Power Players Box Set- The Complete Series

by Cassia Leo

  “Hi, I’m Brina Kingston. I’m here for an interview with Mr. Maxwell.”

  She squinted at me for a moment before she answered. “You’re Brina?”

  “Uh, yes, I’m Brina. Is he expecting someone else?”

  She looked me up and down a couple of times before she shook her head and touched her glossy white computer screen. The screen came alive and another woman’s face flashed on—a woman I recognized. She was older, maybe late fifties, but she was impeccably made up, with her hair in a neat twist and her makeup looking like it had been painted on by Hasbro. But she wore a plain black t-shirt, like the t-shirt the receptionist was wearing.

  “Janice, the ten a.m. interview is here,” the receptionist said, and the fifty-some Barbie lit up with glee.

  “Well, send her up. You know Mr. Maxwell hates it when we keep him waiting.”

  It seemed odd to me to hear an older woman calling twenty-eight-year-old Luke Maxwell ‘Mr. Maxwell.’

  The receptionist looked up then pointed at an elevator lobby to my right. “Twelfth floor.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  The two office doors I passed on the way to the elevator were so glossy and white I could see my reflection. When I reached the elevator, I was not surprised to see myself again in the glass doors. I pressed the call button and resisted the urge to start adjusting my hair. The doors slid open and I stepped inside. The walls and bottom of the car were also made of glass, and I quickly grasped the handrail once I had pressed the number twelve button.

  One look through the transparent floor at the cables beneath the elevator and I closed my eyes. I hated elevators. I hated anything that forced me to climb higher than two feet off the ground. My brother’s broken body flashed in my mind and I gritted my teeth against the image, but I could already feel the panic building as my heart raced and my mouth went dry.

  A fucking glass elevator! Couldn’t someone have told me this before I agreed to take this assignment? I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood as I tried to push out the thoughts of the day my brother chose a flying leap over one more tour of duty.

  The elevator stopped and I kept my eyes level as I opened them, so I wouldn’t glimpse the hundreds of feet of empty space below me. The glass door slid open and I rushed out onto the polished concrete floor of level twelve. Barbie smiled at me from her pristine white desk a few yards away. Again, it looked odd to see this woman, with her perfect hair and makeup, wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I was beginning to feel out of place in my gray pencil skirt and silk oxford.

  “Hi, I’m Brina Kingston,” I said, being careful to keep my voice level and my shoulders back as I approached her, thoughts of my brother quickly evaporating into a cloud of anxiety over meeting Luke Maxwell.

  “Hello, Brina. I’m Janice.” For the sake of the mission, it was extremely important that we didn’t appear to know each other. “Mr. Maxwell is on a phone call,” she continued. “He should be ready for you in just a few minutes. Please have a seat. Can I offer you something to drink? Water, coffee, diet soda?”

  Diet soda? Was Janice implying I needed to go on a diet? I resisted the urge to inform her I had multiple modeling job offers before I joined NeoSys two years ago at the age of twenty-one. One photographer called my breasts ‘more luscious than two scoops of vanilla ice cream.’ I wasn’t a size zero, but no one had ever called me fat—except my brother, when he really wanted to hurt me.

  “No, thank you, Janice,” I replied.

  I drank half a gallon of water this morning in preparation for today’s meeting. I didn’t want my mouth to go all dry and crackly in the middle of the interview. I didn’t expect to get the job on the first try—I already had my follow-up phone call scripted—but nothing could be left to chance today.

  I took a seat in the cold, glossy white chair and set my purse on the chair next to me, fighting the urge to reach inside it and take out my Maxwell Flame phone. I told my boss at NeoSys that I had only bought the Flame for appearances, to nail the interview, but the truth was it’s far superior to the phones that used NeoSys software. If we didn’t get our hands on Maxwell’s newest software creation, we would lose all prospects at a half-billion-dollar deal with Imitex Robotics to develop the software for their new artificial intelligence line of products.

  A soft pinging sound came from Janice’s computer, and she tapped the screen before she looked at me. “He’s ready for you. You can go right in.”

