Craving Shannon (2 page)

“Are you…are you finished…with school?” he questioned, confused. She had the kind of face that was hard to put an exact age on. Something about it was
‘doll’
like, and reminded him of Japanese Anime characters. She was alluring yet innocent.

“I graduated high school in June…almost five months ago…” she trailed off, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“Early?” he pushed.

“No…I’m…I’m nineteen…” she stammered, her face turning a warm shade of pink.

Chad shook his head as if to clear it and smiled. “Welcome aboard, Shannon. It’s really nice to have you here.”

“Thank you so much,” she replied warmly.

He turned and walked toward his office, strangely unsettled by the new receptionist.

Sarah ran after him. “Wait, your messages,” she called out.

Chad slowed down to allow Sarah time to catch up then picked up the pace with her in toe. “Anything important?” he queried.

“Not really that important, but Mr. Bazarov called. He wants to see where you are on his new investment. Oh, and your dad, among others”

“My dad can’t leave a message on my voicemail?” he snapped.

Sarah shrugged her shoulders, knowing that the question was rhetorical. “What do you think of Shannon?” she questioned. “She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?”

“For a kid,” Chad answered, nodding.

“She’s not really a kid,” Sarah countered. “She’s over eighteen. She just moved here from Florida by herself and doesn’t know anyone in the city yet. I was thinking of taking her out over the weekend and introducing her to my kid brother. He would freaking love her.”

“I’m sure he would,” Chad replied, smiling. “How come she didn’t graduate high school until the age of nineteen?”

“It seems that when she was six, she came down with a serious dose of mono,” Sarah explained. “She missed a good deal of first grade, so her parents decided to leave her back a year. I’ve seen her high school transcripts and she was a straight A student, though.”

“Maybe you should organize a group lunch for her, give her a chance to meet the whole gang,” he suggested.

“Someone would have to stay behind and cover reception,” Sarah said offhandedly.

“Y’know what?” Chad said with a sly grin, looking up from the pink messages in his hands. “I’ll do it!”

“Ah…Mr. C…you ah…you do realize that you’re a VP right?”

“Who gives a shit,” he responded sharply. “I’m not above answering the phone for an hour or two.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” he replied, nodding. “I’ll cover reception while you have lunch with the rest of the support staff.”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re the best boss here, Mr. C?” she blurted out.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Chad said sarcastically, moving toward his office door. “Let me know when you need me to cover the front. In the meantime, I’ll be in my office ignoring these messages and nursing this damn hangover.”

Shannon stared down the hall, watching Sarah chatting and smiling with Mr. Clarkson.

He was a tall man with broad shoulders, light-brown hair and a handsome face, despite the blood-shot eyes. He had that ‘almost’ beard and mustache, razor stubble look, whether by design or from lack of proper grooming due to his hangover. He looked to be in his early to mid-thirties. Shannon wondered what his wife looked like—probably extremely pretty in that preppy sort of way.

Something about Mr. Clarkson had made her very self-conscious and uncomfortable. Maybe it was because he was one of the vice presidents, someone who was her superior, or perhaps she just didn’t do well with older people. She was over-whelmed by the strange feeling that they could sense her past, sense what kind of a person she really was and what she’d come from.

A picture flashed in her mind of a dingy trailer park, of used diapers flung on the ground and shabby laundry hanging on clotheslines between two trees. A picture of neglected children playing around discarded beer cans while scantily clad mothers barely looked on, cigarettes dangling from their weathered lips.

A shudder ran through her. She pushed her long hair behind her ears and bit her lip, looking over the list of employees, trying to memorize the names. She really needed to get the hang of this fast. She needed this job. Already, she barely had enough money to last her for one week, let alone the two it would take until she finally saw a paycheck.

Still, the memory of her home in Florida haunted her: waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of domestic fights, adults hurling curses and insults at each other while children wailed in the background. The memory of a new school, one where she couldn’t bear to make friends in case they wanted to know where she lived. The shame of what had become of her family remained her dirty little secret.

