by Sophia Gray
Enzo laughed. His pose relaxed, and he instantly became less threatening, smugger. “I thought you might say that,” he replied. Suddenly, his eyes flashed with a dark fire. A shiver coursed through my body. “Of course,” Enzo added in a sotto voice, “you might change your mind, if you smarten up…”
I stood up straight. “If that’s all, I’m going to head home for the day.” The leather attaché case under my arm felt oddly bulky. “Is there anything else?”
Enzo stared right into my eyes. Goosebumps broke out over my body, and I rubbed my arms with my hands. I’d never experienced this odd mix of feelings before. Men like Enzo, well, they’d never paid attention to me. This sensation in my body, both thrilling and new, was almost intoxicating.
“Good night, Audrey,” Enzo said in a low voice. He smiled at me, showing his perfectly white teeth.
Breaking my gaze away from his perfect face was hard. Even when I closed my eyes, I still saw Enzo’s intense visage and perfect, sculpted jawline. I shook my head as I stepped backward.
“I’m not going to be some… some notch on your bedpost,” I said in a shaky voice. “I’m not like the other girls.” I licked my lips nervously, noting the way Enzo’s eyes were glued to my mouth. “I mean, I got this job for a reason,” I said, softer. “And I’m not going to throw it away just by sleeping with you.”
Enzo raised his eyebrows and smirked. “I never said you were going to throw anything away just by sleeping with me.”
I blushed. “That’s not what I meant.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He waved his hand dismissively. “It’s been a long day, and I know you’re tired. Go home, Audrey. I’ll see you in the morning.”
As I walked out of LennoxCo with the leather case tucked under my arm, I felt strangely unhappy. Even after having to admit that Carl had been right the whole time, telling Enzo off didn’t feel as good as I thought it would. I mean, I’d done the right thing. I knew that deep down I couldn’t sleep with him, not if I wanted to keep the job. My parents were so dependent on the money I sent them.
Glancing down at my frumpy attire, I wondered what was wrong with Enzo. He had gorgeous women throwing themselves at him all the time—what the hell did he want with me?
It’s because I don’t want him, I realized suddenly. I stopped dead in my tracks, letting others on the cold Chicago sidewalks push past me in irritation. He wants me because he thinks I’m not interested.
I swallowed hard, feeling nervous with the realization of the truth. On the one hand, it was almost comforting to know that I wasn’t doing anything to lead him on. On the other, I felt almost insulted. Of course, a man like Enzo would be offended that someone like me wouldn’t want him.
Looks must not matter to him, I decided. He must have been one of those guys who just wanted to sleep with every girl who crossed their path. Maybe he’d somehow, miraculously, gotten sick of all those other girls because they made it too easy for him.
“So all I have to do is not take the bait,” I mumbled. That should be easy, right? I groaned as I thought about how hard it had been today to not crumble into his arms, to not fall weak at every single one of his advances. I knew that Enzo had been leering at me since I’d started, but I’d never imagined that it would culminate in something like this.
Staying away from him was going to be harder than I thought.
# # #
When I finally got home, Pepper was going nuts. She was dancing around and barking, wiggling her body in a frantic circle. I felt my heart swell with love—nothing like coming home to my favorite being in the world.
“Hey, girl,” I crooned, getting down on my knees and burying my face in the thick fur of her ruff. “Did you miss me? Did you miss Mommy?”
Pepper barked affirmatively and wagged her tail so frantically that her whole body was shaking from side to side.
“Come on,” I said, rubbing her head as I got to my feet. “Time for a snack.”
Ten minutes later, I sat on the couch with some frozen grapes while Pepper gnawed on a bone from last week’s stew. Enzo’s face flashed into my mind, and I groaned in irritation and popped another frozen grape in my mouth. They were surprisingly refreshing. I hated to admit it, but I’d stolen the idea from one of the women at work. Women at LennoxCo didn’t really eat; they nibbled throughout the day on energy and protein bars, or frozen fruit. I’d brought my lunch the first couple of days, but after enduring a few humiliating stares from coworkers, I’d taken to ordering salads like Enzo. I couldn’t feel myself losing weight, but it was better than enduring the stares from bitchy coworkers.
“You know what?” I said to Pepper. She cocked her head and looked at me. “Forget this.” I tossed the bag of frozen grapes across the room. It landed in the garbage can with a satisfying thud. “We’re getting pizza tonight.” I raised my eyebrows. “I think we deserve it, don’t you, Pep?”
Pepper barked, and I pulled her on the couch with me for a snuggle. She was still pretty young, but I could tell that sometimes she had a little trouble with her joints. Leaving her alone all day made me feel guiltier than ever. Even with the fancy dog-walking service, I’d started paying for, I had to imagine she probably didn’t like so much time alone in the apartment.
“Things will get better, Pepper pup,” I told her as I rubbed her ears. She yawned and relaxed her head on my lap. “I just have to stay at LennoxCo for maybe six months, then I can get a recommendation and go somewhere else.”
