by Ana Fawkes
BY HIS COMMAND
#1
His Want
by
Ana Fawkes
Isabella Grace has been late for work three days in a row, but for good reason. Lingering in the main lobby of The J. Black Corporation, where she works, hoping to see the ultra sexy, billionaire CEO, Jonathan Black, is worth anything... or so she believes.
When she gets a personal call from Mr. Back to visit him in his office, she expects to be fired for being late to work. It turns out Jonathan Black has noticed much more than just Isabella being late for the past three days. And beyond noticing her, he propositions her for work outside the office, including a surprise gift that leaves Isabella Grace in shock, in love, and under his full control and command.
-1-
Standing at a small oval table, pretending to page through a magazine that was six months outdated, I sealed my fate. My fate that I would indeed be late for the third straight day in a row. My fate that I would have the chance to see him again as he entered the building. I wanted to weigh the pros and cons but there’s something we often leave out when making an important decision in life.
What we want.
That’s the only decision that matters.
What we want.
The elevators packed and went up, taking people into a normal work day. Cups of warm coffee, folders with papers, the sounds of phones ringing, the bubbling of the water cooler resembling a desperate, lifeless pulse of a dying office, along with the chatter of sales pitches, concerns, and the occasional gossiping backstabbing. That was what they all went upstairs to handle.
But not me.
I stood and I waited with my purse and work bag weighing my shoulder down.
I should have lifted the magazine off the table and made it look more believable that I was captivated in an article that had no relevance to today. Honestly, I was flustered that morning and in that moment, I considered myself lucky to be standing, let alone actually formulating some kind of plan.
It all felt like a dream, and parts of it were things I had dreamed before.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him and my need to see him. Even a passing glimpse would be enough to hold me over for a few hours, maybe a day.
What is it in our hearts, minds, and bodies that make us just know something? I just knew something about him even though I knew nothing about him. Sure, he had money, he had power, he oozed luxury, he had an aura of command. After that, he was a blank sheet of paper. Maybe something inside me had a vision that would come true.
Or maybe, just maybe, I was the one who had been chosen and my heart, mind, and body started to figure it out.
Whatever it was, I waited, and my waiting paid off when the doors to the building opened again. Another group of people walked in, the executives of The J. Black Corporation. Two men held the doors open while three men formed a small line. They walked in and then stopped, turned, and waited for Jonathan Black himself to follow. As he came into the building, everything changed. My body was sent into a state of erotic shock, my pores trembling with excitement. I could feel everything inside and out growing wet and while I knew it was obvious I was staring at him, I didn’t care.
Not one single bit.
My eyes were glazy and lost, giving a whole new meaning to puppy dog love and high school lust considering I was well past both those points in my life. Then again, I didn’t feel that far; I was barely a year out of college and this job had only just become a job three months ago after a three month internship.
But it was him, Jonathan Black himself who decided to keep me on board. Or at least that’s what my direct supervisor told me. It would have been much better hearing it from Mr. Black but everyone who worked at The J. Black Corporation knew that speaking to him directly would take a miracle. Even some of the top executives didn’t get a chance to speak with him.
His company philosophy was simple.
He commands, everyone else listens.
Those who dared to speak out of line were gone with a head nod. Those who didn’t listen were gone even before that.
His philosophy had paid off, making him one of the wealthiest men in the world, gracing the list of richest men everywhere I could find. In the States. Globally. Even on the list of Richest Under 30.
This would be his last year appearing on that list, but then his gorgeous, chiseled face would appear on the list of Richest Under 40 and remain there for a full decade for the world to see. For the world to relish. For women like myself to fantasize.
Standing in the main foyer of the building – his building – Jonathan Black looked around, adjusted his tie, and looked at each of his executives who waited diligently like hungry dogs, hoping for a bone.
“Financials on the Henley Project are fine,” he spoke with a deep voice and calm tone. “I want them in Los Angeles by three, their time, of course.”
“Sir, that’s…”
I could hear Mr. Black sigh from the distance I stood at.
Another man jumped in front of him and tore the folder out of the other man’s hand.
“Sir, I will personally see that these get where they are needed, when needed.”
“There’s the spirit,” Mr. Black said. “Someone who wants to work.”
“I never said I didn’t want to work,” the first man said. His voice sounded pathetic and whiney.
Mr. Black looked at him with contempt in his eyes.
I was turned on.
I wanted Mr. Black to do something wild. Something crazy. Something to live up to his reputation that hung in the office like a blinding fog. Everyone feared the wrath of Jonathan Black.
“We have a meeting at ten with two executives from ShingWorks International. Postpone it. Better yet, just close the deal.”
“Close it, sir?” the second man asked.
“Can you close it?”
