by J. S. Scott
“What is she like?” I asked curiously, wondering what kind of woman could tame one of the Walker brothers.
He smiled broader. “Strong, stubborn, beautiful, and sassy as hell. But she has an enormous heart, big enough to accept me with all of my faults. But her life wasn’t easy. She’s a survivor. Sound familiar?”
“You know me? I don’t think we’ve ever met.”
“I know you through Sebastian.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I couldn’t imagine Sebastian talking about me to his brother. “Your wife sounds lovely,” I answered politely.
“She is,” he acknowledged.
I heard the door open behind me before I could respond.
“What in the hell are you doing? I said my office,” Sebastian said irritably.
I turned around to face him. “I got the wrong Walker. How would I know where your office is? I’ve never even been on this floor.”
“Ask,” he suggested.
“I did. I still ended up here,” I told him patiently.
I watched as Sebastian glared at his older brother, who was now openly chuckling.
Sebastian moved forward and gripped my upper arm. “Let’s go.”
“Don’t kill each other,” I heard Trace Walker remark as Sebastian dragged me out of his brother’s office and into his own.
As Sebastian closed the door, I shrugged off his hold on my arm. “Now I can tell you instead of your brother: stop messing with my livelihood.”
He turned around with a furious glare. “Why? You aren’t doing what you want to do anyway. You said business law wasn’t your first choice. Why are you here?”
His comment hit its mark, but I tried not to show it. I ignored his provocation. “Just show me the error so I can be on my way.”
“I can just tell you. It was actually a verbal contract.”
“Fine. Tell me.”
“I asked you to stay for a month, and you agreed. Then for some unknown reason, you decided to leave before I woke up in the morning. One month. Then we say goodbye. Why in the hell did you go, Paige?”
He was angry, but I could hear the desperation in his voice. “I had to. And I never really agreed to your verbal contract. You just assumed I did.”
“That’s why you called me up here? To suggest that I broke a sex contract?”
“You did,” he confirmed, his nostrils flaring and the muscle in his jaw contracting. “God dammit, Paige. Do you know how fucking worried I was when I woke up and you were gone?” He stepped forward and grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me lightly. “Do you?”
I stared at him with a blank expression before I answered. “I left a note.”
I was honest. I didn’t actually know what it felt like for somebody to worry about me. I hadn’t since I lost my parents. The only one who cared was Kenzie, and I didn’t have her close to me anymore.
“I left because I was scared,” I told him anxiously.
“Why?”
“Because I knew we couldn’t be together again. If we were, it would break me.” I might as well admit it. “I never meant to care about you this much, I never thought I’d feel what I’m feeling right now.” I was shouting now, but I didn’t care. “I’m falling in love with you, and I didn’t know what else to do.”
Mortified that I’d actually said those words aloud, I turned around and fled.
CHAPTER 17
Sebastian
I lost valuable time standing in my office like an idiot, trying to wrap my head around the fact that Paige had feelings for me.
Me.
The former player.
She’s not falling for the player, dammit. Paige is beginning to care about…me.
“Fuck!” I growled aloud, then turned and followed her, determined not to let her run away.
I knew how tempting that instinct could be. But it wasn’t happening.
Taking the stairs to save time, I was banking on the fact that it was the beginning of a workday, and there was no way she’d leave the building. She was too damn conscientious.
I took the stairs two at a time, unwilling to wait for an elevator. When I reached the floor beneath my office, I burst into the open area near the elevators and sprinted to Paige’s office.
I stopped short as I heard the heartbreaking sobs as I stood at the door.
I felt like a jerk because hearing her emotional turmoil in the form of distress actually made me feel hopeful. But after that initial reaction, I desperately wanted her to stop. Yeah, I was happy because she hadn’t dumped me because she didn’t care about me. She’d kicked me to the curb because she was fucking terrified.
My anger fled just as quickly as it had appeared, and I turned the handle to let myself in, but it was locked.
“Paige,” I howled, not giving a shit about the other people in her office. “Open the damn door.” I tried to look through the glass windows, but the blinds were closed.
The muffled noises from inside her office ceased, and the entire department went deadly quiet until I heard her modulated request. “Go away. You’re making a scene.”
I grinned, knowing she’d moved up to the door so only I could hear her.
“Either open the door or I’ll make more than a scene. It will be a major production.”
I waited, knowing she was probably battling with herself, trying to decide which was worse: me making a ruckus, or facing me.
When I heard the lock click, I knew she didn’t want to look unprofessional and become a subject of gossip in the office.
Good choice.
“I said everything I have to say,” she said coolly as she opened the door, blocking the entrance with her body.
Finding it slightly amusing that she thought standing in the front of the door would stop me from coming in, I curled one arm around her waist, closing the door and twirling her out of the way at the same time. I then clicked the lock, not wanting to be disturbed.
I nearly groaned as her delectable body slid slowly down mine until her booted feet touched the floor.
