Page 5 of Alex (Men of Forbidden Temptation #4)

ELISE

Normally, I’m more clear-headed and focused, but today was not like any other. My attention stayed locked on the man sitting across the table from me.

If Mr. Strickland asked for my feedback on the meeting, I wouldn’t be able to answer him honestly. I can’t remember what was spoken at all.

I can only recall how Alex twirled the pen between his long fingers and how his tongue would swipe along his bottom lip after taking a sip of his sparkling water, and how I wished his tongue was on me instead.

Shaking those thoughts from my head, I turn my attention to the slide on the screen.

It’s a graph of the potential revenue for the company in the first year after the acquisition and there’s a whole hell of a lot of zeros behind the first number. It’s almost as much as Strickland Enterprises is worth, and that’s saying something .

Everyone needs to play a part in this merger to make sure it happens and it happens on time.

Mr. Strickland changes the slide and shows us what he hopes for the future of Strickland Enterprises.

I read the slide slowly, letting the information soak in. My eyes get bigger and bigger with each bullet point.

An annual Christmas bonus equal to ten percent of the employee’s salary or yearly pay. Paid tuition for all employees to get a degree in their respective fields. Ten to twenty thousand dollars for a housing down payment, depending on seniority.

This will be life changing for employees like me. Literally.

Plus, it will help with employee retention. Not that there’s a lot of employee turnover here because everyone knows how rare this type of company is for a small town.

The other employees murmur amongst themselves as they read the slide and process what the future could be like.

Mr. Strickland clears his throat. “This company will not be this successful without employees that sacrifice some of their downtime. I know the longer days are exhausting, but I appreciate you putting in all the extra hours.”

He gazes at me when he says the last little bit.

Of all the employees sitting at this table, I’ve put in more hours than anyone else. It’s nice, but also a little awkward to receive recognition .

I give Mr. Strickland a slight nod before turning my gaze across the table to Alex. His dark gaze is already on me, and his sexy smirk makes me want to crawl across the table.

Mr. Strickland turns off the slide and clicks the button for the screen to recede into the ceiling before turning his attention back to the six of us.

“Anyway, great job team for a productive week, and I hope everyone has a great weekend. Meeting dismissed.”

Following my co-workers out of the conference room, I head to my desk to power off my computer and drop off the meeting notes before heading toward the stairs.

Alex and Mr. Strickland are standing outside of the conference room in a deep conversation when I walk back by.

Alex turns his attention to me. “Have a fun and relaxing weekend, Elise.”

My brain tries to short circuit as his smooth words fall from his lips. “Uh, thank you. Same to you.”

The smile I get in return is both friendly and predatory. It warms my core and sends pleasure down my spine. It takes all my strength to keep walking past Alex, but I can’t keep Kate waiting any longer.

I slowly walk towards my locker to retrieve my purse after the meeting ran over, even though I really just want to run.

Meetings running over are normal because Mr. Strickland is extremely long winded and even though I’m tired of the twelve to fourteen hour days, I need this job. I just don’t want to stand Kate up again.

I reach into my bag and change from my work heels to my practical and comfortable black flats for the mile walk to the bar.

Small town jobs are scarce, especially good paying ones like being Mr. Strickland’s executive assistant. Besides the tourist months and endless lifeguard jobs on the beach, you have to drive forty-five minutes to the nearest metropolitan city for jobs.

No one, not even me, knows why Strickland Enterprises decided to set up shop here, but I’m grateful for the job.

Especially since I don’t have a car, and I have to walk everywhere.

I let my thoughts wander as my feet lead me down the all too familiar path.

Alex actually attended the team meeting and seemed to pay attention most of the time. I kept catching him glancing my way, but that’s because I was staring at him. I guess he’s trying to get a crash course on Daddy’s businesses.

Although, to be fair, he has been coming around more often these past couple of months. He never came around when I first started working for his dad, and Mr. Strickland never bothered to try to get him there.

