Chapter 23 Peer-to-Peer
By Alejandro
On Sunday, I was surprised that there was no one in my bed. On Friday, I had only slept for a few hours, and on Saturday night, after having dinner with Omar at our usual restaurant, I started to get a headache. I was about to call Valeria for a massage, but I decided to take some aspirin instead.
I got out of the shower, dressed quickly, and went down to the kitchen. My breakfast was already ready. I asked her to give me a massage. My headache was gone; I just needed the touch of her hands.
I am dying to have her; it's stronger than me.
It's all because she keeps refusing over and over again.
I try to kiss her.
"No, Ale, you can't kiss me. I'm your secretary. That's what your... friends are for."
"I want you... I would make love to you like you can't imagine. You would beg me never to leave you. You wouldn't want to get out of my bed."
"And who would kick me out when you get tired?"
I couldn't tell her that I wouldn't get tired, and she's the one who gets rid of the girls and throws them out.
"It's better this way. I have my job, and you have your secretary. Don't kiss me anymore! You have all those women from the orgy!"
"That was something that..."
"Stay with those women and leave me alone!"
"I understand it's not something you're used to seeing, but the door was open if anyone wanted to join."
"Does it make no difference to you? Did you want me to join?"
She asked with a trembling voice.
It's incredible how she takes on a thousand things and then sees an orgy and freaks out. Does she get upset when she kicks the girls out of my bed?
She never seemed jealous to me.
I have to tell her that she's just my secretary so she doesn't get confused. Gonzalo's words stuck in my head. Do I treat her like a girlfriend?
I imagined her in the orgy, joining in, and it gave me chills. It distressed me a lot.
"No, Vale, I wouldn't share you with anyone."
She looks at me with those green, wild-cat eyes that drive me crazy.
I feel her gaze makes me tremble.
I can't take it anymore and kiss her, madly, passionately, and I think tenderly. My kisses with her are different. My hands roam her body. I can't even suppress my moans.
My senses blur. I feel her tremble. I unbutton her blouse and even managed to take it off. I also got her bra off. My mouth, desperate, can't stay away from her breasts. I had never had her like this. My hand was already in her intimacy, my fingers inside her, and she was moaning, though she was telling me no, that she didn't want it, to stop.
"No, Ale, I swear it's hard. I saw you with those girls and..."
I couldn't even hear her.
I unbuttoned my pants, pulled them down along with my boxers. If I stopped to get a condom, the moment might be lost. If she got pregnant...
I preferred that over losing the moment.
I'm not thinking.
"Alejandro, I'm telling you no."
"Damn it, Valeria, you're soaking wet, and it's because of me. You're trembling. I'm hot, more than you can imagine."
"Yes, I imagine it's the same as what happened on Friday. I'm not saying you don't make me feel anything. I'm saying I look at you and see what you were doing that day, or I see every woman you've had in your bed, and I won't be just another one on anyone's list."
"You're the first on the list."
"You're an idiot. I'm not going to sleep with you, no matter how much I want to."
"It's stupid to want it and hold back."
"No, because tomorrow you'll wake up bored of me and replace me with anyone, whoever is most convenient, and that will hurt me."
"Live in the moment."
"No!"
We ended up arguing.
We didn't do anything. I almost had her.
We had lunch with my aunt and Susana, then organized the event in Europe.
There was a certain tension between Valeria and me. I don't know if it was noticeable.
On Monday morning, she came by my apartment and pulled two women out of my bed.
She didn't say a word, just prepared my clothes as usual and changed my sheets.
She couldn't be my girlfriend and not be jealous of those women, so I don't treat her like my girlfriend. She's just my secretary or personal assistant; call it whatever you want.
As I'm heading to lunch, I see Carlos, the director of the perfume store chains, talking to her.
"Were you looking for me?" I asked.
"No, I just came to invite Valeria to lunch."
I glared at him.
"I have to go over some reports," Valeria said.
"You heard her, don't insist."
"Then I'll invite you to dinner. I already told you I'm looking for something serious with you, not just one night."
"Don't you get that she's saying no?"
"Why don't you let her answer me?"
"She's my secretary, and you have no business here."
"I'm inviting her out. I don't want to mess around with her, nor do I want just one night. I want her to be my girlfriend, my partner, and why not, my wife."
"You need to respect what she wants, and she doesn't want you."
"How do you know? Does she want you?"
I was speechless. She rejected me, but she trembled in my arms, and last weekend, I had her almost naked in my arms. Sure, I only wanted sex, but it drove me crazy to think she could be like that with someone else.
"Gentlemen, please, I just come here to work, and everyone knows that," Valeria said.
"You heard her, leave unless you want me to fire you for harassment."
"You're a hypocrite."
"That's none of your business."
"I'll call you, Vale."
"She already told you she's not interested. If you want to keep working here, don't call her."
"You're crazy and stubborn."
"You're disrespecting me, and I'm going to ask for your resignation."
"I'm not resigning. If you want, fire me."
"You'll face a lawsuit for harassment, and on top of that, your insults towards me."
"See you, Vale."
He left very calmly.
I went back to my office and spoke with Susana and then with our lawyers.
Valeria peeked in; my office door was open.
"Alejandro, you know he didn't disrespect me. He just invited me out, politely, and I already told him no."
"But he insisted and then called me crazy and stubborn."
She walked into my office and closed the door.
"Ale, you're overreacting."
"Do you like him?"
"No, it's not that."
"I'm tired of it. I don't like working with people I don't get along with."
"He's not just another secretary; he's one of the directors of one of your most important companies."
"Are you defending him?"
I was already losing control and ready to forbid her from talking to him.
I might be a bit stubborn, but I own an empire and I'm used to doing things my way.
"No, Ale, I'm not defending him. I'm just saying that..."
"Did he send you to talk to me? He's a coward."
"He didn't send me."
"If you sleep with me, I'll forgive him, for now, for being rude. It's in your hands," I said, smiling.
"You can't coerce me."
"I am, and I can."
"Do whatever you want with Carlos."
I smiled.
I didn't get her to sleep with me, but at least I realized Carlos didn't matter that much to her.
She smiled back, and I didn't see her response coming. No one dared to talk to me like she did, maybe Omar and Gonzalo or Susana and my aunt, no one else, oh yes, my father. With them, the list of people who speak to me as equals ends. Valeria has confidence with me and often responds, always sweetly, but never challenges me.
"Keep in mind that if he's not your employee, he won't hesitate to ask me out as many times as he wants, and if I feel like it, I can go out with him."
I stared at her so intensely that I noticed her mouth trembling after saying those words.