She thought he looked rather pale and was immediately concerned.
“Richard, are you alright? You don’t look too good. Let me get you some water,” said Diana and rushed to get him a glass of water.
“I’m fine,” he said, but his voice sounded weak.
He was breathing a lot harder than he should. It didn’t look normal to Diana.
“Richard, I don’t think you’re alright. I think we should get you to a hospital,” said Diana, worried, walking around the desk to him.
“No, no… it’s just… heartburn or something… breathe…” said Richard and he clutched his chest.
“Richard!” said Diana.
Frantic, she grabbed the phone and dialed 911.
“Hello? Yes, I need an ambulance. Now! I think it’s a heart attack,” said Diana, and rattled off the address.
“Hurry!” she demanded, and loosened Richard’s clothing immediately.
“Bess!” she called out.
She opened Richard’s desk and grabbed his bottle of aspirin. She stood by him as she gently urged him to chew and swallow it.
The minutes ticked by slowly, and finally, she heard the siren that meant help.
Helpless, she watched as they strapped him in, and the ambulance whisked him away to the hospital. She couldn’t even go with him – he had ordered her to stay and hold the fort down, berating her for fussing, even as he gasped for breath.
She walked back inside and sat down in her chair.
Now what was she supposed to do?
The End of Book 1 of 5
* * *
Book 42: Diana’s Dalliance 2
Copyright © 2015 All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
This story has erotic themes and is suitable for adults, 18+ only.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter One
Diana woke up not to the buzzing of her alarm, but to a gentle nudging at her side. She pulled her head up from the desk and tried to remember where she was.
As she shook her head groggily, she saw Bess’s face come into focus. “Did you spend all night here?” she heard her friend ask.
Diana thought about it and realized that she had. There had been so much to do, so many things to sign off on. The previous day had been an utter nightmare.
Now that her boss was dead, Diana had become interim CEO of the company. That meant straightening out his affairs and taking care of his unfinished business. There was so much work that had to be done that she hadn’t been able to go home.
“God, Diana,” said Bess, pushing one of her curls behind her ear, “you are going to burn yourself out like this.”
“I have no choice, Bess,” said Diana, standing up from her chair with a groan. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Well...” said Bess somewhat hesitantly, “James is coming in today.”
“James?” said Diana with a start, “Oh God, is he really coming in?”
“Yeah,” said Bess. “In fact, he kind of already is in. He just walked through the door, I came up to tell you.”
Diana’s game face was already on. James Walker was her boss’s only son and his sole heir, but she had never seen him in all the years she had been working for this company. Around the time she had joined the company, approximately five years ago, he had had a big fight with his father and had refused to ever work for him again.
Since then, he had been working at a rival company and getting quite successful. She knew absolutely nothing about him, as Richard Walker had not been the kind of person who discussed his personal life. Despite this, Diana found that she distinctly disliked this man she had never met. She always thought of him unkindly for having abandoned his father, who had been a kind man.
Today he was back, and he probably wanted the company. He was going to be a rival for the loyalty of the employees as well, and it was important that Diana establish her authority as acting CEO of the company.
Diana rushed to the bathroom, washed her face, brushed her hair and headed downstairs to meet him. She had spent a significant amount of time wondering what he was like, especially the previous day when it became clear that she was going to see him.
However, no amount of thought would have prepared her for what was waiting in the lobby of the company. When the doors of the elevators opened, she saw before her one of the most handsome men she had ever seen in her life.
His dirty blond hair was tousled to perfection, his five o’clock shadow sublimely accentuated his solid jaw. It took her a while to get to his eyes, but when she did, she was startled by how blue they were.
He smiled when he saw her. His smile was gorgeous.
“Going up?” he said as he walked in. “Silly me, you’re getting out aren’t you?”
“Are you James Walker?” said Diana, her tone both curt and amazed. It was impossible to miss. Richard’s son was the spitting image of his father, if younger, fitter and a great deal more dashing.
James forehead creased in amused confusion. “That was fast,” he said. “Has word spread that quickly?”
“Not quite,” said Diana, her voice adopting a more professional tone now. “I’m Diana, we are supposed to have a meeting today.”
James did a double take. Diana wasn’t quite sure how he did that, since he was standing quite straight, but it was what he did. The elevator doors closed as he said, “You’re Diana?”
There was a tone of incredulousness in his voice. Diana realized, with no small degree of smugness, that she was probably a surprise for him too.
“Not what you were expecting?” said Diana, regretting the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. What are you doing?! She thought to herself furiously, he is your competitor, not someone you should be flirting with!
“Well, yeah,” said James, his hands in his pockets, leaning back against the wall of the elevator. “To be honest, I didn’t think you’d be so...”
He eyed her up and down. Diana was tempted to finish his sentence for him but stopped herself. She turned away, facing the doors of the elevator now.
