CHAPTER FOUR
DREW
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For two weeks I’ve been fidgety, and I know why. Today Gemma Ford is starting her contract with us. Technically, she could work from the Open Leaf offices, but we have culled back the executive team to a skeleton staff, ended their lease and moved them into a section of the OCP offices.
I want Mrs. Ford close.
Actually, I want her on my cock, but as a professional, I’d never think such a thing.
Bullshit.
I love how I unnerve her.
In three months, when her contract ends, I’m going to fuck her pussy so goddamn hard she’ll be in Australia by the time she orgasms.
And trust me, she will be begging for it.
I greet her as Chloe shows her into my office.
“Welcome, Gemma. May I call you Gemma?”
“Yes. It’s much better than Ms. Ford.”
I smirk privately as I round my desk and sit.
“My apologies for that,” I lie.
I never thought she was single. I know exactly who she is, and for some reason the fact that she was married irks me.
Which is new.
Women usually fall into two categories in my world: fuckable and unfuckable. Obviously if they are married, it’s the latter. It doesn’t matter how beautiful they are.
Her husband is dead, but I still don’t like that he had her in his bed.
Honestly, it pisses me off. Why I should care is beyond me. But one look at her and I took an instant liking to the dead guy.
Illogical.
Which is not a word anyone would describe me.
Blunt, direct, cut-throat, pragmatic, successful...possibly even cold if they weren’t someone in my inner circle.
Never illogical.
So I’m aware that my attraction to this woman is somewhat unusual.
“It’s in the past.” Gemma places her tablet on the edge of my desk and smooths her pants. “I see the remaining members of the team are here. For how long?”
“Undetermined,” I answer. “For now, I need you to continue running things as you have. A new budget has been sent to you. Please stick to it and raise any concerns with me or my team immediately.”
“Okay.”
“Chloe will send you invites to accompany my team and me to store visits around the country.”
“Oh,” Gemma blinks.
“We’ll travel in the Carrington jet, so just follow Chloe’s instructions and ask her anything you need to know.”
A warm blush hits her cheeks, and I feel a stupid pang of pride. I’ve been wealthy all my life. Why I should care what this woman thinks about me owning an aircraft is beyond me.
Yet I do.
Gemma Ford is beautiful. There’s no reason I wouldn’t. She was a very rich woman. Now, the steps she takes over coming years will determine if she stays wealthy.
Normally, money and women are a sensitive topic for me.
Along with my friend Colt, the owner of Obsidian Club, I have three other close friends. We all went to Harvard.
Actually, there were six of us.
Jack.
Jack was murdered.
Officially he died while on his honeymoon, but we all know his wife Sandy was the one who took his life. She walked away with billions and a smile. One I’d like to wipe off her face.
None of us have seen her since the funeral, nor have we sought her out.
That I know of. But she left us all with a strong sense of mistrust in women and romantic love.
Jack was besotted with Sandy and thought she was the love of her life.
Sebastian was the first of us to see it, and at the time we thought he was envious.
Jack wasn’t exactly the best looking of the six of us—clearly that’s me—so seeing him adored by Sandy made me happy.
Until it turned out she was nothing but a black viper.
I can’t remember who said it, that she was blacker than black. Evil incarnate.
“Obsidian,” Sebastian mumbled.
“What?” Mason asked.
“Obsidian. Blacker than black,” he repeated.
And I think that was the moment we all adopted the word and began incorporating it into our company branding: The Obsidian Club, Remington Obsidian Holdings, Obsidian Nexus Technologies, Sterling, Obsidian & Associates, and my company, Obsidian Capital Partners.
Before I became the billionaire finance tycoon—a term used by People Mag—that I am today, I suffered another loss.
Two years after Jack’s death, my mom died of a sudden heart attack. She was forty-seven. It was a double whammy in the grief department. While I had Dad and my cousin Derek, who I was close to, it was my friends I leaned on. Colt, Mason, Sebastian and Zander.
The five of us vowed never to marry unless it was true love. I sort of expected we’d all grow old while remaining single, long into our late forties with graying hair, smoking cigars while leering at pretty twenty-something women like total creeps.
Hardly a life goal, I admit.
What I didn’t expect was for Sebastian to fall in love with a young British girl he met in first class and then learn she was his new PA. But he did, and now he’s married to Emily.
Then Mason, who hired Emily’s friend Lexi when what he really wanted to do was fuck her brains out. Which he also did, and now they’ve fallen in love.
Even if I had been able to foresee Seb and Mason’s relationship status change, I never in a thousand years would’ve put money on Colt falling head over heels in love. He owns a sex club, for goodness sakes.
Yet he did.
He met Riley online and soon after fueled up the jet and flew to Australia to shag her. If only it had been that simple, but long story short, she now has a big fucking diamond on her finger and a baby in her belly.
That leaves me and Zander to fly the single men flags, and I can tell you that neither of us are in a hurry to pack them away.
“I have a daughter so will need to arrange care,” Gemma says, pulling me back to the present. “Advance notice would be helpful if we are traveling.”
Yes, I knew the fucker, aka her husband, had also put his baby inside her.
Jesus, I need to get a hold of myself.
“Chloe is very organized. I only foresee a couple of overnight excursions.”
I stand, round the desk, and as Gemma rises, reaching my shoulder, I find myself wanting to take her chin and taste her mouth.
Her eyes lift, dilating and giving away what she’s trying to hide.
My lips quirk.
Her eyes dip away, and she clears her throat.
“Let me take you down to your office,” I say, threading my arm around her and making the very bad mistake of touching her.
The blast of desire as my palm takes her arm has us both locking gazes one more.
Fuck.
This is going to be a long three months.