In the beginning, p.6
In The Beginning, page 6
“I’m sure we could arrange something soon,” he said, running his fingertips across his perfectly sharp stubbled jawline.
“I’m sure we will,” Monica’s soft, irritatingly high-pitched voice buzzed. Claire tensed with frustration. How she wanted to throw a punch! This woman could prance about all she liked without a thought of worry, and here Claire was, doing her work. Oh, and now her roommate was being lured into her web.
Claire’s eyes daggered into Monica’s back as she sashayed off.
“So,” she heard Zack sigh. “Is she that office slut?”
It took Claire by surprise.
“Figures,” he continued, sitting down on the desk chair she’d brought over. “She’s desperate as they get. No wonder he wouldn’t be able to resist.”
“Yeah, well, she’s supposed to be walking you through all this. It’s in her new contract. But…” Claire shrugged her shoulders. “I’m doing it. So let’s just get the basics over and done with.” She sat down in her own chair, set up the computer, and began. “So, as you know, we have a marketing and sales team. Only…I do both, not by choice. Graves like to pile on the work, so prepare for a shit ton of it.”
***
ZACK
Zack nodded, distracted by her lips. They were hypnotic. Each syllable produced seemed to dance right off her tongue. Was he going crazy? Or he was beginning to see animated rabbits, birds, and even a fucking deer congregate in the background? He blinked. Now, the rabbits were fucking. Great. He wasn’t that horny. It had been less than two days. She cleared her throat. “Zack, did you get that?”
He nodded, trance-like again. There was a complete forest of animals now.
Claire sighed. “Well, I’m going to leave you to it now. When I come back, I expect you to have at least highlighted the sales data in this spreadsheet that needs attention. Okay?”
***
CLAIRE
She got up, then headed to the kitchen.
Darren was soon on her case. “So? So? What was it like?”
“What was what like?” she asked, switching on the kettle. “What? How Graves is being a complete jerk and making me do all Monica’s work? Or the fact I’ve got some pretty boy living under my roof and now he works here too?”
Darren rolled his eyes, shuffling around the table as he eagerly swept up to her side. “Noooo, not any of that,” he muttered, squeezing his hands on her shoulder. “What was he like? Did he do you good?”
“Darren! We did not have…sex,” she hissed, shaking his hands off her shoulder before reaching for the teabags out of the overhead cupboard.
He whined, “I was hoping you did. How could you just not, though? Look at the guy. You could be a power couple.”
Claire snorted, stirring her cup of tea. “No, I don’t think so.”
She spent another ten minutes lounging about with Darren before she decided it was best she got on ahead with that work Graves had piled on her, and she did need to check if Zack had done as he was told. As if she hadn’t enough on her case, she had to babysit the exact person she was hoping she wouldn’t have to see until evening.
There was no Zack. And three or four rows had been highlighted at best. Claire could have screamed.
“Really?” She frowned.
No sign of him whatsoever. Nor did she have the strength to want to go find him. Instead, she sat down, minimised the spreadsheet, and began trying to get through her own work.
Half an hour passed. Zack turned up. Only he wasn’t alone. She’d seen him exiting Graves’ office, Monica trailing behind him. Claire would have brushed it off if she suspected Graves was also in there, but she’d seen the man wandering off earlier. So there were two options: either he—scratch that, this was Monica they were talking about. She’d slept with nearly half the male population in the department, even some married men.
“Sorry, I got a bit caught up,” she heard Zack apologise as he came over and sat down. She ignored him.
“Claire?”
Her fingers stomped on each individual letter on the keyboard.
“Claire?”
“What?” she snapped. She saw Darren, opposite her, peek his head over the cubicle for a brief second before sinking back down to his chair.
“Are you okay? I’ve said your name about three times, and you didn’t respond,” he replied, a weak smile still lingering across his lips. He was also obnoxiously playing with the red stapler, adding one more thing to the list of things that were bugging her.
