by Viola Grace
“Watch what you are doing, or you might start something that you can’t finish.”
She flicked his tongue with her lips and raked her nails over his shirt and around to do the same to his back.
He growled. “If the server returns and I am balls deep inside you, how angry will you be?”
“Pretty angry. At least wait until after we order.”
He chuckled and licked and sucked at her neck.
“Also will be furious if you leave a visible hickey.”
He opened her blouse and eased her wrap down so that her upper breast was exposed. The licking and sucking were noisy, and she moaned. She felt his grin against her skin. “Cheeky bastard.”
“You call me that a lot, but my mother was very aware of who my father was.” He undid another button, and her wrap eased down a few more inches.
He licked at her cleavage and sucked at her skin. She was leaning back in his arms when the server came back, hot pink marks darkening across her breasts.
He paused. “Um, can I take your order?”
Orvis was laughing. “Full rack of ribs, loaded baked potato, side salad with Italian, and a cock. Coke! I meant coke!”
She covered her face by pinning the hysterically laughing Stovos against her.
He lifted his head for a moment with tears in his eyes. “My usual.”
The server struggled not to say or do anything, but when he left the room and closed it behind him, the howls of laughter ensued.
“That’s it. I will have to find another BBQ place that caters to women.”
“You do, and I will buy that one, too.” He growled. “Now that we have fifteen minutes, shall I fulfill your order?”
He helped her work her skirt up, and his fingers dripped as he stroked them through her folds. His hands moved at his trousers, and he slid into her with a groan. He held her with one arm around her hips as he thrust into her with jackhammering focus. Her breathing got shrill, and she shrieked, covering her mouth with her hand.
He held her and sat in his chair with her legs draped over either side. He kissed her softly, and she looked at him before she rocked her hips against his. He cupped her hips and helped her rise and fall over him. She bit at his lips and moved with him slowly for four minutes before she opened her eyes wide as her body clasped him in slow, heady waves. He thrust into her and jolted inside. He nipped her shoulder as he shuddered. They remained together while they caught their breath. She weakly pulled the wrap up and hid the little marks he had had so much fun making.
She buttoned up her blouse, and it took her a few tries to get off him. He didn’t help, but he didn’t try to stop her.
She wiggled her skirt down her thighs and closed the buttons on her blazer. She sat down gingerly, and she was wet. She grabbed a handful of napkins and pressed them against her.
Stavos was back to looking pristine. He propped his chin on his fist. “Would you like some help?”
“Please.”
She yelped in surprise as mage fire swept over her. There was still a trickle, but the wetness was gone. “I don’t know that spell.”
“Tynan created it so that he and Hector could clean up more efficiently. It was tricky to learn, but I managed.”
She wadded up the napkins and was going to set them on the table when she realized what was on them. “Can you take care of these as well?”
He did, and she sighed in relief. That was a lot of genetic material to leave lying around.
Orvis kicked her feet and realized that she had lost her shoes at some point. She bent over and took a look. Finding one on the other side of him, she got up and picked it up before looking for the other one located in his hands.
She asked, “Can I have my shoe, please?”
“What will you do for it?”
“Not put its partner through your skull.”
“Your default is violence. Any reason for that?”
She paused. “Not really. Something about working with a lot of guys turned up the aggression, I guess. It seems to be what most of you understand. Gentle requests are patronized. Threats gain your attention.”
He nodded. “True, but I am still waiting for a reward for finding your footwear.”
“Why? You are the one who took them off.”
“For a purpose, the purpose has concluded. So, I have taken the spoils of my efforts.”
She shrugged. “Fine, keep it. It isn’t your size.”
She walked back to her seat and used wet wipes to clean her hands.
“You don’t want to play?”
Orvis gave him a bland look. “I could tackle you to the floor and roll around with you for hours and still not have had enough, but that isn’t practical, and look, here’s lunch.”
His stunned expression caused a pang of pain in her chest. She kicked her feet happily and changed her focus to the meal in front of her.
She picked up a sauce bottle and hesitated, grabbing the bib that had been included instead of her regular smock.
She wormed her way to the edge of her seat so that her lap was safe, and she squirted the sauce onto her ribs. She tore the ribs apart with her fingers, and he watched her as he sliced pieces off a very thick steak. The meat was definitely on the raw side.
He asked her. “I always thought harpies were just bird bodies with female heads.”
“That changed with a few generations of screwing around. The only thing that is always the same is that we are invariably female. A long line of women. At some point, siren DNA got mixed in, and now, we do that thing with our voices that can lure men into their doom.”
He cocked his head with a slight smile. “I haven’t noticed anything in your voice.”
“I only make the vocalization when I... you know very well when.”
His shoulders shook. “Yes, I did notice that. It isn’t quite sound.”
“My ancestresses used it to call the wind. The sirens used it to call men. Modern harpies split the difference.”
