by Carter Blake
I’m going to have to make sure that whatever I say, I sound really confident to get people to believe me, so that’s what I need to focus on too.
At least I’m educated in this area, at least I’ve done it a little bit. I should be able to make things work from that.
And Wesley.
I really need to work out a way to get closer to him, if I’m ever going to get into his office.
I think about my Dad’s words, and the fact that I might have to at least act like I’m going to sleep with this guy to get to where I need to be.
If he thinks that he’s going to get laid, then he may leave me in his office for just a short while – a few moments – if I can work out how to get into the safe, it will be enough.
I just need that in.
But how can I make him think that I want to have sex? I’ve never been in a position where I’ve used my body to get what I want before, so it’s a little intimidating to go into that territory, but I’m sure that I can figure it out somehow.
This is only a small part of my life, I remind myself. I won’t be here forever doing all of this crazy stuff. Once it’s done, and Future Pharmaceuticals has been brought to its knees, then I can focus on the rest of my life…
The only problem with that is the fact that this has been my life for so long now that I don’t really have anything else to fall back on.
My sole concentration has been revenge for so many years, that I haven’t actually given myself the opportunity to come up with any other dreams, any other ideas for the rest of my life.
I could have this done within the next few weeks, and then I’ll have to come up with some other direction, another way forward.
Maybe my Dad will start his own company, using the formula that John has hidden in that safe, and I can work there, using the skills and knowledge that I’ve developed for good, but I can’t rely on that at all.
Dad might not ever want anything to do with the industry again, maybe he’s happier being a teacher than I think. If that’s the case – then what?
I really don’t have any idea and that’s terrifying.
Stop worrying about the future, I scold myself. Just focus on the here and now. There isn’t any point about worrying about what to do next when you aren’t even through this yet.
One step at a time.
“Right,” Amber announces, shaking me from my thoughts. “This is it. The board room is in there. Mr. Montgomery will be waiting for you, so good luck.”
I nod and wait for her to leave, but she continues to stare at me expectantly, waiting for me to go in, which leaves me no choice.
So I suck in a few deep breaths of air, and I push the door open hard, ready to face the unexpected.
Chapter Four
Wesley
“That’s the report for this quarter,” my head of accountancy, Chris, drones on, almost sending me to sleep. He has to go about things in the most roundabout way possible, and it drives me insane. I just wish that he would state the facts on a need to know basis, and deal with the rest of it himself, but no matter how many times I suggest that to him, nothing ever changes.
Just as I fear that I might be about to drift off for real, the door swings open and the woman who has been filling my mind ever since I saw her, is staring right back at me, making my heart skip a beat. Damn, I like her a lot, a real lot, which makes it extremely difficult for me to even consider concentrating.
Everyone turns to face me, which takes me a back for a moment as I fear my feelings might be written all across my face. Then someone coughs awkwardly, and I realize that they’re all waiting for me to introduce them to her.
“Oh right,” I jump up and extend my arm to Naomi, whilst looking around at everyone else. “As you all know, I have been looking for a new head of PR, and today I hired her. Naomi Hayes.”
“Hi everyone,” she takes over confidently, sending a small wave to everyone. “I hope to fit in well with you all, whilst taking this company to the next level too.” I watch her smile at the other heads of department in turn, most of whom are older guys who are instantly intrigued by this smart, fiery beauty. “I don’t know who was the head of PR before, but I feel like their idea were a little too…traditional, so I hope that what I can bring to the role is something different.”
I know that I should focus on everyone else, allowing them all to have their say in turn the way that we normally do, but this statement has intrigued me. I find myself wanting to know more.
“So…what are you thinking?” I ask, as Naomi slides into a seat. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, I think the person before me went down a lot of the typical routes for announcing a launch – press releases, radio interviews, paid advertising. That sort of thing. What I would like to do would be more daring. Events, stunts, anything to get the attention of the public and doctors alike. I think what you need to do is something really out there, to stand out in such a competitive market.”
Oh no…am I about to regret hiring Naomi? Is she going to turn everything that I’ve worked towards on its head in the worst way possible?
“Look,” I tell her regretfully. “We do things in the traditional manner because we’re selling life saving pills, not fizzy drinks or chocolate bars. We need to get attention in the right way, not because we’re doing something crazy.”
She actually rolls her eyes at this statement, making me balk a little at her blatant rudeness. I’ve become so used to people kissing my ass that it seems a little strange to have someone not care about keeping me happy.
“I don’t think that keeping down the same route will help you to progress in any way. You will remain in exactly the same position, not going anywhere. Don’t you want to move forward? Don’t you want to grow? Don’t you want better results?”