“Okay? Okay? Pssf, sure.” She rolled her eyes, then dragged the spreadsheet back onto the screen. “Where were you? You did barely anything I asked. What, were you making yourself at home?” she said with exasperation.
“I was asked…and making myself at home? What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, rubbing his chin as he put the stapler down.
“You know perfectly well,” Claire hissed.
“Wait,” he frowned, “you think—you think I was messing about with that Monica?”
She didn’t respond and instead chose to turn in her seat and pretend to read a sheet.
“You do, don’t you?” A dry laugh left his lips.
Once again, she chose not to reply.
“First, I think I made myself very clear I wasn’t interested. And two.” He paused, leaning in closer. “Even if I did, what’s it to you? You jealous or something?”
Claire gasped and turned in her seat. “No way. I would never be jealous. I barely even know you, and I’m already convinced you’re some pretty boy thinking he can have his way with every woman,” she hissed.
“Sure.”
Claire picked up a blue highlighter from her pot of pens. “I’m not jealous. I’m annoyed because you haven’t done anything. You’re such a—”
“A what?” he interjected, running the pad of his thumb across a pen, rolling it back and forth along the desk.
“A jerk!” she hissed quietly, aggressively highlighting a passage of text on the paper in front of her.
“That’s sweet,” he replied with a plastered smile.
“Eurgh,” she groaned, slapping the highlighter down. “Could you not smile, just for a second? Or even speak? I’d really appreciate it. Thank you,” she added, picking the highlighter back up.
“Honestly, it’s okay. I get it. Jealousy is just your thing,” he remarked. She could smell the heavy stench of his cologne intruding her personal space as he leaned in. She frowned further when he stood up.
“Where do you think you’re going now?” she complained. “You can’t just get up. You’re supposed to be finishing off this spreadsheet.” She brought the sheet back up on the computer screen.
Zack didn’t say a word. He smiled, then walked off. Claire switched on like a red traffic light. She pursued him, hot on his heels as he headed through the stairwell door. She’d had enough. Who did he think he was? she thought as she pushed open the door.
“Now—” She stopped midway as he grasped her hand and swiftly drew her towards the wall adjacent to the steel banister on the left. He then clasped her other hand and held them to the sides of her hips as he closed the space between them. She was startled and a little dazed. She wasn’t entirely willing to push him off. Her heart sped up, erratic like a set of drums.
“It’s okay to be jealous…but do you really think I would have?” he whispered, a low growl at the back of his throat accompanying that smug grin beaming like the Northern lights.
“I don’t care what you do,” she hissed, trying to shuffle her wrists from his hands. “I just wanted you to have done the work. And besides,” she narrowed her eyes, “why would I be jealous? You ain’t nothing special.” Smugness seemed to radiate off him, because every second he just seemed to grow more and more with glee.
Zack chuckled, low and gravelly. “Oh, that’s where you know you’re wrong, sweetheart.” He slowly let loose of her right hand, an opportunity that she could easily have used to nudge him away, but Claire remained where she was, pressing her lips together, hesitant. Her eyes interrogated his.
His fingers caressed the naked surface of her cheek. Each tiny, invisible hair was attracted like a fish to a hook. She could have told him to stop, but she didn’t. It was mad. She was going mad. Either this space was suddenly getting hotter or her core was burning with sudden desire. And it didn’t help she was becoming consumed in that cloud of strong, spicy cologne that tickled her nostrils.
Claire bit down on her tongue. She felt his hand glide effortlessly towards her lower thigh, climb up beneath her dress, and briskly touch the edge of her knickers. She could have stopped him, but she didn’t, and she wasn’t going to.
***
ZACK
Aggressively, he locked his body close, searching her eyes for an answer, anything. An answer for himself. A sexual frustration. He needed her to push him away. Zack felt like a lion, caged up, begging to be released. It was just all too inappropriate, he thought. He’d only just met the woman, and already he had her against the wall. How on earth was this all gonna play out?