I wonder if Alex remembers the night on the beach. The night my life went from bad to worse. The night that gave me hope I wouldn’t be alone in the world.

When I get to the front door of the bar, I immediately see Kate flirting with our favorite bartender, Michael. He runs a hand through his shoulder length black hair as he smiles at whatever she just said.

My gaze moves over to Kate. She’s the opposite of me. She’s tall, skinny, and her hair is in a short black bob. She could be a model, but she refuses to believe me. Either that or she doesn’t want to work because she’s already rich.

Michael pours her a shot of amber liquid and hands it to her, which she immediately downs before meeting my gaze through the glass window in the door.

I push through the crowd of people to get to my best friend.

“Elise! About damn time! Where have you been?” She pulls me into her lean body and wraps her arms around me for several seconds.

“I’ve been working. Where else would I be? Not gallivanting across the globe like you, even though you look fabulous.”

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. Her short hair whips around her face with each move. “Pfft. You could have. I offered to kidnap you and take you with me. You could be tanned and pampered right now instead of overworked and under fucked. ”

I wish I could have taken her up on her offer, but that’s not who I am. I can’t leave my responsibilities behind to chase the wind or unknown dreams.

Letting out a sigh, I ignore her statement about me being overworked and under fucked and signal to Michael for another shot. “I know you would have kidnapped me in a heartbeat, and as much as I appreciate it, I have my job and apartment here.”

Michael pours a half shot of whiskey into two shot glasses before filling the glasses the rest of the way with soda.

I take my shot glass and say, “You know just how I like it. Thanks.”

He returns my smile as I tilt my head back and down the shot. The whiskey burns my throat before settling in my stomach. This is just what I need to let loose and let go of work for a while.

Kate places her now empty shot glass back on the bar. “Another shot, please dear, and pour one for yourself. We’re celebrating.”

Michael fills his shot glass to the brim with the amber whiskey and fills ours half way before topping ours with soda like he always does.

He eyes Kate like she’s the brightest diamond in the world and he wants her all to himself. “What are we celebrating?”

She leans over the bar, her face a few inches away from his, when she whispers, “My birthday is tomorrow. Do you want to help me celebrate later when you’re off work?”

He swallows, but doesn’t speak. He only nods. Gone is his usual confident and flirting self and in its place is this new shy, speechless one.

I mean, I don’t blame him. Kate is a babe and practically threw herself on him. I’d be lost for words, too.

She gives him a wink before ordering another round of shots.

He leaves us to celebrate by ourselves as more people ask for drinks and shots of their own.

I hold up my shot glass in front of my face. “Cheers to our friendship, you being back home, and to you turning-”

She clamps her hand over my mouth. “Shh. No one can know how old I am.”

I roll my eyes and remove her hand. “Oh my God, Kate. You’re acting like you’re turning sixty or seventy and not twenty-four.”

She giggles. “I’m older than you.”

“Barely, and it doesn’t matter. You’re young. You’re hot. And the best friend a girl could have.”

Her bottom lip sticks out as her eyes glaze over with unshed tears. “Aww, Elise, you are seriously the best. I hope you know how much I love you and our friendship.”

She gives me another tight hug and sways a little to the song playing over the chatter of the crowd. “I love this song.”

“Uh, huh. How much have you had to drink?”

“Only a couple more shots than you. I was bored while waiting for you, and Michael was keeping me company. ”

That explains it. Those extra couple of shots were full shots, not our usual half whiskey half soda shots.

“Okay, well, how about one more half shot and then we stick to just soda for a while?”

The last thing I wanted to do tonight was babysit a drunk Kate, but I’m not going to leave her to the wolves. Well, more like the hungry desperate men that just want a one-night stand.

“That sounds perfect.” She spins around and locks eyes with Michael. “Another round for Elise and I please and then two regular sodas.”

He nods and gets our shots prepared before filling two glasses with ice and soda.

