Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ELENA
For work, I wore a summer dress because it made me feel pretty and feminine. Spending too much time on my hair and makeup wasn’t my thing until today. After all that, I opted to leave my hair down with big waves. A side clip and some gold earrings finished my summer ensemble.
You look like you’re going on a date instead of work.
I didn’t care. It had been a long time since I’d dressed up. With all the stress I’d been dealing with, I almost forgot what it felt like to feel pretty. Even if it were just for one day, I wanted to wallow in this joy for as long as I could. It was an escape I desperately needed. The chaotic reality could resume tomorrow.
My mind wandered back to the dinner we shared at Let’s Ketchup. He’d enjoyed the food there and told me enough about professional thieves to start my article. Most thefts were committed for money, but some did it for the thrill. I asked too many questions that he’d deflected, answering them in a way that made him more mysterious. What was he hiding? One day I’d find out who the true Orion was.
Arriving at the parking garage of my workplace, I took a moment to gather myself.
My phone buzzed, and I smiled at the name.
Vivian: Hey! You busy next week?
Elena: I can make time for you. What’s up?
Vivian: Hosting a gathering on Thursday night. The girls want to see you.
Elena: Okay. Sounds like fun.
Vivian: We’ve got events planned that could be great for Musepaper.
That was true.
Elena: Want me to bring anything?
Vivian: Nope. Just show up. (Smile emoji)
Elena: See you soon!
I should probably sign up for one of her self-defense classes at the Martial Arts Studio in case an incident with drunk men occurred again. But I didn’t have any time and the extra income to pay for something that wasn’t a necessity.
I got out of the car, entered the building, and pressed the button to the fortieth floor. Glancing at my phone, I shook my head.
“You’re five minutes late. Way to make a great impression on your first day, Elena.” I shoved the phone back into my purse.
I glanced at the directory poster on the wall, showing several financial firms, law offices, and software companies. The top ten floors belonged to the Reimann Group, but it didn’t list what each floor did. From my research into the Reimann Group, it was an umbrella for a vast number of companies throughout the world.
How did he manage them all? Was he stressed? I juggled multiple part-time jobs while working on Musepaper, my dream. Though it wasn’t making me any big profits yet, I was happiest when working on what I loved. But anxiety never stopped hounding me.
The door to the elevator opened, and I stepped out into a spacious hallway.No one sat at the front desk. Maybe she just stepped away. I approached the desk, waited, and admired the modern furniture, unique three-dimensional art on the wall, and the décor that looked too pricey.
My gaze landed on a breathtaking painting on a wall. It was a night sky with the Orion constellation. I recognized the three stars that made up Orion’s Belt, which reminded me of what I dreamed about last night. It was fun yanking off his belt in his office. I read somewhere that there was a hidden meaning behind sexual dreams, but I didn’t have time to investigate yet.
See what stress did to my body?
I turned my attention back to the artwork. I could see him in the painting. The darkness blended with the light. What exactly was the hunter aiming at?
“Hey! It’s you!” It was the friendly man who had been present on the day of the car accident. He’d told me to leave before the owner found out.
“Hello,” I said, studying his cargo vest over a T-shirt and dark khakis.
He glanced down at his attire. “It’s a casual dress code for me. How are you?” He extended a hand. “I’ve been worried about you, Elena.”
He knew my name?
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Ralph.” His friendly eyes eased the nerves in me.
“Worried about me? Why?”
“Because you damaged my boss’sprecious car.”
“He’s your boss?”
Why hadn’t he said anything that day? I thought he was a random personwho’d walked by and witnessed my misfortune.
“Unfortunately, yes,” he said with a wink.
“ Unfortunately , Ralph?” Orion repeated, emergingfrom the hallway.
Our eyes met, and my stomach flipped. This man could fill the room with intense energy. It was hard not to notice him. A white shirt with sleeves rolled up to his forearms and fitted dark pants, cutting a mysterious figure. Like a decadent and dangerous secret no one could see. My curious nature desperately wanted to know what that was.
