Page 13 of A Mate for Christmas

Carter Lawson

I know I am a hypocrite. I’m at work and in my office every morning at seven. There are no exceptions. Yes, my staff work far fewer hours than I do, but this is my business and I know what I am capable of and how far to push myself.

But today is different. My drive is nonexistent. And even though I am in my office, seated behind my desk, I am sure as shit not working. No. Instead, I have the photos my seductive ligress sent the past four days pulled up on my phone. My cock is rock hard behind my slacks, and I want nothing more than to pull down my zipper and let it free.

But I am still somewhat of a professional and that will have to wait. Instead, I pull up the short video I made the first night and send it to her. Our date is tomorrow, and I want her to feel the same way I do. I need her to be as lost to this lust as I am.

In all my years I have never felt this way. The clawing need to get her here beside me, beneath me, is all I can think about. But I need to put her out of my mind until I can talk to her again tonight and focus on the task at hand—my new assistant.

I pull up the list of tasks I wanted her to perform this week and I know she has already completed it. She really is a very efficient employee and damn good at her job. If I didn’t want to lay her across my table and fuck her until she cried, I would be happy to keep her. As it stands, I have avoided her since Tuesday.

There was an incident yesterday that forced me into her presence, but I didn’t talk to her directly and I certainly didn’t touch her.

She decorated the entire floor with Christmas crap. Idon’t celebrate the holiday. I don’t have family to spend it with and it has just become another reason for the corporate companies to make money off stupid people. I do decorate the rest of the building for my staff. But my floor has always remained untouched. Until River. She purchased the decorations with her own money, and I just couldn’t bring myself to have them taken down. So, I let her be.

Pulling up my calendar I make sure everything is covered so I don’t need to speak to her. I will find her another position in the company, somewhere away from me.

But when I scan over my appointments for the day, I realize the massive mistake I have made. With the switch between assistants, avoiding the voluptuous girl that sits outside my office, and my general irritation at the world around me these past few weeks, I have completely forgotten about the meeting I have with Dillon Trask this morning. I need to have River with me to take notes. The problem is, if I wait for her to arrive at nine, as I specified, we will definitely be late for the meeting. I can’t afford to lose this client because of something as ridiculous as a new assistant.

Grabbing my phone, I call Seline in Human Resources as I stride toward the elevator.

“I need the address for Miss River Thomas,” I command the moment she answers the phone.

“As your head of Human Resources,” Seline starts but I cut her off.

“I don’t want to bother the woman at home. But I did neglect to mention that we had an early meeting with Dillon Trask this morning on the other side of town.” I hate that I have to admit any kind of weakness. “I need to pick her up so we can be on time.”

“That makes sense,” she says calmly, and I hear the rattle of her keyboard as she types in the background. “Thirteen VistaTerrace, apartment nine. That is what she has on record with us. But she has only been employed here for a couple of weeks so it should be correct.”

“Thank you,” I reply tersely as I slide into the driver seat of my sleek, black Jaguar.

I know the area well and those apartments aren’t cheap. If she only started working at Titan Industries recently, she isn’t paying it with her salary. She must be living with a boyfriend or husband. Hopefully, it won’t be someone that will cause a problem when I show up there unannounced and unexpected.

Pulling up beside the building I rush inside. There isn’t much time to spare, and I hope I catch her before she leaves. I should have asked for her contact number. As I come up the stairs, I see an older woman wearing what I would categorically classify as the ugliest damn Christmas sweater I have ever seen. It’s bright red with a green tree in the middle. An elf is on the edge, and it’s covered in tinsel. Yes, the actual decoration is stuck onto it.

“Please help!” she implores, and I hasten to follow her. “My friend is in there and her ex-boyfriend is hurting her.”

“Are you sure?” I ask even though every instinct I have is screaming at me to do something. Now.

“Yes, yes,” the older woman frets. “She kicked him out, but he came back and there was screaming and glass falling.” A tear trickles over her cheek and my cold heart feels a sharp pain at the sight.

“Wait over there,” I nod to the open door of what I am assuming is her apartment.

She nods and scurries away as I turn the handle on the door. It’s locked but I don’t knock, I just ram it with my shoulder, and it flies open.

The sight that greets me has every predatory, possessive, and protective instinct I have rising to the forefront like a damntsunami. A mountain of a man with long dark hair has River pressed against the wall. Shattered picture frames and glass litter the floor by their feet. River’s eyes are barely open, and her lips have a blue tinge to them due to the lack of oxygen.

“When I’m done with you, no other man will ever want you,” I hear the man say to her.

“I would put her down,” I say trying my damndest to keep my tiger at bay.

I don’t want to scare the old woman to death when she sees a four-hundred-odd-pound Bengal tiger in the hall.

“Who the fuck are you?” the man asks angrily.

“That doesn’t concern you. What does concern you is the fact that I have this all recorded, and the police are on the way.”

I can hear the sirens in the distance and assume that one of the neighbors must have called them. The cell phone in my hand hasn’t recorded a damn thing but there is no need for him to be aware of that. I watch as River’s entire body goes limp. The man is screaming at me, but it all sounds like I am underwater. Stepping into the apartment I charge at the man. He wasn’t expecting me to do anything and isn’t prepared for when I throw him clear across the room. My tiger has pushed forward enough that I am more beast than man now.

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