Part IV
University of Southern California, Crocker Business Library
The Event Countdown: 4 days and 11 hours
In the coziest, quietest corner of the library, Letty and her study partner sat in large, comfortable chairs. With a grande soy lattes, flash cards and a vast array of colored pens, they were beyond prepared for their midterm study session.
"Are you even listening to me, Letty?"
"Huh?"
"Nice."
"I'm sorry. My mind is so… cluttered these days." Letty admitted. "Tell me again."
"Nope. You missed all of the juicy details already."
Letty grinned. "Come on, Mia. I'm listening this time. Please?"
"I was just telling you that I'm going to see Professor O'Connor during office hours today."
"Are you finally going to profess your undying lust for him?"
Mia rolled her dark brown eyes at her study partner. "I'm not… in lust with him."
It was clear to Letty that, while Mia was the single most moral person she knew, it seemed that a one Professor Brian O'Connor could be her moral downfall. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed teacher was handsome, for sure, and he was single. Mia had fallen the instant he walked into the seminar hall.
"I'm going to bear his studious children." She'd whispered to Letty on the first day of class.
And strangely enough, Letty believed her.
"You're lucky you have that innocent face, Mi. Your lies are more believable." Letty gave her attention to the computer screen once more.
"Speaking of lust, how's your mysterious boss?"
"Why? What have you heard?" Letty feigned shock. Mia giggled and went back to flipping through The Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society.
"Only what you've told me." She scribbled a few notes down in the notebook beside her. "Which is practically nothing."
Letty hesitated before replying, "There's nothing to know."
Mia's pen stopped scratching against the paper and her eyes slowly raised to look at the brunette before her.
"Letty?"
Mentally kicking herself, Letty refused to acknowledge Mia, instead busying herself with a meaningless task. Letty raised her eyebrows. "Hm?"
"Is there something to know?"
Letty opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off.
"Look me in my eyes."
Rolling her own, Letty looked Mia dead in the eyes, crossing her fingers. "Mia, there is nothing to know."
Mia squinted her eyes, jokingly. "Good."
"Why good?"
"I don't know much about him. Come to think of it, I don't even know his name, but from what you've told me, he seems… dark."
Letty's eyes nearly became saucers.
"What do you mean by dark?"
"You know," she waved her hand generally, "like he's hiding some deep, dark secret."
Mia sounded like Dominic, himself. "I don't know about that."
"You said it yourself: he's secretive, mysterious, brooding. If you ask me, he sounds a lot like a Bram Stoker character."
Despite the uneasy feeling that settled in her stomach, Letty chuckled. "He's not Dracula. He's just my boss."
Mia shrugged. "When you're buying scarves in the summer to cover two bite marks, don't come crying to me."
"I'll try my hardest." The girls shared a laugh and Letty reached over, snagging a handful of Mia's Chex mix. "Now, give one example of how the Sarbanes-Oxley Act can help a company and one example of how it can harm a company."
DT Industries, Tuesday
The Event Countdown: 3 days and 3 hours
"Sorry, sir," gasped Letty.
He grinned. "It's quite alright, Leticia. We were just finishing up. Isn't that right, gentlemen?"
"We were. We'll see you Saturday at the club." The shorter of the three gentleman before her spoke up. He held his hand out. "Arturo Braga."
"Letty Ortiz."
"Letty Ortiz, are you a lion? Or a lamb?"
"Ella no es una mascota, Arturo." Dominic replied darkly. (She is not a pet.) Letty had never heard him sound so… Cuban. It was kind of a turn-on, but at that moment, she was more concerned with why she felt like a cornered deer. Dominic's attention was focused on Braga's hand still clutching Letty's.
Braga looked at Dominic and then back at his assistant and a knowing smile formed slowly.
"Too bad." He let go of her hand and nodded to each of the men flanking him. "This is Fenix Calderon. And that's Hernan Reyes."
"Nice to meet you, gentlemen."
"The pleasure is ours." Felix replied.
Letty's eyes found Dominic's.
"Out." He commanded, snapping once and pointing to the door.
"We aren't pets either, Dominic." Reyes responded. The three men laughed, but took their leave nonetheless, bidding Letty a farewell. The brunette shut the door behind them, brows furrowed.
"What was that?"
"My… friends."
"You have some interesting friends."
"I wouldn't take too much interest in them."
"Seems like they took more interest in me than anything."
