Temptation (The Temptation Series) (14 page)

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

I stared at myself in the
vanity mirror, my cheeks were flushed, I couldn’t help but laugh, I had never
in my wildest dreams, done anything like that before,
apparently not anymore,
you hussy.
The Alexis looking back at me in the mirror was sure of herself,
maybe too sure,
dressed immaculately in a black Burberry shirt dress
with a gorgeous garter and stockings and I had even developed a knack for
make-up, I was definitely changing and I could confidently say for the better. I
bent down and opened the vanity cupboard, a hairdryer brilliant, I wasn’t
really surprised; this was after all a penthouse apartment at City Towers. Also
sitting in an elegant basket in the vanity were a number of perfume bottles,
brand new and still in shrink wrap. I recognised a few and picked up Dolce and
Gabbana, Rose The One, my favourite, what can I say I really do love roses. I
perused the basket again and became aware that it was in fact full of my
favourite perfumes. Tresor, Le Classique by JPG, Chanel No.5, Lady Million,
Chloe, even White Musk from the Body Shop.
This isn’t right, how does he
know this? It’s not like it’s written on my resume, or plastered across my
Facebook page.
I had to get to the bottom of this creepy research once and
for all, but firstly I needed to dry my hair and spritz myself with D&G.

I cautiously came down his
stairs, partly because I was still a learner in heels this high and partly
because I had no idea where he was, I reached the bottom step just as he came
out from the kitchen holding two plates, he stopped only momentarily then
resumed his original course.

“Breakfast is ready, Alexis,
how was the shower?”
Did he just smirk at me? Oh Holy Shit, he does have
CCTV, he watched me, he fucking watched me.
I was ready to take a dive from
his balustrade.

“Alexis, are you ok, you look
like you’ve just seen a ghost. What’s wrong?” He put the plates on the couch
and rushed over to me.

“What’s wrong? Please tell
me?” He looked horrified.

“Was the shower alright? It
should’ve been fully equipped with everything you need.” He waited impatiently
for my response. I was getting the feeling that maybe I’d jumped the gun and
made the wrong assumption in regards to the CCTV but as I had him here
squirming, I might as well utilise it.

“The Toiletries, the Perfume?
This is way past creepy, more like spine-chilling, stalker-like research.” He
relaxed and very subtly murmured ‘Phew’. He could be so adorably cute
sometimes.

“Lucy.” Was all he said.

“Lucy what?”

“Lucy knew, that you would
one day need to use the guest room, let’s just say the creepy or
spine-chilling, stalker-like research as you put it, runs in the family.”

“But how does she know?”
Gee,
there as bad as each other.

“She rang and asked your
daughter.” He went back to the couch picked up the plates and went out to the balcony,
I called out after him and began my pursuit.

“But you can’t do that, it’s
an invasion of privacy, not to mention harassment and the taking advantage of a
6 year old with a big mouth.” I sat down at the table he had set up.

“It’s what we do Ms Summers.”
Oh Please!
I rolled my eyes.
Give it up Alexis, you aint gunna win
this one.
I surveyed the table, salmon and dill omelettes, orange juice, fresh
berry salad with yogurt, there was also a hot white chocolate topped with none
only than a marshmallow, it looked amazing and smelt incredible.

“Eat Alexis, you need to
build up your protein after a workout.”
I’ve had a work out alright, just
not the one you are referring to.
I dug into the omelette, it was
delicious.

“Yum, I hope you pay your chefs
more than me.” I scoffed down another mouthful, he chuckled.
What, was I
making a pig out of myself?

“What’s so funny?” I know I
wasn’t the most eloquent eater in the world, but surely I wasn’t laughable.

“You could say that.”

“Could say what?” I spoke
with my mouth full.
Ok scratch that last thought, I was laughable!

“You could say that I pay the
Chef more than you.”

“Oh good, because he deserves
it, this is wonderful.”

“Thank you.”
Ding, goes
the light bulb!

“You cooked this? Bryce you
are sensational.” He grinned from ear to ear, he put is head down and continued
eating.
A blushing Billionaire, who would’ve thought!

