by Lucy Lambert
His hands moved down her body to cup her bottom. He squeezed her cheeks, grinding her hips against his. She felt his hardness, then, swelling against her stomach.
"Landon... I need you... I need you so much. Don't send me away again," she said in between kisses.
"Never again," he agreed, kissing the top of her head as his fingers clenched her harder.
Then he sat up. She wrapped her arms around his neck as picked her up.
"You look good in pants," he said.
She blushed. When he got over to his desk, he cleared it with one sweet of his arm. Sitting her down on the edge, he pushed her knees apart. She put her hands between their bodies, feeling his bulge as he leaned over to kiss her. His member throbbed in her grip, swelling to greater hardness and size.
Landon wrapped one arm around her back. He used his other hand to grab the back of one of her knees, pulling her leg up. She let out a whimper as he massaged the back of her knee. She got wetter for him by the moment. The walls of her sex throbbed, swelling with her desire for him.
She tore at his clothes, then. She yanked his tie off, then pulled at the buttons on his shirt. Several popped off in her haste. Landon ran his hand up under her shirt. That strong grip of his grasped one breast. He squeezed so hard it hurt.
Once she had his shirt undone, she yanked it out of his pants. It took only a moment to undo his belt, the clasp, and the zipper.
Then she pushed her hand down into his briefs. She moaned as her fingers wrapped around his thick, hard shaft. It pulsed in her grip as she pulled it out and began stroking it. She ran the ball of her thumb over the tip, massaging the pearly bead of precum into the taut purple flesh. His body jerked as her touch excited all his nerves.
He pulled her shirt off, undoing the clasp of her bra as he went. Her generous breasts spilled out, her nipples perky and stiff.
Landon bent over, taking one nipple into his mouth. She grabbed the back of his head with her free hand, making a fist in his hair as he sucked. She moaned. The moan turned into a whimper as she felt his teeth on her nipple. They bit down lightly, sending a shock of the most exquisite pain-turned-pleasure through the core of her being.
Her fingers ran up and down his hard length, faster and faster. Landon couldn't suck on her nipple any more. He threw his head back, his face contorted in an expression that was almost pain. He sucked in his breaths through clenched teeth.
She slowed her stroking as she felt his passion mount.
"Take me," she begged him.
Landon lunged at her. They kissed. He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, biting down on it as he pushed her backward. The polished wood of the desk felt cold on her back. Her nipples perked up even more as her whole body marbled with goosebumps.
Taking a step back, Landon undid her pants. He yanked them down off her legs, leaving her totally naked on his desk. He looked at her sopping pussy, her juices glistening in her slit. Her little clit had also stiffened.
Pushing her knees back against her chest, Landon positioned himself. He used his thumb to pleasure her love button for a few moments. Charlotte's back arched, and she moaned for him as the throes of passion made her muscles stiffen, made her juices flow for him.
She couldn't take it anymore. She felt empty without him inside her, incomplete.
He guided himself in without using his hand. The head of his cock stretched her opening around its hardness. She immediately tightened around him. He gritted his teeth as he pushed forward. His member throbbed with its desire to bury itself in her tight wetness. He sheathed himself deeper in her, forcing her walls apart around him as he went.
It took only another moment before she felt him bump against the back of her pussy. When he did, he drew himself partway out. His cock glistened with her wetness. It trickled back along his shaft, there was so much. She was still so tight that her sex pulled at the skin on his member, stretching it.
"Charlotte..." Landon moaned as he drove himself back inside her.
Their flesh slapped together wetly. Charlotte's toes curled as she tightened around him again, trying to keep him from leaving her. He groaned and his cock flexed. Steeling himself, he pulled partway out again. His fingers squeezed her thighs as they found their rhythm.
His loving was at once delicate and ferocious. He'd draw himself most of the way out of her nice and slow, letting her feel every inch of him as it slid back. Then he would grunt, thrusting forward hard and fast.
Reaching forward, she grabbed him by the hips. She made him thrust harder into her, pulling him more forcefully into her. Her body felt so hot it was a wonder the desk didn't catch fire beneath her. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. Matching ones trickled down the sharp features of Landon's face.
For those few moments, there was nothing and no one in the entire world but them. No sensation but their bodies melding together into one. No sounds but those of their passion and need for each other.
Then Charlotte screamed. She pushed her head back against the desk, arching her back up. Feeling her climax coming, Landon buried his cock all the way into her. Her pussy convulsed around it, squeezing and massaging, bringing him to his own climax.
Landon shouted her name as her throbbed and jerked in her. Her sex felt even warmer as his seed flooded it in long, hard spurts.
Trembling, Landon leaned over her. He put one hand on the back of her neck and lifted her face to his. They kissed. It was a slow kiss, and gentle. Heat radiated from both their bodies as the aftershocks of their loving sent shudders through them both.
"I'm sorry I got mad..." Landon said when he could speak again.
He touched his forehead against hers. She moved her face so that she could nuzzle the tip of his nose.
"I'm sorry, too. Can we say that we've forgiven each other?"
"Yes," Landon said.
