C8 Chapter 8

Brandon battled with guilt almost every minute. He felt trapped. He had built such a strong foundation around his word, which was why steven knew what to do to get him to do it, knowing whatever he said, he backed up with his actions. He could tell her and Steven would be none the wiser about it, but... He was scared. Beth was a very careful person. He would be dumb to think he knew half of her, even as happy as they were around each other. He knew she was starting to like him but if she found out, she would leave without looking back.

Brian saw the turmoil on Brandon's face and sighed, running a hand down his own face.

"I have a thought."

Their eyes met.

"For now, forget about the bet."

Brandon frowned.

Brian exhaled, "You have a chance at something real. I won't let you spoil it-even though you have already started doing just that. Continue the way you two are right now. A time will come where you'll start looking for ways to tell her the truth yourself, because you'll want nothing but for her to know everything about you and be able to trust you wholeheartedly. Till you're willing to back out or tell her, just continue the way you are. No sex."

Brandon exhaled, "Sex hasn't crossed my mind."

Brian stood up and walked to him to clasp a hand around his shoulder.

"You'll be fine. I gotta run."

Brandon nodded and watched Brian walk out. As Brian walked down the hall, he heard a familiar voice.

"I know that, but I really have to see him. Please."

"I'm sorry but it's just not possible."

He sped up and saw the owner of the voice. Beth was arguing with Brandon's new secretary.

"Beth?"

She turned to him and blinked in surprise, before smiling brilliantly. He smiled back and pulled her into a warm hug.

"What're you doing here?" He asked, pulling away.

"I came to see Brandon."

Brian looked at Margret, who glared at Beth while enunciating, "She does not have an appointment booked, sir."

"I'm sure it's important." He said, taking note of the white carryall bag in Beth's hands.

"But-"

"He's going to want to see her. Trust me. If you get in trouble, put it on me." Brian put in. Margret shot Beth an unfriendly look, and nodded.

"Okay. Let me inform him."

As Margret walked away, Beth leaned in to Brian and whispered,

"She's spicy."

"Be careful around her." Was all he said.

Her brows rose and she looked up at him. There was a certain look on his face as he stared at the door Margret disappeared behind. Looking down at her, he suddenly asked,

"Why didn't you call him?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Oh."

Beth nodded, "Yeah. What did you mean be careful around her?"

Brian shrugged, "Exactly that. Be careful."

Beth blinked and nodded in slight confusion, "Okay then."

Margret walked out, literally glaring at Beth.

"You have a brief meeting. You can go in."

Beth sent her a small smile and turned to hug Brian one last time. As she pulled away, she heard him whisper "Be careful." She observed his face carefully before nodding, and made for the office. She knocked and waited till she heard a muffled,

"Come in."

She pushed the door open and poked her head in. Brandon was looking down at a bunch of files on his table, a crease marring his forehead. His was deeply scrutinizing the graph sheets before him. Sales had gone up, but as the sheets explained, competitors were bursting forth too.

So far, his strongest rival was P.S.A Machines. Over the last six months, an increase in sales and production had been recorded in their favor. As he kept running his eyes over the files and folders, he caught sight of a figure before he heard the voice.

"What are you doing?"

He rose his head and was pleasantly surprised to see Beth standing there, smiling down at him in a way that had her dimples burrowing deeply into her cheeks.

"Hey," She said, waving once at him.

His eyes scanned her. In a jean skirt that was loose and tight fitting at the same time that ended just above her knees, with a baby blue shirt above it, she looked very cute.

Very real too.

He watched her drop the bag he had just noticed her holding, and sit in the chair opposite his table.

"Hey." He finally responded, leaning back in his chair. He looked happy enough to make her feel relaxed.

"What're you doing here?"

"Mom wanted me to hand something over to you."

He sat up straighter, "What?"

His wide eyes caused her to shake her head at him.

"A jar of her favourite honey."

His face fell a bit.

"That's all?"

Beth laughed. He was close to pouting.

"Yup!" She brought out a small jar of honey and placed it on the table. Brandon stared at the jar of honey. Sarah had promised him something a while back. He had just expected.... Something else. He heard a rustling and looked up. Beth was unfoiling something circular. Not looking at him, she got up and went to the other side of the room to dispose of the foil in her hands. Turning around, she found the pan of pie in Brandon's hands and a forkful in his mouth.

