by Ebony Olson
I lugged my belongings after me down the wide slate-gray corridor lined with art work. I could see two large desks set on either side at the far end of the corridor before the large ebony doors of Darius Rafal’s office.
One of those doors opened as I approached, and Warren stepped out shutting the door behind him. He looked up at me, smiled and placed his tablet and stylus on the desk to his right.
“Welcome aboard, Mora.” He came forward and relieved me of the box I carried. He took the handle of the large case, which had the cabin bag tied neatly on top, and a wheelie cello case held together with an occy strap to pull along with it. “I’ll have someone collect the rest of your belongings later.”
“This is it.”
Warren’s smile faded as he set my luggage out of the way. “This is everything you own?”
“Yes.”
Today Warren wore a classic button-down with his suit. He adjusted his tie in discomfort. “Okay. Well, this is your desk.” He indicated the desk opposite where he’d placed his tablet. “Your computer is ready to go. Your tablet and work mobile are set up with the programs we use for communication and time management.”
He walked to the desk and opened the drawer on the return, pulling out the aforementioned items and an envelope. “Your passwords are in here, along with keys to the house and office, and a pass key for the elevator.”
Warren dropped the envelope in the drawer as I put my hand bag down and removed my mid-season jacket, hanging it over the back of the chair.
“What are you wearing?” Warren looked me over, shaking his head.
I looked at my gray slacks and black blouse and frowned. I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. I looked professional and well presented.
Warren shook his head. “You are female. Dresses or skirt and blouse. No pants unless you are going to the gym. Grab a skirt out of your bag and get changed. The toilet is by the elevator.” Warren walked to his desk.
I looked gob smacked at him. “This isn’t the fifties. Women wear slacks.”
“Not in this company they don’t.”
“I couldn’t exactly trudge across London with all my luggage in a skirt and look decent by the end of it.”
Warren sat at his desk and sighed. “Fair enough, but your luggage will be taken care of now, so grab a skirt and go change, Mora. When you get back, I’ll introduce you to the head of security and other relevant staff.” Warren turned back to his computer without another word.
Taking a deep breath to keep my temper, I untied my suitcases and dug out a black flared skirt and a pair of heels. That’s the other reason I wore slacks, so I could wear comfortable flats. I closed my suitcase and stood up just as the ebony doors opened and Darius stalked out.
“Is she here yet?” he asked looking at Warren.
Warren pointed to me and Darius turned to me. He looked me over, his nostrils flaring when he saw my slacks. He opened his mouth but I held up the skirt.
“Just going to change. Didn’t want to flash anyone my lace panties while traipsing over town, boss.”
Darius’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of my underwear then he closed them, clearly counting to ten in his head. When his eyes opened he looked slightly calmer. “Welcome to Lynwood, Miss Ellis. Warren will get you settled in and we will meet later to get you started.”
I nodded. Darius turned to Warren and started telling him where he was going while I walked down the corridor to the bathroom.
I pushed open the door and blinked at the opulence. It was a bit over the top for a bathroom, especially in an office building with very few females. There was a plush stool in front of a mirror that was obviously set up for the application of makeup. An array of mini perfume bottles were lined up on the counter, all of which were out of my price range. There was a shower as well as the toilet and a pile of fluffy lavender scented towels.
Shaking the confusion of the scene out of my head, I quickly changed my pants and shoes and walked back out to the office. Darius was adjusting his cuff links while he waited in front of the elevator. “I gather the bathroom was to your liking?”
He didn’t look at me, just kept tidying himself. I looked back over my shoulder at the bathroom concerned he’d set that up just for me.
“A bit opulent for me,” I returned. He looked at me then and I saw the surprise in his eyes. I shrugged. “I’m a practical girl and not very materialistic. The heated floors are nice though, that’s a luxury I’ll never say no to.” I smiled and started back to my desk.
