Billionaire Bear’s Human Mate by Alicia Banks
Chapter 13
Vivica
Vivica woke up a little after seven in the morning. Her phone was ringing, and it was Shane. She looked at the clock, not sure what he was calling about. She wanted to pee and take a shower, but she had to get his call first. She wasn’t annoyed, but Vivica was thinking that it better be important.
“Shane, I swear if you are calling me from the kitchen or something, I might have to tell you about yourself.”
“Thanks. I should have known that you were holding back. I am not there.”
Vivica sat up a little more in the bed. “Oh?”
“Yeah, I had to leave for a couple of days, and I wanted to make sure that you had all the information that you needed while I'm gone.”
“How long are you going to be gone?”
Vivica didn't like the tone that came out, but she couldn't take it away. It was out there, desperate and hysterical sounding, like Vivica didn’t know how she was going to survive without him.
There was another pause from Shane, and Vivica hoped that he didn't notice how she had said it. She was mortified, and the only excuse that she had was that she was still half asleep.
“I'm not going to be gone long, Vivica. You don't have to worry about it.”
She scoffed and told him that she wasn't worried about it at all. That wasn't true, but thankfully Shane took her words at face value and didn’t call her on it.
“I want you to do some work with Devin. Do you think that would be a problem?”
Vivica disagreed. “No, Devin is great to work with.”
“Is he now?”
“Yeah, he is a really nice guy. I don't mind working with him at all. What do you want me to do?”
“Just do for him what you did for me, keep an eye out for him and let him know if he's losing someone.”
Vivica said that she could do that, and she wanted to ask him how long he was going to be gone. Not too long was ambiguous and she wanted more information. She had asked him, but he had not found it imperative to answer, so that was just going to have to be good enough.
There was a moment where he should have gotten off the phone, but he didn't. Vivica wondered what Shane had on his mind, and she finally asked him if there was anything else that he wanted to discuss. He said that there wasn’t quickly, but still didn’t get off the phone, leaving her stumped yet again. Vivica didn’t think she was ever going to really understand that man.
Shane was not usually so wishy washy that she had seen, and she had to wonder what made him second-guess. It was obvious that he’d wanted something but had backed out of it. That made her wonder.
“Actually, this is going to sound weird, but you didn't come to my room last night, did you?”
He asked her why she wanted to know that, and Vivica remembered clearly this wonderful dream that she had. The two of them were together in a very intimate way. He had kissed her and gotten on top of her while she was lying in bed. It was hard to recall exactly what happened in the dream, it was fuzzy, but Vivica knew that she wanted to remember. She did recall him pressing his body against her and how good that had felt.
“What?”
“I don't know, I must've just had this really weird dream.”
“Weird how?”
Vivica knew better than to say it out loud. If she told him, then he would know that she was thinking about it, and Vivica didn't want him to have that much information. He didn't need to know that she was thinking about him in such a way. He was the boss after all.
“Oh, never mind. It was silly, really; I don't want to get into it. It just seemed so real, you know?”
Vivica tried to get off the phone, but Shane stopped her by saying her name almost sternly like she was in trouble. Why did she respond to that so well?
“You can't say something like that and then just get off of the phone, Vivica.”
“What more do you want me to say?”
“I want you to tell me what the dream was about. It sounds like something that I should know about.”
Vivica didn't want to say. She was trying her best to stay tight-lipped, but he kept insisting. She could feel her face getting red just thinking about it, and Vivica was grateful that he wasn’t there in front of her. Why couldn't he let it go?
“I had a dream that you kissed me. I was in the bed, and I woke up and you were right there. You started to say something and then you just kissed me. Then, you left just as abruptly as you came. I know that it wasn't real, but it really felt like it. I can actually still feel...”
Vivica's words faded out, because the moment was coming back to her, and it felt as real as it had the first time. How could something that didn't happen, feel so real?
“What makes you think that it was a dream?”
She clicked her tongue. “Because you would never kiss me.”
There was another pause, and Vivica wished to God that she hadn't brought any of it up. Obviously, that was a mistake. He was her boss, had given her a job, and a place to stay out of the kindness of his heart. Vivica should have just kept her mouth shut.
“I'm sorry, Shane, I never should have said anything. That was very unprofessional of me, and I hope you can accept my apologies.”
“I will see you when I get back in town. I shouldn't be gone too long. When I get back, we will have a talk about these dreams of yours.”
