by Olivia Chase
My heart swells with gratitude. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to do so. Oh.” I dig into my bag and hand him my business card. “Got these officially made.” I grin.
“Get ready to hand more of these out, sweetheart,” he says. “We’re moving up.”
Somehow, in my shocked haze, I manage to promise to send the contract over. When we get back to the entrance of Central Park, I flag down a cab for Cade and give the driver enough cash to get him back to his hotel. “No more getting lost on me,” I tease as I wave him toward the car. “You’re my biggest client.”
“Don’t you forget it,” he says with a wink. Then he gets in his ride and takes off.
Finally, I let myself release the excited squeal that’s been bubbling in me. “Oh my God!” I’m so stunned and overwhelmed that I don’t know what to do first. Do I call Daria? No, I should wait. Go back to the office and fill Ryker in.
Even the thought of facing him can’t dim my shine. No way will he want to let me go now. Now when I’ve done something major for our company.
I get back on the subway and exit. Walk into the building and up the elevator.
Marietta gives a wide smile when she sees me. “Well, you’re certainly in a much better mood than when you left here.”
“I am,” I say in a singsong voice. “Is Ryker in?”
She nods. “Yeah, but he’s not in a great mood. He’s wondering where you went. Wanted to go over some numbers with you.”
“Why didn’t he call or text me then?”
“You know how he is.” She rolls her eyes.
Fair enough. I draw in a steadying breath, then another. Walk up to his door and knock on it.
“Come in,” he says in his surly voice that I’ve grown to know so well.
I do as he commands.
“Well, thanks for showing up at work,” he says dryly.
“I was already here. Sorry, but I had an emergency meeting I had to duck out for.”
That makes him quirk a brow. I can see his disbelief. “Oh? More emergency than doing the job I’m paying you for?”
God, why is he being so childish? My jaw tightens and I look away to avoid the impulse of rolling my eyes at him. Why did I ever feel bad for him? Ryker doesn’t give a shit about me except for what I can do for him. Well, he should enjoy this. I take great delight in saying, “Cade Thompson has agreed to sign with us.”
Ryker stills and stares at me. “What?”
“I met with him this afternoon. He wants to work with The Baldwin Corporation.” I push on. “With me as his agent.”
“So…” His eyes go flat. “You met with a potential client without me, without even telling me you were doing so. Is that what you’re saying? You went behind my back?”
Frustration fills me. “I didn’t go behind your back, Ryker. He wanted to meet and I didn’t know what about. Then he dropped it on me. Why are you being so…”
“So what?” he asks in a dangerous tone. “Please, continue.”
“Why are you acting like a dick? This is a big deal for us.” My hands are clenched by my sides.
Ryker stands and stalks over to stand in front of me. Stares down at me. The glare is intimidating, but I won’t cower. Fuck that.
“You have no right to treat me this way,” I continue. “You bluster and blow and freeze me out here when I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“So you think it’s okay to just traipse off and do whatever you want? With a guy who is likely more interested in getting in your pants than working with you?”
He did not go there. Righteous fury fills me. I’m indignant. Total rage mode. “You of all people have no right to question my professional or personal judgment, given your own behavior. And just to be clear? Do you know why he wants to work with me? It’s because he trusts me. He likes me. Unlike you.”
“What are you talking about?” Now his voice is raised too. “What does like and trust have to do with any of this?”
“Are you serious? You want me to trust you and obey you, but you shut me out. I know you can’t stand me.” The anger morphs into something dangerously close to tears, and I blink hard. “Do you know what it’s been like working here and…”
Ryker stands there, not moving, just breathing heavily at me. “Go on.” He’s quieter this time, but I can’t read him. “Just say it.”
“You’re impossible to connect with, even in a professional means, unless someone has something you want. Then you—” My throat closes up, and I look away. Pain riots through me, swift and hard, and I can’t speak. “I…I should go.”
Ryker
I can see tears flooding Andrea’s eyes, and I feel like I got kicked in the gut. She spins around and heads for the door.