He cocked an eyebrow and rounded his desk, coming to stand in front of her. Looking her over, Dominic slowly circled her, the pointer finger on his right hand flicking dark tresses from her shoulder.
"You're wearing your hair down."
"So?"
"Did you do that for me?"
"No."
Yes.
Why had she decided to wear her hair down that morning?
"It's stunning."
"Thank you."
"Makes my dick hard." He muttered in her ear.
"We're at work," breathed Letty. She didn't bring a change of panties and he was about to make her ruin this pair!
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, technically, I could sue you for sexual harassment."
Both of Dom's eyebrows rose this time and he stopped in front of her once more.
"Could you now?" He was clearly amused. "You would sue a starving man who only wants to sit you on his desk and eat y-," an abrupt knock sounded at the door, causing Letty to take a step back, "come in!"
"Mr. Toretto," Hobbs entered, his eyes widening for a fleeting moment upon spotting Letty, "sorry sir, but if we don't leave now, you'll be late for your dinner meeting."
"Very well. I'll be out in a moment."
Hobbs nodded once and closed the door.
Letty frowned and pulled up the calendar on her iPad. "I don't have a meeting scheduled for you tonight."
Dom's head tilted slightly and he smiled, a genuine "you're so cute" smile. "Dinner with an old friend." He explained.
Letty's lips parted and a strange emotion ran through her. Jealousy, perhaps?
That's ridiculous, Letty thought, why the hell would I be jealous?
"You don't like that."
"Like what?"
"The idea that I'm going to dinner with a woman that's not you." He ran a finger down her face, from temple to jaw.
"I didn't know it was a woman until now."
"Touché." He retracted his hand, only to take ahold of hers. "Your classes are finished at one tomorrow, correct?"
"Yes."
"Until then." Dominic replied, kissing the back of her hand.
The Event Countdown: 2 days and 20 hours
The thing was, the man had ultimately taken over her life since she started working for him nearly two years ago. Yet, she still knew very little about him. Truth be told, up until she had sex with him, Letty could have gone the rest of her life not knowing intimate details of his life. Sometimes it was best to just be an outsider looking in. But now… now their lives were intertwined in some strange, twist of fate.
It wasn't until that night as she was in bed, lights off and eyes closed, that her thoughts began to eat at her. She really knew nothing except what she deemed necessary to do her job. And it was then that Letty decided she needed to know more. She told herself it was because she was about to spend the entire night with this man. That was one reason, certainly. But way back in the dark crevices of her psyche, she wondered if there was more to this than she was willing to admit.
Instead, she picked up her laptop and opened it, the LED light nearly blinding her. Clicking on her internet app, Letty found herself typing 'Dominic Toretto' into the search engine.
On the other side of town, Dominic held the door open, exiting a fabulous restaurant with an old friend.
"It's been so long since you've seen The Estate. you should come by soon."
"Neutral grounds. Public places. That is what we agreed on."
"Twelve years ago."
"I made a vow."
"Still a man of his word."
"And I always will be."
"Don't be so boring, Dominic. Boring has never suited you."
"What good is a man, if his words mean nothing? You taught me that."
"So honorable. So bold. When you're not on your knees before me."
Dominic surveyed their surroundings. She smiled at his wariness.
"I'm honorable even when you were on your knees before me." He assisted her into her town car, the driver unable to hear their conversation with the window partition up.
"Care to put your money where your mouth is?"
It was Dominic's turn to smile. He leaned down into the car, one arm on the roof for leverage. "Are you bored these days? Or just in need of a good fuck?"
"Good fucks come a dime a dozen, Dominic. What I'm offering is mind blowing."
Dominic took a deep breath and kissed his companion on the cheek. "No, thank you. I've got mind blowing. I'm looking for life altering."
She sat back in her seat with an adorable pout on her face, pondering his words. Was he finally looking for… more?
"Goodnight, Dominic."
"Goodnight, Elena. Tell your cowboy I say "behave"."
He closed the car door and rapped twice on the hood. Seconds later, his past was cruising down the street.
Dominic rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, a relieved sigh. These dinners with Elena always seemed to become more and more unbearable. The more she felt him trying to pull away for good, the tighter she held on. Which was strange, considering she was the one who hadn't wanted him anymore.
Hobbs pulled up alongside the curb and started to exit the vehicle but Dom opened his own door. In a surprising turn of events, he sat on the front.