I think of my Dad, and his dream to turn this business into a worldwide, international hub of innovation. He would have taken this bold step, however crazy it felt at the time, which might just be what I should do too. It might make my heart beat faster, and my palms perspire just a little bit, but maybe I need to open my mind to other suggestions. Public relations isn’t exactly my area of expertise anyway, so maybe it’s time to think outside the box.
“Okay, well we’ll get back to this later on,” I shuffle the papers in front of me, not wanting anyone else to know that I’m ruffled. “So for now, let’s here from everyone else.”
As the meeting continues, and everyone shares what’s going on in their own department, I can’t stop my eyes from glancing over to where Naomi is sitting, and the more I look at her, the more intrigued I become. I want to get to know her better, and I don’t think that I’ll be able to do that in a working environment. I need to get her out of the office, to spend some more casual time with her, and I want to start that today. Usually, when I see a woman that I want, I go for it right away without holding back, which is what I want to do right here. I know that the situation is slightly different, and that I don’t intend to pin her against the first wall we come across, but I do feel impatient about getting to know more about her.
As soon as the meeting finishes, I head out to find Amber, knowing that she will have my full schedule. “What are my lunch plans?” I snap at her, an idea forming in my mind.
“You have a date with a…Monica.”
Monica? It takes me a few moments to place her, but then I recall meeting her in a bar a few weeks ago. She’s a blonde chick with massive boobs, which is what drew me in, but now I have no interest in hanging out with her. It’ll just be another meaningless experience, which I don’t really need. Not when I could be spending some time with someone I actually have more in depth feelings about.
“Can you cancel it please?” I ask her distractedly. “I’m going to take that the new PR girl out for lunch. She has some interesting ideas and I want to find out what she has planned.”
Amber shoots me a knowing look, as if she can see right through the façade, but I stay strong. Amber ca
n think whatever the hell she wants, she had her shot with me and she blew it. I send her one quick smile before stomping my way down the hallway to find Naomi. She’s the only one from this office that I’m interested in now, and that’s probably the way that it’s going to stay for a very long time.
Knock, knock.
I tap tentatively at the door, my heart pounding with excitement, and she very quickly calls me inside. As soon as I see her again, my stomach flip flops with emotion and it becomes difficult to remember what I’m doing.
“Is everything alright?” she asks me curiously. “Do you want anything from me?”
I want everything from you.
“I just wondered if you would like to go out for lunch with me?” I ask, sounding a little awkward. “I mean, I normally take my new employees out anyway, but I would love to know more about your ideas too. I’m sorry I shot them down in that meeting. I guess it’s just a little hard for me to accept change.”
“When you hear what I have planned, you’ll soon change your mind,” she grins at me, filling me with confidence.
She seems to know exactly what she’s doing, so what I need to do is just trust her. After all, my gut told me that she was the right one to hire, and I do normally work from that, so why should this be any different?
“So, shall we go?”
***
An hour later we’re still sitting in the café, long after we’ve finished our sandwiches, just chatting happily and enjoying one another’s company. I’m actually content to just hang out with her, talking about nothing, and forgetting work. We haven’t even discussed her plans at all, they’ve just been forgotten about while we learn more about each other.
“… but luckily, that was just before I finished college, so I didn’t have to live with the humiliation for too long!” As she tells me an embarrassing story about a bad date she had in her younger years, I pour her yet another glass of wine.
Okay, so we’re definitely acting a little inappropriate for an employer, employee relationship, but I find that I don’t care. Overstepping the boundaries has never worried me in the past anyway, but it’s even more so with this one. I actually want things to be able to go further, even if it is wrong, and I have qualms with making that happen.
“So, what about you?” she asks, leaning in and giving me a flirty smile. “Have you had any terrible relationships?”
This is a really difficult question for me, because it might lead me to open up more than I probably should do. Do I tell Naomi that I’ve never really had a relationship before, so I don’t have any tales for her, or do I make something up? I mean, I’ve never even stuck around for long enough for anyone to get to know me enough to be a nightmare, but do I want her to see that impression of me?
“I… I’ve never had a girlfriend,” I decide that being honest now is better than having to confess all later. It might be an ugly version of myself, but I can hope that she will see the person underneath, and that she’ll understand that isn’t who I want to be forever more. “I’ve had short term lovers, but that’s about it.”
I glance downwards, not wanting to make eye contact with her now, but luckily she bursts into laughter, giggling in a musical way that has me wanting to smile too.
“So, the playboy rumors about you are true, Mr. Montgomery.”
For some reason, she doesn’t sound pissed off or disgusted by this at all. If anything, she sounds a little turned on which piques my interest all over again, which only gets worse when I look into her eyes and I see the intense desire there.
She wants me, I think to myself in surprise. Maybe she really likes me too. Maybe this will go the way that I want it to after all.
All the paper work that’s sitting on my desk, crying out for attention, floats away from my mind. How can that be as important as this? Surely I deserve my own life too? Even my Dad would understand that if it were for the right girl, which this definitely is.
