Obsessively Yours Read online

  His touch was electric and my chin was tingling with sensations that left the rest of my body wanting. A familiar pulse started in my groin and I knew I was in some serious trouble here. What was he doing buying my drink? He was too good looking to be standing with me wasn’t he? He belonged on a billboard or in my fantasies where he couldn’t do any damage. I needed to get away from him and quickly before he swallowed me up whole into his vortex of manliness, trapping me in his quick sand of lust.

  He slowly bent his head down to my ear and whispered “I know you can buy your own drinks beautiful but I want to buy this one.” The heat from his breathe travelled straight down my neck causing goose bumps to rise up and sending my voice of reason into complete mayhem. He knew exactly what he was doing and the affect he was having on me, he was loving it. Revelling in my fear like a cat toying with a mouse before it takes the final swipe. I was defenceless to the game he was playing, caught in his trap. He knew I felt uncomfortable and that was spurring him on.

  I couldn’t move away though, he wasn’t the type of guy you argued with or ignored easily. He exuded power, it came off him in waves and it was making me faint. He wore a suit like a second skin; black shoes, black trousers and jacket, with a crisp white shirt underneath, a few buttons undone at the neck and his black tie loosened giving him that sexy edgy look that male models had. Was he a model? Maybe he was involved in advertising this place. He had a square jaw with scruff that was perfect on him, and I suddenly found myself imagining it rubbing against my face, my skin, my….. Oh Dear God Ella! Get a grip of yourself. His hair was dark, almost black and was short at the sides but longer on top. It hung in waves on his forehead and I could tell he didn’t style it, it just fell that way. But it was his eyes that were the most lethal. Grey with sparkles in them like tiny diamonds glinting and giving him a wicked look that pulled you in right to his soul, hypnotising you. If I looked in his eyes for any length of time I would be done for. I needed to make sure that didn’t happen, I needed an escape.

  “Don’t do me any favours.” I snapped, irritated that a man could make me feel so uncomfortable and so undone. Was it me or was it hot in here all of a sudden? I could feel the satin of my dress starting to cling tighter as my breathing speeded up.

  I spun round to try to break the spell he had me under and looked over at the bar man with a scowl but he shrugged and handed the 6 foot package of hotness behind me his change. So I picked up my drink and went to turn around and leave. That’s when he put both of his muscly fine arms either side of me, pinning me to the bar and whispered again in my ear.

  “You’re a feisty one aren’t you! I like that.”

  I tried to steady my breathing but it was no good. I was prey to him. He had me cornered and I couldn’t escape.

  “Are you this feisty in the bedroom? I bet you are. I bet I’d have lots of fun taming you.”

  I gulped as he brought his face down towards my neck, inhaling me slowly and running his nose delicately along the skin behind my ear. It was the most erotic thing to happen to me in years and I was frozen. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I could feel every nerve ending in my body sparking and I was hot, that familiar pulse surging and throbbing stronger now between my legs. He was stirring feelings there that had been dormant for way too long. What the hell was going on? He had me under this intoxicating spell and I’d only been standing here for three minutes. How did he do that? Flashes of me with him, kissing, groping, fucking came into my head and I couldn’t decide if I was turned on or petrified. He was trouble with a capital T. A master of women. He definitely knew his way around the bedroom. He’d eat me up and spit me out. I couldn’t let that happen.

  “Too bad you’ll never find out.” I replied with as much conviction as I could muster whilst thinking dirty thoughts about what I’d like him to do to me in the bedroom or any other room for that matter.

  He chuckled, “I like a challenge.” Then out of nowhere he leant down and gently kissed my neck. I gasped in horror and pulled away, I couldn’t believe his front. This guy had way too much confidence and I could tell he wasn’t used to being told no. Well tonight was his unlucky night. I was not the girl for him. I wouldn’t just give up and give in as I’m sure every other girl he’d come across had. I was stronger than that; Adam might have taken a lot from me but I still had my self-respect.

  “Excuse me” I said pushing him off me with a bump of my shoulder and turning towards the dancefloor, “I’m not into seedy one night stands with over inflated egos.”

  He threw his head back and laughed, “It’s just sex sweet heart; you use me and I use you, no big deal. Everyone goes home happy, we all get what we want.” He winked and my anger exploded.

  “It might be just sex to you but I have morals and principals. I think your way of looking at things is disgusting. You’re disgusting.”

  He shook his head but kept the smirk on his face.

  “A night of pleasure, mutually beneficial to us both, what’s not to love about that?” He leaned forward and smirked at me, “I come with 100% satisfaction guaranteed.”

  “Ugh!” I spun round to make my escape. He called out behind me. “What’s your name beautiful girl?”

  “You don’t need to know seeing as you’ll never see me again!” I smiled over my shoulder, silently congratulating myself for showing him he wasn’t going to win me as a conquest and made my way back over to the safety of Chris on the dancefloor.

  “Please tell me you got that guy’s number?” Chris asked as I approached. “He hasn’t taken his eyes off you since I pointed him out sitting over there at three o’clock babes.”