He was stiffening.
She didn’t, nor did his conscience, convince him enough to stop. He leaned in and kissed her warm lips, embracing the gentle touch matching his own. He dared to further test the waters, nipping his front teeth on her bottom lip before retracting back. She didn’t say a word. It must have been a literal second until she surprised him by slamming her lips to his. It was like igniting a fire, because once she’d slid her arms around his thick, strong neck, he had her pinned to the wall like no tomorrow. Her mouth, sweet and hot against his, voluntarily parted, colliding their tongues in a battle. Urgency built as his hands greedily grabbed her ass cheeks, pressing her core closer to his stiff bulge screaming to be let out. And whilst she scavenged through his black forest of hair, she was obviously enjoying how his tongue danced to the back of her throat.
Claire sank into his arms as he tore his mouth away, gathering much needed oxygen despite how his heart gnawed with hunger and his dick swelled with lust.
“No! No! No!” Claire yelped, slapping her right hand to her mouth. She shook her head in utter shame as she slid away from him, abruptly breaking the chain. “That did not just happen. I did not. I did not. Fuck! Fuck! No! No!”
“Well, you could have fooled me,” Zack croaked, his voice dipping, slightly offended by her reaction. He’d never had any woman react as disgusted as that before.
“That was a huge mistake. That shouldn’t have happened,” she mumbled, ignoring him as she paced the landing and remained a good distance away from him.
“Gee, a mistake? I think you’ll find your tongue was also halfway down my throat,” he said, watching as she continued to pace and curse under her breath.
Claire stopped dead, hissing as she covered her eyes. “Do you mind?”
Zack looked down. Not like he needed to. He knew he was hard.
“Fucks’ sake,” Claire cried, dropping her hands. “Eurgh! This is your fault. Why did you kiss me? God, I hate you.”
Zack shuffled the band of his trousers. “Good, because I hate you then,” he replied.
“I hated you first,” she chided childishly.
“Well, I hate you more,” he responded, distracting his hand elsewhere to calm his persistent friend.
***
CLAIRE
“Eurgh! Let—let’s just not ever speak about this. You go do whatever, and I’m going to the bathroom,” she instructed, running her hands through her hair as she headed for the door.
Thank God, if anything, the tiny four-by-four window obstructed any wandering eyes.
Eventually she did return, holding her head high, shoulders raised forward, hoping she was fooling everyone as she trekked to her cubicle. He was sat there. Not like she expected anyone else to be in that seat. He must have sensed her nearby because he soon sat up, coolly smiling as he turned his head.
“Don’t say a word,” she hissed, sitting down and pulling the chair in.
“I wasn’t going to,” he replied ever so innocently, resting his leg across his knee and rocking gently back in the chair. Then he stopped, sat forward, and picked up a piece of paper. “In fact, I was just lending my expertise to this beauty. Whatever you feel is purely your own doing,” he teased.
“Oh, shut up,” she hissed, snatching the paper from him. “Let me have a look.” Claire sighed before concentrating on the figures before her.
“Looks like renewability is possible? I see those figures on that trial run could potentially be a point of growth,” Zack suggested, interested in what she thought.
Claire sighed. “Yes. Maybe. Only last month’s investment wasn’t exactly enough. The board apparently isn’t all hand-in-hand with the scheme. The CEO is supposed to be announcing something very soon.”
“Oh, is he? Do…you perhaps—or have you ever met this—”
“No,” she interjected, then she snorted. “Just because we’re in the same building, it doesn’t mean Mr. Fancy Pants comes down. He’s like old or something. Now, stop messing with that stapler, it’s bugging me.” She slapped his hand gently away from the device. “Although,” she piped up, folding her arms as she looked ahead of her. “I’m tempted to fight my case over this promotion. I mean, surely the CEO could hear my side of the story, considering I’m babysitting your ass as well as other work,” she scoffed.
