Cherry Girl

by Raine Miller

  “It was my pleasure.”

  I turned and left the dining room. I held myself together until I was just in the doorway—when I heard him say it.

  “Feel better, Cherry.”

  My legs actually gave out enough to cause me to lose step when he said it. Like the slice of a blade across the back of my Achilles. Or across my heart.

  I would have made it safely out of there if he hadn’t called me Cherry.

  Damn you to hell, Neil McManus.

  20

  Elaina avoided me like the plague during the following week. I watched her carefully to see if I could make a crack in that armor she’d built up, but had very little success. She would talk to me, and that was about it.

  I left things on her desk when she was away from it. I’d offer to take her home after work hoping I could get her alone for an hour or two and make some real progress, but she ditched me at times when I was unable to leave, or made Ian drive her.

  I didn’t give up though. I had some hope you see.

  I’d been there when she’d learned the truth about Cora and me, and seen what the revelation had done to her. The truth—opposed to what she’d believed all these years—had devastated her.

  Elaina had rage, anger and great regret brewing inside her over our break up. I’d seen her go after Tompkins and witnessed the raw fury that possessed her when she was told about the alliance between Cora and Tompkins to break us apart. I’d never known about their illicit deal, and it was probably a very good thing because I would be locked up for murder right now, no doubt.

  The attack at the pub had been the great leveler, an event which opened everyone’s eyes to what had really happened, and to the choices that had been made nearly six years ago. By her. By me. Elaina wasn’t the only one at fault. I’d not gone after her or forced her to see the truth when I should have done. I allowed her to believe a lie because my pride was too great to take the fall on the idea that someone who loved me could just let me go like that.

  Yeah, the scars from the past are cocksuckin’ motherfuckers, aren’t they?

  But I figured something out about her and me. I learned that regret gets you nothing but a bigger pile of shit to shovel around. And so I made a decision. I decided not to muck around in the regret shit pile for even one more day.

  It was impossible for Elaina to convey an aura of not caring about me anymore, when I’d seen her try her damnedest to kill the man responsible for tearing us apart. With my own eyes.

  Being optimistic with the hope that she still loved me did not seem like such a stretch anymore.

  Now all I needed to do was to convince her of it.

  I’d arranged for some subtle hints like the florist arrangements in reception, but cherry blossoms in blue vases weren’t going to cut it and send her back into my arms, or my bed. Not with the way she was locked down so tight. I believed we could get past the hurt and misconceptions. I believed we could love each other again. If I wanted her in my life, then I needed to step up my game.

  And my Cherry Girl needed a push.

  Earlier in the week a notice had been delivered from the Personnel department for me to report for scheduled self-defense training. The gist of the email was this: all employees were required to take a basic course in self-defense maneuvers. As BSI provided security for high profile clientele, one could never assume a lunatic wouldn’t show up with grievances. To that end all staff must be thoroughly trained in defense to be prepared in the event of such an incident.

  What a pleasant thought. Especially as my desk was the first line of defense for said lunatic if they came to see us via the forty-fourth floor. They better teach me some damn good moves then.

  At lunch that day, Frances gave me directions of how to get to the training facility and what to expect. I checked my watch. Three more hours.

  All week I’d had Neil up my arse demanding I allow him to take me home. I’d always said no, or tried to find an alternative through Ian. If the weather cooperated, I brought good shoes for walking in my bag and changed at the station. Unfortunately the weather was not my friend at the moment. Pouring rain and very cold, just like the night Neil and I had our blow up. The reminder of that night put me in a very foul mood, and because I knew he’d insist on taking me home anyway.

  Aaaand, there was his email sitting in my inbox when I got back from lunch.

  TO: emorrison @bsiltd.co.uk

  No ditching me today. I’m driving you home. N

  I had a legitimate excuse to use on him though, and that made me grin as I replied to his message. I was not going to allow him to bully me over it. Quite frankly I didn’t even know what he was doing lately. Leaving coffees and treats on my desk when I stepped away. Emails. Texts. He had to be watching me on a security cam in order to know when I left my station. Privacy much, Neil? And what a waste of his work day. I was thoroughly annoyed with him.

  TO: nmcmanus @bsiltd.co.uk

  No, I can’t. Have a required self-def. training class today after work. E

  Take that, Mr. Overbearing, I thought as I pressed send.

  My victory was very short lived.

  That and the fact he must’ve been sitting at his desk with his email open because he replied almost instantly.

  TO: emorrison @bsiltd.co.uk

  I’ll wait for you to finish your class then.

  His response made me angry and I told myself I wasn’t going to stand for it another second. I kept reminding myself of that as I left my station and passed through the doors. I marched my way straight down to his office.

  His secretary, Susie, smiled at me as I passed by her desk. I smiled back and said hello as if it were the most normal thing in the world to storm into Neil’s office with intent to murder him. No apologies for speaking the truth.

  Then I barged in.

  His head snapped up from where he’d been studying his computer screen. Probably composing another direct command to me via email.

  “No you won’t.” I said tightly, my arms folded beneath my breasts.

