Top Note

Chapter 9

Darcel

Eriantha Reux was the biggest anomaly I have ever come across, and I can swear I hated anomalies until I found her.

I had half expected her to decline my offer by tomorrow and the other half of my irrational hope said that it would need some more manipulation, some more sacrifices of my immaculate schedule to get her on board.

Yet, she was sitting right here in my living room, wearing an impeccably formal attire for a Friday evening, along with a pair of neck breaking red heels which definitely encouraged some extra attention. Her legs were slim and my fingers  itched to trace them, and my lips craved to feel her flesh along her ankle to her lean and tender calf and beyond that.

'Since when did you develop a foot fetish Dar?'

I am getting an appointment with my therapist the first thing on Monday.

I tore off my gaze from her legs to her face, she was trying hard to suppress her nervousness, and I could see she had put on a lot of effort concealing her bare face behind a layer of thick makeup,  but, those innocent, dark eyes were ruining her efforts, her eyes said it all, she was too naive for her own good.

'Or, perhaps be she is an excellent actress. You can't trust anyone Dar.'

As I looked at her now , I couldn't help wonder where she has hidden the girl from this morning, who was in tattered jeans and messy bun?However, I don't complain because if that girl was cute, this young woman was devastating.

 Her plump lips were now painted in red, and it was becoming hard to concentrate on anything else,as all the blood in my body was making it's way to my cock. I can't help it that my whiskey fuzzed brain, which was fueling my imagination and luring me to witness how those lips would look once the red lipstick is smeared around my damned needy cock.

It might be pretty early for a Friday evening for many, but for someone like me who didn't have much enthusiasm towards socialisation, unless it was absolutely necessary for my business, it's pretty late.
Unlike Leon I don't go clubbing, and one family dinner was enough to drain out my batteries.
My day was already battered with a late running schedule and failed meetings, all thanks to a mysterious perfumer who had ignored my emails taking them as nothing more than some scam.

What's even more ridiculous is that she had successfully hijacked my rational thoughts ever since I left the dingy office of Reux Perfumes. She must have taken me for some perverted man, the way I had towered over her, was anything but appropriate for a business deal. I was supposed to present a lucrative offer, instead I got hooked to her scent, and then blackmailed her to succumb to my demands.

'Fuck that scent'

If she would accept my offer the first thing that I would make her do is to never wear that perfume when she's at work or anywhere around me. The idea of selling it as a perfume is aborted as well, it was deplorable to begin with.
I grabbed my glass of whiskey harder to get a grip on my dwindling self control. I suck at holding my drink. So, I prefer to enjoy my liquor in private and when I am not on the clock. I abhorred the idea of letting my guard down. In the world where I survive, when one drops their fences, others leave their cattle to fend on their fields.
Right now, having Eriantha around my whiskey clad brain was like keeping a ticking bomb in my pocket. 

It was suicidal.

'How would you know she would be here? Well, I could have just declined her, just like I always do? You are greedy Dar accept it, you drooled at the idea of having her here at your den.'

But I needed the alcohol, I screamed inside my mind to stop the annoying voice, which always goes on judging me.

That's right, today's weekly family dinner was infuriating. As if demeaning my progress as the CEO of Karwitz perfumes, and causing impediments with that fucking board meeting wasn't enough, now grandfather's latest strategy was to corner met both at personal and professional front, just so that I break and give up. So that he can have the final laugh watching me fail.

"Given your circumstances, I can't set you up with any girl who belongs to the prestigious families in our circle."
He had said, "But, you are still my grandson Darcel, and also the CEO of Karwitz Perfumes. It has been a family tradition, nobody can be in that position without being married or getting engaged. You have been pushing it for too long, but at this rate, I can't allow you to exercise your rights as the CEO, let alone run the company. I am your Grandfather, but I am also the chairman of the Karwitz Corporation."
I was about to leave the table, because I was at my limits, but I held back, as I felt my mother's fingers signing on my palm, imploring me to keep calm and stay.

'Just like you have always done Dar. All these  years you have held back, just for her, and also for accomplishing your only goal.'

Thus, once again I had let Maximilian Karwitz humiliate me and satisfy his own ego.

"If you have someone in your mind, tell us. To my knowledge the chances are low, but this old man loves to hope. Just make sure..." He continued with his customary scrunched nose and narrowed his eyes, the way he always looked at me, as if he looked at something scornful, "her family has some reputation. Don't bring in a parasite to the family." Then he smiled, the most disgusting fake smiles in the world, one that's just practiced and measured, a work of muscles bereft of any sort of emotions, "I know you have a better sense of judgement than your mother Darcel."

I could feel her grabbing my arm from beneath the table as she continued to pick on her food, while others kept their head down, staring at their plates. A mean silence followed just the way it has been for years.

When the security at the entrance had inquired if I was expecting someone called Eriantha Reux, I thought my whiskey was making me hear things, after all she's what I have been thinking all day long. No wonder, the security guy was surprised when I asked them to let her in, I rarely have guests coming, it's only Leon who bulldozes his way into my apartment sometimes. But, women have never made it into my house. I am well aware of the women in my world, they use men like us to get things they desire, they will toy with you and when they will get another cow to milk. I had no interest in making a fool of myself. All the women I have slept with are just one night stands no more, no less. It's not that I don't desire to have a family of my own, but again in my circumstances that's not something I can ever get. Grandfather's words echoed in my head. In my world even something like marriage is a tool, you need it reach your end goal.
Eriantha shifted uncomfortably on the couch, I am sure I have made her feel uneasy with the way I have been watching her like a hawk. She had been trying hard, to appear under control sitting with her back straight. I have no clue what was her motive that made her so desperate to appear at my apartment at this hour?