by Jolie Day
“Holy crap.” She gapes. “Come to mama. Check out this hunk.”
She immediately starts perking up her boobs and fluffing her hair, and I spin around to see. “I bet he’d spank a girl real good.”
“Oh, my god. Oh. My. God. It’s him.” I duck for cover behind my arms against the bar, praying he doesn’t see me.
“Him who?”
“Joel Embry! That’s him.”
“Oooooohhhoho, girl! You way downplayed how ‘bloody hot’ he was. Phew.” She starts fanning herself and looks at him like a woman starved for cock. “I would not want to work for that every day. How are you going to get anything done?”
I notice her tense up, and her entire demeanor suddenly changes.
“What? What is it?”
“He’s coming over here,” she mouths to me through clenched teeth.
My eyes bulge. “What?”
“Incoming, girl. He’s coming. He’s coming straight toward us…Shit, act normal.”
I want to crawl in a hole and die. If it wasn’t bad enough—how we met and the embarrassing run-in at the Embry lobby afterwards, plus my less-than-stellar interview, by some miracle, he still hired me, and now here I am—completely plastered. There’s no way I can talk to him like this, but, unfortunately, I can see from Nora’s expression that I don’t have much of a choice.
I just need to get a grip and act as professional as I can.
I’ve got this. I can totally do this.
“Heeeeeeyyyyy, Joel!” I sing out, spinning around on my barstool so fast I tumble right into his chest. “Do yooou want to join us for a cheeky pint?”
Yeah, maybe I don’t “got” this…
He laughs and steadies me on my feet. “Celebrating?”
“Only a little,” Nora jumps in, “well…obviously, and now you’re here. Mr. um, didn’t catch your name? Joe? Jon? I’ll go with Hottie. ’Cause my girl here—” Nora slaps a hand over her mouth. “I sooo said that out loud. My bad.” She turns to her drink and side-eyes me with a smirk. She did that on purpose…
“I can’t believe I just fell on my boss,” I blurt breathlessly, unable to stop chuckling at myself and Nora’s really embarrassing play at humor.
“How about we say…just for tonight, I’m not your boss. Yet.”
His voice is deep with the most deliciously sexy rasp, and I’m no match for it in my state. I’m frozen in front of him, feeling like a melted puddle at his feet.
“Can I buy you a drink?” He stares at me, and I sort of want to lick him—those lips. God, he’s gorgeous. “Or”—He tilts his head—“how about a cup of coffee?”
Nora promptly excuses herself, swaying on her feet and leaving me as I ignore that “you definitely don’t need another drink” glare she’s giving me. The last two or three I chugged are hitting me all at once now, and my vision’s getting blurry. Did he just ask me a question about coffee? But above all of that, I’m sucked into the sight of Joel towering over me with his chiseled chest filling out his suit. I want to reach out and touch him but stop myself.
Barely.
“So, do you think I’m as big of an ass as your old boss?” He turns to me with a wink.
My eyes widen again. “What?”
“Earlier, on the side of the road, you said you hoped I wouldn’t be an ass like your old boss.”
“Oh!” I fling my fingers over my face in embarrassment. “No! Not at all. At least not yet. Ha-ha. But really, I can’t thank you enough for everything, boss.” I lean close to his ear (even his ears are sexy!), making myself heard over the loud music in the background. “My car and the job…really, you are my ab-so-lute hero.”
“We don’t have that many applicants from the UK, and I like the idea of having an international perspective.” He leans in close enough that I can feel his hot breath on my neck. “Couldn’t let you get run off back to the UK.”
He says it in such a painfully suggestive way that I’m completely stupefied by the time he pulls back and looks me over again. I don’t know if it’s the massive amount of alcohol I’ve consumed or my overwhelming gratitude to him for saving me in more ways than one. Or maybe Nora and Mrs. Loughty planting thoughts of sex and men in the forefront of my brain.
But suddenly, I find myself unable to stop what I do next.
