Game Of Love Ch. 04

Hey guys I'm so sorry about how long it's been since I've updated. I had Ch 4 just about completed, when sadly my laptop crashed and died, completely wiping my hard drive as it went (RIP Laptop 2013-2015). Being the poor college student I am, it took me a couple months before I could afford to buy my new one and restart on all of my GOL adventures and any other works of mine (insert sad face here). So between having to rewrite the entire chapter from scratch and a slew of personal problems that I've been going through, I've been neglecting my writing. Hopefully I can motor through ch 5 and get that to you soonish. Sorry again and thanks for being patient. -C

Kaiden-

"Mr. Andretti, are you asking for me to have sex with you as a way of saying thank you?" she said, her words penetrating the lust-hazed bubble my mind had been in since she walked into the office.

It was then and only then that I realized the implications my word choice had put out there. Even with how sexy I thought she was and that I would love nothing more than to wrap my hand in the wild mess of curls piled on top of her head while I bent her little ass over my desk, somehow I knew that wouldn't go over well with her.

Focusing back on Melodi, I actually had to stop myself from laughing at her defensive pose, before I answered her question. "No I wasn't actually. I was thinking along the lines of you joining me for dinner." I say flashing her another smile as I watched the anger on her face fade to disbelief.

"You're asking me out? Like on a date?" she asks me.

"Yeah as my thank you I want you to go out with me Friday night." I say moving from my spot leaning against my desk, to standing right in front of her.

Her lips parted slightly and I noticed that her eyes had begun dilating and she leaned her body in closer. I bent down until we were almost chest to chest, like I was going in for a kiss, and her eyes fell shut, her pink lips puckered up ever so slightly almost as if she was encouraging me to do so.

I pressed my lips against her ear and whispered, "Just say yes. You know you want to." Before pulling away, stepping almost completely out of her bubble. Her eyes flew open and I could see the red from embarrassment start to tinge her cheeks.

She shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other seemingly trying to catch her breath from the heated moment between us before she started to speak.

"Okay I'll go out with you. What time should I meet you?" she said giving in and I couldn't help the triumphant grin that spread across my face.

"How about I pick you up from your house around 6:00ish and we go together?" I ask picking up the pad of small post-it notes from the corner of my desk and one of the many pens I had scattered around the surface to write my number down for her as Regina poked her head in the door.

"Give me a call in a few days so that I have your number and we can talk about our date in further detail." I said putting up a finger telling my assistant to hold off for a minute and she closed the door again, before passing the little note to Melodi.

"Will do Mr. Andretti." She said straightening her purse on her shoulder while turning on her heels toward the door.

"Please, call me Kaiden." I said.

"Will do, Kaiden." She said without turning around. I had a hard time not giving in to my desire to kiss her senseless as whatever perfume she was wearing washed over me. Instead I took advantage of the view being presented to me and ogled her curvy ass.

The sound of her clearing her throat forced me to pull my eyes away from the ample view and I gave her a sheepish smile. "If you're done staring at my ass, I'll talk to you in a few days." She said as she opened my office door.

"Sorry about that. I look forward to hearing from you." I said. She chose not to answer as she walked out of my office, giving a friendly wave to Regina, who was still standing outside the door in the hall, and out of my line of sight. Her perfume still left a light trail behind her that left me intoxicated and wanting more of her.

Regina cleared her throat softly, while fighting hard to keep the amused grin off her face and failing miserably.

"Uh sir your 12:45 lunch meeting is here. Shall I send them back to the conference room?"

"Stop laughing or you're fired." I muttered causing her to break into giggles at the idea of me firing her, which she knew I would never do. Regina had also been my dad's assistant when he was CEO and honestly without her we would both would have lost our heads and our minds.

"Boy please. You may be 25 and a half a head taller than me, but that doesn't mean I won't take you over my knee and wear your behind out" she said in a serious tone.

