by R. R. Banks
“Oh, but I think there is,” I said, pushing away from the desk. “You see, I expected you to agree with me about my plans for Snow.”
“You did?” he asked. “Why would you think that?”
“Because it must be just as aggravating for you as it is for me to see her get all of the attention and have everyone fall all over themselves for her.”
“Not really,” he said. “I’ve never had a problem with Snow.”
“You haven’t?” I asked. “You really don’t have a problem with her having the whole world laying at her feet without her deserving it?”
“Without her deserving it?” Hunter asked, looking at me strangely. “How would you know what she deserves? You’ve been here for a week. I’ve watched her for years. She’s phenomenal at what she does and she is actually a pleasant person, which is the main reason why people respond to her so much.”
I could hear in his voice that he hadn’t said everything that he wanted to, but it was enough. My mouth was watering and I could feel my body responding to his every word.
“She is?” I asked, trying to sound as innocent and unassuming as possible. “You know, I can be pleasant, too.”
“Really?” he asked.
I gave a short laugh and took a few steps to close the space between us. I reached up and ran my fingers down his tie, flipping the end of it out of where it was tucked inside his jacket.
“I can,” I said. “I know that I haven’t really gotten off to the best start with everybody, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We can get along, you know. I think that there is so much more that we can do for each other than we’ve admitted.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
I smiled at him and walked back to the desk. Hopping up onto the edge, I crossed my legs. The position caused the hem of my skirt to rise up my thigh, revealing the strap to my garter and the lace edging of my thigh-highs. I ran my fingertip along the edge and looked at him.
“Working in a big office like this is stressful,” I said. “It can make people so much more tense than they really are. You could make my day much less stressful. I bet that you could help me to be a lot more pleasant.”
Hunter looked at me with steely eyes, but didn’t step toward me.
“You’re married,” he said.
“I know. But do you see my husband anywhere around here? No. He left on a weeks-long trip around the world without me. He left me all alone here.”
“You planned that trip,” he said.
“Because I thought that he would like it.”
“Because you wanted him out of the way.” I felt heat starting to burn on my cheeks as I realized that this conversation wasn’t going the direction that I wanted it to. “Mrs. Royal, I was your husband’s assistant for years and the only reason that I am still here is out of loyalty to him and desire to make sure that you do not drive this company into the ground. If it wasn’t for that, I would have been gone the first day that you waltzed in here.”
“How dare you talk to me like that. I am still the boss here.”
“And as the boss, I’m sure that you’re familiar with the rigid stance that H.R. takes against sexual harassment. I’d be happy to swing by and visit them if you’d like a refresher.” I felt my jaw tighten and my eyes flash angrily, but I didn’t say anything. “I didn’t think so. I have work to do.”
He tucked his tie back into his jacket and stalked out of the room. My hands gripped the edge of the desk so hard that I could feel my knuckles aching. I slid down off of the desk and straightened my suit. This is not what I had intended when I stepped into the position of president of Royal and Company. I wanted power and control. I wanted to be seen for what I was: the best in the industry and the most desirable woman in any of the advertising agencies in the area. Getting Snow out of the way was the only thing that was going to give me that, and I couldn’t let anyone distract me from that goal. I knew that Hunter was right about her contract. I had reviewed it myself after our conversation, determined that I would find something in it that could be used to justify her dismissal, but I couldn’t. It was almost as if Walter had written it expressly for the purpose of her never being able to be fired.
I couldn’t let that stop me. Now more than ever I knew that I couldn’t let that stop me. Snow infuriated me in a way that I could barely even describe and she was what was standing between me and what I wanted in life. If I couldn’t simply get rid of her because I wanted to, I would have to find another way. There had to be something that I could do to get her out of the company and out of my way once and for all.
Chapter Seven
Snow
I didn’t know what to expect as the car drove up the long, curving drive toward the Enchanted Woods retreat. I had planned on driving my own car to the retreat, but the day before I told them that I was going to arrive, I got a phone call letting me know that my ride would be at my door the next morning. Though I had tried to reject the offer, they told me that it was part of the experience and included with the cost of my retreat. I agreed, but I wasn’t prepared to see the long white limousine that awaited me when I walked out of my house the next day. A uniformed chauffeur approached me and took my bags from my hands, tucking them into the trunk before opening the door for me. He didn’t say a word as I climbed into the luxurious vehicle and in a matter of moments we were driving away. I had gazed around the cabin, discovering chilled champagne and strawberries waiting for me.
A touch cliché, but a nice gesture.
Now as we had driven past the large sign that said, “The Enchanted Woods”, I was starting to feel a little nervous. The truth was I didn’t really know what I had gotten myself into. I had snatched my phone from under my pillow where I kept it and called the retreat on impulse, not really expecting them to answer the phone in the middle of the night. When they had, I felt as though I was too committed to not keep going. I told them that a friend had given me the brochure and the woman on the other end of the line told me that I should feel very lucky to have a friend like that. What was that supposed to mean? I tried to get as much information as I could about it, but the woman would only tell me that the purpose of the Enchanted Woods was to be a refuge for those looking for something, and that if I was open to it, they would help me to find it. It wasn’t exactly what Robin had told me, but I was still intrigued. It was just what I had been thinking about and this seemed to be offering it right to me.
