by Cassia Leo
“Wait a minute,” she said, suddenly looking confused. “Aren’t you supposed to be spying on him? How are you supposed to steal from him if you’re all gaga for his hot jalapeño?”
“Please don’t call it that.”
She waved off my complaint. “Okay, his love sausage. Whatever.”
“You really need to stop watching so much Food Network.”
She guzzled the rest of her wine and held her glass out again.
“If I give you this, you’re staying the night,” I insisted, clutching the bottle to my chest.
“Yeah, yeah. Just fill her up and fill me in. I want to know everything.”
I told her everything, from the day my boss at NeoSys, Kip Singer, gave me the assignment, to earlier today at the office with Luke, when I got a strong suspicion he was on to me.
“What am I going to do? If I come clean to him, I’ll lose my job at NeoSys and my job at Maxwell Computers.”
“And you could lose him. I mean, that’s what’s really at stake here, right? Fuck the job. You can get another one.”
“If I screw this up, I’ll be blacklisted.”
“Brina, you’re gorgeous and you have a degree from Cornell. You will find another job, even if it’s not in the same industry.”
“And in the meantime, what about my parents? They need my help now. They can’t afford to support me while I look for a job. My dad’s pension barely covers their mortgage.”
“Your parents might have to sign up for Meals on Wheels for a while, but they’ll survive, Brina. But if you keep lying to Luke, you can kiss him goodbye. The real question isn’t if you should come clean. The real question is can you survive another broken heart?”
The silence that followed this question told us both everything we needed to know.
I strolled into the lobby at Maxwell Computers, not at all in the mood to be ignored by the receptionist or to make the trek up the stairs all the way to the twelfth floor, but there was no way I would ever get into that glass-bottomed elevator again. The entire way up, I kept trying to think of what I was going to say to Luke. I tried to imagine what he would say in return, but these things never went as planned. I’d been through enough breakups to know that.
Is that what this was? A breakup?
I finally reached the twelfth floor and burst through the door into the corridor outside the executive offices. I entered the lobby where my desk was positioned perpendicular to the wall, not far from the elevator. My eyes kept darting back and forth from my desk to Luke’s office door, about ten yards farther along the wall. I set my purse on my desk and took a deep breath, trying to steal as much courage from the woman who once sat here. Janice had to have balls the size of the moon to betray Luke the way she had after working for him for nine years.
Just as I was about to walk into Luke’s office, the elevator doors slid open and Janice stepped out holding a small cardboard box in her hands. She smiled at me, and I tried not to appear totally surprised as I smiled back.
“Special delivery for Miss Brina Kingston,” Janice cooed, her Barbie doll makeup still doing a poor job of hiding the fact she was nearly sixty years old.
“Thank you, Janice,” I said, taking the package from her hands.
I glanced at the return address and saw the location of Maxwell Computers’ distribution center in Arizona. This was the new phone I had ordered to replace the phone lost by one of Luke’s lead programmers, Josh Ramos—the phone I’d actually stolen after Josh left it in the restroom of Luke’s sailboat.
“Did someone lose a phone?” she asked, but something in the way she asked told me she already knew the answer to this question.
“Yes. Josh lost his phone the other night. I ordered him a new one. Thanks for carrying it up.”
“That’s a pretty important item to lose for someone like Josh.” She stared at me with her hands tucked in the pockets of her tan, knee-length coat and an inquisitive smirk on her plastic face. “Did Luke reset all the passwords that were stored on there? That’s what he always did when I worked here and someone lost one of their comm devices.”
I was beginning to think Kip sent Janice here to check up on me. “I don’t know what sort of protocol there is when a programmer loses their phone. Luke didn’t share that with me. And speaking of Luke, are you here to see him?”
“Yes, I’ll just go right in.”
I grabbed her arm to stop her before she could get past me. “Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll let him know you’re here?”
She smirked at me as she wrenched her arm free. “As you wish.”
“Would you like a diet soda while you wait?” I asked, throwing back the subtle jab she threw at me when I came in for my interview at Maxwell Computers.
“No, thank you.”
I quickly made my way to Luke’s door and knocked softly. I didn’t want to give Janice the impression she was making me nervous. The door swung open on its own and I entered, quickly shutting the door behind me.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Luke said, a smile stretching across his gorgeous face as he stood from his chair and came to me.
As soon as he put his hands on my face, I could feel myself fading into him. His scent was intoxicating, like sunshine and soap. His lips covered mine as his tongue slid into my mouth, searching and teasing me. An involuntary whimper resounded in my throat, and he responded by sliding his arm around my waist and pulling me closer. He finally pulled away and rested his forehead against mine.
“Good morning,” I whispered.
He kissed the tip of my nose and released me. “I need you to book a reservation at Noku this afternoon. I’m meeting with a new client today. Kathy at Brigham Solutions.”
“Consider it done.” I couldn’t help but stare at his butt as he made his way back to his desk chair. “You have a visitor.”
He took a seat and leaned back. “Who is it?”
“Janice.”
He scrunched his eyebrows together as he contemplated this news. “Why is she here?”
“To see you. That’s all she said.”
