Untouched (3 page)

After lunch, I entered the building and smiled at the security guards as I reluctantly made my way toward the elevators. I was usually raring to go but for obvious reasons, I was hesitant to return to my office.  Aiden and Raina were at Raina’s desk talking when I exited the elevators. They noticed me almost immediately.  I smiled and walked toward my office.  This was going to be next to impossible.  I couldn’t work so closely to that man, I simply couldn’t. I quickly mulled over some possible reasons to re-assign him to a different department. Before I could walk over my office threshold, Raina stopped me.

“Miss Cason, I know I was to work with Aiden the remainder of the day but Mr. Richmond has requested my assistance in Editing.  It seems Mr. Nelson had to leave on an emergency and they wanted someone to familiarize the intern for that department.  I‘d oriented editing interns when I worked in that department, therefore Mr. Richmond felt I would be the best choice.”

Fuck. I was counting on having her work with Aiden. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I repeated over and over to myself. Who the hell was I kidding? If I was having this much trouble on day one, how the hell was I suppose to handle this over the course of the next few months?

“That’s fine Raina. I can finish bringing Aiden up to speed. Did you have a chance to show him his office?”

“I was just about to when Mr. Richmond came down,” she replied apologetically.

“No problem Raina. If you will walk him to his office on your way out, that would be great.”

“Yes ma’am.  I’ll see you first thing tomorrow.”

“Of course.”

She glanced at Aiden and smiled. “Let’s get you to your office.”

“Thank you Raina,” he replied.

The next several hours were a mix of tension, awareness and restraint.  I’d dated hot guys before but this was a completely different level of hot! It was as though I was looking at a photo-shopped picture on the cover of a magazine. It was terribly difficult to avoid staring.  It took everything in me to maintain a sense of professionalism when what I would have loved to do was jump his bones. This was one of the first times in an extremely long time that I had thought of reconsidering my Fuck Rule. Well, more like Fuck Rules- one of which was I didn’t date co-workers; least of all subordinates.  It may sound somewhat condescending; nevertheless, there was a sound basis for my stance on sexual pleasures.

“Aiden, give me a minute to put my things down and grab my laptop. I’ll meet you in your office.”

“Sounds good,” he said as I walked into my office. I placed my phone in my desk, checked my office voicemail, retrieved my laptop and headed to Aiden’s office to face what was sure to be a torturous few hours.

He was seated at his desk. He looked up as I walked toward him.  He looked good behind that desk; it fit him. The elitist air that I had noticed this morning when he entered the conference room was there again. I felt as though I was his subordinate, not the other way around.  I took a seat in one of the two chairs near his desk and opened my laptop in search of Raina’s orientation list.  My plan was to review the items and get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

As we talked, I primarily focused on my computer screen, giving him the occasional eye contact to create the façade of a normal business conversation; when in actuality, I felt nothing at all close to normal. He didn’t have access to two of the servers so I needed to enter my passwords for his access.  I walked around and leaned over him to enter them.

“I had garlic for lunch; I hope I don’t smell as though I did,” I said embarrassed.

“No, to the contrary, you smell wonderful.”

No.
He
smelled wonderful. He had the most delicious smell.  Every person had their own scent, some scents were refreshing and clean and then some were so repulsive they made you want to stop breathing all together and then there was his smell;  a strong, earthy, seductive scent. Whatever cologne he was wearing was a perfect blend with his body chemistry.  I could breathe him in all day.  I had to actually restrain myself from leaning in closer and inhaling. 

I showed him the files on the servers that he would need to access to complete his projects.  I explained that the passwords were changed every quarter for security purposes so he would be given new passwords before he completed his internship. Raina would work with him tomorrow to assist with other minor details. 

I was thankful when I looked up to see how quickly the hours were passing.  Towards the end of the day, I received a call from Raina notifying me that she had arranged a meet-and-greet for Aiden with the television and print marketing divisions.  Thankful for the reprieve, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to show him around some other parts of the building, killing time until the meet-and-greet. 

We toured the editing and e-publishing departments.  As expected, everyone stared… even the men. He was just that overwhelming.  The ladies were either blushing or too nervous to make direct eye-contact and the men appeared slightly intimidated by him.  The female responses were no less than expected.  I was delighted that he wasn’t the least bit affected by any of them.  I scolded myself because it shouldn’t matter one bit to me, right?