All I could do was laugh. "Whatever you say Regina. Can you see my 12:45 into the conference room and let them know I will be with them in a moment? And do me a favor and put in my favorite order at the deli a few blocks over, would you?" I ask moving back behind my desk, picking up the file I had been looking through before Melodi had entered my office.

"You got it. Just remember not to take so long this time. You know those guys Langdon and Johnson damn near have a coronary every time you make them wait longer than 15 minutes." Regina said as she headed back out the door.

"True but they always seem to forget: they need me, I don't need them."

"Whatever smart ass just hurry up. I'll send Cindy in a few minutes." Was her reply as she walked off probably to send Cindy, my meeting typographer, into the conference room and place my lunch order.

File in hand, I snatched my note pad from the pile on my desk and head for the door, but not before a dash of color catches my eye. It was the pastry box Melodi had brought in with her, containing the best cupcakes I had ever eaten in my life.

'Well at least now I don't have to go shake down Pam for the name of the place to go get more.' I thought. My sweet tooth was one of my weaknesses that I could never help but to indulge in.

For the briefest moments I contemplated taking the box with me, so that I could munch on the sugary sweets during my meeting, but decided against it, since I wouldn't want to share with any one else. Taking one last longing gaze at the lavender box I turned back to the door to head out to my meeting.

Melodi-

My heart was still beating a mile a minute as I made the short walk back to my shop after the scene with Kaiden. I still couldn't believe he asked me out. Kaiden Andretti, one of the most powerful men in the city, asked me out to dinner. It was almost as if my mind couldn't process why he would be interested in someone like me.

I tried to put the thoughts I had about what had just occurred away in the back of my mind, as I walked in the front door of the shop greeting customers as I weaved through to get to the front counter.

"Finally! We were wondering if somebody had kidnapped you and that we would have to put out an APB." Trinity said from her position at the register taking orders from customers, while Cassie worked to box up their sweets.

"Sorry it took so long. Things turned out... different from how I expected. Did the Johnsons send someone to pick up the cake?" I ask trying to change the subject before my two best friends could start the inquisition. And of course with my luck it didn't work.

"Yes the Johnson's sent someone to pick up the cake. Now what do you mean by different?" Trinity asked as I put my purse underneath the counter and grabbed my apron from the hook pulling it over my head before I tied it around my waist tight.

"Can we talk about this later when we don't have a shop full of customers?" I ask moving to start filling orders as Cassie moved to the 2nd register to help take them.

"No you're going to tell us now. What happened over there?" Cassie said handing the man at the counter his change, before passing me the order ticket.

"Fine. If you must know... He asked me out." I mumbled softly under my breath so low that neither of them could make out what I said.

"Excuse me miss mouse can you please repeat that so that actual people can hear you?" Trinity said passing me the pastry box I needed to package up the man's order. I took a deep breath and repeated,

"I said he asked me out on a date. He's picking me up Friday night at 6." I say, handing the box over the counter with my good hand to the man waiting. "Thank you and please come again."

I turned back toward my friends for the next order only to find them standing there, staring at me like I had a second head growing out of my neck. "What?" I ask.

"Are you serious?" Cassie asked, causing my cheeks to turn flaming red again. Luckily for me I was able to avoid having to answer for the time being by another wave of customers coming through the door extending the line back to it's previous state.

'Saved by the bell. Literally.' "Uh... let's get back to work." I said turning my attention back to the customers on the other side of the counter.

"Don't think you can avoid answering forever missy." Trinity said shooting a glare my way.

"Yeah as soon as the rush is over, plan on spilling your guts" Cassie added before taking more orders.

'Great that gives me about a half hour to plan my great escape.'

25 minutes later, I had managed to escape to the back to start working on the Brown-Demato wedding cake, hoping that working on such a big project would keep my friends from coming to start the Spanish inquisition of my love life.

'Love life? Seriously girl you've only met the man once and you haven't even gone on a date yet. Get over yourself.' I chastised myself, as I grabbed the ingredients I needed to start the 500 strawberry cupcakes with lemonade whipped cream frosting and the 3 layered mini cake for the wedding party.

