by Iona Rose
I push her face to the side as I rise to my feet and grab my purse.
“Hey! Where are you going?” She calls at my exit. “We’re not done. Blair!”
I wave at her without even bothering to turn around, too weak to even speak.
It’s almost midnight when I return home and thankfully, I find that Layne is asleep. After turning off the light in her room, I return to mine and reaffirm my decision to quit. It’s either this or my still very present ability to feel shame will kill me.
The next morning, I’m a little late to the office so I know he has already clocked in.
However, I do not go in for a quick greeting. I do however want to get this whole resignation thing sorted out so the moment I’m done with my letter, I knock on his door. Without waiting for a response that I am certain will not come, I go in and stand in front of the desk.
A moment later, he pulls his eyes away from his screen to regard me. “Do you need something?”
“No, I brought you something,” I reply, and lean forward to place the white envelope on his desk. From my handwriting on it, he can immediately read what it is. I don’t even bother looking at him and instead stare at the panoramic view of the city behind him. “It’s been such a privilege working here and I want to thank you for the opportunity, but I think that it’s best that I move on.”
I wait for a few seconds and when he doesn’t say a word, I meet his gaze and force a tight smile to my lips. Then I turn around to take my leave.
When I got to the door, he eventually spoke, “Is this because of yesterday?”
This question has so many layers and I don’t know which one to peel first so I decide to just leave it untouched. “No it isn’t,” I lie and continue on my way.
“So what’s the problem?” he calls to me.
I turn to face him. “It’s just some personal matters that I need to attend to.”
“I wanted to fuck you yesterday,” he says.
My heart stops in my chest.
The door is still closed but it almost feels as though the entire building is listening. My instinct is to hurry away in order to quell the discomfort making my blood curl, but I find myself unable to move.
He continues, “I sent you home because I had reached my limit, and I knew that there was no way I would have gotten through the day without giving in and touching you.”
I’m stunned by his admission because my assumption all along was that he dismissed me because of the advance I made towards him.
As I am trying to process his response, he rises to his feet.
Once again, I want to retreat but my feet remain fixed to the ground as though I have been nailed to the spot.
He arrives at the front of his desk with his hands in the pockets of his slacks, and then takes a seat on the edge of the table. His gaze is locked on mine.
This time around, I refuse to look away. “You shouldn’t say that.”
“I wasn’t going to,” he replies. “But since you’re quitting, I might as well say exactly what I want to. Blair, I can’t stop thinking about our night, and trust me, I’ve tried.”
I feel the strength begin to seep out of my bones so with a rasp, I clear my throat and shift my weight from one leg to the other. “Well, I didn’t know that,” I say. “I just thought you didn’t want me here.”
“If I didn’t want you here, then I wouldn’t have hired you.”
“Well, you didn’t want me at first.”
“With good reason,” he replies. “For instance, look at the point we’ve arrived at.”
I immediately correct him, “We’re here because you don’t talk to me. Because I never know what you’re thinking or how…” I catch myself at the passionate outburst.
“Go on,” he says.
Still, I take a deep breath and try to stabilize my tone and emotions. “Mr. Abbott, thanks for the opportunity but I’m still convinced the best thing for the both of us is to part ways.”
“Alright by me,” he says.
I can’t help the sharp jab of pain in my chest at his words. I turn around to leave.
“But there is one thing…” he says. “Since we’re going to part ways anyway, how about one for the road?”
I return my gaze to his and see that he is not for even a second, joking. “Are you asking me to have sex with you?”
“Yes. That is exactly what I'm asking.”
I’m stunned and as a result, the first words that rush to my lips are to express my incredulity. Then, what Jodie said the previous day at the diner on the art of being shameless comes to mind.
Quitting this job is not an easy or desired decision by me and as I've come to also discover, neither is restraining myself from being physically attracted to him. She said that she’d come into his office to fuck him and then return to work, so why couldn’t I do the same? The truly, most preferred answer that I can think of comes to mind, but I am too ashamed to spit it out.
“… shame my dear is a buzzkill. You need to get rid of that shit and do what you fucking want.”
My hands become restless by my sides, especially since I know he is watching me intently.
“I will,” I reply. “I will have sex with you but I have my own conditions too.”
“State them,” he says.
I cannot believe what is about to come out of my mouth, “I will have sex with you, but I still want to work here.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Grady
I’m almost convinced that I have misheard her.
So I wait a few more moments for her to correct herself. When she doesn’t, I cock my head at her, now expecting some sort of explanation or clarification.
“I know I just technically resigned but i-if you accept my terms, I think that we can make it work.” Her gaze falters from mine, and it shows that her courage to say all these words is running out.
At another time, her shyness would have been somewhat endearing but right now… it is not. “I don’t think that’s going to work.” I see the determination on her face but I can also sense the incoming resistance. Her features darken and somehow it turns me on even further.
“Why?” she asks.
“Allen says you’re a goofball, but I have yet to see that side of you.”
She is immediately confused at my statement. “What?”
