Chapter 2 ATTRACTION

He flipped open his MacBook and tapped a few keys, while Seth opened a drawer on his desk and retrieved his stress ball. He wanted out of this damn office.

"Okay, so everyone's contracted, but a handful will be available soon. Chloe Reynolds will be free from the Berlin project in four weeks. Cara Ann will be free from an addition at Lopez project in two weeks, and Alice Roberts will be free from the Ramz nightclub project in two days."

"Whoever's closest to being available, Will. Christ."

"That would be Alice Roberts, but she specializes in commercial venues, nightclubs, etcetera. Would be better to wait on Cara Ann."

"No one without versatility would be hired in my company, Will. Unless you're telling me I need to fire the manager of the design department for hiring inept workers?" he asked sternly.

"She must've worked on some residential projects before. Pull up her profile. Check."

Will tapped around on his MacBook again then shrugged and slid it across the desk to him.

"This is her work on Sky Land from two years ago. That's the last house project she did."

Seth leaned forward and clicked through the designs. There wasn't anything awe-inspiring. But then, that was two years ago. If he remembered clearly, people were more than happy with the Sky Land town homes.

"Where's the flaw?"

Will rolled his eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh. "Mr. Black, all your designers are worthy. It's you who favored Monica above everyone."

"This Alice person it is, then. She'll just need a little pressure and brow-beating to understand the importance of being assigned to projects like Riverview."

Seth didn't think putting pressure on any interior designer of his was even necessary. Once someone was called to his office to be directly hired by him, common sense should tell them that their best was required.

Being contracted for a high-end RRR project meant one expectation: success. His penthouses were bought by people with status. And that was all his designers needed to understand when handed their marching orders.

"Well, she's been turning down contracts for residential work. Like I said, she's only doing commercial venues."

"She works for me. If I want her to design my damn apartments, she's going to design them or get sacked."

"Technically, you're her boss's boss's boss."

"Which spells: BOSS."

"She-"

"Too much fucking lip, Will! Go. Now. Find out if she's in today, and have Jose send her up."

Will got up and brought his hand to his forehead in a salute gesture. "Yes sir."

He swaggered toward the door with his anti-male gait and said, "I bet you have no idea what Alice Roberts even looks like," then hurried out the door before he could respond.

Aside from his main team, Seth didn't see the need to give a squat about knowing his workers. He was rarely ever in one place for too long, anyway. He came in to the office only on Mondays and Wednesdays for meetings and major issues, because frankly, he hated being in an office.

Everything else was left for his trusted team to sort out. Papers and numbers bored him. Seth was a physical man. He preferred to see what words and numbers translated into.

Therefore, the bulk of his time was spent on his work sites. Traveling, viewing, purchasing, making deals in unconventional, staying-out-of-offices and sleep-inducing-meetings kinds of ways. That's what made him him. He did things his own way, on his own terms.

Society could create whatever rules it wanted. Just don't expect Seth Black to follow them. Sitting in an office sifting through emails and sending proxies to do the physical work didn't pan out for him Offices made him feel caged. So he stayed out of them. Just as he did with relationships with the opposite sex.

Ten minutes later, Will returned to his office with a petite little thing in tow. "Miss Alice Roberts as you requested, sir," he announced with mock formality, which was rather inharmonious with his Mohawk-hair and tight-jeans.

"You can do this, Alice Roberts," he whispered to the tiny figure beside him.

"Do what?" she asked.

But Will turned and left without a word.

Confusion etched on her face, she looked to Seth. "A pleasant good afternoon, Mr. Black. It's quite an, um, honor to be in your presence. May I ask what this is about? Did I do something wrong? Was there a complaint about me or something?"

Seth didn't answer right away, because he was waiting on his brain to explain to him why the fuck he was all but paralyzed in his seat. Why he was staring without so much as blinking at this ethereal girl standing in his office.

This girl, who was like a falling feather from an angel's wing. She seemed too delicate and unreal to be a complete angel. No, she was a pluck of a feather from an angel's wing-an imperfect angel, that is. A sacrosanct white feather floating on the wind.

As aforementioned, Seth was a man who didn't care for younger women. Tried his damnedest to avoid them and their hearts and chocolates and love poems bullshit at all costs. If a woman was any younger than his own age, bedding them was out of the question. Neither did he sleep with single, available women – any age.

The 'I want more' talk, he wasn't up for it.Of course, he got hard for younger women; he was a man, after all.

But he'd never before seen a young woman who struck him speechless. Not only was this woman young, she was petite and looked delicate in every possible way a woman could be.

Seth estimated her height without heels to be around five feet one or so. Though she was slender, her breasts were full, and her hips curved out tauntingly, leaving her waist looking sinfully slim. He figured he could easily span her with one arm and still leave room.

Her light blonde hair was cut low on her head, but with thick sharp bangs sweeping across her forehead. With her hair that low, he was able to appreciate her long, slim neck-a neck he was imagining himself trailing his tongue all over...

Her lips were a deep cherry-red, and he couldn't tell if she was wearing that glossy crap women put on their lips, or if they were natural. An exotic blue, her eyes seemed unreal-a strong meet between cerulean and sapphire blue, so bright, they were her most prominent feature.

For a normal workday, Seth thought she was overdressed, as her small frame was clothed in a short red skirt, a gray silk blouse, and a pair of skin-tight black boots meeting the hem of her skirt. She was adorned with large, gold hoop earrings and some showy gold crap on her wrists.

Fake accessories, for sure. She couldn't afford such large pieces of gold. He deduced she was one of those girls who liked to play dress-up.

Unable to help it, his eyes drifted to her fingers to check if she wore her nails long or clipped, and his unruly dick hardened when he saw they were fairly long and painted blood-red.

'Shit, who the heck was this girl?'