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Unnatural Affinity (5)

A Paranormal Romance

By Troi McAdory Published about a year ago 9 min read
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via Unsplash_Mirek Piwnicki

I could have died twice and still wouldn’t have been satisfied when I saw Kale walking into the room to sit at the head of the table. My heart jolted like a shot to the chest, my ribcage bruising from the brutal pounding, and I instantly started flame-flicking under the table.

Our eyes connected for what felt like minutes. He was so much more beautiful in the light, so much more beautiful after all this time. Those mesmerizing emerald eyes of an evergreen forest held a potent lighter ring around the black of his pupil as if his eyes were literally glowing. Midnight black strands of silky hair swayed across his forehead, framing his painfully gorgeous face to perfection. Thick eyebrows, straight nose with to-die-for bone structure, and great olive skin free of any blemishes as if made from the most breathtaking places on earth.

He wore a gray three-piece suit, each piece accenting every angle and roped muscle in his body. The suit was meant for him, radiating the strength of the man beneath it. He sat in his chair with precise grace, eyes smoldering hot as he gazed at me with that unmoving attention. He was a walking temptation, he had to know it. Everything about him screamed authority, darkness, and danger. So much power flowed from him it was consuming my very being to where I found it hard to breathe. But I was drawn to it like an insect to the light as if I was blind when I first met him and now I could see.

My eyes fell to his lips, remembering how they felt against my skin when he kissed my hand. My mind went back to that night, wishing we could reenact the moment again, feel the electricity brewing between our two bodies as they connected.

Again, I didn’t miss the twitch of his lips in the faintest of smiles.

“All right ladies and gentlemen shall we get started?” he asked, voice sounding like velvet with chocolates and champagne. He opened his own planner and folder, making a comment to the young woman beside him who I’d just noticed and realized was his secretary. “I’d like to start off by introducing one of our newest members on the Cambridge and Sons team. Donald, would you like to do the honors?”

Jonathan and Jeremiah both glanced in my direction, their eyes dancing with a twinkle of male appreciation. I quietly popped my lips and turned my attention to Donald.

Donald cleared his throat when Kale gestured for him to speak. “This is our newest PR member to the Cambridge chain Maxine Lucchesi. She will not be my assistant but more of another extension of me. I plan to teach her everything I know and groom her into a fine public relations representative for this company. So, be nice to her.” He eyed the twins with a look and sent that look to the rest of the room.

Everyone smiled and some even clapped. I didn’t bother to let myself gaze in Kale’s direction for I feared my weak knees wouldn’t hold me. “Hello, everyone. I’m Maxine but you can all just call me Max.”

Murmurs of greeting surrounded the space at the table. The Cambridge twins extended their hands, as I figured they would, and held on a little longer than necessary with a brush of their fingers but they were polite enough. I could feel Kale’s eyes burning into my skull. I had to tell myself not to look at him over and over as if I were reciting a mantra. But curiosity killed the cat and I stole a peek to find him piercing me with the same darkness I recognized the first time we met.

When one of his colleagues spoke to him on his right, he leaned to him with an almost reluctant glance. I swallowed quickly and dropped my eyes to my hands. After that, the meeting finally commenced. I listened carefully to all of the ideas being thrown around the room, doing my best to connect the ideas with the people who proposed them. Kale emphasized for anyone who was confused or held any animosity towards the new direction of the company that he was taking over to save the company from falling under. Webster Enterprises was run by a man from an older generation who believed in old-fashioned ways that were no longer working in our vastly changing society.

Kale believed in what the company stood for especially since it was a pinnacle in the Los Angeles area for an intimidating number of decades. After Mr. Webster retired and no one in his family willingly stood to take his place, Kale stepped in with the hopes of transforming it into something Mr. Webster could be proud of while also including his own vision for the company. He stressed to all of us that he wanted the businesses we market to understand just because new management has taken place doesn’t mean they will be left behind or treated any differently.

Kale directed Donald and me to make sure we got on top of all social media outlets about the company and let future and current companies know of our new vision while also making plans to spread the word about the new name change. Because I’m much younger, Donald had me take care of the social media engines he wasn’t fully familiar with, though Donald wasn’t eons older than me even though he liked to believe he was.