I packed my clothes away and sank into my very expensive, but supportive desk chair. Warren was on the phone so I took out the envelope and logged into my brand new computer and opened my email. There was one from Warren waiting.
I’m going to be twenty minutes. D needs his dry-cleaning picked up. Take your tablet and phone. I’ll have a car waiting for you by the time you get downstairs. See you when you get back.
Grabbing the phone and tablet, I stuffed them into my handbag and grabbed my key pass. I waved to Warren as I walked out. He acknowledged me and kept talking. I was stepping toward the fire exit when the elevator opened and a tall, well-built blond man in his late twenties stepped out. His blue eyes took me in in one glance, a smile slipping into place.
“Miss Ellis, I was just coming to see you. Are you heading out already?”
“Yes, I have an errand to run,” I answered stepping toward the fire exit.
He held the elevator door, brows drawn in as he watched me. “I’ll ride down with you.”
“I prefer to take the stairs.” I pushed open the door and was surprised when his big hand caught the door as he followed me into the stairwell.
“Then I’ll walk down with you.” He handed me a card in a plastic case with an alligator clip. “I’m Zander Mann, head of security. That’s your identification. You’ll need to wear it inside the building. It will get you inside the gates and to all our floors in the building.”
I frowned and took out the other key pass I’d been given. “What is this one for then?”
Zander looked at the card and smiled. “That is for the front gate at the house.”
“Oh.” I slipped it back in my purse and started down the stairs. I looked at the ID card. The photo was from this morning. Thank god I’d applied a little makeup before coming in. I clipped it onto my waistband. “You have the same surname as Warren?”
“Yes. We’re brothers,” Zander smiled as we approached the ground floor. “I went to college with Darius and introduced them. We’ve been good friends since.” He pulled open the ground floor door and held it for me to pass. I was surprised when he kept walking with me.
“So you live at the house also?”
His smile grew. “Yes, Miss Ellis.”
“Please call me Mora.”
“As you like, Mora.” Zander walked me out and directed me to a waiting town car and the driver. “Clark, I believe this is your passenger.”
Clark, the driver, was my age, his brown eyes looking me over as he bobbed his head and opened the back door. I cringed at the small quarters of the back seat. Unfortunately, Zander saw it.
“Clark, after today, when you need to drive Miss Ellis, you’ll take the Rolls Royce,” Zander instructed.
“Yes, Mr. Mann.”
Zander grabbed the door and made a hand gesture, so Clark slid in behind the driver’s seat. I met Zander’s blue eyes. They were full of kindness. “We will take care of you here, Mora. You don’t like confined spaces, we will give you as much space as you need.”
“Thank you, Zander.” I touched his upper arm. “Do me a favor?” He nodded. “If he’s filled my room with frilly pink florals and perfumed stuff, can you maybe organize it to be gone before I get home. He may be offended if I prefer to sleep on the lounge otherwise.”
Zander gave me a humored smirk. “You need not worry. Steffen is over the moon about having a woman in the house, but we have kept him restraine
d in the decorating.”
“Steffen?”
“You will meet him tonight, but right now,” Zander looked at his watch, “you need to get moving.”
I smiled and dropped into the back seat, careful to tuck my legs so I didn’t flash Zander. He closed the door and the car instantly pulled out into traffic.
“Just the dry cleaner’s, Miss Ellis?”
A phone pinged several times. After waiting for Clark to answer his phone, I realized it was coming from my bag. I pulled out my new work phone.
While you are out...
“That’s where we’ll start, Clark.” I sighed looking at the list Warren sent me.
***
Thankfully, Clark knew exactly where to go for each job. I was in and out as quick as I could be. After collecting the dry-cleaning, I was sent to collect Darius’s new suit from the tailor. He insisted on taking my measurements while I was there. I bit my tongue with the hands moving to wrap the tape around my chest, but when the tailors hand went up my skirt to measure my inseam, I ended that party.
