“You don’t look that way at all,” I said. “Me, on the other hand, I think I need to keep trying.”
Libby looked me up and down. “That one is nice. You don’t like it?”
I frowned. “Something about the color doesn’t work for me.”
“Well, go try on the one I picked out!”
I nodded, and returned to the fitting room. While the dress Libby picked out looked great on the hanger, I wasn’t so sure it looked as good on me. I stepped out of the dressing room, shaking my head. “I just don’t know what’s going on with me today.”
Libby cocked her head to the side. “Now that you mention it, there does seem to be something different about you. Have you been out in the sun lately?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Hmm,” Libby said and then shrugged her shoulders. “Well, it doesn’t matter. You’re still beautiful, and that dress looks like a winner to me.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “I’m sure Anderson would like it.”
“I’ll put this one in the ‘maybe’ section then,” I said. “Just let me try on a few more first.”
CHAPTER 19
Anderson
The night of the gala arrived. As I left my apartment and headed to Tobias’s to pick up Joanna, I couldn’t believe how nervous I felt. With the way my stomach twisted in knots, I may as well have been seventeen years old again, picking up my prom date and hoping the night went the way I wanted it to.
I guess part of my nerves was due to the fact that I hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with Joanna in a while, although it was partially my own fault. I hadn’t been avoiding her exactly; things had just been too busy at work to sneak any time alone with her. As for outside of work, every time I wanted to invite her over to my apartment, I got cold feet and changed my mind.
It was hard to fathom that after all these years, as a self-defined playboy, someone was close to making me want to throw in the towel and settle down.
On some level, I wasn’t ready to face that realization yet. When I pulled up to Tobias’s mansion and saw Joanna walk out the door though, I began to seriously consider if the time to face it had finally come.
She was literally the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Granted, she had always been pretty, even as a kid when I couldn’t stand her. But to see her in her ball gown, with her curls elegantly pinned up and putting her gorgeous face of full display, she practically took my breath away.
I got out of the car so that I could open the passenger’s door for her.
“Hi…” she said.
“Hi,” I said and then paused for a second to admire her. “Joanna, you look beautiful.”
A slight flush spread across her cheeks. “Thank you.”
I held the door open and helped her into the passenger’s seat, and then got back behind the driver’s wheel. A somewhat awkward silence filled the car as we drove off. Joanna cleared her throat, breaking the silence. “Thank you for agreeing to take me,” she said.
I nodded and took a deep breath, knowing the dreaded conversation was on the horizon. “Look,” I said, deciding to tackle it head-on, “there’s nothing going on between me and Lauren. We had a few flings in the past, which was why I had asked her to go with me to the gala a long time ago—way before you were in town. But I’ve hardly even spoken to her since. And the only reason I hadn’t thought of taking you to the gala before was because I didn’t trust being able to hide how I feel about you in front of your brother. In fact—I get a feeling this is going to be a long night. We’re going to have to be very careful if we don’t want him to suspect anything.”
Joanna remained silent for a long time, but then I saw her nod from the corner of my eye. “I understand,” she said, and then smiled.
I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that the tension between us had subsided.
* * *
The night had proven to be just as difficult as I expected it to be. The moment Joanna and I stepped inside the ballroom, it felt like virtually all eyes were on us. Joanna looked so gorgeous though, I couldn’t blame everyone for looking.
One of our co-workers, Libby, rushed up to us, hugging Joanna. “You guys are at my table! Come on!” she said excitedly.
And then Joanna and I set on the arduous task of hiding our attraction to each other.
There was no way I could help stealing adoring glances at her throughout dinner, and I felt beyond paranoid that everyone noticed.
After dinner, I slid my hand onto her knee under the table. She rested her hand on top of mine and glanced at me from the corner of her eye.
“Do you want to dance?” I asked, after much internal debate. I knew it would look suspicious if we spent the entire night sitting and doing nothing. Furthermore, I was desperate to touch her. Dancing seemed like the perfect solution, as long as I could control myself and not try to steal a kiss during the process.
Joanna hesitated at first, seeming to exchange glances with Libby, who was sitting across from us with a sly grin on her face. Ultimately though, she nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
Hand in hand, we made our way onto the dance floor. I scanned the room in search of Tobias. He only looked our way briefly, giving me an appreciative nod and then turning back to the important executives he’d been talking to throughout the night.
Unable to stop myself, I smiled at Joanna and slid my hand around her waist. She placed her hands on my shoulders, and we began to sway to the music.
“So, are you enjoying yourself?” I asked.
“Yes. This is nice. I’ve never been to a formal work event like this before.”
“I personally think it’s overrated.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But I have to be here. Personally, there’s other things I wished I could be doing right now…” I tightened my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me.
She looked up, a smirk on her face. “Oh really? Other things like what?”
I leaned in, whispering in her ear. “Don’t tempt me to tell you right here in the middle of the dance floor.”
A low laugh escaped her throat, making me want to kiss her right then and there. She tightened her arms around me and gazed into my eyes. “Too bad we can’t find somewhere to sneak off to so that you could show me instead.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Is that a dare?”
