I try to laugh, but the girl has me rattled. Instead, I throw back the rest of my drink, letting the burn slide down my throat and settle in my stomach.
Anna is on the outskirts of the dance floor, and I decide I’ve waited long enough. I get up and go around the opposite side of the room. When we meet at the other end, in one fluid motion I pull her out onto the floor. I snatch her phone out of her hand and shove it into my pants pocket.
“Hey!” The rest of her protest gets lost in the upswing of the music.
“You told me you can have fun. Prove it.” I challenge.
She stares me down for a moment, but then shakes her body loose and starts moving to the music.
Holy shit. As I watch her start to sway her hips, I realize I just passed GO. I had to have her.
Tonight.
I grab her hips and back her up against me on the floor. She grinds her ass into my crotch, returning my dare. She starts swiveling her hips in small circles that have my cock rock hard in a blink of an eye. I pull her against me so she can feel the effect she’s having and to my surprise, she doesn’t back away.
I twirl her around and drag her close to me so that her tits are heaving against my chest. She locks her eyes on me, throws her arms in the air and shimmies her hips against me. I’m utterly transfixed as she runs her hands through her hair and tosses her dark locks over her shoulders before spinning back and rubbing her ass on me again.
I would have paid the DJ anything to keep going, but after the five minutes in heaven, the tune changes and downshifts to give people a breaking point, likely to entice them to go buy more drinks.
“That was fun,” Anna laughs as she catches her breath.
Fun is one word for it. My personal choice of phrase would have been hot as fuck.
Before I can make another move, she steps off the floor and goes back to our booth in the VIP area. The waitress reappears and Anna orders a vodka cranberry and I order another vodka on the rocks.
“Listen, Adam, I’m sorry about what I said in the car. That was entirely out of line on my part,” Anna says, her face suddenly serious. “You’re right. I don’t know who you are as a person and I shouldn’t judge based on what some gossip trolls say about you.”
Just like that, she shocks the hell out of me for the second time this evening. “Thank you, Anna. That means a lot actually. For what it’s worth, I judged you—misjudged you—the day of your interview. I think you’ll do well at Trendsetter.”
“Thanks.”
The waitress drops off our drinks. “To a fresh start,” I say, raising my glass in a toast.
Anna smiles and clinks her glass to mine before we each take a sip.
Chapter 9
Adam
The night passes quickly as we burn through a couple more drinks. We talk about our joint experiences at Columbia, our parents, likes and dislikes. Over the course of the evening, it becomes more and more obvious just how much we have in common with each other. We both led a privileged life and have famous parents, spent a lot of time in Manhattan, have traveled to a lot of the same places, and have similar taste in music, movies, and food.
As our conversation winds down, Anna shows me the shots she took on her phone and starts uploading them to the Trendsetter web properties. Less than fifteen minutes later, she shows me that there is already a buzz in response to the new posts.
I know I should be excited about the business stuff, but all I can think about is how to get Anna back on the dance floor again so she can let loose on my cock. Before I can figure it out, we are approached by two women. They both cut right past Anna and latch onto me.
“Hey handsome!” The shorter of the two says to me. She is still probably 5’9, and very curvy. She looks familiar, but I can’t place her.
“Good evening, ladies,” I drawl.
“You’re Adam Gerome, right?” The taller one asks, and I can practically see the dollar signs or similarly shady ulterior motives flashing in her eyes. “That’s so amazing!”
Anna smirks and I glance over at her.
“Everything all right?” I ask her.
“Yes. Definitely. Listen, it’s getting late. I’m going to call it a night. Have a good time with them, though.” Her eyes flick towards the doors and I’m not sure if she is testing me to see if I’ll try to make her stay, or if she’s simply tracing out a path through the crowd.
The two woman write her off and turn their attention back to me. The shorter one already has her hand so high on my thigh she’s going to hit pay dirt at any second.
Anna gives me one last look and then turns and darts away. I watch as long as I can, until Anna is out the door.
“What’s her problem?” The taller one asks, giving me a duck face pout.
“Jealous!” The other one cackles.
“Listen, ladies, it’s been a treat, but I gotta go.”
They protest, but it doesn’t matter, I’m already halfway gone.
I get outside and look both ways, before catching a glimpse of Anna through the loitering crowd waiting to get in. I jog to catch up to her. “You know, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you were jealous back there,” I say, sidling up to her.
“Adam?” She stops in her tracks and stares at me.
“Come on, just admit it,” I tease.
She starts walking again, this time at a faster clip. “Hardly. I don’t usually make it a point to compete with anyone. Really, you should have stayed with them. I’m sure they would have given you a far more exciting night than chasing me down the sidewalk in the freezing cold.”
For the first time, I notice she’s shivering. No small wonder, considering her dress is made of some skimpy fabric I can’t name. I whip my jacket off and wrap her shoulders with it. “Better?”
She hesitates to take it, but the warmth seems to win out because she snuggles into the heavy wool and nods. “Yes. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, what are we doing?”
“I am walking home.”
“I see. Why are you walking when it feels like ten degrees out here?” I ask, noting the puff of cloud that leaves my mouth as I speak.
