by Reana Malori
Closer to You
Reana Malori
Closer to You © 2015 Reana Malori
Cover Art: © 2015 Bree Archer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. Due to copyright laws you cannot trade, sell or give any ebooks away.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Closer to You
Summary -
Taking risks has never felt so right...
Penelope Lucas was much too serious. She works too hard at pleasing everyone but herself. On a whim, she finally decides to go out with some friends for a night on the town to let loose. When she sets eyes on the unforgettable man standing across the room, she throws caution to the wind and decides to live a little.
Gabriel Turner was not your typical guy. In fact, he was so far from the average guy, he sometimes wondered himself when and where he had gotten lost. Work was too hard and life was too short. He needed something, or someone, to force him out of his stuffy, shark infested world.
While visiting the nation’s capital to decide if he will move his company headquarters, little does Gabriel know that his life is on a collision course with the one person who will make him want everything he once thought he would never have.
What starts as a night of letting go of inhibitions and taking risks, quickly becomes a love that neither is willing to let go of. No matter the cost.
Table of Contents
Closer to You
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
Chapter One
The incessant buzzing and beeping of her phone simply would not stop. Someone was trying their very best to contact her, and the longer she did not respond, the more they texted. Annoyance sped through her and her lips pursed in frustration. Just who in the world needed to get in touch with her so damn badly? Another buzz of the phone had her expelling a loud sigh into the quiet room as she quickened her steps.
“Oh, good gracious. What do you want?” Although she was yelling at an inanimate object, it still felt good. Penelope Lucas was definitely a bit too stressed out to deal with the sound right at the moment.
Taking a few minutes to set the heavy bag of groceries on her kitchen counter, Penelope finally had the chance to look at her phone. Grunting noises and sighs borne out of frustration were the only sounds in the kitchen as she scrolled through the information on her screen. Reading the various text messages and emails from her boss, her weekend plans began to disintegrate and fly away like dust in the wind.
This could not be happening again. This was the third weekend in a row, and she was tired. All she needed was some time for her. She didn’t think she was asking too much, was she? How could one company continue to ask so much of one person? Hell, she wasn’t an executive-level employee who was paid to work these exorbitant hours. She wasn’t even a muckety-muck department manager. It just seemed to her that there would be a better way for her company to get things done than calling on her for help.
Her title had nothing to do with calling the shots at her office, but had everything to do with taking orders from others. Being a corporate litigation paralegal was nothing like the books or movies portrayed it to be. There was no way her presence was really needed for a weekend of strategy meetings. This had to be some kind of joke. Working ten and twelve hour days, five days a week had become very old, very quick, and here was another request from her boss to work on the weekend to help with another emergency.
Deciding to ignore the messages for now and respond later, after she had a big glass of red wine, she began to empty the bag of groceries and place the food in the cabinets and refrigerator. While she may want to respond to their pleas for assistance with a resounding hell no, there was little doubt in her mind that she would be at the office tomorrow, as expected. For all of her complaining, Penelope really did enjoy working at IntelliPoint, and what she did there. Sighing as she mentally pictured her weekend going down the drain, she finished putting everything away, wiped down her counters and pulled out a large wine goblet.
Just as she was opening her newly purchased bottle of pinot noir, her mother’s distinctive ring came across her phone. “Damn”, she grumbled, looking over at the phone lying on the counter as if mocking her. This was not happening tonight. Penelope was sure this was going to be another request to go out shopping this weekend, or some other time-wasting activity. More than likely, her mother would be asking for some money to buy a new pair of shoes or have her nails done, or some other such foolish thing. Whenever she and her mother went out for their regular pampering sessions, Penelope would try her very best to just enjoy the day and make the most out of spending time with the woman who had birthed her. Lately, though, it was starting to become an every weekend habit and it was simply too much. Heaven forbid she could actually have a weekend to herself, just to relax and enjoy a good book. Clearly, she was asking for too much and should just grin and bear it. Well, grimace and bear it would be more appropriate, but no one was asking her opinion.
Too many people made requests on her time. Time and time again, she was called on to take care of everyone else. But not once in all this time, had anyone taken a moment to think about her. No one ever stopped what they were doing or went out of their way to take care of her and her needs. When would it be her turn?
On a daily basis at work, she had to take care of everyone on her team. She always kept their work lives in order, even when things were spiraling out of control for her. As a senior level paralegal, she wasn’t high enough on the corporate ladder to rub elbows and schmooze with the general counsel and the attorneys on his team, but neither was she considered administrative personnel. Stuck somewhere in the middle, she was often left holding the bag for others and asked to do the lower-level grunt work the attorneys felt were beneath them.
