Board Stiff

by Jessica Jayne

  Evernight Publishing

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2013 Jessica Jayne

  ISBN: 978-1-77130-477-1

  Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

  Editor: JS Cook

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. 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.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  Always to my husband for his support and love.

  To Jenika - Thanks so much for your thoughts and insight in helping me to not only name this book but also this series! You rock!

  BOARD STIFF

  Taking Advantage, 1

  Jessica Jayne

  Copyright © 2013

  Chapter One

  “Where’s today’s agenda?” John Dorsey asked as he sat down in one of the many black leather chairs in the board room. He reached for the stainless steel coffee carafe and poured the dark brown liquid into his white porcelain coffee mug. Despite having had a cup of coffee on the way into the office, John usually needed about a carafe of coffee to make it through a board meeting day. He wasn’t used to sitting so many hours at a time. Heading up Dorsey Construction meant he was in the field assisting his construction managers with various projects. Sitting in a chair for six to eight hours listening to presentations on company matters, discussing and approving company budgets and sorting through the financials of Advantage Insurance Company made for long days. John was honored to be asked to sit on the board of directors a year ago. He was the youngest member of the board at thirty-five, and it was good for his business to have such a prestigious role with one of the Tampa Bay area’s best known companies. Luckily, the board only met once a quarter.

  “Here you go, Mr. Dorsey,” Suzie McCormick said with a smile. She handed him a blue folder that he knew contained the day’s agenda and the most current quarter’s financials. All of the presentations could be seen on the individual iPads at each seat.

  “Thank you, Suzie,” he said. He took the folder from her hands and set in front of him on the mahogany table. Suzie stood there smiling at him for a few seconds before turning around, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder and walking around the table to place the same blue folder at each seat. John watched as she finished up and left the board room for her desk in the executive suite, which was just outside of the boardroom.

  Suzie was attractive, albeit a little on the skinny side, at least for John. Suzie was tall, probably 5’10” without heels, and slender. He preferred his women with a little meat on their bones. He loved women with curves. Women were supposed to be soft. Suzie had made it known that she was attracted to John. She flirted with him relentlessly every meeting. A few of the other board members teased him. They encouraged him to ask her out or at the very least, “take her for a ride” they’d say. Even Suzie’s boss, Michael Herron, the CEO of Advantage, would occasionally joke with him about her excitement on board week.

  “She’s got the hots for you, Dorsey,” Mark Olson said, walking up to John and extending his hand. Mark was the next youngest member of the board at forty. He had recently divorced his wife of fifteen years. Rumor was that he had had a mid-life crisis and his wife couldn’t deal with it. John wasn’t positive of Mark’s real story, and he never really felt comfortable enough asking him. But Mark was now hot-to-trot for any woman that was good-looking and younger than thirty. “You should really consider it. If she showed me half the attention she shows you, I’d be all over it.” He shook John’s hand before taking a seat next to John and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

  “Knock it off, Mark,” John said with a little laugh. “You look a little tired. Late night?” He figured a change of subject would be good before the rest of the directors took their seats, and Mark did look a little tired.

  “You could say that,” Mark said with a wink. He brought his coffee mug to his lips and took a sip. “I met a hot little number last weekend down at the Beach Club. I’ve had a few later nights than I’m used to.” He chuckled.

  “Gentlemen,” Phillip Barker said, walking into the room in his crisp khaki pants and green country club polo shirt. All the other board members wore dress slacks and a button down shirt, but Phillip didn’t make it mandatory. He was retired and took the position he only wore suits to weddings and funerals now. He took his seat at the head of the long table as chairman of the board. John respected Phil, who had also been in the construction business for much of his life. He gave John a lot of great advice on the trade after he took over the company from his father, John Sr., and John appreciated the man’s insight.

  “Phil,” John said, nodding his head in the direction of Phil. The rest of the board members filtered in. There were six outside directors and Michael Herron, the CEO, sat as the sole inside director on the board. Everyone grabbed their seats and poured coffee.

  “Bagel? Scone? We have cinnamon and cherry,” Suzie said, walking in with a basket full of bagels and pastries. She offered the basket to John first. He smiled and pulled a cinnamon scone from the basket and placed it on a napkin in front of him.

  “Thanks, Suzie,” he said kindly.

  “Any time, Mr. Dorsey,” she said sweetly. The other men chuckled as she made her way around the table to offer the treats to them before placing the basket in the center of the table. Before exiting the room and closing the door behind her, she looked over her shoulder and smiled at John. He felt everyone’s gaze on him when the door finally clicked shut.