His gaze rose to hers and he froze.

She rose a brow at him.

He blinked, swallowed and dropped the pie back, clearing his throat and trying to lick his lips in a professional manner.

Clearing his throat one more time, he said, "I can see that you brought pie."

"I can see you've already started mauling it."

"I just wanted to make sure it was okay for consumption."

For the life of her, she threw her head back and laughed. Brandon chuckled, picked up the fork and took another chunk.

"It tastes so good."

"I'll be sure to tell her that," she said, walking back to his desk. Picking up the bag she brought and pulling out a cylindrical flask, she handed it to him.

"Here. Your apple cider to go with it."

Brandon reached for it, groaning in satisfaction.

"I love your mom."

"And she sings that everyday." Beth scoffed with a smile.

"It's only proper that she revel in how much I love her."

She rolled her eyes, "Sure. Now that you got your stuff, I gotta go."

He looked up quickly, "What?"

She picked up her bag, smiling mockingly at him.

"I gotta get back to work, remember?" She went to him to kiss his cheek in farewell but as soon as she was within arms reach, he grabbed her, sat her on his lap and wheeled his chair forward, successfully trapping her between him and his desk. Winded, Beth shot him a look and blinked.

Looking down at her, he smiled a small fond smile. Before she could speak, he nodded towards the pie,

"Eat."

She frowned, "I can't, I have to get to work." She said, trying to push at the desk but it was like pushing a wall. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

She caught Brandon reaching for his phone and quickly leaned down. He was coming too close. From across the room, she had been able to admire how dashing he looked in his work clothes and cover her racing heart with smiles and eye rolls, but up close, she could feel his dashing. The feel of his hard chest was definitely NOT helping matters. And his smell! His smell! God have mercy, they were too close. Too close! She must have played it off as cool because he hadn't shot her a i-know-how-i-make-you-feel look. He'd just picked his phone and backed up.

She tried one more time to push out his chair but it wasn't budging. Her heart travelled up to her throat when she heard Brandon start a conversation over the phone with a person called Jackie. She squirmed till she was able to face him and listened him get her a day off. Her heart began to race. She opened her mouth to speak but Brandon ended the call.

"Brandon, I have to go."

"No, you don't. Do you have anywhere else to be?" He asked. He was being tender. Too tender.

"Work!" She threw out, squirming even more to get out of his hold but as soon as his arms went around her, she groaned.

"Why are you panicking so much?" He asked. Why wasn't he raising his voice? She was sure females never fought to get away from him. Granted, Brandon had never risen his voice with her. In fact, he had always been calm. His authority was undoubtedly present but he never rose his voice or became rough. Even when they had met the first time, he hadn't risen his voice. He'd just been pompously confident. She didn't want that now. She wanted something, anything, that would annoy her enough to force strength to get her out of this position.

"Because I don't want my boss to think that I'm using my rich friend to get myself out of work. I won't get paid like this."

"Beth, Jackie wouldn't think that. She said she told you not to come back after delivering this to me."

Jackie....! Beth pursed her lips, annoyed and dismayed at having no defense.

Brandon rose his hand to her face and she jolted, "I-i really have to go."

"You'll go. Just not now."

"But-"

Her words froze in her throat when his lips found her cheek in a sweet kiss.

"Please stay. Just for a while." He said softly, perusing her face with his eyes and stroking his chin. When his eyes met hers, he smiled and her shoulders fell. Defeat.

"Okay."

He sat up straighter and directed his eyes at the pie.

"Eat."

Having no other choice, she adamantly picked up the fork and took a small chunk into her mouth. After watching her swallow a few little portions, he let an arm leave her waist to pull his folders back to him, shifting the chair slightly so as she ate, he was able to work in comfort. Her phone was across the room on the table. Having nothing else to do, she discreetly glanced at what he was looking at. Interested, she dropped the bowl and looked closer.

"I see your sales are reaching the top."

He stared at her for a while before saying,

"Yes."