Pepper whined and looked up at me with her big brown eyes. Color and species aside, her gaze was oddly haunting, almost like Enzo’s.
“Why, no, I don’t think it’s going to be hard to resist Enzo,” I said to Pepper as I rubbed her belly. “I mean, he’s a jerk, Pepper. You should see the guy—he probably doesn’t even like dogs.”
Pepper growled.
“It’s not that bad,” I told her. “I mean, I don’t mind it. It’s just when he stares at me.” I licked my lips and shuddered. “He looks at me like he can see me without my clothes on.”
Pepper barked again, and I nudged her off the couch before walking into the kitchen and peering in the fridge. I wasn’t a big drinker, but I was really in the mood for a glass of wine.
“Perfect,” I said as I laid eyes on a bottle of white tucked in the back of the fridge. “You’ll do nicely.”
Pepper had followed me into the kitchen, and she was wagging her tail, glancing excitedly down at her food bowl. All the talk of Enzo had turned my stomach uneasy and suddenly, I no longer felt like getting pizza. Guiltily, I reached into the garbage can and pulled out the bag of grapes. For someone who hadn’t ever gotten three square meals growing up, I was sure being wasteful.
“We should probably just eat in tonight, yeah?” I asked Pepper as I reached down and scratched the top of her head. “I mean, we don’t need pizza.”
Pepper sighed and sprawled out on the kitchen floor, her legs going in every direction.
I sighed, too. “I know,” I told her, sinking down and resting my hand on the soft fur of her belly. “I know, girl.”
Chapter Six
Enzo
The next week was something akin to torture. I spent an hour on Monday staring at Audrey’s ass—she was leaning over her desk, working on a project I’d asked her to take on. I was having her mock-up a poster for an upcoming tech expo that I’d been thinking of participating in.
I didn’t normally like those kinds of events, but the exposure was always, always good for LennoxCo. One of the hardest things about running a successful business was knowing where and when to pick investors, and they normally came on in droves at tech expos.
On the other hand, I hated those kinds of events because they were as superficial as the names implied. It was a bunch of nothing; a showroom full of pimply-faced kids and hired models for a day touting products they’d never heard of before.
I’d always thought that I’d managed to make LennoxCo a respectable company. Ever since I’d started the group at the age of twen
ty-two, I’d been a devoted parent to the company. Now, nine years later, we were doing better than ever, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was about to weather a little bit of damage.
Flipping through my Rolodex, I began smirking. “Audrey,” I called out. “Come in here!”
There was a loud crash as Audrey tripped over her own feet and went sprawling into the doorframe. I watched her with my expression frozen as she carefully picked herself up and dusted off today’s hideous outfit: the same blazer she wore on her first day with a shapeless dress underneath that ended a little below her knees. She was wearing her beige orthopedic shoes with hose that came up to her admittedly slender ankles.
I stared at her. “You’re having quite the day, aren’t you?”
Audrey pushed her brown hair back over her shoulders. “I’m working on the mock-up, as you asked me to,” she said, coloring slightly. “Is there something else I can help with?”
I kept staring at her. I let my eyes work their way down her body and over her chest, where I tried hard to make out any shape under the sack of a dress she wore. Audrey covered her chest with her hands and squirmed in place, blushing harder than ever.
“Enzo, are you sure there’s nothing I can’t get you right now?” Audrey’s voice quavered as she spoke and she nervously put her hands down by her sides—I saw they were balled into fists. She was sweating, her forehead was damp with perspiration.
Suddenly, her scent washed over me. It was a sweet blend of talc and something vaguely fruity, like strawberries. I grinned wickedly. She smelled like innocence personified.
“I’m thinking,” I finally replied. “Why don’t you step closer?”
Audrey swallowed and took a step closer to the desk. Her throat was pale and slender; I could just make out the beat of her pulse under the skin. The thought was unexpectedly arousing—it made me remember a time where I’d tied up a woman and gently bitten her all over until she was screaming with want.
Audrey’s nervous glance darted out the door. “Um, Enzo, I should really get back to work on that poster. If you want it by the end of the day, I mean.”
I leaned back in my chair and kicked my shoes up on the desk. “Actually, I feel like lunch right now. Why don’t you run downstairs and bring me my usual?” Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed two crisp twenty dollar bills and passed them to Audrey. “And why don’t you get yourself something, too?” I grinned at her. “That way we can enjoy lunch together.”
Audrey blushed. “Right away.”
I smirked. Sometimes, the way she spoke indicated that she wanted to add ‘sir’ to the end of her sentences to me.
“I’ll be back soon,” Audrey added, darting out of my office with all the grace of a fish out of water.
As soon as Audrey had run downstairs, I got up and walked over to her desk. Not surprisingly, it had the same scent as her. I inhaled deeply and sat down in her chair, running my fingers over the keyboard. This woman is driving me crazy, I reflected as I glanced at the screen of her computer.
The desk itself was a disappointment. Audrey was as meticulous as her appearance led me to believe otherwise. There wasn’t a single personal article, save for a photo of a dopey-looking yellow Lab. I picked up the photo and stared into the dog’s eyes.
