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I’d noticed her before – I couldn’t remember her name, but she was the new brand manager – and she was stunningly gorgeous. Her skin was golden and glistened under the lights. She had medium brown hair that cascaded down her back in a waterfall of loose curls. I could only imagine how soft the strands would feel between my fingers or under the palm of my hand. Her hair looked like it smelled good, too. Honestly, she just looked like she stepped out of a shampoo commercial.
Her brown eyes twinkled with intensity and enthusiasm. My gaze slowly moved to her full, plump lips covered in a deep red lipstick, my heart racing as I thought about how inviting they looked. I followed the curve of her long neck down to where just a hint of cleavage peeked out from her white blouse. I could imagine undoing a few more buttons.
I could feel my muscles tighten as the thoughts of what else I could do to her, envisioning all her clothes in the corner of the room. Especially as I continued my scan and saw her calf muscles flex from the dagger-like black shoes she wore.
Jesus, Bryce.We were here to talk about, among other things, my notorious playboy ways, and I couldn’t stop myself from lusting after one of my employees that I've never met. I physically shook away the dirty images that threatened to take over my brain, reminding myself of the one rule I never allowed myself to break: No sleeping with subordinates.
I had absolutely no intention of breaking that rule now.
Really.
“Do you have something to share?” I looked her straight in the eye and immediately regretted it when I saw a slight flame of golden heat in the deep brown color. “Something that you couldn’t have shared in the last ten minutes we were talking?”
I didn’tmeanto sound like a jerk. I just didn’t like people wasting my time.
“I’m sorry, sir…”
“Bryce. Everyone calls me Bryce. We’re all adults here, and no one in this building needs to be treated like royalty.”
“Of course… Bryce. I was just still processing everything that you said. This is my first executive meeting since I started working here, and I'm just not used to how things work.”
I could sense the thrum of confidence running through her body, but it was clear I was making her nervous. It was also clear she wasn’t used to feeling nervous.
“And, I'm sorry, what's your name again?”
“Reyna Miller, the new brand manager.”
It probably wasn’t a great thing that I couldn’t stop looking at the way her lips moved and formed the shapes of the letters she just said.
“Oh, right. You’re Cruella’s replacement.” I gestured to everyone to take a seat and received a few admittedly justified eye rolls in response.
She nodded, shaking her hair, and dammit if I wouldn’t give someone my whole company to just reach out and touch her.
“Well, let’s hear what you have to say, Reyna, since this is more of your area than anyone else here.” I took my own seat beside where she was perched, her perfectly beautiful ass leaning on the table was almost too much to take. I tried to keep my face neutral, hoping she wouldn’t see the lust written in my eyes.
Reyna took a deep breath before standing up, walking around, and launching into her pitch.
“With all due respect, people no longer buy into companies who try to rebrand through charity work or community service after a backlash. They know it’s all for the optics. Statistics show that brands that go that route have been plummeting in sales, and brand image becomes even more difficult to salvage. It’s almost like it’s downhill from there.”
I could tell she was very smart, which only added to my problem. I found smart women caused a rise of at least two notches to my internal horny meter. At this rate, the meter was going to explode.
“I’m still waiting to hear the solution.” I looked at her expectantly. I was hooked, hanging on her every word, which was an incredibly strange feeling for me.
“This needs to be about you, more than about the company. You need to do something that shows you can be more than just a playboy.”
She was making a lot of sense and a quick scan of the heads around the table showed a lot of agreement via nodding. I shifted in my seat, wondering if I was going to like where this was all headed.
“So, what do you suggest I do?”
Reyna paused for a moment, hesitating. A rock dropped in my stomach because I nowknewI wasn’t going to like where this was all headed.
“You need to get engaged,” she said flatly, looking me straight in the eye. She said it like she was suggesting I buy a new tie or start wearing a different brand of cologne. I felt like I’d been sucker-punched and landed flat on my back, all the wind knocked out of me. “An engagement will give the impression that your life isn’t all about partying and chasing woman after woman. It will show that you’ve grown and can commit to something and, more importantly, you can commit tosomeone. The reality is, people are daring you to show them that you candobetter andbebetter. So the question is: do you take the dare or do you fold?”
She ended her speech with a shrug and I wasn’t entirely sure whether or not she was egging me on. She was clearly providing a solution. And the worst thing was: everything she said made sense. The silence and stillness in the room were so profound, I thought for sure I had just dreamt the last ten minutes during a quick nap.
I meant what I said about not needing to be treated like royalty here, but no one had ever had the guts to be quite that frank with me before.
And ouch.