After the introductions, I excused myself and happily headed back to my office; informing Aiden that he was free to leave for the day after meeting with those departments. Around five o’ clock, I sighed, relived that I had survived the day; barely, but still.

I was comforted to finally be home, putting an end to the day and escaping Aiden’s presence, although I couldn’t escape my thoughts.  My mind wondered – a lot. I remembered the way he smiled at me during our conversations.  The slow way one side of his mouth curled showing a glimpse of his perfect teeth. I thought of his deep green eyes, glimmering as though sparkling in the light of the morning sun. And he had the sexiest smell.  I could have sworn that I still smelled him.  Maybe I really did smell him.  He and I had been in proximity for nearly five hours.  His smell had probably penetrated my clothes.  Thinking that was a possibility, I started to rid myself of my work attire hoping that would remove his smell -which I’d hoped was the only reason I couldn’t stop thinking of him.

I donned my workout clothes and trotted downstairs to the gym. It was a fair sized room that consisted of a treadmill, stationary bicycle, tread climber, bow flex and some free weights. The building’s gym included most of the same equipment including a couple of saunas and swimming pools but I often preferred to exercise in the privacy of my home. 

After a thirty minute run and thirty minutes on the bicycle, I grabbed a bottle of water and went back upstairs for a shower. I made a sandwich and salad for dinner and watched some TV before calling it a night.

My mind was running to and fro and I couldn’t fall asleep. It was almost midnight and I was still awake. It was time for my insomnia cure-all. I opened my night stand drawer.  From time to time, my imagination and a toy was all I needed to fall fast asleep and tonight was no different other than the guest star. That night ended with Virginia having one hell of a time with one of the many ‘friends’ who occupied my night-stand. The star of my fantasies this particular night was none other than Aiden Wyatt!

CHAPTER THREE

The next morning, I awoke refreshed and ready to tackle the day; resolved to sustain a level head around Mr. Fuck Me. I was sure that last night’s release would reduce his sex appeal. I’d convinced myself that yesterday’s weakness was attributed to my sexual deprivation; after all it had been a few months since I had sex.  Six months to be precise, on a mini-vacate to Belize with April- which reminded me, we needed to schedule another get-a-way…and soon.

I arrived at the office at exactly 7:15; hoping to have a few moments to myself before Aiden’s arrival. As I walked passed Raina’s desk, I noticed that her computer was off; an indicator that she had not yet arrived.  Raina’s day was simplistically consistent.  Upon arriving to work, she exited the elevator, went to her desk to flip on her computer and place her purse in a locked drawer.  She then walked into my office, said good morning and offered my morning tea. 

I trotted to the kitchen for a cup of tea myself, wanting to get settled before she and the other staff arrived. As I neared the kitchen, I heard voices coming from behind the door. I opened it to meet the gazes of six people seated at one of the tables; all eyes were on me as I approached.  The eyes that I immediately connected with were those that were the green of asparagus tips. Fuck, he was already here. My steps somewhat faltered, I hadn’t expected to see him until at least another forty minutes or so.  I quickly recovered and glided past them with a civil good morning.  I busied myself with getting tea and found myself wondering why he had arrived so early and why was he at the table with those five bitches. Well, in all fairness, I shouldn’t refer to them as bitches but the fact that they were sharing coffee and conversation with the man who’d recently starred in my sexual fantasies bothered me.

I tossed my foolish annoyance aside as I eavesdropped on their conversation.  Kierston, from marketing, stated how much she enjoyed meeting him yesterday and that if he ever needed a lunch date, she was his girl.  That bitch.  Aiden thanked her for her offer just before Jennifer, from the legal department, said that she would be joining him and the head counsel when they met to discuss the legal facets of the marketing campaign to which Aiden was assigned; of course she was looking forward to his take on things.  Gag me.  I turned to leave before hearing anymore.  They were pathetic.  “Hope you all have a great day,” I said as I moved past their table.

I heard the “Thank you Miss Cason, you too” chime and listened for Aiden’s voice but he said nothing.  I heard the sound of a chair sliding across the floor as I reached for the door.

“Miss Cason, we’re headed in the same direction; I’ll walk back with you if that’s okay?” Aiden asked.  I smiled. I turned to look at them and once again all eyes were on me.  Take that bitches.  Ugh! Stop it Aria, I silently rebuked my childishness.

“No need to rush Aiden, you have about thirty minutes before your day begins,” I responded.

