by Parker, Ali
He was also exceptional with his hands.
Dallas slid a finger inside me and pressed his thumb down on my clit. Little stars exploded behind my eyelids as I closed my eyes and stroked his cock.
His hand fell from the back of my neck and plunged into his pocket. He pulled out a condom. He had come prepared. He pushed it into my free hand. “Put it on me,” he growled.
I fumbled with the wrapper as he slid another finger inside me.
I gasped. He smiled that devilish smile of his and watched as I tried with all my might to tear open the condom. I gave up and used my teeth, which got the job done. I tossed the wrapper aside, gripped the base of his shaft, and rolled the condom down his sizeable length.
He flicked his fingers inside me, and I gripped the edge of his desk as my body thrummed with pleasure. The tight knot that had formed became somehow tighter. It was almost too much.
Almost.
When he pressed down hard on my clit and curved his fingers upward, I couldn’t hold back my cry of pleasure. My toes curled, and I panted desperately as I came. Dallas watched me all the while, his fingers still fucking me.
After the orgasm ebbed away, he stepped between my legs, took his shaft, and eased the tip of his cock inside me.
He was thick.
I moaned. So did he.
“Yes,” I breathed, staring down and watching him enter me. My body was ready for him. I took every inch, much to my surprise, and once he’d filled me up, he cupped my face in one hand and kissed me. His other hand lingered between my legs and rubbed my aching clit.
Neither of us were going to be able to last long. This had been a long time coming—and it was better than it had been in my dreams.
He pushed me down on my back and shoved loose papers off his desk. I held myself up on my elbows, and he leaned over me, fucking me hard and fast, his hips slapping roughly against my bare skin.
He put a hand on the base of my throat to hold me in place. I moaned and licked my lips. All thoughts of whether we should or shouldn’t be doing this vanished.
I laid down flat. Dallas pushed my legs back to enter me more deeply.
I closed my eyes as every inch of my body strained with pleasure. It was coming. I wouldn’t be able to keep it at bay much longer. Dallas groaned above me. He was nearing the edge, too.
I opened my eyes and met his dark gaze.
“Harder,” I whispered.
His eyes darkened, and he clenched his jaw. His thrusts quickened and deepened, slamming into me just like I needed. My back arched at the feeling. He slid an arm under me and held me like that, showering my cleavage and chest with wet kisses and soft nibbles until my orgasm rocked me.
He came at the same time. Both of us shook with pleasure and gasped for breath as his rhythm slowed and eventually stopped. He kissed me softly and held himself above me with a hand on either side of my head.
“This was better than the party,” he said hoarsely.
I smiled and let out a breathy giggle.
He patted my hip and squeezed my ass. “Elijah and Kate will wonder where we’ve gone off to.”
“Are you kidding? They’ll be staring into each other’s eyes, wishing they’d gone off to do the same thing.”
Dallas chuckled and kissed the tip of my nose. “You’re right.”
“But we should probably go back down,” I said.
“After a drink?” he asked, tipping his head toward his cocktail bar.
His cock twitched inside me, and I flinched. The smile he gave me was pure trouble. I held up my index finger. “One drink.”
Chapter 21
Dallas
We found Kate and Elijah still sitting exactly where they had been before Elise and I slipped upstairs.
Kate had one leg crossed over the other. Her royal blue dress with its plunging neckline seemed painfully tempting for Elijah, but he was doing a good job maintaining eye contact, rather than letting his gaze rest solely on her cleavage. I’d have to give him praise for that. Kate had been the poor guy’s kryptonite for a long, long time.
Elise walked around me, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor, and took the open seat beside Kate, who was too enamored with her conversation with Elijah to notice the pink in her sister’s cheeks. I pulled out the chair beside Elijah, spun it around, and sat down in it backward, draping my arms over the backrest.
Elijah glanced at me. “Where did you wander off to?”
“I had to take a call,” I said nonchalantly. “Do you guys want to get out of here?”
Elijah’s brow creased, and he looked to Kate, who shrugged. “What did you have in mind?” he asked.
“There’s a bar down the street. Good drink specials and music. And the best nachos in town.”
“Say no more,” Kate said, getting smoothly to her feet. She plucked her glass of wine from the table and finished it in three big swallows. Elijah watched her with fascination, and I nudged his foot with mine.
He stood up, and so did I. Clearing his throat, he said, “Lead the way, Dallas.”
I straightened my jacket and shared a look with Elise as she stood, too. Her hair was a bit messy, and she seemed a bit flustered as she ran her hands down her thighs, but she smiled at me.
As we left, I was stopped by several coworkers who all asked where I was off to so early. The night had barely begun. I used Roy as my excuse, and it worked like a charm every time.
“That’s low,” Elijah said. “I need a kid so I can get out of the shit I don’t want to do.”
“It’s definitely useful,” I said as we went out through the doors and emerged in the lobby of the building. We crossed the tile, which echoed loudly with every step our group took. When we stepped out into the cold dark evening, Elise slipped her leather jacket on. She and Kate walked up ahead of Elijah and me all the way to the bar.
