by A. J. Wynter
I know what my friends are thinking as the car speeds ahead. Goodbye Buffalo, goodbye high school, hello anywhere but here. But I was the one staring at someone through the back window.
And all these years later, as much as I hate to admit it, there’s been a part of me that’s been staring back ever since.
I found myself staring wide-eyed as I walked into the office.
“Don’t worry,” the girl walking me in said with a wink as I examined what must have been an outrageously expensive painting. “Most people make that face the first time they come in here.”
I knew the Torver Group was an illustrious company, but the interior of their office was truly mind-blowing, and must have cost a fortune. The reception room was painted deep gray and decorated with bizarre and brightly colored modern art. A Swiss coffee machine stood in the corner and a thick pile of luxury magazines were stacked in a neat pile on the center table. The furniture, consisting of high-backed cream chairs and a sofa, looked straight out of Versailles.
Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Buffalo anymore.
The girl, who introduced herself as Sabryna, was the assistant to my new boss, Johnathan Torver. She was a curvy black woman with bright eyes framed by dark red glasses. Sabryna had a cutesy, vintage sort of fashion sense, and wore a polka-dotted green and white dress with a plastic owl necklace.
“Sit down,” she said kindly. “Johnathan will be with you in a moment.” I perched myself carefully on one of the chairs, which were so pristine it seemed a shame to sit on them. Sabryna smiled at me as she typed away notes on her computer in the corner, and I tried my best to stay calm.
“Marissa?” asked a voice suddenly, and I nearly jumped.
“Yes,” I said, standing up. “That’s me.”
“Johnathan Torver,” said my new boss, shaking my hand. “Here, let’s sit down in my office.”
I followed Johnathan into his office, which was an organized, manly sort of place made up of mahogany furniture and high-tech gadgets. It was hard not to stare at Johnathan—he was undoubtedly an incredibly attractive man, with piercing blue eyes, dark blond stubble, and a muscular build showing through his button-down.
“Welcome to the Torver Group, Marissa,” said Johnathan, leaning back in his chair. “I hope you know how thrilled we are to have you as our newest board member.”
“Thank you,” I said, my nerves still on edge.
“I expect you had a nice journey from Buffalo? You’ve settled in nicely?”
“Oh, absolutely,” I said, wondering if this ridiculously wealthy man could ever have the faintest idea of just how crappy my apartment was. “I’m loving Seattle already.”
“Excellent,” Johnathan said. “We’re really excited to have you join our board, as you know, after all your experience working with Buffalo Financial.”
I nodded, thinking back to my familiar cubicle at my old company. God, I really hope moving here was the right choice.
“So, it’s already Friday afternoon,” Johnathan said, holding back a yawn, “So we’ll just push your first day to Monday. However, our Christmas kick-off party is tomorrow, and it’d be a great chance for you to get to know everyone.”
“Oh,” I said, my shyness suddenly kicking in. “I don’t know if…”
“Come on!” Johnathan said with the true ease of a former frat boy. “There’s a really stupid ice sculpture and candy canes and everything.”
“Well, alright,” I said, realizing it wasn’t optional. I stood up and straightened out my skirt. “I’ll see you there.” I said, smiling, and shook Johnathan’s hand again.
I took a deep breath as I left the office. New boss, new job, new Marissa.
I just hope the old Marissa would be able to handle the transition.
When I got home I spent an hour or two putting my things away in the apartment, arranging and rearranging until I was exhausted. Seattle was a strange city…full of dirt and grime and towering skyscrapers that made me nervous just looking at them. It would take a while to feel at home here.
I logged onto Facebook to see that Johnathan had sent me a friend request along with a formal invitation to the party tomorrow. I sighed, clicked the accept button, and confirmed I’d be at the office at six p.m. sharp tomorrow.
I scanned the faces of the people who had R.S.V.P.’d yes, my stomach already lurching. An evening of small talk with these people would be painful, but unfortunately, very necessary for my success at the company. The people here, judging from their photos, looked far from the type of coworkers I was used to in Buffalo. The profile pictures ranged from tailored professional portraits to vacation photos in front of places like the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower. What on earth was I going to have to say to these people? What was I supposed to—
I froze. Oh, god.
I doubled over the picture and the name to make sure I wasn’t completely hallucinating. This had to be some sort of joke.
Kirk.
After all these years, Kirk.
The Billionaires of Torver Corporation Series, Book 2
THE BOARDROOM: KIRK
COMING DECEMBER 2017
ALSO BY A.J. WYNTER
Her Christmas Bonus
The Brass Bonds MC Series
Getting Jasper Off
Sorority Secrets (FREE – Get Your Copy Here)
Sorority Secrets: Hallow’s Eve (Reader’s Club Exclusive)
The Billionaires of Torver Corporation Series
The Boardroom: Johnathan
The Boardroom: Kirk (Coming December 2017)
Her Christmas Bonus (Excerpt)
Feeling nervous about her job interview, Sienna Smythe tucked the strand of brown hair behind her ear that had slipped out of her bun. She'd tried on most of her wardrobe and had selected a gray pencil skirt, a white silk blouse and her nicest sensible heels. She had wriggled into some extra strength spanx that had allowed her to do up her skirt. She turned to look at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Curves were en vogue right now, but not on a five-foot three-inch girl who still needed to lose the twenty pounds she put on in college.
