Mrs R (Mrs R & Mr V #1) (34 page)

“Get a fucking grip man!” Joe
swore under his breath. Everything about this flirtation was a bad idea. Rachel
riled him in ways he hadn’t known were possible. She drove him crazy with her
‘save the world’ naivety and yet she filled him with a lust he couldn’t
explain. She wasn’t even his type. Joe was confused and frustrated as hell and
it was all Rachel Renton’s fault.
 

Running his hands through his
hair, Joe straightened his back and shook his head, clearing her from his
thoughts. Some of the junior associates who’d obviously gathered up enough
courage to come and introduce themselves were hovering around the periphery of
his personal space, and whilst he really wanted to roar at them to all fuck off
and find some other fool to entertain them; a dig in the arm from Angela soon
had Mr Personality back on track. Dismissing the glaring looks from his
predecessor’s widow he turned away from Rachel and feigned interest in the
younger members of his staff.

“Fucking jumped up over confident
arrogant arsehole I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.” Replied Rachel to
Angela’s enquiry as to how she was finding working with Joe.

“Good then; we’re making progress”
Angela laughed, “at least the word bastard never appeared this time.”

Rachel snorted. “My mistake I
assure you. Bloody hell though Angela, it’s been a couple of hours and I am the
only person he hasn’t chatted with. I think it’s fairly obvious what he thinks
of me.”

“Hmm, you are dead right there, my
love.” Angela replied cryptically. She had spotted Joe’s reaction when he’d
clocked Rachel for the first time this evening, and she was delighted at his
evident attraction for her. She’d even caught him discreetly adjusting himself.
Well, it was Angela’s job to pay attention to the little things that other
people missed – that’s why she was so indispensable. And that is the
reason she encouraged the junior associates to engage Joe in a long discussion.
She advised them to ask him to tell them about his career in New York as she
quite rightly predicted he’d get carried away with numerous anecdotes about his
success to impress and motivate them.

Checking he was now suitably occupied
for a while, Angela had sought out Rachel at the bar getting slowly pissed. She
had correctly assessed that her friend was justifiably annoyed with their CEO,
and Angela wondered if the physical attraction was mutual.

“Rachel, do you want me to go and
get him?”

“What the hell Angela? No way. If
the little shit is too busy for me then leave him to it.”

“Hardly little” Angela remarked.

“Well no; the man is indecently
huge, but he’s probably got a really tiny dick.” Rachel giggled at her hilarious
joke and was slightly confused at Angela’s reaction as she shook her head and
pinched the bridge of her nose. Rattling the ice in her tumbler of whiskey at
her, Rachel took a long gulp, just as Joe’s signature scent filled her
nostrils.

“And you know this for a fact?”
His deep rumbling voice washed over her as she belatedly realised he’d been
standing behind her and heard every word. He sounded mad for a change and
Rachel downed the rest of her drink deciding she didn’t care.

Angela chose this moment to make
her excuses muttering something about catering and Joe took her place on the
bar stool facing Rachel.

“Oh hello Joe – what do you
know?” Rachel asked him in a sing song whiskey coated voice. He raised an
eyebrow at her.

“How many of those have you had?”
he indicated to her empty glass.

“Not enough” she answered
gesturing to the barman for a refill. “Not that it’s any of your fucking
business Mr Mason, CEO, sir.”

“And there she is; the foul
mouthed Rachel I’m used to…”

“Oh no Joe. You don’t get to be
rude to me tonight. You have to be
friendly
and
approachable
.” Rachel mocked
emphasising her words with a prod to his shoulder.

“Is that right?” Joe grabbed the
offending hand. “Well how about we get out of here and I show you how friendly
and approachable I can be?”

Rachel gasped at him jerking her
hand away. The man looked like he should have been gracing the front cover of
GC Magazine with his big body covered in a dark navy suit and open necked white
shirt. She could see the dip where his throat met his chest and the ripple of
his pecs as she moved. She was more than aware of the way his trousers pulled
tight across his thick thighs and how his biceps teased the sleeves of his suit
jacket. The neatly groomed hair covering his strong jaw and upper lip looked
silky soft and she itched to run her fingers across his scalp through the black
hair on his head. At this close proximity she could see the beginnings of grey
weaving through his temples and sideburns and it enhanced his elegant appeal adding
a mildly distinguished touch to his overall appearance. But mostly, he exerted
raw animal sex appeal from every pore and Rachel found herself worrying on her
bottom lip at his outrageous suggestion.

“Fucking keep that up Rachel and I
won’t bother waiting for an answer, I’ll just haul you off to my office and
make good use of my leather couches. Both of them by the time I’m finished.”

Joe’s words had Rachel’s thong
drenched in an instant. Her nipples were pressed so hard against her dress she
ached for relief and she knew Joe would be good. She didn’t doubt for a second
that his finely honed skill in the bedroom would equal that of the courtroom
and hell, she wanted him badly, but her head was fuzzy from too much alcohol
and she felt like he was taking advantage of her. Rachel was seriously pissed
off with him. She had never given him any indication that she found him
attractive and he was clearly looking just to get laid tonight. Well, tough
shit the man was going to have to wank himself off for all she cared – no
way was she going to be another notch on his bed post; sofa; whatever, although
she would pay good money to watch. Rachel groaned in acknowledgement of how
drunk she felt and decided home was best right now.

Not even gracing Joe with an
answer she headed off, all be it a little unsteadily, towards the lifts.

