From Prey to Precious

The Meeting According to Brian

Brian’s POV:

As I hear Rachel’s soft knock against my office door, I lean back in my chair and affect an air of nonchalance.

“Enter,” I say in response to her soft knock.

I hear her mutter, “Enter? Who the hell says ‘Enter’? under her breath as she comes into the office and turns to quietly close the door behind her. 

She’s as mouth watering as I remember. Her lean athletic build doesn’t take away a scrap of her femininity.  Her long, wavy auburn hair is held back in a loose ponytail that cascades down her back and drape over the backpack she’s currently wearing.  The black jeans she’s wearing hug her hips and accentuate the slight swell of her hips and add are pulled taught over her thighs before flaring out slightly just past the knee.

As she turns around and I look into her eyes for the first time, I’m completely spellbound.  Her eyes are a moss green, slightly darker than my own eyes, with limbal rings surrounding them, it brings out the small flecks of gold and blue that dance amongst the green.  Her pale, soft skin is just as tempting as I follow the lines of her face over her sharp cheek bones down to her pink, bowstring lips.  I notice that she only has a minimal amount of make-up around her eyes, using a dark brown to further contrast against her pale skin and sharp eyes.  She’s wearing a hunter green, silk, button down shirt that is tucked into her jeans, giving her a more polished and professional appearance, only marred by the scuffed black leather riding jacket she’s wearing. 

For some reason, she just stands there staring at me as our eyes meet.  I need to make sure that I know what she’s thinking so I can anticipate her concerns and squash them before she can even mention them. As we lock eyes, I reach out with a slight brush of my powers and brush against her thoughts. 

Once the connection is established, I can’t help but take a short intake of air as I watch her pupils dilate and her lips part slightly.  Between the extremely interesting images flashing through her mind, the sweet scent of her skin, the scent of her arousal, and now her tongue darting over her lips to moisten them, I’m finding it harder and harder to maintain my control. I maintain eye contact with her and slowly place my arms on the chair and begin to stand as she brings those delicious thoughts to a crashing halt, reminding herself that this is a business meeting and I’m her boss. Unfortunately, her body is not responding as quickly to her mental bucket of ice water and I can still smell her. As she crosses the room to stand in front of my desk, she brings that alluring scent closer and closer.

I know that if I reach out a hand to her, I won’t be able to stop myself from pulling her over my desk and drown myself in her sweet scent.  As it is, I can feel my fangs lengthening behind my closed lips. But I must keep her from suspecting I’m walking on a knife’s edge. I somehow manage to keep my hands and my sides as I give her a closed lipped smile.

Luckily, this goes right along with the impression that she currently has of me that I’m a loner who prefers not to interact with people.

“Good Evening Mr. Calloway. I hope I’m not late,” she says genially as she inclines her head to me slightly as she stops in front of my desk.  I know that she’s aware that she’s actually a few minutes early, but I chose not to point it out.

I return her slight bow and manage to hold out one of my hands without trembling, indicating one of the seats behind her. “Not at all. Please Ms. Langston, have a seat. We have much to discuss this evening so you might as well make yourself comfortable,” I manage to get out without showing my fangs as they finally begin to recede.

As she gently places her backpack on the floor and lowers herself down onto the chair, I can hear her thoughts loud and clear. “And just what about this whole situation is supposed to be comfortable?” To her credit, her fake, customer service smile doesn’t falter as she takes a seat and crosses her legs at the ankle. I can also see exactly what she’s worried about regarding this meeting. It takes a lot not to chuckle out loud at her unfounded worries.

“Thank you sir,” she says as she finishes settling onto the edge of the chair, “But I have to be honest, I’m at a loss as to why you wanted to meet with me this evening,” she states as she looks at my face, attempting to gain any clue as to my intentions.

Thoughts flip through her mind nearly too quickly for me to follow. Most of it seems to be circling around some off the wall reason for firing her or being angry with what she’s done to my bike. But the last, fleeting thought of me propositioning her is enough to bring a predatory smile to my face.  A smile that I quickly cover up before addressing her again. 

As I take my seat, once again finding myself gripping the arms of my chair to keep from reaching out to her, I manage to give her a more convincing smile. “I’m sorry for the confusion. As I said, there are several things that I wanted to discuss with you this evening Ms. Langston.”

When Rachel hears me call her ‘Ms. Langston’ again, I feel a nearly palpable wash of revulsion coming from her. I also get flashes of images of various people throughout her life addressing her as ‘Ms. Langston’ and her heavy dislike at each interaction. I can’t keep the sour look off of my face as I continue to be bombarded with images of these contemptable people.  People that belittled her, shouted at her, made her feel worthless and any number of other deplorable things.

I don’t want her to associate me with any of them. I look up at Rachel from over the desk and ask, “Would you mind if I call you Rachel?”  This way I am separating myself from these people on an unconscious level and ingratiating myself with her at the same time.

Evidently my request throws her off a bit because she sits there blinking for a few moments as she processes my request. “Not at all,” she replies as a much more natural smile comes over those beautiful bowstring lips.

