#1 Rival

by Gephart, T

  “Are you talking to me?” My sister appeared in my doorway. She was still in her scrubs, her keys dangling from her fingers.

  I sat up, grabbing the sheet to cover myself, trying to look casual. “I thought you were someone else.”

  “Oh really? Someone else has keys to our apartment?” Her hip leaned against the doorjamb, her amused smile telling me she hadn’t been fooled.

  There was no point trying to hide it; she was probably going to find out later anyway. Besides, it’s not like I hadn’t had men stay over before.

  “Roman just left,” I said, trying to not to sound as pleased as I did.

  Her grin stayed in place as she swung the keys around her finger. “I know. I saw him.”

  “You just couldn’t tell me, huh?” I shook my head, my nakedness meaning I couldn’t get out bed and kick her ass. “You had to make me say it.”

  She laughed, enjoying making me squirm. “It’s so much more fun to watch you admit you were wrong. Must have been one hell of a dinner and talk.” Her finger pointed accusingly at the condom wrapper on the floor. “Last time I checked, a chat didn’t require protection.”

  “You can never be too careful these days.” I shrugged, my innocence oozing from every pore as I batted my lashes. “It was a serious conversation.”

  Morgan laughed, not buying my declarations of purity for a second. “Ones that involve penises generally are. You want to talk about it or can I go fall into a heap and sleep a few hours?”

  “Go sleep.” I waved her off, intending to do some of that myself. “It can wait a few hours.”

  “Awesome, I’m going to crash.” She yawned, the weariness of her shift catching up with her. “Don’t wake me unless the apartment’s on fire. I have night shift again.”

  She punctuated her parting instructions with another yawn as she turned and walked out of my room.

  And once again I was alone.

  With a stupid grin on my face.

  Sleep wasn’t going to be as easy to come by as I first thought.

  I had given Morgan a basic rundown of the previous night’s events.

  It had been heavily edited. Names and places redacted so I didn’t violate anything, which meant that she was unaware of the Larsson/Pierce connection.

  And for now, that information was staying locked down, even if she was my sister.

  “How’s the firm feel about two of its associates dating?” she asked over a bowl of Cap’n Crunch.

  It was closer to lunch than breakfast, but neither of us was in the mood to cook. So instead we sat around our kitchen table eating cereal and talking about my love life. It had been more fun when she had been the subject of the interrogation. I was positive this was payback for the shit I gave her when she was dating the paramedic.

  “Well . . .” I pushed the spoon around in my bowl. “We’re not exactly dating. Neither of us have time for a relationship, so we’re just kind of doing this.”

  It was delusional to assume I was suddenly going to stop having sex with Roman. Are you kidding? And toss away the best orgasms ever given to me by a man or myself? Yeah, I wasn’t stupid, and if he wanted to continue to be my life-size sex toy, I would happily be his.

  “You mean where you go out for dinner and sleep with each other? The thing that sounds exactly like dating?” The sarcasm dripped from her still smirking lips.

  “Whatever,” I laughed.

  Enough coffee hadn’t been consumed in order to explain all the reasons why regular dating wouldn’t work with us. And I was more than happy with the way things were, even if Morgan wanted to read more into it.

  After breakfast and a shower, I sat down and went through my notes from my meeting with Tia. Even though Roman wasn’t expecting the paperwork until the afternoon, it was a good way to occupy my mind. Other than wondering whether or not I was going to see him again over the weekend.

  I didn’t.

  See him again that is.

  We spoke briefly on the phone Saturday night after he’d checked his email and told me that Eric was signing the papers. It sounded like he was at a bar or out somewhere for dinner, the background noise making it obvious he wasn’t sitting home alone like I was.

  I didn’t ask him where he was, or if he was with someone, and he didn’t offer to tell me. Instead, the conversation was kept on point so that after I hung up I could obsess about it for the rest of the night like a moron.

  Not that I expected him to . . . well, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting him to do. Hell, I didn’t even know what I was expecting of myself.

