Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Ryan
When I hung up with the financial lady, I pulled up her company website.
That fucking voice. It was pure intelligence, even though she seemed a bit flustered in the beginning.
As soon as she spoke my cock sprang to life.
I worked with quite a few female co-narrators over the last year and had heard their breathy voices in the throes of sexy scenes.
None of them made my body pay attention like that woman’s timbre.
When she accidentally swore I almost groaned into the phone.
Throughout the call I only half paid attention, focusing on her voice instead of the boring stuff she was saying about stocks and numbers.
My mind drifted to places it shouldn’t have gone.
I clicked on the “About” tab, and holy goth baddie.
Staring at her photo for much longer than was socially acceptable, my eyes roamed over her obsidian hair that was half pulled back, leaving a few shorter wisps around her face.
Her black suit and crisp white blouse fit her perfectly.
The thing that drew me in the most, though, was her eyes.
They shined like emeralds in a jewelry store.
She was as gorgeous as she sounded on the phone, and I found myself wishing I’d met her in person instead of a call.
But then again, I knew this woman was far out of any league I could ever hope to play in.
I finally snapped out of the spell she had on me and realized I was supposed to be working. I began to push away from my desk when I wondered if it could be possible she knew me professionally. I figured it was probably unlikely since I doubted she filled her time with audiobooks or social media.
Her bio said she was the owner of the company, confirming my assumptions, and listed a fuck ton of accolades.
She didn’t look that old, but I could tell she was at least thirty.
Shit, this was getting worse for me, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Older women were hot as fuck, and my resolve to work ebbed.
Still, I thought there was a possibility she might have heard my voice before.
The way she’d been breathless and didn’t respond immediately at different points in the call had peaked my interest. Being the crazy psycho I was, the next three hours were spent looking at my followers on social media to see if they remotely looked like they could be her.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find her, but it was probably for the best. If I knew she followed me and was seeing my posts I would’ve whipped my dick out and fucked myself right then.
The thought of that woman listening to my sexy words would have done me in.
It would’ve been enough jerk off material for a week, at least.
When I looked at the time again, it was five.
I was out of commission for recording and would be late getting the audio done.
What the fuck was I doing? I wasted half my day entranced by someone I’d never met.
I hated people, so why was I suddenly unable to think of anything except this woman?
Sighing, I hauled my dejected ass to the shower, and then I emailed Craig.
Two minutes after I sent the email my phone rang. “Craig, I literally just told you in the email that I would have it to you tomorrow by noon. An extra four hours won’t be the end of the world,” I huffed.
“Ryan, earlier you said it would be first thing tomorrow morning since you apparently couldn’t record over the weekend,” he shrieked.
“Everything is due by the end of this week and we still have to go through production. Honestly, what’s taking so long with this one?
You’ve not been this far behind schedule in the eleven months I’ve repped you. Is everything all right?”
“I’m fine. I know I’m overdue. I’ve been distracted. I’ll get it done. Talk to you tomorrow.” I tapped the screen to end the call.
Distractions. That was definitely why I hadn’t recorded at all this afternoon. I had struggled with finishing this audiobook anyway, but today I procrastinated for an entirely different reason.
The annoyance with Craig still lingered as I went to the fridge for a Redbull.
I usually didn’t stream on Mondays but I had nothing else to do while I waited for my neighbors to go to bed.
Padding back to my desk, I grabbed the gray hoodie draped across the back of a chair on the way.
As I sat down my phone lit up. Notifications were usually always on silent since I got so many—except the ringer for calls so Craig wouldn’t have an aneurysm.
Earlier in the day I’d turned on social media notifications to see how well a new type of video I posted that morning was doing.
Deciding to turn them off later, I focused on the computer.
I pulled up the IM and voice messaging app I used with the guys and the phone lit up again a few seconds after it went dark.
I navigated to the streaming website and started typing when yet again, the phone lit up.
I knew I got a lot of likes, comments, and follows daily, but when the phone kept lighting up, my curiosity flared, and I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing it.
All of the notifications were from social media so I tapped into the app.
“@finigirl666 started following you.”
“@finigirl666 liked your reel.”
The last one repeated ten times.
The account was a host of black and white abstract photos, and the profile picture was a monochrome photo of the cropped edge of a mug.
Finding nothing of substance, I moved my thumb to the home button after scrolling through the dozen posts, but a flash of color caught my eye near the bottom of the page.
I hesitated, homing in on the photo, and tapped to enlarge it.
The color that got my attention was a green eye framed by pale skin and a lock of black hair.
At first glance it seemed like the picture had been rendered grayscale like the others, but it was in color.
The light made the skin appear ashen against jet black hair, and it was one of the most striking photos I’d ever seen.
Could this be her? Was this Raven Lovelace, the lady that was going to turn my world upside down? Intuition told me it was possible.
I worked all night to get the audio finished.
Gemstone eyes and vampire pale skin were all I fantasized about instead of gaming until I could record again.
It was a struggle to get into the booth and concentrate on the lines when all I could hear in my head was her flustered gasps from the call.
The more I thought about it, the more I hoped she recognized my voice.