“The silver skin?”
She chuckled. “Dark elves are easy to catch, and since they always had sons, they never thought the daughters were theirs.”
His eyes went wide. “You are not joking.”
“I am not.” She ate another rib, caught her fork between her second and third finger, and used it to fork up some potato.
He blinked as he finished his steak. “Damn. Now, I wish I had ordered a salad.”
She hooked her salad bowl and dragged it toward him. “There you go.”
He paused. “Isn’t that yours?”
“If it was mine, there wouldn’t be cucumbers on it. There is the dressing. Off you go.”
She finished her ribs and baked potato, licking her fingers before reaching for the wet wipes. She was about to get to work when he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward, sucking on her fingers and starting the slow burn in her again. She sighed. “Why did you start that up again?”
He grinned. “It never stopped for me. To hear that you wanted me that much right then was nearly enough to break my self-control.”
“Yeah, but you have a company to run. Several, actually. I am unsure about my playmate status and am thinking forward to the day when you have to recede from the world to reappear elsewhere as someone else. I think the pain of breaking things off now will be less than the pain of losing you then.” She smiled. “If you don’t get bored with me long before. Your average affairs last six weeks.”
He looked offended. “You think so little of me?”
“I have never had to consider my place in a relationship. I now understand why my family does it the way that they do. This is super confusing.” She rubbed her forehead and removed her bib.
She picked up her phone and said, “I have to powder my nose.”
She stalked out of the private room, past a few surprised women who smiled at her as she headed for the front door. She waved and smiled as she made it to the door, and the
n, she was outside, and fuck, it was cold!
* * * *
Stovos nodded to the server when he entered the room. “She headed out the front door, didn’t she?”
The server nodded. “Yes, Boss.”
He nodded and turned to walk back through the portal. Back in his office, he rubbed the back of his neck and glowered out the window. Snowflakes were dancing in a late spring snowfall. He walked to the window and looked out at the coverage far below. The ground was turning white, and the wind was picking up.
He winced. She didn’t have a jacket or a coat. He sent out a tracking spell, which was easy considering their recent encounter. She was returning to the office.
He headed home and got a few items together then set them inside his office, and he waited as she walked toward her desk.
Meredith engaged in pleasantries, and Orvis replied. She thudded into her chair and was crying softly for a moment before he heard the telltale inhalation that indicated she was pulling herself together, and that is when he spoke. “You need to take better care of yourself or find someone who will help you.”
He gathered the items, and she sat as he set out a travel mug filled with hot sweet coffee, a heavy throw from one of his couches, and a stuffed animal from her bed at her home.
“I thought the fuzzy slippers would be a step too far.”
She laughed and hiccupped, and she nodded. “Thanks.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead and one to her lips before he returned to his desk and she went back to work collecting results from the last three seasonal budgets. It was what she did, after all.
Chapter Twenty
The end of the day was a blissful relief. Orvis turned off her computer, grabbed her purse and makeup, and got ready to leave.
As she did every night, she went to his door and knocked. “Boss?”
“Come in.”
She opened the door and asked from the doorway. “Do you need anything else, Boss?”
He looked up from his in-desk computer screen. “Orvis, can you come here for a second?”
She nodded and headed over. The display on the screen was Nessa and the guys at the museum. There was a reference in the article to Nessa being a homewrecker.
“I think we watch and wait. This is definitely sour grapes. But that being said, I think a video interview explaining that the triad met ten years ago will do a lot to stamp out the novelty of the situation. It makes it less of a heat of the moment thing into deliberate and persistent attraction.”
“Orvis, why do you support your family as you do?”
“We... we are a society of women. The men that come in and out are just that. They are men who literally cum and go. We depend only on each other, and that is the important thing.” She sighed. “My mother had an accident and can’t work. My cousin is here in town finishing college, and my sister wanted nothing more than to be a mother, but her warrior’s soul never woke. I pay for them because we are the ones we can depend on. No one else stays.”
“What about your sister’s husband?”
“He’s a good and kind soul, but he’s a poet and depends on my finances to keep things above water.”
“So, you support four adults?”
“And a little girl. And myself.”
“That is a lot of weight.”
“Aunts paid for my schooling, and that got me here. It is an endless ladder.” She smiled brightly. “Was there anything else?”
“Have dinner with me? Not because I am ordering you to, but because I am asking.”
She paused and looked down. “I am not really dressed for dinner.”
“Casual dinner, at my home. Please.” He smiled. “Reese already grabbed you a set of sweats and some ballet flats.”
“You were sure?”
“Optimistic. When you live as long as I do, hope is your ally. There is always time for hope.”
She sighed. “Fine. But I sleep in my own bed tonight.”
“Acceptable, but I reserve the right to negotiate.”
“And I get a hot bath in a tub sometime to help with the aches and pains.”
