Read Story Starter – Part 1 | Find the other Parts | Other books by this author

If you’ve read the story starter – a very long Chapter 1 – and you’re ready to dive into the story with me, please continue reading.

About the story: (short description. Click here for longer)

“Let Me Love You” is not just a tale of love and sacrifice but also a poignant story of self-discovery, celebrating the human capacity to find love in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Please enjoy the current WIP of Iris and El. This will be published freely up to a point… like the old days and then the entire book will be posted for the full download. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the companion stories. (Wicked Chances, Dreams of Reality, The Convenient Wife & Ravenous)

Enjoy, Your Author, Sylvia Hubbard

👇🏾start reading below⬇️

Read more: Let Me Love You – Chapter 3✍🏾📚❤️ #SylLit #WIP #livestory

Iris fixed her face, but she couldn’t stop the tears that continued to well up in the corners of her eyes. In any other universe, she’d been a successful single mother, running the boardrooms in four-inch heels, perfectly made up in Tom Ford or St. John business suits, tossing out business terms and controlling the boardroom like she was motherfucking EF Hutton knowing she was making her mother proud.

In her fantasy, Iris would burst into Mr. Olorun’s office, and her beautiful mind would enchant him, and lust filled her beautiful soul. He wouldn’t be able to keep those powerful hands off her body. 

Yet, in reality, Iris was drowning in misery, holding on to a child’s love and barely able to crack a smile on her own. She was positive Clem knew how she faked how happy she was. Often, she caught the child staring at her when she wasn’t looking, but if she wasn’t alone, Iris fixed her face. 

No one had to know the shame and guilt that racked her soul. 

No one would ever know how her father and Dwayne kept their mouths closed to help her hide the shame of her ignorance.

Going into the bathroom stall for privacy, she took a deep breath and held it for as long as she could. Iris took control of herself. She was internally tucking herself in a box again so she could get through this day. She couldn’t allow the real Iris to come out because she knew the people surrounding her would never accept her true self.

Abruptly, the knocking on the bathroom stall and Dwayne hissing her name ruined her chi. “Get the fuck out here!” he yelled. “My boss wants me down there with you in front of his door now!”

She opened the stall and was glad she was dressed appropriately. Dwayne snatched her out of the bathroom and practically dragged her to the elevator, where the beady-eyed, skinny black man was.

“She’s here, Lester. Now, can we go up?” Dwayne sneered at the small man. 

In a sing-song fashion, Lester said, “I only do what the boss ordered, and he clearly said, ‘Have Dwayne and his wife come up to my office immediately!'”

Her breath caught in her throat, and she wanted to run out of that elevator as the doors closed to lock them in. 

She looked at Dwayne, but he wasn’t looking at her. The man looked ecstatic! 

The stupid idiot had no idea why they were being called. 

The elevator doors opened on the top floor and Dwayne grabbed her arm, dragging her off, following behind Lester. 

“Does she know how to move her body on her own?” Lester asked, confused as they stopped before two large, closed, thick double doors. 

“She’s fine,” Dwayne hissed, cutting the man a full dislike glare as if to say, ‘Stay outta his business.’

Lester looked from Iris to Dwayne and then said, “Wait here.” 

As soon as he disappeared behind the door, Dwayne turned to her. “You sit your ass down out here and don’t say shit to no one, especially that nosey ass shit starter.”

Iris looked around the area to see all Eledumare Olorun’s personal accomplishments, including Forbes Top Forty and Money Magazine Up and Comers. In addition, there was a sharpshooter NRA distinguish expert plaque, an encased President’s Hundred Tab, and a first-place award from Marksman Magazine. 

A chill ran down her spine. “Dwayne!” Iris said worriedly. “I think he knows.”

“Knows what?!” Dwayne asked densely.

Rolling her eyes, Iris stared at him. “The stuff I’ve been doing for you.”

Narrowing his dull black eyes, Dwayne hissed in disgust, “He doesn’t know shit. He only met me for two seconds. How could he make that deduction? All these mixed rich boys do is see what’s on paper. He so busy trying to appease the man and playing the cracker like a Django, Stephen.” He snickered to himself, finding his joke funny, but Iris didn’t find anything hilarious about this situation.

Dwayne presumptuously continued, “You don’t think I come this far to fuck up? I know how this game is played and that high yellow bastard doesn’t know shit.”

She read a lot about Dwayne’s boss and in her gut, which was never wrong, she had a feeling Eledumare Olorun knew too much. 

It was time to pull Iris out of the box. “Dwayne, wake the fuck up,” she sneered. “That man couldn’t care less about paperwork. He works on his gut, and I have a feeling you’re about to be caught. He’s about to cram us in a corner we can’t escape.” 

Her sharp tone of voice caught him, and he looked at the double doors and then back at her. Sweat started to bead on his forehead. “W-What should we do?”

If what she had done for Dwayne got out, she could be ruined. She wouldn’t be able to walk into another conference room again.

Dammit! Hell, getting any type of professional job in this field or her field of study would never happen. This situation would leave her desecrated and follow her for the rest of her life.

“Whatever it takes,” Iris said, filled with worry. “But if he knows, we can’t lie to him, but we can make a deal. You make a deal. Talk your slick shit like you’ve always done, and hopefully, if he fires us, at least you can convince him if you walk away, he’ll never see you again, so you can save your reputation, get me out of this.” Somehow, she’ll work her way out

The beady-eyed man came out of the office and walked up to them. Again, he took a moment to look from Dwayne to Iris and then back at Dwayne as if he had heard their conversation.

“He’ll see you now,” Lester said. 

Dwayne started for the office, and Iris went to sit down.

