The Christmas Fix

by Kristen Kelly

  It was the cat’s fault.

  All alone, meowing and pathetic. She surprised me when I found her in the bottom of a barrel as I tried to take out the trash. I tried to ignore her, but my heart melted when I saw how skinny she was. Never feed a stray, I could hear my nanny saying when I was a little girl. They’ll hook onto you forever. She had too, with white fluffy fur and big green eyes. The minute I opened that back door, shook the box of Friskies, and stuck my head outside she’d appear out of nowhere. At first I planned on taking her home, but she wouldn’t let me get close so I settled on feeding her every morning.

  One day I opened the refrigerator in the employee break room, emptied coffee creamer into a bowl for the cat. That’s how Zac and I met.

  From then on, he started coming into the office earlier and earlier. We became a team of sorts. He followed me around. He’d talk and I’d clean. While we worked, we’d talk about everything under the moon. News and politics. Sometimes religion. Science or what was happening in the world. All of it.

  I’d become so comfortable with Zac, that I thought about asking him to write a professional reference for me for Stanford. I needed to get a scholarship. I thought with Zac’s endorsement from such a high-profile company, it would help to get that. Well, my actions just blew that completely out the window.

  Without a scholarship, I was sunk. I couldn’t or wouldn’t, rely on my family for my tuition. I couldn’t even show my grades because on the tiny island where I’d grown up, I’d been homeschooled with little to no paper trail. A reference from someone important might give credibility to my predicament. At least I hoped so.

  I glanced at my watch. Ten thirty. Taking my keys out of my purse, I headed for the door.

  When I got to the Remington Complex, I ran my keycard on the electronic eye, listened for the buzz, swung the door open, and headed down the hall toward the large conference room. I liked to clean that room first, listen to books with my ear buds while I vacuumed, or sometimes dance. Today I picked up a few law books. Definitely nerdy, but I found some of the cases fascinating.

  I put on my earphones and switched the button on my iPhone to listen to a podcast I thought interesting. Or was it amusement I was looking for tonight? The mating habits of baboons. I took the vacuum out of the closet, unwrapped the long chord, and pushed the button. And off I went, the steady droning noise vibrating through me.

  I could study anything I wanted and excel at it. The good thing was, I never forgot anything I read. Or saw. Or experienced. The bad thing was, I never forgot anything I read. Or saw. Or experienced.

  After I finished vacuuming, I wound up the chord, returned it to the closet, and grabbed the dusting spray and cloth. I felt a presence behind me. The hair on the back of my arms stood erect.

  “It wasn’t my fault.” Zac said in a husky voice. “You wanted me too.”

  I turned to face him, whipping off the headphones. “Were you talking to me?”

  “I wasn’t the one that opened the door, you know.”

  “Door? Why whatever do you mean, Mr. Taylor?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “You know what I mean. I don’t do this and I don’t do that,” he said in mock female voice.

  I giggled at his impression of me. “Don’t sweat it, Zachary. All water under the bridge.” I waved away the comment and headed back inside the conference room.

  “That’s a relief,” he said a little too eagerly. “Should we take it to my apartment next time? I could make you dinner and then we could...”

  I threw up a hand as he entered the room behind me. As if that would stop his arrogant ass. “Do I look like I’m going anywhere with you? Some of us have to work for a living.”

  Undeterred, he simply grinned back at me. “Right. Another time. Perhaps after you...” He scanned the conference room. “’clean this place up, although it looks clean to me.”

  “Presumptions are we?” But my heart had already sped up, nipples straining against my bra. Thankfully, I’d worn one today. “I have work to do, Zac. What do you want?”

  He moved a tendril of hair behind my ear. “Just name the night, sweetheart. We’ll go wherever you want. Have a nice dinner out, or I can cook something if you prefer. Unless you want to just go to my place and screw like bunnies.” Brows raised, he offered a lopsided grin. I thought about rolling my eyes, but he was so damn cute.

  Which is it, my little sex kitten?”

  “No,” I replied stepping back.

