May Flowers

by Mari Carr

  He groaned, his come filling her.

  That was when reality hit.

  “Did you go to the doctor?”

  It took her a few moments to understand his question. “Yes.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I’m sorry, May. I forgot the condom.”

  It was apparent she still hadn’t realized that, even after his question about her visit to the doctor. “Oh.”

  Her response triggered a concern. “When did you go?”

  “Wednesday.”

  “Three days ago?”

  She nodded. “I got the shot.”

  “How long before it takes effect?”

  “A week.”

  Lochlan was still inside her. “May—” he started.

  “It’ll be okay. I’m sure of it. But, um, maybe I should go to the bathroom to wash and jump up and down a few hundred times,” she joked.

  Lochlan didn’t move. He’d spent a lifetime swearing off kids. He waited for panic to creep in. It didn’t. Instead, he felt regret for putting May in this situation, and then incredible guilt for hoping he’d just gotten her pregnant.

  Jesus. He really had fallen fast and hard.

  “Are you freaking out?” she whispered.

  He grinned. He probably looked like he was. “No, May. I’m not freaking out. Are you?”

  “Not yet. But I drank a lot of champagne and just came three times in a row, so I’m probably not in the best frame of mind to think things through.”

  Lochlan laughed. “God. You’re adorable. And perfect.”

  She rolled her eyes, clearly amused. “I’m so far from both of those things. Lochlan, I’m a mess. We keep making this mistake bigger and bigger.”

  He hated when she referred to what they shared as a mistake. “It’s not a mistake.”

  “Of course it is. Saying otherwise doesn’t change that fact. And it also doesn’t make me smart enough or strong enough to stay away from you. I know I should, but…I can’t.”

  “I can’t stay away from you either. May…”

  It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her loved her. The words were right there, but she spoke first and the moment vanished.

  “You never told me why those straps were already on your bed the other night.”

  He hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to her about his dominant tendencies. It was strange. Every sexual relationship he’d had in the past had involved some tenet of BDSM because he desired it. It was what drove him sexually, turned him on.

  With May, he didn’t need it. He wanted to explore all of that with her, but it wasn’t necessary. He was perfectly content to make love to her slow and steady and for hours on end without a single bell or whistle.

  “I typically enjoy sex with an edge. Bondage, spankings, rough sex.”

  “I think I’d like all of that too.”

  He chuckled. “The first day we met, I noticed something in you, something I tried hard not to see because it spoke to a part of me I keep locked away at work.”

  “What did you see?”

  “Your submissiveness. It called to the dominant inside me.”

  May frowned, and he wondered if she disagreed with that assessment. Then a sly smile emerged. “And you think you keep that locked away at work? Really?”

  He ruffled her hair playfully. “Smart-ass. I’m breaking all the rules with you.”

  She sobered up, nodding. “Yeah. Me too.”

  Once again, he felt the overwhelming need to tell her how he felt, but May seemed determined to keep that truth at bay.

  “I need to go clean up,” she whispered.

  He released her reluctantly, watching as she slipped into the bathroom.

  Lochlan lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out his next move. His father had waited until Mom was no longer his student before pursuing her, but that wasn’t an option for him. Which meant he needed to find another solution. The obvious answer was to convince her to move in with him, to pack up her mom and the girls and live with him in the condo. Hell, at this point, he was ready to buy a proper house for the five of them.

  The door to the bathroom slid open and he sat up.

  “Hey,” she said. “Listen, I’ve been thinking—”

  He didn’t like her tone, so he cut her off. “So have I.”

  “Lochlan—” she started again.

  “The ban on office romances is lifted.”

  She rolled her eyes, laughing lightly. “You’re ridiculous.”

  “Not at all. If you don’t want to break a rule, just change it.”

  “That’s not how life works.”

  He reached for her, pulling her beneath him once more. “It does when you’re the boss.”

  Her lips parted to continue the argument, so he kissed her until the complaint was a distant memory.

  “When you come to work on Monday, wear a skirt. And no panties.”

  “I told you, Lochlan, I’m not having sex with you at the office. It’s bad enough I came to the wedding with you tonight. That reporter was there, taking pictures for the social pages. Someone from work is bound to see us in the photos together and—”

  “No panties,” he repeated. “I’m going to bend you over my desk. I’m going to fill up that tight virgin ass of yours with a butt plug, and then I’m going to fuck you from behind.”

  May’s cheeks flushed as she expelled a quiet, hard breath of air. The image he was painting excited her.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  He wasn’t sure what she was pleading for, so he made sure his answer covered it all. “You’ve taken staying with me at my condo off the table, which means the office is our only option. And I haven’t scratched the surface of all the things I’m going to teach you sexually.”

  “Teach me?”

  Lochlan liked drawing pictures for her, liked watching as her eyes went dark with desire, her body tightened with need as he described everything he was going to do to her.

  “You’re going to suck my dick…tucked away under my desk…while I’m in a meeting. I’m going to bend you over every flat surface in that office to fuck you. I’m going to tie you up and make you beg for my dick. Going to put a vibrator inside your pretty pussy, then watch you squirm at your desk when I adjust the speed with the wireless remote. I’m never going to get enough of you, May. Never.”

