Chapter 4 The Obsession

THEODORE

As I returned to the party, I couldn't stop myself from looking over my shoulder at Alice's receding form. 

What the hell was that?

The only thing that convinced me that this craziness even happened was my stinging cheek. It burned from her slap and it honestly made me strain against my pants. Not that I wasn't hard from our...little encounter earlier.

From the minute I laid my eyes on Alice Rhodes, with that dimpled chin pointing at the ceiling and that sharp hazel gaze giving me a once-over, I've wanted her. I couldn't remember desiring a woman like I did her. 

It was bordering on an obsession at this point, but I didn't care. It gave me an excuse to get up in the morning and stride into the office. The finance part of my family's empire was the last place in the world where I wanted to be, but my father's death gave me limited options. My brother had his hands full. My sister...she wasn't cut out for this kind of environment. She was delicate. Artistic. 

But Alice Rhodes made it all worthwhile, as crazy as it seemed. It started as something so meaningless. She strode into my office one morning with a bunch of files in her hands, and she set them down. "This is everything Mr. Hawthorne wanted me to do. Do you need me to explain what's in them?"

The way she spoke to me aroused me. She used an authoritative tone that I hadn't heard anyone use around me before. I narrowed my eyes at her and replied, "I've got eyes, Miss..."

"Rhodes."

"Rhodes. I have eyes. I don't need you to explain anything to me."

She stood upright, her gaze hardened, and she said, "Of course. Suit yourself."

Without even waiting to be dismissed, she walked toward the door, swaying her hips and giving me a view of her perfect ass. At first, I made the mistake of thinking it was all part of her seduction game. I worked in many areas of Hawthorne Group, and there wasn't a single assistant I hadn't fucked. Not one. 

I thought I was dealing with an expert. A woman who knew there was a lot of power in acting disinterested. Over the weeks, I started realizing that it wasn't an act at all—Alice Rhodes seemed to hate me for reasons I couldn't comprehend. She wasn't interested in me. 

I pushed her. Taunted her. Did anything possible to get a reaction out of her. 

Nothing worked. She treated me with cold detachment and that made me lose my mind with anger. On one hand, I wondered who the hell she thought she was. 

On the other...I was impressed. 

I wasn't expecting her to show up tonight. Her name wasn't on the invitation list. Seeing her here...disrupted my peace in a way I couldn't describe. In my office, behind my desk, it was alright for me to be distracted. Here, surrounded by hundreds of people who looked up to my family and me, I had to be alert. 

People were watching. A small mistake could cost us. A lot. At the end of the day, our company's police prohibited any sort of inappropriate relationship between employees, and though I broke those rules occasionally, it was easy to do because nobody ever found out. 

But in such a public event, well, if I approached my executive assistant in any way, people would notice, and that would make them talk. 

That was the funny thing about people...They just knew shit. I learned that from interacting with countless people over the course of my career. It was stupid to assume that they wouldn't be able to read the room. 

I knew I had to stay away from Alice Rhodes. I didn't want people to talk. A sexual relationship between an executive assistant and her boss was...painfully stereotypical. People would be watching. They'd be paying attention. 

Especially because of how everyone was expecting an engagement announcement from me. 

But then she sent that selfie...

My cock was still rock hard. 

I returned to my family, and my mother gave me a look. One thing about my mother was that it was impossible to keep things from her. She just knew things. She could read me like a book, like no one else, so I stepped away from her and faced Carl, Carmella's father, even though the last place in the world where I wanted to be was here. 

He expected me to marry his daughter because I was fucking her. 

For me, she was just a warm pussy. 

It was the only warm thing about her. Carmella Westenberg was the coldest woman who ever walked the earth. She didn't care about anyone but herself, and we had nothing in common apart from the fact that she let me fuck her ass whenever I wanted to. 

But marry her? Nope. I would never marry anyone. I grew up watching my parents fight. It was a war-zone, our family home. Fights on top of fights. Both my parents cheated on each other. Every scandal was concealed by a perfect story. An illusion of peace and wealth and happiness. 

Only my siblings and I knew just how our family home reeked of shit. And I didn't want that for myself. 

"Where were you?" Carmella asked in my ear as she looped her arm around mine. Her breath reeked of champagne. "I was hoping to give you a New Year's kiss. We even called reporters to snap photos of the moment."

I turned to her, jaw clenched. "I told you I didn't want the paparazzi here."

"Mom allowed it."

I hated how she referred to my mother as 'mom' as if she were already part of the family. She wasn't, and I'd never given her any hopes. Her manipulation tactics didn't work on me. 

I glanced at my mother and found her staring at me through narrowed slits. I wanted to leave. I drank a little too much, and I was disoriented by what happened between us in her office. I could still smell her perfume all around me, and it excited and frustrated me in equal measure. 

God, that mouth...she kissed so fucking well. I couldn't stop thinking about how those succulent lips would feel around my cock. It was all I saw in my mind. When I got that text from her, I was so fucking giddy. Like a schoolboy, really. I was so excited to fuck her. I thought my Christmas present arrived a little too late, but hey, I'd still take it. 

I wasn't sure about what happened tonight, but I knew that this definitely wasn't the end. Alice Rhodes was playing a dangerous game and I was intrigued. 

If I thought I needed her before, there were no words for what the situation was right now. 

Carmella became pushy. She asked me, "You're coming to mine's after? There's a party there, remember?"

I had no intention of spending time with her coke-addicted friends. "No. I gotta go home."

Her eyes were wide as she stared back at me. "Seriously?"

"When have I ever not been serious, Carmella?"

"You literally never have time to spend with me, and now it's the holidays and you'd rather stay home?"

She drank a little too much, so her voice is a little too loud. I tighten my hold around her arm in warning and ask her rudely, "What, were you expecting a proposal? Don't worry. It's not happening tonight."

Her anger was stamped all over her perfectly made-up face. My guess was that she really thought I'd propose to her, which was why she called photographers to come here. Did she think the pap photos from last week would influence me?

She was dead wrong. 

Carmella walked away from me swiftly, and her father looked back and forth between us before following his daughter, the one he spoiled rotten. Mom approached me and asked in a low voice, "What's gotten into you tonight?"

"Nothing. I'm leaving."

"Theodore, your brother hasn't even arrived yet. And your sister—"

I kissed her cheek. "They'll be just fine without me. I'll see you later today."

I walked away from her, heading toward the exit. I was frustrated. I drank too much. My head was a little full. I wouldn't even mention that I had to take care of the fucking hard-on in my pants, and this time, I had a photo of her I could beat to. 

A photo of Alice Rhode's perfect little pussy. 

She ran away from me tonight, but I now knew this was all part of her game. No matter. I'd play by her rules. I'd bide my time.

I was sure of one thing, though. 

I'd fuck that woman. I'd have her all for myself. 

Even if it was the last thing in the world I ever did.