“Of course I can. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be the one…”
Mr. Black put a hand to the man’s shoulder. His hand looked gigantic, and I could see him squeezing. Maybe too hard. But the man remained silent. He had no choice.
“I am the one, always. Close the deal.”
Mr. Black released his grip and walked away.
Both men hurried to follow, along with the rest of the executives. As they rushed by me, I could pick up on Mr. Black’s cologne, the strongest and sexiest of all the scents that attacked my senses. The other men wore something that I assumed to be an attempt to be Jonathan Black. The thing about Mr. Black is that he doesn’t have to try to be himself, he just is. And that alone radiates a desire that I couldn’t help but eat up.
He paused at the elevators and then pressed the up button. The doors instantly opened and he pointed to the open elevator.
“Go,” he commanded and the group of men shuffled inside.
He stood watching the doors close and I smiled.
He didn’t want to ride with them.
They would have bothered him the entire ride up to the top floor of the building.
I bit on my lip and started to step towards him. I had no idea what I was doing other than following my lust. They say men think with what’s between their legs but guess what? Women can do the same. The difference is that we’re more aware of ourselves and we have sensual spots lining our bodies… or at least I know I do. My brain scrambled trying to imagine myself talking to him. My lips quivered with excitement and a touch of fear. My breasts were tender and aching, my nipples starting to feel extra sensitive in my shirt. And of course, the sweetest spot between my legs, my sex itself burned, wanting Jonathan Black so bad. Even my knees felt weak and as though I could fall. My entire body was a system of sexual desire as I approached the hot billionaire CEO.
I, of course, froze a few feet behind him, trying to remai
n invisible but wishing I could just speak to him.
He pressed the up button again and waited.
This time the other set of doors opened. He stepped inside and turned just as the doors started to close. His eyes looked to mine and in a second – just a single second – I could feel my life change. Anything I’d ever desired, fantasized, wanted, needed, hated, and loved… stared back at me in those eyes. They were dark eyes with a hazel touch, eyes that didn’t seem to match his cold demeanor. Eyes that perhaps held something deeper and more gentle than the rest of his wide shoulders, strong hands, and big size gave off.
To my shock, Jonathan Black put his hand out and kept the doors from closing.
They slid back open and I remained frozen, staring at him.
“I won’t do that again,” he said, his voice commanding but also soothing.
His voice was layered with a confident control, the kind that left me feeling like I could close my eyes, hold him, and allow him to guide me anywhere he wanted.
Which was, in so many ways, exactly what I wanted…
I stepped forward and looked down, watching my feet cross the threshold of the elevator and watched as his black shoes came into view.
Jonathan Black didn’t speak again, or at least not until the elevators shut.
We were alone and I was his, long before he commanded it.
-2-
My eyes were up, watching the lights indicating what floor we were passing. I hoped the elevator wouldn’t stop and it didn’t, a little stroke of luck in my favor.
“What was the article you were reading?”
His voice caught me off guard and felt like an electric bolt in my body. I tried to turn my head to look at him but I suddenly felt unworthy of his time, words, or effort.
I simply waited, trying to picture the article.
What was it?
There was a woman… food… politics? No. Something about business. A lawsuit…
“I wasn’t really reading it,” I said, my voice quiet, shy, and on the verge of whimpering.
“I could tell,” Mr. Black said.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“Disturbing your meeting,” I said. “I was there, in the way.”
Jonathan Black then turned towards me, his hands in his pockets, a dark stare down upon me. “If you were in the way I would have removed you myself, if need be.”
His hands were then out of his pockets, one hand reaching towards me, the other reaching towards the emergency stop on the elevator.
Was he going to stop the elevator?
No, he didn’t.
He put his finger just to the right of the button. He circled it a few times, distracting me while his other hand touched my hand. His fingertips on my skin was enough to send me into a rage, my body wanting to give way. My body wanting to give him everything.
“You’ve stood there a few times, haven’t you?” he asked me.
I nodded.
“I’ve noticed.”
Jonathan Black noticed me?
Did he remember me?
Did I appear to be some kind of freakish woman, stalking him?
I wasn’t stalking him… I was simply just waiting for him. I didn’t seek him out, it just so happened we worked in the same building.
That wasn’t that bad, right?
His fingers started to wrap around my hand. He pulled at me. I stutter stepped towards him, coming within inches of colliding into him. I wouldn’t have known what to do. Where to put my hands. What to say. This was all part of a fantasy I’d had for a long time now but to have it become reality…
Jonathan turned his hand and had his palm against mine. He lifted his hand and mine. He stared at it. I followed with my eyes too. My hand was nothing compared to his. His fingers were long and thick suggesting he had the capabilities of not just a strong handshake but other things.
I shuddered and felt myself breathing heavy.
I needed to calm down, I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of him.
I opened my mouth to say something, anything, and our eyes met again.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.
