Sinner (Shelter Harbor #1)

by Aubrey Irons

  Landon

  “What’s for dinner?”

  “What do you want?” I reach down and scoop Emily up, perching her up on the tall stools around the kitchen island.

  “McDonalds.”

  “Vetoed.”

  She makes a pouting face as I stick my tongue out at her. Historically, I’ve never let Emily eat crap like fast food. But a slightly less discriminating mom of a friend of hers the other week introduced her to Chicken McNuggets, and she’s been hounding me like an addict about them ever since.

  “Alright, I’ll meet you halfway.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  I grin as ease down my elbows across the island from her. “It means we’re negotiating.”

  Emily makes a face, and I laugh.

  “No McDonalds.”

  “Why?”

  “Because that’s not real food, that’s why.”

  “You can eat it, Dad. It’s food.”

  “You can eat dirt too, ya know.”

  She grins.

  “No McDonalds, but how about pizza?”

  Emily crows out a cheer.

  “But, there’s one condition.”

  I get the skeptical eye.

  “We’re going to make it.”

  My eight-year-old’s eyes go wide. “For real?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  “You know how to make pizza?” There’s a certain reverence and awe in her face that makes me grin, as if I’ve just admitted that I am in fact, a costumed superhero with the ability to fly and fight crime.

  “Your dad is full of surprises, you know.”

  Except thirty minutes later, up to our elbows in tomato sauce and flour, there’s one little surprise about myself that I can’t stop lingering on.

  Serena.

  The surprise I never saw coming, and the one that keeps pulling at something inside of me.

  The one I can’t get out of my damn head.

  And this is me we’re talking about. I’ve spent years cultivating one very straight and narrow modus operandi when it comes to women: I do not get involved. I don’t linger, I don’t ruminate. I don’t stay awake at night replaying everyday conversations with them, or remembering the way their eyes crinkled at the corners when they laughed at something I said after a particularly boring meeting with our coaching staff.

  Except now I do, apparently.

  Surprise.

  It’s been a week since Serena came to my house that night. And whatever worries I had that night after watching her drive away? Gone. Because for seven days now, we’ve been nothing but formal and strictly business at the office.

  It’s exactly what I could have hoped for.

  And yet, seven days and seven nights later, it’s not what I want, and that’s starting to get to me. The cordial familiarity, the sticking to business only conversations? The not once letting a single flirty look, smile, or line dance between us? If you’d asked me before, I’d have said that’s an ideal situation.

  That was before I slept with Serena again.

  That was before the lingering scent of her hair on my sheets and the lingering memory of that night with her got in deep under my skin.

  Now? Now I’ve spent the last week looking for ways to change the subject from goddamn quarterly expenditure accounts to something we can banter about, or looking for an opening to see if she wants to get a drink after work or something.

  Nothing.

  It’s like sleeping together again zeroed out all the issues and tension between us.

  And it sucks.

  “Is Serena coming over tonight?”

  I glance up from the cutting board littered with the mushrooms. It’s the third time Emily’s asked me this since the other night.

  “I don’t think so, honey.”

  “Why not?”

  “I think she’s busy.”

  “Oh.” She looks back to the carefully arranged smiley face of pepperoni she’s been crafting on the tomato sauce.

  “I like her.”

  I wipe my hands off before and move around the side of the island, leaning over Emily to kiss the top of her head. “I know you do, kiddo.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Serena

  “Hey, I got those reports over to Don. Seemed like he was pretty happy with the numbers.”

  Landon glances up from his desk, his look neutral. “Great thanks.” He looks back down immediately; conversation done.

  I frown slightly.

  This is what I didn’t want to happen. We’ve been slowly growing cooler and cooler since that night at his house. And again, I wasn’t looking for anything with him - the opposite actually. Really, the whole point of going over there was a guaranteed escape. No-strings sex with a completely unavailable man who I knew could take my mind off of life for a while.

  Empty, easy, purely physical sex.

  Of course, that was before I met his daughter. That was before I entered into his personal life, and that was before we threw way more cards on the table than I think we ever expected to.

  Way more than I ever planned on sharing, that’s for sure.

  But just the same, I sure as hell wasn’t looking for anything more than sex with him then, and I’m not now. I’ve been down this road. I’ve peeked at the last page of this story before, and looking for something real or something substantial with a man like Landon?

  Yeah, not a chance.

  Then of course there’s the recent insight into his own inter-workplace drama, courtesy of Holden’s story. I don’t want to give a shit about things from his past like that, but there’s something about infidelity that digs at me more than it might normally.

  Events of the past year involving my former fiancé and his coworker might have something to do with that.

  And the whole cooling thing is starting to bother me. We were actually working well together before that night, and we need to keep working together well if we want to make sure this team stays where it is. And heck, we definitely need to keep working well together if we want this to turn into money.

  I can try and ignore the bad taste in my mouth knowing about his indiscretions with a married woman, but this freeze out is the last thing I wanted to happen as a result of that night.

  “Hey.” I step into his office and shut the door. Landon looks up at me again, annoyance on his face.

  I ignore it.