I tried to swallow down the feeling of anxiety and second thoughts that I was feeling as the limo wove slowly down the drive. I had eaten all of the strawberries and had two glasses of champagne, but my stomach was still fluttering as we approached. I still had the image from the front of the brochure in my mind, but I wasn’t entirely convinced that that was what I was going to see when we reached the end of the drive. I was in advertising, after all. I was accustomed to the little tricks that were used to appeal to targeted demographics. Not that I was dishonest. In fact, that was something that I was extremely serious about. I never lied. That didn’t mean, however, that there weren’t other advertisers, a particular evil president came to mind, who made a habit of stretching the truth and straight out lying in order to get a point across and lure in business for their accounts. The cozy little cottage on the front of the brochure was adorable, but it also looked like something out of a coloring book and I wasn’t really expecting that that was what we were going to find.
As we turned a corner and passed through a slightly thicker area of trees, however, I saw that exact image rise up in front of me. I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my lips as I leaned against the window and stared at the cottage and the tiny, sparkling brook that meandered along beside it and curved behind it. The limo came to a stop and I waited until the chauffeur opened the door to step out. I was expecting him to go to the trunk to get my luggage, but when I looked at the back of the car I saw another man already standing there, pulling my bags out. I turned to thank the chauffeur, but he had already gotten b
ack into the car and started driving away slowly as soon as the trunk closed. The man who had gotten my luggage started toward the front door of the cottage and I followed him, looking around me to try to take in as much of the serene surroundings as I could.
The door to the cottage gave a low, soft squeak as it opened, but I found the sound comforting, almost as though it gave the building more authenticity. As soon as we stepped inside, the man carrying my luggage turned down a narrow hallway and I heard a few hard footsteps as if he were climbing a short flight of stairs. I was left standing alone in a small room, the smell of coffee and burning wood filling the space from a fireplace in the far corner.
“Hello.”
I jumped at the sound of the voice behind me and turned to see a woman standing at the doorway watching me.
“Hi,” I said, more a reaction to her greeting than one in return.
“You must be Snow.”
“Yes.”
She came toward me, holding out one slim hand. I took it as I nodded.
“I’m Fawn. I believe we spoke on the phone.”
“Yes.”
I felt like it was the only word that I could come up with. She had seen me. My luggage had been whisked off into the distance. There was no escape.
“I’m glad that you chose to join us. Are you ready to start your retreat?”
She just got right to the point, didn’t she?
“I’m sorry, I’m still not sure what this is all about.”
“You,” Fawn said.
“Excuse me?”
“You,” she repeated. “This is all about you. This entire experience is about you. When you’re here, and when you return home, no one and nothing else matters. This is all about you and what you want and need.”
“I don’t think I understand.”
“You read the brochure, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And I told you over the phone why we designed Enchanted Woods.”
“To help me find what I am looking for.”
“Exactly. So, what other questions could there be?”
She was right. I was done asking questions. Just like Fawn said, this was about me and for once, I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass.
“Alright,” I said.
“Good,” Fawn said with a smile. “I’ll show you to your room. Freshen up and relax for the evening. Tomorrow we’ll make plans for your experience.”
I followed her out of the room and down the hallway where I had seen the man carry my luggage. We walked up a short flight of stairs and through a doorway into a beautifully appointed bedroom. I don’t know how the man managed to get out of the room without me noticing him, but he was gone. My luggage was sitting on the floor beside a tall, canopied bed elaborately made with white bedding accented by tiny purple flowers.
“This is lovely,” I said, stepping further into the room.
“I’m glad that you like it. The bathroom is through that door. Feel free to bathe, take a nap, read. Do whatever you like. I will have dinner brought to you. I will see you tomorrow.”
I nodded, so drawn in by the room that I didn’t even bother to turn around to watch her leave. When the door closed, I walked toward the bathroom. As beautiful as the bedroom was, the bathroom exceeded it. Huge and airy, the room had a rainforest shower in one corner and a massive garden tub tucked into a bay window along the back wall. I could see the thick woods beyond the window and immediately started to undress. One thing that the home I had finally been able to purchase a few years back lacked was a decent bathtub. It wasn’t something that I thought that I was going to need, but it hadn’t been long before I started to miss a good soak in the evening. Now that I had nothing but time and a bathtub deep enough that I could probably swim in it in front of me, I wasn’t going to waste it.
Several minutes later my hair was coiled on top of my head and I was neck deep in a mound of rose-scented bubbles, my eyes closed as I reclined in pure bliss against the side of the tub. Outside, the sun had started to slip down the horizon, the early winter days short enough that the twilight came well before I even got home from work most days. Being able to relax in the bath and feel the day winding down around me was a unique luxury and I knew that I could very easily get accustomed to this. I was very close to falling asleep when I heard a low sound like someone clearing their throat.
