by Piper Knox
I swore when I saw what was on it.
13
I pushed the overflowing bags of clothes and shoes aside to make space and threw myself onto it. I was tired and the shopping binge had not achieved the desired satisfaction. After he left, I had gone to all the best shops and bought tons of designer clothes, shoes, and purses on his cursed credit card to piss him off. Only to later realize it would not piss him off, probably. Why would it when he was a literal billionaire? I might as well return everything and was thinking of doing so when Caiden burst through the door and marched into the suite. He looked livid.
“What the fuck where you up to?”
Or maybe it did. I sat up with renewed interest and watched him as he surveyed around the room taking in all the bags lying on the bed and on the floor. “You couldn’t stop at this, you had to take it the extra mile.”
I got up. “Whatever are you talking about? I did simple shopping, that’s all.”
“Does simple shopping include buying the entire stock of your—my rival company’s store?”
His fury was so pent up, he looked like he was about to explode at any moment. Somehow, it made me want to anger him more.
“You said I can buy whatever I want and I did,” I said in the most casual tone I could muster.
He marched over to me, closing the space between us to mere inches. I stared directly into his eyes as he towered over me.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a spoiled little bitch?”
“Many, actually.”
He stared me down with fiery eyes. I didn’t fail to notice the way his jaw ticked as the gears in his head shifted. I was sure he was going to reply with a retort, but he crossed his arms and said, “Okay. You got it.”
“Got what?”
“My attention. Isn’t it what you wanted? Isn’t it what this is about? Go to daddy’s store and buy up everything in it, knowing it will probably make headlines and make me look like a fool. That’s what you wanted, right? My attention?”
“Yeah.” Or was it No? “No.” He was so close to me, my awareness of him was scrambling my brain. Images of our earlier erotic encounter kept flashing like a highlight reel in my head. Trying to think of something else was difficult. His hand on my breasts. The way he had made me come apart in his arms. That was all that filled my head, and how much I was still aching for him. Boy was I still aching for him.
Caiden narrowed his eyes and then his lips spread into a little smirk. It was as if he had just read my mind and knew exactly how dirty it was. He stepped even closer until our chests were touching.
“Well, you got my attention,” He said his gaze pinned on my lips. His voice was seductively low. “What are you going to do about it?”
I darted my tongue out to wet my lips and the next thing I knew his head bent down and his tongue was brushing mine. His kiss was as demanding as last time. Just as heady. Just as mind-bending. His hands were all over me all at once. We were both desperate for each other. What we had done in the car had heightened the arousal, not dampen it.
His hands went down to my butt, he held me and thrust me against his erection. Then he used his hold to grind me against him. The dress I had changed into earlier for my shopping excursion, a short summer dress, felt flimsy in his hands. One hand traveled under the collar of the dress and brushed up to my left breast. I could feel my panties dampened with arousal and anticipation of what was to come.
He broke our kiss and we both gasped for air.
“Do you want this,” he said. He meant going all the way.
I nodded.
He lifted me up in his arms and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He kissed me again as he began walking. Where, I didn’t know until I felt cool glass against my back. I opened my eyes, saw that he had balanced me against the floor-to-ceiling window. He took my lips again as my hands went to his shirt. I frantically made work of the buttons until I could feel his chest against my palm. He groaned when I twisted his nipple. He seemed to like it, so I did it again and he responded by removing my dress. My bra followed. He put me down and removed my panties as I tried to open the zipper of his pants. I was shaking with arousal and I could hardly stand on my two feet, let alone open a zipper. Somehow, I was able to, and I took hold of his cock. It was hot and pulsing in my hands. Pre-cum had pearled on top and it felt like the most natural thing to get on my knees and lick it.
“Hailey,” he rasped.
I took him into my mouth. He held my head as I worked on his cock. His knees bent as he leaned over and slammed his hand on the window. The power I had over him was exhilarating. My other hand went to his balls, and I cupped them, squeezing them a little.
“Hailey.” He sounded almost breathless and his hand, that had been holding my head, tightened its grip. I felt a heady sense of power over him. It was intoxicating. When I felt he was about to come, I increased my speed and, in a swoop, he pulled me back from his cock and lifted me again. His hands went down to my pussy.
“You’re fucking wet,” he said, “did sucking me off get you off?”
I smiled. He gave me another rough and hunger-filled kiss as he stroked my pussy. He groaned when he tasted himself on my tongue and then without warning he plunged into my pussy. I moaned. He stayed like that for a moment, letting me feel his cock inside me.
“How does it feel,” he asked as he kissed my neck.
“Full.” I moved, but his hand held my waist, stilling me. He thrust a little further, crushing me against the window and his body. My nipples brushed against his chest, igniting electric tingles that went from my tits down to my pussy.
