MUTUAL DISTRUST; MUTUAL ATTRACTION

FIVE

For hours, Melinda stayed motionless on her king sized bed. It was hers now as the P.A of Reynolds' CEO. After seven hours of staying in Reynolds' magnificent building, she realized she wasn't supposed to be a cook. Infact, her job is one she would enjoy if she didn't hate and distrust Ajax so much. Her job was just to assist Ajax and follow him anywhere he goes. Ajax was only trying to pull her strings when he had mentioned the things she thought she would be doing now. She admired the bond among the workers. They saw one another as family. She made acquaintance with Owen, the security guard who had winked at her. He was the only cool security guard that smiled a lot, an interesting black guy who grew up in Queens.

She also met Jerome, another security guard stationed at the second floor where her room was. He was the one who led her to her room and gave details on how life was in the Reynolds' building. Everyone loved what they do. "You don't stay in your room unless you're off duty, which you should be until you have completed your training programme." He had said. He also made mention of a weekly joint dinner which was supposed to hold today. It was forty five minutes to dinner time and here she was, motionless on her bed, nursing thoughts on how she would kill Ajax or escape from his building when she completed the almighty training programme that everyone kept preaching about.

"You should be preparing your mind for some rigorous training." Lucrecia had said when she came to stock her wardrobes with clothes. In response, Melinda had rolled her eyes and given an ungirly snort.

Right now,she was lost in pleasant thoughts on how freedom would be like when she tasted it, wondering if her co workers were abducted in the same manner and circumstances as she. She didn't trust people who stole other persons away from their homes. They always end up being bad. Ajax was not to be excluded from this category of people no matter what he said his intentions were.

Meanwhile, Ajax was just standing in front of her sprawled body. She didn't notice when he entered her room. He watched the peaceful smile and the dreamy look on her face. He watched how different emotions swam in her eyes. Her cheeks were rosy, her hair spread around her face like the hot beams from the sun. He watched the gentle rise and fall of the members on her chest. 

Oblivious of his presence, a soft sigh escaped her lips. She lifted her hand to remove some strands of her hair that found their way to her lips. She was drawing too much of his attention to those tempting lips. She was lying opposite the pillows. Her head was inclined to where he was standing and yet she didn't notice him.

Not being able to withstand her anymore, he cleared his throat in a lousy rasp meant to draw her attention. She sat up and spun around. "You." She gasped.

"Giving me more reasons not to trust you. Aren't you?" She continued. She was seething with shock and embarrassment.

"First of all, you should know that you really have a long way to go in your training." He said. She rolled her eyes on hearing the word 'training' again. "I've been here for over three minutes and you didn't notice. Second of all, how is it that I am the one calling my P.A to dinner instead of the other way round." He continued, he was gesturing with his fingers. Uh oh.

"I can assure you that won't happen again..but then, is it morally right for a CEO to frequent his Personal Assistant's room at will? Shouldn't there be some kind of policies that restricts the powerful CEO from invading the privacy of his workers, even though they breath under his watch?" She said. Her hands travelled to her camisole to ensure it was still in place. He flashed his signature killer smile. Her feistiness was getting to him. Instead of getting him annoyed, it only made him want to tease her.

"Of course. I respect the privacy of my workers even as they live with me here. But, I'm afraid I have to keep a close eye on you since we haven't attained the same level of trust for each other." He said, casually mounting her bed as if it was the most natural and appropriate thing to do at the moment. In a flash, he had her pinned underneath him. His hands restricted hers above her head.

"What are you doing?!" She grunted in failed attempts to wriggle free from his hold. His head dipped as if to kiss her but his nose lingered on her neck. Her heart stopped. She was rigid with fear and excitement. He sniffed her. "Ahhh. Lemons. Just a little digression Lind, how did you always smell like lemons before you came here?"

"Ajax?" She gasped. If this is how men turned insane, she didn't want such metamorphosis occuring on top of her. "Are you crazy?" Those were the only words she could form in the rush of excitement that seized her when she felt something deliciously warm and wet trail her neck.

"Mmmm. Exactly. This close. Just dangerously close like this." He whispered. " That's how close I will keep you to me. You don't trust me because you think I'm evil. Is that right?" He continued, fanning her ear with hot breaths as he stuck his tongue on the spot where jaw and neck linked just below her ear. In spite of herself, she moaned.

