by Fiona Cole
Even after the weekend—after my tryst with the vixen in red—I couldn’t get Verana off my mind. My dreams started with the masked woman in my arms, only for her to turn and tug off her mask to reveal brown eyes that screamed innocence and devilry all at once. I’d hoist her in my arms, and before she could sink onto my cock, she would whisper, “I’m a liar, but I can make it worth it.”
Counting to ten, I focused on relaxing my jaw and forcing my cock to focus on the lying part of the dream and not the wet heat.
“Send her in after lunch. She can go over her notes with me, and Angie can take it from there.”
Ryan froze, blinking slowly. I liked Ryan as my assistant because he didn’t bother hiding his thoughts. I didn’t have to worry about him lying because they were always written all over his face moments before they came pouring out of his mouth. It didn’t matter that I was his boss; he gave it to me straight.
“Don’t.” I held up my hand, halting any reprimand about unfairly taking someone else’s idea and passing it off. “Angie has more experience, and maybe once we’re done with our meetings, she can meet with Ms. Barrone to review everything, and Ms. Barrone can use it as a learning opportunity.”
As long as I didn’t have to see her every day. The Sequirus project was mine, and I couldn’t put myself close to her like that.
Ryan’s lips pursed, and despite my logical reasoning, guilt still closed in.
“Anything else?” I asked, brushing it off.
“No. That was the bulk of it. I’ll send you the meeting minutes before the end of the day.”
“Thank you. Please, send Ms. Barrone in after lunch.”
“Yes, sir.”
I ignored the irritation coloring his tone and focused on the emails filling my inbox.
I worked through lunch to make up the missed morning, and soon after, a soft knock preambled Verana’s lithe form.
“You wanted to see me?” Her tone was cautious but hopeful. Obviously, Ryan hadn’t explained my plan. Maybe he had some misguided hope I’d change my mind.
“Come in. Sit. Please,” I added as an afterthought.
I watched her glide across the office in her black cropped pants and basic white blouse—pearls lining up perfectly with her sharp collarbone. She sat, and the opening of her shirt shifted. I swear, I almost also moved to see if I could get a glimpse of her cleavage. And that right there was all the reason I needed to stick to my decision to remove her from any possibility of this project.
Her eyes shifted from cautiously hopeful to guarded when they met my cold ones. Her whole demeanor went stiff, ready to defend her secrets.
“I heard you had some ideas at the meeting today.”
“I did.”
“Do you care to explain?” I asked slowly as if talking to a child. It was immature but added a splash of ice water between us.
“I wouldn’t have to if you’d been there. Another wild weekend?” she asked with false sweetness.
I clenched my jaw, wanting to watch her eat her words when I let her know I was with my ailing grandfather. Instead, I didn’t play the games I wanted to, cutting right to the chase.
“Fine. Pass on your plan to Ms. Donald, and my team will handle it.”
“I’m more than capable of growing this plan.”
“I’m sure you are.”
Her mouth opened and closed over my condescending smile, too flustered to form a rebuttal. Good.
Her jaw clamped shut, and she pulled her shoulders back. She brushed her hair behind her ear, lifting her chin proudly.
Exposing a deep mark where her neck met her shoulder. Almost like a bite.
Her tongue slicked across her ruby red lips, and as if in Deja vu, my mind flashed to the vixen in my arms doing exactly the same thing. The same shape. The same perfect cupid’s bow on top. The same jaw. The same dainty ears.
How the fuck had I missed it? How had I not seen it was her? Had I wanted her so bad that I assumed the similarities were all in my mind?
Was I making it up? Was I imagining it now?
No.
There was too much of the same.
She shifted again, and the mark mocked me—screamed at me that I was a blind fool.
Had she known it was me? Had she planned the whole thing? Was this more of her game?
“Mr. Rush—”
“What the hell are you playing at?” I asked. I didn’t stop to think or confirm. My mouth opened, and the need to know poured out.
Her mouth snapped shut, and she jerked back like I’d accused her of secretly being a mermaid. “What?”
“Your neck. The bite I remember giving you quite vividly.”
Her hand shot to the mark, and a flicker of heated recognition passed over her eyes, only to be lost to confusion.
I should’ve stopped. Thought this through more, but the memory of her in my arms pulsed through me, and I had to know if she was fucking with me this whole time. If I could reveal it on my time, then maybe it would dash whatever her plans were.
“Did you plan this whole thing?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I laughed, and her confusion shifted to anger. Ready to shove that I knew in her face, I reached inside my briefcase and pulled out her black lace panties I hadn’t been able to part with, slapping them on my desk between us.
Her eyes shot wide, and the color drained from her face. Her chest worked overtime, flashing the bite mark on her neck with each deep inhale. She looked around the room as if looking for an excuse to recover that I knew before her eyes slid to mine, wary.
“Where did you get those?”
“I think you know.”
Again, her mouth opened and closed as she stuttered over her words, unable to form a single one. Her refusal to admit defeat had my irritation spiking.
