Broken Obsession - Part Two Page 6

  And that was downright scary.

  Chapter EIGHT

  Occasionally Philip Aldridge, Eduardo’s boss, asked him to meet the new associate when one was hired into the law firm. Get a feel for the person behind the resume; grill the new attorney on their background and dedication to the law. Eduardo was great at grilling; very good at excavating someone’s hidden character to the surface and glad to do so.

  But the moment she walked into his office—he knew he was in trouble. Stacey Somers, formerly, Stacey Mitchell had been the virgin that got away.

  Stacey Mitchell was his high school girlfriend, also his vice president; a position held under him when he was the senior class president and Eduardo always wished that she was beneath him physically.

  Stacey was a devoted Christian back in high school and held off for marriage. Bringing each other to a sizzling stage, but the girl would never fully succumb. Eduardo was always left limited and frustrated from Stacey not giving him what he really wanted; so by being young, he broke it off immediately to go and search for a girl who would. He vowed that he would never allow another female to yank the reigns of convictions like this girl once did. He knew he had broken her heart; several of her friends at school would corner him and deliver him letters that she had written. Inside, Stacey had poured her heart out and confessed that she was a virgin and that God had wanted her to wait to give her husband her virginity. She let him know that she was in love with him and if he wanted her to wait, she promised she would never allow another boy to touch her ever again until they were married. Good God, she was willing to save herself for him? Eduardo was just a kid, barely eighteen and didn’t want to hold that kind of responsibility; didn’t want to know he had that kind of control. He cut it off immediately and found a cheap girlfriend and Stacey left school a couple of months later, claiming to further her education at a Christian school up in Northern California.

  Stacey Somers at present hadn’t changed much; petite curvy figure with natural platinum blond hair, sparkling cobalt eyes with wet lips begging to be kissed. He was not only shocked to see her walk in; she had taken his very breath away…and that hadn’t happened to him in a very long time.

  Stacey froze within seeing him. Eduardo Sanchez? She hadn’t seen him in over twenty years! Oh why didn’t anyone tell her he was employed at the firm? She heard through the grapevine that he was some powerful high-priced defense attorney working on the Westside, but she never believed he’d be an associate at the firm she just got hired at! Eduardo was still handsome as ever as she felt her heart drop down to the pit of her stomach. He still had those penetrating green eyes, followed by that heavenly sculpted face of his. She remembered she fell in love with the good-looking boy back in high school, but now, she could really fall head over heels for the attractive successful man. His prominence, his sophistication and his elegance tied together with his irrefutable sex appeal was a lethal combination. Just knowing that he was once interested in her made the test all the more worthwhile.

  Stacey tried to contain herself from being so pleased within finding her seat across from him and smiled internally and thanked the Lord for giving her a second chance to win him back. They were high school sweethearts, she had recalled and very much in love, so she thought. She had lost to his presidency back in high school and didn’t really know of him until she had to report for student council. Their initial meeting was transfixing, in that she had never felt such motivation from anyone before. They lit off sparks; she had called to mind, both mentally and physically. He wasted no time and asked her to go steady and she didn’t hesitate, she said yes. Their chemistry was electric; every look from him was a passionate one and every touch, just as stimulating. Studying in her bedroom and breaking off to kiss each other on top of her bed, always holding hands, fondling each other everywhere, walking her to her class, making out at her locker, taking her out to lunch, driving her down to the coast, going to the beach, kissing, petting and getting each other hot, hot and hot. Eduardo would always ask her to take off her bra and the one and only time she had obliged him, she felt as if she could have given her virginity away. She nearly did, his lips and tongue alone on her bare breasts felt too good and it took every ounce of willpower she had left to push his steamy body away. God, she really, really loved him back then and she really, really wanted to have sex with him, but she had made an oath to God to remain a virgin until her wedding night.

  And her wedding night wasn’t so magical; in fact, Eduardo Sanchez left an embedded image that all men would be just like him and her husband was often drunk, sloppy and selfish and she had to settle for his mediocre love-making and ten years of second-rate affection until his untimely death. She had been a lonely widow for the past two years, full of false optimism and crummy one-night stands, searching for something better until today when she felt as if she just walked into the den of hope.

  “How are you?”

  Stacey couldn’t help but beam, “Fine, how are you?”

  “I’m good, great in fact.”

  Stacey continued to smile, “I didn’t know you were an associate here.”

  “I didn’t know they hired you; didn’t put two and two together that Stacey Somers could be Stacey Mitchell.”

  “Yah, married right out of college, to a medical student in fact. But I’m a widow now...are you married?” She asked looking at the ring on his finger confirming that yes; indeed he had tied the knot.

