Prologue
For Cadeon, walking into his office shouldn’t have given him any cause for concern. He owned his own business and took pride in the work he did. His suit was pressed. He looked every part of the dominating man that he was.
The receptionist smiled at him. He knew she wanted a piece of him. Most women did. At thirty-nine he wasn’t looking for a casual relationship. When he needed sex, he called one of his many women to accommodate him. He never mixed business with pleasure, and there would be no way he’d take a woman from the office home. His tastes ran to the extreme, and he liked to keep his private life private.
Ignoring the woman, he moved passed the visitors’ area and went straight to the elevator. Briefcase in hand, he stood alone as it travelled up to the top floor. The doors opened.
He stopped. Standing outside the elevator door stood a woman. Smaller than he, she would only come to his chest. She didn’t look at him. Her eyes stared at the floor. Cadeon felt like he’d been punched in the gut. Her brown hair was tucked into a long ponytail. Men walked behind her, and he noted the stares she was getting. He glanced up and down the corridor.
She looked up, and he fell hard. It was like all of his tomorrows were rolled up into one package. The woman standing before him was the one. He knew it more than he knew what he wanted to eat for lunch.
“A-are you getting off?” she asked.
Staring at her lips, Cadeon heard her voice, but her words didn’t register.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
The woman, his soul mate, stared at him, baffled. Was this what people meant when they said they fell in love at first sight?
“I don’t give my name to strangers,” she said.
“He’s not a stranger, honey. He’s the boss,” a woman said as she passed. He saw the change inside her, the blush staining her cheeks and the top part of her chest exposed from the white blouse she wore. As his gaze travelled down her body, he noted other parts of her just as stunning as her face. She had the type of body he associated with the classic fifties’ movie stars. All curves. Nothing straight or bony about her. Her tits were large, and he saw the beginning of her cle**age poking out of the top. The blouse was tucked into her pencil skirt outlining her tiny waist and flaring out at the hips. His mouth watered thinking about getting his hands wrapped around her body.
“My name is Violet Moore, sir,” she said as she pushed the cart into the elevator.
“Where do you need to go?” he asked, not wanting to ruin the moment with her. Or leave her alone.
“Bottom, please.” She spoke quietly. He had to strain to hear her.
“You mean ground floor?”
“Yes.”
He stood in the cart and stared at her. For most of his life he’d seen the way his father reacted to his mother. Coming to alert whenever she entered a room. As if his life was somehow connected with hers. Their deaths had been hard to deal with. Their strength had been something Cadeon had grown up within. Taking over Ashwood Enterprise had been expected. Doing it without his father present hadn’t been his plan.
“How long have you been working here?”
“A couple of weeks.”
Getting her to speak was challenging. Usually women fawned all over him wanting to get their point across.
“Do you like working here?”
“Yes.”
The lights on the elevator went down with each floor they passed. Her hands fisted on the bar of the mail trolley.
All too soon the elevator opened, and she left. He stood watching her walk away. She didn’t look back. Pressing the button to take him back to the top floor, he went straight to his office.
He called personnel to send him the file on Violet Moore. Within seconds her file was in his inbox, and Cadeon was reading and relishing every last minute piece of information. Closing his eyes, he stared at her age. He was nineteen years older than she. The age didn’t matter. He stared at her picture. Unlike the other employees who’d smiled, Violet didn’t offer a smile. She stood staring at the camera, looking like she was going to scarper.
From looking at her picture he knew her life had been hard. He sat and stared at her picture for hours, his chest tight. When he’d walked into work, he’d never expected to find the woman who would complete him.
There was no mistaking his reaction to her, the possession he felt. Even when the men on his floor were looking at her ass, he’d felt the heat rise up inside him. Violet Moore was his woman.
Running his fingers through his hair, Cadeon knew it would only be a matter of time until he had her. Placing her file in his secured mail box, he began work. The blinds to his office were up for him to see on the floor.
Around lunchtime he spotted her again, handing out coffee, this time. The irony wasn’t lost on him. He’d never mix business with pleasure. Yet, the woman he knew who was his with an absolute certainty was serving coffee.
No matter how long it took, Violet Moore would be his.
He would own her, possess her.
Violet Moore would be his possession.
Cadeon liked the sound of that.
Chapter One
One Year Later
Violet Moore stared at the office door as if it was a monster that would lash out and bite her. At twenty-one she’d seen more crap than any human being should have to face. Her hands shook, and her entire body trembled. She’d been called to her boss’s office with no reason as to why he wanted to see her.
She worked in delivering coffee and making sure every person got their mail on time. There was nothing hard about her work, but she liked the constant flow of doing the same thing over and over again.
“Come in,” he called. At the first twist the door wouldn’t open. She shoved her shoulder against the door, and still the wooden door wouldn’t move. “I said come in.”
“I can’t. The door won’t budge.” On the last word the door swung open, and she went careening into the hard masculine chest of her boss, Cadeon Ashwood. “I’m sorry,” she muttered and pulled herself up and away from him.
Several times she’d ended up alone in his company, and he still managed to make her feel uncomfortable.
“Don’t be. I’ll get the door looked at. Sit.” He moved away and sat behind his desk once again.
Tucking her dull brown hair behind her ear, she went and sat in the chair opposite him.
After he sat down, she watched as he picked up a folder, her folder, and began reading. The silence unnerved her. She had never been alone with him inside his office before. During her interview his female personal assistant had sat in.