Page 5 of Strictly Business

She looks away from me for a moment and then she looks down at the desk.

“I’m just not sure I should be the one looking after Serena. I’ve never done anything marketing related. Should she not be with one of the marketing executives?” Ruth says.

Well, I wasn’t expecting that. This morning is definitely full of surprises. What I mistook for hostility on Ruth’s part was actually self-doubt. I have never known Ruth to doubt herself so I can be forgiven for not recognizing it I suppose.

“Serena is more than able to hit the ground running on the marketing side,” I say. “Anything she needs to ask you is going to be more system based, or maybe where to find something. But if you do take a look at the campaign now and again, you know my tastes and you know the brand’s values. I trust you to know if I would be happy with the campaign at hand or not.”

Ruth’s smile widens and she looks up at me once more.

“Then consider it done,” she says. She turns to Serena with the same happy smile on her face. “Are you ready for a tour of the building then?”

CHAPTER3

Serena

Ismile politely at Ruth as she offers me a tour of the building. She doesn’t like me, and I don’t know why. She covered it well when Wyatt noticed something was off, but not well enough to fool me. I don’t know what to make of her. I don’t know if she’s not a very nice person, or if the whole ice queen thing she’s been doing is just like her work persona or what. I know I will have to hit the ground running here and be willing to work things out for myself though, because I really don’t want to have to ask this woman for her help.

On the other hand, it’s a shame Wyatt is going to be busy over the next few days because holy shit, would I be happy to have to ask for his help. My mind can’t help but wander and I see myself walking into Wyatt’s office, naked except for my bra and panties.

“Can you help me?” I ask in a husky voice that isn’t my real voice, but I wish it was. “You see, I am almost at orgasm, but something is stopping me from getting there.”

Wyatt stands up from his desk chair and comes around to the front of his desk and he beckons me to him. I eagerly oblige and he wraps his arms around me and pulls me close and kisses me. As he kisses me, he pushes my panties to one side and works my clit until I come, screaming his name, and soaking his hand and the cuff of his shirt sleeve. Oops.

I have always had a crush on Wyatt for as long as I can remember. He was my cool Uncle Craig’s even cooler friend, and he was handsome in a way that boys my age just weren’t. But this is different now. This isn’t like a crush; this is a serious attraction. I don’t know how any straight woman could look at the perfection that is Wyatt and not have a serious attraction to him.

He’s tall and broad shouldered and even when he’s fully dressed, I can see his defined muscles pushing against his clothes, like even his body knows it is perfection and wants to be shown off. He has light grey eyes, and they stand out against his tanned skin and dark hair. He has a square jaw and cheekbones to die for, and the smattering of stubble he is sporting is so fucking hot I feel wet just looking at him. It’s so hard to look at him and not imagine straddling him, riding his cock.

But I know I can’t act on these urges. Wyatt has never shown the slightest bit of interest in me sexually and I am not going to be that girl that throws herself at her uncle’s friend and gets rejected. Talk about tragic. Especially now that I’m working for him. No, I will have to stick to craving for Wyatt from afar – that part hasn’t changed since before I went away to college. I don’t know how long I can be around Wyatt without acting on the lust I feel when I look at him though.

“Serena? Are you coming?” Ruth says.

Give me two minutes alone with Wyatt and I would be, I think to myself. Of course, I don’t say that and when I feel my cheeks turn pink from my dirty thoughts, I’m sure that my blush will be mistaken for embarrassment that I was off in a world of my own while Ruth was talking to me.

“Yes, sorry,” I say. I get to my feet and smile quickly at Wyatt. “Thank you.”

He nods at me, and I follow Ruth out of his office. As the door shuts behind me, I feel an overwhelming urge to open it again and slip back inside there with him. It certainly seems like a better prospect than following Ruth around, but I remind myself of how hard I have worked to get my degree and my portfolio, and I won’t throw this opportunity away.

I follow Ruth to the elevator, and we wait for it. When it comes, we get inside and go to the ground floor. The elevator takes us there and pings and the doors open. Ruth steps out of the elevator car and I follow her.

“Did you drive here?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say.

“And I take it you found the staff parking lot? Just if you are parking in the wrong one, you will have to pay,” she says.

“I found it thank you,” I say and smile at her. She smiles back but it doesn’t meet her eyes.

“Well,” she says, gesturing in a circle around herself with her arms to encompass the space we are standing in. “This is the lobby and the main reception desk. That’s the waiting area for clients or potential clients if they come for meetings or presentations or whatever. That’s pretty much it for this floor. There’s a staff bathroom and a small kitchen but you won’t be working on this floor, so I doubt you’ll ever need those.”

She’s leading me back to the elevator as she talks and I can’t help but notice how good she looks in her dress, how her legs go on for days. She looks like she’s just stepped out of the pages of Vogue. And then there’s me in my safe, sensible pants suit. I know for tomorrow that I can dress a bit nicer though and I plan to.

We go to the first floor and Ruth points to her left.

“That’s our IT department,” she says. She points to the right. “Down there, you’ve got all of our conference rooms.” I make a mental note of those as that definitely sounds like something I might need. “All of them are labelled so don’t worry about trying to remember which one is which at this point.” I nod my understanding, grateful that it sounds like the building is going to be easy enough to navigate. “There are breakroom facilities and what not along there for the staff working on this floor too. And right at the end of that corridor is our HR department. Any questions?”

I shake my head and Ruth leads me back to the elevator once more. We go up one more floor. All three of the main floors are laid out the same, with one decent sized area at the left of the stairs and then a long corridor with plenty of smaller rooms off the right-hand side. Only the lobby is different for obvious reasons.

“That’s the finance department,” Ruth says. “They sort wages, taxes, that kind of thing. Once you get set up in your office today, pop on down here and tell them you’re new. They’ll email you some forms to fill in and get you in the system and then each week, first thing on a Monday morning, you need to send them your timecard for the last week with your hours worked on it. If you fail to send the card in and you are not on authorized leave, it will be assumed you weren’t at work and you won’t be paid. Got it?”

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