“We are here to conduct business,” said Diana. “Let’s at least act like professionals shall we?”
She had tried to put as much venom into the word “act” as she could, but all James did was smile at her. She was surprised at how warm that smile was, how friendly. Not a trace of arrogance or entitlement “Alright,” he said in an almost impossible nonchalant way, “you’re right.”
Diana was somewhat surprised that he did not annoyingly press the point as men so often did when they knew a woman was even the slightest bit interested.
Diana hated him for not being more openly evil. He had abandoned his father! She had been hating him for so long, thinking all sorts of bad things about him. How could he be so...
She decided not to complete the thought. The elevator doors opened, Diana stepped out and James followed her. As she was walking to her office, she started to get a call.
When she checked her phone, she saw it was Robert. It was the third time he had called her since yesterday. Apparently the guy wasn’t just unfaithful, he couldn’t take a hint either. She groaned, prompting James to say, “Someone you’re avoiding?”
She was tempted to talk about it, but bit her tongue. “That,” she said, “is none of your business.”
With that, she stepped into her office.
Chapter Two
The office was messy, but Diana was not apologetic nor was she embarrassed. She was proud that Richard had entrusted so much to her, and she wanted James, someone who was clearly her biggest rival, to see that she was well at work keeping the company afloat.
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“Wow,” said James, his eyebrows raised, “you’ve been busy.”
“I need to keep everything in ship shape for when your father comes back,” said Diana. “I was the only one he trusted you know, since his only son had abandoned him.”
James grimaced and said, “You have made assumptions after hearing his side of the story. I have a side to this story too.”
“I really don’t care,” said Diana with as much rudeness as she could muster. “What I care about is why you are here.”
“Why am I here?” asked James, his face a mask of confusion. “My father is in the hospital. This company is his life’s work, I just came by to see if anybody needed my help.”
“Why would you do that, though?” said Diana. “All these years your father would have welcomed you back with open arms, but you spurned him at every turn. Now that he’s in the hospital and no one knows his fate, you come in pretending like you own the place.”
“I kind of do,” said James. “I’m still his son.”
“So that’s it?” said Diana. “It’s true then. You are capitalizing on your father’s illness to take over the business. Shame on you!”
James held his hands up and took a step back. Diana was pleased that she had established her authority in such a firm manner, but was surprised to find herself somewhat disappointed that he had moved away from her.
“I am not here to start anything,” said James. “I just want to make sure that my father’s company remains the stout enterprise it has always been. I just want to help.”
“Nobody here needs your help!” Diana snapped.
James gave her a look annoyance before saying. “I know this company better than anyone. It is my father’s company.”
“You have had nothing to do with this company for years. I have dedicated my life to this company, ever since you left I have been your father’s right hand. This company is mine to run until your father comes back.”
James suddenly stepped closer again. His motion was aggressive, but not antagonistic. As he stepped closer, the smell of his perfume began to permeate the air around Diana.
It was intoxicating, deliciously spicy. Diana suddenly became painfully of his stubble again, and she wondered how he managed to keep it this way. It was the perfect “oops, I had no idea I was sexy” look. She wondered if he knew just how attractive he was.
“You’re really uptight,” said James, looking at her intensely. Diana felt her stomach squirm as his voice took on a husky, seductive tone. Why the fuck am I getting so turned on?! She thought to herself, God!
“I am not,” said Diana rather lamely. His proximity had made her suddenly forget how to use words. “We need to set a meeting with the employees,” said Diana. “Get them up to speed with how Richard is doing. They need to know that their jobs are secure and that their company has a future.”
James smiled and said, “You got it, partner.” He winked, and that simultaneously infuriated her and made her heart skip a beat. As James turned to exit her office, she couldn’t help but notice his ass. It was unbelievably shapely, she could just imagine how tight and muscular it was, and all this despite the fact that he was wearing fairly loose pants!
Diana shook her head to snap herself out of it and followed James out of her office. “Bess,” said Diana to her colleague who was sitting at her desk.
“Yea- uhhhh,” Bess’s reply was stopped midway when she saw James and began to gape.
“Hey there,” said James with a wink, and walked off. Diana stared at his back furiously and whispered to Bess, “Your mouth is open.”
“Oh,” said Bess, turning red. “I... I had no idea he was that yummy!”
“Didn’t you see him coming in?” said Diana, confused. “You were the one who told me he was here.”
“Yeah the lobby called to say he was here,” said Bess. “God damn if I knew that that was what he looked like I would’ve gone down to welcome him myself!”
“Right well,” said Diana, “get a grip now and call everybody for a meeting.”
Diana then walked into the conference room where James was waiting for her. He was examining something, holding it up, and Diana saw that his shoulders were huge. In fact, she was hit with the sudden realization that, under his clothes, his entire body was just a wall of muscle.
