‘I know,’ I sniff, ‘Its just that when I ran it through in my mind, I didn’t expect he would be so, so -’
‘Intimidating?’
I nod.
‘Oh honey,’ he eats other Lawyers for breakfast, day in, day out. You’re a little mouse at the side of those. Maybe you should rethink this whole revenge thing.’
My teeth clench, ‘No.’
‘But what’s the big deal really? So your Stepfather sent you to Boarding School. Most of us went there. You’ve turned out great.’
‘He took my mother away from me. I can’t forgive him for that. When my father died, my mum and I were inseparable. I knew that even though I’d lost my dad, I had my mum. Once he appeared it was like I became an orphan overnight. She turned into a Stepford wife, goodness knows where my real mother went.’
‘Have you tried talking to her.’
‘She shrugs me off.’
‘Well I have both my parents as you know, which is rare these days and possibly only because they turn a blind eye to each others infidelities, but was I raised by them? No. Like all my friends I was raised by a series of nannies. At some point Stella you’ve got to let it go. You’re an adult now. That cosy relationship with your mum is never coming back.’
My hands clench beneath the table,‘Well thanks for the sympathy, it was well worth you coming.’ I start to get up.
‘Where do you think you’re off to? We’re stopping for lunch. You’ve dragged me across the city, so don’t get all huffy just because I’ve reminded you that you’re not the only girl in the world with shit parents.’
I stand sulking, my top lip pouting over the other, before I realise I really am acting like a big baby.
I flop back down. ‘I’m sorry. He really threw me today. I guess he made me question what I’m doing and then you’ve done the same; it’s just kind of imbalanced me. Maybe I should just pack the job in and fritter the fuckers allowance.’
‘Ahem, are we forgetting Mr Gab-real-ly hot? You cannot pack in that job until you finish the alphabet. I’m living vicariously through you right now, until that bloody Col realises I’m more squishy and tasty than a marshmallow on top of a latte.’
A waitress comes up to take our order.
I suck my top lip. ‘A Black Russian please. She’ll have a Mohito.’
Ronnie looks at me as if I’ve grown a further head. ‘Drinking at lunch, in work hours? Disgraceful.’ She slaps my arm. ‘I bloody love it. Can we have some olives and a selection of breads too please?’
I head back to the office later. A large lunch has soaked up the Tia Maria and Vodka, but I’m left pleasantly chilled, apart from the fact that my pissed-offness at Gregory Senior seems to have projected itself onto Gregory Junior, who is now in my slightly-addled, I’ll agree, mind, the devil incarnate.
When I walk past Lorraine, she runs after me into my office and pours me a coffee from the machine. ‘Mr Gregory’s back.’
‘Which one?’ I panic.
‘Gabriel. He’s in his office and he was steaming that you weren’t in and that I didn’t know your whereabouts. I told him you were entitled to your lunch without having to report in.’
‘Thanks, I owe you one.’ I take a sip of the scalding coffee and wince as it burns my mouth.
‘Yes well he’s given me some filing, which I loathe, as punishment.’
‘I’ll help you later. It’s the least I can do.’
‘Don’t worry about it. Just let him know you’re back.’
I follow Lorraine back out to the Reception to pick up my post. I hear the lift door ping open and out walks what can only be termed an Adonis. Short, spiked blonde hair, sits atop a glowing face with chiselled cheekbones. It’s like Pinocchio’s maker got ten out of ten in making a real boy. Perfect, not too white, teeth are displayed to us in a polite smile and the chest, oh my goodness, that broad chest, under that too tight tee. Oh hang on, I think, check out the calves and thighs on this guy, so tanned and ...
I see Lorraine’s dropped jaw and realise we’re like two women from a Diet Coke ad. Understandable but pathetic.
‘Well, if I knew you two were up here, I’d have been accused of shagging a Judge’s daughter a lot earlier.’ He drawls in a Scottish accent, which makes me even hotter as it reminds me of the God that is David Tennant.
Lorraine and I smile back and try not to puddle at his feet.