“We’re not done,” I find myself saying. I rush around her and block her from leaving.
“Yes, we are,” she spits out. A tear slips down, and she swipes at it furiously. “I’m tired of you treating me like garbage. Why did you hire me anyway if you were just going to be such a dick to me?”
I scrub the back of my neck in frustration. Dammit. What the fuck is wrong with me? I’ve been so cruel to her in the effort to force distance. I can claim all I want it’s to protect her, and myself, but that isn’t true.
I’ve hurt her.
My jealousy, my emotions, have been overwhelming me. I haven’t allowed myself to feel this way about anyone, not since…since I was a kid and was left bereft and alone.
I sure as fuck don’t want to feel this way now. But I do.
“I thought it would be best if we maintained a professional distance,” I find myself saying quietly.
She sniffles and looks up at me with those wounded eyes, and it stabs me in the chest. “I…look, I didn’t mean for any of that to happen between us either. But you can’t just treat people that way.”
“I don’t know what the fuck to do,” I say bluntly. “I fucked my junior agent.” She flinches at my words but doesn’t move. At least she’s staying and listening. “It was a huge mistake. Should never have happened.” Liar, some deep-down part of me says. It wasn’t a mistake. And I know it. I connected with her in a way I never have before. That night unlocked something in me, and this whole time since then, I’ve been struggling to get it back.
“I see.” The words are barely above a whisper. She looks away and I can tell the moment she shuts down. And now I’m the one being pushed away, and I feel the savage pain of it. What I’ve done to her for two weeks. Fuck.
“I didn’t…” I reach out and take her by the wrist. Draw her closer. Cup her chin. I just need to touch her. “Fuck. Andrea, don’t you know what you’re doing to me? I’m losing my mind trying to not be near you because every fucking moment of every day, I can’t stop thinking about you.”
She swallows and peers up at me. Confusion is ripe in her eyes. “I…I don’t understand you. You can barely even stand to look at me.”
My blood is rushing in a furious pump through my veins. “You have no idea what you do to me. All I want to do is strip you naked and make you scream my name.”
Her lips part, and she drags in a startled gasp.
“That’s right, lovely,” I continue in a silken voice. The words are flooding out of me. I can’t stop myself now. “I’ve sat in here, stroking myself thinking about you just a few rooms down. About the taste of you. I want more.”
“God,” she breathes, and her body sways toward mine, even though I can still see wariness in her eyes. Can I blame her? I’ve shoved her away. Why would she trust me?
Trust.
I’ve given her no reason to. I know what I feel, but she doesn’t.
I loop my arm around her waist and tug her flush to me. “Tell me what you want, Andrea. Because so help me God, if you don’t tell me to walk away, I’m going to fuck you right here in this office, right now. I’ve been denying myself of your succulent body for far too long.”
She swallows. “I…”
I press a kiss to the corner of her mouth. I want
her to give in to me so badly. But she has to want it. I won’t coerce her. Her head tilts as I drag my lips down her throat.
“Oh God, I missed this,” she says, gripping my upper arms and melting against me.
I can feel the moment she gives in to this hot, repressed desire between us. I want to take her, drive away all the wounded feelings and the agony of the last two weeks. I don’t know if this is crazy or a mistake. But I don’t care.
I don’t fucking care.
All I know is I’m overwhelmed by what I’m feeling for this woman, and I’m tired of trying to ignore it.
I grab her head and possess her mouth, and she sighs and opens to me. Jesus, I missed this. I feel an odd familiarity as I taste her. She moans into my mouth, and I swallow the sound.
“You have to be quiet, do you understand me?” I whisper against her lips.
She nods.
“I’m going to make you come for me. Right here.”
Her soft whimper is answer enough.
I spin her until her ass is against my desk and then lift her up on it. Deepen the kiss until I don’t know where I end and she starts. It’s erotic, flooding me with lust, hunger. My cock is raging to escape.
