19
“By changing the colour palette to a cooler tone, we can keep it timeless. The rebranding is necessary to keep Glamorous trending.”
Who knew I would be so good at this job?
I’ve worked many jobs in the past, trying to keep myself occupied. So I’m not stupid. I wasn’t blindly thrust into this role, and I won’t run the company into the ground.
The board members nod around the table while I move onto my next topic.
Except, there is a certain distraction in front of me that my eyes can’t help but travel to.
A certain blond woman whose presence has been taunting me ever since she started working for me. I was supposed to keep an eye on her, but every single day, my body reaches out to hers.
I feel myself drawn closer to her. I want to carve open her head and demand the answers for my questions.
Why do you fucking do yoga at night?
Why water plants?
Why in the world do you like wearing emerald so much? That was supposed to be my favourite colour, not yours.
Why is she on my mind so much that I cannot fucking think when she is around? The minute she enters my office, my breathing stops and my eyes zone in on her. I notice every single thing about her, every part of her body and every change in her emotions.
I notice that she wears heels most days, bringing in a new bag every single day, as if she has an endless supply of them. She wears jewellery worth millions and is always dolled up, never to be seen without makeup. Except when she is at home, from what I have seen from outside her balcony.
That doesn’t really provide much, since she is quite far from where I stand outside.
That night, that night when I was going to claim her, to give her more of me, as a stalker, I found a bastard trying to put his hands on her.
That was the end of it because all I saw was his dead body.
I fucked up his friend’s car, driving him straight into his deathbed. God, I loved seeing his lifeless body lying limp, but unfortunately Darci didn’t die. I don’t care whose son he is, he needed a warning. All I know is that he touched Ambrose without consent, then kissed her on the damn cheek like she was his.
Like fuck she was.
Ambrose is mine.
Mine to obsess over.
That day, the small restraint on me snapped, and I lost it.
I sat at home, alone with my thoughts, and I realised that regardless of the hate I feel for her, I desire Ambrose sexually. I can’t wait to see her bent over my knee as I treat her attitude.
“Moving on to the changes in the finance team. The new team is working hard to create a new budget specifically for the clothing pieces featured in the magazine volumes. From new couture pieces to bespoke designs by upcoming designers, we can be the face of featuring new work on fresh models. The new interns in the marketing team are bringing in fresh ideas…” I carry on, sharing my ideas and vision for this company, but my eyes keep straying to Ambrose sitting just to the right of me.
She nods, jotting down what other board members suggest, a faint frown between her brows when they speak about things she doesn’t approve of. It makes me want to smile at how easily she can be read.
I often find her looking at me, a different glint in her eyes. Many times, I have caught her with her head tilted, as if she is trying to make sense of something.
After the meeting, we leave promptly. As I reach the threshold of my office, I glance over my shoulder to see Ambrose heading into her office, picking up a paper bag from the floor, and taking out her lunch.
I’ve noticed that she never eats in the cafeteria or even goes out to eat. She never talks to anyone in the company unless she’s required to. She just stays in her office. All day.
Shaking my head, I walk inside my own office, but as the door shuts behind me, I can’t move a single step farther into the office.
The place is just a temporary assignment for me.
My gaze drops to my shoes, the sleek black shoes that young Helia wouldn’t be able to afford. I grin at the facade I currently wear. A fugitive trying to hide from the MI5 as a CEO.
They’ve been close to finding my accounts filled with money I make from providing personal information and background checks on people I see Remo interact with daily. They are people whose minds are sick and twisted and they want to ruin lives. I do blackmail work for people who want to ruin the weak, but I also serve them with a little bit of their own justice, a little taste of their own fucking poison if I know where and what may happen to the victim.
I let a little something leak, let a message pop up on someone’s phone with information that could let them know that they shouldn’t be going ahead with the deal. There is already so much bad in the world that I contribute even more to it.
I am unapologetic about it all.
I was raised on the streets, begging and crying for someone to give me enough food to survive just another day, so how I get my money, how I live, is my personal choice, and everyone else can do what they want.
Not the woman outside, though.
After thirty-three years of living, I have finally found a skilled fighter in the same ring as me, someone who is putting up a great fight against me, keeping me entertained and curious about everything she does.
I have reign over her empire for two years before I leave with no destination in mind.
And I intend to crush but also conquer the woman who I snatched this fate from.
The next few days are me trying to put my changes in action, and I have been pulling many long nights trying to meet deadlines, sign paperwork, and get reports typed up. Ambrose has been working closely with me, sitting in front of me at my desk. Her sighs and huffs when she catches me looking at her leave me amused.
“Do you recognise who this is?” I point to the screen.
She rolls her eyes when she walks around to stand next to me.
