Board Stiff (3 page)

“I agree with
John,” Phil said.
 
“These construction
defect cases are usually a mess.
 
Next
quarter, we should have a better feel of where our insureds stand.
 
Let’s take a break.
 
Lunch should be here shortly.”
 
Everyone got up from their seats and
stretched, except for John. Once he thought he had his hard-on under control,
he got up and walked over to Suzie’s desk.
 
Her blue eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as he stood in front of her.

“Mr. Dorsey, can I
help you?” she asked eagerly.
 
Too eagerly.
 
A smile
spread across her face.
 
He knew his
question would wipe that huge smile from her lips.

“Yes, Suzie, you
can help me,” he said, trying to be as sweet as possible.
 
He tried to keep the desire out of his voice,
but the prospect of seeing
Elizabeth
again made it impossible.
 
“Can you point
me in the direction of Elizabeth Wright’s office?”
 
he
asked.
 
He watched as the smile slipped from her lips
and her blue eyes turned down.
 
The look
on her face told him she knew exactly why he wanted to find
Elizabeth
.

“You’ll need to go
down to the second floor,” she said shortly.
 
“Legal is on the north end of the building.”
 
She stood up from her desk and walked briskly
away from him, without doing her signature over-the-shoulder look at him.
 
He didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
 
She was a nice woman, but he had never
expressed any interest in her beyond a friendly acquaintance.
 
He wasn’t attracted to Suzie.
 
Not much he could do about it.
 
But
Elizabeth
…
she had sparked something in him he had never experienced before… a desire… a
need.
 
Even Shayla hadn’t gotten under
his skin like
Elizabeth
had.

John took the
escalator down to the second floor and easily found the legal department.
 
Despite being on the board of directors for
about a year, John didn’t know most of the employees in the company.
 
He knew most of the officers that presented
to the board regularly.
 
And he had
bumped into several employees at the company Christmas party last year, but he
had had a few drinks and couldn’t guarantee he could recall most of their names.
 
  

“Mr. Dorsey,” a
woman greeted him upon his walking through the legal department doors.
 
She sat outside what he figured was Corbin’s
office based on its size.

“Hi,” John
said.
 
He held out his hand to her.
 
“Please call me John.”

“Welcome to legal,
John.
 
I’m Roni… Corbin’s executive
assistant.
 
Can I help you?”
 
She shook his hand gently.
 
Roni’s brown hair was cut short and cropped
around her delicate face and her light brown eyes were gentle.
 
He figured she was probably in her early
fifties.
   

“Yes, Roni, I’m
looking for
Elizabeth
’s
office.”
 
He smiled at her, and he
watched as a soft smile spread across her face.
 

“Certainly.
 
Last door on the left,” she
said, pointing down the short hallway.
 
John strode quietly down the hallway towards the last door.
 
He peeked in the open doorway.
 
She was sitting at her L-shaped desk facing
the window, typing away on her computer.
 
He watched her for a few seconds.
 
She sat upright, not slumped over as she worked on her computer.
 
Her auburn hair was thick and wavy and fell
down her back.
 
He imagined it would feel
like silk when he wove his fingers in it.
 
His cock hardened at the thought.
 
Fuck!
 
If he didn’t get control of himself, this
woman would have him coming in his pants, and it had been a couple decades
since he had that happen.
 
At that
thought, he sauntered into her office, closing and locking the door behind him.
 

“Mr. Dorsey,”
Elizabeth
exclaimed,
after turning her head to the sound of the door closing and seeing him standing
in her office.
 

“Are you married,
Elizabeth
?” he asked
roughly.
 

“Excuse me?”
 
She turned completely in her chair.
 
Her suit jacket was unbuttoned and her pale
green camisole clung tightly to her full breasts.
 
His cock stiffened even more at the sight.

“I don’t see a
ring on your finger, but that doesn’t mean anything these days.
 
Are you married?” he asked again.
 
He stood in front of her desk with his arms
crossed over his chest.

“No,” she said
with a confused look on her face.

“Are you seeing
anyone?
 
Sleeping with anyone?” he asked
further.

“What?” she said,
standing up from her
chair.
 
Her face was incapable of hiding her shock at
his questions.
 
Her green eyes were wide.
 
Her lips parted.
 
“What sort of questions are these?”
 
John’s stride made short use of the distance
between them.
 
He stood directly in front
of her, cornering her behind her desk.
 
He looked down into her green eyes.
 
They were gorgeous… she was gorgeous.
 
And he had every intention of claiming her.

“Answer my
questions,
Elizabeth
.
 
Are you seeing anyone?”
 
He watched as her eyes widened even further
with shock at his determination to get answers to his questions.
 
Nervousness flittered across her face, but her
breath came out in short pants as if his close proximity affected her.
 
He watched as her chest rose and fell with
each breath.
 
God, he wanted to feel her body against his.
 
He just knew she would feel perfect against
him… in his arms.

“Your questions
are inappropriate,” she replied sharply.
 
Despite her body giving her attraction away, she held firm.
 