I tried to cleanse my mind of all thoughts about Kaiden Andretti as I began to measure out the amount of flour I needed for the mini cake, since it would take the least amount of time to make while humming along absent mindedly to Sia's Chandelier playing in background.

I heard the kitchen door swing open, and mentally groaned for thinking that working on such a huge order would grant me reprieve from my friends questioning.

"Okay the shop is no longer busy, we put the out for lunch sign on the door and locked it so no one can come in. What happened when you to Mr. Sexy Business Man's office?" Trinity said taking a seat at the giant metal island that I was working at.

"Can't you see I'm working? The Brown-Demato wedding is in 2 days and I need to start on their order." I say pointing to my mixer.

"Well bitch, mix while you talk. Now spill. What happened?" Trinity said passing me the measuring cups I had sitting on the edge of the counter so I could get started measuring the other ingredients.

I rolled my eyes at their pushiness and decided to just give them what they wanted. "Fine. Jeez you guys are pushy. I went in to do what I said I was going to do and give him the cupcakes as my thank you for him saving me and the flowers he sent. But something about him had me... I don't know mesmerized or something." I say as I pour in the 8-½ cups of flour into the mixer bowl, before looking around for the baking powder.

"Mesmerized how?" Cassie asked, pushing the container toward me, as if reading my mind.

"It's just something about him. His eyes seemed like they could see straight into my soul. Or it could have been just my raw attraction to him. We... We almost kissed." I say as my face started turning red for what felt like the hundredth time today. I refused to meet their eyes as I continued to mix the dry ingredients together in the mixing bowl.

Their silence was getting to me and curiosity to see what they were thinking over ruled my need to hide. I glanced up, taking in their shocked faces. "Did she say she almost kissed him? Am I hearing correctly Cass? Did our little girl say she almost kissed that sexy beast of a man?" Trinity asked in disbelief.

"You most certainly are hearing correctly. You guys seriously almost kissed?"

"Yeah, we did. So after I handed him the cupcake box he said that he had different way of me saying thank you in mind. At first I thought he wanted me to sleep with him to say thank you. You know me and my attitude, so you already know I was about 2.5 seconds from telling him where he could shove that thank you idea. But something about his voice, when he spoke to me, he managed to defuse my anger just like that. He was super close to me, to the point where we were both just about chest to chest and he just leaned forward like he was going to, then backed off." I explained.

"Holy shit that sounds like some kind of meeting. So that's how he got you to say yes? He seduced you into it?" Trinity asked concern bleeding through into her voice.

"Yes and no. Sure he used my reactions to get me to say yes but at the same time I felt this extreme pull to him. One that I've never felt before with anyone else. I was probably going to say yes with or without the seduction but that just made it so much easier to say yes." I said walking to the fridge to grab the dozen and a half eggs, milk and the butter I needed to start folding into the dry batter.

"Wow we've never heard you talk like that before about anybody. You're defiantly going to have to dish after this date." Cassie said clapping her hands excitedly.

"Just promise me you'll be carful. I don't want you to jump in too fast and end up getting hurt."

"Okay, okay. I gave you guys what you wanted. Now can we please change the subject?" I plead with them as I started to mix the ingredients together.

"Okay fine we will let you off the hook for now. But after your date we expect details." Cassie said with a giggle. They sat in the there with me for a few more minutes, before heading back up front to reopen shop, leaving me to work on the wedding cake alone. I sat there watching the batter become a creamy golden color, lost in my own thoughts about my upcoming date.

Pulling my phone from out of my apron along with the post-it that had Kaiden's number written on it, I tried to decide the best course of action. 'I should just text him "Hi" and get it over with' I thought to myself as I stared at the phone in my hand.

'No you dumb ass that's too simple. Maybe I should say something sexy. No that would make me seem desperate.' I chastised myself in my thoughts about what to say, before finally deciding to say something, anything and pray he didn't think I was any more of an idiot than he probably already thought I was from my actions earlier.

Before I could even begin to second guess myself or change my mind, I typed his number in the recipient bar and began to type out my message.

