The Secret Library: The Thousand and One Nights

He escorted Mr Vanhoffer down the cream carpeted passage to the lift on the 21st floor. He stifled a yawn as the lift doors closed.

       Then, a vision caught his eye so startlingly perfect, so eye-catchingly tantalising he, along with the other men moving about their business, faltered as if in slow motion and stared. It had happened again. The one thing that had sparked Sebastian Dark’s interest in months was igniting the city suite of offices like a sky-rocket on bonfire night. She was wearing black patent stilettos, business-like, up to a point. But with a cutesy bow that made him want to grasp those spiky heels and slide them off, to trace his fingers over the stocking mesh covering her oh-so-pale skin, to stroke toes that would be painted in-your-face kick-arse red.

       He wondered if she realised that as she walked, she placed one foot directly in front of the other giving her a Marilyn-Monroe sway that teased and more than suggested the up and down thrust of a good hard fuck. Yup, he conceded, she realised it all right. And she used it. To give her power. And control.

       Richard broke the silence. ‘Goddammit, that girl is sex on legs. Just wait till that perfect arse goes by. The things I wouldn’t do given one night alone with her …’ All thoughts of the vanquished Mr Vanhoffer had disappeared once the blonde beauty sauntered into view. ‘They call her the Ice Queen, gorgeous but untouchable.’ Suddenly remembering himself and looking sheepish at Seb’s granite stare, Richard tried to stop gawping. But the girl’s magnetism drew both men in. The tight black pencil skirt moulded over buttocks as round as a young pony’s, the breasts fettered behind a virginal white shirt and oh so artfully pushed up by the files she was gripping. Her ample mounds bounced against the top button as if they longed to be released. And finally those go-to-bed lips, strawberry red glistened at them like a half-bitten cherry.

       Apart from himself, Seb noted, enthralled, she was the most controlled human being he had ever encountered. Why was she like that? What was it that made her turn away from everyone, eschew office parties, push people away? The Ice Queen. Fascinating. Controlled and as arctic as a steel ice-pick. She knew every guy in that passageway was hooked. And every woman was puce with envy. It was as though she was playing a game. She was a winner, like himself.

       Only Sebastian Dark was determined there was one game she wasn’t going to win. Because he was going to stop her. Tonight. After dark. He’d been plotting it for weeks. Ever since he had discovered that she was the one who’d been sneaking in after hours and had the bare faced cheek, the high handed effrontery to have been embezzling thousands from his company – milking it, skilfully, for months. From under his very nose. And she thought he didn’t know.

       She had reached him now, so close her perfume itched his nostrils. She glanced at him under thick eyelashes, tossing her blonde fringe in that insolent way until she caught his stare and momentarily she stumbled. One foot went wrong on the thick white carpet. For a nanosecond her step was less than sure. As he raised an eyebrow, she disappeared into her office. Closing the door with a sharp rap. The fascinated glances of those in the passageway dissolved. As soon as she’d gone the electricity charge disappeared and people flowed back into the business of the day.

       Tonight Sebastian Dark would catch her. In the act. Tonight he would punish her. The only question was how? He would enjoy that. Enjoyment? He’d almost forgotten what the word meant. All he’d ever wanted was business success, his adrenalin fed on the next big deal. Now he had it all – a fortune, women who threw themselves at him. But enjoyment eluded him. He felt crushingly empty. Until now. Something stirred beneath his tailored suit, the sleeping length in his groin twitched and hardened. She fascinated every man who saw her. And ignored every one. He smiled; he wasn’t going to be ignored by the Ice Queen. Suddenly blood rushed through his veins and spiked his cock to attention. It felt good. He was alive again.

            Breeze Monaghan dropped the files she was holding. They spilt across the floor like a fan. She clung to the wall. If its solidity hadn’t held her up, her shaking legs would have crumpled to the floor. She couldn’t go on much longer.

       He knew.

       Seb Dark was a smooth operator; somehow he had found her out.