One
Ash
The sound of my alarm awoke me with a start. Blinking blearily as I came to, I found myself alone in my bed. No Amber. No remnants of Amber either. It had only been a dream then. Rubbing my head with one hand, I climbed out of bed slowly. A hell of a dream, but just a dream. I got dressed at a slower pace than usual, getting ready and leaving my apartment just a little bit ahead of schedule.
I set out for my usual run through Central Park enjoying the unusually warm weather. Being that it was late fall, and in New York no less, I was expecting a chill in the air. Today I didn’t even have to bother with a sweatshirt though. As I ran back through the park, the dry fall leaves crunched beneath my feet.
The golden color of the leaves reminded me of Amber.
After that dream last night, my desire for her was even more intense than it had been before. My cock still throbbed as if she had been riding it last night after all.
But Amber and I had made an agreement.
There was only to be a professional relationship between us.
When I’d hired her six years ago Jeremy Goldstein, my partner, had warned me against bringing a woman like her into our firm. He’d advocated that I choose a different person.
“Why not?” I’d asked. She was educated and well qualified for the position. Not to mention that I didn’t think I would get tired of seeing her face around the office.
“Why not?” he’d asked incredulously. “Just look at her.”
Look at her, he’d said, as if that in itself was explanatory. Hell, in the beginning I couldn’t do anything but look at her. She was slender with unbelievable legs, incredible cleavage, long blonde hair and fabulous charm. It was hard to do anything but look at her.
When Amber walked into the interview, my initial thought was that she had the wrong office. Surely, a beautiful, young woman like her was a model or an actress. Or someone aspiring to be.
She surprised me though. Not only was she gorgeous, which was putting it extremely mildly, she was highly intelligent with a quick wit that matched my own. Her qualifications were stunning. She had a degree from Northwestern in finance. She’d worked for a major investment bank for the past four years. When I pressed her about her career goals, she informed me she didn’t want to pursue an MBA or work for anyone else.
Just me.
“Can you believe that, Jeremy? With these qualifications, she only wants to work for me?” I asked in astonishment, tossing a blue folder on his desk.
Jeremy was speechless as well. He sat there with his mouth agape as he watched her walk out of our office.
Tearing his eyes from her luscious legs, he glanced down at the folder I’d given him. Scanning over her resume, he nodded. Seemingly just as impressed as I had been.
“Impressive,” he had acknowledged. “But you can’t hire a hot piece of ass like that. All you’ll want to do is fuck her. Then you won’t be able to because we can’t risk a sexual harassment lawsuit.”
I laughed as I sat back in the cushioned chair across from him, rolling my eyes good naturedly.
“Of course we can’t. Not after your sexual harassment suit from last year. Cost us a fortune to get that thrown out.”
Jeremy waved his hand at me as if dismissing the reminder.
“Hey, now that wasn’t my fault. Do you remember Inga? Damn, that accent…her legs.”
I shook my head.
“Well, Amber isn’t Inga. And she’s not a piece of ass. She’s very intelligent, charming...”
“And gorgeous.” He needlessly tacked on.
“Of course.” I couldn’t deny such obvious fact. Nor did I see the point in doing so.
Jeremy sighed.
“Well, it’s up to you. She’ll be your assistant. But I’m telling you, man, working all those late hours with a hot woman right next to you... You’re gonna need a lot of willpower.”
“Now that I’ve got. I have nothing but professional intentions towards Amber Michaelson.”
“We’ll see.”
Grabbing the folder off of his desk, I turned to leave.
“Why does she only want to work here?” he asked, stopping me in my tracks.
I shrugged and cocked my eyebrow at him, a grin taking over my lips cockily. .
“Simple. She heard I was the best.”
Jeremy tossed a newspaper at me.
“You wish, Blackthorne.”
A few days later, I called Amber to give her the good news. Ever since that day six years ago, she’d been a constant companion to me. Our relationship had always remained professional although I had to admit lately I was finding myself more and more attracted to her.
It wasn’t just her looks. She anticipated my every need and I seldom had to ask her for anything. She just knew. She kept track of my schedule. She handled everything.