MG: Hey, so I came to the conclusion that we couldn't go out on a date on Friday night if you didn't have anyway of contacting me.

I hit send before I could change my mind and threw my phone down on the metal countertop. "There now it's done. No going back now, Mel." I said moving to grab the strawberries and the freshly squeezed lemon juice to throw them into the food processor to puree before I could add them into the batter.

I heard my phone buzz on the counter just as I dumped the stuff into the container and turned it on. Eagerly I snatched my phone off the counter to read the message.

KA: I was wondering when I would hear from you. I was worried you were going to stand me up and I would never hear from you again. By the way, thank you for those insanely out of this world good cupcakes.

I smiled at his response before texting him back my own.

MG: You just think you are so smooth huh? And you are so welcome! You ate all 4 cupcakes that fast? Its only been a couple of hours!

His text back was almost instantaneous.

KA: That's the quickest way into my good graces. I have a massive sweet tooth and it just so happens your cupcakes are the best I've ever tasted.

MG: From the sounds of it you would be good for business with a sweet tooth like that. I make sweet treats other than cupcakes if you ever want to try some.

KA: Would your body be just as sweet?

I feel heat taking over my face, which is sure to be bright red at the words glaring at me from the screen. 'Damn why does he have the power to turn me into a nervous, giggling schoolgirl?' I thought as I turned and grabbed the container from the food processor and dumped the cold strawberry slush into the mixer and hit the button to turn it back on.

I absent-mindedly scratched at my plaster covered arm, wondering once again how soon would I be able to have the irritating thing taken off when my phone buzzed again. I glanced down at it my heart picking up speed again.

KA: I'm sorry bellezza poco. Was that too much?

MG: Just a little.

I replied trying not to make it seem like he made me nervous, even though he did. A 2nd message came in a few seconds later.

KA: Sorry again, bellezza poco. I have to go into a meeting, so I'll message you later to continue our conversation. Is that okay?

Disappointed that our conversation was being cut short before it really even got started, I texted him back, saying that it was fine and that I would talk to him later, before going back to making the cake.

'Damn it Melodi! You shouldn't be disappointed just because he had to go take care of his business. Don't go looking to get your feelings hurt.' I chastised myself again for the second time, leaning my head up against my folded arms on the counter. As I tried to clear my head of everything Kaiden Andretti for a 2nd time so that I could focus on baking, my eyes began to drift close.

All I could think about before I dozed off was about how I was probably going to have to stay up all night working on the order to make up for all time I had wasted.

I woke up what seemed to be a few hours later in my bed with Kaiden standing over me. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are, bellezza poco?" he asked me, sitting down on the side of my bed brushing a strand of my unruly hair out of my face.

"What are you doing here" I ask him, trembling from his light touches on my skin.

"I'm here because for some reason I can seem to stay away. I can't get you out of my mind." He said as his hand moved from my face over my said, cupping my breast, squeezing ever so lightly, teasing my nipple which was beginning to stiffen under his ministrations, causing me to cry out from the sensations shooting through my body.

"Do you want me to keep touching you?" he asked, leaning closer into me like he had earlier in his office, his lips barely grazing mine. All I could do was nod, since all thoughts had left me.

"You have to tell me what you want with that sexy mouth of yours." He brought his other hand up to tease my other nipple. I threw my head back, letting out a soft moan that turned into a squeal as he pinched my nipple hard through my top.

"Oh god please touch me."

"There was that so hard?" he asked me before capturing my lips with his own. My hands found refuge in his hair, pulling not so gently at the strands, trying to pull him closer to me.

Our position was awkward and slightly uncomfortable, being pressed chest to chest with his hands groping my breasts. Kaiden pulled away, leaving me gasping for air, long enough to pull me astride his lap, his hardening cock pressed deliciously against me, before capturing my lips in another soul searing kiss.

I moved my hands from his hair to anchor myself to his shoulders, starting a slow grind against him, trying desperately to relieve the pressure building between my thighs.