Charity's Warrior (6 page)

I waved as he got in.

P
anther's office is right on Whitehall Street half a block away from the R line subway exit. It almost could not be more convenient since I was staying in lower Manhattan, at least temporarily. Like a lot of the buildings in New York, outside it was very unassuming, thirty floors of off white cement and rows of windows. Even the company name was a mere blip on the building directory.

Inside, it was a bit different, I could tell right from their reception. Their company sign is a four foot hologram of a panther, pacing back and forth with its eyes fixed on you. The name and logo are carved into the side of the animal. It's damn impressive, and intimidating, as I imagine they wanted it to be. I didn't know yet how many employees the company has, but they certainly have money. Behind the receptionist there is a set of glass doors securing reception from the rest of the office. To get through the doors it takes passing a retina scan, and when they brought me in, I realized the glass doors were about three inches thick.

They were not fucking around.

A tall, exotic, infuriatingly beautiful black woman was waiting for me and my security escort. Lena Croft nodded my escort away politely and then quickly sized me up, not hiding in any way that she was doing it. I was wearing a black Max Mara wool skirt and cashmere jacket, and black B. Brian Atwood pumps. It is my single
knock'em dead
outfit that I save for the big interviews. I felt incredible in it all day—until just now. In one fail swoop, Lena Croft had outdone me.

"Charity Powers, I'm Lena Croft. Come in," she said, extending her hand.

I stepped into her office and shook her hand. "Hello," I said. "Thank you for meeting with me."

"Anything for Justin," she says with a smile.

Now I'm wondering if she had slept with him too. Thank God I was not going for a relationship with him. It would be too easy to go insane with jealousy. I'm already suspecting every woman that knows him.

"Have a seat," Lena said as she hit a switch on the wall that made the door close. She hit another and the glass wall of her office turned dark gray and we suddenly had privacy. "There's some forms on the edge of my desk that you will need to fill out. Do you have a copy of your resume with you?"

Of course I did, and I handed it to her.

"Great, I'd like to go over this while you do the paperwork, if that's okay? It'll make it easier to discuss your fit if I have some background."

"That works fine," I replied as I grabbed the tablet and papers.

Most of the forms just needed a signature, background check acknowledgment and things like that. Their application took a bit longer, and Lena was finished with my resume and patiently waiting for me.

We talked for a little bit about my skills and experience, about Panther Inc. and what the position entailed. Lena confided very early on that she liked me for the job. It was going easier than I had expected, maybe easier than it should be, but I am not about to say so and blow it.

"I like that you're available now," she said. "We've been trying to fill the position for a month, and the temp doing the job, well, she's not doing the job. Let's take a walk."

We took a little tour of the office that took us to meet John Fillmore, the Director of Sales and Marketing that the position was for. I thought it was a good sign when Lena introduced me as his next assistant and he seemed thrilled. He told me he was looking forward to having someone competent on his team.

How freaking bad was this temp?

We went just about full circle around the entire floor. I was impressed they were that big when Lena informed me that this floor was mostly Management, HR, Finance, Sales, Research and Development, and internal IT, and that they also had the entire twenty-fifth floor right above us. We didn't go up there. Lena told me there was nothing to see, not for today. It was a maze of cubes, eleven of them were customer service and their supervisor, the other three hundred plus cubes were monitoring stations. The monitoring stations each had six monitors, which were each split into four windows, over seventy-five hundred client machines being audited at any given time.

They were much bigger than I had thought.

"Listen," Lena said, "usually we finish with paperwork, the background checks typically take three or four days, so the quickest we bring someone in after making a decision is one week. I'd like for you to start on Monday if you can. We'll get the paperwork done as a formality, but I imagine we won't find anything to worry about?"

"No, there won't be anything," I answered, smiling. "And Monday is fine." It was hard to not be excited.

"Great! Let's get you into the system," Lena said smiling back at me.

My insides are buzzing. I want to scream. I want to call everyone and tell them I was going to make it.

And I want to call Justin!

We did my retina scan, which would begin working on Monday, and we took care of my building ID at the end when she came downstairs with me. Lena reminded me what papers, for taxes and direct deposit, I had to bring on my first day as we stood out front.

She seemed more relaxed now, out here. She was pointing out all the good places to eat right in front of the building and lighting a cigarette.

I didn't want to blow a good start, but I had to know how she and Justin were connected. It was eating me up. "So how do you know Justin?" I asked after a long, deep breath.

"Justin?" she chuckled. "I think I've known him forever. We grew up together in the Bronx. He might tell you he saved me from some bullies, but, trust me; it was the other way around, at least that’s how I like to tell it." She laughed harder. "We've been close friends since."

Her cigarette was almost half gone already.

"How about you, how did you meet him? All he told me was that he had someone he thought I should meet, that was enough for me. His word is gold."

"He saved me. And I mean that literally," I said, laughing at the irony.

"Really?" Lena practically bellowed.

"It's true," I said. "Some guy grabbed me from behind at a bar, choked me out and tried to drag me out the back door. Justin came running, knocked me out of the guy's arms and ran after him."

"Yeah, that sounds like Justin," she said. "Did he catch the guy?"

"No, he had a head start. Justin had to give up, but he came back and took care of me."

