holy fire on whatever unfortunate soul in human resources picked up on the other end.
I was in the process of dialing when Simon blurted, "Mr. Falcon!"
I wasn't sure who was more surprised by his outburst, him or me. For a second, I was almost proud of him for the show of gumption, but when he said, "Wait, no, that's not right" and looked at a crumpled business card that had been mashed up in his fist, the feeling was gone. "Mr. Falkov."
"Who?" I asked.
Simon looked down at the business card and began reading the name off again.
"Why is he here?" I growled before he could finish.
My assistant's eyes went wide. "Um, hang on, I'll go check—"
"No," I snapped before the man-child could leave the office again. "Don't move," I ordered and then I opened the calendar on my computer to check my list of appointments. The name didn't sound at all familiar and I’d purposefully kept my meetings to a minimum today so I could finish reviewing the contracts for the property deal that would cement my future with TDS Corporation. "There's no one by that name scheduled for today."
"Well, he's been waiting since this morning," Simon blubbered. "I, um, told him you were really busy, but he said he'd wait. And then, I guess, I kind of forgot about him."
"Of course you did," I muttered, then said, "Go deal with it."
"Okay," Simon said and then he was gone again. I pressed my fingertips to my temples and tried to force away the growing pain in my head. I allowed myself a minute to collect my thoughts before returning my attention to my computer, but just as I found the place I'd stopped at, there was a knock at my door again.
"For fuck's sake!" I shouted. "What?!"
There was a lengthy silence and then the door creaked open just the tiniest bit so that Simon could lean in and whisper, "He won't go."
I was done.
Completely done.
I still had hours of work ahead of me and had been running on only a few hours of sleep every night for the past three months. I shoved away from my desk so hard and fast that my chair rolled backward and hit the credenza behind me. Simon let out a little squeak of fear when I reached the door and ripped it open.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Archer. I told him you were busy and that it was late and that you—"
I grabbed Simon's wrist only long enough that I could snatch the business card from his hand. It felt like hours before the jumbled letters fell into place and I was able to make out the name.
Nikolai Falkov.
I stormed past Simon's desk and rounded the corner where there was a comfortable seating area for my clients.
"Mr. Falkov," I began as I entered the room and spied a tall figure in the far corner of the room. The man's back was to me so I couldn't make out anything about him aside from the fact that he had a killer body. He was dressed appropriately in a black suit, but there was nothing familiar about him. I certainly would've remembered meeting a man like him. As it was, I felt like my tongue was suddenly too big for my mouth.
Then he turned around.
And all hopes for a smooth recovery were gone.
Dead in the water.
Kaput.
Some of the guys I'd dated—well, not dated so much as fucked—had called me beautiful, but I'd always found that to be a strange description for a man. But hell if it didn't all make sense now. Because the guy in front of me was beautiful. Gorgeous, sure. Hot, absolutely. But those words seemed completely inadequate. Beautiful just… worked.
At a basic level, the guy was a couple inches taller than me which put him around the six two or six three mark. He was heavier too but not heavy like some of the bears that frequented the various gay clubs I'd go to when I was looking for anonymous sex. Even with the poor cut of his efficient suit, there was no doubting that every part of his physique was rock hard and perfect. He had the kind of muscles that you couldn't get in a gym.
Dark, almost black eyes were framed by thick lashes and brows. His hair matched the darkness of his eyes, bouncing back and forth between medium and dark brown, based on how he was slanting his head underneath the harsh overhead lights. My cock was already on high