I entered the lobby and the crowd near the elevator fell silent. They knew not to continue a private conversation in front of me. Young, driven, and very aware, our staff represented the best in the industry. This hustle and bustle of Stonewood Enterprises, I loved. It always vibrated with ideas and people so determined to implement them, you could almost taste their drive. I should have nodded politely to put them at ease but Aubrey and her “maybes” made me feel every damn thing but polite.
I sat down in the leather chair much too expensive for the lobby and angled my stare toward the door.
I waited for what I was sure was hours and tried to focus on the atmosphere I’d helped create. Here, I wasn't regarded as a celebrity. Here, I was the boss who made everyone enough money to implement their dreams.
So, witnessing how they all shifted, knowing their boss sat in the lobby waiting for something or someone interested me. Some looked nervous, others amused that they were seeing me as a human rather than their elusive boss who waited for no one.
And I was human enough to admit time dragged and scraped along, almost making me bleed with impatience while I waited for her.
Time screeched to a complete stop when she finally walked through the revolving glass doors. Wearing a white dress that cut close to being revealing at so many different angles, I saw her stop to crane her neck upward as if she was measuring how big Stonewood Enterprises really was.
Sky’s the limit, Whitfield.
I took in every inch of her from afar. Her hair was down in waves. Men and women looked her way. She drew attention in that stark-white dress, especially with the plunging neckline that cut pointedly down her chest, showing off her cleavage. The material was snug over her entire body, accentuating everything I wanted. I was sure men looked, contemplated, hoped they could have a word with her.
Her stilettos clicked across the floor as she made her way toward the elevators but they stopped when I stood. Her eyes widened as she looked at me looking at her.
“White dress today?”
She shrugged, not making an effort to say a thing as she raked her eyes over my collared shirt and slacks.
I placed my hand on the small of her back and felt the tension there, like she wasn’t sure she wanted to see me. It shouldn't have bothered me so much. I should have accepted she had her issues and I had mine, we were separate people leading separate lives.
Instead, I slid my hand to her upper elbow and steered her to the elevator. When I stepped on with her by my side and turned to see a few of my employees starting to follow, I stepped closer to the door and waved my FOB over the light.
Each of them stopped. Eyes shot to one another, they looked away, down, anywhere but toward me.
When the door slid shut to move to the designated floor the FOB signaled, Aubrey mumbled in a small voice, “Nice party trick. They all that scared of you?”
“Whitfield, it's respect, not fear.”
“Hmm.”
“What's that mean?”
She looked up at the glass ceiling of the elevator and around her until her eyes fell to me. “Back in your work attire, I see.”
I smiled, watching the numbers count floors as quickly as they were supposed to.
When the doors opened, I didn't turn to enter my penthouse, just backed up as I watched her taking it all in.
She moved her line of sight to the floor-to-ceiling windows and her jaw dropped. Mesmerized by the city skyline and lake, she flowed into my living space. When she reached the window overlooking the city, she sighed like it was a masterpiece.
I came up beside her, smoothed my hand down and up her back to rest right on her neck. I pushed my thumb into one tendon where I knew most of her tension gathered and massaged as her eyes darted from building to building and then to the lake.
She tilted her head to give my hand better access. “Jax, I can't take my eyes off it.”
“Hypnotic, I know.”
Her neck tensed again because she knew damn well I wasn't talking about her view, I was talking about mine. My eyes only saw her, alone in my penthouse.
I buried my fingers further into her neck to chase that tension away.
“How do you look away?” Her brow was furrowed like she thought she would be lost in the view forever.
Stepping in behind her, I whispered into her ear, “I put something in front of me that’s better.”
My hands slid over her hips as I pushed up against her ass.