Executive Decision: A Romance Novel Read online

  Charles arched a dark blond eyebrow. “And how exactly do you know how big or little his dick is?”

  “Is that jealousy I’m hearing?” Bringing the word jealously into the equation always seemed to snap Charles out of the moment. This time, it didn’t.

  “What would you say if the answer was yes?”

  The room suddenly felt hotter than it should. Was it supposed to feel as though it were closing in on me? My palms began to sweat as the grey boardroom walls seemed to press closer and closer to me. Heat rose to my face and the urge to expel my lunch was tempting.

  Charles moved to me, touching my cheek lightly and giving me his ever calming smile. “Relax Elizabeth, I’m not asking for a commitment. I’d never do that. But I think I’ve earned the right to be a bit jealous when it comes to you. Do you agree?”

  “Uhh-huh,” I murmured between deep breaths.

  “I can honestly say I’ve never met anyone more afraid to settle down than me.” He kissed my forehead gently and held me to his chest, driving me mad with need. The woody smell of his Givenchy cologne drove me nuts. It always did and Charles knew it. Maybe it was his way of teasing me throughout the day. Whenever I was close to him and caught scent of it, I was left in a near drool state.

  “We’ve been in here a long time. I should get back to my office.”

  He didn’t let go of me. “Are you still catching flack from Walters and Seraphim about us?”

  I nodded but said nothing. Of course I was still catching crap from the two stooges. They’d made it their personal mission to “out” my relationship with Charles. The only reason we didn’t announce it ourselves was that neither of us were serious about it. Our arrangement was purely sexual. Sure, we were friends, but that was it. Nothing long term.

  Letting the entire company in on our sexual arrangement seemed a bit pointless. Apparently, Walters and Seraphim didn’t think so. Though, as pathetic as they were, my sex life most likely was the most interesting thing they had to discuss.

  “Do you want me to call an informal meeting and clear the air? I could lay what we have out on the table. It would pull the rug out on their suspicions? If they know I’m supportive and behind this then it might scare them enough to rethink how they treat you. I own the place. Piss me or my significant other off and you won’t have a job come Monday morning.”

  Horrified, I looked at Charles as though he’d sprouted a second head. “What? We have nothing more than sex between us. We are not significant others, Charles. I know that you’re just tossing that out as an example but still I’d rather not have everyone in on that. You swore this was just sex.”

  “Elizabeth.”

  “Don’t Elizabeth me.” I shook my head, unable to believe the weirdness Charles was giving off. “I think you should make a doctor’s appointment. Something’s gone screwy upstairs.”

  I didn’t wait for his response. Instead, I headed towards the doors, ready and willing to face the wealth of speculation that would arise from my extended period alone with Charles. I was in the mood to make snappy comebacks. Hell I was always in the mood for that. Now, I’d get to direct them at my favorite targets, Walters and Seraphim.

  Game time.

  Chapter Two

  Pushing the glass doors of my office open, I looked around for Dale, one of my team members and close friend. In fact, I’d even go as far as calling him one of my best friends. His remarkable ability to drop off the radar at a moment’s notice always surprised me. He was a creative wonder who seldom remembered what time of the day it was—unless he had a date to get to. Even with his faults, Dale and I were close—very close, beyond best friend kind of close.

  Dale close.

  “Hey Liz, how’d the meeting go? Did we land the account?” Dale Corbin asked as he did a slight jab towards me. His floppy light brown hair with the slightest bits of blond running through it and emerald green eyes made the thirty-three-year-old look barely legal at times. Every other woman in the office seemed to think he looked like fresh meat and he ate it up. Often I’d find him cuffing his sleeves and doing semi-flex routines near the coffee pot. He denied it, of course. My goal was to capture one of the moments on film so I could show him the pictures later. That or run them in the paper with a witty caption for his next birthday. Either way, I’d accomplish my goal of proving the flexing incidents did occur.