Then it was a stop for Darius’s new shoes from a boutique shoe maker who insisted on me trying on a pair of his heels. The shoes were nice but not to my taste or budget. More disturbing was the way the guy touched my feet. Definitely a foot fetishist.
The last stop was the jeweler for a new pair of cuff links to go with his new suit. I was asked if there was anything I wanted to try while the jeweler went out the back to get the package. There was nothing in this place within range of my budget. I thought the sales assistant was going to burst into tears when I declined to even look.
I quickly glanced at the case in front of me, saw a beautiful pair of topaz and diamond earrings and asked how much they were. That resulted in her shoving the matching topaz ring on my ring finger and brandishing the matching bracelet and necklace, by which time I was regretting being nice.
I was gone for nearly two hours by the time I finished everything on the list. I pushed open the fire door on the top floor, thanking Darius inwardly that he owned a four-story, converted industrial building, and walked quickly to my desk. Zander was there talking to Warren and he gave me a big smile as I approached.
“How did you go?”
“Got everything on the list and a few extras.”
Warren looked at his watch and lifted his eyebrows. “I thought you’d be longer. What extras?”
I dropped my handbag behind my desk, threw the suits over my chair and walked to his desk with one of the large bags I was carrying. “The jeweler is across the road from a wonderful French patisserie that makes the most delicious lemon tarts. I picked some up to serve for morning tea. A little birdie also told me you are a sucker for a good macaroon, so I got you a sampler box.” I placed the box down in front of Warren. I looked at my watch. “Is he back yet?”
“Yes,” Warren answered, opening the box of macaroons and taking a deep breath. A smile lighting his face up.
“Should I see if he wants morning tea?” I asked walking back to my desk and into the small kitchenette past it.
Warren stood. “Leave the tarts, grab the other stuff and I’ll show you how this works.”
Placing the tarts in the fridge, I grabbed up the suits and the other bag and followed Warren to a side door behind his desk.
Warren put his finger to his lips. “If you know he’s not in the office or you need to interrupt him, you can walk in the main doors. All other times, it’s this door. This will take us into the back end of his office without interrupting any meeting or phone call he may be having. There are also times when he is so bogged down that he will not want to be disturbed. If you go in this way and he ignores you, you leave him be. If he talks to you, it’s fine to enter the office proper. Understood?”
I nodded. Warren pushed open the door and held it while I followed him into the tight corridor, then he led the way around the office. Through the glass wall and sheer curtain I could see Darius reading a report on his screen and adding comments. His jacket was off, his tie gone and his top button undone. He wore glasses and looked damn sexy with that focused look on his face.
Warren walked us around a corner and we were in a small wardrobe. A pair of leather dress shoes, two suits—one black, one gray—and ties. Off the wardrobe was an open bathroom with a rainmaker shower head, toilet and vanity. I would have to be sure to check he wasn’t using the bathroom before coming in this way or I would see a whole lot more of my boss than needed. I went to ask that question, but Warren put his finger to my lips, gestured to the stuff I held, and then the wardrobe. Without another word he walked back out the way he came in.
With a sigh, I put down the bag and started hanging up the suits. I took the shoes out of the box and sat them neatly on the shoe rack, then opened a drawer to deposit the cuff links alongside a variety of others. Once done, I put the shoe box back in the bag and went to leave.
“Miss Ellis?” Darius called.
I stepped hesitantly forward, wary that I’d screwed up. Darius kept his eyes on the screen as I moved around the corner and into the office. “Yes, sir.”
“Don’t call me that, I’m not knighted. Here you can call me Darius or boss. In public it’s Mr. Rafal.”
“Yes, boss.”
“You are claustrophobic?”
“Yes, boss,” I answered clearly, resisting the urge to hunch in shame. That’s probably why Zander was up here when I got back.
“Severe?”
“Depends on the situation. I survived the elevator this morning.”
“Did something happen to cause it?”