Smiling, Ralph walked over and patted Orion’s back. “ Unfortunately, it’s time for me to go. I have a long to-do list.”
“Apparently, it’s not long enough if you’re standing here complaining about me. Maybe I should add a few more items to it.” He smirked.
I loved the playful relationship between Orion and Ralph. What was their relationship? An employee who had worked for him for a long time?
Ralph laughed. “Go ahead. I’m used to it.” He turned to me. “Watch out for him. He can be very sneaky,steering you to do things you didn’t think you’d want to do. But then somehow you end up doing it and believing it was your idea to begin with. He’s dangerous .” He narrowed his eyes at Orion. “You’re just like your mother—cunning and...kind.”
Kind .
Of all the adjectives I would have used to describe Orion, kind wasn’t one. I hadn’t met a kind business executive. Orion was wealthier than any wealthy man I’d encountered. From my various encounters with him, I’d concluded he was an intelligent and calculating man who had an active mind. It was easy for a wealthy person to donate a lot of money to charity. Was that the gesture Ralph was referring to?
Regardless, I got to see a glimpse of the mystery inside the Orion conundrum. What else was in there?
“Nice seeing you, Elena. Be gentle with this guy, okay?” He elbowed Orion playfully. “Otherwise, he’ll take it out on me. Then my to-do list will be miles long.” He winked at me and left the office promptly.
The air in the spacious room suddenly thickened. The walls seemed to shrink as sexual energy swelled around us. I never knew what it meant when I read these kinds of descriptions in romance books. But right now, that tension in the room was palpable. My skin tingled from his gray eyes.
Orion felt the energy too. He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple shifted. We stood about four feet from each other, and I could see his vein throbbing on his neck.
His eyes fixated on me, and I should have looked away, but I couldn’t. What was he thinking? Why wasn’t he saying anything?
Why wasn’t I saying anything?
Did he think I overdressed for the first day of work? He said I could wear anything, but still. I felt self-conscious underneath that potent stare that probably made most people cower. I tugged at my dress, pretending to straighten out the perfectly fine sweep. Ugh. I’d never been this nervous around a man—a boss.
A boss who was in your sex dream.
Shut up , I scolded myself.
Orion’s eyes roamed my body, and I could almost feel the gaze traveling from my face down to my shoes.
Oh, God. My body was overheating, and I was going to combust under his stare. I needed to do something before I leaped onto him, climbinghis body like a fool and getting myself fired.
“Good morning,” I said, breaking the silence.
“Morning,” he replied.
“The floor seems quiet. Where’s your receptionist?” I jerked a chin to the front counter.
“He just left.” Orion closed the distance, now standing too close to me.
My heart rate increased, but I focused on something else. “Ralph’s your receptionist?”
“He’s a lot of things to me.”
“Ralph is an interesting man. He was there the day I dented your car. He told me to leave so I didn’t have to pay for the damages.”
“Why didn’t you?” His eyes sparkled.
“Trust me, that thought crossed my mind. But in the end, I had to do what was right.”
“Which was why I didn’t make you pay for the damages.”
I pursed my lips in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I saw you from the multiple cameras I have around the building, the ones in the streets, and the one embedded in my car. I heard your conversation with Ralph.”
“So you saw everything ? Why didn’t you show up when it first happened?”
“I was on an important conference call.”
“While you watched a video of me?” I didn’t know what to think that he’d been watching me interact with his employee.
“I can multitask.” The corners of his mouth rose.
“And you offered me the job because . . .?”
“Because I needed your help. After the accident, you were honest. That’s something I respect.” He swallowed again. “I need to trust the people I work with.”
I understood this statement too well. Chantel had tried to sabotage my career multiple times, and I couldn’t trust my manager to help me.
“I completely agree. Are you the only person on this floor?”
“I like my space and solitude.” His eyes remained on me.
“I assumed you would have a whole team here helping you.”
“My team is working on various projects on the floors below us. This floor is my personal space.”
