Resist Me

by Samantha Lee

  She looked at the email; she tried to find something in the email that might give her a clue as to what the meeting was about. She looked for an unintentional exclamation mark, anything, but there was nothing. The meeting request didn’t even have an agenda attached. The subject line was short and simple, Executive Meeting, the body said, In the conference room. She scrolled through the invitees to see who was all included on the invite. Everyone was on there. She bit her fingernail, a nervous habit she picked up in grad school. She tried quitting several times but this situation called for a little nail biting. She heard the door close in Peter’s old office, so the new CEO had arrived. She needed to find a reason to go over there to introduce herself. Yvette wanted to talk with him to determine his leadership style and personality. Was he a hotshot that would shake everything up with his arrogance and ignorance, or was he laid back and simply wanted to introduce himself to the executive team? One of her personal concerns bubbled up from the dark corner of her mind where she kept her cynicism, was he a racist? She worried about that even though she had no control over someone else’s feelings and beliefs. Yvette knew that, but she couldn’t dismiss the reality that not everyone in every generation moved into the progressive society of today. “Ugh!” Yvette groaned. This was stressful, her curiosity made her want to get all of her answers right now, but she still had no reason to appear in his office.

  Fuck it, Yvette thought, she had to find out. She was about to get up and walk to his office when her VP rushed in. Areyanna Oliver was a beautiful woman. She was tall, slender and had beautiful blond curls. Her eyes were an arresting blue. She was the stereotypical American bombshell and her personality was as fierce as her beauty, this combination was off putting. Areyanna didn’t care what means she had to use to get to the top of whatever mountain she tried to climb, she would use them and never look back. So far, Yvette wasn’t an obstacle and she tried to keep it that way. Areyanna stopped in front of her desk. “What the fuck is going on?” Areyanna asked.

  Yvette smiled, “I don’t have a clue. I know as much as you. I was just about to go next door before you came.”

  Areyanna pursed her lips. “You mean to tell me he didn’t bother to introduce himself to his President much less any of his other executive team?”

  Yvette nodded. “Yes, but he did schedule a meeting in an hour, I imagine he plans to meet us all at once there.”

  Yvette laughed at the pouty scowl Areyanna pasted on her face. “It doesn’t matter Yvette, it still isn’t right. A good manager would introduce himself to his staff, not seclude himself in his office…he’s probably a fat balding man scared of his own damn shadow, like Jim.” She said. Areyanna’s face changed, Yvette could tell she was on the prowl. “I have to get ready for this meeting. Seeing that he is male he can be seduced, and if he can be seduced, then perhaps I can get something out of it.” Unwittingly Areyanna tugged her golden locks. Yvette didn’t like Areyanna’s train of thought. The only upward career path was Yvette’s job, “I need to freshen up.” Areyanna tossed her blond hair over her shoulder and strutted out of Yvette’s office. Yvette was gathering her courage to meet her new boss when her cell phone rang.

  “Hello.” She answered.

  “Do you want to go out tonight?” Yvette rolled her eyes when she heard Donato Belmonte’s voice.

  “Donato, I told you not to call me again. We met once and there wasn’t a connection. I was hoping we could be friends but your behavior is not making that a possibility, so listen closely, do not call my phone again. I do not want to meet you, date you, or know you. Do you understand me? Stop it.”

  Yvette could hear the amusement in Donato’s voice, “If I stopped every time I was told to, then I wouldn’t be as successful as I am now. I am coming to pick you up at your house tonight at seven. Be there and ready.”

  Yvette held the phone to her ear, she was shocked into silence. It was clear to her that this man had lost his damn mind. “Don’t come to my house Donato, don’t call my phone, don’t send flowers, don’t send texts, and don’t breathe. Maybe in death you will learn how to be a better human being.” Yvette said.

  “Yvette, I have never come across a woman who didn’t want me and I won’t today. I am rich, good looking, and good in bed. What woman wouldn’t want to be next to me? I am giving you a chance to be with someone every woman wants. Do not play hard to get.”