She struggled out of my grip and I let her go, wondering if she was feeling like an animal trapped in its own den. I didn’t want that, but dammit, I was going to make her listen to me.
“Well, I haven’t said all that I have to say,” I replied, striding forward to sit on the edge of her desk. “I want to know why you’re so afraid of anybody caring about you. You did scare the shit out of me yesterday morning.”
She turned her back to me. “I already told you why.”
I had to cross my arms over my chest to stop myself from reaching for her. “Tell me again. Because to my way of thinking, caring about somebody isn’t a bad thing.”
“It is when you know those feelings will never be returned,” she said in a tremulous voice. “Sebastian, I can’t do this. My work is my life.”
I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. “Mine, too. And that’s fucked up,” I answered gruffly. “Because I’m falling in love with you, too, Paige. Hell, I’m probably already splattered on the cement at your feet.”
She whirled around to face me, the expression on her face startled. “Y-You can’t. W-We can’t,” she stammered.
I stood up again and grasped her shoulders. “See, now that’s the thing…we actually can—very easily. Why can’t we just…happen? Why does it have to be so fucking difficult? You let me show you how much I care, and you stop running away from anything that scares you.”
“I’m not used to it,” she admitted breathlessly, her beautiful blue eyes staring up at me with apprehension in their depths.
“Then get used to it,” I insisted. There was no way I was giving her up now.
Paige Rutledge belonged with me. I didn’t give a damn about the fact that she worked for my company. All I knew was that she’d worked her a
ss off and had been through hell. Dammit! It screwed with my head that she hadn’t had somebody who gave a shit about what happened to her.
“Not a good idea,” she answered shakily.
“What?”
“You and me. We have to stop this now.”
“Why in the hell are you running away?” I questioned angrily. “It’s not like I didn’t just tell you that I feel the same way you do. And I’m not giving up.”
“You’re not in my position,” she explained, irritated. “You’re the head of the company. I work for that company, and I’m just getting a foothold here. One wrong move and I’ll screw myself. I don’t have the luxury of taking chances.”
She was right, and I wasn’t sure how to convince her that no matter what happened, I’d never do anything to hurt her. “Write a contract. If you leave Walker for any reason within the next year, you get two million dollars in severance pay and a good reference. I’ll sign it. I know you know how to make it an iron clad contract that I can never get out of.”
I watched as she opened and closed her mouth several times, but never said a word. Finally, she replied, “No. That would be crazy.”
I shrugged. Honestly, I didn’t care if it was lunacy. “I want you to be able to trust that I won’t screw with your career, or leave you in a bad situation, no matter what happens. Be with me. Spend time with me. Let’s face it, neither one of us are exactly normal. We spend almost every waking hour working. We have no fucking balance in our lives.”
“But I want to advance—”
“And I want to light up the world with renewable energy,” I interrupted. “But I’ll get there, and you’ll advance in your career, but we can do those things without making ourselves crazy. Take a chance, Paige. You’ll have a contract that will cover you in every possible way. There’s no reason not to try anymore.”
I watched as confusion flooded her beautiful face before she said, “Sebastian, doing a contract like that is nuts. You’d have no way out if I quit tomorrow.”
“Are you planning on leaving?”
“No.”
“Then there are no issues.”
“Most people would just quit,” she observed. “Two million is a big incentive. A new attorney doesn’t make that much in a decade.”
“Then you can quit and just take the money.”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked huskily, her voice trembling with vulnerability.
“Because even if you don’t trust me, I trust you,” I answered with raw honesty. “I don’t think you’d leave within that year unless you really had to. You’re too damn honorable.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I’m a betting man. I’m willing to take that chance on you.”
She just kept staring at me, and I was starting to sweat. I needed her to say ‘yes’ and I needed it right fucking now. But I waited. Paige had dealt with things a woman should never have to deal with in a lifetime. Her agreeing to give us a chance would still be a leap of faith. A guy with my history was a risk, and the last emotional gamble a woman like her would want to take on.
“We need to set ground rules,” she instructed. “We’re dating, trying each other out. It can’t affect my work.”
“Okay. But we leave work by five, unless there are extenuating circumstances.”
She nodded slowly. “Are we going to keep having sex?”
“Oh, hell yeah,” I answered in a graveled voice. “A lot.”
She pretended to consider my answer before she said, “I think I can live with that.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist. “Good. Because I can’t live without it,” I rumbled before I couldn’t stop myself from sealing the deal with the kiss I’d been waiting to lay on her since I’d woken up and found her gone.
I knew the embrace was rough and carnal, but my relief of knowing that she wasn’t going to slip away coursed through my body, and territorial instincts consumed me.
I needed her.
And I knew that she needed me.
Hell, even if she didn’t, she was going to get me anyway. I’d been under Paige’s spell almost since the moment I’d met her.
