said?”
She snapped to
attention at the sound of her name, and found herself in the boardroom, with
everyone staring at her and her boss with a quizzical look on his face. The
meeting had begun fifteen minutes ago but it could have been happening on
another time zone for all the attention she’d paid to it so far.
“I’m sorry Mr.
Mallory, I didn’t get your last statement,” she said, quickly gathering herself
and switching back into efficient mode. Her boss repeated what he’d been saying
earlier, a disapproving frown crossing his face as the meeting continued.
For some reason,
Allison felt the urge to turn her head to her side, and came eye to eye with
Brand’s thoughtful, penetrating stare. How long had he been looking at her, she
wondered, as she sent him a quick smile before returning her focus to her boss.
Great; just what she needed. To look like a twit in front of everyone,
especially the one person she wanted to make a good impression on.
Thankfully, the
meeting was brief and she could get back to her desk. She went through her
tasks with none of the gusto she normally applied. She loved her job but she
just wasn’t in love with her life at the moment. She was in her mid-twenties,
successful and climbing, but her personal life, she had to admit, was far from
a wining situation.
I need to do
something really wild and exciting, she told herself firmly, stacking the
papers on her desk as the time inched closer to closing hours. Allison decided
she needed something to get her mind over her troubles. Maybe it was high time
she got laid. She suddenly began to nurse the idea of going out with a couple
of her friends to the club or a bar, and maybe getting lucky. Nothing like some
random, no-strings-attached sex to set the blood pumping through her veins and
have her world looking brighter again.
Allison had
never been too accustomed to casual sex and one-night stands, but heck, it was
a lot better than getting involved with some dumbo and pretend to be dating him
when all she wanted was a hard cock in her pussy when she required it. Men
didn’t know that women liked sex without the commitment tags, too. Men weren’t
the only type to enjoy sex for the sake of it, without wanting to be attached
to the partner providing it. Even girls needed fuck buddies – buddies who
would just disappear when they weren’t needed, till the time came again. Now
where could Allison find such a candidate?
“Allison?”
The sound of her
name in that voice sent her whole body into high-powered-buzzing mode. She
looked up from her desk to find Brand standing there. She blinked, and then
couldn’t help the pleased smile from spreading across her face. He seemed to do
a double take at the sight of her smile, his eyes narrowing and darkening with
a strange, fleeting expression.
“Why, hello,
Brand. Did you want anything?”
“No, I just
finished having a talk with the boss, and decided to stop by your desk for a
minute. Are you okay?” he asked, and the concern in his tone almost made her
want to burst into irrational tears. It was just so sweet of him, and so
unexpected. It caught her off her guard and she wanted to kick herself for her
weakness.
“Oh, you’re
talking about how distracted I was acting at the meeting, right? I’m fine now,
though. Just a few…personal issues I have to deal with.”
“Man troubles?”
he asked with a teasing tilt to his sexy, full-bottomed lips. Allison swallowed
down the urge to want to sink her teeth into that tempting bottom lip.
“Far from it.
I’m unattached, Brand, if you must know,” she said lightly, fidgeting with the
corners of her files and hoping she didn’t sound too goofily audacious. But
then this was the first time he was showing any kind of personal attention to
her; she was decidedly pink in the cheek and smiling like an idiot.
Allison thought
of the last things that had been going through her mind when she appeared, and
tried to keep eye contact with him and