by Rayne Reilly
"Welcome," several male and female voices said in unison. The blond woman didn’t say anything and turned her head away at last. Marcy nodded back at the others; one by one, all those gathered in the room introduced themselves. She could feel herself shaking slightly and kept her hands on her lap so no one would notice. She was glad she didn't have to shake hands with anyone at the moment. Marcy tried to pretend there wasn’t a hole burning into her right side, as the man at the end of the table stared at her. When the introductions were finished, Marcy smiled and looked to her right. She dreaded what he might say and hoped he wouldn’t humiliate her.
At the end of the table sat the man with the deep voice that she'd seen in the hallway. His face looked a little less intimidating now that she could see him more closely. He was by far, the most handsome man she'd ever seen. He had an air of confidence to him that she found enviable. Unconsciously, she swallowed and licked her lips, as she gazed upon his perfectly square jaw. Moving her eyes across his face, they met incredible amber-colored eyes. She held her breath. Was she actually drooling over a guy?
In her peripheral vision she saw the blond woman across from her, moving uncomfortably in her chair. Marcy glanced at her and caught the woman glaring back.
"I'm Austin," the handsome man said, his voice smooth as silk.
Marcy turned to face him again and let out the breath she'd been holding, "Nice to meet you." She pushed a few curls off her forehead and looked down at the note paper in front of her. Her face glowed several shades of red. Awkward. Austin began the meeting, updating everyone on new and ongoing projects. He made sure to announce for Marcy’s sake, that meetings were held every Monday at nine a.m. sharp. He looked at her as he said it and Bern cleared his throat. Bern obviously wasn’t at fault, since she’d arrived for work ten minutes late.
Marcy listened throughout the meeting as she took a few notes on things that pertained to her new department. Every time she tried to steal a glance at Austin, he was looking back at her with an almost puzzled look on his face. She decided it was safer to avert her eyes to the dark wood grain of the large meeting table instead. She admonished herself for so blatantly gawking at him. Especially when the blond woman was sending her daggers with her eyes. She hoped that Austin wouldn’t override Bern’s decision and fire her before the end of her first day of work. The meeting lasted nearly an hour and Marcy learned the tasks that accounting had to handle as soon as possible.
As the meeting wrapped up, Bern stood and turned to face her, "Let’s do those introductions I mentioned earlier, then I’ll show you to your new office."
"Great," she said as she picked up her paper and pen. She noticed the blond woman walking over to Austin. Marcy could hear her whispering something to him but couldn’t make out what it was, nor his response. He looked a little angry as he looked at the blond woman, before turning away from her. Marcy hurried out of the room feeling embarrassed at the very thought of someone like Austin taking any notice of her. That kind of man only dated beautiful models, not plus-sized, five-foot-five inch, twenty-nine-year-old accountants.
***
After introducing Marcy to the staff members that weren’t at the meeting, Bern showed her to her new office. It had a large window to let in natural light, something she never had at her old job. Here she wasn’t locked away in some cubicle all day. Even her chair was top of the line, in terms of comfort. She was pleased with how amazing her new office was. After a short briefing by Bern and her assistant Darla, she settled down to getting some work done.
The morning flew by as Marcy did her best to catch up on the backlog of work that needed to be done. There were no distractions and any questions she had were quickly answered by her support staff. She found herself saying another silent thank you to the fates that aligned to make this opportunity possible. A fresh start was what she needed and this job was the perfect thing to give her that. So far all things considered, the job was looking better than ever. There was a knock at her door, bringing her awareness back to the present.
“Come in,” she said.
“Hi. Sorry to interrupt," a friendly female voice said from her doorway. Marcy looked up to see Darla. She was a sweet, middle-aged woman with a gentle demeanor. Marcy had only just met her, but liked her right away.
"It’s fine," she said. She saw that Darla was carrying a bouquet of flowers. Her stomach clenched. No. Darla's voice was cheerful. Marcy kept her eyes on the flowers, her lips pressed into a thin line.
"These came for you," Darla stepped inside the office. Marcy rose from her seat and moved to take the flowers from Darla. Her hands trembled slightly. She thanked Darla who looked a little puzzled as she left the office. Marcy looked for a card in the flowers and found a small yellow card. It read:
Marcy,
Congratulations on the new job.
Mick
Marcy gasped and put her hand to her mouth. She dropped the flowers onto the floor and ran out of the office toward the toilets. Several faces turned to watch her run by before returning to their jobs.
She pushed open the nearest stall and leaned over the toilet. Tears filled her eyes. Since she hadn’t eaten any breakfast she waited for the waves of stress-induced nausea to subside. Once her stomach began to settle, she stood at the sink rinsing her mouth and washing her hands.
Her reflection in the mirror revealed puffy red eyes. Her face looked pale. So much for a great first day of work. It's never going to be over with him. She smoothed her hair down and wiped her eyes.
She and Mick had broken up just over a month ago, after things took a turn she never expected. Now he was showing her that he knew exactly where she was working. He was taunting her and she knew it.
