I knew that I was being a little challenging and possessive, but I didn’t care. I wanted her to admit that she wanted more of me, that she wanted me to fuck her. Just me, and nobody else. Even if she hadn’t been flirting with Furio, I wanted her to unequivocally say that I was the only man that she wanted. I wanted to be the man that left her mindless and moaning with unparalleled pleasure.
“Yes,” Cass gasped out. “Yes, damn you, I want you to fuck me, please, please.”
There was still some of that anger between us, that frustration, that bit of alley cat brawling. But I didn’t care. It was even a little sexy, to be honest. I had always liked the fight that was in Cass, although I had mostly seen it directed at Trevor while we were growing up.
Finally, I slid my hand down between her legs. Fuck, she was sopping wet, and not just from her earlier orgasm. Her slick was sliding down her thighs and it coated my fingers immediately. I dragged the pads of my fingers through her folds and Cass whimpered. God, I could just imagine what her body looked like, her breasts pink and her nipples swollen, her skin flushed from arousal, the shining slick on her thighs and folds.
I’d get to see it another time, I was sure of it. Hell, I was promising myself it. I was going to get to see her in all kinds of states, in all forms of desperate and debauched.
Right now, I wanted to get inside her.
I stroked through her folds some more, just teasing, passing the barest touch over her clit. I was driving her mad and I knew it. Cass was swearing and cursing at me, clawing at the bedsheets, trying to shove back harder onto my fingers. I wanted to just plunge into her, but it was delightful to get to tease her like this, to indulge myself the way I’d been too desperate and tipsy to do the last time we’d done this.
At last, I slid a finger inside of her, and Cass moaned with need. “It’s about fucking time.”
“Now, now, I’m not about to do a quick wham bam thank you ma’am,” I teased her, tugging on her earlobe with my teeth. “That just wouldn’t be showing you a good enough time, would it? I have a reputation here to maintain.”
“You—you’ve made your point, Raff, just—oh God please just fuck me, please!”
Hearing her beg was amazing. I never wanted to hear anything else in my life. Nobody’s voice got me turned on the way Cass’s did.
“Not just yet.” I added another finger, curling and scissoring them to make sure she was nice and open for me.
I framed it as a tease, but she was so fucking tight, I was worried about hurting her if I fucked her with my cock too quickly. I had to make sure that she was nice and open for me.
I added a third finger quickly, though, so that I wouldn’t push her too far. I wouldn’t put it past Cass to flip herself over and reverse our positions if she got too impatient and mmm, while the image of her riding me did make my cock twitch, that wasn’t my plan for tonight.
Once I was sure that she was open enough and not just being her impatient self, I pulled my fingers out and at long last, slid my cock in.
Oh fuck.
It was heaven. Perfect, sweet heaven. She was so tight and hot around me, I could already feel my balls tightening. I had to take some deep breaths to keep myself from coming immediately, waiting until I calmed down.
Fuck.
It had been a while, I knew that objectively. I hadn’t been with anyone since Cass the last time. I’d been focused on work, or so I’d told myself. I had parents to take care of and a reputation to build, a corporate ladder to climb, experience to get. But holy shit. I was just about losing my goddamn mind.
To distract myself, I took a handful of Cass’s hair and tugged it back, then kissed her, deep and sloppy. Cass moaned around my tongue. Fuck she was loud and vocal. I fucking loved it. And we could afford to be loud. We weren’t back in her childhood bedroom with her parents or brother possibly walking in at any minute, or with the neighbors overhearing. Who cared if we were overheard? The only person to worry about was Kelly and she was down the hall, too far away to pick up on our noises.
At last, satisfied that I wasn’t going to blow my load like a teenager, I pulled out and then slammed back in. Cass groaned, satisfaction dripping from her tone, and I did it again, and again, not bothering to be gentle or to hold out on her. Fuck, it felt so fucking good, she felt so fucking good, I couldn’t help myself. I just drove in over and over again, harder, faster, until I had to bite down on her shoulder.
