I will make my way through one more day in hell

I will make my way through one more day in hell by sassy

I glanced at my watch one last time and I set my jaw before closing my eyes, my temper getting the best of me already since it was 12:43 and Lila was supposed to be in my office 43 minutes before. To me, being late on work was unacceptable, mostly when she had been such a pain in the a.ss about her project and the answer I still have to give to her. I wasn't going to lie, if it had been about any other person I'd just write her on my black list, but since I had promised to myself to be fair to her I got up from my leather chair and walked out my office, not even bothering to spare a glance to anyone on my way as I headed to her room. Just as I approached the door it spread open, a gorgeous Lila appearing with a dress that was hard not to notice since it fit her like a glove.

"It was about time." I said sharply, making her jump as she noticed me, the tone of my voice saying a lot while I did my best to keep my face straight.
She parted her lips then reclosed them, as if she was changing her mind about what she was about to say. "Hi to you too Travis. Do you need something from me?" She asked in a nice tone, ignoring my words completely.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked back between my teeth, fighting the urge to cage her body between me and the door frame.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She answered nonchalantly and made a point of not looking at me, grabbing her purse instead as she walked out of her office.
"I had been waiting for you for almost one hour." I said coldly even though I was fuming. She was infuriating, no other human being had this effect on me. Okay, I had a temper, but this? It was a whole new level.
A small smirk lingered on her lips as she brushed past me, "What's an hour compared to two weeks?" She retorted like the smarta.ss she had proven to be before too, her hips swaying a little too much as she walked down the hallway. God that a.ss and the things I'd do to it.
I followed her and caught up with her, running my hand through my hair as I kept my no nonsense face on. "Point taken Lila, but still not okay."
She shrugged, pushing the door of the building open and nearly sending it straight to my face, "I don't care." She replied stubbornly, only annoying me more. "What are you doing now? Following me like a stalker? People talk Travis."
I groaned again, since, I had to admit, she had a talent for pushing all the wrong buttons. "We need to talk about your project." I said in monotone even though I was this close to lose it. If I did? She would only be pleased, so I didn't.
"I'm going to lunch." She retorted, still walking and ignoring me. Good god never in my life I had to go after a girl, but this was about work and if I didn't figure this whole thing out we'd both look bad, which was something I'd never let happen.
"So am I apparently." I snorted, this not the way I wished I spent my lunch break. She was nice to look at, but I liked her better pressed against a wall not sitting at a table while talking about work. Still, it had to be done and she wasn't giving me any other choice.
“Inviting yourself to lunch with me?” Lila questioned, wincing a little. “That’s pretty clingy Trav.”
“Don’t you push me.” I growled as she crossed the street to a thai place. Ugh.
“I'm not pushing you anywhere, you’re following me.” She replied. “If you have some information about my project you can e-mail me.”
“Lila stop walking.” I ordered seriously since I was so close to grab her and force her.
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to meet with you at 12. I don’t like waiting.” I explained even if, really, she should have known already. It had been a bad move, a really bad one.
She widened her eyes at me and for a second I regretted sleeping with her. If I hadn't, she wouldn't have ever acted like this at work. And still, I didn't really regret fucking her, it had been great. “YOU don’t like waiting?” She spat and then turned around and walked into the restaurant. “Table for one please." She asked the hostess as I closed the door behind us. Getting rid of me wasn't that easy.
“Two. Table for two.”
She sighed. “Fine table for two.” She shook her head and pulled out her ipad. “But I'm warning you I have a lot of work to do.”
We sat down in a booth and I pulled her ipad out of her hands and stared at her. “I'm denying your proposal.” I said simply, needing to get her attention since my face wasn't enough for that today. Also, I needed to break the news.
She widened her eyes, looking borderline shocked then recovering, “Okay. Is that all?”
"No." I said dryly and broke eye contact to grab a menu. Two could play this game and maybe she still had no idea of who she was dealing with. She barely knew me after all.
