That Man 1

by Nelle L'Amour

  Another loud heave hurled me back to the moment. My fiancé, Bradley Wick, was puking his guts out, and there was nothing I could do. Because he didn’t want my help or my love. I felt helpless, hapless, and hurt.

  Finally, after five long, wretched minutes, Bradley staggered to his feet. His thinning hair was matted to his head, and his chalky face was spattered with sweat. He flushed the toilet, and then stumbled over to the sink where he rinsed his mouth with one of the dozen mouthwash products he had neatly lined up along the tiled counter. And then he vigorously brushed his teeth. After brushing, he splattered some cold water onto his face with his good hand.

  “You need to sleep on the couch tonight.” His voice was hoarse.

  “Okay.” As hurt as I felt, I was relieved.

  We exited the bathroom and parted ways.

  “Wake me up, if you need me.”

  Without responding, Bradley shuffled down the hallway to the bedroom we’d shared every Saturday for the past few years. But not tonight.

  In the darkness, I found my way back to the couch and turned off the TV. The peaceful quiet and stillness of the night enveloped me. I was still in my little black dress. Starting at my shoulders, I traced my fingers over the silhouette. I moved them slowly down to the rise of my breasts, where they lingered making wide circles. My nipples hardened and heat soared in my core. My hands continued to slide down my torso until they splayed on my bare thighs. They slid up and down my smooth limbs, and I felt myself succumbing to my arousal. My breathing shallow, I lowered the side zipper of my strapless dress and let if fall to the floor. Stepping out of it, I was naked except for a black lace thong that Libby had given to me for my last birthday.

  Spreading my legs apart, I dipped my right hand under the band of lace. My fingers latched on to my wet folds, caressing the hills and valleys. And then they found their way to my aching clit. My breathing grew heavy, my body feverishly hot. My left hand joined my right, and I shoved two fingers into my hole. Thrusting them up and down the slick, heated walls. Fast and hard as I rubbed my clit in tandem.

  My eyes squeezed shut, I arched my head and bit down on my lips to suppress moans that might awaken Bradley. I was on the verge of an orgasm.

  A heart-stopping second later, I came with powerful waves of pleasure. The image of Blake Burns’s beautiful face filled my mind and the image of his beautiful cock filled my core.

  Still trembling, I collapsed onto the couch and pulled the chenille blanket over my head. Sweet dreams knocked at my doorway to pleasure. With Blake Burns’s magnificence embedded deep inside me, I fell blissfully asleep.

  When I awoke Sunday morning, I was blissfully still wet. And didn’t give a damn when I heard Bradley sneak out the back door.

  Chapter 16

  Blake

  Monday mornings always began with a staff meeting at nine a.m. I was taken aback to already find Jennifer in the conference room at eight forty-five. With her lustrous hair loose and minus her glasses, she looked as beautiful as she had on Saturday night.

  Tensing, I settled into my seat at the head of the large conference room table and bid her good morning. “How was the rest of your weekend?”

  “Great.” She beamed.

  Fuck. She had sex with Dickwick.

  “How ’bout yours?”

  “Great,” I mimicked. Actually, it fucking sucked. Kitty-Kat, pissed off by Jennifer, had thrown an embarrassing tantrum at the gallery, and then she’d followed me home demanding retribution sex. None of my hook-ups got to spend the night with me. A rule was a rule. I almost had to call the police to get her out of my building. Then yesterday, I’d had a touch of that flu that was going around the office and stayed in bed all day. For the first time since my balls had dropped, my cock didn’t come out to play all weekend.

  “Did you stay for a long time at the gallery?” She held her mesmerizing green eyes in mine. Her gaze was inquisitive.

  “Not really.” I felt my cock jump. Why did she do this to me? I hadn’t stopped thinking about her all weekend. Even lying in bed yesterday fighting off a tinge of nausea, I thought about her and got a boner.

  “Oh. Did you and your date go somewhere afterward?” Her voice was tentative, like she was afraid to hear the answer.

  Before I could respond, the rest of my staff filed in. Everyone took seats around the large conference room table. My eyes circled the perimeter. Only one person was missing—Myles Harding, my head of current programming.