“Did you plan on fucking your way to the top?”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s too much of a coincidence that you fuck me this weekend and then come in today with a grand plan for one of our biggest projects, you know I’m in charge of. Did you think it would help you get picked for the team if you got my dick wet?”
Blood rushed into her cheeks, her jaw clamped shut, and her eyes alight with fire like she wanted to burn me alive. Playing dumb hadn’t worked, so now it looked like she’d use outrage.
She swallowed twice, and I only added fuel to the fire by smirking. Maybe if she got mad enough, she’d slip up and finally admit how she lied.
“I didn’t know it was you. If I had, believe me, I would have run as far and as fast as I could in the other direction.”
“Please,” I scoffed.
“You are rude and cold and—and an asshole.”
I leaned back in my chair, feeling victory over her floundering insults. “Big words for a little girl who rode my face and came all over my cock this weekend.”
If possible, her cheeks grew redder. She hopped up from her chair and stared down her pert nose at me. “I assure you; I didn’t fuck you to get anywhere. I can do it on my own, so don’t flatter yourself,” she almost growled. Just as quickly, she pulled her shoulders back and pursed her lips like an old, proper, prude. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to set up a time to meet Angie. I’ll be forgetting any of this happened. I suggest you do the same.”
She marched over to my desk and snatched up her panties, stuffing them between her and her notebook, and stormed out.
She didn’t slam the door like I’d expected, but nothing about her reaction was as expected. Now that she wasn’t right in front of me with the energy of a bomb between us, I thought back to her reactions that looked all too honest to be faked.
But if she hadn’t been lying about this weekend, then what was she hiding?
I looked down to where the panties had been.
Damn. I wanted to keep those.
Eleven
Vera
I somehow managed to make it to my cubicle despite my legs shaking like Jell-O. I
barely remembered the walk, solely focused on my panties, burning a hole against my chest. I’d bolted from his office as controlled as possible with my chin held high, the world a dull, blurry roar around me.
I fell into my seat and shoved the black lace to the bottom of my bag. Maybe if I shoved deep enough, they’d disappear along with the knowledge that Nicholas was the man who’d fucked me so thoroughly this weekend.
My boss.
My boss, who hated me, had buried his face between my legs and made me come harder than I ever have before.
Maybe I could dive to the bottom of my bag with the sordid panties and get lost in Narnia with them.
Dropping my head to my hands, I managed to bite back my groan. It was one thing to imagine the illicit encounter had been with Nicholas and another thing entirely to actually have been with him. One was a fantasy I didn’t have to admit to anyone playing out in my mind. The other was so wrapped up in complicated strings I couldn’t see beyond it.
The bruises on my hips from his hard grip throbbed, and I fought from banging my head against the desk to knock out any memories trying to rear their head.
He’d thought I planned the whole thing. He actually thought I planned having sex with him so he would give me a position on the upcoming project. How could one man make me burn with so much heated desire and raging anger all at the same time?
Oh, how I hated him.
I hated Nicholas Rush.
Part of me wanted to quit now. I didn’t need the job. I didn’t need the stress of facing him or walking around with a guillotine over my head, waiting for him to find a reason to fire me.
But there was no way I would give him the satisfaction.
It wasn’t that I had to face him; it was that he would have to face me and the realization that I would conquer this job on my own. I’d climb the ranks and keep delivering my ideas until he was forced to recognize I succeeded through his company all on my own.
At least until I got married.
My stomach bottomed out, and the bubbling pride simmered to a calm.
I had at least a year, I tried to reason. I’d have time before this marriage took off. We hadn’t even announced an engagement. I’d take every second to excel.
My determination came in waves, split up by doubt, and I needed to squash it. Digging in my purse, I clutched my phone, pulling it out and opening my group chat with Rae and Nova.
Me: 911. Who’s in town?
Nova: Sorry, babe. I’m in North Carolina.
A picture of her red hair blowing in the wind with the mountains behind her came through.
Raelynn: I’m in London.
Me: What? When did you go there? Why?
Raelynn: When the opportunity strikes, you take it.
Her message was quickly followed by a man’s muscular back down to a perfectly firm ass barely covered with sheets in a bed.
Nova: Your pic is way better than mine.
Me: FOCUS!! I need an emergency FaceTime
Raelynn: What’s up?
Nova: Are you okay??
Raelynn: Do I need to kill anyone?
Me: I’m fine… physically. I can’t dive into it right now. I just need to know you guys are waiting for me when I get off work.
Nova: Always. I was planning on a stop tonight anyway.
Raelynn: You two are my number one. I’m always here. And I’ll be up anyway. ;)
Knowing I’d be able to talk to my best friends tonight had my heart rate slowing to a fast gallop over a rushing freight train. Not great, but I’d take it.
I just wasn’t sure how the hell I was going to make it through the next few hours. I considered feigning sickness but quickly shot down that idea. That’s all I needed, for Nicholas to think I was running. He’d probably assume I was off to plot a new plan to take over his company.