  “No to dinner or no, not being fuck buddies.”

  “Just no, Zac. We are never doing...” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder toward the direction of said closet. “That. Again.”

  “Oh I get it. I’m too much for you.” He pointed downward and winked. “It’s okay. Not many women can handle me. Of course it you’d rather handle me...”

  “Asshole.”

  He chuckled. “Just wanted to see what you would say.”

  I laughed. “I’ll bet you did, but that’s not the problem.” And it wasn’t. The fact of the matter was, I was drawn to Zac’s charisma. Everyone liked him. Especially women. I didn’t know if that was because of his natural ability to put people at ease, or that he was bedding all of them. He had a reputation as a bad boy, and although I owed it to myself to make up my own mind, weren’t most rumors built partly on fact?

  I smoothed the tangled hair out of my face and straightened my dress. The last thing I needed was a messy breakup with a gorgeous older man. I was determined to make it here in New York and not with anyone’s help. I needed to know I was capable. Being on my own for the first time in my life was rough but a relationship with Zachary Taylor? That scared the shit out of me.

  Zac ran a finger down my cheek. “Then tell me, Charlotte. What exactly is the problem, because you sure were into me when you pushed me in that closet the other day?” I backed up against the desk but he leaned in, first smelling my hair then caging me in place.

  “What are you doing?”

  He lifted me up onto the desk. “You’re not leaving until you give me another chance. I want to make it up to you. Let me. Please, Charlie.”

  Charlie. That’s what my father, God rest his soul, used to call me.

  Strong hands slid along the sides of my face. Then he kissed me. “Now, what exactly was it you wanted from me the other day?” he asked.

  “Wanted?” I was unable to string more than two words together, couldn’t think of my ulterior motive. All I thought about was that kiss. It was just science, I told myself. The chemical reaction in one’s brain, brought on by oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin: the feel-good hormones that reduce us to blubbering nincompoops around the opposite sex. But Zac’s? His kiss? His kiss had an extra zing to it. A magic powder or somewhat. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was but Zac Taylor had perfected the greatest kiss of all time. I was sure of it.

  He kissed me again, and a searing heat shot through me, making my whole body ache for more.

  “I’ll ask you one more time, Charlie. What can I do for you?” He grinned. “And I don’t mean a repeat performance, because it isn’t necessary. That you can have any time.”

  “I don’t...” Before I could say anything further he started tickling me. I struggled to get away but his body was like a stop sign. My arms flailed wildly and my arm hit a photo of whomever’s desk this was—it went toppling onto the floor. “Stop, stop, stop. Please stop. Okay. Okay. I give up. I’ll tell you.”

  Taking a few steps back, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m listening.”

  I took a deep breath wondering why I’d been so nervous. He’d have no reason to say no, but I wasn’t used to asking people for favors. I’d never needed to until now. “I want you to write me a letter of recommendation for Stanford so... So I can get a scholarship.”

  “Consider it done.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Now about dinner. Or the bun
ny thing.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Whatever you want.”

  “I told you, Zac, that was a one time performance. You may be cute, but if you think this is going to happen again, you’re delusional.”

  “Cute huh?”

  “Oh don’t get so cocky. I see how everyone gravitates toward you. Especially those girls in the office.”

  “No kidding.” He sounded genuinely surprised.

  “What about you, Charlie. How do you see me?”

  I stared at him, gritting my teeth. “I didn’t want to make you feel bad,” I said lamely.

  “So you want to make me feel good? I can live with that.”

  “I didn’t say...”

  “You didn’t have to.”

  He came closer. “I’d like the same thing.” A hand slipped beneath my skirt and then stroked along the edges of my panties. “Remember Charlie,” he growled, “You still have to tell me what you want. That’s the rule.”

  I whispered the word, “stop,” but didn’t pull away. I spread my legs wider, garnering his attention and by the look on his face, his approval as a finger dipped inside. Gasping, I pushed into it.

  Zachary Taylor was rich. He could have any woman he wanted and if the rumors were true, did.

