#Blessed by Malakai, page 18
In the profile she’d received from her partner and friend, Savannah Westbrook, the Director of Research and Development for High Class Society, she could tell he was a walking sex ad. Even after recognizing his clearly masculine sex appeal, she couldn’t have prepared herself for the onslaught of pleasure she’d feel coming face-to-face with temptation.
Her eyes wandered up and down the length of his body that was encased in a deep-blue Tom Ford suit, complementing leather shoes, and a classic navy-blue watch with gold trimmings. Licking her lips as she admired his six-foot frame, she tried not to imagine how enticing he’d look without a stitch of clothing on. Usually Logan was attracted to men with curly hair and a caramel complexion, but the man standing before her didn’t have either of those qualities … and damned if she even cared. Within a few seconds, she’d dismissed every physical characteristic she’d ever believed she wanted in a man. Delicious, she thought after taking note of his short fade and chiseled jawline, his neatly groomed features mirroring that of a Tyson Beckford look-alike rather than Shemar Moore.
“I’m so sorry, Lo,” said her assistant, Nina, a grad student at Columbia University, as she came rushing in to the office behind the unwelcomed guest. “I’m not sure how he even got clearance into the building or how he found your office.”
“It wasn’t hard to find your office with so few people here and a distracted security guard,” he explained, his eyes never straying from Logan. His piercing gaze was so intense that Logan was glad she was sitting at her desk or she would have surely faltered. “And you should really lock up the bathroom window in the basement. I climbed right in.”
She tilted her head to the side, unable to believe that a man of his status would climb through a window to get into their office.
“It’s okay, Nina,” she reassured, refusing to break their stare-down. “I’ll listen to what Mr. Derrington has to say.”
Nina hesitantly exited the office and left the door cracked, instead of closing it all the way like she normally would when Logan had a meeting.
“Ms. Sapphire, I take it that you already know who I am,” he stated with a slight curl of his lips. Don’t do that, she thought when he walked a little closer to her desk. His imposing stance was already sending her body into a frenzy. She couldn’t stay seated and let him have the upper hand.
“It appears you already know who I am as well, Mr. Derrington.” Rising from her seat, she noted the appreciative glance he shot in her direction. She smoothed out her designer skirt and blouse before sitting on the edge of her desk. His eyes ventured to her creamy, maple thighs before making their way to the swell of her breasts.
Logan’s breath caught as she watched him observe her. She was hardly showing any cleavage and her clothes were concealing all of her assets. Yet the way he was staring at her, made her feel as if she wasn’t wearing anything at all. The air around them was thick with awareness, and the silence almost caused her to fidget under his stare.
“I’ve been away on business and came back early because I hadn’t heard from my younger sister. So I went to her condo, and imagine my surprise when I surfed her laptop, trying to find some information about her whereabouts, and saw several screen shots saved in a folder on her desktop entitled High Class Society Incorporated.”
Logan winced at his statement, silently cursing his discovery. HCS prided themselves on being paperless, a key to keeping the organization a secret. Unfortunately, no matter how good their small IT team was, some things were hard to avoid … like members taking screen shots containing information that couldn’t get out to the public.
“Ms. Sapphire, after I got over the shock of an organization like yours existing, I researched the duties of the founders listed on one of the screen shots and realized that you may be the only person to know where my sister is. According to what I read, all women are supposed to check in daily with you if they’re away with a prospect, correct?”
“That is true,” Logan responded. “May I remind you that the contents on those screen shots are private, and my organization did not approve for your sister to go off on her own before finishing part two of her orientation session, including our policy on safety.”
“So she is with a man,” he said more to himself than her. His jaw twitched and he placed both hands in his pockets, frustration radiating from his body. “May I remind you that as long as my sister is missing, everything is my business. She wouldn’t have gotten this idea to run off with God knows who if your company didn’t exist.”
“We help women find the person of their dreams, Mr. Derrington. We have rules, which she didn’t follow. We aren’t babysitters.”
“I assume I don’t need to reinforce that I’ll sue you for all your worth if you don’t tell me what I need to know, Ms. Sapphire … if that’s even your real last name.”
“It is,” she stated firmly. “I have nothing to hide, and although this is against my better judgment, I will tell you who she’s with,” she continued, purposely leaving out the fact that she didn’t know where Sophia was. She did have something to hide, but she needed to bluff to buy her and her partners some time before he went to the authorities.
“So,” he said, removing both hands from his pockets and waving them for her to explain, “who is my sister with?”
Logan sighed, still not okay with sharing the information, but she knew he wasn’t leaving without an answer. “She’s with social media prodigy, Justice Covington.”
She watched all of the color drain from his face while both hands curled into fists. His breathing grew heavier and he slowly rolled his neck … purposeful … measured. Logan found her own breathing growing labored as she sat and watched a range of emotions cross his face.
“Then we definitely have a problem,” he stated as he released his fists and leaned in closer to her, “because Justice Covington met my sister when she was eighteen and they tried to get married two years ago. If we don’t find them, he may finally get his wish … if they haven’t tied the knot already.”
