Ex-Con Times Two

by Jay S. Wilder

  He pauses for a moment, and I’m terrified that he will pull his offer off the table, but then he extends his hand to me. “Great, Anna. Welcome to Trendsetter.”

  I take his hand and he flashes me a smile that thrills me but in the “oh shit, what did I just do,” kind of way. I wish that handshake didn’t send a wave of electricity up my spine or leave me tingling like that.

  Chapter 6

  Adam

  Although Anna shook my hand, the look on her face told me that she would much rather be backhanding me across the face. The woman is seething, and I have never been more turned on. She’s a firecracker wrapped in a slinky black pantsuit that hugs her every curve in a fit that would make most models jealous. I can only imagine where her impeccable fashion sense leads her when it comes to undergarments. The idea of seeing her in a garter belt, lace-cuffed thigh highs, and jet black panties has me locked and loaded.

  That is just the first image off the top of my head. With the proper time, and space, it’s safe to bet my mind will take me down far more interesting paths.

  “Mr. Gerome?”

  I suspend the cascade of mental images and force my attention back on the gleaming blue-green eyes that are staring at me. “You can call me Adam,” I say.

  “Okay…Adam. What do you want me to do first?”

  Oh, God, how I would love to make her say that sentence under completely different circumstances, I think to myself before snapping out of it.

  “I could take you on a tour of the office,” I propose.

  “Kelly has already showed me around this morning,” she replies, and although she doesn’t say it directly, I know she’s internally filling in that it was during the time when I was supposed to be there to meet her.

  Right.

  This is exactly why I don’t mess around with complicated women. They always seem to have unspoken expectations, and keep a running tally of all the times you fail to meet those expectations.

  “I have an office set aside for your use. I’ll call Kelly and have her take you down,” I say, suddenly ready to get her the hell out of my office.

  Anna nods. “Great.”

  I make a big production out of calling Kelly and instructing her to come to my office. After I hang up the phone, Anna and I stared at each other blankly.

  “This is a nice space,” she compliments, although, I have a feeling she just wants to break the tense silence between us.

  “I suppose you’re right,” I reply with a shrug.

  I look around the room. I guess it’s impressive enough. It was decorated by my predecessor, and from decor alone, I knew we were not cut from the same cloth. Reginald something or other. I think he still plays golf with my father. Although, perhaps that had changed. I suspect that his retirement and my father’s challenge to me did not come at the same time without some pretty serious planning. Reginald had spent twenty years with Trendsetter, and I was fairly certain he wouldn’t have been willing to abandon it by choice if he had known my father was planning to put me in charge.

  I had been at Trendsetter for about a week and it was turning out to be a cake walk so far. The next 358 days should be no problem. It seemed to all be a matter of proper delegation, and delegation is something I happen to be very good at. After all, at home I delegated laundry, cleaning, cooking, car maintenance, home repairs. Anything that needs to be done, that I don’t want to do can easily be outsourced in the blink of an eye if one has enough money—which I happen to have, at least for now.

  I shift my gaze back to watch Anna as she continues to visually inspect my office space. Is she nervous about being alone with me? Her body language seems tight, coiled, shut off. I don’t know why though. I haven’t done anything inappropriate, not yet.

  I seem to take notice of her full and plump lips again, and already I can picture them wrapped around my cock. Her cheekbones are high and leave a delicious hollow on her cheeks. I can only imagine how they would look when they’re suctioning my member. Except I don’t like her attitude, so dealing with her in an extracurricular capacity would probably be a fucking pain—no pun intended.

  Damn it, Adam. Get your mind out of her pants suit. This woman is off limits. Do not pass GO, do not collect two hundred dollars.

  “Is everything all right?” Anna asks, staring at me with concern in her nymph-like eyes.

  “Yeah, I’m fantastic,” I reply, leaving out the part about the raging hard-on I’m sporting under the table. “Kelly should be here soon. Formally, Edward is the Director, but Kelly will be in charge of training you and showing you around. She’s one of our oldest—I mean, longest tenured employees here at Trendsetter.”

  Anna nods. “She seems really nice.”

  I’m not usually accustomed to grading people based on personality, but sure, Kelly is nice. In my world, I tend to sort people based on how much I thought that they were trying to use me for my family name or my upcoming fortune. Most people I interact with either fear or respect me based on the fact that I’m a Gerome. The rest are too busy trying to find a way that my alleged power, wealth and influence can help them.

  Where is Kelly? I wonder to myself, staring at the door.

  “Did I do something wrong?” Anna asks, breaking into my thoughts. “I mean, apart from being too young, just out of college, and mouthy? What specifically did I do to offend you?”

  She shocks me again with her brazen comment. She won’t let it go, I see. I know that I’m new to the whole work thing, but damn, it isn’t normal to be so forward with your employer. Then again, I had already told her that she wasn’t my first choice. A smart girl like her probably assumes I am not actually the one calling the shots.

  “Listen, Anna, I’m sure you’re a great girl. I just really need to focus on rebuilding this company and I can’t have any pegs out of place,” I offer as an explanation.

