Attraction (Love & War, Part I) Read Free

apartment, descending the six flights
of stairs down to the basement car park. Ashton never used an
elevator if he was going less than ten floors. Every opportunity to
exercise helped boost the metabolism, especially being desk-bound
as much as he was.
    He slipped
into the back of the Mercedes, got himself comfortable and started
to go through his appointments for the day on the iPad. As issues
sprang to mind he put some notes in his diary for later reference.
Soon his mind was whirring away over his new
deal.
    I need a
specialist lawyer. One who knows commercial French law. Someone who
can speak French well, because my French skills are pretty rusty.
Schoolboy rusty. Or, to be completely truthful, non existent.
     
    Fifteen
minutes later the car arrived outside the rear of the small four
storied GIG building. It was a very unassuming old building. He
liked that fact and it amused him every day he arrived there.
Adrian pointed the remote access device, keyed in the pass-code and
the metal gate rose enabling them to sweep down the ramp and into
the underground parking bay. Ashton rubbed the back of his neck. He
felt a little knot of tension had formed. He was so in tune with
his body. Too in tune at times. He couldn't ignore what it was
telling him. And the message he was receiving was that he
desperately needed to hit the gym today. He missed out for two days
and his excess energy was dying to escape.
    “ Let's hit the gym at eleven,” he said.
    “ Cool with me,” Adrian replied.
    They left the
car and walked up small rear staircase to the third floor. The
fire-door opened with a soft swoosh and they left the stairwell,
and entered his domain. His kingdom.
    It was here
that he ruled supreme.
    Ashton Michael
Gates, the CEO of Gateway Investment Group, his own private stock
acquisitions company. He was a millionaire, many times over, solely
as a result of his astute business acumen.
    The well
educated son of a titled mother and an American movie producing
father, he had had the best start in life that anyone ever could.
His father had set him up in his company by providing the initial
capital, and he'd gone on to make a great success of it, and paid
him back every penny he had borrowed within three short years.
Although they got on very well, he didn't see his father very
often. Sadly, his parents were not suited to stay together for
life, and were now happily divorced, and living on separate
continents. This arrangement seemed to work so much better for
them, and the rest of the family.
    “ See you downstairs at eleven then,” Adrian said as he
wandered off to the end of the corridor, to his 'poky old hole', as
he jokingly called it. In actual fact, his poky old hole was a very
decently sized, dual aspect office. One where he sat in front of
his CCTV monitoring system on a comfortable black leather reclining
sofa, watching SKY sports and questionable videos on the
internet.
    “ Good morning Ash, how are you?” Yasmin looked up from her
desk with her beaming whiter than white smile as he arrived in his
office reception area. She always seemed so pleased to see him,
which he found quite touching. He was particularly pleased to see
her this morning, because she looked absolutely
stunning.
    “ Up to scratch and you're looking very sweet today, is that a
Jaeger?” he complimented her on her feminine pale pink suit. It
made a welcome change from the severe, dark colours she normally
wore and suited her caramel skin beautifully.
    She smiled
widely at him. “It's actually an ancient but very expensive Jacques
Vert. I'm going out after work, with Isaac. I thought I'd make a
little bit more of an effort with my appearance.”
    “ What a shame, I thought you'd dressed up especially for me,”
he teased with wide smile and a flare of his eyes, and she rolled
hers at him, humorously. “This must be the fourth date with Isaac,
is it serious?”
    “ Oh no, not by a long shot. But I do like him, which is
something, because you