  The corner of his mouth turned up a little as if I amused him. It made me want to smack it off him.

  “Oh I most definitely will, Elaina,” he said very softly.

  His jaw ticked and his eyes roved over me leisurely. From the strappy black heels on my feet, up my legs, over my body, to linger in the vicinity of my breasts a little longer than the rest, and then kept going north until he rested them on my face. The look he gave me was one of pure, abandoned, dirty, sex. I could feel it crackling in the air between us and the effect was one that rendered me wet between my legs and struggling for breath in an instant. If he tried anything with me I was doomed. I swallowed and tried to hold back the shiver threatening to reduce me to a quivering mass on his office floor.

  He saw everything.

  This is bad.

  “Why—why are you doing this to me, Neil?”

  “Doing what? Driving you home so you don’t have to walk in the rain?”

  “Yes! No, I mean—I mean why are you doing this?”

  “This?”

  “Don’t be an arsehole for making me say it.”

  “Sorry, babe, but being an arsehole suits me right now. What is the this that’s bothering you so much?”

  “Neil…please stop. I—can’t take it from you day in and day out.”

  “But you’re wrong about that, beautiful girl. You can take it.” He winked. “And you still haven’t told me what the this is, Elaina. He tilted his head at me then, now he was the one with arms folded.

  I can’t take him calling me beautiful girl and winking at me, I do know that! I was so out of here.

  “Well, I’m waiting.”

  He was going to make me say it, the bastard. What was wrong with him at the moment, anyway?

  “Pursuing me at work every day like it matters,” I finally yelled. “If you don’t want m-me—then why are you on me every goddamn day?”

  Oh, God. Did I just ask that?

  He sto
od up from his desk and took a step in my direction. He didn’t say anything as he stalked forward. I don’t know what he intended to do when he got to me, but the instinct to run flashed through my head. Neil was a dangerous predator right, and I was pretty much the helpless prey.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded, backing up until I was pressed against the wall.

  He just kept coming at me until I was penned in, his arms blocking an exit on either side of my shoulders.

  “I’m showing you that running away is not gonna work anymore, Elaina.” He brought his face up close to my neck and inhaled. “Mmmmm…you don’t really want to run from me now anyway. I can smell it.

  Dear Lord.

  I shook my head at him trying to ward off the intoxication from his bloody scent of pure male domination that did far more to render me useless than alcohol ever could.

  “What do you want from me?” I whispered up against his stubbly jaw, my lips so close, I could press them against his skin with barely any effort. I couldn’t hold back the whimper that escaped me.

  He removed one hand from the wall and touched between my breasts with the backs of two fingers. He drew them up slowly, dragging them along my sensitive skin, higher until he reached my throat and then my neck, up my jaw and then finally to my lips.

  I was so aroused; I probably could have an orgasm if he told me to. It wouldn’t take much for me to arrive at that blissful place with him. It had been so long since we’d been together, but my body remembered. All. Too. Well.

  He pushed his two fingers into my mouth. I let him.

  “I want this, Cherry.”

  He brought his lips very close to mine, his fingers still on my tongue, probing, slick from my saliva.

  “I want this mouth screaming my name when I’m inside you and you’re about to come. I want you in my bed so we can fuck all night long…over and over until you’re a slave to it—just as you used to be.”

  My eyes rolled back in my head, and I was really grateful for the wall because I would have slid down to the floor in a boneless heap if it wasn’t bracing me.

  I had her exactly how I wanted her. Hot, sexed, and submissive. Better than I remembered. And, bloody fuckin’ hell if I was out of my mind with wanting, barely coherent of what I said to her. Or did.

  It was on with my Cherry once again.

  The flowery scent of her skin wound me up something fierce to the point I was thinking about nothing else but getting my cock into her. I was going for it right then with her in my office. And the fuckin’ desk would just have to do. In a few minutes it would become a literal fuckin’ desk.

  I was figuring what the best maneuver would be to get her from the wall to where I could make a place to lay her out in all her cherry-haired glory so I could push my way back in. And make her see what was so clear to me. She wanted me too. I knew she did, down deep in my bones.

  Oh yeah, the vision was all coming together in my mind beautifully. Me picking her up and hauling her over onto my desk. My fingers finding the button that locked the bloody door so nobody would interrupt. My mouth on her throat making its way down to savor breasts that tasted sweeter than honey. My palms pushing up the tight black skirt that caressed her arse, before moving them along to the inside of thighs I would spread wide for—

  Ethan busted into my office and ruined everything.

  Motherfuckin’ cunt of the world!

  “Look at what’s just arrived, mate. I had to come tell you in person. It’s fucking amazing—” Ethan cut off whatever he was saying mid-speech and backed out of the door, muttering something about coming back later.

  Yeah, you do that, E.

  I might just have to kill him for that.

  While I was mentally eviscerating Ethan for his untimely visit, Elaina made good her escape. She gave a little squeak, ducked under my arm and took off. I tried to hold her back but she was too fast and had just enough leeway to skirt the other way and bolt.

  My hand snatched at empty air.

  But I could still smell her. The gentle flowery scent that I loved, above all others, was still present in the room even when she wasn’t.

