Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Hunter
S he was breathtaking. Whatever I had imagined she would look like when dressed up, she blew all of my expectations out of the water and exceeded them. I couldn't quite believe this was the same person who had been wearing the dreariest and most oversized clothes since the day she had started working for me. In a way, I almost regretted insisting that she do this because after seeing her in this way, I didn’t know how I would be able to revert to not noticing her as a woman. Thus far, she had simply been my secretary, but now... well, that had been blown to bits.
Still, I had ample control of myself, so I didn't gawk or stare, but it was difficult to not notice the curve of her body. She seemed like she worked out. Her arms and abdomen were so impressively toned, and I was even more astounded.
“Do you go to the gym regularly?” I asked as the elevator headed down towards the ground floor.
She turned to glance at me then but couldn’t quite meet my gaze.
“Yes, Sir, I do,” she replied. “A couple of times a week, and I try to run each morning.”
I nodded, impressed, and couldn't believe she had hidden all that work behind dreary clothes. Well, it was paying off now in monumental ways because I couldn't keep my eyes off her ass. She was closer to the buttons than I was, so I could look at her and appreciate how the dress clung to her so much better. It was just so much more than I had expected, and my mind still didn’t quite know how to process this. Tonight was going to be interesting, to say the least, and truly, I couldn’t wait.
We met the Swedish businessmen and women about half an hour later when we finally arrived at the venue. It was an extremely traditional Japanese restaurant, which meant that we had a private room and had to sit on the floor. It was comfortable, though quite the experience for me, so I soon settled in, and she did the same by my side. It was incredibly hard not to notice the slide of her slit up her thighs, so deeply that for a second, I was sure I glimpsed her underwear.
I shook my head to control my mind and thoughts, but I couldn’t help but notice the Swedish CEO's complete focus on her.
“Have you ever been to Thailand before, Miss...?” he asked. She was a bit startled he was speaking to her, so she couldn’t help but glance at me. I didn’t mind, so she responded.
“It’s Miss Parish,” she replied, and the man nodded in response.
“Lovely name. What’s your first name, though?”
“Madison,” she replied, and I grew impatient.
“We should get started,” I said, and the man instantly came to his senses and sat properly as well as the others present in the room.
A Japanese attendant then came in with liquor and the food that had been selected and reserved ahead of time for both parties and calmly began to serve them. Realizing just how famished I was since I had skipped lunch, I dug into the meal immediately and managed to relax despite how serious the conversation topic was.
We talked extensively about technology deployments and their adaptation of our novel AI-driven software in increasing the efficiency and output of renewable energy systems. We talked about local partnerships with like-minded firms and the government, some of whom I had met at the welcome breakfast earlier in the day. All in all, our visions were aligned, and they seemed to be able to build the reach, so it was one to consider. I was so engrossed in all of this that it took me a while to realize that he was incessantly filling Madison’s drink cup from across the table.
Wanting to be polite, she couldn’t refuse and had to down it, but pretty soon it was hard not to notice that he was getting her drunk. Especially when she very vocally tried to reject him, and he refused. It was all under the guise of being friendly and hospitable, but pretty soon, I grew immensely irritated with him.
However, I didn’t want to step in because I wanted to know more about his character, especially when it came to personal relations. So, I allowed him to do whatever he wanted to her until she was barely managing to stay upright. I couldn’t help but turn to her then and feel pity. I was quite upset, though, because I didn’t like how weak she appeared. I knew, though, that she was probably trying to endure for the sake of the company.
I understood and really appreciated the consideration, but the moment she came to, I was for sure going to give her a huge scolding. Nothing ever should come at the detriment to her well-being, especially in the midst of strangers and in a foreign country.
The liquor was potent and strong, even for me, and I knew how to hold mine on a normal day.
Suddenly, she got up to her knees, and it startled me. I wondered what she was doing until I realized that she was reaching for my cup. I had set it down earlier after picking it up because I had found that it was empty, and I didn’t want to drink any more.
“I’ll refill it for you, Sir,” she said, her speech drowsy and her eyes constantly trying to close shut. She was fighting it and so unstable yet trying to do her job.
I said no, but she didn’t hear me. Instead, she smiled and stared into my eyes, and something in my heart shifted. She looked like a little kid, yet with the gorgeous body of a woman that no one else could take their eyes away from. It made me wonder just how old she was. I had been so disinterested in her for so long, so unable to see her for so long that I didn’t even know what her age was. This was disappointing, to say the least for me.