"Then what?" She said sharply and I just ignored her instead, my eyes going down the list of foods. "Travis I'm talking to you."
"I hear you loud and clear." I retorted flatly, annoyance showing in my voice.
"What else?" She asked and no matter how hard she was trying to sound uninterested, I knew she wanted to know. I knew it, not only because of the hint of curiosity in her tone, but also because I knew how much she cared about her job. When I didn't bother to answer or pay any attention to her, she went on, "What are you doing, can't you answer to me?"
I lifted my eyes from the menu and glanced at her briefly, her frustrated yet beautiful face amusing me not that she could get since my face? Was as straight and hard as usual. "Pad thai or green chicken curry? I'm torn." I said seriously, hoping I was frustrating her as much as she was.
"I hate you." She snorted like a child and even crossed her arms against her chest. Good for me since her small breasts were peeking at me from her top.
"You're breaking my heart." I said flatly and this time I couldn't hide my amusement.
"Seriously Travis, just tell me!" She sighed as she leaned into me from across the table.
I glanced at her chest then looked into her green eyes. "I will when you'll stop acting like a six year old." I said slowly then leaned back, watching the waitress approaching our table. "I hope you're ready to order."
“My usual.” Lila said simply, still glaring at me as if it could ever bother me. I was immune to women's glares.
“Green chicken curry for me.” I replied with a soft smile at the waitress before turning towards Lil when she walked away. “Is your tantrum over?” I asked and she didn’t say anything. She just pursed her lips and waited for me to keep talking, maybe going for 2 year old instead of 6. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“What is it you want from me exactly?” She asked eventually, barely restraining her temper.
“Curry for now.” I grinned. “We’ll see what comes up later.”
“So you just want to spend time with me then?” Her lips twitched upwards slightly and I just watched her.
“If I was going to put away time to spend with you it wouldn’t be here.” I said simply, cryptically.
“Oh? Would it be at a locker room instead?” She watched me back, a challenging look into her eyes.
I kept staring, a hint of a smile playing on my lips as I indulged in last Sunday's wet memories. “Maybe.” I replied, taking a sip of my water.
“Well that would be better than this.” She mumbled and reached for her ipad but I pulled it out of her reach. “Are you trying to piss me off?”
“Maybe.” I grinned again and she glared further.
“Stanford graduates usually have larger vocabularies.” She spat.
“Oh? Are Yale girls usually so pouty?” I asked, my hand reaching out to run my thumb over her lower lip because I was fully aware of the effect my touch had on her.
“I was right. I do hate you a little.”
I shrugged and pulled my hand away, keeping my eyes on her though. "I don't care." I said honestly.
"Because you're heartless?" She rolled her eyes, still obviously annoyed. While I thought it was cute for the first 5 minutes, and then it was amusing the second 5, now it was starting to make my hands itch.
"Totally." I answered flatly as I leaned back, for a moment losing track of my thoughts and the real reason why we were there, having lunch together. She stared at me intently, but didn't say a word, instead her mouth finally curved into a small grin. "What?"
"You're getting mad again." She pointed out and I swear in that moment our roles switched again. Only, I had no intention to get mad again. Or prove her right.
I inhaled deeply instead, my lips curving just like hers, "No darling. I'm perfectly fine."
She parted her lips then closed them again, something she did a lot and I wished she didn't instead. I liked her with no filter. "All right baby." She retorted, apparently getting me better than I gave her credit for since she was back in the game a second later I had changed the rules.
The waitress bringing our food paused our challenge and I finally tore my eyes away from Lila to glance at my plate. I wasn't a fan of thai food, but I was starving and anything would do. "Do you always eat here?" I peeked up at her.
"I do a lot." She answered simply, licking her lips and looking really famished. Also really cute. "Are you wondering how I burn all the calories?" She asked when I didn't say a word and smirked at me.
"No." I shook my head, saying that just because. I was getting sidetracked here, I needed my thoughts back on work.
“Are you wondering if I’ll help you burn them off?” Lila grinned.
