by Ember Flint
I rise one eyebrow, both because I’m not entirely used to see my friend so carefree and all smiles and because we both have a serious issue with micromanaging and for him to let go like this of control it’s a bit weird. Still he is perfectly right that these interviews are very much just for show.
Our hiring staff has already vetted and held multiple meetings with Miss Mason and Mr. Brody —the other remaining applicant— just as they did with the others we rejected so right now it’s really down to the person we’ll see ourselves working best with.
“You sure?” I ask.
Aston nods. “Perfectly. We both know you are the people person here, we were already more inclined toward her than Mr. Brody in the first place, so I don’t see a problem here.”
“Alright,” I say, but I can’t really shake the feeling there’s something my best friend is not telling me. “So you’re going back to your… pressing matters right away?” I mock, we both know is ditching me to be with Lara.
Aston scowls at me and when I see his familiar grim look on his face I chuckle.
“Now this mien is more like you, Ast. Maybe the jet-lag that made you act so funny at the weekend is letting off.”
My friend growls. “You are such a wanker. I’ll see you at lunch,” he grumbles and leaves me just as my assistant is buzzing me to inform me that Jessica Mason has arrived.
—*—
As soon as Jessica Mason steps into my office and stands on the other side of my desk, my eyes are riveted to her and I silently gasp to myself wondering at the sudden skyrocketing of my heartbeat, at the erection tenting my pants and at my inability to access my reserve of oxygen or procuring new one.
She is five feet six of loveliness and catlike grace, clad in a tight black pencil skirt that I want to either bunch up her hips with my teeth or simply rent in two with my bare hands.
This woman is light as a breath of fresh air and a ray of sunshine wrapped together; big round cerulean blue eyes framed by thick golden lashes are peering at me from behind circular glasses mounted on a retro silver frame, tiny pink decorative roses on the outer corner of each glass. They are the same shade as her plump, pouty lips —the lower one currently being tortured by pearly white teeth.
I picture myself biting into those succulent lips as a moan rips from her delicate throat and I feel my cock hardening at full mast, an ache like I’ve never known building in my balls.
She has a skin that looks like it’s made of the purest snow blushing under a pink sunrise and her lovely face is framed by long, straight hair —so blonde they’re almost white— falling on her shoulders and down to her midriff and glinting in the morning light like expensive silk.
“Jessica,” I say, my voice nothing but a gritty rasp. I love the way her name feels rolling down my tongue. It feels right. It feels like it should be the only word to ever be on my lips from this day forward.
“Good morning,” she says smiling at me and breaking my trance. “Are you Mr. Henley or Mr. Spade?” she asks, her voice faltering slightly under my scrutiny.
Um…
My name.
Right.
That’s an easy thing.
“Spade, but Charles… call me Charles” I croak out, my stare, still fixed on her beautiful face, follows the progress of the intense blush climbing from her lovely throat to her cheeks.
She slides her glasses back on her nose as we silently study each other; an invisible current moving back and forth between us.
I blink rapidly and try to find my voice; my hands gripping the armrests of my swiveling chair to keep me from springing out of it and throwing myself at her.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
Why am I having this kind of thoughts?
I mean, it’s not like she is the first pretty woman I’ve ever seen.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, my cock surges up against the zip of my slacks, protesting the generalization.
She is not a pretty woman. She is…
I don’t know what she is.
Fucking gorgeous comes to mind, but her classical beauty it’s not the reason why I’m lured toward her, not the reason why I can’t breathe or stop staring.
It’s more than an attraction.
It’s like I know her and I know she knows me.
How fucked up is that?
And what the hell does it mean?
She is a stranger to me.
I’ve never met her before today and I don’t know anything about her that goes beyond her academic achievements and her professional background.
It’s a different kind of knowing.
I don’t know her favorite book, her favorite song or her favorite color, I don’t know what makes her laugh and cry, what makes her pussy tingle, what her lips tastes like, but I know her soul better than I know my own.
She is like the most powerful déjà vu I’ve ever had.
And as I stand and walk around my huge oak desk, I feel a sense of rightness move through me like a bolt of pure energy.
I stop thinking: I just feel and I act.
Her eyes are on me and I can feel the same certainty radiating from her. I can see in her gaze the same want and sense of belonging I’m pretty sure is mirrored in my own eyes right now.
“Charles…” she murmurs softly, a note of confusion in her sweet voice. There’s a tenderness in the way she says my name that I don’t think I’m going to be able to live without from this moment forward.
Before I know what I meant to do by going to her, I’m doing it: I’m kissing her, the world is blurring away and she is whimpering in my mouth and kissing me back.
I gather her lithe body to mine, my arms going around her. At once I feel a deep sense of relief washing away all traces of the loneliness that has been my constant companion for so long.
I don’t understand half of the thoughts running through my mind right now, but I’m getting the general message anyway: this is right, this is second nature, this is it.
