by Carter Blake
“I don’t think that keeping down the same route will help you to progress in any way. You will remain in exactly the same position, not going anywhere. Don’t you want to move forward? Don’t you want to grow? Don’t you want better results?”
I think of my Dad, and his dream to turn this business into a worldwide, international hub of innovation. He would have taken this bold step, however crazy it felt at the time, which might just be what I should do too. It might make my heart beat faster, and my palms perspire just a little bit, but maybe I need to open my mind to other suggestions. Public relations isn’t exactly my area of expertise anyway, so maybe it’s time to think outside the box.
“Okay, well we’ll get back to this later on,” I shuffle the papers in front of me, not wanting anyone else to know that I’m ruffled. “So for now, let’s here from everyone else.”
As the meeting continues, and everyone shares what’s going on in their own department, I can’t stop my eyes from glancing over to where Naomi is sitting, and the more I look at her, the more intrigued I become. I want to get to know her better, and I don’t think that I’ll be able to do that in a working environment. I need to get her out of the office, to spend some more casual time with her, and I want to start that today. Usually, when I see a woman that I want, I go for it right away without holding back, which is what I want to do right here. I know that the situation is slightly different, and that I don’t intend to pin her against the first wall we come across, but I do feel impatient about getting to know more about her.
As soon as the meeting finishes, I head out to find Amber, knowing that she will have my full schedule. “What are my lunch plans?” I snap at her, an idea forming in my mind.
“You have a date with a…Monica.”
Monica? It takes me a few moments to place her, but then I recall meeting her in a bar a few weeks ago. She’s a blonde chick with massive boobs, which is what drew me in, but now I have no interest in hanging out with her. It’ll just be another meaningless experience, which I don’t really need. Not when I could be spending some time with someone I actually have more in depth feelings about.
“Can you cancel it please?” I ask her distractedly. “I’m going to take that the new PR girl out for lunch. She has some interesting ideas and I want to find out what she has planned.”
Amber shoots me a knowing look, as if she can see right through the façade, but I stay strong. Amber can think whatever the hell she wants, she had her shot with me and she blew it. I send her one quick smile before stomping my way down the hallway to find Naomi. She’s the only one from this office that I’m interested in now, and that’s probably the way that it’s going to stay for a very long time.
Knock, knock.
I tap tentatively at the door, my heart pounding with excitement, and she very quickly calls me inside. As soon as I see her again, my stomach flip flops with emotion and it becomes difficult to remember what I’m doing.
“Is everything alright?” she asks me curiously. “Do you want anything from me?”
I want everything from you.
“I just wondered if you would like to go out for lunch with me?” I ask, sounding a little awkward. “I mean, I normally take my new employees out anyway, but I would love to know more about your ideas too. I’m sorry I shot them down in that meeting. I guess it’s just a little hard for me to accept change.”
“When you hear what I have planned, you’ll soon change your mind,” she grins at me, filling me with confidence.
She seems to know exactly what she’s doing, so what I need to do is just trust her. After all, my gut told me that she was the right one to hire, and I do normally work from that, so why should this be any different?
“So, shall we go?”
***
An hour later we’re still sitting in the café, long after we’ve finished our sandwiches, just chatting happily and enjoying one another’s company. I’m actually content to just hang out with her, talking about nothing, and forgetting work. We haven’t even discussed her plans at all, they’ve just been forgotten about while we learn more about each other.
“… but luckily, that was just before I finished college, so I didn’t have to live with the humiliation for too long!” As she tells me an embarrassing story about a bad date she had in her younger years, I pour her yet another glass of wine.
Okay, so we’re definitely acting a little inappropriate for an employer, employee relationship, but I find that I don’t care. Overstepping the boundaries has never worried me in the past anyway, but it’s even more so with this one. I actually want things to be able to go further, even if it is wrong, and I have qualms with making that happen.
“So, what about you?” she asks, leaning in and giving me a flirty smile. “Have you had any terrible relationships?”
This is a really difficult question for me, because it might lead me to open up more than I probably should do. Do I tell Naomi that I’ve never really had a relationship before, so I don’t have any tales for her, or do I make something up? I mean, I’ve never even stuck around for long enough for anyone to get to know me enough to be a nightmare, but do I want her to see that impression of me?
“I… I’ve never had a girlfriend,” I decide that being honest now is better than having to confess all later. It might be an ugly version of myself, but I can hope that she will see the person underneath, and that she’ll understand that isn’t who I want to be forever more. “I’ve had short term lovers, but that’s about it.”
I glance downwards, not wanting to make eye contact with her now, but luckily she bursts into laughter, giggling in a musical way that has me wanting to smile too.
“So, the playboy rumors about you are true, Mr. Montgomery.”
For some reason, she doesn’t sound pissed off or disgusted by this at all. If anything, she sounds a little turned on which piques my interest all over again, which only gets worse when I look into her eyes and I see the intense desire there.
