The Miami Millionaire

by Dawn Tamayo

  Victoria headed over to the reception desk.

  “Good morning. I’m Victoria Pembrose and I am going to be working here for a few weeks in marketing.”

  “Good morning Victoria. Jake is waiting for you in his office. Here’s your pass and if you take the lift over there up to the top floor someone will meet you from there.”

  “Thank you.” Victoria said as she clipped the visitor pass to the waistband of her trousers and headed off to the lift.

  Jake was on the telephone when Victoria walked into his office. He had obviously been there for a while with his blue cotton shirt sleeves rolled up as he perched in his immaculately cut navy blue suit trousers on the edge of his desk looking out across the Miami skyline as he talked on his office phone. Victoria knocked on his office door as she stood in the doorway waiting for him to realise she was there.

  Jake heard the knock and motioned over his shoulder for whoever it was to come in, just before he turned his head slightly to see who was walking into his office. It took just a moment for his brain to catch up and register that it was Victoria, and his head whipped around quickly when he caught sight of her fully. One look at her tight trousers and jacket showing her curves off to perfection, topped off by her dark red hair pulled back exposing her slender neck threw him off balance and he jumped off his desk sending a glass of water spilling across the pile of papers next to him, and he let out a curse of words. Hastily he told the person on the other end of the phone he would have to call him back and disconnected the call.

  Victoria quickly crossed the room and righted the glass pulling the rest of the papers out of the way of the spreading water.

  “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “No it’s fine. Look hang on, let me just get a towel.” He said as he darted into a doorway at the side of his office and returned with a hand towel. As he walked back across the office he watched Victoria gathering up papers and putting them on the dry meeting table, and he had to laugh to himself - any man would have fallen off their seat seeing that coming towards him and he decided it should be illegal for anyone to look that good, certainly within office hours.

  Jake mopped up the remaining water from his desk and then offered Victoria a seat across from him as he sat down on an oversized black leather chair behind his desk. He cleared his throat and put on his professional face trying to ignore the screaming of every nerve ending in his body and the hardening feeling down below. Oh hell he was in big trouble if this was how she was going to look every day – he’d had trouble enough keeping his hands off Victoria in those cute little sundresses she wore, all sweet and sexy at the same time. But this? This was a whole new level!

  “So Victoria, welcome to Creative Technology Holdings.” Jake said finding a piece of paper to focus on rather than look into Victoria’s dark brown eyes because that would be just too much!

  The rest of the day flew by for Victoria with a flurry of introductions to various personnel followed by time spent in several different departments. She met the people in charge of advertising and product placement, then spent the afternoon sitting down with the heads of marketing and sales discussing what new products were planned to be launched in the United Kingdom first. She loved their new state-of-the-art products and closed her folder containing the top secret information as the meeting came to an end. She stored the folder in the lockable top drawer of her desk in her little office only too aware that if this information were to get into their competitors’ hands it would be disastrous for Jake’s company, and her.

  Victoria looked up as she heard Jake’s voice at her office door.

  “So, what do you think?” He took up most of the space in the doorway as he stood with his large tanned hands on his hips giving her his full attention.

  “Of your products for the UK? They’re great. I’m looking forward to working on the campaigns.”

  “You understand that at this moment you cannot tell anyone what you will be promoting, not even your boss. Just for now you will need to refer to anything as “the product” and that way you won’t slip up, because believe me I’ve found out the hard way in the past you can’t trust anyone in this business, and until all the contracts are signed and the actual release dates are confirmed I don’t want anyone knowing what we are releasing. That’s part of the beauty of our campaigns.”

  Victoria knew what he meant only too well remembering how his promotional team had taken her by surprise, but it certainly had worked and Jake and his team knew exactly what they were doing. She nodded, “I understand.”

  “Did Jenny give you the line-up of events and promotions we have going on for the next fortnight?”

  She nodded tapping a piece of paper on her desk.

  Jake walked inside the door and stood across the desk from her, “Good. This is the kind of stuff I want going on back in the UK. I want product placement, I want to see the latest bands wearing my watches and drinking my Vodka, and I want to see their kids wearing our kiddie tracker watches, and everything else I bring out next. I want competitions people want to win and huge publicity of the winners – days out on a yacht, you name it. Don’t be afraid to spend the money because we will make it all back on the sales, don’t worry about it. I want everything we do here to go on over there.”

  “Okay that’s all great except for the yacht bit – I’m sure you remember we aren’t hot like Miami, so you might want to reconsider that one.” She half joked, “But don’t worry, we will come up with something else and it will be spectacular – we’ve got the Thames in London and we can do swanky cruise boats and things, that always catches attention. And I’m thinking along the lines of some events at stately homes, we have some amazing huge old houses over there, club nights and plenty of product placement on some of the reality programmes.”

  “You do that Vicky, because I want you to be the envy of every marketing person in London. I am still getting calls from other agencies in London touting for my business, but I don’t want that, I don’t want them.”

  “Thank you for this opportunity Jake, I know there are people who would give their right arm for this and I am really grateful you are giving me that opportunity.”