  Yvette exhaled her frustration, was he really this obtuse or did he really believe the shit he was saying, “Do you really live in that fantasy? Because I promise you, if you show up to my house tonight, that fantasy will meet reality and your feelings will get hurt.”

  Yvette didn’t wait for his answer and hung up the phone, in disgust, of both herself and Donato she threw her phone on her desk. Yvette shouldn’t have agreed to go out with him. But he was right, he was good looking, rich and seductive, and when he spoke Italian, mama mia, but when they went out, he asked her questions about work. The atmosphere between them during their date felt more like an interview than a date. It was disappointing because when he pursued her he didn’t hold back, he pulled out all of the stops to get her to say yes, flowers, candy, and when he called her belladonna with his sensual and alluring voice that tempted bad behavior she finally caved in. But all that charm disappeared and every question he asked was about B&E, which was information he would never have. Yvette’s body vibrated with anger. She wasn’t mad at Donato, she was mad at herself. She knew it wasn’t a good idea from the start to go out with someone in the same business as her. Donato’s family owned a local delivery company. The business was doing well, but Yvette knew Donato’s family was ambitious and wanted to move into global shipping like B&E. Yet using Yvette to get footing in the industry was bad form. Yvette knew what corporate espionage was, and that there were some who were stupid enough to do it but she wasn’t. She certainly would not give away secrets for sex. Hell, Yvette wasn’t completely sure he would give her a night worth the exchange.

  The computer chimed and startled her, it was the fifteen minute meeting reminder for the executive meeting. Damn it, she wasted time talking and thinking about Donato when she should have been meeting Mr. Carbonaro. Now, it was time for her to go to the meeting with her new boss and she had absolutely no clue what she was going to walk into. She hated not knowing all the players in the game before she rolled her dice. She grabbed the yellow legal pad, pen, and her cell phone off her desk then left her office.

  When Yvette opened her door and ran into Areyanna. “Whoa, where’s the fire?” Areyanna asked when Yvette almost knocked her down. “I am so sorry Ari, are you okay?” Areyanna nodded and her blond curls bounced around with each nod. Areyanna had glossed herself up. Her lipstick was freshly applied and her makeup was fresh and matted. Double damn, Yvette thought, she hadn’t done anything to herself. She grimaced thinking about the state of her appearance. She hadn’t checked her hair or makeup since she came to work this morning. Her hair could be sticking out all over the place, and her face was probably shiny due to her naturally oily skin.

  Areyanna moved closer to Yvette. “I am not in a hurry to hear what this douchebag has to say.” Yvette quickly glanced around them. “Damn Ari, I told you to watch what and where you say stuff like that. The last thing you need is some gossip running back to the new boss telling him you called him a douchebag.”

  Areyanna waved Yvette off. “I hear you, but pretty things never come out of my pretty mouth. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

  Yvette pulled Areyanna along. “Then the old dog will get put down by her new master.” Areyanna huffed and walked ahead of Yvette into the conference room. Yvette walked in behind her with her head down desperately trying not to be noticed, unlike Areyanna who walked in with her head held high and her chest puffed out. Yevette smiled inwardly at the contrast between them. Areyanna was smart and could get a job using her intellect, but she often used her looks to get what her brain could accomplish. Months ago Yvette gained the courage to ask
her why she didn’t depend on her intellect more than her looks, she told her. “My looks get shit done faster. My brain gets shit done right.”

  Yvette’s phone vibrated. She had a new email, her face was glued to her phone and she wasn’t paying attention to where she was walking and ran into a chair. The lever that adjusted the chair hit her in her shin, she grunted and jumped in pain. She just finished calling the chair a, “mother fucking son of a bitch,” when the most beautiful man she had ever seen walked in. He wore a charcoal gray three-piece suit that she could tell he had tailored. Oh, no, there was no way in hell that was an off the rack. His black shoes matched his suit and tie, his face was sharp angles that were softened by the shadow of a beard, his hair was cut short on the sides and slicked back. He was devastating. He walked past her and sat in Peter’s old chair. Goddamn it, did the CEO just walk in while she spewed a string of curse words? And here she was warning Areyanna to watch her mouth.

