A Heart For Business draft 2 Read online

  “How does one single woman manage to acquire this much stuff?” Carter had joked.

  “I’m warning you; don’t mess with me!” Vanessa teased back and they had ended up making love on a pile of her newly unpacked throw pillows.

  Meanwhile, she’d begun working in her new position as CEO of Gainscorp. It was a big change from her last job and there was a lot to learn, but she was up to the challenge and loved every minute of it. Best of all, she got to work side-by-side with Carter. He was a different man at the office; all business and no nonsense, but at home he was full of romance and fun. They were always laughing together and he loved to surprise her with romantic dinners or dates in the city. Sometimes they just enjoyed lazy Sunday afternoons together holding hands and walking through Central Park, which was still her favorite thing to do with him. She’d come to appreciate the simple joys in life and so had Carter.

  At least a dozen people had commented to her that he was a changed man since the accident; calmer, happier, more fulfilled. Most thought it was the near death experience that had caused the change, but a rare few suspected it was because of his involvement with Vanessa.

  Not too many people, with the exception of Norman Fields and the members of the Board, knew that they were a couple. They were always very discrete and kept their workdays purely professional, except today was there six month anniversary and Vanessa had a little surprise in store for Carter.

  “Sure, I’ll be to your office right away.” Carter said into the phone in response to her call. He walked casually through her door, not expecting anything unusual and was shocked to find her sitting behind her carved oak desk wearing nothing but lingerie.

  Quickly, he locked the door behind him so no one could come in as she got up and walked slowly towards him. Carter stood in shocked surprise and took in the beauty of her outfit, soaking it all in with wide eyes. It consisted of a pink lace corset that accentuated her narrow waist, but left her full round breasts exposed for him to admire. She had on matching pink lace panties and a pair of thigh-high stockings, which attached to the corset by garter straps. Black high heels completed the outfit. Her dark, luscious hair hung loose to her shoulders. She was the most beautiful image Carter had ever seen and he crossed the room quickly to take her into his arms.

  “This is quite the different look for work,” he teased, giving her an admiring whistle.

  “Happy anniversary. It’s officially been six months since the day we met,” she smiled and they kissed each other passionately.

  “So what did you want to consult me about?” Carter said playfully.

  Vanessa picked up a thick folder and said with mock annoyance “This report. It’s unsatisfactory and not up to my standards. As the employee who turned in this report, I think you need to be disciplined.”

  “Ooooh, I like the sound of that.” Carter’s eyes danced with excitement.

  “Take off your clothes.” Vanessa commanded playfully and Carter performed a striptease for her, removing each garment as taunting and arousing as possible. When at last he was completely naked, his cock was already hard and standing at attention.

  “What’s this?” Vanessa purred, and took his shaft into her hands and massaged him there, while he nibbled on her neck and earlobes. He let his hands slide up the silky bodice of her corset to her delicious tits and gently caressed them, sending thrills of sexual pleasure through her body and making her nipples grow hard. When he moved his mouth down to suckle them however, she stopped him.

  “Not so fast,” she said. “You’re trying to distract me from your punishment. Bend over my desk.”

  Carter obeyed her playful command and thrilled as she spanked him lightly with the folded up folder from her desk. The light smacks across his butt cheeks was far more erotic than he ever would have dreamed and he found himself becoming even more aroused than before.

  “Now, you will write a new report that is up to the proper standards.” Vanessa said, when the spanking was complete. “Lay on my desk.”

  Enjoying the game immensely, Carter did as he’d been told and lay in the middle of her massive oak desk. Removing her panties, but leaving the stockings, garters, and corset on, Vanessa knelt on the desk, straddling his face so that his mouth had easy access to her most sensitive folds.

  “Write a new report with your mouth and tongue and make sure that this time it meets my satisfaction” she commanded playfully.

  Carter happily dedicated himself to the task, using his tongue to lap over her labia and flick at her clitoris. Vanessa panted and squirmed with delight as he pleasured her with his lips, mouth, and tongue until she was near orgasm. Then she ordered him to change positions and she lay with her back flat on the desk while he stood on the edge of it. He pulled her across the desk until her ass was hanging off the edge and she could wrap her legs around his waist. Then he plunged into her, sliding full up to the hilt with one thrust. She was so wet and ready that she came quickly, and had to shove her fist into her mouth to stifle her screams of pleasure as she orgasmed against his cock.

  It happened so quickly, that Carter was not yet ready and continued to thrust slowly and deeply within her, with long solid strokes even after she was done. To keep things pleasurable for her, he reached down with his hand and began to stimulate her clitoris with his finger, rubbing her there in just the right way while he continued to fuck her.

  The action quickly brought her to a second orgasm, only this time Carter was ready and he climaxed along with her. Carter let himself go, thrusting wildly and quickly within her, as her legs remained wrapped around his waist and she gripped the sides of her desk, thrashing with pleasure beneath him. Somehow, they both managed to keep from screaming out their pleasure, holding in their voices despite the fact it was the most incredibly powerful orgasms either of them had ever had.

