Hmm. The woman had one heck of a figure. She was shapely as sin, too. Her smooth, black, below-her-shoulders hair swayed to the smooth rhythm of the summer breeze. Her beautiful, deeply-tanned complexion was exotic and pleasing on the eyes. She was stunning. Damn! He wanted to know what it would feel like to brush his fingers against that delicious caramel-tanned skin of hers.
Zack felt himself getting aroused. Not good. Not good at all. A bad sign. Zack took full note of her shapely legs and naughty thoughts crossed his mind of those slender legs wrapped tightly around his waist as he pleasured the woman to oblivion.
Zack was known to make a woman scream out his name while forgetting her own name during a passionate night of pure erotic love-making.
He squeezed his eyes shut momentarily then opened them up. He had to get a hold of himself. He was on a celibate run right now, anyway. Besides, he had to fire this woman. He was going to let her down gently of course.
He watched as the guard let her through the gates. Any moment now she would be making her way to the building. But gosh, why was he so captivated by this gorgeous woman with the deep, rich, sultry voice. One that sounded like it could be used on an adult phone line. Her voice always had that seductive touch to it from what Zack recalled.
Women were nothing but trouble, he reminded himself. Sure, it always started off good. The sparks. The seduction. The sex. Then the departure because he let them know up from that he was not a guy who did the commitment thing. And it almost always ended terribly because even though he told them and they consented to his terms, they would change their minds and want more from him. Damn!
Well, right now he had a potential sex tape scandal to deal with that could ruin everything for him. So this good-looking princess was going to have to go.
* * *
Blue sucked in a deep breath as she entered the foyer of the winery building—a converted luxury mansion. It was, completely, utterly intimidating. The office worker let her in and buzzed Zack through the intercom. The woman then handed Blue, as she was probably instructed beforehand, some brochures about the Romero Winery and Vineyard in addition to a map of the grand estate. Blue glanced through the digitally-colored, expensive-looking brochures.
“He’s really nice, Blue. You’ll like working with him,” the young woman told Blue.
“Thank you. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Mr. Romero in regards to his winery.” And his women.
“I’m Venus, by the way.” The woman extended her hand over the desk.
“Nice to meet you, Venus.”
“Blue’s a nice name. It’s unusual.”
“Thank you. Right before I was born, my mom had a fascination with Picasso's Blue Period. So, how long have you worked here?” Blue asked genuinely. May as well start her profile of Zack Romero and his roster of employers.
The woman sighed. “Cute story. Inspiration comes from the oddest of sources, doesn't it? Anyway, to answer your question, not long enough. Wish I started out here. I’m doing my masters degree in business with an emphasize on entrepreneurship. I have a two-year-old so it’s really hard to juggle time elsewhere. The Romeros are really sweet about letting my son come by when I can’t find a babysitter. Mr. Romero’s wife, Toni’s wife, she’s so sweet and helps out a lot. I hate to sound cliché, but it's like one big family. Zack is so cool with my little guy. Most employers would try to get rid of you or make it an issue but he tells me I can bring my son any time I need to and they’ll have someone look after him. How cool is that?”
Blue was beyond impressed. Her eyes widened. She’d heard of Zack-the-smooth-operator, lady’s man. But she’d never seen this side to him or read about his compassion towards his employees like this. Wow! Just wow!
“Wonderful. That’s…wow. Just amazing!”
“I know. I’m so grateful to be working here.”
“So you’re starting off as a receptionist? Gaining experience in the winery business?”
“Oh, no. Well, yes and no. I’m one of the vineyard workers. That’s what I applied for. My great-uncle back home where I’m from used to have a small grape garden, we used to call it. He died a while back and the estate was sold but since we moved to the US when I was a kid, I’ve always been fascinated by farms and home-grown produce.”