Board Stiff
Authors: Jessica Jayne
Evernight Publishing
Copyright© 2013 Jessica Jayne
ISBN: 978-1-77130-477-1
Cover
Artist: Sour Cherry Designs
Editor: JS
Cook
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING:
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is
illegal.
No part of this book may be
used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a
work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION
Always to my husband for his support and love.
To
Jenika - Thanks so much for your thoughts and insight in helping me to not only
name this book but also this series! You rock!
BOARD STIFF
Taking Advantage, 1
Jessica Jayne
Copyright
© 2013
Chapter One
“Where’s today’s
agenda?” John Dorsey asked as he sat down in one of the many black leather
chairs in the board room.
He reached for
the stainless steel coffee carafe and poured the dark brown liquid into his
white porcelain coffee mug.
Despite
having had a cup of coffee on the way into the office, John usually needed
about a carafe of coffee to make it through a board meeting day.
He wasn’t used to sitting so many hours at a
time.
Heading up Dorsey Construction
meant he was in the field assisting his construction managers with various
projects.
Sitting in a
chair for six to eight hours listening to presentations on company matters, discussing
and approving company budgets and sorting through the financials of Advantage Insurance
Company made for long days.
John was
honored to be asked to sit on the board of directors a year ago.
He was the youngest member of the board at
thirty-five, and it was good for his business to have such a prestigious role with
one of the
Tampa
Bay
area’s best known companies.
Luckily, the board only met once a quarter.
“Here you go, Mr.
Dorsey,” Suzie McCormick said with a smile.
She handed him a blue folder that he knew contained the day’s agenda and
the most current quarter’s financials.
All
of the presentations could be seen on the individual iPads at each seat.
“Thank you,
Suzie,” he said.
He took the folder from
her hands and set in front of him on the mahogany table.
Suzie stood there smiling at him for a few
seconds before turning around, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder
and walking around the table to place the same blue folder at each seat.
John watched as she finished up and left the
board room for her desk in the executive suite, which was just outside of the
boardroom.
Suzie was
attractive, albeit a little on the skinny side, at least for John.
Suzie was tall, probably 5’10” without heels,
and slender.
He preferred his women with
a little meat on their bones.
He loved
women with curves.
Women were supposed
to be soft.
Suzie had made it known that
she was attracted to John.
She flirted
with him relentlessly every meeting.
A
few of the other board members teased him.
They encouraged him to ask her out or at the
very least, “take her for a ride” they’d say.
Even Suzie’s boss, Michael Herron, the CEO of Advantage, would
occasionally joke with him about her excitement on board week.
“She’s got the
hots for you, Dorsey,” Mark Olson said, walking up to John and extending his
hand.
Mark was the next youngest member
of the board at forty.
He had recently
divorced his wife of fifteen years.
Rumor
was that he had had a mid-life crisis and his wife couldn’t deal with it.
John wasn’t positive of Mark’s real story,
and he never really felt comfortable enough asking him.
But Mark was now hot-to-trot for any woman
that was good-looking and younger than thirty.
“You should really consider it.
If she showed me half the attention she shows you, I’d be all over
it.”
He shook John’s hand before taking
a seat next to John and pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“Knock it off,
Mark,” John said with a little laugh.
“You look a little tired.
Late night?”
He
figured a change of subject would be good before the rest of the directors took
their seats, and Mark did look a little tired.
“You could say
that,” Mark said with a wink.
He brought
his coffee mug to his lips and took a sip.
“I met a hot little number last weekend down at the Beach Club.
I’ve had a few later nights than I’m used
to.”
He chuckled.
“Gentlemen,”
Phillip Barker said, walking into the room in his crisp khaki pants and green
country club polo shirt.
All the other
board members wore dress slacks and a button down shirt, but Phillip didn’t make
it mandatory.
He was retired and took
the position he only wore suits to weddings and funerals now.
He
took his seat at the head of the long table as chairman of the board.
John respected Phil, who had also been in the
construction business for much of his life.
He gave John a lot of great advice on the trade after he took over the
company from his father, John Sr., and John appreciated the man’s insight.
“Phil,” John said,
nodding his head in the direction of Phil.
The rest of the board members filtered in.
There were six outside directors and Michael
Herron, the CEO, sat as the sole inside director on the board.
Everyone grabbed their seats and poured
coffee.
“Bagel?
Scone
?
We have cinnamon and cherry,” Suzie said, walking
in with a basket full of bagels and pastries.
She offered the basket to John first.
He smiled and pulled a cinnamon scone from the basket and placed it on a
napkin in front of him.
“Thanks, Suzie,”
he said kindly.
“Any time, Mr.
Dorsey,” she said sweetly.
The other men
chuckled as she made her way around the table to offer the treats to them
before placing the basket in the center of the table.
Before exiting the room and closing the door
behind her, she looked over her shoulder and smiled at John.
He felt everyone’s gaze on him when the door
finally clicked shut.
“What?” he asked,
feeling a little embarrassed by all the attention.
It wasn’t that John wasn’t used to
attention.
He was.
Women hit on him all the time.
And from time to time, he would flirt
back.
Maybe ask them out to dinner.
Sometimes it would lead to sex at their place…
only their place, so he could easily escape when it was over.
But since Shayna, John shut himself off from anything
other than sex.
Finding his ex-fiancée
in bed with his best friend left a bad taste in his mouth for
relationships.
They were a waste of
time.
He kept telling himself he wanted nothing
beyond the desire to satisfy his sexual needs and have a little companionship
for an evening.
Even though most of his
friends had settled down… a few of them on their second marriages, he wasn’t
interested in taking that route.
It was
nothing but trouble.
“Dorsey, we have
to tease you,” Andy Price snickered.
“Perhaps we’re all just jealous that she’s only got eyes for you.”
“Can we get
started?” John asked, slightly annoyed.
Maybe he should just take Suzie out and shut them all up.
It had been a couple weeks since he’d been on
a “date.”
The thing was, he would have
to see her every quarter for board meetings, and he knew it would never go
beyond a date or two.
Forget that idea!
He pulled out the agenda from his blue folder
and set it in front of him.
“Based on
the agenda, it may be a long day.”
“Sure thing,
Dorsey,” Phil said with a smile.
“Let’s
call this meeting to order.”