She needed this job. Her Father was ill and she needed to help pay for his medical bills. His insurance only covered a portion of his medical costs, leaving him with thousands of dollars that he was responsible for. His smoking had finally caught up to him and he'd developed lung cancer. They'd caught it early, and she hoped they'd cure it. She wasn't ready to lose her Dad. Especially since she'd already lost her Mom to cancer as well. She still missed her Mom, every day.
She reviewed her notes about the job description and also her research about the executive officers of the company as she slammed back a coffee and toasted a bagel. From all the information that she found online, this Johnathan Wise sounded like a first-class asshole.
She shoved the folders into her leather messenger bag, grabbed her transit pass and headed out the door only to return seconds later shivering. Her nicest coat was not going to cut it today. The roads were icy, the wind was whipping and there was no way she could make it downtown wearing heels and a dress coat. She kicked off her shoes, and put them in a plastic bag to take with her. She crammed her feet into her thick warm boots and grabbed her down bomber jacket out of the closet.
"My breakfast!"
She shuffled into the kitchen and grabbed the bagel out of the toaster, catching a glimpse of herself in the hallway mirror. Her reflection looked back at her and she looked only slightly better than homeless, but she’d be warm and not starving.
On time, Sienna trudged into the lobby of the building, kicking off the snow from her boots and shaking off her hat. The doorman smiled at her, she smiled back and walked very carefully across the slippery floor to the elevator.
The doors opened up into a gorgeous office that looked like Christmas had thrown up all over it. She stepped out into the twentieth floor and saw the most beautiful women she'd ever seen in her life. Her mouth gaped open. Jingle bell rock was playing and the receptioni
st was wearing a red crop top and a fur skirt – it was like a scene from a cheesy-as-hell porno. They all looked like they had just walked off the cover of Vogue, or whatever the trashier version of Vogue is these days.
The flirting, giggling, and general chaos around the room startled her. It was the most unprofessional setting she'd ever seen in her life. Wondering if she was in the right building, Sienna stared at them blankly until one of them finally noticed her and waved her over.
"You must be here for the interviews. Mr. Wise is waiting for you in his office." The girl pointed to a large glass door at the end of the hallway, without even looking up from her phone.
"Thank you." Sienna told her.
“May I take your puffy?” another blonde asked.
“Sorry, my what?”
“Your coat,” the girl smirked.
Sienna slid out of her coat and handed the damp lump over to the girl who pranced away holding it between her fingers like it was a stinky rag. Sienna sighed and sat down to change out of her winter boots.
“Shit, shit, double shit” she muttered to herself. She realized that while she was busy grabbing her bagel from the toaster she had forgotten to bring the bag she'd put her heels in. She stood up and smoothed her skirt and decided just to try to make the best of this interview. She proceeded to walk down the hallway to Mr. Wise’s office trying to avoiding the judgmental eyes that were following her every move.
“Oh my god, someone certainly loves carbs and mukluks” she overheard one of the girls titter once they thought she was out of earshot.
“Bitch,” Sienna muttered to herself, trying not to let the catty comment get to her as she reminded herself of her Father's debt. Standing tall and walking with her head held high, she knocked on the glass door of the office.
"Just a moment." Jonathan called. His high back chair was turned away from the door.
Sienna heard the chair scrape along with giggling. A few moments later a girl popped up from in front of the chair with smeared red lipstick, buttoning a low-cut blouse, which really served no point as you could see her perfect pink nipples as clear as day through her shirt. Sienna felt revolted and started to turn away in disgust.
"Come in Miss Smythe." Jonathan called. "You are my morning interview, right?"
She paused, holding her hand on the door and felt the skin on her neck prickle and her face flush. That voice. She would never forget that voice. She didn’t want to turn around to face him, but she knew that she had to. Slowly, she shuffled her heavy boots around and raised her gaze to look into the ice blue eyes of her step-brother, Johnny.
Not just for the holidays – Read it Now for free on kindle unlimited!
Sorority Secrets (Excerpt)
Chapter One
Sarah walked up the front steps of the sorority house and smiled. She thought back to when she had been an idealistic freshman and was very anti-sorority. When she'd first come to college she was dead set against the entire concept. She found sororities to be outdated institutions that separated women, instead of creating bonds between them. Not to mention, there were a lot of horror stories floating around about hazing. She knew for damn sure she wasn’t parading around campus in ridiculous outfits and being demeaned by the seniors. Was it so crazy that she didn't want someone screaming at her and beating her with paddles? Or, forcing her to clean up the house on her hands and knees in her underwear after a kegger? Those were standard procedures over at Alpha Kappa Alpha. Yes, a sorority had seemed like an archaic, misogynistic institution that an academic like herself should stay far, far away from. And then, she met the girls from Pi Omega Tal.
Pi Omega Tal weren't like the other sororities. First of all, there was absolutely no hazing; it was written into their charter. And secondly, they valued academics over partying - requiring all of their members to maintain a minimum of a 2.7 GPA. Which didn't necessarily make them rocket scientists, but it did mean they actually had to try in school.