Cass cried out, shoving herself back onto my cock. I slid my hand between her legs again and stroked her clit roughly, without mercy, and I felt her clench around me desperately and come hard.
Fuck. She’d tightened around my cock even more as she’d come and there was no way I could resist that. I sped up, mindless, pure desperation, and spilled hot and deep inside of her. My orgasm seemed to come from the tips of my toes, my balls heavy and full and then tightening, until I felt like everything was drained out of me, leaving me limp and heavy.
I gasped for breath in the aftermath of my orgasm. I hadn’t climaxed like that since—well, since the last time I’d been with Cass. Fuck. How had she gotten even sexier in the last few years? It couldn’t be fair.
Deep inside of me, a hot, content curl of satisfaction made itself known. I felt possessive but in a calm way, not the desperate frustration of before. Cass was in my arms. She was mine, and this time I wouldn’t have to leave her, and I could be with her and keep her always…
Cass pulled away from me and sat up, her breathing ragged. “That was a mistake. Oh my God. Oh my God, I can’t believe I did that. That was such a mistake.”
She sounded upset almost to the point of tears, which honestly baffled me. How could this possibly be that bad?
“You’re my boss,” Cass blurted out, rocking a little, her eyes wide as if she was remembering everything for the first time, as if she had completely forgotten about the world until this second. “This is—this is completely unprofessional. Forget sleeping with a client! If they find out about us, we’ll get fired!”
“Cass…” She was right, but I didn’t want to think about that. I only wanted to think about how much I wanted her. I wanted to be with her. It was selfish and stupid, but I couldn’t make myself stop. I felt reckless and wild when it came to her.
Once, I’d given up what I wanted to do in order to be who my family needed me to be. I did what was best for them, not what was best for myself. Now… I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to do what I wanted, be with who I wanted, not do what everyone else needed of me.
Cass cut me off. “No. No, I am not losing this job. I am not getting fired over this. I’ve worked too hard. I’ve put up with too much.”
“Whoa, nobody—”
“Don’t!” Cass scrambled out of bed and started yanking on her clothes. Normally I’d enjoy the view, since she was the perfect image of sexy dishevelment, but not right now. Not when she was leaving me.
“I don’t want any kind of relationship,” Cass said. “I don’t have time, I don’t have—I can’t. Nope, nope, nope. I just want to do my job well, okay? I just want to be here and get the experience I need and get another position, okay?”
Honestly, I tried to interrupt her, but I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. I’d forgotten what a hellion Cass had been when she’d gotten worked up as a teenager. She and Trevor’d had some insane fights over the years, as siblings sometimes did. And now I was in the thick of it, unable to add in my own thoughts as Hurricane Cassidy blew through the room.
Finally, ready to go, Cass stopped by the door and turned back to look at me. “This can never happen again,” she vowed. “This was a mistake, truly. I’m sorry for my own unprofessionalism.”
Then she slipped out into the hallway, moving quietly so that she wouldn’t wake up Kelly, who was just down the hall.
Honestly, it wasn’t even that late at night, I doubted Kelly was asleep, but I also doubted that Kelly would notice.
But that was a moot point. I flopped back onto the bed with a fr
ustrated sigh, scrubbing a hand across my face. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
How had that ended so poorly? The sex was amazing. Out of this world. I’d never felt anything like it except for the last time I was with Cass, and even that—we were younger then and tipsy and it showed compared to this time. This had me feeling like I’d launched myself into outer space and I wasn’t quite sure if I was back down to Earth yet.
And Cass had just… said that it was a mistake. That it could never happen again.
It stung. It really did.
And yet… okay. So, I knew that she was right. It was hugely unprofessional. Here I’d been spouting that nonsense about how she shouldn’t flirt with a client and then I’d slept with her. As her boss.
Fuck.