Lorraine mumbles nervously, ‘Mr Taylor. I’ll, er let Mr Gregory know you’ve arrived.’
‘Oh no rush, darlin’. I think I prefer it out here to be honest.’ He leans over and whispers to me. ‘He can be really mean to me, you know.’
‘Oh I know, he’s like it with me too. Dreadful being his Assistant.’ I wink.
‘Do you want to come through Harry? says a deep voice, that seems to rumble with thunder. I turn around to see Gabe standing behind us, legs wide apart and arms crossed over his chest. A look of barely disguised fury on his face.
‘I’ll need some time with you after Stella,’ he begins to walk away, ‘there are a few things I need you to take down. It won’t be a problem you staying late after your extended lunch break will it?’
I shake my head.
‘Good.’
‘Oh dear, it sounds like you’re in trouble,’ whispers Lorraine. ‘What’ll be your equivalent of filing?’
‘I dread to think.’I reply, and head back to my desk, yet strangely I feel more excited than worried.
Chapter 7
Lorraine and Harry left long ago and I’m wondering what Gabe is up to when the interconnecting door flings open and he stands in the doorway, a tic pulsing in his cheek.
‘Stay away from Harry, Stella, he’s bad news.’
I roll my eyes, ‘Cool it He-man, I was only chatting with him in the reception for a few minutes. Anyway, it’s none of your business who I talk to.’
Gabe’s eyes darken and the skin around them tightens, ‘It is my business here. This is my office.’
‘Well if we’re doing macho posturing let me tell you that this one,’ I indicate the sweep of the room with my hand, ‘is my office and you don’t get to tell me what to do in here, unless it’s business related.’
‘Fine.’
Gabe turns on his heel and makes to walk out of the room.
‘F-fine?’ I’m wrong footed as I didn’t expect him to give in so easily, so I’m not expecting him to quickly turn around, rush me and lift me over his shoulder.
I pummel his shoulders, ‘Put me down.’
‘I will.’ He says, ‘when we’re in my office.’
He deposits me in the chair opposite his desk, where I sat for my interview just a few days ago. Then he loosens his tie, throws it on the floor and opens the top two buttons of his shirt. I’m completely turned on, but I focus on acting cool. I watch him like a lazy cat. Rather than lick my paw whilst waiting, I sigh as if bored and look at my nails.
He thumps his desk and makes me jump.
‘What’s going on Stella? Everything was fine last night and then today you’re tardy, sulking and flirting with other men.’
‘I have not been sulking. I was flirting, yes, a little bit, that guy was gorgeous. So was Lorraine, I don’t see you keeping her behind.’
‘I don’t give a shit who Lorraine flirts with, but you. One minute you’re fucking my face, the next you’re fucking me over.’
‘Hey, I’m not the one who left in the middle of the night without so much as a note.’
He nods to himself, arms folding across his chest. ‘Aah so that’s what this is about. I thought we’d agreed to a mutually pleasurable experience. A game. I don’t remember agreeing that I’d stay over for spooning.’
I want to snap a retort, but I can’t find the right words.
‘I don’t want a relationship Stella, just a good time.’
I feel like he’s physically slapped me.
‘You just want to fuck me?’
‘You bet.’ He rubs his hand along his length throu
gh his trousers. ‘You have no idea how much.’
‘I can’t be doing with this, dealing with stupid Gregory men. I had your father in here today, do you know, threatening me?’
Gabe’s mouth drops open and now he’s the one to look like he’s been hit.
‘He knows why I’ve got a job here so it’s pointless me sticking around. I’m not staying just to be your fucking chew toy. I quit.’
‘My father threatened you? What did he say?’
‘He said if I went anywhere near his files I’d regret it. You said I couldn’t either, so what is the bloody point in me being here? I give up, they’ve won.’
‘No.’ Gabe shouts. ‘They haven’t.’
‘Look Stella,’ he walks around and kneels by my feet, ‘I’m so sorry about my father. I had no idea. I want you to keep working here, I like having you around,’ he smiles up at me. ‘But I can’t do a relationship right now Stella, I just can’t. So if you want to quit it all I understand.’
