1. ANOTHER NOTCH ON HIS BELT

CHAPTER 1- ANOTHER NOTCH ON HIS BELT

“You bastard! How could you do this to me?!”

I visibly cringed when the loud, piercing wail filled the air, interrupting my flow of thoughts as I sat at my cubicle, right outside Mr. Blackwell’s office.

I knew that cry.

The sound of another heart getting broken.

This was really going to be an interesting morning.

A soft chuckle escaped my lips as I adjusted my glasses on my nose, even as a small pang of pity filled my heart for whoever was in there with him— his new flavor of the week. (If I could even call her that anyway.)

That man never knew when to stop, did he?

This was the fourth time I was hearing that same old freaking cry, (Although this was most definitely a higher pitch and a newer voice) and the week was not even over yet!

Oh, by now… if I didn’t know it already, you could be rest assured that I most definitely did now…

My boss was a certified playboy!

Adonis Blackwell, voted Forbes’ Sexiest Man Alive for five consecutive years and looking forward to bagging it this year as well… CEO of Buzz Telecommunications and Network Analytics, with investments in Real Estate and multiple hotel chains littered across the country, really was a playboy.

Oh, I have seen him in action several times, and I must admit… he was good.

Really, really good.

So good that I wondered sometimes if he had been born with his seduction skills… with his beautiful art of making women feel special completely honed and sharpened almost right after he had made the perilous journey from between his mother’s legs… ready for business, but given that I had only been working with Buzz for five years, I literally had no idea how he had been like as a kid.

It didn’t stop me from wondering though, of course.

With looks matching his first name— an extremely handsome man who knew his worth and was in simple terms, sex on legs—dark eyes that seemed to look right into your soul, and that playful and alluring personality of his, all it took was for him to flash a smile in the direction of his many conquests, and then boom… they were willing to drop their panties for him.

“You’re such a dick!”

Oop.

“You already knew this was coming, Candy…”

“It’s Kitty, you spineless, self-centered bastard! You can’t even get my name right! After everything I’ve done for you!” Whoever was in there screamed at him, making me wish that I had come on time to catch who she was.

It was always a funny sight to watch, seeing the suds that blinded his many women wash off their eyes, making them realise who Adonis Blackwell really was and how despite their many tricks to tie him down, he always seemed to be one fucking step ahead. It was funny… well, and a little sad, I must admit, seeing the look of disappointment on their faces and in their voices when that dreaded day finally came, but I guess in a way, Adonis had been pretty much honest with them from the start. They had just failed to take the hint.

You know what it made me realise about women? That we all had one thing in common.

We all loved a challenge.

And for these women, the challenge was all fun and games, until they became attached and he discarded them, stomping hard on their hearts and tossing them to the curb while they became new notches on his belt…

His belt of many beautiful women.

In all honesty, Adonis Blackwell was a man who could be professional when it really came down to it… one who knew when to put that distinction between business and pleasure, and so he had my respect in that regard, but of course, that did not stop me from still seeing him as a jerk who went about breaking hearts here and there.

I mean, what at all did he have to offer that made all those women unable to stay away?

I really couldn’t help but wonder, especially when those women in question were so beautiful that they were sure to find someone else easily. Because charm surely did stop being charming at one point, right? And handsome looks most certainly were not handsome when they were paired with a fleeting personality that was all over you one minute, and then forgets all about you the next?

Perhaps, it was the sex then.

It surely had to be… because celebrity gossip had been talking about his impressive package and his amazing prowess in bed (courtesy of some of the shameless women he has had flings with) for so long that it couldn’t not be true. Maybe that and the way he was incredibly giving… always ready to lavish his love interests with gifts and his attention. For some women, just those two actions were enough, even if the man in question was a complete jerk.

“I apologise about the name confusion, Kitty… but I made it very clear that this was just a casual fling. That it was most definitely going nowhere, and you assured me that you were most certainly okay with that, so if you’ve changed your mind now, I don’t think there’s anything else to talk about. You can go on your merry way then.”

