“You mean drink a Scotch,” he said, coming closer.
“Knew it,” I grinned.
“Yes, yes, you’re very clever,” he sighed with a slight eye roll.
Then he did something surprising. It would have been shocking, had not something similar already occurred. He reached up to cup my face, his thumb lightly running along my chin.
I froze.
This was the moment to push him away and remind him that last time had been a mistake, one we shouldn’t repeat. Instead of focusing on the right words, however, all my dumb brain could come up with was a reminder of how great it felt to kiss him and just how much his touch affected me. His thumb ran from my chin to my bottom lip; just as my lips parted slightly, he bent down and kissed me.
Once again, kissing led to a slow removal of clothing; to hands running along places on each other’s body; and to neither of us speaking past the occasional grunting of each other’s name.
I may have called him Will instead of Darcy, the name ripped out of me in the heat of passion. My only consolation was that it took more than mediocre sex to look past the fact that I was sleeping, again, with someone I couldn’t stand to be around. It took incredible, mind-blowing sex.
We ended up back in his bedroom, in his ridiculously comfortable bed. This time I didn’t wake in the middle of the night. I blame the long hours at work thanks to my slave-driving asshole of a boss, and the aforementioned comfortability of his bed.
∞∞∞
It was about seven in the morning when I finally woke up and realized where I was. I did have a car at this point, so at least I didn’t have to do the walk of shame down to the bus stop. Or to a taxi, which is what I did last time, seeing as how it had been three in the morning.
As I was gathering my various clothes, Darcy woke up. I was initially terrified he would want to talk about what had happened, but he only looked me over, and then traced the hem of my shirt, which was all I managed to get on so far. It rested against the very upper part of my thigh, and I watched his finger run along my skin for a moment before it slipped under the fabric.
Then, he was sliding my shirt back off me and kissing my neck just below my right ear. It hadn’t taken him long to find out that spot made me shiver; as bad as he was at reading social cues from strangers, he was incredibly tuned into what got my blood pumping.
Like I said, the sex was incredible.
I did eventually leave; he did not, thank God, want to talk about what had happened again, nor did he invite me to stay for an incredible awkward breakfast.
Back at work it was business as usual, with him picking apart my work and me calling him out when he was being a stuck-up asshole. No one else had the courage to do it, or probably no one else felt the need to risk their job like I did, but I knew Darcy wasn’t petty enough to fire me for something like that.
So I decided it was just too dangerous to be at his place alone. Since we were alone together many other times in various locations and nothing ever happened, I had to conclude there was some kind of vortex in his apartment that made us need to crawl into bed together, despite our mutual hatred.
It was a great theory, which made the third time it happened all the more unexpected.
CHAPTER THREE
The Third Time
A month after the second incident, as it were, Darcy stopped by. It was the first time he had come to my apartment. He was supposed to be meeting Charlie here, but both my sister and her boyfriend were running late. I let him in, reluctantly. It was my day off, so I was in sweat pants and a particularly worn shirt. It wasn’t that I cared what he thought, I just knew—
“Nice outfit,” he snorted.
That. I knew he wouldn’t be able to help but comment on it.
“Bite me,” I replied, closing the door behind him with a little too much force.
I sat down on the couch and resumed my Netflix marathon of old X-files episodes. I didn’t offer him anything, and I didn’t invite him to join me. He did anyway, although he sat on the couch like he might catch something from it; instead of watching the show he began scrolling through his smart phone. After about ten minutes of complete silence from his end of the couch, Darcy’s phone dinged, and a moment later he cursed.
“What’s up, sunshine?” I asked, turning to him.
“Charlie forgot I was picking him up. He and Jane drove an hour and a half just to see a movie at some drive-in, apparently.” He looked livid but I couldn’t help laughing. He whipped his head to me, scowling. “It’s not funny.”
“It’s sweet,” I countered, although I would probably be pissed in the same situation. “He doesn’t have anything in his head but his love for my sister.”
“He doesn’t have anything in his head, that’s for sure,” Darcy grumbled. Furiously, he was most likely texting something similar to his friend. He pressed send with a flourish and pocketed his phone with an irritated frown. “This is just great.”
“So you have the night off,” I shrugged. “You can do something you want to do instead of driving Charlie all over town.”
He seemed to think this over. I turned back to my show, wondering if it would be out of line to remind him he had no more need to hang around. I mean, just because he was a completely rude asshole didn’t mean I had to be one too.
Instead, I felt it was my duty to show him how normal, polite people acted. No one else in his life called him on his shit and although he took all my helpful corrections like a spoiled five-year-old used to getting his own way, I felt doing it was a public service and couldn’t give up now.
He slid closer to me on the couch and when I turned my head to see what the hell he was doing, he reached out a hand, pushed my hair back and held my neck, his thumb tracing my jawline. Before I could get befuddled and mutely follow him back into bed, I broke our no speaking rule.
“Really?” I scowled. “You have nothing better to do so you think I’m just going to sleep with you again?”