  “Let’s get one thing clear,” I squeaked. “This is only happens one more time. Oh. Oh yes.” He pulled the neck of my dress away, nuzzled at my shoulder.

  “What’s only going to happen once? Words. Charlotte. I need words.”

  “This.” My body betrayed me though. Betrayed me in the most delectable gratifying way possible; all my nerve endings jumped on board, firing off at once in so many areas of my heated skin, I wanted to cry out. Cry out to taste and nip, and fuck. Tell him to do what he wanted to me and do it hard and fast, and yes, bad. So very bad. I wanted to be used, pushed to the heights of our desire for each other, rendered speechless. But I wasn’t speechless, in fact, I didn’t know who I was because those sounds had never in my life come out of this smart mouth. And now my head was light; I felt faint and dizzy, completely out of control. For the first time in my life, I liked, no craved that helpless feeling. The feeling of just feeling and nothing else.

  He was slowing his pace, keeping my orgasm at bay. “Say it, Charlie. Say what will only happen once.”

  “I...”

  “Say it and I’ll let you come. Tell me what we’re doing or what we’ll only do once.”

  My knees were weak. My breathing fast. Why the fuck was he toying with me?

  My arousal heightened as a hand slipped inside my dress, my nipples painfully taunt as he pulled at each one. “Fucking like rabbits,” I blurted out.

  “There’s my girl.”

  My whole body unraveled, the world suddenly becoming a blur for several earth-shattering seconds. When I’d finally come back to earth, I said, “this isn’t exactly fair, Zac.”

  “What isn’t?”

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I stilled his hand, but he brought it to his own lips, sucked my juices off his fingers.

  Feeling brazen, I hopped off the desk, unzipped his grey linen trousers, released his swollen cock, let it slide along my thigh. He was right. It was bigger and more impressive under the halogen light bulbs. Was this what I wanted? More hard fast rules to fuck up my life? My heart? Wasn’t that what I was running away from? Expectations. Structure and responsibility.

  Fuck it!

  Warm sticky fluid glistened on his tip. I licked once, then twice. Then sucked on the end hard, while making groaning sounds for his pleasure. Felt fingers scraping at my scalp. I reached around, felt his buttocks stiffen, his knuckles turn white as he gripped the edge of the desk. “Not so cocky now, are you Mr. Taylor?” I asked, looking up. What had gotten into me? I’d never gone down on a man before, but I liked it. I liked it a lot.

  He groaned. “Charlie...” He held my head, began stroking my thick hair.

  Licking my lips while he watched me, I bent forward, sucked the tender area of his mushroom cap. Glancing up, I rejoiced in the expression of torture, knowing I was responsible.

  “Much more of this and I’m going to come all over that pretty face of yours, Charlie. Maybe you should stop.”

  “Nope.” I rolled over an office-chair and sat. He stared down at me, all sexy and hot with his cock hanging out of his boxers. I took his length inside my mouth, gagging at first, but then eventually being able to take all of him to the back of my throat. I pulled, nipped and sucked for what seemed like a long time. His hips started moving, his balls heavy in my hands. My jaw ached and tears leaked from my eyes, but I kept on going. Encouraged by the sexy noises coming from above. When I thought he was close, I let him slide out of my mouth with a loud pop. I looked up and said, “Words, Zac. Tell me with words.”

  “Fuck me, baby. Fuck me with your mouth.”

  And I did.

  Chapter 3

  Zac

  The numbers did not add up.

  There was no way she would understand this.

  No.

  Fucking.

  Way.

  I took a bite of the omelet, frowned and then pushed the plate across the table. The eggs were cold, because I’d spent too much time reading and re-reading the contract we’d signed with Harrington Corporate. I’d rushed through all this without reading the bottom line. Big mistake. I had no idea what made me sign it. Okay, maybe I did. Call it a dick appointment. Call it a momentary lapse in judgment. Maybe I was using my military brain where time was of the essence and you didn’t stop to contemplate. Contemplation got you killed. Whatever it was that made me push this through, I was guilty as fucking sin.