I want to see her smiling like that more and the fact that I’m the cause of her current smile fills me with a satisfaction that I’m not used to associating with humans aside from when I’m slaking my thirst. I lean back in my chair and rest my elbows on the arms of my chair, letting my hands fall into my lap. I watch her eyes flick over my body, resting for a longer moment on my hands as she thinks about the anatomy that they are framing.

She is going to be most enjoyable to work with. Her reactions are so deliciously pure, and I find myself wanting to experience more of them.  But I can’t get ahead of myself, I need to bring this meeting back to topic so I can close the deal with her. Business first, pleasure later.

“Good. Thank you for that,” I tell her, making sure that I am not firmly back in the place of her boss in her mind. “Now, as I was about to say, part of the reason that I wanted to meet with you tonight is to get to know a little more about you. I know that you came over to my shop on a referral from one of my part-time mechanics,” I’m suddenly drawing a blank on this guy’s name. I don’t see him around the shop much anymore, but luckily I’m able to pluck the name right out of Rachel’s thoughts, “uh Manny, I think the name was. Is that right?” I ask to cover up my momentary hesitation.

She doesn’t seem to notice, or really care about my little slip, as she responds, “Yes, that’s correct. Manny has been a friend of mine for a few years now and he was the one that suggested that I see if you could use an extra set of hands from time to time.”

I can see in her thoughts the type of relationship that she and Manny have. The light flirting, the protectiveness over each other. I can also see how excited she was at the prospect of working at Black Widow and the warning that Manny gave her after he gave her the referral. I didn’t realize that some of the employees were starting to be bothered by some of my dealings. I’ll need to start making sure to only have my less savory clients deal with specific people at the shop, I think to myself as I start drumming my fingers against my thighs.

I suddenly that Rachel has stopped talking and I’ve been lost in my own thoughts just a touch too long.  I find her looking over at me with a touch of concern on her face and a slightly raised eyebrow. Normally I’m not so easily distracted. I don’t know what is wrong with me tonight, but I need to buckle down and focus on the meeting that I’m in the middle of or I’m going to blow it. She’s already wondering if I’m second guessing having her around and how little she actually thinks of herself hurts me, but I don’t know why. This is the first time I’ve ever talked to this girl, what she thinks of herself shouldn’t matter to me, but for some reason I find that it does.

I stop my fingers from moving and paint a pleasant smile on my face as I look back at Rachel. “I’ll have to remember to thank him for the referral later,” I tell her with a smile in hopes to make her a little more comfortable after my lengthy silence. “How are you enjoying working here?” I ask as I continue to scan her thoughts.

My question seems to put her at ease as a wide smile breaks over her face. “I love working here. It’s challenging and I’ve been able to learn a lot,” she replies as she becomes more animated. “I’ve gotten a chance to work on machine I never would have been able to touch otherwise.” Her eyes lose focus as she imagine the various machine’s she’s gotten to work on already and thinks about still other machines that have come into the garage that she’s been itching to get her hands on.

I can’t help but smiling in turn. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and I’m reminded of a time when I used to get just as excited about new things. It’s been a very long time since something stirred that kind of passion inside of me. I find myself yearning for that feeling again and wondering if perhaps I need to find another project to see if I can bring back that feeling.

I nod my head slightly as I attempt to keep my smile under control, “Good I’m glad to hear it because I’d like to offer you the opportunity to do more around here.” I made sure to pay close attention to her thoughts at this point. I was sure that she would have reservations and I had to prepare to assuage whatever her objections may be.

Her eyebrows knit together as she leans back a little from the desk, “What do you mean?” she asks and she begins to jump to conclusions.

She thinks that I’m going to downgrade her, make her clean and take out the trash or she thinks I’m going to make her Darci’s assistant. There’s no way that I’m letting this beauty out of the garage. I mean her people skills are alright, but the vehicles are where she shines. This poor thing really doesn’t seem to know the value of her skills.

I offer a small smirk as I lean back in my chair and lace my fingers behind my head, “I’d like to offer you a full-time position here, At least 40 hours a week, paid time off, benefits, the whole package,” I say as I start to let me eyes close to slits before giving her a small smile and glancing at her sideways. “That is, if you think you’re up for it of course.” I say a little smugly. I know that she can’t walk away from a challenge and I’ve definitely got her on the hook now.

She knows that I’m not talking about a different job inside of the shop now. She’s finally starting to believe that I want her here to work on vehicles full time. I can tell from her thoughts that she’s excited for the idea and happy about the chance to stretch her proverbial muscles, but there’s something that’s holding her back from saying yes…

I watch her carefully behind half-closed eyes as she begins to rub her hands nervously over her jeaned thighs.  Suddenly her thoughts fill with Vincent and his shop.  I can tell that she feels greatly indebted to him for giving him a chance at his shop. She contemplates for a moment about working full-time at both shops. But nearly as quickly as the thought forms she dismisses it, knowing that her quality of work would suffer and she would end up not only losing both jobs, but disappointing Vincent. 

