by Hazel Kelly
“Landon,” she mouthed, but no sound came out.
“Come for me,” I said, working her until my wrist ached.
She let her head fall against the wall, exposing her delicate neck. “I’m close,” she whispered.
As soon as I saw her make that face, that face that let me know she was about to come at my touch, I was addicted to her, and I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do to see her make that face again.
And then she came with one strong jerk followed by a series of shudders, her beautiful mouth falling open in front of me as she gasped for breath.
I kept the pressure on, my finger pulsing with her clit as she came in bursts, soaking my greedy wrist.
She squeezed my shoulders and lifted her head, her hazy eyes finding mine as I pulled my hand from her hot body. Then she closed her parted lips and pressed them together, speechless for the first time since she’d come in my office.
A few seconds later, a knock at the door interrupted our erotic staring contest.
Not again.
“Your two o’clock is on the phone, Landon,” my assistant said through the door.
I blinked the fog from my mind.
“It’s Mr. Delany about the September budget,” she added.
“Can you tell him I’ll call him right back?” I asked, struggling to hide my breathlessness. “Two minutes.”
“Sure thing,” she said as I refocused on Margot.
She pushed her skirt down. “You better take that.”
I dropped my forehead against hers. “And you better wipe that smile off your face before you leave this office.”
She nodded, as if the obvious fact had already crossed her mind.
I stepped back, watching intently as she refastened her buttons until her eyes dropped to the aching bulge in my pants. “Don’t even look at it,” I said. “You’ll only make it worse.”
She blushed, took a deep breath, and pointed a finger at me. “Don’t ever throw me under the bus again.”
“Don’t change a thing about the way you deliver a pitch and you won’t feel thrown.”
She shook her head, unable to muster a mean look as she fixed her hair and headed for the door.
I shifted my weight, suddenly conscious that I was on the other side of a line I swore I would never cross. “Oh, and Margot—”
She looked over her shoulder and raised her brows.
“You definitely kissed me first that time.”
F L A S H B A C K
- Margot -
My mom and I raced my dad to St. Vincent’s Hospital as soon as we’d heard the boys had been taken there. According to the doctor, the only reason they knew what happened was because Matt had been hysterical in the ambulance on the way over.
Landon, on the other hand, still hadn’t said a word. He’d passed out as soon as he and Matt reached safety when he realized how much blood was coming from his face.
None of us knew for sure what the hell they were doing trespassing at the junkyard in the next town. I had my suspicions, though, that Matt was probably trying to find parts for the go-cart he was building in the garage.
They hadn’t heard the guard dog coming until it was too late. Matt was halfway over the fence when he saw the pit bull leap at Landon and bite his face.
When I heard Matt had jumped down immediately and pulled the dog off him, well, I’d never been more proud or scared to hear anything in my life. In an effort to protect his best friend, he’d sacrificed huge chunks of the skin off his forearms, and by the time Landon managed to scare the dog away by throwing coils of barbed wire at it, the tendons in Matt’s right arm had been ripped to shreds.
Only adrenaline could’ve gotten them over the fence after that.
Matt was fast asleep (and heavily drugged) by the time I was allowed to see him. The doctors had to operate on his arm as soon as he came in, taking skin off his backside to make up for the patches the dog had shredded with his teeth and left on the blood-soaked ground.
I couldn’t even hold his hand because his arms were so heavily bandaged, but I told him I loved him and that I was proud of him and that everything was going to be okay.
I was on my way to the drinking fountain when I saw Mr. Bishop sitting outside the door of a room down the hall. His head was in his hands, and I could tell by the red rims around his eyes that he’d been crying.
I dropped to one knee and put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay, Mr. Bishop?”
He sniffled and nodded at me, doing his best to force a smile. “He’s going to be okay, Margot. Thanks to your brother, I haven’t lost everything.”
I knew what he was trying to say, knew Landon was all he had left after his wife left him almost two years earlier. I also knew better than to ask if she was going to come see him in the hospital. “Is he—?”
“Asleep,” his dad said. “But you can go in if you want. Just don’t be long. He needs his rest.”
I glanced at the closed door beside me. I was pretty sure Mr. Bishop didn’t have the authority to let me in the room, but if no one was going to stop me, I wasn’t going to hesitate.
“They kept him awake during the surgery so they could make sure they put his face back together right.” He slapped a palm over his mouth and inhaled sharply.
I waited to see if he was going to say anything else, but he couldn’t.
I rose, pushed the door open slowly, and closed it, thinking a door left ajar might attract attention. Then I made my way to Landon’s bedside.
He was hooked up to all kinds of eerily quiet machines just like Matt, and his dark eyelashes were flush against his cheeks, one of which was heavily bandaged.
I laid my fingertips on the edge of the bed and let my eyes travel from his thick, messy hair down to where his hands were mummified in fresh dressings and clear tape.
