THORNE: Rose's Dark Contract

by R. B. O'Brien

  Her breath exhaled onto my thumb and I walked out. God damn her. What had she done to me? But I knew, no matter what I was feeling, I couldn’t let her in. I couldn’t take that chance.

  Chapter Eight

  Victoria was ready before I was the next morning, sitting at the large, tan granite island in the kitchen, sipping her coffee. She wore a smart, simple black dress that insidiously clung to her in all the right places. Her blonde hair was pinned back neatly and it made me want to rip it out of its tight confines, wind it around my hand, and hold her in place so I could suck her neck, while I rammed my cock into her from behind, hard and fast. She had little make-up on, but her lips were done in a deep red, and I wondered if she were purposely taunting me, teasing me. My face twisted uncontrollably.

  “Are you angry with me?” she whispered. And in that moment, as she always did, she softened me.

  “No. Of course not,” I replied, pushing my hands through my wet hair. God, she really had a knack of setting me off track. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be late. Has Jennifer briefed you on everything you need to know?”

  “I think so. I’m a little nervous. The way you’re acting is making me a little nervous. I’m not sure of my roles here. Are we…are we only together on the weekends?”

  Ralph appeared. “Sir?” He tipped his hat.

  “Yes, Ralph. We’ll be right there.” I turned to Victoria. “I’ve had a change of heart when it comes to you. We can discuss it on the short twenty-minute ride into town.”

  “Oh?”

  We went into the back of the Lincoln, and I asked Ralph for some privacy. He pressed the divider.

  I turned to her. Fuck if she wasn’t beautiful. She twisted her hands in her lap. Her dress rode up slightly, revealing garter belts. God damned Jennifer.

  “Jesus, Victoria. Some decorum for Christ’s sake.”

  “What?” Her eyes followed my gaze. “Oh. William. Sorry. I didn’t…” and she pulled her dress down to cover the offending legs, the gorgeous, sexy, offending legs.

  “You need to act professional, Victoria. I know you have no real experience in this, but I can’t have my personal assistants looking this way out in public or even at the home office, should we get a visitor. Those garters are only for me, and you didn’t even know they were showing.”

  “Yes. Of course. You’re right. I didn’t even notice. You know Jennifer bought all my clothes…so I’m getting used to…”

  I cut her off. “No excuses. I expect professionalism. Or I will have to let you go.” I was being completely unreasonable.

  “Yes. Of course,” she repeated. Her voice cracked and it made me want her. She was just so fucking unsullied, innocent, and god-damned sexy as fucking hell.

  “Do you have underwear on?” My hand began to climb up her leg and her breath hitched. A quiver ran through her body.

  “Yes. Shouldn’t I?” She tried to control her breathing.

  “Yes. You should.” God damn it. Stop this. I wasn’t supposed to touch her. I yanked my hand away.

  “What’s going on, William? How have you had a change of heart? Do you still want me to work for you? I’m confused.” I saw the angst in her eyes, glazed over with hurt, but I couldn’t stop watching the rise and fall of her breasts as she tried to steady her emotions. God. Her tits were impossible to ignore, even in the most inconspicuous, conservative of outfits.

  I snapped out of it. “You’re right. Your outfit has distracted me. I have had a change of heart.” I sat back and repositioned my ever-expanding cock.

  “Please, William. You’re scaring me.”

  “Don’t be scared. I’m doing you a favor. I plan to keep you employed for the three months, you need not worry. But after the other night, I realized you can’t give me what I want, what I need, so we will keep this purely platonic.”

  She stayed silent beside me.

  I didn’t know what else to say, so we drove the rest of the way without speaking.

  When we arrived at my building, she looked troubled.

  “You okay? You nervous?” I asked.

  “Yes. This is a bit overwhelming.”

  “Well, don’t be nervous. Jennifer said you can handle this. I know you can handle this. It’s only the second day of the job, so I don’t expect much from you. Take notes, listen, meet some of my other employees, and you can leave as soon as your duties are done.”