When we arrived, the place hummed with good energy. It was dimly lit, and the dance floor, which was situated right smack in the middle of the place, was packed. A track of strobe lights mounted to the ceiling above the dance floor cast flickers of red, blue, green, and yellow light down on the floor, briefly illuminating the dancers.
All around the dance floor were high tables. Most were occupied. Some of the other tables along the walls of the bar were still empty. Candles glowed on the tables as people sat in tightknit groups, sipping their drinks.
The music pumped through the soles of my shoes as we got in line behind a big group of young people doing shots at the bar.
Elijah looked over at me with a smirk playing on his lips. “Shots?”
Kate looked back at us over her shoulder. “No shots. I don’t want to be a zombie tomorrow.”
“Shots,” Elijah said, rubbing his hands together.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m not opposed to a shot or two. It’s been a long time.”
The group ahead of us slid to the side, and the bartender, a young woman with long blonde hair and gold bracelets jingling from wrist to forearm, waved us up to the bar.
“What can I get for you?” she asked.
Elise stepped up. “Four shots of tequila, please.”
“Oh, shit.” Elijah chuckled. “This night is going to get wild!”
I shook my head at him, as did the two women in our company, and I grabbed my shot when the bartender filled up a shot glass. Elise passed out lime wedges, and we moved aside so other people could order their drinks.
“To a blast from the past?” Elise asked, raising her shot in the air between us.
“I like the sound of that,” Elijah said, following suit.
Kate’s eyes were on Elijah, and she was smiling, despite her initial resistance to doing shots. “What the hell. Let’s have a bit of fun.”
They all looked to me expectantly. I didn’t say anything. Instead, I raised my glass briefly before throwing the tequila into my mouth and swallowing. I grimaced as I bit into the lime and dragged the back of my hand across my mouth as the others followed suit.
They slammed their empty shot glasses down on the bar.
Elise sucked on her lime wedge. It was impossible to look anywhere else but at her lips. I thought about what those lips of hers had done not even half an hour prior. My cock twitched in my pants, and I forced myself to look away.
“Should we get a table?” Kate asked. She had to raise her voice over the loud music.
Elijah nodded.
We followed him through the crowd out past the dance floor to a booth. He slid in first, and Kate went in after him, moving all the way to the end to press her thigh up against his. Elijah and I locked eyes briefly, and I tried not to laugh at the childish grin on his face.
He was living his best life. All of his fantasies about Kate were colliding, and he was quite literally closer to her than he had ever been.
Elise and I sat across from them. A waitress popped up beside our table and asked if she could get any of us something to drink. She had a lip piercing and black hair slicked back in a high ponytail that swished across her back as she looked back and forth between us.
“A round of rum and cokes for the table, please,” I said. “Put everything on my tab this evening.”
The waitress nodded and hurried off to fill our order.
“You don’t need to buy our drinks,” Elise said.
“I want to.”
Elise shrugged out of her leather jacket. I took it from her and hung it on the hook on the side of our booth. She thanked me with a sweet smile that made me want to kiss her again. Hell, if there weren’t people around, I probably would have.
If there weren’t people around, I’d do more than kiss her. I’d lay her down all over again, worship that perfect body of hers with kisses, and then make her scream my name like she had forty-five minutes earlier.
I shook my head. I had to stop torturing myself like that.
Elijah distracted me from my thoughts when he started asking Kate questions. “So, Kate, you’re working as a vet tech right now?”
Kate nodded and rested her cheek in one hand to look over at him. “Yep. For four years now actually.”
“And you like it?”
“I love it,” she said. “I get to be around animals all day long.”
“And night,” Elise added. “She has a thing for cats.”
“I like cats,” Elijah said.
I blinked at him. “You do?”
Elijah nodded earnestly. “Sure.”
I chuckled and hid my face as Kate smiled at him. She flipped her hair over one shoulder. “I have two cats.”
“And she fosters kittens when she can,” Elise said.
Kate looked like she was about to say something snappy back, but she was cut off when the waitress returned with a tray of our drinks. She placed a rum and coke in front of each of us, as well as a napkin. “Can I get anything else for you guys?”
“No thanks,” I said. “Maybe in a bit.”
She smiled before leaving us alone again. I picked up my drink and took a sip. It was strong as hell, just how I liked it. Elise, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be much of a fan. She took a sip and flinched before setting it back down atop her napkin.
“Too strong?” I asked.
Elise looked up at me as she used her straw to stir the cocktail. “A bit more than I was expecting. Yes.” She took another sip and nodded. “That’s better. I think all the rum was just sitting on the bottom.”
“I can ask them to make you another one,” I said. “A less potent one.”
“No, that’s all right.” She smiled. “It’s good now. Thank you, though.”
Again, I couldn’t stop looking at her lips as she sealed them over her straw and drank.
Kate and Elijah struck up their conversation once more. This time, she was asking him about his work at Treo.
“I’m an accountant for the sales department,” he said.
“And you like working there? With this guy?” She hooked a thumb in my direction.
Elijah chuckled. “Yes. He got me the job actually.”
“Oh?” Kate asked.