  I went over to my desk and sat down slowly. Slow was the operative word due to the state of my cock. My dick was so hard by that point, I could have used it to punch in the numbers to dial up Personnel.

  “BSI Personnel Department, Helen speaking, how may I direct you?”

  “Helen, this is Neil. I need to know who’s on the board for self-defense training for Elaina Morrison, today at five.”

  “That would be Terrence, Mr. McManus.”

  “Thank you, Helen. Just need to free up some bodies and tweak the timing a bit. You’ve been very helpful.”

  I dialed again.

  “Terrence Shaw here.”

  “Terrence, this is Neil. I’m going to have to pull you off the SD training for Elaina Morrison. You’re scheduled for five o’clock today. We need you on another job.”

  “All right, boss. Just tell me where you want me and what time,” Terrence replied easily.

  Good man that Terrence. Might need to see he gets a nice bonus at Christmas for being so agreeable.

  “Right. Well something’s come up that is definitely taking priority for today. Miss Morrison will just have to be rescheduled for some time next week. Got a pen?”

  I ended the call with Terrence and leaned back in my chair, feeling pretty damn smug about my master scheduling skills. I was learning how to play the game, and I had to say it felt really good to have a plan. For the first time since she’d reappeared back into my life, I knew what I was going to do.

  I checked my watch.

  Two hours.

  Two more hours until I had her alone in a room with me.

  This time? There weren’t going to be any interruptions.

  21

  By the time I made it back to my switchboard I was a shaking mess of confusion and worry and hormones. A stop at the loo to put myself back in order hadn’t helped much. I knew enough to realize I was in deep, serious trouble, but then I also didn’t have any earthly idea about how to get out of it either.

  Neil wanted to fuck me. In his office.

  And I would have let him.

  What in the hell had gotten into Neil? Caveman plus Greek god equaled big problems for me. If Ethan hadn’t interrupted we would’ve been going at it hard on his desk at that moment. Jesus Christ…

  I sat there for a minute and tried to process what had just happened with Neil in his office.

  What did all this mean coming from him? Was he trying to torture me?

  Did he just expect I would sleep with him whenever the urge struck? Was that payback just then for leaving him all those years ago? Was he just being a manipulative bastard and trying to guilt me back into his bed because he thought he might get away with it?

  Well, if so, then he was a delusional bastard as well as a manipulative one. I sat and seethed in my chair, getting angrier and angrier with every moment that passed.

  I opened up my email and started typing.

  TO: nmcmanus @bsiltd.co.uk

  If you think I’m allowing you to drive me home tonight you are bloody dreaming. LEAVE ME ALONE.

  I had some hope he really got my message, both literally and figuratively, because this time he didn’t reply. Maybe some sense had been smacked into that thick head of his when the boss caught him trying to have sex with an employee on work premises. Wasn’t my fault. This one was completely on Neil. He made the mess. He could sort it out.

  Once five o’clock rolled around, I’d calmed down enough to think about my self-defense class. Maybe I’d learn some techniques I could use on Neil if he tried to seduce me in his office again.

  Would there be a next time? There can’t be a next time, stupid.

  I told myself to shelve the matter for the time being, as I had to focus my attentions on the class I was about to attend. I left the locker room adjacent to the training facility dressed and ready. The memo h
ad suggested comfortable clothes and shoes for the class, so I’d brought a bag along with me today with trainers and work-out gear.

  I came out into the main room where I was supposed to meet the instructor, someone named Terrence. The classes were one-on-one, to maximize the benefit of the time allocated. Apparently BSI didn’t mess about when it came to this stuff.

  The lights were on, and there was a Power-Point set up in the back, but I didn’t see anyone in the room.

  “Hello?” I called out but was met with silence.

  I walked over to the mat in the center and looked around the room. Typical work-out facility with weight machines and treadmills, free weights and assorted equipment for training in the martial arts. Probably did the whole Krav Maga thing here too. It was quite the rage and I had friends that never missed a class.

  I’d keep an open mind, but I wasn’t into that sort of thing really. I preferred taking walks outside, or maybe Pilates, or yoga in the park. I was into more mellow forms of exercise than what could be had indoors behind the walls of a gym.

  I heard the sounds of the double doors opening behind me and turned to see.

  Not my instructor named Terrence.

  Neil?

  Neil. Dressed all in black, nylon joggers and a long sleeved dry-fit that followed the form of his chest and arms like a second skin.

  He walked slowly towards me; his eyes predatory again as they devoured me.

  “There’s been a change of instructors. I’m afraid you get me.”

  “What the h-hell?” she stammered, her expression one of furious beauty, as well as utter contempt.

  That’s very good. She can use it to her advantage.

  “You cannot be serious,” she said, her mouth falling open in surprise.

  “Oh, I’m very serious about self-defense training for all employees at BSI.”

  “That’s not what I meant, Neil, and you’re very aware of it.” She stomped her foot and pursed her lips together in a sexy pout that sent my cock into instant hardness. I wanted to kiss those angry lips of hers until she yielded to the inevitable.