  “Everyone deserves a fair chance, and I know what it’s like to be told you can’t do something when you know you can.” There was that intense blue-eyed look again, and then abruptly Jake turned around and walked out of Victoria’s office calling over his shoulder, “The first promotion is tonight so go get yourself something to eat and then head on down to the beach.”

  And with that Jake was gone.

  Victoria took off her jacket revealing her little strappy red top with her black skinny trousers. She kicked off her shoes and left them in the promo trailer - the sand was warm underneath her feet and her high-heeled shoes didn’t quite cut it on the sand, she preferred to be barefoot for now. She was happy to be involved with the promotion work and she was enjoying walking around handing out leaflets to the people near the open-aired arena on the beach. It was so crowded there was standing room only now, people had heard they had a surprise appearance lined up from one of Miami’s biggest rappers and, in the meantime, the locals were only too happy to stand around and wait watching the huge screens for Creative Technology Holding’s advertising. The word had gotten out as people messaged and called their friends to hurry on down to the beach and there were hundreds of people waiting behind the security barriers for the next show straight after this one. Victoria could already see the news crews taking their positions – this particular rapper had been in hiding for the last few weeks after a rather conveniently-timed minor sex-tape scandal, which just so happened to coincide with his new song and raunchy video release. Everyone was looking forward to getting a glimpse of him on his first public appearance since then. The particular product they were promoting tonight was to appeal to the male thirties and early forties market who wouldn’t be put off by a bit of a naughty consensual moment in the back of a tour van caught on camer
a. In fact, they probably just envied the guy and wished it was themselves!

  Victoria went to stand by one of the security men at the edge of the barriers and watched as the rapper came on stage and the audience went crazy screaming so loud she thought her eardrums would never recover. Out the corner of her eye she saw a white Lamborghini pull up next to their promo vehicle and Jake stepped out. He was still in his blue shirt with his sleeves rolled up revealing his brown muscular arms and his mirrored Ray-bans gave him the look of a movie star as he walked around his car. It was only then that Victoria noticed the tall dark haired beautiful woman sitting in the passenger’s seat waiting for Jake to take her hand as she slid out of his car.

  Jenny walked over to Victoria – now the show had started there wasn’t much else to do other than stand back and watch, and make sure the security team didn’t let the crowd get out of control. She liked Jenny. Jenny was only a few years older than her and even though she was serious and professional, she was also young and funky with it.

  “So what do you think?” Jenny asked.

  “It’s great. Crazy but great.”

  “That just about sums it up. That’s the way Jake likes it.”

  “I see he’s here.” Victoria said nodding towards Jake who was leaning up against the promo trailer with the beautiful woman by his side. “Who’s that with him?”

  “I’m not sure. Another one of Jake’s women no doubt.” She laughed,

  “I thought there was something going on between him and Andrea?”

  “Andrea?” Jenny looked genuinely confused.

  “Yeah, his personal assistant Andrea?”

  “No! No way. What made you think that?” Jenny was pulling a strange face and Victoria was confused.

  “Well they were together Saturday morning when she phoned me. I just assumed they were together and mixing business with pleasure.”

  “No way Victoria. Jake has a rule that no one gets involved with their colleagues at work, it’s written into our contracts. And besides Jake’s not Andrea’s type. No guy is, if you get my meaning.”

  “Oh!” She realised what Jenny meant.

  “Apart from being super-efficient at her job I think that’s partly why Jake hired her - so he doesn’t get any personal problems from his assistant, after all they do spend a lot of time working together. That’s why he’s got the no relationship rule, he was sick of women throwing themselves at him or his old partner years ago, so he made it so that can’t happen at work anymore.”

  “Wow, I didn’t expect that.” She tried to take her eyes off Jake but she couldn’t. She could have sworn he kept looking her way but it was hard to tell with his raybans covering his eyes.

  “Yeah he is a good boss to work for. You know what you are getting when you work for Jake. He expects the best from you, but he gives you a lot in return and we all respect him for that.”

  “So miss model over there, do you think that’s his girlfriend?”

  “Who knows with Jake! You very rarely see him with the same woman more than a few times. He’s a great guy but he’s one hell of a womanizer! You’ve got to love him though.” Jenny laughed good-naturedly.

  “So I gather.” Again she tried to pull her eyes away from him but couldn’t and watched as the dark haired beauty moved up closer to him. Jake seemed to have no objection and slid his arm around her waist with his hand touching the bare skin exposed between her cropped white top and long skirt slung low over her hips.

  Victoria cleared her throat and looked away, back to the stage trying not to imagine what it felt like to have Jake’s fingers run along the bare skin of her stomach.

  Jenny broke into her thoughts, “This only goes on for half an hour, then there will be a short break before the next show. Do you want to stay for that or you can get off if you want? You don’t need to hang around if you don’t want to.”

  “No that’s fine, I’ll stay. I should really see it through to the end.” She looked at her watch, it was half past seven, “I will just go and grab a coffee though, do you want anything?”

