by Lynda Aicher
His smile spread easily. “Who said it was a bluff?”
Her expression turned serious, but with it was an understanding he couldn’t decipher. “I don’t want the details, but I’m also not naïve enough to believe that I’m the first woman you’ve...been with in the Boardroom.” Her hand fisted, relaxed. “I get it. I just...” She glanced down, her hand fisting again.
He used his finger to raise her chin until she looked to him. “Just what?” Nerves clashed with something new. Something light. Hope, maybe? Belief? Promise? Whatever it was, it’d been zigzagging around in his chest all weekend.
She searched him for a long moment, emotions rushing in and out of her eyes. She inhaled, held it. “I just hope that going forward, while we’re together, I’m the only woman you’ll be with.”
Did she not get it? “You’re the only woman I want. Anywhere.” The only one he’d ever truly wanted—in every way. “You’re not another Boardroom woman, Brie. You’re mine now.”
Relief flashed before it softened into something warmer, deeper. “Good.”
Good. So much hung on that single word.
He trailed a finger down her jaw, tracked its path, marveling over the softness. He was close enough to catch her light scent that teased him with memories and more of those damn promises. The fear was there, scratching out his history, but he dismissed it.
Fear had lost its power over him the moment he’d embraced the strength of the darkness and solitude within that tiny, cramped closet.
“I expect the same.” His voice had turned colder than he’d intended. Her frown told him he’d been too brisk, but he couldn’t alter the facts. The thought of another man sinking into her lit a venomous anger he barely recognized.
Her lips quirked, those frown lines fading. “I accept your terms, counselor. With one addendum.”
“That is?”
She patted his chest and slipped by him to reach for the door. Her smirk was pure sex and cunning when she looked back. “I still get to be yours in the Boardroom.”
And she still had the ability to shock him.
“Not a problem,” he choked out. At all. His dick twitched, the desire racing south as expected with a declaration like that. But the tightening in his chest and the sudden loss of breath was different. “Should I arrange something?”
The sultry heat in her slow perusal left scorch marks. She bit her lip, let it roll out in the same blatant move she’d used that very first time in the Boardroom. It still worked.
She turned the door handle, gave a careless shrug. “If you wish.” The seductress disappeared the second the door opened. Her expression went blank, her profile displaying her professional facade.
He stared at the open doorway, his throat dry, his erection demanding attention. Sure thing. He’d get right on that.
If you wish.
Just the thought of watching her come undone beneath him while everyone in the room raged with want and admiration made his dick ache. But knowing that she was all his, that she opened to only him, was free and sexy and so damn stunning. For him? Just him?
That—He swallowed. A shiver simmered under his skin and pranced on his longing. That was...everything.
He couldn’t lose that.
Now the fear laughed. A big rocking roar that mocked his declarations, trampled his walls and threatened to expose the scared, lonely kid who only wanted to be seen.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Hey, Brie,” Lori greeted as she slid into the booth across from her. “How’s it going?” She tucked her purse into the seat, stuffing it along with her trench coat into the corner. Her grin was big when she looked up. “Anything interesting to report?”
Brie barked out a laugh. Where did she begin? “Nothing that thrilling.” It’d been weeks since she’d crashed her friend’s apartment and had a minor breakdown. She counted back and realized it was closer to months. Wow.
“Right.” Lori flipped open the bar menu. “And I’m not as dumb as I look.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Lori flipped her off, her bright red nail gleaming in front of her smirk. “I opened the door for that one.”
“You did.”
“Fine.” Lori snapped the menu closed and leaned in, her arms crossed on the table. “Give me the gossip.”
Brie faked a deep thought. “Yeah, nope. I have nothing.” She kept a straight face for a whole second before her laugh escaped.
Lori’s scowl contained more annoyance than anger. She shook her head, arms crossing over her ample chest as she slumped back. “Not funny.” But her reluctant smile said otherwise.
“I know.” Brie shrugged, ducking her head. “Sorry.” They both knew she was going to spill her guts, but it was fun to hold back. Especially when the info was so good.
She beamed inside. Her heart expanded every time Ryan looked at her. It fluttered when he touched her, even a graze on her arm or a considerate hand on her back.
Lori ordered a drink when their waitress stopped at their table. “Are you hungry?”
“A bit.” She glanced at the time, which had the magical ability of turning her instantly ravenous. “I mean yes.”
They ordered some appetizers and the waitress left. Their stare-down commenced a moment later. Lori was clearly waiting, but she wouldn’t dig where she wasn’t wanted.
Brie heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “What do you want to know?”
“Truthfully?” Concern flowed over Lori’s face. “I just want to know if you’re okay.”
“What?” She was shocked by that. “Yes. I’m fine.” She frowned. “Why?” They’d texted since her meltdown. Lori knew she’d gotten over her initial embarrassment regarding Ryan and that Brie had gone back to work with no issues or comments from him.
“Because I’m your friend.” Guilt made a quick appearance before Lori shrugged it off. “And I kind of feel responsible since I’m the one who got you into that situation.”