Every cell of my body is screaming it: this is it.
Whatever it was that I was searching for, is here right now in the circle of my arms, looking up at me with eyes full of wonder and understanding at the same time.
I can see she has a thousand questions: I have just as many and I’m pretty sure we have zero answers to them right now, but it doesn’t matter as long as I keep her in my arms.
I’ve never felt anything in the world that was more mine than she is.
We keep on kissing, our lips crashing, tongues caressing and searching insistently, pleasure like I’ve never known before — certainly not with a simple kiss— shakes my big frame and makes me feel upside down, totally out of control, strong and weak at the same time; passion impetuously dragging me under.
I go willingly, I would go anywhere as long as she came with me.
The intensity is a bit scary, but oh so wonderful, it’s like the universe is condensed in the kiss we are exchanging as we give and take, forging an instant bond that I already know I’ll protect fiercely for the rest of my life.
I don’t know for how long we kiss, mindless of everything around us, but it must be a long time even though it feels like I could gladly never stop, because the next thing I know, I hear a buzzing sound and the voice of my assistant, Michael, telling me that my other meeting is about to start.
Jessica and I spring apart, both breathless and aroused.
I’m not sure we would have kept our hands to ourselves for much longer if we had not been interrupted.
Maybe this is for the best.
Whatever I have going on with her, I don’t want for Jessica to feel like it’s a meaningless fling.
We need to have a good talk first, then if we both feel like I think we feel about this I’ll finally give my cock what it craves and fuck her like she has never known before.
I just need to wait a little. Easy-peasy.
I can do that.
I feel my cock jum
p up in protest and I barely keep my groan in check.
I press a button on the intercom and tell Michael I’ll be available in fifteen minutes, not only I need to speak with Jessica for a little —we got precious little done regarding her interview— I also don’t think the other candidate would appreciate the enormous erection I’m sporting.
Hopefully, if I keep my lips away from Jessica my cock will start to go down a little, though I have my doubts about it: I don’t think I’ve ever been this hard in all of my life.
She takes several steps back and inches for the door.
“I’m… I’m sorry… I…”she starts to say in a little broken voice, looking everywhere but in my direction.
“Jessica, no. What are you talking about? Why are you sorry? I’m not sorry. There’s nothing to be sorry for, baby.”
I reach for her and I enfold her back in my arms where she belongs as I kiss the crown of her head.
She melts against me, a little contented sigh leaving her chest.
I guide her to the other side of my office where a group of plush armchairs and sofas is arranged and we both take a seat.
I raise her chin with one finger and make her look at me, until her beautiful blue eyes are gazing into mine.
Again I feel it, the pull, the incredible impulse to just throw myself at her and never let go and I know she wants the same thing, no matter how confused she is, but I resist it.
“I know this is… confusing, unexpected… but we have done nothing wrong, sweetheart.”
She shakes her head. “I know it feels like we haven’t, but we have, Charles.”
I feel my heart rate pick up again. “Do you regret it?”
To my surprise she laughs. “No. That’s the problem, Charles. I don’t. I want this.”
I kiss her forehead. “I want you so much, Jessica, but it goes beyond that. I want to know you, really know you. I want you to tell me everything about you, baby.”
She gives me a small smile, but there’s a hint of sadness in her bright eyes. “I want those things too, Charles, but…”
“But?” I prod gently.
Jessica sighs, blushing. “But this is very inappropriate, I was here for a job, not for… you know…”
I laugh. “Are you telling me you’d rather get the job than I don’t know… date me, get to know me, simply because when you left the house this morning this was not in your programs?”
She giggles. “No, I didn’t say that. That kiss was… out of this world. I’ll go on a date with you, if you ask me, Charles, but still…”
I caress her face, giving her a loopy grin that makes her laugh again as I hold one of her hand in one my much larger one.
“Consider yourself asked then. And I know what you’re thinking: the job. What you don’t know, baby, is that you’re a very lucky lady today and I’m a very lucky man ‘cause I got myself a date with a very pretty girl it seems and she just got the job she wanted. Welcome on board, Miss Mason. The position of Senior Office Admin is yours if you still want it.”
Jessica drops my hand and stands up abruptly, a disconcerted expression on her face.
“You’re crazy, I don’t want the job like this, Charles! I wanted to land the position because I deserved it, not because I kissed the boss and gave him a boner.”
I feel my eyebrows rise at her directness. A quality I really respect in people. I didn’t know she could be this straightforward and I love it.
Also, maybe I should be offended she thought I was offering her the job because of what just happened between us, but my mind jumps to the core of the issue. It doesn’t matter that she thinks I could be that officious and unprofessional —I’ll disabuse her of that notion in a sec— what really matters is that she would have refused the job if those were the circumstances and that makes me like her even more.
I stand up as well and reach for one of her hand, pulling her to my chest.