Lena was on the last quarter of her cigarette, but she dropped it and stomped it out early. "I have to get back up, and I'm sure you have some calls to make. I'll see you on Monday, come in at nine and see me first so we can bang out the HR stuff and get you started."

"Thank you," I said, shaking her hand for the second time today.

I decided to walk a few blocks before hailing a cab, there is simply too much excitement rushing through me, and I need to burn some of it off. Calling my mother came first, she was so excited for me, and proud, I could hear it in her voice. I knew I could count on her to get the news out back home. Melissa, my best friend was going to be next, but my phone rang before I could dial.

It was Justin's number.

"Hey, Warrior," he said when I answered. "How'd it go?"

"I got it!" I shouted excitedly. A few people around me looked and smiled politely.

"Congratulations, that's awesome!" he said. "I knew you were going to."

"Oh my God, thank you. I'm so excited. I just got out of there, if you called ten minutes ago it would have been too soon," I said.

"I'm good like that," he joked. "Are you pumped or what?"

I giggled before answering, being careful not to snort-laugh, especially not in front of Justin. "I'm totally stoked. I called my mother right away, and I don't even remember what I said to her. I'm in a blur right now, operating on pure adrenaline. Justin, I can't thank you enough. I know I keep saying it, but it is how I feel."

"I'm glad," he said. "You deserve it. How was Lena?"

"Gorgeous! You could have warned me about that," I joked. "She was really nice, didn't give me a hard time at all. We discussed my experience, and she felt that even though I hadn't been an executive assistant, I had performed a lot of the needed functions by launching a startup in college and managing my father's business for years. And the salary is just what I was hoping for. Oh my God, Justin."

"Charity, I'm proud of you," he said honestly.

At this moment I’m not even sure if I am walking in the right direction. I was better off grabbing a cab before I get lost. "They already have me in their system. I start on Monday."

"We are
so
celebrating tonight," Justin said. "I will text you my address, be there at seven. Tell me everything then."

AT SEVEN, I WAS
in a taxi a few blocks away from Justin's address. My excitement about the job had settled a couple hours ago, once I had updated everyone and got back to the hotel. As the time drew closer to tonight's date, my nerves and desires took over in a wicked feud with each other. I know exactly what I want, and need, from Justin, but it was going to be a huge first for me, sleeping with someone I was not in a relationship with.

Now, in the taxi only minutes away, I was remembering the kiss with Justin last night, and I could tell my clit was swollen because it was demanding attention and making my thighs twitch. It needed to be touched, and the thought of Justin's tongue on it made me squirm in the seat. First time or not, I deserved this. I'd been with enough clumsy jerks and it was time to be taken care of. The taxi can't get there quick enough.

We pulled off to the curb and I checked the meter, paying the driver quickly so I could get out. The elevator to Justin's apartment was painfully slow, and I just kept hoping he would at least kiss me again like last night, to hold me over until after dinner. I was the only one inside, so when the doors opened it would likely be Justin's floor. I nervously fixed my Tambour Python Ablur dress and wondered if it would be obvious that I'd purchased it today because I thought it would be easy for him to pull off of me.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Down the right-side of the hall I found his door, and I reminded myself that I could still back out while I stared at the numbers above the doorbell.

As I hit the bell, I heard “Refill” by Elle Varner softly slipping through the cracks, and then the sound of his footsteps coming. My stomach felt like I had accidently swallowed my vibrator. It can be just dinner, just a date, nothing more. If I get scared, I don't have to do anything.

His smile greeted me and heated me up again. "Wow," he said, his eyes touching me everywhere with no hint of reservation.

God damn he was looking good. He has on dark jeans again, with black Aston Grey Lewis boots and a white dress shirt with the sleeves cuffed up. My eyes were on his arms while he backed up and let me in. Elle was still belting out for a refill as Justin's door shut behind me.

Suddenly Justin had me up against his door. He hadn't touched me, not at all, he had simply moved in to me until I had my back on the door. His sexy eyes were burning into mine, his mouth getting closer and closer, and it was too damn slow and hot. I needed his lips on me, the moment was so intense.

He raised his arms up, putting his palms on the door on each side of my head, dominating me with his presence. Finally his mouth was on mine, his tongue feeling its way between my eager lips. Our mouths were the only things touching, and it was wonderful for a minute. Then I needed to feel him, to have his hardness against me again. I moved my hands toward him, but he stopped me.

I hadn't felt him move; he did it with such grace, but his hands grabbed mine and brought them over my head, holding them against the door while our tongues slid against each other. His body was against me now, though, and that was just what I had meant to accomplish. My chest is against his, his hips against mine, his right thigh bent between my legs, separating them, putting some pressure right where I desperately needed some.

Justin moaned, but it sounded more like a low growl, animalistic. I couldn't stop my hips from rocking on his leg.

He moved both my hands into one of his, and I felt his free hand on me, gliding down my arm and its soft underside, in my hair, caressing my face and neck, plunging down the front of my dress. He grabbed my waist gently, but I can feel the pure strength in his hand. Unable to stop, he moved his hand to my ass, stiffening his fingers into the fleshiness. I feel his fingers moving, crawling on me, only they aren't getting anywhere, and the hem of my dress is climbing. He was balling it up in his hand. Justin let go of my hands for a moment, and before I knew why, he had unzipped the top of my dress while pulling it up and off.