  It was clear no boundaries had been set, and I wasn’t sure if I’d just been worked into the rotation like Carla. An extra player added to his growing board of chess pieces. I wasn’t even sure I was mad, the lack of definition partially my fault. No one forced me to sleep with him, and I hadn’t offered him exclusivity either.

  I hated that even though I didn’t really have a right to, the thought of him with someone else made me jealous, uncomfortable in the reality that he’d not felt the same way about me.

  One thing was for sure, I was almost positive none of the previous women who’d shared his bed knew about Eric. I held tight that he’d trusted me enough to let me in, even if it was just a little. Surely that meant I was more than just a piece of ass.

  It was definitely too confusing to think about it. So, I took the weekend to forget about work, Roman, and everything else, and just be a little self-indulgent for a while.

  With Morgan working all weekend, I went and booked myself into a spa. The previously unexplored secret society of fluffy white bathrobes and mysterious skin practices hadn’t been something I’d ever been interested in. Because paying a woman in a fake doctor’s coat to touch me seemed stupid.

  But boy had I been wrong.

  My face, body and hair were treated to such pampering it almost felt illicit, leaving every part of me feeling like a million bucks. I didn’t even care that I had handed over more cash than I did for my first car; the full-package they’d talked me into was worth every cent. I suspected that those aromatherapy diffusers pumped out more than just essential oils, and by the time I was done, I was too blissed out to care.

  And as Saturday slipped into Sunday, I hardly thought about Roman at all. Images of his perfect body and beautiful face were completely banished from my mind.

  Mostly.

  Maybe I thought about him a little.

  “RUNNING LATE, HARPER?” ROMAN WAS sitting behind my desk in my chair when I walked in. He looked amazing as usual, his shirt perfectly pressed underneath his perfectly tailored suit.

  I wondered what time he got up in the morning in order to look that good, and if he had an army of sweatshop tailors held hostage in his closet so he could satisfy his fetish for expensive designer threads.

  My smile was automatic, spreading across my lips as I walked over to my desk and dumped my handbag. His eyes flared as they moved up my bare legs. My figure-hugging dress was shorter than I usually wore to work, but I was inspired after my time at the spa, my skin so silky soft.

  “Actually, I’ve been working for hours already, I had a morning meeting.” My finger pointed from him to the ceiling, a subtle hint he needed to get up.

  He stood slowly, his eyes moving up and down my body. “What meeting?” He reached out, his fingers curling around my hair. “This is different too.”

  “Thank you for noticing.” I flicked my hair back over my shoulder, secretly thrilled he’d noticed. I’d had it trimmed and styled while at the spa and loved how it now framed my face. “And my meeting was with ITP. They had business in L.A, so I met them at the Beverly Wilshire for breakfast.” I lowered myself into my vacated seat, taking care to cross my legs for maximum impact.

  It was childish, and probably a little ridiculous, but I liked watching him squirm. And I felt somewhat justified, he’d taken up space in my head during the weekend so I was going to commandeer a little of his now.

  “You went to see C
hase Anderson, looking like that?” His hand waved in my direction and I assumed it was my dress that concerned him. Unless he was talking about my new hair, the stylist had said I was going to stop traffic.

  I stared down at my outfit with an adequate amount of fake shock. “What’s wrong with the way I look?”

  What he didn’t know was that I hadn’t met with Chase Anderson. Chase rarely got out of bed before ten a.m., so I instead had my initial meeting with his COO, Anita Anderson, who was also his sister. And unsurprisingly enough, Anita hadn’t cared about my hair or my outfit. She was more concerned with the results of my vetting so when her brother did wander in sometime midmorning she could give him the short list.

  I probably could have mentioned that, but I didn’t.

  “Are you trying to be cute?” His hand moved to my knee, his fingers gripping my leg tightly.

  “Cute?” I shoved his hand aside, “No, I wasn’t trying to be cute. So, if all you came in here for was to critique my wardrobe choices, you should probably go. I have work to do.”

