Giselle sits across from me, looking over the documents Sheila brought in with sheer fascination. I can’t help but stare at her just for that. I’ve never known anybody to get so worked up over paperwork.
“This is your thing,” I note and her gaze flicks up to meet mine. “You like the intellectual property cases?”
“Yeah… I really want to specialize in it. It’s the area that made me want to become a lawyer.”
Interesting. “me too.”
“Yeah?”
“My Dad loves it. That’s his thing, and when he’d talk about it really interested me. What was it for you?” I like hearing about her.
“My Dad too, except it was a show we were watching. We liked Perry Mason,” she laughs, and it’s the best sound ever. “We watched a lot of tv.”
“That’s okay. Different things inspire us. Does your dad still teach?”
The smile recedes from her face, and she sighs. “No, he died last year. It’s why I… had that break of sorts.”
My hands stills and I feel bad that I’ve known her for close to a week and didn’t know that.
“I’m sorry,” I say and shuffle to straighten up.
“That’s okay. He had cancer and I guess I should be glad I had him for as long as I did. My Mom… wasn’t around much.”
Maybe I should have had her checked out. I feel off for not knowing this, but having her tell me feels better.
“Come here,” I tell her, and she gets up. She makes her way over to me and I pull her down in my lap.
“Josh, what if someone comes in and sees us?’ she looks nervously at the door which isn’t locked.
“Do I look like I care?” I smirk. Really, I do care because Dad could indeed come through that door, or Riley, but I want this with her. I slip my arm around her tiny waist and hold her to me. “I’m going to let you handle this case,” I tell her and her eyes go wide.
“Me?” she actually points at herself.
“Yeah, you,” I say with a firm nod. “Think of it as a test. Your first assignment of sorts.”
“But they’re big clients.”
She’s right. Our client is Mark Frontableu owner and CEO of Spark Inc. a games development company and the company who are merging with his is Logstrick, owners of a host of technological devices.
“What does that matter? Your knowledge and expertise is what is needed here. Mark needs us—you, to advise him on the best course of action here. Clearly the crux of the matter is he doesn’t want to piss off Logstrick who are offering him a very sweet deal considering he’s going bust.”
That was the problem, although no one has said. I have a great P.I. who checks things out for me and he knows when shit doesn’t look right but the clients are holding off on being up front.
“You think he’s going bust?” she asks.
“Yes,” I answer and lean closer. “It’s intuition. And the numbers don’t look right to me. The man has his back against the wall, so he’s the little guy in the scenario. He wants to save his ass so he can keep doing what he does, but he wants to save that thing that’s most precious to him.” I phrase it like that because I know exactly what I would do here and I want to see where her head is at.
“His knowledge of what only he can do,” she puts in and nod.
“See you are different to most from Stanford.”
She smirks. “Josh, there are some nice people who went to Stanford. It’s really not as bad as you think. I loved it there.”
I frown. “Woman… tread softly. First you get me to like you, now you want me to like the whole pack of them.”
She holds my gaze and runs her fingers over my chest. “You like me?”
The question throws me off guard, but then what did I expect from my comment.
“I guess I do. Enough to allow you to handle the case.”
“Maybe you won’t like me so much if I tell you that I think Mark should hold on to his rights.”
I smile at her. That’s the very thing I was going to suggest. “And why do you think he should do that?”
“They’re merging with him as a company. Business is business for monetary sake. If he wants his ideas to be his only and not classed as part of the newly formed company then he’s within his rights to. Sure if he wants to share his trade secrets with them on new projects after the merger that’s probably more acceptable, but I don’t think this is.”
“Wow…” I state and she looks nervous.
“Is that a good wow or… something else?”
“It’s good. I agree with you. Besides, if they want him that bad they’ll agree to his terms. I don’t think he has anything to worry about, so go over what you think is best to protect his rights, meet with him and discuss it. If he’s happy with that I’ll set up a mediation meeting here and sit in with you.”
She smiles down at me. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
“That’s okay. Go… take a break, wrap up and go home early. I have something interesting planned for later.”
The spark that comes into her eyes hardens me up.
“What is it?”
“You’ll see.”
“Don’t I get a clue?”
I lean in to her lips and kiss her. “The clue is I think you’ll love it.”
“That’s not a clue.”
“When you get to the club, you’ll see what I mean,” I answer and run my fingers over her breasts.
She shuffles over my cock and I wish now that I had closed the door.
Damn it though, I have another meeting in fifteen minutes and it’s in the other building. It’s one I can’t be late for.
I kiss her again, making that be enough to satisfy my need for her.
“Go… before I get myself in trouble.”
She slips off my lap and straightens her clothes.
“I want you in red tonight. I’ll send something to your house,” I say.
“Is this what it will be like for the next three months? What if I wanted to wear yellow? Would you terminate me?”
I lean back, liking this challenging side of her.
“Do you want to wear yellow?”
“I might have.”
I stand and catch her face, but she seems used to me now and just melts into the hold.