As if I’m possessed, I lose myself completely in his stare, and I’m practically floating out of my body to watch the whole train wreck from above as I lunge forward, bringing his lips to mine and feeling my breasts crushing against his pecs. The moment I taste the whiskey on his tongue, I’m certain of two things.
He’ll cease up or push me away.
To my shock, I feel his hand slide around the small of my back as he pulls me in closer, deepening the kiss. Ohhh-myyyy-goddddd. The pleasure is immediate, my body completely aroused.
“Char? Is that you?”
A man’s voice calls out from behind us (shit, who’s disturbing us?), and I’m certain I know it from somewhere. I whip around, feeling embarrassed by what I just did—but mostly angry at someone crashing the party. When I recognize Eric standing there, staring at me and my wet lips in disbelief, I can’t believe my luck.
How strange that I would run into the very guy who introduced me to motorcycles in the first place, right after mentioning him to Joel earlier. Thanks, universe. It seems like the strangest coincidence until I see the two of them stare at each other, lock hands in a quick bro-handshake, and then back to me.
Of course.
I think I’ve met Joel before, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize it until now. To my credit, it was only once. Five minutes—max. And, I was drunk.
“You two know each other?” Joel’s question seems innocent enough as he again swivels his gaze between me and Eric.
“Char’s my ex,” Eric divulges carelessly…and not quite accurately.
Just when I open my mouth to respond, I notice the flash of surprise-slash-jealousy-slash-fuck! expression in Joel’s eyes and find myself strangely turned on by it (the jealousy part, not the “fuck!” part). And anyway, as the alcohol surges through my veins, my brain is moving faster than my mouth can keep up.
I’m relieved when Nora comes to my rescue and rushes me away with barely enough time to tell Joel and Eric goodnight.
“Girrrrrl, youuuu! Time to goooo!” She yanks me away. “Byeeee, bitches!”
I toss out a wave, half-staggering towards the exit. “Cheeeeriooo, boys.”
Nora practically pushes me out of the door, laughing like a hyena.
“I’m surprised you weren’t encouraging me to jump his bones.” I cackle as we stumble into the cab.
“Ohoho, I plan to wholeheartedly encourage that very thing. Now that I’ve seen Mr. Boss in person, there’s no doubt in my mind. But…let’s save that for a night when you’re not completely wasted so you can at least enjoy his assets…aaaaand remember them the next day.”
“So I can tell you all about it?”
Nora nods, her eyes half-lidded. “Yuuup.”
I’m lost in vivid fantasies of ravaging Joel for the rest of the night, but as I’m falling asleep, I have to remind myself—he’s not just some random hot guy.
He’s my boss, and absolutely nothing can happen with him.
Well, nothing else can happen with him.
7
Joel
I feel a strange sense of guilt when I swear I can still taste the lingering sweetness of Charlie’s lips on mine the following morning, and it’s almost enough to distract me from my ritual moment of gratitude before walking into the lobby of Embry Gear.
I’m tempted to keep reliving that drunken kiss in my mind, but I’m not sure what part of it is worse—the fact that I’m her boss or that she’s Eric’s ex. Fuck. That’s where I know her from. He introduced her to me once when she was hanging on his arm at some club, and I remember thinking then he was one lucky son of a bitch.
But not only would I never sleep with an employee, I’d never move in on o
ne of my best friend’s leftovers.
I make a point to avoid Charlie the entire day. Like a fucking schoolkid. But I know she’s got to be recovering from one hell of a hangover (I had too much to drink myself), and probably feels embarrassed about our kiss. Truth is, I regret it, too. But what’s done is done. No need to dwell on it. All that’s distraction enough for a first day on the job, so I decide to give her some space to get acclimated.
Clay, Eric, and I meet in one of the smaller conference rooms for drinks over lunch, and to review the first of the IPO bids that have already started rolling in.