Rachel swayed on the spot as she
fiddled around in her clutch trying to find her phone. If the girls weren’t
home she’d call a cab, but either way she wasn’t spending another bloody second
in the same room as Mr Arrogant Arsehole. The ding of the lift alerted her to
its arrival and she entered the car slamming her hand on the L for lobby.

“No fucking way!” she groaned as
Joe emerged from the crowds striding purposefully towards her. “C’mon close
dammit” she shouted at the lift doors as she frantically pushed the ‘door
closing’ button. Sagging against the cool mirrored back wall of the lift in
relief as the doors began to shut, Rachel couldn’t believe her bad luck as one
of Joe’s magnificently muscled arms thrust in between the doors halting their
closure.

“Out!’ he commanded.

“Fuck off!” she retaliated no
longer caring who he was. The alcohol had given her enough of a buzz for her
inhibitions to have waned somewhat.

“Nice, Rachel, really classy.”

“I. Don’t. Care.” She spat at him.
“Double fuck off!”

“Get out the lift now before I
have to come in there and get you myself” Joe was growling at her now, his
anger threatening to unleash itself and he so didn’t want to lose his temper in
front of his work colleagues.

“Apologise first” she shouted at
him.

“What the fuck for?”

“Oh so you can swear at me and
that’s ok is it?”

“I’m losing my patience with you
Rachel. Get out of the lift now.”

“No, Joe. Leave me the fuck alone
and piss off!”

Joe hissed at her and ran his
hands through his hair, which he seemed to be doing a lot around Rachel. At
this rate he’d be bald before the year was out. It was insane how much she
affected him and he cursed himself for offering her sex when she was drunk. He
got into the lift and the doors closed behind him.

“Oh my god. Don’t you take a
hint?” Rachel puffed out the words. Joe, however, was very close and the lift
felt like it was getting smaller. Rachel began to feel queasy and was
desperately trying to control herself, as she didn’t think Joe would be as
understanding as Luc had been when she’d thrown up all over him at the pub. Why
didn’t she learn that alcohol made her horny and sick; two things she could
have done without presently.

“Joe, back off” she warned as he
loomed over her, both palms flat against the wall behind her. His head dipped
towards hers and he whispered in her ear. “Tell me I’m wrong Rachel and I’ll
leave you alone like you say you want me to but I think you feel this too.
Whatever this is between us, I want you. I’ve wanted you since I first saw you
in the gym and every fucking day since.”

“Joe, please, I mean it, back
off.” Joe stared at her then, shocked that he’d read the situation incorrectly.
He could have sworn she was hot for him and he was never wrong about these
things.

“Are you ok?” he asked worried
that she was now looking a little green.

Rachel shook her head from side to
side and as the doors opened she ran out of the lift towards the exit and just
made it to the roadside before throwing up rather inelegantly. Heaving and
retching, she was vaguely aware of Joe holding her hair back off her face with
one arm and wrapping his other one around her waist so she didn’t fall. Once
she was finished he led her to the nearby bench and sat her down.

“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
He didn’t sound happy.

Rachel sat there with her head in
her hands mortified once again that she had spectacularly embarrassed herself
in front of her boss. She would have run away with her tail between her legs
but the combination of too much to drink on an empty stomach, followed by the
huge amount of effort it had taken to throw it all back up again had left her
devoid of energy.

A rumble of an engine roused her
and she looked over to see Joe getting out of some monster sized black Range
Rover. He thrust a bottle of water in her hands and hoisted her up into the
front passenger seat. Leaning over her to buckle her in Rachel breathed in the
divine scent of him. “You smell nice.”

“You do not” Joe replied fumbling
about in the glove box. “Here” he said throwing a packet of extra strong mints
in her lap. Rachel groaned again not realising she had spoken out loud.

Jumping into the driver’s seat,
Joe twiddled with a few buttons on the dashboard.

“Zip code?”

“Post code.”

Joe sighed heavily.

“Where do you live Rachel?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“I can’t take you home if I don’t
know your address. Now, what is your postcode? Or do I need to call Angela to
go and get it from your personnel records? Either way, I am taking you home.”

Rachel didn’t want Angela to know
she was in Joe’s car, and she certainly didn’t want her to get the wrong
impression if she knew he was giving her a lift, so she told Joe her address.

“You’re not coming in.”

“You’re welcome,” he muttered
sarcastically in response.

“Now wait a goddamn minute Joe
Mason. I didn’t ask for you to drive me home. I have no idea why you are, but
don’t expect you to make you coffee and be all grateful.” Rachel hiccupped and
Joe narrowed his eyes at her.

“Are you gonna barf again?”

“Puke.”

“What?”

“Puke – you’re in England
now; we don’t barf. That’s disgusting.”

“You are bat shit crazy woman, do
you know that?”

‘I wasn’t until you made me that
way.”

Rachel burped and Joe wound down
her window looking at her dubiously. She still looked fucking sexy all
dishevelled and cross. He was intrigued with the crude side to her personality
and how she managed to contain it so well in the sophisticated package she
presented to the world. The knowledge that she had a wilder, untamed edge
excited him. There were many layers to Rachel Renton and he wanted to unravel
every single one of them. Her soft snoring told him she dozed off and gave him
a chance to steal glances in her direction as the sat nav directed them home.
She was leaning into the door panel with her hands in her lap holding on to her
Prada clutch. She was clearly a lady who liked expensive things but they were
simple and understated he’d noticed. That was classy which is why her ability to
mouth off like a truck driver astounded him. Maybe it was a British thing the
combination of posh and brash; it was different to what he was used to but he
found it turned him on.