Page 5 of Hugo
He slaps my shoulder and laughs. “Well, you’re getting pretty grey.”
The elevator doors open. We both get in. It’s just the two of us. The executive elevator. My own private one that takes me straight to my office.
Brad fills me in on everything that I’ve missed over the weekend. I give him a rundown of the weekend's success story. How I’ve managed to secure funding from a handful of other billionaires. Raise awareness, and money, for some of my pet passion projects.
I don’t tell him how many women hit on me. Or how I spent the whole weekend thinking about Claire.
I’m pretty sure he knows how I feel about her. It’s been impossible to hide.
The last few weeks have been torture.
I can’t help myself. I keep calling her into my office. Walking by her desk. I’m becoming a nuisance. But the last thing I want to do is get in the way of her work. I, of all people, know how important that is.
Claire came here for a reason. And she is fulfilling her dream of helping people just like her father. If I ruined that for her, I’d never forgive myself. But that doesn’t mean I can’t think about her night and day. That I can’t imagine what it would be like to have her as my wife. To have her in my bed. To have her naked, beneath me, biting my shoulder as I make her cum.
“Okay, let’s schedule that for tomorrow morning.” The doors open and I step into my office, organizing my schedule with Brad. I pull my jacket from my shoulders and head straight for my desk.
It’s only when I turn to say something to Brad that I notice Claire is in the room too.
“I’m sorry,” she says, jumping up out of her chair. “This is stupid. I shouldn’t be in here.” She wipes a tear from her eyes. “I’ll just go now.”
“Wait!”
She stops in her tracks. Frozen in place. Her body slightly turned, giving me a perfect view of her ample waste.
“Brad was just leaving,” I say. “Weren’t you Brad?”
“Whatever you say, boss.” He gives me a knowing smile and discreetly leaves the room.
Claire sits back down on the chair. I perch on the desk in front of her.
“What are you doing in my office, Claire?” I lean forward and cup her face in my hand. She looks up at me from beneath long, dark eyelashes. My heart melts in my chest as I see the pain on her face. “What’s happened? How can I help?”
5
Claire
Hugo’s reachingfor his phone before I’ve even had a chance to finish my story.
“Yes,” he says, his eyes looking straight into my soul and his words aimed at whoever just picked up the call. “Are you still on the roof? Great. I need you to pick up some VIPs from the veterans center.” He looks at me and smiles. My whole world lights up every second I’m near him. “Yes, right now. As soon as possible. Speak to Brad for more details.”
He puts the phone back in his pocket. I can’t believe I ever doubted his desire to help. For some reason, I thought I’d be bothering him. That he’d find my little problem at the veterans center an inconvenience. But he’s not that kind of man.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
He’s still sitting in front of me. His right knee is almost touching my left arm. There’s a sizable bulge in his pants. A bulge I’ve noticed more and more since the moment I met him a few weeks ago. A bulge I’ve been thinking about night and day.
He stands up and towers over me. I can’t help but gulp. The sexual tension between us is almost tangible, but I can’t help but think I’m mistaken. What would a man like Hugo Rider want with me? It just doesn’t make any sense. Any way I look at it, I think I must be mistaken. But, then I’m left alone with him in a room, and the way he looks at me tells me everything I need to know.
“Is there anything else?” he growls.
“No.”
“And you’re enjoying your work here? You’re fitting in? Making a difference?”
“Yes,” I squeak. “I love it here. It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