“I forgot to put my wallet in this purse. It’s back at the office, so I don’t have any cards or cash to get a cab,” she admits.
Holy shit.
“Anna, you can’t be serious. Why wouldn’t you come get me to call you a cab or have my driver drop you off?”
She looks away as if embarrassed. “I just wasn’t in the mood to ask.”
“What if I hadn’t come after you? Do you know what part of town this is?”
“I would have made it home. I’m not completely helpless, you know?”
I nod, but I wonder if she really believes it herself. “Fair enough,” I reply, not wanting to rile her up further. “Let me call my driver. He should be right around the block. I’ll take you home.”
“What about your friends?” She asks, and I have to hold back a smile at the note of jealousy in her voice.
“Not important.” I pause to dial my driver. “Can you circle back?”
Anna stops walking. She is standing close, probably to share my body heat. The closeness makes it harder than ever to ignore how much I want her to go home with me and stay the night in my bed.
My father’s warning is still screaming in the back of my head, but I can’t help but turn down the volume. Not when Anna is staring up at me, her aqua green eyes glowing in the hazy light from the street light above us. I lean down and her eyes go wider before fluttering closed. My lips are so close to hers that I can almost taste the slick lip gloss she has on. Before I can seal the deal, my town car pulls up to the curb. Doug, hops out and races around to open the back door for us.
Anna’s eyes open. She keeps her distance, thanking Doug as she climbs in and slides across the dark back seat.
I bite back a comment about impeccable timing and climb in beside her. Doug goes back to the driver seat and Anna gives him her home address.
“Nice neighborhood,” I comment, visualizing the part of town she rattled off.
“Yeah. It’s new for me. I haven’t even finished unpacking yet.” She looks down at her hands and I notice how far away she is, having scooted almost all the way to the opposite door. “Kelly lives in the building too, actually.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. We ran into each other in the hallway last night. Kind of an odd coincidence.”
“Hmm.”
Why was it always like this between us when things went quiet? Back at the club, things had been so fluid, so easy. The spark was there, the banter was there, but now, in the silence of the backseat, we both seemed like two socially awkward people on a bad blind date.
It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the front of her building. Doug raced stepped out to open the door on Anna’s side.
“Thank you. Tonight was a lot of fun,” she says, glancing over at me before turning away and exiting the car.
I hop out my side. “Doug, I’m going to walk Ms. Nash up to her apartment.”
Doug throws me a wink and gets back in the car. It isn’t meant it to be a code. Certainly, my bed-hopping ways were not a secret to Doug. He had been my personal driver for several years and knows me to a tee.
“I’m fine, really,” Anna says, looking back at me as I take long strides to catch up to her. Her doorman opens the door, wishes us a good evening in passing, and we step inside the building.
“Anna, what kind of boss would I be if I didn’t see you to your apartment?” I ask, smiling at her.
She laughs under her breath.
“What?” I ask.
“I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t realize that was what you were going for. Is that just a tactic? Or are you truly turning over a new leaf? I mean, even if we were to pretend that you weren’t fully prepared to take both of those club girls home with you tonight, it’s not like you owe me anything. This was a work engagement. You said it yourself.”
I don’t have an answer. Anna boards the elevator and I take a quick step to follow before the doors start the slide shut.
I know I can’t fight years’ worth of tabloid stories. “A new leaf. Sure. Maybe you’re bringing out a new side to my personality.”
She stares at me in disbelief, shaking her head. “I find that very hard to believe.”
“And why is that?”
She presses the elevator button to her floor and looks over at me. “Because, Adam, I just saw you in action with those girls at the club. One of them was practically giving you a hand job right there and you didn’t even flinch!”
“I thought you we were going to pretend that didn’t happen.”
The elevator jolted to life, launching us up to the fourteenth floor.
“Adam, it did happen. You have a lot of fun with a lot of women. You’re a manwhore, except instead of money, the woman give you great head. That’s my guess. You could have had any girl in that club. The way they all were gawking over you was quite legendary,” Anna continues, still shaking her head at me.
“Yet, here I am with you. The only woman in the place that I’m thinking about,” I say, meeting her eyes and for some reason, hoping she believes me.
The elevator dings and we step off onto the fourteenth floor. I follow one step behind as Anna walks to her door, digging in her purse for her keys.
Before she can fish them out of her bag, I grab her by the shoulders and back her against her front door. “Anna, you are the most fiery, passionate woman I have met in a really long time. When I tell you I want to get to know you better, it’s not some line. I mean it. I had a lot of fun with you tonight. I’d like to do this again.”
She opens her mouth—presumably to protest—and before she can get a single syllable out, I cover her lips with mine and steal away whatever defensive sentence she was about to throw my way. Her lips taste even sweeter than I had imagined, and my mind goes into overdrive wondering how the rest of her would taste. She let out a stifled moan that I swallow up, loving the purr sound it makes in the back of her throat. I move in closer so there isn’t an inch of space between our bodies. Her lips part with the slightest flick of my tongue and I explore all the curves and lines of her perfect mouth.
“Anna?”
Anna breaks away from the kiss and I follow her frantic eyes. Kelly is standing in the hallway, staring at us with shock and horror.