  I grabbed my purse and headed for the glossy door behind her. I pushed down the lever knob and the weight of the heavy door seemed to carry it open on its own. I stepped inside and panicked a bit when I didn’t see Luke at his desk. When I stepped in farther, I saw him standing at the far right end of the office near a wall of transparent floating shelves stocked with everything from books to bottles of bourbon. He was pouring himself a glass when I caught his eye.

  He seemed to be the only person in the office wearing business attire: a crisp shirt, slacks, and a thin blue tie. He looked like he had stepped out of a Gucci ad. The morning sunlight poured in through the windows behind him and sparkled in his glass.

  He placed the bottle of bourbon on a shelf and cocked his eyebrow, a simple gesture that made him appear even more gorgeous. “You’re here for the interview?”

  The inflection on you’re confused me.

  “I’m s-sorry,” I stuttered as I gulped down my anxiety. “Were you expecting someone else?”

  He tilted his head at me as if he was the one who was confused. “Well, yes, I was expecting someone a bit…older.”

  My body tingled as he approached me with his glass of bourbon clinking in one hand, his other hand reaching into the pocket of his slacks. My gaze roamed over his perfect cheekbones and lips, mesmerized.

  Come on, Brina. Say something.

  “I…I can assure you I’m the most qualified candidate at the agency,” I replied, with only a slight warble in my voice. “Joplin only farms out the best and brightest for their executive positions.”

  “Executive positions.” He repeated this as if it meant something more, and I suddenly had a weird image of Luke and me executing a few positions in my bed.

  I tried not to blush at this thought, but I couldn’t hold back my smile. “I am here to interview for the position of executive assistant, aren’t I?”

  He was just a couple of feet away from me now. With the glow of the sunlight behind him and the soft smile on his face, he looked positively angelic. I wanted to reach out and stroke the light shadow of hair on his jaw.

  He brought the glass to his lips and took a sip. “Have a seat.”

  Mental note: He drinks in the morning.

  I exhaled slowly before I took a seat in front of his desk. He sat in the spinning silver chair on the other side and set his glass on the desktop. He spun around in his chair so he was facing the wall of windows. I seized the moment to admire the view—in the chair and outside the window. In addition to his broad, perfectly sculpted shoulders, the view of downtown Seattle was gorgeous. Off to the right, behemoths of concrete and glass rose up out of the ground to form the Seattle financial district, and to the left was a sparkling view of Puget Sound.

  “Why do you want to work here, Brina?”

  His question caught me off guard. I hadn’t introduced myself yet, which meant Luke was good with names.

  “At the risk of sounding like a groupie, I love Maxwell products and really admire what you’ve done for the industry. I’ve wanted to work here since I was a freshman at Cornell.”

  It was all true. I had actually applied to Maxwell Computers before I applied to NeoSys, but NeoSys called me first, and I was desperate to get my foot in the door. I never did hear back from Maxwell Computers on that internship, and now I was glad for that. I probably never would have been promoted so quickly in a place like this, as I had at NeoSys.

  “You don’t sound like a groupie,” he replied, and I tried to temper my annoyance as he continued to stare out the window instead
of looking at me. “You sound like me, only for me it was Microsoft. They rejected my application for an internship when I was seventeen, so I decided to build something of my own. Is that what you’re trying to do here?”

  “I’m not a software engineer,” I replied, unable to hide my annoyance.

  “Are you trying to build something for yourself?” he challenged me. “Do you think you can get in good with me by coming in here looking like that?”

  I blinked with confusion then quickly realized I needed to get this interview back on course. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I’m following you.”

  He turned his head and glared at me from across the desk. I stared back at him, making sure to blink a few times so he didn’t feel challenged. Finally, he smiled.

  “You’re hired.”

  I shook my head. “Excuse me?”

  He chuckled, aware that he’d completely thrown me off guard. “I said you’re hired.”

  My mouth fell open. “Just like that?”