Amber was amazing. A godsend among women.
Naturally, since we spent so much time together things got a bit heated between us at times. We were both passionate people by nature. Which meant that occasionally we had gotten to the point of getting physical, but she always reminded me what we could lose if we ever fully crossed that line. Effectively stopping the both of us in our tracks just in time.
I respected her for that. I had a tremendous amount of willpower and I considered myself to be a man in control at all times, but after a good amount of Macallan in me and a hard day at work, even I had to admit, there were times that I overstepped those boundaries.
As I made it back to my building, I quickly changed into a dark blue Italian suit. Looking down at the tie I’d chosen, I could already easily envision Amber’s reaction. Her blue eyes would roll as she turned down her full lips in a grimace.
“Not that horrible striped tie again! I’ve told you, Ash, that tie is something my grandfather would wear!” She’d admonish him, but there would be humor in her eyes as well.
I chuckled as I hopped into my sleek, black Aston Martin and pulled out to head to the office.
Little did she know that it was only that reaction that kept him from tossing the tie entirely.
Upon arrival, I found Amber standing anxiously outside of my office. My stomach sank to my shoes. This was never a good sign, it only ever preceded the worst news from her. When something was upsetting her, she would start to pace, like clockwork.
“Amber, what’s wrong? It’s been such a beautiful morning so far. Can you believe this weather? I didn’t even need a sweatshirt for my morning run!” Armed with a fake smile, I rushed by her into my office. As if I could outrun whatever it was that she had to tell me.
As usual, she followed me, shutting the door behind her.
“Ash, we’ve got a problem.” She informed him seriously, her voice low. “Have you talked to Jeremy yet?”
I shook my head as she handed me a cup of coffee. Two sugars, a dash of cream with a bit of vanilla just the way I liked it. A godsend even when armed with bad news.
Amber’s beautiful face was wrinkled with worry, her blue eyes darkened with the same emotion. She was dressed impeccably in a blue dress that showed a touch of her deep cleavage and showcased her perfect legs. A dress that did little, however, to make her seem any less concerned than she was.
She shook her head at him, rushing back to her desk quickly. He watched as she grabbed a copy of the Wall Street Journal, turning just as fast and heading back to him once more.
“I’m guessing you haven’t seen this yet then.” She said solemnly, throwing the issue to him.
I caught it deftly, turning the paper over and scanning the headlines quickly. There on the front page! Highlighted for the whole world to see.
“What the fuck is this?” I exclaimed, flipping through to find the article that it had referenced. Furious, I slapped the paper on the desk, looking up at her in a mixture of confusion and anger.
Biting her lip, Amber nodded slowly. Like she was affirming what I had already read.
“It’s bad, I know. That stock won’t be worth anything by tomorrow. All that work we did…” She trailed off, shaking her head and grabbing her fingers.
I leaned back in my leather executive chair with a sigh. It squeaked whenever I did that. I’d have to remind Amber about it to see to it later. Right now the words just wouldn’t come.
“I’ll call and have maintenance take a look at your chair.”
See, she always knew. Anticipating his needs before he even spoke.
I shook my head, sighing even more and scrubbing a hand down my face. There was really only one thing to do.
I finished my coffee quickly, standing up and grabbing my briefcase with little other acknowledgement. Time was of the essence here.
“Ash, where are you going?” Amber inquired worriedly, looking at me curiously even though she wasn’t stepping in my way to stop me either.
“I’ve got to go see a guy about a thing,” I told her seriously, smirking at her as I navigated around her.
Amber crossed her arms beneath her breasts and shook her head at him, obviously just barely a step away from rolling her eyes as well.
But I was serious, I had a guy to see about a thing, and I needed to do so fast.
After whipping around the streets of Manhattan at questionable speeds, I arrived at my destination. I pulled up into the circle drive, opening my door and tossing my keys to the waiting valet. I didn’t have to bother with instructions, I was well known enough here. Without waiting, I raced to catch the elevator to the 23rd floor.
A markedly shorter elevator trip than the one I took every morning.
Walking into the lavish offices of Grayson Bantham, I felt Pierce Grayson’s secretary’s eyes lingering on me. Heated and inquisitive at the same time.