“Hi,” I said, my voice cracking. “It’s Margot.”
I held my breath, desperately hoping his eyelashes would flicker or his thumb would twitch, but he stayed still under the soft light.
“Thanks for being okay,” I whispered. “I don’t know what I would do if—” My eyes watered, and I tilted my head back to try and blink the tears away.
I looked over my shoulder at the windows to the hall. The blinds were half-closed, and no one was looking in. I trained my focus back on Landon, lifted a hand to his hair, and dragged my fingertips through it gently.
I’d never touched him so tenderly before. I’d thought about it. God, sometimes it was all I’d think about for hours. It was softer than I thought it would be, and it was only when I realized how embarrassed I’d be if he opened his eyes that I pulled my hand back.
From the size of the bandage on his face, I imagined he’d probably have a pretty substantial scar. I prepared myself for that, making a silent promise that when I saw it, I wouldn’t flinch no matter how bad it was, and I would remind him that chicks dig scars as often as he needed to hear it.
A sudden rush of anger rose through me that his mother wasn’t there, wasn’t coming, wasn’t ever going to do right by him.
“I can love you enough,” I whispered. “I promise. Don’t worry.” I clenched my jaw and swallowed hard. “Just wake up and be okay for me.”
I lowered my face and rested my forehead on his, careful not to put any weight on his head. I love you, I thought, hoping he could read my mind. I love you so much it hurts. And I’ll love you forever if you’ll just wake up and be okay for me. I need you.
I startled when the door opened and looked over my shoulder.
“Your parents are looking for you, Margot,” Mr. Bishop said.
“Okay. Thanks for telling me.”
He bowed his head. “Sure.”
I looked back at Landon. I’ll wait as long as you need me to, I thought. Just wake up and be okay. I stepped back and turned towards the door again. “Thanks for letting me see him.”
“It’s what he would’ve wanted,” Mr. Bishop said, his glassy eyes smiling like he knew somethi
ng I didn’t.
I walked into the hall and went to find my parents, knowing they’d be happy to hear that Landon was resting peacefully. After all, they loved him as much as I did.
Well, almost as much.
N I N E T E E N
- Margot -
My feet didn’t touch the ground for the rest of the day. Even when I was taking the elevator to my apartment, I half expected it to just keep going right on up through the ceiling like the magic one in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
When I opened the door, Izzy was seated at our narrow table for two with a wrapped present in front of her.
“Hey,” I said, dropping my stuff in a pile. “What’s that?”
“No idea,” she said, turning the package to face me. “It’s for you.”
“For me?” I walked over and sat down across from her.
“Sorry I opened the card,” she said. “I assumed it was from my stalker.” She reached for the open wine at the end of the counter and topped up her glass.
“Don’t you have a show tonight?”
She shook her head. “The director wants me to rest my voice. Some important people are coming to the show this weekend, and I have to be perfect, apparently.”
I squinted at her. “So you get the night off because of theater politics?”
“Something like that.”
“Is there any white?” I asked, unable to remember when I’d last stocked up.
“There’s a bottle in the freezer.” She scooted her chair back and went to grab a glass.
“I can get it myself.”
“Nonsense.” She waved my comment away before opening the top compartment of the fridge. “I’d rather you open your damn present already. I’m dying to know who LB is and what he’s so sorry about.”
“LB… That could only be— wait, did you say you have a stalker?”
She plunked some frozen grapes in the empty glass on the counter. “Yeah. It’s no big deal. He doesn’t follow me home at night or anything…I don’t think.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“He’s just a critic who thinks I’m bound to sleep with him eventually if he writes enough nice things about me.”
“Naturally. I mean, who doesn’t have one of those?”
“Focus,” she said, nodding at my gift as she unscrewed a familiar-looking bottle. “Who the hell is LB?”
I pressed my lips together. “I’m not sure how to answer that.”
“Because…?”
“It’s complicated.”
She walked over and set a full glass of chilled white in front of me. “I’ve got all night.”
“We’ll, he’s this guy—”
She rolled her eyes and sat down. “I figured that out by how rosy your cheeks went when you heard his initials.”
“He’s the guy who got me my internship. Or at least, made the introduction for me.”
“Uh-huh.” She crossed her long legs and leaned against the wall.
“He’s also my brother’s best friend.”
One corner of her mouth curled up like she knew where the story was heading.
“I’ve basically had a crush on him since I first laid eyes on him in second grade.”
She draped her fingers around the stem of her glass. “Does he know that?”
“Oh, he knows.”
“Why’d you say it like that?”
“Because I’ve been throwing myself at him since I was sixteen.”
She lifted her glass and swirled the wine around. “And?”
“Something happened today.”
“Besides this?” she asked, tapping the box between us.
I nodded.
“Did you fool around?” she asked, her eyebrows climbing her forehead. “At the office?”
“Yeah.”