I was eventually able to pull my mouth from hers so we could both breathe, but it wasn’t enough. Lifting her up by the ass, I turned and planted her on the desk.
“Sebastian—”
I kissed her again, cutting off her words. I didn’t want to hear about how we couldn’t fuck at work, and I knew that was what she was going to say. But she was breathing as hard as I was, and as I yanked up her dress and discovered that all she was wearing was a pair of delicate panties and thigh-high stockings, I damn near lost it.
I passed my fingers lightly over the silky strip of fabric between her thighs, my heart pounding as I felt how wet that garment was.
Yanking my lips from her, I groaned. “Christ, you’re so wet, baby.”
I delved under the elastic and stroked her clit.
“Oh, God,” she said in a breathy voice that made me crazy.
I reveled in the fact that I could make her feel good. “Let me, Paige,” I demanded.
“We’re working,” she protested weakly as she tangled her hands in my hair.
I nibbled at the sensitive skin of her neck, and my reply was muffled. “We work plenty of overtime, and I own the desk I’m going to fuck you on right now.”
“Mr. Hurst—”
“Is conveniently in a meeting with Trace right now,” I growled as I reached down to pull the dress over her head, then lowered her upper body down on the desk.
“This is dangerous,” she panted, her cheeks flushed with passion.
Christ! She looked so damn beautiful that I felt like I’d been sucker punched in the gut. It wasn’t just the gorgeous image of her spread out and so damn aroused on her desk, but the fact that she was taking a chance. A big one. On me.
I was so damn ready to get myself inside her that I tore the fragile panties from her body and slipped them into my pocket.
I flipped the front clasp on her bra with clumsy fingers, then cupped her beautiful breasts, stroking the hardened nipples with my thumbs.
Mine!
I stroked my palms over her silken skin, my eyes focused on an image that I knew would be engraved on my memory for a lifetime.
Paige’s beautiful body spread out on her desk, waiting for me to fuck her.
“Sebastian,” she whimpered in a needy voice.
Her fire belonged to me, and it was me she was counting on to sate her.
I grasped her hands and placed them over her breasts. “Do what feels good.”
As I moved my fingers up her thighs, then let them plunge into her moist heat, I watched her eyes close as she pleasured her breasts, then wished I hadn’t asked her to do that.
The sight was too damn erotic.
“You’re so beautiful, Paige,” I said hoarsely as I stroked her clit with one hand and fumbled with my pants and fly with the other.
“Oh, God. That feels so good,” she whispered, her head moving back and forth on the desk as she pinched and stroked her nipples.
It was about to get a whole lot better for both of us. I liberated my cock, resisting the urge to go down on her to wring every climax from her that I could. It was the wrong place at the wrong time. There were people working in nearby offices and cubicles. The last thing I wanted to do was embarrass her. There would be time for everything else later.
Right now, I just fucking needed to claim her.
“Fuck me, Sebastian,” she pleaded softly.
“Done,” I grunted, removing my fingers from her pussy and replacing them with my rock-hard erection.
She gasped as I buried myself to the balls inside her fiery, wet sheath.
Gritting my teeth to stay still, I asked, “Did I hurt you?”
; “No. No. Please. More.”
I grasped her hips, relieved, and started a punishing rhythm that I knew was going to make us both satisfied.
There was very little noise except our harsh breathing and the slapping of flesh as I fucked her as passionately as I needed…as we both desperately wanted.
Watching her aroused face, and her rough stimulation of her breasts drove me nearly insane. Her booted legs wrapped around my waist, urging me faster and faster.
“Fuck!” I cursed as I felt my orgasm coming on in record time.
Paige was panting, and biting her lip to keep from moaning aloud, a sight that almost made her as sexy as when she was screaming my name.
In desperation, I moved one hand from her ass and gave her the strong stroking pressure she needed on the tiny bundle of nerves just above where our bodies were joined. She struggled even harder not to cry out, but a low moan escaped her lips.
“Come for me, Paige. I can’t hold out much longer.” My pace on her clit increased.
Relief flooded through me as I felt her thighs trembling, and her channel start to clamp down on my cock.
“Feels so good. You feel so good,” she said almost incoherently.
I shot off as she massaged my cock with her spasms, and I groaned as I released myself inside her as she struggled not to scream.
I plunged inside her with one last deep stroke, put a hand under her back and sat her up, quickly covering her mouth with mine as I absorbed the sounds of her climax, and reveling in my own.
I held her quivering body against me long after we’d both been satisfied, unable to let her go.
Thank fuck she’s mine!
A shudder of satisfaction ran through my body, a primitive reaction that I didn’t understand because I’d never experienced it before. But I didn’t question my possessive instincts. When it came Paige, they just…existed.
Eventually, we separated and silently put ourselves back together in the small attached bathroom she had in her office.
I stood behind her, straightening my tie in the mirror as she fixed her hair.
“I can’t believe I just fucked a man on my office desk,” she said weakly.