the courtyard. Holy. Hell. She felt her mouth open. Before her was the most stunning man she’d ever seen. This demi-god had dark hair that was tousled even more than Alex’s blond locks, sharp cheekbones slanting underneath groomed facial hair, and the same piercing green eyes. He was dressed immaculately in a fitted suit that she desperately wished he wasn’t wearing. He flicked his eyes from Alex to her and she felt a buzz hum through her chest. His lips tugged upwards in a barely-there smirk.
“Vivian, this is my brother, Ben” Alex’s deep voice said slowly. Vivian was drawn out of her out of her trance immediately and she felt her cheeks burn as she forced herself to turn towards her boss. She heard elegant, sure footsteps approach from behind and felt a hand, his hand, brush her shoulder. Alex’s eyes narrowed and he shot a stern look towards Ben, who she could feel hovering just behind her. His body was so close that she could feel the heat radiating from his skin. He had the aroma of a musky, expensive cologne.
No, no, no. She cleared her throat and scooted to the side, flipping her hair over the shoulder he had just touched. “There’s another chair right over here,” she said, gesturing to the chair on the other side of the table. Alex tugged the chair closer to his own.
“Yes, please, sit.” He said, although it sounded more like a death threat than an invitation.
“I’m fine standing, thanks,” Ben replied smoothly. “I’m meeting someone here actually.” He gestured to a gorgeous redhead with long legs in a silky wrap dress on the opposite side of the courtyard. Vivian peeked at Alex out of the corner of her eyes and saw his jaw clench sternly.
She cleared her throat and turned. Might as well be polite if she was going to be working for him, right? She held out her hand. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Ben. I look forward to working together.” Ben's eyes shot quickly away from the redhead and back to Vivian.
“Vivian,” he said slowly like he was tasting her name. He ran his tongue along his teeth, flicking across his sharp incisors. She shivered when his hand, soft and warm, seized her in a secure grip. He didn’t shake it, but pulled it up softly to his lips as he bent towards her and placed a small kiss on it. She heard Alex grunt out a comment under his breath, but couldn’t register anything other than the sensation of how Ben’s lips felt against her skin. What would it be like to feel his lips in other places? She drew in a breath, enchanted by the rich scent of his body, nearly whining when he gently drew back and released her hand. It fell to her lap. Her lips parted and she tried to muster some sort of intelligent response, but he was quicker. “I expect you in my office at seven o’clock in the morning, darling. I’ve got paper work for you. Thanks.”
She stared blankly, her curvy mouth dropped, as he strolled away with a nonchalant wave and headed over to the redhead. The next words tumbled out of Vivian’s mouth before she could help herself as she swiveled quickly with flushed cheeks back to Alex, “What a cheeky little bastard! How are you even related?!” Alex snorted gently behind his hand and turned to the side to stifle his laughter. The server had reappeared to clear their appetizer plates and replace them with more sizable offerings of steak medallions smothered in garlic butter. Not even the smell of gourmet food could keep the blood from racing in her veins. She snatched the glass of wine off the table and downed it.
“Yes, well…now you know Ben,” he said with one last chuckle. “He’s a bit of a…character.”
“Which is your codeword for ass,” she quipped as the server popped back over to fill her glass.
“Vivian, you go and cash that check today. I’ll be preparing your bonus check for the end of the two weeks,” he said, hesitating. “If you still want the job, that is.”
“Oh, yes. I want the job.” She replied with the stir of determination blooming in her chest. “I’ll whip him into shape by the end of the two weeks.”
“Just try not to kill him,” he added lightly, although she strongly suspected he would not be entirely against that outcome. They quickly turned their conversation to other things.
As they continued their meal, she was all too aware of a pair of eyes staring at her from afar. She slyly pushed her hair to curtain her face. She thanked Alex once again for lunch as they were exiting the courtyard. Again, she could feel those eyes and it sent a surge of heat pooling through her stomach. She couldn’t even concentrate on Alex's parting words concerning a meeting from the day before. She could only focus on the intensity of Ben’s gaze as she swept through the doors and shivered from excitement when she was finally back in her car. She wrenched the A/C knobs to full blast with a heavy sigh and set course for the bank.
Her heart was still racing, but out of anger or arousal, she couldn’t tell.
—
Vivian was twenty minutes early to Ben’s office, which was located on the same floor as Alex’s.
She knew Alex didn't trust Been too much, and after yesterday’s events, she was inclined to agree. As she considered the situation, the silver polished elevator doors slid smoothly apart for her, revealing the front office and waiting room. The desk was occupied by Anita, a sweet older woman with beautiful olive skin and handsome features to match the trimmed blazers she wore everyday. She often joined Vivian for lunch and they enjoyed each other’s company.
“I see you’ll be in a new office,” she said with a smile as Vivian walked up. Vivian returned her smile weakly.
“Yes, just temporarily though, thankfully,” she replied as Anita slid a key over.
“I’m sure you’re going to do great! Here’s the key to his office.”
“He’s not in yet?”
“Oh, I don’t think so. I haven’t seen him, but he said it was alright to let yourself in.”
Vivian picked up the key and thanked her friend. Her heels clicked on the polished black marble floors as she headed towards Ben's office. She inserted the key into the towering dark wooden door and turned it with a satisfying click. His scent was the first thing she smelled as she pushed against the door. She felt the same shivers from yesterday racing up her arm, pausing to take a deep breath. She could do this. She knew she could.
His office was a mirror image of Alex’s with windowed walls on one side to cast a glow of early morning light across the black and white leather furniture. She set her purse down on one of the plush armchairs placed in front of the long desk which her new boss was conspicuously absent from. On the glossy oak surface was an impressively tall stack of papers and a small note with her name, she realized with another shiver, on top. She ran her finger over the elegant handwriting. It seemed very unfair that even his handwriting was sexy.
She lifted the folded, thick card-stock to read a simple, scrawled message: “Please have this done by today.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked back from the note to the stack of paper over again. Cheeky bastard strikes again!
It was noon before she even looked up from a manila file folder to see that only a miserable third of the stack was finished. She would definitely be eating lunch at the desk today. She glanced at the empty chair. Was he ever going to show up? Whatever. She tossed her soft curls and called the deli downstairs on the ground floor to send a meal up. As she hung up with the deli, a door opened on the opposite end of the room, one which led to the same style of executive bathroom that Alex had in his own office. She hurriedly put her phone back into her purse and averted her eyes back to her work.
“Morning, love!” Ben’s playful voice boomed through the spacious office. She didn’t raise her head.
“It’s noon,” she cooly replied.
She heard him step out into the office. There was a distinct sound of water dripping onto the tile. She picked up her pen to mark something on the file in front of her. She heard the sound of fabric rustling and then his footsteps padding slowly towards her.