Mrs R (Mrs R & Mr V #1) (28 page)

Rachel felt a little colour rise
in her cheeks. Nate had been in her thoughts all weekend but it had been Joe in
her dreams and guilt washed over her in waves. Concentrating on giving the
meeting 100% of her attention she focused on listening to Ben introduce Joe
Mason as the new CEO.

“We are all delighted that you
have joined us from the Big Apple. I speak on behalf of all the staff here at
Gyles Bishop when I say we are very excited to have you on board; at our helm
as it were. Your reputation is excellent and everyone’s keen to get to know
you.”

Joe stood looking at Ben, his
hands in his pockets looking relaxed and confident. He had plastered a smile on
his face but Rachel could tell even at a distance it wasn’t his natural
demeanour. There was a tension around his eyes and he occasionally played with
his beard, which she thought could be a habit designed to keep him focussed. It
was driving her nuts watching his long fingers stroking his face. Truthfully,
it made her mouth water and her fingers itch to touch the silky strands
covering his strong jawline. His lips looked as soft as they had felt against
her neck the other night and her pussy tingled with the memory.

Ben continued “You have a hard act
to follow Joe; Nate Renton was an hugely popular CEO before you and he had a
lot of innovative ideas we hope to move forward with. In fact we are fortunate
to have his wife Rachel on staff working with us now. Rachel?”

“Oh no; oh Ben, no” Rachel
screamed in her head. Instead knowing she had finally reached the point of no
return, Rachel straightened her back and puffed out her chest and with a
beatific smile on her face moved though the crowd to emerge in front of Joe.

“Mr Mason; it’s a pleasure to meet
you at last.”

Turning his body to meet her with
his hand poised to shake hers, Joe’s smile died as he instantly recognised
Rachel. She saw his body stiffen and the bunch of muscles tightening under the
fabric of his jacket looked lethal to her. She was instantly wet as his naked
self flashed in her mind and her pulse raced making her mildly breathy.

Recovering quickly like the true
professional he was, Joe plastered a sympathetic look on his face and took her
hand in his gripping firmly. “Mrs Renton,” he dragged her name out slightly,
“Rachel isn’t it?” he squeezed her hand slightly imperceptible to all but her
leaving her in no doubt he knew exactly who she was.

Just then Rachel didn’t know
whether she wanted to knee him in the bollocks for looking so smug or leap on
him and shove her tongue down his throat. “Shit, I am in so much trouble” she
sighed to herself.

“I’m glad we’ve finally been
introduced.” He raised an eyebrow at her and she coughed at the ambiguity of his
words. Clearly no one else would have any knowledge of their previous
encounters. Still holding her hand he turned to face her full on dipping his
head slightly so that only she could see his grey eyes had turned to liquid
steel and Rachel shifted uncomfortably at the cold glint in his expression. She
tried to pull her hand away but he didn’t budge.

“Please accept my sincere
sympathies on the loss of your husband.”

“Th th thank you.” Rachel croaked
pathetically expecting Joe to release her hand – he did but not before
pulling her forward very slightly causing her to stumble in her heels. Shooting
out his arm to steady her Rachel glared at him but refrained from saying
anything in front of the rest of the senior staff. Biting her lip she dug her
fingers hard into his arm but of course the idiot didn’t flinch, merely smirked
and turned back to Ben effectively ending their little silent battle of wills.

“Colleagues,” Joe addressed the
room, “please take a seat and let me introduce myself to you all properly.”

Grabbing the chair directly in
front of Joe, Rachel decided a little payback was in order and waited until she
caught his eye to cross her legs exposing as much thigh as she could without
causing the older executives to have heart failure.

“Ha!” Rachel mentally high fived
herself when one of Joe’s magnificent eyebrows raised a fraction as his jaw
muscles clenched under his beard. Wiggling her butt in the chair to get comfy
Rachel clasped her hands in her lap and patiently waited for Joe to begin. The
raging throb of her clit was madly distracting but she thought she was doing a
pretty good job of hiding it.

**********

“Jesus, fuck, she is killing me!”
Joe was on the cusp of chucking everyone but her out of the room and using the
boardroom table for much more entertaining and satisfying purposes involving
the little bitch with her hem line considerably higher than it was now.

“What an annoying little prick
tease this woman was turning out to be,” he thought, as if he hadn’t been hard
for her since Saturday night. And then she walks into his boardroom all cool
and fucking sexy hot in bloody Armani!

Aesthetically, Rachel was
everything he looked for in woman; sophisticated and sexy. She was naturally
beautiful; he hated all that botox shit; a few lines and wrinkles added
character and spoke of life experience. She was older than he usually went for
but look where that had gotten him; precisely nowhere, or to be more exact, in
London on his own thousands of miles from his kids. Her legs were shapely and
plenty long enough to fit round his waist. He noticed this again because Rachel
had chosen to place her self directly in his line of sight and her skirt had
ridden to an indecent level exposing the creamy flesh of her thighs. Being that
she was in the front row at the head of the table twisted round to face him, he
was the only one left guessing if she was actually wearing any panties.

Joe admired the outfit she had
worn and appreciated the way it clung to her curves. He didn’t need to imagine
what she felt like, or what she smelled like or what she looked like goddamn
naked because it was all imprinted in his head and senses from their previous
two encounters. No question she affected him physically, but until today he had
thought she was some ditzy broad and a complete klutz, not a bloody executive
at Gyles Bishop for fuck’s sake.

