Rules of Payne (Cake Love Book 1)

by Elizabeth Lynx

  I jerk back and look at him. “What?”

  His eyes remain glued to my shirt as his fingers start to lift it but I push it away. Henrik gazes up at me and shakes his head. “It’s just one of my rules. I don’t want to get romantically involved with women and I find there is a lot of emotion in kissing. If I limit the kissing to the afterglow of sex then it’s easier to walk away.”

  I can’t believe I was so stupid to fall for this again. At least this time he didn’t walk away, he stayed. But his words were basically the equivalent. No, they were worse.

  At least when he walked away I never knew why he grew so cold. Now I know. He has no heart. I was a fool to start thinking Henrik might want a little more of me than just sex.

  I moved off him and stood with my hands on my hips. “This is just . . . what, a one-night stand? You’re okay with having your way with me now that you don’t have to see me at work anymore?”

  The bastard had the nerve to smile at me like a clown. I didn’t realize I was a joke to him. “No, no, Morgana. I mean, yes, we probably won’t see each other again at work but we haven’t had sex yet. I only do that after sex.”

  Wow. Just, wow.

  “Oh, so maybe when you are healed you can nail me and then never have to see me again. Is that it?”

  He got up from the couch with some effort, wincing as he rose.

  “I think you are making too much of this. I like you. I think you are the sexiest woman I have ever met. But I don’t do romance or the boyfriend thing. Let’s just enjoy this while it lasts, okay?” he said with a straight face.

  I walk back into the bedroom to grab his shoes. Then I make my way back out and over to the front door to open it.

  “You need to leave, Henrik,” I said glaring at him while holding his shoes out in front of me.

  He walked over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders but I shrugged them off.

  “I think you’re confused, Morgana. Please understand that I am not saying this to hurt you but because I care and respect you. I want to be honest and upfront here. I can’t make promises if I know I won’t keep them.”

  His smile was sad and matched the pathetic reaction he has to being kissed. What is wrong with a man who can’t even kiss a woman unless sex is involved?

  I wanted to ask him. Find out what happened to make him so scared of being cared for. But I felt rejected and hurt by how my touch was so meaningless to him.

  “Neither can I, Henrik. I like you. As much as you piss me off sometimes I have feelings for you. I wouldn’t have screwed my own job if I didn’t care for you. I love the company, but not that much.” I rolled my eyes before blowing out a jaded laugh.

  “So, what now? Some sloppy sex to thank me for saving your job and I’m left with nothing. You get to keep going same as usual at work, while I’m left jobless and no shoulder to cry on? I understand perfectly fine, Henrik. I think you’re the one who is confused. Please leave.”

  He took the shoes from me and with them in hand he brushed past me. Once he was in the hall he turned, “I’m . . . uh . . . I’m sorry for everything.”

  Then he left. Those were the final words I would hear from Henrik. That he’s sorry. Guess what, Henrik? I’m sorry I ever let you into my life.

  I stumbled back into my bedroom, exhausted from the worst night of my life, and fell face first onto my bed.

  “Is he still here?” Aria’s asked.

  I turned over and sat up. “No, he went home. Feel free to walk around naked if you like no one but us idiots around.”

  I flung my head into my hands and groaned. The bed dipped as she came to sit beside me.

  “Do you know, Morgana, that the flightless winged . . .”

  I lifted my head and held my hand up. “Not now, Aria. I know you mean well, but just don’t. I kind of want to feel like shit right now.”

  She nodded. “What happened?”

  I can’t help but laugh at my killer taste in men.

  “The same as always. We do a little somthin’ somethin’ and then he gives me the ‘I don’t do relationships’ talk. You’d love him, Aria, right up your alley.”

  “Yeah, probably but he doesn’t have eyes for me. From what I’ve seen of him I think he is all talk.” Her hand began to rub my back.

  I shook my head. “Even if that were true, which I don’t think it is, then he needs to figure that shit out on his own. Unfortunately, I might not be here when he does.”

