His Want (2 page)

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

Jonathan Black took his hand away and started to step from the elevator.

“That must be some article in that magazine,” he said.

Before I could speak, he pressed the number eight on the elevator panel, and was then gone.  The doors shut and I was on the move, back down to where I belonged.

It wasn’t until the elevator came to a stop again did I realize something…
how did he know what floor I worked on?

-3-

By the time I settled at my desk
, another twenty minutes of the morning had gone by.  My voicemail rested at a comfortable fifty messages even, meaning that would take up at least half my day.  For the past two days, I casually snuck to my desk hoping I wouldn’t get caught showing up late.  Today, I didn’t care.  I basically floated to my desk, sat down, and leaned back in my chair.

One of my coworkers finally snapped me out of my trance.

“Isabella, girl, are you okay?”

I blinked and looked around, wishing the woman’s voice would turn into
his
voice, into Jonathan Black’s voice.

“I’m okay,” I managed to reply.  I lifted my left hand off my desk and stared at it.  The hand that
he
touched. 

I still couldn’t figure out what exactly happened in the elevator.  I wasn’t sure if I had been caught showing up late, or if he had been flirting with me.  That didn’t seem possible though.  Who the hell was I to him?  I was some intern who was lucky enough to even be offered an actual paying job with the company.  Not a day went by without someone reminding me that almost all interns were given their time to intern and then shown the door.  The lucky ones were offered a letter of recommendation while most were given a pat on the back and good luck at life handshake.

“Girl, you look… flustered.”

I glanced at Angela who sat with her fingers interlocked across her large stomach, her lips puckered, her eyes looking over the thin frames of her glasses.  She’d been at the company for five years and had the highest seniority in the
cubicle section
as we all called ourselves.

“I’m fine,” I said.  “Had a strange elevator ride.  Does… Mr. Black always ride the elevator?”

“The main elevator?” Angela asked.

I nodded.

“Not that I can recall.  He has a private entrance he normally uses.  Or he’ll wait until everyone is here I assume.  Why?  Was he… oh girl, did you get to ride in the elevator with him?”

I fought so hard to not smile but the look in Angela’s eyes told me everything I needed to know.  She wanted to gossip.  She wanted to know everything.  All the women in the office wanted to know everything about Jonathan Black.  That’s how I got roped into all this myself.  I wasn’t sure who he was nor did I really care.  Conversation after conversation in the break room finally had me going home and searching for him on the internet.  When I first saw his picture I didn’t believe it was him.  He looked too good to be running such a large company.  He also had a touch of innocence in his eyes in certain pictures and when I saw that he was under thirty, it blew my mind away.  He started with nothing, just some kid staggering his way through college and he managed to have the right software at the right time.  He sold his first company, and then started and sold companies for a few years until finally creating The J. Black Corporation whose job was to invest and control all it could reach. 

It was everything Jonathan Black represented.

“Well, if you rode the elevator with Mr. Black,” Angela said with her head tossing left to right, “then you either hit the lottery girl, or you were dreaming… either way, enjoy it.”

Angela turned in her chair and took a phone call. 

My phone began to ring and I ignored it.  I rested my chin in my hands and stared at my computer screen.  It was black, so I shook the desk bringing it to life.  I was prompted for a password but I didn’t enter it.  I simply stared at the blinking cursor wondering just what Mr. Black would have done if we had more time in the elevator. 

My lust and fantasy soon became annoyance.  It was like seeing the winning lottery ticket but not actually getting to hold it, let alone cash it in and reap its awards.

I don’t remember when my phone stopped ringing but when I heard Angela shriek, it caught my attention.  Something made me look at my phone and seeing the number fifty on the small screen made me realize that my voicemail box was at full capacity.  Angela’s reaction to a new phone call told me whoever had contacted me hurried and called the next extension which was Angela’s.

I figured it was some grumpy old man, looking for his mid month report on a property that he had money in with Mr. Black.  I was wrong.

Angela turned in her chair, her face flush, red, and her eyes bulged.