Off work and after hours, when it should be time just for her, it was constantly catering to her mother. A woman who never seemed to appreciate, nor understand, that Penelope had her own life and needed to take care of herself every once in a while. Just once, she needed someone to put her first, to give her what she needed and wanted. Without expecting anything in return.
Mind made up, glass of wine in hand, e-reader fully charged and loaded with the newest book releases, she walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. No matter what, she was going to have a few minutes to herself tonight and not think about anyone else for a while.
“Penelope, can you stop by for a meeting with Mr. Jones and me?” The high-pitched voice blared through the intercom on her desk.
“Sure, Barbara, I’m on the way.” Quickly saving the document she was working on, Penelope stood from her large cubicle and mentally prepared herself for another long, boring meeting.
Disconnecting her laptop from the docking station, Penelope made her way down the hallway to the chief financial officer’s office. While she had not planned to be at work on a Saturday morning, the messages on her phone simply would not stop. After twenty minutes of trying her best to ignore the pull of responding, she had finally given in and looked at the urgent messages her boss had been sending.
As it turned out, the friendly merger that everyone had assumed would be ta
king place without a hiccup, was turning into a no-holds-barred, hostile takeover. Caustic words were flying across the table, stinging barbs were being thrown around and the lawyers on both sides were seeing dollar signs as everything fell apart at the seams. Something had went very wrong in the one-time congenial negotiations.
David Richards, the chief executive of IntelliPoint, and her employer for the past three years, had pissed off the top executive at the company they were trying to merge with, GTB Technologies. Apparently, after that call had went to hell in a handbasket, the shit had hit the fan.
Now a shitload of lawyers were onsite in their office space and looked to be settling in for the long haul. Late night conference calls were taking place behind closed doors. Press releases were being issued almost every hour it seemed, just to try and stop the bad press that would inevitably cause all of their hard work to crumble right in front of their eyes. Hush-hush negotiations to try and smooth over some ruffled feathers were taking place in every corner of the office, with tempers flaring all around her. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so damn sad.
But for Penelope, all of those high level shenanigans translated into her needing to come into the office on a Saturday morning. Her job was to help her boss with researching legal precedent, organizing file documents, reviewing multiple contracts and indexing exhibits. However, several times this morning, she had been called upon to take meeting minutes, track action items and even had to order lunch for the entire team since there was no assistant in the office. To say that she was fed up with so many grown people acting like children, would be the understatement of the year.
After hour upon hour of sitting in the uncomfortable chair listening to the executives sputter on about how they had to fix the mess the CEO had gotten them into, Penelope was convinced they were completely and utterly screwed. Based on the conversations taking place around her, apparently the phone call between the two executives had ended with her CEO yelling at the top of his lungs to the executive at the other company. He went so far as to call the man an idiot, asking him if he was on drugs, and threatening to blackball him to the entire industry. It was just another nail in her company’s coffin since her CEO had already lost significant credibility in the market due to his short temper.
As a result, the threats had not only been empty, the other company was now making statements about walking away from the deal completely. To make matters worse, the CEO of the other company planned to arrive in Washington, DC later today on some other business and had called an emergency meeting with both sides. Based on everything she had heard about the guy, he was ruthless. GT Banks had a reputation that preceded him, which is why she was floored that her CEO would risk everything because of his ego.
In spite of what was being shared with the general employee population, which wasn’t much, her company needed this deal to go through. Badly. Business had been trending down for a while, and clients were frustrated and angry with the blustering of the senior executive. Only a handful of people knew that the firm was in financial trouble and all of them were sitting at the table trying to find a way to fix this fiasco. If this deal fell apart, so would her company.
After a full day of meetings, Penelope was bone tired. Once the day was done at around four o’clock that afternoon, she quickly left the conference room and made her way back to her desk. Just as she was about to begin typing up some notes from the meeting, so that she would not forget the action items she had been assigned, her phone started to buzz. Looking at the number, she saw that it was her friend Crystal Brown and decided to answer. It would be good to hear a friendly voice.
She was actually very glad for the break. Crystal had just returned from Mardi Gras a few weeks ago and Penelope needed to hear all of the sultry details. “Hey, Crystal! How was Mardi Gras?”
“Hey, girl, it was amazing,” she loudly responded through the telephone connection. A laugh came through the phone as she continued, “And, yes, do I have a story to tell you. You’ll never believe what I did, but I know you’ll be proud of me.”
“Well, you’ll have to tell me all about it over drinks.” Once the words left her mouth, she smiled. This is exactly what she needed, a night on the town with her friends.