  I took a sip of coffee then spit it back into the cup. Cold too.

  I looked at the computer screen again, but the numbers hadn’t changed. What kind of an idiot got in bed with a firm who was up to their eyeballs in litigation? Me. That’s who.

  “Something wrong with the eggs?” My mother, one of several legal consuls for Remington Enterprise stood over me in the dining room, glasses perched on the end of her nose, scowling while I typed on my laptop. We didn’t actually live together but when she worked late, she liked to crash at my condo instead of driving the forty minutes to her place on the East side of town. Why she still lived in that big mansion after my stepfather died, I didn’t understand. When she wasn’t annoying the hell out of me, she spent most of her waking hours at work or with her friend Margo who lived in the city.

  I gathered up the most incriminating papers. The one with columns of figures.

  “What’s that all about?” Her chin lifted, indicating the cost assessments, and other legal documents I was scrambling together as fast as I possibly could.

  After giving the pile several taps on the table, I grabbed my briefcase, flipped the lock, then dropped them inside. “Nothing you need to worry about,” I said.

  She tapped her fingers on the counter. “I should hope not. Need I remind you, Zachary, this merger is more important than you know. Don’t let us all down.”

  “Yeah, well...”

  “Yeah, well what?”

  “I’m not sure. I have to take a look at the figures once more. I only scanned them quick.”

  “You claimed this was...profitable.”

  “It is. Or will be.”

  “Which is it?”

  “Profitable, yes. How soon we see a positive ROI? I’m not sure.”

  “Well get sure. You have a reputation to build. This will help, Zachary.”

  “Reputation? We’re talking about you, aren’t we?”

  “Excuse me. This is your future too. You’ve wasted far enough time playing soldier before taking up a real career, son. At your age, you can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

  “Mistakes. You mean like remaining single.”

  “Don’t remind me. You know I met the sweetest young thing the other day. Just perfect for you, Zachary. Plus her father...”

  I help up a hand. “I told you. Not interested. In anyone.”


  She stared at me, tapping the toe of her alligator pumps, her lips spread into a thin line. Cold. Calculating. Margo never backed down from a challenge. She just dug her feet in deeper.

  “End of story, Margo. I mean it.”

  “Okay, okay. For now. I realize you have a lot on your plate. I’ll give you some time but not too long, Zachary. I’d like to have grandchildren before I’m too old.”

  I laughed. “You know I can find my own wife. That is, if I actually wanted to get married.”

  “Zachary, I’ve seen the kinds of women you choose.”

  I wasn’t buying into this discussion about my love life a minute longer. “I need to focus on this here. Do you mind?”

  I looked back at the screen, noticed a few thousand dollars I’d not accounted for. Fifty to be exact. I’d forgotten to figure in company cars. “Shit! Shit, shit, shit.”

  “Something wrong?”

  “I don’t know why he unloaded this on me instead of one of the more experienced accountants. Hell, we’ve got seven, for God’s sake. Let them earn their keep.”

  “I know. Let’s take a break. I know a great little deli with the most amazing...”

  “No.”

  “My friend is meeting us there. I already...”

  “Wait.” I glared at her. “Friend? How old is this friend?”

  “Twenty-six.”

  “Female?”

  “Yes,” she said cautiously.

  “And you told her I was coming. Fuck! What did I tell you, Margo? I’m not doing this.”

  “You owe me, Zachary.”

  “Owe you? What on earth are you talking about?”

  Her coffee cup slammed down so hard on the table, the sausage links jumped on my plate. “I gave up everything for you. Married a man I didn’t love. Sent you to Harvard, gave you everything money can buy, and what do you do the minute you graduate? Run halfway around the world to play soldier for eight years. It’s time you earned your keep.”

  “This has nothing to do with whom I date, which by the way, is none of your damn business.”

  “Like hell it isn’t. And really, Zachary, I know you’re a grown man but please...for me... have a bit of discretion next time.”