“Yes, but I’m anxious to get started.  I trust that’s all right?”

“Of course,” I stated, turning to open the door.

“Allow me to get that for you,” he said, brushing past me.  His seductively hypnotic scent penetrated the space around me.  That’s when I realized that last night’s playtime with Virginia hadn’t lessened this man’s effect on me at all.

The remainder of the morning was just as yesterday; my exhausting great effort to remain professional. I found myself lost in one sensuous daydream after another.  I imagined his beautiful lips entangled with mine in a heated osculation while his hands slowly caressed my body melting me into him.  I was enjoying my naughty reverie when Raina’s voice beckoned my attention to the matter at hand. I noticed that both she and Aiden were staring at me.  It was utterly embarrassing.  Raina knew something was off.  I assisted her and Aiden with some minor RPH details but fortunately she was able to assist Aiden with many key components of RPH:  the IT infrastructure, key vendors and business associates with whom we often collaborated on particular campaigns. 

His presence was just too much; I was appreciative that the majority of his time was spent with Raina. Occasionally they would check in with me for some details of my input.  By lunchtime, I was so consumed with inappropriate thoughts that I quickly rushed out of the building for lunch without informing either of them.  I had lunch at The Grotto- my usual lunch entrée at a booth near the window.  I was so out of sorts that I ordered a drink; I needed to calm my nerves or maybe it was the hormones that needed some level of calm. That one drink quickly became two. I emailed Raina indicating that I had an out-of-office meeting that I had forgotten and that I would see her tomorrow morning. Tomorrow would be a better day. It had to be.

The next day actually was better, as were the next several days.  It appeared I had worried for nothing. I rarely saw Aiden; he was in meeting after meeting learning the ropes.  He spent a great deal of time with Josh who was serving as his division mentor. Aiden was so busy that he barely had time to do much more than greet me in the halls. The way his gaze combed over my body when we passed each other was unsettling, but tolerable. If we were able to keep that up, I would make it through the next few months. The trick was to avoid him at all costs and so far that was working. 

It was late Friday and I was preparing to leave for the day. I flipped off the lights in my office and walked toward the elevators.  The doors opened to a crowd of lively employees ready to start the weekend.  We stopped at the 20th floor; I was surprised to see Aiden and Jennifer step in to join our decent.  He smiled and said hello. I returned the pleasantry as I slid to the left, giving him ample room.  This was the closest I’d been to him since Tuesday and it was too damned close.  When the doors opened, I stepped out and walked briskly to my car.

I spent the majority of the weekend working so when Monday rolled around it was as though I hadn’t really had a weekend at all.  I arrived at my office and Raina reminded me of a department meeting at 9 o’clock. I was anxious at the thought of being in a room with Aiden but there would be several other employees in attendance, so his closeness wouldn’t pose much of a problem.

The meeting was very interesting and quite productive.  It would appear that Aiden had soaked in every detail of our division and several others last week. He was commenting and arguing points which required an abundance of RPH information.  I was impressed but curious as to his new-found knowledge.  Thanks to Aiden’s contributions, the meeting ended with a full list of action items for our next meeting.  Everyone, except Aiden, had left the room.

“Miss Cason, I would be interested in scheduling some time with you to review the numbers on last quarter’s numbers in relation to the e-book sales.”

“Is this something we can add to next week’s agenda?” I asked, hoping to avoid any one-on-one time with him.

“I really think it ideal if we meet without the excess the others will bring to the topic.”

“I see. Can you check with Raina and see when I have an opening?”

“Will do,” he replied.

“Is there something else?” I asked, when he didn’t leave.

“Do you have lunch plans?” he asked. 

Why would he ask that? “I’m having a working lunch,” I replied.

“You’re quite the busy bee.  Aren’t you?” he asked.

“Well, it’s the only way to make the honey,” I said.

“I’d have to disagree; it’s not the only way,” he replied, a ghost of a smile on his beautiful lips.

Was he starting this again? I could only retain my resolve with minimal contact and zero innuendos.  If either one of those moved too far out of balance, I was screwed.

“You’re quite the worker bee yourself; I was very impressed with your input during the meeting.”

“Thank you.  I do what I can,” he replied.  I’m sure you do. The intensity of his gaze was unbearable. I needed to get him away from me.

“Well I have a very full day, so if you can check with Raina on your way out, that would be great,” I said.

“Maybe you and I can schedule a working lunch soon. I’m interested to see you outside the walls of this building,” he said.

