Chapter One
I clearly remember the day I first saw him.
The whole office was in a hustle, people scampering here and there, collecting files, copying pages, barking orders to the cafeteria, carrying refreshments and oh, the self-proclaimed queen sprained her ankle and broke her stilettos. It was a business meeting, as usual, but the only thing that was not so usual about it was the man who was going to lead it.
Adrian Wolfe, the enigmatic and secretive CEO of the country's largest chain of hospitals: powerful, ruthless and what not.
However, unlike the men you found in cliché romantic novels, he was not a womanizer - what a surprise. There were speculations that he was gay because he was never seen around women, business clients excepted. The paps had been hounding his ass just in case they caught him lurking around with one woman, even if she was just a friend but they never found any. But then, I wasn't going to judge him on the basis of that, because I myself had maintained a platonic relationship with all the men in my life. No one particularly interested me to take a step further.
There were men who managed to attract me to some extent, but it was never enough for me to go ahead and pursue them.
I sighed, looking at the mess my workplace had become. Mr. Wolfe was going to arrive in an hour or so and these people were still working their asses off, when instead all of it could have been done a lot before. I wished I could help them but I myself had to set up the conference room for the meeting. I knew my boss would be here soon and organize the mess the others had made here. The conference room, at the other hand, was only my responsibility.
I didn't remember much of that morning; it was the second day of my period and all the pain down there had most of my attention. I was working mechanically the whole time, at least till the meeting, because once that man came into my view, it was as if I lost the world around me.
I worked for a company manufacturing biomedical equipment, and this was the first time that we were dealing with the Alpha Hospital chain. Just like its name, this hospital chain was the largest and consisted of the best hospitals in the world. They had the best of doctors, and it was like miracles happened there every day - nothing like people coming back from the dead, but they had the cure for the most impossible ailments. I knew the ambiance of that hospital; warm, welcoming and vibrant, contrary to the usual white and sterile surroundings of the hospitals. It wasn't white all around, and didn't smell of medications or death. I had been there when granny was dying of cancer. They had a special staff, kept specially for cheering people up.
Everything was set up to utmost perfection and we, as in me, my boss and my other colleagues from my department waited for the arrival of the oh-so-powerful CEO of the largest chain of hospitals across the world. It was an amazing opportunity for us to be helping them.
Mr. Singh, my boss, was cross checking if we had covered all the equipment in our presentation when we were alerted by the commotion outside the conference room. Adrian Wolfe was here, it seemed, but before he entered the conference hall, an enticing scent tickled my nostrils, and I found myself closing my eyes inhaling deeply.
Oh my God...
The scent was growing stronger, as if the source was coming nearer. I thought I was going crazy; just a scent – perhaps a perfume – and I was going crazy like they showed in those logic-less advertisements. I discreetly licked my lips; my brain had forgotten everything the moment the scent became too overpowering for my senses. My body hummed with awareness, and I wanted to reach out and follow wherever that scent was coming from. I felt dizzy – my blood was all rushing south to my core which was now begging for attention.
Fuck, I was wet already and it was just a fucking scent. It could be a woman for all I knew.
My body was still buzzing when Mr. Wolfe entered the room, and I was desperately trying to gather my wits and focus on this important meeting. Even though I just had to sit still and look pretty, it would cost my job if I did something out of line.
That was when I knew who exactly the source of that heavenly fragrance was. His piercing midnight black eyes bore into mine when his eyes fell on me, and my breath hitched.
Beautiful, Dark, Mysterious and above all, his eyes were enticing, wanting to drown me in their depths. I had never been so attracted to a man in my entire life. There was no doubt that this man was Adrian Wolfe, and a part of me was scared that I would ruin everything by behaving like a harpy.
This was so not me! I felt the desire, thick and hot, fogging my senses as I stared at him. He slowly made his way towards me, stopping to shake hands with all my colleagues. All the time, his eyes were piercing mine, his gaze burning up my body to an impossible temperature, as if he felt the same. I was giddy; felt the sweat covering my palms and my forehead, as he came nearer and nearer and stopped right in front of me.
I was barely breathing. I didn't even know when my lips parted to greet him.
The air surrounding us crackled, and sparked, or it was just me who could feel the fireworks. Damn, he was handsome and hot. He had those oh-so-perfect features luring me to trace them all with my fingers and my lips. His muscle hugging suit left absolutely nothing for imagination, those thick sinewy muscles turned me on, and I bit my lip when my eyes fell on the thick bulge that his black trousers hid.
I never felt so wanton before. I could practically feel his aura, the power, the energy that he radiated, and it didn't fail to attract me to him even more. When I caught his eyes roaming all over my body, lingering on my breasts, and then looking right into my eyes again, I couldn't help but want his skin against mine, bodies rubbing and grinding against each other. I wanted to be dirty, just for him, and my mind conjured up erotic images, me beneath him, writhing and screaming his name.
Desperately wanting to be touched, I held out my hand, and he kept staring at me for a while. When he finally clasped my hand, I held in a moan and he stiffened. Sparks and tingles - the hot and flaming ones - traveled up my arm, igniting my whole body in its wake.
I was aching and throbbing and I needed him. Badly.
He pulled his hand away soon, and I felt disappointment settle in my gut. He walked away and settled in the chair at the head of the table, with his jaw and fists clenched. He wasn't looking at me, purposely not making eye contact with me, yet I yearned to have those eyes on mine, running along every inch of my body. He could have me on this table and I knew I wouldn't care about who saw us.
The meeting proceeded with me sitting a seat away from him, yet he didn't glance at me at all - just once and that was enough to give me wet dreams for a lifetime. I was thankful that I wasn't the one delivering the presentation, because the way I was ogling him and the way I was feeling would have ended up making my presentation a disaster.
I was thankful for my period, or else the chair I was sitting on would've been soaking wet right now. Throughout the meeting, I kept staring at him, sometimes even licking and biting my lips just to get his attention, somehow. Yet, he didn't even look at me and that only caused the heat to burn up more in me, the frustration growing to no limits.
Thankfully, the presentation had ended and I somehow remembered my manners, excusing myself to go to the washroom. I weighed my options to get rid of the frustration. I couldn't relieve myself to save my life, because my fingers were never expert enough to bring me over the edge. So that was out of option. I did what I could, washing my face with cold water and cleaning myself up. Luckily, I had a change of sanitary pads with me.
I was wiping my flushed face with the tissues and turned around when the teasing fragrance surrounded me once again and in the next moment I found myself caged into the arms of none other than Adrian Wolfe. I melted, and caught onto his biceps, keeping my legs straight, afraid either they would buckle under my weight or would spread out for him.