Letting out a huge sigh, she stepped back from the sink and straightened her dress. She left the washroom and marched down the hall quickly. Keeping her head down, she hoped people wouldn't notice that she'd been crying. She passed her assistant’s desk and noticed that Darla glanced toward her before quickly averting her eyes, when it was apparent that Marcy didn’t want to discuss what had happened. Without watching where she was going, Marcy kept her head down and rushed into her office. She winced when her body hit something big and hard.
"Ow," she gasped as she looked up at Austin who was standing in front of her desk. His back had been facing the door and he hadn't seen her enter. He turned to look at her, frowning slightly.
"I didn't see you," she said stepping away from him, “Sorry.”
"Everything okay?" he asked, smoothing his dark hair back with his hand. Marcy moved around Austin to get behind her desk. Their arms touched briefly as she squeezed past him. "Yes. Fine. Why do you ask?"
She forced a smile. The flowers and card that she’d dropped on the floor when she rushed out were now laying on her desk. Austin was staring at her with a bewildered look on his face.
"You look upset,” he said.
“No. I’m okay. I just got some bad news,” she lied and looked down at her desk.
"Oh. Sorry to hear that…I came to see how you were getting on here," he said coolly.
"I’m getting along fine. Thank you for asking," she mumbled and looked up at Austin. His brow was furrowed as he looked at her. There was an awkward silence. Why is he really in my office? Maybe he wants to fire me. That would just make my day…NOT. Marcy looked down and began to shuffle some papers.
Austin pressed his lips together and let out a sigh, "Oookay...If you need anything...let me…or Bern know." He turned and left the office.
Marcy leaned over, grabbing the flowers and throwing them in the garbage next to her desk.
"Oh yeah. Things are just great," she mumbled to herself. Marcy walked to her office door and closed it. She'd been doing so well keeping herself together, now this. She put her face in her hands and sighed.
Chapter Two
The forest was just waking up as Austin shifted into his bear form and ran through the trees inhaling the fresh air as he went. Slowing down near a small
stream, he gazed up at the first rays of morning light that were beginning to poke through the trees. Even in his bear form, he could appreciate the serenity and beauty of nature. Probably even more so.
After pausing for a few minutes, he stretched his body up onto his back legs and let out a breath of air, before heading back to his home on the edge of the forest. Today was Monday and as CEO and co-owner of Bear Bones Construction, he was expected to head the weekly meeting. His bear side didn’t care about meetings or work. All it wanted was to find their mate and it was getting tired of Austin's failure to do that.
For the last two years, company revenue had doubled. Austin and Bern had kept up with the fluctuations in business and construction, by hiring staff as needed. Now that things were looking even better for the business side of things, Austin was feeling a lack of fulfillment with the other areas of his life.
Lately, he’d been feeling more like he was never going to meet his true mate. It wasn’t that Austin couldn’t have any woman he wanted. Attracting women wasn’t a problem for him. Finding the right woman was the problem. He’d had his share of sexual encounters over the years, but he’d never felt a connection with any of the women with whom he'd been involved. His inner bear wasn’t happy and nor was he. He was frustrated. The lack of female companionship was causing him to be more aggressive than he was generally. He wasn’t getting any younger and now his priorities were changing. He was getting tired of going home to an empty house night after night and was ready to settle down and start a family.
After showering and getting dressed, he headed to the office. About ten minutes before the meeting was supposed to start, he went to the meeting room to wait for his staff to join him. Some of them were already in the boardroom chatting.
“Good Morning” Sheila from marketing, murmured as she looked at him with the same wanton look she always gave him.
He shook his head and mumbled a greeting to all the staff that were assembled so far. It was tiresome to him, how some women refused to take no for an answer. It was clear to him from the moment Sheila started working for them, that she had him in her sights. He suspected it was the fact that he was rich more than anything else, that kept her begging for his attention.
A couple of times, she’d thrown herself at him and he’d thought about sleeping with her just to ease some of the sexual tension inside of him. He’d stopped himself when he thought about the repercussions of such an act. She worked for him and things could get complicated very quickly if she thought he cared for her. He felt only pity for her. Some women just had no pride. He couldn’t respect her and found her very hard to be around.
Soon the meeting was due to start and Bern had not shown up for it. He knew he was at work, because he’d seen his car outside in the parking lot. As the minutes ticked away, Austin found himself becoming more annoyed and decided to go and find Bern himself. He told the staff at the meeting that he’d be right back and he rushed out of the room. Rounding the corner he saw Bern and a young woman talking in the hallway. As they both turned in his direction, he was surprised by his Bear's reaction to seeing her. She was curvy and beautiful, just the kind of woman he liked. Her incredible voluptuous figure and large breasts made parts of him instantly stand to attention.
"You coming to the meeting?" he asked, glancing at his watch to distract himself and curb the rise in him.
"Yes. I was just showing our newest staff member around," Bern said in response.
He seemed oblivious to Austin's arousal over the woman standing next to him. Suddenly Austin remembered that Bern had told him he’d hired a new accountant. Observing her, he pressed his lips together and looked her over. He’d assumed that the woman Bern had hired would be a middle-aged frump in whom he’d have no interest. He couldn’t have been any more wrong. He hadn’t expected to see such a beautiful woman working with his company. As he stood there watching her, his inner bear roared with joy. I’ve got to get out of here, he thought as he nodded and walked away quickly.