  “William?” she asked shyly. Her gaze wouldn’t reach mine and instead she watched her feet shuffle against the carpet of the car.

  “Yes? Sssh. Really. You’ll be great.” I felt I owed it to her to soothe her.

  “I liked being with you.”

  Oh Jesus. I wasn’t expecting that.

  “I know, Victoria,” I admitted. So did I, and I didn’t want to admit that.

  “But I understand,” she continued. I could tell she was on the verge of tears. She blinked rapidly and her voice softened even more. “Thank you for letting me keep my job, for not putting me out on the street. I’m sorry I can’t be everything you need.”

  I didn’t know what I needed anymore, and that was the whole problem. I knew I needed to move on, that was for certain. But I struggled to ignore the hurt I knew I heard behind her words.

  “Hey.” I tilted her chin up with my fingers. “Don’t give it a second thought. We’re moving on. Come on. Let’s go.” And I whisked her into the building and tried to believe it.

  We jumped into an elevator at the very last second, almost missing it, and it caused Victoria to stumble a bit. She giggled and Mark caught her.

  I couldn’t help but laugh a little too until I saw the way Mark, my project manager, looked at Victoria.

  “Mark, meet my new personal assistant. Victoria, Mark. Mark, Victoria.”

  “Sorry,” she said embarrassed, smoothing her dress.

  “My pleasure,” Mark beamed. “You must be something. Mr. Thorne has been without a personal assistant for over six months.” He looked over to me. “Jennifer must be relieved?” I thought of how long I had been waiting to hire, no entrap, I corrected, Victoria.

  “Yes. I think she is. This is only Victoria’s second day, so we’ll go easy on her.” I forced a chuckle.

  “Just don’t piss this man off, and you’ll be fine. That is one determined human being over there,” Mark said, inching closer to Victoria as the elevator stopped to let in more people. “And actually pretty philanthropic,” he added. “Don’t let him fool you.”

  “So I’ve heard.” Victoria said, genuinely sounding interested.

  “Well, any man who spends as many years as Mr. Thorne has waging war on the tobacco industry, while also making millions, is no joking matter. These fuckers, sorry, these hustlers, need to be stopped. They may actually be starting to get the message.”

  She tried not to look over at me and failed miserably.

  Mark drew her attention back to him from me, and made small talk. “So, Victoria, were you a business major? Are you just recently out of school?”

  “Actually, I was a music major.”

  “Really? What did you hope to do?”

  “I wasn’t sure. I write my own music. I hoped to compose, really. I love to play.”

  “Play?” Mark’s eyes widened in interest.

  “The piano mostly. I play a couple instruments, but I love the piano. Started playing when I was just three. With my grandfather.”

  Mark looked to me. “Have you just sent this girl down from heaven for me?”

  It struck me in that moment how good-looking Mark might be to women, something I never noticed before, never noticed until right then, when the hairs on my arms stood on edge in a competitive, testosterone-infused fury. He was tall, not as tall as me, but tall, worked out to a flaw, and whereas I had a more toned build, a runner’s body, he was muscular in a more traditional sense. His hair was in direct contrast to mine, light, cut short, mine, as black as night and getting too long for even my taste. He had blue eyes, the color most girls might swoon
over. My eyes were hard to even describe in color, they seemed to change so often. Hazel was most apt. But right at that moment, I’m sure the only thing my eyes did were glare with the color of anger.

  “Knock it off, Mark. Jesus. The girl just started. Leave her alone. She’s new to this area. Don’t scare her off. And do you think I would hire someone without a business degree? Victoria minored in business.”

  I tried to keep my voice light, but I knew how angry I was becoming. I realized I never cared to learn about Victoria, her hopes, her dreams, where she was from originally. From the moment I met Victoria, it was like I felt she was mine. In hindsight, it looked a little too much like an obsession. I only cared about my needs, my pleasure, about her subservience to me as my PA. Why was I starting to care now? I shook my head. I wasn’t. I was moving on, I reminded myself.

