A Billionaire's Obsession 1 (BWWM Interracial Romance): Wanting Her (4 page)

What would her hair feel like? Would it feel like soft
cotton? I like cotton.
Colin wonders. He is so entranced that he doesn't realize
that Melaine has stopped talking.

"Winston, you must be as pleased with Melaine, and her
protege as I am...you are suddenly speechless." Colin hears in the
distance, followed by uproarious laughter through out the entire room.

Colin returns to the present. "Yes...um, Yes I am very
pleas
ed! Sounds like you're good with us moving
forward Caspian?" Colin snaps back.

"Most certainly. My team will be in touch."
Caspian says standing. Colin steps toward him with an extended hand, and the
two powerful men firmly shake hands. Renee breathes a l
arge sigh of relief that the meeting is over, as she watches Colin and
Caspian
exiting the room chuckling and
playfully teasing one another. She is diligently packing up all the equipment,
and keeps her head dowm. She doesn't dear look up to read the expre
ssions on the faces of her more seasoned co-workers.

While the room empties, Melaine darts over to Renee to
congratulate her. "Great job Renee! Everyone is really satisfied with your
work" Melaine says beaming.

"My work? All I did was make a few edits. P
lease don't give me the credit for this." Renee says,
agitated.

"What's wrong Renee? You should be very proud of
yourself right now." Melaine reminds her.

Renee becomes embarrassed. She realizes that Melaine
has picked up on her new found frustration. She decides to
explain, stops tidying up, and turns toward Melaine. "I just started here
about five weeks ago. I have to work with these designers, and I...I don't want
to be treated like some charity case" Rene
e
boldly explains.

Melaine is surprised by, the usually mild mannered, young
woman's bravado. "You are not a charity case Renee!" Melaine insists.
"You are a remarkable talent who brings a freshness to this place."
Melaine softens her tone. "Renee, this i
s not
special treatment. You've earned the accolades, and every opportunity you've
been given." Melaine tells her. "Now, finish breaking down this room,
and meet me back in my office with the rest of our team in exactly two
hours." Melaine commands, and wa
lks out of the
large conference room with Marina trailing behind her.

CHAPTER 6

"Explain that to me...one more time. I'm not the
creative type, you know." Colin says cunningly, with a smirk on his
perfectly chiseled face. Renee is beyond jittery. She can't believe that
Melaine agreed to Colin's request for her to explain the developme
nts of the "Caspian Lampros project" alone in his
office.
This is ridiculous!
Renee thinks.

"Um...I'm sure that Melaine, can...um, explain it much
better." Renee suggests.  

"Oh, not at all." Colin says, rising from his
black, authentic leather, and very
expensive high
back chair. "You explain things best." One foot in front the other,
Colin inches closer to Renee who in turn skates backward toward the door.
What the heck is he doing? Was this
Melaine's plan all along? Ugh!
Renee can't help but wonder. 
 

"Um,
Mr.
Winston. I am late for a meeting with Renee. I have to
go." Renee says hurriedly, turns, and runs out of Colin's office, into his
assistant, Margie's office, and then out into the hallway to the elevator. When
the elevator door doesn't open quick
ly enough, she
decides to run down the stairs from the eight floor to the fifth.

A breathless Renee bursts into Melaine's office, disrupting
her discussion with Marina.

"I do not want...um, I don't think that I am best
suited for sharing updates with Mr.
Winston."
Renee manages to say through intermittent breaths, while the two women stare at
her.

"Marina, leave us." Melaine orders. Marina stomps
out the room. She does not understand the unorthodox relationship Renee has
developed with Renee. "What's goin
g on
Renee?" Melaine asks.

"Again, I am the most junior of the designers. Please
let someone else give him the updates." Renee pleads with her. Melaine
chuckles a bit before transforming into "coach-mode".

"I know that Colin can be intimidating, but what
did I teach you about standing up to him during our weeks
of training?" Melaine asks. Renee looks at Melaine curiously.

"Did you send me up there on purpose? Is this some
sort of test?" Renee inquires.