He looked concerned. “Still sore?”
She sighed. “It just feels so good at the time, and then, the aches and pains creep in hours later.”
He got up and put his jacket on. “So, when can I start negotiating for a sleepover?”
She chuckled. “Talk to me after the bath, and we will do a situational assessment.”
“I love it when you talk corporate.” He put his hand on her lower back, and they headed for the elevator. Reese was waiting downstairs, and they left. The snow outside blanketed everything in a thick layer of white.
After she got into the car, she looked at the forecast of two feet of snow in the next two hours with rolling blackouts. She looked at Stovos. “Did you know about this?”
He nodded. “I did. It is likely that power will go out tomorrow, so can you rig my office for virtual meetings?”
She made a face. “Please, tell me he bought more than one set of sweats.”
Stovos nodded. “He even got you a sleep shirt that says Dark Elves do it in the Dark... and the Light.” His sombre expression had her worried.
“Please, tell me you are joking.”
“You will have to see for yourself.”
He took her hand and kissed her palm. “We will be home soon.”
“Your home.”
“Our home. Even if we don’t have sex, you are welcome to move in and save on rent.”
She sighed. “You are relentless.”
“I am old and frail and could drop any minute.”
Orvis chuckled. “I will make sure not to be underneath you at any time then.”
There was a slight cough from Reese as he navigated through residential streets to find his way home.
Stovos scowled. “Right. Don’t play up the frail bit. So, how about if I say that I need you near me so that I don’t forget who you are?”
“I would hire you a nurse. A male one. Big and brawny to help move you around.” She grinned. “Oh, and I forgot. You are going to be a grandpa! Congratulations.”
He muttered. “I think I may have stepped in it.”
“You think?” She pressed a kiss to the back of the hand that didn’t show any lines or wrinkles.
The car pulled up, and Reese held the door open for Stovos, and Stovos held his hand out to her. She scooted over and stepped out, letting him guide her forward. He led her into the house, and Reese came in behind them with several boxes and bags.
Orvis asked, “What is all that?”
Reese grinned and handed the parcels over to Yusen. “Everything on the list. Mr. Twilight is good about stocking provisions for storms.”
Stovos smiled. “I promised you a hot bath, so that is what we will attend to first.”
She walked with him to a room near his. He explained. “I don’t have a bathtub in my room, so this one is where you will get your hot soak.”
He showed her the soaker tub that had a peachy scent and was filled with bubbles. She smiled. “Out.”
He sighed and laughed as she pushed him out. She stripped off in record time and soaked her tired and cold body in the warm and scented tub.
Her hairpins started pinging on the tile floor, and she sleepily looked around. The tub had created a set of pincers, and it was slowly unpinning her hair. She helped it, and the braid uncoiled. She unravelled her braid and sank under the bubbles for a moment. When she sat up, she pulled her hair up and let her normal skin and form take over. She skipped the wings. They didn’t have much of a purpose indoors.
She settled her head onto the edge of the tub and relaxed as she was surrounded by warmth. She nodded off as she was trying to think whether being under Stovos was better than this.
* * * *
Stovos was taking the tags off the clothing that Reese had picked up. There was a tapping noise, and he looked at the be
d. “What is it?”
The noise that the post made was a gentle snoring. He caught on. “She’s asleep in the tub. Got it.”
He collected a few items and stood up, walking through the connecting door that he had forgotten to mention to her and into the bathroom. She was still above the water, but she was doing a slow creep into the water. He set the clothing down on a chair and crouched next to the tub. He tickled the spot between her eyebrows, and she immediately scowled. He grinned and did it again.
She blinked and swatted at him. She opened her eyes and jumped backward with a slosh. He laughed. “You have seen me before.”
“You changed.”
“Since we are spending the evening casual, I thought dressing casual would be appropriate. Is there something wrong with it?”
* * * *
Nowhere in her twisted fantasies had she guessed at the effect of seeing the boss in a tight t-shirt and jeans. Muscles that she had only felt while touching him were now outlined by the tight cotton, which sported a cartoon bunny rabbit complaining about lack of coffee. His skin was the absolute velvety black that she was beginning to consider completely appropriate for any occasion.
He got up and fetched a towel off a warmer. “Come on. We don’t want you to fall asleep again.”
She blushed and stood up, stepping out of the tub carefully. He wrapped the warm towel around her and stood with his arms around her for enough time to have her leaning into him. He slowly moved his hands over her back and arms.
“You took your hair down.”
She pointed back. “The tub did it. Pulled out the pins.”
He chuckled. “It has an idea of the way things should be done. As long as it keeps its marble to itself, things will be fine.”
He leaned back. “Are you okay to get dressed and have some dinner?”
She blinked in surprise that he wasn’t pressing the advantage. “Sure.”
“The clothes are on the chair. I will be back in a few minutes.”