“It’s a tempting thought.” I admitted and felt myself smile a little, watching her as she took a big bite of her pad thai.
She closed my eyes and made little moan as she chewed, making me wonder if I was in when harry met sally and didn't notice. “So yummy.” She said to herself as she swallowed, taking a drink of her iced tea before turning back to me. “If you want to go to the gym with me after work you’re welcome.” She added.
“I’ll remember that….do you go to the gym every day after work?” I asked, more to focus the attention to something else that didn't involve sweating but picked the wrong question.
She shook her head. “No every other day. I go swimming at the Y on the off day.” She explained before digging into her food again.
“I have a new project for you.” I said after watching her eat for a moment.
She blinked as she looked up at me. “A work related project or did you read about a new position you’re dying to try?” She bit back, annoyed by my sudden change in topic but adjusting fast anyways.
“I don’t need to read about new positions Lila. I know your brain is all about sex when you’re around me but let’s try to focus.”
She almost growled under her breath, “You interrupted MY lunch. Remember? It’s not work time for me. It’s lunch time.”
I forced the urge to groan, or to laugh, because in all honesty I didn't know what to do. Oh if only I could spank her perfect ass, that'd really be the only thing to do. "Fair enough." I said simply and started eating again, deflecting her attempt to piss me off for the umpteenth time.
"Why are you giving up so easily?" She asked bluntly, back to being the no filter Lila. Also the slightly annoyed Lila, but that she was most of the time I was about her and not inside of her.
"Because you're right." I shrugged as I reached for my glass to take a big gulp of water, not moving my eyes from hers though.
"I know what-" She started but my phone ringing cut her off. Her gaze followed my hand as I fished for my iphone from the inner pocket of my jacket, a glance enough for me not wanting to answer. "Who was it?" She asked hurriedly, but as soon as the words left her mouth she seemed to regret them.
I raised one eyebrow slowly, wondering why she was thinking she had any right to ask. "No one." I answered dryly, never in the mood for talking about that crazy woman of my ex, and mostly not to Lila.
She nodded her head as she broke eye contact, looking at her food and eating while lost in her thoughts. "You're a very cryptic man Travis." She said eventually, her voice quiet, almost soft, very different from the one she had been using until now.
"Interesting choice of words." I said back and stopped eating, setting my elbows on the table to stare at her instead. I had no idea of what she was thinking about and I didn't even want to know, but sure as hell I knew that when a girl thought? It was never good. "You're a very smart girl Lila. Sometimes I almost forgot how young you are."
"Jeez, are we back to the age thing?" She snorted and there she was, usual Lila again.
"Almost." I repeated as I smirked at her, glad that I had said the right thing to distract her from her own brain.
“If I'm so young and insignificant, then why are you ignoring calls to spend more time with me?” Lila asked, tilting her head to the side.
I ignored her words completely, since I wasn't ignoring calls for her, neither I was calling her insignificant. Just young. My hand shot up again and then I traced her neck, seeing some of the marks my teeth had left there last weekend. She shivered and then cursed under her breath, even pouting a little. “You amuse me.” I replied simply, returning to my food and trying not to think about how hard and fast I had taken her.
“Huh.” She licked her lips and for a few moments we ate in silence before she spoke to break it. “Was your family dinner nice?” I looked up at her, her question surprising me. “I'm just making conversation.”
“Yes.” I nodded, leaving it at that.
“Yes what?”
I glared again since I didn't see the point of this conversation. “Yes. Family dinner was nice.” I retorted.
“You have two brothers? Is Rob’s father married?”
I nodded, never big about talking about my personal life. Not that I had anything to hide, but still. “He is.”
“None of my brother’s are married, haven’t even gotten close….” She sighed, looking genuinely upset. Girls were weird.
I blinked at her, guessing that even if I lived 100 years I'd never fully understand how a woman's brain worked. “Does that bother you?” I asked, raising a brow.