He liked that.
 
He liked a woman that wasn’t too easy of a
catch.
 

“I agree,” he
said, impatiently.
 
“They are
inappropriate.
 
I need the answers
nonetheless.”

“Why?” she
asked.
 
Her gaze scanned his face as if
looking for the answer to her question.

“Answer me,” he
demanded.
 
His hand reached out and
caressed her cheek as if to soothe the harshness of his words.

“You are way out
of line, Mr. Dorsey,”
Elizabeth
said.

“Yes, I know,” he
said a little softer this time.
 
His
fingers tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear.
 
His gaze dropped to her bared neck.
 
He had to fight the urge to nuzzle the spot
just below her ear.
 
“But I need to know
if there are any obstacles to making you mine.
 
Are you seeing anyone?”

“No,” she whispered.
 
“I’m not seeing anyone.”
 
Her lips parted for a moment before she bit
down on her lower lip.
 
That was almost
his undoing.
 

“Are you fucking
anyone?” he asked.
 
She released her
bottom lip and sucked in a breath when he asked that question.
 
Her gaze fell from his eyes to his lips and
then to her hands.
 
He placed his fingers
under her chin and tilted her head up to meet his gaze again.
 
He wanted to see her eyes when she answered
him.
 
There was heat in her gaze, and
that thrilled him.

“No, Mr. Dorsey,
I’m not
fucking
anyone at the
moment,” she said.
 
Her voice was hard,
but he heard the desire in it and that snapped his restraint.
 
His hand weaved into her hair until his palm
gripped the back of her head, pulling her into him.
 
His mouth slammed down on hers.
 
Her full lips were soft and pliable, and his
tongue flicked out over her lips to taste her.
 
She tasted so sweet…like candy.
 
Her hands slid up his torso to his chest and he couldn’t stop the growl
that escaped him just from the feel of her hands on him.
 

“Mr. Dorsey,” she
breathed, pulling her head back and pushing on his chest to create some space
between them.
 
She looked up at him,
trepidation in her eyes.

“No worries,
Elizabeth
,” he said,
running his thumb across her bottom lip.
 

“No worries?” she
said, sharply.
 
“You just kissed
me!”
 
Her hands were still placing
pressure on his chest.

“I know,” John
said, with a little laugh.
 
“And I’m
going to do it again.”
 
He leaned down
and pressed his lips gently against hers despite the force of her hands against
his chest.
 
With his hand in her hair, he
pulled gently, tilting her head back just slightly, so he had a better angle
for the kiss.
 
He slipped his tongue
against the seam of her lips and when she gasped, he used that opportunity to
penetrate her mouth with his tongue.
 
Oh God!
 
She tasted like heaven.
 
He knew
the moment he saw her he would love the way she tasted…the way she felt.
 
No woman had ever affected him like this.
 
His tongue explored the cavern of her mouth,
licking at the roof of it, at her teeth, tangling with her tongue.
 
She moaned when he deepened the kiss even
further, and their tongues danced sensually together.
 

Her hands slid up
his chest and around his neck, pulling his whole body closer.
 
He moved forward, backing her up against her
desk.
 
He pressed his pelvis into
her.
 
He had been right.
 
Her body felt amazing against his.
 
John’s hands slid down her arms and over her
hips until they settled at the small of her back.
 
He pulled her further into him and groaned at
the feel of her body pressing against his rock hard cock.
 
Their kiss became almost manic.
 
Her hands went into his hair and he
practically dry-humped her against the desk.
 
He was seconds from hiking her skirt up and burying himself between her
thighs.
 
The only thing that prevented
that from happening was the interruption of her desk phone ringing.
 

“Oh shit,” she
said, pushing back on him again to regain her space.
 
She reached for her desk phone.
 
“Elizabeth Wright.
 
Can I help you?”
 
Her breathing was ragged.
 
Her face flushed.
 
Her hands ran through her hair trying to
straighten out her appearance.
 
“Ok.
 
Yes.
 
I
can make the meeting at 2.
 
See you
then.”
 
She placed the receiver back on
the phone and turned to face him.
 
“I’m
sorry.
 
We got carried away.”

“Don’t apologize,
Elizabeth
,” John said,
taking a step towards her.
 
“I wanted to
get carried away.
 
The moment you walked
into that board room this morning, I wanted nothing else but to get carried
away with you.
 
I have been unable to
focus… unable to think straight.”
 

“Mr. Dorsey, you
sit on the board of directors of the company that employs me,” she said,
breathless.
 
“Clearly, this is a
conflict.”
 

“Nothing in my
director agreement even hints that I am not allowed to date an employee of the
company,” he said.
 
“Nothing.”

“Mr. Dorsey, it
would be an ethical conflict.
 
You assist
in making decisions for the company as a whole.
 
Any hint of impropriety—that a relationship with an employee influenced
the way you voted—could ruin your term as a director and perhaps affect my
career.”
 
Elizabeth
straightened out her camisole and
her jacket, buttoning the two buttons on the jacket.
 
Damn
it!