  When at last the waves of pleasure subsided, they both lay gasping for air on the desk. Finally, they regained their composure and cleaned themselves up with towels Vanessa had brought from home and kept hidden in a drawer.

  “Happy anniversary,” Vanessa said with a smile and gave Carter a gentle kiss when at last they were both fully dressed again in their business suits and looked like respectable executives once more.

  “Happy anniversary,” Carter said back. He kissed her one last time, then smiled and said, “This has been a terrific meeting. Very productive. Oh, and just so you know, I didn’t forget our anniversary either. This is for you.”

  He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black velvet box from Harry Winston jewelers. Vanessa gasped when he opened the box to present the most magnificent diamond ring she had ever seen. Dropping to one knee, Carter looked up at her with adoring eyes and said, “Vanessa Imenerse, you’ve made me happier than I ever thought I could be. If you marry me, I promise to spend the rest of my life trying to make you just as happy. Will you be my wife?”

  Tears and joy and happiness sprang to Vanessa’s eyes. “Yes!” she cried out. “Yes, Carter Davis I will marry you!”

  Carter slipped the ring onto her trembling hand and took her into his arms, hugging her so tightly to his chest they could feel each other’s heartbeats. When at last they pulled apart, she saw he had tears on his cheeks too.

  “You’d better wipe your face. If a hardened businessman like yourself leaves my office after a prolonged meeting with tears in his eyes, I’m going to get a reputation as being the meanest bitch in all of Gainscorp.

  “Trust me, no one could ever mistake you for a bitch. You’ve got the warmest heart of anyone I know. It’s why I love you so much.” Carter complimented and Vanessa felt herself blush.

  That night, she and Carter went out to a romantic dinner at one of Manhattans most premier restaurants to celebrate their engagement and spent a long and lazy weekend making love.

  By Monday morning, word had spread around the office of their happy news and they arrived to work to find their offices filled with balloons and a banner that said “Congratulat
ions on your Engagement!” across it in bold letters.

  “Thank you everybody, thank you very much. This is still a place of business, though, so everybody get back to work now.” Vanessa said, feeling her face becoming flush from all the attention.

  Her secretary notified her multiple times of reporters that wanted to do a piece on their engagement for the society papers, and eventually she had to put a ban on all deliveries, so she could get some work done.

  “Ugh, what a day!” she said with a tone of happy exhaustion, not frustration when at last she and Carter returned home that Monday night. “I don’t know how everyone found out so quickly, but I never expected our engagement would be such a big deal.”

  “I know!” Carter said, feeling equally tired yet elated. “I may have told a few people, like my mother and father, but I had no idea it would explode like this. I just wanted us to have a quiet wedding, with a small ceremony. How about you?”

  “The quieter the better as far as I’m concerned. I have no family to speak of, so the only ones that really need to be there are your parents, and maybe dear sweet Norman Fields. After all, I consider him to be the one responsible for bringing us together.”

  “Okay, just my parents, Norman, and the few thousand people my mother is sure to invite.” Carter said with a chuckle, and Vanessa hoped he was joking. She was just about to ask when the phone to their private line rang.

  “I’ll get it.” she said, and reached over to pick up the phone, while Carter went to the kitchen bar to pour them each a well-deserved drink.

  “Congratulations. I hear you’re engaged” said a deep and ominous voice over the phone that Vanessa didn’t quite recognize.

  “Who is this?”

  “You don’t remember me? How quickly we forget. I figured you’d forgotten our arrangement when I saw your engagement in the society column of the paper today.”

  “I didn’t do that! Our arrangement hasn’t been broken!” Vanessa insisted in a desperate tone. “How did you get this number?”

  “I’ve always known how to find you. I’m not like that bumbling moron Trevor Mills who took a month to track you down, although I was pleased at how quickly you and your fiancé were able to dispatch him.”

  “You’ve been watching me this whole time?”

  “I always keep an eye on my investments. Don’t break our deal or I won’t be able to uphold my end of the arrangement either and I know you don’t want your dirty little secret to come out. Would your fiancé be quite so smitten with you if he knew the truth?”

  “Our deal hasn’t been broken. I promise.” Vanessa said, near panic.

  “Good. Make sure it stays that way.” The line went dead but Vanessa continued to clutch the phone to her ear, white knuckled with fear. She concentrated on taking deep breaths to calm herself, and then slowly hung up the phone, trying to look casual.

  “Who was that?” Carter asked with curiosity as he handed her a vodka soda.

  “Just an old business associate. He wanted to make sure our contracts were still in effect since I left Chicago. Nothing to worry about.” She tried to sound nonchalant, and concentrated on her drink so he couldn’t’ see the fear in her eyes.

  “Are you sure? You’re trembling.” Carter said.

  “I’m just a little cold. The winters here are even harsher than they were back home. Everything’s fine.” Vanessa lied. She’d never told Carter anything deliberately untrue before, and she didn’t like doing it now, but what choice did she have? The caller had been right, if her secret came out, she would lose everything. That was the one bad thing about finally getting everything she ever wanted; she had too much to lose and she had to protect it, whatever it cost.

