Board Stiff (2 page)

Chapter Two

Elizabeth Wright’s
palms were sweating.
 
Her boss, Corbin
Shaw, the general counsel for Advantage Insurance Company asked her to do the
presentation to the board of directors on the big construction defect case that
would likely plague the company for the next couple years.
 
Advantage insured three of the twenty
defendants in the lawsuit.
 
There
were
multiple construction issues with a beachfront
condominium project, and since her arrival at Advantage three months ago,
Elizabeth
had been
following the case closely.
 
The impact
of the lawsuit could cost Advantage millions in defense costs, not to mention
what the company may have to pay out if found liable.
 
She understood Corbin’s request for her to
discuss the case because she was the most knowledgeable about the case, but
that didn’t make it any less nerve-racking.

“Liz, you will do
fine,” Corbin said, sitting next to her on the leather couch just outside the
board room.
 
She held one piece of paper
in her hand that had a short outline of the players in the case.
 
Everything else was pretty well set in her
head.

“I know,” she
whispered.
 
She ran a hand through her
long auburn hair.
 
“I know this case like
the back of my hand.”
 
And she had done
her homework.
 
Last night, she had studied
the Advantage annual statement from last year and familiarized herself with
each of the board members.
 
She had
already met Michael Herron, Advantage’s CEO, as he was a regular visitor to the
Legal Department to meet with Corbin.
 
But the other members were not as well-known to her.
 
In reviewing their bios, she noted that the
board consisted of only men… three that were of her father’s age or older.
 
But there were three board members that were
considerably younger than the others…
John Dorsey, Mark Olson
and Gregory Snow.
 
She found it
interesting that they were appointed members of the board of directors at such
young ages.
 
All were tops in their
career paths, at least according to her research on LinkedIn and Google.
 
But John Dorsey caught her attention the most.
 
There was something about the look in his
eyes in his bio picture that intrigued
Elizabeth
.
 
Not to mention, he was very easy on the eyes.

“I wouldn’t have
asked you to do it if I didn’t have the utmost faith in you,” Corbin said,
smiling at her.
 
Corbin was a good
guy.
 
He was in his late fifties with
dark brown hair that was streaked with gray.
 
He was married with two children in college.
 
As far as bosses went,
Elizabeth
considered herself quite
lucky.
 
She had worked five years in a
large law firm right out of law school and she worked her ass off.
 
She applied for the corporate counsel
position at Advantage because she was tired of working the ridiculously long
billable hours.
 
Her social life had been
non-existent for the five years she slaved away at Barnes and Simon.
 
She held high hopes that she could gain her
life back as in-house counsel.
 
She was
thirty-one.
 
She wanted to get married
someday… have a family.

She had more than
enough experience to be an asset to a company like Advantage.
 
She had done nothing but handle insurance
defense cases at her firm.
 
In fact, she
had become quite a commodity at the firm for her aggressiveness in the courtroom.
 
So, when Corbin got her resume for the open
position, he immediately asked her in for an interview.
 
He basically hired her on the spot.
 
Her salary went down a bit from her law firm
salary, but she hoped her life would go up.

“Corbin.”
 
The board room door opened slightly and Phillip
Barker poked his head around the corner.
 
Elizabeth
recognized him from his bio photograph in the annual statement.
 
This made her grateful that she did her
research.
 
“You ready?”
 

“Yes, Phil, we’re
ready,” Corbin said, standing from the couch and straightening out his suit
jacket.
 

“Come on in,” Phil
said, opening the door wide.
 
Elizabeth
stood up from
the couch and straightened out her taupe skirt and jacket before walking
through the door into a board room full of men.
 
She followed Corbin to the front of the room.

“Gentlemen, I’d
like to introduce Elizabeth Wright.
 
She
is one of our corporate
counsel
here in Advantage’s
legal department.
 
We stole her from
Barnes and Simon in
Tampa
,
and we are more than thrilled to have her with us.
 
She’s been following the beachfront condo
construction defect case for us for the last three months and has worked
closely with the claims adjusters to get a better understanding of the problems
with the building, should there be any coverage issues that will need to be
raised under the policies.
 
I thought it
would be best if she presented the case to you since she has the most
first-hand knowledge of how it may play out for Advantage and its
insureds.”
 

“Thank you,
Corbin,”
Elizabeth
said, confidently.
 
“And thank you,
gentlemen, for allowing me to be here today to talk to you about this case.”
 
She lifted her head to scan the room.
 
When her gaze fell on the extremely
good-looking man sitting across the table from her, she almost fell to her
knees on the spot.
 
Holy shit!
 
John Dorsey’s bio
picture did
not
do him justice…at
all!
 
He was gorgeous…lightly tanned
skin, dark brown hair, hazel eyes that appeared almost golden.
 