"Look Renee. This is just how things are right now.
You're going to have to represent me well, and handle it.
You are the only one who truly understands this design." Melaine
delineates.

Renee pauses to think. "He makes me feel
uncomfortable. I know that he is a playboy but.." Renee eventually manages
to s
ay.

"Stop right there! You can do this Renee. Colin is not
the only "playboy" you will encounter if you want to grow with
BYWINSTON. So if you can't remain professional under pressure, then you may as
well just quit today." Melaine informs her.

So it is
a test.
Alas!
Renee realizes.

***

"Stop asking me all these questions about my staff
Colin! It is ridiculous!" Melaine
barks at Colin
in her office. After two more follow up private meetings with Renee in his
office, he is unable to "break her". She remained professional,
drawing on her expertise, and her passion for design, and being creative.
Feeling defeated, he resort
s to pestering Melaine for
details about Renee, so that he can devise a new plan to charm her.

"You are not going to corrupt Renee, the way you've
corrupted the other weak women who wanted a piece of you, or your empire Colin!
She is different!" Melaine l
ectures him.

"That's just the thing. I know she's different. That's
why I am drawn to her." Colin explains.

"Whatever Colin! You didn't even know that she was the
same newbie from the Designer Pit during the Caspian Lampros presentation...the
one you spok
e to as though she was nothing..."
Melaine continues.

"I know...I know but what a transformation..."
Colin interjects.

"No Colin! Leave her alone! The only reason I agreed
to let her come to your office alone is because I know she is not into you, and
I
figured it'd be good training for her. The
transformation is not for you. It is for her!"

"She's not into me?
Why do you think that?" Colin asks
"Is it because she's not into white men?"

Melaine rolls her eyes, forgetting she's talking to her
boss but to
her cousin instead. "She's much
deeper than that idiot! She thinks deeply, and feels deeply. She is committed
to her creativity, and sees things from a global perspective - not shut off in
a tiny corner." Melaine explains.

"Well, I am globally minded too
, and I think she's gorgeous!" Colin responds "If you're not
going to give me details about her, I can get them on my own." Colin
states, and exits his cousin's office.

Determined to seduce Renee, Colin set out to find out
everything about her. He possess
es the wealth, and
the influence to acquire whatever information he wants.
She intrigues me. Not sure why, but I
can't get her out of my head. I must learn more.
Colin thinks during the first meeting
he arranged with a private investigator.

"So you've got everything you need, right?" Colin
anxiously says to P.I. Maurice.

"Got it, Mr. Winston! I should be able to wrap this up
in a week. Talk to you then." The private investigator says, gives Colin a
firm handshake, and heads off to do what he
does
best.

Colin sits again, and leans back into his chair. His
thoughts wonder off to Renee again.
She is different...not just because
she's Black...I mean, I've been with Black women before...That's not it. She
possesses an intelligence, and a beauty..
.I can't
help myself. 

Colin has been banned from visiting Renee, or calling her
up to his office - well sort of.

Melaine has devised a plan to keep her out of Colin's way.
Any training involving Colin is completely over. Marina has been instructed to
in
form Melaine, the millisecond that Colin steps on
the creatives' floor. Renee has also been paired with Amanda Chen, and another
talented video editor, Nicholas Holland. They are either, huddled around one of
their computers, or spread out in the smaller m
eeting
room, next to Melaine's office working diligently. Melaine is resolute in her
decision to keep Colin away from Renee.