They cleaned up in his private bathroom. Landon had collected her clothes from the floor. He waited until she was dressed. They went back into his office and sat down on a leather couch along the outside wall. Landon grabbed them each a bottle of water from a small, chromed bar fridge beside the couch.
Charlotte gulped it down in a few swallows. Cool, soothing tendrils reached out through her body from her stomach. A feeling of wellness and contentedness seemed to descent over her, like some comforting childhood blanket.
Then Landon put the business card spelling out the time and place of his impending death on the small circular coffee table. The soothing coolness turned to a chilling bite.
She grabbed his hand. "Landon, what are we going to do? Are you going to call the FBI?"
He picked up the card, turning it slowly. He had a contemplative look. Then he turned to face her, and she saw mischief in his eyes.
"No."
His fingers tightened around hers. The ache of their loving began in her thighs, then. She ignored it.
"No?" She asked, bewildered.
He smiled. "No, we're going to go to the library tomorrow. You're going to take me, as planned."
Charlotte jumped to her feet. Landon just looked up at her. "You can't! They'll kill you!"
He shook his head. "No. This is the perfect opportunity. If we can catch the assassins alive, they could tell us everything we need to know. They'll never be able to hurt either of us again. But Charlotte?"
She swallowed heavily. "Yes?"
"I can't do this without you. You are my only hope, and your only hope, too. I know you are strong. I know that you can do this. But will you?"
She remembered the phone conversation she'd had with the smooth-voiced man. He'd asked her a very similar question. But Landon wasn't the smooth-voiced man. He cared for her.
There was no other answer she could give.
Again, the word "Yes," escaped her lips.
Chosen by Him
The most difficult part of the whole thing was the deception. In order for everything to work, Charlotte needed to make certain that no one suspected a thing.
To that end, she
and Landon orchestrated a huge fight in his office. The guards he'd hired must have heard her screams before. When she and Landon had allowed their passions to reign over each other for far too little time.
Bringing tears to her eyes wasn't that hard. She wiped at the warm, salty trickles as they forged their way down her cheeks.
Her body still tingled, leaving a lingering warmth in her stomach, and a curious cold sensation in her chest.
"Make sure that Miss Montgomery finds her way out of the building."
It was Landon. Charlotte stopped, turning around to look up at him. He leaned over the rails, the mask of the businessman setting his handsome features in a hard expression. He pointed to her.
"Well? Do I pay all you to stand around?"
The guards were good. Not one of them grumbled, or shot him an untoward glance. Charlotte didn't doubt that he paid them all very well.
Two big men in sunglasses, both with short-cropped military buzz cuts, came up on either side of her. They each grabbed her by an arm. It took her a few moments to remember that she needed to keep the act up.
At least one of the men in the room with Landon worked for the organization. The clandestine group that had taken it upon itself to rid the world of Landon and others like him.
And they thought Charlotte was on their side. There was even a business card in her small clutch from them. A man with a smooth, convincing voice had written a time and place on the back of it.
The time and place they planned on assassinating billionaire CEO Landon Pierce. The man she loved. The man she had been tasked with escorting to his own death. The man who'd told her to do it.
She had to hide the smile on her face as she thought about him. With some effort, she turned it into a rictus grin. Charlotte was not a small woman, and she used that to great effect.
"Bastard!" She spat, trying to crane her neck to look back at him.
She wrenched at the guards' grip on her, nearly succeeding in freeing herself.
"I could have been yours! And you threw it all away, you rich asshole! You're all the same!"
The guard on her left grunted, grabbing at her with both hands as his fingers began slipping from their spot on her upper arm.
Landon turned around and walked back into his office. She yelled at the same time the doors closed behind him.
"That's it! Run away. That's what you're good at, isn't it?"
By then the guards had dragged her all the way back to the elevator.
Do I keep it up? She wondered. She'd never been much of an actress. The only parts she'd ever snagged at school was stage manager or production assistant. She'd always considered honesty, wearing her heart on her sleeve, to be one of her best qualities. One that would outlast any physical attribute. Right then, it seemed like her worst enemy.
If one of the men escorting her worked for the assassins, she knew her own life wouldn't last much longer.
Her hair had become dishevelled. She blew at a strand on her face through the corner of her mouth. The guards pulled her into the elevator, then shoved her against the back wall. The metal handrail pressed painfully against her hips.
Good. She could use that pain to her favor.
"Fascists! Let go of me!"
She wrenched at their grip again.
But they didn't. They dragged her through the lobby. She felt all those eyes on her. Everyone stopped whatever they did to look at the crazy lady being kicked out by security.
Her face reddened. All she wanted to do was to bury her chin in her chest and try to divert attention. But she couldn't. If they suspected anything at all...
She didn't want to think about it, so she kicked and screamed some more, yelling about how Landon and everyone like him were Nazi scum or something. She wasn't even really certain about the words flying from her lips anymore. She'd gone somewhere else in her mind. Some place in (she hoped) the near future where she and Landon could be together without anyone bothering them, anyone trying to kill them.
