by Mia Ford
“That same e-mail that will give you a black eye also contains my affidavit about you imprisoning me against my will in an institution for the criminally insane.” She was wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater. “I can have you imprisoned, but unlike me, you’ll have no way to escape.” The color in Lillian’s cheeks vanished and she was left with this ghostlike appearance. “I have statements from the doctors and they were most anxious to throw you under the bus. I think that I can be reasonably sure that you won’t be able to survive hard time. This won’t be some cushy little Sunday school prison where you are treated like royalty. You can make all of this go away by signing the document at the back of all of those pages in front of you. Don’t worry, we’re not asking you to step down. All we want is for you to be responsible for our well-being. If something were to happen to us, then your company will revert to a proxy of our choosing. I’m thinking about having it sold and the profits given to various charities.” Julia looked like she had gone through the wringer.
With Marshall’s influence and money, it didn’t take all that much to get her released into our custody and care. She was angry, understandably so, but she didn’t think that her testimony would hold up in court. She didn’t want to take the chance of being grilled mercilessly on the stand until she broke down in hysterics.
“I’ll sign your damn paper. You won’t have anything to worry about when it comes to me. This does not concern the contracts. That is something that is separate from all of this.” I thought that Marshall was going to put up more of a fight, but he was happy just to get that paper signed and have our lives back.
The door opened and there was a buzz of activity outside in the hallway. Susan was in handcuffs and the police came in and read Lillian her rights. “I thought that you said that all I had to do was sign the paper and all three of you would leave me alone.” She was confused, but she was about to learn that she had to learn to listen.
Julia wanted to be the one to break the news. “I said that I wouldn’t press charges, but I said nothing about the doctors that you bribed. They weren’t exactly happy with the way that you used your influence. They decided that you had to be called in for your actions. I’m not going to testify, but I don’t have to. They already have my affidavit and that is a matter of public record.” I thought for sure that she was going to scream bloody murder, but she stayed perfectly calm and let them lead her away in shackles. It didn’t take much to learn that Susan was responsible for having Julia drugged. We just had to wait until the police could arrive with a warrant for her arrest.
Everybody filed out and business was closed for the day. It left me and Marshall in the conference room looking at each other and then at the table. “I’m sure that she will get off on some kind of technicality or maybe pay for Susan to take the rap for the both of them. In the meantime, I think that we should leave a lasting impression on the very table that she conducts business.” I jumped up and grabbed him by his tie, pulling at his belt and then dragging his zipper down until I was able to reach into those black silk shorts for what I was after.
“I like the way that you…THINK.” His voice raised an octave as I wrapped my hand around his length. “I think that can be arranged. I don’t think that I have ever been as excited about defiling a piece of office furniture.” I lifted my skirt slowly letting him see a hint of thigh until he was witnessing the fact that I wasn’t wearing panties. I had shaved with the lips looking puffy and quite inviting.
“I would say that we have to make this quick, but I’m not sure that we know the meaning of that word.” I squeezed the head, pulling him into position and letting him feel his sausage being ground into a hole that seemed too small for something of his unique size. I stretched open with my body responding in kind to that invading force between my legs.
He pulled me toward him abruptly and began to make sharp thrusts that had that table groaning in response to my ass polishing the top of that table.
“I know who you are… Shelly or should I say… Oh, my god…. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to…I don’t know what I…excuse me” Tina had figured it out, but now seeing us going after each other in the boardroom had made her back away from the door and run like her skirt was on fire.
“I can always count on you to do something that’s going to shock others. I would never ask for you to quit your job.” He didn’t have to ask me and I was already unemployed. I had given my resignation. I told my boss that if he had a problem with that that he should talk to Marshall.
We crawled over the table. We were in the middle of it with both of our bodies slamming repeatedly against each other in a cacophony of sexual sounds that was not exactly the kind of sound that you would hear from a boardroom.
We were sprawled on top of it. He lifted himself one last time and buried it. “Marry me…Oh, god… MARRY ME.” I thought that he had just gotten a little carried away, but then the feeling that he was stirring in me was going to give the very answer that he wanted to hear.
“Yes… Yes… Yes… Yes…YESSSSSSSS.” I wasn’t sure if I was responding to his marriage proposal or if I was just going along for the ride with an orgasm of my own. It was a little from column A and a little from column B. He was so happy that he gave me an early wedding gift.
He kept up with the demand and he stayed the course for almost a full hour before he finally gave me my just desserts. I only had to pull down my skirt and he had to pull up his pants. He reached into a pocket and presented me with a gorgeous diamond ring. I leaped into his arms, kissing him passionately and I think that he took my orgasmic cry as confirmation.
“With you by my side, Gillian, there is nobody including Lillian that is going to stop us.” I liked that we were united and that we were a force to be reckoned with. He was my centerpiece and I had the perfect place to put him…right in my bed in my embrace. I was looking forward to spending my life with him. I had this feeling that it wasn’t going to be boring. I was still going to work with those that wanted to know the truth. That was how I met Marshall.
