Under Orders

by Doris O'Connor

  The conversation she’d had with Louise had to have been the most bizarre yet.

  “So.” Louise had scooted her office chair across and talked in hushed whispers when she’d made it back to her desk, after a visit to the ladies’ to freshen up. “Do you remember what happened? We all saw Brian be escorted off the premises, but I can’t get the dirt from him on anyone, and believe me I tried.”

  Anna had rolled her eyes at the other woman’s nosiness.

  “Of course I remember. I’m not a complete dimwit, and if you needed to know why Brian was let go, then I’m sure you would be told. If you haven’t then you sure are not going to hear it from me.”

  Louise had blinked twice and pursed her lips.

  “But no one ever remembers what happens when he is around. Not when they’ve been summoned like you have? I don’t understand, I mean—“

  “Louise, meet me in my office, please.”

  Leonard’s disembodied voice coming over the intercom had made them both jump, and Louise had gone an interesting shade of white, before she‘d scrambled to her feet, and had disappeared into his office. When she had reappeared moments later, she had avoided eye contact with anyone and had avoided Anna like the proverbial plague. In fact, most people in the office gave Anna wide berth. Had she been given to paranoia she might have thought they were all avoiding her on purpose. Which was a ridiculous notion. It hadn’t been her fault that Brian had been sacked, and his replacement, a bland faced, married man in his thirties seemed studious and had seamlessly blended into the company as though Brian had never existed.

  Whenever Anna allowed herself to dwell on these goings on, that sense of unease invaded her. Like a thousand little insect legs it marched across her consciousness, always just out of reach, and try as she might she could not grasp the reason for it.

  So Anna threw herself into her work instead. As soon as the last “t” was crossed she could hand in her resignation and get away from this place. And maybe then the nightmares would stop.

  It meant many a late night in the office, and she could have sworn that she was being watched. Even now Anna couldn’t shake the feeling that she was not alone. Her nipples firmed and her breasts grew heavy, and moisture soaked her pajama bottoms as a familiar scent engulfed her. Her heartbeat slowed and then turned into a jack hammer when she drew back the curtains and peered down into her deserted street. A black Mercedes was parked under the street light again. Anna couldn’t see anything past the blacked out windows, and just like before it silently drove away the minute she opened the curtains.

  The scent intensified, and gooseflesh broke out all over her skin.

  “I’ve got you, little one. Don’t be afraid.” Jonathan’s voice in her ear made her spin around, fully expecting him to stand behind her, but of course he wasn’t there. She was going insane. Lack of sleep was making her imagine things; that was all. She was on the fourth floor with her windows locked and the front door dead bolted. No living creature could get in, and whatever Jonathan was, he was very much alive and kicking. Far too alive and utterly delectable, damn him.

  Anna padded into the bathroom to splash cold water in her face and to will her breathing to slow down. If she closed her eyes she could almost see him standing behind her, feel his calloused fingers kneading her tense shoulders. She leant back into his reassuring warmth and let her head fall back onto his broad shoulder. It was an illusion, that was all, but a sense of calm settled over her.

  The shrill sound of the telephone shook her out of her trance, and she bumped into the wash basin in her haste to get away from… From what? There was no one there.

  She snatched the phone of the receiver, and uttered a silent prayer of thanks when her pop’s gravelly voice came through loud and clear.

  “Are you feeling all right, Anna?”

  Anna rolled her eyes and looked at the time again.

  “Am I feeling all right? Grand-pops, you do know what the time is, don’t you? It’s the middle of the night. Couldn’t you sleep again? Where is that nurse? She’s supposed to look after you, and—”

  “I don’t need some young whippersnapper of a nurse ordering me about. I told you that before. I am not senile. I am perfectly capable of taking my medication and going to the toilet by myself. I do not need a nurse-maid.”

  Anna suppressed a sigh and switched off to the tirade. This was an old argument and one she did not have the patience for right now. Grand-pops was in his late eighties and refused to leave his huge house in the country and downsize to something more manageable, despite the fact that he lived in just two rooms of the big old rambling house. Once upon a time it had been full of laughter and love. Nowadays it gave Anna the chills. The upstairs had long since been boarded off as Grand-pops found the stairs harder and harder to negotiate, and he had set up home in the large kitchen. Warm all year round, thanks to the huge Aga, the kitchen had always been the focal point, even when Grand-mama had still been alive. It hadn’t been a huge surprise when Grand-pops had decreed that he would live out his days in the kitchen and adjacent study–cum-library.

  As a child Anna had spent hours in the study, where floor to ceiling book shelves groaned under the weight of too many books to count, waiting for her parents to return from one of their many trips. It had been there she had been told the news of their fatal car accident when she had been just twelve. An accident she still felt responsible for. Had she not made that wish…

  “Anna, are you listening to me?” The edge of command and authority she hadn’t heard from her beloved Grand-pops in far too long pulled her back to the here and now.

  “I’m here, no need to shout Grand-pops. And, yes, I am fine. No need to worry over me. That’s my department. I’ll come and see you on Sunday, as usual … Yes, Grand-pops…”

  They passed the next half hour catching up, and by the time Anna finally hung up the sun was shining right into her windows. It was going to be another scorcher of a day, and she would be late for work if she didn’t hurry.

