Craving Shannon Read online

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Chad huffed, rolling his eyes. “I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”

  “When you gonna be ready?” Nelson asked. “When yous an old man?”

  “I gotta go,” Chad said, smiling. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay, Mr. Chad,” Nelson answered. “You have a good day.”

  “You too,” Chad replied and turned to walk toward the subway.

  “And get yourself a good woman,” Nelson called out after him.

  Chad chuckled and walked down the steps to the number 6 train.

  He exited the elevator and turned to walk toward his office, noticing Shannon sitting alone at reception. Her head was bent forward, looking at something on the desk, her long, lovely hair creating a veil in front of her face. He stopped in front of the desk and looked down. “Morning, Shannon,” he said.

  Her head jolted up as though she hadn’t heard him approached. She gazed up at him through her long, thick eyelashes, a warm pink glow spreading over her cheeks. “Oh, good…good morning, Mr.Clark…I mean Chad,” she stammered uncomfortably.

  Chad was suddenly mesmerized by the blush on her cheeks, unable to pull his gaze away from her lovely face. He swallowed unconsciously, fighting the urge to reach out and touch the soft, reddened skin. Then his eyes glided a few inches down and landed on her firm breasts, abnormally large for such a slender frame. Something inside him stirred, something he refused to acknowledge, he wouldn’t dare look any closer at the sexual attraction he was feeling. He cleared his throat and forced his eyes to look away. “How are you settling in?” he asked with as much forced pleasantness as he could muster, wanting nothing more than to bolt down the hall away from her.

  “Fine, Sir,” she replied. “I was just…I was just trying to memorize all the names with the extensions.”

  “Well, I’m sure that’ll take time, Shannon,” he answered. “Don’t worry if it takes a while to get it all sorted out.”

  “Thank you,” she said shyly.

  “See you later,” he muttered and moved away as quickly as possible. He unlocked his office door, walked inside and closed the door behind him. He set his briefcase on the floor and ran his hand through his hair.

  What the hell was that? What the hell just happened to him?

  How was it possible that he had just been extremely turned on by a girl half his age? One that was incredibly shy by today’s standards, one that exuded so much innocence, he doubted she even knew what sex was.

  He put the matter behind him and set out to get something done, anything done to make up for the train wreck that was the day before. He opened the folder that sat on top of his desk and lifted up the top two pages.

  Someone knocked on the door and then opened it before he had a chance to beckon them inside. Mort Livingston—company CEO and founder—stuck his head around the doorframe. “You busy?” he asked.

  Chad shook his head. “No, come in, Mort.” He put the paper down and looked up at his boss questioningly.

  “Bazarov called you yesterday?” Mort asked.

  “Yeah. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to get back to him yet,” Chad confessed. “I need to do some research on this investment he’s droning on about. It’ll take a while.”

  Mort threw a thick folder onto the desk. “Maybe this will help,” he said with a smirk.

  “You’re shitting me, right?” Chad asked sarcastically, taking in the size of the folder. “I wouldn’t have time to go through all that.”

  “Well, it’s after 5:00 PM in Moscow so you probably won’t get Bazarov today anyway,” Mort replied. “If you recruit some people to help with research, possibly you can call him on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.”

  Chad nodded slowly. “I guess. Leave it with me.”

  When Mort departed, Chad picked up the company landline and called reception. “Sarah, could you come into my office please?”

  Sarah walked through the door seconds later. “What can I do for you, Mr. C.?”

  “Can you rustle me up two or three volunteers to help with some research?” he asked. “I need to find information about an alternative energy company by the name of Omagal Inc.”

  “So you need a few people to hit google and bing?” she probed.

  “That won’t do much good,” he answered, shaking his head. “This particular company is quite hush-hush. There isn’t a lot of info pertaining to them on the net.”

  “So how—

  Chad cut off her question and picked up the large, thick folder. “Mort had a few experts do a little digging…”

  Sarah held out her hand for the folder.

  “No way,” Chad said, shaking his head, “this does not leave my office.”

