Wide, deep brown eyes are framed by thick lashes without an ounce of make up on her skin, arched groomed brows and high cheekbones where a pink flush is blooming just underneath. Her plump pink mouth is turned down in a grimace, but she quickly straightens up and stands, sliding her delicate hands over the tight blue dress she wears, and my eyes eat her up.
Curves for days, her breasts strain against the material of the dress, so tight over the arches that I’m sure she isn’t wearing a bra underneath, not with how tight it is and no visible lines showing. Her dipped waist flares into wide, shapely hips before tapering down to strong thighs, her feet in a pair of nude pointed stiletto heels. I swallow, my mouth dry.
“Mr Donovan, my apologies, I was uh, reading something for Mr Franco and I must have gotten lost in it.”
Ace peers over the edge of the desk, “You were reading – ” she cuts him off quickly by slamming a copy of the Times over the top and smiles sweetly, though it doesn’t reach her eyes.
I just stand there, staring. Taking in all her features, the light dusting of freckles that spread across her nose and cheeks, the small scar on the left side of her jaw and how when she smiles, even if it’s fake, one side tips up higher than the other.
“My name is Eleanor, Mr Franco’s PA, would you like to follow me?” She asks.
“Eleanor…?” I hedge.
She frowns, “Locke, Eleanor Locke.” As if only just seeing me her eyes do a sweep down my body, taking in the tattoos on my neck and hands, the piercing in my nostril and the ones in my ears and with each inch she takes in, her eyes widen and fear leaks into her gaze. Not a stupid woman. She visibly swallows, blanching.
“R-right this way,” she stutters, her hand shaking as she flares it out to the side, pointing in the direction of the meeting room. It was never the tattoos or the piercings that scared people, that wasn’t the idea of them, but perhaps it was the way I held myself, how I could command attention without saying a single word. My power was intense and dangerous and human instinct will tell you, you were in the company of a predator when you’re around me. I had worked hard to get to this point.
I allow my mouth to pull into a smile, aiming it at her, and she sucks her lip into her mouth, turning abruptly. Perhaps not so smart if she was willing to show me her back.
I want to feed on that fear emanating from her, I want to taste it on my tongue. Her hips sway as she walks, her arse perky and round, and a tempting split runs up the backside of the dress, stopping at a point about halfway up the back of her thighs. All that creamy skin makes my mouth water.
Fuck, I wanted to bend her over the nearest surface and sink so fucking deep inside we’d both be seeing stars. As if sensing my eyes, she looks over her shoulder. I snatch the tongue bar between my teeth and grin.
She snaps her head around so quickly, I’m surprised she doesn’t give herself whiplash.
Oh, I could have so much fun with this girl.
My cock twitches at the thought and when she stops abruptly, I continue, stopping only an inch away from her back. Her warmth presses against me and her smell, something sweet and sugary invades my senses. I inhale, committing the scent to memory.
“My apologies, Miss Locke, I hadn’t realized you’d stopped,” i lie and I don’t step away either.
The girl sways and presses on the handle of the door, entering quickly to get away from me. I flick a glance at Ace who is barely suppressing his amusement.
We follow the girl into the room, but I never take my eyes off her. She fidgets with her hands, her eyes looking at everything other than the two of us standing just across from her. There’s something so very innocent about her, from her wide doe like eyes giving away her fear of me like a beacon, to the way she stands so very still, like it’ll simply make her disappear. Little does she realize that that’s the very thing drawing me closer. She’s the moth, I’m the flame, she’ll come eventually and when she does, I’ll burn her up.
My hand curls around the top of the chair and her eyes dart to it, watching my fingers sink into the soft leather of the back. I wonder if she’s picturing all the things I could do with these fingers, how good they could feel if it were her flesh they were sinking into rather than this chair.
“Can I get you any drinks?” She says, eyes on my hand. “tea or coffee?”
“Coffee,” Ace says, “Harrison here will have one too.”
“Of course.”
But she makes no move to leave.
“Eleanor,” I prompt, and the sound of my voice startles her. She practically runs from the room, shutting the door behind her.
“Well, that was interesting,” Ace chuckles, “the girl almost collapsed from sheer terror alone.”
I don’t say anything as I take a seat at the table, counting down the minutes before she’s back in this room. I’ll have to figure out a way to get near her again. I’ll have a taste. Just one. Not doing so would likely drive me mad.
I pull my phone from my pocket and type in her name on a message before sending it to my guy with instruction to get me every last bit of information he can about her.
My thoughts are disrupted as the man of the hour heads in. I’ve already seen what he looks like but seeing him now, in person shocks me. He looks so clean and normal, he looks good and yet, underneath lays the belly of sins so depraved not even hell would want him.
Tobias is younger than I had first anticipated when I got that information from Alexander Silver, mid-forties with dark hair streaked with silver. His face is fresh, handsome even with dark eyes that to most look kind but are in fact not. A calculating man. That’s what he was.
“Mr Donovan,” he stretches out his hand, “so glad we could finally meet.”
The ruse is that I’m the owner of several estates in the Cotswold, manor’s and garden’s that are worth around a hundred million, and I’m looking for a company to look after the finances.
“Likewise,” I nod.
We take our seats at the table, and it’s then that Eleanor returns, holding a tray of teas and coffees along with biscuits and cakes and bottles of water. It balances precariously in her hand as she struggles with the weight and the closing of the door. Tobias doesn’t move to help. I kick Ace to do it.
He quickly gets up and goes to the girl, “Here.”
“I’ve got it,” she snaps, rushing forward and away from Ace but her momentum forces the cups to slide across the tray, and then they’re tipping. Coffee and tea spills across the table, splattering me in dark hot liquid that instantly seeps through my white shirt.
“Eleanor!” Tobias yells.
Eleanor gapes in horror and then those eyes fall onto my shirt, at the dark stain of the liquid, then they rise to meet mine.
With the way her face pales one would believe she’s just seen death and knows it’s coming for her.