Jonathan Black took his hand away and started to step from the elevator.
“That must be some article in that magazine,” he said.
Before I could speak, he pressed the number eight on the elevator panel, and was then gone. The doors shut and I was on the move, back down to where I belonged.
It wasn’t until the elevator came to a stop again did I realize something… how did he know what floor I worked on?
-3-
By the time I settled at my desk, another twenty minutes of the morning had gone by. My voicemail rested at a comfortable fifty messages even, meaning that would take up at least half my day. For the past two days, I casually snuck to my desk hoping I wouldn’t get caught showing up late. Today, I didn’t care. I basically floated to my desk, sat down, and leaned back in my chair.
One of my coworkers finally snapped me out of my trance.
“Isabella, girl, are you okay?”
I blinked and looked around, wishing the woman’s voice would turn into his voice, into Jonathan Black’s voice.
“I’m okay,” I managed to reply. I lifted my left hand off my desk and stared at it. The hand that he touched.
I still couldn’t figure out what exactly happened in the elevator. I wasn’t sure if I had been caught showing up late, or if he had been flirting with me. That didn’t seem possible though. Who the hell was I to him? I was some intern who was lucky enough to even be offered an actual paying job with the company. Not a day went by without someone reminding me that almost all interns were given their time to intern and then shown the door. The lucky ones were offered a letter of recommendation while most were given a pat on the back and good luck at life handshake.
“Girl, you look… flustered.”
I glanced at Angela who sat with her fingers interlocked across her large stomach, her lips puckered, her eyes looking over the thin frames of her glasses. She’d been at the company for five years and had the highest seniority in the cubicle section as we all called ourselves.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Had a strange elevator ride. Does… Mr. Black always ride the elevator?”
“The main elevator?” Angela asked.
I nodded.
“Not that I can recall. He has a private entrance he normally uses. Or he’ll wait until everyone is here I assume. Why? Was he… oh girl, did you get to ride in the elevator with him?”
I fought so hard to not smile but the look in Angela’s eyes told me everything I needed to know. She wanted to gossip. She wanted to know everything. All the women in the office wanted to know everything about Jonathan Black. That’s how I got roped into all this myself. I wasn’t sure who he was nor did I really care. Conversation after conversation in the break room finally had me going home and searching for him on the internet. When I first saw his picture I didn’t believe it was him. He looked too good to be running such a large company. He also had a touch of innocence in his eyes in certain pictures and when I saw that he was under thirty, it blew my mind away. He started with nothing, just some kid staggering his way through college and he managed to have the right software at the right time. He sold his first company, and then started and sold companies for a few years until finally creating The J. Black Corporation whose job was to invest and control all it could reach.
It was everything Jonathan Black represented.
“Well, if you rode the elevator with Mr. Black,” Angela said with her head tossing left to right, “then you either hit the lottery girl, or you were dreaming… either way, enjoy it.”
Angela turned in her chair and took a phone call.
My phone began to ring and I ignored it. I rested my chin in my hands and stared at my computer screen. It was black, so I shook the desk bringing it to life. I was prompted for a password but I didn’t enter it. I simply stared
at the blinking cursor wondering just what Mr. Black would have done if we had more time in the elevator.
My lust and fantasy soon became annoyance. It was like seeing the winning lottery ticket but not actually getting to hold it, let alone cash it in and reap its awards.
I don’t remember when my phone stopped ringing but when I heard Angela shriek, it caught my attention. Something made me look at my phone and seeing the number fifty on the small screen made me realize that my voicemail box was at full capacity. Angela’s reaction to a new phone call told me whoever had contacted me hurried and called the next extension which was Angela’s.
I figured it was some grumpy old man, looking for his mid month report on a property that he had money in with Mr. Black. I was wrong.
Angela turned in her chair, her face flush, red, and her eyes bulged.
“Yes sir, I understand, sir,” she said. “She’s right here, right now. Yes. Sir. Right here. I’m staring at her, sir. I can transfer you. No, of course not. I wouldn’t want to risk that either. I’ll hand her the phone. It’s a pleasure speaking with… yes, sir.”
Angela held the phone out to me.
I had to stand to take the call and when I took the receiver, I mouthed to her, Who is it?
She mouthed back one word.
Black.
-4-
His words were simple yet life changing.
I need to see you, in private. Immediately.
I didn’t even have a chance to respond before he hung up, which was good because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say.
I handed the phone back to Angela and she hurried to hang it up. She was shaking as she looked at me. I could see tears and an overwhelming sense of fear in her eyes as she looked at me.
“You better go girl,” Angela said. “I hope… oh Isabella, just go with it all, okay?”
I nodded.
“I’m serious. You’ll be fine. You’ll do fine. You’re young, smart, and sassy as anything.”
That’s when I realized why Angela was so shaken up.