  Sarah nodded. “Right, boss, I’ll see what I can do.”

  Less than twenty minutes later, someone was knocking on his door again. This time he ran over and opened it to see Shannon standing awkwardly in his doorframe. “Sarah sent me here to help you with some research,” she said in a quiet voice.

  ‘Oh fucking great…of all people, Sarah sends Lolita to me,’ he thought.

  “Thank you, Shannon,” he said kindly. “Take a seat at the table. If you don’t mind, this will probably take up most of your day.”

  “That’s fine,” she said softly and made her way across the room to the small conference table.

  Chad stared after her, noting the swing of her slender hips and shook his head, inwardly scolding himself for his inappropriate reaction. She wore a white blouse with a peter-pan collar, a short, brown mini-skirt with a pair of suede Mary-Janes and tan knee socks. For a nineteen-yr-old woman, she sure dressed like a little girl, the picture of purity.

  Chad picked up the folder from his desk and walked over to her, explaining what little he knew about Omagal Inc.

  Shannon nodded a couple of times, letting him know she understood exactly what he needed.

  “I just need to make a phone call then I’ll join you,” he said, smiling down at her.

  She looked up under her eyelashes like before, a look that managed, once again, to stop Chad in his tracks. “Okay,” she breathed, and for some strange reason, Chad thought the sound was the most alluring thing he’d ever heard.

  He walked across the room and sat on the edge of his desk, He picked up his landline and dialed Donna’s number. “Hey D,” he said when she picked up.

  “Hi, handsome,” she answered. “You’re not calling to cancel on me, are you?”

  Chad watched as Shannon pulled her long, silky hair over her left shoulder; it cascaded down past her breast.

  “Chad…are you still there?”

  “Yeah…no…I mean, no. I’m not cancelling,” he replied. “I’m looking forward to spending the night with you.” He heard it immediately. Why the fuck did he just say that? It carried a big, fat sexual connotation, not that he minded that as such, but he usually wasn’t so forward, and besides, Shannon may have overheard.

  “What are you looking forward to most?” Donna asked in her most seductive voice.

  Shannon’s finger glided up and down her thigh absentmindedly as she bent over the papers in front of her.

  “Chad…”

  “Your thighs,” Chad replied with a hypnotized tone. He shook his head to clear it. “I mean…I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

  “Really?” Donna chuckled. “I didn’t realize my thighs were such a turn on.”

  “They’re not…” Chad mumbled, not really sure what the hell he was even saying. He couldn’t peel his eyes off the girl that sat across the room, captivating him with her every movement. He watched as she slid her finger under the rim of her left knee sock and gave her calf a tiny scratch. Suddenly, and from out of nowhere, Chad saw a flash behind his eyes, a quick mental image of him running his tongue over the top of that very sock, of sliding it down her calf and kissing the soft flesh behind her knee. And then, to his utter horror, he felt his cock stiffen.

  “Chad?” Donna called into the phone. “W
hat are you playing at? I didn’t realize that my thighs disgusted you. You never seemed to mind lying between them.”

  He flinched at her statement, which managed to bring him back to the ‘here and now’. “Your thighs don’t disgust me,” he said sharply. He ran his fingers through his hair and noted the slight shaking of his hands. “I have to go, D. I’ll see you tonight.” He hung up before she had a chance to respond. He adjusted his pants and stood up. “Shannon, I’ll be right back,” he called while rushing to the door.

  After splashing the third handful of cold water on his face, Chad assumed he was composed enough to face Shannon again.

  He took a deep breath at his office door and walked inside to see Kyle sitting at his conference table facing Shannon, a cocky grin on his face. Chad sighed with relief. The last thing he wanted was to spend the day alone with the girl.

  “I came to help,” Kyle announced.

  “Thanks, Buddy,” Chad replied, walking toward the conference table. He walked to the far side and pulled out the chair at the head of the table, close to the window.

  “You’re welcome,” Kyle said in a peppy voice, “but I only volunteered because I heard Shannon was here.”