“So, shall we bother going back to work today, or do you think we should stay here and finish off this bottle?”
“Ooh, I don’t know, you’re the boss,” she jokes, a smile playing on her lips. “You need to tell me what to do…remember?”
Oh God, I almost groan loudly with pleasure at the thought of telling this woman what to do, but I can’t take things there with her, not yet, not if I actually want this to become something.
I’m going to have to do the one thing that I’ve never done before and hold back, to allow emotions to grow first. I’m sure that if I took her into the bathrooms of this place I could have her naked and screaming within a few moments, but that would be the end of things and I don’t want that just yet.
“Maybe we should finish the bottle, then head back to work,” I tell her smiling. “Sure we might not be in the right frame of mind to get any work done, but at least we’ll be showing our faces.”
“That sounds like a good plan to me,” she exclaims excitedly. “Wow, what a first day. I think I’m going to like working at Future Pharmaceuticals more than I thought I would. If this is anything to go by.”
“Well you won’t get this treatment every day, but I’m sure that we’ll have fun.”
How much fun I don’t specify, but I don’t feel like I need to. I think that it’s implied.
Chapter Five
Naomi
By the end of my third day on the job at Future Pharmaceuticals, I’m already starting to get the end of my tether with regards to the best way to get this paper work from Wesley’s office without him finding out about it. That place really is kept locked tighter than Fort Knox, and I have no idea how I’m going to get in.
To make things worse, I’m not finding Oliver much use either. If it wasn’t for my father’s recommendation, I would never have put any trust in this man.
“I don’t see that you have any other option,” he tells me sadly. “I really think that seducing him is the only way.”
I’ve been trying to get some advice from him on getting into the office alone, and to be honest I was hoping for some much more practical advice than just screw him.
I guess it helps that I’ve laid down the groundwork by flirting with him nonstop, but all talk is one thing…actually doing something about it is on another level entirely. It helps that he’s hot as all hell – however much I despise him – so I could imagine doing it, but still…am I really ready?
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
Oliver is a small nerdy looking guy who is clearly about a decade older than me, but maybe it’s time to admit that he’s right. I did say that I would do anything to get this information, and I know that my Dad is relying on me, I just hope that I can do it when the time comes.
“Look, I’m not telling you that you need to do anything drastic,” he tells me quickly, as if a horrifying thought has just hit him – probably the idea of my Dad finding out what he’s suggested. “Just enough to get in there…and you might need to use your imagination to remain in there alone.”
“Naomi,” I hear Amber call out in her shrill, irritated sounding voice. “The phone has been ringing for ages. I think it’s the caterer getting back to you.”
“Oh shit,” I mutter it under my breath. “I completely forgot about the party. I better go, Oliver, I’ll speak to you later.”
I might have acted all confident in the interview, promising the world when it came to the idea of throwing together a party within a week. Now that I’m actually having to do it, things are very different. It’s much harder than I thought it would be, I probably should have told Wesley that it was impossible. At the time I was only thinking about getting the job, not following it through.
I spend the next couple of hours in a state of sheer frustration, trying to hold it together where I feel like I might actually be falling apart. This job is really hard, and with the extra weight falling heavily on my shoulders, it’s damn near impossible. I can talk the talk, I think I’ve found that I’m very good at that, but action is something else.<
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“Yes, that’s what I said,” I cry out, holding my head in my hands. Why can’t people just do as I ask in the short time I need it done? I mean, I’m offering to throw in whatever money they need, which I don’t see as a problem considering Wesley never mentioned anything about a budget, but still it seems to be too challenging. “By Saturday. Do you think that you can do that?”
To make things worse, Amber keeps walking past with a massive smirk on her face, as if she wants to see me fail. I don’t know what it is about her that creates such a barrier between us, but I really don’t give a shit. Let her have her problem with me, soon she won’t ever see me again anyway.
As the guy on the other end of the phone mumbles his excuses, and I offer him even more money, I notice the rest of the staff members starting to file out. At first this pisses me off because I want to be the one leaving this nightmare behind, but then another plan starts to form in my mind. If I get left behind here because I’m oh so wrapped up in my work, then maybe… just maybe I’ll be able to make this work today. Maybe I’ll be able to finish what I started already.
Eventually the lights flicker out, and the cleaners start making their rounds, which is when I make my way through the halls with a pounding heart. I’m kind of hoping that Wesley is working late too, and that he’s sitting there in his office, unsuspecting of what is about to come his way. I’m thinking that I will go in there, act like I have some party stuff to discuss with him, which I will make up when the moment comes around, and then I’ll return to the flirting.
The boozy lunch that we had the other day started that anyway, so it won’t be much of a shock when I make some slightly inappropriate comments.