by Adele Huxley
“Please, call me Damon.”
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I parked the car in the back lot, heading in one of the secret back entrances I’d since learned about. It was my main point of entry now, easier to avoid the growing mob of protesters outside.
My conversation with Autumn cycled through my mind as I rode the elevator to the top floor. Is that what it is? Just a safe crush? It feels different…
I walked down the hall, preoccupied with my thoughts. It feels like more than a crush, like I could actually come to really trust him. I mean, the guy is like pure sex molded in the flesh…
As I pushed the door to his office open, the universe practically proved my point. Xander stood with his back to the door, shirtless, skin gleaming with sweat. He turned as the door clicked open, his usually perfectly styled hair hanging in his eyes. He wiped his face with a white towel and nodded.
“Morning Maisie, you’re here early.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes from his body. Every shiny muscle popped and rippled with his movements. His abs were hard and flat, the lines of his obliques disappearing into the waistband of his sweatpants. I couldn’t detect an ounce of fat on him… and I was looking way too hard.
“I needed to get started on… the… thing…” I said, stumbling over my feet and words as I quickly walked in. I did my best to appear casual but felt like a robot trying to act human.
“Care to be a little more specific?” he asked with a half smile. He wiped down his chest with one hand, my eyes following his every move.
“I need to print and collate the packets for today’s meeting,” I said as if in a trance.
“Ah, okay then. Well, I’m glad you’re here.” He squatted down and rolled onto his back, beginning a series of rapid sit-ups. “Take a seat, I’ve got some ideas I want you to jot down for me while I finish.”
I blinked several times, a voice in the back of my mind screaming, “MOVE STUPID!” I dropped my bag and pulled out a legal pad, sitting on the edge of the desk with a pen poised.
What I hadn’t been able to explain to Autumn was how over the past few weeks, I’d learned how to compartmentalize my thoughts. It was like I’d developed a split personality. Maisie the professional appeared and acted as she should. As Xander rattled off his ideas and thoughts for expansion, things he wanted to address with Rian at the meeting later, I quickly transcribed. Professional Maisie thought, smiled, responded like nothing else was going on inside her head.
But Other Maisie, the one I wasn’t very familiar with, didn’t think… not with words. She ran almost on pure instinct. Her thoughts came in images… her teeth sinking into his shoulder as he lay on top of her, his broad hands splayed across her stomach. She thought in imagined sensations. What would it feel like if he pressed me against the wall? To ride him, his fingers digging into my hips as we…
“Did you get that?” he asked, pulling my attention.
“Yup. Researching the next ten cities for expansion, possible scouting trips to meet and greet,” I read from the page. One point to Professional Maisie.
Xander nodded before smoothly flipping over to his stomach. He proceeded to do push ups while I tried not to stare at the muscles on his back. At least he can’t really catch me staring from this angle, I thought with a thrill.
He continued talking, although with growing difficulty as his workout continued. Other Maisie wondered what that kind of stamina might mean in the bedroom while Professional Maisie took notes. He finished with a long huff, laying prone on the floor for a few seconds to recover.
“It might seem overwhelming at first, but you joined the company just as we’re about to expand. It’s going to be a lot of hard, difficult work, but it’ll be exciting.” He rocked back onto his knees, wiping his skin down again with the towel. Even though we were talking about work, I felt like his walls were down lower than ever before, that I was seeing a more complete version of Xander for the first time.
“Sure, yeah. It’s good business,” I said as my eyes dropped to the legal pad. “Everyone has sex.”
Xander laughed, his voice deep and hearty. “Other than funerals and burials, our business is one of the most future-proof you can find.” His burning gaze traveled down my body for a split second. “Even if people aren’t having sex, they’re thinking about it.”
A lump grew in my throat as my cheeks turned a light pink. “Yup, absolutely.” God, I sound like a clinical idiot. It was just a casual comment, but I instantly feared he was reading my thoughts.
After another pounding heartbeats of him studying me, he rocked back to his feet and stood. “I’ll need to meet with Rian before the meeting. He should be downstairs somewhere, if you wouldn’t mind finding him for me.”
“You want me to get him now? The meeting isn’t until two and…”
Xander walked to the attached bathroom as he spoke, the door swinging partially shut behind him. He raised his voice as the shower warmed up. “We have a lot to go over.”
“Okay, sure,” I called out. Flustered, I gathered my belongings, tucking the notepad under my arm. I couldn’t believe how casual he was acting. Between the conversation I’d had with Autumn that morning and watching him exercise half naked, my brain felt like it was going to implode.
Just as I put my hand on the handle of the office door, Xander stepped out from the bathroom, a black towel loosely held at his waist. “And don’t let him wiggle out of it. If you haven’t already noticed, he avoids responsibility like the plague and it annoys the ever-living hell out of me.” He ran his hand up and along his forehead, smoothing his black hair back.
I nodded, Other Maisie holding control of my brain for a split second. She was picturing what his body would look like if that towel just simply… fell… to the ground. I coughed and rearranged my things. “Of course. Firm hand,” I nodded.
Xander’s smirk was too much, like he knew what Other Maisie was thinking. I fled from the office and ran to the bathroom to run my wrists under the cold water to calm down.