  Oh, crap! Chad looked over at her just in time to see her lovely, rounded cheeks flash pink. “I think you’re embarrassing her,” he scolded, feeling extremely proud of how composed he sounded, given that Shannon blushing did strange things to his body.

  She looked over at him and nodded, smiling shyly.

  Chad always considered himself a decent, upstanding guy, but for some strange reason that he didn’t have time to ponder at that moment, Shannon’s sweetness and innocence—not to mention that smoking hot body—was causing his hormones to have a party that his brain had not been invited to. He felt beyond disgusted with himself and silently vowed to nip the inappropriate physical reaction in the bud immediately. He nodded back to the girl and smiled.

  “Whoa, sorry,” Kyle said, holding up his hands. “But that is actually freaking adorable.”

  “What is?” Shannon asked.

  “The way you blush like that,” Kyle replied. “I didn’t think women did that anymore.”

  “I usually don’t like being the center of attention,” she admitted sweetly.

  “With the way you look, I don’t see how you could avoid it,” he pressed.

  Oh, shit, she was blushing again.

  “That’s enough,” Chad scolded, giving Kyle the sideways hairy-eyeball. “Shannon, should I ask Kyle to leave?” he added in a joking voice, silently praying that she wouldn’t say ‘yes’.

  “No, that’s okay,” she giggled, smiling over at Chad. “I’ll just ignore him.”

  “Smart girl!” Chad responded. “Okay, if we’re all done with the small talk, I really do need the two of you to get down to business.”

  “Gladly,” Kyle mumbled, smirking shrewdly.

  “Enough, Kyle,” Chad scolded. He handed them both a small pile of papers to comb through.

  They spent the next two hours studying each page. Kyle and Shannon stopped often to ask questions about different things that caught their eye which may have been important. They were coming up with nothing conducive.

  The good news, though, was that Shannon started coming out of her shell. Apparently, there really was a personality under the beautiful body, and quite a smart and witty one. And for some reason, the more of herself that came forth, the more it seemed that Chad could keep his hormones under full control.

  “I’ll be right back,” Shannon announced, jumping up as lunchtime approached. “Bathroom,” she mumbled to the two men that were looking at her questioningly. She hurried from the room and closed the door tight behind her.

  Kyle’s forehead smacked down on the table. He raised his head and looked over at Chad with a pained expression. “She’s so fucking hot!” he blurted out. “Oh, man!”

  Chad chuckled and rolled his eyes, the picture of maturity. “She’s a little young, don’t you think?” he replied, knowing that he was a complete hypocrite.

  “She’s nineteen,” Kyle said indignantly, shaking his head. “I’m only twenty-five.”

  “Yeah, but she seems much younger. She’s innocent, or something,” Chad argued.

  “I know! All she needs is a pair of thick, dark-rimmed glasses and I’d be cuming in my pants,” Kyle admitted. “It’s the combination of hot face and body with the ‘I’m such a virgin’ routine that makes her so fuckable.”

  “Fuckable?” Chad repeated with a sour look on his face, shaking his head.

  “Yeah, y’know, how like all guys wanna do the nerdy librarian?” Kyle added.

  Chad raised his eyebrows and chuckled, trying his hardest to appear ‘boss-like’, meanwhile, he began to ponder if that was really the reason his body reacted to hers the way it did.

  Didn’t really matter, though, whatever the reason. It was still highly inappropriate.

  When Shannon returned, Chad announced that they should break for lunch. He threw menus from the local deli at both of them and told them to order whatever they wanted, his treat.

  Something in the way Shannon ate her Buffalo chicken wrap caught Chad’s attention. She was dainty and shy eating around others, it seemed, yet she ate in a way that gave him a gut feeling that this girl was incredibly hungry, like she didn’t have enough to eat on a regular basis.

  “So, Shannon, where do you live?” Chad asked, rolling up his napkin and throwing it onto the paper plate in front of him. He was eager to know as much about her as possible, suddenly. If she was in some kind of financial trouble, he figured that perhaps he could help her out.