Clay and Eric are talking about the women they ended up taking home last night, and I’m not in the mood to admit I was so thrown by that kiss that I ended up going home alone. Even though the fantasies about what could’ve happened with her were company enough to keep me up half the night.
“That chick from last night really did a number on you. Maybe you should think about settling down, man.” Clay’s words suddenly catch me off guard.
“Huh? You’re outta your mind.” I stare at him with a “What the fuck” expression, turning back to the bids in front of us.
“I think about it sometimes.” He shrugs without looking at either of us. “The thrill of the chase is getting old.”
Eric and I exchange a glance, both of us wondering what’s gotten into him. Eric especially. I’ve thought for a while Clay was ready to settle down, but man, he said it out loud. All three of us used to pride ourselves in our refusal to settle down.
That’ll be a hard pass for me.
Clay shakes his head. “I’m just sayin’.”
“Now’s not the time,” I bark. “We need to stay focused on work and this IPO. Plus, we’ve got these trips coming up. One in Vegas with the attorneys to finalize the paperwork for the investors we choose. Then another outside the city to finalize everything.”
I glance up, expecting to see excitement on their faces, but it seems I’m not the only one with other things on my mind today.
“Did you hear what I just said? Vegas.”
“You also just said we need to focus.” Eric pins me with an unreadable expression. Is he fucking with me?
“Yeah, but, come on. You know I’m not above mixing a little business with pleasure. And I won’t let a trip to Vegas go to waste.”
A little fun in Sin City seems like just the thing I need to make me forget about my misstep last night. And pull Clay out of whatever weird-ass mood he’s getting into that’s got him thinking any of us need to settle down.
Thankfully, they both start to perk up at the idea.
Clay grins. “Should we take the bikes to Vegas?”
“Hell. Yes.” Eric and I bump fists.
We mull over what nightlife spots we’ll hit up around the meeting with the attorneys, and I go home that night feeling pretty confident in having put that kiss with my new procurement manager behind me, and the way her soft tits had felt crushed against my chest.
But every ounce of that’s squashed when I notice over the next few days I’m not the only one having trouble getting her out of my mind.
“She’s fucking hot,” Clay mumbles under his breath, watching Charlie through my office window. “It’s a shame Eric got to her first, ain’t it?”
I change the subject back to the work at hand, hating how enraged I feel that he’s drooling over my girl. What the hell am I thinking? She’s definitely not my girl. Is he checking out her ass?
I march over to the window overlooking the rest of the office and pull the blinds, sending them hurtling down so fast that they damn near scrape against Clay’s face.
He takes a step back. “What the hell, man?”
“Remember you’re her superior,” I bark through clenched teeth, striding back to my desk. “Let’s get back to work.”
He stares at me in surprise and shrugs, ignoring my command to focus on the task at hand. “It’s your company, man. You run the show.”
I sigh, exasperated, and let a pen fall from my hand to the desk. It’s not like Eric, Clay, or I throw around our power and use it to influence our female employees. Having sex with our coworkers is a hard, fucking no, and he knows it.
It’s not like we’ve ever been hard-up for women. When we’re not working our asses off, it’s nothing for us to have different chicks in our bed every weekend. Or fuck every night if I want to. I might sound like a man-whore, and that’s fine by me. It’s my pleasure to please a woman, and that’s why they always come back for more. I’ve got no issue taking a woman to bed (her bed, or wherever the night might take us), listening to her delicious cries when I make her come over and over again. They get theirs, and I get mine. That’s all that matters.
“Look, I’d understand if you’re feeling a little bitter.” Clay parts the blinds with his fingers to catch another look. “You found her on the side of the road. You hired her. She should be yours if anybody’s.”
I feel a defensive rage rising up inside. “First off, she’s not a piece of meat for us to fight over like dogs. Second, get back to work.”
“Okay, boss.” He finally goes back to his own damn office, not bothering to hide his smug smile. I don’t know what’s come over me any more than he does. I’m not the marrying kind. But I sure as shit don’t want anybody else putting their hands on that woman.