She shrugged. “I want more nieces and nephews to spoil and cuddle.” She admitted. “Plus I want them to be happy.”
“And you think they have to be married to be happy?” I asked without even thinking about it, the words coming out of my mouth by themselves.
She shook her head. “No I guess not. But a life of one night stands isn’t fulfilling, all of them are in the top of their career fields, they have no reason not to try to give love a chance.”
"Uhm." I said unintelligently and watching her carefully. After all I was right, no matter how smart or even perfect a girl could be, she would always be...a girl.
She narrowed her eyes on me, "What? Seriously Trav, you need to stop with those one word answers." She scoffed.
"Or what?" I raised one eyebrow at her, curious to know where she was going with that if anywhere. A woman who told me what to do still have to come to life, and she wasn't even a woman. She was a girl and, in moments like these, it showed. It had both good and bad sides.
"It makes you look stupid." She said seriously, making me laugh. "Oh good god." She snorted, shaking her head and looking annoyed all over again.
"I still have my looks." I winked at her before taking the last bite of my food, sipping some water then wiping my mouth with my napkin and noticing the way her eyes kept dropping on my lips.
She did her best to ignore me and keep a straight face, but I could see a smile tugging at her pink lips. "What did you mean?" She asked seriously.
"But I said nothing." I retorted, liking, even loving, driving her nuts with my deflecting.
"Travis!" She protested, looking really exasperated.
"I knew you were a romantic." I said eventually, my voice quiet and, if not necessarily nice, just normal. Not that she seemed to appreciate it, but something told me it wasn't the tone that bothered her. I was talented, not even trying.
"And you're getting it from what? I just said that I think that my brothers have everything, the only thing they're missing is love." She spat.
"I didn't mean to insult you." I smirked wide at her, once again amused but from the way she glared at me? We weren't on the same page. "Maybe they don't want love and they're happy with how their life is."
She licked her lips and I felt her crossing her legs, her knee bumping against mine in the process and tempting me to set my hand there. "Bulls.hit." She said eventually.
"Not everyone has the same idea of how life could be Lila. What works for you might not work for them." I shrugged nonchalantly, not really into the subject but I was all for free choices. If you want to get married and have ten kids? Good. If you wanted to be alone forever? Good too. That was freedom to me, choosing the kind of life that fit you better.
“First of all. They don’t know if it would work for them because they’ve never tried it.” Lila started and I opened my mouth to speak but she held up her hand to silence me, irritating me to no end. “Secondly? I want them to have love not because I want it. I'm too young for love.”
I looked surprised for a second before recovering. I just had to remember that those were just words. “Finally you admit your youth.” I teased, taking a long drink.
“Youth comes with benefits baby.” She grinned back, never missing a beat.
“I remember all about your benefits.” I admitted, flashes of us fucking crowding my mind and fogging my judgment to the point I was so close to grab her and drag her to the bathroom to fuck her like there was no tomorrow. Then I went back to reality.
“I'm pretty hard to forget I know.”
“Young and cocky. Not a good combo.” I pointed out, my eyes set on hers as she slowly licked her lips and leaned into me, her sweet scent filling my nostrils and tempting me as if having her so close wasn't enough. I was having a hard time keeping in mind that she was, after all, just a girl like many others.
“Not as bad as old and cocky.” She winked.
“Lila…..” I growled again.
She groaned softly for no reason and let her eyes close before she opened them and gave me her best sexy stare. “How badly do you want to spank me right now Travis?” She asked softly, grinning and leaning back in her chair as she changed her topic. “You had a project you wanted to give me?”
I considered to give her one of my remarks about how she was a tease, but then I thought better. She was beautiful, smart, fun even, great in bed...but still crazy. Who exactly changed subject like that? A crazy woman, that's who. And I had had enough of craziness for my whole life. "Yes." I said eventually, my tone back to cold and all business.
She seemed slightly surprised, disappointed even. "Are you going to tell me or what?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I'm just following your rules." I retorted as the right corner of my mouth lifted just to slightly in a lopsided grin and I glanced at her plate. "Are you done eating?"