  She pulled me tight and gave me a side hug. “Well, in the meantime I brought home a bottle of champagne. More like smuggled out. I quit tonight so let’s both drown our sorrows.”

  My eyes widen and I turn to face her. “What? Why would you do that?”

  “Are you serious? Jackson almost raped you. Do you think I would work for a man like that? No, and I am going to tell everyone I know to stay the hell away from that place.”

  A cold thought creeps into my head. “Great now we both don’t have jobs. How are we going to pay rent?”

  FOURTEEN

  Payne’s Rule

  Make a plan and stick to it.

  I lied, badly.

  “Hopefully we can get this deal made today so Ms. Drake can get back to being your assistant.” Jacob Mimir slapped me on the back as we strolled down the dark wood paneled hall on the top floor of the RT Mitchell building.

  I gritted my teeth and tried my best to smile and nod at Jacob.

  It had been almost a month since I last saw Morgana and in that time, she got a job with the financial firm RT Mitchell. I thought I would be happy for her, but I wasn’t.

  My mind kept drifting back to the night I pulled that shit-bag off of her in the club. How she took care of me after they kicked me out. How I took care of her on her couch. How I fucked it all up with my mouth and she kicked me out.

  A tall, lanky man with a Bluetooth attached to his ear guided us to a door at the end of the hall. He opened it to a large conference room filled with people.

  My heart was pounding in my chest as I moved through the door. The crowd of suits surrounded us but I only saw her.

  Seated with her back to me alone at the end of a long oak conference table, my breath caught as I gazed upon her fiery hair, which was gathered back into a bun. Morgana turned, and my chest burned and tightened and finally ignited. When her warm eyes turned up and caught me, I had forgotten where I was and why I was here.

  “Glad to be here. We are excited to see what you have planned for us.” My canned response was directed toward whoever was talking to me. I didn’t know if they were a man or a woman, I only saw her. My beautiful rose.

  I had realized how right Bechmann was; Morgana was the best thing I had at that company. It only took a few days with a temporary assistant for me to realize what a fool I had been.

  But that wasn’t the only reason. After Morgana told me to leave her apartment all those weeks ago, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. How she tastes. The way she smells. Her powerful love of cake.

  Morgana is sweet, funny, and intensely sexy. When Bechmann came up with an idea to get Morgana back to the company, by not informing anyone about how she caught us in my office doing more than office work, for the first time in our working life I totally agreed with her.

  I meant to tell Morgana. There were so many time I drove by her place, only to keep going. Bechmann warned me that if I didn’t tell Morgana about her job, she would and she wouldn’t be so kind about my knowing but never saying anything when explaining it to Morgana.

  Luckily, Jacob Mimir had set up a meeting with RT Mitchell, where Morgana worked. So here I am. Ready to take back the woman I should never had let go.

  Once everyone was seated Gregory Mitchell III, the CFO of the bank and Morgana’s current boss, lowered the lights for the presentation. I kept my eyes on Morgana but she ignored me and finally left the room, only to return with a coffee cart.

  He has her serving coffee?

  What a waste of her talent. Morgana always
sat beside me in meetings and we would confer on the topics. She was sharp and came up with interesting points.

  She came my way and I prepared my speech. I had to keep it simple and to the point. Something that would make Morgana see that I needed her. That she was valuable to the company. That I made a mistake not fighting to keep her.

  I decided to open the Denton file to appear busy. I haven’t worked on that file in a while. Morgana was the last one to help me with it.

  I was having trouble finding the file and mentioned it to Ms. Herald, my temporary assistant, who swore it was located under Contracts.

  “Ms. Herald, I need those Denton files. I can’t find them where you said they would be,” I whispered.

  As Ms. Herald fumbled around on my computer, there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Morgana standing in front of me, her hair pinned back with her glasses neatly resting on the bridge of her nose.

  That simple touch had sent a pulsating heat down my chest causing everything in me to wake.

  “Yes, Ms. Drake?” I tried my best to mask the urge to reach for her hand just to touch her supple skin and remained neutral. Unfortunately, my voice constricted giving everything away and my words traveled a bumpy path exiting my mouth.