Life hadn’t always been that way. Back when her father had been alive, back when they still lived in Kentucky, Shannon remembered her family going to church on Sundays and being respected members of the community. Dad worked, mom stayed at home and baked cookies. She had dinner ready by 6:30 every evening. Looking back in retrospect, though, Shannon realized that there was always something a little
off
with her mother. She never seemed to be her own person. It seemed she lived to please her husband and had lost her own identity in the process, almost like a robot. Yet, it didn’t really matter then. Life was blissfully normal until the accident, until a collision with another car had taken her father and brother away. Thus began the nightmare that would become Shannon’s life.

Sarah skipped up to the desk, beaming. “Mr. C wants me to plan a big
‘welcome to
the company’
lunch for you,” she announced. “He’s even going to cover the front desk while we go out.”

Shannon cringed inside but managed to force out a smile. “That’s really nice but not necessary. I don’t want anyone going to any trouble on my account.”

“Nonsense,” Sarah argued. “It’s what we do here. Well, usually one of the bosses doesn’t offer to work reception, but…”

“Don’t they go to lunch?” Shannon questioned.

“Not with us,” Sarah replied. “On these occasions, it’s usually support staff: us, the admin assistants, and sometimes a few of the younger, junior investors.”

“That was very nice of Mr. Clarkson to offer,” Shannon commented, resign to the fact that she’d have to eat lunch with a bunch of complete strangers while being the center of attention. There was nothing she hated more than people making a fuss over her. The only comforting part was that it would be over in an hour.

“Mr. C. is the best,” Sarah replied wistfully. “Not to mention, a total babe.”

Shannon giggled at Sarah’s dreamy look. “He’s nice looking, alright,” she agreed.

“Nice looking?” Sarah echoed, looking at Shannon as though she was missing the plot. “He’s freaking hot as hell, not to mention a sweetheart. Oh, and rich…did I mention rich? The guy’s the complete package.”

“Is he married?” Shannon queried.

“Nah, he has a girlfriend, though.”

“She must be beautiful,” Shannon guessed aloud.

“She’s alright,” Sarah answered with a disapproving look. “She’s a bit of a stuck-up bitch, actually. They are a terrible couple…so not suited.”

“How so?”

“Chad’s a very down to earth guy,” Sarah explained. “He works hard, but it isn’t an obsession with him, not like it is with a lot of people in this business. He’s still hanging with his boys, his two best friends from middle-school. I think Donna is trying to turn him into something he’s not, y’know, something more like her or Chad’s father, Charles Clarkson the second. Wait until you get her on the phone and have to explain that Chad left early to meet Alex and Derek. You’ll see what I mean. You can almost hear the steam coming out of her ears.”

“Why does he put up with her?” Shannon asked.

Sarah shrugged. “He’s an easy going guy…”

“Maybe you and he could…y’know…” she teased, nudging Sarah in the arm with her elbow, slightly shocked by her own playfulness with a complete stranger.

“Oh God, I wish!” Sarah blurted out. “Even though I’m pretty sure he’s far out of my league, what I wouldn’t do for one night with that man.”

⃰    ⃰    ⃰

Lunch wasn’t nearly as bad as Shannon had anticipated.

They were around twenty-five in all, and thankfully not everyone bombarded her at once. People talked amongst themselves and took turns going over to shake her hand and introduce themselves. Everyone was extremely nice, even the two recent college graduates who acted like she was some kind of trophy for whichever one could charm her the most. They were sweet guys and both were kind of cute. She had to admit that it was fun being flirted with. All and all, she considered it a huge success and was actually feeling better than she had in ages as they made their way back to the office.

Shannon, along with Sarah and six other people, including the two flirts, exited the elevator together and walked across the hall to the reception area.

Mr. Clarkson sat leaned way back on the seat with his feet on the desk, the old-fashioned phone resting between his cheek and shoulder, tapping his bottom lip with a long pencil.

