Rock Hard Love(2)

“Whatever you want, love,” James turned with a sudden smile as phony as the one Victoria wore. He marched around the conference table and sat opposite me, dropping into his chair like a bratty teenager and looked at me with a crooked smile as he propped his big boots on the table.

“So, what’s the problem now, James?” Victoria asked in a condescending manner that made even me want to wipe the smug grin off her face. James seemed to take it all in stride but his displeasure was evident as he clenched his fist and his knuckles turned white.

“You know damn well what the problem is, Vicky. The record company is insisting on forty-two tour stops and I told you no more than thirty. But somehow, the draft contract now shows thirty-six. Thirty was my final offer not my starting point. I thought I made that clear,” James said with remarkable restraint.

The vein above his temple twitched as I stared at him. I didn’t find men like him appealing, or so I tried to tell myself. Nevertheless, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the man. I was completely captivated by the rock star and the warmth between my thighs only confirmed it. His rough looks and aggressive manner would have normally turned me off but instead I found myself attracted to this James Turner in a way I’d never felt before and couldn’t begin to understand.

“I don’t recall you specifying that, James. I did what I thought was best for all the parties involved,” Victoria said and suddenly I remembered something I’d read in the files. I began digging through them and yes, there it was. However, James was already talking.

“Well, Victoria, I don’t pay you to represent all the parties. I pay you to represent Battery but that could always change,” James answered with a thinly veiled threat. I hesitated for a moment, but Victoria was trying to railroad James and whether it was just my sense of right and wrong or the fact I was weak in the knees over James, I had to set the record straight.

“If I may, I’ve got the meeting minutes of the pre-negotiation meeting last month. James did say that thirty tour stops was the maximum the band would agree to,” I said and felt all the eyes in the room turn towards me. Peter wore a look of warning as daggers flew at me from Victoria’s eyes. However, James looked at me with a look of appreciation and something else that made me want to blush.

“Thank you, Simone, for clearing that up. Any other issues James?” Victoria announced, her voice dripping with sarcasm. James pointed out several other issues and each time Victoria acquiesced, she looked at me and raised her eyebrows as if daring me to contradict her again. I hardly noticed. My eyes were on James again but this time my imagination got the better of me.

I wondered what his calloused hands might feel like cupping my breasts, what that wild goatee might feel like between my thighs and what I might find in those way too tight blue jeans. I felt hot and breathless. I was chewing on the pen I’d taken from Peter when James caught me staring at him. I turned away and when he diverted his attention back to Victoria and the contract, I shook my head and admonished myself for acting like a smitten schoolgirl.

I stared at the back of Peter’s chair focusing on the mechanism used to adjust the backrest to avoid looking at James again. What was I doing? I had never looked at a man as I looked at him, never had thoughts like that. That’s not how I was raised and it’s not how I preferred to act. Nevertheless, his presence called to me, tempted me. I looked up for just a moment and found his eyes staring back.

I held them for a moment but his stare was too intense and I looked away. My mind was scattered and I felt out of control. I wasn’t myself and I couldn’t wait to get out of the room and back to my cubicle, my coffee and my morning ritual. Just one more look and that’s all, I promised myself, and found James staring at me still. I quickly looked away again as Victoria apparently had enough and excused herself from the meeting. She ordered Peter to handle the balance of James’ issues with the contract that she referred to as minutia.

The room felt lighter the moment Victoria left, or would have if I wasn’t still fighting the urge to stare at the rock star across the conference table. Thankfully, five minutes later we were finished. Things always went faster when Victoria wasn’t around. As James and Peter shook hands, I pretended to ready the files for transport back to my office, as if they needed any such thing. Peter left and James made ready to leave himself. I walked around the table with the files hugged to my chest looking at the ground when I saw two big black boots between me and the door.

“Excuse me,” I said weakly and then dared to look up. I found James looking down on me from more than a foot above, his height increased by the soles of his scuffed leather boots.