  “Where’s Myles?” I asked my secretary, Mrs. Cho.

  “He no come in today. Flu major case.”

  Damn. That meant there would be no one to supervise the season finale episode of the Wheel of Pain tonight.

  I looked at Jennifer. “Are you free tonight?”

  Her eyes lit up and then she nodded.

  “Great.”

  An eager smile flashed across her face.

  “I need you on the set of Wheel of Pain to cover for Myles.”

  Her smile morphed into a frown. She murmured one little word: “Oh.”

  “Ms. McCoy, my father always says the cream rises to the—”

  She cut me off. “I’ll be there.”

  “Excellent. After the staff meeting, please meet with me in my office so I can brief you.”

  Jennifer nodded. Nervously.

  Well, at least I’d have some one-on-one time with her. Though not the kind I craved.

  *

  Sitting on an armchair in front of my desk with her legs crossed and a notebook on her lap, Jennifer took notes while I explained what she needed to do at the taping. It was more like babysitting—just making sure the contestants behaved and followed the rules of the game and the crew stayed on schedule. I also told her to look out for any technical issues and to be sure there was a lot of camera coverage.

  “Our audience especially likes close-ups of big titties, pans of hot bodies, and lots of angles when it comes to fucking—especially head shots.”

  She looked up at me, puzzled.

  I laughed silently. I’d missed my own double entendre. “I mean facial expressions—both ecstatic and tortured.”

  “Okay.” She squeaked out the word.

  Fuck, she was cute. “Don’t worry about moans, groans, or screams. We can always add canned sound effects in post.”

  “Post?”

  “Post-production. Editing, sound, and special effects. And then the final mix.”

  “Of course. I learned about that in grad school.”

  “Do you have any questions?”

  Chewing her lip, she shook her head. She looked anxious. Like a frightened little kitten—hardly the tempestuous tiger I’d interviewed only a week ago.

  “And one last thing. The producer, Don Springer, can be a bit of a prick. Don’t be offended by him. And importantly, don’t let him go too far with the stunts. This is supposed to be a fun game show, not a death match.”

  She nodded like one of those bobble head dolls.

  More uncomfortable silence.

  “You can leave now,” I finally said.

  Because I can’t take sitting here with my cock roasting. It had taken all my effort to be businesslike. The whole time I had been mentally undressing her and imagining what it would be like to fuck her on my desk. And hear her roar my name.

  As she rose to her feet, I checked my calendar to see what the rest of my day was like. Fairly light, but at twelve thirty I had lunch with Jaime Zander to talk about the upfront presentation. The sound of her sweet voice drifted in my ear like a magic carpet.

  “Thank you, Mr. Burns. for this opportunity. I won’t let you down.”

  My cock sprung up. Another opportunity clicked in my brain.

  “What are you doing at lunch?”

  “I’m Skyping an author who lives in France at noon. I can’t cancel it.”

  “I understand, but I want you to join me as soon as you can at Factor’s. I’d like you to meet my friend, Jaime Zander. He’s doing our upfront presentation.
”

  Her face brightened. “I’d love to. I’ll get there as fast as I can.”

  “Perfect.” Perfect indeed. Hopefully, she’d get there a little late so I could have a little bro time with Jay-Z. I was eager for him to meet her.

  “See you later.” She pivoted on her heel and headed out of my office with that sexy little bounce. My eyes never left her ass.

  *

  Factor’s was a popular deli on Pico Boulevard close to both Conquest Broadcasting and our main competition, FOX. It was no secret in this town that my father and Rupert Murdoch were archrivals, going head-to-head in the ratings. This season, the CBC was again killing it. The only thing Rupert ever beat my father at was the number of wives he had. He’d recently divorced his third.

  Jaime was already seated at our favorite table in the corner. But I had unexpected company. His twins were there too. Both in high chairs. Their stroller was folded up and leaning against the back wall.

  “Hope you don’t mind,” he said as I lowered myself into a chair opposite him. “Gloria’s out of town on business, and I had to take the little munchkins in for their ten-month check up.”