Instantly her fresh and intoxicating scent has me closing my eyes to focus on it, to take in a deeper breath just so I can remember what she smells like.
“Who? Mr David?”
My eyes snap open, watching Ambrose click on the profile and lean closer. Her hip bumps into my shoulder, but I don’t think she notices; she is too focused on reading the email.
I know who it is, but I want her close.
I want her here beside me.
Watching isn’t enough for me anymore.
Twisting my chair, I let my finger graze the back of her thigh.
She freezes. “What are you doing?” There is a thickness in her voice, like she doesn’t know whether to be angry or annoyed. Her eyes are on me, narrowed, but she stays in her position. Bent. Eyes bright, open, and curious.
What would she do if I were to break that barrier between us and bend her over? Would she fight me, crying and sobbing?
Or would she be submissive? Moaning and begging for more?
My hand abandons that place, and I let the tips of my fingers travel from her lower back down the curve of her ass and keep going down until I reach the back of her knee.
Emotion hits me in the chest when I realise she is letting me touch her. She threw off Darci’s hand when he tried to touch her. And that same night, when I hid myself from her and wanted to touch her, she also fought back hard. But right now, her eyes are filled with blazing fire. She isn’t moving, nor is she near tears.
There is something very clear in her eyes that makes me pause.
Trust.
“Seeing how you would feel bent in front of me.” My voice is laced with lust.
“Stop it.” She steps away, her eyes sharp.
“Would you like it if I touched you?” I lean forward, my eyes dropping to her lips.
“Very.” She sarcastically remarks with a scoff.
“Sure you would,”
“I’ve seen you look at me, Ambrose,”
She turns to me, her eyes intent. “Like what?”
I lean closer, my lips brushing against hers as I whisper, “Like you want me to fuck you.”
Her eyes widen. “I wouldn’t even look twice in your direction, but you on the other hand…” Her eyes trail down, then she faintly brushes her hand against my crotch making me grit my teeth.
“Is this the game you are now playing, Emerald?” I smirk, grabbing her hand and palming myself using her hand.
Her mouth drops open, but she quickly recovers. She lifts a brow, amusement swimming in those dark chocolate irises.
“If we call getting each other hot and bothered a game, then sure.”
I get up and lean even closer, letting the front of my body touch hers, letting my hard-on press against her stomach, so she feels it, so she knows no matter the hate, my desire for her is very prominent and there.
“Fuck yes,”
“Does this mean you are hot and bothered? Drenched at my words and touch?” I continue.
She scoffs under me, looking to the side, but gasps when I roll my hips into her.
Her eyes slide back to mine, this time burning with need.
“If I were to check right now, would you be wet, Emerald?”
She pushes at my shoulder, trying to walk away, but I grab hold of her and twist both her arms behind her back, pulling her against me, her front to my chest.
“Don’t lie,” I whisper, my lips ghosting over the shell of her ear.
She shudders against me.
Grabbing both her hands in one of mine, I use the other to draw small circles on her stomach. I feel it tighten under my hold.
“I hate you,” she rasps out, her body pushing against me, leaning into me.
My hand travels higher until I am twirling her nipple through her dress. It pokes against the fabric.
“Still hate me?”
“Yes,” she rushes out.
I laugh, my breath fanning her shoulder and neck.
“Your body says otherwise.”
“I don’t care. Desire and hate come from two different places,” she says, bucking her hips against mine, making my hard-on way worse than it was.
I hum. One day, I will have her. I will get her.
She shakes out of my hold, and I let her. She walks out the door without even looking back, but I know she is seething, She wants me and hates herself for it.
“New pet, sir?”
I wink at the receptionist, making her laugh and shake her head at me.
My hands are in my trouser pockets as I walk into the elevator and watch it go up until I reach my floor.
“Your coffee, sir, and today’s sche—” Ambrose stops short as she walks into my office. Her eyes instantly go to my shoulder.
“Blaze?” she whispers.
Blaze, the traitor, caws loudly and shoots off me. He circles her, making me see a sight that I felt starved for.
He sits on her shoulder, then pokes her with his beak.
She softly laughs, lips stretching into a wide smile.
And my heart stops.
My taunts pause, and I don’t call Blaze back to me.
The laugh echoes around me, and my feelings reveal themselves. All these weeks of torture are coming to one conclusion. Like the calm ocean right before a storm is about to hit it, like the silence on a sunny morning. Peace that a person like me has never felt.
“Are you happy to see me? I’m happy to see you, too.” Ambrose laughs as Blaze caws excitedly, flying around her once more before swooping all around the office. Ambrose’s laugh trickles out again as he flies back to her.
And I know this is fucked.
My mind is fucked.
My heart is a traitor.
These feelings will break me. They’ll ruin me.
I need Ambrose out of my system.