Chapter 5 A no is a no, thank you very much.

Cherry's POV.

I got to the office quite early. I was greeted by Mary with a warm and genuine smile.

"Good morning Cherry." She said beaming in her usual professional yet friendly manner.

"Morning Mary, how are you doing?" I asked smiling back at her.

"Good." She replied. One would think that with the way she always had a smile for everyone that she wasn't having a cheating husband who didn't value her.

"Good morning Miss Allen." Someone said from behind me and I turned to see Sean.

"Oh hi Sean, good morning," I smiled warmly, then I added. "You know you don't have to call me Miss Allen. "

"Yeah, that's right," Sean said as if recollecting. "Cherry." He smiled and I smiled back at him. I liked Sean. He was nice and polite and ....not arrogant, unlike you know who.

Speaking of whom......

"Has Mr Black arrived yet?" I turned to Mary.

"Oh no no, he's not gonna be around until 9:30." She informed me.

Right. I checked my wristwatch and it was still 9:13. Good thing I still had a few more precious minutes to enjoy my new work place before my nemesis who is my boss arrives.

"I uh, better get to the office. " I said and made to leave as Sean walks off too. On a second thought I turned back to Mary.

"Hey Mary, would you like to maybe grab lunch with me later?" I asked. I could tell she was surprised so I added.

"I owe you one. Considering you refused to join me and my friend last night to eat dinner and you insisted on paying our fare home. "

"Sure." She beamed. "It's a date. " She said and I nodded gratefully and left to join the elevator.

.........................................

There's a knock on my door and I looked up from my laptop computer to the door.

"Come in please. " I said and the door opened to reveal a petite lady dressed in green overalls.

"Good morning ma'am, so sorry I'm late," she said. "I'm Nina, the janitor and I'm here to clean the rest room."

"Sure sure, go on ahead. " I said.

"Thanks ma'am." I nodded.

"Just let me know if you need my assistance. " I said to her and got back to work. I had met some files on my desk that needed sorting out so I was getting on with it.

After some time my phone beeped with a text notification and I absentmindedly picked it up and looked at the screen to see a message.

UNKNOWN: I miss you.

What the actual fuck?

Who the hell is this? I checked the number but found out that it was hidden. Who could it be? I mulled. It had to be someone I knew or who had my number.

I thought it was Brandon, but he doesn't have my number. Then again he's my boss, all my contacts are contained in my resume so he only had to reach out for it and he'd be able to contact me.

"I'm done ma'am. " Nina said leaving.

"Thank you Nina. " I said, forcing a grateful smile inspite of myself.

I considered calling Chloe but decided against it. Chloe wasn't my mom. I'm a grown ass woman, I can handle my own problems thank you very much.

But who could it be?

Fuck! What if...?

There was a knock on my door again.

Christ! Nina.

"Come in please. " I said. The door opened and my heart skipped a beat, or ten, I don't know how you count it, I just know I stopped breathing when he came in.

Brandon Black stepped into my office all dressed up in a sleek black tuxedo that matched his unruly shinny and silky black hair. His red tie reflected fires in his normal blue eyes. It was like a rare sight of burning waters. His well chiseled jaw was clipped and his hands were in his pockets. He had this authoritative aura that made my office look so small for him. It looked like he was trying to fit in just like a fully grown adult trying to fit into a box.

I stood up immediately.

"Good morning Mr Black. " I said frightened but forcing a polite smile.

"Good morning Miss Allen. " He said. Then added. "Cherry." Like he couldn't get enough of my name.

"Please have a seat." I motioned and he took the seat I offered watching me. I equally sat down but I wasn't calm. We both sat in awkward silence for minutes that seemed like hours unending. Him watching me and me, just looking at anything else but him. I couldn't concentrate on my work either.

"I didn't get to hear from you yesterday after what we discussed. " He said finally breaking the silence.

"Uhm, well, I learnt you left very early yesterday. " I said capitalizing on that.

"I did." He said, still watching me. "Well?"

I managed to look up to him.

"Well what sir?"

"Brad." He said. "Call me Brad. "

"And, so what is your decision?" He continued.

Holy fuck. What am I supposed to tell him now? This is the moment when I either get fired after now or I retain my job, depending on how well he takes my reply.