The marriage was scheduled for a year from that date. With Lillian taking a plea deal of six months, it gave Marshall the opening that he needed to swoop in and buy her building out from underneath her with the board’s approval. We had even sent an invitation to her in jail.
It stated that her presence was requested for our nuptials that were going to take place right in that very same boardroom.” I could almost hear her screaming from her cell and it gave me a sense of satisfaction. I wanted to be there to present it to her myself, but I thought that might have been a little below the belt.
I thought that my heart was frozen, but Marshall had somehow thawed the ice surrounding my heart. I was ready to love again and I could say the same thing for him. He was no longer caught in a never-ending line of sex partners. I’m sure that he was going to mention spicing things up, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
Office Romance Collection
BOOK 1: OFFICE ROMANCE
Blurb
Belle Freedman is a wide-eyed enthusiastic small-town girl, who has just landed an internship at the biggest ad agency on the East Coast. Her new boyfriend, Jesse, has followed her to New York so that they can chase their dreams together…to make it big in the Big Apple. Belle believes she has it all, a kind boyfriend and a brand new job.
When she has a chance encounter with a stranger on the elevator, things begin to start changing in her world. Devon Rymer is not only one of the partners at the ad agency, but he is also well into his forties, single and the hottest man Belle has ever laid eyes on. Suddenly, the world she thought was perfect, doesn’t seem so perfect any more.
Belle wants Devon. He is irresistibly handsome and strong, but she has a boyfriend, and a job to keep.
Belle
Belle stood staring at herself in the full length mirror at the corner of their studio apartment. She had spent hours laboring over the right look. First day at the new job. She had butterflies in her st
omach and she drew in a deep breath to steady herself. Behind her, Jesse, her boyfriend, was flipping pancakes in the section of the apartment that they called the “kitchen”.
Through the reflection in the mirror, Belle could see Jesse at the stove. His longish blond hair was ruffled and he was still in his boxer shorts with no shirt on. Belle watched him in silence for a few moments. His slender pale frame, the concave shape of his stomach…she had always thought he was the “cutest” boy ever since she’d known him. And now he was her boyfriend!
“How do I look?” Bell asked, flipping around to face him. Jesse looked up and fixed his eyes on her with a bored expression. He was always grumpy in the mornings, that was something that Belle recently discovered about him, ever since they started living together.
“You look great. Stop fretting,” he said and started stacking the pancakes on two plates. Belle tried to be in a cheerful mood, even though the nervousness was wrecking her on the inside. She didn’t want Jesse to feel worse than he already did about his own situation.
She had been offered a position, even if that was as an intern, but it was a job nonetheless. Jesse was yet to find a job or internship of any kind. They had already been in New York for over three months and it was going to get harder and harder to pay the bills if he didn’t find some kind of employment soon. Belle’s meager internship stipend wouldn’t even cover the rent they were paying.
She walked over to the small table beside the stove where Jesse had started setting their breakfast. Belle took a chair and he took the one across from her. She could see that he hadn’t shaved in days, and she had lost track of how many times she had tried to politely suggest that he take a shower.
“What are you going to do with your day?” she asked, digging a fork into the pancakes. She heard Jesse take in a deep breath and looked up at him. He looked offended that she had asked him that.
“If you’re trying to subtly hint that I should go out there and look for a job, I’m going to do that any way. You don’t have to mother me,” he snapped at her and she fell silent.
“I was just making conversation. You don’t have to do anything,” she mumbled, already kicking herself that she had even bothered to ask.
Jesse’s mood swings were unpredictable. Some mornings he woke up feeling energetic and excited about going hunting for jobs, and on other days he was grumpy and touchy about it. Belle was hoping that he would feel inspired today so that he could uplift her mood too for her first day.
They ate their pancakes in relative silence for a few more minutes.
“Well, have a great first day,” Jesse said suddenly and stood up. Taking his half finished pancakes, he shoved the remains into the bin beside the stove.
“What’s wrong?” Belle asked, stopping her chewing.
“Nothing. I’m going back to bed for a few hours. It’s only eight,” Jesse said distractedly. Belle gulped, trying to control her heart from racing out of her chest. She wished she could do something to ease his frustration. She watched as Jesse crossed the room and fell on to the mattress on the floor and rolled over to his side.
He hadn’t even offered her a kiss goodbye or a hug. She finished her food in silence, throwing nervous glances at the man she had a crush on for so long. She wasn’t sure if she had done something to upset him, or what she could do to make him feel better. For now, she was getting late for work so she stood up from the chair.
“I’m off, Jesse. Hope you have a nice day. I love you,” Belle said as she grabbed her purse off the floor near the door. Jesse made no movement, but had his face pressed into his pillow. She heard a muffled goodbye and opened the door.
She closed the door gently behind her and took the steps two at a time as she rushed outside. This was too much to handle. Her first day at a job and also Jesse’s mood swings. She wasn’t sure what bothered her more.