  Morgana dipped forward, her milky cleavage screaming for my attention. I gave my eyes a pep talk to remain on her face, but it was hard. So hard.

  My eyes, my voice, I was giving everything away. She must know how wrong I had been. How I had made a mess of her life, her feelings, and sat there like some spoiled king while my eyes ate her like cake.

  “May I, Mr. Payne?” Morgana asked pointing to my computer, so I nodded.

  She might upload a virus to destroy everything, and I let her. I might as well, I deserved it. As she was probably causing my working life to crumble with a few keystrokes, I got a hint of her fragrance and everything else withered.

  “Is this what you were looking for?” She stood and reality slapped me once again. The sweet smell of her was gone. The beautiful view was taken aback so that all that I was left with was a hard-on and a keen desire to lick something. Preferably something soft and full of her flavor.

  My eyes finally regained focus and I took in what she did. The Denton file. Morgana found it.

  I was lost without her. I only wanted to be lost in her.

  I had a habit of misplacing things, even computer files. It seemed in the few months I had known this woman she had figured out how my brain worked better than me. Ms. Herald was nice and did try, but she couldn’t remember where I placed my jacket even if I was wearing it.

  “Yes, Ms. Drake. Helpful as always.”

  That was when I fucked it all up. I touched her. My fingers glided up the back of her knee to her thigh. In my defense, she was addictively soft. I think her skin was made for my fingers to fondle.

  I glanced up for the reaction I wanted. Hoping to find desire, but all I discovered was a broken, pained sight.

  Should I even have been surprised after everything?

  I was purposely hard on her when she did work for me, ignored her, and then when she left the company, I still tried to have my way with Morgana and told her relationships weren’t an option.

  Which they aren’t, but in the weeks since that time I have been wondering if I should make a concession. Morgana was the exception to my rules.

  Even understanding all that, it hurt when she removed my hand, asked what beverage I wanted, and then answered for me, “Let me guess, coffee . . . black . . . like your soul.”

  I tried not to let it affect me and reminded myself I was here to win her back as an assistant, not to fuck her. When her fingers grazed mine as she placed the coffee in my hand, the spark was instantaneous. It tickled my fingers and for a second, I saw Morgana’s eyes widen. She felt it too.

  Didn’t she?

  It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. Yet, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Even as she continued to hand out drinks and finally took her seat, my gaze remained glued to hers. Morgana didn’t look away. Her lips should have sneered in disgust, but eventually, they sagged. Perhaps a frown but then why did my dick pulsate the more her mouth fell.

  And her eyes, they tumbled too. They collided with my mouth with only the conference table in our way. When her tongue darted out to lick at some nonexistent crumb, that’s when I lost it.

  Thankfully the slideshow was over and the lights came up. I went directly to her boss and made up an excuse to talk to Morgana privately. Something about how I needed her passcode to get into an old file from before she left Mimir. He bought it and informed her she needed to stay behind.

  It felt like a week before everyone was out of the conference room, but finally, the last person left and I locked the door behind them. I tried to tell myself I didn’t want to be interrupted as I discussed with Morgana her coming back to Mimir. But that was a lie.

  I wanted to fuck her.

  “Morgana, I miss you,” I said as I moved toward her.

  FIFTEEN

  Payne’s Rule

  Treat people with respect.

  Morgana thought I was lying about missing her.

  She shook her head, placing her hands on her hips. “You know where I live. If you missed me so much then why didn’t you contact me?”

  I did, but my fear stopped me.

  I smiled, though I tried to hide it. As sexy as Morgana’s body was, her feisty remarks got my attention the most.

  “I know where you live. But if I remember correctly it was you who told me to leave. I figured you didn’t want to see me again.”

  She leaned back on the table and a flood of images took up residence behind my eyes. “It doesn’t matter now. I see you easily got a cute little assistant to boot.”

  Was she jealous? Please, let her still want me.