For the first time ever, of course, he didn’t take offense. He smiled arrogantly at my words. “Yes, I do.”
I swear I was on the verge of telling him off, but then he turned more towards me and rested his other hand on my knee, slowly, confidently, making his way up my inner thigh. Whatever angry retort I had been about to spew got stuck in my throat and I swallowed instead. My flushed face and lack of response only made his grin widen.
“Shut up,” I said, then bit my lip as his long fingers curled around my upper thigh, gripping my leg and pulling it apart from the other one. “God, I hate you.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” he said, and then kissed me.
Because I didn’t want to contaminate the couch I shared with my sister, I pulled him into my bedroom. He stumbled over a pile of laundry, then made a derogatory comment about how I kept my room like I worked, implying both were a big mess.
“You are such an asshole,” I pushed him in an attempt to direct his movements, but he was stubbornly inflexible. “And you love my work, don’t lie. Who was the one bitching all day about how Steve left all that work behind when he went on vacation? And who was the one to fix both bugs before the deadline?”
“If only it didn’t come from such a prima donna who lives to argue every step of the way.” He rolled his eyes, pulling me so I was pressed snugly in between his thighs.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot you only like quiet, obedient workers.” He latched his mouth on the most sensitive part of my neck just as he gripped my waist and rocked my hips into his. I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped my lips. Not for the first time, I wished he wasn’t so freaking good at this. To relive a bit of frustration, I ran my fingers through his hair, and then gave a sharp tug. His head jerked back, and although his mouth was no longer doing wonderful things to my neck, it was satisfying in its own way.
“As if you could ever be quiet or obedient,” he scoffed, and then turned and actually lifted me enough to deposit me onto the bed with a bit more force than was require
d. It was the first time we were talking while attempting to have sex, and I’m not sure it was working in our favor.
“You want me to be quiet?” I asked, sitting up on my knees and tugging him further onto the bed by a belt loop. “You always seem to be doing your best to elicit sound from me.” I licked my lips and felt like I was gaining the upper hand by the way his eyes narrowed in on my actions. “If I had known this whole time I was bothering you by the sounds I was making—”
“You are such a pain in the ass,” he growled, then kissed me, pushing me back against the mattress.
“The feeling is mutual,” I assured him, running my finger nails up his back.
It didn’t take him long to notice how unusually quiet I was being. This led to a battle, of sorts, where he put every effort into making any kind of sound slip past my lips and I put every effort into staying as quiet as possible. I like to think I held out long past what anyone else could endure, but in the end I have to admit I was calling out his name with an embarrassing frequency and a note of pleading in my voice.
Since it was the first time I wasn’t the one who had to leave, I wondered how long he would be staying. Charlie and Jane hadn’t returned, thank God, but the longer he stayed the more likely it was that one or both would run into him.
So far I had kept our activities a secret, partly because I didn’t really want to acknowledge them myself and partly because I was sure no one would believe me. Still, if my sister came home to see Darcy sneaking out of my bedroom, eyebrows would be raised and questions would definitely be asked.
My bed was much smaller than his California king, and I attribute that for the reason I fell asleep with him curled around me. I tucked my hair under me so he wouldn’t have a face full of it all night, or for however long he decided to stay. I should say that, generally, I enjoyed cuddling.
Still, I also admit that all of the guys I had been with made me feel smothered by them at some point, and it usually wasn’t long before I subtlety inched away from them. Ironically, Darcy did not fit in that category. I had to admit enjoying the feeling of him so close, his lips grazing my back just below my neck, and his arm slung around my middle.
I woke at some point in the middle of the night when he was detangling himself from me. I shivered at the loss of heat, but before I could blindly grope for my covers, Darcy was pulling them up over me. I felt him gently stroke my hair and realized he must think I was still asleep. I kept my eyes closed and my breathing even, curious to see how he would act when he thought I was unaware of his actions.
I felt the bed shift as he stood and heard him shuffle around the room, probably trying to find all of his clothes. After a few minutes he returned to my side of the bed and sat back down on the edge of it. He ran his fingers through my hair again, pushing it back from my face. I felt him kiss the top of my head, then my cheek. “Night, Lizzy,” he whispered, and then he was gone.
I swallowed when I knew I was alone, worried over the objectively tender way he had just treated me. Sex I could handle. Since this was the third time we’ve had sex, I had to finally admit that we had a mutual attraction to one another and it was incredibly satisfying jumping in bed with him. I really, really hoped he wasn’t confusing our friendship with benefits—or more accurately enemieship with benefits—for anything other than what it was.
Once more I planned on this never happening again, but of course I had made that resolve the last two times as well. So I added my apartment to the list of places where we were not allowed to be alone.
After that time, we still pretended there was nothing more to our relationship than a boss and his employee who shared a mutual dislike of one another, and that we were only forced to share more than a professional relationship due to the fact that his best friend and my sister were dating, which would inevitably throw us into each other’s company.
However, since we had already broken the no-talking-during-sex rule, I couldn’t help but tug my collar back when we were alone together in the elevator the next day.
