Help him out.I might spontaneously combust in the process, but I was good at my job. “Certainly, Mr. Mitchell. I’ll put together a portfolio for you, and then we’ll schedule another call. Unless you would rather come into the office?” I couldn’t help but to ask. I wanted to see the man this voice was attached to.
“Nah, phone call is fine. Thank you, Ms…Lovelace,” he said in a sultry voice, and I almost fell from my chair at how hot my name sounded coming from him. “Goodbye.”
He ended the call, and I turned to stare out the window, not seeing the buildings or streets outside. I was in trouble. This client was going to be particularly difficult to work with because his voice was so distracting. Eventually, I pulled myself out of my stupor and pushed Ryan Mitchell and Zander Kane from my mind. I had work to do.
A few hours later, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror of the black and white restroom in the office. After the call, the afternoon went to hell, and I looked just as bad. The shorter hair framing my face was wild from tangling my fingers in it when I couldn’t concentrate. I could pass for Cousin It instead of my usual Morticia Addams.
Back in my office, I pondered the clock. It was only four ona Monday. Could I get away with leaving? That morning had been productive, a ten out of ten, whereas the afternoon had been a zero since the call.
My thoughts drifted back to Zander, or Ryan. I was definitely going to slip and mistakenly call him Zander at some point. The next call would be after I got his portfolio together. I couldn’t get his voice out of my head, and the way he said my name…
I groaned, and put my head on my desk like a teenager trying to catch some sleep in class. “Fuck it,” I said into the glass.
Shooting out of the chair, I grabbed my purse, not even bothering to shut down the computer. I hurried past Mia’s door to avoid detection, but luckily she was on a call. Once in the lobby I stopped at the chic white reception desk in the middle of the room surrounded by pewter walls. The petite woman with salt and pepper chin length hair looked up from her computer where she had been typing.
“Hey Joanne.” I fidgeted with my purse on my arm, shifting uncomfortably on my feet. “I’m going to head home. I’ll work from there. Do you have it covered here?” I wasn’t going to work at home, especially since I left my briefcase in my office.
The brightest smile lit her face and she clasped her hands together. “You’re leaving the office before six? Raven, that's wonderful! You should go home and just relax. No need to work. Everything is going well, and I just sent over the reports you did this morning. I copied you, but a response just came through from the client. They’re ecstatic with the numbers,” she gushed. “All of your hard work is paying off.”
I beamed back at Joanne. “Perfect! I’ll see you in the morning. Text me if you need anything.”
“Of course,” she said as I walked out the door to the elevators.
I pushed the button for the garage and counted my lucky stars that I had found Mia and Joanne. Joanne was the same age as my mom, but she was one of my favorite people. Caring and nurturing to the people she cared about, but when it came to work, she was the baddest bitch around. Polished and refined, but would knock anyone on their ass with her words.
When I started the company, it was just Joanne and I. I convinced her to leave our old financial firm with me to start my own. She said she was ready for something new so I saved up enough money to pay her a decent salary. The managing role had become stagnant for her so she agreed to be the receptionist and secretary until we got on our feet after a few years. With the growth recently, I was happy I could finally hire a replacement for her position out front. I smiled at the thought of her being freed up to run the office and made the decision to post the position on the job sites as soon as possible.
When I got home, I dropped my purse on the kitchen island and gazed around my apartment. I was rarely here during the daylight hours, especially during the week, and the furniture looked a bit out of place in the sunlight. Shaking off the strangeness, I ditched my heels in my bedroom and pulled on a black cashmere lounge set.
I drew the blinds in one of the spare bedrooms I had made into my home office, preferring a darkened vibe over the bright sunlight. After booting up my computer, I went into super sleuth mode. I scrounged the web for any mention of a Ryan Mitchell, a more in-depth search than I did on Friday.
After an hour with fifteen open tabs on both of my monitors, I was still at square one. My computer looked like I was a stalker, which, for this man’s voice, I wouldn’t say was too far from the truth.
Switching gears, I pulled up social media.
Navigating to the photo and short form video website, Inoted how odd it looked on a computer as opposed to a phone. I typed Zander Kane into the search bar and found what looked to be his account and pulled up the profile. Dozens of black screened videos stared back at me. What? Why would he post blank videos and photos? Then I realized it might just be the thumbnail images.
I pulled up the most recent one posted a week ago and was met with, surprise, a black screen. It wasn’t just the video cover photo on his main page. The video itself was blank as well. What the fuck? I stared at the screen as the ten second video replayed over and over.
Fuck.Realization dawned on me. Voice actor. He was a voice actor so it was probably a video of just his voice. I shook my head at my cluelessness and reached for my speakers. Turning up the volume, I exited the video and clicked it again to make sure it started from the beginning.
My heart damn near stopped. Zander’s seductive baritone voice filled the room. “Baby girl,” he panted. “You do that so well.” His breaths came faster, and he moaned, “Your mouth is going to be the death of me.”
I rushed to stop the video before it could play again, worried someone might hear even though no neighbors bordered the walls of the room. I sat back in my chair, jaw on the floor at what I’d just heard, heat rushing through my body. Zander’s audiobooks were great, but he didn’t breathe like that when he narrated spicy scenes in them. It seemed so realistic. My cheeks were on fire and I knew my face looked like a tomato against my usual pale complexion.
Snapping from my thoughts, I grabbed headphones from a drawer, powering them on and connecting them to the desktop. I reached for the mouse and clicked on the next video.
Chapter Four
Ryan
When I hungup with the financial lady, I pulled up her company website. That fucking voice. It was pure intelligence, even though she seemed a bit flustered in the beginning. As soon as she spoke my cock sprang to life. I worked with quite a few female co-narrators over the last year and had heard their breathy voices in the throes of sexy scenes. None of them made my body pay attention like that woman’s timbre. When she accidentally swore I almost groaned into the phone. Throughout the call I only half paid attention, focusing on her voice instead of the boring stuff she was saying about stocks and numbers. My mind drifted to places it shouldn’t have gone.
I clicked on the “About” tab, and holy goth baddie. Staring at her photo for much longer than was socially acceptable, my eyes roamed over her obsidian hair that was half pulled back, leaving a few shorter wisps around her face. Her black suit and crisp white blouse fit her perfectly. The thing that drew me in the most, though, was her eyes. They shined like emeralds in a jewelry store. She was as gorgeous as she sounded on thephone, and I found myself wishing I’d met her in person instead of a call.
But then again, I knew this woman was far out of any league I could ever hope to play in.
I finally snapped out of the spell she had on me and realized I was supposed to be working. I began to push away from my desk when I wondered if it could be possible she knew me professionally. I figured it was probably unlikely since I doubted she filled her time with audiobooks or social media.
