO

What am I going to tell
Nonno Joe?
Bianca thought as she drove home in her
battered white Toyota Corolla.
I know
nothing about him.

When she reached home, she went about her
afternoon routine, washing clothes, doing homework and preparing
dinner for her grandfather. They sat at the small Formica table,
Nonno Joe eating heartily while Bianca pushed her noodles around
with a fork.

“Are you sick?” Nonno Joe asked. His brow
wrinkled as he looked at her still-full plate.

“No.” She shook her head. She knew she had
to tell him before Mason showed up at the door and rang their bell,
so she took a deep breath and forced the words out. “Actually,
Nonno, I … I have a date tonight.”

His fork paused halfway to his mouth, but
after a moment it continued on its path and he chewed thoughtfully.
“Do you like this boy?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I barely know
him. He seems nice.”

He glanced at her and she felt her face
flush.

“Ah,” he said with a knowing look.
“Handsome, is he?”

“I suppose,” she answered with reluctance.
She didn’t want Nonno Joe to think she only liked him because he
was good looking, but if he asked too many questions, he’d realize
quickly she knew nothing about Mason.

“Well, you should wrap up that food,” he
pointed at her plate with his fork. “You don’t want to spoil your
dinner and make him think you’re a picky eater. Men like women who
aren’t afraid of their food.”

Bianca’s jaw dropped as he grinned at
her.

“What?” he asked with a shrug. “You think I
forgot what it was like to be a young man?”

“I guess I never thought about it.” She
blinked as she considered it.

“Tsk!” he admonished her. “Your nonna was
the sweetest girl in my entire neighborhood. And she picked me,” he
told her with a smile of pride. “I know a thing or two about life
and love, and I can tell you that life isn’t worth living without
love. Go,” he shooed her. “Go get ready for your young man.”

She wrapped her supper in aluminum foil and
scurried off to her room to change her clothes and brush her hair.
After fussing with her clothes, she finally decided on pale pink
blouse and black slacks. Simple and classy, not too revealing, and
it allowed her to maintain a polished demeanor.

About twenty minutes later, she heard Nonno
Joe’s voice calling for her down the hallway. “My sweet girl, your
friend is here.”