Corporate Ties
by
E. L. Loraine
Text copyright © 2014 by Elizabeth Loraine. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recorded, photocopied or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious and are a product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to persons living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
CHAPTER ONE
His chest heaved as he looked down at the bobbing head of the beautiful woman crouched between his knees. He groaned as she worked magic with her mouth and talented tongue and agreed - she was as good as he'd been promised. His thighs, and then his entire body began to tense as the pressure of his release built. Suddenly, he grimaced, his face pinched in a sudden, exquisite pain. He cried out, sat forward abruptly, reaching down toward her. Panic registered in his eyes just before they rolled back in his head and he slumped into his executive chair. The woman at his feet gracefully rose, pulled a tiny glassine bag and a tissue from her skimpy bodice and once the micro-syringe was safely deposited, she wiped her mouth with the tissue. Holding her fingers to the man’s neck and feeling no pulse, bent down, tucked his now limp member into his slacks, and with a yank, re-zipped them. Gracefully she turned and casually ambled into the bathroom. Placing the glassine bag inside her purse, she looked in the mirror, her full attention on the reapplication of lip gloss. Finished, she pressed her lips together and ran her hands over her hair. It was only then she allowed herself a fleeting but satisfied smile. She quickly dressed, straightened and smoothed her clothing and made her way down to the garage to the waiting sedan. Moments later the driver eased into his seat.
"Did you take care of the security cameras?" she asked him.
"Of course and you?" He glanced into the rear-view mirror, saw her slight nod and smiled.
"Another heart attack I'm afraid," she said with a mock pout. "To the airport."
He nodded and started the car as the glass barrier quietly rose between them.
~~~~
Olivia sat in the meeting totally bored as usual. Hours of business and design courses at NYU hadn't prepared her for the doldrums of everyday life in the corporate world. But, if she was going to open her own business in the next few years, she needed to learn everything she could about these corporate powerhouses and how they ran things. So, she came in early and went home late, became the model employee, kept her head down and did quality work. Her job description put her mostly on the marketing end of things, but she made sure she learned the ins and outs of every division at Dolby, Inc. That meant studying the engine of the firm, from accounting procedures, on up to personal and metadata gathering, from the type of digital data bases they used, to the kind of soap they put in the washrooms and how it differed from the executive suites to the lower level employee facilities. The credits she earned from her courses in corporate law served her well as she studied every contract the corporation signed in the last year, until she recognized whether each was a standard form or had been custom crafted. She quizzed herself until she knew their covenants like she knew the pin number of her bank account.
She pressed her hands down the sides of her perfectly tailored, gray, pin-striped skirt, centering herself as the blended monotone of background voices wafted around her.
Olivia’s looks had always worked, both beneficially and detrimentally for her. With them it was easier to get people at all levels to open up to her, but her striking looks also caused her to be unfairly accused of using them to get what she wanted. In reality, more often than not, her beauty held her back. And despite the snide remarks, she had no intention of sleeping her way to the top, but it never stopped men, or women for that matter, from trying to entice or seduce her.
She looked around the conference room. The usual suspects lined the custom built, over-sized table. Jerrod was sitting across from her and every time she glanced up from the agenda he was there leering. During those first days on the job, he'd aggressively pursued her. She shivered remembering the lingering touches, and the innuendoes that came with his invitations. It took saying ‘no’ several times before he got it straight: she wasn’t interested and didn't mix business with pleasure. Although, lately, there were times she wished that wasn't her policy. She smiled to herself and thrummed her pen on the yellow legal pad in front of her as the image of Tyson, her boss, everyone's boss for that matter, came to mind. Just thinking about him made her panties damp and...
"Anything to add Olivia?" Jerrod asked, jerking her back to reality.
Adroitly, she managed to answer Jerrod’s ambush without betraying either her thoughts or inattention. "I’d only warn that if we don't receive the long term projections by tomorrow on the Matasuki project, we're going to lose them to Stein...again."
"Well,” Jerrod pinned her with his stare, “maybe it's time you took over Matasuki then. The big man himself is going to be in town Friday. We've put him up at the Plaza. He's here for business and to attend the World Hunger Gala, for which we are a corporate sponsor. I assume you read the memos?"
Olivia's mind was spinning. Take over Matasuki? This close to the presentation? Olivia fought the impulse to verbally assault Jerrod, but instead responded civilly. "Of course; in fact I'm on the Gala’s design committee."
"Good.” He turned to another of the Project Managers, “Stuart, make sure Olivia has all the updated files and access to all the emails." Jerrod beamed, to all outward appearances, like a benevolent uncle.
Olivia, who wasn’t fooled by the smile, inwardly fumed, knowing this was his way of getting back at her for spurning his advances. Although the assignment had been given with the expectation she would fail, Olivia was determined to do everything she could to wipe that smug grin right off Jerrod’s face. As everyone stood and began to file out, she gathered her meeting notes, and shoved them into her brief case.
"I hope you're up to this, Olivia. Of course I'm always available if you need any help."