  “Well, I’m not sure what your salary is, Victoria, but I own one of the nicest restaurants in town, and I just lost my piano player. I need someone on the weekends to play. Auditions for the gig are next week. I’m looking for two people to alternate weekends and some Thursdays. Very upscale. Great crowd. Great tips. And you’ll get to make some new friends.”

  Why she looked to me I didn’t know. It was the first I heard of her piano-playing skills. I played it cool. I didn’t care what she did, I told myself. I looked away uninterested.

  “I would love to audition. When?”

  “We are holding auditions from 7-9 pm a week from today actually. What time are you done working?”

  She answered far too quickly. “Five o’clock.”

  The elevator opened onto our floor. “Get settled and send me your email. Then I’ll get you all the details. Here. Take my card.” He turned to me. “See you in the boardroom in a couple hours, William. I think we’ve got the perfect proposal for our building plans.”

  I walked swiftly into the suite and greeted those who had already arrived, making quick introductions to Victoria. I brought her into her office, followed her in, and slammed the door behind me. I was curt and wasn’t quite sure why. “Here is your office while you’re here. Your computer, your username and password, all of that is in your file. Get unpacked, IT is coming to get you all set up, and don’t be one minute late in the boardroom. Any questions?”

  “No sir,” she responded. Was she toying with me? I looked for a smirk on her face, but there wasn’t one. And her response brought a smile to my lips, it was so organic. I liked it. And it pissed me off. I wanted to take her across my knee, reveal those tiny garter belts again, and spank her into next Tuesday.

  I walked out, slamming the door again behind me.

  * * * * * * * *

  The boardroom meeting went smoothly, Victoria took notes dutifully, and she and Mark were professional. The biggest priority, of course, was the huge Pierce building that I had managed to rip out of the tobacco industry’s hands. Originally, I had planned to just level the building and start something from scratch, but Mark had convinced me to simply remodel and keep the building’s original features intact. I had to admit, it was an economically sound plan, the building was dated but in good condition structurally. It would make a statement to the town to keep the building but to use it for something other than the despicable tobacco enterprise. Mark was a shrewd businessman, and I trusted him. Though I questioned his intentions with Victoria, it was none of my business.

  “Now that the cigarette guys are out, we can look at the proposals we have received to fill the space,” Mark offered. “If you take a look at these proposals, you can narrow them down. Then we can ask them in to pitch their final offers, counter, and go forward.”

  “Sounds good. Any offers better than others?”

  “No question there is an answer here. But I do think it will be tough. Each and every offer has its pros and cons. I have my favorites, but it’s up to you. That’s why: You boss, me not.” He laughed.

  “Victoria can begin looking them over today for me.” I looked over to my new personal assistant, flushed, typing her notes furiously on her i-Pad. “Victoria? Are you okay with that? Can you look over the proposals, making me a list of the pros and cons of each?”

  “Absolutely,” she replied eagerly.

  “Good. That wraps up our meeting. Mark, excellent work today.” We shook hands, and he turned to Victoria.

  “So, I hope to see you next week at the audition after work? I’ll buy you a drink afterwards?” He kissed her on the cheek and walked to the door I held open for him before she could respond.

  Victoria gathered her things and instead of holding the door open for her, I shut it and leaned against it. I didn’t care that the boardroom was glass, including the door. I didn’t care what people saw. It took every ounce of energy for me not to push her over the table and spank the ever-living shit of her. And for what, I had no idea.

  “Ralph can take you back now or you are welcome to stay and read the proposals here.”

  “You mean you’re not mad? You don’t mind me auditioning?”

  How did she deduce that? I was mad as hell, but damn her if I’d let her know that. “Why would I be mad? Why would I care what you do in your spare time? You know the plans have changed. I will only be needing you for work purposes.”

