by Amy Brent
“Fuck,” I groaned, rubbing my face in aggravation. I still needed to have a very serious conversation with Violet about where this was going. The last thing I wanted to do was put myself between her and her parents.
I just couldn’t let go. No matter how much I told myself to let this go, to let Violet enjoy life as a twenty-one-year-old young woman, I couldn’t let her go. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that this needed to be over before one of us fell for each other.
I didn’t like the sick feeling in my stomach, either, when I picked up the phone and pressed line two with a heavy sigh.
“This is Cole Crayton,” I said, briskly. “What can I help you with?”
“Since when do you sound so fucking normal on the phone?” Alan asked.
His teasing tone immediately eased the tension out of me.
“Since the day I built this business from the ground up,” I said. “I assume there’s a reason why you are calling me in the middle of the afternoon?”
“Look, I didn’t want to call and bother you, but Gloria is asking me to talk to you about Violet.”
“Okay,” I said, slowly. “What does she want you to talk to me about?”
“It’s her schedule. Gloria is worried that Violet is getting ill, or unable to deal with the stress of being your personal assistant. She came home upset this weekend, but wouldn’t tell either one of us what was going on.”
Guilt burned the back of my throat. She was upset because of me, Alan. I fucked her, and then messed up by telling her to leave. I shook those thoughts away.
“She hasn’t mentioned a word to me about feeling upset or tired,” I managed to say in an even voice. “I’ll make sure to talk to her about having a good balance between work and life. I don’t want her to feel stressed out.”
“That’s what I told Gloria, but she insisted that I talk to you about it. I know that you don’t have any kids, but Violet is our baby. Even if she’s all grown up, we still worry about her.”
My skin felt hot and itchy as I rubbed at the back of my neck with a sigh. “I understand. I’ll make sure to have a talk with her. If she doesn’t say anything, then there isn’t anything that I can do.”
“I understand that. Just promise to keep an eye out on her. Make sure she’s eating and sleeping.” Alan sighed into the phone. “If you don’t, then you’re going to have to answer to Gloria. You and I both know how that will go down.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
I let the phone drop back in the cradle. What the fuck was I doing? That sense of peace no longer felt peaceful. Guilt bubbled in me bitterly as I got up from my desk to gaze out across Manhattan.
“Cole?”
The office door opened. I turned to watch as Violet popped her head in through the crack. She looked over at me in concern before stepping inside fully and then shut the door behind herself.
“Mr. Crayton,” I reminded her crossly. “We’re in the office, Violet. You can’t address me so personally here.”
Violet’s eyes widened at my tone. “Everyone has left for lunch break. Cheryl said that you gave her the company credit card to get everyone lunch, but I wanted to see what my father wanted.”
“He wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” I echoed, and walked over to the small cabinet I kept whiskey in. It was tempting to pour myself a drink even though it was the lunch hour in the middle of a work day. I needed something to take the edge off after that conversation. “Violet, I don’t know how much more I can—”
“Don’t.”
The harshly spoken word caught me off guard. Violet’s eyes were shimmering brightly with an indescribable emotion. It was a mixture of frustration and lust that instantly set my blood ablaze.
“I’m twenty-two years old,” she started, approaching me with confident steps. “I can have a relationship without anyone’s approval—including my parents. They don’t control what I do, or who I chose to do.”
Alarm bells went off in my head as Violet rounded my desk, but I couldn’t force myself to move away. A part of me squirmed anxiously to see where this was going to lead. My cock was still hard and begging for another release. That was the enticing power Violet had over me. She appeared so innocent, so quiet, but when pushed to the limit, a new side of her emerged. A confident and sexy young woman who refused to take no for an answer.
“You don’t understand the position I’ve put myself in,” I said. “I’m your father’s best friend. We’ve been friends for a long time, and I know he will never agree to this sort of thing happening between us.”
Violet’s fingers hooked onto my belt. “Any other excuses you can think of?”
“I’m your boss,” I said as Violet’s deft fingers undid my belt. I reached down to halt her progress, but Violet’s hands batted mine away impatiently. She could feel my arousal straining for her touch. “This isn’t appropriate. You name it, Vi. Do you know how people are going to look at us if this keeps going?”
“I don’t care how anyone else looks at us,” Violet said. “You shouldn’t worry about it either. Who’s to judge? Everyone has had a relationship that no one else approves of, and yet, they are still happy with who they are with.”
She had me there. What arguments I had left disappeared the second that Violet’s hands dipped down to stroke me with confidence. My eyes slipped closed as I gave into that carnal desire that had been clawing at the back of my mind for the past few days in the office. It was unbearable having Violet working in the office so close to me. There were times that the temptation to bend her over my desk, to hike those tight skirts she wore up, and fuck her wildly was so strong that I had to go for long walks outside to calm down.