"Long day, Mr. Toretto?"
"The longest, Luke." Undoing his tie, Dominic finished, "Let's go have a drink at home."
"Yes, sir."
Honestly, the man was on every Top Eligible Bachelor list that had ever come out. Letty scoffed and returned to the previous search page, this time clicking on the 'Images' tab. She sucked in a breath when the first picture that came up was of her boss, a crinkly-eyed smile bracing his face. It was a rare, candid photograph of him at a gala of some sort, a glass of champagne in his hand and an unknown woman facing him. She was shorter than him, and tanner with a beautifully highlighted pixie cut, but her back was towards the camera. Letty scanned the caption for a name:
CEO of DT Industries Dominic Toretto shares a laugh with friend, Elena Neves, co-founder of The Neves Project.
Bringing up another tab, Letty searched Elena Neves' name. A link for The Neves Project was the first to pop up. After a few moments of reading, Letty determined it was a foundation that gave money for the families of fallen police officers and also awarded scholarships to future police officers and firefighters. More light reading later, Letty discovered that both Elena and her husband had been officers and when her husband was killed in the line of duty, she retired early and began The Neves Project. Letty was impressed.
And also a little intimidated.
The 'Images' tab didn't make her feel any better. A hot, philanthropist. Dominic bumped elbows with hot philanthropists and interestingly intimidating men. What was she to make of him?
Not that it mattered. She was only going to spend one night with him and then return to being the assistant that he barely paid any attention to, unless it was to demand something of her.
"Honestly, I don't know what to make of her, Luke." Dominic confessed. "I can't get her out of my head."
"If I may be frank?"
"Please." Dominic was three scotch and sodas in and he was willing to hear what Luke had to say, even if it wasn't what he wanted to hear.
"Perhaps it was because it was great sex."
"Phenomenal?"
"Come again?"
"It was phenomenal sex. Earth-shattering, really."
Hobbs' eyebrows raised. Well, that explained a lot. The woman must have had Kryptonite in her pussy.
The last time he'd seen Dominic this stressed over something, Elena had just ended their… relationship. But that had been nearly nine years ago, just after Dominic had turned twenty-one.
"But," Dominic continued, "there's something else about her. She challenges me. While it makes me want to…" Teach her a lesson. Grip her hair and punish her from behind. Spank her until she screams an apology as she cums. "...pull my hair out," Hobbs chuckled at the idea of Dominic having hair, "it also makes me a little more determined."
"Determined to do what?"
"Have her."
"You mean possess her."
Dominic's hand froze, glass touching his lips. He didn't have a response. After all, it was the truth.
"She doesn't want to be possessed."
"Doesn't appear that way at least." Luke confirmed.
"Too bad." Dominic sighed and sat his now empty tumbler on the bar.
"Hm."
Tapping his hand against the bar, Dominic shook his head. "Enough with my theatrics, how is Simone? What is she fifteen now?""
"She's doing well. I think she's starting to get into boys."
Dominic laughed at the scowl that took over Luke's Samoan features. "Well, they'd better tread very carefully."
Luke pointed at Dominic, eyebrows raised, in agreement. "Nothing will save them if they hurt her."
"And that is just one of the billions of reasons that I will never have children."
"Never say never."
"Is this the part where you tell me they're blessings?"
"It is."
"And I suppose it's up to me to tell you I'm the least religious person you'll ever meet."
"It is."
Dominic shrugged. "Great talk."
"Phenomenal talk." Luke teased.
Dominic stood from his seat, ready to call it a night.
"Hey, Dom?"
Turning around to acknowledge one of his only friends, Dominic replied with an uncharacteristic, "Yeah?"
"Maybe you should consider allowing Letty to possess you."
Dominic chuckled as he made his exit.
As if that would ever happen.
DT Industries, Thursday
The Event Countdown: 1 day and 12 hours
"Leticia!"
Letty narrowed her eyes and pushed her rolling chair backwards. His fifth time calling her within the past half hour.
"Yes, Mr. Toretto?"
"Where is the Braga file?"
"On your desk." Letty replied from the doorway to his office. "Where I put it ten minutes ago."
Dominic stood from the black Chesterfield couch and walked to his desk. There, in front of his chair, sat the file he had been looking for.
"I said I needed two more copies."
"To your left."
The bin marked 'In' held the extra copies that Letty was almost one-hundred-percent sure her boss did not need.