  I tested out what I was thinking and grabbed her hip. Morgana could stop me. As she should, but I would be lying more if I said I could stop myself.

  Morgana didn’t stop me.

  One word and I’m done. I’ll walk away and never bother her again. My punishment to have to deal with Ms. Herald and go home alone at night with only my fireplace to keep me warm.

  She gasped when I hitched up her brown pencil skirt to reveal red lace panties. Her hazel eyes darkened with anger, maybe even heat, but she never told me to stop.

  “Are you jealous, Morgana?”

  I’m jealous of anything she touched. When her tongue savored that last bit of frosting from her morning cake, I wanted it to be my lips. I wanted Morgana to bite me, to taste me, and I wanted to lick all of her.

  “No. Yes. Shit.”

  There was laughter and I realized it was coming from me. This was what I missed. She was a mixture of salty and sweet. Morgana was the only one that made me laugh, and fuck if that didn’t turn me on.

  “Don’t be jealous of Ms. Herald. She’s barely competent at her job. She made your face plants look like an ingenious client negotiation. Besides, I like my assistants to be intelligent and know what they want.”

  There was no stopping my hands as they reached up to pull her lace panties aside. They greedily dipped inside her. She was wet, moaned, and unraveled before me.

  The way she melted at my touch made me want to fight anything, anyone, just to be with her.

  My mouth dipped to her chest so I could get my first taste. Even with her blouse and the lace from her bra in the way, I sighed over her flavor. She was taut and so hot. Her clothes came undone, and I don’t remember moving my hands. Everything a blur. Now bare-chested, she stretched back like a work of art on the table.

  “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head for the past month. I dream about how you look when you come. I need this, Morgana. I need you.”

  Morgana rocked into my hand as I played with her, working her until she dissolved. It was worth all that trouble just to watch her eyes shutter closed and feel her tightening around my fingers.

  I reminded myself she was a virgin. As m
uch as I wanted to be the one, I couldn’t have her lose her virginity on a conference table.

  I kept saying I wanted to fuck her, but I was not so much a monster that I would do it in an office building while her boss was right down the hall.

  When I dropped my pants and briefs, I planned to only touch myself. Maybe have her help me a bit with her hand or mouth. But it’s Morgana who controlled me. She was the one who pulled my strings, and as much as I wanted to give her something beautiful, I gave her lust filled chaos instead.

  “Fuck me, Henrik. Please fuck me.”

  What could I do? My mind was clouded and as much as I tried to shake reason into it, I broke.

  I grabbed a condom from my pants pocket and before I knew what I was doing, I had it on and was slipping inside her. She made a joke about conveniently having a condom, but all I cared about now was how she felt. She was glorious. Morgana was warm and so tight, but there was no resistance.

  The only other time I had sex with a virgin, I was sixteen and a virgin myself. I don’t remember much, but I did recall it being difficult to penetrate due to the hymen. Also, my girlfriend at the time seemed to have been in some pain.

  There was no difficulty entering Morgana. Based on how she arched her back, moaned, and moved to my rhythm, I suspected Morgana didn’t have any discomfort. Maybe she wasn’t a virgin.

  Not that it mattered. In fact, I was relieved that she wasn’t. Virgins tend to be naïve about what they wanted and based on how Morgana’s body was reacting, she seemed to know what she liked.

  “Oh, Morgana. You are so, uh, this is better than I could have imagined.”

  She rose onto her elbows. Her eyelids drifted heavy with longing. She was a sight to be seen. Morgana reached for me and her lips crashed over mine.

  Being inside her, tasting her, all of this was better than any ridiculous fantasy I could make up. Pushing her back, I selfishly wanted to watch her come again. To feel her tighten and release on me, with the knowledge it was because of what I did to her had my fingers fumbling to find her clit.

  I told her as much, and it didn’t take long after my thumb rubbed her sweet spot before she was moaning my name as her orgasm consumed her. Just watching her caused my own undoing. I let go and fell on her as my hips pushed their final thrust not wanting to let go of that luxury, that sweet comfort.