“Yes sir, I understand, sir,” she said.  “She’s right here, right now.  Yes.  Sir.  Right here.  I’m staring at her, sir.  I can transfer you.  No, of course not.  I wouldn’t want to risk that either.  I’ll hand her the phone.  It’s a pleasure speaking with… yes, sir.”

Angela held the phone out to me. 

I had to stand to take the call and when I took the receiver, I mouthed to her,
Who is it?

She mouthed back one word.

Black.

-4-

His words were simple
yet life changing. 

I need to see you, in private.  Immediately.

I didn’t even have a chance to respond before he hung up, which was good because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. 

I handed the phone back to Angela and she hurried to hang it up.  She was shaking as she looked at me.  I could see tears and an overwhelming sense of fear in her eyes as she looked at me.

“You better go girl,” Angela said.  “I hope… oh Isabella, just go with it all, okay?”

I nodded. 

“I’m serious.  You’ll be fine.  You’ll do fine.  You’re young, smart, and sassy as anything.”

That’s when I realized why Angela was so shaken up.

I was about to get fired.

That’s why Mr. Black wanted to see me.

Worse yet, it was pretty obvious that being fired by Mr. Black in person was something horrible because as I walked down to the elevators, everyone took a second to look at me and nod. 

They all knew.

I didn’t.

I could only picture the sexy billionaire I had met in the elevators.  The one who put his hand to mine, comparing sizes, leaving my body melting, my skin tingling, and my mind conjuring up images of what else would be so much bigger than me. 

As the doors shut, I heard someone mentioning something about me being late.

Fuck.

That’s when I realized Angela had to be right.

How stupid of a woman could I possibly be? 

Being late to work was one thing but you had to do it right.  You had to sneak in or at least have a plan or a decent excuse.  But to ride the elevator with the CEO of the company when your shift was supposed to start fifteen minutes before hand…

“Stupid,” I whispered at the blurred image of myself reflecting back on the steel doors.

The ride only took seconds, but I took longer to step off the elevator.

I almost just pressed the one button and went home.

Fired was fired, right?

Why go through the motions… hearing him scold me, belittle me, tell me how he gave me a chance and I blew it…

But then I caught myself smiling.

How hot would that be?

How hot would it be if Mr. Black said all that stuff to me?

Maybe he’d sit me in a chair and lean against his desk near me.  Maybe he’d raise his voice.  Maybe he’d get so infuriated with me, he’d lose all his control…

“Ms. Grace?”

I snapped out of another fantasy.

I was greeted by a middle aged woman who stood very tall.  She was very skinny and wore what looked like a very expensive suit.

“Yes… I’m Isabella Grace.”

“That’s a beautiful name,” the woman said.  “Please follow me, Mr. Black has you scheduled in for five minutes.  We cannot run late.”

I started to walk and then hurried to catch up to the woman.

“He had this planned?” I asked.  “I mean… with me…”

“I’m not at liberty to speak of Mr. Black’s personal appointment requests.  I just make sure they are fulfilled.  I’m surprised he called you even.”  The woman looked at me and half smiled.  “That’s normally my job.”  She shrugged her shoulders and remained silent until we came to the end of a large hall that had a single door.  Not just one door, but two.  A large set of double doors.  Black doors against the wood color of the office looked wrong but knowing what waited behind them made it feel so right.  The look came across powerful, telling anyone who dared to touch the shiny steel handles that they were about to enter something intense.

The woman knocked twice and then said, “Isabella Grace is here to see you, sir.”

“Open the doors,” a voice boomed.

I knew the voice.

The voice of Jonathan Black.

My body heated up.

The woman turned the handle and then leaned towards me.  “Try not to look so nervous.  You look like you’re ready to pass out…”

What can I say?  That’s how I felt.

She opened the door and I stepped into his office.

Before the door could close I knew my life would never be the same again.

-5-

“Isabella Grace.”

My name never sounded so sweet and sexy coming from another person’s mouth.  Granted, all my life I have been given compliments for my name, but it wasn’t me who gave myself the name.  Thank my grandmother. 

