The Temp

by Cates, A. K

  “Absolutely,” he held onto every syllable. His voice echoed down the line and a shiver coursed its way down her body. She was angled to the side at 90 degrees so he had her full profile. She couldn’t see him, not directly, unless she turned further.

  Her lips quirked up. “I don’t get to see you.” Oh, this was against every fibre of her nature. She’d never acted like this before, ever. And yet Roman Pierce was sparking this confidence. It was as if she’d never woken this morning from that call and had kept on dreaming in the land of the brave and ambitious and ridiculous. The very place she could do anything.

  “What are you wearing?” his voice was heavier, desperation brimming to the surface, spurring her on. Her knees slackened, she tried not to show it, not to give him the satisfaction. Eve breathed out loud against the phone. She peered down at her blouse and her skirt. “Everyday I find your skirt getting tighter,” he mused. “Is that for my benefit?”

  “I thought you liked it that way,” her voice was heated like steam from a kettle. Every nerve and synapse was firing at full throttle in her body. Her legs parted ever so slightly. Her back arched. Her neck tilted back.

  “Yes, give in to me,” she could imagine him edge forward on his desk. Her eyes were partly closed taking in Rome as if he were here right next to her, touching her.

  “Mmm.”

  “Did you just moan?” Eve shot up in her seat. “Don’t stop, Eve.” Her heart raced against her chest. Her skin tingled like a lit fuse running all the way down to her Sex. It pulsed between her legs, it wanted out, it wanted him.

  It was in control, not her.

  Eve turned to her desk. She was in the worst place to do this. The office floor wasn’t exactly private; someone could walk in at any moment and catch them.

  Besides it would be awkward unless…She picked up the headset and transferred the call. She put down the receiver. Now she had both hands free. She placed the headset over her head and ran her hands down her neck craning and stretching.

  “You look stressed, has your boss been working you too hard?”

  Her face split feeling his voice stroke her skin in a gentle, urgent caress. “He works me so hard, you have no idea.” Eve glanced at her empty glass, the ice cubes floating at the bottom. The idea struck. She took out an ice cube and pressed it in her hand, its chilly cold melting against her hot skin. Eve stole a glance out of the corner of her eye.

  Roman was hunched forward in his chair. He wanted more. Good. She took the ice cube and ran it down her leg, down the nape of her blouse. “He leaves me all hot and bothered,” she said.

  Now she was being cliché and hopefully he wouldn’t call her on it. She didn’t care. Cliché was good, cliché was sexy and purring her Sex with an intense need. Her mouth opened as her neck arched again.

  “Do it again,” another command.

  Eve obliged. She imagined him squirming in his seat, a fitting image since Roman Pierce probably never ever squirmed.

  So she did it again. Ever. Painstakingly. Slow.

  He didn’t say anything as he let out a hiss over the phone.

  *

  “I assumed you’d be at the conference,” Trigger said.

  Eve stopped in the stairwell, “Trigger? What are you doing here?”

  “Wondering what you’re playing at Eve.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Eve stood at the top of the stairwell Trigger a few steps below her. She sometimes took the stairs, even from 45 floors up, to avoid the elevators, at times when her breathing could not be focused, when her mental state was too shattered. She was hot and cold from Roman Pierce; it didn’t make for a good combination to confine herself in a steel box.

  Eve stepped down moving passed him.

  Trigger grabbed her by the arm, shocking her.

  “What?” Eve snapped. She’d never snapped in her life.

  His gaze widened and he pulled back.

  “Isn’t this what you wanted? I’m doing my job. There’s nothing I can report. Why don’t you leave me alone?” her words rang out in the stairwell. It was a concrete hub of grey cut steps and fluorescent biting lights, she was sure no one had dared them in a while. They were alone.

  “You’re right,” his voice was devoid of its usual tension. “They want me to keep an eye on you. I’m worried for your sake.”

  “You can observe from a distance.”