  Jenny shook her head and Victoria walked off giving one last look at Jake who was talking and laughing with the brunette beauty - she knew it shouldn’t bother her, but it did, so she walked that bit faster across the promenade into the coffee shop and ordered a large latte with all the trimmings.

  The air conditioning in Victoria’s office was on full blast and she pulled on her little cardigan to warm up her bare arms. She knew she would be taking it off again as soon as she stepped outside the building into the hot and humid weather, but for now she pulled the soft blue cotton material over her arms. Her phone buzzed and she answered it. It was Andrea - Jake wanted to see her in his office straight away. Victoria stood up and ran her hands down the skirt of her cream cotton dress making sure she looked smart and crease free – her dress was smart enough for the office with a high neckline, pulled in gently at her waist with a thin tan leather belt, but cool enough with her skirt stopping just above her knees. Her nude heels make a clip-clopping sound as she walked along the shiny marbled hallway and took the elevator up to the top floor to Jake’s office.

  Andrea looked up from her computer screen when she heard the lift doors open and she smiled. “Go straight on in, he’s expecting you.”

  Victoria thanked her and walked through the open doors into Jake’s office.

  Jake sat back in his chair and watched Victoria as she walked in and took the chair he offered her. He wondered if she realised that just as she looked like a sexy devil yesterday all red and black, she looked like a beautiful angel today, but certainly no less sexy. He watched as she smoothed the cream fabric around her and crossed her legs. The high neckline of her dress left him wanting to take a pair of scissors to it, to cut it away and expose her breast which hid in playful curves under the delicate fabric. He wondered if she realised there was a teasing gap at the side of her skirt and if he looked hard enough he could see the contours of her smooth thighs way up much further than he suspected she would have liked.

  Jake quickly pulled his eyes away from her legs hoping she hadn’t notice, and not only that, the sight of her smooth bare legs sitting right in the chair across from him was distracting him. He knew he shouldn’t be distracted, he was surrounded by beautiful women both inside and outside of work. But Victoria, as far as he was concerned, was just something different!

  “Andrea said you wanted to see me.” She folder her hands in her lap and tried not to think about how amazing Jake looked this morning in his grey light-knit jumper and blue jeans.

  “Yes, thank you for coming up so quickly.”

  Victoria nodded and waited for him to continue.

  “I saw you last night.” Jake said matter-of-factly.

  “Did you?” She tried to sound casual, as if her dreams hadn’t been plagued with the images of how incredibly sexy he looked when he stepped out of his car last night, or how his long legs and muscly arms crossed over his broad chest and made her mouth go dry.

  “You know I did.”

  “Okay, then you probably did see me. I was there working.”

  “I tried to find you after the show but you were gone.”

  “No, I stayed right up until the end but I was busy with the promo team.”

  Jake looked at Victoria, he knew full well where she was last night, he hadn’t been able to miss her in her tiny red top and skinny black jeans - his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw her across the beach - at some point in the evening she had taken her hair down from the pony-tail and he couldn’t take his eyes off her from behind his sunglasses as she walk barefooted across the sand, her hair blowing gently in the evening breeze with her red top clinging tightly to all the right places as she gently swaying those seductive hips of hers to the sound of the music coming from the stage. If he didn’t know better he would have sworn she had been trying to avoid him - when the show finished Jake left the beautiful woman who was supposed to be the centre of his attention for
the evening and started walking towards where Victoria was, but each time he headed in her direction she suddenly disappeared into the crowd. Finally, after the third attempt to find Victoria, his date had gotten impatient and he gave into her whining and they headed off to a late dinner.

  “Okay, well I noticed you were handing out the promotional leaflets. That’s what your promo team is for, you don’t need to do that sort of stuff. You should have been with Jenny over-seeing the event and watching what was going on.” Jake said as he took a sip of his ice cold orange juice offering her a glass from the jug at the side of his desk.

  She shook her head. “I was overseeing it with Jenny. We were both running the event but I need to do everything for myself at least once. I’m not asking someone to do something that I haven’t experienced, that’s how a person makes mistakes.”

  Jake watched Victoria as her hands now left her lap and had a communication of their own as she talked. “For example before last night it might not have occurred to me that your sexy promo-girls shouldn’t be wearing their usual funky platform shoes if they are walking on the beach. Did you notice that half of them had to take them off and put on a pair of their own flip-flops from the trailer? And why is it that your promo-girls are in little shorts and bikini tops but the guys are in t-shirts and swimming shorts? I think the promo-guys should be showing some abs too, it’s only fair. Women want to see some fit bodies too you know.”

  Jake’s eyes sparkled and he laughed gently. “Really? What do you suggest then?”

  “For the promo guys?”

  Jake nodded, he was interested in what she had to say.

  “Well if it is a beach location like last night, but in the daytime, then I think they should be without their t-shirts and only in funky CTH logo shorts. If it’s early evening like last night then they could throw on a white sleeveless cotton shirt but keep it open so you can see a bit of their body too. It’s a little sexist just having the women dressed like that, all midriff and legs on display but not the guys.”