“Hey, guys,” Debra, one of the marketing executives, called from the front, pulling me from my woes. “It’s that time of the month to do the grunt work. Old projects need to be taken down and filed. Also, the research for new vision boards needs to be organized and put up. I know it’s busywork, and we try to rotate, but if someone could volunteer so I don’t have to ch—”
“I’ll do it,” I almost shouted, jumping out of my seat and flinging my hand in the air. I may as well have reenacted the scene from Hunger Games; I was so dramatic. I got a lot of wide side-eyes, but the grunt work was done two floors below, and no one went there unless they needed to. It was the perfect escape to get through the day.
“Thank you, Verana,” Debra said slowly, probably gathering her wits after I almost threw myself at her.
Before I could follow her out, I remembered Nicholas’s demeaning order.
“I just have to talk to Angie, and I’ll head down.”
I may have to pass my ideas off to someone else, but everyone in that meeting knew who they came from, and I’d keep showing up with more. Nicholas couldn’t block me out completely. Eventually, someone would request my presence on a team for what I brought to the table. Consistency always won.
By the time I walked into my house, I could have collapsed. The work hadn’t been hard, but the mental battle I’d waged on myself took its toll.
I dropped my bag and trudged to the kitchen, popping open a bottle of wine. I didn’t bother to wait for a glass. I lifted it to my lips and let the rich berry flavor explode in my mouth. I took a solid three swallows before I finally grabbed a glass and took both to my living room, where I set up my computer for my much-needed FaceTime.
They picked up immediately. Nova had the mountains behind her through the open doors of her van. Meanwhile, Raelynn sat in an oversized chair, the London Eye shining in the dark through her windows.
They wasted no time with greetings and small talk, instead pushing me to spill what had me calling this emergency meeting. The more I explained, the wider Nova’s eyes got, and the bigger Raelynn’s smile grew until she was almost bouncing in her seat and laughing.
“Oh. My. Gawd,” she practically squealed.
“You did what?” Nova screeched.
“Don’t worry, Nova. I can hook you up at the next party we’re all at,” Raelynn joked. Nova’s face scrunched up in disgust, and she shuddered.
“You guys,” I whined, flopping back on the couch. “What the hell am I supposed to do? I know I still want to work there and show up every day, but hooooow am I supposed to pull it off?”
“Keep going,” Raelynn said with a shrug like it was so easy.
I shot up from the couch, grabbing the bottle of wine to top off my glass, looking like a crazy woman with wide-eyed panic. “I can’t keep going. Are you kidding me? Hello? Camden?”
“What about Camden?” Rae scoffed.
“You’re not even dating yet,” Nova added softly.
“He was actually…kind of sweet this weekend. My mom said that she hated my dad when they first met, but they ended up falling madly in love. What if this weekend was the beginning of Camden showing me a more affectionate side? And I ruined it? What if I ruined our future?”
“Oooookay. Deep breath,” Raelynn encouraged. “You didn’t ruin anything. Especially because you don’t owe Camden any explanation about anything.”
“He’s going to be my husband, and I want this to work. I always knew this was my future and this past weekend showed me a glimpse that my parents were right, and this could work. He’s probably a good man under all his bravado. He’s probably just set in his ways and needs to adjust to sharing his life with someone.”
Nova’s lips pursed, and her eyes looked anywhere but at the screen.
“What?” I asked. She sucked at hiding her thoughts.
“Nothing.”
“Oh, it’s definitely something,” Raelynn said. “Probably the same something I’m thinking.”
“What?” I asked in exasperation.
“He’s…” Nova hesitated, looking around like the right words were written on her van walls. “I’ve obviously never met him, but
he doesn’t seem super great.”
I sat up straighter, hating that my friend didn’t like him. I got it, but I wanted this all to work out even if I had to force it. I opened my mouth to object when Rae cut in.
“You know we support you no matter what. And maybe he will shift to someone better. But for now, you’re not obligated to anyone. If you want to fuck your boss all over the office, all day, every day. You can without having to answer to anyone but you.”
I drained my glass in an attempt to coat my dry mouth. Sleeping with Nicholas didn’t sound horrible when I remembered our night on the patio. However, remembering our meeting from earlier sounded horrible. My lips twisted at the memory of how rudely he spoke to me.
“It wouldn’t matter anyway. He accused me of knowing it was him I was sleeping with to get a position on a new big project he’s in charge of.
“What a dick,” Nova said.
“Ugh. Men,” Rae added at the same time.
“What if…” I started, scared to voice my biggest worry. “What if he finds out why I was really at the party. He was so focused on the fact that it was me, that he didn’t even consider to think why I was at an expensive charity event among the shipping elite. He’d probably fire me if he knew I lied about my name to get this job.”
“Nah,” Raelynn said, shrugging it off. “You’re still you. You still got the job with your own amazing credentials. You used your grandmother’s maiden name. It’s not like you created a whole new alias that didn’t even graduate high school.”
“I don’t know.”
“You stick to your plan,” she said. Nova nodded in the screen next to her, agreeing with Rae. “You push past this, show up every day, conquering that job, and you treat him like he doesn’t exist.”