"Yeah for a price," she thought, and then in a completely believable voice replied, "That's so sweet of you, Jerrod, I'll be sure to remember that." She pushed back from the table and stood, noticing Jerrod's gaze drift down her body. She gritted her teeth. “Let him look, he was never going to sample the goods.”
Jerrod ran his right hand over his jaw, musing as Olivia walked away.
"In fact,” he called after her, “maybe I could stay late and we could go over the proposal together."
Olivia hesitated, forcing a smile. "I appreciate the offer, Jerrod,” she answered over her shoulder, as she continued retreating, “but that won't be necessary, now if you'll excuse me I have a lot of work to do."
Back in her office, she was just getting settled when a box of files thumped down onto her desk.
"Here you go, this is everything I have on Matasuki," Stuart informed her.
"Does your information include profiles of all the key and secondary decision makers of Matasuki?"
"Well no, we...uh...I don't normally do that kind of research for a presentation." Stuart stared angrily at her.
"Stuart, I hope you understand this is just business, and wasn't my idea. I don't want to lose this contract. Losing another contract to Stein would drive me crazy. They're doing something to take all our best clients, and although I don't know what it is, I'm going to find out. To my point of thinking, our investigation starts with knowing our client. We need those personal profiles."
"Olivia, I know it’s just business and �
��Business’ is what you do, isn't it? Maybe you should get out once in a while, have a life?"
Olivia glared at him as he stood in the doorway. Stuart shook his head and sighed. "I'll get right on those profiles and have them on your desk by the end of the day."
"Thank you, Stuart," she sighed, truly grateful for his help.
He nodded and closed the door behind him. He'd always been nice, helpful without being inappropriate. She stood and rifled through the box in front of her with one hand as she unbuttoned her suit jacket with the other. She picked up the box and set it down on the floor next to her chair. By nature she was meticulous, and detail oriented, attributes which along with a nearly photographic memory had helped her get through four years of college and grad school in record time. It was also the reason she was the youngest Project Manager in the entire company. The only employees younger than her twenty-eight years were the interns.
What no one knew was she'd learned business management and strategies from a very good teacher, her aunt Loralie. From an early age, she'd spent her summers shadowing her aunt, watching and learning. Olivia was only seventeen when her parents had been killed in a car crash and Aunt Loralie gladly took her in. That year her whole world changed. Loralie had wanted her to stay in L.A., enter the 'family' business – marketing luxury real estate. But New York was calling and the memories in L.A. were too raw. She wanted to get away, disappear, and that was easy to do in New York.
Her cell phone buzzed and Olivia jumped. She picked up the rattling instrument and glanced at the number.
"Hey, Sam, what's up?" Samantha was Olivia's best friend, corporate ally, and partner in crime when they were out on the town with their other BFF's Lucy and Rachel. In addition to the friends she had in the city, she, Samantha, Lucy and Rachel belonged to a special cadre of women from all over the country. Friends that were now as close as any family, smart, beautiful, and with killer business instincts, oh and one other thing...they were all highly sexual beings. In control of their urges, yes, but they were definitely different from other women, and they'd known it from a very early age and recognized the propensity in each other. They'd met through, what they joked were ‘the elders’, those who'd been through the trials that having a raging libido brought. They vowed to find and help as many young women as they could, to save them from a life of desperation, degradation and most likely prostitution. Her aunt Loralie was one of those elders and Samantha was one she'd saved.
"You have to come out with us tonight, Liv, please?"
"I have to work. I just received the sole responsibility of my first corporate account, and have research to do for the presentation next week. This presentation is important and I'm going to get it to work. Otherwise Stein is going to take another contract from us."
"I've gotten us reservations at that new hot restaurant in the meat packing district. So many bigwigs go there, it'll be great for us to be seen, come on Liv, you have to eat."
Olivia sighed. "What time?"
She pulled the phone away from her ear as Samantha squealed in delight. "Eight, and wear something tastefully hot. You know, from the other side of your closet, the one that hardly sees the light of day?"
Olivia chuckled. "Okay, pick me up. I'm not walking in there alone. Are Rachel and Lucy coming?"
"Absolutely, I'll see you at seven-thirty then. Who knows how traffic will be, but I’ll be there as close to then as possible."
"True; see you then." She looked down at her watch - twelve-fifteen. "Another lunch at my desk, I guess." She pressed a button on her desk phone. "Linda, would you order me a Greek salad."
"I already did when I saw Stuart go in with that box of files. I hope green tea was all right again."
"Man, am I predictable. Thank you, Linda, its fine." She slumped back into her plush, brown leather chair and reached for the top file. She'd scanned through ten of them, recording notes when the door opened.
"Oh good," she said without looking up. "I'm starving, just set it down anywhere."
"I'm sorry, should I have brought lunch?"
Olivia's head snapped up. Standing in front of her desk was Tyson Grant, and he was staring at her legs. She’d put them up on the edge of her desk, there they remained, crossed at the ankles. In the effort to get her feet on the ground as quickly as possible, she nearly tipped her chair over, barely catching herself.