  He cocked an eyebrow as he stared at me in silence, then he beckoned me with his finger. “Come here. I want you to see something.”

  “Excuse me?”

  The left side of his perfect mouth turned up in a half smile. “Come around the desk. I want to show you something.”

  I suddenly had a flashback of the horrifying moment I caught a homeless man jerking off behind a Wal-Mart. I gulped as I stood from the chair, leaving my purse behind, and circled the desk toward him. When I got behind his desk, I was pleased and disappointed to find him fully clothed. He pointed at the window and I followed the direction of his finger toward the center of the view from his office, where the silver city skyline melted into the serene dark blue of the Puget Sound.

  “Do you see that boat out there?” he asked.

  I squinted through the bright morning light and searched the ocean until I saw what looked like a modest sailboat floating on the water.

  “The sailboat?” I asked.

  He looked up at me from his sexy leather chair and flashed me a sexy grin. “If you want this job, you’re going to have to promise me one thing.”

  Great. This was where the most private bachelor in America made me his next conquest. He continued to gaze up at me through those sparkling aquamarine eyes, with one eyebrow cocked, awaiting my response.

  “What do I have to do?” I asked, a ping of excitement lighting up my insides.

  “You have to promise you won’t get sick on my boat.”

  I sighed with relief. “I love boats.”

  He let out a deep chuckle that made my breath stutter in my chest. “I hope you brought your sea legs, because we’re heading out to the marina now.”

  Chapter 2

  The drive to the marina was strange. We went in separate cars, and I couldn’t figure out if this was Luke’s notoriously private streak shining through, or if he planned on making another stop on the way. Once the driver pulled into the parking lot of the marina, I realized Luke was already there, standing next to a sports car he had evidently driven himself.

  He had also apparently changed his clothes while driving. With the t-shirt that showed off his beautiful pectoral muscles and the worn out jeans, he looked even sexier—if that were possible. Oh, God. Why did I have to dump that annoying lawyer I went on four dates with last month? Five weeks since I’d had sex and I was aching to be filled, but Luke was not the man who was supposed to do the filling.

  He nodded at me as I approached, as if he were greeting one of his buddies. “You’re wondering why the fuck I’m taking you on a boat.”

  I shrugged. “Hey, who am I to question the logic of the smartest man in America?”

  He eyed me skeptically. “Flattery doesn’t work on me. You should remember that from here on out. But I didn’t bring you here for work. I saw you in the elevator.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You panicked in the elevator. I saw it on the security cameras.”

  I felt the wind knocked out of me as I remembered how I’d felt in the elevator. “You were watching me?”

  “It’s okay. I know about your brother. I should have been prepared to have someone escort you up the stairwell before you arrived this morning. Anyway, this is where I come to unwind, so I guess this is my way of apologizing.”

  He knew about my brother? I knew he would investigate me, which is why all my ties to NeoSys for the last year and a half, everything after the internship, were erased. But I didn’t expect him to delve into my deepest, most personal pain.

  I shut my eyes tight and the marina disappeared. The bright red light behind my eyelids dissolved into Ryan’s smiling face. Ryan was my protector, even though he was a year younger than me. That’s what blinded me. I never thought he would be the one who needed protecting. I wished I could have seen through his smile to the deep blackness that had burrowed into him and devoured his soul. Not a day went by that I didn’t question what I could have done and said differently in the days leading up to his suicide seven months ago.

  “Oh, God, this is so embarrassing,” I whispered as I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “I’m sorry. I just have an intense fear of heights.”

  Luke reached across the distance between us and grasped my hand comfortingly. “Come with me.”

  He led me toward the docks and we passed dozens of boats that looked like the one my father used to take us on for company shindigs. My father’s position as lead structural engineer at a huge architectural firm had been cut after government contracts dried up during the recession. My father was too old and over-qualified to get another job making anything decent. All the best architectural and engineering firms wanted young engineers who had studied all the new ‘green’ construction methods. My father had been unemployed for nearly four years, and I was sending him and my mother a third of my income. I needed this promotion at NeoSys badly. So why was I walking along a dock, holding hands with the very man I was being paid to deceive?