  Man, they were almost a year old. It felt like just yesterday they were born. “No problem, but I can’t write them off,” I joked.

  “Fuck you.” Jaime laughed. “Shit. I’d better watch my mouth. They’re going to be talking soon.” He turned to the babies and gave them each a big, juicy kiss on the head.

  “Sorry, guys. Daddy’s a very bad boy.” He put his index finger to his mouth. “Shh! Don’t tell Mommy.”

  The babies giggled.

  It was my turn to laugh. I had to admit—it was endearing to watch Jaime interact with his little ones. He clearly adored them. An unexpected frisson of jealousy shot through me. Oddly, I’d never thought about having a family and kids or the concept of fatherhood.

  Jaime handed me a menu and smiled. “You don’t have to worry. I’m buying. You’re the client.”

  The truth: Jaime and I had the kind of relationship where no one counted. He enjoyed treating as much as I did. After perusing the menu, we ordered our usual from Marge, the buxom, bottle-blond waitress who’d been here forever. Two hot pastrami sandwiches on rye, a side of fries, and two Doctor Brown cream sodas. And for the babies, a couple of water bagels and a side of sliced carrots. They were already fingering some Cheerios that Jaime had brought along. Milk bottles and assorted plastic toys were also scattered on their high chair trays. In no time, they would be playing with cell phones, I mused as Marge came right back with our sodas.

  “So how’s it going with your ‘girlfriend’?” Jaime asked, making mock quotation marks with his index and middle fingers.

  I twisted my lips. “Not well.” I launched into my Operation Dickwick story.

  “Are you fucking kidding me? You almost bit off his fingers?” By the end, Jaime was laughing so hard he was crying.

  I felt my cheeks flare. In retrospect, it was a really dumb-ass thing to do.

  Jaime took a sip of soda straight from the bottle and calmed down. “Man, you’re doing it all wrong, Blakester. The way to a girl’s G-spot is through her heart. You’ve got to romance her. Compliment the way she looks. Buy her presents. Come to her rescue.”

  I digested Jaime’s words. I’d done all those things. Well, except for the presents. Maybe I had to work at it harder. Except there was still that one little problem . . .

  “Jay-Z, she works for me. I’m her boss.”

  Jaime’s eyes widened with surprise. “That does make it a little harder.”

  A little harder? He had way too many Cheerios on his brain.

  “Do you have a company fraternization policy?”

  I told him that Conquest Broadcasting frowned upon inter-office relationships but didn’t forbid them as long as employees maintained transparency with Human Resources. Most of them, however, had ended up in disaster—with one or both of the individuals quitting their job or getting fired. There was too much riding on the line. Jennifer McCoy had a bright future ahead of her. I didn’t want her to get fired. And I didn’t want her to quit. The bottom line: I didn’t want to lose her in any way possible. I wanted her to be mine.

  “I hope you don’t mind. I invited her to lunch because I want you to meet her,” I said as Marge returned with the rest of our order. She plunked our sandwiches and the fries down on the table and then attended to the twins.

  “Here you go, cutie-pies.” She set the bagels and plastic bowls of stewed carrots on their high chair trays. The twins flailed their little arms with excitement and instantly reached for the bagels.

  With the babies contently chewing on their circles of dough, Jaime and I dug into our thick pastrami sandwiches. Man, it was good. Worth the coronary it might give me. On my next bite, my heart skipped a beat. Jennifer was heading toward us. A smile lit up her face and her eyes sparkled. I swallowed quickly.

  “Hi,” she said brightly when she got to our table. Our eyes made contact. I could feel a current of electricity pass between us.

  Jaime rose from his seat, and I introduced them.

  He shook her hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Jennifer. Blake has told me so much about you.”

  Behave, Jay-Z. Just like me, he could be a cocky bastard. I was half-expecting him to say something like, “Your tits are even more perfect in person.” I held my breath. Thank fucking God, he didn’t. He was behaving like a gentleman.

  She smiled again. “Same here.” Her eyes shifted to the twins and her warm smile broadened. “And who do we have here?”