  “I’m an out of place peg now?” She questions, before pursing her lips.

  I groan. “No, no. That’s not what I mean.”

  She blinks at me like an innocent animal. “Then what? You don’t really know anything about me, other than the three lines I got out at the interview yesterday.”

  “I think you might be a distraction,” I say, instantly regretting my honest answer.

  Mr. Cool was kind of my game, so this admission is totally off my normal groove.

  “A distraction to you?” She looks like she’s holding back a smile.

  I need to recover some balance here. “No, to the other staff members that will be responsible to train you. It’s a very busy time. I don’t think we have the manpower to train and build a whole new department. That’s what I meant. Why would you be a distraction to me?”

  Her contained smile falls and she looks more confused than anything. “I’m a fast learner. I promise I won’t be a burden to anyone.”

  With that, she shuts her beautiful lips into a pout and makes a point to look everywhere but at me.

  Luckily, Kelly knocks on the door and breaks the awkward tension between us. “Good morning, Adam.”

  “Morning Kelly. I have good news for you. Anna here has agreed to the position and we have squared away the HR details. If you can show her to her office and help get her started, that would be helpful,” I direct.

  Kelly nods and gestures for Anna to follow after her—which Anna seems all too happy to do.

  I watch the two ladies retreat—forcing my eyes away from the delicate swing of Anna’s hips as she goes—and decide that I made the right call. Kelly will make a suitable babysitter for Anna. She has been with the company forever and knows everything inside and out. Plus, she had pitched pretty hard in Anna’s favor at the meeting. So, good, now she would be her problem. All I need Anna to do is stay focused on the social media project and stay far away from me before I do something really stupid.

  After our stilted meeting, it’s unlikely she would give me a second glance in future meetings. Deep down I know is for the best, but I can’t help the stirring in my sla
cks that wishes she seemed more interested.

  “Ugh,” I groan and run my hands through my thick brown hair. “One and a half billion. One and a half billion.”

  I need to keep my eyes on the prize, and in this case, that means cold, hard cash—not Anna’s firm ass, sexy as sin mouth, or her perky breasts.

  Banging models in my office is one thing—yes, a thing my father would still not approve of—but at the end of the day, it isn’t going to hurt the business. Having a lusty session with a new staff member in my office…well, that would open an entirely different can of worms. If that happened, I could pretty much bet I’d be saying sayonara to my trust fund.

  It simply can’t happen. So that means Anna and her sexy designer clothing wrapped body needs to stay far, far away from me.

  Shit.

  My cock throbs at me impatiently and I start to search around for the card the blonde model left on my desk a few days before. I have to do something to get Anna out of my mind—and fast.

  Sure, she’s hot as hell—but a fling with her just won’t be worth the wrath of my father.

  Chapter 7

  Anna

  “I don’t think he likes me very much,” I say to Kelly as we leave Adam’s office.

  She laughs. “Don’t stress too much. He won’t be here long enough to make much of a difference.”

  I glance at her as we continue walking. “What do you mean? Isn’t he the owner?”

  “Owner’s son,” she corrects me. “Trust me, there’s a big difference.”

  She doesn’t offer any further details and I stay silent until we get to a small office that’s hardly bigger than my walk-in closet. Still, it beats a cubicle.

  “This is you,” Kelly announces, waving her arms at the entrance like a game show model. “I know it’s not much, but you can jazz it up however you like. Trust me, it’s way better than a cube up on the admin floor.”

  I step inside and flick on a light. “No, this is great. I didn’t expect an actual office coming out of the gate. It’s perfect.”

  In truth, the office is dark and smelled musty. It’s in such stark contrast to the rest of the chic office space that I wonder why it hasn’t been included in the remodel the rest of the building has so obviously undergone.

  This is what starting at the bottom looks like.

  Kelly smiles at me as though she can read my mind. “When I started here, I had to share a desk with someone. It was like being in high school all over again. You know, sharing lockers.”

  I nod along, acting like I know what she’s talking about. I had gone to a very exclusive private school and never had to share a locker. “How awful.”

  “Anyways, my office is just down this hall. Your phone should have my extension labeled. Feel free to call anytime. I’ve emailed you all the info we have on our current social media practices, but this is your baby now, so feel free to tweak as you need. I would just run any major structure changes by someone first.”

  “Like Adam?” I ask, wanting to get her back on that topic. The man has left so many question marks in my mind that I’m practically begging for information.

  Kelly laughs at the suggestion. “No, not Adam. He wouldn’t be much help.”

  “Isn’t he the boss?”

  “Yes, for about a week now,” Kelly answers.

  “Really?” I can practically feel my eyes bugging out.

  “Listen,” she says, leaning in close. “I don’t mean to be such a gossip, especially on your first day, but there are a few things you should probably know. You’ve probably seen the gossip sites and know that Adam has a certain bad boy reputation.”

  I nod along, aching for more details.

