by London Casey
I stood up from my desk and walked to one of the many windows in my large office.
There was a glow over the city as the day turned into night.
I liked standing there looking out over the city.
I barely had a chance to think for a minute before my desk phone started to ring.
It was Maya calling.
I put her on speaker.
“Maya,” I said.
“Someone is calling for you,” she said. “I thought it was a prank. Mr. Buttlicker?”
I shut my eyes and gritted my teeth.
Fucking asshole.
“Yeah, that’s okay,” I said. “Send the call through.”
“Okay. Sorry. I sort of hung up on him twice.”
I nodded. “Don’t worry about it. Just send the call through.”
“Okay,” Maya said.
A few seconds later, the call was connected.
“Couldn’t call my cell?” I asked.
“This is more fun.”
“Making an ass of yourself so soon?”
“What’s with the attitude? Is it because you’re working late. You always work late. Hey, is that a new secretary you have? I love her voice. How big are her tits?”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s really good to hear from you. Good to know you’re alive.”
“Did you think I was dead?”
I took a deep breath. “What can I do for you now, little brother?”
Chapter Five
Maya
I looked at the frown emoji from Cam and frowned too.
He was understanding. Of course, he was. He had no choice.
For all I knew, he was already on to another woman.
Why not?
He was looking forward to going out. Probably looking forward to having a few drinks and getting laid.
Me too, dude.
Except I was stuck at work.
Going through reports and transcripts.
I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for.
Honestly… this felt like a punishment.
All because I walked in on Cole getting ready to have sex with some woman.
Every now and again I felt cocky and bold. And it always bit me in the ass.
I should have just opened the door and shut it when I saw the legs wrapped around him.
But no…
I had to feel good about myself, right?
I had to make comments. I had to basically chase the woman away.
Now I was paying for it.
I stabbed a highlighter to a piece of paper just as Cole appeared in my open office door.
“Rough night?” he asked.
“Funny,” I said.
“You’re getting paid, right?”
“You tell me.”
“You’re clocked in, Maya.”
“I highlighted everything I could find,” I said. “Anything else?”
“Plenty to do,” Cole said. “I ordered us dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“You like sushi?”
“Um…”
“Perfect,” he said. He looked at his large watch. “I better keep an eye out for it. No. Better yet. You go keep an eye out for it.”
He walked to my desk and put a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill on my desk.
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to flaunt his money or make me feel poor.
Whatever the goal was, it worked, because I thought he was a complete and total dick.
There was zero need for me to be in the office.
He just wanted to do it to be a dickhead.
When Cole left my office, I thought of an idea.
The building was mostly empty and quiet.
The lobby too.
With the exception of the night security guard at the front desk…
I reached for my bag and took out a notebook.
I was on the clock. And I was going to go sit and wait for the food to get delivered.
And I was going to write.
Essentially, Cole was paying me to write… so ha!
I pictured her swimming.
Her long hair in the lake water, spreading out behind her.
She kept looking back, seeing the boy from summer swimming after her.
She knew he could easily catch up to her, but he let her swim faster.
He loved chasing her all over the lake that summer.
They were going to the north bank of the lake.
That part of the lake was claimed to be haunted.
Nothing scared her… except her growing feelings for the boy from summer.
I stopped writing.
“The boy from summer,” I whispered.
I pictured it as a book title.
Big, bold letters.
A sunset on a dock at a lake.
The silhouettes of two people.
Or not.
And my name on the cover.
Maya. Freaking. Lewis.
Minus the freaking part, of course.
It was the dream. The plan. The goal.
Everyone in my hometown dug their heels into the ground and stayed put. If your daddy owned a business, you took it over. If your mommy was a single mother, then you’d become the same.
That was not my vibe.
I was going to-
“Let’s see what I’m paying for here.”
My notebook suddenly disappeared.
I jumped up and gasped when I saw Cole standing next to me.
Holding my notebook.
“Her hair danced behind her, spread out like a blonde fan, ready to acknowledge the cool feelings she felt for the boy who swam after her. With each stroke of her arms, she added distance… not from the boy, but from reality. Knowing they were going to end up in opposite directions when Mother Nature’s clock gonged one final time for the summer that she and the boy would never forget…”
Cole looked at me and grinned.
“Give me that back.”
“You’re on my time, Maya.”
“You told me to wait for the food.”
“You could have brought something productive to do.”
“Just give me the notebook back.”
“You really want to be a writer?” Cole asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“This is the stuff you write? Does it get really hot? Let me ask you something…” Cole laughed. “Never mind.”
“What?” I asked.
He shut the notebook and handed it to me. “Nothing.”
The door to the building opened and I saw a young man holding a bag of food.
