Taken (Dark Desires 1)

“I thought you’d never ask.” Denise said turning and marching back out of my office. “And one more thing. I’ll be training Bonnie’s replacement this time because, well, I want things done right. So you will have to share me with her. Nicole will be helping to pick up the slack but I’ll still be handling all the confidential transactions and monitoring your schedule.”

I nodded my head. As if a switch had been flipped I began to run through the other things that needed to be tended to before noon, today. There was a meeting on Wednesday with the board of Directors and that was like getting my gums scraped. They were worse than a group of coffee-clutching old ladies but a necessary evil in this business.

I had heard through the grapevine that some lobbyists were going to approach Senator Goodwin about new legislation that may impact some of my overseas acquisitions so I needed Tom Harris to pay the Senator a visit and find out what was going on.

In the quiet of my office, when things started to flow and I settled into the work of the day I was amazed at the number of things that needed to be accomplished and even more amazed how many of those things did.

I called Harris who was already on his way to the Senator’s office.

The secretary to Mitchell Sanders on the Board confirmed everyone would be attending and they hoped to have breakfast served like last time. Priorities, I thought to myself.

There would be some major rescheduling I’d have to discuss with Denise if she was going to be busy training Bonnie’s replacement.

Denise was right. How I could make million dollar decisions three times a day and come up a winner each time yet not be able to hire a secretary competent enough to file in alphabetical order was beyond my ability to understand.

I guess I was sort of like Einstein that way. He couldn’t handle the most basic math because it was to boring and easy to make careless mistakes. But give him calculus and theoretical physics and the guy was a genius.

Yes, it is sort of egotistical to compare myself to Albert Einstein, but in this case it fits. Except even the greatest mind of modern times was able to find a woman and make her his wife.

I looked at the picture of my parents again. Had I not been born into this good fortune would I have found her by now? Isn’t that just sinful that I would question my good luck because with all I have I still don’t have everything. And isn’t it selfish of me to expect even more? I’m not sure but what kind of woman wants to be with a man who works all the time?

The Bonnie’s of the world, that’s who. And that was not a comforting thought. She didn’t even try to hide her gold digging nature. She’d plant herself in my office as if we were pals and try and tell me about some guy stalking her or how she just hated to be alone. And then there was the whole braless incident that will go down in Reid Industries history as the most desperate act made by a woman ever. It made me embarrassed for her every time I thought of it. But she didn’t seem to be phased.

Where does a woman learn to act that way?

Standing up from my messy desk I crossed my office to look out at the city. It was raining. Round orbs of all different colors hustles along the street like a weird video game but they were just the umbrellas of the pedestrians hurrying along.

“Coffee, Mr. Reid?” Denise called from the door.

“Yeah, please, Denise. Thanks.”

I thou

ght about Carson and Bonnie and the Board meeting. So much to follow-up on. Still I needed to get a hold of Morton Susberg and see what his schedule looked like. I rubbed the center of my back and was glad I’d be seeing the chiropractor later today.

After a few minutes Denise returned with a hot steaming cup of black coffee.

“Also, Ray Peppers called. He said he’ll have your tuxedo in the limo for the fundraiser tonight.”

“SHIT! I forgot all about that.”

“I don’t have any fundraiser on your schedule for tonight.” Denise said looking at me as if I had to be wrong if she didn’t have it on her schedule.”

“No, you wouldn’t. I offered to do it for a friend of my mother’s. She’s a nice old lady who runs an animal shelter that is more luxurious than some day spas I’ve been to. I promised to make an appearance.” I shook my head. “Tuxedoes are so uncomfortable.”

“Well, maybe you’ll meet a nice girl there.”

“Doubt it. No one will be under the age of sixty five.”

Denise laughed as she turned to leave my office.

“Denise, one more thing. Who is Bonnie’s replacement?”

Her name is Natasha Morgan. She comes highly recommended.”

I nodded my head and looked back out the window while sipping my coffee.

NATASHA