“Your mommy is a little bit of an ice queen,” I whispered to the dog. Setting the photo back on the desk, I opened the drawers and glanced through them. Audrey’s purse was in the bottom drawer. Casually, I grabbed a ruler from the top of the desk and peered inside. There was nothing revealing or personal at all, not even a little hairbrush—just a plain leatherette wallet, a few pens, and a rubber band at the very bottom, with not even so much as a tampon.
“Enzo!” Audrey’s voice was shocked. She was standing in front of her desk holding two plastic salad containers. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
I stood up, closing her bottom drawer with the toe of my shoe. “Everything’s fine,” I said with a smirk. “I just wanted to inspect your desk. You know, some of the people around here are known to steal.”
Audrey laughed awkwardly. “I don’t think anyone would want to take something from my desk.”
I snorted. “No, I daresay they wouldn’t.” I picked up the photo of the yellow Lab. “Who’s this? A friend?”
Audrey smiled. “That’s Pepper,” she said, her voice taking on an affectionate and warm hue. “She’s my girl. I’ve had her for a couple of years.”
“Cute.” I put the photo back on the desk. “So, into my office for lunch, then?”
Audrey swallowed audibly. She pointed towards the mock-up on her desk. “Shouldn’t I finish this first?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I plucked the salads from her hands. “Audrey, you can afford to relax once in a while.” I winked at her. “We’re not all work-slaves around here, you know.”
Audrey ducked her head as if trying to hide another blush on her pale cheeks. “Right,” she said unsteadily. “Alright, then. I guess that’s fine.”
I chuckled. “You guess?” I raised my eyebrows at her, making her blush deepen to an extraordinary red hue. “Audrey, some people would consider themselves lucky to be having lunch with Enzo Lennox.”
She swallowed again and lowered herself down onto the black leather couch. I watched as, at first, she sat in the corner, then glanced at the wide surface and scooted towards the middle. She looked at me with her lips slightly parted before sliding her pink tongue out of her mouth and licking her lips.
“I’m lucky,” she said solemnly. “I know that.” I didn’t take my eyes off of Audrey as she opened the plastic container with her salad and stuck her fork inside. “I like having this job, Enzo.”
I smiled at her. “I like having my job, too. But sometimes I think there’s more to life than work, don’t you?” I let my eyes wander down her body and linger on her chest. “I think there’s a lot more to life than work.”
Audrey stood up, spilling salad all over the floor. “Oh shoot!” She cursed. “I’ll be right back, Enzo, I’m going to call someone to help clean that up.”
“No need,” I said as I stood up and grabbed a brush and dustpan from under the desk. “I’ve got this right here.”
Audrey glanced at me warily. “You want me to…?”
I nodded, handing over the plastic brush and pan. “Yes, please,” I said with a smirk. Sitting back down, I opened my salad and began to eat as I watched Audrey get down on her knees and sweep dressing-coated lettuce across the floor. She panted as she worked, with the tip of her tongue stuck out of her mouth.
When she was finished, she stood up and wiped her sweaty palms on her shapeless dress. “Is there anything else right now, Enzo?”
I nodded. “No, thank you, Audrey. Please have the mock-up completed by the end of the day.”
# # #
The next day was even worse. I could barely focus on my work, let alone Audrey. I couldn’t stop thinking about how it would feel to just stop her in the middle of the hallway and yank those frumpy stockings down. Her flesh would feel warm and supple under my hands. I knew that she wanted it.
“Dammit!” I cursed under my breath as I stared at my computer screen. It was already late morning, and I hadn’t completed anything that I’d set out to do that day.
“Enzo?” Audrey poked her head into my office. “Are you alright? I just heard you curse.” She frowned as if the very idea offended her. “Can I bring you something? Coffee? Lunch?”
I stared at her. She was wearing a shapeless olive green sweater and a brown corduroy jumper with a white turtleneck underneath. I’d never seen such ugly clothing, but at that moment, it didn’t matter. I wanted Audrey, even in her schoolmarm get-up.
“Come here,” I said softly.
Audrey swallowed hard. She took a step forward and inched closer to the desk.
As the sweet scent of talc and strawberry washed over me, I closed my eyes and breathed in. “Audrey, do you like working for me?”
Audrey blushed. “Of course,” she said slowly. “Didn’t we talk about this yesterday? I told you, I feel really lucky to have this job.” She bit her bottom lip and stepped backward. Her skin was dewy and flushed from some unseen exertion, and her brown hair looked wonderfully soft and shiny.
“Why don’t you go get me some new folders?” I asked, gesturing to my desk. “These have all been used.” I picked them up and dumped them in the trash can. “I think a box or two should do it. I need your help later; I’m reorganizing the master files.”
Audrey nodded. “The master files?”
“The files that detail all of the most important work we’ve done, like a resume or a portfolio.” I flashed a smile. “If we do wind up going to that tech expo, well, we’re going to need some proof of how much work we’ve done over the past few years.”