by Lucian Bane
“Really,” he said. His doubtful tone twisted her stomach. “Yes sir.”
“What do you think of it so far?”
Shit. Shit, shit. “It’s… a rough draft,” she said. “So, it… it has all the qualities of… of creativity… unleashed and… un… contained.”
He gave a low chuckle. “Unleashed and uncontained. Perfect description. I hope you have notes.”
“Tons. Of… suggestions. Yes.”
“I’m back early, you want to take lunch?”
“Here?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Sure, yes.”
“Good. I’m in the office now.”
“Oh,” she glanced at the door and stood. “I’ll… I’ll see you soon.”
CHAPTER FOUR
David opened the door to her office as she leaned over to hang up the phone. The position shot heat straight to his cock. Unleashed and uncontained. Those had to be the cleverest of descriptions he’d ever heard to describe a pile of shit writing. But the first thing he needed to know about her was how honest she would be when the risks were high for her. He really wanted her to pass, but when it came to business, it was a hard limit. If she failed, he’d have to find some other job for her because he was definitely set on having her in one way or another, even if she was his personal maid. Or slave.
“Bring the manuscript, please,” David said, setting the food on the dinette in the office. “We’ll go over it during lunch.”
“Uh. Are you sure?”
Hmm. Promising answer. “Very.”
“Alrighty then.”
David fixed their plates and set them at opposite ends of the small table and sat. “Thank you,” he said, taking the manuscript folder and setting it on the table.
He raised his eyes, not making it past her breasts. He’d wondered all morning over their size and without the jacket, he saw they were in between big and small. Perfect. Like those now faded red lips. No doubt she chewed the color right off while worrying over her editing job with that test he gave her.
He realized she was staring at the folder where he’d rested his hand. “How was your day so far?” he asked.
She snapped her eyes to him and his cock jerked from the hard, direct assault. “Fine.”
He nodded, recalling how affected he’d been when that elevator door first opened. Seeing her in the flesh had nearly crippled him with desire. And she’d dressed the part so perfectly. The red she wore blinded him with the most potent lust, but the more arousing was her inability to hide how much he’d affected her. Her shock and excitement had been off the charts, making it harder for him to hide what she did to him.
He opened the folder, well aware that she’d not touched her food and continued to watch him. At finding the first page a rainbow of colors, his excitement grew. He held up the first page, reading her notes written in the most perfect handwriting he’d ever seen. Wow. He wasn’t impressed often with editors, but he most certainly was with her. Not only was she as thorough as he needed an editor to be, she had the most amazing tact and kindness while tearing apart nearly every single word and sentence.
He looked at the next page, finding it riddled with the same colors. He lifted another and another, his smile uncontainable. “Wow.”
“It’s a rough draft,” she said, her voice soft and full of… encouragement.
He placed the pages back in the folder and closed it, leaning back in his chair while staring at her, enjoying the pained look on her face. The hating to tell him he sucked expression and yet searching for the courage to do it. “It’s a piece of shit.”
“What?” She lowered her eyes to the folder, delicate brows drawn. “I can… I can go over it again.”
“Not your work, Lizzy. That.” He placed his pointer finger on the center of the folder and slid it forward. “Is shit.”
She met his gaze head on for several seconds and nodded finally before whispering, “It is.”
The tiny words and the furrow in her brows spoke volumes about her. “First day on the job and you come in here and shred my work to kingdom come.”
“I… I just did my job.”
“Indeed you did. You’re hired.”
“What?”
He picked up his fork and got back to eating. “You’re hired. That was just a test to see if you would be honest.”
The release of her huge breath drew his gaze and grin. “You shit,” she whispered, making him grin more.
“Sorry, I have to be sure. I can’t have spineless people in my business. I’ll give you the real manuscript after lunch.” He eyed her untouched food. “I hope I didn’t ruin your appetite. Any more panic attacks?”
She stared at him, a look of beauty and torment pooling in those beautiful blue eyes. “About fifty since I arrived here. Didn’t you notice?”
He opened his mouth and took a bite, watching her while shaking his head slowly. “Not once.”
She was pinned by his gaze again and it was the most arousing thing he’d ever experienced. The innocence, the raw need plain for him to see. Her lids fluttered as she forced a disconnect. She looked at her plate, then her utensil and picked it up. David could see the misfiring happening in her brain and the way she pushed through them, fighting to appear unaffected by everything, but mostly by him. He’d let her eat before he said another word, because what he wanted to say to her would surely shatter the very little control she now managed.
She finally took her last bite, giving David the floor. “Since you were honest with me, I’d like to be honest with you.” He waited till she lowered the napkin from her mouth and made eye contact with him. It allowed David to quickly reassess what he was about to say to her but five seconds of staring at her and he found himself in the throes of wild fantasies. “I lied about a couple of things.” While it was not what he planned to say, he realized it was a good idea to tell her before he said the other thing. “For privacy reasons, obviously,” he added. “But now that I see the level of your integrity—where honesty is concerned—I’m willing to take more risks.”