"Mr Bla- Brad," I began. "I thought about everything you said and decided, that even though I made a very bad choice by having a one night stand with my boss, whom at the time I didn't know was my boss, I'm ready to rectify that rather than continue following it through. See I'm a very professional person and I really don't believe in mixing work with pleasure as it frankly doesn't sit well with me."

OMG! Where was this confidence coming from?

Go on girl!

"That being said," I continued. I don't accept your offer, because I know that it would be disastrous to my career and I wouldn't want that. And even though I may loose my job here at Blacks Inc, I still don't accept your offer." I finished. My subconscious heaved a deep sigh of relief.

Still can't believe I just said that.

Brandon Black continued to watch me. Was he fucking smirking? Good thing he was finding my very feeble attempt, which was a lot for me by the way, to stand up for myself, amusing. Now could he get on with it? Do I need to fucking pack up my stuff and leave? This is the best time to leave anyway. Everyone else was busy in their offices. No one would notice me leaving, except for Mary. I'd just tell her I'm rearranging my office, she wouldn't know and won't have to see me ever again to even bother. There, all planned out. Now could he get the fuck on with it?

Brad finally chuckles like he was listening to my thoughts. Fuck wait was I saying that out loud?

"You're incredulous Cherry Allen. " He finally said giving me a half smile. "So what happens if you mix pleasure with work? You're an adult, besides it's a one time thing once again. Something you've done before."

Fuck. Okay I know I said earlier that he was arrogant, I'm updating that to arrogant and rude. That was a low blow. How could someone so good looking and successful be so rude and arrogant?

I let out an uneasy laugh.

"Are you trying to say Mr Brandon Black, that you'd advice someone to mix pleasure with profession? And your own staff at that?" I asked not believing my ears.

"Well if there are exceptions." He shrugged folding his arms as he leaned back into the seat.

"Mr Black, I honestly don't think I want to be that exception." I said.

"Why so?" He asked like it wasn't obviously a non professional thing to do.

"Because it strongly goes against the ethics of good workmanship and it doesn't make me function better. Plus, I'm a woman I need to keep my head straight, distractions like this are highly unwelcomed. "

"Ah, there it is." He said. "You find me distracting Miss Allen?" He asked amused with glints of mischief in his fiery blue eyes, making them kind of less scary.

How the hell did he only grab that from the whole sentence I just made? How the fuck is he head of Blacks Inc?

"That's not what I meant, I was---" Just then his phone rings. He raises up his hands in motion for him to be excused then he took the call.

"Yes Frederick?" He said into the call while I took that time to try to get back to my work.

"Ofcourse, get them quickly." He said and paused, then he turned to me. "Let her know I'll meet her at dinner." He said and ended the call.

'let her know?'

The thought never came to mind that Brandon Black may be married. Well the news hadn't carried it. Brandon was the most eligible billionaire bachelor in New York City, his marriage should be newsworthy. I want to believe the reason it's not been aired is because he's still very much single. I silently sighed in relief and my subconscious sneered at me.

What? I still find him attractive even though I wouldn't want to jeopardize my career by having sex with him. If it were on different conditions I would probably have agreed.

"Well Miss Allen," he said. "We're gonna have to continue this conversation later, for now," he looked at his wristwatch. "I have to get back to work."

So I'm keeping my job for a few more days then? Great.

I nodded my head with a curt smile as he got up and straightened his tux.

"Have a nice day at work Cherry." Brad said flashing me a panty dropping smile. One that showed his well arranged teeth and a little dimple.

"Ditto Mr Black." I replied smiling back at him I seemed to appear calm and more collected than I was when he came in. It was all a facade though. It was after he shut the door behind him that I let out a heavy sigh of relief and slumped further into my seat. Even sharing the same air with Brandon Black can be overwhelming. Speaking of which, my office still had his scent. That unique fresh masculine scent mixed with mint and expensive male cologne. Mmm. I breathed in.

Like I said if I wasn't in a complicated situation and things were a lot different I would have accepted to having sex one more time with him. But, things were as they were. And even though the first sex with him was mind blowing, something I've not had with anyone else before, something I would want to do again so help me God, I would not still take him up on his offer.