Vivica was glad he wasn’t there to see her embarrassing reaction. She apparently couldn’t talk to Shane before she had fully woken up. It was hard enough to deal with him when she had all of her wits about her, but at the moment, she didn't have any of her defenses up, and she had just let him slip through the cracks. Now she was shaking inside, trying to figure out what to do next.
***
Vivica was thankful that she was able to lose herself at work. Since she was helping Devin take care of all of Shane's business, they were busy most of the day. She got into the office around 8:00 o'clock and didn't leave until 10:00 o'clock that evening. She was tired and was just about to go home for the night when Devin stopped her on the way out the door.
“Where are you going?”
Vivica wasn’t sure if Devin knew about her living arrangement with Shane or not, so she didn’t want to say too much. She just shrugged and said that she wasn’t sure what she was doing for the night. Vivica was so worried about getting caught, she didn’t see why Devin was asking her that question.
“Why don't you come out with me? We can have some dinner or something.”
“I don't want to hold you up or anything. I'm sure that you have plans.”
Devin disagreed. “I really don't.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you don't have a girlfriend to go home to? Or a wife?”
Devin just smiled, with that twinkle in his eyes that she knew well. She had seen it more than once. Devin was nice, with a certain draw to him that she found fun to be around, but he wasn’t Shane. Vivica had decided, probably twelve hours after meeting Shane, that he was the one for her. She hadn’t thought it was possible, the way he made her fall all over her words and act like an idiot every time he was close. She had eyes only for him unfortunately. It would have been easier for Vivica if it was Devin.
“Are you trying to tell me that you're interested?”
“Curious.”
“Well, I have neither one of those. Haven’t found the right one yet.”
He said it like there was a chance that he had found the right one in her. Vivica didn't like the way the situation was going. She didn’t want to come out and say that she wasn’t interested, but she didn’t want to lead him on either. Vivica knew how men could get if turned down, even the nice ones like Devin. It would break her heart if he turned on her, and Vivica wasn’t ready to see if that was the case yet or not.
She agreed to go out with him, but only because he refused to take no for an answer. Vivica thought that the alone time together was probably going to be problematic. He would not think so, but she knew what would happen. That was how it always went. Vivica liked a guy’s company, and they would like hers. Then, they would want more, and more, until it was more than Vivica was ready for, and they would get mad.
They went to a local bar that wasn’t far from the office. Vivica had a glass of wine because she didn't want to have anything too strong. Sometimes when she had a bit to drink, all of her inhibitions that were there for a reason no longer existed. She wanted to make sure that it didn't happen with Devin. He wouldn't understand. All he would see was that she was flirty and horny. He would think that she was just messing with his head.
It didn't matter what she did, Devin was already smitten. It was clearly written all over his face and even though she turned the conversation away from anything that had to do with romance, Devin just found a way to turn it back on her. Her saving grace was actually a call from Shane and for some reason, the mention of his name straightened Devin up and Vivica was able to relax.
Shane wasn’t calling for much, just wanting an update on how everything went with the meetings. It was purely professional, but Vivica got a moment to walk away from the table and it gave her the breather that she needed. It gave her time to collect herself. At the same time she was slowly unwinding again just from speaking with Shane. It was all so confusing, the push and pull on her senses.
***
Vivica was happy to be on her way home. Everything that she had tried to avoid with Devin had seemed to backfire. There was also the problem of Shane. Devin was hitting on her, and Vivica knew how guys were, that they had a code or something. She was afraid that the code that they had would keep her from getting what she wanted. She wanted Shane, not Devin. She didn’t want Shane to back off, if he was going that way, because Devin wanted her.
She had a lot to think about and though she’d only been there a short time, Vivica was lost without Shane. He wasn’t always there when she got back, but he would be there soon. She ate in his study while he was away and even passed by his room several times.
It was curiosity that did it, that is what Vivica told herself. She was curious about her boss, and he was shrouded in mystery, so naturally, she wanted to rip the curtains away and see what was there. After the third day, Vivica got brave enough to enter his room. It wasn’t locked, her first surprise, and it wasn’t all fancy like the rest of the house. It almost felt suddenly to Vivica like the rest of the house was just for show. This part of it though, was something else. It was Shane’s.
Vivica looked around, not touching or opening anything, but just looking at the few pictures. She did touch the wooden bed frame. Going into his room did nothing but make her wonder more. Vivica had no idea who Shane was, but she was still dying to find out.