"Exactly. Do you know the thousand and one ways a man could seduce a woman? Do you know the many ways I could torture you and you would be begging to die." He murmured. Her scent had infiltrated his brain. He smiled as he saw the look of horror on her face when he mentioned 'begging to die.' She obviously was a virgin, body and mind. It struck him how innocent and unsuspecting she was. If rape wasn't the idea coming to her head, if shedding-blood-torture wasn't the idea filling her head, he wondered how blank her mind was.

As if coming back to his senses, he stood abruptly, ending the excitement and horror that had turned Melinda dumb and star struck. "It is unsafe to seduce a woman who doesn't trust you, neither is it wise to do so when you don't trust her." He said. His back was facing her, his hands were in fists as if they served as regulators to his control.

"You want to know why I don't trust you Lind? Your disabilities disappoint me." Those were his last words before walking out on her as if nothing had just transpired between them. Melinda's face was hot with embarrassment and a little twinge of regret that their little affair ended abruptly. She was deeply mortified at her confusion on what Ajax' intentions were. She made up her mind to fight whatever disabilities Ajax thought she had, then she would figure out was going on between them before running away from him.

With her mind made up, she headed for the dinning hall dressed in an oversized plain tee and khaki shorts. She allowed some hair escape from the lose pony tail she hurriedly pulled up. She tucked some strands of the lose hair behind her ear as she entered the dinning hall. It was a full house. A full table. About thirty persons were there, chattering, laughing, eating. She looked around for an empty seat after nodding at the smiles from some familiar faces. She found one which was right beside Ajax. "Just great" She muttered. Apparently, sitting around and clinging to Ajax like he was her life support was part of the duties of a personal assistant. With her chin up, she walked to her seat. Not caring about courtesy, she immediately took a swig from the cup of red wine in front of her. She was trying to calm her nerves. Being close to Ajax under the watching eyes of everyone was way different than being with him alone. She caught Lucrecia's amused face, she was trying to send a message to her with her eyes but Lind was too nervous to interpret anything.

"Eat." Ajax said to her hearing alone. She took a quick side glance at him. He wasn't looking at her. He was looking at the grilled chicken before him which he was gingerly helping himself to. He had watched her nervously take the seat beside him. Trying to ignore her nervousness, he couldn't help himself from noticing every teeny weeny detail of her. She looked recklessly beautiful in her oversized tee shirt. Her curtain of dark lashes kept sweeping up to down while she had greedily gulped wine. His wine. Reynolds wine.

"Of course." She replied, biting her lips in the process. She settled for chicken salad and soup even though she really wanted to grab a huge chunk from Ajax' chicken. With every conscious effort, she tried not to steal glances at him even as she knew he was watching her. She tried desperately to concentrate her thoughts on her salad and not on the brief affair she had with him a while back, but she failed. Unconsciously, she replayed the moment. She shifted in her seat on remembering how Ajax had dominated her body and mind, how his scent, warm, male and sexy had invaded and registered in her brain, how his tongue on her skin had given her goosebumps. She shivered.

Ajax watched the tint of colour that spread on her cheeks. He grew concerned when he noticed the sudden hitch in her breath. Sweet Jesus. What was she thinking? He saw the goosebumps on her arm and thighs. Her gracious thighs. He slowly lifted his fork to his mouth as he discreetly watched her. He could see the strain of her nipples on her shirt. What? He swallowed.

Clearing his throat as he stood up, he clinked his fork on his wine glass. "A toast?" He started after gaining everyone's attention, especially Melinda's. Her attention was snapped back to the present. "Yay, a toast." Everyone agreed. Those who had their wine glasses empty refilled it.

"Let's make a toast to Melinda, my new personal assistant, our new member. Let's toast to her stay here. To Melinda." He said, raising his wine glass to the air before meeting her glass which she mechanically held up to his. 

"To Melinda." Everyone said before a brief murmur of cheers and clinking of glasses.

"Also, a toast to our next successful mission." He said, sending her a quick wink . There was this look of excitement on everyone's faces that Melinda tried to catch on. They obviously loved Ajax' missions, which definitely had something to do with the use of gun fire and knives. Her heart began to race. She was suddenly oblivious of her environment. The voices of 'cheers' had suddenly grown distant. She edged away from her seat and almost fled from the dining hall to her room. The confused looks at her retreating figure meant nothing to her as she briskly walked to her room.

Ajax pinched the bridge of his nose. "Good God." He muttered.