  Having just turned twenty-nine, you’d have thought I’d be a bit more attracted to Dale even if he looked young. I wasn’t. Well, not that much. Sure he was incredibly handsome, had one of the best smiles I’d ever seen and skin that looked permanently sun kissed but he was just too—Dale. I knew him too well. The guy had a way of making women believe in white knights and happily ever after endings. As a little girl, I would have loved that. As a cynical and at times, sarcastic woman pushing thirty, it was just annoying. Not to mention he practically lived with me, so I got a dose of him twenty-four hours a day.

  Twice in the last three months alone, I’d had to hide him in the men’s restroom due to some woman basically stalking him. They had no qualms about showing up at the workplace, demanding to know why he hadn’t returned their calls. Two things had come of that. One, I was actually a bit jealous at how nice the men’s lavatory was in comparison to the women’s. And two, Dale had assumed I was now his relationship girl Friday. The last thing I liked hearing about was who he was screwing and when. Every time the topic came up, I’d do my best to change it. But it was hard to keep it away for long. Especially when we were so close and the women he chose to fuck were so determined.

  I’d known Dale for eight years. He slept on my sofa bed or in my bed if I didn’t beat him to it, then he’d just wait until I was out cold and climb in with me anyway. Over half of his wardrobe was at my house. I did his laundry. He helped me with anything I needed. We shared a cab to and from work. Hell, we walked half naked around each other. We acted like a married couple that never had sex. And that was more than fine by me.

  He seemed to be permanently attached to my hip. Luckily for him, he was at least a hot attachment. Sadly, Dale didn’t quite go with all my shoes.

  “So, did we nail the Becker account?” he asked again.

  “Oh, she nailed something but it wasn’t the Becker account.”

  The sound of fingernails screeching down a chalkboard would have been better than the sound of Vincent Walters’ voice. It was one of those drab, monotone ones that made me think of old high school professors.

  I didn’t bother to turn around and that must have annoyed him. He grabbed my shoulder and attempted to turn me towards him. Dale clenched his fist and looked at me for the okay to hit Vince. Knowing Dale actually would, I shook my head.

  The tension in my neck and arms increased, only this time it wasn’t from stress--it was from the unexplainable urge to ram my fist through Vince’s overly tanned face. The man needed to, at the very least, roll over in the tanning bed. He had permanent white spots from where the light didn’t reach, edging his ear and jaw line. Gritting my teeth, I exhaled slowly, hoping it would calm me. It didn’t. “Kindly remove your hand from me, Vince.”

  “I prefer Vincent.”

  “And I prefer you not touching me. One of us may get her wish while the other may get to wear a cast on his wrist for several weeks. Guess which one you will be?”

  “So temperamental, must come from your small town upbringing.” He lifted his hand off me and I turned slowly to face him. Vince was one of those men that appeared to have gotten their head stuck in a pencil sharpener at some point prior to birth. Couple that with his seriously outdated helmet style hair, short sleeve white polyester shirt and a tie that was a good three inches above his belt buckle and you had your garden variety loser with a good job.

  His grey eyes raked over me. As he leered I couldn’t tear my eyes off his yellowed teeth. His pack a day habit had done quite a number on his pearly whites. A few months ago “someone” had left an article about teeth whitening on his desk. Too bad he didn�
�t take the advice. Maybe he’d have a girlfriend by now. Doubtful though.

  Dale moved in close to me. He was six-two and together we must have looked intimidating to the five-seven Mr. Walters because he took a nice big step backwards.

  Ah, some days it’s good to be a giant.

  “Did you have something for us, Vincent, or are you wasting valuable company time, again.”

  “I do not waste company time, Ms. Rogers.”

  Dale snorted. “Right. Here at Baum Marketing we often find searching for online purchase brides from Russian websites helpful in our day-to-day activities. Not only does it increase our profitability, it increases your chance at finally getting some.”

