red roses she thought to return the favor back to you.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right, Jane,” I said but thinking to myself Monica had never sent me flowers in all our years of being married.
I walked into my office and closed the door behind me. Just as Jane had described the vase containing the twelve roses were positioned in the middle of my desk. But these weren’t ordinary roses they were culturally grown. My curiosity was killing me, so I finally grabbed the note that was attached. The note read: I’m glad you decided to come out and play. I knew instantly the roses were from Tiffany. I shredded the note then stared at the roses trying to decide what to do next.
“Mr. Malone are you available?” asked Jane through my phone’s intercom system breaking my concentration.
“Yes Jane, I’m here,” I said in an angry tone. “What is it?”
“Sir, it’s Ms. Tiffany Towns on line four for you?
“Who?” I asked stalling Jane trying to gather my thoughts as I took a seat in my chair.
“Ms. Towns, the consultant, who was here in the office not too long ago.”
“Oh, yeah Jane, I remember her now. You can just transfer her through.”
As my number four line constantly blinked I simply waited before answering. I took a deep breath and picked up the phone’s handset pressing the corresponding line.
“This is Aaron,” I answered in a calm voice.
“Well good morning, Aaron, I see you finally made it to your desk,” said Tiffany sounding sultry on the other end. “Do you like your roses?”
“They’re nice.”
“Listen, I’m working at my firm’s satellite office today downtown on Marietta Street. I’ve picked up a new assignment but figured we could do lunch today.”
“Lunch?”
“I figured Maggiano’s or Morton’s if you prefer. They’re both in Buckhead on Peachtree Road.”
“Yeah, I know where they both are located.”
“Or maybe we can just rendezvous at a more intimate place like my condo for a quickie.”
“Tiffany, slow down because we need to talk.”
“Talk about what, Aaron?”
“About what happened on Friday night?”
“You mean how you literally fucked the shit out of me?”
“It was a mistake,” I said in a firm tone and taking a stance on which way the conversation was going. “It shouldn’t have happened and it won’t again.”
“What do you mean a mistake!” she shouted out in a defensive tone. “Was it a mistake the way you purposely allowed me to suck your dick? Or how about how you continuously fucked me until I came? Was that a mistake too, Aaron?”
“I have a wife and two kids and I’m not going to lose it to a one-night-stand. Besides, Tiffany, we both probably had a little too much to drink.”
“So now you’re blaming it on the alcohol.”
“No, I’m saying it was just poor judgment on both of us.”
“Aaron, I’m not trying to make you upset so please don’t be mad at me. I realize you have a wife and kids but keep in mind I like married men.”
The more we spoke the more our ideas and views spread further apart. I wanted out and she continued to push in.
“Tiffany, there’s nothing further to discuss here,” I said firmly trying to get her off my phone. “We both should remain professional about the situation. From my understanding, our firm only retained your services for the initial designs on the revitalization project. As you know, those designs were completed last week.”
“So that’s how you want it, huh?”
“That’s the way it has to be.”
“Well, I guess you’re calling the shots right now, Mr. Malone. But I’ll definitely see you later.”
Before I could respond to her facetious comment, she quickly hung up. I, in turn, slammed the receiver down in a sign of disbelief of what had just happened. After interlocking my fingers together and placing them on my chest, I leaned back in my chair. Exhaling, I then swiveled the chair towards the window and back to my desk again. When I did, I noticed the