“Don’t let Mr. Clarkson catch you with your feet on the desk,” Sarah called out playfully.

Chad pulled the phone away and smiled “Screw Mr. Clarkson,” he replied with a cheeky grin. “I gotta go,” he said into the phone then set it back on its cradle.

“I see you got demoted,” one of the flirty young men said. “What’d you do, Clarkson? Get caught jerking-off in your office?”

“Fuck you, Kyle,” Chad replied, grinning. He cleared his throat and looked toward Shannon with a guilty expression. “Pardon my French, Young Lady,” he said, bashfully. “I hope we don’t scare you off. We’re just playing.”

“I’ve heard worse,” she answered, feeling her cheeks begin to burn.

“How was lunch?” Chad questioned, looking into her eyes with a strange expression that Shannon couldn’t quite understand.

Kyle flung his arm around Shannon’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, boss, I took good care of her.”

“You stay away from her,” Chad replied teasingly. “Shannon, stay clear of Kyle. He’s a dog.”

“Thanks for the good word, boss. I was trying to impress her with my good looks and charm but I think you’ve put a nail in that coffin,” Kyle retorted.

“Good,” Chad replied bluntly. “Lunch was good?” he questioned again, turning his attention back to Shannon.

“Very nice,” she answered. “Thank you so much, Mr. Clarkson.”

“It’s my pleasure, but please, call me Chad.”

“But Sara
h
—

“I call him Mr. C. It’s just a pet name,” Sarah explained. “He prefers Chad.”

“Thank you, Chad,” she reiterated, her cheeks flaming up again. She looked up in time to see Chad’s eyebrows rise slightly, as if he was trying to read her.

“Right,” Chad said awkwardly, his eyes flashing down the hall. “I’ll vacate your desk so you can get back to work,” he said to Sarah, looking suddenly a little uncomfortable.

“See you later, boss,” Sarah called after him in a flirty voice. “I love you,” she whispered under her breath loud enough for only Shannon to hear.

“Give me twenty more push-ups,” Roland ordered, crouching down so that his butt almost touched the floor.

“You’re a fucking sadist,” Chad spat out between clenched teeth, sweat dripping from the front of his hair unto the floor.

“And you’re paying me a small fortune for my sadistic services,” Roland chuckled.

After twenty more push-ups, Chads sat up, feeling the burn in his arms, chest and shoulders.

“Good work-out,” Roland said proudly.

“Thanks, Buddy,” Chad replied. “I probably won’t be able to move for the entire weekend, but it feels kind of good.”

Roland nodded. “Take the weekend off. If you feel the need to work out, try a short run, but leave the upper body alone.”

“I know the drill,” Chad assured him. He picked up his towel and headed toward the showers.

Outside the gym, Chad felt the cold morning air bite into his skin but was still too pumped up to bother putting on his coat yet.

He headed to the coffee kiosk then walked halfway down the block with two large ‘
light with sugars’.

“Hello there, Mr. Chad, Sir,” Nelson called out. “How you doing, Sir?”

“It’s just Chad,” Chad said for probably the hundredth time, handing a coffee to Nelson. “I’m well, Nelson, but I’m concerned as to how you’re keeping warm in this weather.”

“I do alright, Sir,” Nelson replied. “I go to the soup kitchen in the afternoon and to the shelter at night.”

“It’s okay there?” Chad asked. “They treat you okay?”

“Yes, yes,” Nelson assured him, nodding his head. “They’re good folks. Not as good as you, but good folks.” He put both cracked and battered hands around his coffee cup then brought it to his lips, taking a long sip. He let out a satisfied sigh. “Why I don’t see you yesterday, Sir?” he asked, looking at Chad over the rim of the cup.

“I was running late,” Chad admitted sheepishly, “too much partying the night before.”             

Nelson chuckled. “That’s why you need a good woman,” he said. “A good woman would sort you out; put you on the right track.”

“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. “What 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.