“I think that’s for us,” Cole said. “I’ll meet you in your office, Maya. With each step of my feet, I’ll distance myself from you…”
He laughed again.
Now he was making fun of me.
Just what I needed.
I hadn’t been able to get a single thing published since moving to the city. And now I had my dickhead boss making fun of me…
It was really tempting to spit in Cole’s food.
Cole sat on the edge of my desk.
He took his tie off and rolled it up.
He was on his third glass of scotch.
I watched the way he used chopsticks so easily. Grabbing the pieces of sushi with ease.
While I sat behind my desk, my stomach growling, unsure what to do.
I held the chopsticks like they were drumsticks.
Finally, Cole said something.
“Do you need help?”
“No.”
“What’s your favorite kind of sushi?”
“I don’t know. I like them all.”
Cole moved off the desk. “You’ve never had sushi before, have you?”
“What? Of course I have.”
“You’ve never used chopsticks before either,” Cole said. “Oh, fuck. You’re really from a small town.”
“Shut up.”
“Did you just tell your boss to shut up?”
I stood up. “Look, Cole, I’m ge
tting pretty irritated. Okay? It’s been a long day. I was supposed to go on a date tonight. I have no clue why you kept me here, other than to punish me for what I did. And I didn’t know you were trying to fuck some woman. Next time, put something on the doorknob. Okay? And… fine.. I don’t know how to eat sushi. I’ve never had it before. Woe is me. Laugh at me. Make fun of me. I’m hungry and I’m tired and I’m…”
Horny.
I couldn’t say that to Cole.
“Wow,” Cole said. “You really lost it there.”
“I’m still losing it,” I said. “I’m not done yet.”
“Yes, you are,” he said.
“Fine. Fire me. I don’t give a fuck.”
Cole pointed to the sushi. “Start here, Maya. This is a California roll. It’s basic. No fish.”
“Give me a fork,” I said. “Or I’ll just use my fingers.”
I reached for the sushi and Cole grabbed my wrist.
I gasped and felt a jolt surge through my body.
No, no, no, no… NO.
This was not going to happen.
One time I had a dream about Cole. Okay? One fucking time.
I had a dream that he and I were working late, and we fucked each other like crazy all over the office.
I pulled my wrist away.
“Use the chopsticks,” he said. “Watch…”
Cole showed me how to hold the chopsticks.
He explained how to pinch the chopsticks together.
Then he showed me how to pick up a piece of sushi.
The first time I tried, I dropped the sushi to the plate.
So I tried again.
I managed to get it up into the air.
As I moved it over the container of soy sauce, the chopsticks opened and the sushi took a plunge.
The soy sauce splashed, hitting Cole’s white shirt.
“Shit,” I said. “I’m so sorry about that.”
I reached for his arm and he stepped back.
“Keep going, Maya,” he said.
My hand started to shake as I fished the sushi out of the soy sauce.
I hovered over the container and stuffed the sushi into my mouth.
The saltiness of the soy sauce hit me first. Then came the taste of the avocado and the crab. Then the rice and something a little fishy.
But it was good.
Really good.
I nodded.
“Keep eating,” Cole said.
I helped myself to another piece.
As I reached for a third, Cole looked at his shirt.
It had quite a few little brown stains on it.
Without hesitation, he started to unbutton his shirt.
My eyes went wide.
This is just like my dream. And in a few minutes, instead of eating sushi on the desk, he’s going to eat me…
I felt my cheeks warm up.
I tried to focus on the sushi as Cole took his shirt off.
Under his fancy, white shirt was a sleeveless shirt that…
I coughed and turned my head.
I knew Cole had muscle. I knew he worked out because I took care of his gym membership. Just like all the other monthly expenses of his.
I had caught him a few times buttoning up his shirt.
But this…
Hello, shoulders. Hello, biceps. Helllllo, forearms…
I shivered and jammed a piece of sushi into my mouth.
“I need this shirt cleaned,” Cole said. He looked at his watch. “And I think we’re done here for tonight.”
“We are?” I asked, my mouth full of sushi.
He nodded. “I have somewhere to go right now.”
I looked at my phone and realized it was exactly eight o’clock. The time I was supposed to be meeting up with Cam.
I wondered if somehow Cole knew about Cam and did this on purpose…
I had ranted a little about having a date, but it seemed weird that maybe he knew the exact time…
“Cole,” I said. “I never asked about Mr. Buttlicker.”
“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “If he calls, put him through.”
“He told me I have a fuckable voice.”
Cole curled his lip. “It’s my brother. Don’t play into his games.”
“You have a brother?” I asked.
