Page 3 of King
I was only planning on shaking her hand, but without thinking, I bring her fingers to my lips and gently kiss them.
Her skin smells delicious. A heady mix of flowers and coconut and something else I can’t put a name on but reminds me of laying in bed on Sunday mornings with the window open and birds chirping outside in the yard.
“It was a pleasure meeting you, Marilyn.”
I look up into her eyes and for a moment, it's like I can't breathe.
Then, before I leap across her desk and tear her clothes from her body, I turn around and head for the door.
Hopefully, she doesn’t notice the huge erection which is practically bursting out of my jeans.
3
Marilyn
I’ve just finished eatinglunch. The national distributor I’ve been meeting with shakes my hand and gives me a wolfish grin. He’s not interested in me as a person. He’s not even interested in me as a businesswoman. All he cares about is how much money I’m going to make for him.
“I’m so glad you made the right decision,” he says, opening the door for me. He’s got one of those accents that only the rich and pampered have. He probably rows. Sings in an acapella group. Has lengthy discussions about how all the other Ivy League schools pale in comparison to the one he attended. “We’ll take care of your every need. If you have a problem, all you have to do is pick up the phone and I’ll get right on it. Quicker than you can say wicket ball.”
“Great,” I say, “wicket ball.”
“That’s right.” He smiles at me, revealing a perfect set of glowing white veneers. “We take care of the little stuff so you can concentrate on the big picture business decisions.”
I step out onto the street and look for my Town Car. One hour with this jerk is about all I can handle. If it wasn’t for the service his company provides, and all the contacts they have within the industry, I would have thrown my drink in his face and stormed out of the building before the entrees arrived.
“Yes, I'm sure things will work out fine,” I say.
A car backfires up the road. Without even thinking, I leap back into the restaurant, my heart beating a million miles an hour.
“Jesus, Marilyn, it’s just a car,” the man says, laughing.
I straighten myself up and step back outside. Steph gives me a sideways glance.
“I know,” I say, acting the stupid woman. Men like him love that kind of thing. “I guess I’m just a little jumpy today. I watched one of those scary action movies last night before going to bed.”
He nods his head knowingly. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world for a grown woman to be walking around like a scared mouse all day because of some dumb special effects she saw the night before.
Steph drags me into the Town Car before I can make even more of an idiot out of myself.
“Action movie, my ass,” she says, sitting down next to me. I pretend like I didn’t hear her.
The truth is, even since my meeting with King yesterday, I’ve been a nervous wreck. Every loud sound has me jumping. I couldn’t sleep all last night. My mind was flickering between thoughts of some sick creep jumping out at me with a gun, and King, naked and on top of me with a different kind of gun penetrating between my legs.
I’ve almost asked Steph to call him back and hire him again about a dozen times. But then I’d have to admit to Steph that I was wrong, and I’m not prepared to do that.
The only logical option is for me to eat, sleep and work from my office until launch day.
The building has its own security. I’m sure I’ll be fine.
In fact, it will probably enhance my legend status as a kick-ass business mogul. I can picture myself being interviewed by some spotty, just-out-of-college reporter. Their mouth wide open as I talk about setting up a bed in my office and wearing the same clothes all week just to make sure everything was done right and done on time.
“You want me to call King?” Steph says.
She’s flicking through her phone pretending like it’s no big deal. But, we both know that’s not the case.
“King?” I say, doing my best to pretend like I didn’t nearly shit my pants at the sound of a car exhaust. “To invite him to the launch party? Yeah, I think that sounds like a great idea.”
Steph rolls her eyes. “You know perfectly well what I’m talking about. There’s no shame in admitting you’re scared.”