The meeting lasted for about an hour. When it ended, I felt like I would need an encyclopedia to guide me through all of the information. Everyone was in higher spirits now that they’d gotten to know Kale a bit better and he wasn’t there to demolish the company but revolutionize it. Some employees shook Kale’s hand as they exited, telling him they stood behind him one hundred percent. I stood to my feet to follow Donald out when Kale stopped me with that velvet voice of his that struck my womanly parts without mercy. I cursed inwardly but fixed a teeth-baring grin for him.

Donald eyed me for a second before urging me to go speak to Kale. “Whatever he wants just smile and nod.” His voice was low and urgent.

I could feel my knees betraying me and I had to steady myself through the balls of my feet in my heeled shoes. “Okay…I guess.” I went to stand in front of him, keeping a safe distance between us. Hot waves of sex radiated from him, calling for my body to have just a little taste. The sensation was so potent I caught myself daydreaming about his sexual prowess in front of him.

Kale waited for everyone to clear the room before speaking. “It’s a pleasure seeing you again,” he murmured. I couldn’t explain it, but he was doing this thing with his voice where he sounded like rough sex. Or maybe that’s what I wanted to hear. He leaned forward a bit in his chair to catch my face. “Are you happy to see me again?” He smiled gently, the movement sweet.

I backed away, alert. “I’m definitely surprised if that’s what you’re getting at.”

via Unsplash_Martin Adams

With that smile still on his face, he seemed to be weighing something in his mind as if he wanted to say something of importance. After a beat, he spoke. “I’m going to be blunt with you, Ms. Lucchesi,” he paused for effect as I mentally braced myself, “I’m attracted to you and I want you in my bed.”

I let out a long stream of air almost like a whistle. Heat overwhelmed me from head to toe, my skin prickling all over with the hairs on the back of my neck at full stand. My pulse raced and my blood thickened in my veins. “W-What did you say?”

“I don’t think I need to repeat myself,” he whispered, raising up from his chair and taking a step towards me. “Your body heard me just fine.”

I took a step back. Not only were my emotions running amuck, but so were my powers. I felt them rise in my core like water in a glass. They were going to reach the tipping point soon and I needed to be in control and away from Kale to prevent that.

And it was pissing me off that all I could get from him was static. Why?

Lifting my chin to give myself the confidence I lacked with him, I said very carefully, “You’re my superior now and anything that could have happened between us died when I got hired to work for the company you now own.” There wasn’t as much assertion as I would have liked but the words made it out clearly.

“Maxine, I don’t plan on letting you slip through my fingers,” he said, his eyes shining in mirth. “Not again.”

“I told you to call me Max,” I retorted.

He took another step forward, the movement reminding me of a panther slinking through the trees for its prey, eyes of the forest wandering appreciatively over my body. “Maybe if you were a little boy, but you’re not. You are all woman.”

I found it difficult to breathe, pantsuit suddenly too restricting. I could smell his cologne and naughty thoughts circled my brain like a merry-go-round. There was nothing I could do to stop them if I tried. This man compelled me and if I wanted to keep my job we needed to establish boundaries.

“Listen, Mr. Erickson—”

“Call me Kale.”

I shook my head once. “Mr. Erickson, I understand we met under unconventional circumstances but now we’re in a different setting. Today is my first day and I’d really like to keep working here.”

He reached out to play with one of the loose strands of my hair and I almost fainted. He was so near and I wanted to grab his hand to have the luxury of touching his skin once more. I wanted to actually taste his mouth this time and he had to know I was melting in front of him. It was so mean of him to touch my hair when he knew I was falling apart.

Kale seemed momentarily dejected by my words, but it was necessary for both of us. I had to make the boundaries or we’d be the biggest headliner in the city for months. I waited for him to answer on pins and needles.

“What are you?” he asked, glancing up from my hair, his eyes narrowed on mine.

“Your newest employee,” I answered quietly.

He studied me carefully as if he were trying to make something occur by sheer will. I don’t know what he was looking for and I doubt he’d find it, but the longer I stood here in front of him like a bumbling mess the less coherent I’d get.

I swallowed thickly to gain my voice back. “Are we done here?”

He smiled. “Yes, Ms. Lucchesi.”

relationshipsnsfwliteraturefictionfeminismerotic
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About the Creator

Troi McAdory

A celestial hippie with Peter Pan syndrome. I write about the things I cannot always say out loud.

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