But not now. This is about her. About easing the ache I caused through my harshness these past two weeks. I took away some of her vibrancy. That’s not acceptable.
I unbutton her blouse and watch in pleasure as her breasts spill forth, barely contained in the white cotton bra. “You have incredible tits,” I say as I cradle them. Savor their weight in my hands. I lean down and draw one out of the cup, then suck the tip.
She gasps then bites her lip to quieten herself.
I want to get her as turned on as I can just by playing with her breasts. I take her shirt off and toss it to the floor, then flick the bra open and fling it as well. Yes. Then I alternate licking and sucking each breast, feasting on her like a starved man.
I’ve never wanted someone so much. She’s so strong, vulnerable, earnest, beautiful. I don’t know how to handle what I’m feeling, but pushing her away wasn’t working. Not at all. It just made us both miserable.
Soon, she’s squirming on the desk, writhing against me. “I’m so wet,” she whispers. “I want you so much.”
“This is about you, lovely,” I tell her hotly. “Get up and take those pants off. But leave the panties on.”
She doesn’t hesitate and does as I tell her.
I shove papers off the nearest side of my desk. “Lay down. Right here. Heels on the top, thighs open for me. The way I like you to be.”
Her breathing is erratic as she completes the task. Her panties are white cotton too, and I can see the wet spot at her crotch. Fuck. That’s so hot.
I don’t wait. I dive in. Suck her through her panties until the crotch is soaked and I can taste her come leaking through the fabric.
Her fingers bury in my hair, and she pulses against me, vibrates with tension. “Please,” she begs me. “I…I need…”
I give her what she wants. Grip both sides of her panties and rip them off her. Her responding gasp of pleasure is so darkly satisfying to me. Mmm, so she likes clothes ripped off. Good to know.
I lick that soaking-wet cunt and thrust a finger inside her pussy. It’s so drenched that it makes a slick sound as I glide in and out. Touch her pussy with both hands.
Then I press a finger of my other hand to her back entrance.
She freezes.
“Trust me,” I soothe against her. I lick her clit. “I won’t hurt you…or at least not in a way you don’t like. This will feel so good.” I want to shatter her apart.
I spend a few minutes licking her, teasing her, swirling my finger at her hole, the other in her pussy. I maintain steady and even pressure as she relaxes bit by bit. Then I press into the entrance.
She stiffens for a moment and I use the chance to suck her clit between my teeth. That gets her attention. She bucks wildly, and I fuck her pussy, stroking her G-spot.
“Oh God,” she pants.
I press into her ass deeper, bit by bit, knuckle by knuckle. She spasms around my digit but doesn’t stop me. Instead, her pussy gets wetter until the juices are dripping onto my desk and my hand. Fuck, that’s so sexy.
Finally I’m fucking her with two fingers, one in each hole, eating her pussy as she bites her lip to avoid crying out. Her whole body starts to tremble, and she squeezes around my fingers.
“Yes, yes,” I coax her. “Come all over my hands, baby. I want that so badly.” The sight of her with her chest and throat flushed, thighs wantonly open for me, my fingers fucking her…I can feel precum leaking into my boxers. I’m so raging hard.
This woman is incredible.
She freezes for a moment and then a cry slips out. She clamps a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. Her whole body is convulsing, and I’m relentless, not stopping until I’ve taken every last bit of her orgasm from her.
When she finally relaxes and slumps on the desk, I withdraw from her. Press a soft kiss to her brow. “You did so good,” I soothe her. “Did you like that?”
“It…” She gives a lazy grin. “That was… Yeah.” Her soft, pleasure-laden chuckle stirs me deeply. “I liked that.”
She puts on her clothes like nothing happened. When she bends down for her panty scraps, I stop her.
“Those are mine.”
She hands them to me without a word, and I stuff them into my pocket. Her hair is mussed, lips swollen, and she looks thoroughly satisfied. “Um.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ears.
