Allure: Mike Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Text copyright © 2017 by Sarah Monte.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Chapter One

  Today was Jennifer’s first day at work. Throughout her tenure at the Wharton School of Business, one of the most prestigious institutions of business education in the country, Jennifer had dreamed of making her mark on the world and getting a job at a big multinational company. During her last year at business school she had received an offer from none other than Michael Sinclair Capital Management, one of the most prestigious hedge funds in the world.

  This was the sort of job she had dreamed of getting. She would be in charge of helping with the management of tens of millions of dollars of capital that belonged to some of the most powerful people in the world, which put her in a unique position to make a number of contacts that would help establish her name in the world of business. She couldn’t wait to make her mark and prove herself to be the single most competent employee the hedge fund had ever hired!

  As she looked at herself in the mirror, she admired the way she looked. Jennifer had always been a beautiful woman, and she had often been afraid that this would lead to people not taking her all that seriously. She didn’t want to be treated like just another pretty face, hired for no other reason than the fact that she was hot and the person doing the hiring wanted to fuck her. However, she was not going to let this bring her down in any way. Just because the men she was going to work with were going to objectify her didn’t mean that she would let it change the way she dressed!

  Hence, she had taken out her best suit and business skirt, and she looked very good indeed. Her look was a mixture of refinement and dry, sexy class. If nothing else, the way she looked was bound to make an impression on her new boss.

  She exited her apartment and made her way down to the parking lot, saying hello to her neighbors as she went down. It was a beautiful day outside, she was finally about to embark on what was sure to be a prosperous career in finance and Jennifer felt very good about herself in this moment!

  As she drove to work she put on some of her favorite classical music and hummed to herself, enjoying the feel of the wind on her face as she rolled her window down. Her first day was bound to be full of a number of surprises that she couldn’t wait to experience. Little did she know, these surprises were not exactly going to be the sort of thing she would enjoy. No, Jennifer was going to be in for something she would never have thought to expect, for the moment she had been hired by Michael Sinclair Capital Management she had been unknowingly sucked into a world of deceit and danger, a world that might well end up being the end of her and all she loved.

  For the moment, however, Jennifer was happy. For the moment, the only thing that Jennifer truly cared about was getting to work and starting her day.

  *****

  Jennifer looked at the impressive concrete and glass structure that was the head office of Michael Sinclair Capital Management. The imposing tower had an air of power to it, as if at any moment it might end up swallowing her whole. She loved it! She loved the immense sense of foreboding and austerity that this tower possessed, for it was a sure sign that in joining this company she had made the right choice for her career. A powerful company made its employees powerful as well, after all.

  Jennifer entered the building’s lobby and made her way to the front desk. “Hello,” she said to the stylish man sitting at the front desk.

  The receptionist looked her up and down and said, “Yes?” His tone indicated no small amount of scorn, as if he was wondering what a pretty girl like this was doing in such a powerful and influential company. Jennifer did not exactly mind. She knew that her gorgeous auburn hair, the color of autumn, as well as her curvaceous figure, full lips and sharp blue eyes made for a very pretty sight and not many men would be able to resist it.

  “I am a new employee,” said Jennifer. “Morgan hired me, he told me to come in and tell the boy at the front desk to buzz him. Could you do that for me please?”

  “Oh!” said the receptionist, clearly taken aback as he had not been expecting such a sexy girl to be an employee of this esteemed establishment. “Yes,” he said, “yes of course, right away.”

  He pushed a few numbers on the phone in front of him and placed the receiver to his ear. “Mr. Ballantine?” he said, “Yes, your new team member is here. Should I send her up? Very well, sir, I will send her up right away.”

  The receptionist put the phone down and gave Jennifer a sheepish smile. It was clear that he was regretting his decision to be scornful towards someone he was goin
g to be working with now. “Yes, you must be Ms. Gellar. I am sorry, I had no idea that… well that you would be coming in this early, I suppose.”

  Jennifer saw through the excuse immediately. It was precisely nine in the morning, at what other time had he been expecting someone new to come in? No, his attitude had been the direct result of the fact that she was a woman and nothing else.

  When Jennifer didn’t respond, the receptionist said in a shaky voice, “Well Mr. Ballantine asked me to send you up immediately. Please go to the tenth floor, he will be waiting for you there.”

  “Thank you very much,” said Jennifer. As she made her way to the elevators she heard the receptionist call out, “By the way, my name is Adam, if you need anything just-“

  Jennifer did not hear the rest of his sentence as the elevator doors had closed shut by this point. She sighed, half with exasperation and half with pleasure. It was often enjoyable to see men getting so discomfited by the fact that such a gorgeous woman could have such a position of power, but at the same time it often irked her that this was the sort of reaction she got so often. She wanted to be taken seriously!

  When she exited on the tenth floor she saw Morgan Ballantine, her boss and the man that had hired her, standing at the floor’s front desk. He smiled as soon as he saw her. He was not particularly old, quite young in fact to be at such a high rank within the company. He was suave, dapper and couldn’t have been more than thirty eight years old.

  “Jennifer!” said Morgan, extending his hand to shake hers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ballantine,” said Jennifer.

  “Oh none of that,” said Morgan. “Remember what I told you? You are a part of my team now, a team of only three other people apart from you and me. We are all equals, even if I am your boss. Please call me Morgan, it will help to establish a sense of familiarity between us that would really help to get us going as far as work is concerned.

  “Of course,” said Jennifer. “Thank you, Morgan.”

  “Very good,” said Morgan. He escorted her to a cubicle and said, “This is where you will be working.”

  Three men came out of neighboring cubicles and waved hello.