“Tell her I’m on a conference call. I’m really not in the mood to see Janice right now.”
“She came all the way here from West Lake.”
A flash of anger slid over his face, and I took that as my cue to let it go. I left his office and closed the door softly behind me.
“He’s on a conference call. He wants you to call him later to schedule a meeting.”
I couldn’t decide if Janice looked more hurt, angry, or surprised. She stood slowly from the chair and nodded at me then made her way to the elevator without saying a word. I took a seat at my desk, formerly Janice’s desk, as she pushed the call button. After a long moment of silence, the elevator doors slid open.
She placed her hand on the door to hold them open and turned to me. “You’re only sitting there because of me. Don’t forget that.”
She disappeared inside the elevator, and my hands shook as I pulled up the phone number for Noku Japanese restaurant on my computer. Janice had thrown me off my plan to tell Luke, but I would tell him later. I would invite him to my apartment tonight.
I was about to dial Noku, when Luke’s face flashed on my computer screen. “Brina, come in here.”
“Coming.”
I closed the door behind me as I entered his office, and he pointed at the chair in front of his desk. I took a seat, feeling as if I was about to be chastised by the principal for cutting class.
“What’s up?” I asked, trying my hardest to sound cheery.
“I have something to ask you, and I want you to give me an honest answer.”
Oh, shit. This was it. He was finally going to confront me about working for NeoSys.
“Of course.”
“Brina.” He paused for a moment as his gaze slid down my body then back up to my face. “Will you attend a birthday party with me this Saturday? You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, but I’d really like to have you t
here with me.”
I tried not to let out the breath I’d been holding all at once. “Of course, I’ll go to a birthday party with you. Whose birthday?”
“Mine. Jerry Wilshire, one of my old partners, and his wife are throwing it for me at the Four Seasons. It’s going to be a big thing that I really don’t even want to go to, but Jerry’s the reason I am where I am today, so I couldn’t say no.”
“It’s your birthday on Saturday?” I knew his birthday was not on Saturday, but I had to at least pretend I didn’t know.
“It’s actually tomorrow.”
I stood from the chair and rounded the desk. “Perfect. How about you come to my apartment tonight and we can give you a proper midnight celebration.”
He smiled as I lifted my jean skirt, peeled off my panties, and straddled him.
“How about you spend the night at my house tonight?” he murmured.
I had never been to his house, much less spent the night. I reached down and unbuckled his belt. “I’d love to.”
I unzipped his pants and his erection sprung free. I clutched his collar tightly as I mounted him, and he hooked one arm around my waist and held me steady as his other hand caressed my clit. I stripped off my t-shirt and bra, and he took my breast into his mouth. He sucked hard on my nipple, and I squeezed his cock inside me as I rocked rhythmically against him.
His fingers worked gently to the beat of our thrusts until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I came hard, and soon he was throbbing inside me as he came. I moved to dismount him, but he tightened his arm around my waist.
“Don’t go.” He kissed me tenderly as I ran my fingers through his hair. His lips grazed my neck and his erection returned, growing longer and stiffer inside me until he hit my core. I threw my head back and moaned as I gripped the back of his chair. He thrust himself deep inside me as I ground my pelvis against him.
“Oh, Luke.”
He kissed the valley between my breasts as I arched my back. The friction of his thrusts soon sent me skyrocketing toward orgasm number two and I curled into him, my entire body spasming as we came together. My breath was hot against his neck as our bodies trembled.
He kissed my shoulder. “Come with me to this lunch meeting today?”
I bit his neck softly and his cock twitched inside me. “Anything you want.”
“Anything?” he asked as he kissed my throat and worked his way up to my mouth.
I bit his bottom lip gently then traced it with my tongue. “Anything.”
“I want to introduce you as my girlfriend on Saturday.”
I pulled my head back to look him in the eye. “Your girlfriend?”
“Is it too soon for that?”
A mixture of giddiness and guilt swished inside my belly, and he held me tighter as I lost my grip on the back of the chair.
“Are you okay?” he asked as I stared at the front of his shirt.
I nodded. “No, it’s not too soon. I…I’d love to be introduced as your girlfriend, but…are you sure you’re ready for everyone to know about us?”
He traced his finger over my collarbone and shoulder then down my arm until he took my hand in his. He brought my hand to his lips and planted a soft kiss on my knuckles. “I’ll show you how sure I am on Saturday.”
Chapter 2
Luke’s house was much smaller than I imagined. It was a modern bungalow on a cliff with a gorgeous view of the Puget Sound from the balcony off his living room. From the outside, it didn’t appear much larger than two of my apartments put together.
“How many bedrooms do you have?” I asked as I ran my fingertips over the glossy white coffee table.
He opened the doors onto the covered balcony and the sound of rain falling in the garden below filled the living room. “Two bedrooms. I don’t need more than that. At least, not until I settle down and pop a bun in someone’s oven.”
I rolled my eyes. “Psh! You’re only twenty-nine. Men can have kids well into their seventies.”
“I don’t want to be an old dad. I want to be a cool dad,” he replied with the coolest grin I’d ever seen.