“I appreciate the offer, really I do, but I’m going to have to think about it. I owe a lot to Vinnie, the boss at my other job, and I don’t feel right about accepting another full-time position without talking to him first,” she says as she begins to contemplate what she is going to say to him.

I can feel my smile widen. She’s mine already, she just hasn’t admitted it to herself yet. She’s going to leave Vincent’s shop and come to mine. I know that she’s going to ask for some time to think about it, but if I don’t give her a time limit, she’s just going to draw it out and he might actually be able to convince her to reconsider. I know that if he really wants to, he’ll trade mercilessly on her feelings for him, guilt her into staying even though it would be holding her back from her potential. The gods know that’s exactly what I would do if I were in his shoes.

I shrug a little before I open my eyes and lean forward putting my palms on top of my desk. “Alright, that’s understandable. You have one week to make your decision,” I tell her, leaving no room for argument.

At first, she is surprised that I’m being reasonable about her request for some time to decide. But when I give her a time frame, she’s angry and begins to feel like I’m giving her an ultimatum. As she begins to get angrier about my order, I see images of others giving her various ultimatums and the results afterwards. Cal seemed to feature quire prominent in these images.

“What if I decide that I don’t want to leave Vinnie’s? Will I be fired from Black Widow?” she asks tentatively, as if she’s afraid of my answer.

I nearly burst out laughing from the ridiculousness of that question. Do I look like an i***t? I’m not going to throw away any chance I have to sink my talons into this woman and if Vincent does somehow convince her to stay with him, I’d still rather have her here on a part-time basis than not at all. “No absolutely not,” I reassure her, “I’m not stupid enough to throw away someone with your talents. I’m happy to have you however I can get you,” I tell her as I feel my lips form into a smirk.

I see her give me a pointed look as she barely manages to stifle a snort of derision as she looks at me and crosses her arms over her chest. I hear her thinking, “Oh really? Any way you can get me?” as I start seeing various lewd images of me bending her over the desk or grabbing a hold of her tight firm ass as she’s bent over a car’s engine.

The images seem to burn themselves into my brain and the sharp hunger that I felt the first day that I laid eyes on her, once again punches me right in the gut. I need to get control of myself or this whole meeting could be disastrous. I hang my head as if in shame, but in reality, it’s to hide my eyes flashing red. I run my hands over my face to mimic embarrassment that I should feel, but it’s just to hide my fangs while I force them to recede.

“I’m sorry. That came out wrong. I hope you understand what I meant,” I ask as I do my best to look sheepishly over at Rachel.

Rachel gives a small chuckle and seems to relax slightly, as she responds with, “Yeah, I understood what you meant, and I appreciate the compliment.” As she uncrosses her arms, she inclines her head towards me slightly, “I’ll give you my answer in one week,” she says as she uncrosses her arms and leans down to grab her backpack from off of the floor.

I can’t help but appreciate her form as she bends over to pick up her backpack and seeing her bent over is not doing anything to help keep my mind off of the images from earlier come roaring back into my mind. If I weren’t currently reading her thoughts, I would think that she was doing this on purpose. So, in an attempt to clear my mind, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I stood up and stretched as if my back were bothering me from sitting too long.

“Good. Now that the business portion of the meeting is over, how about we celebrate your pending full-time position and go grab a drink?”

She glances at me sideways and mumbles, “Someone sure doesn’t take no for an answer,” to herself as she positions her backpack strap on her shoulder. “Sorry BOSS, but one, I haven’t said yes yet and two, even if I had, I make it a point not to go out with my boss. People would get the wrong idea.”

Her thoughts are a little troubling as I discover that despite her best efforts, those exact rumors are already circulating around the garage. Rachel’s not sure who’s starting them, but evidently there are several rumors going around that she’s just been sleeping with some of the senior mechanics, including Wayne, in an effort to better her position and hopefully try to sink her claws into me. She won’t admit it, but the rumors do bother her.

The smile that she sends my way is tinged with sadness and for some reason I just can’t bare to let her walk out of this office that way. I need to bring that light back to her eyes. I dash around her and manage to lay my hand on the door handle just before she does.

“Technically we’re both off the clock so I’m not your boss right now,” I look at her pleadingly. “Come on, there’s something that I really want to show you.” I know just what will help her turn that frown upside down. I just hope that she’s willing to listen to me.

I can see in her thoughts that she’s currently at war with herself about whether or not she should go. She wants to just see what I could possibly want to show her. Part of her is hoping that it’ll lead to a night of grinding against each other and possibly leading to more. But she knows that this would be a complication that she doesn’t want to deal with, especially at a place that she’s poised to take a new full-time position at.

“Alright,” she says with a small sigh as her remaining resolve crumbles, “but it’s against my better judgement,” she admonishes me with a raised finger.

I find a grin creeping across my face as I open the office door for her. “Most excellent. You’ve made me a very happy man Rachel.”

I can’t wait to show her my other business. I find myself hoping that she’ll enjoy ‘Eden’ just as much as I do.