Page 5 of Mr. Blackwood

My hands weren’t clean, and I had a past. There was always a chance my past could catch up with me, so I tried to remain one step ahead at all times. My eyes scanned the monitors as I listened to the conversation in the room.

A woman caught my attention. It wasn’t rare for me to see a beautiful woman who I found attractive. There was something different about this woman, though. She was talking to Rodney, one of the security guards at the front desk. She wasn’t wearing heels, so I gauged her height to be about five-ten, because I knew Chris was six-one. Plump, oval-shaped lips set in a cappuccino-colored, diamond-shaped face. She fingered her left, arched eyebrow before it rose in frustration as she pinched the bridge of her slim nose.

The woman’s angular cheekbones appeared to be turning somewhat red with emotion, and I wondered if they turned that color when she was aroused.

She was slim with noticeable curves and definitely toned as though she worked out frequently. Bone straight hair was parted in the middle and pulled back in a ponytail that caressed the top of her shapely, round ass.

I couldn’t help but wonder what her hair might look like against her body while she was naked . . . and wet.

I stood and walked to the monitor with my arm resting at my midsection. My finger settled over my top lip and underneath my nose as I observed their exchange. Clearly, Rodney was telling her something she hadn’t wanted to hear.

When I glanced back around the room, I noticed that everyone was focused on what Colton was saying. Only Elian watched me intently. I turned my gaze back to the monitor, and she was still speaking. She shifted an oversized bag on her arm and removed her sunglasses from her face. My eyes took in the length of her long, toned but curvy legs in the denim cutoff jeans she wore. When she spun around briefly and pointed at the elevators, I noticed that her ruffled brown and yellow blouse and the denim cutoff vest, rose up just enough for me to see a diamond piercing in her belly button. I glanced back down at the cowboy boots on her feet. She was sexy in her little getup, and she fascinated the hell out of me.

When she fingered her left eyebrow for the third time, I could tell that was a sign of stress for her. She said something else, threw her hands up, and left the building.

I frowned as I turned back to my team.

“I have another meeting I have to hop into. Move forward with my orders and keep me updated. If you need anything, check in with Elian,” I commanded, grabbing my laptop and my phone and heading for the door.

I ignored their stares of bewilderment. I knew that they couldn’t fathom what could be more important than this meeting, because I never walked out on a merger and acquisitions meeting.

Moments later, when I was in my office, I locked the door and turned on every monitor in and around the building. A scowl marred my face as frustration set in. I couldn’t find her. I should have been able to locate her on one of the cameras that surrounded the building and the parking lot.

Just as I was about to race down to the lobby, I spotted her stepping from the shadows. She was on her phone. She must have been standing in a spot just out of the camera’s sight. She ended the call as a man roughly in his early forties approached her. They spoke briefly before he nodded and walked toward a moving van. I surmised he must have been one of her employees.

She walked toward a recent model silver Mercedes Benz CLE cabriolet. It appeared to be a recent model. As I watched her, I called down to the security desk.

“Hello, Mr. Blackwood. How may I assist you?” Rodney greeted.

“The lady that you were having a conversation with just moments ago. Who is she?”

“Oh, she’s a new tenant, Camilla Valentine, the owner of ColorMe CEO.”

“What seems to be the issue with her?”

“She wasn’t advised that she has to take her things around back to the loading dock and have them moved in on the service elevator. I explained to her that the lobby can’t be used for moving.”

“Did she want to use the lobby for furniture or just specific things?”

“I uhm, . . . I’m not sure, sir.”

“Go find her and let her know she can use the lobby for anything that isn’t furniture.”

“Yes, sir.”

I ended the call without another word. Rodney rushed out of the building and met up with her. As I watched him set things straight with her and escort her back into the building, I made three separate calls: one to the maintenance supervisor, Chris McIntire, to ensure the office suite for ColorMe CEO was ready; one to Waylen “Brick” Grant at Elite Solutions, a private security firm, I used to request cameras in ColorMe Magazine’s office suite; and a final call to David Cole, my private investigator.

“Mr. Blackwood, how are you doing?” he greeted.

“Business as usual. I need to know everything there is to know about Camilla Valentine, the CEO of ColorMe Magazine.”

3 – CAMILLA

TWO WEEKS LATER

I was exhausted, but I needed something to hype me up. I glanced at the clock on the wall, and my shoulders slumped. It was a little after midnight, and my sister, Courtney had expected me at her place for dinner at seven. Not only had I missed it, but I hadn’t even managed to call her and tell her that I wouldn’t make it.

I grabbed my phone and sighed when I saw that it was dead. The last thing that I needed to do was drive home with a dead phone. I grabbed my charger from my desk and plugged it in.