  “Holy shit.” Her curse came out as breath, not sound. “I…God… I need you, Lochlan. Right now.”

  He didn’t need to be told twice. He pressed her legs apart and pushed back inside. This time, they were both aware of the lack of condom. They were throwing caution to the wind, pressing their luck, daring fate.

  “May,” he murmured as he moved slow and sure, every stroke feeling like pure, agonizing bliss. When it wasn’t enough for either of them, he lifted her legs until her knees were tucked over his shoulders. She was bent in half, and the new position allowed him to go even deeper.

  She gasped on the first hard thrust, her pussy muscles clenching tight around him.

  Lochlan prided himself on staying power, but not tonight. Not right now. Every quiver of her pussy sent him closer to the abyss, until he had no choice but to come or die.

  May was with him, calling out his name, her voice hoarse from her cries.

  “May,” he whispered again as their climaxes began to subside. Her name felt like the answer to a prayer.

  He pushed himself to her side, reaching down to pull the covers over their sweat-soaked skin.

  She twisted as he wrapped his arm around her waist until her back rested against his chest. They lay together without talking, their breathing growing slower, easier.

  He knew the second she dropped off to sleep. He’d been waiting for it.

  Because it allowed him to speak what was written on his heart.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  9

  May rubbed her eyes wearily. It had been a long week after a wild, wonderful weekend. Lochlan had remained true
to his word, and each day at work had been a new lesson in kinky fantasies.

  The man was seriously fucking with her mind…as well as her body. She left work exhausted yet exhilarated from his daily sexual siege. She should have been able to sleep like the dead each night, but instead, she lay awake, restless, hot and bothered, playing with herself as she lived over each day’s wicked adventure.

  Now it was Friday, and she was tired and horny. It wasn’t a good combination.

  Lochlan was out of the office all afternoon for a business meeting, which meant she was also grumpy as hell.

  She looked at the clock for the hundredth time in ten minutes. It was just barely past three. The day had already felt like an eternity. She wasn’t sure she could survive two more hours.

  May stood up and stretched. Time to move or she’d fall asleep in her chair. She decided to grab a cup of coffee and deliver a stack of files to the CFO. His office was on the opposite side of their floor of the building, and she could use the walk.

  She was halfway across the large center space when the sound of someone talking in a hushed voice caught her attention. “…pictures were on that blog I follow. He took her to the wedding.”

  The speaker was behind a cubicle, unable to see her. Another voice entered the whispered conversation. “Guess that explains how she got the job. Always wondered why he went with someone so inexperienced.”

  “He’s a man,” the first person said. “They all think with their dicks.”

  “Don’t be catty, Celia. You’re just jealous. You’ve made no secret of the fact you wouldn’t mind spending a little horizontal time with hot Lochlan.”

  “He’s sexy as sin and rich. Do you blame me? May moves fast.”

  May continued walking, her face suddenly on fire. The word was out. Someone had discovered that she had been Lochlan’s date for Caitlyn’s wedding, and she was office gossip fodder.

  Suddenly, she started putting a few things together, things she might have noticed earlier in the week if Lochlan hadn’t been distracting her with sex.

  Several people had been casting glances her way whenever she walked through the office, giving her knowing grins. One woman had even winked at her, as if they shared some secret. She wasn’t sure how she’d failed to put two and two together.

  She’d known the pictures of her and Lochlan together had appeared on several Baltimore society sites online. Lochlan had pointed one out to her himself, proclaiming it his favorite picture of them. In it, Lochlan was standing behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist as she glanced back at him, grinning widely.

  Her head had been in the clouds, and her body on sex overdrive this week. Constantly. So she’d missed a pretty important fact. The jig was up. Everyone in the office knew about her and the boss.

  Chancing a peek around, she noticed no less than three people looking her direction, their eyes lowering quickly when they saw her looking. Or at least that was what it felt like. She was suddenly feeling very paranoid.

  She’d neared the CFO’s office, but slowed when she heard a couple of men talking inside.

  “Can’t blame him. She’s smoking hot.”

  She stopped dead in her tracks when Phillip, Lochlan’s accountant, sighed. “Maybe so, but I’ve heard more than a few comments about him breaking the office romance rule.”

  May took two steps away from the door, then turned and hastened back to her desk. Waves of nausea coursed through her. Any respect she may have earned with the other employees of AdLoch was now gone.

  Dropping down in the chair, she sent an email to Lochlan, telling him she wasn’t feeling well and that she was going home early. She couldn’t stay here, couldn’t stand facing down their knowing looks.

  When she got home, she’d write up her letter of resignation, give Lochlan two weeks’ notice. She’d known when she started fooling around with him that she was risking everything and, like an idiot, she’d done it anyway.

  She quickly swiped away a stray tear. She couldn’t cry. Not here.

  Later, tonight, when she was alone on the couch, she’d give herself the luxury of sobbing her heart out. Until then, she needed to figure out how to salvage the mess.

