by Watkins, TM
“Is that right?”
The drag of his lips over mine was no longer feather light, now it could be considered an almost kiss.
“Where?” He breathed heavily. “Say it. Tell me where you want to be.”
“Thirty.” I gasped, feeling the glorious rush to my head.
“You want Amy's job?”
“No.” I whimpered.
His body brushed up against mine, I couldn't take it any longer, reaching out to him. The suit was a fine material, almost silky to the touch.
“You want to sit on the edge of my desk all day and file your nails then?”
Finally, he pressed hard against me, rattling the glass. His hand left the wall beside my head and wrapped around my waist, ensuring I wasn't going to move.
“No.”
“So what then? Maybe I need an assistant, what about that?”
I clutched at his jacket as the sensations ravaged my body, feeling the heat emanate from him as he pressed hard against me.
“Well?” He growled dangerously.
“Yes.”
As I greedily accepted the new job, his lips pressed firmly against mine. I whimpered in the brutal kiss as his hands flowed down my body to lift my legs around his waist. His hands moved up my legs and under my skirt, cupping my backside under the lace of my underpants. I curled my fingers through the soft strands of the hair on the back of his head, the other resting on his shoulder.
I was left feeling breathless as he kissed along my jaw, his fingers digging into the flesh of my backside. His need for me was evident, more so when he pushed against me again. As the euphoria of the movement sizzled through me, I gasped quietly. A tiny pip echoed through the room and I felt his wicked smirk against the tender flesh of my neck.
“Lunch time is over Miss Ryan.”
As he set my legs back to the ground I wanted to protest. But I said nothing, instead I pulled down my skirt and tried to quell the rising need in my body. His fingers gripped my chin as his lips traced over mine.
“When you are my assistant there won't be any issues about time.” His voice was hot and filled with his own need. “And then I can have you at any time I please. What do you think of that?”
I stared into the darkness of the room, lost for words.
“Kasey?”
What could I have said, if I had the coherence to form words.
“Earth to Kasey.”
Chapter 11: Daydreams
Fingers repeatedly snapped in front of me, the repeated droning of my name mixed with the odd glare from Jack left me frowning at me.
“Earth to Kasey.”
“Err… hey.”
I looked around the lunch room, the bread from my half eaten sandwich had gone stale and around the tin of cola was a solid circle of condensation that had pooled around it.
“Jeez Louise that must have been one hell of a daydream. I'd make you share it but we have to get going, lunch is over.”
I’d daydreamed it all. How rude and nasty could my mind be to me?
My eyes darted around the room again, people were milling around like they were on the go slow, chatting and laughing as they reluctantly trudged out of the room. I drained the last of the cola, thinking that I needed the pick-me-up for the rest of the afternoon.
I suppose that I should be grateful that I didn't fall asleep even if I was daydreaming about a secret rendezvous with the boss man in the utility cupboard. And instant promotion on my first day of work? Who was I kidding? Though it would make life easier for me. I dumped my dried up, limp bit of lunch into the bin and followed Jack out of the cafeteria.
Returning to the drudgery of mail delivery after such a tantalizing daydream was crushing. Then again, everything about my life was crushing. My mother didn't want me, my father thought that I was a waste of space and a nuisance, a job as a corporate spy that was nowhere near as exciting as I was made to believe and a fake job that was as interesting as watching a snail move. Yes, I was a girl that had it all.
After lunch, Jack and I retreated to the quiet and utterly boring mail room. Once the mail had been delivered all that would come in now was deliveries. Jack had said that there would be days where there would be nothing then out of nowhere there would be dozens of them, consuming much of the afternoon. It was one of those things that was unpredictable and if I was smart, I would be prepared for the worst. That was the boredom. There was only so many hours of an afternoon that one could sit and play solitaire with the cards. I couldn't bring my phone in here and play on it, that was definitely out of the question. Books and magazines were permitted, provided that there was no work for me to do. In fact, provided that I didn't breach the terms of the security agreement, I could do pretty much anything I wanted. Again, that was subject to work coming in.
So for an hour or so I read the only magazine that was on offer, a men's magazine. Jack was suitably embarrassed but I shrugged, stating that not only did I know what a naked woman looked like but that I might actually find the articles interesting. They were interesting, provided that I wanted to know the turn-ons of their pick of the month or the winners of the most recent award ceremony for the porn industry. I rolled my eyes and cast the drivel across the table, insisting that he took it with him when he left this afternoon. Jack blushed a bright red, putting the magazine into a bag that was hidden in one of the cupboards. He was certainly a man of mystery, I wondered how much information I could make him part with before becoming suspicious of me. Maybe it would be the way that I worded my questions or rather, my sentences.
“You know, this building looks higher than thirty floors. I thought that it was at least forty.” I shrugged with pure mildness. “Guess I was wrong. Shows what I know.”
Jack snorted with a laugh.
“I thought that too but there's actually private residences above floor thirty. The access is on the other side of the building.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “I guess I wasn't wrong then. How lucky are they to live in such a fancy building? I bet I could never afford such a prime piece of real estate.”