After breakfast, Bryce had me
schedule his itinnery for the upcoming Tel V Awards which were to be held in
the Queen Victoria Ballroom next Monday evening, this was very exciting for me
as I enjoyed watching it on TV at home from my couch. Being the Australian
equivalent to the Emmy Awards, everybody who’s anybody will be here in a weeks’
time. City Towers had hosted the prestigious event for many years and was
highly renowned for its attention to detail, extremely high security protocol
system and the fact that City Tower had 481 Rooms/Suites and 30 Villas, to host
the VIP guests, that are the who’s who of Australian Television and from all
over the world. I had spoken to Clarissa from Versace, lovely lady that she is,
she assured me Bryce’s Tuxedo would arrive in time for the event. He had
meetings booked all weekend with numerous heads of department, Dale - Head of
Security, Maria who was Head of House Keeping, Vincent - Head Chef in the
Complex’s catering kitchen for large events, Joyce the Head Media Liaison
Officer and I was in the midst of organising a meeting with Abigail. I picked
up the phone and dialled her mobile.

“Abigail, its Alexis, how are
today?

“Alexis sweetheart, I’m
assuming this is a business call?” She was a clever cookie, I guess she had to
be, in her role.

“Yes, I need to schedule a
meeting with you for Friday, in regards to the Tel V Awards. Mr Clark wants
your overview delivered here preferably today so he can peruse it and then discuss
with you at the meeting. As you can imagine, he has back to backs from Thursday
onwards, but I have reserved a time slot for you at 9:30am.”

“Certainly, I’m one step
ahead of you, Samantha and Chelsea are on their way with the overview now.”

“You’re one of a kind
Abigail, thank you.” I hung up the phone. I miss her, I really could’ve learnt
a lot from that wonderful lady. The elevator doors opened and Samantha bounced
out, I still needed to get to the bottom of this thing with Gareth, he just
gives me a bad vibe and I didn’t think Samantha had a clue what she could be
getting herself into. A tall leggy blonde followed behind her.
What is that
Bitch doing here?
It was licking lips lady.

“Alexis, long time no see,
are you snobbing me now that you are up here in the ‘Penthouse’?” She poked her
bottom lip out and pouted at me.

“Of course not Sweetie,
actually I wanted to catch up for lunch sometime this week.”

“Sounds good, listen have you
met Chelsea? She has filled your position.”
Are you shitting me?
Chelsea
stepped up to stand beside Samantha, she towered over me as I sat in my seat.

“We haven’t met per se but I
was witness to Alexis’ Self Defence skills this morning.” She was hopeless at
trying to cover up her contempt for me with a smile.

“Oh, that’s right, Mr Clark
asked you to take the class so that you could promote it to guests. Do you know
Self-Defence Alexis?”

“No, Mr Clark apparently
needed a Guinea Pig and chose me!” The door to Bryce’s office opened and he
entered the foyer, it was Samantha who spoke first.

“Good morning Mr Clark, here
is the overview you requested from Abigail.” She went to hand it to him. 

“Thank you Samantha, but you
can leave that with Alexis. Ah, Ms Hogan, can I have a moment in my office please.”
She smiled sweetly at him.

“Of course Mr Clark.” He
motioned her towards his office and as she walked past he placed his hand at
the small of her back and followed her in. I was literally fuming inside, I
wanted to army roll across my desk, kick down the door, pounce on this Chelsea
bitch and scratch her brown freakin eyes out. Then, I wanted to demonstrate to
Bryce just what it would feel like if my Hammer-Punch had in fact connected
with force to his groin this morning.
Alexis, bury your WWE Alter Ego and
get a grip.

“Urgh, I hate her Alexis.”
What?
Samantha had dropped her head on my desk.
Don’t worry Hun, I hate her too.

 “Why? What’s been
happening?” I missed the interaction with her and Charlie, their gossip
sessions were always amusing.

