My Beautiful Pheromones

It’s another San Diego summer morning. Perfect, they say, except perfection has never felt so heavy to me. I blew off the long strands of hair on my face and let out a long low sigh. Waking up before my alarm goes blaring in my ears is a sign of a meaningful productive day for me. I walked into the kitchen to prepare my warm water because my body and gut needed to be snatched even though my stomach had refused to listen. “God knows I hate feeling so bloated”… I muttered. “You know you still owe me a drink”… startled by the thick voice coming from the other end of the kitchen, my eyes had been closed the whole way from the bed. I already know all the corners of the house even in the dark. “Jesus, Parker! Morning to you too.” I scowled, proceeded to wipe both my eyes clear. “Aren’t we supposed to celebrate your wins anymore? You were sleeping all day yesterday”.. “I was mentally getting ready to resume work today, Parker and you know that. Can’t we skip it?”.. “No way! Absolutely not..” his hand waved dismissively in the air. “We are not doing that here. Every win calls for a party. Whether you like it or not. Don’t be such a bore”.. He insisted. Parker is the life of a party. A man who looked amazing and charming from his hair down to his toes. Leanly built, blonde haired and brown-eyed. A man so beautiful that he attracts both the male and female gender. A man so passionate about celebrating the wins in my life no matter how little it was. “How about doing that on weekends. You know how much I love sleeping in when I am off work”… “Come on, Zoey. One drink or two won’t hurt..”.. “You never give up, do you?”…. I asked. “That’s why you love me”… he replied, grinning from ear to ear. “So seven o’ clock is a great time. You should be back by then, and have had your time to rest”.. “Yeah, Sure. Seven”… I downed my warm water in one go and headed straight to the shower. I only have an hour left to get ready. First day—first impression matters. Fifteen minutes later, I waved goodbye to Parker and stepped into the elevator hitting the last button on the wall for the ground floor. As soon as I got off the elevator, I clocked in for extra security before stepping onto the cold and chilly street of San Diego. Everyone had a place to be at all times, people minding their business and all trying to get through another day at a time. I quickly hopped into my car and drove off. Allowing the cool breeze hit my face while the soft music played. The drive to the company was nothing less than twenty minutes. And maybe extra twenty if there was traffic.. Luckily, there wasn’t any today. And that’s another sign my day was going as beautifully as planned. I was starting as the assistant to the Manager, Mr Smith Armstrong at Crown Towers International. One of the tallest skyscraper building in California. A multinational corporation built for luxury real estate, finance, private investments, luxury hotels, fashion entertainment and mostly controlling billions of dollars in global assets. The ninety-five story tower is wrapped with black reflective glass that gives off the impression of power and dominance. A place where the ultra- rich influencers compete to know and show who is more wealthier amongst them. I had taken this job because modeling was just a side gig and more of a hobby to me. I needed a real job, so my father would be less prideful that I am only surviving on his money alone. I parked my car at the closest spot in the parking lot and strode into the company wearing my ID badge on my neck. The two guards ran a check on me before I could pass through. I was heading towards the elevator when I suddenly saw my ex walking toward me with a beautiful blonde lady on his arm. The man who gave me panic attacks just by being present and my heart started racing. I stood there watching them, frozen while my brain and mind went blank... Hot flush ran down my spine, remembering our last encounter where he almost unalived me because I told him I couldn’t be with his abusive self anymore. I didn’t know whether to run or turn around so he wouldn’t notice me. I spun around quickly and suddenly bumped right into the hands of another man. I inhaled his scent, he had this musky scent of oud wood clinging to him. As well as having this fruity, dark and exotic scent. His aura exudes like the man in control. “Careful there.” he said, steading me with one hand on the small of my back. His voice was thick and husky. Carrying a deep musky warmth that made my stomach flutter. His perfectly tailored three piece suit made me realize he wasn’t just an ordinary person. Because only one of these suits has been found in the whole of California. He was tall, masculine enough to make me drool over him. When I looked up, his eyes locked onto mine. And all I did was study his features. From his inky black hair to his facial features, his lips tentatively drawing me to feel it, his eyes like that of a siren, his pointed nose and those beautiful brown irises. His bone structure made him gorgeous. “Are you alright, miss?”… he asked, straightening the slightly roughened part of his suit, I bumped into. That motion showed his manly wrist watch and golden cuff links. He was neatly dressed like a man I would proudly bring home to my family as a husband. I stood stunned, unable to answer or blink. All the inappropriate scenarios of him banging me with that hot body ran through my head in one minute. A little slightly flirty smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he bent down to pick up my purse and lip gloss that had fallen out of it. “You look a little dazzled. Here”.. he said, as he extended his hand towards me, maintaining eye contact and I collected my belongings without looking away either. “Be more careful next time”… he added and walked away. The two body guards followed right behind him. While I struggled to come out of my semi-daze. His voice still lingered in my ears, “you look a little dazzled”. Maybe I was a little but I could have countered that.. “Great! Zoey, snap out of it already. Get your s**t together”.. I muttered to myself. But who would meet such a high standard graceful man and not fall in love with him immediately? Then I remembered the reason I had bumped into the beautiful stranger. I took one good look at the man with the blonde-haired woman as he got closer. Until his back faced me, I found out that I was only imagining things because he had similar body build as my ex. I let out a deep breath, stepped into the elevator, and headed straight to my office, hoping the rest of the day wouldn’t throw any more surprises at me.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​