  The muscles in his jaw tensed as he lowered himself down, his butt resting on the edge of the desk in front of me. “And what if I’m not done here?” A finger trailed up my leg. “Actually, I’m fairly sure I’m not done.”

  I leaned forward, bringing my mouth closer. “And what do you suggest, Roman? You want to pull up my dress and have a quickie in my office?” I was only half joking, with no intention of turning him down if he did exactly that.

  His eyes darkened as he focused on my shiny red lips. “Daniel is expecting us in his office.”

  My fingers tiptoed up his leg, moving to the front of his pants where I found him hard. He didn’t stop me, watching as my palm flattened against the fly and rubbed against it.

  “Too bad.” I peered at him under my thick dark lashes. “I took what you said about not being interested in lingerie to heart, so I’m not wearing any.” His length thickened under my hand as I held it still. “You should probably do something about this though. I’m not sure walking around with a hard-on is very professional.”

  I grabbed him hard, a hiss passing through his lips as I stood, keeping my grip around him. “And if you ever call me cute again, it won’t be your cock I grab, it will be your balls. I promise that won’t be as much fun.”

  His fingers wrapped around my wrist, holding my hand hostage. “I’ll take my chances.” He used my hold to continue to stroke him. “We’ll talk about you, this dress, your lack of underwear, and Chase Anderson after I fuck you. You should message Daniel and let him know we’re both going to be late.”

  It gave me a sick thrill to make him crazy. To watch a man who notoriously had it all together, crack a little at the edges just like the rest of us. I wondered if there’d been signs of it earlier and I hadn’t noticed or if this was brand new.

  He planted his hands on my hips, opening his legs and pulling me into the gap in between. His mouth was on mine, swallowing my gasp as he pulled up the hem of my dress.

  I was conscious the door wasn’t locked, that at any time someone could walk in and see what we were doing. The thought we might get caught just made it hotter as my hands gripped his shirt.

  Our mouths tangled, hot breaths exchanged as his hand landed on my ass.

  “Jesus.” He grabbed my bare skin, squeezing it. “Send the goddamn message we’re going to be late and get up on the desk.”

  I didn’t argue, grabbing my phone from my bag as he lifted me onto the desk, his hand bunching up my dress as I fumbled with the letters.

  It was crazy, my eyes moving from my cell screen and then looking over my shoulder to the door as I heard the sound of his zipper.

  “Never thought I’d need to carry condoms at work.” He pulled one out of his back pocket and tore it open. “But I’m glad I am.”

  He pushed down his pants and boxer briefs so they hung on his hips, giving himself a firm couple of pumps as he rolled on the condom before his attention turned to me. “You send the message?” He kissed me before I had a chance to answer, one of his fingers plunging into me.

  “Yes,” I moaned, arching into him as my body heated under his touch.

  He added another finger, pressing his mouth against my lips. “Shhhh.”

  It was hard to stay quiet as his eyes locked onto mine, feeling his hand pump into me.

  “Do it.” I gripped his shoulders, my pretty painted fingernails digging into his precious expensive suit.

  He pulled out his fingers and filled me with his cock in a hard, fast thrust. The slight sting making my eyes water from my body not being fully ready.

  “You okay?” he asked, holding himself still as I adjusted to him.

  The sweet ache throbbed between my legs as I nodded, tilting my hips so he could get deeper. “Don’t stop.”

  We moved in a frenzy, our bodies crashing against each other as office supplies tumbled off my desk.

  It had never been like this. Excitement peaked inside of me so fast that I came in a rush, a scream escaping from my mouth as he clamped a hand around it. “Not so loud.” He breathed at my neck as he rocked against me. “Lauren.” He moaned my name as his powerful body came undone.

  He pressed his forehead to mine as we sucked in matching ragged breaths. “I’m still not done,” he whispered as he kissed my lips. “We’ll pick this up a little later when I have more time. You go first, and I’ll meet you in Daniel’s office in a few minutes.”

  My arms and legs felt like jelly as I nodded, grabbing a couple of tissues from the box that had been tossed on the floor, and cleaned myself up as quickly as I could.