Joanna tilted her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders. “No, more like a challenge.”
Come hell or high water, I would take her right now. I smirked at her. “Consider your challenge accepted.”
I searched for Tobias once more, but he was deep in conversation with the executives, which could allow us to make our escape. Concocting a plan, I stepped away from her.
“I’ll go first and wait for you at the staircase in the hall. Join me in five.”
“It’s a deal.”
Already missing her warmth and body, I left the ballroom and searched for a place that would allow us to have some privacy. Just as we had agreed, she appeared five minutes later, and I took her to a nearby closet. I glanced down the hall one more time, checking if there was anyone, and sighed with relief.
“Come on. Get inside.”
With a giggle, she entered the dark space that was stuffed with various coats and jackets. I turned on the light switch, but the light bulb didn’t provide enough light. Closing the door behind me, my eyes locked on hers in the poorly-lit room, and my cock jerked in response. I shrugged off my jacket and threw it to the floor.
“This is what I’ve been dying to do the whole evening,” I muttered and grabbed her waist, pressing her against my taut body. Her lips parted when I ran my tongue over them, and I pushed it inside. Our tongues stroked each other fervently, our kiss growing more heated with each passing second.
“I know,” she said and pulled my lower lip into her mouth, tugging at it. “You’re so handsome, Mr. Lawrence. I didn’t fail to notice some women throwing their glances at you.”
I pushed her against the wall and brought her arms above her he
ad, burying myself into her neck. Her soft skin invited me to kiss it and do so much more, which messed with my mind. She was so beautiful in that gown, and I needed to be inside of her as soon as possible.
“I didn’t even notice. All I’m able to see is you.”
My hand descended to her breast and squeezed it over the material of her dress. As much as I liked her in it, I wanted to rip it off her and see her naked.
“This thing goes off for now,” I told her and helped her take it off, becoming breathless when my eyes landed on her ample curves. She was wearing a push up bra that fit her breasts perfectly, and I imagined my cock pressed in between her perfect tits. Soon.
I went down on my knees and rubbed my face against the front of her panties, earning her long moan. She placed her hand over her mouth, taken aback with her own reaction, and I responded with a chuckle.
“You better stay quiet, honey. Although I’m not going to make that an easy task for you these next few minutes…”
I removed her panties and brought my mouth right to her clitoris, intoxicated by the captivating scent of her arousal. She was already wet, and I lapped at her juices with hunger I had never possessed before. Joanna was unique in every way, and there wasn’t a part of her that I didn’t like.
She was whimpering, her hand pressed firmly against her mouth, which spurred me to pleasure her more roughly. I moved my fingers to her hole and probed her wet entrance. She started rubbing herself against my face, and it was so sexy that my dick threatened to explode in my pants. If I didn’t get inside of her soon…
“I’m coming… Ah! Anderson!”
She began convulsing, her sweet juices pouring out of her, and I collected them with my tongue eagerly. She was damn delicious.
Unbuttoning my pants, I stood up and brought my pulsating cock out of my boxers. “Turn around and support yourself against the wall,” I ordered her in a hoarse voice.
I wrapped my arms around her and ground against her ass, going delirious with need. I guided my cock to her inviting entrance and thrust into her, overwhelmed with the immediate pleasure when I slid all the way inside.
“Ah, Joanna… Finally inside of you.”
She moved her hips against me, adding to the pleasurable friction. “Harder, Anderson. Please. I want harder.”
I grunted and moved her hair to the side to gain access to her neck. I bit into it, driving myself into her harder and deeper. She screamed, but she quickly muffled her scream with her hand, growing wetter and hotter with each thrust.
Her walls wrapped around me tightly each time, and I wished this could go on and on. I took her breast into my hand and gave her nipple a rewarding caress, and it hardened instantly. I began pounding her wildly, seriously losing my mind and letting my primal urge take over me.
I felt like I was going to come any moment, the pleasure in me quickly reaching its climax. I brought my hand to her pussy and stroked it, kissing her neck like a man who was just having his final meal.
A couple of seconds later, her pussy contracted and pulled me further in, followed by a series of spasms, which triggered my own orgasm. Holding her against me, I thrust one last time and sent all my sperm into her, feeling like the luckiest guy alive.
CHAPTER 20
Joanna
“We really have to cut this out,” I said, pulling my dress back on and feeling a hysterical laugh threatening to break free.
Anderson grinned as he finished buttoning his pants and pulled his suit jacket back on. “Hey, you started it.”
“I did not!”
“Yes, you did. You challenged me, and I just rose to the occasion.” He winked, and I laughed at the pun. Well played Anderson.
“Whatever,” I said and then gave him a peck on the lips. “How’s my hair?”
“Not a strand out of place, from what I can see. It is pretty dark in here though…”
I ran my hand over my hair self-consciously, hoping it didn’t look too disheveled. “Do you think anyone noticed us missing?”