  “What?” he asked, feeling a little embarrassed by all the attention. It wasn’t that John wasn’t used to attention. He was. Women hit on him all the time. And from time to time, he would flirt back. Maybe ask them out to dinner. Sometimes it would lead to sex at their place… only their place, so he could easily escape when it was over. But since Shayna, John shut himself off from anything other than sex. Finding his ex-fiancée in bed with his best friend left a bad taste in his mouth for relationships. They were a waste of time. He kept telling himself he wanted nothing beyond the desire to satisfy his sexual needs and have a little companionship for an evening. Even though most of his friends had settled down… a few of them on their second marriages, he wasn’t interested in taking that route. It was nothing but trouble.

  “Dorsey, we have to tease you,” Andy Price snickered. “Perhaps we’re all just jealous that she’s only got eyes for you.”

  “Can we get started?” John asked, slightly annoyed. Maybe he should just take Suzie out and shut them all up. It had been a couple weeks since he’d been on a “date.” The thing was, he would have to see her every quarter for board meetings, and he knew it would never go beyond a date or two. Forget that idea! He pulled out the agenda from his blue folder and set it in front of him. “Based on the agenda, it may be a long day.”

  “Sure thing, Dorsey,” Phil said with a smile. “Let’s call this meeting to order.”

  Chapter Two

  Elizabeth Wright’s palms were sweating. Her boss, Corbin Shaw, the general counsel for Advantage Insurance Company asked her to do the presentation to the board of directors on the big construction defect case that would likely plague the company for the next couple years. Advantage insured three of the twenty defendants in the lawsuit. There were multiple construction issues with a beachfront condominium project, and since her arrival at Advantage three months ago, Elizabeth had been following the case closely. The impact of the lawsuit could cost Advantage mi
llions in defense costs, not to mention what the company may have to pay out if found liable. She understood Corbin’s request for her to discuss the case because she was the most knowledgeable about the case, but that didn’t make it any less nerve-racking.

  “Liz, you will do fine,” Corbin said, sitting next to her on the leather couch just outside the board room. She held one piece of paper in her hand that had a short outline of the players in the case. Everything else was pretty well set in her head.

  “I know,” she whispered. She ran a hand through her long auburn hair. “I know this case like the back of my hand.” And she had done her homework. Last night, she had studied the Advantage annual statement from last year and familiarized herself with each of the board members. She had already met Michael Herron, Advantage’s CEO, as he was a regular visitor to the Legal Department to meet with Corbin. But the other members were not as well-known to her. In reviewing their bios, she noted that the board consisted of only men… three that were of her father’s age or older. But there were three board members that were considerably younger than the others… John Dorsey, Mark Olson and Gregory Snow. She found it interesting that they were appointed members of the board of directors at such young ages. All were tops in their career paths, at least according to her research on LinkedIn and Google. But John Dorsey caught her attention the most. There was something about the look in his eyes in his bio picture that intrigued Elizabeth. Not to mention, he was very easy on the eyes.

  “I wouldn’t have asked you to do it if I didn’t have the utmost faith in you,” Corbin said, smiling at her. Corbin was a good guy. He was in his late fifties with dark brown hair that was streaked with gray. He was married with two children in college. As far as bosses went, Elizabeth considered herself quite lucky. She had worked five years in a large law firm right out of law school and she worked her ass off. She applied for the corporate counsel position at Advantage because she was tired of working the ridiculously long billable hours. Her social life had been non-existent for the five years she slaved away at Barnes and Simon. She held high hopes that she could gain her life back as in-house counsel. She was thirty-one. She wanted to get married someday… have a family.

  She had more than enough experience to be an asset to a company like Advantage. She had done nothing but handle insurance defense cases at her firm. In fact, she had become quite a commodity at the firm for her aggressiveness in the courtroom. So, when Corbin got her resume for the open position, he immediately asked her in for an interview. He basically hired her on the spot. Her salary went down a bit from her law firm salary, but she hoped her life would go up.

  “Corbin.” The board room door opened slightly and Phillip Barker poked his head around the corner. Elizabeth recognized him from his bio photograph in the annual statement. This made her grateful that she did her research. “You ready?”

  “Yes, Phil, we’re ready,” Corbin said, standing from the couch and straightening out his suit jacket.

  “Come on in,” Phil said, opening the door wide. Elizabeth stood up from the couch and straightened out her taupe skirt and jacket before walking through the door into a board room full of men. She followed Corbin to the front of the room.

  “Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce Elizabeth Wright. She is one of our corporate counsel here in Advantage’s legal department. We stole her from Barnes and Simon in Tampa, and we are more than thrilled to have her with us. She’s been following the beachfront condo construction defect case for us for the last three months and has worked closely with the claims adjusters to get a better understanding of the problems with the building, should there be any coverage issues that will need to be raised under the policies. I thought it would be best if she presented the case to you since she has the most first-hand knowledge of how it may play out for Advantage and its insureds.”