  “Do you want to grab a drink after work?”

  He frowns. “Is there anything on the week’s to-do breakdown we need to discuss?”

  I shrug. “No, I just thought-”

  “Serena.”

  My mouth snaps shut as he sighs, leaning back in his chair.

  “What?”

  “I thought we were both on the same page about this,” he says quietly.

  I roll my eyes. “It’s just a drink, Landon. Relax. I just feel like we’ve been-”

  “Like we’ve been what?” His jaw tightens. “Like we’ve been what, ‘pulling apart’?” He air quotes sarcastically. “Cooling off?”

  I scowl. “Look, did I do something wrong? I’ve been busting my ass to get on top of all this stuff. The paperwork for that Cole kid is filed with the league, and I had a pretty fucking great idea for that commercial spot.”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” he mutters, avoiding my gaze.

  “Oh, are you sure? Because you’re acting like a sulking child.”

  “This is work, Serena,” he growls, standing. “What happened the other night-”

  “Oh my God, Landon, we’re on the same page, believe me. I’m not that girl, and trust me, I get it.”

  “Do you?”

  He steps around his desk and leans against it. I stand my ground by the door, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “This whole ‘trying to freeze me out’ act you’ve been pulling all week? Do us both a fucking favor and drop it, alright? I already told you, I’m not looking for anything either. What happened the other night is just sex, Landon. You’re an adult,
I’m an adult, we both have plenty of shit and baggage.”

  I glare at him, thinking of Holden’s words from the other night suddenly and hating that I am. I don’t care what he does in his time, and it’s none of my damn business who he’s slept with before.

  But then it tumbles out anyways. “Apparently some of us have more baggage than the usual.”

  He frowns. “Excuse me?”

  “Nothing, forget it.”

  He rolls his eyes. “Speak.”

  “I’m not a puppy, you know.”

  A grin teases his lips before it fades. “You don’t want me to freeze you out? Fine, then don’t keep things from me.”

  “You seriously want to go here?”

  “I wouldn’t be asking.”

  I purse my lips, arching a brow at him. “I just think it’s funny that you’ve got all these rules of yours, when this is hardly the first workplace thing you’ve had practice with.”

  He holds my eyes with his, the gears whirring inside his head as he measures me up. “You talked to Holden.”

  I bristle at the freakish way he’s cut right to the heart of it. “No,” I say quickly.

  He smirks, and for some reason, the look gets my blood boiling.

  “Well you don’t have to be so arrogant about it. I wouldn’t exactly go smugging around the office about breaking up someone’s marriage.”

  His look instantly cools. “That is not the story.”

  “Oh? Enlighten me how you sleeping with a married woman didn’t break up a perfectly good marriage?”

  “Are you at all curious to hear the story, or are you quite content up there in your moral castle throwing blind accusations.”

  My mouth snaps shut. “Fine.”

  “I didn’t know she was married, first of all. I had too much to drink at an office thing, and I went home with the very forward new contracts representative from our in-house legal team. Whatever torrid affair Holden’s dreamed up in his head, I can promise you, it was not. I saw her once, and I didn’t find out that she had a husband until a week later when she cornered me in the damn cafeteria and told me she was leaving him, for me.”

  His face is stony as he levels his eyes at me. “Suffice to say, I wanted no part in being lied to or used like that. I told her we were not a thing, and to go to marriage counseling. What happened after that would have happened whether it was me or any other guy, believe me. Oh, but nice job assuming it was a ‘perfectly happy marriage’, by the way. Thanks for the benefit of the doubt.”

  This is stupid. There’s no reason we should be even going here, and I shouldn’t care about any of this crap. What I do need to care about is getting through the next few weeks and making this work.

  “So, we done here?”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “No, actually. You know you don’t have to shut down like this and act like an asshole just because I won’t fall all over you and beg and whine for you to sleep with me again like every other girl you go through.”

  He smirks. “What?”

  “That’s really what the problem is here, isn’t it? That’s your thing, right? It’s just not as good unless the girl throws a fit about your whole ‘one-time only’ rule and humiliates herself trying to get you again, right? That’s your little power trip?”

  His eyes narrow. “Okay, take it easy.”

  “Or what, Landon?” I hiss.

  I’m tired of this bullshit between us. I’m tired of walking on eggshells and playing these stupid games after we both agreed that the other night was just sex.

  “Look, if you’re waiting for me to act like whatever other women you’re used to and throw some little temper tantrum and beg you to sleep with me again like some sort of desperate charity case, I can promise you, it’s not going to happen.”

  “Watch it,” he growls, standing tall, his jaw tightening.

  I take a step towards him and jab a finger at his chest. “Yeah? Or what? You going to fire me?”

  “It’s crossed my mind.”

  I snort. “The hell it has. You need me and you know it, so cut the bullshit.” I poke my finger against his chest.

  His very sculpted, very muscled chest.

  “And stop acting like I’m was some sort of pathetic pity fuck, because you know damn well you needed it the other night as much as I did!”

  My mouth snaps shut.

  Okay, that went further than intended.