“Well, then, I guess you’d better start shopping around for an oven,” I teased.
He glanced at my belly and wiggled his eyebrows.
I let out a hearty chuckle. “Sorry. My oven is currently occupied by Pfizer.”
He smiled at my birth control joke then nodded toward the balcony. I followed him outside and clutched the steel railing as I gazed down onto the immaculate Japanese garden below. The scent of lotus and jasmine perfumed the air and mixed with the rain, wrapping us in a lush fragrance.
“This is beautiful, and so peaceful,” I remarked. “You must love it here.”
“I do, but it still feels…unfinished.”
He tucked my hair behind my ear and a chill passed through me. “Why? What’s left to finish?”
He turned toward the ocean and leaned over the railing. My heart stopped and I backed away as the balcony swayed beneath me.
“Oh, shit! I’m sorry,” he said as he pulled me inside. “I shouldn’t have taken you out here.”
He closed the balcony doors behind us and I wandered unsteadily toward the sofa to sit down. He sat next to me and rubbed my back.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You probably think I’m crazy. I know I’m crazy.”
“Trust me, you’re not crazy,” he assured me. “Maybe a little weird, but definitely not crazy.”
“I’m weird?”
He leaned toward me with his lips puckered and I laughed as I tried to push him away, but he was too strong. I wrestled with him until he pinned my wrists above my head as he straddled me on the sofa. He laughed as I panted beneath him.
“You can’t beat me at this.”
I suddenly had a feeling he was talking about something completely different than what was going on here. “I don’t want to beat you,” I replied, licking my lips. “I want to fuck you.”
He chuckled. “Oh, you are going to get exactly that and more.” He kissed me hard, and I sucked on his tongue until he pulled away. “Much more.”
He scooped me up in his arms and I held tightly to his neck as he carried me through a short corridor into what I assumed was his bedroom. The low platform bed was covered in gray linen and sumptuous pillows. He set me down gently, and I was shocked by how soft the duvet cover felt against my legs.
“Take your clothes off. I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into a walk-in closet and I swiftly removed my clothes. I lay back down on my stomach and waited for him, and when he returned, he was naked with a pair of handcuffs dangling from his finger. His body was as perfect as any Calvin Klein underwear model I’d ever seen. I wanted to kiss every inch of him, but something told me he had other plans.
“Stay just like that,” he said as he approached the bed, and I could already feel myself getting wet. “Put your hands behind your back; you’re under arrest.”
“You are so corny.” I giggled as I crossed my wrists over the small of my back, and he quickly cuffed me.
He traced his finger up my spine until he reached my neck, where he brushed my hair aside as he lay on top of me. “Tonight is all about you,” he whispered in my ear. “Turn over.”
Pushing himself up, his hands were planted on either side of my head, giving me space so I could turn onto my back. Then he gazed down at me like a hungry wolf straddling its prey. My heart raced as he leaned down, his mouth hovering just above me. As he brushed his lips over mine, the ache between my legs pulsed with a need to be touched by him, kissed by him, filled by him.
He kissed me slowly, his arm around my waist lifting me gently to relieve the stress of my weight on the cuffs.
“This is what you want for your birthday?” I asked as he kissed my neck.
His erection rubbed against my mound as he nibbled my ear. “This is all I want for tonight. My birthday is tomorrow. No more talking.”
He turned me back onto my stomach again and the side of my face pres
sed into the pillow as he lifted my ass in the air. I expected him to guide himself in, but he slid down, and soon his mouth was on me.
“Oh, God.”
He licked and kissed me slowly until my thighs began to tremble, and he stopped before I came.
“Why did you stop?” I whined.
“Sh!” he cut me off abruptly.
He spread my legs and rubbed the head of his cock against my clit, sending waves of pleasure through me. I wanted to tell him to just put it in already, but I wasn’t supposed to speak. He stopped again just as I was about to come.
“Oh, God,” I whispered into the pillow so he couldn’t hear me.
I could feel I was dripping wet now, and he used my juices to slide his thumb into my ass. I bit down on the pillow, panting as he massaged my opening. His other fingers gently rubbed my clit as he continued exploring me. Finally, his cock entered me, gathering my wetness before he slid out and into my ass.
I moaned as my body shook with pleasure. He caressed my clit as he slowly dipped in and out of me, moving a little farther in with each stroke.
“Oh, fuck,” he groaned as he maintained a slow but steady pace.
I could hardly breathe as I used the pillow to muffle my screams. His finger circled my clit as he thrust into me, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. He wrapped his arm around my waist as I crumpled and convulsed with rapturous pleasure. He let out one more curse and groaned as he came then collapsed next to me.
We both lay on our sides facing each other. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but the cuffs kept me in check.
“I want to touch you,” I hummed.
He smiled as he reached over me to where he had placed the key on the nightstand, and I took the opportunity to lick his nipple, making him laugh. Finally, he reached behind me and freed me then tossed the cuffs to the floor. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him down on top of me.
“Do me missionary style,” I said before I kissed him.
“So adventurous,” he murmured sarcastically as he kissed my neck.
“What can I say? You bring it out of me.”