She shrugged nonchalantly, probably back on her mission of pissing me off. "I dunno, are you in the mood for a dessert?" She asked casually but I didn't buy her straight face. Her eyes were a little too expressive for me to fall for her trick.
"No." I answered simply, doing my best to keep my thoughts clean and, surprisingly enough, I even succeeded.
"Okay..." She trailed off, nodding her head slowly.
"Can I talk?" I asked with a hint of amusement in my tone since sometimes it seemed to me that she buried her own grave. She was all sexy and intense then turned it off, probably to get a reaction out of me and when she didn't get anything she acted nonchalantly disappointed.
"Since when you ask for anyone's permission?"
"Since you're a pain in the a.ss." I smirked from ear to ear, liking feisty Lila. She didn't even bother to protest and rolled her eyes, so I went on. "I suggested your name for designing the new covers for the iPhone 5c. They should be out for Christmas and it's a lot of work, but I'm sure you can do it."
She blinked her eyes, her mask slipping down her own face as a genuine Lila looked at me. "Really."
I nodded, always sure about my choices when they were about work. "The one they launched with the new model sucks. It shouldn't be hard for you to do better." I shrugged, not meaning to insult her but just wanting to give her the right motivation to do a great job and only god knew how good anger worked. She narrowed her eyes at me but before she start pouring insults over me I went on. "Also your other project has been pushed for late February, it was good but the timing wasn't right."
Lila narrowed her gaze on me even though she looked like she wanted to slap me instead. “Why didn’t you just start with that?” She asked after a while.
I blinked, wondering if she even listened to herself. “Because you told me you didn’t want to talk about work while you were eating.”
“Right.” She shook her head still looking mad and kind of crazy. I hated crazy.
“You seem upset….my project offers you much more and you’d still be able to finish yours.” I explained and for a moment I thought she could refuse. Technically, she could.
“That is so not the point Travis. But yes. I’ll do the new cover designs, and yes mine will be better. Not because it would be easy, but because I'm damn good at my job.” She grabbed her bag to get her wallet out but when she did it tipped over and everything fell out on the floor. “Fuck” She scooped up the pens and pencils and all the useless things girls always carried in their Mary Poppins bags, but my attention was on what looked a sketchbook.
I couldn't help grabbing it and going through its pages, my eyes dropping on a drawing of two hands, of a man and a woman, intertwined tightly against sheets. There wasn't anything else, but it was full of emotion and really powerful, so powerful I just stared at it, speechless. “Hello!” She reached for it but I moved just in time, still looking intensely at the pages in front of me.
“What is this?” I asked like an idiot.
“It’s my sketchbook. It’s where I draw out my ideas for paintings and the good ones get put into my collection. Can I have it back please?”
I flipped it towards her, showing her the first page. “It’s very good.” I said simply, still staring at it and then reaching out for it again, but this time she snatched it back up.
“Don’t act so surprised.” She blinked.
I shrugged. “Sorry.” I said simply, in a loss of words because somehow that piece of paper had showed me a part of Lila I hadn't seen yet. She now appeared to me more naked than when I had seen her actually naked.
“If you wanted you could see the full size version.” She said in a rush, putting herself out there and surprising me since she always made a big deal of telling me how she had had what she wanted from me, then again always tried to have more instead.
“Lila…” I trailed off, tempted but knowing it couldn't happen even if I wanted to and not just to fuck her senseless, but I found myself genuinely curious to see more of her art.
She shook her head and then shrugged. “Too bad. The sketch doesn’t even do it justice.” She looked into my eyes, looking vulnerable.
“I believe you.” I replied quietly, not wanting to be an asshole and also meaning it.
“Good….so no dessert then?”
I shook my head slowly as I stared at her, still thinking about her sketch. I had never doubted that she could be good, even though I had never seen any of her pieces, it was something in her eyes, how passionate she seemed about art, that had led me to have such a good opinion about her, artistically talking, but now? She was beyond good, that piece of paper spoke for itself and I was genuinely impressed by how powerful and intense it was. "I think it's time to go back to work." I said instead.