Jesse had been her middle school crush, back in their hometown. They went to the same State college, and her feelings for him returned. It wasn’t until the last year, when they happened to bump into each other at a house party, that they actually started talking and went on a few official dates. When Belle told him that she was moving to New York, Jesse declared that he loved her and would move with her.
So they had officially been a couple for no more than three months, since they moved to New York. No more dates at restaurants, or going for movies or sharing milkshakes. Real life and real responsibilities had come tumbling down on them, when they were least prepared for it. While Belle had a plan for her professional life, Jesse had none and so the hunt had begun and he kept hitting a brick wall.
All the romance that should have existed in a young relationship, between two twenty-two year olds never made an appearance. He was too upset about finding a job, and every day ended with him falling into bed exhausted and uninspired. Belle gulped as she hurried down the busy New York streets towards the subway. Starkly aware that tonight wasn’t going to be the night either, when Jesse might make a move and be the first guy to make love to her.
Belle
Bell looked up at the forty storied building and licked her lips nervously. She had only been here once before, when she came in for the interview. It was exciting for her to be working there, but at the same time she wasn’t sure what her first day was going to be like. She had been hired to intern with the marketing team at the advertising agency, and she had no prior experience in it. The only reason she had even been hired, Belle assumed, was because of her professional and cheerful personality. The interviewer seemed to like her go-getter and proactive attitude.
Belle pushed open the glass doors and stepped into the lobby. She knew that Rymer & Mills had their offices across five of the top floors, so she went straight for the elevators. Her heels clicked against the marble floors loudly as she walked, and Belle began to wonder if she was even dressed appropriately. She pressed the elevator button and stood with her hands clasped together in front of the double doors.
She caught a faint reflection of herself in the polished steel doors. She had picked out a gray professional looking pencil skirt that reached her knees and accentuated the curves of her hips. She’d tucked in a white shirt neatly on top and picked out a pair of high black stilettos to complete the look. She had spent a considerable amount of time on her hair, to achieve the perfect fishtail braid and now she was happy with the way it lay on her shoulder, just about reaching the top of her breasts. For her lips she had chosen a chocolate brown color to match her coffee brown eyes.
When she sensed someone come and stand beside her, Belle straightened her shoulders. She was self-conscious now that someone had caught her staring at herself. The elevator doors pinged open just that very second, and she stepped aside to let the people out.
When the carriage was empty, she looked to the side and noticed that a man was holding the door open, gesturing her to take a step inside.
“After you,” he said in a calm deep voice and Belle felt her cheeks flush. He was an incredibly attractive man, and she didn’t want to stare. So, she quickly stepped into the elevator and pressed her back to the cold metal wall. The man stepped in after her, and stood to the side.
He seemed older, at least in his early forties and had dark short hair with some smattering of white near the temples. He was much taller than her, and was dressed in a sharp black suit, with a white shirt and a rich red tie. His eyes were a clear sparkling blue, which he turned to her, and a soft smile grazed his lips.
“Which floor?” he asked, and Belle realized that she had indeed been staring at him.
“Thirty-five,” she replied nervously and she noticed that the man arched an eyebrow. He pressed the button, and didn’t press another one. She gulped. So, he worked at her new office! And she had just been staring at him like an ogling teenager.
Belle looked away, hanging her head towards the floor, but she could sense that he was looking at her.
“First day?” he asked, as the elevator started up. She jerked her head
to look up at him, fully aware that her cheeks were burning up by now.
He had a hand thrust into the pocket of his pants, and the other one clutched a brown leather briefcase.
“Yes,” Belle replied meekly and the man only smiled.
“Nervous?” he asked, after a few seconds of silence and she shifted on her feet.
“Little bit. It’s my first job too,” she said and took in a deep breath.
He nodded his head and then looked past her towards the changing lights on the elevator.
“I’m sure you’re good at what you do if you’ve been hired at Rymer & Mills,” he added and Belle breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t looked at it that way before. She had got the job. Even if it was an internship. She had been handpicked out of hundreds of applicants and she knew she was ambitious and confident enough to survive the six months of internship. So, technically, he was right…she had nothing to really worry about.
Belle let out a small laugh and their eyes met. His blue eyes were kind and sharp at the same time, and she wondered what position he held at the agency. If he worked there at all.
“What do you do?” she asked him, when he hadn’t said anything for some time.
“Ah, nothing at the moment. I’m hoping I’ll find something to do today,” he said and Belle’s mouth opened slightly. She couldn’t believe that he had been so polite and encouraging towards her, when he was just on his way to a job interview.
“Oh, best of luck with that,” she said and the man smiled and nodded.
“Thank you,” he said politely, just at the doors pinged open again. He gestured to her again to lead the way, and Belle stepped out, smiling as she passed him. She felt their clothes graze gently and there were instant goosebumps on her skin. There was something magnetic about this polite stranger, and she whipped around just as he was stepping out of the elevator himself.