Mesmerized

by Sahara Kelly

  Elaine gasped, choking out her response. “I’d like that.” Swiping the keycard, she pushed open the door. This weekend suddenly held more than just business possibilities.

  He let out a light chuckle. “There it is…the magic green light of entry. This whole show is all about Greenlight for me.”

  No, please say it isn’t so. Her heart sank as all thoughts of stress-relieving nights with this man flew right out the window. “Are you with AdLive?”

  “Yeah, how’d you guess?”

  “Just a few too many coincidences. I’m Elaine Ridgley.” And I’m going to bang my head against the wall now.

  He shoved a suitcase into his room, then turned back to her with a nervous smile. Swallowing hard, he shook his head, then offered up a handshake. “Oh, umm…yeah. Hi Elaine. I’m Mark Ranzetti. It’s great to finally meet you. We’ll talk some more later tonight when I meet the rest of the group.”

  From lust to all business in 2.3 seconds. Dammit!

  “Sure. Meet you in the lobby with the rest of the guys in an hour.” Hopefully, with a change of panties, I can get on with my life.

  The last thing she saw was that fine ass of his as the door closed behind it.

  She sighed, turned around, and entered her hotel room, cursing the damn green light that had ended things before they could get started.

  But it could have been worse. She could have actually fucked her new boss, the Vice-President of AdLive Web Development, and the man who’d been transferred to steal Greenlight away from her.

  Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!

  * * * * *

  Elaine was twenty minutes late.

  But she’d needed those twenty minutes. Her vibrator had helped take the edge off, but knowing she was going to be spending countless hours working side by side with Mark all weekend had her stopping by the gift shop for more batteries.

  It should be illegal to have a boss that hot.

  Elaine arrived at the Starlight Lounge and handed over the ticket that had been waiting for her at check-in. An interesting way for a new boss to meet and greet his employees. She could already tell that Mark was going to keep her on her toes. She just shook her head and walked inside, studying the crowd around her before spying her crew already seated at a table, the only available seat right next to Mark.

  Of all the damn luck…

  Mark didn’t even seem to notice as she approached. It looked like he’d already befriended the rest of the team.

  Larry’s gaze strayed to her partially exposed cleavage as she sat down, but he continued talking. “A hypnotism show? Out of all the shows in Vegas, you got us tickets to a hypnotism show? Who the hell is Bill Brentwood, anyway? Probably learned how to hypnotize from some instructions inside a Cracker Jack box.”

  “He’s supposedly the greatest hypnotist of all time. Somehow, I doubt it.” Jack smirked.

  Elaine just sighed. Was there anything Jack ever liked or believed in? His marketing campaigns were always successful, but the man was insufferable.

  She looked at Mark, wondering what his first impressions were of everyone. All he did was smile at her, but there was something else in his stare. Something deeper…more personal. A challenge, maybe? “Glad to see you made it, Elaine.”

  Had he thought he affected her so badly she wouldn’t show up? Well she’d show him. “Of course. I need to make sure the new VP knows what he’s doing so Greenlight doesn’t fail.”

  Nothing but very loud silence followed. She could feel the stares from her fellow sales team. Earlier that week they’d all been lamenting the fact that a new face was going to run their campaign. Now they were probably wondering when they’d be saying goodbye to her and her big mouth. She hadn’t meant it to sound so accusatory but something about Mark kept her off balance. Oh well, she wasn’t known for backing down and she sure as hell wasn’t going to stammer her way out of this one.

  Besides, Mark needed to know where her loyalties lay.

  And then Mark grinned. A grin that stretched from ear to ear and caused those gorgeous eyes of his to sparkle. “Well said, Elaine. Remind me not to get on your bad side. And Greenlight won’t fail. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

  Elaine met his smile and nodded. Maybe Hanson hadn’t transferred him to sabotage her creation after all.

  “So, did you two already meet or something?” Bryan looked at them both, obviously trying to decide exactly what was going on between the two of them. If anyone could figure it out, it would be Bryan. Married to her best friend Jen, Bryan was the one guy on this team Elaine undoubtedly knew she could trust.