Looking carefully at the graph sheets, she mused, "Now, you're up there with P.S.A Machines."

"That's a problem."

She turned to him. He caught a certain glint in her eyes. One akin to excitement.

"How so?"

He pointed to a certain column and she looked.

"I got an elevation in four months. That's what pushed me up to and above their level. In two months, they got to the exact same spot. I can admit to myself that very good advice brought Wade industries here. Before then, Wade industries was a notch below them and even then, they were on a steady grind up. This break here was their goal. They are pushing and climbing again. Their team is powerful-"

"And so is yours. You have great minds around you and from what I see, they are unleashed and bubbling with a lot of ideas."

"Right now, I have to evaluate all and pick out my best thinkers and designers and put them in groups where their ideas are alike. P.S.A has that already. That is why their grind is this steady."

Evaluation would take time. They would have to get settled and rhyme into one another to encourage productivity and reliability on team members and tech geniuses didn't trust easy. That would take more time than they had to spare.

"There can't be only one tech company but there can be the best. I want that."

Beth nodded, mind running amok with thoughts and speculations.

"I see. What do you have in mind?"

Brandon exhaled a heavy breath, "I was brain storming before you walked in."

She nodded. "Okay. You can't buy shares though. That'll be too messy. You can't be a part owner and not pipe in reasonably when meetings are being held. And you don't want to help improve their products over yours.... Or would you like to partner?"

"Not with them." He said ,not missing a beat.

"Are you sure? When two top class tech companies come together, the world would be at the very doorstep, wanting to lick up what you have. No rivalry."

"I hear you, but I still don't want a merger. Not with them. I'm looking somewhere else."

They both were lost in thought when she suddenly asked,

"How many top rivals does Wade industries have?"

"P.S.A is on our level right now but a certain three others are still threats."

"Go on a wide data search."

He frowned, "What do you mean?"

"You and your team. Go on a wide search. With all these companies, products are preferred and used world wide. What would make a man buy your creation over P.S.A's? That's what you want to find out. Is it cost? Is it efficiency? Is it durability, size, quickness or even data storage? Once a complaint becomes common, you know it's a real issue. You take that and see if there is any way you can improve on yours, or make up for it in another way. That would take time but with where you are at now with sales and production, in a matter of months, you'll be higher than this point," she pointed at the graph sheet, "And you can start evaluation immediately. Put them in groups and send them out together. Let that be their trusting process. They would be in direct line with other similar groups so thoughts would be passed around. Like minds would connect and work best together and your workers are very brilliant. If one is zoned in on efficiency, another is watching out for durability. They'll team up, work on that and present you with the best. Best part is, you wouldn't have to be an enforcer or police them or anything. You get to chill with them and work with them. Not over them. Work shared. After this, It'll just a matter of time before success and partnerships come looking for you. " She ended with a shrug, tearing her eyes off the graph sheet and to his face.

He was staring at her.

There was a strange light in his eyes.

Elizabeth West had just floored him. Beauty and brains had never looked sexier.

"And now that you have kidnapped me here, I can help."

He slightly lowered a brow, "How?"

She pulled his wrist up and checked the time. It was 12:20pm.

"Do you have anything you can't push aside for a bit today?"

"I have a meeting by 12:30."

She beamed, "Great! You can push it out to your team and if they're comfortable with me, I could help you evaluate and group these departments. But only if you want."

He stared at her for a while longer, before nodding, "Okay."

Her smile grew, "Okay then. Thank you."

She was thanking him? Fuck, this woman was.... Something else.

"I'll wait here for you."

"Would you like to come with me to the meeting?"

Her eyes widened, "No, no. I'm not a part of your board-"

"You are more involved in this whole idea than I am. What better person to explain it than you?"

She bit her lower, thinking about it. Just then, there was a knock on the door before it opened.

Brandon rose a brow at Margret.

Margret looked from Beth to Brandon, then back to Beth, before stepping in fully.

"You're being waited for in the board room, sir."

Brandon nodded once and stood, helping Beth up with his hands at her waist.

Margaret's eyes zoned in on it.

Gathering up some files and handing them to margret, he took a hold of Beth's hand and pulled her behind him.

"Let's go."