“Goodnight, Maya,” he said. “Don’t confuse what we’re doing here. You’re going to take that sushi home. You’re going to get my shirt cleaned. I’ll see you in the morning. As for me, I’m going to meet up with a woman who doesn’t wear a blanket as a shirt. And I’m going to have a great fucking night. Understand?”
I looked at my clothes. “Okay.”
“Make sure you clean this all up, so it doesn’t smell by morning,” Cole said.
He turned and walked away.
He was gorgeous from behind. Just like from the front.
The problem with Cole was that he was born with a mouth and a voice.
I grabbed my phone, temped to text Cam.
But it was too late.
Cole really knew how to ruin everything.
Chapter Six
Cole
I walked into the bar just after nine.
I opened my arms and smiled. “Did you miss me?”
“Where the fuck have you been?” Jackson growled as he pushed away from the bar.
Liam slammed his hand to Jackson’s back and grinned. “Come on, Jackson, give the guy a break. He’s the big boss now. He’s higher up than us. He’s richer than us. He’s got more to do.”
“I left Callie in bed, naked, so I could have a drink with you assholes,” Jackson said.
“You left a naked woman behind for me?” I asked. “Oh, man, I’m touched.”
“I’m not touched,” Jackson said. “My dick is aching for Callie’s sweet, sweet slit.”
“And the poetic genius is here again,” Liam said.
“Like you should talk,” Jackson said. “What the fuck are you doing skateboarding in the park like some twenty-year-old in art school thinking he’s going to change the world?”
Liam laughed. “Em likes seeing me like that.”
“You mean she secretly wants a younger guy,” I said. “That’s dangerous, Liam.”
“I think Em and I have had our time of danger already,” he said with a wink.
“So, where’s my drink?” I asked.
“I drank it,” Jackson said. “And the second.”
Liam held up four fingers and nodded.
“Hitting it hard tonight?” I asked.
“I hope to get home soon and get Callie… hard… hitting… not like…”
“We know what you mean,” I said. “Where’s Lincoln?”
Jackson pointed.
My eyes followed and I saw Lincoln standing at a high-top table with two women staring at him with fuck me eyes.
“Two blondes, one Lincoln,” I said.
“That’s his dream,” Jackson said.
“He’s still got it,” Liam said.
“And you two are locked down,” I said. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“About Callie’s sweet, sweet slit,” Jackson said. “I already told you that.”
I laughed.
“Don’t laugh,” Jackson said. “Liam is dreaming of Emily’s hot, hot hole.”
“Hot, hot hole?” Liam asked. “Don’t ever call Emily’s… hole… a hole again.”
They argued and I watched Lincoln work his magic.
I half considered going over to the table to step on his toes, but I stayed put. He deserved it. The guy was stuck right in the middle of his brother’s wedding. Taking on the role of best man came with a shit ton of work he wasn’t ready for.
Hell, half the stuff he did made me shake my head.
Then again, if I was going to think about weddings, I needed to look no further than to my right at Liam. That guy had been planning a wedding that his so-called fiancée wanted nothing to do with.
But at least he found love.
<
br /> As for me, love came in doses.
Meaning…
As I waited for my drink, my eyes moved down the bar and I caught a dark-haired beauty looking my way.
There was my fun for the night.
I took Ashley back to my place after Jackson and Liam bolted early. I guess they weren’t enjoying watching Lincoln and I have fun.
Not that I could blame them to a point. They both had someone at home, waiting for them. Naked. Legs open. Have at it.
Then again…
Ashley was the same way.
Without the commitment.
I swung my legs off my bed and reached down for her clothes.
A strapless black bra and a black dress.
That was it.
These women not wearing panties were going to be the death of me.
I shut my eyes and took a deep breath.
I saw Ashley sitting on the edge of the bed, opening her legs, proving to me she wasn’t wearing any panties. Asking me if I saw something I liked. Sliding the front of her dress down, making my eyes move between her tits and pussy.
She made me dizzy.
Then I fucked her.
I didn’t expect the cuddling after we finished. And just as I was about to tell her to leave (in a smooth, romantic fashion - of course) she danced her fingertips down my stomach to my cock, wanting to know if I was ready to fuck again.
That was a question nobody needed to ask.
That was like asking someone if they were blinking.
It just happened without thinking about it, right?
That was my dick.
It was always ready for some fun.
Blinking. Breathing. Getting hard.
After another session between the sheets, she fell asleep, and just like that, I was having a sleepover.
Of course, by morning I would be out the door, with a note left for her to leave. I had already texted my cleaning woman to come early and kick Ashley out.
Cecily was the best. She cooked, cleaned, and kicked women out of my apartment.
I put Ashley’s clothes on the bed and stood up.
I saw the glow from my cellphone on the nightstand.