  But she had to make light of their meeting, or Bryan would worry about her all weekend. Elaine shrugged. “Oh, yeah, we met in the hallway earlier. No big deal.”

  Mark narrowed his eyes but grinned. “Yeah. Just a coincidence.”

  Larry harrumphed then wiped his hands on his belly. “Hey, is there a waitress around here? I need a beer.”

  “Even I’m gonna need a beer just to survive this.” Tom sighed as he took in the audience. Poor guy. He was the worst salesman on the team and Elaine swore that the only reason he closed any deals was out of customer pity.

  “Ah, c’mon guys, this’ll be fun. Promise. And the first round of drinks is on me.”

  The guys cheered Mark’s offer and Elaine sank back into her chair, her thoughts turning to the reason she was in Las Vegas.

  Greenlight had been her passion for the last six months, thereby becoming her longest passionate relationship. Before she’d had Greenlight, there had been Ronald Hanson. What a mistake that had been. No one else in the company knew that they’d been involved for eight months, when they’d been co-workers competing for the same VP position. Hanson had spent more time kissing the boss’s ass than her own, which should have told her there was a problem much earlier on in their relationship. When he received the promotion she’d worked so hard for, he’d asked her to quit…and marry him as the consolation prize. Instead, she chose her career over a lifetime of disappointing fucks.

  Hanson was still doing his best to make sure that Elaine didn’t rise any further in the company. Ronald feared a woman who enjoyed being on top…especially one more suited to it then he was. His subtle jabs at her design work, the snide remarks about her abilities, just fueled her fire to make Greenlight the success she knew it could be. Transferring Mark in last minute to run Greenlight’s premiere at Creative Solutions was another jab from Hanson. If Greenlight succeeded, Mark would be praised; if it failed, she’d be out of a job. She should be worried, but she wasn’t. Greenlight would not fail.

  Elaine’s gaze casually passed over Mark. He looked so damn good, deep blue dress shirt tucked into well-fitting gray chinos. He was clearly in his element and Elaine knew then how he’d made VP at AdLive. Employees felt comfortable being around him, whether at work or at play. He had that certain honest team player air about him. A boss who was still able to be “just one of the guys.” She couldn’t keep herself from warming up to him. Sure just looking at him made her hot, but there was also something more…

  Thankfully the waitress arrived before Elaine could dissect her thoughts too closely. The scantily clad server showed off her merchandise to each of the guys as she passed out their beers, definitely vying for a large tip. Elaine just rolled her eyes, stood up and leaned over the table toward the waitress, determined to get her beer before it turned room temperature.

  That was a mistake, Elaine realized, as her breasts practically made contact with Mark’s face.

  Yet he acted like he didn’t even notice! Not that she had meant to do it, but a little visual response, or an announcement that he liked the freckle on her right breast would have been nice.

  And then he raised his arm, brushing along the underside of her breast as he grabbed his beer off the tray.

  Alert! Pantyhose reaching critical heat level…melting imminent!

  But he never looked at her…did he not realize what he’d done?

  Damn she
wanted him. Wanted him to peel the melting hose off her body, rip her dress off and fuck her on the table in front of her co-workers, consequences be damned.

  Instead she sat down and took a long drink of her beer.

  The guys resumed their talking which Elaine ignored as she focused on bringing her body back down to normal temperature levels. This was going to be an interesting weekend.

  Suddenly, Mark met her stare across the table and grinned. “So, ya gonna do it with me?”

  Elaine blinked. Dear God, was it that obvious what she was thinking? She cursed her mind’s ability to wander off at the most inopportune times. Returning Mark’s grin with a smirk, she prayed that she was giving him the right answer. “With an invitation like that, how could I refuse?”

  Mark’s eyes twinkled merrily as he stood up. “Let’s do it then.”

