"Ugh," she thought to herself as she reapplied some lips gloss. "Better get this over with."
The band began to play a slow somber song as she entered the ballroom, people gently swayed on the dance floor. She soon found an empty table and made a beeline straight for it, the earlier convention had bored her to tears, if it wasn't for the love of her job she wouldn't have agreed to come at all.
Minutes later after flirting with the young barman, Lyla was stirring the straw in her drink, watching the people dance. All fancy gowns and suits, her red cocktail dress felt out of place, but it had gotten her the intended reaction. Women looked at her with disdain while the men most definitely approved. It clung to her body, extenuating her curves. Her big natural bosom was in jeopardy of spilling out, she had to constantly readjust herself for fear of it riding up over her full ass. It was all about the hint of what was underneath, she wasn't a fan of giving out free viewings.
Some of the other executives had already caught her eye, she had her hook up buddies on standby, she had given herself two hours to bag a man or else she was out of there.
"I am easily the youngest here," she thought, "Clarke owes me big time."
She felt her phone buzz in her purse.
She scrolled down, quickly scanning her emails, Clarke was demanding every little detail from the convention dinner. The first read. "Lyla I cannot thank you enough for going in my place, you know you're the only one I could ask, you are a life saver." He quickly followed it up with a slew of questions, was a list of different company executives there, had any of them mentioned a similar app launch.
This app launch had consumed everyone who worked for Clarke lives for the last year. It was top secret until the launch in three weeks, he had emailed her the details about the app and it's software specifics so she could compare it to other companies proposed launches. As far as she could see nothing came close.
She quickly switched from emails to her hook up app without replying, he knew the answers to all of those questions. Clarke Bentley never left anything to chance, it was his over analytical brain that made him one of the youngest and most exciting software developers in the city. She had took a risk leaving her job to join his up and coming company. At twenty two she felt that she was lucky to land a personal assistant job with him. She had read about him in a magazine months prior to the interview. She was not business minded but very ambitious, she was constantly scanning sites to see where the next big thing was going to occur.
It was this ambitious streak that landed her the job with Clarke, she knew that he was married but that didn't stop her from plying on the charm during the interview. She had made him blush, she found him extremely attractive but knew he was off limits. For now. He was not the sort of man she usually was into, she liked them older, bigger build and wealthy. Clarke ticked none of those boxes. He was very tall, over six foot, curly mop of brown hair, trimmed beard and a thin frame, he had just hired a personal trainer. He had some money but not the vast amount he was capable of making. He was the kind of man that she would have for breakfast and still be hungry for seconds.
He was very secretive, awkward and sensitive, she felt oddly protective of him, even though he was older by a decade. His wife Cassie sometimes came into the office, she was still wary of Lyla, not too trusting of her husband relying on a tall pretty blonde all the time. She too was aware of Clarkes potential and wasn't going to risk losing her nest egg to his P.A
"May I get you a drink Ms. Samson?"
A voice asked behind her shoulder. Her breath froze and her heart stopped. She knew he would be here but had given up hope that she would bump into him, she had seen the back of his head earlier and thought he had left after the conference.
"You may, Mr. James," she replied softly, plastering a big smile on her face as she turned to greet him.
"My, my, I forgot how well you scrub up," he said kissing her on both cheeks. She inhaled his musky aftershave. Her mind raced and she momentarily forgot where she was, the scent of a powerful man usually had this effect on her.
"I like to look my best, you never know who you may run into." She replied seductively.
He signaled the waiter and placed the order.
"Mind if I join you, or is this seat taken?"
Holt James was her former boss, they hadn't left on the best of terms, he was angry at Clarke for stealing away his star employee and felt that she had shown disloyalty by agreeing, even after he had offered her a raise. His main problem, Lyla thought was not that she had left, it was that their attraction had been growing and it was inevitable that they were going to end up in bed together. It was not every day that a tall, blonde, sexy young lady returns your flirtation she surmised. He was just pissed that a weedy young nerd had cock blocked him.
"Of course you may join me, I am flying solo tonight."
"Oh, Mr. Bentley too big now to go to a silly little convention like this." He said placing his jacket on the back of the chair and sliding into the seat next to her.
"He has other matters to attend we both know that the expo in three weeks is a lot more important than this ego stroking get together."
She couldn't help but take in his body, it was gym fit, his salmon colored shirt was straining against his upper body muscles. His black dress pants were filled out in all the right places. At forty one he kept himself in great condition. Not a single grey graced his jet black hair. She felt her mouth go dry, she had forgotten how attractive he was. His thin lips pulled back in a gentle smile revealing snow white teeth, his dark blue eyes glistened under the dim lighting of the ball room. She could feel something stirring in her stomach.
"Maybe tonight," she thought.
"Launching something big is he?" He asked fixing his cuffs.
"You know I can't tell you that Mr. James, let's not talk about business, I have had enough of figures and graphs to last me a month. Tell me what has been happening with you."
They continued talking as the people on the dance floor slowly trickled away. They caught up on each other's life's since she had left his gaming company. His ex-wife was being a bitch he said, playing around with his visitation of the kids. His business had slowed down a bit, they were looking to get out of the stores and more to online retail only. She filled him in as vaguely as possible, doing her best to avoid talk of Clarke or the new company. The upcoming launch was going to shoot him into the stratosphere. She told him she had moved apartment's, finally got her friend to move in with her, and was just focusing on her career at the moment.
"So no man in your life then, pretty young thing like you, I am surprised they are not throwing themselves at your feet."
She blushed, the drinks were now having an effect. She told herself that she wouldn't get drunk tonight. It was too important to Clarke and her career.
"No, no man yet. I am not looking to be honest, more fun to be had before I settle down." She giggled, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. She caught him staring at her breasts.
"One more before we call it a night?" He was already signalling the waiter and ordering two more.