“You and me both, sister.” Jack rolled his eyes with a grin. “I think the boss man owns one or two of them, can't say as I know for sure. Idle gossip mostly. Amazing what a smile will get you.”
I nodded without another word for a few moments, wary of pressing too much out of him.
“So… is there a Mrs Jack?”
His eyes shot up to me with hesitation.
“Uh, not that I'm asking for my own interest, just killing time.”
“Oh sure. I have a girlfriend.” He shrugged like it didn't matter. “I think it's turning bad, you know?”
Uh, not really. No, wouldn't have a clue.
“You know when you just get the feeling that something is wrong, that you're missing something?”
“Like?”
“Unhappiness, odd behavior.” He frowned hard. “Being unable to contact her for a long time. Do you think I'm overreacting?”
The naïve person in me that knew nothing about relationships said yes Jack, you are overreacting. But the spy in me said no, listen to your gut feeling because I knew that it was always right. Always.
“What do you think Jack?”
He sighed, it was long and filled with pain.
“I think she's doing the dirty on me and I don't know what to do about it.”
Camera! My mind hissed with glee. Get the old girl out and do a bit of happy snapping of the bitch. Then it started to go into overdrive with thoughts of tapping phones and key logging, following her and sifting through her things. I could do another dumpster dive to prove the cow was up to no good. Cow? My mind berated me. What had the bovine species ever done to me to deserve such an insult?
“Well.” I started. “Maybe you should talk to her, ask her to be honest with you and allow her out of the relationship if it is true.”
I pursed my lips as I thought about it, maybe I did know a thing or two about relationships.
“Althou
gh, confronting her may upset her and may end in the relationship needlessly dying by your hand. So, in that instance I would suggest that gathering information would be your best solution. If you find something, then you can confront her with the evidence and if not then there is no harm done.”
Jack stared at me for a moment, his mouth agape and not a blink of his eyelids to be had.
“Wow, you should be a spy.” He finally offered.
I huffed with a faked laugh.
“As if I would have the brain power for such a job.”
He grinned and it was the craziest thing but for a brief moment I saw a different side of Jack. A really cute side.
“I think you would have the brain power.”
His words were quiet, a slight blush went over his skin and I could see that he wasn't what I thought he was. What did I say? Oh right, too casual, looking like he was stoned. Maybe it was the burden of this clearly dead relationship that was making him vapid in his movements. Maybe I had underestimated Jack. I smiled back with my humble gratitude, telling him that he would make a great spy too but neither of us would want such a silly job any way. He nodded and continued to shuffle the cards in his hands.
Settling back into the hard chair, I hummed with feigned happiness, closing my eyes. Trying to figure out the next course of action was ideal. Getting into the private residences was going to prove difficult, this might be one of those things where I got one of my siblings to break in rather than risk me trying to do it.
A buzzer went off and scared the life out of me, I had almost fallen asleep at the table. It was incredibly uncomfortable, my head had tilted back and now my mouth was sore. I rubbed my neck with a deep frown, Jack was grinning at me like a mad man.
“Thanks for the snoring serenade Kasey, I don't think anyone has ever snored in here before.”
“Lucky you.” I grimaced.
He nodded and got up from the table.
“That'll be Bobby. You can take the delivery if you want.”
Instantly I was excited, not just because I could get out of this nightmare of stuffy air and four white walls but I could get out and stretch my legs. Take a long slow walk to wherever it was that I was about to go. The sound of the door rolling up echoed through the little room, the murmur of Bobby talking to Jack was feint and hard to hear. I wandered out to the main section, Bobby nodded at me with a smile and pressed the button on the wall.
“There you go, your first solo mission.”
I took the parcel and the echoing of the garage door sliding down muffled his words. He frowned at me and took the phone off the wall, saying something to me. I tilted my head to one side, returning the frown. Jack half rolled his eyes and stood there, patiently waiting for the door to stop drowning us in the loud rattle of it closing.
“Finally.” He huffed. “Take the phone, it will help you get used to multi-tasking.”
“Sure.”
I clipped the stupid thing to my waistband, instantly feeling the weight of it drag the material down. Jeans for this job would be so much better, though considering the room was lacking in air conditioning I decided against it.
“Don't be too long, you never know when the next one will arrive.” Jack grinned as he pushed me out the door.
“Yeah, yeah.” I muttered.
I walked toward the elevators and looked down at the parcel, remembering that I probably should have looked up where I had to go. As I looked at the name, I grinned thinking that it would not be necessary. I knew where this employee resided. Floor thirty.
Chapter 12: Private & Confidential
I didn't know whether to grin or freak out. One side of my brain was saying that I won't get past the woman at the front desk. What was her name again? Bitch? No, it was Amy. Close enough. The other side of my brain was saying that the parcel was marked private and confidential, for the recipient’s signature to be placed upon the rip away tag. I didn't know how this was going to play out. If I would be told to hand it over and forced to accept her signature on his behalf or if she would accept it and allow me past her little posting. Either way, this was going to be interesting.