  “Thank you, Corbin,” Elizabeth said, confidently. “And thank you, gentlemen, for allowing me to be here today to talk to you about this case.” She lifted her head to scan the room. When her gaze fell on the extremely good-looking man sitting across the table from her, she almost fell to her knees on the spot. Holy shit! John Dorsey’s bio picture did not do him justice…at all! He was gorgeous…lightly tanned skin, dark brown hair, hazel eyes that appeared almost golden. By the way his white button down shirt conformed to his biceps, shoulders and chest, he barely hid his well-sculpted body underneath. Good God! And he was staring at her! His gaze skimmed over her body like he was slowly removing her clothes. The heat from his gaze made her feel naked standing there, and her skin flushed when she noticed John adjust his sitting position. His eyes were smoldering. Elizabeth felt everyone else’s gaze on her, and that brought her back to the reality of her situation. She had a presentation to give. She tore her gaze from John’s. She was always her best under pressure, and clearly, the pressure was on now. She cleared her throat. “As you know, Advantage has three insureds involved in the construction of this project, so there is a good possibility that Advantage’s financials may be affected by this case at some point.” Elizabeth carried on with her presentation, making damn sure her gaze never wandered over to John Dorsey. She felt the heat of his stare, as if he were tempting her… coaxing her to look at him. But she knew if she looked into his golden eyes again, she’d stumble with the end of her presentation, and she couldn’t have that. So, she avoided him. After wrapping up her presentation, Corbin stepped up to the table next to her.

  “Do you have any questions for us?” he asked politely.

  “When do we suspect we will have a full understanding of the construction issues so that we will know the extent of liability of the individual insureds?” one of the board members Elizabeth recognized as Gregory Snow asked. She knew he was a big corporate law attorney for a large firm in St. Petersburg, Florida.

  “Forensic engineers have begun the testing and analysis of the building and common areas,” Elizabeth replied. “All defendants agreed to one forensic engineering company to run the tests. It’s much cheaper for the defendants if they all pitch in on the cost of this expert and just discuss the results at that point. We expect them to be completed with their report within the next month. At that point, we will have a better understanding of the true defects.” Gregory nodded and smiled at her warmly.

  “Thanks, Elizabeth,” Phil said. “We expect to have you back next quarter to give us an update on the expert report. Great presentation.” Phillip smiled at her. Elizabeth felt great. The chairman of the board was pleased with her presentation despite the few seconds she lost her head mentally devouring John Dorsey. She released a breath she didn’t even know she had been holding.

  “You’re welcome, sir,” Elizabeth replied, almost breathless. She heard a quiet rumble come from across the table and her gaze shifted to the sound. Did anyone else hear it? The other members appeared to be carrying on conversations, but John’s gaze was on her. He shifted in his chair again and he bit down on his lower lip. A warmth spread throughout her body and settled between her legs. She was certain that if she slid her hand under her skirt to her panties, she would find them wet. This man made her pussy wet with just a look. It had been a few months since she had had sex, but this guy put her body in overdrive without even touching her. Not that he was going to touch her. Good Lord! She was getting carried away. She needed to get out of here.

  Corbin thanked the officers and headed out of the board room. Elizabeth followed close behind him, grateful to escape John’s heated stare. Once outside, she took a deep breath.

  “You did great in there, Liz,” Corbin said, patting her on the back. “I get the feeling they are going to want you to give more presentations.” He winked at her as they walked back to their department on the second floor.

  Chapter Three

  John watched as she walked out of the board room. His cock was as hard as a rock. He had to adjust himself twice during her presentation. He’d never been in the presence of a woman that made him instantly hard. She walked into the
room with her thick auburn hair flowing over her shoulders. Her green eyes twinkling. Her skirt hugging her in all the right places. Damn! And she was smart. Every word out of her mouth made him inconceivably harder. Normally on a case like this, he would have had a ton of questions for Corbin. Being in the construction industry, John was so familiar with all trades that he was usually good with these discussions. But his brain short-circuited. All he could think about was sliding above Elizabeth’s sexy body and sinking deep inside it. He had to have her! He didn’t care what he had to do to get her and he didn’t care who, if anyone, stood in his way.

  “Dorsey, we expected you to have some questions,” Mark said with a small laugh. “Did Ms. Wright distract you? I’ll admit she distracted me.” John shot Mark a sharp look. That horny fucker had better not even think about approaching her.

  “I want to wait until we have the expert report. At this point, it’s just a finger-pointing game,” John said, trying to act nonchalant despite having his first ever boner during a board meeting.

  “I agree with John,” Phil said. “These construction defect cases are usually a mess. Next quarter, we should have a better feel of where our insureds stand. Let’s take a break. Lunch should be here shortly.” Everyone got up from their seats and stretched, except for John. Once he thought he had his hard-on under control, he got up and walked over to Suzie’s desk. Her blue eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as he stood in front of her.

  “Mr. Dorsey, can I help you?” she asked eagerly. Too eagerly. A smile spread across her face. He knew his question would wipe that huge smile from her lips.