Aubreys Playground

:Six:

The elevator doors finally opened allowing Aubrey access to the first-floor lobby, he shoved his hand in his right pocket as he passed the empty receptionist's desk, due to it being a weekend there really was no need for Sherry to occupy her station. He pulled his phone from his pocket while walking outside to the cold weather, pulled up Lori's number and hit call, granted it was still kind of early but he was oddly anxious to be around her, he honestly wasn't sure why he was so ready to be in her presence but he didn't think much of it, chalking it up to bad nerves seeing as he could have still been lounging in his pajama bottoms enjoying his morning freely.

"Aubrey, how are you?" Her voice was welcoming, soft, there was an innocence to it that made him want to listen to her speak all day, it quickly made him feel at ease.

"Just got out of a meeting that could have been an email, but other than that I can't complain and you gorgeous?" He could hear her slightly giggle at the compliment.

"Pretty good so far nothing to complain about as well. Thanks for asking."

"Of course. What are you up to right now?"

"On my way to Argosy Book Store. You?"

"Wondering if you want some company?"

"Are we staring our date early?"

"Yes, we are." She got silent for a split second, he could tell she was smiling at his authority. "You're smiling so hard I can hear it through the phone."

"I will drop you the location." She replied back ignoring how busted she truly was.

"Perfect." He disconnected the call and waited for her to share her location with him, she was quick only taking a few seconds.

"Where we headed?" Mike asked looking at him through the rearview mirror.

"The condo. Then you go home and enjoy your weekend."

He nodded and put his eyes to the road to pull from the curb. "Won't argue with that." He said in satisfaction.

Aubrey continued keeping himself busy for the ride home answering the emails and texts that he pushed to the side. The thought of Oliver throwing out business in Vegas caught his attention again, the fact that it popped up in his mind made him think it could actually be a good idea, yet somehow he was mentally trying to talk himself out of the plan. There was no variety on the strip, Vegas was either Heaven or Hell, depending on how your night was going, it was so hard to push anything other than a strip club, casino, or a seven day residency for a musician 10 years past their prime, but maybe that was the calling, for him to bring something new to the strip. Aubrey took a deep breath and replaced his phone back into his pocket as the single garage door of his condo opened he got out and walked around the front of the truck and dapped Mike up.

"See you Monday."

"Like clockwork." Mike said back.

He didn't have much time to shower, the last thing he wanted to do was leave Lori waiting longer than she'd expect, making his decision to go to the condo located in the city instead of going to him home further out was his only option, he had to wash away the mess that April left in his lap over an hour ago. He had completely forgotten about the new intern and how easy she was as soon as he started speaking to Lori, and that in itself was extremely telling considering one woman had sat between his legs for 30 minutes sucking his d**k and the other he simply spilled coffee on over a week ago, yet the one that swallowed his c*m was not on his mind. He quickly got dressed and walked down to his garage picking from the wall that held the several car keys and made his way back to the city.

Traffic wasn't as bad as he thought, making him good on time, he debated on stopping at a Starbucks to pick up what he remembered to be her usual drink but he quickly tossed the gesture, he'd rather stay good on time then push it,

He pulled into the back parking lot of the tall building, pushed open the doors and was hit with that 'new paper' smell, the building looked small from the outside but was very deceiving on the inside, it was six floors of whining aisles and shelves full of thousands of new, rare, out-of-print, and used books, magazines, even newspapers. The old wooden desks, green lamps, and piles of books purposely decorated the floors and corner tables by large comfortable sitting chairs, it wasn't necessarily his style but the design was so well executed it made him feel like he walked into a time-loop.

It wasn't necessarily crowded but the number of people was noticeable once you reached certain floors, soft music played as background noise hoping to drown out the scattered honking from the busy street, he turned a corner and found her still on the first floor standing on one side of a large square table looking down at a opened book, he watched her for a few seconds taking her appearance in, admiring her, she was dressed down in a pair of jeans but if she had an event to attend she'd still look presentable. He stepped forward and cleared his throat to get her attention, she looked up and immediately smiled. The look in her eyes stopped him before he could lift his right foot off the ground, his body was paralyzed. He physically had to push himself to her.

"Hey! You found me!" She said as she raised her arms, standing on her tippy toes to reach his shoulders, she was at most 5'5 easily disappearing into his 6'1, 200 plus frame,

"I did, this place is beautiful." He said pulling away and looking around.

"Yeah, I know. It's my favorite place I can literally spend hours in here, it's bad!"

"It's relaxing, I can see why." He looked down at the book that had her attention before he interrupted her. "You like photography?" He asked noticing the specifics.

"I do, it's more of a hobby, I'm not necessarily a professional but I do own several cameras." She looked down in her large satchel that rested across her torso. "I actually have one on me now."

He smiled looking at the Digital Rebel Cannon. "May I?"

"Of course!" She placed the expensive camera in his hand allowing him access to turn it on and look through what she considered to be a hobby but he considered to be a talent.

"These are amazing. Why aren't you doing this on the regular?"