  Trigger stepped in her path, a hand reaching out onto her arm, an instant static catching her off guard. “Perhaps, I don’t want to be at a distance,” those blue irises shone with the strongest halogen fuelled halo, melting something within her. She’d built up this barrier against Trigger because he was dangerous territory and in this instant she was knee deep in dangerous territory. She’d melt to him; bend to his body, his will.

  Eve’s stance slackened. “You’re worried?”

  “You’re not like the others,” there was a refined tenderness in the way he said it. “You’re vulnerable,” he said.

  This woke her up.

  “There are others?” Trigger looked away and she knew she’d caught him off guard.

  “A few.”

  “Who?”

  “I can’t tell you, what matter’s is you need my help.”

  She laughed him off. “I’m stronger than you think.”

  17

  Day 3-Wednesday-The Office

  “Eve, I need you,” Roman said. Eve got up on auto; it wasn’t a sexy summoning, far from it. This was Roman’s way of telling her to get the job done, whatever it was this time. No matter, I need you, always had its desired affect striking every nerve in her body.

  “You summoned,” Eve walked into the office. The glass tinted as soon as she closed the door. “You said you needed me?” Eve shifted from one foot to the other. It had only been three days, there were two more to go and whether the weekend counted she wasn’t sure. Oh please, she hoped it didn’t.

  “Say my name,” his face was hidden behind his hands, hooded from behind the desk watching her like a predator observing its prey.

  “Roman Pierce?” Eve said. In that instant she knew exactly what he wanted, how he liked her to say it. Yet, she held out. She didn’t smile, wouldn’t give in. There were two more days to go. Two more days.

  “Eve. Say my name.”

  “Mr Pierce?”

  “Eve,” he rose gripping the desk with both hands. His gaze locked on her shadowed and dark. Hot and sinister.

  “Say. My. Name,” there was an edge to his voice.

  Her head tilted at an angle. “Rome.”

  “Yes. Again.”

  “Rome.”

  He came round the desk and stalked up to her. She craned her neck up his height. He filled her vision. Those eyes clouded and fixed on her.

  “Eve, what do you want?” his hands trailed up to her face, skimming the line of her jaw jolting a spark all the way down, down, down… The touch ignited her chest. His touch held her absolutely alert. Her hands pressed to his hands and she pulled them back.

  “It’s unprofessional,” she said, her tear ducts releasing for some unexplained reason.

  “You don’t want this?” a glimmer of doubt flitted over his features.

  “No,” Eve cleared her throat. “I do.”

  “I can’t wait two more days.” Eve didn’t say anything. “Tell me what you want Eve, tell me and I will give it to you, anything.” Anything. His stare bore into her and her cheeks betrayed her turning crimson before him. His fingers pressed against her skin again, “Your face always betrays you.” She glanced away. What did she want? What did she truly want? “Look at me.”

  She did. His hands tender against her flush skin. She wanted him. She wanted him. She’d admitted it to herself. It was Roman Pierce, who wouldn’t want him? She was stuck somewhere between what was right and what she wanted. She shouldn’t get him involved in her world of chaos, he was a prime target all because of her and when push came to shove…They’d make her choose.

&n
bsp; Roman Pierce was a mark, a target.

  She didn’t know what her role was in all of this.

  It wasn’t about him, it was his company.

  She didn’t want to tell Trigger, Roman might want her beyond her job; he’d see the opportunity when she clearly wasn’t capable. Roman Pierce was a man of many tastes and he’d been photographed with several women. If whoever was blackmailing her found out they’d probably want her to pursue him instead. Even if she wanted him she couldn’t bare the idea of being another woman on his arm when he’d had so many and each of them meant so little in return. It was a fine line, forced between a rock and a hard place and no escape.

  Eve wanted more, something along the lines of a fairytale and in this day and age they didn’t exist. Yet she was hopeful, deluded and naïve and innocent, she had no doubt of it. She and Roman were polar opposites.