But in spite of that, in spite of knowing she was right about the unprofessionalism, I also knew that I couldn’t stop. I cleaned up the bedsheets, took a shower, got ready for the next day, and the whole time I knew I had to find a way to convince her to do this again. I couldn’t stop now that I’d had a taste of her. I had been thinking about her and longing for her all this time, and now, I was addicted all over again.
10
Cass
I couldn’t believe what had just happened. What I’d just let happen. I had been a full participant in this. It wasn’t like I’d just sat there while other people had been doing things. I had helped to make it happen.
And God, it had felt so good. I was still tingling all over with pleasure even as I crept back into my hotel room, half terrified of Kelly hearing something and poking her head out (as unlikely as that was).
It wasn’t fair that the best sex of my life would be with my boss. Not just my boss, but the man who had abandoned me and broken my heart four years ago. How could I have let this happen? And why was he so damn good at this? Why did he have to be the one who made my body sing like that? Why couldn’t it be, well, literally any other person?
God, it almost made me wish I was attracted to Furio so that I could have a fling with him and get Raff out of my head. And on paper, Furio was a great guy. Honestly. He was handsome, with a warm smile and a charming air. He had been complimenting me all night at dinner, he seemed to respect and appreciate me, sure, why not, right?
But I didn’t feel anything for him. I hadn’t the whole time. Sure, it was nice to be flirted with, to feel that I was desired and sexy. I’d been so focused on Chelsea these last few years I hadn’t ever been in a position to be flirted with and so to have a man giving me all that attention, it was really nice, even if I had no intention of doing anything with it. But actually kissing the man? Sleeping with him? Nope.
The only person I wanted was Raff.
Fuck. It just wasn’t fair!
I felt like a child throwing a tantrum and forced myself to calm down. I took a shower and got ready for bed. It wasn’t too late at night, I could take some time to think this through like an adult. A calm, rational adult who did not jeopardize her career by sleeping with her boss.
After my shower, I felt calmer. I felt refreshed and like I could think about this rationally.
What had happened couldn’t happen again. It was a bad idea for three reasons:
One, he was my boss. Full stop. There was really no way around this one. If anyone found out what we were doing, we’d be fired. I wasn’t sure what Parker’s policy was on coworkers at his company dating, but this wasn’t dating, it was just, well, passionate sex, and there was no way—even in companies that allowed dating between just about anyone—that a boss dating their assistant would be seen as a good thing. That was pretty universally where the line was.
Two, Raff had abandoned me the last time that I’d given into my feelings for him. I couldn’t allow those feelings to spring up again. I couldn’t let myself be vulnerable that way. How was I supposed to trust him? What if I was just opening myself up to more heartbreak? No, this was a bad idea. I couldn’t fall in love with him again—and given how I was feeling after just one night with him, given how easily I’d fallen into his arms and his bed, the idea of falling in love with him once more was obviously dangerously appealing. I would have to be careful.
Three—I had a daughter to think about. I was no longer just my own single person, I had this small child who was my responsibility. If I lost my job or got involved with a man, it would affect her. And more than that, this girl was Raff’s child. The moment he clapped eyes on her he would know that. With Chelsea’s age, I would’ve had to get a new boyfriend pretty damn quickly after Raff had left. And with her face and her eyes… yeah, she looked like her dad. He’d know. Raff wasn’t that stupid.
For not just the sake of my job but the sake of my heart and the sake of my daughter, I had to nip this in the bud.
I settled into bed, my mind made up. I would simply keep my distance from Raff as much as I could on this trip. I would show him that I meant it when I said nothing more could happen between us.
My phone buzzed and I grabbed it—it was Chelsea.
Oh, my God, my sweet baby girl. I missed her so much. It felt like a piece of my heart was missing.
I answered immediately, smiling. “Hey my angel!”
“Mama!”