  The guys cheered as she stood up. Larry leaned back in his chair and lifted his second beer in toast. His eyes never lifted above her exposed line of cleavage. Would the man ever understand she was more than a piece of meat and that lechers were never her type anyway? “To Elaine…for suddenly making this party a whole lot more interesting…”

  Elaine was halfway to the stage when it became obvious exactly what she’d agreed to. Lights began flashing, the music intensified, and scantily clad dancers began gyrating to the wild beat. Then, Mr. Bill Brentwood, the greatest hypnotist of all time—yeah right—made his appearance.

  “What the hell did you get me into?” Elaine whispered to Mark as they filed on stage.

  “I’m wondering that myself,” he replied as they sat down next to each other on a bench.

  Elaine glanced around her. About twenty people—or hypno-hopefuls as Bill liked to call them—filled the stage. Elaine was sandwiched between Mark and a cute college boy. Standing behind her was a guy who looked like he should be in the NFL, muscles overflowing his tight black T-shirt.

  Mark turned toward her and winked. “This is going to be fun.”

  Like getting teeth pulled, Elaine thought as Bill began the show. She just hoped she wouldn’t end up doing something stupid that she’d never be able to live down.

  Elaine only partially listened as Bill gave his hypnotism spiel. It was all the normal stuff about these types of stage shows—everything the audience saw that night was real and no one was paid to be up on stage. Elaine snorted. Hell, she was more than willing to pay to go back to her seat to watch the fun from afar, but Mark was so intent on chumming, she knew she had to stay and make good. She reminded herself that she was doing it for the success of Greenlight. Nothing more, nothing less.

  And maybe she’d get to have a little fun with Mark in the process. All for the sake of the show, of course.

  Bill gestured at all the hypno-hopefuls. “Aren’t you all lucky? We’re gonna sleep together tonight right here on stage.” He and the audience shared a laugh. “All kidding aside, I’m gonna take real good care of you. One hour of hypno-sleep is as good as eight hours of regular sleep. How’s that for a bonus? Now, quiet everyone, let’s start breathing deeply and relax.”

  Elaine’s internal devil reared its head and she whispered to Mark, “Sleep together, huh?”

  “And just what exactly should we do with our sleepless night ahead of us?” Mark replied with what could only be described as a shit-eatin’ grin.

  So he knew she was off limits, but he still wanted to flirt, did he? Two could play at that game. She tilted her face and blinked coquettishly. “Oh, the possibilities. Hmmm…I see long hours of Greenlight paperwork in your future.” She grinned. “You need the prep time. And I need to use my vibrator.”

  Mark started laughing then hid it behind a cough as Bill shot them both a glance. Elaine faked innocence, pretending to be fully involved with the show. Ha! Score one for her. Oh yeah, being in a cheesy hypnotism show with her boss would make this a night to remember.

  Bill continued. “That’s good. Most of you are concentrating perfectly. Now on my count of three, your eyelids will start to feel heavy. At two, they will want to close. At one, they will close…” Bill kept going and Elaine just tried to play along. Hell, the show was only supposed to be about an hour. If all it took to fake being hypnotized was to do a bunch of breathing and keep her eyes closed, tonight would be the easiest part of her weekend.

  Bill resumed his speech. “As you relax, keep breathing deeply and imagine your body has become a pile of loose rubber bands. Completely relaxed.”

  The music in the background was hypnotic in its own right as it soothed and calmed. Even with her eyes closed, Elaine could tell that the stage lights had gone out. She yawned, suddenly very tired. Work had kept her so busy for the last several months, she hadn’t been sleeping as much as she should. Hopefully, the hotel bed would be comfortable enough for her to get some much-needed sleep.

  Elaine could hear Bill walking around and people being moved at his direction. The college kid next to her moved away and Bill leaned her against Mark while saying something about being safe and feeling protected. His words were starting to mush together as she got more and more tired. She thought about sitting back up, but there was something so soothing about Mark’s natural scent and the firmness of his shoulder. Relaxing even further, she slid down a bit and discovered the wonder of his tightly muscled chest. Oh yeah, it felt even better than it looked.

  Bill’s voice reached through the fog of her thoughts. “Imagine you have balloons tied to your hand. Imagine that those balloons tied to your hand are growing. They’re growing so big that your hand wants to rise off your lap and into the air. Rising and lifting. Lifting and rising. You are concentrating perfectly.”

