Dear God, she’s breathtaking.
I fold my arms across my chest and try to hide how unhinged I am by her presence.
Her eyes flit to everyone in the room but me as they introduce themselves.
“Mr. Walker.” Ken Doll addresses me excitedly. “It’s such an honour to have you listen to our pitch today.”
“I always take an interest in the new features being pitched,” I reply dryly, ignoring him and staring at Charlie.
She has her back to me now, fumbling with cables between the laptop and the screen. I see her hands tremble and realise that she’s nervous.
“Can we get someone to help with this set-up?” I ask, irritated. “I have 30 minutes here counting down.”
Her eyes widen in horror as Ken Doll snaps to attention and helps her.
He leans over her to take the cable and puts his hand on her lower back, murmuring something in her ear.
She gives him a soft smile, and jealousy surges through me.
Way too fucking over-familiar, boy. Get your greedy little mitts off her.
I let up a heavy sigh as Karl flashes me a warning look to behave.
She clears her throat and straightens her dress with long, nervous strokes.
“I’ll explain first our approach for developing the roadmap. We have done user research with 10 of our existing customers and some larger companies that don’t use the software. We’ve analysed the customer satisfaction results over this past five years but also, importantly we have devised a vision
for the direction of the product, where do we want this product to be in 5 years time.” Karl gives her a big thumbs up, and she flashes a full voltage smile back at him.
I shift my glare to his face. Is every man in this bloody room under her spell?
She flounders a little, I suspect from the low growl that involuntarily erupts from my throat then recovers.
“So this is what we propose for year 1 for a minimum viable product.” She explains talking through the visual. I hear the pride in her voice. It’s a big role for her, given her experience. Karl said she’s been working long hours and weekends.
It looks like it has paid off; the ideas and strategy are concise, achievable, and innovative.
“Good,” I reply as she finishes, and her gaze finds mine for the first time during the meeting, causing her cheeks to flush.
She looks like someone just walked over her grave.
“So next… here are… these are the features.” She stumbles through her words, flipping to the next slide.
I know my eyes devouring her was putting her off, but I couldn’t wrench my gaze away.
Her face flushes scarlet as the team drills her, dissecting every detail of her pitch.
They were ruthless; I’ll give them that. I watch her reel in shock at some of the abrasive comments, and she attempts to hold her own in an inexperienced but determined way.
I get a vision of her on the boardroom desk, dress bunched around her waist, legs wide and her soft pink flesh wet and ready for my tongue, begging me to fill her.
I miss those moans.
My cock twitches in response.
Down boy.
“Danny, you are very quiet. Do you have no questions?” Laura raises a brow at me.
I hesitate, trying to bring myself back to the presentation.
“Your ideas are good, solid. But your delivery needs work. The pitch was choppy, rough, and immature.”
She physically flinches, taking a step backwards,
“It’s got promise.” I say, levelling my tone, “You’ve got the go-ahead to continue. Laura will guide you with the next steps to setting this up in the alpha phase.” “Thank you.” She nods awkwardly. “Mr. Walker.” So I’m Mr. Walker now.
“That’s all the time Mr. Walker has,” Laura says. She turns to me. “Danny, you have a call with Senator Williams now.”
Fuck Senator fucking Williams.
I watch Charlie and Joe packing up their equipment, and I hear her giggle softly at him as he says something. He leans over and rubs her arm. My hands ball into fists, watching them.
This Joel guy is fucking pissing me off.
Just how close did they get working on this pitch?
We pile out of the room into the hallway, Charlie and Ken Doll turning left while I turn right with the rest of the team to head to the lifts.
Laura is talking to me about the nextgen launch of one of our crypto products, but I’m too rattled to focus.
“Charlie.” I turn around and call back involuntarily. Everyone stops walking, waiting for me to speak.
“It’s ok.” I wave a hand to dismiss them. “I’d like a moment with Charlie.” Her eyes widen, but she nods and stops walking.
I pace towards her until I’m a metre apart. Ken Doll remains by her side like a lap dog. Who does this guy think he’s up against?
“Alone.” I glare at him.
“I’m the designer, Sir. I’d be happy to answer any questions.” The guy has guts; I’ll give him that.
My eyes narrow on him. “Did you not hear me?”
“Of course, Sir.” He looks upset but reluctantly scuttles down the hall.
I turn my attention to the breathtaking creature destroying my sleep.
Her eyes reluctantly lock onto mine.
“Danny.” She says, her voice barely above a whisper.
My cock twinges as those big green eyes stare up at me.
I want to sweep her up in my arms and never let her go.
Focus, Walker.
“How are you?” I ask softly. “Is the apartment ok?”
“It’s beautiful.” Her face lights up as she speaks as I resist the urge to take it in my hands. “I love the high ceilings and the exposed brick. The gym, the wide street lined with trees, the coffee shops nearby… it’s amazing.”
“Glad you approve.”