“No need,” I repeated, but she was so clumsy that the tiny cup overturned and spilled across the table. It went downwards and almost began to pour onto my crotch, and she shifted even further. Without thinking, she grabbed the nearest cloth that she could find and began to dab it all over my crotch.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” she cried. “Sir!”
If we were alone, I would have allowed things to continue because one touch of her hands to that private area and I was immediately having a reaction. Perhaps the alcohol was not just bad for her, but for me as well.
Sighing, I grabbed onto her arm and settled her down beside me. The ride of her dress and how it revealed the black underwear she had on was impossible to miss. All I could hope was that the Swedish creep across the table, enjoying the show, couldn’t see it. I wanted to fix it, but when I found that I couldn’t, I decided it was time to go. I rose to my feet then, and as I did, it hit me that perhaps she had allowed herself to get so wasted because I was here, and she trusted that nothing untoward would happen to her. Whether this, or she didn’t feel the strength of the liquor, which I was convinced was hard to do. It was fruity, but the second my tongue had tasted it and felt the burn down my throat, I knew it was not an ordinary drink. Too bad she wasn’t able to detect this and had instead gotten carried away.
“Why would you be leaving now when we just got started?” all four of them instantly rose to their feet as well. The one literally trying to poison Madison continued, “We’ve just gotten the boring stuff out of the way, and now we’re about to get to the great part.”
“No,” I replied. “As you can see, she’s not able to control herself anymore, so I need to get her to bed.”
At my words, the room seemed to suddenly go quiet, and I knew what the problem was. I knew what I had said and how it came off. And I didn’t care. I just truly wanted to get her out of here before it was too late. With my hand around her waist, I allowed her to lean against my shoulder.
“Here, a bottle of water,” one of the women offered. “She’ll feel a bit better after this, and a good night’s sleep will have her back to new.”
“Hopefully,” I replied because we had a lot of work to do. I started to head out of the room, but just as I had stepped out, the man came over to me. He shut the door behind me so that the others wouldn’t hear what he had to say.
“Mr. Swift,” he said, “I was just wondering if you have a personal relationship with your secretary here?”
I watched him, my temper rising, the desire to set Madison down somewhere so that I could have all the strength and focus in punching the living daylights out of him.
“No, I don’t,” I replied dryly, and I was only able to catch myself because despite his creepy ways, he was actually a prominent client whom, if I indeed collaborated with, could expand our business even further out of the west.
“I would like to pursue her, then,” he said. “I hope this won’t be a problem with you.”
I stared at him, wondering if I had heard him correctly. At my darkening expression, he further clarified his sentence.
“I hope I’m not offending you; it’s just that since you’re not interested in her and I am, I would like a chance to pursue her. I would have liked to spend more time with her now, for instance, but you’re sending her back to her room.”
“You can’t see that she’s drunk?” I asked. “That doesn’t mean anything to you?”
He laughed. “These drinks were really strong, weren’t they? I didn’t expect that she wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“You kept feeding it to her,” I replied.
He stopped, then, the smile dissipating from his face. However, I continued to push.
“Was your plan to get her drunk? And were you expecting me to abandon her as well so that you would have free access to do whatever you wanted to her while she was so drunk and incoherent?”
“She doesn’t—she seems fine,” he replied. “Drunk, definitely, but not incoherent.”
I turned to glance at the woman by my side and noted that she had straightened and was staring at the man.
“He’s right,” she slurred. “I’m fine.”
Smiling, she tried to pull away from me, and I rolled my eyes.
“She’s not,” I told the man. “I know what a normal state is for her, and this is not it. So, while she still might not be incoherent to you, she is to me, so I’ll take her back to the hotel and to her bedroom to get some rest, and you can try your hand at propositioning her next time when she's actually awake, alert, and sober.”
He glared at me, but I didn't care. I turned around then, but before I left, while holding her hand in mine, I had one more thing to say to him.
“Your character so far has not been particularly pleasing to me. If you know anything about me, then you'll know that the character of a business partner is equally, if not even more important than the product or service they’re actually providing to me. I think you need to reconsider our collaboration because if this is the way you try to take advantage of people, then I will definitely not be interested in collaborating with you.”
“Mr. Swift, please don't take things too far,” he said. “Millions of people will benefit from our collaboration, and I was just asking you about your secretary and honestly putting forward my interest in pursuing her if you didn't have anything to do with her.”
I wasn’t going to remain here arguing semantics with him, so I simply ignored him and headed out to fetch our waiting car.