Meetings

Eric bit his tongue until he tasted blood. It was the only way he was able to put his head back on straight. Jessalyn... When she'd looked into his eyes he felt again that raw emotion he could do nothing to hide. With a deep breath, swallowing the blood that spilled from the bite marks, Eric looked back up to the two men who had already begun again with their discussion.  He cut them off and said quickly, before either of them could even give him dirty looks, "But you're talking about either increasing workers or labor hours. Your cost will increase, raising the price of product."


But Mark replied quickly with a rebuttal of his own, "If we simply increase labor hours the costs will be no different on our end."

"But of course on our end the price of earliest shipments will increase."

"But of course," Mark smirked this time, in that annoying way as if he knew something no one else in the room did and he liked it that way, "Then again, early supply on your end also justifies higher prices."

Eric paused, and the air turned cold around them.  He slowly looked over and met Mark's eyes directly.  The tension between the two of them was obvious.  Despite growing up together, playing as children, the two of them could not be more different.  They had inherited their fathers' businesses - none of their friendship.  "I don't like the idea of your cost coming off the backs of the slaves. That's no better than blood money."

Mark's smirk grew deeper and his eyes flashed darkly "And that, Eric, is why you run a factory."

To that, he had no reply.

Several hours later, Eric left the office with a headache and a sour stomach. He hated these meetings. The complete heartlessness of the Larocque's eldest son was more than enough to make Eric want to brutally murder something. He clenched his fists, walking stiffly but quickly down the hall and up the stairs to the guest room where he'd spent the night before. He needed time alone. Time to calm himself before Emily arrived and ran his nervous in another direction, but more importantly before he saw Jessalyn again. God help him if he ran into her now. Frustrated as he was he doubted his own ability to control himself towards her.

Eric took another deep breath as he rounded the corner, but the moment he did his racing heart dropped a foot into his stomach. Walking towards him, her silky brown hair brushing the soft skin of her bare shoulders, was the one woman he'd prayed not to see right now. Not like this. He swallowed thickly, wanting to turn the other way, but it was too late. Shed seen him, and here she came towards him, her perfect form moving towards him more quickly. He swallowed again, looking over his shoulder to be sure they were alone. Then he looked back to her, his lips curving up in a smirk as he took a step forward to meet her in the middle of the hall.

"You were quite the distraction this morning, Miss Larocque." he spoke softly, holding out his hand for hers. When she gave it to him he lifted it to his lips, pressing a kiss against her sweet skin. He took in a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. Her scent was so completely intoxicating. He wished he could keep his lips against her skin for the hours upon hours he had dreams of. But eventually, reluctantly he did lower her hand and return it to her. Though he wished he could hold her now, he knew soon enough that time would come. And when it did, he would hold her forever. Completely his alone, for eternity.