His eyes fill with moisture and for a moment I’m scared that this man is going to break down in front of me.
‘You do something to me Stella. I feel alive and awake around you, energised. When I was first investigating who you were I was intrigued. Then I met you in the coffee shop and interview and I was just blown away by you. You have this whole ‘I’ll eat you for breakfast’ thing going on, yet I know that underneath is a vulnerable young woman.’
I hold my neck high in obstinence, but he strokes around my chin and up the side of my face and I start to relax.
‘I love that vulnerability, but it’s dangerous here. If you are going to play with these big boys I promise you can’t leave any of these traits on show. There’s a whole other world going on around here. Stay with me Stella, let me teach you things.’
I look down at the floor,‘I can’t be doing things with you where you then leave me and I feel like a whore.’
‘Is it really that big a deal to you whether or not I stay over?’
‘Yes, to be honest, it is. Or at least you could say goodbye, before you sneak off into the night.’
He rests his chin on my knee. ‘I can only say I’ll try. Okay?’
I lower my voice and speak hesitantly, ‘Whose job did I take over Gabe? Why did they leave?’
He lifts his head and looks up at me,‘Miranda left because she was having a baby and her husband decided she could be a stay at home mum. Why?’
‘Your dad indicated that you have a reputation with Assistants.’
‘Son of a bitch.’ I feel his breath gasp against my thigh. ‘I have never, before you, dated anyone from this firm. I’ve always kept business as business. Even with you, my plan was for us to be business, albeit with benefits.
I move my thigh away from him.
‘I think I’ve heard quite enough from the Gregory family for one day. You’re as fucked up as each other. I’m going home. I need time to work out where I go from here.’
He grabs my knees and turns me so I’m facing him.
‘You’re not going anywhere yet Stella. I’ve not finished with you yet.’
He pushes my thighs apart. I try to push them back together, to get up, but he raises himself up and wedges his body between mine. He leans towards me and kisses the sweet spot on my neck that I just can’t resist. It reminds me of when a cat picks up its kitten. Just a few sweet kisses and it’s like my backbone collapses and I’m a ragdoll.
His voice is husky at the side of my ear, ‘Tell me you still want to go and I’ll let -’
I’ve thrust my tongue in his mouth before he’s even finished the sentence.
We swap so he is sitting in the seat and I am sitting across his lap. I grind myself against him as we kiss. I start to unbutton the rest of his shirt and kiss down his chest, inhaling the musk of his aftershave and the salt of his skin. I stroke my hand across his pecs, feeling the definition and then onto the muscles of his abdomen. I pull his shirt off him and throw it onto the desk.
‘Don’t mess up my files. My PA will get really cross with you.’
I smile at him. I always thought screwing on desks was so cliche, until today. I get up and look at the desk, but I can’t bear to just knock it all to the ground, I’m too efficient at my job so I just take the files off and move them to the floor, a pile at a time, rubbing them down my body and between my legs and hoping it’s an erotic show.
I look at Gabe and see that he’s trying really hard not to laugh.
‘I guess this isn’t sexy huh?’
‘I’ve never seen anybody try and shag my papers before, seems a waste.’
I point at my cheeks where I can feel the flush develop. ‘You’ve made me embarrassed, I feel really unsexy now.’
He walks over to me, pausing to drop his trousers and then removing his pants.’
‘Does this look like I find you unsexy?’
I stare at his hard on which stands proud in salute at me. I feel between my legs moisten.
He pushes his body into mine and kisses me. He strokes his hands up my back and removes my top. Then I let him reach to my waistband where he unfastens the back of my skirt, pulls down the zip and lets it drop. He unhooks my bra and I take my arms out of it. Finally we’re standing close, my breasts pressing up against his chest. He runs his hands across the cheeks of my still covered bottom and then he moves his hand between our bodies, dipping under the edge of my panties. He teases me with his fingers and then slips first one and then another inside me. He slowly begins drawing them in and out, fucking me with his fingers. I begin to respond to his motion, lifting myself up and down on him. He withdraws them, puts them in his mouth and very slowly sucks them.