"And the highlighters I requested."
Letty crossed her arms and wordlessly shifted her gaze to his antique penholder. The bright pink, yellow and blue highlighters were a stark contrast to the black pens. Her left brow raised in question. "Will that be all?"
"For you to lose the attitude."
Oh, now she was amused.
"It seems to me that you are the one with in a foul mood."
"You've yet to see me in a foul mood, Leticia." He grabbed ahold of his highlighters and the copies, returning to his spot on the Chesterfield.
"I think that you've been giving me busywork for the past hour. If I'm not needed today, that's fine, but-."
"You are needed." He interjected. "You're my personal assistant."
"I feel more like a receptionist today."
Refusing to look up at her, Dominic opened the file folder and pretended to skim its contents. "What's wrong with being a receptionist? My grandmother was a receptionist for a company for twenty-five years."
"Why are you so combative today? Who peed in your Cheerios?"
"Honestly, Leticia, don't be so crude."
Letty sighed. His sheer iron will to be as stubborn as possible today was going to drive her insane. She stood at the door for a few moments, waiting to see if he would give her any eye contact. He didn't.
"I'm taking the rest of the day off." The brunette made her exit and that got his attention. Behind her, she heard the rustling of papers and it didn't take long until she felt his presence, standing exactly where she had been just moments before.
"Is there something you need before I leave, Mr. Toretto."
"Leticia."
She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.
"Yes, Mr. Toretto?"
He opened his mouth to speak, thought better, and then closed it. "Have a nice rest of the day off."
Letty rolled her eyes again, grabbed her trusty messenger bag and turned off the monitor to her computer. "Thanks."
Thursday
The Event Countdown: 24 hours
In retrospect, Dominic hadn't handled things in the best way. It seemed that Luke's words had had some effect on him, after all. He refused to allow Leticia fucking Ortiz to get under his skin. Granted, he was well aware of the fact that he was a control freak, but letting his personal assistant, who was nearly a decade younger than he was, turn him into a teenaged puppy dog. So, he had to reestablish the boundaries.
And that was where he fucked up. And he knew it. Now, the only question was how he was going to make it up to Leticia. It was doubtful that her feelings had been hurt, but he was well aware that she felt he was being a complete and utter asshole.
Which is why he found himself spending nearly two-thousand dollars on white, Landeau roses. Twenty-five stems to a bouquet, wrapped in white tissue-paper and fitted perfectly into white pin-striped hat boxes, lined the hallway to Letty's apartment, front hall and living room.
"What the fuck?" Letty whispered to herself. She stepped over a couple of hat boxes to the only bouquet of red roses in a black hat box and plucked the card from it. The brunette pulled it out of its small envelope and was surprised to see the message was actually written in her boss's hand:
Apologies.
I'll beg your forgiveness.
Tomorrow.
-DT
Letty's jaw dropped. And her heart pounded. And if she was completely honesty, her panties dampened. The man was a charming motherfucker and he would be, no doubt, until the day he died. Even when she wanted to wring his neck. Looking around at the grand gesture, Letty wanted to roll her eyes. Because, honestly, what was she to do with this mess? But it was sweet. He knew he had nearly ruined things with with her and this was his way of making it better.
Still, he was right. She was going to have him begging for her forgiveness.
The Event was only twenty-four hours away. The butterflies in her stomach had already begun to flutter. Letty was nervous, for sure. But more than that, Letty wanted Dominic Toretto on his knees.
Friday
The Event Countdown: 2 hours
"Leticia." Her eyelids fluttered.
"Dominic." His eyes flashed. It was apparent what hearing her say his name did to him.
"You look-," he paused, his extensive vocabulary failing him. She remained silent, waiting for what he would come up with. The dress hugged her body perfectly, and the low, strappy heels accentuated her already sculpted legs. Dominic suddenly had visions of peeling off her dress and fucking her in nothing but her heels. A warm breeze blew her straightened hair across her face, and he became rock hard. "Edible."
A rush of liquid filled her panties.
"You don't look so bad yourself." Letty replied, politely.
He held the back door open and made a gesture with his free hand. "Shall we?"
She smiled and let him help her into the luxury SUV. Dominic shut the door behind her and rounded the car to his side, where Hobbs was holding the door open.
"Thanks, Luke."
"Mr. Toretto."
Once both doors were shut, Dominic looked to Letty.
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be."