  Jim bumped Yvette’s shoulder on the way to his seat and that pulled her out of her trance. She hastily sat down. Her face was hot with embarrassment. She looked back up at who she assumed was Mr. Carbonaro and her heart sped up, there was a sudden quickening sensation in her stomach that moved through her body all the way down to her toes. Her reaction to him was visceral, something she had never felt before, something that scared the shit out of her.

  Yvette leaned forward to whisper to Areyanna, “What the fuck! That man is gorgeous.”

  Areyanna’s head bobbed up and down, “Thank sweet baby Jesus I freshened up before I came to this meeting.”

  Yvette wished she had put a little more effort into her appearance but quickly remembered herself. Who was she kidding? A man like him wouldn’t look twice at a woman like her. She could guess what type of woman he was interested in. If she had to guess, she would guess that his women wore a size four with blond hair and blue eyes. The complete contrast of her but the exact match of Areyanna. She couldn’t be upset by that, when you were that good looking you could be picky, nobody was going to tell him no.

  Yvette watched as he played with his cufflink and waited for everyone to enter the conference room for the meeting. Everyone watched him stroke, spin and pull his ruby cufflink. Yvette’s thoughts went dark. If he could do that to a cufflink, she wondered what he could do to a woman’s nipple? Specifically, her nipple. No, no, no, he wouldn’t want to see her nipple. Yvette looked around the room. Everyone was captivated by his presence. The room was silent in anticipation of his first words. The intensity of being the focus of nine pairs of eyes didn’t seem to bother him at all. He appeared completely relaxed.

  Areyanna leaned over and whispered in Yvette’s ear. “I am going to do him.” Yvette was about to respond but a woman she had never seen before entered the room, looked around and said, “Mr. Carbonaro, everyone is here, we are ready when you are.” The unknown woman reached around Mr. Carbonaro and placed a portfolio in front of him, then sat on the seat next to him. Yvette was surprisingly jealous of her proximity to him.

  Antony looked up at the executives that surrounded him, he wasn’t impressed. He read their resumes, none of them were particularly successful in their area of expertise, but he would need them pliant and ready to work. He had to start off correctly, he needed to win them over right away, but he wasn’t someone who smiled or even sincerely comforted another. Antony didn’t have the social skills that came easily to others. He was more at home in the darkness of danger and violence, but he kept that hidden, except when the situation called for him to let it out. He had to practice his smiles, after so many years of practice, he had them down to a science.

  Antony cleared his throat, “Hello everyone. My name is Antony Carbonaro your new CEO. I look forward to meeting you all individually and hope we all work well with each other, I have experience running a business, but I admit, I have never been in charge of a company this large. I am looking forward to the challenge. I won’t bore you with any more details about me, because you probably read your announcement and that covered most of it, but now, I want to know more about the people at this table. How about we go around the table with introductions? Tell me your name, department, and what you bring to the table.”

  Yvette listened to Antony’s low and sensual voice, he had a small Italian accent that was noticeable on words that started with H, he kept a smile on his face as each person spoke, when he smiled a dimple appeared on his right cheek. Jesus, if given the opportunity, Yvette was almost certain she would have sex with Antony too, but Areyanna had claimed him. Areyanna’s outward appearance was beautiful but there were times that she acted like a bratty child, especially when she claimed something, you touched it at your own risk.

  Yvette listened to everyone talk about themselves, she realized that everyone hyped up their experience to impress the new CEO. For some reason that annoyed her. It was almost her turn when a need to pee slammed into her like a rolling boulder. Damn it, she pulled her legs in tight trying to keep her bladder under control. After Suzy from marketing finished her ten minute monologue, she was in bad shape. If she had to wait any longer she was going to pee her pants. Maybe she could go to the restroom before her introduction. She let two more people talk about their experiences and departments, when she heard Paul start to speak, “I’m Paul Davidson, I work in accounting, I have a BA, MBA, CPA and PM certifications...” Yvette prepared to leave, she turned her chair to face the door, then stood.