“Okay,” she said, her brows immediately softening, letting David know she understood that he was conducting an exchange with her and that she was agreeing to it.
“I talked about having a girlfriend, but I haven’t had one in years. I also once had a fiancé, but that didn’t work out. And with the way I work, I decided it was best to not have the complications a relationship brings into business and life.” The furrow that had returned to her brow could have been for any number of questions she had but he wouldn’t offer answers unless she asked, and judging by her expression, she was definitely going to ask.
“Why… I mean, can I ask… Ah, never mind.” She shook her head and lowered it. “You already said it was because of privacy reasons, that’s enough. You’re entitled.”
David stared at her, remembering his original confession. “I also never told you what I thought of your picture.”
“Oh, God, please.” That breathless, weak beg, gripped his cock.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, wanting it perfectly accurate and nothing more.
Her reaction should have been funny but as David watched her, he found himself enraptured. Now that he knew she was brave enough to be honest, it changed everything. But he was far from being done testing that. This was phase one, learning who she was and what she was made of. He still needed to find out what made her who she was, what made her tick in that peculiar, fascinating way.
“Thank you,” she finally stammered and this time David smiled. What a feat that had been for her to say, to accept the compliment and say the normal thing. It made him want to hear all the things in her head, all the things no doubt still on her tongue. “And you’re very handsome.”
The return compliment, he realized, was her fulfilling the personal exchange. But hers came as a kind of confession. One that had him back to boiling in arousal. He had plenty to confess and wanted to continue solely to maintain their exchange. “It’s
also why I usually never hire women past certain positions in my business.”
The instant curiosity in her gaze fed his arousal as he waited for her question. “Then… why…”
“You would agree that our relationship sort of… decided for itself the direction it wanted to take?”
She hesitated then nodded. “I think that’s a fair evaluation,” she said in that soft way he liked more than he imagined he ever would.
“I don’t normally operate this way,” he admitted. “And… I’ll be perfectly honest with you. I’ve been in need of a change but the exacts of that change have remained elusive to me. And this,” he moved his finger between them, “feels like it fits as that missing puzzle piece I’ve been looking for. So, I’m letting go of a little control and taking the necessary risk required to learn if I’m right. Or wrong.”
He let that sit, waiting to see what she’d give in return for that chunk of generous information. The worry on her brow was different, and he anxiously waited to see what it was made of. “Are you sure… I mean, I don’t… I can’t guarantee you I’m what you’d need in… any capacity,” she said, her gaze roaming restlessly over nothing in particular before her. But it was her genuine concern for him he was hostage to. “I mean you’re aware of my-my flaws, and shortcomings.” She hit him with a frantic expression. “I don’t think I’m a very good investment for you, this is too big and… important.”
David held his urges in check as they neared an eruption point. He’d never met anyone like her. Not outside of fiction. Hell, not even in fiction. At least not his fiction because he didn’t believe in writing fictitious characters that were unbelievable. And yet, there she sat, unbelievably believable, and real. And even though her own fears of failure prodded her to this response, those fears were still manifested in a form of concern for him.
God help him, her sexy, adorable qualities were becoming a force of nature that had him wanting to buy her flowers.
He’d been burned once, which is why the hoops and gates were required around his life and business. None had ever made it past those and the fact that she was sitting there in all her innocence across from him in his offices said a lot about her.
“But of course you’re… smart enough to know… what’s best for you and your business.”
Him and his business. Him and his business. David wanted to say so many things, but all of them needed to happen after she read the correct manuscript which also served as second test. Mostly he needed… no, he was sure he craved to see what his writing did to her.
“Time to get back to work, Miss Hammons.”
“Oh, yes.” She stood with him. “Yes, sir,” she added, not moving at first then heading to her desk only to turn after two steps and return to retrieve the fake manuscript from the table.
“You can trash that,” he said.
She held it to her chest, looking at him. “If it’s… okay I would like to keep it.”
“Why?” he had to know, sure he’d like her answer.
“Souvenir?” she said with a weak, unsure smile before lowering her eyes. “If it’s okay with you. It’s still… my first actual editing job.”
“And a very good job it was. Fine. But I want the first page.”
“Why?”
“Souvenir. It’s the first time I’ve met anybody with your level of honesty and courage to stand by it.” He left off first woman, not wanting her to mistake that gender had anything to do with it. But it did. A thousand percent.
The slow smile that bloomed on her face and lit her eyes nearly undid his resolve to not touch her. “I’ll get a shower while you get back to work,” he said. And maybe he’d also allow himself to jack off, finally. If he didn’t release something, he’d move too quickly with her. Even though he was positive touching her would be like running silk through his fingers, he wanted to be careful. She still had that unpredictable side to her. The side that had her call suicide hotlines during panic attacks.
****
Back at her desk with the proper first job, Lizzy was on cloud nine. Red pen in hand, grin ear to ear, she opened the folder and read the title on the first page. The Secretary.