He sounded like a man who had built invisible walls around himself. What was he hiding?
“But there’s a lot of space here. Am I the only one working with you on the floor?” Nerves shifted in my stomach. If there were other people here, they could serve as a buffer. But now I was forced into this close space with him.
“Is there a problem with that?” He asked, sounding annoyed.
“No,” I said, wondering what triggered the mood change.A part of me thought he was attracted to me. I prayed the rest of the day would be a smooth one without unexpected mood swings. “What do you have on this floor?”
“Your office is this way.” He walked beside me. Our arms touched, and I didn’t move away, and neither did he. Our arms continued to brush against each other as though a silent understanding passed between our bodies.
This was silly. We were both testing each other’s limits. Who would be the first to break?
Orion didn’t seem like someone who feared anything.He seemed different around me.
Was he afraid of me?
I couldn’t forget the day he’d saved me from those drunk idiots. He looked like he wanted to kill them. This man harbored so many emotions.
Even though he told me the reasons why he’d been at the scene, something told me it wasn’t the whole truth.Themore I got to know him, the deeper I had to dive in to figure him out.
We rounded the corner and our hands touched. A spontaneous idea popped into my head. I smirked as I tripped on my foot. He reached for my arm, yanking me against his hard body. His other arm wrapped around my waist, holding me tight to him. I inhaled his musky scent and melted into him. His hard cock pressed into my body.
Okay, now I knew for certain Orion wanted me.
“You okay?” he asked, looking down at me. A dangerous yet beautiful storm brewed in his eyes. I wanted to jump into them, swim in all of his secrets.
“Yeah. I’m clumsy today.” I straightened up, trying to wriggle free from his grip—from the hand that warmed my lower back. But he held me close.
“Do I make you nervous, Elena?” His voice had a deep, velvety undertone of seduction. Then he released me. Was he playing some game with me?
“No,” I lied. “Just first day of work jitters.”
“Let me give you a tour.” He took me down the hallway, past several rooms. “Bathroom is over there near the kitchen.”
We walked past a room with the door left ajar. The lights were off, but something sparkled inside it.
“What’s in there?” I asked.
“My Cosmic Lounge.”
“Your what?” Fascination tickled me. “May I see it?”
He hesitated, but kept his gaze on me.
“It’s okay if you’re uncomfortable?—”
Orion took my hand, and the gesture surprised me. My heart galloped as he led me into the dark room. It felt spacious, but I couldn’t be sure. When the stars emerged from the ceiling and the walls, all thoughts fell away, leaving me in complete awe.
His hand squeezed mine, and a wonderful sensation rushed through me. Maybe it was because I was standing in the middle of the cosmos with a man I’d been dreaming about. In this moment, the impossible seemed possible. Orion had been out of my reach, dwelling in a different world. But right now, we both stood hand in hand while the stars winked at us. The background changed colors, like the mesmerizing nebula images from NASA.
After a few moments of silence, I looked at him. “It’s magical.”
“It is.” He met my eyes, and stars gleamed in them.
“I’ve never been in a room like this. It feels so real.”
“With the right technology, anything is possible.”
“It’s easy to do that when you have unlimited money. My dreams have limitations.” I broke away from our joined hands to walk around the room. Looking up, I reached for a cluster of stars that gleamed close by. I closed my eyes and imagined clasping them into my grip as though I’d captured my dream. As though I’d captured Orion in my hand.
“Do youknow what constellation you just caught?” he asked.
I should lie and tell him I didn’t know that I was holding the Orion constellation, but the way he looked at me demanded honesty
“The hunter in the sky,” I said.
He sighed and ran a thumb across my cheek. “I like how you reached for me.” The slight rumble of his voice and the arrogant smirk made me speechless.
His musky scent overwhelmed me, and his voice was like a drug that numbed all my logic. I rose to my tippy toes so that my lips were a breath away.
“What is the hunter looking for?” I whispered.
Lust smoldered in his eyes, and he cupped my face with both hands. “You.” Then his lips crashed into mine.