  Yvette was almost to the door and Paul was deep into reciting his lengthy work history and experience when she heard his voice.

  “Excuse me Paul, Ms. Where are you going?” Antony asked Yvette.

  Yvette stopped mid step, mortified that she was being called out during the meeting. She stood still not knowing what to do. She couldn’t tell everyone she was close to peeing on herself if she didn’t go to the restroom right now, that was too embarrassing to say in front of a room full of her peers. Damn him, she had to think quick, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it backwards. Slowly she turned around with her phone held up. “I have to take this call sir.”

  Antony laughed, “Don’t call me sir, I am not old enough to be a sir.” He waved his hand for her to carry on. Relieved she turned and walked the few steps to the door. When Yvette opened the door, she felt a pair of disapproving eyes on her back as she left the conference room. Once she was safely outside the conference room, she debated her next options. First, she would go to the bathroom, then she would go to her office. She wouldn’t go back to the meeting, her exit was too awkward. She could get notes from Areyanna. Her path was clear, she would go back to her office and wait for the meeting to be over. If she didn’t see Antony Carbonaro for the next hundred years that would be too soon.

  Yvette washed her hands, she glanced up at the mirror and almost screamed when she saw the horrible state of her appearance. Her ponytail had shriveled into a tight ball of curls, wisps of hair stuck out all around her hairline, curled and unruly. To make matters worse, her face was oily and that made her face shiny. She was mortified that she walked around looking like that all morning.

  Yvette watched her eyes widen in the mirror, oh no, the new CEO. That beautiful wicked man’s first impression of her was terrible. She could not erase her first impression, there was no coming back from it, but she didn’t have to continue looking like she did either. Quickly she pulled out her ponytail holder, her hair expanded immediately, she ran the water and dampened her hair. She pulled her hair back as tight as she could, she made sure she had every loose strand and put it back into a ponytail. The water made her hair manageable. She twisted her hair in the ponytail to get the excess water out of her hair and loosen her curls. She looked in the mirror and nodded, her hair looked infinitely better. Her face was still shiny but she could touch up her makeup in her office. With one last approving glance in the mirror, she walked out of the bathroom back to her office.

  ***

  Antony watched the woman leave his meeting. Interesti
ng, he thought. He knew that ass, it was the same ass that was eavesdropping at the conference room door earlier that morning. He doubted she would return to the meeting. He had embarrassed her but what right did she have to get up and leave in the middle of a meeting to take a phone call. Did she not have voicemail? Or email. His face appeared interested in what Paul was saying but he wasn’t listening to Paul’s, I’m the greatest speech. He was being delusional. If Paul had all of those accreditations, then perhaps he should find a better job. Antony hated people like him, people who were stuck on themselves. They were the hardest people to manage because they constantly needed validation and wanted to lord their accomplishments over the rest of their peers, that shit cut into morale, which cut into productivity, which cut into his money, and that was unacceptable. Soon Paul would figure out he wasn’t the greatest person in the room, no, he was far from it. The greatest always sat at the top.

  Finally, Paul was finished, Antony looked around the room as Stephanie from communications talked about herself, she was cute too, Antony thought casually.

  It was the blond’s turn to talk, “I am Areyanna, CPA and VP to the company. I have worked with…” Antony tuned out the rest of her speech, he quickly lost attention when he realized she was eying him like property. That was the problem. Women thought they wanted him but they didn’t know him well enough to understand the man they thought they wanted was a fake, and the man they would be getting would probably scare the shit out of them. He watched the lust filled eyes of the men in the room that were glued to the blond woman. Antony thought it was intriguing to see how men coveted women they didn’t stand a chance with. That had never been Antony’s problem, his problem was getting the women to stop coming on to him. It was a burden that he lived with, Antony smiled inwardly.