  She needed this job to do whatever it was the blackmailers wanted so she could get in and get out and get away from it all, hot billionaires be damned.

  “I um,” her heart raced against her throat.

  He stood inches away from her and yet it might as well have been worlds away. She wanted him to touch her, her body momentarily arching towards him.

  There was a sudden knock at the door. Eve spun round, her heart leaping in her throat. The glass screens untinted. There behind the glass door stood Snake eyes.

  Eve inhaled with a pang, anyone except Snake eyes.

  Roman sat against the edge of the desk. “Come in,” he nodded. Snake eyes couldn’t hear them in the glass box; she probably made out the words, the nod as a signal.

  “Tokisha has arrived an hour early, they’re waiting in the reception area,” she said. She narrowed those eyes on Eve smelling the rat in the room.

  “Show them into conference room A. I’ll be there shortly.”

  Angelica nodded and left a moment later, closing the door behind her. “Eve, I have to go to this meeting”-

  “I’d like you to make me permanent,” Eve said suddenly. She’d meant to work her way up to it, remind him of what she’d done in the last few weeks. Her eyes skimmed the floor, her fingers knitting in with the sleeve of her shirt. At least look at him. She did. His face flashed a moment and shrouded as he sat down behind his desk, his business composure back in place. Cold. Calculating

  “This is not what I expected,” he said at last.

  “I know.”

  “If I make you permanent I can’t touch you.”

  “I understand.” More than you know.

  “So that’s what you want,” as if he were seeing her for the first time.

  “I really need this job,” it was a half lie. Sure, she needed the money to pay rent and food and bills, though it wasn’t her main priority as of late, pleasing the blackmailers was. Even, if it didn’t work she’d tried.

  “You said anything I want, this is what I want,” now it was outright lying. This wasn’t what she wanted, it was what she needed. As a pawn, she needed to survive the chess board. “Maybe it’s for the best,” Eve stammered.

  Her confidence had diminished in seconds, what she’d built up over the last few days. Gone.

  “You didn’t answer my question. Is this what you really want?” Eve couldn’t look at him, she couldn’t. She’d falter for sure. Her poker face was worse than terrible, it was non-existent.

  She had to be strong. “I don’t think I have to.”

  18

  “Eve, honey, I’m sorry to call you at work.”

  “It’s fine,” Eve sniffed over the phone, the tears had shed on their own.

  “Are you alright?” Trisha always sensed when things went south.

  “It’s allergy season,” Eve lied, she didn’t have a clue when allergy season was. She picked at the tissue box and wiped away the few stray tears that had escaped.

  As soon as she’d said it to Roman she’d run to the bathroom and collapsed in utter waterworks. Eve was an expert as crying silently like the grave. The tears had poured like a waterfall. When she’d returned Roman was gone, he had several meetings booked back to back and a work lunch to attend. Eve would probably not see him for the rest of the day. Maybe it was better this way.

  Her chest stung with the rejection. Who was she kidding? She’d done the rejecting and it was piercing her flesh with the cold dagger of truth. You can’t have him.

  “Sweetie, oh you should take your anti-histamines,” Trisha worried.

  “I left them at home. Did you want me to take Jack tonight?”

  “I’m really sorry to have to call you at last minute. They wanted me to do a shift tonight, it was extra pay. I couldn’t turn it down, not with the move and everything. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you. I’ll call them up and tell them no”-

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “You know I wouldn’t say no.”

  “One day you should. Are you sure you’re alright?” another tear escaped down her cheek. Eve wiped it away. “Is it your boss?” Trisha’s voice lowered.

  “You can bring Jack over later,” Eve didn’t want to answer the other question.

  *

  “Eve, what’s wrong?” Trigger said. “Eve,” he whispered her name furiously as he pushed her back into the alleyway. A tingle shied up her spine at the contact, his warm hands against her shoulders.