“She thinks her shit don’t
stink, just because Daddy owns a Helicopter Charter Company out in Essendon and
she has a Pilot Licence and she is 6ft tall and can speak fluent French,
Italian and Greek and Blah Blah Blah.” Her voice trailed off like a whinging
toddler.
Pilot Licence? I hate her unconditionally now.

“Anyway, gotta go, we have so
much to organise for the Tel V’s this week, it’s such a huge event, I had no
idea. Did you know 4Life are performing and staying in one of the Villas? It’s
going to be crazy!” 4Life were the hottest boy band in the world right now,
this place was going to be swarming with hypersensitive teenage girls and
Charlotte, OMG Charlotte is going to drive me crazy, she adored 4Life.

“Ok Sam, lunch tomorrow?”

“Yeah should be fine.”

Shortly after Samantha left,
Bryce buzzed my phone.

“Alexis, can you have
Sebastian bring up a bottle of the Chandon Rose, a Club Sandwich and a Crab
Baguette, please.” Then he hung up.
Fucking Crab Baguette, you can stick
your Crab Baguette up your arse.
I dialled Sebastian and placed the order. I
was mad, but why? Bryce had done nothing wrong really, maybe it was just the
fact that this Chelsea bitch was a cocky, little stuck up mole and was clearly
making her moves on Bryce, then again, why should this make me mad? There’s not
one single woman on this planet that wouldn’t want to make a move on him, I
can’t really blame her, he was single. Was I jealous? I think I was, I think I
was jealous of the fact that he had declared he wanted me and had made me cross
a very strict line when we kissed and now he was just moving on to fresh meat,
so yes, I was jealous and pissed off and rightly so.
Should’ve added Peanut
Butter to his bloody Club Sandwich.
Sebastian pushed a food trolley out of
the elevator.

“Ms Summers, Mr Clark’s lunch
request.”

“Yes thank you Sebastian, I
will take it from here.” He gave me a strange look and almost hesitated, poor
thing, I must have broken protocol or something.

“It’s fine Sebastian.” I gave
him a reassuring look and got up to take the trolley from him.

“Very well, good day Ms
Summers.”

Oh I liked him, he was so
polite and sweet and I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him his mother
would be proud! When he had left the foyer, I pushed the trolley to the door of
Bryce’s office, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirrored panelling on the
wall. I let my hair down and it fell nicely in waves across my back, my breasts
however were conservatively covered up, so, I unbuttoned the top of the dress to
reveal just a small section of my red lace bra. Being a shirt dress, I could
also unbutton the bottom to allow a split which slightly exposed the lace atop
my stockings when I knelt.
Right let us see how this settles with him.
I
took a deep breath and knocked on the door, he didn’t answer right away which
only added fuel to my fire.

“Yes.”

I opened the door and pushed
the trolley through, Bryce and Chelsea were seated opposite each other at the
lounge where we had shared our first lunch together, he’s eyes widened as I
closed the door behind me.

“Your lunch Mr Clark, where
would you like it?” Chelsea had her back to me and had not looked around.
Smug
Bitch.
Bryce ran his hand through his hair giving away that my small
adjustments had in fact been noticed.

“Just down here thank you
Alexis.” I pushed the trolley towards him and stopped it right next Chelsea, so
that it was in between her and I, from the moment I walked in Bryce had not
taken his eyes off of me.
Whatever it is you wanted to achieve Alexis, I think
it’s working girl.
I knelt down beside the trolley to retrieve the Bottle
of Chandon revealing the top of my stockings, he fidgeted in his seat and
uncrossed the leg he had rested on the other, I leant over to place it on the
coffee table; this little manoeuvre exposed just enough of my bra which in turn
made him cross the other leg over. I stood back up and was about to produce
their plates when Bryce cleared his throat.

“Thank you Alexis.”

I turned to leave and flashed
a triumphant expression.
Yes, let this be a warning to you Mr Clark. Don’t
Fuck around with me.
I continued my revolve and walked to the door making
sure my arse shook the absolute shit out of him and not once during my display,
did I acknowledge that Chelsea was even in the room with us.