  “Yes.”

  “Happy?” Now why did she just ask that?

  Eduardo hesitated. His heart was pounding uncontrollably. Stacey was beginning to affect him the way Amber used to—he had to get it under control. He was so happy to see her and couldn’t understand why, “Very happy.”

  “Too bad,” Stacey replied.

  Too bad? Good God, he was in definite trouble. Knowing women as well as he did, he knew at once that Stacey Mitchell wanted him; unreal. All those years ago, she could have had him, now she’s lonely and opened herself up for accessibility when he’s no longer obtainable? “So I see from your resume you graduated from Yale,” he affirmed, changing the subject.

  “I heard you graduated from Harvard?” Stacey flirted back, giving him a gamine smile.

  Eduardo straightened up in his chair. Her sapphire eyes entranced him. “Harvard-Yale, the great rivalry,” he quipped, crossing his arms across his chest.

  Stacey let go a cute little laugh then flipped back her blond hair away from her shoulders. “We’re not going to break out in a boxing match now are we?”

  And Eduardo watched her attentively as she tossed back those blond locks. Tossing hair to one’s side indicated to him that a female was interested in him. Eduardo knew now that he was in so much trouble. He liked the cat and mouse game; and missed it just as much. “That all depends,” he let go, his voice deepening with every syllable.

  “On what?” She asked in her own seductive timbre.

  Eduardo’s sexuality overwhelmed him all at once, “On you yielding.”

  Stacey’s mouth dropped open wide as she gazed away, pretending to look somewhere else. Blushing profusely, she tried to calm herself down. How does he do that? His overpowering magnetism pulled her in, inch by every satisfying inch, simply conversing with him, she wanted to throw herself onto his desk and kiss that sensuous mouth of his. “Us Yale grads never surrender,” Stacey presented, calm as ever, “Especially to Harvard grads.”

  “Good,” Eduardo asserted, back to business. “Because Aldridge & Watson needs a first-class contract’s associate and by the rest of your resume, I see you have nothing but agreement experience.”

  Stacey couldn’t stop staring at him, Eduardo seemed unresponsive to her usual glamour. His wife must be some looker to have him bound so tight. But then she realized something else, as she allowed him more of a view of her silky thighs by crossing her legs; oh yes, Eduardo was still a healthy man. Stacey couldn’t help but notice Eduardo as he brought his eyes down to her legs to take a peek at her sh
apely limbs. Oh hell yes, Eduardo Sanchez was still a red-blooded vigorous male who was used to getting what he desired; anything that he so desired.

  *****

  Although he tried, it didn’t matter. Philip Aldridge threw Stacey and Eduardo together every chance he got. Eduardo was working on a settlement agreement, Stacey was asked to join. Eduardo had a mediation conference; Stacey was asked to sit in. Wherever he went, she was suddenly there. Enticing him, reminding him of the times she used to fend his body off. Those terrible teenage years—when he gave her eleven months of his full attention; dates on the beach, movies and dinners, dancing, alone with her in the back seat of his car. Making out, rolling around on the leather interior until blisters would appear from the friction against his pants. So near to bringing Stacey to surrender but she still would manage to push his fervent body away.

  Was he simply curious? He certainly wasn’t interested. But why was Stacey rapidly consuming all of his thoughts? Was it the chase? The thrill of the hunt? She made him turn his head that was it. He was stone when it came to work; he was focused, engrossed—now he was nothing short of sidetracked! Stacey was his equal in intelligence and he suddenly found himself admiring her. She was not only stunning, she was self-assured and exuded confidence and he hadn’t been this engrossed since…he had to keep reminding himself that there was once a woman who distracted him to tears. Good God, how he loved that woman! His son’s mother...Amber.

  “Are you free for lunch?”

  Eduardo looked up from his reading. “No, I’ve got to head downtown in a few minutes, I have a meeting.”

  Stacey stood firm in the doorway. “Can you drop me off at the corner of Robertson and Melrose then?”

  Eduardo gazed into her eyes. Why? How the hell was she going to get back? He sure wasn’t going to offer to pick her up if that’s what she was hinting at, “What’s at Robertson and Melrose?”

  Stacey grinned and stepped into his office and subsequently closed the door halfway. “Oh, that’s just an excuse really. I’d like to talk with you in private.”

  Eduardo tapped his pen on his desk and contemplated his next move. He was suddenly startled by Jackie, his Legal Assistant trying to make her way in side to side the half-closed doorway, but Stacey was practically hoarding the darn entrance as Jackie tried to squeeze her way through.