  “Ummm, near Yonkers,” she answered hesitantly. She looked over at him but did not meet his eyes.

  “Where about?” he pushed, noting her uncomfortable demeanor.

  She shrugged. “I don’t really know how to explain it. I’ve only been here ten days and don’t really know any popular places or landmarks there yet.”

  The girl was lying through her teeth, that much was obvious, but Chad took pity on her. It was clear that the matter of where she lived was off limits for conversation, for some reason. He would have pushed the issue, but she began biting on her lip and he could feel the tension rolling off her. He couldn’t bear to make her feel any worse. Maybe he should offer to take her to dinner to make sure she was eating enough. Wait…no…that would be a terrible idea, and besides, he was meeting Donna later.

  That right there was the one thing his father always scolded him for: for trying to save people. It really wasn’t his concern what her financial situation was. It wasn’t up to him to fix this. But as he looked over at her, his heart fluttered a little. There was an unmistakable sadness behind those beautiful eyes. “So shall we get back to work?” he blurted out, clapping his hands once, trying to lighten the mood.

  By the end of the day, they were no further at finding out any worthwhile information about Omagal Inc. as they had been that morning, and they hadn’t even managed to get halfway through the folder.

  Chad glared at the folder and scowled. “Ugh, looks like my weekend will be a washout.” He perked up suddenly and looked over at Kyle. “Hey, what are you up to for the weekend?”

  “Going upstate to visit my folks, why?” Kyle responded.

  Chad’s face dropped. “Never mind! I was going to ask you if you wanted to earn a little over time,” he said, nodding toward the folder.

  “Sorry, man.” Kyle shrugged apologetically.

  “I can do it, if you want,” Shannon piped in shyly. “I’ll…I’ll help you out over the weekend.”

  Chad racked his brain, trying to come up with a good reason to refuse her help quickly, but couldn’t really think of one. Besides, he really did need the help. “You sure?” he asked.

  “I don’t really have anything else to do,” she admitted.

  He unconsciously blew out a deep breath, ignoring his better judgment that said spending time alone with her was a bad, bad fucking idea.
“Okay,” he said, nodding. “Can you be here at twelve?”

  “Sure,” she replied.

  He watched her slip into a dark-blue parka and fling her bag over her shoulder.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Kyle happily offered. “Night, boss,” he said, putting his hand on the small of Shannon’s back and guiding her toward the door.

  “Night, Buddy, thanks for the help,” Chad replied.

  “Goodnight, Chad,” she called out over her shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

  “See you tomorrow,” he answered.

  Dear God, what the fuck was he getting himself into?

  Chapter 4

  “So, Bertie wants us to visit with him over Thanksgiving weekend. I told him that we’d be happy to, so he suggested we travel up to him on the Friday night or Saturday morning. Which one works better for you?”

  Chad was outlining his plate with asparagus, trying to frame what little was left of his steak.

  “Are you even listening to me?” Donna yelped.

  Chad looked up quickly. “Yes!” he snapped back, which was a complete lie.

  “Which one works better?”

  “Well…neither, actually,” he replied, feeling his temper flare.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “It’s Thanksgiving weekend, Donna. It’s a time for family and friends, not for business associates.”

  “This is important to me,” she huffed. “It’s important to my career.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m spending Thanksgiving with my parents,” he answered.

  “That’s Thanksgiving day,” she reminded him, rolling her eyes. “I’m talking about the rest of the weekend.”

  “I already made plans to visit Derek’s family on that Saturday,” he said quietly, inwardly bracing against the coming outburst.

  “WHAT!” she screeched. “What the hell do you mean?”

  Chad’s temper was reaching a critical point, something that didn’t happen often. “Donna, you know that Alex and I spend Thanksgiving weekend with Derek’s family. We’ve been doing it since college.”

  “Yes, but I just thought that now that you and I are together…” she trailed off and shrugged, angrily.