Scarred: A Mountain Man Romance

by J. R. Ryder

  “Please, sit down.” At the prompt, she immediately crossed the room and sat in the chair in front of me.

  Obedient. Good.

  The corners of my lips twitched ever so slightly. I waited for her to settle herself before I leaned forward.

  “Hello, my name is Leonel Jacobsen, CEO of this company.”

  She nodded in the cutest, timid manner. I wondered, for a moment, what must be going through her mind. Was she nervous to be sitting in my office? Was she embarrassed about yesterday? Or, was she secretly aroused, her panties getting soaked under that sexy skirt of hers? I knew the last scenario was unlikely, but a man could dream, couldn’t he? Besides, it would only be a matter of time before I had her in the palm of my hand.

  “I like to personally meet each one of my employees. I don’t want them to feel like that this is a company where the CEO is detached from internal affairs. In fact, I encourage my employees to develop a personal relationship with me, if they want to, of course.” I smiled at her, flashing a set of pearly white teeth. “I hope that in the future, you and I can get to know each other very well.” I noticed she was fidgeting in her seat as I dropped the subtle hints.

  Her fingers twitched, pulling and prodding at the leather upholstery.

  I got up and walked around my desk, approaching her. She looked at me with great big doe eyes. “There’s really no need to be nervous. I’ve taken a look at your resume and I have no doubt that you’ll do great here.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her into my chest. As I did, I caught the scent of her cherry blossom shampoo. It was subtle scent, but definitely an intoxicating one. I tightened my hold, feeling like I never wanted to let her go.

  She looked up at me, her eyes locking with mine. She seemed uncertain, almost as if she didn’t know what she was supposed to do in that moment, but at the same time, I noticed something of an excitement deep within her irises. Lust maybe?

  It was a thought.

  I let her go and she seemed to deflate back into her seat. “ do you have any questions for me?” I leaned against the edge of my desk, towering above her. She lowered her eyes in an almost submissive manner.

  “Um…” She struggled for words, wringing her fingers together in her lap. “I… I don’t think so…” She stammered.

  “In that case, would you mind doing something for me? I know you’ve gone through basic training with Mrs. Kilroy, but I like to test my employees before they start on any major project. Call it quality control if you’d like.”

  Elaine instantly looked flustered, her face turning red with nervousness.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure a woman such as yourself will have no problem completing the task.”

  She nodded but kept quiet.

  “Please, sit in my chair. You’ll be using my laptop.”

  I waited for her to get up and approach me. I pulled out my chair for her, acting like a perfect gentleman, but at the same time, as I guided her into her new seat, I didn’t miss my opportunity to cup her ass, squeezing it ever so slightly.

  A soft mewl escaped her lips, but she still didn’t say a word. Had she just moaned or was it simply a sound of surprise, I wondered.

  With this thought in mind, I leaned over until my chest was pressed against her back. I wore a thin shirt so I had no doubt she could feel the full extent of my body against hers. Was my muscular torso turning her on like it had so many others?

  She shivered, goosebumps running up her arms.

  Whatever she was feeling, I was definitely getting a reaction out of her.

  With my lips nearly touching the side of her neck, I opened my laptop and signed in. I then pulled up a simple program, which, however, was full of bugs planted by some of my best IT professionals. It would be difficult for anyone to make the code fully operational.

  Her eyes were already scanning the screen, her fingers jittery as if she was just dying to attack the problem.

  “Alright, do you think you could take a look at this for me? You have thirty minutes. The faster you solve it, the more you get paid this summer.” I whispered, my tone soft and husky, almost like I was whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

  Again, she shivered. “Do… do you just want me to debug this?”

  “Do whatever you have to do to make the code work,” I explained, dragging my hands away from my laptop until they gently touched hers.

  Her fingers twitched, but she didn’t pull away. “O-Okay…” Her voice wavered and she took a deep breath.

  I finally stepped away, giving her the space to work. While she was typing, her eyes focused on the screen, I walked to the back of the room.

  Once I was next to the coat rack, I cleared my throat, getting her attention. I took the opportunity to shrug off my suit jacket, hanging it up. I then undid my cufflinks and rolled up my sleeves, showing off my muscular forearms. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was watching me, almost as if enthralled by my physique.

  I rolled up my other sleeve nice and slow before loosening up my tie and throwing it on the coat rack as well. With her eyes still on me, I undid the topmost button of my shirt before I lifted my eyes to meet hers.

  She quickly realized I had caught her staring and immediately went back to work.

  I grinned to myself, knowing that deep down, this woman was just as interested in me as I was in her.

  This was going to be a very interesting summer indeed.