Tyson...er, Mister Grant, I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone."
He smiled, "Your assistant wasn't at her desk, she must be getting that lunch you spoke about. Eat at your desk a lot, Miss Grayson?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so. I don't mind. What can I do for you?"
"I was just informed that you'll be taking over Matasuki. I wanted to make sure you have everything you need."
"Almost. Stuart is getting me profiles on the key personnel and some other important contacts there."
"Good idea. It pays to know everything you can about the client." He smiled. "You've been doing really good work; you'll be fine. Just ask if you need help. We've dealt with Matasuki before; he's a tough negotiator. I'd really like his business and taking it away from..."
"… Stein? I couldn't agree more. I won't let you down; I promise."
He smiled again, she really was gorgeous. Thick golden brown hair that cascaded over her shoulders, halfway down her back, large almond shaped eyes, which he found were really more green than blue, pouty full lips and a perfect smile.
"I know you won't."
Just then Linda showed up with her lunch. Her eyes widened when she recognized who was in Olivia's office.
"I'm sorry, security held up the delivery."
"Its fine, I was just leaving. Have a good day. I appreciate your...dedication, Miss Grayson."
Linda's eyes remained saucer-like as she put the bag down. Olivia nodded, and Tyson closed the door.
"Oh my God. Olivia, how long was he here?"
"Just a few minutes. I hope he doesn't think I'm in over my head with Matasuki."
"He could have just called, you know. I think he wanted to see you for himself."
"What do you mean, Linda?"
"You're the hot topic you know, the ‘up and coming star of Dolby’."
Olivia stopped taking the plastic containers of food out of the bag and glanced at Linda with a frown.
"That's ridiculous. I've only been here eight months and this is my first deal."
Tyson shook his head as he walked. He understood now what the buzz was all about. He'd seen the reports submitted by Jerrod on her, of course, they were generic. Tyson had a tendency to discount many of Jerrod’s overviews, since he was only interested in making himself look good. No, he'd become interested in the up and coming Ms. Grayson, when he heard the office buzz from others that'd worked with her. Wanting to see for himself he pulled everything she'd written, read every report, analysis, and recommendation. Really top notch; all of it, add to it that her peers thought she was smart and a team player impressed him. He'd also heard the rumblings in the ranks about how beautiful she was, but it hadn't prepared him for her at all. Maybe he'd been single too long, even though he appeared periodically at the hottest places with a model or a socialite on his arm, he had no attachments. His dating partners had lately served only as window dressing.
She just didn't seem like the type to be a driven corporate mover. Wait, what a sexist thing to say, even to himself, he thought, as he shook it off. He was sure that type of comment was the kind of thing she had to deal with everyday, and knew she grew tired of being taken for someone's wife, secretary, or mistress.
Mmm, yes, after seeing her in person he understood a lot more than he had earlier. He had two inter-office meetings to attend, and then he was meeting another would-be client for dinner. He sighed, no wonder he couldn't sustain a relationship.
He slipped down into his chair and swiveled toward the window, gazing out across the park. She was awfully young, and although he was sure Jerrod had set her up, he wasn't sure why. He decided it didn't m
atter, he was rooting for Olivia.
"Karen, could you have Olivia Grayson’s file sent up from personnel? Thank you, Karen."
She was right; it was good to know everything you could.
Minutes later he had the file in his hand. He read through a resume that could have been from someone twice her age. An internship at Chase Morgan, she'd turned down a position there. “Speaks several languages. Doesn’t mention which ones. Had her final semester in International Affairs and Law, at Cambridge. Masters in Business from Harvard. Received two promotions in the eight months that she's been here. Unheard of.” He flipped through everything in the file, and deciding she seemed too good to be true, went through it again, this time in full-analysis mode. He swiveled to the computer and Googled her, and using the HR code pulled her credit. Her credit file showed a small mortgage on a pricy apartment in Greenwich. She must have come from money. No family listed. He dug deeper and found both parents were deceased, that she’d been raised by her mother's sister.
So, an inheritance? Maybe. Did it matter? No, of course not, but she was so driven, why? She could have married very well, the way she looked. "God, there I go again. No one would ever say that about a man."
The intercom buzzed. "Your three o'clock is here."
"Thank you, Karen. In the conference room, please."
"Yes, sir."
He sat back in his chair. Hundreds of people worked for him. He was one of the youngest CEO's in the country, he knew about the pressure, so why was his interest piqued by this woman? Everyone would cite the obvious reasons. And he had to admit, she was amazing, but there was something more. He pushed away from his desk. This is crazy, he had a corporation to run, he needed to stop acting like an idiot and get to work.
Instead of sending the file back to HR, he slipped it into his top drawer and headed to his meeting.
At six, Olivia had nearly worked through all the files in the box. The few left could wait, she had friends to meet for a change and she was looking forward to it. She hailed a cab and hoped traffic wasn't at a standstill up ahead. She ended up walking the last two blocks to her apartment in four inch heels, which was nothing unusual.
Corporate Ties (Silken Ties Book 1) Page 1