‘I love the taste of you.’
He lifts me up and lays me across the desk so that my hips are at the edge. He walks to his briefcase and extracts a condom.
Back at his desk, he wraps my legs around his waist and rubs himself against my entrance. Back and forth he rubs, teasing me by entering me just a little bit further and then extracting himself. Then he thrusts deeper, plunging into my warmth. I startle ‘Oh.’
He begins a teasing motion, pushing in and then slowly bringing himself almost back out, until I can’t take it anymore and I tighten my legs around his waist to stop him. He takes the hint and begins to fuck me hard, getting faster and faster. I can feel the heat between our bodies as we give each other everything we have. I feel myself tightening and scream, ‘Now, don’t stop, do not stop.’
He plunges even harder into me and I come undone underneath him. I grab his buttocks trying to force him even deeper as the sensations ebb and I feel him lose himself in me.
‘Someone likes it rough.’ He rests his head on my chest, where my heart is hammering.
‘That was C,’ he mutters breathlessly. ‘For coitus.’
‘Or cock,’ I sigh satisfied.
We put our clothes back on. Gabe watches me dress with a satisfied smirk.
‘I can’t concentrate when you look at me like that.’ I say zipping up my skirt.
‘Like what?’
‘Like you’ve just won a bet.’
‘Well with how things started this evening, I sure as hell didn’t expect to end up here.’
I pick up my bag,‘I still don’t think I can carry on working here.’
‘Look. I know for a fact that my father and your stepfather are away on business tomorrow. So meet me tomorrow and we’ll take the morning to do some business off the premises.’
I raise my eyebrow, ‘Oh yes?’
‘Not what you’re thinking you dirty little bitch. No, I think it’s time I introduced you to The Rodeo, one of their clubs.’
‘In the daytime?’
‘Meet me outside Shelley’s on The Strand at ten tomorrow morning. The cleaners should have just left by then and we’ll have the place to ourselves. I’ll show you what your Stepfather’s made his money from.’
‘There’s no chance your father will find out I’ve been there?’
&nb
sp; ‘No, he’s out of town. It’ll just be the two of us. I promise.’
‘Okay then, I’ll see you there at ten.’
I get up and head towards the door.
‘No snuggles then before you leave?’ He whimpers in a child-like tone.
I don’t let him know that it actually hurts me to hear him speak like that. I thought we’d reached an understanding.
‘Nope. Fuck em and leave em, that’s me.’
‘Shit, I’ve messed up again. Do you want a ride home? I can order you a cab.’
‘Nope, I’ve had my ride for the day from you. Now I can sort myself out.’ I brush my hand between my legs and watch him wet his lips with his tongue.
Then I close the door on him and head home, knowing that the evening satisfied me in some ways and left me wanting in others.
Chapter 8
I walk in to Shelley’s at nine the next morning. I’m an hour early for our meeting, but this is my official start time and after yesterday’s tardy comment, I’m not taking any chances. I call in and speak to Lorraine and let her know that I’m meeting Gabe and available via mobile.
‘Did you get in any bother yesterday with Mr Gregory?’
I’ll say.
‘No, I explained why I’d gone on my extended lunch and it was fine.’
‘Good, so I’ll look forward to expecting him back later in a better mood.’
‘I hope so, catch you later.’
I order a mocha, for a change. Today, I’m wearing a bright orange short sleeve top with a neon pink knee length skirt. I’ve underlined my eyes in bright blue liner to add to the zing.
‘Jesus, I need shades to look at your clothes.’ Gabe walks in wearing grey suit trousers and a pale blue shirt. He’s forgone a tie and he carries his jacket over his arm. ‘Drink up, we’ve things to do.’
I leave the rest of my drink on the table.
‘Very keen today. I like it.’ He makes a point to check out his watch. ‘Here well before ten.’
‘Nine.’
The Alphabet Game the Complete Alpha Series a to X, Y, Z Page 5