Chapter 2
Mesmerize
Jane Russet
Jane sauntered into Prince Walker’s tastefully furnished office after three knocks on the door. She came up to his desk and stood there for a minute, admiring him. It was hard not to stare sometimes; he was so dreamy, with his square jaw and high cheekbones, his sexy green eyes. The way they stared into her soul always made her groin tingly. She loved everything about him … except for his temper. Sometimes he could be such a small boy with worse tantrums, but no one could deny his genius when it came to his expertise in his field. Prince sat at his desk, reading the issue of GQ scheduled for release in December—next month—detailing his success at taking over his father’s multi-national business empire and about the new AI he’d been working on. At twenty-nine he was already listed in Forbes and was the dream catch of every girl who pored through New York’s most eligible bachelor lists. Prince had graduated from MIT summa cum laude. Upon taking his place as chairman of the board after his dad retired, he had moved to diversify the company away from real estate and into the technology market. Now Cedar Inc. was among the industry’s pioneers for innovative technology.
After working at his outer office for nearly two years, Jane was still stealing looks at her boss. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she first saw him. At a towering height of six-two, he had the physical build of a Greek god. His jaw was square beneath those strong-featured cheekbones and delicately chiseled face framed by a full head of pitch-black hair. No one could dismiss the power or arrogance he exuded. Where other tech gurus were usually gaunt, bespectacled, and geeky looking, his work shirts were basically trying to burst off of his broad shoulders, and his muscled arms could have him pass for a baseball player. Girls in the office were always trying to get a glimpse of their boss. Like a model walking out on a runway, Prince was always impeccably stylish in his tailored suits. It was also in the way he lounged in the chair, the way his hair, perfectly styled, contrasted sharply with his jade-green eyes. Anyone could tell he took great care when it came to grooming.
∞∞∞
Prince Walker
“Jane,” I called, jarring her from her ogling. “Did you need something?”
“Mm? Ah, yes, I’m sorry. Your father is on line two.” She remained motionless for another minute, staring at me, her deep desire for me revealed in her gaze, unable to tear her eyes away from me; I was used to these stares from women. She had already made a copy of my magazine feature to show off to her friends; it was one of the many perks of working for me, Prince Walker. Getting her hands on magazine issues before they got released, access to tech that was designed strictly for intelligence bodies and not privy to the public, and this, every girl’s daydream, the chance to get a real-life glimpse of me every day she spent at her job.
“Jane, is there anything else?” I called out again. “Oh, no there isn’t. I’ll leave you to it.”
She left my office with a graceful sashay of her hips, and I took an appraising glance. Twenty-seven and really sexy in her tight, jet-black leather skirt that stopped well above her knees. She wore a neatly ironed white shirt with frilly sleeves; she had left the top two buttons open for my benefit.
Having worked for a lot of important men in the corporate world, Jane wasn’t wide-eyed or naïve anymore. She knew the vices that men who were rich and powerful indulged in, yet she let herself develop feelings for me. Jane knew I would never return her affections. I never mixed business with pleasure. I loved to reward discretion and loyalty, and she was amazing at her job. She handled both my business and private affairs with no judgment, never letting the jealousy I knew she must have felt get in the way of fulfilling her duties.
The call I’d received from my father put me in a foul mood. It seemed nothing I did would please my old man. I had sent over a copy of my GQ interview, hoping to score points with my appearance in the media for something unrelated to my usual escapades, but Drew Walker had brushed it aside like it was immaterial. Since childhood, I’d wanted more than anything to make my father proud. I had grown in the large shadow my father cast, struggling for scraps of his approval. For a long time, I had been the perfect son, working hard and graduating top of my class. Although Dad would have preferred me to study business, I eventually saw technology was where I shone.
My father’s most recent grievance was my refusal to get married. This irked me so much as I could not see myself indulging in something as final as marriage. It was not that I did not like women; I just saw them as objects of conquest. I enjoyed the chase, knew I could have anyone I wanted, and women fell over themselves to get my attention, so I appreciated the ones who made me work hard for it. I was not ready to give up that freedom.
My greatest weaknesses were my conceit and pride. I couldn’t help believing that I was better than everyone else in the room. The only person I considered a worthy rival was my old man, Drew Walker. I wanted to best him in every espect. This obsession had made me blind to other business adversaries, the toughest being SysCorp Technologies. The Russian tech company was following closely behind our company Cedar Inc, as the second leading corporation for tech and equipment. That was what the call from my father had been about. SysCorp was pitching for the same multi-billion-dollar deal to build intelligence equipment for the Chinese government that I had been pursuing for three months.
I won’t fuck this up.