Her bottom lip stuck out like she was impressed.
“I mean, I was trying to rip him a new one for ambushing me in front of a client, but then he got up in my face, and he looked so, so—”
“So why is he sorry?”
“Sorry?”
She pointed at the table. “That’s what it says in the card.”
My face fell, and I flipped the small card open. Sure enough, all it said was, I’m so sorry –LB. “I have no idea.”
“Do you need an invitation to unwrap that box? Because I’m going crazy over here.”
“Oh right.” I cast the message to the side and unwrapped the red and silver bow before sliding the white lid off the box. Inside, there was a thin piece of silver tissue paper, but it couldn’t hide the intoxicatingly sweet smell that escaped as soon as the lid was removed.
I pushed the paper to the side, revealing a tray of chocolate-covered strawberries, each facing the same way. A moment later, I realized there were two layers, the bottom of which was the same except for the fact that the strawberries were dipped in white chocolate.
“I like this guy’s style,” Izzy said, reaching for a strawberry on the bottom tray.
I grabbed one, too, and sank my teeth into it. It was so sweet it was almost sour when the juices burst against my tongue, and I felt a bit smug when it occurred to me that it was only the second sweetest thing I’d tasted that day.
Izzy and I ate a few more berries in silence, closing our eyes at intermittent intervals when the sensory overload became too much.
“Excuse me for a second,” I said, walking over to grab my phone from my purse.
“Make sure you say thanks from me, too,” she said, smiling. “These are divine.”
I closed myself in my room and dialed his number.
“Strawberries ‘R’ Us,” he said upon answering.
“Thank you.” I perched on the edge of my bed. “They’re delicious.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’m not sure what they’re for.”
“For crushing your presentation today,” he said. “I wanted to get the sweet taste of victory dipped in chocolate, but I couldn’t find a place that did that, so I had to settle for strawberries.”
A warm glow spread through my chest. “Well, you shouldn’t have, but it was very thoughtful of you.”
“You bring that out in me.”
“Just one question,” I said. “What exactly are you sorry for?”
“What happened after the meeting today.”
My lips fell apart.
“I’m sorry we didn’t do that sooner.”
My heart lifted with my smile. “Me, too.”
“Shit,” he said. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“What?”
“Matt’s calling me right now.”
“You should get it. Tell him I said hi. Actually—no—don’t mention me at all.”
“I would let it go to voicemail, but he’s been trying to reach me since lunch.”
I exhaled, reminding myself that I didn’t need to tell Landon how to talk to his best friend, especially since I knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t say too much. “No worries. I just wanted to say thanks.”
“You’re very welcome. Enjoy the rest of your night.”
“You, too.”
“And Margot?”
“Yeah?”
“I think it’s about time I took you on a legitimate date.”
My ears perked up. “A date?”
“Yeah, you know. I show up looking handsome and say all the right things. You laugh at my jokes and bat your lashes at me across the table.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been on a date before.”
“Not with me, you haven’t.”
My stomach flipped.
“Sound good?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’d like that.”
“Great. We’ll set up something soon.”
“Landon?”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, too.”
Silence.
“You there?” I asked.
“I’m here,” he said. “Aren’t I always?”
T W E N T Y
- Landon -
I grabbed a craft beer from the fridge—some promotional shit Ethan wanted my opinion on—and took a big swig before dialing Matt’s number.
Deep down, I knew I’d opened a Pandora’s box of feelings for Margot and that there was no going back. Still, the situation was so new I’d barely gotten my head around it. So under no circumstance was I going to mention Margot or anything that happened earlier that day.
He picked up on the second ring. “Landon.”
“Hey, man. Sorry I couldn’t get back to you sooner.”
“It’s cool,” he said. “I know you’ve been up the walls.”
“You do?”
“Margot told me last week you guys had a big presentation today.”
“She did?”
“That’s actually why I’m calling,” he said. “I figured if it was a disaster, I could use a heads up.”
“A disaster?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to call and ask her how it went if it’s going to end in tears.”
Just the thought of her crying made my stomach ache. “I wouldn’t worry about that.”
“No?”
“No. She should be in a great mood. If she’s anything but proud of herself, you can tell her she’s crazy.”
He sighed. “I can’t tell you how good that is to hear.”
“She might still be a little pissed at me, but—”
“Why?”
I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees. “She gave me this big speech the other day about how she wasn’t cool with public speaking, and I let her think she was off the hook.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And then I sort of ambushed her in front of the client and made her present her idea for the commercial she came up with.”
“Shit,” he said. “Bet she wasn’t too happy about that.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” I said. “But I think she’ll be over it by the time our boss finds out she’s responsible for getting the deal done.”
“You think she might land a permanent role?”
“I’d bet my job on it.”
“My folks will be so happy to hear that, especially since my dad just had an architect in to see if her bedroom’s big enough to turn into a home theatre.”