Anderson shook his head. “No. People are dancing, and everyone’s bound to have had several drinks by now. No one should have noticed anything unless they were spying on us all along. And I don’t think anyone would have had a reason for that.”
“Let’s hope not.”
“Why? Do you want to stay here for the rest of the night?” Anderson asked, the devilish grin spreading across his face.
“You’re just asking for trouble, aren’t you?”
“I’m asking for whatever it takes to give me more time with you,” he said, and then kissed my earlobe.
I laughed and pushed him away. “Stop it! Seriously, we have to go back out there and be decent.”
“Yeah, I guess…” He sighed. “Oh shit…”
“What?”
Anderson pulled up his sleeve to glance at his watch. “It’s almost time for your brother’s speech. He’ll definitely notice us missing if we aren’t back out there.”
I swore. “I almost forget he was giving one,” I said, feeling slightly panicked. It was preposterous that I’d nearly forgotten, for I had seen him writing and practicing it all throughout the previous week. I sighed. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Yeah,” Anderson said, resigned.
I recalled that the bathrooms were just down the hall from the closet we’d snuck off to, which was perfect. I needed to make a stop in the ladies’ room to make sure I still looked presentable, and that there were no signs of what had just transpired.
I reached for the doorknob.
“Careful,” Anderson warned. “Make sure no one is in the hall.”
I cracked the door open just slightly, peeking out into the hall. “The coast is clear,” I said, seeing no one in the hall or exiting the restrooms.
Anderson stepped up behind me and slid his hand onto my waist as we exited the closet. “Let’s just try to get through a couple more hours, and then maybe we can sneak out of here altogether,” he said.
I was just about to respond when the words froze right in my throat.
The door to the men’s restroom swung open, and out walked none other than my brother.
He paused, staring at the two of us exiting the closet, and at Anderson’s hand on my waist.
Anderson instantly dropped his hand and took a step away.
It felt like time was suddenly standing still. Tobias stared back and forth between me and Anderson, and the two of us stared back at him, terrified and at a complete loss for words.
My mouth dropped open, but I had nothing to say. I merely watched the varying expressions dashing across Tobias’s face. Surprise, shock, confusion, disbelief, disgust, anger…
“What the hell?” he said, when he was finally capable of speech. The restroom door swung open again. He momentarily stepped aside, permitting another man to exit, and then turning his icy gaze right back at us. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
I wanted to sink into the floor and disappear at the way his eyes trailed me from head to toe. Or at the very least, I wanted to make a run for it and hide in the women’s bathroom, where I would be free from the scrutiny of his gaze. I knew how incriminating Anderson and I looked, just like I knew there was nothing either of us could do about it.
After all the sneaking around, we had finally been caught red-handed, in the worst possible way.
“Please tell me that this isn’t what I think it is,” Tobias said, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes for a second.
Anderson gave a nervous laugh behind me. “It isn’t what you think it is,” he said, unsuccessfully trying to make his voice sound light.
“Then what the hell is it?” Tobias said through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing angrily.
I averted my gaze to the floor, feeling like a child in his presence. He may as well have been my father, catching me sneaking a boy into my room.
“Tobias, man—chill,” Anderson said.
“Excuse me?” Tobias said, incredulously. “What even g
ives you the right to speak to me right now? I do you a favor and find you a date for tonight, offer to let you take my own sister, and you do this? Have you lost your goddamned mind? That’s my sister, Anderson!”
“Tobias,” I said, casting a nervous glance down the hall and hoping no one could hear him. “Please, not so loud.”
“My voice level is the last thing you have to worry about, Joanna,” he said, his voice deadly serious. He shook his head and sneered at me. “I can’t believe you, Jo. I thought you had class. And here you are, running off with him during the middle of a gala.”
“Hey,” Anderson said, his voice suddenly stern. He stepped forward, no longer cowering behind me. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way.”
“And don’t you dare put your filthy hands on her again,” Tobias growled. He laughed mirthlessly. “I honestly cannot believe this. She needed a break Anderson, you knew that! She needed a moment to breathe and be herself, alone. But instead you sleep with her! I never thought that my best friend and my little sister would sneak off to screw in the middle of my company’s event, right before I’m set to give a speech!”
“Tobias, we’re sorry,” I said, trying to hold back the tears. I had never seen Tobias so angry. Anderson and I had both knew he wouldn’t take it too well when he found out about us, but we could have never expected this level of anger…
“You are beyond sorry,” Tobias said. “You are so reckless. And Anderson, this is just disrespectful. You’re supposed to be my partner.”
“All right, Tobias, that’s enough!” Anderson bellowed. “Cut it out! We get it, already. You’re pissed. We’re sorry, but you have no right to talk to us this way. You don’t control our lives.”
“No, I don’t control your lives. You do. And what’s pathetic is that I’m standing in front of two so-called adults who don’t even know how to control their own hormones! Even if you wanted to sneak around behind my back, did you have to do it here? Right now?! Does the word ‘discreet’ mean anything to either of you idiots?”
“We’re sorry! What more do you want us to say?!” I yelled.
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