Violet’s lips were hot and needy on mine when she leaned up on tiptoes to kiss me. I kissed her back, taking over easily as I wound my arms around her tiny waist. I grasped her ass cheeks firmly in both my hands and coaxed her to wrap her legs around my waist. Our tongues tangled aggressively as I stumbled blindly to the couch near the window before sinking down with Violet underneath me. I nipped and sucked at the column of her neck desperately while I worked at the buttons of her blouse.
“Wait a moment,” Violet whispered, pushing my hands away from her breasts. “Sit up for a moment.”
I reluctantly leaned back to sit down as she ordered. I eyed her suspiciously as she smoothed out her blouse before leaning in to kiss me again. Before I could deepen the kiss, she pulled back with a mischievous giggle.
“I’m in charge this time,” she said. “Sit back and relax.”
There was no relaxing, though. Violet bent over my lap then, and hot lips engulfed my hard shaft. She sucked and licked me greedily until my senses were utterly frayed from the pleasure of it. My fingers clenched at Violet’s hair as I debated on whether or not that I wanted to finish like this. Coming inside of Violet was the best sensation, but this whole new sensation of Violet’s mouth was topping it. Her previous attempts at oral pleasure felt good but were always timid and unsure. Right now, the confident sucking was completely different, and it was unhinging me in all the right ways.
My peak came hard and fast. My world went black with pleasure as I grabbed a hold of Violet’s head with a guttural cry, pounding into the wetness of her mouth without a care if it was choking her. I released into the back of her throat before pulling back quickly with a jagged breath.
“Violet?” I panted, smoothing her blonde hair back from her head. “Are you okay?”
She leaned up to sit on her knees, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. Her pale cheeks were flushed a bright red while her lips and mouth were swollen from our arduous activity.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Was that better than before?”
My heart was pounding wildly in my chest as I looked over at her in surprise. “It’s always been amazing. Where did you learn to do that?”
“I did some research on the internet. I wanted to m
ake sure it felt good for you because you’ve always given me the best pleasure before letting yourself go.”
“It was amazing,” I said and leaned into peck a kiss on her lips. “We better get cleaned up before everyone comes back from lunch.”
Violet smoothed her rumpled clothes the best she could before helping me do the same. She leaned in to kiss me one last time before opening my office door, pausing to catch my eyes with a smile.
The second Violet walked out of my office, I sat down in my office chair with a sigh. I could at least get through the day now without a hard on, but it didn’t replace the uneasiness now lingering in my mind. Walking away from Violet was going to be impossible. Our sexual chemistry was something new to me. The previous times had been meaningless—even with Stephanie, it had become routine. None of it ever felt this exciting, or even comforting. Just the one weekend alone with Violet had solidified the fact that I enjoyed spending my free time with her. There was more to Violet than being Alan Summer’s daughter. She was quick in the office, level-headed when it came to decisions, and did her job without a single complaint. She was eager and curious to learn everything, something that I inwardly loved about her.
There was more to it than sex. I could feel it every time Violet looked over at me with that soft smile on her lips. I was falling for her one day at a time. There was no doubt in my mind about that, but for now, I had to figure out where this was going to lead. I couldn’t afford to let any of this come out just yet. Not before I talked to Violet, and certainly not before I talked with Alan.
Chapter 16
Violet
The taste of Cole was still prominent on the tip of my tongue when I hurried out of his office to get back to my desk before everyone returned from the lunch hour. Smoothing a hand through my tangled hair, I closed Cole’s office door before turning around to stop in sheer surprise to find Michael Foster standing directly in front of me.
There was a strange glint in Michael’s eyes as he peered at me with a frown tugging at his lips. His eyes settled on my blouse that was still rumpled with two buttons undone. I could feel the heat of Cole’s kisses still on my neck, and there was no doubt in my mind that there were red patches there.
We stared at each other for a long time. I tried to read the expression on Michael’s face, but it was carefully guarded.
“What were you doing in Mr. Crayton’s office?” he asked.
The rest of the floor had yet to return from lunch. I struggled to find a reasonable excuse, but I was drawing a blank. My mind was still thick and hazy from the pleasure of being dominant over Cole for the first time.
“I was—” I reached up to wipe at my mouth, unsure of what to say that wouldn’t arouse anymore of Michael’s curiosity. “I was going over some work documents with him for the meeting in a few hours. What are you doing up here?”
“I was going to see if you wanted to get some lunch with me,” Michael said, arching an eyebrow. “You weren’t at your desk, so I thought I would sit here and wait for you to come back.”
“You’ve been sitting here the whole time?”
“Yes,” he said.