  “Eduardo, I need you look at something before you go,” Jackie suddenly spurted out, gazing at either one of them.

  “I’ll meet you outside Stace,” he said looking at Jackie now. “What do you need Jackie?”

  Stace? Jackie thought; they’re on a first name basis now?

  Later, Eduardo and Stacey were in the back of his limousine, on their way downtown. Fifteen minutes was really all it took to get from Century City to Beverly Hills so Stacey better spit out what she had to say or forever hold her peace.

  Stacey cleared her throat followed by fidgeting with her briefcase in her hand. Eduardo ran his eyes up and down her body, she was nervous, Good God, what the hell was she gonna say?

  “Eduardo,” Stacey barely got out, her throat closing up, “when we were younger...did you ever care about me?”

  Eduardo gazed away and out his window. Shit. This was not what he expected to hear! He didn’t want to rehash old memories. He had to focus on the task at hand; he had to go to a hearing for Yazmine’s case, “Of course Stacey, why?”

  “Because when I look at you, I still see...my future. We have so much in common, we seem to complement one another and we still have incredible chemistry.”

  Eduardo cleared his throat then shifted his weight around in the limousine seat. “I’m unavailable Stacey. I love my wife.”

  “I’m sure you do. I’m not asking you to leave her,” Stacey voiced, grabbing her suitcase with all her might. “I just want to be with you...at least once.”

  Oh shit! He was really in trouble, and Good God, he hated those words “leave her” in any form that was uttered and by anyone. Eduardo looked around him and out the window again. They were almost near her drop-off point. He couldn’t believe he was really contemplating this. “I’m married to the fullest extent of the word Stace…and I will never be unfaithful to her,” he finally said, hoping she’d take the outlet.

  Stacey swallowed her pride and stiffened up from the limo suddenly coming to a brief halt. She waited for the door to open and confessed, “Whether you realize it now or realize it later, you and I will become lovers.”

  Stacey then whisks out and shut the door behind her. Eduardo at that time looked up and across at her behind the safe tinted privacy windows of the limousine. Closing his eyes in torment, his commanding prurient nature engulfed him all at once. In the back of his mind, he knew she could be right.

  Chapter NINE

  Amber strapped Peyton into a car seat and drove up Pacific Coast Highway on their way toward Malibu. Amber had a surprise for her son and hopefully, Peyton would grow up knowing the love and companionship Amber once shared as a child.

  All her life, she’s had a pet of some kind. That unconditional love and attention you could only receive from a cat or a dog. When she was ten, she had a Cockapoo named ‘Candy’, when she was twelve, a cat named ‘Missy’ and when she was in high school; she owned a Cocker Spaniel named ‘Ciara’.

  Amber’s longtime friend had a litter of Golden Retriever puppies and Amber decided (without her husband’s knowledge) that she would get their son a puppy.

  They reach Malibu within twenty-five minutes and Peyton instantly wanted to know where he was. “Where are we mommy?”

  “I have a surprise for you,” Amber said excitedly.

  “A surprise,” he asked, his eyes popping out.

  “Yep, and I think you’re gonna like it.”

  Amber took Peyton out of his car seat and dropped him on the ground. She then grabbed his little hand and guided him over to the door.

  Madge Humphreys greeted them at the entry and Amber gave her former neighbor a quick fond hug.

  “I’m so glad to see you, gosh I’ve missed you,” Madge gushed, kneeling down to Peyton’s level, “and how are you Master Sanchez?”

  Peyton turned a little shy and hid behind his mother’s legs. “I’m fine, thank you.”

  Madge raised an eyebrow, “My-my, such big words for a little man.”

  “His father,” Amber gibed, looking her friend up and down. Madge Humphreys used to be Amber’s neighbor years ago when she was still married to Victor in Granada Hills. Amber would oftentimes gossip with Madge for hours about the other neighbors on the block, various celebrities and the week’s current events. She liked Madge simply because she was so straightforward, held nothing back, told the truth always and was so darn proud of it. A straight shooter, Amber used to call her.

  Amber walked in with Peyton and eyed all the luxurious furniture and the enormous glass windows that paraded a beautiful view of the ocean and beachfront property beyond.

  Madge pinched her friend’s arm and caused Amber to shut her wide-open mouth. “We’ve moved up in the world now, haven’t we?”

  Amber then looked into her friend’s blue eyes; dirty blond hair styled high on top of her head. She was almost as tall as Amber too, nearly five ten. “I’ve been meaning to ask you over, when are you free for dinner?”

  “Come to the Palisades? What an honor,” Madge relayed, holding her hand up to her heart.

  “Stop it,” Amber guffawed, “I mean really, we want you over.”