  “I love you.” Carter said, and kissed her softly on the lips before covering her with a blanket. “And nothing on earth can ever change that.”

  “I love you too.” Vanessa said, wondering if she could really trust him with her secret. As she looked at his handsome, adoring face she decided the risk was too great. She would keep her secret as long as possible, unfortunately that was a lot shorter than she knew.

  END OF PART ONE

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  “HR, Janet speaking. How may I he-”

  “Janet? Trent. I need you to send up a replacement for Pam. Her daughter was injured in an accident, and she just left to go take care of the children and such. I’ve no idea how long she will be gone, so send me someone that you weren’t planning on firing at the end of the week.” Trent said matter-of-factly. He didn’t really care if she fired twenty people each week; if they couldn’t do the job they could find somewhere else to work.

  Janet Marshall worked as the head of HR for Coldwell Enterprises. She was not only a friend, she was the toughest woman Trent had working for him. She was also his second cousin and married to his best friend from college. While Janet didn’t have to work another day in her life, she enjoyed managing people and understood Trent in a way others didn’t. He was as alpha as they came, she’d never met a more dominating, arrogant man until Trent had come along.

  “Oh dear! Which one of Pam’s daughters was hurt?” Janet asked with obvious concern in her voice. Pam had worked for the company for as long as she could remember, first as Trent’s father’s personal assistant, and now for Trent. She was one of the nicest women Janet had ever worked with and she only hoped that her daughter wasn’t too badly hurt.

  “Susan,” Trent replied, thinly hiding his impatience.

  The timing couldn’t be worse as Trent was in the process of acquiring a large production company in Europe and the contracts that had been drawn up by his European office were in chaos. He had been in the process of finalizing his corrections when Pam had announced that she must leave immediately. He needed these contracts fixed today!

  “Oh, no. And she just delivered twins a few months back. That poor woman,” Janet commiserated over the phone. “Don’t worry about it; I have just the girl in mind. She’s only been working here for about six months, but her reviews are excellent.”

  Janet was thinking of the young woman she had hired a little over six months back. Janet had interviewed her and been surprised at how mature she seemed for someone only twenty-four years old. Smiling to herself, she tried to envision how Trent would react to the young woman who wore her hair like a fifty year old, clothing that didn’t fit her body, or compliment her natural coloring, and honestly had no idea of just how attractive she could be. On top of all that, she was the most capable woman Janet had hired in months.

  “Whatever - just send her up after lunch. I’m right in the middle of negotiations for that buyout in Germany, and Pam didn’t have time to make the corrections on the contract yet. I need them by 3 o’clock - if not sooner.”

  “Not to worry. I’ll go tell her now and then send her to lunch. I assume that I can offer her the same benefits and salary that Pam was drawing?”

  “Of course.” Trent started to hang up the phone when he heard Janet call him back. Sighing, he put the phone back to his ear and answered, “What?” Damn it, he had work to do. He didn’t have time to chitchat with Janet; that’s what her husband was for. He’d mention just that fact to Shawn next time he saw him.

  Janet took a breath and thought about keeping this information to herself, but then she decided that Trent would want to know. “Shawn and I went to that symphony fundraiser last night.”

  Trent waited for her to continue, and when she didn’t, he impatiently replied, “And? I assume it was a smashing success and all that.”


  “It was, but that wasn’t my point.”

  “Well, get to it. I have work to do and so do you.”

  “I saw Marco Bresi there.” Janet said in a rush, holding her breath for the explosion she assumed was coming. When nothing happened, she paused, letting Trent digest what she had just told him. Marco Bresi was a very wealthy, and very influential businessman in Europe. He and Trent had a past marked with tragedy and Marco had stayed in Europe for the last three years because of it. Janet had been shocked to see him back in the States, especially in Denver.

  Trent was silent as he let Janet’s words sink in. Serena’s father was back in the states. Trent immediately tamped down on the emotion that threatened to sideline his focus. He hadn’t thought of Serena for several months now, and wanted to keep it that way.

  Serena Bresi had taken the fashion world by storm at the age of sixteen. Three years after that, she had met Trent at a fundraiser in New York City and they had fallen madly in love. At least, Trent thought she had been in love with him as much as he had been with her.

  Their love affair had been the subject of all the social magazines and the paparazzi had hounded them mercilessly. When Trent had taken over Coldwell Enterprises from his father, he had immediately used his many contacts in Europe to expand the company overseas.

  Everything had been going smoothly, or so he thought. Serena had signed a contract with a large fashion house in Milan and had temporarily moved to Italy. Trent had missed her, but had so many things on his plate in the states, that the time had just seemed to slip away.

  Four months later, he had flown to Milan to surprise Serena for the weekend. He had gone straight to her flat, flowers in hand, surprised to find her home in the middle of the afternoon. The surprise had been on him, however, as she had answered the door with the arms of her current lover wrapped intimately around her.