  “He’s a whole can of trouble I do not need right now.” I said trying and failing to convince myself and Chris that I didn’t think he was the most attractive man to ever walk this earth.

  I glanced over to where he’d been standing. He was still looking at me with those sparkly grey eyes and not a hint of modesty or humility in him. He was leaning against the bar with one leg crossed over the other and his arms folded in front of him, that air of confidence blowing its way right onto the dancefloor and anywhere else he directed it. He had a puzzled look on his perfect face as if he was trying to figure something out. Maybe he was trying to figure me out, but he’d have a job, even I didn’t get me right now.

  Just then a beautiful skinny model type sauntered over to him, all long legs and dark brown hair hanging straight down to her ass. She ran her hands up and down his arms, trying to get his attention but he still didn’t take his eyes off me. She glanced over towards the dancefloor to see what had caught his attention, and looked at me like I was an insect she could squash. She wrinkled her nose up in disgust and ran her blood red nails down his chest marking her territory. He was unaffected by her actions though and I turned my back on the pair of them, relieved that I had escaped from any entanglement in that weird relationship. She was welcome to him.

  Chapter Five

  The next week went by without much stress or worry. Work was ticking over and being in the office with Chris every day was unreal. I don’t think I’d ever laughed as much as I did now, things were going pretty well for me.

  On Thursday morning I got into the office earlier than everyone else. It felt good to be alone and catch up on my emails and paperwork. I was hoping the boss Frank and his partner Eric would appreciate the extra work I was putting in lately and maybe trust me a little more with some bigger accounts, it was my dream to eventually make it as a creative director. Recently I’d put forward some great ideas in our meetings and Frank was championing me as his new protégé. As I headed to our little kitchen at the back to make myself a coffee I heard the doors click open and Frank walked in with his briefcase swinging, he certainly had a spring in his step today.

  “Morning petal, you’re an early bird.” He said as he headed past the kitchen towards his corner office.

  “Early bird catches the worm… or so they say.” I called down to him.

  He grin
ned and pointed his finger my way. “I need you free at 10.30 we have a very important client coming in and I think this could be your big break.”

  He winked at me, stepping into his office “It’s one of those fitness health club things I know nothing about. You and Chris will know all about it though I’m sure, you’re young and go to hip and cool places like that.”

  Well I didn’t know about young and hip; and I certainly didn’t know about fitness or health clubs seeing as the last time I stepped into a gym was about 6 years ago, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me working for a new client. “Pretend you know everything and say you can do anything.” My Nanna Jean always told me, “If it comes to it you can always learn to do it later when you get the job!” Her advice hadn’t let me down so far.

  “Are we drafting a pitch for them this morning?” I asked as that was the usual way we won a client.

  “Oh no” said Frank chuckling to himself and shaking his head, “seems our reputation proceeds us, the owner and CEO has asked for us specifically and wants us on board as soon as!”

  Wow, I had never heard of that happening for us ever. We were such a small outfit in the city and from the sounds of it this company was bigger and more successful than anything we had dealt with before. I smiled with bubbling excitement as I made my way over to my desk to get my work up to date, I was raring to go.

  Chris waltzed into the office a minute before 9 am, a smile the length of the River Thames on his face as he sank into his chair.

  “Why are you looking so smug?” I asked glaring at him suspiciously down my nose like a head mistress.

  “Baby girl you have no idea how awesome my night was. I met the most amazing guy in a club last night. He’s a surgeon, really brainy but so sexy with it, he has abs to die for. I’m seeing him again on Saturday, he’s taking me to an art exhibition can you believe it? A hunky guy with brains wants to take me out. He is so gonna get laid on Saturday.”

  “You should play hard to get or a least a bit harder Chris, you might scare the poor guy off with your enthusiasm!” I laughed, but I knew it was useless trying to rein Chris in. He would do what he wanted regardless.

  “We have to keep 10.30 free there’s a new prospective client coming in” I warned Chris, aware that his sneaky cigarette breaks and trips to Starbucks might affect our ability to impress and secure this new account for us both.

  “Frank said it’s a health and fitness thing, I’m not sure about all the details but he wants us on our A game okay.”

  “I can do that” Chris stared me down with his ‘I got this what else did you expect’ look, and started tapping away at this keyboard looking very much the professional advertising executive and not at all like the flake who jumped from his desk in a flirty manner every time the mail guy came in to deliver our post.

  At 10.30 we all piled into the boardroom with our ipads to make notes and helped ourselves to coffee and pastries. This client must be special if they’re getting the posh pastries out I thought, it was usually a few rich tea biscuits if you were lucky in our staff meetings. Frank and Eric both sat at the head of the table, their smiles and easy relaxed manner brought an air of excitement to the room which made everyone sit up a little taller and more alert.

  “Thanks everyone for coming to this meeting today. We have called you all in slightly earlier than the actual meeting with the client to get you all up to speed on what’s happened over the last few days.” Frank looked down at his partner Eric and beamed at him, this was all very intriguing. “On Tuesday we were approached by a very large chain of health and fitness clubs to put forward advertising and marketing ideas for their latest ventures in the U.K. They are primarily based in the U.S but they are looking to expand over here in Europe. They are opening some exclusive health clubs over here, starting with one not far out of the city. The owner has brought a huge plot of land in the countryside and secured planning permission for what looks to be a super luxurious spa for the elite sector I’ve no doubt.”