I opened my eyes and gasped when I saw a man standing in the bathroom with me. I sat up sharply, gathering the bubbles around me and wrapping my arms around myself. I hadn’t heard him come in and his sudden presence in the bathroom was unnerving. He didn’t seem flustered or uncomfortable, however. Instead, he simply looked at me. I looked back and realized that he was incredibly attractive. Thick, silky light brown hair hung to his collar and honey-colored eyes nearly took my attention away from his full lips.
“Hello,” I said, unsure of what else to say.
“Hello. I brought your dinner. It’s waiting for you in the bedroom.”
“Thank you.”
I noticed his eyes trailing along my face and down to the bath as if he could see through the bubbles, and I brought my arms closer around me. Without another word, he headed out of the room and a few seconds later I heard the door to the bedroom close. I dropped my head back against the side of the tub and let out a sigh. I could definitely get used to that kind of scenery.
I finished bathing, rinsed off, and dressed in the plush robe I found hanging in the bathroom before walking back out into my bedroom. An ornate metal stand had been placed in front of a davenport to one side of the bed and I could see a tray laden with a delectable-looking meal sitting on it. Two glasses stood on the tray, one with sparkling water and the other with a rich red wine. I settled onto the cushion and immediately reached for the wine. My first sip filled my mouth and seemed to waken my taste buds, making me realize how hungry I was. As I ate the array of delicious food I tried not to think about the man who had come into the bathroom without any announcement. As hard as I tried, though, I couldn’t get my mind off of the way that he looked at me, or the impulse that I’d had to ask if he was going to stay for dinner.
It was still early when I finished eating, but the combination of the filling meal and the long hot soak had relaxed me to the point that I felt like I could barely keep my eyes open. I changed into my nightgown and pulled back the corner of the bedding, appreciating how crisp and fresh the sheets looked. They exactly matched the color of the tiny flowers and something about that relaxed me even further. I slipped into the bed and reached beside me to turn off the lamp on the nightstand. I rested my head on the thick pillows and drifted away into sleep, the last thought that I had before disappearing into oblivion was about Fawn and what she meant by planning my experience the next day.
Chapter Eight
Snow
I woke up before dawn just like I did every morning. It was something that I had taught myself to do when I first left home and no longer had my mother to wake me up for school. I hated the sound of my alarm and lost sleep dreading being startled awake by it. I tried everything from an old-fashioned alarm clock that rattled bells to every option on my phone. No matter what I tried, whether it was singing crickets, barking dogs, or whimsical music, it had the same jarring effect, and eventually I trained myself to wake up ten minutes before it was supposed to go off just so that I didn’t have to hear it. The challenge then was learning not to just let myself roll over and go back to sleep, but several missed classes and a particularly regretful speech done in my slippers because I ran out of time getting ready taught me to climb out of bed even before I turned off the alarm. That was still the way that I started each day, but that morning as I was starting to get out of bed I remembered that I didn’t have an alarm set and there was nowhere that I needed to be. Smiling at the simple indulgence of it, I tucked myself back into the soft bed and let myself fall back to sleep.
I didn’t wake up again until I heard the click of my door and sat up, pulling the bl
ankets up to my chest in the same way that I had the bubbles. I looked around, but the room was empty. The dinner tray from the night before had been removed from the stand in front of the davenport and replaced with one containing an abundant breakfast. I at once wondered if the man who had brought me dinner the night before had been the one to bring me breakfast, and hoped that it wasn’t him so that he hadn’t seen me sprawled in the bed, no makeup and likely snoring considering the incredible depth of sleep I had reached. It was an unexpected thought and I didn’t understand why I cared if he had seen me that way. He was gorgeous, there was no doubt about that, but that shouldn’t really have had any impact on me other than the brief but explosive dream I’d had about him before waking up to what I now assumed was the sound of him leaving the room.
I lingered over the breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit, and then stood staring through the back window at the woods as I slowly drank the succulent coffee. I always drank my coffee black, but there was something special about this coffee that made it taste almost as though it had been swirled with dark, rich chocolate. I didn’t even miss my doughnuts.
Once I finished my coffee, I took my time getting dressed and putting on my makeup. It felt foreign to have nothing but time on my hands, but with every minute that I was able to relax and do exactly as I wanted, I was feeling more liberated. I took a few extra seconds to add another coat of mascara, and then a few more to wipe away the smears beneath my eyes. I pondered over what clothes to wear, even though the wardrobe that I brought was quite limited. I even took the time to stare into the mirror and sweep my hair into a complex braided style rather than simply wearing it down because it was easier. Though it took me five times as long to get ready as it usually does, I felt calm and put together when I walked out of my room and started down the hallway toward the front room of the cottage.