She wants me, I think to myself in surprise. Maybe she really likes me too. Maybe this will go the way that I want it to after all.
All the paper work that’s sitting on my desk, crying out for attention, floats away from my mind. How can that be as important as this? Surely I deserve my own life too? Even my Dad would understand that if it were for the right girl, which this definitely is.
“So, shall we bother going back to work today, or do you think we should stay here and finish off this bottle?”
“Ooh, I don’t know, you’re the boss,” she jokes, a smile playing on her lips. “You need to tell me what to do…remember?”
Oh God, I almost groan loudly with pleasure at the thought of telling this woman what to do, but I can’t take things there with her, not yet, not if I actually want this to become something.
I’m going to have to do the one thing that I’ve never done before and hold back, to allow emotions to grow first. I’m sure that if I took her into the bathrooms of this place I could have her naked and screaming within a few moments, but that would be the end of things and I don’t want that just yet.
“Maybe we should finish the bottle, then head back to work,” I tell her smiling. “Sure we might not be in the right frame of mind to get any work done, but at least we’ll be showing our faces.”
“That sounds like a good plan to me,” she exclaims excitedly. “Wow, what a first day. I think I’m going to like working at Future Pharmaceuticals more than I thought I would. If this is anything to go by.”
“Well you won’t get this treatment every day, but I’m sure that we’ll have fun.”
How much fun I don’t specify, but I don’t feel like I need to. I think that it’s implied.
Chapter 5
Naomi
By the end of my third day on the job at Future Pharmaceuticals, I’m already starting to get the end of my tether with regards to the best way to get this paper work from Wesley’s office without him finding out about it. That place really is
kept locked tighter than Fort Knox, and I have no idea how I’m going to get in.
To make things worse, I’m not finding Oliver much use either. If it wasn’t for my father’s recommendation, I would never have put any trust in this man.
“I don’t see that you have any other option,” he tells me sadly. “I really think that seducing him is the only way.”
I’ve been trying to get some advice from him on getting into the office alone, and to be honest I was hoping for some much more practical advice than just screw him.
I guess it helps that I’ve laid down the groundwork by flirting with him nonstop, but all talk is one thing…actually doing something about it is on another level entirely. It helps that he’s hot as all hell – however much I despise him – so I could imagine doing it, but still…am I really ready?
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
Oliver is a small nerdy looking guy who is clearly about a decade older than me, but maybe it’s time to admit that he’s right. I did say that I would do anything to get this information, and I know that my Dad is relying on me, I just hope that I can do it when the time comes.
“Look, I’m not telling you that you need to do anything drastic,” he tells me quickly, as if a horrifying thought has just hit him – probably the idea of my Dad finding out what he’s suggested. “Just enough to get in there…and you might need to use your imagination to remain in there alone.”
“Naomi,” I hear Amber call out in her shrill, irritated sounding voice. “The phone has been ringing for ages. I think it’s the caterer getting back to you.”
“Oh shit,” I mutter it under my breath. “I completely forgot about the party. I better go, Oliver, I’ll speak to you later.”
I might have acted all confident in the interview, promising the world when it came to the idea of throwing together a party within a week. Now that I’m actually having to do it, things are very different. It’s much harder than I thought it would be, I probably should have told Wesley that it was impossible. At the time I was only thinking about getting the job, not following it through.
I spend the next couple of hours in a state of sheer frustration, trying to hold it together where I feel like I might actually be falling apart. This job is really hard, and with the extra weight falling heavily on my shoulders, it’s damn near impossible. I can talk the talk, I think I’ve found that I’m very good at that, but action is something else.
“Yes, that’s what I said,” I cry out, holding my head in my hands. Why can’t people just do as I ask in the short time I need it done? I mean, I’m offering to throw in whatever money they need, which I don’t see as a problem considering Wesley never mentioned anything about a budget, but still it seems to be too challenging. “By Saturday. Do you think that you can do that?”
To make things worse, Amber keeps walking past with a massive smirk on her face, as if she wants to see me fail. I don’t know what it is about her that creates such a barrier between us, but I really don’t give a shit. Let her have her problem with me, soon she won’t ever see me again anyway.
As the guy on the other end of the phone mumbles his excuses, and I offer him even more money, I notice the rest of the staff members starting to file out. At first this pisses me off because I want to be the one leaving this nightmare behind, but then another plan starts to form in my mind. If I get left behind here because I’m oh so wrapped up in my work, then maybe… just maybe I’ll be able to make this work today. Maybe I’ll be able to finish what I started already.
Eventually the lights flicker out, and the cleaners start making their rounds, which is when I make my way through the halls with a pounding heart. I’m kind of hoping that Wesley is working late too, and that he’s sitting there in his office, unsuspecting of what is about to come his way. I’m thinking that I will go in there, act like I have some party stuff to discuss with him, which I will make up when the moment comes around, and then I’ll return to the flirting.
