Destiny stormed through the bathroom door and threw her bag onto the counter, fuming. "I hate my job, I hate my job," she thought angrily. She yanked her bag open, and rummaged through it, muttering to herself.

The bathroom door flew open, and Marsha and Karlene swept in, their faces identical masks of sympathy.

"Oh my, you arite?" Marsha cooed, as they crowded around her, patting her back and making compassionate noises. Destiny felt a stab of annoyance. She knew they meant well, but re-hashing the incident wasn't going to make her feel better. Embarrassing dress-downs were a common occurrence at J.D. Sloan, the advertising company where she had worked for the past three years.

Roy, the advertising manager, was, in her opinion, a lazy stuffed shirt who made a habit of stealing his employees' ideas and keeping everyone in the office completely intimidated. This morning had been Destiny's turn to be shouted at in the middle of the large, open-concept office, and she was still stewing about it three hours later.

"Anyhoo," Karlene broke into her reverie. "We have some news to distract you."

"Yes, yes!" Marsha squealed, squeezing even closer to Destiny, and practically hopping in her excitement. "You won't believe who is here."

Destiny resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and sighed. "Who?" she asked, while applying peach-tinted lip gloss. "J.D. Sloan, the second!" Destiny paused in the middle of running a comb through her bangs. "Sorry?"

"The J.D. Sloan," Marsha said excitedly. "The CEO of the company!"

"I hear him single and him look good!" Karlene interjected.

Destiny couldn't muster their manic enthusiasm. She made appropriate noises and comments to satisfy them, and left the bathroom as quickly as she could. She decided she would take a long lunch, and get away from the office for a while.

intense

Looking through her handbag for her sunglasses, she was paying little attention, and walked right into a well-dressed young man, standing in the middle of the hallway. Her eyes took in the expensive suit, the clean-cut beard, and the lazy smile as he looked down at her. He must be a new client, she thought.

He smiled at her disarmingly. "And who is this?" he asked. Roy suddenly materialized next to the man, huffing and waving a dismissive hand at Destiny. "That is just one of our junior execs, sir." Destiny felt her back stiffen with indignation and noticed the client watching her carefully, his brown eyes intense and thoughtful.

He extended a hand and Destiny shook it, trying not to stare too obviously at his caramel skin and the way his tall frame filled out the suit. His lips looked like they had been carefully sculpted, along with the rest of his chiselled face, and he flashed a quick grin at her, revealing teeth that were even and startlingly white.

"Well, since Roy has lost his manners," he said, "I'm Jonathan. And your name?"

"Destiny," she replied. From the corner of her eye, she could see Marsha and Karlene waving at her frantically. She ignored them and said, "Well it was nice meeting you, but I'm off to lunch."

"Where?" he asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"Where are you having lunch?"

"Just the deli across the street," she replied, taken aback.

"I'll join you," he announced, and patted her startled boss on the back. "Roy, we'll pick this up later." Taking Destiny by the arm, he strode toward the front doors. Annoyed, but not wanting to be rude to a client, she kept her mouth shut and allowed him to lead her out of the office.

She glanced back and saw Marsha and Karlene, still gesturing to her frantically. Marsha was mouthing something to her. What was she saying? Slow? Stone? Slone?

Realization hit her like a brick. Jonathan P. Sloan II! She was about to go to lunch at a seedy deli with the CEO of the company. She looked at him in horror and began to slow down, almost tripping over her black pumps. "Ahm ... are you sure you don't want to join Roy for lunch instead?" He was striding ahead, holding her arm firmly under his, his fingers linked through hers as if they were lovers. "The receptionist could order something from a nice place."

"Naw man," he replied, still walking quickly, almost dragging her along with him. "The deli it is, Destiny." He smiled at her and she felt her knees buckle slightly. She glanced back to see Marsha and Karlene staring after her, their mouths identical O's of surprise. Oh Lord.

Forty-five minutes later, they were seated in the peeling plastic chairs inside the little deli on the corner of Trafalgar Road. She nibbled at the edges of her BLT, and tried desperately to think of something to say. It didn't help that he kept those intense eyes on her the whole time. 'Say something, fool,' she thought frantically. She cleared her throat, and surreptitiously ran her tongue over her front teeth, to make sure there was no treacherous bit of food hanging around. "So," she began uncertainly. "We've been awarded the contract for Nestle."

He merely raised an eyebrow.

"And," she fumbled. "I heard the company performed really well this year."

He only smiled at her and pushed his empty plate aside, wiping his mouth carefully with a napkin. She noted his long, almost elegant fingers and tried to think of something else to say.

"What you have planned for the rest of the afternoon?" he asked. Startled, she stammered, "Nothing much ... some projects to finish up ... I think."

"Let's go on the road," he said. "Email Roy and tell him we going to visit some clients."

She stared at him, aghast. "I can't do that!"

"Yeh you can," he replied casually.

"Mr Sloan -"

"Jonathan."

"I have work to do, I can't -"

"You can't go visit some clients with the CEO?"

unanswered questions

Finally, exasperation overrode her fear and she looked at him sceptically. "We're going to visit clients?" He flashed another quick smile that made her heart drop, and stood up. "Coming?"

Destiny thought of the workload on her desk. She thought of her overbearing, long-winded boss, stomping around the office on the hunt for his next victim. She thought of her clients, calling to demand more media coverage, more concepts, more overtime.

She swallowed her uncertainty and smiled back at him. "Yes."

They spent the rest of the day driving around town. He did stop to visit a few clients, but only for a minute or two. She watched him through the tinted windows of his BMW and wondered more than once how she had gone in just a few hours from lowly account executive to a companion for the CEO of a major advertising firm. Why did he ask her to come with him? Was he a player? Did he often take advantage of his female employees?

The questions grew louder in her head as they left city streets and he drove up to Skyline Drive, driving past a row of large houses before parking in a secluded spot. They sat on the hood of the car, eating the pizza and sodas he had picked up on the way. They talked for what seemed like hours. He laughed at the stories of her gossipy co-workers, and she listened with rapt attention as he described how he had taken over his father's failing advertising company and turned it into one of the top contenders in the industry.

Destiny looked out at the twinkling lights of Kingston and held her breath for a moment before asking "What we really doing here? Why did you ask me to come with you?"

Jonathan slid off the edge of the car and stood facing her. His face was mere inches from hers, his hands planted on either side of her. "What you think?" he asked her, his voice soft and melodic.

confusion

He reached to brush her hair back from her shoulders before pressing a soft kiss to her neck. Destiny stiffened as confusion and desire suddenly ran through her like liquid warmth. His lips moved up to her ear, and travelled down the length of her jaw. She resisted the urge to pull him closer, and instead pressed a hand against his chest. He titled his head back, and looked at her quizzically.

"This feels ... inappropriate," she said. "I'm your employee."

He grinned and leaned forward, pressing his lips against her ear once more. "In that case," he murmured, "you're fired." She gave a nervous laugh.

His face grew serious and he took her hand. "I'm very clear about what I want. And I want you." he said simply.

And then, before she could reply, he was kissing her, fiercely and unrelentingly, his hands coming up to cradle her face, holding her to him with insistence. Destiny responded without knowing what she was doing, a soft moan escaping her lips as she clung to him, gasping as his teeth grazed her lower lip, her eyes heavy-lidded with anticipation. She sighed as his hands travelled over her body, leaving her in a state of complete longing.

Maybe it was time for a career change.