“And what else?”
“Please.” He was torturing me and he knew it. I tried to move again, but he held me firm. He nipped my neck, making it harder to think of anything else other than his mouth on my neck, his cock inside me, and his chest against mine.
“Big.”
He chuckled and began moving. He started slowly, thrusting to the hilt and then almost pulling himself out before thrusting again. “Caiden.”
“Open your eyes.”
I did.
“Look.”
I did, and watched as he tortured my pussy with his aching pace. I moaned in frustration. He chuckled and took my lips for another kiss. His pace increased little by little. His thrusts became more frantic as he pushed me to the edge. I was aware of nothing else but him. My pussy tightened around his cock and the wash of ecstasy came over me as I milked his cock. He came soon after me.
We both crumbled to the floor with me on top of him. Even though this was the first time in a long time, I had had sex, this felt like nothing I had experienced before. My world felt rocked and that is all I wanted to focus on right now. How good it felt and not who had brought that pleasure.
“Hailey,” he said after a while.
“Don’t say anything stupid.” I could bear to hear another retort from him now that he had gotten what he wanted out of me.
“Let’s do it again.”
I lifted myself against his chest to look at him. He was serious. I bent down and kissed him.
14
The Thursday meeting was as boring as any Thursday meeting could get. It was the weekly meeting that Rachel wanted us all to attend and Stacey kept going on and on about the logistics report which I barely listened to because one thing occupied my mind. France. And the sex we had towards the end of the trip. It was as if a geyser had opened and we both let go of all the pent up feelings we both had of each other. We had made love, no, had sex like rabbits, enjoying the pleasures of each other’s bodies without thought of consequences or what it meant. Then, as quickly as it was opened, the geyser closed.
After coming back from the trip, everything went back to normal. Well, our normal of not talking to each other. We hadn’t spoken a word to each other throughout the entire trip back and the week since. Whatever was in the air in Paris wasn’t there in New York. Sometimes, I felt like I had hallucinated the entire thing.
&n
bsp; Rachel, suddenly cleared her throat, jolting me out of my reverie. “Thank you for that exhaustive report, Stacey,” she said to Stacey, who I’m sure she cut-off mid-sentence, “you can forward the rest in an email.” Rachel then clasped her hands and said, “Now on to new business.” She sounded like she had been itching to get on the topic the entire meeting. “We’ve recently found a new and dare I say generous donor.” Murmurs went around the meeting room. Even I perked up. I nudged Alicia, “what do you think it’s about?”
“What?” She croaked as she opened her eyes.
“The donor?” Alicia never got to answer. After a long deliberate pause to drum up suspense, Rachel announced, “Thanks to the efforts of Alicia and dare I say a certain someone among us,” her eyes went to me. Oh, oh, “KMVH wants to become a regular donor to our cause.”
My pulse increased a little. Caiden’s company was becoming a donor. I glared at Alicia. “Sorry” she said, “I had to take the opportunity when I saw it. They were receptive to our cause.” I still couldn’t believe that she would do it. But Alicia was a good fundraiser. She had pulled in donors recently that we could not get in a long time. I couldn’t fault her for getting a big donor such as KMVH. “Also, they’ll be coming to our offices tomorrow.”
No. No. No.
“I want us all to be on our bes…” I didn’t hear the rest. My gaze went to Alicia, who was now laughing at the panic no doubt plastered on my face.
“Oh my god, chill!”
“Sure,” I said as Alicia got up as soon as we adjourned the meeting. Everyone was getting back to their places, and I followed Alicia’s as we went back to our office.
“Rachel probably thinks it’s all thanks to you.”
My eyes widened and Alicia laughed again, “You should see your face! That’s what you get for not telling your husband what you do for a living. You would think you worked the pole the way you hide it.”
“It’s not that difficult. We rarely see each other.”
We both got into our office and as she was hopping back into her chair she asked, “what I don’t get is, why you keep hiding it from him.”
“How many times have I told you he hates me? He blames me for the death of his brother.”
Alicia’s blank stare seemed to say, ‘So?’
“If he finds out that I’m working here, he will do everything to destroy our little charity.”
She smirked, “No one’s that evil. Look, he’s even donating to our cause.”
“You don’t know him the way I do. What he did to my father was ruthless. I mean he deserved it but.” A realization hit me, “Oh fuck. What if. What if he already knows, and this is his way of trying to get at us?”
“By giving us more money? I think you’re being a little paranoid there.” I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself down, but it was not working. Somehow, I had to make sure that he wouldn’t find out. Maybe I could take a day off. That might work. But then again, “Does he know I work here?”
