Control Read Free Page A

heart swell, your body ache, your mind race through the possibilities. If only I could have this one thing. If I could reach out and take it, pull it close to me and consume it or break it down or dominate it. What would that one thing be?"
    A shiver ran down my spine as he continued to hold the stare I wanted so badly to break.
    He winked at me and glanced up. "Open your eyes, sit down in your chair and hold tight to that one thing. We're going to move some mountains in your life so that if nothing else, by the end of this session, you'll be ready to take the necessary steps to get what you want."
    "What do you want, Cole?" Some guy yelled from the back, and the room exploded in soft laughter.
    "A good woman, but not just any woman." He pressed his fingers to his lips, and I could have sworn he breathed in.
    No the fuck he just didn't. Tease.
    Some of the women around the room jumped up and waved their hands wildly as the room continued to chuckle.
    He smiled and I could have sworn the light brightened around me. Cole Alexander was a force to be reckoned with and he had the body of a god and the smile of an angel. Why in my lusty-drunken haze I hadn't realized it was him the night before was a mystery. A travesty.
    "She's gotta be strong-willed and hard-headed." He smiled and scanned the crowd. "The kind of woman that knows what she wants, but is slightly timid about going after it, or she's making us think that she's timid."
    The crowd laughed again.
    "Keep in mind what your greatest desire in this moment is. Right now. Right here. Not something you wanted before coming here or something you'll want after leaving. What do you want right here in this moment?" He smiled and turned his attention back to me. "Let's have a few people share what that thing is. How about you, Miss? Tell us your name, what company you're with and what you want most in the world right now."
    I glanced over at Heather as she stiffened beside me. "Is he talking to me?"
    "I don't fucking know," she whispered as terror rolled across her features.
    "You, with the dark hair and the pretty blue blouse up front." He knelt on the stage and gave me the most genuine smile I'd ever seen. I could have thrown up.
    "Sure." I stood up and turned my back to him, waving at the crowd. No fucking way he was getting the better of me. "I'm Alexis Foster. I work for Vandrake as a junior advertising agent and what I want most in the world right now is control. Control to be who I want to be in the future," I turned to face him, "and not who I was in the past."
    He nodded and stood back up. "Excellent. Give Alexis a round of applause for sharing. How about you right there, Sir? What do you want most in the world right now?"
    I dropped down into my seat and pressed my fingers to my eyes, wishing I could fucking disappear. How dare he?
    "Unbelievable," Heather whispered beside me.
    "Agreed." I turned and tried to look interested in the other participants as I might have been had I not half fucked the main speaker of the event the night before. The next forty-eight minutes were excruciating and Cole worked the crowd through how to get that one thing we all wanted more than anything else.
    My answer had only been half true. I'd wanted control for a long time, but for that one moment in the conference hall, the real answer I'd have given if I were being completely honest wasn't that I wanted to escape from my past. It would have been that I wanted him. On his knees with his face buried between my legs.
    That would have gone over well.
     
    *
     
    "Let's start the bidding for Cole Alexander first today, shall we? We’ll have the speakers clear the room and began." The announcer moved up beside Cole as everyone shot to their feet. I stood and walked out of the room with Heather hot on my heels.
    The ten companies in attendance to the event would bid on the consultants and motivational speakers and the highest bidder won a two-day visit from the all-star. The money would go to the