“Babysitting? No, darling. We could have been up to so much more—”
“Ah, ah, what did I say?” she whispered, nudging his shoulder. “No more on that. Now, shut up and read some of these out while I fill them out on the spreadsheet. That will give you something useful to do,” she ordered, slapping the sheet full of figures onto his lap. “Now, read.” She hovered her fingers over the keyboard.
***
ZACK
His tone felt robotic as he read out percentages and numbers as she typed them out. It only became a joy when their little activity was interrupted by some stranger lingering by Claire’s chair.
“Hey,” he heard the male specimen speak, who looked as if he was already stiffening in his boxers. Who is this dork? Zack thought.
Claire turned. “Oh, hey, Jason,” she said. “What’s up?”
“I’m just seeing if you’re all set for Saturday. I hear there’s good movies on—scary, and you know, comedy.” He smiled, reddening ever so slightly within the apples of his cheeks.
Zack sat up, narrowing his eyes at the fella.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” she replied. “Just remind me in the morning or something by text. I can sometimes be a sloth and sleep in till dusk if I’m not careful,” she joked.
“Will do.” He laughed lightly, sticking his index finger out as he jabbed it toward her. What a fool, Zack thought. Way to embarrass yourself.
Then he began to walk off, hesitant at the end of the aisle whether he was going to sit down or not.
“Would you stop staring?” she snapped at Zack.
Zack leaned back in. “So, what’s his deal?”
“None of your business kind of deal.”
“I could make it my business if I provide him details about how my tongue was thrust down the back of your throat—”
“Zack!” she growled. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Why? You look ever so flustered, love. Want me to get the fire extinguisher?” he replied, teasing her with another one of those flirtatious grins.
Claire wanted to punch that perfectly structured, God-given face of his and send it packing to the moon. He was beginning to get on her nerves.
“J-Just, let’s get back on with this work, please?” she asked, pointing her finger at the sheet laid out in front of him.
***
“Err, where do you think you’re going?” Claire interrogated as he stood up.
“The men’s bathroom…would you like to join me?” A faint smile toyed on his lips.
He was lying about that. In fact, he just wanted to get away from that work. Although, he had the most important job of all—signing off deals and leading the company in the right direction. Well, what he was supposed to be able to do? His employees had the pain-in-the-butt task of actually carrying out his actions in depth.
Zack was walking on ahead when Graves rudely stepped in front of him, urgently heading through the emergency stairwell and climbing up a flight of stairs. Call Zack nosey, but he became rather suspicious of his behaviour. Of course, he was cautious to follow, just stopping below as he heard the man begin to speak.
“Yes, I-I know, I know. This Tuesday. Yes,” he muttered. “Please, just hold your horses. It’s really tricky business. I don’t see you risking your job for this.” Zack’s interest grew.
Zack heard no more and took that as a sign he was finished with the call. His behaviour intrigued him, but he couldn’t exactly do any further investigation if he didn’t know what he was on about. He left quietly, returning to the office, and headed back to his cubicle.
Before he even placed a toe inside, someone grabbed his arm with tremendous grip and pulled him through a door. It must have been a stockroom from the sight of pencil pots, pens, and stacks of paper on steel shelves.
“Can I help you?” he asked, humour laced in his tone.
“Let’s just get something straight here, buddy. I do not, and I repeat, do not find you at all attractive. It is the opposite,” Claire said, holding her hands on her hips. “That kiss was a mistake. I want to make this clear. If you breathe a word to anyone, and I mean anyone, I will personally cut your dick off,” she hissed. The white light above blared against the top of her head, adding a fierceness that was spitting off her tongue.
“Honey,” Zack exhaled. “You wouldn’t want that. You want my dick. But I accept your apology.”
“Since when did that sound at all like an apology? That was a warning!” she spat, jabbing her finger at him.
“But you don’t deny it.” He smiled, leaning on the side of the shelf.