There was an awful large lump in my throat as the numbers rose higher, ascending my way into the glittering glass building. My fingers ran over his name. Dorian Gallagher, Private and Confidential, signature of recipient required. Could there be anything sweeter? Well, yes I suppose there was. Free access to the information I required to complete the mission would be pretty sweet. This was proving to be more difficult than my father had anticipated. No doubt he would have wished for Tilley to do this assignment but she was entrenched in her own little world of black clothes and heavy eye-liner.
The elevator jolted to a stop as the doors slowly slid open. I had been daydreaming again, something that I found rather concerning. Twice in one day yet I wasn't a daydreamer. I stepped out into the reception area waiting to be confronted by the bubbly and plan crushing Amy. Except that she wasn't here. Moving closer to her desk, I looked around and still found no one.
As I peered over the desk, I thought that maybe she had momentarily dropped something and leaned over to pick it up. No such luck, she really wasn't here. There was no little bell to ring, no buzzers, nothing that I could use to alert my presence. I leaned on the desk and wondered what I was going to do. Was she at lunch and was it possible that she would return soon? Maybe she had gone to the bathroom and would be back at any second. Still, I couldn't help but wonder. I looked at her desk, the thing was scrupulously clean and tidy. Her computer was off, was this normal? Was this a security thing or had she gone home?
I couldn't wait any longer, Jack would be waiting and likely to be timing me and considering his comments earlier about me wanting more interaction from this floor and its occupants, I knew it wasn't wise to linger. Everyone was a threat, no matter how cute their smile was. Turning to the only possible door, the one that was obviously Dorian's office, I noticed that it was open a fraction. As I moved closer to the door, I could hear the soft murmur of a conversation. I peeked through the door and saw him standing in front of a window with a mobile phone to his ear.
“I don't care how much it costs, I don't want another one, understand? Continue the treatment by force if you have to. That's two now Hiroki, don't let there be a third.”
Dorian's hand that held the phone moved from his ear, he pressed a button to end the call and then pressed his head against the glass. The soft strains of a prayer for strength caught my attention, I hadn't pegged Dorian as the religious type yet the request had been muttered regardless. Maybe he was cursing. I stowed the little bit of information about the conversation and the name and stood upright, gently rapping on the door. Within seconds the door was open with a swift swing, Dorian was staring at me with a glare of icy doom.
“Parcel.” I whispered rather shocked. “Amy's not here.”
“I know that.” He hissed angrily.
“You need to sign for it.”
His eyes narrowed at me and he took the parcel from me, almost stomping his way across the room. With a quick flick of the pen and a rip of the paper, I was almost on my way again. Almost. The mood had swung again and the impending Arctic death stare that I was expecting was gone, replaced by a much more controlled mood. He held out the piece of paper, his face was plain and inexpressive. I reached out to take it but he flicked it away before I could even take a single grasp for it. His eyes narrowed and a playful smirk crossed his face.
“How's the mail room?”
“Lacking in air-conditioning.”
“How unfortunate.” He said dryly.
I nodded and shifted my feet, suddenly feeling awkward. His constant scrutiny was unnerving and I knew it was intentional. This I had to deal with in a delicate way, but how? I had to get higher up in the building, I had to get to floor thirty-five. I inwardly sighed, I knew how I had to play this. I had to channel my inner Tilley and toy with the affections of my target. Oh poor Dorian you fool. You poor unlucky fool.
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I smiled at him sweetly which earned me an odd smirk, just a slight curl of his lips on one side. I could hear Tilley screaming at me to ham it up, to play the diminutive and sweet little girl. She was such a tart.
“But aside from that it's good. Maybe I might make some friends or something.” I shrugged.
“That's right.” He murmured. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
I shook my head feeling the color drain from my face. Where was he going with this? Had I pushed this too far?
“I suppose the big city is hard enough for any of us to navigate but to have socialization issues as well…” Dorian shrugged as the grin grew a little. “I could foresee any one becoming a recluse. Question is, what are you going to do about it Miss Ryan?”
“Uh… talk to my co-workers more often?”
His face altered slightly, a little more humored at the statement.
“Jack seems pretty nice. I suppose I could start there, he seems to know his way around the place and a few people.”
The humor died in Dorian's face, I was left to look at another glacial stare.
“Jack who?”
“Jack…” I frowned, unable to remember his surname.
Some spy I was.
“The guy I'm replacing. Jack.”
“Beware of the path you tread Miss Ryan, some paths are not for you.”
He was about to close the door but the statement was the most bizarre thing I had ever heard. My hand slapped to the door, his eyes widened and then narrowed.
“Sorry but what the hell does that mean?”
Dorian tilted his body closer to whisper in my ear.
“It means that you should be wary of embarking on an adulterous relationship.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and his stupid conclusions.
“I was talking about finding a friend. Not a bed time buddy. Your mind might be stuck in the gutter but do not assume that we all think like that.”
And then something dawned on me, something rather bizarre. Jack had never seen Dorian in person, never met him. How did he know that Jack was in a relationship? I looked at Dorian, he was inexpressive again. Damn this man and his poker face.
