1250033993 by Sophie McKenzie

Author:Sophie McKenzie [McKenzie, Sophie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250033987
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

ANNALISE

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

—William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Ah, Annalise. She was special. Not in herself, of course. Unlike my Kara, she possessed neither innocence nor beauty. But Annalise was special as a challenge to me. She set me firmly along the path I am still on today, toward the man I am destined to be.

I enjoyed a string of encounters after my dealings with Hayley. Much of my time was devoted to keeping these private. My wife is not a stupid woman, and I made sure I still gave her attention. Despite what you might think, you see, I love women. I love the way they look, the way they feel.

Most of all, I love to watch them surrender. But that’s another story.

So, back to Annalise. I thought for a while that she herself might be the truly “great challenge” I had been waiting for since Kara. She was certainly clever, with an Oxford degree and a high-powered job. However, her academic and business smarts belied a neurotic insecurity the extent of which I would never have guessed when we first met. That meeting took place in a conference room at her offices. Annalise was a potential client considering whether to use us or not. I was bored during the meeting, as I so often am at work, and she drew herself to my attention with her sparky support for my presentation. She spoke well, articulate and pertinent throughout, and as she tossed her mane of sleek blond hair to make her final point, I felt the familiar twitch in my gut … the itch in my fingers. I knew it was deliciously high-risk. Thanks to our business dealings, there were links between us I was not going to be able to hide, let alone avoid. Still, if anything, that merely heightened my excitement. I talked to Annalise briefly after the meeting, indicating my gratitude for her support and my admiration for the persuasive and intelligent way she had expressed it. As I’d suspected, Annalise showed no inclination to fall for my flattery, simply nodding and walking away.

My interest now piqued further, I asked around and found out, through a series of casual inquiries, that Annalise was famous for turning down men. All to the better, I decided. It was easy enough to contact her by e-mail.… Another risk to leave a trail, but after Hayley, I was supremely confident that I could face down any problems. My first three e-mails—charming, witty and light in tone—solicited polite but dismissive responses. So I upped my efforts. I knew where Annalise worked, of course, so one day I headed over there. I waited for her outside her office. I pretended to be delighted to bump into her, explaining in brilliantly self-conscious style that I was here again for business reasons. Annalise gave me a skeptical look, just as I’d intended, and I confessed that in fact I was really here (and this was my genius stroke) in order to woo one of her colleagues, a young piece of fluff who acted as PA to the managing director.

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