“Andrea.” I come to her side and pull her against me. Kiss the top of her head. “I have feelings for you. I…I don’t know what this means. I don’t have any experience with this. But I wanted you to know.”
She gives a small gasp against me and pulls back. “What?”
“You heard me,” I grumble, and that makes her chuckle. “I’m not gonna do that thing where I say it twelve times.”
“You really do suck at this.” But she leans up on her tiptoes and kisses my mouth, and I realize that I lied. I’d say it twelve times if she needed to hear it. I want this woman to open up to me. Trust me.
As much as it scares the shit out of me to want that from her…
We sit down on the plush green couch against the far wall. I cradle her against me. I don’t want to let her go, not right now. I have this intense need for her that goes beyond sexual. She challenges me, pushes me, and I find it exciting and scary as fuck.
“So, we should talk about this Cade thing,” I tell her. “I have serious doubts about us signing him.”
Andrea blinks at me with wide eyes, aghast. “Why wouldn’t you want to sign the hottest player in the league? Especially when you need something like this more than ever?”
“Because of you,” I say baldly. “I can’t help but feel like Cade is going to throw us a curveball. I know he acts like a good-old Texas boy, but there’s more to him than that. He sets me off somehow.”
She elbows me. “It’s because you think we were flirting with each other.”
“Oh, he was definitely flirting with you. Don’t kid yourself,” I tell her.
She frowns. “You’re wrong. Don’t let jealousy cloud your judgment. I think he is exactly as he portrays himself. I’ve been around men like him before. He’s harmless. Signing him would be a huge boost for our company, and I made this deal. My first one.” Passion rings through in her voice. “I can do this, Ryker. Believe in me. Trust me. Please.”
Fuck. All my Spidey senses are tingling about Cade, and signing him goes against my own gut instinct.
“I’ll vouch for him,” she says. “I give my word that he’s a good client for us, and I stand behind my instincts.” Now that steel is back in her voice. The challenge. I like that she stands up to me, even if it frustrates me. I don’t agree with her.
But she wants this. “Fine. We’ll make the deal. But I want you to know I don’t feel good about this. And I expect to be involved—I�
�m still mentoring you, and there’s a lot you have to learn—”
“Oh, thank you,” she rushes out as she hugs me. “This is going to be incredible. You wait and see. I’ll make you so proud.”
I wrap my arms around her. My chest aches. Not just because of my fear over this deal, but because this woman is going to break me into a thousand pieces, and I may just let her.
“Fish sticks. They’re unnatural,” Andrea says as she blanches. She looks over at me from across my desk. “And you?”
“There’s a lot of food I find repulsive,” I tell her drolly. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m rather selective.”
“Picky,” she teases.
I give her a mock glare. “Selective. And I’d have to say…mustard.”
She quirks a brow. “Wait. People actually hate mustard?” The soft glow from my desk lamp illuminates the warmth in her eyes.
“I don’t know about people, but I do. That shit is revolting.”
We’re alone at the office on the Monday evening following our sexual encounter in here. Though I didn’t see her this past weekend, we did communicate via text. I kept pretending it was for work reasons. But really, I just wanted to talk to her.
We’ve been pulling double duty, reviewing all the notes she took for me, plus finalizing our plan for Cade. True to his word, he scanned and emailed the contract in Saturday morning. Andrea officially has her first client.
Andrea frowns and scratches something quickly off on her page, then writes in more text. “Okay, so you hate mustard. What foods do you love then?”
“Lasagna,” I say quickly. “Ribs. Burgers. Steak.” I pause and pretend to think. “Did I mention ribs?”
Her mirth is evident in her smile. “A real meat-and-potatoes guy, huh?”
“Hold the potatoes,” I quip.
We work in silence for another few minutes, and I marvel at this. A month ago, I never would have thought I’d be here. Flirting with a woman I work with. Someone I’m developing feelings for. Maybe there’s a little hope for me after all. Maybe I’m not the total lost cause I always assumed I was.