Dawn was holding the phone up so that Chelsea could show me the lunch she’d helped make. I had to fight back tears. I’d only been separated from her for about a day and I was struggling to handle it. That was probably why I’d given in so easily to Raff. I missed Chelsea. Once I had her back, I wouldn’t need the comfort of sex or Raff to get me through.
I talked with Chelsea, and then Dawn took the phone. “She’s been doing really well. We’ve been having fun.”
“I miss her so much. Remember she loves to be sung All the Pretty Ponies. And you have her favorite books, right? And—”
“Hey, honey.” Dawn smiled at me. “Be strong, okay? Chelsea’s fine and that’s not going to change. You just need to work on enjoying the city.”
I nodded. Dawn was right. I fought off my tears and took a few deep breaths. “Thank you. Seriously. I couldn’t be here without you.”
“I’m glad that I can help. Get some sleep and take loads of pictures for us!”
I planned to do just that.
The next day, we went to Furio’s offices so that we could see his behind-the-scenes work as well as take a look at his workshop where the leather goods were actually made. Most of the famous leather products were made in Florence, but Furio explained he’d wanted to start out in a slightly less competitive city so that he could more easily establish a name for himself.
“And Rome is my home,” he added, smiling at me. “It’s why I know it so well. I couldn’t imagine starting my business anywhere else. I know every street corner, every romantic view, every shop that has the most… delightful treats.”
“I’m sure you do,” I said, trying to be polite without encouraging him.
Last night hadn’t been a lie. What was I supposed to say to a client? I couldn’t offend them. I didn’t want Furio flirting with me, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice since he wouldn’t get my hints from my lack of enthusiasm and my body language. I was doing my best not to respond to his flirting, but he wasn’t figuring it out. He just kept pushing.
It was starting to get on my nerves a little.
“Why don’t we take a break?” Furio suggested after we finished our tour. “Before we move on to questions and discussions. My assistant can show you ladies to the local café, we can get some coffee, all of that.”
It smacked a little of the whole ‘women are secretaries who fetch coffee’ thing, it was true. But I’d take it if it meant that I got to be away from Furio for a bit. And from Raff. Although for entirely different reasons. I wanted Furio to stop flirting with me. And given our situation, that meant just staying away from him. But I needed to get away from Raff before I did something stupid.
Something stupid like give into my attraction to him and kiss him in public, partially because I wanted to and partially to
get Furio off my back.
Raff just kept giving me these… these looks. They were looks that seemed perfectly calm to most people. But I could see the hunger lurking in his eyes, flashing at me only when I could see. He wanted me and God, whenever he gave me that look I went weak at the knees. I wanted him to pin me to the nearest wall and fuck me stupid.
Yeah, really had to get a breather away from him for a bit.
Kelly seemed miffed to be sent away like she wasn’t a part of the serious discussion, but I let it lie. If she had a problem then she had enough rank to stand up for herself, and I was sure she could find a clever way to make Furio respect her.
I told myself that was why she was chatty the second we got out the door on our way to the café. She was trying to blow off steam and I was a convenient target.
“You know that you can’t be doing that,” she told me dismissively.
“Do what?” I asked, genuinely confused. I couldn’t go and get coffee with her? I couldn’t smile at people on the street as I walked past them?
“Flirt with clients.” Kelly sounded extremely condescending and I tried to keep from smacking her as we entered the café.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied, keeping my voice even and lighthearted.
Kelly scoffed. “Oh, please. Don’t play coy with me. I can see you schmoozing up to the client.”
It was an effort to keep myself from snapping at her. “If you’re talking about Furio, he’s flirting with me. I’m not flirting with him. There’s only so rude I can be with a client. I’d rather be polite to him and have him ignore my lack of interest than offend him and cost my boss his lucrative business deal. He’s not done anything to make me feel harassed or threatened, so it’s fine.”
Kelly gave me a pitying smile, as if to say nice try, but I wasn’t fooling anyone. “Trust me, this is only going to end up biting you in the ass. Men don’t like women who are too desperate.”
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