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30 minutes earlier …
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“Where are you?” Logan Sapphire asked aloud as she scrolled through the online files she had for one of the newest clients to High Class Society, Sophia Derrington. Her cherry-colored office desk—that was usually extremely organized—was covered in an array of paperwork and maps she’d printed to try and piece together where Sophia might be. In all of her eight years of being Director of HR and Recruiting, she’d never lost contact with a client for this long.
“What the hell am I going to do?” she huffed aloud, standing up and running her French tipped fingernails through her thick and wavy copper-colored hair. She paced back and forth in her office, glad that her partners had all retired for the night. Only Logan and her assistant remained, and she was extremely thankful that Nina had decided to help her search for Sophia, despite the fact that Nina felt partially responsible.
Sophia hadn’t been born from wealth, but thirty-four-year-old Tristan Derrington, Sophia’s older brother, was a self-made millionaire and one of the most sought after custom watch designers in the country. He created top-notch designs for numerous celebrities, singers, hip-hop artists, and political figures. High Class Society had certain rules, and one of them was to ensure that the only women allowed in the society were women who weren’t born from money or from highly privileged families. They were all successful professionals and entrepreneurs, or self-made millionaires. Of course, sometimes rules were meant to be broken, and in some instances, they made an exception and allowed a woman to join who was born from money or a well-known family. Those situations were handled on a case-by-case basis.
Even though it seemed unfair, Logan and her partners had strict rules that they had to adhere to in order to ensure that High Class Society was successful and effective. They didn’t just let any woman into the organization. Each woman went through a psychological, spiritual, and professional screening to ensure that they were truly looking for love and not a gold-digging groupie. Their clientele consisted of women of different nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, and occupations, and they were proud of the successful relationships that had developed from their company.
Logan stopped pacing and abruptly sat down in her desk chair, accidently knocking over a cup of black coffee as she did so. “Shit,” she cursed, quickly grabbing some nearby napkins and dabbing up the coffee.
“Are you okay?” Nina yelled from outside of her office.
“I’m fine,” she yelled back after she’d wiped up most of the coffee and waved the wet stained paperwork in the air to dry it quicker.
Focus, Logan! she thought to herself as she leaned back in her chair and clasped her hands in her lap. Are there any clues in the last conversation you had with Sophia?
Ever since she’d first met Sophia months ago, the twenty-four year old had wormed her way into Logan’s heart after divulging the story about how she’d lost the only man she had ever loved and was ready to see what else was out there. She’d claimed she needed High Class Society, and Logan had chosen to ignore the signs that something more was going on. Now that she had no idea where Sophia had run off to, she had time to reflect on the fact that Sophia had only shown interest in one man … Justice Covington. HCS always listed possible matches in each woman’s personal online folder and Sophia had included other men in her profile as “persons of interest,” but any time Logan had spoken with Sophia, the young lady had only asked her about Justice, the thirty-two-year-old brain behind an up and coming social media network.
Closing her eyes, she thought back to the information she’d given Sophia about Justice attending a Broadway play at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre here in New York. She had warned Sophia to focus on men closer to her own age, but she’d been determined to meet Justice. That was the last day they’d spoken almost two weeks ago. Since then, she’d only received one text from Sophia saying that she was okay and was following her heart. All of their HCS ladies knew they had to check in daily if they were going away with a man, so she was worried and pissed that Sophia was jeopardizing the company and going rogue.
“What am I missing?” she wondered aloud before going on her computer to look at the personal file they had on Justice Covington again. There was a reason Sophia was interested in Justice, and why Savannah hadn’t been able to track Justice’s whereabouts lately in regards to his relationship status. Something wasn’t adding up.
“Sir, you can’t go in there,” she heard Nina yell right before a man walked into her office, literally taking her breath away. Tristan Derrington … in the flesh. God, he was sexy. Although she wished she could relish in his presence, the fact that he was standing in her office meant that HCS was in more trouble than she knew.
About the Author
Sherelle Green is a Chicago native with a dynamic imagination and a passion for reading and writing. Ever since she was a little girl, Sherelle has enjoyed story-telling. Upon receiving her BA in English, she decided to test her skills by composing a fifty-page romance. The short, but sweet, story only teased her creative mind, but it gave her the motivation she needed to follow her dream of becoming a published author.
Sherelle loves connecting with readers and other literary enthusiasts, and she is a member of RWA and NINC. She's also an Emma award winner and two-time RT Book Reviews nominee. Sherelle enjoys composing novels that are emotionally driven and convey real relationships and real-life issues that touch on subjects that may pull at your heartstrings. Nothing satisfies her more than writing stories filled with compelling love affairs, multifaceted characters, and intriguing relationships.
For more information:
www.sherellegreen.com
authorsherellegreen.com
Also by Sherelle Green
An Elite Event Series:
A Tempting Proposal
If Only for Tonight
Red Velvet Kisses
Beautiful Surrender
* * *
Bare Sophistication Series:
Enticing Winter
Falling for Autumn
Waiting for Summer
Nights of Fantasy
Her Unexpected Valentine
* * *
High Class Society Series:
Blue Sapphire Temptation
Passionate Persuasion
* * *
Additional Books:
A Los Angeles Passion
A Miami Affair
Wrapped in Red
Sherelle Green, #Blessed by Malakai