Her heart fluttered in her stomach as she darted a look around. Was this also a test? If so, what kind? She flipped over the page and began reading, the editor inside her immediately relaxing at the level of excellence in his craft. Meanwhile, the virgin inside her began to ever so slowly tie itself up in burning knots.
By page five, her lips had parted with a potent desire that had her lightheaded. “Dear God,” she whispered, riveted to the story. How in the world was she supposed to detect editorial issues when the throbbing between her legs overloaded her brain?
After a blazing chapter one, she realized there would be no editing on the first read. Only surviving it without having an accidental orgasm at her desk. Although she was sure that was impossible.
“Dear, dear, God,” she murmured, moving on to chapter two. She would read it once then again with her red pen. While she wasn’t constantly seeing images of him naked in the next room while he showered.
“Lean over the desk, Sarah.”
“Yes sir.”
Lance lifted her skirt and yanked on her panties, forcing them to bite into her pussy and ass. “I can only assume you like to be disciplined.” He brought his hand down hard on her perfect white cheek, his cock jerking with her yelp as he pushed her legs apart with his foot. Lance ran his finger over the silk buried between her naked folds. “Your cunt is dripping. Am I to assume innocence with this evidence?”
“No sir,” she whimpered as he slid his finger behind the fabric, feeling her delicate silk.
Working his middle finger inside her, he spanked her ass hard, grunting with the clamping of hot flesh on his probing touch. “You’re trembling with want, are you not?”
“Sir,” she strained, earning her another hard spank.
“Are you not trembling for this, Sarah? For my finger inside your naughty cunt? Answer the question.”
“I’m… I am.”
“Everything okay so far?”
Lizzy screamed at the sudden presence of David, approaching. Oh God, he was… shirtless. And incoming. With every panic button pressed, she sat there, hostage to her broken brain doing its weird thing. It said her survival hinged on collecting every detail about his naked torso. She watched as long tan fingers covered her salvation one button at a time. Then he was stuffing the tails of his shirt into black slacks and her brain focused on the bulge behind his zipper.
“Do you like it?”
She swallowed and forced her gaze up, falling into the delicious prison of those eyes. Hazel, she realized suddenly. Did she like it? “D-define… like, please.” Her brain needed that information in order to correctly answer.
“Not as an editor, as a reader.”
She used every bit of strength to pull herself together. “Yes. Sir,” she added, aware of the light tremble in her entire body. Did he see it? God, please don’t let him see it.
“Are you okay? You’re trembling.”
She froze as he walked around her desk and stood just on her left. She couldn’t stifle her gasp when he pressed the backs of his fingers on her forehead then slid them down to her cheek. “You’re feverish.”
Feverish. She swallowed down her raging pulse, realizing he’d just checked her temperature. The urge to close the manuscript and hide what she was reading had her tense. Which was ridiculous since he knew what she was reading full well. Focus, Lizzy.
Oh God he’s rubbing my shoulders.
“You’re way too tense.” His thumbs dug and pressed in firm circles below her shoulder blades, producing illicit sounds from her. “Try to relax.”
“I… I can’t,” she breathed.
He stopped. “Probably the position you’re in. You need a proper massage.”
“W-what?”
He leaned so that his hot words hit her ear. “Editing happens to be a job that is hardest on the ne
ck and shoulders.” He gathered her hair and moved it to her right shoulder then resumed his deep circles into the tight muscles. “Stress often serves as a trigger to panic, which means…” he slid his thumbs up her neck, “I’ve hired a beautiful, talented employee to fill a position that naturally hits her triggers.” His thumbs slid back down, hard enough to make her fight back a moan at how good it felt. “But the good news is,” he went on, “I know techniques that will unlock the self-control inside you. Would you allow me to teach you?”
Her eyes fluttered open as she licked her dry lips, nodding. “Yes.”
“Good. After work, I want you to take a fifteen-minute shower with the water as hot as you can stand it then wrap up in one of the robes and lay on the massage table I’m putting in your room. Meanwhile, I’d like you to finish this edit, if you don’t mind.”
“Okay,” she barely croaked.
He again gathered her hair, his touch soft and careful as he moved it back to its place, seeming to linger behind her before finally returning to the side of the desk. “So, do you like it so far?” he asked.
She decided to assume he meant the story and debated on her answer. “Very much,” she admitted, honestly.
“Tell me what you like about it.”
“Uh… well, the… the pace is good. And the characters are very… believable.”
“What do you think of Lance?”
“He’s… he’s a good character.”
“And Sarah?”
“Also… a good character. It’s early to tell but… so far, they’re people that… I would care about.”
“Do you think he’s a prick for how he is with Sarah?”
Was that a trick question? She decided she would continue with her honesty method. “I think he’s madly in love with her.”
He gave a light laugh and sat on the far edge of the desk. “Where does that idea come from?”
She shrugged. “In the way he… he…” Dear God. Just say it. “The way he enjoys giving her pleasure.”
“You always equate pleasure with love?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Maybe it’s just… wishful thinking. Romance-a-holic here.”