The concern touched a soft spot in Brie. Again, this was why they’d remained friends long after college had ended. “I made my own choices,” she reassured her. “And I don’t regret any of them.” She didn’t. Not one. “In fact, I’m really, really happy right now.”
The truth fueled her grin and bubbled inside her. It was good to finally let her giddy free. She’d held it in, dampened it down and tried to remain calm. But here, now, she didn’t have to.
“What?” Lori straightened, her mouth hanging open. She snapped it shut. “Good.” She paused a moment, her head slowly bobbing. Her smile was warm and honest. “I’m happy for you.”
The waitress dropped off her drink, and Lori took a sip of her lemon drop before continuing. “Now tell me what brought this on?”
“So...” She wrestled with the smirk trying to bloom. “I might be dating my boss.”
Lori’s eyes bulged. “Might? As in maybe or you are?”
Brie bit her lip, holding her secret in for a second longer. “I am?”
“Wow.” Her stunned expression remained. “Now that’s a development I hadn’t expected.”
“Me either.” Not at all. In fact, it was the last thing she’d expect. Brighton definitely didn’t approve, but that side of her was quieting more each day. Her mother’s hold didn’t reach her when she was with Ryan. He was separate from that world, an escape she didn’t want ruined by her mother’s conniving influence.
“And you’re suddenly okay with dating your boss?” Lori arched a knowing brow.
She gave a shrug, her stomach churning. “Yes and no,” she finally offered. People made a lot of assumptions, and although she put on a confident front before Ryan and the other partners, it wasn’t their judgments she feared the most.
“How’d it happen?”
“It just...did?” One return trip to the Boardroom
with him and everything had changed. The whole thing was both fast and incredibly slow. “I mean,” she went on when Lori scowled again, “we worked the case just fine together. I kept my lust controlled and stomped on the mortification when I realized he gave me no reason to be embarrassed.”
“I told you,” Lori shot in with a victorious smirk.
Brie wrinkled her nose, giving her friend the point. “And... I got to know him better.” That was a major oversimplification, but it worked. “Then we might’ve made a visit to the Boardroom together—without the blindfold.”
Lori choked on her drink, coughing madly as she scrambled for a napkin. Her glare would’ve taken down an army of timid students. And that only made Brie smile more.
“That was dirty play,” Lori accused, clearing her throat one last time. She blinked, dabbing away the tears in the corners of her eyes. “I’ll remember this at your next birthday.”
Brie groaned, dropping her head. She imagined handcuffs, a blindfold and a golden dong for her thirty-first birthday. Her lips quirked. She could so see using every one of them with Ryan.
She glanced up through her lashes. “I think you’ve unleashed a monster.”
“What do you mean?”
She blew out a long breath. “I mean,” she lifted her head, “that Boardroom is damn addictive.”
Lori’s burst of laughter eased the knot of worry that’d lodged in Brie’s stomach. “It is,” Lori agreed. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“It’s...odd.” Was that the right word?
“Why?”
“Because it’s not supposed to be hot.” She squirmed, hunting for an explanation. “Not in a room full of other people.”
“Who says?”
“Everyone.”
Lori screwed up her face in disgust. “You mean your mother and her high-society wannabes.”
She snorted her agreement. “Am I that obvious?” Of course she was. A flash of shame nailed her chest. Not for what she’d just admitted, but for a lifetime of conforming to an ideal she loathed.
Lori shrugged her comment off. “The scorn just makes it hotter.” An almost evil wickedness crowded into her eyes. “The supposed disdain. The superior judgment. The raunchy freedom that takes place right there under their righteous indignation.” She rested her chin on her clasped hands. “Don’t you think?”
Brie swallowed. There was something to that. That was how it’d started for her. A big FU to her mother. But now...
“I like being watched,” she admitted on a hoarse breath. She stared at her friend, daring her to comment, yet dying for her response.
“It’s empowering, right?” Understanding passed in a simple shared look.
Her smile ghosted over her lips, that tightness easing. “It is.” Unexpectedly so.
“Sexuality is really damn powerful when you embrace it.”
“That’s deep.”
“It’s true.” Lori sat back as the waitress delivered their food. She inhaled, her eyes falling closed. “That smells good.”
“Can I get you anything else?” The waitress gave them a smile and departed when they said they were good.
“No, really,” Lori said after a few bites of the artichoke dip. “Women have been using their sexuality for centuries. How do you think Cleopatra got all those men to bow to her? It’s not new, by any means. We’re just stuck in a fucked-up rut of male-dominated superiority specially aimed at stripping that power from women.”
Brie gaped at her. She snapped her mouth closed, processing. “Now that’s deep.” She picked up her glass, studied the empty contents. “I think I need another drink for this discussion.”
“Think about it,” Lori went on, unfazed. “Men want sex. No, men pant, pillage and kill for sex. They bang their chests and flaunt their conquests to raise their standing among other men. But give them one strong woman,” she held up a finger, “one, who understands that power and uses it against them, and she becomes the queen.”