The embers in me burst into a bonfire, and I kissed him back. I’d been yearning for this, and now I knew he wanted me just as much. My body fell against his broad chest. Hiscock throbbed against me.
I moaned as his tongue coaxed my lips apart, darting in to greet my tongue. My legs wobbled, so I looped my arms around his neck, wanting to be closer to him. He lifted me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He pushed away the fabric of my dress, cupping and molding my ass. Sensations roared through my body.
“You taste even better than I imagined.” He sucked on my tongue and dragged an open mouth down my neck, carrying me somewhere.
I felt the cool surface of the wall on my back while his lips lingered on the junction of my shoulder. The stars sparkled everywhere in the dark room. It felt so magical that he was adoring me underneath the stars.
A hand skimmed up my body, feeling and touching everything. When he cupped a breast, I arched into his hand and moaned.
“You’re so beautiful, Elena.”
I met his gaze and saw the hunger he had for me.
“So are you, Slingshot.”
His eyes sparkled as he kissed me again. He angled his headfor a deeper kiss. I wanted to feel him everywhere. Desire leaked out of me, wetting my panties, but I didn’t care. His handsqueezed one buttock and found its way under my pantie to cup my sex.
“Fuck. You’re so wet.”
I gasped when he shoved a finger in me. It was glorious. I loved the feel of his long finger pumping me while his powerful hand secured me against the wall.
“Oh my God.” I moaned into his neck, inhaling his scent.
Right now, he smelled of musk and sex,a predator enjoying its prey. I bit into his neck, and he groaned. I dropped kisses along his neck and came to the necklace.
I held it in my hand. “Interesting ring-pendant.”
Orion froze. He pulled out his finger and the lustful expression disappeared. He gripped my hand and tore it from the pendant, looking angry. He released me and stepped back.
Saying nothing, he walked to the door and paused. “Your office is two doors down. The assignment is in the folder.”
“What just happened?” I asked, feeling confused.
He stopped in his steps for a second, then turned around. “A test.”
“A test?” My body was still vibrating from the passion we’d just shared, so I couldn’t thoroughly comprehend what he meant.
“I wanted to see if you were attracted to me. You are.” He smiled. “Just like all the other women.”
My heart cracked. Shame overwhelmed me. I’d never felt so used and discarded like this.
“So I’m like all the other women you kissed in your office?”
He lifted a shoulder.
“You’re an asshole.” My heart raced with indignation.
“I never said otherwise. It’s best that you don’t romanticize me. After all, I’m your boss.”
I fumed, anger tightening my chest. If I didn’t need the money, I would’ve just quit on the spot. He’d already given me an advance. If I were to quit, I couldn’t pay him back.
Oh, Elena. Why do you always get yourself involved with assholes?
“Don’t think about quitting. There’s a clause in the agreement that states you’ll have to pay for my search for a replacement if you quit during the first week of employment. The fee is costly, Ms. Sanchez.”
I couldn’t believe this.I’d signed the agreement mere days ago, but I didn’t remember that clause. But then again, my stressed brain had overlooked a few things lately.
Orion was friends with people I knew, so I wasn’t on guard with him.
Big mistake.
I wish there were a hole in the floor that could suck me in like a Black Hole, taking me anywhere but here.
I was angry, sad, but also determined to see this through.
“Don’t worry. I keep my word. I’ll do my job and you won’t ever see me again. Make sure you clean that off, Mr. Reimann.” I gestured to the cum on his pants. “It’d be awkward when your next test subject shows up.”
He glanced down at his pants, looked back at me, turned, and disappeared from view.
I almost expected him to toss money my way as a gesture of gratitude for falling into his trap! What had I gotten myself into? I was a fucking test, like some kind of sick game billionaires played with women.
All the feelings of unworthiness surfaced, reminding me of why Liam had broken up with me. Tears blurred my eyes, and as much as I tried to prevent myself from crying, I couldn’t. The tears streamed down my face as I made my way to my so-called office and slammed the door shut.