  She couldn’t deny the tiny spark of excitement. She had been summoned again. And she was going to piss him off by not following orders. It was too hot for office attire, and, as part of their client meeting was at a posh hotel, Anna was going to dress for comfort.

  Let’s see what the high and mighty Jonathan would do about that.

  ****

  “Right, that’s settled then.” Anna flinched when the American client grasped her hand between his beefy ones and pulled her a bit too close for her liking. All through the meal he had not so subtly stared down her cleavage, and Anna had begun to wish that she had worn something more conservative.

  Not that her summer dress was revealing exactly. The pretty halter dress had a high neck, which left her back exposed, flared out over her hips and ended just under the knees. It was light and airy, and whilst she normally did not wear anything underneath she had donned her strapless bra and matching thong set, so she knew she was adequately covered for the business meeting.

  Still, it hadn’t stopped any of the men round the table from taking a far too close interest in her cleavage, and Jonathan had wasted no time in taking advantage of the distraction. Anna had bristled inside at the proprietary manner in which he had kept placing his hand on her shoulder. It only seemed to serve to egg the other man on, and despite his wife sitting right next to him, he had continued to openly flirt with Anna. She in turn had done her best to ignore the lot of them and had struck up a conversation with the wife. Anna had become so engrossed in quizzing the older woman about her children—she had really opened up to her at the mention of them—that she had almost enjoyed herself.

  At one point she had looked up to see Jonathan watching her. Approval had replaced the thin lipped way he had greeted her on arrival. His eyes had swirled with a myriad of emotions she hadn’t been able to decipher, their ice cold disdain replaced with the warm pool of a Mediterranean Sea. Her skin had heated under his quiet regard, and an army of butterflies had danced in her t
ummy, until he’d broken eye contact and turned business-like once again.

  Finally released from the clutches of the visiting client, Anna breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

  “Not so fast, little one. We’re not done yet.”

  Jonathan’s voice had dropped an octave, and Anna’s insides clenched in need. She was a sucker for a deep, commanding voice, and pitched this low, that almost growl had her already damp thong soaked in her own arousal.

  She just had to be close to him, it seemed, for her body to ready itself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing her hormones to behave, but it was useless. His warmth seeped into her bare back as he pulled her back against his long frame with one hard arm around her waist. His slight and ever present stubble scraped along her neck, awakening every female cell in her body, and she moaned when he took her earlobe between his teeth and bit down.

  The sharp pain focused her attention solely on him, and the rest of the crowded restaurant faded away, until she was aware only of his hot breath on her neck.

  “You can’t fight this, little one. I can smell your need. You want this as much as I do.”

  Her heart shuddered to a stop, before it started beating so fast she felt faint. His grip on her tightened, and he kissed her neck in just the right spot to turn her knees to jelly.

  From somewhere she found her voice. A breathy, need filled version of her voice, but at least she managed to say something.

  “No, I don’t.”

  He went still, and she could feel him smile against her shoulder, before he stepped back. Bereft of his body warmth and despite the humid day, Anna shivered. He traced a finger down her exposed spine, and slowly the noises of the restaurant faded back into her consciousness. Her cheeks heated. People were staring at them, stood as they were in the middle of the room.

  Jonathan would draw glances wherever he went. His commanding presence filled any room he entered, women and men alike drawn to him like moths to the flame, but Anna refused to fall under his spell again. She had no intention of becoming another one of his conquests. While sex with him would no doubt rock her world, he also had the ability to rip her heart to shreds. How she knew that, she couldn’t even begin to explain to herself, and then there was the danger she sensed. It surrounded him like an invisible cloak. Her nightmares had started again since their first encounter. Nightmares that hadn’t plagued her since childhood, and Anna did not think this was a coincidence.

  No, she had to get her feet to move and get away from him.

  “The meeting is over, and I need to be back at the office, so…”

  His smile was sin itself, and Anna balled her hands into fists to stop herself from reaching out to him. With his dirt-blond hair falling messily over one eye and that bad boy smirk on his handsome features, he looked good enough to eat, and of course he knew that. He pushed his hands into the pockets of his Armani suit and simply looked at her, until she dropped her gaze to the floor.

  “You have the afternoon off. To spend with me of course, and I have no intention of letting you slip away a second time.”

  “And I have no intention of sleeping with you.” She whispered the words and took a step back and away from him. For every step she took he matched her easily, the predatory way he stalked her turning the earlier butterflies into a swarm of buzzing bees. Short of running away from him at full pelt, she was stuck, and even then she wouldn’t get very far. The high heeled strappy sandals she wore looked pretty, but she would break her neck if she tried to run in them.

  He offered her his hand palm up, and she stared at it for the longest time.

  “Trust me, little one.”

  Chapter Three

  His hand on her waist branded her. Every cell in her body heightened in awareness of the man standing next to her in the crowded lift.