“I don’t want to be queen,” she countered, enjoying herself. Lori had been the one who’d initiated her into the art of random debate years ago.
“Neither do I,” Lori agreed. “But the rush? That confidence that floods you? The knowledge that you can make them pant and groan in need?” She smacked her hand on the table. “Now that, I love.”
Brie nodded, awed at the understanding when she really shouldn’t have been. Not with Lori. “I was surprised by that part.” She made a circular motion to indicate what she’d just said.
“I know.” Lori took a bite of a chip, nodding. “It got me too, at first.”
“It did?” She found that...interesting. Her friend had never lacked in confidence.
“Sure.” Lori shrugged. “I don’t think anyone really expects to get much out of group sex except sex.” She raised her brows, daring Brie to counter her.
“I certainly didn’t.” She’d had no idea sex could be so...eye-opening? Amazing? Empowering. There it was again.
“It’s not always like that,” Lori cautioned. “I’ve had some meh experiences too, but not in the Boardroom.”
“Like where?”
“Other clubs.” She waved the question off. “They can be cool for general voyeurism and exploration, but don’t expect any of them to replicate the Boardroom.”
“I don’t think that’ll be an issue.” She had zero plans to go orgy-crashing anytime soon. Her daring only went so far. “So, umm, how did you find out about the Boardroom?”
“A friend.” Lori finished her drink and motioned to the waitress for another round.
“And what makes it so special?” Brie probed. Despite her three experiences in it, she still knew very little about it. She hadn’t even talked in depth about the Boardroom with Ryan.
The emotion slid from Lori’s face on a calculated fall that sent a chill over Brie. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Why?”
“Don’t play stupid. You read the rules.”
“But...” She clamped her mouth shut, frustrated and understanding at once. The NDA had been airtight. “I get it. Sorry.”
Lori reached out to lay her hand on Brie’s arm. “I’m not trying to be mean.”
“I know. Really.” It didn’t dampen her curiosity, though.
“You understand the risk,” Lori said. “I won’t jeopardize my standing within it or the privacy of any member.”
Brie was starting to get a clue at exactly how exclusive the Boardroom was. She’d had an idea, but she hadn’t analyzed it. There hadn’t been a need. And now?
“Can I ask, how does one become a member?”
Lori’s head was shaking before Brie finished. “You already know more than you should.”
“Why?”
“Ahh...because you just told me you’re seeing Ryan Burns.” Lori waited, expectation hanging once again.
Brie tried to follow the open-ended statement. “Nope.” She shook her head. “I’ve got nothing.”
Lori dropped her head back. “I have failed.” She reared up. “Did I not teach you a thing about logical deduction? About connecting the dots and aligning facts? Think, Brie. Think.”
What was she supposed to think about? Knowing too much? Sex? Ryan? “Wait.” She frowned, thought back to their night in the Boardroom. The spontaneous one. “But I’d been a guest before.”
“How many times do you think someone has the privilege of being a guest?”
“I hadn’t thought about it until now.” Because really, why should she have?
“And you went without the blindfold.”
“So?”
“With Ryan Burns.” She waited, eyes wide. Brie still had nothing. She shook her head, more lost now than ever. Lori slumped back, eyes closing. “I really have failed.”
Brie couldn’t stop the giggle that fell out. “I t
hink you’re being a little overdramatic.”
The waitress set their new drinks down, and Lori snatched hers. “You’re a lifesaver.” She sucked down a long gulp. “Now maybe I can forget my horrible failure.”
“The dramatics really don’t work on you,” Brie deadpanned.
Lori shrugged and took another sip of her drink. “You’re probably right.”
“I am.” On this at least.
“Fine.” She set her drink down, going serious. “If you really want to know more about the Boardroom, then ask Burns.”
“Okay.” She dragged that word out in confused understanding.
Lori rolled her eyes before leaning in, voice hushed. “He has the clout to grant you membership.”
Membership? “I hadn’t thought of that either.” She’d understood it was an exclusive group, but actual membership? Like joining a gym? “Do you have to pay to be in it?”
“No.” Lori looked seriously offended. “It’s not a prostitution ring.”
The lady sitting at a nearby table snapped her head around. Brie gave a tight smile, waiting until the woman looked away. “Nice,” she mumbled.
Lori winced. “Just talk to Burns. I’m surprised he hasn’t made you a member already.”
“Maybe he has,” she offered. Would she even know? “Unless I have to sign a double-secret, blood-binding contract or something. Maybe survive a trek through the valley of the dragons or, I got it.” She clapped her hands, wiggling in her seat. “I have to pledge my firstborn to the clan matriarch.”
Lori stared at her, expression blank for one very long moment. “I give up.”
“What?” She gaped at her friend. “You never give up.”
“Well, I am with you.” She finished the contents of her glass in an impressive display of irritation. She dabbed the corners of her mouth, disdain clear. “And on that lovely note, I have to go.”
Brie grabbed her phone and checked the time. “How’d it get so late?”
“I am constantly wondering that myself.” She laid some money on the table. “Do you mind taking care of the bill? I have to be somewhere.”