Taking a couple of deep breaths, he paused before entering the meeting room to take his seat again. He couldn’t help but think that things were about to get interesting at Bear Bones Construction. Bern and the new woman entered the meeting room and took their seats. Austin watched her as she refused to look up at anyone at first. She seemed a little shy and nervous and he hoped that would subside once she settled into her job. He couldn’t wait to learn more about her.
He started the meeting after the introductions, catching her eye several times as she tried to check him out. He sensed that she was a little unsure of him and he hoped that after the meeting, he’d have the chance to show her his good side. His inner bear roared and fought all the way through the meeting and it took everything inside him to shut him up and make him step back. Something about this woman had him thinking about dating again.
After the meeting, Austin returned to his office. He couldn’t get Marcy out of his thoughts. Those beautiful wide hips and luscious rosy lips that begged to be kissed left him feeling things he had not expected. Austin bit down on his lip at the memory of her and smoothed his hair with his hands. He wanted to get another look at her.
Leaving his office, he took the stairwell down to the second floor where her new office was located. He put his hands in his pockets and walked as casually as possible toward the office door. The thought of her potentially being his mate filled him with happiness. He’d waited so long to find her.
He noticed that her office door was open as he leaned in to see her. She wasn’t in her office and he was about to turn and leave when he noticed a bouquet of flowers on the floor in front of her desk. He reached down and picked them up, along with a card that lay next to them. He laid the flowers on her desk and glanced at the card as he laid it next to them. Mick? He said to himself as he read the card.
Just then he heard footsteps coming closer and before he had a chance to turn around, he felt someone bump up against him. He was surprised that Marcy had walked into him but quickly realized that she was upset. He had no idea why she was so upset but he didn’t want to pry.
Hurrying out of her office, his mind replayed the moment that she’d bumped into him, as well as when she brushed past him to get to her desk. His bear had moaned at the sight of her, as well as her touch. He left her office feeling more horny than ever. Now that he’d met Marcy, the urge to have sex was even stronger. Austin wished she didn’t have a boyfriend. His bear was roaring at him to ask her out. Now he wasn’t sure he had a choice in the matter. With a boyfriend in the picture, Austin would have to wait and see what happened next. He also wanted to find out more about her. What kind of moron makes a beautiful woman like Marcy this upset? This Mick character, clearly didn’t deserve her.
Chapter Three
With her first day of work behind her, Marcy made herself a quick dinner and retreated to the sofa with a glass of wine for comfort. She shook her head when she thought about the flowers and card she’d received that day from Mick. The memories of the past few months came to the surface. She had met her ex, Mick, at her old job.
He started working there a couple of weeks before he asked her out for the first time. For several days he had persisted in asking her out. She’d said no, each time. Then one afternoon when she was in the break room, he finally wore her down. She agreed to go on a date with him. It turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made.
The first date was fine and she had a decent enough time, though there was no real chemistry or attraction there. Unfortunately, with each subsequent date he became more jealous and possessive of her. He mentioned to her several times how he had dated a woman that he thought he was in love with, only to have her leave him for a shifter. Marcy realized that he was more than a scorned boyfriend and that he had never gotten over the betrayal. He hated shifters and it felt like he actually didn’t trust women at all. The relationship lasted less than two weeks and culminated in him hitting her when he saw her talking to another guy. Af
ter work one night, he waited for her. She could see that he was angry the moment she stepped outside. She had become afraid of him in the days following their first few dates. He was quick to anger and always suspicious.
“Are you sleeping with him?” he’d accused.
“Of course not. You know I’m not,” she had stated.
“You’re lying…Women like you lead guys like me on…You’re just a whore. Tell the truth,” his voice was filled with venom.
“I’m not lying – ”
There was a wave of shock as she felt the sting of his slap, hard across her face. Turning quickly, she’d run back into her work building to get away from him. He followed her inside and struck her again. Feeling powerless to do anything in that moment. She had security call a taxi for her so she could go home. The next morning, she drove herself to work and told her boss what had happened.
His response was, “You shouldn’t have been dating him in the first place.”
“He hit me…several times. Surely you aren’t going to let him work here…knowing that?” she had cried.
“You brought this on yourself. I can’t fire him for your bad choices,” he responded coldly.
Marcy had begun to cry and shake with anger. “If you aren’t going to do anything, I quit,” she said angrily.
She then cleared out her desk and went home. Thankfully she’d had enough money saved to support herself for several months.
It took her a month before she got the job at Bear Bones Construction. During the entire month since leaving her old job, Mick phoned, texted and harassed her. He insisted that he had done nothing wrong and that she brought on his anger by behaving the way she did. Each time he called, she refused to answer. Just the sound of his voice sickened her. She had begun to have anxiety problems unlike anything she’d ever experienced. When he called, he had threatened her. He stated that he had better not see her dating anyone else.