  “The water is pretty calm in May,” he said as he turned right, onto the boat slip.

  I eyed the gleaming black paint on the boat and the name painted on the side: Charlotte.

  I wanted to ask him who Charlotte was, but I was afraid that would be an inappropriate question. Then I reasoned we had already gone past appropriate when he drove me to the marina and grabbed my hand. Maybe this was how I would get close to him. Maybe this was my ticket to unlock the secrets behind Blaze.

  “Who’s Charlotte?” I asked as we waited for a man to step down from the boat, onto the dock.

  “Brina, this is Captain Craig. Craig, this is my new assistant, Brina.” Luke introduced us very casually, giving me no indication he was going to answer my question.

  Captain Craig tipped his hat to me then quickly went on his way down the dock and away from us.

  “Don’t we kind of need him?” I remarked as Luke led me up the gangway and onto the boat.

  The wood railing was polished to a mirror shine, just like all the doors and glass in the corporate headquarters, and just like the two cars that brought us to the marina.

  Good with names, drinks in the morning, and loves shiny things. Mental note taken.

  “We’re not taking her out right now. This is Craig’s lunch hour, which is more like a lunch three-hour, and I don’t want to scare the fuck out of you on your first day.”

  The way he said fuck made me want to rip off his flimsy t-shirt and grubby jeans and straddle him right there on the deck. But instead, I prompted, “You didn’t answer my question.”

  He flashed me a fiery smile as he led me toward the ship’s wheel. “Go ahead, touch it,” he said, pointing at the glossy wooden wheel and still refusing to answer my question.

  I swallowed hard as I imagined touching other…things. “Okay, fine. I get it. It’s none of my business,” I said, coloring my voice with a touch of exasperation. “You can bring up my dead brother, but I can’t ask about your boat?”

  I stood behind the wheel and wrapped my f
ingers around the wooden spokes. He came up behind me and grabbed my waist before he leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Charlotte was my grandmother.”

  The sensation of his breath on my ear raised goose bumps all over my body. “Oh.”

  He grasped my waist tightly and spun me around fast. His face was inches from mine. “I have something else I want to show you.”

  Oh, crap! This was it. There would be no turning back after this. I had to decide now if this was how I was going to approach this job. As I gazed into his gorgeous blue eyes, I realized I had no choice. This was what my mother would call a ‘frozen margarita moment.’ The kind of moment that tastes delicious going down, but gives you a major brain freeze. I didn’t know what to say or do—I was frozen—but I knew if I followed Luke and his sexy ass below deck, everything would get delicious.

  His hand slid over my waist and stopped just below my breast. I bit my lip as I grabbed his hand and nodded toward the hatch. I descended the steps behind him, and as soon as my foot hit the floor, his mouth was on mine, hot and hungry. His hand slid around my back and pulled me close as I hooked my fingers into his hair. His other hand grasped my face softly as his tongue danced around mine, his lips crushing mine as the growing erection beneath his jeans was crushed against my belly.

  I reached down, undid the button and zipper, and his cock flung itself at me, hard and huge.

  He kissed my neck ravenously, and I took the broken lip-lock as an opportunity to sink to my knees. I had to taste him. I covered my teeth with my lips and took him into my mouth slowly. My eyes widened as his cock slid over my tongue and kissed my throat. His girth made my eyes water. I was on the brink of gagging when I slid him out. He groaned as I massaged the head with the tip of my tongue, licking and sucking the sensitive ridge. He tasted clean and juicy with just a hint of saltwater. A true seaman.

  I curled my fingers around the base of his cock and stretched the skin taut before I sucked him in again, bobbing quickly then slowly. I grabbed onto his tight ass with my other hand to steady myself as my knees ached against the wooden floor. His fingers clutched my hair, pushing himself deeper inside my mouth, tugging my hair back and forth a few times before he pulled out. He was still hard and slick, and I immediately began to pump my fist up and down his shaft. He pulled away again.