This is what had given Sarah her ‘in’. She was at the university to get her engineering degree and her grades were top notch. Academia had come easily and effortlessly to her all of her life, getting straight A’s was a cakewalk for her. The more traditional sororities would’ve turned her away as she was a plain girl with brown eyes, fair skin, and a smattering of freckles across her nose. She had average build and she carried the bulk of her excess weight around her thighs. She was totally comfortable with her body. She could look a little nerdy sometimes, with her long brown hair that she always bundled on the top of her head in a loose bun and her grandma’s horn-rimmed glasses (with modern day lenses). She definitely wasn’t a stereotypical sorority bimbo. The selection committee had voted her in on her academic merit, although she had heard through the rumor mill that her breasts (she had been gifted with gorgeous, round, natural D-cups) had tipped the scale in her favor so to speak.
The sorority girls lived in a old big house, one that was listed as a historical landmark. Sure, they had parties and alliances with other sororities, but theirs was a supportive environment. They weren't all about the drama and that was something that meant a lot to Sarah.
Now three years later, Sarah was a junior, and looking back she couldn't be any more pleased with her experience with Pi Omega Tal. To an outside observer, the girls at Pi had it all: beauty, brains, camaraderie, and guys from Sigma Ki, the hottest on campus, after them. If a guy from Sigma could bag a Pi Omega Tal girl, he got serious cred in the frat, making the girls a very hot commodity. Now, commodity is the key word here, because that's how the guys over at Sigma treated the sisters, and it didn't get them very far. In fact, Sarah and the rest of her sisters were sick of the same old guys that were always showing up to all the same parties.
Were these guys chiseled and good looking? Yes. And, the girls from POT were not angels, so there had been relations between members of the two organizations. However, these frat boys were not good enough in the bedroom for a second round. Sure, maybe there were exceptions here and there when it came to certain guys and certain sisters, but as a whole, all of Pi Omega Tal were bored and ready for a change.
The president, Elizabeth, had tasked Sarah with figuring out how they were going to fix the situation. It had reached the point where the lack of guys with any knowledge of how to bang in any style other than ‘jackhammer’ was now deemed a 'situation'.
Sarah had to find a new crop of men that met the following criteria: not evil, smart enough, handsome (this was a non-negotiable), well endowed, and had knowledge of how to use aforementioned endowment (also non-negotiable). She sighed, this wasn’t going to be easy.
Chapter Two
There had been a serious incident a few weeks earlier involving one of the sisters. A scorned jock named Jake got wasted at a party and couldn't get his dick up. Now, he would've gotten major pledge points to have bedded a Pi girl, so he started spreading rumors about their night together all over social media. She called him out over Facebook, so in return he'd blasted her nude photos everywhere he could. Pi Omega Tal had been quick to contact the police and school, and the waste of skin who was (falsely) slut shaming was suspended.
The sorority now had two problems on their hands. The first was that the girl in question broke one of the bylaws of the sorority by allowing herself to be photographed naked. The bylaw specifies that any nude photos are to be taken solely on the phone belonging to the sister and password protected. Subsection 2 further states: any naked photos (breasts included) of any member of Pi Omega Tal will not include that member's face and/or distinguishable marks or characteristics.
Secondly, they needed to stop messing around with these run-of-the mill college boys. However, they needed a replacement for them fast; the girls did not want to go cold turkey while suitable replacements were sourced. Enough of them had decided it was a problem, so it was voted in as priority number one.
Sarah felt like this whole ‘situation’ was ridiculous. She could get by without men, but it turns out that the rest of th
e girls weren’t as strong as her. She didn’t want to be in charge of finding a solution, but knew that Elizabeth wouldn’t get off her back until she did.
Sarah racked her brain to find a fresh way to come at the problem which didn't involve settling. Some girls had proposed hitting up the nerds at parties. Their hypothesis was that the nerds would be good in bed because they knew that they had to make up for their shortfall in the looks department. Sarah didn't have a problem with nerds at all, and found their particular brand of humor refreshing. At the same time, she knew that the nerds on campus weren't going to be the solution. Most of those guys were virgins and probably wouldn't last a minute inside any woman, let alone a sister from Pi Omega Tal. Furthermore, most of them would rather play video games than have anything to do with a member of the opposite sex. And there was also the small logistical problem, the nerds didn’t go to parties; no, they would never be able to make that happen.
Sarah knew that the majority of the girls would eventually end up appreciating all their nerdy good traits and marrying them, once they had their high paying jobs.
No, the girls didn't need to settle just yet. They needed to take advantage of their youth and hard bodies and be courted by hot men of the same caliber who made them wet with just a glance.
Another suggestion was to get on Tinder or Bumble and try to pull guys from Des Moines, the state capitol, which was a scant thirty-minute drive away. This seemed like a decent solution, but Sarah knew that pulling dudes from another town was risky. They didn't have a vested interest in acting like gentlemen while they visited and it would likely be a case of 'same shit, different pile'. Sarah wanted to discover a sect of men who were available, who were respectful, and who liked to party.