  Her eyes welled, and it made me feel for her again. That guilt. God. This wasn’t me. I opened the door. I knew it was for the best. “I have work to do. Let one of the receptionists know when you’re ready to go home and Ralph can come fetch you.” And I walked away.

  Chapter Nine

  It was the day of Victoria’s audition. My day had been insane, as usual. Meetings, conference calls, luncheons (yes, more than one), and I had completely lost track of the time.

  I had been thinking about her the entire day. Her begging, her panting, her perfect body, the way I made her come, the way she swallowed all my come. I had somehow managed to leave her alone during the entire week, sticking to the promise I made to myself, but thinking about her audition all day at work got me thinking too much about her.

  As I walked past her office, I saw she hadn’t left. Fuck. It was 8:30. Had she forgotten about her audition? Why did I care if she did?

  I popped my head in, and she didn’t even notice me, buried in documents, black-rimmed eye glasses I had never seen adorning her, god-damned gorgeous face. Her hair had come out of its tightly secured prison, and I think I fell in love. Okay, I fell in lust anyway, all over again. I wanted her. Literally, my whole body warmed. It was indescribable, foreign to me. She was smart. And it was sexy as fuck. I had watched her over the course of the week. There was so much more to her than I realized when I had first met her. Impressing me in meetings, handling herself in conference calls, speaking up on occasions to point out errors in proposals or documents. She was slowly coming out of her shy shell.

  “Hey!” I called into the room, and she jumped. “What happened to your audition?”

  She fumbled, repositioning her papers, frazzled, trying to get her hair back in position. She took off her glasses and sighed. The workload may have been too big of a task for her, something I hadn’t thought about. There were at least twenty proposals, long proposals. It had kept her busy day and night over the course of the week. God damn it. Would I keep fucking up with her?

  I called again. “Victoria? The audition? Did you go?”

  “No….I…shit…I lost track of time.”

  And I felt bad. I knew how much this audition meant to her. I saw the way talking about playing made her come alive.

  I held out my hand. “Come. Hurry. I’ll have Ralph take us, and I’ll call Mark and have him wait.” Why I felt the need to do this for her surprised even me.

  “Okay…um…do you think I look okay? Dressed so…prim…so…businesslike?”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. She was fucking disarming. She couldn’t look anything but sexy even if she wore a trash bag. Every day, she dressed professionally at the office. And every day, I had to fight the urge to take her.

 
“You look perfectly fine.” I smiled at her tenderly. Hot, sexy, fuckable at every moment. That’s what I wanted to say. Instead, I simply added, “Trust me, Victoria.”

  She grabbed her things quickly. I could tell she was stressed, worried. “Can we come back here after? I’m not sure I have everything.”

  “Yes. Don’t worry. Come on.” I extended my hand again, and she looked at me confused. I was confused. What the fuck was I doing? I had virtually ignored her for a week.

  “Oh shit, William. I have to open my email back up. I don’t know where I’m going…” Now she was starting to sound too panicked. “I don’t have enough time, William. I’m not prepared.” She sat back down, putting her head into her hands the way she did. “Just forget it. I’m not that good anyway.”

  “Cut that out right now. You were a music major for Christ’s sake. You said you started playing at three years old. I saw you light up at the idea of playing. I know where his restaurant is. Don’t worry. Come. If it doesn’t happen, you still have a job. You have nothing to lose.”

  “Oh.”

  “Victoria?”

  “So…that’s what this is about? You don’t want me to work for you at all anymore? You want to get rid of me?”

  “No. Of course not. You could hardly survive on an every-other-weekend paycheck, Victoria. Plus, I want to see all the work you’ve been doing over the course of this week behind those glasses. Impress me.”

  She looked up at me bewildered, as if she didn’t believe me. I guess I couldn’t blame her. I had been changing like a fucking traffic light.

  “Come. Mark and I are friends, but everyone has his limits. He’s expecting you, I’m sure.”

  He certainly wouldn’t be expecting me though. No intimate drink for them. I held my hand out to her for the third time.