“Thanks Michael.” I say as he places the drinks in front of us and heads down the bar.

Kate and I drink our shots of whiskey before grabbing our sodas.

She leans against the bar as a group of guys pushes past us. “You know, I really hate your boss. I wish I could find you a better job with normal working hours and clear boundaries for personal time.”

“Yeah, I know.” I let out an awkward chuckle. “But I need this job, so I have to put up with the late evenings and long boring meetings until I no longer need to work, or until I die. Whichever one comes first.”

I can’t really talk shit about my boss while I am out in public. Anyone could hear and tell him what I said. Then, I wouldn’t have a job or money .

I take a sip of my drink as she continues. “I love a man in control. So powerful and demanding like your boss. I’d let him fuck me on his million dollar desk and tie me up with his expensive ties.”

The shock of her statement makes me choke on the soda I’m drinking. I place my hand on my chest as I cough and sputter, “Oh my God, Kate. Warn a girl, would you?”

She doesn’t look concerned over my choking. She just shrugs and says, “What? You don’t think your boss is hot? You wouldn’t let him treat you to an orgasm or two if he asked?”

No way. That’s crossing so many professional lines.

“Mr. Strickland is not my type. Alex is hotter in a wild and carefree way. I love his longer sun bleached hair and even the gauges he wears in his ears. He’s the complete opposite of his dad and the few times I’ve seen him, I’ve wanted to say more.”

Kate narrows her eyes as if she’s trying to figure me out like a puzzle. “If you like him and think he’s hot, then why haven’t you hooked up with him again?”

A soft sigh escapes my lips. “I’m tired of dealing with egotistical, asshole, control freak guys.”

“Just because your boss acts that way doesn’t mean his son is like that. Even if he turns out to be that way, you will at least have already been laid. Twice.”

Leave it to her to bring up my lack of sexual experience while we’re in public .

“First, it’s not just my boss. My ex-boyfriend was like that too. And second, not all of us can have an unlimited amount of sex.”

She waves her hand as if I’m speaking lies. “Elise, you could have any guy in this bar tonight if you wanted.”

“No, thank you. I’m selective about who I sleep with.”

Her laugh draws the attention of several people around us, but they turn back to their own conversations after a couple of seconds.

“Elise, you slept with one man, and it was on the beach six months ago.”

There’s absolutely no need for Kate to remind me of the one and only time I’ve had sex. I’ve only dreamt of repeating it almost every day since then. It’s been a long six months, especially when Alex came to the office.

“Technically, it was on the rocks, and it was the best first time I could have imagined or hoped for. At least I had several orgasms, which is more than you can say about your first dozen or so times.”

Thankfully, Kate isn’t offended. She leans her head back and howls with laughter.

“That is entirely too true. It took a while for me to find a man that knew what he was doing. You really should try to find an older man. Trust me, he will rock your world.”

“No, thank you. I’d rather stick to someone relatively close in age that has already rocked my world. Besides, I wouldn’t mind repeating my first time. Maybe not on the rocks, though.”

“Yeah, you need to try it at least once on a bed. It’s even better.”

“I can’t imagine it being better.” I might just die if Alex is better in bed than he was on the rocks.

Someone clears their throat from behind me. Kate’s smile widens as she looks at the stranger. Following her gaze, I turn around and come face to face with Alex.

Shit.

My face blushes as I realize he heard at least part of that conversation.

Kate, being oblivious to who interrupted us, sticks out her hand for Alex to shake it. “I’m Kate. This is Elise, and we’re celebrating my birthday. Who are you?”

Alex shakes her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Kate. I already know who Elise is. I’m Alex.”

His grin widens before meeting my shocked and embarrassed gaze. “It’s nice to see you out of the office and letting loose again.”

Again.

Like the night of the bonfire where he was insistent on keeping me company.

Alex’s eyes darken with lust as if he’s remembering that night as well.

Tonight might be better than I expected.