Dares with the Devil

Chapter 1

6 years later

Dion straightened his grey Dolce and Gabbana suit with his right hand and held his briefcase in the other hand as he rode the elevator to the top floor of the Burberry Hotel. He'd like to think that he exerted nothing but dominance.

It was how he ran his very successful companies, and he had no doubt that it would work in this meeting to acquire the hotel. The ding of the elevator brought him out of his thoughts.

The loud argument of a man and a woman violated his ears. The fat stubby looking man was yelling all kinds of slurs to the woman in a terrible black wig and glasses, who looked like she came out of the 90s.

He stepped out of the elevator, and walked towards the man, he planned to make an example out of him. No woman should be spoken to like that no matter how ugly she is, he thought as he glanced over to the woman.

"Ms. Flores, you're fired, how dare you tell me my business plans are wrong, women should know their place," the man spat.

Dion noticed the woman's figure shrunk, then she turned to walk away, head down and hands clutching her purse. Neither of them had noticed Dion slowly approaching them.

Without looking where she was going, the woman walked face first into a firm wall which was Dion. Sorry, she mumbled as she looked up at him for a second, her eyes filled with tears.

In the quick moment that she looked at him, Dion caught a glimpse of her freckles and mesmerizing hazel eyes. There was something familiar about her, he thought, watching as she gathered herself from her clumsiness and continued towards the elevator.

****

The door shut and Lucy slumped down holding her knee to her chest with her back against the apartment door.

This had been the worst day of her entire life. She still could'nt comprehend how she lost her job doing what she was employed to do in the first place.

The job was crap to begin with, she was overworked and underpaid, maybe this was a good thing Lucy thought, trying to make herself feel better.

And to make matters worse she came face to face with an old memory and crush. Only now he wasn't the bad boy teenager that she fell for but a grown man who only got more handsome with time.

Though it was true that this wasn't the first she'd seen of him in the past six years. He'd been slowly creeping back into her life.

First on a Billboard a year ago. Which read Successful, Handsome and Single, that was the first time that she'd seen how much he had changed.

He was so much bigger now, very muscular, a distinct contrast to the slim built boy she knew so long ago. She felt herself getting hot as she imagined his spectacular figure.

Then there he was again in last weeks newspaper article in the Young and Rich'' section, she thought, standing to her feet, eyes scurrying to find the paper.

"Ah, there it is" she said out loud as she spotted the set of papers on her counter. Lucy turned the pages until she found what she was looking for.

Another set of eye-catching photos of Dion, printed big on the page, this time, the only piece of clothing on him was some beach shorts. The pictures showed his perfectly sculpted beach bod, with a special highlight of the tattoo that stretched from his left pec, down his arm.

Lucy bit her lips as blood rushed to her cheeks; until her mind drifted back to a state of disappointment, as she continued reading the article.

The paper listed a total of twenty past lovers, this wasn't a surprise to her, if anything it was a decrease in number from high school. Look's like he has not changed one bit.

The only thing similar was that he still didn't notice her, although she had no one to blame but herself really.

"If you'd stop dressing like a bloody old woman from the 90s, and started showing out that amazing body and personality, you'd have no problem." She recalled the words of her best friend.

Deep down Lucy knew that she was right, it was no lie, she did have an amazing body, but she had grown so accustomed to living in the shadows that it just became her personality.

Sighing, Lucy continued skimming through the newspaper to force herself to think about something else. Maybe she'd look in the jobs section, since as of now she was jobless.

A particular section caught her eye, she faced palmed herself for not seeing this before. It was a job for a Personal Assistant at Huxley Hotels.

The job paid twice more than her old job, even though she knew that she would be working for Dion Huxley, that didn't matter, a cheque is a cheque and that is exactly what her family needs right now.

Her sister's job as a designer wasnt enough to help pay for her dads leg surgery, and although she graduated with bachelors degree in business and a masters in marketing, she just couldnt find a steady job that was willing to pay for her qualifications, so she always settled for less.

Lucy had decided she was going to submit her application to work for the man she would rather stay away from.

She spent the rest of the night carefully constructing a well-rounded resume, making sure to highlight all her best work features. The final step was to put a picture of herself and drop it in the mailbox outside of her apartment.

Lucy finally settled on a business picture she took for her old job, that day she wore her usual wig and glasses with and her floral long skirt and a knitted blue sweater her grandma had made her.

"Finished," she yelled, as she glued the edges of her postal envelope. "Time to get this off," she spoke, getting up from the sitting position that she'd been in for a few hours.

Lucy walked over to the door, to go down the stairs, with every step she developed a sense of nervousness. Until she was standing in front of the blue mailbox, hesitant to drop the envelope.

She convinced herself that it was highly unlikely that she would be chosen, reluctantly she dropped her parcel into the slot, and headed back to her apartment.

****