Chapter 7 DISTRACTION

Still in a haze of desire, I step back into the elevator to my office. Leaning against the wall, I think back to what happened in the parking lot. Dordrich is really a warlock, never before has a man robbed me of my senses, aroused my desires with a snap of his hand. When I open my door I see Kaylah standing by my bookcase. "Back already, Loraine? Didn't your appointment go through?". I look at her sideways. "Go do your job, please. Try to get Danner on the phone and bring me the file of the new mall," I command her. Unfazed, she leaves to return later with the requested file in her hands. I go through them with her and set up a staff meeting for two hours later. When Kaylah is out of my room, I open a well-concealed door on the side. It goes to my private penthouse, where I usually stay overnight when I work late. After a refreshing bath, I change into a new suit and am ready for the meeting. Sitting at the head of the table and looking over the staff present, I notice that it is ninety percent male. How did it come about, I wonder. I look questioningly at Kaylah who is sitting next to me, she has followed my gaze and understood where my concern is. She shrugs and begins preparing the file in front of me. This bitch! Isn't she in charge of the final endorsement when hiring staff, so why is she pretending not to know? My eyebrow goes up as I stare at her. Again she pretends she doesn't understand what I mean and starts the meeting. An hour into the gathering and someone goes off-topic. "Loraine, remember you have to be at the mall opening tomorrow morning. Don't forget, it's important for us. You're one of the guests of honor and you can't cancel it". It s Aziel, one of my top advisors, reminding me. Aziel was my sex partner for a couple of months until Danner found out and cut him off. To avoid an unpleasant atmosphere at work, I let Danner have his way and Aziel drop out. I was surprised when he later proposed to me, infuriated Danner and nearly lost his job. "Now that Danner doesn't want to talk to you, take him with you," Kaylah whispers in my ear, impossible for the rest of the audience to hear. "Teach Danner a lesson, he'll be green with envy." Aaahhh, so this Kaylah isn't as innocent as she pretends to be, so she really knows some tricks. I first think this isn t a good move. My plan is to fend the men off, so I can focus more on Dordrich. My previous resolve to stay away from him has completely disappeared after the heavenly kiss he gave me a few hours ago. But then my thoughts go to all the comments under the post on Facebook about Dordrich and me. Aziel can indeed be a welcome distraction, I'm sure there will be plenty of press in attendance tomorrow. Yes, I think I'll take Kaylah's proposal. "Aziel, will you join me tomorrow, then? I'm without a date and this is a business event". He can hardly hide his happiness, the rest of the staff looks at him teasingly. Almost everyone at the top knows about his marriage proposal. That day, after my rejection, he drank himself to death and flew into a fence with our brand-new company car. Of course, everyone wanted to know the details of the case, the police report with his statement came into the hands of every staff member. That idiot had honestly admitted to the police that he had been rejected by me and got drunk because of it. "I'll pick you up. Don't worry about your transport, I'll take you home tomorrow afternoon too," he offers eagerly. A suppressed laughter sweeps through the conference room, but Aziel doesn't seem to care. "It's a pity I'm already married, Loraine, otherwise I would have offered to accompany you myself", said someone at my far right, Damian, one of the promising managers. A burst of laughter goes through the hall, no one can suppress it anymore. Aziel turns red, but it doesn't seem to bother him. "Okay, agreed then. Don't be late", I say, rescuing him from the awkward situation. The men leave the room except for Aziel. When the three of us, including Kaylah, are left in the room, he comes up to me and takes my chin between two fingers. "Shall we leave together now?", he asks ambiguously, looking longingly into my eyes. It has never been different with him, although he has kept a safe distance for the past few months, his burning gaze has always followed me when we met. I knew what that means, but I didn't want to cause him any trouble with Danner, so I always ignored that. Now that the latter is playing hard to get, I'm coming with the trump card, knowing that he will burst out of his skin with jealousy when he sees Aziel standing next to me. Tomorrow, I know for sure that the cameras will be pointed at me, and show me in the company of Aziel. I also expect to make headlines in the gossip machines again. Some things never change!.. ?