“Really?” I asked. He looked over with surprise. It turned into a smug grin when he saw the unmistakable sign of a hickey low down on my neck. “How old are you?” He didn’t have time to answer before the doors opened up to my offices on the third floor and I readjusted my shirt while I stormed off.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Fourth Time
The fourth time, it happened at a hotel; a dangerous place for two people who were trying not to have sex with one another. It was during a security conference that Darcy had handpicked a few of us to attend.
Charlotte and Jane were there too, and after the lectures ended for the day, we ended up at the hotel bar tossing back a few drinks and discussing the information we had obtained. Darcy was also there, having drinks with two of the guest lecturers. I had my back to him.
“At least you get share a room with Charlotte,” I pouted, tossing my hand up for a refill. “I got stuck with Catholic Cathy.”
“She’s nice.” Jane, of course, defended my assigned roommate.
“I invited her to come have a drink with us,” I replied. “She told me liquor is the devil’s nectar.”
“She did not,” Charlotte laughed, eyes wide.
“I swear,” I tossed my hands up in a defensive gesture, “word for word. She also informed me that if I show up drunk to our shared room, she would file a complaint with HR.”
“She is definitely going to file a complaint,” Charlotte informed me as the waiter swapped my empty glass for a full one.
“So stay with us,” Jane shrugged. “It’s not like we haven’t shared a bed before.”
“That’s hot.” George Wickham, Darcy Technologies’ newest hire, saddled up to our table with a charming grin.
“Perv,” I accused him, though I smiled back.
“The hardware table is over there, hotshot.” Charlotte pointed to the other side of the bar where five other men, the youngest of who was around forty, were sitting. “This is software. Don’t you know you’re in enemy territory?”
“I’ll take my chances,” he smiled at her. “I would much rather spend time with three beautiful ladies than discuss the disadvantages of liquid-cooled power supplies for another minute.”
“Poor you,” I patted his cheek. “Luckily, we keep the shop talk to a minimum when we’re not in the office.”
“If you’re having trouble with the assigned rooms, I could always lend a hand,” George said, steering the conversation back to the topic he was interested in. “I’m very good at sharing.”
“Wow,” I laughed. “Bold.”
He grinned. “I’m a bold kind of guy.”
I ignored his invitation, but he stuck around and charmed us for another half hour. Jane was the first to retire, then Charlotte. She reminded me to come up if I didn’t want to deal with Cathy, and I thanked her and let her know I would probably take her up on the offer and be up soon.
After she left, George doubled his efforts, flirting outrageously with me. To be fair, I informed him I had no interest in sleeping with a coworker, no matter how charming. This caused a bit of guilt to twist in my stomach and I couldn’t help but turn to see if Darcy was still here. He was, although he was currently drinking alone. And glaring at me, of course.
George saw my glance at the boss and not-so-subtly let me know it would be our little secret.
“You’re cute,” I let him know. “And very charming, but I’m not sleeping with you.”
“Tonight, or ever?” he pouted.
Before I could answer, Darcy was next to the table.
“Elizabeth,” he growled. I could only wonder what I had possibly done to piss him off now. “Are you ever going to submit your analysis on Project Junction?”
“I submitted that last week.” I squinted up at him, irritated. That wasn’t even part of my job, why was he getting all bent out of shape about it now? Although, it was a great opportunity for me to weigh in on the newest project DT was heading up, so I sh
ould probably just try to bite my tongue.
“I assure you, you did not,” he replied in a condescending tone.
“I assure you, I did,” I replied mockingly. Well, so much for biting my tongue.
George’s eyes widened slightly at my tone, but this was just his first time seeing Darcy and I interact. I would normally never speak to my boss like this, but as I’ve mentioned before, I was the only one at the office, at least, who didn’t take his poor attitude lying down.
“I need that report tonight. It’s already past due.”
I finally sighed, turning fully towards him to give him my undivided attention.
“I don’t exactly have it with me,” I pointed out, holding my arms out to indicate the only thing nearby I could claim was the half-empty drink in front of me.
“Well, if you say you emailed it to me, then there should be a copy of it online.” He told me, his tone clearly insinuating no copy existed.
“Fine,” I said smugly, sure that he had just deleted it on accident. “Let’s go find a computer and I’ll prove it to you.” I hopped off the barstool, said a quick goodnight to George, and led the way out to the lobby.
“I have a laptop in my room,” he said in my ear, his hand closing around my upper arm as he steered me into the elevator. It was then that I became suspicious. After riding three floors in silence, I finally decided to call him out.
“You got that report, didn’t you?” I accused him. He stood with his hands locked behind his back, standing as prim and proper as ever.
“That clown was badgering you to sleep with him,” Darcy said indifferently, watching the numbers climb to what was probably going to be the presidential suite, knowing him. “I thought I would help you out.”
“At least he’s honest about his intentions.” I crossed my arms in annoyance even as my body was already starting to react to the idea of jumping back into bed with this infuriating man. “He didn’t trick me into coming back to his room.”
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