“Hello, Mr. Blackthorne, what brings you here today? I don’t believe Pierce has you on his schedule.” The friendly voice greeted, interrupting his thoughts.
I flashed her a winning smile as I approached, dimpling just the one side of my face intentionally. She, of course, blushed and averted her eyes. I knew how much she admired me. She and Amber attended the same Pilates class weekly. And Amber had already disclosed to me how much of a crush this woman had on me. I was flattered, really, but the fifty year old reminded me a bit too much of my own mother.
My mother.
Just the thought of her was enough to send me over the edge. Something I definitely didn’t have the time for today. I brushed those thoughts aside as I spotted Pierce Grayson emerging from his office, turning away from his secretary entirely in order to handle it at the source.
“Ash! How nice of you to come by. I must apologize though as I’m heading out for the day.” He greeted with the kind of faux warmness I had come to expect from him.
I narrowed my eyes at him, my jaw ticking slightly. That slick bastard thought he could pull one over on me? Really?
Pierce was a young, fast-talking Wall Street player. He thought because his father owned the firm he could do whatever he wanted. He had just graduated last year with an MBA from Harvard. He apparently operated under the assumption that it made him a financial God.
Got a lot to learn, little boy.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Grayson, looks like you’re going to have to cancel that last minute golf game.” I said instead, dismissing his feeble claims easily.
He stopped in his tracks and stared at me for a moment. I could feel his beady eyes boring into my head, as if he could see through me. His pathetic attempts at intimidation would never work on me. I would be eternally surprised if they did on anyone older than thirteen.
“I wish I could stay and chat Ash, but I’ve got to go.” He reiterated, attempting to sidestep me toward the elevator.
I followed him though, grabbing a folder from my briefcase and slapping it into his hand unexpectedly.
“We have to talk,” I interrupted, “It’s about Vitalife.”
With that, he stopped and opened the folder I’d handed him. His secretary, Felicia looked worried.
His eyes scanned the pages and slowly his face paled.
“What the hell is going on, Ash?” Grayson asked in a monotone sort of whisper.
“That’s what I want you to tell me.”
Grayson motioned for me to follow him back to his office, shutting the door behind us and going to his desk with tense shoulders.
“What I want to know is who the fuck is behind this? You must know, Grayson. Only you and I had this information. After all the work we did why are you fucking this up?” I asked in a kind of muted rage.
Grayson leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head. He cracked a slow smile.
“Honestly, Ash, I don’t know.”
“Oh, bullshit!” I argued. As I’d told him, we were the only ones who knew about the deal in progress, and as I certainly hadn’t fucked myself over on this one…
“Seriously, you know as much as I do about this deal. These stock prices are going to be worthless now. I can’t imagine who leaked this or why.”
I scanned his eyes, leaning forward some and daring him to lie to me. They looked as clueless as they usually do, but this time I sensed it may actually be genuine. “You really don’t know? Did you tell anyone else? A partner perhaps?” I questioned further.
He pursed his lips and shook his head, looking at me as if I had lost my mind.
“Ash, I may despise you, but I wanted this deal as much as you did.”
“Enough to do whatever you had to do to ensure it went your way.” I prompted leadingly. I let my gaze wander around his office. It was lavish to be sure. I guess having your father own the company had its perks in the long run.
“It wasn’t me. Now look it’s a done deal as far as I’m concerned. Nevertheless, we can get Goodman on the phone, there’s nothing else we can do.” He interrupted my gazing impatiently.
“Bullshit. I’ll handle this myself. But one thing’s for sure if I can fix this then you’re out.” I informed him coldly, finally standing up and adjusting my tie.
“Fuck you, Ash. My name’s on that deal same as yours. There’s not a fucking thing you can do to change that.”
I laughed at his outrage, shaking my head and looking at him matter of factly.
“You amuse me, Grayson, really you do. Thanks for the laugh, but when I’m through my name’s going to be the only one on that deal. If you don’t like it, call my lawyer.”
With that, I stormed out of his office laughing to myself at his frustrated face the whole way. That alone was worth the trip down there.