The Love Of Money - Episode 20
26-07-25 (06:49)
We stayed like that for a full fifteen seconds before she
finally pulled away. She kept her arms loosely draped
over my shoulders and stayed well within my personal
bubble, her big, dark eyes staring up at me and
breaking my heart with every passing moment. The
smile on her face was radiant, and I couldn't help but
smile back.
God I wanted to kiss her.
"I can't begin to thank you enough, Marcus," Natalie
said.
I shook my head, breaking the spell of that moment,
"No need. You deserve it. You're a really hard worker,
and you know all our major accounts intimately.
Anyway, you're also the only person at this company I
genuinely like."
Her eyes suddenly became bright, and I could detect a
faint hint of unshed tears in them. Her smile softened,
and I felt her arms slightly tense around my neck. She
leaned in, closing the distance between the two of us
and for a split second, I thought we were going to kiss
and then she went for the cheek, pressing her full,
warm lips against my skin. I closed my eyes and just
enjoyed the moment, very aware that we'd never
quite been this close physically. The corner of her mouth
was just out of reach of mine, and I was fully aware
that I could have turned my head a fraction of an inch
and our lips would have connected. I didn't want to risk
ruining the moment, or making it awkward. Instead, I
simply tightened my hand on her back, my fingertips
massaging the muscles in the middle of her back over
her blouse.
Finally, she pulled back, smiling shyly as she bruised a
bit of hair behind her ear. "Thank you. I like you too."
We sat there on the couch grinning at each other
goofily for who knows how long, when she finally
cleared her throat, "So, what's the plan? What should I
do?"
I adjusted myself on the couch and tried to cool myself
off, attempting to tamp down the butterflies in my
stomach while also wondering if I'd missed an
opportunity in that awkward moment of silence. I hope
made the right call.
I tried to switch my brain from breeding mode to
business mode, "Take the rest of the day. Get your stuff
together. Go home. Mentally prep... whatever you need
to do. You'll need to fill out some paperwork, but I'll
have them send it to Gina's office - your office- and you
can fill it out tomorrow."
"I'll need you to go over the accounts and personnel
and make recommendations on how you'd like to tailor
things to your oversight. I'd also like to give everyone a
pay bump, but I'd like your recommendation on exactly
how much. And there are a handful of people we
should probably cut loose. My only request is that you
not fire Bobbl. At least, not yet."
Natalie was nodding along up until that last request, at
which she knitted her eyebrows together in confusion.
"Firing her was one of my first thoughts. Why not?
Everyone hates that bitch."
I nodded, "I still do, but when I fired Gina, she gave me
some information that I can't ignore. Honestly, it's too
juicy. I'm going to be speaking to her right after this. I'll
fill you in on the details tomorrow."
She grinned at that, "I can't wait to hear how that
goes."
"Speaking of which, I'll need to go ahead and speak to
her."
We stood up and she straightened her skirt, "Well,
thank you again for this Marcus. It means so much to
me. You'll fill me in a bit more on some of the details
on how this happened." Suddenly, a look of horror
came over her, "Oh god, you didn't lose someone, did
you?"
Technically, I had, but it wasn't like I'd miss a man I'd
never met.
"No... It wasn't anything like that. But I promise, I'll tell
you more about it. Maybe tomorrow while you're
getting settled in," I replied. We gave each other a hug,
our bodies pressing much closer than they'd ever been
in the past. When she pulled back to look at me, I
swear we almost kissed. I locked eyes with her, and
read so much in them. Fondness, camaraderie,
and....maybe desire?
She kissed my cheek once more. This time the corner of
her mouth actually did brush mine, and I couldn't resist
the temptation any longer. I moved my head and our
lips were on each other's, and we shared our first kiss.
It was closed-mouth and sweet, but held the promise
of so much more. Her lips were more soft and pliant
than I could have ever imagined, and I could feel my
stomach doing backflips while fireworks were going off
in my brain. After a few more seconds, we pulled back
and both smiled a little awkwardly before stepping
apart.
"Thank you," I finally said.