  My eyes bulged. If anyone knew what someone did on their computer, it was Dale. His work place buddy, Wesley, was our company computer tech. The shocked look on Vince’s face was all the confirmation I needed. Patting Dale’s shoulder, I offered him a huge grin. I’d have said “that a boy” but that may have been overkill.

  As if on cue, me and my shadow, Dale, spun around and headed into my office. Neither one of us looked back at Vince, though I’m thinking we both wanted to, if for no other reason than to see him run off to his computer to clear its history and cookies.

  “Oh, that was good.”

  Dale chuckled. “Not nearly as good as you threatening to break his wrist if he didn’t get his hand off you. You should have let me hit him. Baum seems to worship the ground you walk on. He’d have thanked me personally.”

  If you only knew.

  I went straight for my desk to check email before we headed out for the night. Dale went straight for the corner of my desk and planted his tight backside on it. Charles’ taste in office décor was far different from mine. That didn’t mean I was fine with Dale’s tight ass plopped upon it. Biting my lower lip, I glanced down at the brown stained veneer and back to Dale. He didn’t get the subtle hint. Pushing him off occurred to me but then I’d have to touch that firm backside of his and that could lead to nothing but trouble. As nice as he was, he was also still a man and at the moment I was a bit worked up from Charles.

  “You’re killing me here, Liz. Did we get Becker or not?”

  “Not.”

  Dale twisted so fast that I grabbed my laptop for fear he’d send it tumbling to the floor. His wide green eyes locked on me.

  Trying to break eye contact with him, I concentrated on straightening the day’s files. Dale caught my wrist and held it gently in his large hand.

  “Elizabeth, talk to me. Why didn’t we get it? We’ve busted our asses all these months for something like this.”

  I pointed at his shirt, hoping it would distract him. “You know that shade of dark green really brings out your eyes. Is that new? I don’t remember seeing it before. I really like it on you.”

  “Elizabeth, you’re hiding. Weren’t you the one who lectured me on standing up, owning my actions?”

  Don’t you just hate it when your own advice comes back to bite you in the ass?

  “Yeah, I did tell you that, Dale. But you were the one who told me to tone down my harshness. That was my attempt for the day. If you want to know the truth, fine. I’m overworked, in need of a break and can’t concentrate worth a damn. At various points throughout the day I want to claw at the walls and run through the main room screaming my fool head off. I’m twenty-nine and feel a hell of a lot older than that. There, in all its ugly glory, is the truth.”

  For a moment, Dale was silent. I took that as a sign he was upset. He had worked just as hard as I had all these months. My entire team did. And we all needed a break.

  “So, what does this mean?”

  “It means we don’t have the Becker account,” I said sardonically.

  Dale laughed slightly. “That much I got. What I want to know is what happens with our team projection? Will we meet it?”

  “I don’t see why not. We’ve done twice the work the other teams have and we’re ahead of the game because of it. Now, if Walters pulls a whammy out of his rump then we’ll have some catching up to do.”

  “Liz, we’re so close to meeting it. If we do, you’ll be the next choice for the Vice President’s position that they still haven’t filled. Do you realize you’d be the youngest V.P. the company has ever had? Not to mention the only one who listens to eighties’ music still and dances along with it while she thinks no one is looking.” He winked and bit his lower lip, drawing my attention and holding it.

  Shaking myself back from the brink of finding Dale sexy, I tried to focus on what we were talking about. “I do not dance to eighties’....”

  He wagged his brows. “It’s okay, Ariel. I won’t tell your daddy. The Reverend doesn’t need to know anything about it.”

  “Really, Ren,” I batted my eyes, “but Daddy says music is the gospel of easy sexuality.”

  Dale raked his gaze over me slowly, causing my body to heat. “Ah, Liz, I love how on the spot you are with your movie references.”

  “Well, when we’re talking about cutting footloose, it’s hard to jump back.”

  He groaned. “That was a bad one.”

  “I tried.”

  “Yes, and I win.”

  Did I win something involving you being naked?

