“Jesus, Winter,” he grumbled. She giggled and walked back over to one of the customers who was trying to get her attention about some mascara. Before Chris left his perch at the counter, she had the woman agreeing to a full facial. It was her job to sell women makeup to make them feel pretty and she was damn good at it.
Chris
Chris had to wait until he got his erection under control before he could stand up to leave the beauty counter. Winter drove him half crazy and most of the time, she didn’t even know it. Hell, he wanted her more than he wanted his next breath but risking the lifelong friendship that the two of them had built wasn’t something he was willing to do. Besides, he wasn’t sure how she would handle the fact that he liked men too. Hell, that was most of the reason he was looking forward to going back to the Bay area for Christmas. He’d not only get to spend his thirtieth birthday with his best friend but he’d get to see Luke Tannen again and that thought alone had his dick working in overtime. If he could convince Luke to spend the week with him, he’d be able to blow off some steam and hopefully take his mind off his sexy as sin best friend.
Luke and he had known each other in high school and dated for most of college, although he wouldn’t necessarily call what they did together dating. It was more like they fucked in secret to keep everyone else around them in the dark about them both being bi. He wasn’t ready to come out and Luke already went public about his sexual preferences—as if that was something normal people did. Straight people didn’t have to announce that they liked to fuck the opposite sex but as soon as you want to fuck someone of the same sex, you have to make a grand announcement. He didn’t know what he wanted in life—a relationship with just one man or one woman would limit him and his future happiness but having both was a pipe dream. Sure, he had heard of some relationships like that working but for the most part, his bi friends usually picked a side and stuck to it. Chris told Luke that he didn’t want to announce the fact that he was bi to the world and Luke didn’t seem to want to sit around and wait for him to decide what he wanted. By the time college was over, so was their relationship.
He left San Francisco and followed Winter to Los Angeles, putting his managerial degree to good use. Chris quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder at Bixby’s through grit, determination, and a whole lot of ass-kissing, he became their youngest Vice President in the company’s history. He loved living in the City of Angels. Honestly, he just loved living close to Winter—it wouldn’t matter where on the planet they lived. He tried to convince her to move in with him a few months back but she refused, saying that she didn’t want to cramp his style. It was for the best really—if she moved in his place, he’d probably waste no time getting her into his bed and that was possibly the worst idea he ever had. Well, that and the current scheme he was thinking up. He just needed the courage to ask her and if she said yes, he knew Winter would have a much nicer holiday and birthday back home with her parents than she had in years past.
He didn’t get why they seemed to go out of their way to make her feel bad about her current boyfriend-less situation. Winter was a great catch—she was kind and always went out of her way to help everyone else. She was funny as hell and smarter than he’d ever admit. Plus, she was sexy as fuck, curvy, and all the right places, and when he’d catch her bending down to pick something up off the salesroom floor in one of her tiny pencil skirts, he’d just about come in his damn pants. Yeah—she was his walking wet dream but then again so was Luke.
Luke had kept in touch with him after college, even admitting during one of their facetime calls that he regretted ending things with Chris. They had talked about getting together over the past few years but the more than five-hour drive didn’t work into either of their schedules. He had hoped to catch Luke on one of his trips back to visit his family but Luke always seemed to be out of town when Chris was visiting. He often wondered if that was Luke’s way of avoiding him but that thought hurt too damn much to entertain. When he called back home to arrange the small celebration for Winter and him, Luke agreed to come and God, that gave him more hope than he should have had. Luke wasn’t making him any promises but that was all his damn dick seemed to hear when his old flame said that he’d love to see both Winter and him again over Christmas. And now, he had less than two weeks to get his nerve up to ask Winter for what he wanted. He was going to make her a deal she couldn’t pass up and then slip in the part she might not like. It was now or never really.
Chris was just about to the elevator when he turned back to find Winter helping a woman with some brightly colored face stuff. “Um, Winter,” he said. Chris cleared his throat and waited to see if he had caught her attention. She nodded to the lady at the counter and smiled, her blond hair spilling over her shoulder had him wanting to run his hands through it. Hell, he wanted to tug it from behind while he was fucking her and making her scream out his name but thinking shit like that now would make it nearly impossible for him to walk.
She looked across the room to where he stood by the elevator doors. “Yes, Mr. Shepley?” she teased. Winter always protested when it came to him giving her preferential treatment over the other employees at Bixby’s. He shook his head at her and smirked, causing her to giggle.
“Can you please come to my office during your lunch break?” he asked. Outright asking her to lunch in front of a floor full of customers and employees would have her publicly balking his idea.
“Sure,” she said back. “I’ll see you at noon, Sir,” she said, even giving him a saucy wink. He stepped onto the elevator knowing that all eyes were on them but he didn’t give a shit—not anymore.
Winter was right on time, as usual, and her soft knock on his office door made him smile. She had no idea what she was getting herself into by coming to his office but she’d figure it out sooner or later. He had ordered lunch for the two of them—all her favorites and then he was going to finally bite the bullet and just make Winter an offer he hoped she wouldn’t be able to refuse.
“Come in,” he shouted through the closed door. Winter pushed her way into his office and slumped into the leather sofa that sat along the wall.
“What a crazy day,” she said. “I can’t believe how many women buy makeup before the holidays for themselves. I guess they want to look their best for all the parties and family gatherings that they have to go to. Heck, maybe they have overbearing, judgmental parents too and they just want to put their best foot forward.” Chris knew that Winter could relate to that last part.
“How about some lunch?” he asked. Winter seemed to finally notice the food spread out on his desk and she eagerly nodded and smiled.
“I’m starving,” she admitted. “I could eat a horse.”
Chris chuckled and shook his head, “Well, you are out of luck on that one but I did order from your favorite Asian restaurant and I think you’ll still be happy.”
Winter stood from the sofa and perused her choices. “Oh yeah,” she cheered, even fist-bumping the air, “you got dumplings. I’d do just about anything for dumplings,” she admitted.