“Sir,” I whispered.  “That’s me.”

“Of course it is.”

His eyes were wandering on me.  I could feel him inhaling me, sensing me, testing me.  I wanted him to acknowledge us in the elevator together but he didn’t.  He acted as if the entire thing never happened.

He sat behind his long desk, one hand made into a fist and the other hand flat on his desk.  He opened his fist and pointed to one of three chairs on the opposite side of his desk.

“Sit, right now.”

The command of
right now
had an earthquake effect inside my body.  I shook but hurried to appease him.  Part of me wanted to turn and run, but most of me wanted to be there.  Right where I was.  I sat in the leather chair and gripped the smooth arms.  My hands were shaking and I hoped by holding the arms tight Jonathan wouldn’t notice.

“You’re shaking,” he spoke with his eyes set to my eyes.

“Yes,” I replied.  “I am.”

“Why?”

“Because.” 
Why?
  Why was I shaking?  Could I just blurt it all out?  Admit my fantasies for him?  Confess my desires?  Tell him how he kept me company at night even though he wasn’t there?  I couldn’t say it.  I couldn’t do it. 

“Because why?” he asked.  His voice started to change then.  He never had a nice voice to begin with but his tone, when it changed, was like the warning roar of a lion.  Ready to attack.  Ready to fight.

“You’re the boss,” I said.

How stupid.  How pathetic.  Of all things to say. 
You’re the boss.
  Jonathan Black was more than just the boss.  He was the everything.  He was the CEO, the commander, the billionaire. 

“I mean, I always dealt directly with Mr. Williams.”  I saved myself, sort of.

“Ah, yes.  So sitting here, in my office, how does it make you feel?”

“Nervous.  I sort of got the warning that you would probably fire me.”

Jonathan Black nodded.  He glanced away from me for a second and then with a raised eyebrow he asked, “Do you feel you should be fired?”

That question took my breath away.  I didn’t want to be fired, but should have I been?  Showing up to work late three days in a row. 

“Then again, if that article you were reading is so captivating, maybe I should save it and share it with my company.  Or maybe I should burn it.  Something so interesting, keeping someone away from their job…”

I was busted.  He knew everything, and of course he did.

He was Jonathan Black.

Nothing could have or should have surprised me.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized.

“See, I’m left wondering what a person who worked so hard for three months to get a job offer would be doing standing in the lobby of my building, flipping through a magazine that’s old and irrelevant.”

I couldn’t speak.

I knew I wasn’t allowed to speak but even then, I couldn’t.  I had nothing.

“Three days in a row,” Mr. Black continued.  “Three mornings you’ve stood there.  But the best part… the moment I arrive, you rush to work.”

He paused and folded his hands.  He looked at me without a sense of emotion.  His eyes were alive, moving everywhere.  He wanted to break me down, in silence, and he did it.  I was nothing compared to him in that silence and I almost felt like I needed to cry to give him something in return.

“I will admit that it has been fun watching you, Ms. Grace.”

Watching me?

Mr. Black was watching me?

“Again, sir, I apologize for my actions,” I stammered to say.  “It was… poor judgment.”

“Can you listen?”

I opened my mouth and Mr. Black put up a hand.

“Can you… follow command?”

“I don’t understand,” I said.  “I’m a good worker.  I promise.”

“Do you know who Richard Stevens is?”

I shook my head.

“Top of his class.  Double majored in college with a minor in Japanese language studies.  One of the smart young men to walk the halls of my company looking for a job.  He should have had your job.  But he doesn’t, does he?  I chose you, personally.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said.  “I won’t let you down.”

“You have no choice right now.  You can’t let me down.  I sent Mr. Stevens to Japan to start work on a new project.  My board is pissed that I would make such a bold move with a man who has no experience but I’ve lived my life off of bold moves.  Bold moves are what keeps my blood pumping.  I’m also built on focus and need.  In other words, when I see something I want, I get it.”