I straighten and move away from the desk. “Blair,” I begin. “The person I am in my private life is not the same person that I am here in the office. And I want to keep things this way. Heading the company requires me to constantly make very strategic choices, and I don’t want anything that will cloud my judgement.”
“Alright,” she says and walks away, pulls the door to the office open then shuts it.
A second later, the crippling silence of the room engulfs me. I watch the door, the tension in the pit of my stomach churning and my breath becoming harsher. Before I can stop myself, I march towards it. I pull it open and meet her at her desk. She turns around at my sudden arrival but before either of us can process what is happening, my hands are on her.
I pull her into my arms and take her lips in mine.
The first draw is long and deep, and by the time the intimate contact is broken, livid lust is blazing through my system.
Slanting my head, I slip my tongue into her mouth and her response is a mix of a cry and a whimper. I’m just as affected myself, the vivid reminder of what it truly means to melt into a puddle coming to mind.
I can’t see, smell or feel anything beyond her delicious warmth and her intoxicating scent.
“Grady,” she breathes into my mouth, needing to speak to me but at the same time almost unable to break off contact.
“I’m not ready,” is all I can say, and whether it’s for the kiss to end or for us to properly set the parameters for our relationship, I’m not certain.
Somehow, she finds the strength to pull away and her hands immediately grab my shoulders to hold me at bay.
With her head lower
ed to the floor, all I can do is watch her as I try to catch my breath. Her hair has fallen down the sides of her face and I can’t help but lift my hand to move the thick mass out of her face. I need her to look at me, and I need us to connect beyond the reservations that my brain is blaring through my head as to why all of this is a terrible idea.
“Grady,” she says. “You can’t keep doing this.”
“I know. But how the fuck, am I supposed to let you go?”
She lifts her head.
The determination in her eyes strikes me in the chest.
“Let’s not think,” she says. “Right now. I think we’re both past the point of allowing the other to leave anyway, so let’s just get this over with. We can choose whether to continue or discontinue this later on.”
Immense relief washes over me, but it is bitter sweet. “Okay,” I agree, and bend my knees so that I can wrap my arms under her ass. She crushes her lips to mine and a moment later, I’m slamming the door to my office shut with my leg.
With a swipe of my hand, I clear off whatever is in the way on my desk and seat her on it. Her legs automatically spread apart to invite me forward and I don’t waste a single moment longer before settling my hips between her thighs.
She is wearing a pair of striped cotton pants which I proceed to peel off her, and in no time my hands are on her bare and lustrous skin. And the very fact that I get to touch her this intimately again, fills me with so much excitement that I can barely contain myself.
Her arms are around my shoulders as she buries her face in my neck, her pants are soft and her need acute.
I’m just as desperate to bask in her, and the avid reminder that I was contemplating giving this up barely a few minutes earlier squeezes my chest with fear. “Why do I feel like this with you?” I find myself muttering as I plant a kiss on her cheeks, then my lips begin to follow the curve of her jaw.
With a low whimper, she unlocks her arms from my shoulders and instead cradles my face in her hands. Her lips lock on mine and we both melt into the desperate kiss. “Fuck…” Her voice trembles into my mouth. “...the way you taste, Grady.”
I know exactly what she means, and I can feel the force of the aphrodisiac that she is seeping into every nook of my being. With a sharp tug, I jerk her even closer towards me until the rock hard strain through my pants is digging aggressively into the soaked dark lace covering her sex.
I grind my hips into her and it earns me a long winded gasp. Her head falls into the crook of my shoulder as I increase the intensity and frequency of the strokes and soon she’s holding onto me for dear life.
“Grady... Grady,” she breathes, and her call sends a shivering thrill down my frame. The urgency at which I want to take her spikes to dizzying heights, so I can no longer bear the constraint of my dick in my pants. I grab onto the buckle of my belt and in no time, my pants are unzipped.
She then grabs the edge of my briefs and with clumsy amusing attempts, she moves to rapidly pull them down my hips. “I need you,” she rasps. “Fuck me, as hard as you possibly can.”
I don’t need any further cajoling so with a sharp tug on the strap securing her underwear to her hips—the material is ripped apart, unsheathing her pretty pussy for my perusal.
Much to her protest, I move slightly away which removes my cock from her adoring hands, but I need to taste her. To devour as much of her as I can before my cock takes the stage. With a slight push, I spread her legs even further apart and the intoxicatingly musky scent that is so uniquely hers welcomes me into bliss.
I have missed this, much more than I realized or even expected. I lower my head. My tongue first of all, digs into her opening, spurring a fresh flow of heated arousal. I lap it all up and then proceed to cover as much of her entire sex as I can with my mouth. I’m completely consumed by this delight in devouring her, so it is only as my lips move to suck hard on her engorged clit, that I faintly register her half-hearted struggle to pull me away from her. The torment I know is overwhelming, and at the rake of her fingers down my back, I can’t help but smile.