“You cannot just use me and—”

“Now, if you don’t mind… I kind of have to get back to work…” The boss’s tone was calm and deep and playful even as he interrupted the woman’s loud shrieks—it always was, which apparently made it much more obvious how his many women were making fools out of themselves.

The crash was loud and sudden, almost making me jump out of my chair…

The sound of another vase breaking.

Honestly speaking, this was all becoming a bit too routine for my liking. Let me tell you about a typical signature Blackwell-Bimbo confrontation, so you’d also see where I’m going with this.

First, it’d start with the message… I like to call this the let’s end things bullshit stage. And then, there was the slap, which always happened (I think I missed that) and then the yelling, which was almost always followed by the breaking of vases. It was hilarious, really… but somehow, the boss still managed to keep replacing them even after all the near deaths. Now, either that man was always thrilled by the prospect of having a near death experience… or… he had an unhealthy obsession with flowers and flower vases.

Security appeared almost immediately on our floor and went in for the woman— a blonde haired, pretty woman with boobs so huge and so fake that they barely moved out of place despite her crazy movements. She was beautiful… you know, the kind that somehow managed to make plastic surgery work for them, which made it even more confusing.

What was so fucking special about Adonis Blackwell?

“You!”

The venomousness in that word alone was enough to rouse me out of my thoughts and send chills down my spine as the strawberry blond tore herself away from her captors and trudged towards me.

“You must be the new girl he’s messing with, the very one he has left me for… today I’ll teach you a lesson you will never forget,” She launched at me without another word, going right for my chestnut back length hair.

Let me tell you one thing about me.

I cannot defend myself for shit.

For real, it seems strength and prowess passed me by when the fates were doing the distribution.

And so that was how it happened that I sat there, stupefied, even as the guards grabbed her away from me… but the damage had already been done.

My left cheek already bore her handprint.

My entire face throbbing from the force of her slap.

My hair was a mess, a few buttons on my shirt gone.

My favorite shirt.

Wow.

Now, even I never saw that coming. The slap was never directed at me!

The boss always received them, not me?

The man in question came out in that moment, and guys… for the first time in my five years of working for Adonis Blackwell, I saw him lose his composure when his gaze landed on my rapidly reddening cheek.

“Why the hell did you touch her?” His gaze and his growl was menacing… so menacing that the bimbo, (and myself, might I add) were terrified at the sight.

“I—I—”

“The next time I see you anywhere near my person, my staff or my property, you’ll regret ever crossing paths with me, am I fucking understood?”

He sounded like an army general— strict, straight to the point… hell, I forgot the intimidating part.

He looked sexy as hell.

No, Jen… no!

It was improper to have such thoughts.

Especially when those illicit thoughts were directed at one’s boss.

Besides, it really wasn’t appropriate to have such thoughts, because for crying out loud, I was—

“Mrs. Summers?”

My head whirled up with a start only to see the boss’s black pools boring into my soul.

When had the woman and the guards left?

“Come, I think we should go over to the medical unit and have you checked out. I deeply apologize for what just happened.”

“Uhm…”

“She will be dealt with, I assure you… and you will be handsomely compensated for what you’ve just gone through.” He declared seriously, that usual playful look gone from his eyes.

“Uh… thank you, Mr. Blackwell, but none of that will be necessary,” I tried to assuage his concern with a flick of my hand. “All I need to do is use some ice and then fix up these buttons,” I gestured to said buttons, noting with horror that I had unknowingly invited the boss to check out my bra. His dark eyes lingered a tad more than was acceptable, and then when he tore his gaze away and met my eyes again, I visibly shivered at the heat in them. “Mrs. Summers, there’s no room for argument.” He shrugged off his coat and handed it to me as he spoke, emphasizing on the title, as though wanting to remind himself that I was married.

It had never happened before, but as I felt his hand on the small of my back when he helped me up and steered me towards the medical unit, I found myself wishing for the first time that I was not shackled to another.