  Landon steps against me. “So you needed the other night, huh?”

  “Don’t be an asshole, you know what I meant.”

  “You’re dodging the question.”

  “You’re being a prick.”

  He moves closer - so close that I can feel the heat of his body, and so close that I could lean forward and melt into him.

  “You trying to push me?”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” I whisper back. I drag my eyes up his broad chest, over his sculpted chin, those perfectly tempting lips, and up to those gorgeous eyes and the sinful way they’re burning right into me.

  Damnit.

  My pulse thuds in my ear as I dart my tongue out to wet my lips, meeting his gaze unflinchingly. “I’m just saying, if you can’t handle being around me in the office after what-”

  I gasp as his hands suddenly grab me as he spins us around. My back presses into the side of his desk as one of those strong hands firmly grasps my hip and the other slides up my back until his fingers tangle in my hair. He tugs it back just hard enough to make me gasp, and when his mouth dips to my bare, exposed neck, I shiver against him.

  “Let’s get one thing straight,” he growls into my ear. “I have rules for a reason, Serena.” His hand moving down to cup my ass, and I moan.

  “Yeah, well let’s get another thing straight then,” I hiss out, spreading my legs as he pushes me back onto the edge of his desk and moves between them. My skirt rides high around my hips and I shiver as I feel the thick bulge at the front of his suit pants pressing hot against my panties. His lips trace over the side of my neck as my hands slide up his chest. “I am not like those other girls,” I husk into his ear.

  “Believe me, I’ve noticed.”

  The hand in my hair suddenly yanks me back again, and just as I cry out, his lips crush against mine.

  I moan as my hands tighten on his shirt, feeling him grind against me as our mouths part and tongues find the other’s. My hands tear at the buttons of his shirt. I push it off his shoulders, running my hands down over his bare skin as he shrugs one arm and then the other off, coming right back to cup my jaw and mash his lips against mine again.

  Hands push my skirt up to my hips, and I moan as I feel his hand delve between my legs. I kiss him harder as I feel his fingers push over the soaking wet front of my panties, rubbing me through them. He pushes them deftly to the side, and I groan into his kiss as one thick finger slides deep inside of me. His thumb brushes across my clit, making me rock my hips into him as he curls that finger inside, like he’s beckoning me.

  His other hand moves up to the front of my blouse, popping one button after the other, his lips never leaving mine. I drop my own hands to his belt, tugging it off and then hastily dropping his zipper. I push them off his hips, reaching down to slip his briefs over his cock. I groan into his mouth as I feel him hot and heavy in my hands, my fingers curling around his length as I stroke him.

  Landon growls into the kiss, pushing forward until I’m stroking him bare right against my thigh as his fingers strum over my clit. He reaches across his desk with his free hand, knocking over neatly organized file folders and sending a cup of silver, monogramed pens scattering across the mahogany surface. He yanks open a side drawer and comes back with a foil wrapper.

  I groan as he withdraws his hand from between my thighs, but he’s tearing the wrapper open and then rolling the condom down his length in seconds. He pushes the thick head against my opening, panties still pulled to the side, and my breath suddenly catches as he buries himself to the hilt in one stroke.

 
; My fingers claw at his biceps, leaving scratch marks as he grinds deep inside.

  Fuck he feels amazing.

  His hands grab me by the waist as he starts to rock in and out - slick, hot, and fast as I pull my lips from his mouth to moan loudly. Landon reaches behind me, the neat order of his desktop going crashing to the floor as he clears it with a sweep of his arm. He lays me back, my shirt open, my skirt pushed up, and my panties to the side as he starts to fuck me with deep, rhythmic strokes.

  His hands grab my thighs, skimming up to my knees and bringing my legs up to his shoulders. I moan wildly, dropping my head back onto his desk and running my fingers through my hair as his cock pumps in and out of me. He brings one hand down to cup my ass, grabbing me possessively. The other slides across my belly and under my bra, pushing it up as strong fingers find my soft breast and hard nipples.

  Landon starts to move faster and faster, and I’m raising my hips to meet his every thrust. Harder, faster, wetter, and moving towards a frantic pace and a toe-curling inevitability as we both gasp and moan.

  He pushes me back as he climbs up onto the desk with me without ever pulling out. His abs ripple and his biceps flex as he moves over me, my legs splayed and my ankles over his shoulder as he starts to slide in deep. I’m gasping for breath, clawing at the edges of my sanity and feeling that wave start to crest over me as his lips move to my ear.

  “One more rule,” he growls, his cock pushing deep inside as I go to pieces under him.

  “You’re going to come for me, all over my big cock, and you’re going to come for me right fucking now.”

  I scream into his shoulder as the orgasm goes crashing through me. Every muscle in my body tenses as my lips close tight on his skin, my fingers digging into his skin. Landon groans as he buries himself inside me, his body tensing along with mine as he goes tumbling over the edge with me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Serena

  We lay like that for a minute, panting, sweating, and moaning as the aftershocks roll through us. Slowly, he pulls out of me and eases off the desk, helping me up and kissing me before he ducks into the bathroom off his office.