"Thank you!" She scooped a portion of her black wavy hair behind her ear. "I don't know?... I just... have it as a hobby for right now... maybe I'll eventually pick it up, permanently..." Her eyes were back to their bright hazel, specs of green flashed throughout them when the light from outside hit them just right. Aubrey grew hot as he looked down at her, her words trailed off becoming muffled, that stiff feeling in his body that stopped him from getting to her sooner when he first walked in was back, he had found that thing that wasn't in April's eyes, that certain feeling he was searching for when he demanded that she looked up at him. He was easily picturing Lori perform the lewdest, most crude s****l acts and favors on him as she looked directly at him, his nostrils flared, his jaw clenched, his breathing grew deep it was as if the neck of his shirt was too tight around his throat. "You ok?" She said lightly placing her hand to his forearm, he immediately tensed up at her touch, as much as he hated being touch without permission by anyone, his body didn't pull away, she noticed his body tension and dropped her hand back to her side.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Aubrey finally assured her before clearing his throat and handing the camera back . He stared down at her with knitted eyebrows. "I'm sorry, but you are extremely beautiful. You start glowing when you talk about things you like. Your eyes... they... they change." He said.

Lori grew shy, she dropped her head looking down at the space between their shoes and laughed. "Thank you. You're extremely observant."

"Yeah, it's kind of a gift and a curse."

"So..." Lori cut into the intense silence. "Aubrey, what do you do besides owning a bunch of hotspots and knowing about liquor?"

He chuckled at her vague description of him. "I Uh... own the family company. Rose Graham..."

"Oh my God! That's it! That's how I know your last name!" Lori became excited as she spoke remembering the small conversation between her and Janet as she googled his name. "RGE! Janet and I... my business partner, we had a running contract through you all! It ended last year though... uh, we sold two building to your company in Santa Monica two years ago!" She paused and tilted her head to the side. "But I don't remember you... uh, it was only Dennis... Janet and I never got to meet him but we spoke to him on the phone a lot."

Aubrey matched her frown the wheels in his mind began to twist and turn as he searched his brain for numbers and names.

"Uh...." He closed his eyes. "You're... uh?... Jay&Ell Real Estate!"

"Yes! That's us! Ell is my nickname, obviously!"

"My dad must have really liked you two! We only do outsource business with four real estate companies and you two are fourth on that list. Everything else is within the company... we actually have our Real Estate department."

"Oh, wow... I didn't know he still had us on a list. I'm flattered. How is your dad? By the way..."

Aubrey's face grew stale, Lori could sense his mood close up and become distant at the question, he took a step back and leaned against the table pressing his weight against the surface and folded his arms across his chest.

"He uh... died actually..."

"Oh my God... I'm so sorry, you don't have to continue, you can stop there." She interrupted him placing her hand to her chest.

"No, no, no it's fine. He uh, had lung cancer and he basically worked until it finally killed him. That was probably why you didn't meet him, he physically took on the characteristics of being sick and began running the company via home, that was when I was brought in to begin the process of putting my name on everything."

"Right, that makes sense... so are you the oldest sibling is that why everything got passed down to you first?" She smiled in her efforts at changing the subject upon noticing his closed off demeanor.

She watched his arms dropped from his chest and slid both hands into his pocket, opening himself back up. "Actually no, I'm the only sibling."

"Oh, lucky. I'm stuck in the middle of two girls."

"Ouch. There was more than one bathroom in the house, right?"

Lori let out a vocal laugh, shaking her head no. "Unfortunately, it was split between the three of us!"

"Sheesh, I couldn't do it." Aubrey said shaking his head.

"You get used to it. I'm sure you were pretty close to your parents being the only child, get whatever you want don't have toys or get hand-me-downs!"

"Uh, that is all true, absolutely." He smiled nodding his head from side to side, almost debating on if he wanted to continue a conversation about his childhood and parents. However the want to keep a conversation going with her was a brand new feeling, the urge to keep talking flowed naturally, he was always short and to the point, most conversations with women lasted less than five minutes and the only subject matter was the specific kinks that they craved. His arms were back to being folded across his chest yet he still indulged in his explanation. "I spent a lot of time by myself, I like being by myself. A bit of an introvert. This job forces me to be around a lot... a lot of people and I had to really get used to that, still working on it. My dad... uh, he preferred to take care of the family company rather than raise a kid, but he did take care of my mother and me financially, at all times. I was really raised by my mother."

"So... you're a momma's boy!!" She teased him.

Aubrey smiled and dropped his head, he ran his hand along the back of his neck grabbing and squeezing it, feeling embarrassed. "Guilty!"

"That is so adorable!" She reached to nudge his arm but stopped before he noticed her, playing it off as if she was switching positions in her stance.

"Yeah, she uh, taught me a lot. How to take care of people, places, and things. She taught me how to love properly and be honest in what I can offer another person. A very big female influence in my life."

"She sounds amazing."

"Yeah, that's an understatement." He nodded his head.

Lori grew quiet as she looked him over, the way he spoke about his mother made him seem softer, he was comfortable in showing his love for her knowing he could talk about her all day, he was charming, she began to wonder how he would treat his own girlfriend or wife, what care he would take with her, what obstacles he would climb to keep her safe and happy.

"You hungry?" She finally asked breaking the seconds of silence between them.

"Always. What you got in mind?"

"Hmmm... I know this amazing secret Japanese spot."

"Really?" He said sounding surprised. "I bet you ten bucks I've been there before."

Lori smirked arching her right eyebrow at the bet at hand. "I bet you fifteen that you haven't!" She replied back maliciously while holding her hand out. His grin shifted to one side of his mouth as he grabbed her small hand into his, shaking and sealing their deal.