"No, no... thank you," she replied with a sheepish smile.
"I've wondered what that would be like for a while
now."
"You have?"
I nodded, "Yeah. For weeks."
"I might have too," she said, her words slightly breathy.
She visibly swallowed. "I wouldn't mind another one."
I opened my mouth to tell her the same, when there
was a light knock on the door. Both of us jumped a
foot away from each other and Natalie was
immediately trying to make herself seem as if
everything was professional and normal.
A heartbeat later, the door opened several inches and
Vikram peered in the room, "Mr. Upton?"
We both looked at him.
"I have Bobbi Nanford with me?"
"Alright," I said, looking back to Natalie.
She gave me a soft smile, "I'll leave you to it. Talk to
you tomorrow?"
"Absolutely," I responded, returning the smile. "I'll see
you soon."
Vikram stepped aside as Natalie departed. A heartbeat
later, Helen slipped into the room past Vikram, "Could
you please send in Bobbi, please?"
"Yes ma'am," Vikram said and shut the door behind
her..
"Hey," I said. Suddenly the thoughts I'd had for bending
Helen over my desk and fucking her was paled in light
of the kiss I'd just shared with Natalie. Apparently
Helen could tell something had happened.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah," I said as I circled the desk and sat in the chair.
She eyed me for a moment, "Forgive me, but that
wasn't very convincing."
I leaned back in the comfortable office chair and simply
stared at her for a long moment as I tried to gather my
thoughts. Why did Helen have to be so gorgeous?
"Natalie and I kissed," I finally said. "We've worked
together for nearly a year and I've always had a thing
for her. She broke up with her boyfriend about a month
ago. And now with all of this, I waved my hand
around, "All this opportunity... I think I might have a
good shot at a great life with an amazing girl, and I
don't want to mess it up." I looked up at her with an
apology in my eyes.
She crossed her arms under her breasts, "Literally
anyone would kill to be where' you are, Marcus." She
walked over to the desk and sat on the corner of the
desk next to me. Her skirt was tight enough to give me
an enticing view of the curvature of her hips and ass.
"Don't throw it away for a single person. You could end
up making very costly mistakes." She leaned across the
desk, her blouse falling to give me a mouth-watering
view down her front. "You could have an entire bevy of
beautiful women who adore you and are devoted to
you. Like I am. Why settle for just one?"
"This isn't-"
"Just anyone," she finished my thought. "I know." Helen
leaned forward, reached out and ran an index finger
down my jawline before cupping my chin gently in her
hand. She ran a thumb across my lips. I could feel her
gaze on me, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the
view down her blouse. She stretched forward a bit
more till her lips were less than an inch from mine. I
lifted my gaze to hers as her tongue ran across my lips.
I opened them and the tips of our tongues barely
brushed each other. After the kiss I'd just shared with
Natalie and now this, my cock felt like it was going to
burst.
"Trust me, Marcus. You don't want to give this up," she
whispered, her lips not quite parting from mine.
And then a knock at the door interrupted us before i
had a chance to respond. Helen gave me a wicked
smile and slid off the desk, straightening her skirt as
she retreated to a corner of the office just to the right
of the door. Another more insistent knock came.
I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly who it was on the
other side. Even her knocking was obnoxious, "Come
In!"
Bobbi threw the door open as she strode into the office
without even bothering to close it. One of the body
guards from YPV stepped into the room, grabbed the
door, and closed it quietly behind her. Bobbi glared at
me with those cold gray eyes, "What the hell is this?"
I Immediately felt on edge as I met her stare. Bobbi
was more than half a foot shorter than me, but her
domineering attitude, her relationship with Gina, and
the way she wielded HR like a cudgel had always
given her an aura of intimidation. My knee jerk reaction
was to placate her till she went away.
"You're looking at the new owner of Marduke Financial,"
Helen said behind her. Bobbi looked over her shoulder,
her loose, auburn hair flinging through the air to cover
the look of disdain she was throwing at Helen. She
looked back at me, eyes narrowed into
slits.
"Seriously. What's this about? Why the fuck are you up
here?"
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