Dark Temptation

Good Morning

Something was licking Anne's hand. She almost jumped out of bed and the worst headache she'd had in forever hit her real hard. 

Then she saw it- a huge brown dog was staring at her, it's tongue out and its saliva dripping all over the sheets.She took a look around. Where's this. 

She was in a huge bedroom with French windows, however the blinds were closed and it was fairly dark. She found an aspirin and a crystal glass of water by the night-stand. Then she panicked. She quickly lifted the soft sheet and 

"Oh, thank God" she almost said aloud. She was dressed. The calm didn't last long though- she wasn't wearing her dress from last night, but a big white T-shirt. She peeked and saw she still had her underwear on. 

"Okay, good." she told the dog, which had tilted its head to the side and it looked as if it was estimating her. 

"And who are you?" she asked it. The dog approached and she patted its head. "You're so cute" she laughed and at that moment the door opened. 

"I see the Princess is up." 

The world tilted and Anne wanted nothing else but for the Earth to open itself and swallow her. 

                                                                    ****

The dog jumped from its place on the bed next to Anne and went to greet its owner. 

Devon was standing in the middle of the room in only his gray sweatpants. Anne couldn't help but notice his muscular torso and the sexy six pack the man was sporting. He had a tattoo running from his shoulder down to his forearm; there was another one which was on his ribs going lower, part of it hidden under his clothes. Her trailed even lower but she quickly averted her eyes. 

Devon had noticed her checking him out so he propped himself on the wall and asked 

"You like me better now with my clothes off?" he smiled "Would her Majesty prefer it if I took off my pants as well? "

He began untying the laces of his bottoms and Anne almost screamed"What? No, Stop it!"

Devon paused mid-air and looked at her. " You told me to never stop last night."

This couldn't be happening. 

"Did..." she pulled the covers closer to her " did we...?"

"Did we have s*x last night? Don't you remember, Anne?"

He was still smiling and Anne felt her face turning scarlet." Yes, that. "

"Yes what?"

He was making this impossibly difficult. 

"Did we..." why was this so embarrassing. Anne hated saying all those thing out loud. "Did we have s*x?"

"We? "

"Stop it, Devon! Tell me what happened."

"You really don't remember? You're breaking my heart." he put his hands over his heart and feigned hurt. " But no- nothing happened."

Relief washed over Anne and she exhaled the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She was almost able to think more clearly, so she asked "Then why am I here?"

"You got drunk and I got you a taxi, but you couldn't tell the driver your address. "

She hid her face in her palms.

"This is terrible. You didn't take advantage of me, did you? Why am I wearing your T-shirt?"

"Oh, come on, even I wouldn't sink that low to sleep with a woman in your condition.Not that I would try to even in different circumstances."

"Excuse me?" Anne had no idea why she felt offended? Seriously?

"Nothing happened. I took you to my place, helped you get changed and put you to bed, That's all."

"You swear?"

"I do. There's breakfast in the kitchen, I'll be there when you feel like joining me." He was just exiting with his dog following when he said "Cute panties by the way." 

"Jerk!" she said and threw a cushion at the closing door. Anne remembered she was wearing the pink panties with kittens she'd bought recently just because she loved the pattern. "This is ridiculous." she groaned and leaned back in the huge bed. 

                                                                             ****

When she got to her office on Monday the newspapers and mail were already on her desk. She'd spent the weekend at home, regretting her decisions from Friday night. 

Devon and her had breakfast over which they didn't stop arguing about literally everything- even about the coffee. She was surprised he could actually cook, but that didn't excuse his terrible personality. He insisted on taking her home despite her refusals and they both agreed to never talk about this accident again. 

She was just sitting behind her desk when she saw the front page of the newspaper, which was lying on top of the pile. 

       RICH BUSINESSMAN'S SON GOING WILD AGAIN.THIS TIME PICKING UP WOMEN AT BARS.

The younger son of one of the most prestigious and fastest developing companies in the world was spotted leaving a bar in the early hours this Friday in the company of a woman. Our intel couldn't confirm the woman's identity, but they stated they were both "obviously intoxicated".

However- another of our reporters managed to name the woman- it turned out this was Anne Fleming, last year's  winner of a prestigious business prize. 

Seems like Devon- a failed musician - is now spending his time wasting Daddy's money while chasing TRL Tech's employees. We'd say- Devon seems to be taking the image of a rock star way too seriously .

There was a picture of her and Devon leaving the place and below was more  about Devon's ex band and their next gigs.

She was so mad- this was total bullshit.  She was just preparing to throw the paper away when Liz came in . 

"Tell me you didn't see this." Anne held up the paper " This is not true!"

"I was just coming to tell you everyone's talking about this. "

'But that's not true!" Anne tried to protest and her friend only pressed her lips together. 

The two women spoke over the phone during the weekend. Jas had come to pick his wife up, but Anne had said she'd stay longer.  Anne didn't remember any of it and called to  apologize to Liz, after which she told her friend about everything with Devon. Not that there was much to be said. 

"I know" Liz  tried to comfort her "But you know what people are, especially with him being a public figure.And everyone knows what image he has in front of the press. "

"I hate this." Anne sat heavily in her chair and began rubbing her temples. "Everyone saw it, you say?"

"Everyone. By the way- the reason why I came is to pick you up."

Anne lifted her head "Pick me up? Where?"

"Harold wants us all in the conference room in" she looked at her wrist watch " two minutes."

When Anne entered the room every single head turned to look at her. She didn't even want to know what they were thinking or had already assumed by now. Devon was already there, sitting casually. He winked at her and said 

"Hey, Anne." Everyone turned to him now and she gritted her teeth. They had agreed to never mention anything again, what was he doing. 

"Okay, now that we are all here, we can start." Announced Howard. He made a few announcements about shares and changes on the marked. When he got to the part with new contracts he only said "Anne is leaving at the end of the week for Japan with Devon and Mike will cover the negotiations for the South African Customer. Now, moving on to..."

Anne didn't hear anything after. She looked at Devon, but he was staring at something out the window. She couldn't figure out if he did it because he really didn't care about any of this, or he was in fact angry. 

After the meeting was over Howard asked her and Devon to stay for a minute. Once it was just the three of them Anne began "Mr. Howard, this is really not whatever you might have seen or heard is really not...."

"No, no, " he cut her quickly and lifted his hand. "I have no interest in listening to anything coming from both of you. I don't care about the truth or excuses. You're leaving in a few days."

"But Anne didn't do anything" Devon tried to cut in. Was he trying to stand up for her?

"Devon, I said I don't need explanations, especially from you. I want you out of here until this whole gossip in my company settles, and until the papers have written enough of their ...whatever. And since I can't dismiss you, as Anne actually has to work with the client, you're going. it's the best for all, the company diesn't need this right now." He then  turned to Anne  and said "I asked you for a favor and to work with Devon, although I didn't expect you to take your task that seriously."

She tried to protest but Howard only said "My secretary will provide you with further details about tickets and everything else. And my Assistant can address any work -related  queries you might have about the client. You're both dismissed, thank you."