  When she’d placed her hand in his, he’d smiled, and something deep inside of her had simply let go. A sense of calm had invaded her at his whispered, “Good girl.” She had let herself be led out of the restaurant and across the foyer into the lift. It was slowly emptying as they rode up to the very top. When the door finally pinged open and the smiling bell boy stepped aside to let them through they stepped into a plush corridor. It was cool up here, the air conditioning working overtime, and Anna shivered again. Instantly Jonathan shrugged out of his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

  His scent and warmth engulfed her, and Anna closed her eyes and simply allowed herself to feel. He chuckled into her ear, and the sound of a door opening had her eyes fly open. She followed him through into the expensive suite, and then stopped dead. The views over London were magnificent, and she drank in the beauty of her home town. It was a glorious day out there, and she smiled at the sight of children chasing a dog in Hyde Park, tourists hurrying along the busy streets. From her vantage point up here, it all looked picture perfect. The smells and sounds didn’t travel through the plate glass windows, and she sighed as Jonathan stepped closer. He pointed a remote towards the wall and then rubbed his hands up and down her arms.

  “It will be warmer soon. The cleaning crew always turns the air con too high. I like it cool, but we can’t have you shivering, little one.”

  “I’m okay, really. I just … just. Why won’t you just let me go?”

  He sighed and turned her around, tipping her chin up to make her look at him. His pupils dilated, and a curious warmth settled over her. A languid feeling spread through her limbs. Her heart beat slowed, and her breathing grew thready. She leant into him, his erection a hard ridge against her belly, which spiked her need for him to fever pitch, and she whispered his name. He swore and released her so abruptly she stumbled.

  “Jonathan?” she asked.

  Tension emanated off his broad shoulders in almost palpable waves, and he ran an unsteady hand through his hair.

  “You better run while you can, little one. You tempt me far too much.” The growled reply settled low in her abdomen and had the completely opposite effect to the one he was no doubt attempting.

  She dropped his jacket on the floor and stepped close enough to him to touch. A shudder went through him at the first tentative slide of her hands over the corded muscles in his back. They rippled under her fingertips, and she indulged herself by running them over his shoulders and his flexing biceps straining against the thin material of his shirt.

  “Anna.” His warning growl stalled her exploration for a second. Low and feral, it didn’t sound human, and she closed her eyes as an image invaded her mind—an image from her nightmares that should have terrified her. Here, however, in the bright light of day, that image just pitched her arousal higher. He inhaled sharply in response to the gush of her essence soaking her thong. It trickled past the elastic and coated the tops of her thighs, and she resumed her discovery of his body. Without breaking contact she circled him until she stood in front of him, so close that their thighs touched and the hard ridge of his cock pressed against her lower abdomen. She rocked her hips, and he growled again, low in his throat. His hands fisted in her hair, and he yanked her head up to study her face.

  A ray of sunshine slanted past the blinds. It caressed the sharp angles of his face like a lover’s kiss, and Jonathan blinked and shifted them slightly until they were in the shadows. Not hidden exactly, but not in the direct glare either, and when he smiled at her, the fangs just confirmed what she already knew, what she had suspected from the minute she’d seen him up close.

  He was too virile, too perfect, too altogether enticing to be anything else. Unlike the monsters that had plagued her childhood dreams and seemed to want to stake their claim in her life again, Jonathan didn’t scare her.

  Her parents had died in the eradication of his race, and whilst she was no slayer, she should be running away, not drawing closer to him. She rested her hands on his chest, the warmth she found there, his thundering heart beat under her finger tips testament to the fact that he was not one of them.

  “Anna.” Her nam
e rolled off his tongue, as much a warning as a promise, and she smiled up at him. Standing on tip-toes she slanted her lips against his, needing to taste him, to prove to herself that he was indeed alive and not a figment of her imagination.

  He groaned into the kiss, and when their tongues touched, he took over. He claimed her, deepening the kiss, until she fisted her hands into his shirt, clinging on, lest her legs fail to support her. He released her just enough for her to draw much needed air into her lungs, before he delved back into her. The scrape of his fangs across her kiss-swollen lips, the way he held her head permitting her no movement, the way his other hand trailed to her ass, molding it and pushing her closer into him, all served to stoke her need into an inferno.

  Nothing mattered but him, the heat they created between each other, the insistent throbbing between her legs, and she whimpered into his mouth. The action seemed to bring him to his senses, because he released her and took a step back, his breathing as heavy as her own, his pupils so dilated his eyes were almost black. He shook his head and then framed her face in his large hands. He ran his thumbs over her lips, and his expression darkened when she whispered, “What are you?”

  “I would have thought that was obvious by now, little one.”

  He smiled grimly when she shook her head and retracted his fangs with an audible click that made her stomach flip flop wildly.

  “You’re alive. You breathe. You have a heartbeat. You can walk in the sun. You’re not a … a…”

  “A what, little one? Go on, say it.” The grip he had on her face tightened, and she couldn’t hide her flinch. “A monster? That’s what you’re going to say, right?”

  “No, that’s not what I mean. If you were a monster, you’d have simply hypnotized me, had your wicked way, and then erased my memories, like … oh.”