During the last sex scene I recorded, I gave a little more enthusiasm than I usually did for narration.
I caught myself adding in breaths and pants that were usually saved for my paid content.
While reading the lines, I thought of her.
Running my hands over her body like my character in the book.
Making her come with my mouth before thrusting deep inside her.
When I played the sound back it was a perfect performance, requiring no redos unlike the morning before.
Hopefully, the author would be happy with it.
Finigirl had liked a few more of my reels last night.
I deliberately checked my phone around four a.m. to see if anything had happened while I recorded and I was met with a slew of likes around ten, just after I’d locked myself in the studio.
I grew hard thinking she might be listening to my videos in bed.
I finished the project and sent it to Craig in an email, telling him I was taking a few days off as well.
Over the next three days I mostly played video games while streaming and recorded a ton of new personal content. I was set for the next few weeks for social media and paid subscriptions.
My thumb had just tapped the icon to schedule a post when the phone dinged with a notification.
I’d decided to leave the sound on for notifications, always checking them fairly quickly in search of Finigirl, but hadn’t gotten any new notifications from the account since Monday.
I swiped down to see the notification not from Finigirl, but from the woman herself.
Raven Lovelace’s name stared back at me from the phone screen.
Heart picking up speed, I quickly opened the email.
She wanted to schedule a call to discuss the portfolio she’d put together.
I swallowed at the thought of hearing her voice again.
Pacing around the apartment, I typed a reply saying that I was available anytime.
Her response was almost immediate, saying she would call me in a few hours at three.
I groaned, my blood rushing straight to my dick. I couldn’t remember a time I was so gone over a woman I’d talked to on the phone one fucking time. Fuck, I was being absurd.
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I thought back to the last time I’d gone out to a bar or had a date. I mentally recounted the past few months, coming up with nothing. Surely it hadn’t been since my career took off…had it?
Damn, maybe it had, and that was why I was going nuts over this woman.
I just needed to get laid and getting laid by her was out of the question.
She wasn’t the type of woman I would forget easily and I wasn’t about to get hung up on someone I couldn’t have.
Rather, I wouldn't let myself have. She wouldn’t give me a second look anyway.
A random hookup would do the trick, and I had the whole weekend ahead of me to find a suitable chick who would be down.
I reinstalled the dating apps I had deleted and began swiping.
There were hordes of people looking for a quick fuck, which was what the apps mostly consisted of.
No one on them wanted lasting relationships, in my experience.
The options were endless, but as I began swiping right, my excitement wasn’t from the prospect of all the attractive women at my fingertips.
It was for the one specific woman who I had a call with that afternoon.
“Ms. Lovelace. Good to hear from you,” I said into the speaker with much more enthusiasm than I intended. I refocused, slipping into the sexy mindset I used when I was Zander without thinking about it.
“Hi, Mr. Mitchell. How are you?”
I clenched a pen in my fist. This time when I heard her voice I imagined that fucking gorgeous face that went with it—and it sounded even better than I remembered. “I’m better now. I hope you have good news for me,” I said, as slowly as I could manage.
She swallowed, and her voice came out unsteady. “Oh, uh, well, it doesn’t actually work like that. I just wanted to go over the investment plan I’ve put together for you so we can get started on Monday. Do you have some time to discuss those?”
“Yes, Miss…” I dropped my voice even lower.
“It is Miss isn’t it? Or is it Mrs.?” I was taking a risk asking something so personal, but I had to know if she was married.
I wouldn’t encroach on a marriage. Even flirting was out of the question.
Wait, why was I flirting with her? Regardless, if she was seeing someone, I likely wouldn’t care, but I drew the line at fucking with marriages.
But who was I kidding, I wanted her to be single.
“Uh, yes, it's Miss. Um, about the portfolio. You’re going to want to do a mix of investments in small and mid caps, so you don’t put all your funds at the highest risk.”
So she was single, and it was the best thing I’d heard.
For twenty minutes she droned on about the plans, and I gave the occasional agreement and asked for elaboration a few times. I could listen to her talk about anything for hours.
“Does that sound agreeable?” she asked.
I laced my voice with extra seduction. “If you can make stocks and bonds sound this enticing then I’d hate to be on the opposite side of an argument with you. One sentence and you would have me agreeing with anything you say.”
She was silent for a few long moments, and I would’ve given anything to know the thoughts running through her mind. I finally spoke so she didn’t have to, saving her the awkwardness.
“Everything sounds great, Miss Lovelace.” I chuckled. “You can go ahead and get started next week.”
She cleared her throat. “Sure thing. Thank you for your time, Mr. Mitchell.”
“I’ll talk to you again soon, Raven.” I smirked and disconnected the call.
I was more playful with her than I intended, but when I heard her voice again, I couldn’t stop myself.
I meant to be nothing but business. It turns out I had no self-control.
Shaking my head, I shifted back to the task of talking to the ladies I had matched with on the apps.
I tried to find one who I could meet that night.
Raven Lovelace was far out of my reach, and I refused to embarrass myself by going after her.
I had to fuck this woman out of my mind.