When I finally lift my face from her sex, she pulls me forward to deliver her gratitude with a heart melting kiss. I know that she can taste herself in my mouth and it heightens the entire act to an excruciatingly erotic degree.
I can’t pace myself any longer so my hands immediately move to the buttons of my dress shirt. Unfastening them however is taking too long, so I rip the shirt apart and tear the material down my arms, needing her hands on my skin as I ready myself to fuck her.
She doesn’t even wait and in a breath, her head is lowered and her lips closing around the hard disk of my nipple.
My entire pelvis goes numb at the contact and when she sucks hard on it, her soft heated hands caress across every bit of my skin.
My knees go weak. “How can we give this up?” I find myself asking in disbelief, my entire body burning with a crazed yearning.
“Well, you’re the one who doesn’t want to consider my conditions,” she accuses as she bites into my nipple.
With a strained laugh, I pull away. One hand softly holds her chin so she can face me directly and look into my eyes, while the other palms her soaking slit. Her eyes flutter shut as my fingers thrust in and out of her and then my hand comes away with her slickness to be slathered all over my cock. “Look at me,” I order.
She manages to pry her eyes open. The delight on her face is infectious and at the smile she flashes at me, my heart nearly stops.
I gaze at her, slightly dumbfounded once again at why I’m holding myself from letting this woman in. From letting anyone in for that matter. Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten so used to being alone over the years, I’d succeeded at convincing myself that I prefer it.
She licks her lips in anticipation as the broad head of my cock nudges at the lips of her sex. And the moment the first inch of me slides into her, her lids clamp shut. “Oh God,” she quivers.
I suck on her bottom lip, unable to shut my own eyes. I just want to watch her, every expression and emotion that appears on her face, as I possess her. In these few moments, she is mine, and the notion is as terrifying as it is exciting.
She grabs onto my arms as I continue to plunge repeatedly into her, and the hungry sheath of her heated walls around my cock is beyond exhilarating.
“Harder,” she buries her face in my neck. Her hips are restless and frantically jutting forward to keep up with the maddened rhythm we are both exploiting.
However, I’m not satisfied, so, with a firm grip on her thighs, I pull out of her to just the right extent and then slam back into her.
The hard plunge sends her back arching and her nails digging into the skin of arms. Her neck is now fully exposed and trembling with groans, so I nibble on the sensitive flesh, tasting the slight dampness and sweetness of her skin. There’s nothing about this woman that doesn’t arouse me. As I withdraw and drive into her once again, I feel the screws in my brain rapidly coming loose.
Her moans ring out so loudly across the room that I have to crush my lips to hers in order to muffle her, vaguely aware that at any moment someone could walk in on us. A part of me can’t help but worry about this, but at the same time, the rest of me doesn’t give a fuck.
In this moment, nothing beyond the crippling sweet tension and the wild grating of her walls against my cock is producing is as important.
Soon, even I can no longer afford to stay quiet, so I allow the release of suppressed, tortured groans from the back of my throat.
Suddenly, jerking her hips even closer to bury every single inch of me inside her makes her almost lose her balance but she quickly regains it. Her body is twisted at just the right angle and the grind of her hips into my thrusts makes me shudder from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. It doesn’t take any longer for me to come, but noting that she is yet to fall apart, I force myself to hold on just a bit longer. I pull out of her.
The loss of contact rips an agonized complaint through her lips.<
br />
“Calm down, baby,” I assure her with a rough kiss and then with my hand around her waist, I guide her off the table. Before she can comprehend my intention, I turn her around and ensure that her hands are firmly placed on the desk. “Hold on,” is the only warning I give to her before I once again spread her thighs apart and position the head of my cock at her opening.
With my hands holding the curve of her hips, I slam into her and go deeper than I ever have before. “Fuck,” I groan aloud while her nails scrape down the table.
“Grady,” she whimpers uncontrollably.
For a moment, I vaguely register that she is close to tears. I continue pounding voraciously into her and she throws her ass just as frantically backwards to meet my thrusts. I don’t think that I have ever fucked any woman as hard before.
My libido is out of control as my thoughts and memory recall all the countless nights since our first time at the hotel that I have dreamt of doing this again with her.
It’s even better than I remembered, and I want this to last forever.
Eventually however, it comes to the most gratifying end. An orgasm blasts through her body like a seizure, and it simultaneously triggers my own release. For a second, I consider pulling out since it occurs to me that I have failed in using protection but in this moment, I’m not capable of any sense whatsoever. I empty myself into her and keep coming until finally, I collapse on top of her, barely able to catch a single breath.
We’re both heaving and panting, filled with amazement at the rolling aftermath of the orgasmic waves that have completely engulfed us.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Blair
The next morning, an alarm is not needed to wake me up.
My eyes are wide open and have been for the better part of the night, so when the blaring begins, I immediately pick up my phone to shut it off.
My gaze is fixated on the barreled ceiling above, the lines of its trim now solidly committed to memory.
The world seems tilted to me, as though everything is out of balance and incredibly foreign.