“No, baby, you don’t understand: I would never do something like that. That’s not how things work here at Henley & Spade. My partner and I had already decided to give you the job last Friday, based on your CV and your previous interviews with our hiring staff. Clare had great things to say about you. I won’t lie to you: we do have another candidate for the position that we liked, but not as much as we did you. We merely kept him if for some reason you decided you didn’t want to work for us, Jessica.”
She smiles at me. “You really mean that?”
I kiss her temple. “Absolutely, even being only twenty-five you have quite an impressive background, babe, believe me you were the strongest candidate.”
She lets go of a big breath. “Ok… but won’t us going on a date being a problem?”
I shrug, hugging her to my body. “Not for me and certainly not for my partner. It’s not inappropriate, you won’t be a personal assistant or anything like that, you’re the office administrator: work-wise we’ll probably see each other maybe once a month, unless something dire is happening. It will be okay.”
She nods, but doesn’t seem really sure yet.
No problem: I have plenty of time to convince her, only not right now.
I kiss her lips gently.
“Jessica, I hate to say this, but…”
“You have to get going,” she finishes for me with a small smile.
I nod. “Sorry, sweetheart. I really have to speak with the other candidate and then I have a business lunch I cannot postpone.”
I hug her more closely, my body rebelling at the idea of leaving her behind.
“Ok,” she murmurs on my chest, sagging against me a little and I have to keep the nether parts of our bodies apart, because I know the barest stroke of my dick against her lower belly will get me hard as a rock again, the mere thought gets it twitching already.
I slowly caress her arms up and down. “I will try to get out of everything else and will be back as soon as I can. Meanwhile, I want you to stay put.”
She frowns. “Here?”
I nod. “Yeah, babe. I’ll have my assistant give you the tour of the facilities, so you can get acquainted with key people and get your bearings around the building. What do you say?”
“I would like that.”
“Good and as soon as I’m back, I’ll take you out so we can be together and talk,” I say on her lips and then I kiss her again, feeling a shiver pass through her body and then run through mine as well.
—*—
We just concluded the business-part of our power lunch with potential partners and I officially feel like I stepped into the Twilight Zone.
I stare at my best friends, mouth agape.
It looks like someone switched their bodies or something and I’m starting to freak out a bit.
Aston —usually always stony faced and dour looking— is all smiles and ease, happiness shining in his dark eyes and suffusing his countenance.
Sterling, the perennial jokester of our trio, is seating stiffly on the other side of the table, arms crossed over his chest, his lips in a thin, displeased line, his eyes reduced to two slits.
I’ve never seen him so stern-looking, on-edge and grim.
While of course I am immensely happy for Aston, I can’t help but be worried for Sterling.
“Is this about your mysterious elevator sexy bombshell?” I ask him and immediately I notice is expression darkening.
He grunts something unintelligible.
My words seem to bring Aston out of his lust —or love, I don’t know— daze and he focuses his attention on our friend.
Sterling wasn’t really keen on talking about the encounter that left him so shaken, but we managed to bring Aston up to speed at least.
“Ster?” he asks. “Who pissed in your porridge?”
I chuckle, but Sterling glowers at us both. “Sod off, can’t you leave me be?”
Aston persists: “We just want to help.”
Our friend suddenly stands up. “I don’t think y
ou can and I really don’t want to talk about it, guys. I’ll see you later.”
“Wait a sec, Ster. Come on, of course we can help,” I say.
He shrugs. “I have another meeting. I have to go.”
Aston leans forward on the table. “You said nothing about it.”
“I had forgotten. Lunch is on me,” he blurts and stalks away.
Aston sits back. “Wow, that girl did a real number on him, whoever she is…”
I laugh a little, shaking my head. “A girl did a number on him? What about you? I’ve never seen you this pleased with your surroundings since I’ve known you and so talkative even! I can barely recognize you.”
I half expect my friend to deny everything and tell me to bugger off —he is very fond of that particular expression—, but instead he smiles and nods.
“She did, Chuck, and I’m so glad she did… Lara is lovely and she has a lovely sister if you’re interested.”
“I’m not,” I say, smiling.
I remember Lara mentioning a sister when we met last Friday, but I don’t want to meet someone —I don’t need to— not now that I have Jessica.
Aston smirks at me. “You’re sure? I rather got the opposite idea since you came out of that um… interview this morning.”
I feel my eyes get round. “What do you mean? What does this have to do with Jessica?”
My friend’s smile gets bigger. “Guess Lara’s surname.”
Something hits me all of the sudden. They are like day and night, sun and moon. One blonde and blue-eyed and the other with chestnut hair and dark eyes, but still I could almost see it. “Mason!” I say smiling.
I can’t believe this!
Aston chuckles. “Small world, uh?”
I shake my head, laughing. “Their sisters?!”
He nods. “And very close ones at that. I found out she was our candidate during the weekend, but Lara and I thought it’ll be fun to let things unfold without getting in the middle.”