  Her bottom lip danced. Her back was pressed against the wall of the building and his heat met hers. Her heart always raced at this point, always betraying her, her nerves thrumming and feeling him there…

  “Eve, it’s been two and a half weeks. I need some feedback,” Trigger said and he was closer to her than he’d ever been, as if their distance had grown on him.

  “I asked to be made permanent.”

  Trigger’s face lit up even amidst the shadows. “And what did he say?”

  “What do you think?” she shot back. “He didn’t say anything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I walked out.” Trigger watched her for a while and pulled back. “It was the only way,” Eve said, as if it would explain it.

  “You like him,” he said.

  Eve didn’t answer and her cheeks betrayed her turning darker in the shadow of the alleyway.

  “Do you think he likes you?” Her attention trailed to the sidewalk. “Why didn’t you tell me?” again her cheeks heated. It was stupid Eve should feel anything for a man who was so blatantly out of her league knowing she’d never stand a chance and at best she might be a one night stand. That’s all she deserved.

  Then there was the fact that Trigger was pressed up so close against her. The warning bells were going hay wire. He was her handler. What was wrong with her? Couldn’t she keep her feelings in check for one second?

  “What’s the problem?” he said.

  “You’re sick,” Eve pushed him back. “The problem is I don’t do that. I don’t sleep with the enemy so you can get your pay day.”

  “I don’t like it either,” Trigger blinked. “As a woman, it’s your greatest asset.”

  Her hand rose in the dark and struck out for a slap.

  He caught it before it hit, lightning fast, his fingers hot against her wrist. There was strength there catching her breath.

  “A woman!?”

  “I’m not trying to insult you. Those who are doing this will only use you as far as you’re useful and when you stop being useful they cut their losses, including what they have on you,” his eyes pierced liquid azure into hers. How could someone so entrapped in danger be so mesmerising? “Remember, I’m not the enemy. I’m saying this to help you. It may be the only way. You’ve never used your looks to get ahead?”

  Eve took back her arm rubbing her wrist. “No, it’s not so easy. I’m not Angelica.”

  “You shouldn’t want to be Angelica. You’re stunning, how can you not be?” his eyes were intent on hers.

  Her mouth opened, worked. She shied away. “Thanks for the cheap flattery, I’m not
one to do those kinds of things,” her gaze strayed downward. “Maybe you should go with Snake eyes instead.” His brow rose. “I mean, Angelica.”

  “Eve, you’re beautiful, you know that don’t you?” Eve didn’t say anything. No one had ever called her beautiful before, not in a long time. “You have done those kinds of things, haven’t you?”

  She didn’t say anything.

  Trigger’s hand caught her hair tucking a strand back, her breath catching. She knew she was giving herself away even as it happened.

  “You have been with another man, haven’t you?” Again her silence bit into the alleyway. “Eve, are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me?” he took her face in his hands and she pushed him off.

  “Tell you? What? You think I was advertising it? Where do you get off telling me to use my sexuality? You’re such a pig” she forced back the tears.

  Eve didn’t give him time to respond as she shoved off the wall. She walked out of the alleyway intent on putting one foot in front of the other without breaking down. It took every effort. One of her closest kept secrets. It was nothing to be ashamed of. She was waiting for the right guy, had been for a while.

  Now Trigger knew her dirty little secret, cheapening it and knowing what he was thinking as she walked away.

  Virgin. Virgin. Virgin.

  19

  Virgin. Virgin. Virgin.

  “What a pleasant surprise.” He spooled back through the voices until he hit the exact spot where she confessed, or better yet Trigger Raines put two and two together, smart man.

  “You have been with another man, haven’t you?” came the familiar voice. He had only their voices to go on, yet her silence spoke volumes. Oh and the plot thickens…he sat back…clasping his hands together, resting his jaw on them.

  Eve Allure’s little secret might benefit him if he played it right. Who would he use? He clicked open the files of the employees on his computer screen. It was the one place he kept some of his precious secrets hidden by encoded text and infinite passwords, but every criminal needed a little black book. He had a handful of people at his disposal.