I nodded. “We needed to replace the guy we had. He sucked at his job, and he rubbed everybody the wrong way. Especially the women, if you know what I mean. It took some time to push him out, but we pulled it off, and I made sure we filled his spot before he managed to weasel his way back in. That’s how we got stuck with this guy.”
Elijah grinned. “Dallas secretly loves working with me. Don’t let his bad attitude fool you. I’m a joy to be around.”
“Oh yeah,” I said sarcastically. Elijah flipped me the bird, and I laughed. “I’m just joking. Elijah is good to have in the office. It’s been what, four years or so? About the same time that Kate here has been working as a technician.”
“Sounds right.” Elijah nodded.
“So, you work with the authors too?” Elise asked curiously.
Elijah shook his head. “Not really. I mostly crunch the numbers once the sales department has pushed the books out. I’m more of a data entry guy anyway. I’m not a huge fan of the whole face-to-face thing in business.”
Kate smiled. “That’s why I work with animals.”
“And why I work alone,” Elise said. “Writing.”
They all looked at me. I chuckled and leaned back in the booth, holding up my hands and showing them my palms in submission. “I know, I know. I’m the odd one out. Sue me, but I love working with people. Well, most people.” Minus my dad.
“You always were a people person,” Elise said before pursing her lips over her straw once more. She drained the remainder of her cup and looked to Kate. “I have to pee.”
Kate nodded. “Me too.”
Elijah and I exchanged a look as the girls slid out of the booth without saying anything else and walked, hips swaying, to the bathroom.
Elijah arched an eyebrow. “Why do girls insist on going to the bathroom together?”
I shrugged. “So they can talk about us.”
He blinked. “Really?”
“Of course,” I said, reaching for my drink.
“Well then, we can talk about them while they’re gone.”
“Sounds fair,” I mused.
“Good. Then answer me this. Where did you and Elise wander off to during the party? And don’t tell me you had to take a call. You and I both know that’s bullshit.”
I polished off my drink. “All right. Fine. We went up to the office so I could show her around.”
“And did you show her around the office, or around your cock?”
I scratched my jaw.
Elijah let out a victorious laugh and pointed an accusing finger at me. “You sly dog. I can’t believe she went for it.”
“Neither can I to be honest. I think… I think I made a big mistake, Elijah.”
“What? In sleeping with her? Man, you’ve been wrapped up in this girl for the last week. She’s a grown up. She could have said no.”
I shook my head. “No. Not that I slept with her.” I sighed. “My mistake was leaving her all those years ago. I never should have let her go, man. Fuck.”
Chapter 22
Elise
I pushed through the swinging door to the bathroom and went into the first open stall. Kate took the one beside me. We both did our business and came out to wash our hands. I rinsed my hands as my mind reeled.
Things had escalated quickly between me and Dallas back at the office.
I couldn’t quite make heads or tails of my feelings. I was confused, terribly confused. I’d had no intention of sleeping with him. It was literally the last thing I ever would have expected to do tonight.
But it happened regardless of my intentions, and now I couldn’t take it back. What was even more bothersome, I wasn’t sure I would, even if I could.
It had felt so damn good. It felt right, even.
“Are you okay, Elise?” My sister’s voice cut through my thoughts.
I turned off the tap and grabbed a paper towel. “Yes.”
Kate’s silence told me she wasn’t buying it. She stood by her sink, one hand on her hip, watching me. “Are you sure?”
I tossed the paper towel in the garbage and met her eye. “I think so.”
“What’s going on?”
I licked my lips and felt heat creep up my cheeks.
“Oh,” Kate said, her eyes widening in surprise. “Did the two of you… you know?” She formed a circle with her thumb and index finger, and she thrust her other index finger through the circle, in and out.
“Kate,” I said sharply, slapping her hands down.
She let out a giggle and clamped her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. But for real? You guys hooked up?”
I groaned and braced myself on the sink, letting my head hang down and my hair slip over my shoulders. “Yes.”
“Oh my God,” she breathed. Then she was quiet for a while. I didn’t say a word as she processed this information. I stood there waiting for her to scold me, to tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t have done what I just did—reasons I already knew. “How was it?”
I lifted my head. “What?”
“You know. The sex. How was it? I bet it was hot as hell and—”
“Kate. Seriously?”
“What?”
I looked up at the bathroom ceiling like there was something up there that would take pity on me and spare me from this situation. There was nothing. “It was more than good.”
“I knew it,” Kate gushed.
“But I shouldn’t have done it. We’re supposed to be going into business together, and this complicates things. A lot.”
“Then why did you do it?”
My sister’s question caught me off guard. It was so incredibly simple. Why did I do it? Why have sex with him? I knew all the reasons I shouldn’t have done it. I knew I was taking a risk and throwing a wrench in the mix.
But I’d done it anyway.
“Because he’s a different person now,” I said.
Kate nodded. “I think so too.”
“And I don’t know,” I said. “It’s hard to explain. It was like all those old feelings I used to have for him suddenly came rushing back. And I liked it. And this time, I know he’s not messing around with other girls, too. I trust him.”