Taken (Dark Desires 1)

She took my hands in hers and pulled me a little closer.

“These past couple months you’ve made work so incredible. I enjoy my job and I am really amazed at how this business works. You’ve taken the time to explain everything and Denise, well, she scares me but in a good way. Like my mom still scares me. I love her but I would never cross her, you know.”

I nodded my head trying to predict where this was going.

“But the truth is that I’m not married or engaged or even going steady with anyone. But, I am seeing other people. I’m single, Marty. I can go out with other men and judge who I have the best time with and well, you are still my boss. Don’t you find all this weird?”

“I find you weird.” I said, seeing her smile in the glow of the lights below us. “But right now I’m not your boss. I’m Marty Reid. And I’m not with an employee. I’m with this beautiful, amazing woman named Natasha Morgan who has been like a breath of fresh air in my life.”

We sat quietly for a few minutes.

“I think I better be honest with you, too.” I said firmly.

“You were once a man?” she asked.

“Very funny.”

“I’m sorry, you just sort of held the proverbial door open for me to walk right through it.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now be quiet.”

She laughed again.

“I am a very successful businessman. This work is more than just my job. It is years of history in my family. Some of it good. Some of it not so good. It has been the top priority in my life for years.” I swallowed hard not quite sure what I was saying but feeling the need I had to say it. “This place is my whole life and it will always come first.”

She was quiet.

“So…”

“So, now that you know what you’re getting into, do you think you’d still like to join me for dinner in my office tomorrow?”

She turned to me and I thought I saw tears in her eyes. Maybe it was just the flicker of the city lights playing tricks. But she smiled and leaned in to me. We kissed. I felt her small hands on my arm and thought how much I wanted to hold her tighter. Pulling back she gasped just a little as if her breath had been taken away. I hoped it had.

“I’ll meet you for dinner tomorrow in your office. If that is what I have to do to be alone with you then I’ll do it.”

We kissed again and again until the moon high in the sky shined down into the conference room windows.

So, as a businessman I was proceeding with this union in a slow and steady manner. I had been upfront with Natasha about my life, my intentions. Almost everything was on the table. But as I looked at my desk calendar I realized my time was running shorter than I thought.

It wouldn’t be long before the shareholder meeting when all the executives would be present, including my brother. It was unfortunate timing.

NATASHA

“How did you not know?” Diamond asked me leaning back in the booth as if bracing for my answer. I hadn’t seen her in several weeks. She kept giving me excuses whenever I asked to get together. Finally, after waiting for such a long time I stalked her after work, waited outside her building like a love-struck freshman and cornered her. It was actually kind of exciting since I had been dodging photographers and re

porters as well. Dating a billionaire who liked to be seen out and about the town was apparently very interesting to a lot of people.

“I need to talk to you.” I begged. “You are my best friend. Even if I had all the money in the world it would never change how I feel about you. Life is just dull without my sista.” Joshua’s words about friends getting jealous stuck in my head like a bad pop song.

“I’m sorry, Nat. I know I’ve been busy. And, well, three is a crowd, you know. I didn’t want to get in the way. That’s all. No one can ever accuse me of getting all bent out of shape over a girl wanting to be with her man. You know, we hate those kinds of girls.”

She was smiling when she said it. I could tell there was something she wasn’t telling me. But, I also knew that with Diamond it was no use trying to push her into doing anything she didn’t want to. Her head could be as hard as her namesake.

“Yeah, we do.” I said, bumping her with my hip. It took a little sweet talking and the promise of a lift home in the limo if she’d have a drink with me and just talk. So much had happened and what was being printed in the papers was rife with inaccuracies. But since when has the press ever cared about getting a story correct? That fad went out with bell-bottoms and communes.

“I saw your picture in the paper.” Diamond said. “In fact I’ve seen quite a few pictures of you. In each one you look amazing.”

“Oh, you think? I always think I look ridiculous. They purposefully try to snap a picture when you are yawning or have a sneeze coming on or in the middle of chewing food.”