"Bummer." She replied with a small pout on her lips, the air between us thick but not with the usual sky high sexual tension, it was something different. Something really quiet and weird.
"The sooner you start the sooner you're done." I grinned at her cute face, liking it more when she was annoyed or when she was being a smarta.ss because, believe it or not, it was easier to handle.
"Blah blah you do really talk like an old man." She teased and I was grateful for that as I smiled, "One of the many perks of being young is that I'm full of energy and I can do everything super fast."
At that, I laughed. "Yeah sure, how should I call you, wonder woman?" I asked with amusement, "No wait wonder girl would fit better."
She rolled her eyes but there was still a hint of a grin on her beautiful face, "As long as I got the wonder part." She shrugged and bit down on her lip as she stared at me with those damn eyes that were just too gorgeous not to stare at.
"You earned it in bed." I said in a lower tone and she blushed, my grin still in place as I leaned into her from across the table just so slightly, "We'll see if you surprise me with your work too."
"Oh because it's all about you in the end, isn't it?" She asked in a sarcastic voice, but I could tell she was just messing with me and, surprisingly enough, she wasn't annoyed. She looked relaxed, comfortable even.
"Well I gave you the project, so..." I trailed off with a shrug, still looking at her when my phone rang. Again. And again, it was Karlie, but this time I had to pick the call, never knowing what she was up to. "I'm busy." I said sharply, not giving her time to say anything.
"I need to see you." She said back in a tone of forced calm but I could tell she was freaking out, while I felt Lila's questioning eyes staring at me.
"I'm working, I'll call you later okay?" I said in a final tone, wanting to be done with this conversation as soon as possible and think about it later. When she agreed I hung up, inhaling deeply and running my hand through my hair.
"Damn, this person got you really mad." Lila's voice broke into my thoughts, a hint of curiosity in her tone.
I looked up at her, a soft expression on her face as she stared at me. "I get mad really easily." I joked, even though there was a lot on truth in my statement, as I got up, waiting for her to do the same, "Can I pay for your lunch since I ruined your break?" I asked, never sure about her reaction about anything.
“Damn right.” Lila nodded. I shook my head and chuckled as I set some money on the table and stood up, waiting for her and holding the door open. “At least old men are chivalrous.” She said under her breath.
“Yes, thank god for old men.”
She blinked, “Is it usually that easy to make you go from mad to laughing too?” She teased and I looked down at her, thinking about her question but mostly about the answer I was going to give her.
“Not usually.” I admitted, my bad mood never easy to get rid of.
“I must be special.” She shrugged, licking her lips and running her hands through her hair as we walked down the street back towards work.
It was an odd situation, one I had never been on in ages. I couldn't even remember the last girl I shared my lunch break with, but my bet was on Karlie. I didn't date anymore so it made sense, not that this was a date. It was just a business lunch. “Must be.” I conceded but she seemed so lost in her thoughts that I wasn't sure she was listening.
“Are you saying something nice about me while I'm fully dressed?!” She asked eventually, feigning shock and making me laugh again.
“It looks that way. Don’t get used to it.”
She grinned in the parking lot and stepped closer to me, our bodies pressed up against each other and the normal attraction we had hummed enough for both of us to hear it. “Don’t get used to being dressed?” She asked softly.
“Lila…” This time it wasn’t a warning tone that I used, it was more like a groan of frustration. Just because I was able to resist and say no it didn't mean that I liked it, mostly when she was effortlessly sexy and really fucking tempting.
“I'm not teasing.” She whispered even softer, putting herself out there and going against everything she’d said I didn’t want from me. As I had said before, girls words couldn't be trusted.
“I know.” I groaned then I reached forward and pressed a kiss against her forehead, then walked past her into the building without another word before I could change my mind and take those lips that were begging to be kissed.