Lori dropped her fork on her plate with a clink. I gave her the most confused look I could muster. She finished chewing her food and then stared at me long and hard.
"No."
My adrenaline pumped, and I couldn't help but be nervous. Was I breaking the rules, with my boss? Would I be fired?
"No, he doesn't. Not to say he hasn't, but he hasn't in quite a long time, like years. Is he… is he teaching you?"
"Yes. Should he not be?"
"Oh, it's his right to teach whomever he pleases, but…"
She paused for a long time, searching for the right words.
"But, he doesn't because it always becomes too personal."
I flushed.
Personaclass="underline" the word that so easily described every bit of Mr. Felton and me.
"But you're different, Jennifer. He handpicked you. He sees something in you that he likes, not to say that he shouldn't, but he's our boss. It's dangerous territory. Just be careful. Okay?"
"Dangerous, like how? Will he hurt me?"
"Oh no. He won't hurt you. Mr. Felton would never let anyone hurt his girls, not even him. The only thing that might hurt is your heart. Build a wall. He isn't an asshole bastard. It's just, he is the kind of guy that women fall in love with."
"I see, and I would like to disagree with you on the asshole bastard thing. He is pretty assholish and bastardish."
"Assholes are kind of sexy, I think. Training is important, especially since you know you're a virgin," she whispered. Then she continued talking at her normal volume. "But don't take anything personally. Block your emotions like we learned in etiquette training. He is only preparing you for your Number One. You must remember that, no matter what happens."
"I won't fall in love with him. He's too much of a dick for me." I had to say it out loud. I had to believe that it was true.
"If you know what's best, you'll avoid the mention of love at all costs."
"This morning, I joked about Mr. Felton getting married, and he acted weird. Why?"
The waitress, Sue Mary, arrived with another round of mimosas. We thanked her as we sipped from mismatched champagne glasses.
Lori leaned over the table and whispered.
"He was married before."
"Really? Oh my god. Did she divorce him or something?"
"She died, Jennifer. He moved to the States for her. They fell madly in love. She was pregnant with their firstborn, and a few months before she was due, she was involved in a fatal car accident. It killed both her and Mr. Felton's unborn son."
"Oh my god. I feel horrible."
"Don't worry about it. He's still sensitive about it, and it's been wow, six years, I think? He was young, like your age, when it happened. I secretly think that's why he hates love so much. It was a tragic love story like a modern day Romeo and Juliet. I don't think The Elite would be here today if it hadn't happened. Felton created the business to busy himself into forgetting about his wife and son, but I don't think it worked."
I couldn't speak. I was such a fucking idiot. Out of everyone in the house, I knew what it felt like to lose someone close. No wonder he turned cold. I sipped my drink, hoping to drink my dumbness away.
Changing the subject abruptly, Lori said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Luke has a weekend getaway scheduled for the two of you."
"What?" I semi-yelled.
"Shh. I overheard Jesse telling Mr. Felton early this morning in the kitchen. You'll find out this afternoon, and leave in the morning, so try to act surprised?"
"Where are we going?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm sure it will be somewhere sexy. Damn, that man is gorgeous."
I smiled thinking about Luketon and I playing on the swing set, watching the light show at the park.
We finished our mimosas, paid our ticket, and tipped Sue Mary a few hundred dollars. The old woman loved us, which is why she made our drinks so damn strong.
Lori and I arrived back at the same time, but she left quickly afterward to meet a client. The afternoon crept in, and the shadows of the house moved across the lawn.
Knowing that I would be somewhere else tomorrow gave me a thrill. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. And then the thought of my parents appeared, and the happiness subsided. Damn it. I pulled myself from the dark place I went when I thought of them, closed my eyes, and then opened them quickly.
I would be somewhere else tomorrow. I tried to focus on that and that alone. The four mimosas I drank helped.
Not a soul stirred in the house. Not a car in the driveway. Quietness lingered.
A door closed upstairs and footsteps softly pounded down the hall. I sipped a bottle of water at the kitchen table as I checked the outrageous amount of spam email on my phone.
Mr. Felton walked to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water, and sat across from me at the table. I gave a half smile and then returned my attention back to my phone. He continued to stare.
"What?"
"You're always thinking about something. Even as you do what you're doing, you are always somewhere else. Your gears are always turning, aren't they?"
"Just wondering how I got on all of the spam email lists. Must be all the porn I'm subscribed to."
He chuckled and almost spit his water out on me.
"Watch it, buddy, don't get me wet."
He gave me that smile along with the look that said he would rip the clothes right off of my body if he could.
He swallowed, and then so did I. The tension went from slack to tight in five seconds. The next thing I knew, he was pushing his seat in and moving toward me. I stood as he stood beside me, my heart beating five hundred miles per hour, faster than V could drive, faster than I could imagine.
Mr. Felton moved my chair and lifted me onto the kitchen table, sliding everything that was in his way onto the floor. He laid me across the cold oak. His lips met my neck, and his fingers trailed up and down my arms. My dress found its way up my thighs, and his hands followed suit.
"No panties? You are scandalous, Ms. Downs. You scandalous little virgin."
"Shut up," I said.
His kisses, his touch, the intensity of his wanderlust across my body made me instantly wet. He continued to touch me in naughty places, playing with me. Placing one finger on the outside of my sex and then trailing around it slowly only to make my insides quake and beg for him.
"Do you like it?" he whispered in my ear. I nodded my head, pleading with my eyes.
"Tell me," he said.
"I fucking love it."
"Tell me what you want me to do to you."
I gulped and sat up on the table. The edge of it pressing into my butt, making indents. The slight pain prickled, and I reveled in it. I had never told a man what I wanted him to do, but there was a naughty inside girl that wanted, needed to be free. A naughty girl who desired to be fucked and wanted to be completely submissive to Mr. Felton, having him fulfill my sexual desires.
"You know what I want," I said as I slowly undid each button of his shirt and trailed my hands over his abs. He closed his eyes with delight, but I wanted to stare into them because I knew what he wanted.
He pounced on top of me and held my hands tight above my head. I opened my legs wide, and he thrust his hardness within his suit pants against me. My insides throbbed with a want so powerful that I moaned.
"Is this what you want?" He thrust harder on me, and I wrapped my legs around him.
"Yes. Yes," I panted and begged.
My hips naturally moved in motion, and I wanted nothing more than Mr. Felton to take me, to pound me, to become the rightful owner of my virginity.
"You want to be fucked, don't you? Tell me. Tell me what you want."
"I want you to fuck me, sir. I want you to take me right here on this fucking table. I want to feel you inside of me. I want you to think of me every time you sit at this table to eat dinner. Or drink tea. Or eat a fucking biscuit. Now."