Panic filled me when Michael crossed his arms with a knowing smirk on his face.
“It’s not what you think,” I started, but he grabbed hold of my arm.
“Come with me,” Michael said sharply. “It is what I think. You’re fucking Cole Crayton. I know it.”
He pulled me in the direction of the copy and printing room. Closing the door behind us, he turned to look at me with a sneer.
“I knew something was up when you showed up here without any experience at all. Everyone in the office suspected it too, despite Cheryl saying that you are just a family friend.”
“I got this internship because I asked for the job experience,” I said which was partly true. I had asked for the internship to get close to Cole also, but Michael didn’t need to know that. He already suspected it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Michael. Nothing is going on between Mr. Crayton and me.”
“Really?” he said, scoffing. “I heard the both of you in his office. I heard Mr. Crayton groan out your name.”
My cheeks burned as I gripped the printer to keep control of my panic. I didn’t care if Michael or anyone else knew, but this was Cole’s business. He didn’t want anyone else to know about it or have his reputation as a businessman questioned.
“That’s now what you heard,” I managed to say. “I don’t know what you think is going on—”
“Just admit it, Violet,” Michael said flatly. “You’re fucking Cole Crayton. You’re fucking the boss, and that’s the only damn reason why you got this internship. You earned this through his dick, not through your head. You earned it by a favor while I had to work my ass off to be placed in a role I didn’t want to even be in!”
I winced at the onslaught of Michael’s angry words. He stood in front of me with his fists clenched. His face was patchy red as he gazed at me, waiting for me to say something when words were lost on me. Panic was building up inside of me quickly, and I didn’t know how to respond if Michael had heard us.
“That’s right,” Michael spat, shaking his head at me. “You’re disgusting, Violet. I never thought you’d be the type of woman to sleep your way up the ladder, but apparently, you are.”
He ripped the door open when someone knocked on it. Another employee stood on the other side and drew back in surprise to see Michael’s furious face. He strode past the employee without sparing either one of us a second glance.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled, ducking my head to hide my burning eyes.
I hurried out of the printer and copy room back to my desk. Knocking on Cole’s office door, I opened the door without waiting for a reply to find that his was office was empty.
“He left for a meeting,” Cheryl said. She frowned when I whirled around to face her. “What’s going on, Violet?”
“Nothing,” I choked out quickly. “I just need to talk to him about something, but if he’s already gone for the afternoon, then it doesn’t matter.”
Cole was going to be furious. He was already so touchy about us carrying on in a relationship, but this would send him over the edge. I knew it. Anger filled me as I glanced across the office to where Michael was angrily pounding on a calculator. He looked up sharply when he felt my gaze on him.
“What’s going on?” Cheryl asked, watching the exchange with a concerned frown. “Is there something going on with you and Michael that Mr. Crayton needs to know about?”
It’s the other way around, Cheryl. There’s something going on between Cole and me while Michael knows about it.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
My stomach gave a nauseating lurch at the smell of the chicken wraps that Cheryl had brought back from lunch. I needed to get out of the office before I gave anything else away, or before Michael said something. I had no idea if he would tell anyone else, but Cole needed to know first.
“Do you think it would be okay if I go home for the rest of the afternoon?” I asked. “I’m not feeling too good, to be honest with you. I feel like I might get sick.”
My coffee from earlier this morning threatened to come back up just thinking about my stomach. A headache pounded in my head.
“Of course,” Cheryl said. “I’ll tell Mr. Crayton if he returns before five that you aren’t feeling well.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully. “I owe you, Cheryl. I know this was supposed to be your week off.”
Cheryl waved a hand airily. “Oh, please. I’m like Mr. Crayton. I wouldn’t be able to handle being away from this place for very long, either. A vacation wouldn’t be a vacation for me.” She shooed me away with a flick of her wrist. “Go on now. Get some rest.”
I shut my computer off before grabbing my purse. After bidding Cheryl goodbye, I took the elevator down with my phone clutched anxiously in my hand. I waited until I was out of the building before texting Cole.
Something cam
e up that you need to know about. Come to my apartment right after your meeting. It’s urgent.
I took a cab back to my apartment knowing that Cole wouldn’t look at his phone until he was done with his meetings in a few hours. My stomach refused to let up with the queasy feeling throughout the rest of the afternoon. I took a long and hot shower before running to the supermarket to grab a few things for dinner. I needed to do something to distract myself from the anxiety that burned in my chest.
It wasn’t until the intercom buzzed from below that the tension in my stomach released. Cole stepped in through the apartment door. His face was stretched into a concerned frown, and he hadn’t even bothered going back to his place to change.
“What’s going on?” he asked when I embraced him with a shaky sigh. “Is everything okay?”