  “These are Tom, Derek and Greg,” said Morgan, gesturing to each of the three men in turn. “They are your teammates. You four are going to be working very closely together, so I strongly suggest that you learn as much as you can about either. Talk to each other and make nice, we are all friends here! Now, since it’s your first day these three are going to be showing you the ropes and telling you what exactly you are going to be doing while you are here. Also, we are going to be taking you out to lunch today, wherever you want to go. It’s your very first day after all and want you to feel as welcome as possible!”

  “That is so sweet!” said Jennifer, a genuine feeling of warmth spreading through her when she heard her boss being so nice to her.

  “So,” said Morgan, “I am going to leave the four of you to it.”

  Jennifer sat down in Tom’s cubicle with him, Derek and Greg.

  “So what’s it like?” asked Derek. “First day and all. The three of us have started just a couple of weeks ago.”

  “How come?” asked Jennifer. “I mean, the team is supposed to comprise of four people, right?”

  “Technically no,” said Greg, pushing his glasses up his nose, “You see, most teams comprise of three members and a team leader. However, we are going to be handling the Henderson account. This is one of the most valuable accounts in the company so Morgan pulled some strings and got enough funding to hire another member.”

  “Wow,” said Jennifer, “I had no idea that my position held so much weight!”

  “Well it does for sure!” said Tom, “but don’t worry, the three of us are new too. We’ve barely done anything at all, just taken a look at the numbers and gotten familiar with what type of investments Nathaniel Henderson is interested in making.”

  “Alright,” said Jennifer, “fill me in.”

  Her three coworkers began to tell her the details about the account and Jennifer listened with enraptured interest. She had never been involved in anything this important before, this was real world stuff and she was enthralled by how completely and utterly interesting all of it was! Over the next four hours, she and her coworkers learned about each other as well and she realized that she might just end up becoming good friends with all three of them. She wished that there was a girl for her to hang out with as well but she was not going to complain. After all, she had just been hired at the one of the most prestigious financial institutions in the world, her life was going to get a lot better very soon!

  *****

  The morning passed quite quickly and Jennifer was quite hungry by the time it was one in the afternoon. Pretty much as soon as the clock struck one, Morgan strolled into the cubicle and said, “Well then! Where would you like to have your first lunch with the company, Jennifer? I will be using the company card so don’t worry about price at all, just tell me what you would enjoy eating right now.”

  “Well I do quite like sushi,” said Jennifer, and so the plan was made. They would head to a lovely sushi place just up the road, one where they would be able to dine on some of the finest sushi in the world. Jennifer honestly couldn’t wait!

  As they headed down to Morgan’s car, Jennifer realized that she had forgotten her phone and rushed back into the lobby to get it. As she was heading to the stairs she bumped into a man.

  “I’m so sorry!” she said, taking a few steps back. She saw that he had a tattoo sleeve and a piercing in his left ear. He was wearing sunglasses reminiscent of the sixties and overall he looked like bad news.

  The man looked her up and down and then exited the building without a word. Jennifer thought this very rude but she put it out of her mind. She was going to have lunch with her new team after all!

  Little did she know that this man was going to become a very important part of her life very soon.

  Chapter Two

  Jennifer’s first week at work had gone very well indeed. She was excelling at her job and she knew that if she kept going at it like this she could look forward to a long and successful career at this company. She had been working twelve hours a day, however, and by the time the weekend came around she was looking forward to a little downtime with her teammates so that she could unwind.

  Derek suggested that the four of them go to an exclusive club. He knew the owner so he could get them in easily, and he knew that if they played their cards right they could enjoy an amazing night having fun and getting drunk.

  Jennifer got dressed in one of her sexy dresses and admired herself in the mirror. She was hoping to hook up with somebody so that she could release a little sexual frustration that had pent up over the last few months. She had been working hard on her exams before she got this job and so had not been able to hook up with anybody for quite a long time, and she knew that if she didn’t get some cock soon she would start to lose her mind!

  The team made their way to the club and got in with ease, and when Jennifer saw the immense quality of the establishment they were in, she knew that she was in for a night of enjoyment and revelry. They got themselves some drinks and then settled down to have a good time.

  It was at that moment that Jennifer noticed someone’s presence, someone that she had not thought she was ever going to meet any time soon. It was the guy she had met in the lobby of the company building, the fellow with tattoos and piercings who had been quite rude to her. She decided to ignore him, knowing that nothing good would come of talking to him at all. She was here to have a good time and she was determined not to let a rude person like this ruin it for her in any way.

  However, when she went up to the bar to order some more drinks for her team, she was paying for this round as she felt it was the right thing to do after her team had treated her so well over the past week, the tattooed bad boy came up to her.

  “Hey there,” he said. The glasses were off now and she saw that he had the mo
st amazing sea green eyes. His face had the look of someone that was not used to smiling a lot and this gave him a very mysterious, sexy appeal, but at the same time he did not look unkind. He looked like someone that didn’t go up and talk to people all that often, and as a result of this fact Jennifer felt a little odd that he was talking to her right now.

  “Hi,” said Jennifer, turning her attention back to the bar after returning his perfunctory greeting.

  “Come on,” said the guy, “are you trying to say you don’t remember me? Neither of us are the kind of people that anyone would be able to forget any time soon. I know that you recall that we bumped into each other in the lobby of that building, and I know you noticed me the moment you entered the club. It’s fine if you are trying to play hard to get, I understand that more or less, but pretending that you don’t know me at all is kind of sad.”

  “Oh please,” said Jennifer, “I am just here to have a good time. I am not trying to talk to people who don’t have the basic decency to apologize after they have bumped into someone.”

  “Oh so is that what this is about?” said the guy. “Your ego has been hurt by the fact that I didn’t return your apology. Well, if it’s an apology you want I guess I can oblige. I am sorry for bumping into you in that lobby. How about I buy you a drink to make up for it?”