Colin becomes devious as a result. One Friday afternoon, he
instructs his executive assistant, Margie to enlist the help of Rick i
n IT to compose, and forward an email to Renee, that
appears to be from Melaine. The email informs Renee to meet Melaine at B
ouche
Dé
licieux
, a
French
restaurant 4 blocks from the office
building, further downtown, at 6:00 pm. Renee reads the email from he
r desktop computer.
Oh boy! Another mentorship lesson. Just
when I thought they were over.
Immediately enters her mind.
Here we go.
Renee looks at the time on the
computer. It is 5:00 pm. Melaine had been out since about 2:30 pm. She had a
3:00 pm on-site
meeting. Renee hurries to pull all
her refined project samples, and other updates onto her work tablet, to show to
Melaine during their meeting. She wraps this process at about 5:40 pm, and
rushes off to the bathroom to freshen up. Although she is not a fa
n of all the attention, her new look has brought her, Renee
respects Melaine too much to let her money go to waste. She stands in front of
the bathroom mirror, touching up her makeup, and using her fingers, gently
detangles, and defines the curls of her ha
ir. She
straightens her pleated faux leather skirt, which reaches just above her knees,
and white satin short sleeved blouse. At approximately 5:46 pm Renee hastens
out of the BYWINSTON building, and to the restaurant.

Renee arrives at B
ouche
Dé
licieux
, a
t 6:01 pm,
breathing heavily. She rushes up to the one-way-view glass front door which
automatically opens, before she could open it. Renee looks up at the large man
who opened the door.

"I'm
having
a reservation...well, Melaine Nordstrom..." Renee
says n
ervously.

"Follow me Miss." The tall, huge, and bald, brown
man says. Renee follows obediently. She knows that Melaine does well for
herself, and knows
quite
a number of people, but this was quite some service she's
receiving. As she walks further into th
e restaurant,
she notices a line of service staff waiting outside double doors leading into a
back room. The private room didn't raise any suspicion, but the host of servers
waiting outside is strange, Renee ponders. She gazes at each serving staff
member
as she nears the doors. They're all smiling,
and nodding.
Did Melaine invite me to a party?
She wonders

Melaine's escort opens the right door, to let her in. She
steps forward, and watches the door closing behind her. She looks into the
room, which isn't v
ery well lit, and does not see
Melaine. All of a sudden she hears footsteps, and sees Colin emerging from a
dark corner.

"Hello Renee...Welcome to B
ouche
Dé
licieux
. It is one of my favorite
restaurants." Colin says walking slowly toward Renee, like a brid
e down an aisle.

"Um, where...where is Melaine?" Renee says
frightfully nervous.

"She is not coming Renee. I...I'm sorry. I wanted to
be alone with you." Colin confesses.

Renee is afraid. She is also curious about why this
Billionaire playboy would take
such lengths to get
her - simple bookworm, computer nerd - her alone. "Why?..Why did you want
to get me alone?" Renee finally asks. Colin inhales, and exhales.

"I want to get to know you better Renee...Not as my
employee, but as something more." Colin adm
its.

Renee is so tired of men playing with her head. After what
she's experienced with Ronald, she is unwilling to tolerate anything that she
perceives to be mind games, and deception. 

"I have to go Mr. Winston. I need to touch base with
Melaine immedia
tely." Renee says adamantly. She
turns to walk toward the door. Colin races to reach the door before Renee does,
and stands in front of her.

"Wait, Renee. I just want to..." Colin begins to
say. However, Renee's experiences including her coaching from Mel
aine has elevated her into a new woman.

"Look Mr. Winston, I am grateful for the opportunity
to work at your company but I do not desire - in any form or fashion - to be
one of your 'toys' at the office. I am not that sort of girl. I will submit my
resign
ation to Melaine, first thing Monday. Now
please excuse me." Renee says with authority. Colin is surprised by her
boldness, but he begins to feel guilty for the way he's lured Renee away.

"Renee, I'm sorry. Can we just sit and talk.
Please." Colin softens
, and asks.

"I am leaving!" She responds forcibly, and steps
forward to try to get around the tall, and athletically built gentleman. Colin
leans forward and places his large hands at the top of Renee's arms, near her
shoulders. Renee squirms to loosen hi
s grip, and
looks up at Colin angrily. Colin looks back at Renee longingly, with smiling
eyes. Renee's body heat begins to rise, from within. As she continues to look
at Colin, all her memories of how Ronald deceived her, mixed with rumors about
Colin's fr
equent and scandalous affairs floods her
mind. She pushes him off of her.

"You can't have me!" Renee says, yanks the large
doors open with both hands, and runs like an olympian out of the restaurant in
her two inch heels.