  A dreamy sigh escaped me and I jerked back to reality—one where I did not lust after Dale.

  “You’ve got that lost look again, Liz. I was complimenting you on your amazing achievement. Hell, men twice your age are vying for the same position. That’s why Walters acts the way he does. He’s threatened by you. You’re not even thirty yet and you’ve accomplished an amazing amount. To be honest, it used to bother me that a woman three years younger than me was my boss.”

  “You’ve been offered a position as a team leader at least six times since I’ve been here. If you wanted to be one, why do you keep turning it down?”

  He pushed his chin forward and shrugged. “It used to appeal to me but after I saw how many hours you have to put in I decided to pass.”

  “You work just as many hours as I do, Dale.”

  His traced his finger absently over the top of my desk, pushing a pen and a paperclip as he went. It was a very Dale thing to do. Especially when he was avoiding talking about something he didn’t want to discuss. “Not true, you worked over three times last week.”

  My stomach tightened. I hadn’t worked over. I’d stayed over, had sex with Charles and then gone out to dinner with him. I’d successfully managed to keep my arrangement with Charles a secret from Dale. It was hell juggling the two men. Charles knew I was close to Dale but didn’t know Dale sort of lived with me. And I’d gone out of my way inventing ridiculous reasons for being away from the house when I wanted to see Charles. I hated lying to Dale most of all. Why I cared what Dale thought, I’m not sure. But I did.

  “So are you still upset that I’m technically your boss even though you do everything I do?”

  “No. I’m fine with it now. Of course, getting to see you run around in your underwear when we’re at home does help. Setting the V.P. spot aside, the Becker account will mean exposure.”

  He wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. I hated guilt and Dale was an expert at making me feel it. “Do you want me to go back to Baum and tell him we want it? He offered it to us.”

  “Charles offered you Becker and you didn’t take it?” Dale caught my chin and lifted my face to him. Any other person I’d have punched between the eyes, even at the risk I’d break a nail. Dale had a way of calming me down. In a way he was a walking situation diffuser for me.

  Hmm, maybe having him actually strapped to my hip wouldn’t be so bad after all. He’d work wonders for my pms.

  “Yep, I turned him down.”

  “You must really need a break then.” He hopped off my desk and adjusted his olive tie. The tiniest of white lines ran diagonally on it. “Let’s go, we promised Paige we’d meet her for dinner and maybe some clubbing.”

  “Tell me again why you know more
about my social life than me.”

  Dimples appeared on both sides of his handsome face. “Probably because I am your social life and when you’re not with me, you’re with my sister. That and once you check out of this place, you can’t remember anything. Lauren is still complaining about you forgetting her cell phone number all the time. Oh, she’s number two on there now. I added everyone for you. You only had one person programmed in the thing.”

  I only had one person in my phone? No. That didn’t sound like me. “Who did I have programmed in?”

  “Me.”

  “Oh, right.” I tossed the last file into the stainless steel wire unit next to my desk and shut my computer down. “That’s rather funny since I know your number by heart anyways.”

  He smiled. “Let’s go. Paige is waiting.”

  “Have I thanked you lately for introducing me to her? I mean, it’s only been seven years. But look at it this way, at least I finally remembered.”

  “Hey, all I did was help you find a new place to live which just so happens to be next door to hers. That little dump you were living in wasn’t fit for humans.”

  I growled playfully at him. “Cut me some slack. I came to New York straight out of college and snatched up the first thing I could afford and get moved into right away.”

  Dale shuddered. “I can’t even think about you there now without wanting a shower. You actually had to share a bathroom with the entire floor.”

  “Now you’re just being dramatic. Besides, I share a shower with you.”

  Dale grinned and wagged his eyebrows. “Not literally but I’m open to the idea.”

  “I’m going to push you off the corner of my desk if you keep it up. Better yet, I’ll shove you out of the window. Falling twenty-six floors and smacking Madison Avenue head first might teach you a lesson or two.”