“You will wear what I send over tonight and wear yellow tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is Saturday, the office is closed.”
“Like fuck… the fucking office is closed, but the club is still open.”
“So you want to see me on Saturday’s too? In my time when we aren’t working?” she gives me a tempting smile that I like and find myself liking this far too much.
“Yes,” I answer.
“Okay.”
I release her and she steps back.
“Eight at the club. Ask for me and they’ll take you to me.”
“Aren’t we going to the lounge?”
“No.” She’s perceptive. I get the feeling she knows I have a dominant personality so she wouldn’t be too surprised when she sees what I have planned for later.
“I’ll see you later then.”
As she saunters away, I watch her go and Matts words come to my mind.
The scent of her lingers as she leaves and I find that all I can think of is her.
I’m taken and obsessed.
I can’t wait to get my hands on her tonight, and tomorrow when we wake we don’t have to leave to go anywhere.
I plan to have her all to myself, starting from tonight.
Chapter Nine
Giselle
“Holy shit,” Rachel gasps holding up the red baby doll negligee Josh has sent over me to wear later.
That’s exactly what I said too when I opened up the package. It came from Victoria’s Secret and it was hand delivered too by a personal shopper from the store.
Rachel came over for an early dinner I decided to make so I could catch up with her. She didn’t sound too good on the phone yesterday when we spoke and since s
he’s the kind of friend to try to weather her personal problems by herself I thought this little session would help in some way.
I never meant to make it about me.
Rachel looks from me to the negligee, lips parted the same blood red color as the piece of garment Josh wants me to wear later.
I say piece of garment because the whole thing is just lace. Lace and it’s crotch less.
See-through lace gathers the top with then flows down the bodice. The only thing that’s not see-through is the ribbon trimming the edges, but really does that even count.
I sigh and throw myself down on the sofa.
“Rachel, what the hell am I getting myself into?” I ask her because really what am I doing. This is five days in and look at me.
What sort of relationship is this where it’s just so physical?
She smiles at me and joins me on the sofa.
“I know it’s crazy but I like it. I like this for you because it’s so wild. You’ve never had this. Fuck, I’ve never had this and I’ve done a lot. Trust me, just go with the flow.” She nods with firm determination.
“Go with the flow and what if it leads me somewhere I don’t want? He’s just so unpredictable and I… like that.”
“Why is that so bad?” She gives me an incredulous glare.
“It’s bad Rachel because we’re two people meeting up for sex and there feels like there’s something more but I know that realistically there isn’t. It’s not real. It’s physical and nice and adventurous and I’m experiencing all the feels you get when you get into a relationship, but it just feels so out of control. What happens when it burns out? He’s used to this, but I’m not.”
She looks at me and studies my expression.
“You do like him…” She points out with a little smile.
“Yeah, I do. It’s just nice to be adored, and it’s nice that he wants to know me.” I like it when he starts asking me questions about myself.
“That’s a good thing. It shows he’s interested in more about you past the sex.”
“It is just sex though and I think the next three months are going to be very interesting.”
“Sure, but those parts are the foundation for anybody even if this is fun.”
“You know… the little time I’ve spent with Josh is so much more effective than all the time I spent with Kirk. Kirk barely wanted to do what I wanted. I think he thought I was boring from the beginning.”
He hated my classic films and anything to do with law. He hated that I was so academic, but I think what he liked was the look of me. That’s it. He jumped ship the minute he could do better.
“What’s important is this exploration, no matter who you’re with.”
I nod, agreeing. The exploration is something I’m liking. It was, however, hard talking about Dad today like it always is, but it’s worse talking about Mom.
I’m glad Dad thought I barely remembered her long before he died. The truth was, I remembered all there was to remember about her, and I still do, including the day she left us. I was nine and I remember her getting in a car with some man who looked like the rough stuff who threatened to kill Dad and then they drove away. That was it. While Dad and I never spoke about it, I knew what happened. Mom was pregnant when she left us. As I grew older, I did the math for myself and knew she cheated, got pregnant with that guy's baby and left us. I never saw her again and never heard of her. I don’t mention her so me just even mentioning her today to Josh was unlike me.
I could see it though that he would have asked about my mother if we were talking about my father.
“I’m crazy,” I chuckle when I see her watching me. “You probably think I’m crazy. I’ve known this guy for less than a week and here I am doing the worrying thing, ready to shoot myself in the foot because this whole attachment of ours is based on wild sexual fun we have while living out our fantasies at The Dark Odyssey.”
She shakes her head. “No. I don’t think it’s crazy. You just see something you like and want it. there’s no harm in that. we’ll unless your me and you’re still just as crazy over your dad’s best friend as you were when you were five.”
My jaw drops. Right… so that’s what’s up with her.
I would have guessed if I’d known Dante was back in town.
I know this story and it’s not a good one because I have no idea what to advise her when it comes to Dante Lombroso; Rachel’s dad’s best friend, who is twenty years older than her.