Realizing she was starting to sweat, Diana puts her game face back on and waited for the rest of the employees to arrive. When they did, she was pleased to find that most of them were quite hostile towards him. Even Bess, now that she had gotten over the shock of how good looking he was.
However, James was nothing if not a charmer. Despite all of the hostility directed towards him, James remained polite and professional, allowing Diana to take the lead and addressing concerns only when they were directed towards him.
Still, by the end of the meeting a lot of the employees had started to look upon him with no small measure of reverence.
“That went well,” said James after the meeting, walking up to stand a little closer to her. He was tantalizingly close now, so much so that she could smell him. He was a beautiful mix of perfume, but he did not smell artificial at all. The perfume was mixed in with a more organic smell, his smell, the smell of sweat and testosterone. He smelled incredibly manly.
As Diana left the conference room, she realized with a start that she was hornier than she had been for a long time.
Chapter Three
Diana sipped her coffee, savoring the bitter, nutty taste as she listened to Bess’s advice about her predicament.
“If he turns you on so much,” said Bess, “just go for it. What’s stopping you?”
“What’s stopping me?” asked Diana incredulously. “Are you seriously asking that question?”
She put her coffee cup down and starting listing things off on her fingers, “Firstly, he’s my boss’s son. There’s so much wrong with just that fact that I can barely stand it. Secondly, he is a complete asshole. I mean, he abandons his father for years and then comes back when he has the chance to gain something from it! And thirdly he’s-“
“Utterly yummy?” Bess cut in with a smirk.
Diana frowned and said, “Yes, we have established his yumminess, you don’t have to keep bringing it up every five minutes.”
“I just don’t get it Diana,” said Bess. “I mean, I understand that you don’t like him because he and the boys have had their differences, but after meeting him today, I don’t think he’s such a bad person. He actually seems like a complete sweetheart to be honest. He’s not pushy, he’s polite, and he always seems to know the right thing to say. If you ask me he’s quite the catch!”
“I guess on paper he seems like a catch,” said Diana, “but I don’t know. He’s my competitor. Everybody is going to start dividing up into factions, some people are going to be on his side. I just feel like if I let him gain any significant amount of control over the company he’s going to elbow Richard out of the picture!”
“Girl, you need to stop thinking so much,” said Bess. “Live a little! He didn’t indicate at any point that he intends to steal the company from Richard. He just looks like he wants to help.”
“I guess,” said Diana, “but still. He’s hot, but I don’t want to be involved with the kind of guy who would abandon the man that raised him over a petty argument. And work at a rival company to boot. He’s practically the enemy!”
Diana sighed and then continued, “It’s just...”
“Just what?” asked Bess.
“I’m just so fucking horny!” said Diana. “I mean I haven’t had sex in way too long and in he comes with his sparkling eyes and his jaw and that ass. I probably don’t even like him that much, I just haven’t had sex for too long.”
“You should take your vibrator out of its cage,” said Bess. “It probably has cobwebs on it by now.”
“I’ve tried masturbating,” said Diana, “I think it’s been so long since I’ve had sex that I don’t even have anything to fantasize abo
ut anymore. Is there something wrong with me?”
Diana’s tone suddenly took on a panicky timbre as she continued, “Am I ugly? I mean I’ve always thought I was hot...”
“Girl let me put it this way,” said Bess, “If I swung that way, I would fuck your brains out.”
Bess winked and Diana smiled at her friend. Bess continued, “You’re not just hot, you’re on fire. You have gorgeous blond hair, your lips are always pouting, and I wish I had tits like yours. You’re fine, babe, you just haven’t been going out that much. You need someone for the night, not a long term relationship. Why not James?”
“It’ll complicate things,” said Diana, “and things are complicated enough as it is.”
“Well, just go out on the town!” said Bess. “Let’s go out tonight. We can wear slutty dresses and get shamelessly drunk. What do you say?”
“I can’t,” said Diana with a groan, “there’s too much work. If I go out tonight there will be a hell to pay tomorrow. And I need to up my game now that James is here. If I start slacking off more people are going to start thinking of him as the company’s future. I have a responsibility to Richard.”
“You keep thinking about Richard,” said Bess, annoyed, “you need to start thinking about yourself.”
At that moment, Diana’s phone started ringing. She picked it up to see that it was Robert calling. “Not again,” said Diana, hissing in frustration.
“Oooooh,” said Bess, “Robert? That's super cute client you had? What’s up with him?”
“What’s up with him is that he’s engaged,” said Diana with a wry smile. “Hot he may be, but I already told you I want something that’s not complicated. I want something that will help me relieve stress, not something that will just make me more stressed out than I already am.”
“Nobody has to know,” said Bess slyly. “Come on, I know he’s into you.”
Man of the House: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance Page 63