  Chapter 3 (Elaine)

  When I left Leonel’s office, I was sweating bullets. I had only been in there for about fifteen minutes, but it honestly felt like an eternity. I couldn’t be certain, but it seemed like he was toying with me. The way he leaned against me, whispering in my ear, or when he grabbed my ass. Surely, he was getting very personal.

  And, what about the light striptease he did in the back of the room?

  He was obviously trying to get me to look at him and it worked. what was I supposed to do? It wasn’t like I could look away. He’s the most attractive guy I had ever seen. Besides… when he rolled up his sleeves, I almost lost it.

  Even after leaving his office, I could feel the burning in my belly, my primal lust trying to take over the rational side of my mind. I knew it was an exercise in futility to try and pursue my boss. It would never work out. He’s probably just playing with me because he gets some sick power kick out of it or something.

  “Hey, how was your meeting with Mr. Jacobsen?” Freddie asked once I returned to my cubicle. He was leaning back in his computer chair, twirling a pen between his fingers.

  “I’m… not sure.”

  “Did he have you debug some mess of a code?” He asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Don’t worry if you didn’t get it. Most people in here don’t.”

  I shook my head. “No… that wasn’t the problem.”

  “Wait…” Freddie leaned forward. “You actually managed to debug the whole thing?”

  “Yeah. I mean, it wasn’t all that hard. There were a few parsing issues and those arrays were god-awful, but other than that, it really wasn’t that bad.”

  Freddie stared at me like I had three heads. “How long did it take you?” He asked.

  “Um…” I tried to think back to what Leonel had said, but my mind was still in a jumble. The image of his body was the only thing I could picture. I blinked before I remembered the question. “Little over ten minutes, I think.”

  Freddie’s mouth hung agape. “Ten minutes? You’re pulling my leg.”

  “Seriously. Why, is that bad?”

  “Bad… I finished the same thing in 28 minutes. The record is 17. Well… it was…”

  My eyes widened. “Oh…”

  He chuckled. “I hardly think you need a mentor if you’re some coding prodigy.” He teased, poking me with his pen.

  I forced a laugh, but then felt strange all of a sudden. “Maybe I should get to work.”

  “Sure, sure. Your first assignment is on your desk. It just came in. It’s due Friday.�
��

  I nodded. Soon, I was settled in my cubicle, getting started on the tracking software for the newest Fly Tech drones. It was a bit buggy, causing issues with the GPS signaling, the accuracy of map coordinates, and overall flight path recognition.

  I was getting into a good rhythm when I heard footsteps behind me. I swiveled in my chair, coming face to face with Mr. Jacobsen.

  At once, my heart started to beat a little harder. My palms itched with perspiration. “S-Sir…” I stammered, surprised to see him.

  “Elaine.” He smiled. “I need you to do this new assignment. Due tomorrow. Do you think you can do that for me?” He plopped down a thick folder on my desk.

  “Yes, sir…” With that, Leonel disappeared.

  ***

  That wasn’t the only time the CEO showed up in my cubicle and demanded I finish something in an unreasonable amount of time. It was like he was trying to push me to my limits, giving me harder assignments each time, until I was developing software all by myself when realistically, I should have been working with a whole team of developers.

  “Hey, Elaine, do you want to grab lunch with me? It’s Friday, so there’s free pizza in the breakroom, but if we don’t hurry, the only thing left will be cheese.”

  I wondered, for a moment, what was so wrong with cheese pizza before I noticed all the work I still needed to finish by the end of the day. “Um… I don’t think I can.”

  “Oh, come on, this will be the third time this week that you skip out on lunch.”

  Before I could say anything, he had already marched over to my desk. He grabbed me by the arm, hoisting me out of my seat.

  With no other choice, I followed him to the break room. It was only when I sat down with two slices of pepperoni in front of me that I realized how hungry and tired I really was.

  “Mr. Jacobsen is working you pretty hard, huh? Usually, the interns have it easy. They go on coffee runs, debug some code here and there, but generally, they have more than enough free time to lounge around in the game room. Have you even tried out the ping pong table?”

  “We have a ping pong table?” I asked in confusion.

  “Of course. As well as a billiards table, darts, and all the newest consoles. We hold a Street Brawler tournament every Friday afternoon. I can probably get you a spot if you didn’t already sign up.” He said enthusiastically.

  “No thanks,” I said politely.

  Our conversation died down as I ate my pizza in silence. It was actually pretty good and I was about to note the brand when Freddie let out a sigh.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, nothing.” He was looking at his phone. “The world is just so messed up, you know? So many people dying every day.” I glanced over. He had some news app pulled up, a headline flashing across the screen.

  113 dead in the catastrophic fire: Firefighters struggle to combat the flames!