  “These are my twins—Paulette and Payton.” Jaime’s eyes glinted with paternal pride. Payton was the spitting image of Jaime with his dimpled chin and crown of golden brown curls. Paulette, in turn, looked just like Gloria with her full ruby lips and platinum locks. Both had Jaime’s denim blue eyes.

  “Oh my God. They’re adorable!” She waved at them. “Hi.”

  Indeed, they were in their matching circus-print rompers and flaunting big dimpled smiles. Balls. And so was she. I admired how at ease she was with Jaime and the babies.

  “Have a seat,” I told her, gesturing to the one to my left.

  “If you don’t mind, I need to run to the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back.”

  “She’s hot,” Jaime mouthed as soon as she was gone.

  “I know.” My stomach knotted. “It fucking kills me she’s with that douchebag.”

  “Hang in there. I saw the way she looked at you. Trust me, she’s hot for you.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears as my father would say.”

  Jennifer returned quickly. She scanned the menu while Marge hovered over her. “I want the most unhealthy, least vegan thing you have.”

  “A hot pastrami sandwich,” Jaime and I shouted out in unison.

  “Sounds good. I’ll have one and could I also please have a cherry Coke.”

  God, she was refreshing. A real girl who ate real food. So different from my Botoxed supermodel hook-ups who ate nothing but a bunch of lettuce leaves.

  I reminded myself this was a business lunch. I turned to Jennifer.

  “Jennifer, tell Jaime about your idea for the daytime.”

  I listened without interrupting while she explained her vision of airing telenovelas based on popular erotic romance novels. She was articulate, concise, and passionate. A perfect pitch. I was impressed. But as good as her pitch was, I was sure my best bud would find it absurd.

  When she was done, a smile whipped across his face. Holy shitballs. Just like my father, he went for her idea. “That’s brilliant. You have to pitch my wife Gloria.”

  Jennifer lifted a brow. “Gloria?”

  “Jaime’s wife is the founder and CEO of Gloria’s Secret,” I chimed in, practically creaming in my pants at the thought of Gloria buying ad time on SIN-TV despite my skepticism and displeasure over the fact that Ms. McCoy had won another victory.

  Her face glowed with excitement. “Wow! I’d love to. I’l
l put together a PowerPoint.”

  “That’s an excellent idea. I’d like you do that quickly.” My tone was very businesslike and masked any feelings I had about her.

  “I’ll start on it the minute I get back to the office. But the presentation may have to wait until after the first of the year. We’re doing focus groups, and I’d like to include the findings.”

  Damn those focus groups. They could ruin everything. Then again, they could prove that I was right. That there was no place for women’s erotica on SIN-TV.

  Jaime took a slug of his Dr. Brown. “I’m sure that would be just fine. Gloria loves focus groups, and right now, she’s crazy busy with Christmas just around the corner. And then we’re all going to Hawaii over the holidays.”

  Jennifer was beaming. “Great. I look forward to meeting her.” She stole one of our fries. “Jaime, did Blake tell you? I was at the opening of your father’s painting retrospective.”

  “No, he didn’t.” He shot me a sheepish look.

  “I was going to introduce you to her, but she split early with her boyfriend.” I put a special snarky emphasis on the word “boyfriend.”

  A small frown tugged at her lips. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer. But I just want to tell you I was blown away by your father’s paintings. He was so talented.”

  Jaime broke into wide but slightly melancholic smile. He loved his father dearly and was devastated when he took his life. Jaime had made it a lifetime goal to exhibit his father’s paintings and share his talent with the world.

  “Thank you. That means so much to me. Did you have a favorite painting?”

  Jennifer’s green orbs glimmered. “Yes, I loved The Kiss.”

  The Kiss. That kiss. My blood flooded with lust. I so fucking wanted those edible lips back on mine.

  “That was my favorite painting too,” I chimed in softly, remembering the way she’d looked the other night in her little black dress and the profound way that painting had affected her. I had been on the verge of spinning her around, taking her in my arms, and crashing my lips on hers—giving her another kiss she’d never forget—when damn Katty Girl showed up and ruined the moment. And then fucking Dickwick came along.