  Elaine mentally snickered. How hokey was this? Imaginary balloons and floating hands. Was anybody actually falling for this?

  Then her hand started to leave her lap. It felt so light and buoyant and there was just no way she could keep it down. Bill kept talking about how strong the balloons were tugging and they were! Her other hand joined the first and Elaine felt like she could float away. What the hell was going on?

  The tugging on her hands intensified and she stood up, following the pull. Mark brushed against her as he stood up too. So he was playing along as well…or was he really being hypnotized? But she wasn’t, she couldn’t be. There had to be a rational reason her hands were trying to float away.

  Bill interrupted Elaine as she mentally registered her flight pattern. “Everyone freeze and open your eyes to see where you are and how well you have concentrated.”

  Elaine slowly blinked open her eyes and tried to shake the sleep from her thoughts. There were a lot of people with their hands in the air. It looked like a church revival. She bit her lip to keep from bursting into a chorus of “Kumbaya”.

  Mark turned to her and gave her a questioning smile, his hands still high in the air. His shirt was pulled taut across his chest, showcasing those magnificent pectorals she’d been up close and personal with. Then he frowned and looked down, lowering his hands to shift his shirt away from his chest. A small, dark, wet stain was visible.

  Oh God, she hadn’t! Please tell her she hadn’t. But there was no denying the obvious.

  Elaine had drooled on her new boss’s chest.

  * * * * *

  “I don’t think I’ve ever had a woman drool on me before,” Mark said with a grin. Elaine’s face turned a lovely crimson, and as he watched, the blush moved lower, disappearing down into her cleavage. Mark swallowed hard. Since she’d offered them up to him earlier, he’d been unable to think of little else, had been fighting all night to keep from staring at those beauties. From what he could tell, they were pretty damn perfect. His mouth watered just thinking about that little freckle on her right breast he’d noticed earlier. Just one taste…

  One of Bill’s dancer-helpers moved Mark away from Elaine before she could reply. Probably a good idea. Mark needed to get his head back and his other head under control. Damn thing was trying to get out of his pants so it could get up Elaine’s
dress.

  He was placed on a bench on the opposite side of the stage where he could easily watch Elaine as the dancers continued moving everyone around, setting up the next part of the show. Damn, she intrigued the hell out of him. Obviously smart—he’d seen enough of Greenlight to know that she had an award winning idea going. Hot damn, what a woman. All woman. And unfortunately far behind the firewall of interoffice bad ideas. Hell, his spidering software must be completely malfunctioning because it wasn’t responding to the auto-off command after bouncing. Mark shook his head. Using computer terms to define the way a woman made him feel had to be the beginning of the end. Or maybe he really did have a couple of screws loose when it came to Elaine.

  Thankfully, she was across the stage, nowhere near his thoughts or his body. Bill took Elaine’s hand and moved her to the chair right next to Mark and he inwardly grimaced. Now if he could just keep his sleepy gaze from wandering down her cleavage.

  Still holding her hand, Bill began to speak. “I’ve got a great group tonight. We’re going to have a lot of fun.” Bill turned his attention back to Elaine. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  Elaine’s eyes seemed to grow wider in her face. “Elaine…”

  “Well, Elaine, are you here with someone special tonight? Husband? Boyfriend? Someone who just might be mad at me if I keep calling you beautiful?”

  She shook her head, her tongue darting out to nervously lick her lips. “No…I’m in Vegas on business, actually.”

  “Well, let’s have some fun…just the two of us.” Bill kissed her hand and turned and wiggled his eyebrows lasciviously at the audience who laughed and cheered their response. “Sit down for me, sweetheart. It’s time for the show to begin.”

  Bill started at the opposite side of the bench and asked where everyone was from and right in the middle of the mini-interviews, he put them each into hypnotic sleep. There was Becky, the librarian from Kansas. The college kid’s name was Stanley. There was a dad named Bob. As he put them out, he leaned them on each other like fallen dominoes.