The Cowboy's Temptation

Elizabeth Lennox - The Cowboy's Temptation

The Cowboy's Temptation
Elizabeth Lennox

romance/billionaire

Chapter 1

She heard their vile comments.

Elissa didn’t want to hear them. She tried to block them out as she poured herself a cup of coffee as quickly as possible, almost burning herself as the hot, black liquid sloshed over the edge of her cup in her haste. She wanted to leave the office kitchen quickly in order to avoid their foul words but despite her best efforts, she couldn’t ignore them. In fact, she suspected that they were talking louder just to get a reaction from her.

The two men stood in front of the stainless steel coffee maker, leaning casually against the counter as they discussed their previous night’s sexual conquests. The room was large with steel cabinets and accenting black granite counters, smelling like gourmet coffee. The kitchen was reserved for the top brokers in Tillman & Hirshman, a stock brokerage firm in the heart of the financial district of New York City.

One of them snickered as she poured cream into her coffee, obviously thrilled with his escapades. “Yeah, she was incredibly hot. Did you see her last night?” Mark Callburn asked Jeff Walters, the man standing next to him in the kitchen.

Jeff nodded his head enthusiastically. “Oh, yeah. She was definitely built,” he said. Out of the corner of her eye, Elissa saw him make movements around his chest area. She understood that the woman in discussion was well-endowed but she turned her head away, not wanting to encourage the men.

Five minutes ago, Elissa had barely been able to register the world around her due to extreme fatigue but with their awful remarks, her blue eyes lit up with anger. She needed sugar for her coffee, but she considered dumping the black liquid into the sink or doing without sweetener, desperate to get away from the room so she didn’t have to hear more of the disgusting conversation. Elissa knew Mark’s wife was a very petite woman in all aspects so it was obvious that he was not discussing his wife.

It was only seven o’clock in the morning and Elissa had worked late the previous night in order to close a big deal. It had been after two o’clock in the morning before she’d fallen into bed and after six nights with only four hours of sleep or less, the caffeine was a necessity and not just a desire. Reaching behind the two men, she quickly poured some sugar into her cup and rushed out of the room, ignoring the spilled sugar crystals as well as their lewd comments about the women they had been with the previous night while their wives were home with their young children.

Back in her office, Elissa turned on her computer and pushed the two men’s unfaithfulness out of her mind. She had several meetings today and she still needed to prepare for them.

She took off her black, summer wool jacket revealing a white silk blouse underneath that contrasted perfectly with her black slacks. It was early spring in New York but for some reason the heat had come sooner than normal and the humidity was never far behind. She had walked to work this morning, hoping the morning air would wake her up a bit. But it had only created a mass of brown curls around her head that fell softly to her shoulders.

Twisting the pearl necklace around her fingers, Elissa pulled the information on her computer she needed for the meeting up on her computer and started editing the report she had to present in an hour to her client. She slowly sipped the overly sweet coffee, letting the caffeine ease into her tired body and wake up the remaining cells.

She was almost finished when a tall, perfectly manicured and suave looking man walked into her office, not bothering to knock. He sauntered towards her desk, then elegantly sat down in one of the visitor’s chairs in front of her desk.

Elissa ignored the spurt of irritation the man’s presence generated and continued to work on finalizing her presentation. “Hello, Derrel. What can I do for you today?” she asked emotionlessly, not bothering to look up from her computer screen.

Darrel Isenberg III picked up a brass paperweight from her desk and tossed it in his hands in a practiced manner, sneering slightly when all of Elissa’s attention was not immediately focused upon him as he was used to. He regrouped quickly, hiding his irritation in the hopes of making her laugh with his next comment.