“That’s actually what I was calling about. Rosalind and I are going out tonight and I wanted to see if you could join? We’re going to that hotel on the corner of 15th & F that everyone talks about. You know, the one with the balcony that looks over at the White House? Can you come?”
Thinking about all the work that had to be done on Monday, she hesitated briefly. Part of her wanted to go home so that she could focus on getting some stuff done. But the other part of her ached for the chance to just go out and have some fun. It had been so long since she went out with her friends and she really needed a break from all this craziness. “Yeah, I think I will. What time are you headed out?”
“Cool. This will be fun. Meet us out in front of the hotel at eight o’clock. And I know how you are, so don’t be late. It’ll be good to see you.”
“Yeah, I really need this night out. It’s my turn to cut up and let loose.” Looking up, her eye caught some of the management team going into one of the conference rooms and she knew if she did not get out of there soon, she would never escape. It was about time for her to start letting herself have some fun. Her friend’s next words cut into her thoughts.
“Oh yeah, speaking of cutting up and letting loose, let me tell you about what happened in New Orleans…”
Getting dressed for the night out with her friends, Penelope still couldn’t believe what Crystal had shared with her about her trip to New Orleans. Although it had been a one-night stand, her friend seemed to have no regrets at all. The guy had apparently been amazing in bed and gave Crystal the night of her life. In fact, her friend seemed energized and giddy that she had finally taken a chance and did something completely out of character.
Maybe that’s what Penelope needed as well. A little excitement in her life. Being the good girl all the time was fast becoming boring and maybe it was time for her to shake things up a bit and sew her own brand of wild oats. While a one-night stand with a hot guy may not be the answer for her, she was certain that something needed to change in her life. Something drastic. And even if she were the only one to ever know what she had done, it would be worth it. Her little secret slice of excitement to hold onto when her life of details took over and she became mired in the drudgery of work all over again.
With one final glance in the mirror, she smiled seductively at the image. Whether unconsciously or not, she had dressed to impress the opposite sex tonight. She wore a red blouse that flattered her nutmeg hued skin. The form-fitting shirt hugged her curves perfectly and displayed her ample cleavage to the discerning eye. She had paired it with a black, tailored skirt that fit her hips just right, highlighting her shapely hourglass figure. The finishing touch was the four inch heels that made her calves pop as she walked. When putting in a little effort, she was positive that she could compete with the best of them. Then again, confidence in her looks had never been an issue. She knew what other people saw when they looked at her. A strong, independent, beautiful and curvy black woman.
The only drawback was that she never wanted her looks to be the only thing people noticed when they saw her. As a result of that concern, she always toned things down at work and dressed extremely conservative. Hell, she even wore her hair pulled back into a librarian’s bun just to complete the image.
If she were going to succeed and grow in her career, it would be due to hard work and a drive to succeed. It would never be because some executive wanted to stare at her ass when she walked out of his office. Winking at the image in the mirror, she couldn’t help but laugh a little and she gave herself a little pep talk, “And what an ass it is. Alright, sexy lady, let’s do this.”
Gathering her purse, she exited her townhouse and locked the door behind her. Walking out to her parked car, she looked around the cul de sac w
here her three-story townhome was located, and smiled. She could admit that she felt good about going out for some fun. This was one night when things would finally go her way. There was something in the air. The stars were twinkling, and the full moon made everything a little brighter. Oh yes, tonight was all about her and she was bound and determined to have fun.
Chapter Two
This was bullshit. The tension rolled off of Gabriel Turner Banks, also known as GT Banks, in waves. His shoulders were tight with the strain of holding himself back from losing his temper in the room full of overpaid suits. Pissed off was not even close to describing how he was feeling at the moment. On the verge of blowing his fucking gasket was more like it.
He was done with IntelliPoint’s blustering and was ready to close this deal tonight. If they weren’t ready for this, then his company should have never been engaged in the first place. He was not a man to be trifled with and if their CEO wanted to play these games, he would stop this deal immediately and take his money elsewhere. Nostrils flaring in frustration, his intense hazel-eyed gaze rested momentarily on the team of supposed experts sitting around the table. With all of their Ivy League educations, highly paid salaries, and haughty, know-it-all personalities, none of them had been able to move the ball forward.
Honestly, he was tired of their utter and complete incompetence. They had been trying to close this deal for months. Months! Yet, after all that time, it was no closer to being finalized than it had been from the very beginning of the negotiations. If anything, this acquisition was so close to failing, he wondered why he still bothered participating in the meetings. He could have stayed in his hotel room and had a few minutes of rest before the markets opened overseas. There were other business ventures that he could be focused on right now.