Fuck. It doesn’t make sense that some random British chick from the side of the highway should have me so riled up.
Then I remember her long legs, the curve of her waist, the way she bites her lip when she’s nervous, and how her cheeks flush when she’s angry or flustered. It’s odd that I’ve registered such a thorough inventory of expressions in such a short amount of time. But then there’s that other look—the one she gave me in the bar just before she dove in.
Her eyes had lit up with a primal hunger that chewed me up from the inside out and gave me an instant semi. Any other drunk woman, an employee no less, who’d thrown herself at me like that, would be rejected in less than a second.
But that look in her eyes wrecks me when I think about it. She’s got my mind tangled up, and I’m not sure what to do about it. That’s a first.
I snap back to my senses to catch Clay staring me down, looking satisfied with my silent suffering. “I saw it.”
What the fuck? I thought Clay had gone back to his office. How did I not hear him come back?
I glare at him. “What?”
“Joel, I was joking when I was checking her out! What’s wrong with you, man? Can’t you tell when a friend’s just giving you shit?”
“Fuck, man.” I shake my head. “You’re a moron.”
He chuckles. “That kiss in the bar. I can’t blame you for having a crush is all I’m saying. Every other guy in the office, and probably some of the girls, too, are in the same boat. It’s almost ridiculous. The accent helps, for sure.”
I love Clay like a brother, but he’s getting on my damn nerves, joking or not. I’m not in the mood. I swear, if he says another word about Charlie—I stop that thought and take a deep breath.
“Focus, Clay. Fucking focus.” I take on a tone letting him know I’m not playing around this time, and he quickly gets back in line.
But I know I’m demanding myself to concentrate just as much. After we finish discussing the agenda for the day, and he excuses himself for a meeting, I can’t resist sneaking a peek out the office window to see if I can spot her.
Her desk sits in an open room with many of the other workers, and it’s right in my line of sight. I watch her click away on her computer. I’m impressed to see how busy she keeps herself while a number of other employees are hanging around talking to each other.
Too bad I can’t see her legs from this angle, but I catch myself wondering what her breasts look like under that shirt.
I catch sight of several men gathered at a desk, and I can tell they’re talking about her. I shouldn’t give a rat’s ass. They whisper between themselves, then flash looks in her direction. Finally,
one of them gets brave enough to make a move. I don’t know what comes over me, but the minute I see him making a beeline for her desk, I start marching for my door.
By the time I reach them, he’s leaning on the edge of her desk trying to strike up small talk, while she politely smiles and nods. All I’ve got to do is walk up and clear my throat for it to strike the fear of God in him.
“Oh, Mr. Embry…hello,” he stammers. “I was just introducing myself to Charlie, I mean, Charlotte. You know, office morale.”
“I see. I didn’t mean to interrupt. Go on.” I stare back at him, unmoved.
“Well, I have plenty of work to do, so…I better go.” He quickly excuses himself to get back to work.
Charlie straightens and continues to work, briefly cutting her eyes up to me.
“Settling in okay?” I ask smoothly, realizing I’ve got to make up some excuse for being here, aside from chasing off potential office romancers, or looking like one of them myself.
“Yes, quite well. Thank you.”
Her cheeks blush—this is the first time we’ve spoken since the “encounter” in the bar. But she doesn’t seem eager to discuss it, and neither am I. It’s not the time or place, and, really, it should be forgotten altogether.
“I’m glad to hear it. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you, I will.”
Resisting the urge to pry into what she’s working on, just as an excuse to keep these vultures at bay a while longer, I return to my office and try to get back to work.
But an hour goes by, and I find it harder and harder not to drift into fantasies about what could have happened if Eric hadn’t interrupted us. The sexual tension builds to an almost visible degree until finally, I decide to hit the gym to blow off some steam.
Damn. It’s about time I got my cock sucked. I haven’t gotten any action for three days. Maybe then I can manage to get my kinky thoughts under control and actually get some shit done.