Caught Inside Read Free

deep
within my bones.
    I sat in a dark-brown leather chair
with copper nail heads adorning the trim. I set my briefcase and
laptop case in the matching opposite chair next to me. I had not a
moment to breathe since I stepped foot in the office, let alone get
settled into my desk since I walked in this morning. I watched her
click away with keystrokes on her laptop as her eyes held a steely
stance to them with seriousness. My palms began to sweat a bit.
Something was up. I took a deep soft breath in and held it for a
few seconds. As I let it out, I let the tip of my black heel shake
a bit as if I was letting the anxiety I was feeling out through my
toes. I forced myself to find an inner calm and prepare for
anything that Prez was about to send my way.
    She finally looked up to me while
closing the lid to her laptop. "I'll start with the good news. LA
sales are up. This client dinner went extremely well, although
cutting out early is not your style. Obviously, you must know by
now that Cynthia got the promotion. It was a tough call, but your
next bonus check will make up for it."
    I raised my eyebrows and mentally
screamed. 'I doubt it.'
    She started up again. I found myself
staring at her piercing brown eyes and wondered how she got to be
the president of this company. She was never one for tactfulness.
"Listen. It was really in your ballpark until that article broke
and went viral this weekend. That escort service you used, that
client Christian Conner, he really exposed you as a creep and a
tyrant among the executive women, a user of men and telling
everyone how much you liked to be spanked, well kinky fun aside, he
blew it for you."
    "What?" I practically
screamed.
    "You didn't know?" She
questioned.
    "Obviously not. The last time I saw
Christian was Saturday morning and quite frankly; he was
happy."
    "I suppose. According to his article
that hit the Internet on Saturday morning, he had a bone to pick
with you." She opened her laptop, hit a few buttons and then closed
it. "I sent you the link. I guess he sent the article to several of
your clients. I don't know how he got access to your client list,
but that was a big mistake."
    I did. I had drifted off to sleep
after round two and when I came to, he was at my computer surfing
and had offered to make me a late-night snack. I was distracted by
his sexy body cooking naked in my kitchen. Then when he ate me,
sexually, on the kitchen countertop, I was too sated between that
and the food to think he was hoodwinking me.
    I was lost in Prez's voice then I
blinked fast. I was not going to let any raw emotions near the
surface. I heard her tell me to get my damage control in motion and
fast. To replace Christian with someone much more reliable, no
escorts, no sex. She told me to prepare to fly out to Japan with
Cynthia and if my next sales report exceeded the previous, then she
will let all this go. Then her last few words made me want to bite
my tongue.
    "For God sake, Jennifer Everest, get a
great man to back you, and I'm not talking to handle your spanking
fantasy, and show the I.N.Zime clients your next level of
commitment and maturity. Get married, have a kid or adopt one, hire
a nanny, donate blood, just start coming across a bit more
mature."
    My copper brown eyes blinked away the
tears as I watched my thick dark-brown lashes blinking in front of
me feverishly. I didn't need a man, an engagement ring or sexless
nights to prove maturity. I was going full gangbusters career, and
sex with the men I pay to escort me - was a thing of the past.
Escort services in general were out of my repertoire. I was going
to prove that I was a strong independent woman who was incredible
in marketing and international sales, and I was not going to be
doing it 'under' Cynthia for very long.
    I walked out of Prez's office with a
new sense of intention. Nobody was going to mess with me now. And,
as far as Christian and his little journalistic black mailing
career, he wasn't going to know what hit