  Kelly glances down the hall before continuing. “Now, I don’t know all the details, but it seems that his placement here is some sort of detention handed down from daddy dearest.” Kelly flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

  “Oh, wow. I wouldn’t have guessed.” The new information permeates my brain and suddenly everything makes more sense.

  “Yes. Word on the street is that Wilhelm got fed up with Adam’s playboy antics and sent him here to keep him out of trouble. Not that I think it’s working, so far.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “Let’s just say, I think Adam is more interested in fucking models than he is in fashion publishing a magazine with photos of them.”

  I nod. Adam’s playboy exploits have been published for years all over tabloid magazines and internet gossip sites—another guilty pleasure of mine.

  He is always photographed out with a new girl or multiple girls on his arm, and has even been linked to more nefarious instances of drug use and drinking binges. Of course, I don’t trust the gossip magazines one hundred percent, but the sheer volume of pictures released over the years are hard to refute.

  Needless to say, Kelly’s claim that he was here for the women and parties wasn’t a stretch to believe.

  “This stays between us girls of course,” Kelly says, “but I would suggest you stay away from him as much as possible. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I like you Anna, I think you can have a great future here. I would hate to see you fail before you get started by getting tangled up with someone like Adam.”

  I know she’s right, and yet, all I can think about is the fact that she has caught him eyeing me. I’m used to turning heads and getting the occasional wolf whistle, but never from someone like Adam. A guy like that can and actually does have his pick of any woman on the planet. Why would he been ogling me?

  “Thanks Kelly. Trust me, he’s not my type.”

  Kelly smiles. “Glad to hear it. Okay, I should get back to work. Lord knows the whole place will burn down if I’m away from my desk for more than half an hour. But please, remember to give me a call if you get stuck!”

  “Will do. Thanks again, for everything,” I say.

  She offers a short finger twinkle wave and then dashes back down the hall in her flawless Jimmy Choo pumps.

  Alone, I explore the office further and start brainstorming how on earth I will be able to transform the room into anything other than a glorified janitorial supply closet.

  Eventually, I give up, deciding it will be easier and less agonizing to just work my ass off and hope a new office is included in my first promotion. I sink down into the rolling chair behind the desk and quickly realize it’s missing a wheel.

  “Fantastic,” I groan, rolling back and forth in the deep trenches on the laminate flooring.

  I ignore my irritation and turn on the computer screen. It flickers to life quickly and I immediately log into the email account on a sheet of paper on my desk. I review the documents Kelly sent over to my brand spanking new email address. I like the way anna.nash@trendsetter.com looks on the screen.

  It all sinks in.

  I have a job! With Trendsetter Magazine, no less.

  Within minutes, I determine the magazine’s so called social media presence is abysmal at best. I mean really, my grandmother has more followers.

  The last post was some God-awful pair of pink sandals that I’m pretty sure were never in fashion. Maybe it was a mislabel. Where it said “hot” it meant “not”, right? Surely it was a typo.

  “Christ,” I groan, scrolling back further and further as I begin to reverse engineer the train wreck.

  By noon, my stomach was growling and my to-do list was longer than Santa’s naughty list.

  “Knock, knock.” Kelly appeared in the doorway.

  “Hey!” My voice is too chipper, but I am just excited to see another person. Over the past few hours, I decided that my office was not, in fact, an old janitor closet. It was actually some sort of renovated isolation chamber. Hardly a soul had passed by all morning, and since less than ten people even knew who I was, no one came looking for me either.

  Kelly is a very welcome break from it all.

  “I was going to go get some lunch. Do you want to come with? I can show you all the good places,” she of
fers with a smile.

  “Oh my God, yes!” I jump up and scramble to grab my purse.

  Kelly leads me to the central elevator bank and we ride down to the street level. She takes me on another miniature tour of the surrounding blocks, pointing out the good, bad, and ugly in all things food and coffee. We decide to go to her highly recommended cafe that mostly does salads and wraps.

  “How long do we usually get for lunch?” I ask as we settle into a table. The cafe is stuffed wall to wall with people in suits talking frantically on cell phones, and I start to worry that there is no way we will make it out on time.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. As long as the work gets done, it doesn’t really matter. It’s not like you’re punching a time clock,” she answers breezily.

  “Great. So what’s good here?”

  We dissect the menu and put in our orders with the waitress, who handles the chaos like a seasoned professional. I had never done food service before, but the sheer sight of so many impatient-looking power players was making me antsy and I’m not even the one they’re counting on. I can’t imagine being in her shoes. As I study her, I am silently thankful for the millionth time that I got this job, because serving coffee was going to be the next place I’d have to try if things didn’t pan out.

  “How are things going so far?” Kelly asks, before taking a sip of the glass of sparkling water she had ordered.

  “Good. I’m getting organized. Making a game plan, I guess you could say.”

  “Excellent. You’ll do well here. The hiring committee was very impressed. We all expect great things.”

  I nod and take a sip of my iced tea. “All except Adam, from what I was told,” I add.

  Kelly’s brows knit together. “Who told you that?”

  “Adam.”