By the way his white button down shirt
conformed to his biceps, shoulders and
chest,
he
barely hid his well-sculpted body underneath.
 
Good God
!
 
And he was staring at her! His gaze skimmed
over her body like he was slowly removing her clothes.
 
  
The
heat from his gaze made her feel naked standing there, and her skin flushed
when she noticed John adjust his sitting position.
 
His eyes were smoldering.
 
Elizabeth
felt everyone else’s gaze on her, and that brought her back to the reality of
her situation.
 
She had a presentation to
give.
 
She tore her gaze from John’s.
 
She was always her best under pressure, and
clearly, the pressure was on now.
 
She
cleared her throat.
 
“As you know, Advantage
has three insureds involved in the construction of this project, so there is a
good possibility that Advantage’s financials may be affected by this case at
some point.”
Elizabeth
carried on with her presentation, making damn sure her gaze never wandered over
to John Dorsey.
 
She felt the heat of his
stare, as if he were tempting her… coaxing her to look at him. But she knew if
she looked into his golden eyes again, she’d stumble with the end of her
presentation, and she couldn’t have that.
 
So, she avoided him.
 
After
wrapping up her presentation, Corbin stepped up to the table next to her.

“Do you have any
questions for us?” he asked politely.
 

“When do we
suspect we will have a full understanding of the construction issues so that we
will know the extent of liability of the individual insureds?”
 
one
of the board
members
Elizabeth
recognized as Gregory Snow asked.
 
She
knew he was a big corporate law attorney for a large firm in
St. Petersburg
,
Florida
.

“Forensic
engineers have begun the testing and analysis of the building and common
areas,”
Elizabeth
replied.
 
“All defendants agreed to one
forensic engineering company to run the tests.
 
It’s much cheaper for the defendants if they all pitch in on the cost of
this expert and just discuss the results at that point.
 
We expect them to be completed with their
report within the next month.
 
At that
point, we will have a better understanding of the true defects.”
 
Gregory nodded and smiled at her warmly.

“Thanks,
Elizabeth
,” Phil
said.
 
“We expect to have you back next
quarter to give us an update on the expert report.
 
Great presentation.”
 
Phillip smiled at her.
 
Elizabeth
felt great.
 
The chairman of the board
was pleased with her presentation despite the few seconds she lost her head
mentally devouring John Dorsey.
 
She
released a breath she didn’t even know she had been holding.
 

“You’re welcome,
sir,”
Elizabeth
replied, almost breathless.
 
She heard a
quiet rumble come from across the table and her gaze shifted to the sound.
 
Did
anyone else hear it?
 
The other
members appeared to be carrying on conversations, but John’s gaze was on
her.
 
He shifted in his chair again and
he bit down on his lower lip.
 
A warmth
spread throughout her body and settled between her
legs.
 
She was certain that if she slid
her hand under her skirt to her panties, she would find them wet.
 
This man made her pussy wet with just a look.
 
It had been a few months since she had had
sex, but this guy put her body in overdrive without even touching her.
 
Not that he was going to touch her.
 
Good
Lord!
 
She was getting carried away.
 
She needed to get out of here.
 

Corbin thanked the
officers and headed out of the board room.
 
Elizabeth
followed close behind him, grateful to escape John’s heated stare.
 
Once outside, she took a deep breath.
 

“You did great in
there, Liz,” Corbin said, patting her on the back.
 
“I get the feeling they are going to want you
to give more presentations.”
 
He winked
at her as they walked back to their department on the second floor.
 

Chapter Three

John watched as
she walked out of the board room.
 
His
cock was as hard as a rock.
 
He had to
adjust himself twice during her presentation.
 
He’d never been in the presence of a woman that made him instantly
hard.
 
She walked into the room with her
thick auburn hair flowing over her shoulders.
 
Her green eyes twinkling.
 
Her skirt hugging her in
all the right places.
 
Damn!
 
And she was smart.
 
Every word out
of her mouth made him inconceivably harder.
 
Normally on a case like this, he would have had a ton of questions for
Corbin.
 
Being in the construction
industry, John was so familiar with all trades that he was usually good with these
discussions.
 
But his brain
short-circuited.
 
All he could think
about was sliding above
Elizabeth
’s
sexy body and sinking deep inside it.
 
He
had to have her!
 
He didn’t care what he
had to do to get her and he didn’t care who, if
anyone,
stood in his way.
   

“Dorsey, we
expected you to have some questions,” Mark said with a small laugh.
 
“Did Ms. Wright distract you?
 
I’ll admit she distracted me.”
 
John shot Mark a sharp look.
 
That horny fucker had better not even think
about approaching her.

“I want to wait
until we have the expert report.
 
At this
point, it’s just a finger-pointing game,” John said, trying to act nonchalant
despite having his first ever boner during a board meeting.