Sophisticated Ride

Ten - Camila

We woke up early for my jog. My sister had insisted to sleep over so she could 'get the full experience', asshole. She just wanted to annoy me. Can't say I didn't enjoy her huffing and puffing on the run though. I mean she's only 24 and is a skinny little thing I thought it would be a breeze for her. I'm 27 and I ran it fine. Ha! Take that! This old chick can still kick butt on the track.

I could tell Rose was excited to see her big sister's place of work. She almost ran out of the car when we got to the parking lot. It was sweet to see and how much she looked up to me. It gave a sense of accomplishment, like I was doing something right with my life. When we got to the office we got on the elevator at the same time as Mr. Beshara. Great, just what I needed. "Good morning Camila, you look amazing this morning." He smiled and... began to give me a once over but caught sight of my sis. "Oh! Is this young lady the sister you told me about?"

"Good morning Mr.Beshara, yes this is my sister Rose. Ro say hi." I shoved my sister's shoulder and she raised a brow and smiled.

"Hey, nice to meet you Mr. Beshara. Wow, I gotta say when Cam told me you were handsome I didn't realize you'd be super hot!" She greeted him and shook his hand.

Oh-my-god! I felt a blush go over my whole body. I wanted the earth to open and swallow me whole. "Rose! Do me a favor and shut up!" I said through gritted teeth.

He grinned and looked up at me with amusement in his eyes, "Really?" he paused. "Camila, I told you to call me Karim, and, I gotta say, I'm glad you think I'm attractive." He paused paused again and just before the elevator stopped said, "Too." Then he walked out onto our floor.

"Oh my god sis! He likes you! Your hot boss has the hots for you!" She beamed at me.

I groaned, "Hmph! Shut up! No he doesn't he probably only finds me interesting because I'm the new girl. It'll wear off, you'll see. Now come on we gotta get through some paperwork before we go out to check on a project I'm working on." I walked away towards my office. Rose followed me but kept getting distracted with all the people and the design of our building. It was cute to see how easily impressed she was.

Once we were in my office she sat across from me. Watching me with a narrowed look. "Is this why you had such a hard time picking out an outfit to wear this morning?" Rose said with a smile. "Cus, I gotta say, I can see why. He is smokin'."

"I did not!" I protested.

"So I suppose you just chose that tight little skirt." She stopped to wave at my outfit. "And that almost transparent silk pink blouse, just for shits and giggles?" She chuckled.

"Oh, shove it short stack!" I threw over my shoulder. I was busy trying to get through my first wave of emails. I knew if I looked over at her she would think she was right. Briefly, I wondered whether I had worn my outfit for Karim. Or...Dante. Wait! What!?

I got through my morning and my sister took her notes. She could work my nerves over but she was smart and school was no joke to her. She had this crazy idea that if she focused completely on school and did the best she would be the best. She wanted to do something with activism. She was part of many heritage influenced clubs at school. I gave her props. She took this seriously, and made sure to take note of everything I did and wrote it down. I was proud of her, she was very driven.

We drove in comfortable silence to the branch. I couldn't help but be nervous knowing I'd have to face Dante. Would he say something about the flowers? I hoped he wouldn't say anything in front of Rose. I already had my mother breathing down my neck about wanting grandkids. I didn't need my sister getting any more ideas in my mom's head. I was so not ready to jump on that train yet.

When we got there my sister couldn't contain her amazement at the new building. She felt just like I did when I first came. And just like on the first time I walked in here, I was stunned to silence by Dante's sexyness. God his body was so big, I wondered what it would be like to have his hard body on top of mine. No! Stop it Camila!

He must have sensed someone staring and looked up. He was at one of the many empty desks looking at some blueprints. "So she lives! Oh! And look she's brought a friend." He gave me a hard look then smirked and went to my sister. He grabbed her hand and kissed it. "Well hello beautiful, I'm Dante, and who might you be?"

My sister was not friendly when it came to men. She said men were a bad distraction. She gave him an annoyed look. "Her sister, so back off buddy!" She shoved him away. She must have gathered that he was trying to piss me off by using her.

"Sister? Well, I'll be damned." He looked at me and said, "So am I to assume my flowers never made it to you, Camila?"

My sister looked between us. And gave me a raised eyebrow look as if to say, This one too? She mouthed "flowers?" Shook her head and she walked away to give us some space.

"No, I received them." I tried to remain indifferent. Or, at least I thought I did.

"Hm, I thought women liked flowers? A guy would think his gift was unappreciated." He stepped closer and looked down at me and whispered, "care to explain yourself?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. God why did he have to smell so good? I had to fight back a moan.