The doors slid open in front of her. Outside air blasted in, carrying with it the scent of the exhaust from the street.
"Don't come back," the guard on her left said.
They heaved her out front. She barely managed to keep herself from falling. The people in the courtyard in front of the tower didn't care so much as the ones in the lobby, so she was thankful for that.
Turning around, she saw the guards watching her through the glass. They had their hands clasped in front of them.
Straightening out her clothes, she huffed at them and turned back to the street. When she got to the sidewalk, a black car pulled up alongside her.
Charlotte's heart skipped a beat. When it resumed, it slammed against her ribs. The car stopped, the back door swinging open. She glanced into the darkness within.
"Get in, Miss Montgomery."
Icy fingers danced up her spine as she recognized the voice. It was the man from the cafe. The man who'd given her the card. The urge to run shook her legs with its strength. A large ball formed in her throat, threatening to cut off her air.
She had to get in. If she didn't, it would be all over for Landon. She closed her eyes for a moment.
For him, she told herself. They would save each other.
The air inside the car felt cool against her as sweat broke out on her lower back. She pursed her lips as an unpleasant quiver threatened to give her away. The conspirator reached over and closed her door. As soon as he sat back, the car lurched away from the curb and into traffic.
It felt darker than it should have been. A deep shadow ran across the man, starting from his upper chest and almost completely concealing his face. All Charlotte could make out of his features were the twin glints of light off his eyes.
At that moment, those eyes regarded her with a sense of cool disappointment.
"Miss Montgomery... Charlotte, may I call you that?"
He didn't wait for her approval.
"Charlotte. I realize that you still have hatred for Pierce, but now you've let it get control of you. That was quite the argument. It sounded as if you were almost enjoying yourself at times..."
Charlotte squirmed, crossing her legs and squeezing her thighs together. The sudden tingle the pressure sent up her back wasn't welcome, not at that moment.
So he did have someone there, listening. It couldn't have been a bug. Landon's company made some of the most advanced electronics in the world. Any attempt to bug his office would have been noticed immediately. No, a spy was much harder to weed out.
She felt his eyes on her then, expectant. Cold fingers squeezed around her heart.
"What? Yes... Sorry. It's just that I couldn't... control... my feelings," she said, hating the words as they came out of her mouth.
He leaned back, the shadows swallowing him down to his waist. His hands tightly gripped his knees. He had expensive looking leather gloves on.
Charlotte's breath choked her as she imagined those fingers wrapping around her neck, and her lifeless body cast from the moving car. Her heart slammed painfully in her chest, and more trickles of sweat worked down her back. Dear God, please buy it!
"That may be, Charlotte. But your anger seems to have inadvertently ruined our immediate plans. I don't see how you can be of further use to us in your present condition..."
He flexed his hands, making the leather gloves creak. Charlotte's windpipe squeezed partly shut as she watched on. It was now or never.
"Oh, Landon is still going to be at the library tomorrow."
A few moments of silence. He leaned forward, exposing his hawk's beak nose. His fingers, no longer clenched into fists, gripped at his expensive slacks in barely hidden anticipation.
"And how do you know that to be the case, Charlotte?"
Charlotte shifted, getting her clutch out. She reached in, then plucked out a small, plastic object. She held it up for his inspection. He had to lean more clearly into the light to see.
"This flash drive contains important details about an
upcoming business deal. It was one of the last things I did for him before he..." She got herself to choke up a little, which wasn't hard considering the circumstances, "Before he fired me and had security drag me out in front of everyone. And please, call me 'Miss Montgomery.'"
He tried to snatch the drive from her hand. She snatched it back, pushing it into her clutch. There were a few files on it. But a cursory inspection would reveal them as false.
The smooth voiced man swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing as he looked hungrily at her clutch. A shiver went up her back. His eyes were like some great cat's, stalking her, waiting for the right moment to strike.
The man rapped one crooked finger against the glass separating them from the driver. It slid down with an almost silent electric purr. He never took his eyes off her.
"Let Miss Montgomery out at the next intersection."
The car pulled up to the curb. Charlotte couldn't hide her shaking hand as she grabbed the door lever.
She started climbing out when a hand touched her knee. She jerked, gasping in fright.
"Miss Montgomery? The library, do not forget."
As soon as she closed the door, the black car sped away.
***
She couldn't sleep that night. The covers lay in a crumpled heap at the foot of her bed, where she'd kicked them hours earlier. She'd put on her most comfortable nightgown, made of terrycloth. It was an old one, given to her as a going away present when she'd gone to college. The fabric had worn thin in some spots, but she couldn't bring herself to donate it or throw it out.
Her mind threw image after image at her as she stared up at the dark ceiling. Landon, lying dead in front of the library. Landon, spinning from the force of the gunshot.
In a desperate attempt to rid herself of the waking nightmare, she thought of something more pleasant. She imagined Landon lying next to her. Her bottom clenched, her back arching slightly as she imagined him kissing her. His mouth would be hot against hers. He'd slowly undo the buttons on her gown. Then he'd slide his hand underneath, running one finger slowly down her exposed and vulnerable cleavage.