“I don’t know. Probably doesn’t. I doubt he’s aware of anything beyond it as a line item of one of the many charities his company donates to. Besides, it’s the social responsibility team that would be coming.”
I threw a pen at her. It clattered down to the floor next to her, “Way to bury the lede, Alicia! You should’ve told me that earlier.”
“Sorry! You should probably tell him, though. Keep things on the up and up in your weirdo marriage.”
Ever since I told her the truth about our marriage, Alicia had been making fun little digs about it. I thought about what she said for a second and decided against it. He might not find out, but it was only a matter of time. The thought of begging him not to do anything to us, came to mind, Maybe offer something in return. What, I had no idea. But why was I working myself up? Alicia was right, just because he ran the company, didn’t mean he was involved in every aspect of it. There was no feasible reason why the CEO of one of the biggest luxury brand companies in the world would visit a middling charity.
◆◆◆
The KMVH team that came the next day included Caiden. I was on my way out of the break room with a freshly brewed cup of coffee when I saw Rachel at the head of a group of suits. She was talking and gesturing animatedly as she made her way to where I was standing. Beside her was Caiden, listening intently to whatever she was saying. He looked chic and smart in a black pinstriped suit. Not a thread out of place. I felt rooted to the ground for a moment until I realized they would see me at any moment.
I rushed back into the room in time to watch them through the crack of the door as they passed by. After they were safely away, I darted back to my office and sat in my chair. My mind went blank about what to do next. It was clear Rachel was giving a tour. They could very well pass by here. What to do? Alicia wasn’t in. She had probably gone to receive the guests. She might have given me some pointers. Or, to be honest, laughed at me. I tried to calm down. I tried to pretend to work, like everything was normal, but I couldn’t. At the moment, they were at the other side of the office. The offices had glass walls with frosted panels, so I could make out where they were in between the lines.
Alicia had joined them. Rachel said something to Alicia, and she pointed at the office. Her office. My office. I felt my earlier coffee rush back into my mouth. I took deep breaths as I watched them make their way to my office. This was not good. Not good at all. It was too late to get out now. If I tried to run for the bathroom, they would see me. My gaze darted around the office. I could hide under the desk. There was a pot plant in the corner. I glanced back at them again. They were closer now. I went to the pot plant. The plant was too small for me to fit in. I looked up again. They were closer. I could even hear what they were saying now. I dove under the table.
“… And Alicia, our fund-raising assistant is the one who…” I could hear Rachel’s voice speaking as though she was at the door.
“Yes, I know Alicia,” Caiden said. “She was my wife’s maid-of-honor.” Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Oh!” Rachel’s usual calm voice sounded like that of an excited teenager, “Of course. They work together. Where is she by the way?”
There was no way of getting out of this. It wouldn’t surprise me if they all waited for me until I came. I saw a pen under the desk and picked it up and got up from under the desk. Caiden was standing with his arms in his pocket. If he looked shocked to see me, his face didn’t betray it.
“There you are!” Rachel exclaimed.
“I was getting my pen,” I said, feeling like a schoolgirl caught smoking pot.
“Hailey, you didn’t tell us your husband was going to come?” Rachel sounded a little irritated, as if it was my fault that Caiden came.
Caiden on the other hand had fire in his eyes.
15
Ax burst into my office, opening the door wide open as he swung in. He had a laptop in his hand. “You’ve got to see this,” he said. He came to my desk and put the laptop down. He tapped a button, and the paused video on it resumed. On it, a woman, a seamstress, I assumed was hand sewing Nappa leather material. Beside her, someone else was stitching the same material. They were in a factory, and it looked like everything they were doing was handmade. The video appeared to have been taken in secret. The angle was wrong, and it kept shaking.
“What am I seeing?”
“They stole from us.”
“What do you mean,” I asked even as I looked closer. That’s when I saw the big L intersecting with an F on the bags. It was the Lyndell logo. Except they were making Vali designs, a division of KMVH.
“Everyone at Vali is pissed.”
“I can’t believe they’re that blatant. The theft is so obvious.”
“It doesn’t matter. What it means is we have a leak.”
“How did you get hold of this?”
“One of our people. You need to talk to him, Caiden. He may be your father-in-law, but he can’t get away with this.”
My mind was running at a hundred. Who ha
d leaked the designs? And if they did, how much information did they have on us? It was bad. Lyndell was a bigger brand than Vali’s, our clothing division, and them making the same pieces as us meant they would be the ones to get the recognition. And the sales. The only positive about this is that they were desperate enough to steal designs. Meaning they had nothing new. But I wasn’t about to let them get away with it.
“Do you have any suspects?”
Ax shook his head. One suspect bounced in my head, but who knew how long they had this information. We might not have been married when the designs were leaked. But then again, I had caught her snooping.