He’s also about to get married.
“Rachel…” I begin and my voice trails off when she looks at me with huge sad eyes.
Jesus, I never know what to say to her when it comes to Dante.
First, I just thought it was a crush. The man is absolutely gorgeous and there’s no woman alive who wouldn’t think it. He has the kind of looks that only get better with age and the last time I saw him was at her parents' anniversary where he announced his engagement. That was nearly a year ago.
“I know... you don’t have to say it. It’s stupid. Now that is stupid because I can’t be with him. I just need to get to the part when I kick that fantasy to the curb. Give it a good kick because the ship has sailed into the great beyond.”
“What happened?” I ask. Something must have happened for her to bring him up. She’s seemed fine outside of the times she’s seen him. She dates and gets up to her wild adventures with her guys and we only even mention Dante in times like these when she starts sulking for one reason or another.
“He’s coming back to Chicago with his fiancée. They’re gonna settle down here, so that means he’ll be working at the same place as me. I’ll see him every day. Dad’s planning to slow down so he can spend more time with Mom, and well… that means Dante may be in charge. It won’t be me and that’s cool. I’m not cut up about that. I’m fine with what I’m doing. What I’m not that thrilled about is seeing him and knowing I can’t be with him… ever.”
I bite the inside of my lips.
“Rachel, I’m gonna try to be you and give the advice I think you’d give me. You’d say to move on, or…” I hold my breath because Rachel’s advice is always something with a twist of some spark to get a person thinking. Just like how she told me to give this thing with Josh a chance. Another friend wouldn’t do that. Jia would be in agreement and has been, but she wasn’t as gentle as Rachel in understanding things from my perspective.
“Or what?” she raises her shoulders. “There’s an, or?”
“Yes, remember, I’m pretending to be you. So you’d say he’s getting married so respect it and move on, but… if he never knew how you felt and perhaps he felt the same way, how would he have known there was a chance?”
I would have completely erred on the side of caution and accept that that ship really had gone to the great beyond. But because she looks so cut up I thought I’d mention that. And… it seems to work.
“Thank you. That’s good advice, Giselle. It’s something to think about, although I think I may just have to see my dream guy get married to someone else. I may be ballsy but I don’t know if I can be that ballsy. How about we focus on you again? I’ll try to get over my grief.”
“Okay, let’s eat some of that chocolate we got last time.” I have a cupboard full of it. it was from my breakup with Kirk. Every time the girls came to the house, they brought chocolate. Every time.
“Okay, let’s do that. I’ll help you with your makeup,” she declares, standing up.
I guess I’m probably going to have to leave in a while. It’s six-thirty. To get to the club for eight, I’ll have to leave at seven-fifteen.
“Thank you.” I return the smile, still feeling crazy because I’m so excited to see Josh I can hardly contain myself.
I’m excited and nervous as hell.
What does he have planned for later?
I get the feeling it’s something that will shock me.
I was right.
I knew it had to be something to shock me more than he already h
ad, and more than I’d already shocked myself.
My mouth fell open when the guard ushering me to see Josh led me into the sex dungeon. Josh was waiting for me inside, talking it up with another man dressed in period wear. Period wear as in Victorian gothic style. He looks like a pirate with the black eyeliner around his eyes.
They’re sitting opposite each other.
Curious as that made me. What added to the shock was the woman next to him curled up on the floor in between his legs with a color around her neck.
The color has a lead on it and the man is holding the lead in one hand and stroking her head with his free hand.
Instantly I know what they are. She must be a sub and he’s her Dom.
My eyes went straight to them and I was so absorbed in looking at them that I didn’t fully look around the room.
It’s the sounds of sexual pleasure that catch my attention and make me look in the direction it comes from.
It’s coming from a woman with her arms attached to chains on the wall ahead of us. She cries out in pleasure as a man fucks her into the wall. Both are naked.
The room is brighter than the rest of the club and more like a gathering setting.
I scan over various equipment people into BDSM use and a host of kinky people having sex before I notice that Josh has stood up and is making his way over to us.
The guard leaves me when Josh reaches us and takes my hand.
His smile is what I focus on, although I know my whole face is possibly as red as what I’m wearing. I’m wearing the negligee he got me under a silky black robe. I’d thought to take it off before, believing we’d be going somewhere private-ish like his lounge, but now I’m glad I didn’t.
He smiles when he sees my face.
“Don’t worry we won’t be doing anything too wild,” he states giving me a little kiss.
“What will we be doing?” I ask. My voice quivers and he slips his arms around me.
“Nothing you don’t want to do. Come, let me show you.” He leads me past the people but I can’t stop looking. There’s a woman bent over a man’s lap being spanked hard and the look on her face is complete pleasure. There’s another woman on her knees with one guy pounding into her from behind while she sucks the guy in front’s cock.
Entice: A Dark Billionaire Romance (Dark Odyssey Club Fantasies Book 1) Page 7