“Yes, boss.” I didn’t expand on it. My childhood wasn’t his business.
Darius stopped what he was doing and turned to look at me, removing his glasses as he did. “Did you ever go to counseling for it?” he asked gently, carefully.
I felt my shoulders roll forward before I could stop them. I shook my head. “No.” I took a breath and rolled my damn shoulders back. “It’s morning tea time. I picked up some delicious tarts while I was out if you would like one?”
“That sounds good. Thank you.”
I gave a single nod and walked toward the main office doors. I could feel his eyes on me with every step. As I stepped out the door, I dared turning my head and met those hazel eyes. He blinked and they hardened before he slipped his glasses back on and turned back to his screen. The second before that—well, I’m sure I was wrong.
I moved to the kitchen, dumped the bags in the rubbish and made Darius his sencha tea, put the tarts on plates surrounded by a small amount of sliced fruit, and made Warren and I tea.
“That for the boss?” Warren spoke behind me.
“One is, the others are ours.”
“I’ll take it in. I’ve got to discuss tonight with him.”
I put two of the plates and their teas on the serving tray before handing it to him with a smile.
Warren took them. “Thanks. I’ve sent you instructions on how to access our working files. I need you to look over a report for me for errors and then we should get that induction over with. You need to meet the event planning team, logistics and the service coordination team. After that I’ll take you across the road to the Design House and introduce you to the team there.” Warren started to walk away.
“What about the concept team?” I asked, understanding that there would be a team in place for initial meetings and coming up with any concepts like themes and layouts.
Warren smiled at me. “You were just in his office.” Warren waited for my brows to rise and then sobered. “Do you have any plans tonight?”
“I have a class at eight.”
Warren stopped and looked back at me. “For college?”
“No, it’s a fitness class.” Warren frowned and I smiled. “Guess your researcher missed that as well?”
“Obviously.”
My smile grew. “That means you only checked me out for a week before we met. I hadn’
t seen Jasper for two weeks and missed classes to work back on a project.”
“Is that your way of telling me we are in for some surprises?” Warren grumbled. I shrugged. Warren shook his head in dismay. “Put the address of your gym in the contacts so I can find you if I need you,” he instructed and pushed through the ebony doors.
***
Darius Rafal’s apartment was in Kensington, tucked between Hyde Park and Holland Park. It was an exquisite property arranged over the top two floors of an imposing gated development.
“It’s four bedrooms, all with en-suites. There are two reception rooms, an eat-in kitchen, home office, media room, a massage room and a separate studio flat with shower room for Steffen, the butler and chef,” Clark informed me as he pulled up out front.
As instructed, Clark now drove a Rolls Royce Ghost with the extended wheel base, giving me a feeling of more room in the back. The apartment was situated within one of Kensington’s most desired and exclusive areas which offer manicured communal gardens.
“There’s a communal swimming pool and twenty-four-hour concierge. You should be quite comfortable here,” Clark smiled opening my door. “Your key pass will get you inside, Miss Ellis, then up to the fourth floor. Steffen will be there to show you around.”
“Thank you, Clark.” I smiled sliding out of the car.
I swiped my key pass at the gate and then the front door. The door buzzed open and let me in. I took the stairs up and found a man easily in his fifties waiting at the door for me. His face cracked in a smile when he saw me.
“Miss Ellis. Welcome home.” He opened the double doors and stepped into the wide foyer holding the door for me. “It’s lovely to finally have a female presence in the house.”
“You say that now. Just wait till my period kicks in.” I expected Steffen to flinch, he didn’t.
“I have three grown daughters, Miss Ellis. All fell into the same cycle. I assure you, I’ve seen perfect angels turn into the most hellish beasts.” He glanced at me, a sparkle in his eyes. I realized I’d misjudged his age by at least ten years. He was sixty something, but sprightly and still full of youth. “Any attempts to shock an old English gentlemen will also fail. I’m quite well rounded in my education.”