  First order of business was to find a new job. God, she’d been lucky as hell to find this one. There was no way she’d get another administrative assistant position at this salary, with these benefits. Which meant she was facing a huge pay cut. And a lifetime spent sleeping in the living room.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” she muttered to herself, falling deeper into a well of self-loathing.

  Once she sent the email, she turned off her computer and gathered her things, holding her head high, looking neither left nor right as she walked to the elevator. She wasn’t sure if she actually heard someone whisper a comment about her leaving early or if she’d imagined it, but it didn’t matter.

  May didn’t take a breath until the elevator doors closed her in, shut her away from all of them. Then she let a long, shuttering sigh seep out.

  “It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine,” she murmured all the way home.

  Her mother was sitting on the couch when she arrived, watching a talk show and waiting for the girls to get home from school.

  May tried not to notice that her mother didn’t even realize she was home early, just made some sort of rambling comment about one of the guests on the show. May feigned interest, then excused herself to go to the bathroom.

  She splashed water on her face and fought down the urge to throw up. Her phone pinged.

  You okay?

  It was a text from Lochlan. He’d obviously seen her email.

  Fine.

  She hit send on the text before she realized what she’d done. Time to repair the damage. Fast.

  Okay. Not fine. Ate something that didn’t agree with me at lunch. No worries.

  Lochlan seemed appeased by the quick save.

  Need anything? I can stop by after this meeting.

  She couldn’t see him right now. Her emotions were too close to the surface. If he showed up here, she wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to say what needed to be said. She needed the weekend to get her ducks in a row, to gird her loins, so to speak.

  On Monday, she would be better prepared to do what she had to do. She’d spend the weekend working on her resume, searching job sites and writing up her resignation. And with any luck, she’d manage to actually get some sleep because she really needed it.

  No thanks. Going to drink some ginger ale and turn in early tonight. I’ll see you Monday.

  Lochlan’s reply was longer coming this time. No doubt he didn’t like the idea that she didn’t plan to see him this weekend. She prayed he’d accept that comment without argument.

  I’ll call you later.

  She rubbed her forehead. She couldn’t talk to him.

  Really tired. I’ll call you tomorrow.

  She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t answer if he called her either.

  It was official. In addition to being an idiot, she was a coward.

  OK.

  May put the phone back on the edge of the sink and did something she never did.

  She cried.

  Lochlan sat on the couch in the Collins Dorm and pretended to watch the football game. He couldn’t begin to count the number of Sundays he’d spent in this apartment, surrounded by family, watching the Ravens play. Unlike the majority of his family, he’d followed his father’s path, a Steelers fan from the crib, so today’s game—between the Ravens and the Packers—held little to interest him. He didn’t have a horse in this race.

  But he had one in another sort of game. One he definitely felt like he was losing at the moment.

  He’d called May earlier to invite her and the girls to join them watching the game, but she said her mother had a migraine and she wasn’t comfortable leaving her alone.

  He’d known the second she had spoken the words, they were a lie. May was avoiding him, but he couldn’t figure out why. The last time
he’d seen her had been Friday morning, and it had been his idea of heaven on earth. She’d been sitting on his lap, facing away from him, riding him like a damn stallion. Lochlan had lived the moment over and over no less than twenty times since then.

  May was sensual, sexy, an avid student. What she lacked in experience she more than made up for in enthusiasm. And while all of that was wonderful, the woman was also equal parts stubborn.

  Which meant she’d dug her heels in on dating him officially. Despite repeated, twelve-times-a-day requests on his part to join him for dinner or on his boat or even just to take a walk on the waterfront, she’d refused. Everyday he’d asked her out, and every single day she’d refused, claiming they’d been lucky no one had discovered she had gone to the wedding with him. It pissed him off every time she mentioned them “dodging a bullet,” insisting it was important to her that no one learn of their affair.

  He wasn’t sure which part of all that angered him more. The fact she thought they’d dodged a bullet, or that she kept calling their relationship an affair.

  Fergus dropped down next to him on the couch and handed him a bottle of beer. “That’s a hell of a scowl, man. Who pissed in your cornflakes? Ravens are losing. You should probably be the only person here smiling at the moment.”

  “Yeah.” Lochlan glanced at the score on the screen. He hadn’t even noticed the Packers had made a touchdown.

  “Does your grumpiness have anything to do with that cute blonde you were dancing with at Caitlyn’s wedding?”

  “May Flowers.”

  Fergus chuckled. “Not going to lie. That’s a pretty awesome name.”

  Lochlan thought so too, but he couldn’t summon the energy to smile. “It suits her.”

  “Colm and Paddy seem to think you’ve got it pretty bad for this woman. Never known you to fall in love. Lust, definitely. But not love. You were always too busy trying to make a buck.”

  He couldn’t argue with Fergus. Mainly because what he said was true. Work had been his primary focus since he’d graduated from college and convinced Pop Pop and Dad that he was made to be his own boss. Sometimes he couldn’t believe they let him get away with that arrogant bluster, but they had, and he’d spent every second of every day since then with the sole focus of making money, of becoming a success in his field. If anyone had asked him a year ago, he would have sworn he was happy with his life, and he would have meant it with all his heart.