  “ I don’t want to depress you with such issues. How are you liking your first week here?”

  “It hasn’t been bad… but I think Mr. Jacobsen might be taking advantage of me.”

  “Oh?” Freddie cocked his head to the side in question. “How so? He hasn’t… you know?”

  I shook my head. “No, no. Nothing like that.” I responded, but I couldn’t help but think back to our encounter in his office. In fact, every chance he got, he did manage to touch me. A lingering caress on my arm… or his fingers would brush against mine. Was he trying to send me a message?

  “Then what?”

  “I don’t know. I feel like, he’s been overworking me. I mean, every day, he comes into my cubicle, drops off an assignment, tells me to finish it by tomorrow, when realistically, I should have a week to get it done, and not once have I heard a ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ out of him. I’m starting to think that he’s incredibly rude.” I didn’t know I had such resentment for the man, but as I started to complain, my true feelings came to the forefront. “It’s like he knows I’m attracted to him and he’s using that against me.” By the time I realized what I had said, it was already too late.

  “You’re attracted to Mr. Jacobsen?” Freddie questioned.

  “I… I didn’t say that,” I replied quickly, my cheeks turning red. “What are you talking about? I could never like an egomaniac like him. He’s just some rich jerk who thinks he can use women. That’s all he is. I don’t like him at all.” I lied through my teeth, trying to make a case for myself. the more I replayed my own words in my head, the more truth they seemed to have to them.

  “You hate him that much, huh?”

  “Yes,” I said firmly, and a part of me believed it.

  ***

  Yet, for the rest of the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Even if I wanted to convince myself that I hated him, he was still incredibly attractive. The mere sight of him got me all hot and sweaty. No man had ever had such a profound effect on me.

  Still, I tried my best to ignore him, knowing he would do nothing but use me if I decided to develop a personal relationship with him.

  I struggled with these conflicting thoughts all day, even as everyone filtered into the game room for their tournament. I was the only one still working, trying to finish my assignment. I had to work through their shouts of excitement.

  To be honest, I didn’t know why I was trying so hard to please Leonel, but for whatever reason, I didn’t want to let him down, even if he made me feel unappreciated.

  Soon, I was the only one left in the office. It was getting so late that even the lights went out, forcing me to turn on my desk lamp. I was so close to finishing the piece of software I was working on. All I needed was a little bit more time…

  By the time I was finished, it was almost ten o’clock. I sighed, gathered my stuff and finally headed home.

  Chapter 4 (Leo)

  After a long day at work, it was finally time to go home. I grabbed my jacket and slipped it on before I grabbed my briefcase. Using my ID card, I called up the elevator.

  Ding!

  Once inside, I pressed the button for the garage, knowing there would be no one left in the building at such a late hour.

  Stepping out, I was surprised to find another car in the lot beside my own. It was a small white Camry. The hood was popped, and there was someone bent over, looking at the engine. From the hourglass outline of their figure, it was obviously a woman.

  “Do you need some help?” I asked, approaching her.

  She stopped tinkering with the AC line and turned around.

  Elaine.

  I smiled slightly in the gloom of the parking lot. “Everything okay over here?”

  She took a minute to answer as she bit her bottom lip like she was carefully choosing her every word. “My car won’t start… I don’t really know what’s wrong with it.”

  “Let me take a look.” I placed my hands on her hips, letting my fingers dig into her supple flesh before I pushed her away. “I know a thing or two about cars. Just, do me a favor.”

  She nodded.

  I handed her my phone. “Turn on the flashlight and hold it for me so I can see properly.”

  She did as she was told. She was always compliant. I liked that about her. In fact, I liked it a lot.

  As she turned on the light, I inspected the car, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed to be in order so I rolled up my sleeves and started to feel around. Maybe something was leaking.

  My arms quickly got covered in grime and grease, but I didn’t mind. Getting your hands dirty was never a bad thing.

  “Did you find the problem?” She asked, leaning against me. The feeling of her petite body against mine made me want to push her against the car and take her right then and there, but I curbed my sexual appetite – for now.

  “I’m not sure.” I straightened back up and rubbed my hands together to get rid of some of the grime.

  “Great… I have to call a tow truck, don’t I?” She was shivering in the unusually cold summer night.

  “N
ot necessarily.” I bent down and picked up my jacket, handing it to her. When she wouldn’t take it, I draped it around her shoulders to keep her warm. “Stay here. I’ll go get my car. Maybe all you need is a jumpstart.”

  I hesitated to leave her alone. The way she stood there, hugging herself, she almost looked vulnerable. I wanted to take her in my arms and protect her from the whole world. The feeling inside my chest was strong and powerful, like nothing I had ever felt before.