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Jade swallowed slowly, trying to keep her nerves under control, and followed the slim figure of Claire Marsh as she strutted off down a dark, somberly-lit passage into the depths of the skyscraper.
Brenton Huxley slammed a heavy right cross into the boxing bag, and the whole bag shuddered and swung from the force. He brushed a wisp of his sandy blonde hair out of his face and then hit the bag again.
“Tell me one more time,” he grunted as he planted a left jab into the still swinging bag.
“I'm sorry sir. The MaxTech shares have dropped by seven points.”
“Damn it!”
Brenton crunched a three shot combo into the bag immediately after the voice in his earpiece had told him this.
“Indications, sir, are that share prices will continue to drop even further tomorrow. Do we sell now or hold?”
“Hold.”
“Sir, I must say that there is a strong chance that the company will lose eight hundred thousand in-”
“Damn it Sykes, I'm the CEO! I call the shots here! When I need your advice-”
BEEP!
“Hold on Sykes, I've got a visitor.”
“Sir! If you don't mind me saying, this is a very pressing-”
“I said I've got a visitor. I'll talk to you later.”
Brenton unplugged his earpiece just as Sykes started protesting. He didn't want to hear any more of the man's whining, to be honest. Sure, the company might lose a few hundred thousand dollars with the share price drop, but that was a mere drop in the ocean. Hell, he'd brought this company up from a two-bit chump change operation to a multi-billion dollar entity all on his own. And at the age of thirty-seven, he just happened to be one of California's youngest billionaires. Losing a few hundred thousand was par for the course; he'd make a few million in a couple of weeks to cover his losses. He was sure of it.
The door buzzer beeped again. Without looking at the door, he grunted the password – “Maserati”, his favorite car manufacturer – and heard the pneumatic doors hiss open behind him as he continued to hammer blow after blow and combo after combo into the boxing bag with the full force of his powerful, heavily-muscled arms.
He heard someone walk in – female, he could tell at once. Her high heels clicked rhythmically on the onyx floor, and a waft of her perfume tickled the nasal passages of his tall, angular nose.
“You must be Jade,” he grunted as he continued to slug away at the bag.
“Yes, Mr. Huxley. Jade Gillie. I'm here about the-”
“SolarTwo proposal, I know. I've read the brief.”
Jade couldn't help but stare at Brenton's body; his bare torso was all chiseled muscle, and his skin was perfectly tanned. The force and precision he struck the bag with were those of a seasoned professional; she felt both fear and admiration for the power and ferocity that seemed to emanate from his core. What was more, she had not expected to have been dealing with a shirtless, muscled hunk for one of the biggest business deals of her life. She felt surprise, and perhaps even a little shock.
And something else – arousal? No, surely not... She rarely, if ever, felt this way about white men. She certainly hadn't felt a stirring of feelings like this since... Well, since Vince. And that had been a long time ago.
Yet this white man – he was different. There was something of a wild animal about him; he had the aura of a great solitary predatory cat, like a jaguar or tiger. She could picture his teeth, like those of a wild beast, biting deep into her flesh as she moaned with pleasure...
“Ms. Gillie?”
His deep, sonorous voice snapped her out of the daydream and she felt a blush darkening her mahogany cheeks. She felt suddenly vulnerable and unsure in the presence of this man. Now that he had stopped hammering the boxing bag, he had turned to face her. Sweat was running down his bare torso; pooling between his perfectly-chiseled, bulging pecs and glistening in a sheen over an impossibly ripped six-pack.
But aside from his male model body, another feature of his was getting her heart racing; his ice-blue eyes – staring at her with obvious hunger. He was making no effort even to disguise how his blue eyes were running with a deep and lusty hunger over the curves of her hip and breast, revealed subtly through her sleek, tight-fitting business suit. His mouth curved into a slow, languid smile as he continued to devour her with his eyes.