  Maybe jealousy ran on both sides? The idea that perhaps he felt the way I had been feeling over the weekend gave me a secret thrill. Even if I wasn’t entirely correct, there was an underlying lack of control that we both seemed to share. He wasn’t made of stone like I’d first thought, and I very much liked the glimpse of chaos that poked through underneath.

  Sitting through the meeting with our boss was going to be a challenge, even more so since I wasn’t wearing underwear. I left Roman in my office after a quick look in my compact mirror confirmed I didn’t look like I’d just screwed a man on my desk. That was the one benefit of it being fast, the potential havoc on my hair and makeup had been greatly reduced. Not that I complained, the smile fixed on my face as I adjusted my dress and strolled out.

  “I don’t like waiting, Lauren.” Daniel was on his laptop when I walked in, his fingers continuing to type as I took a seat. “Where the hell is Roman?”

  “Performing a human sacrifice.” I smiled as my knees pressed together, making sure I didn’t inadvertently flash my boss. “It’s the only way to stop from changing into his true reptilian form.”

  The edges of Daniel’s mouth twitched, shaking his head but not looking up. “You know, if you both weren’t so goddamn good at your jobs, I’d have fired one of you. Less aggravation that way.”

  He was lying through his teeth and he knew it. The reason he’d hired us in the first place was because we were so good together. “It would be Roman, right?” I laughed, knowing we were both safe.

  “What would be Roman?”

  Speak of the Devil; the man himself strode in, not even a hair out of place.

  “I was just telling Lauren how there are days I want to fire you both.” Daniel gave up on his computer, watching as the man I’d been having sex with moments ago took a seat beside me like nothing had happened.

  Roman straightened his tie, flashing Daniel his trademark cocky grin. “Don’t be ridiculous. Who would take our place?” He screwed his face up in disgust. “Lewis? Preston? They’re so far up Carter’s ass, he opens his mouth and they gargle for him. And pretty sure neither of them can spell conviction, let alone get one.”

  “You done?” Daniel folded his arms looking amused. “Believe it or not, there was a reason I called you in here.”

  “You want to parade us through the office like conquering generals.” He winked, befo
re tipping his head to me. “Don’t worry, Harper, I’ll share the adulation with you this one time.”

  “Do you have any humility?” I shook my head trying to not look amused. In truth, his egomaniac routine was kind of hot. “Like any at all?”

  “Nope.”

  “You know,” Daniel leaned back in his chair, studying us both. “At some point, I’d like you to at least pretend you’ve seen my name is one of the ones out there on the wall. Give me the illusion that you listen to me.” He held his hand up, stopping whatever comeback Roman had brewing. “It was good work on the Cane divorce. I know it’s not finalized just yet, but I was glad you were able to put your differences aside to get the job done. We’re signing Jana as a major client and part of that is a restructure of her company. I want to make sure she isn’t susceptible to sharks—either in husband form or otherwise—moving forward.”

  Roman’s brow furrowed as he shifted forward in his chair. “So you want us to go through and make sure there’s no leaks in the boat?”

  “No.” I kept my eyes locked on Daniel, this time knowing exactly what he meant. “He wants us to take her out of the boat entirely.”

  “I always knew you were the smarter one.” Daniel gave me an appreciative grin. “I want her business rock solid, and if her innovations stay on target, she could well be our biggest client.”

  “I’ll tie up the divorce and after Harper dumps the ITP acquisition, we can get started.” Roman stood, wrongly assuming the meeting had finished and everything had been decided.

  “I’m not dumping anything.” I joined him on my feet, tipping my chin to look him in the eyes. “I’ve vetted all the companies. When Chase Anderson makes his decision, I will be the one who finishes that deal.” Anger spiked inside of me.

  “Let someone else handle it.” He dismissed me with a causal wave of his hand. “Anything else?” He turned to Daniel, ignoring me.

  “Not from me, but I’m sure Lauren might have a few words for you.” He grinned pointing to the door. “Why don’t you head out of my office and let her yell at you in private.”