Joe narrowed his eyes at her as he
prepared to speak to the group he would be managing. Rachel’s lips twitched and
she uncrossed her legs very deliberately, shifted back in her seat and crossed
them over again. It was no Sharon Stone moment but enough to make his cock jerk
in his suit pants.

Obviously Saturday night’s little
charade in the steam room had been a set up but she’d bottled it at the last
minute. She had known who he was all along and clearly thought she could
manipulate him with her impressive tits and perfect shaped arse. Joe was not so
easily swayed, even if his dick protested otherwise. She wanted Genesis, she
was going to have to work bloody hard to get it. He knew all about her husband
and his crusade to ‘give back.’ Rachel had a battle on her hands if she thought
he was about to relent just because he wanted to fuck her; there was no room
for sentiment in business.

Refusing to be ruffled by Rachel
Renton any longer, Joe turned on the charm and seduced his team with dry
American wit; extensive knowledge of the British justice system, and plenty of
promising plans for the future. Whilst he didn’t buy into the typical over the
top enthusiastic American attitude of the power of positive thinking, he was
very motivational in his approach. At the end of his speech there was a lot of
clapping and good cheer and everyone shook his hand muttering their devotion
etc etc. Joe wasn’t much of a people person; he did what was necessary to be a
crowd pleaser and get people on board, then he left it to the managers to
liaise.

The room emptied swiftly, but from
where Rachel was situated she had to wait for everyone else to exit before her.

“Mrs Renton, a moment please.”

Joe’s deep command stalled her
leaving. He indicated that she should sit back down, however he remained
standing. A classic power move. Rachel scowled feeling like a naughty
schoolgirl being held back after class. Joe stood a few feet away checking his
phone and she couldn’t help fidget as the last of her colleagues left the room.

“Well – at last we are
alone.” There was no humour in his voice and Rachel’s nerves bubbled in her
throat.

“Not for the first time.” The
words just slipped out and Rachel clamped a hand over her mouth shocked at her
flippant response. What was it with this guy that riled her so much? Giving
herself a stern pep talk, she began over.

“I apologise, that was crass of
me. This isn’t a situation I ever predicted. Do you want me to explain?” Rachel
looked up at him deciding she wasn’t going to be intimidated. She didn’t look
away as he exhaled loudly.

“Is that a British thing or a
Rachel thing? Why not just explain – don’t bloody ask first!” He ran his
a hand through his thick dark hair reminding Rachel how Luc used to do the same
thing when he got frustrated with her.

“There’s no need to get shouty.
Sit down; you’re making me dizzy pacing up and down. You’ll wear the carpet
out.”

Joe froze on the spot looking at
her like she had two heads. She was crazy, that had to be the reason for all
this nonsense. He tried another approach.

“Mrs Renton…”

“Oh it’s Rachel please. I told
Angela last week it makes me think my mother in law is here when I hear Mrs
Renton. And believe me you wouldn’t want her here, as much as I love her, she’s
nuts.”

“Shut up Rachel; stop talking;
he’s looking at you funny.” Her brain was screaming; her thoughts were all over
the place. Apparently, she couldn’t string a coherent sentence together when
Joe Mason was in her dancing space. And why did he have to smell so divine; it
was too distracting.

“Er, Rachel. I have no idea what
you just said, but could you just be quiet a moment and listen. That means no
speaking. “

Rachel nodded clamping her mouth
shut.

“Obviously you knew who I was
before I knew who you were. If you think for one minute that shoving your tits
in my face is going to get your precious little project off the ground, then
you don’t know the first thing about me sweetheart. Now, I think it’s best if
you hand over the files to my assistant and go back to your lunch dates and
Bridge games and forget all about your futile attempts at succeeding in the big
leagues.”

Oh Rachel was seething now. Who
the bloody hell did he think he was talking to? The temptation to get all up in
his face and wipe that gorgeous grin to kingdom come was extremely tempting,
but Rachel would not give Joe the satisfaction of losing her temper over a few
stupid comments.

She stood smoothing down her
dress; pushing afore mentioned tits in his direction. Taking a minute to
compose herself she looked him straight in the eye and smiled. In the plummy
tones she usually reserved for court, and in her most patronising manner she
smiled at him all teeth and false pleasantry, she spoke quietly and
deliberately so that he had to lean in a little to hear her properly.

“Mr Mason; Joe isn’t it? When you
decide to get over yourself and speak to me like an adult and not some ignorant
oik from across the water, perhaps we can discuss how you can contribute to
Genesis in a productive and beneficial way. At which time you may liaise with
Angela as to my availability.”

Rachel flicked her tongue across
her lips and turning her back on him strode towards the door. Looking over her
shoulder at him she noticed he was still staring at her with a look of total
disbelief; his mouth hanging open.

“Catching flies Joe?” she taunted
as the heavy door closed behind her.

**********

In less than 10 seconds Rachel’s
nerves gave out and kicking off her shoes she legged it back to the sanctity of
her office. Slamming the door shut she sagged against it in relief, glad to
have escaped with her dignity in tact this time. The only way she could deal
with Joe Mason right now was to put a little distance between them and throw
herself into her work. However, judging by the way he was now situated outside
her office rapping lightly on her door, Joe had a different plan altogether.

“Mrs Renton, please can I come in?
I have something I wish to discuss further with you?” Oh he sounded so cool and
polite; very convincing to anyone who may be watching.

“Go away!” she hissed at him
quietly enough so only he could hear. The last thing she wanted was to be the
source of office gossip.

“Thank you, I’m coming in” and
just like that Joe pushed the door open easily even though she was leaning up
against it. Evidently, those muscles weren’t just for show.