  “What company is it?” One of the junior executives asked.

  “JM Fitness Group is the company, they are quite well known over the pond, a household name apparently. Getting into bed with them could do major things for our little agency.”

  With that the voices of approval started to hum and looks of excitement spread around the table.

  “Is there anything specifically we should know about this client before they arrive?” I asked.

  “Just that we want to wow them with our creativity Ella. The owner of JM Fitness, a Mr Joseph Madden is very young to be running a company of such magnitude. At 34 years old he’s managed to corner the market in quite a few states in his home country and I’ve no doubt he’ll do the same here. He sounds very confident and knows what he wants, what he likes. I think we show him we are the same. That he can trust in our hard work and integrity. We need to show him that we will go the extra mile, give him the personal touch that a smaller agency like ourselves can offer.”

  With that there came a knock at the boardroom door, and Kim the receptionist popped her head round the door. She looked flustered and skittish like she’d seen a mouse and didn’t know whether to run away or scream and jump on the table.

  “Mr Madden and his associates are here to see you Sirs.” She said. Frank and Eric both stood and went out to the main office to meet the client as we all took a deep breath ready to put on a show.

  As the men walked back into the boardroom we all stood as a matter of respect and good manners.

  “Please don’t stand up on our account.” Said a deep American voice that I recognised straight away. My heart reacted before the rest of me, hitting my feet and making my tummy flip. I took a quick breath in as I looked across at Chris then over to the other side of the room into grey sparkling eyes and a smirk that told me he knew exactly who I was, in fact he wasn’t surprised to see me at all. What was he doing here? Did he know I worked here? Was this a coincidence, fate or was he stalking me? I suspected the latter from the smug look on his face. He was joined by two other suits and the same skinny dark haired beauty from the club, with cat like green eyes that ran predatorily around our boardroom table. No doubt making sure she’d staked her claim on this man and ensuring we all knew about it.

  “Ladies and gentlemen this is Joseph Madden of JM fitness group.” Eric informed us.

  “Call me Joe please, I haven’t been called Joseph since I was a kid.” He said and everyone laughed that nervous laugh you do when something isn’t funny but you want to impress the speaker. I didn’t laugh, I just stared wide-eyed. He looked delicious, in a dark grey pinstripe three piece suit with a crisp white shirt and silver tie that brought out the sparkle in his eyes. His hair still looked unruly but in a sexy way like all he’d done was run his fingers through it before stepping out, dark waves falling over his forehead. That air of power took over the boardroom as he took a seat next to Frank and Eric and sat back with confidence, skinny bitch sat on the other side of him, gazing adoringly at his perfect face.

  His eyes quickly scanned the room but soon made their way back to me, a sly smile growing on those luscious lips of his.

  Chris leaned over to me and whispered “You need to close your mouth babes or you’ll start drooling.”

  I shut my mouth quick as a flash and pretended that I found something extremely interesting on my ipad and couldn’t possibly look up at the car crash that was unfurling before my very eyes. Why did shit like this always happen to me? Why couldn’t the client be a 60 year old I could schmooze easily and not some hot as hell 34 year old I’d already kicked to the kerb in the most mortifying way last weekend?

  “I think we should start with introductions and telling you a little about us and what we do.” Frank said. I didn’t agree. I wanted to tell Frank to shut the hell up and let me escape this nightmare and run away. That wasn’t about to happen anytime soon though as each of my colleagues proceeded to introduce themselves and give a little spiel about what they di
d for the company in such an overzealous way it made me cringe. Joe Madden was doing a very good job of looking interested but that sly smirk on his face told me he was loving the power he was holding right now in this room. The power he held over me, I could hardly breathe. I needed an escape route and fast. “Come on Ella, you need to think your way out of this trap.”

  The women were gushing and acting crazy. Even Marge, Frank’s 63 year old secretary who took notes at our meetings was acting like a love sick teenager, all giggly and batting her eyelids. What the hell was happening? Suddenly all eyes were on me, particularly Joe’s and he raised one eye brow in response to my silence.

  “Ella, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen you speechless” Eric laughed and the rest of the room tittered along. Oh man it looked like I was too love struck or whatever to speak, my cheeks started to flush as I felt the embarrassment set in. Skinny bitch had a look of sheer boredom on her catty face and I imagined myself flying across the table to show her exactly how much I disliked her being here too… WWE smack down style.

  “Sorry Eric I didn’t realise it was my turn to speak.” I said as I reached for a glass of water to wet my dry mouth. My shaky hands didn’t quite make it and the glass flew straight across the table, water spreading everywhere. People made frantic grabs for their ipads and papers and gave me looks of disgust for being the biggest klutz ever. I sneaked a look at Joe Madden and he was smiling and rubbing his stubble covered jaw as if to stifle a laugh. What the actual fuck, not only was he invading my work place but he was now taking enjoyment in my misery, hell no!