Chapter 10
Anna
My planned weekend of relaxation and unpacking turns into an anxiety-riddled panic attack waiting to happen. It’s a two-day suspense marathon as I puttered around my apartment, channeling all my energy into not freaking out about what will happen with Adam and Kelly—and my job—come Monday.
Monday comes around too quickly as far as I’m concerned. Still, even with all my obsessing and reviewing every possible scenario, I find myself completely unraveled as I stand outside Adam’s office door.
After catching us in the middle of that utterly panty-melting kiss, Kelly scurried into her apartment and I didn’t seen her the rest of the weekend. Granted, that was likely because I barricaded myself in my apartment on some kind of self-induced house arrest.
I still have no idea what came over me to let him get close, let alone corner me and kiss me. When Adam pulled me out onto the dance floor, I went along with it, and even upped the ante just to prove him wrong after our little spat in the car on the way to the club. I wanted to show him I was just as unpredictable and free as he is. I didn’t plan on the entire thing taking such an erotic turn. The way he had control over my body still gave me the shakes in a too-hot-to-handle, sensual way. I had gone to my share of frat parties during my university years, but I was never really the wild drinking and dancing girl. I always preferred hanging with my girlfriends over getting cozy with some guy who was drunk off his ass and probably wouldn’t be able to get it up if I even let them take it that far.
With Adam, it had been completely the opposite. The way he moved my body—and moved with my body—drove me to a place I can’t say I had ever been before. As for any potential problem getting it up, it was definitely not the case for Adam. When he pressed what felt like a massive erection against my ass, I couldn’t help but grind on it.
Holy hell.
I bury my face in my hands. The whole thing was so over the top, in hindsight. How did I let myself get so carried away? I was quick to judge the girls who approached him at the bar, and seemed to forget the part where I let him dry hump me in the middle of a hundred sweaty bodies on the dance floor.
“Get it together, Anna,” I tell myself softly. I shake my arms loose and then knock on Adam’s door.
The only thing that’s clear right now is that this thing needs to end here. I still can’t believe that I almost let myself get swept away in Adam’s pretty words and very convincing speech—not to mention that kiss.
That I definitely needed to banish from my mind forthwith.
Dammit! No such luck.
As soon as Adam opens the door, the image of his lips on mine is the first thing that comes to mind. The smell of his cologne and my inability to stop staring at his lips are only making it harder to forget.
“Hello,” he says, ushering me inside. I take ginger steps forward and he shuts the door behind me.
“Adam, I’m so sorry—”
“Anna, let me talk.”
We both start speaking and then stop at the same moment. We stare at each other and exchange a nervous laugh before Adam nods at me to continue.
“I was just going to say that I am really sorry I let things get carried away,” I say, finishing my thought.
“No, no. It was my fault. I should not have crossed the line. Listen, has Kelly said anything to you?” He asks, rubbing a spot at the back of his neck. I wonder if he is tensed up from all the stress and worry like I am from two sleepless nights spent tossing and turning and fantasizing about having him plant those lips between my legs.
“No. I kind of chickened ou
t on going over there, after…everything.”
“Right.” He nods and sits on the edge of his desk. “So, every Monday just after lunch, we do a staff meeting where all the department heads get together to hash out staff issue, brainstorm about upcoming issues, plan out coverage for upcoming events. I want you to come to the meeting.”
I know I should be relieved that he is moving on from the other night so easily, but something seems off. There’s something he isn’t telling me. “Um, sure. I’ll be there.”
“Great. There’s something else,” he adds.
I steel myself, preparing for whatever bomb he is about to drop.
“I’m going to formally introduce you at the meeting, explain your position, and I am also going to add you to the upcoming LA trip for fashion week.”
“What?” I gape at him. That was certainly not what I had been expecting.
I spent my formative years as an annual participant—albeit, an unwilling one—to New York fashion week, and the idea of a trip out west to LA sounded like a dream opportunity.
“It’s a pretty big deal. We only have space for a few people to go along, and I want you to be one of them,” Adam explains while I continue to gawk at him.
“Wait, is this because of what happened?”
“What? No, not at all. I saw what you can do,” he says and stops.
I look down at my shoes, trying not to interpret the statement.
“You know what I mean. Anyways, I saw the impact your social media posts made on follower engagement. Our pages are usually a vast wasteland with zero engagement. I need you to bring that to LA.”
I smile at him, the pressure in my chest subsiding a little bit. “Wow. Thank you Adam, I really don’t know what to say.”
“No need,” he replies, holding up a hand.
A silence falls between us. “Will you be on the LA trip as well?” I ask after a moment passes.
He looks up and his eyes meet mine. The instant they lock onto each other I feel my body temperature rise. I know it’s wrong. I can’t have him, but after what happened at the club and at my front door—and given what I was wishing for the rest of the weekend—it’s hard for me to scrub that from my mind. The way our bodies had fit together on the dance floor, followed by the crazy, breathless kiss at my door, was a tough combo to get around. Something primal was switched on inside me. I know now that I won’t be happy until I have more of what Adam can deliver to my body.
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