The boozy lunch that we had the other day started that anyway, so it won’t be much of a shock when I make some slightly inappropriate comments.
Then…well, after that, who knows.
All I really need to do is focus on getting him to somehow leave me alone in there. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?
I suck in a few deep breaths of air, and do my best to ignore my pounding heart, while tight knots of panic swirl around in my stomach. I’m almost trembling with fear… but this is why I’m here, this is what I need to do, so scary or not I have to take action.
Just think, if you solve this now, you can forget about that dumb party… that thought is enough to spur me on. The thought of forgetting about all that stress is enough to send me forwards.
Knock, knock.
As I wait for him to answer, I tug on my skirt and smooth my hair down, needing to at least look my best. I get the impression that Wesley likes me a lot anyway, and Dad did describe me as his type, but I want to give myself the best shot at getting what I need, whatever it takes.
But it quickly becomes clear that he isn’t here. No one is answering which means the room is empty. I move up onto my tiptoes and press my ear up against the door, just to check that there isn’t anything secretive going on in there, but nothing…just a ringing silence that wrecks every bit of my plan.
I tug on the handle, just in case, even though I already know that it won’t be open, but when it doesn’t budge there’s a sense of disappointment filling me anyway.
I still feel like I need to do something. I don’t feel like I can just leave this opportunity behind because I might never get it again. But what? What can I do that will be enough? I need to grab Wesley’s attention, to make my intentions clear, without doing anything that can damage my reputation. I need him to know that I’m trying to seduce him, without doing anything that can be drawn back to me if anyone else sees it.
I wander through the building in dismay, trying to find any kind of inspiration, the perfect plan, and then as if by some sort of magic I stumble across it.
The photocopier.
It isn’t something that I’ve ever done before, but surely I can somehow use that to create something visual and awesome. Something to spark Wesley’s imagination and to have him panting for me, and if I do it in the right way, he will know that it’s me, and no one else will.
I move closer, glancing around to check that no one is around, before tugging up my skirt and jumping up on it. I’m going to pull my panties down, and photocopy my butt for him. To other people, this might seem like a silly prank, but to him I think he’ll see the sexy side, and the intent behind it. The best part about it all is the fact that I have a strawberry shaped birthmark right underneath my ass, so if I wear the right clothes tomorrow, he’ll be able to see it.
I do it quickly, knowing that there are still people around in the building, before grabbing a folder to hide the image in.
Then with a grin on my face, I walk back to Wesley’s office and slide the file underneath the door. That has to work, it has to get me in there, I’m sure of it. But as I return to my office and I grab my belongings to make my way back to my apartment after another successful day, I can’t stop myself from imagining Wesley’s face as he sees the picture. I find myself wanting him to like it for more than one reason. I know that I shouldn’t, but I’d quite like him to be attracted to me anyway.
Stop it now! I scold myself. He is the enemy. I don’t want to start falling for this idiot playboy, the one that I swore to everyone I wouldn’t. I don’t even like him, not really… he just has a certain charm. I can certainly understand why all the women fall for him at any rate, and it isn’t just for his good looks and money…it’s because he seems to actually have a surprisingly nice personality too.
I guess my main problem is that I’ve never gone for the nice guy before. I have only ever fallen for the bad boy, asshole type who only has one thought in his mind…breaking my heart.
I don’t know what it is that attr
acts me to the rough looking, idiotic guy who will screw anyone that walks, but they have only ever been the one to get my heart pounding faster.
It’s a shame, because deep down I do want to fall in love for real, but it’s never going to happen with the sort of guys that I fall for. The leather clad, sexy, aloof, dark guys who make me feel incredible are never going to be the ones who last forever, least of all because of their wandering eyes. They just aren’t the forever types, and they never will be.
Despite Wesley’s reputation as being just that, I don’t really see that version of him. I think that deep down, he’s a nice guy that’s looking for love too. Maybe, if it wasn’t for the things that had happened between our families, maybe if it wasn’t for the fact that we’re enemies – even if he doesn’t quite realize it – I would actually be considering him seriously. He is very hot, with the whole tall, dark, and handsome thing that he has going on, but of course he’s much more than that too. He’s John Montgomery’s son – the man who ruined my family. I can’t ever see him as anything other than the man who I need to hate.
Then again, maybe it’s the taboo about it, maybe it’s the fact that we’re enemies that makes me feel things for him. Maybe if that wasn’t the case I wouldn’t even look at him twice.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter.
That isn’t why I’m here, that isn’t why I’m trying to seduce him. All I need to do is get in the office, and get what I need to from there, then I can go. Then I can get the hell away from this very confusing nightmare and I can get the fuck on with my life…whatever my life will be.
I’m doing it, Dad, I think, trying to keep my focus. I’ll have it all finished in no time, then, you can have your own life back too. He needs it, after all he’s done for me, this is the least that I can do for him.
Chapter 6
Wesley