“NO!” Lester snapped, going in front of Dwayne. “He’ll see the two of you now. He wants both of you.”

There was panic in Dwayne’s eyes. “Why does he need to see my wife? She doesn’t have anything to do with me working here.”

“I don’t ask questions,” Lester said with a gaudy smirk. “You can ask him yourself.” He motioned for Iris to come stand next to Dwayne. “When you enter, go to the couch and sit. Don’t approach him unless he says so, and under no circumstance, DO NOT go past the taped line.”

“What?” Dwayne asked, confused. 

“Hurry!” Lester said, pointing to the door. 

Dwayne took her hand and held it tightly. This was the first time he’d willingly touched her tenderly. His palms were sweaty and burning, and her immediate reaction was to snatch her hand away, but she couldn’t. He was holding on for dear life, and her knuckles were cracking under the stress. 

They entered the office, Dwayne taking long steps to her smaller ones, and she felt dragged again. She didn’t have an opportunity to assess the office before being pulled over to the couch, where Dwayne pushed her down and sat next to her. He was still holding her hand, and she was positive she wouldn’t feel her fingers for the next week.

The pain was hard to ignore, but she did as she scanned to room for the boss.

“Just let me do the talking,” Dwayne hissed as a bathroom door opened and Eledumare Olorun came out, wiping his hands on a white towel.

He was a Caucasian-Black man with mixed Finnish features and a permanent slight frown as if everything dissatisfied him. The corners of his dark hair were wet, and she figured he’d been in the bathroom washing his face. 

The boss walked to the edge of the taped line and looked at them. “I can see Lester gave you directions quite clearly,” he observed. 

Dwayne code-switched into his professional voice, “Um, yes, Mr. Olorun.” 

She gasped because Dwayne had pronounced the name “O-la-rum.” 

The boss’s permanent frown didn’t move as he moved over to his desk and picked up the financial analysis. “I got your report this morning, Mr. Folsom. I’m impressed.”

Dwayne looked at her with a gloating look and released her hand as if to say, ‘You were wrong.’

“Yeah, I thought you’d like that as soon as possible.” Dwayne stood up with a cocky drawl.

Iris only looked down at her lap to her fingers that had started to turn purple, cringing as the needles in her arms were excruciating as the blood rushed back into her veins. 

“Sooner than later in this regard is a good thing,” the boss said.

Dwayne took a big step toward the taped line, and she stifled a gasp.

In his most boastful tone, Dwayne grinned really slimy: “Unlike these other jokers around here, I understand genuine work is necessary to make this company successful. If you give me that VP spot, Mr. O-la-rum, I’ll take this company to the next level.”

Iris didn’t dare look up but knew Dwayne was dangerously close to the tape line.

The room was uncomfortably silent, but Iris refused to look at the gorgeous man at the desk. She couldn’t—not after last night, when she looked like a hot mess in the event room.

“How would I know this when the last half of the report was missing?” the boss declared.

At the same time, Dwayne and Iris spoke.

“It was?” Dwayne questioned.

While Iris declared knowingly, “No, it wasn’t!”

Again, the room went into a very awkward silence. Iris didn’t take her eyes off her hands, so she had no idea what Dwayne looked like. He most likely was shooting arrows at her face, and Iris could almost guesstimate the bruises she would feel in the morning once they were home.

The silence in the room was deafening until the boss ordered harshly, “I need a word alone with your wife, Mr. Folsom.”

“My wife?” Dwayne asked stupidly as if he didn’t know what the man was saying.

“That is your wife sitting on my couch, right?”

Iris wanted to die again.

“Um…” Dwayne had the nerve to look around as if he had forgotten Iris was there. “Oh, um, yeah…. Yes, sir. Anything you have to say to her, you can say it to me. She’s not much of a talker, Mr. O-la-rum.”

The boss slammed his fist on his desk, and Iris jumped. She looked up and saw anger on Eledumare Olorun’s face. Those almond eyes seemed to turn more red than brown, and the gray specks were gone entirely. “If you don’t get the fuck out of this office in the next five seconds, I’m going to make sure everyone knows your sorry ass is using his wife to do his work.”

Dwayne didn’t look at her as he rushed out of the office, leaving her alone with this angry man. 

Cupping her hands to her chest, Iris looked down at her purple fingertips. The blood stabilized in her palms, but her fingers were still tingling. 

She didn’t feel the pain because the terror overriding in her gut had taken over as Mr. Olorun made his way around his desk, grabbed a chair, and stepped over the taped line, heading in her direction.

Don’t look at him, she ordered herself. Please, Iris, just be the woman Dwayne expects you to be. Shy, quiet, docile, and stupid.

She could feel the box tremble, yearning to come out and show Eledumare Olorun who exactly Iris Cormeumdare Folsom was. 

Internally, she added a double lock on the box. 

If you slip out in front of this man, there’s no way of returning. This man would destroy Dwayne, her life, and then there was Clem. No money and nowhere to go. Her nephew would be devastated.

She added another lock on the box. Hold it together, Iris. 

Mr. Olorun situated the chair right before her and slowly sat down.

His crisp, clean scent assailed her nostrils, and she remembered everything that had happened last night.

Iris had not dreamed anything! This gorgeous man had picked her up and taken her to Aunt Rose’s house, given her Gaston’s Desire, and made her blood heat up in places she hadn’t felt aroused in decades.

And now they in his office – alone.

End of This Chapter | Post your thoughts in the comment | Let the author know what’s going on in your head

Let Me Love You (c) 2024 Sylvia Hubbard All Rights Reserved

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.  This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.  If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to the author’s website book page and purchase the book.  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the site for further updates!