“Well that’s not going to happen,” I quickly replied.

“Oh, why is that?” he asked.

“I don’t typically have lunch with my-”

“Your what? Subordinates?”

“No.  I was about to say co-workers,” I replied.

“Because?” he asked.

Because none of your business Mr. Fuck Me! “Just one of my rules.”

“Rules are made to be broken,” he challenged.

“Not my rules.”  If I didn’t end this conversation, who knew where it would lead. I wasn’t about to find out.  “As interesting as the topic of “rule-breaking” can be, I really need to get busy.”

“Of course, Miss Cason.”

I exhaled, watching him walk out of the room. I still wanted him and if I was reading the signs correctly and I was confident that I was, he wanted me too. There. I finally admitted it. I wanted him; I wanted him to fuck the hell out of me! Virginia clenched at the thought. Regardless of my desire for him, I absolutely refused to succumb to anything more than a professional relationship with that man.

The week quickly passed and there had been little to no direct contact with Aiden.  Tomorrow would mark two weeks since Aiden entered the doors of RPH. Yes, I was counting down the weeks until he left. It was the only thought that gave me solace with this situation. I left shortly after lunch for a dental appointment and headed home afterwards.  Once home, I emailed Raina telling her that I would not be returning to the office.  She replied that some important documents and mock-ups requiring my approval needed to go out first thing tomorrow morning and she would have them messengered over,  giving me the chance to review them prior to her  sending them out.  I  grabbed a bottle of wine and sunk into the couch to watch television. Two glasses of wine later, I was fast asleep.

The sound of my phone ringing awakened me; I looked at the time. It was 5 o’clock. The phone ID indicated that the incoming call was from RPH.

“Hello,” I answered, getting up walking to the kitchen.

“Hello Miss Cason.” I stopped dead in my tracks.  It was Aiden.

“Is there a problem Aiden?”

“Only if you say no.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, confused.

“I would like to take you to dinner.”

“Er…I don’t think so, but thank you for asking.”  I replied, ill-prepared for his invitation.

“Why?” he asked.

“The same reason I declined the invitation for lunch, and not that I owe you any further explanation but I’d prefer to stay home and have something delivered. It’s been a long day,” I replied.

“Have you ordered?” he asked.

“No.” I replied.

“What will you order?” 

“Hmm… the house special.”

“From?”

“The Brewer’s Art.  Why?”

“It’s on North Charles Street, right?” he asked.

“Yep, that’s the place.”

“I have a suggestion,” he said.

“Ok,” I replied, curious as to where this was leading.

“You have to eat and so do I. Let me pick up the food and we can eat together at your place. You’re already home and hopefully done with work for the day. Get comfortable and by the time you’ve detoxed from work, I’ll be at your door.”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“What’s not to know? Besides, I have to stop by either way to drop off the papers and marketing props,” he said.

“And why is it that you have to do that?” I asked.

“Raina was in the process of calling a messenger and I volunteered to deliver them. She thought it was a good idea due to the time limits,” he said.

“Oh, she did, did she?”

“Yes. So let me do this; I want to do something nice for you. You’ve been so welcoming and I want to return the gesture.”  I paused, considering his offer. “Let me feed you.”

And that’s where I lost my senses.  The way those four words practically dripped from his lips sent a signal straight to my lady parts.

“Okay, ” I agreed, before I could stop myself.

I could practically hear the slow sexy smile forming on his lips.  “Great. I’ll be at your place in no time.”

“I live in Silo Point.  Do you know where that is?” I asked.

“Just another quick GPS entry and I’ll see you shortly,” he replied.

“Okay,” I whispered.

A bizarre feeling surged through me as I pressed the end button and placed the phone on the counter. I felt like a school girl, wired and nervous, who had just spoken to her first crush. I opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water before hopping into the shower.

An hour or so later, the intercom buzzed alerting me of Aiden’s arrival.  A sense of foreboding pulled me from the sofa warning me of all of the ways the evening could go wrong. As I walked to the door, I took a deep breath and told myself that this was merely two co-workers having dinner, nothing more, nothing less.  I reached for the knob to open the door and there he stood…bags in hand, looking like the hottest “delivery guy” in the world.

“Hi,” I said, taking him in.  It was always the same each time I looked at him.  It felt like the first time and it was always overwhelming.  He was still wearing his work attire- shirt and tie but the tie was loosened and he had unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt.