by Anna Lewis
Whitney thought now was as good a time as any for them to burst in. With Julian close behind, they saw Marco with his hand gripping Tara’s neck so tight her face was almost as bright a red as her hair. He let her go and she dropped to the ground. Marco stormed out of the office without an apology or an explanation.
“You okay?” Julian asked, but there was a coldness in his voice, she hadn’t expected.
“Fine,” Tara, huffed picking herself up and straightening out her clothes. “So how much of that did you hear?”
“Enough” Whitney said. “Do you know what you did to me?”
“I don’t care. And that will always be the difference between you and me, Whit. You care far too much about what other people think about you.”
“Well at least I have people that care about me,” she shot back. “You’ve isolated the one guy you always wanted to be with, and for what?”
“So he couldn’t love anyone more than me,” she snarled. “All Marco talks about is not wanting babies, but it seems like I’m the only one he can get pregnant round here. Don’t you dare feel sorry for me. I’ll be alright and I’ll calm him down. You just stay the fuck away from us!” Tara screamed and stormed out.
“Wow,” Julian shook his head.
“Don’t act all surprised now, you’re the one who slept with her.” Whitney joked.
“Yeah but that was before the…you know,” he crossed his eyes and twirled his index finger in a lock of her hair. “She’s really out there, huh?”
“Yeah,” Whitney said, suddenly feeling bad for her. She didn’t care what Tara said, she couldn’t help but pity her. Tara was only a year or two older than she was, but had already bound herself to Cedar Breeze. Marco would go crazy and kill her one of these days, or maybe that’s how their relationship worked. It no longer mattered to her that she knew she was in a relationship with Julian. It appeared as if she had some bigger issues to deal with.
“So, I’m guessing you’re not mad at me anymore?" she asked.
Julian shook his head, “I’m a little upset with you, but I realized I’m madder at myself for letting Tara manipulate me, and you, the way she did. She’d told me before she only wanted to be with me cuz she thought I was gonna hold a position in the club, and I should have believed her. She tried changing me to be the next Marco, but when she saw that wasn’t happening, she moved on to the real thing.”
“Well I’m kind of glad she did,” she giggled.
“Me too,” Julian told her. “Just promise me you’ll be completely honest with me from now on.”
“You have my promise, and my heart.”
The way his lips pressed against hers, sent a shiver down her spine. Their tongues tasted each other, making up for time lost. Julian stopped for a moment, staring into her eyes, “So how about we go back to my place and pick up from where we left off last night?”
Whitney wanted nothing more as they left the bikers to their business. Julian and Whitney headed back to his house where they ended up in bed together. Clothes off and bodies pressing together, Whitney kissed Julian like they never kissed before. Everything was out in the open. Her inhibitions were banished.
The feeling of his hand gripping her neck, tilting her head up, so he could plunge his tongue deep into her mouth sent chills down her spine.
The noises of their bodies coming together as they rolled around his mattress, filled the air. But there was no way she was going to let him take charge this time.
Whitney pushed Julian back onto the bed. Landing on his forearms, he propped himself up and she spread his knees wide so her eyes could take in every inch of him. He was long and wide. Taking him in her hands, Whitney began to stroke Julian so that he’d reveal his full erection. The moans and groans escaping his lips let her know she was doing a great job.
Her hands travelled up and down his cock slowly before she brought her mouth to the very tip and flicked her tongue across it. The smoothness of his head was inviting as she circled her lips around the tip. She worked her tongue over his cock. She flicked and sucked until Julian was grabbing at the sheets, flexing his legs, and curling his toes. She knew he’d be doing everything in his power not to come before he’d had a chance to get inside of her.
One day she’d use her mouth to make him come before he could feel the soft sensations of her walls. But today, she wouldn’t play. Instead, she lowered her mouth all the way down to the base before pulling back slowly, letting her tongue curve around the vein running underneath his shaft. He closed his eyes and let her do as she pleased.
With a loud slurp and pop, she pulled back and began positioning herself on top of him. She grasped his shoulders, while Julian held her hips steady. Sliding down onto his throbbing cock felt like home to her. There was no other place she’d rather be.
Once she could feel every inch of him buried inside of her she began to rotate her hips. Slowly but surely working up her walls moistness. It didn’t take long before Julian’s eyes zeroed in on her juices, her sweet nectar coating his length as she slid up and down.
He grabbed her hips and then moved his hands down to palm her ass cheeks, spreading them so he had more room to move into her. He thrust his hips up while she pushed down. They met in the middle for her first orgasm of the day.
Trembling, Whitney blew out a deep breath as he rolled her over onto her back. She watched him pull his cock out of her, undoubtedly to give himself enough time to prevent him coming sooner than he wanted. Without hesitation, Julian buried his face between her thighs. She came all over his tongue while he suckled on her clit. His tongue traced the creases between her folds before diving into her slit. He tasted her juices coating his tongue. He tasted every ounce of her pleasure spilling onto his mouth. Her fingers grazed his scalp and locked onto his hair as he moved his face up and down, side to side, against her pussy. There was no relief for Whitney as he worked his mouth in similar fashion to the way she worked hers. Maybe he was playing the game and she didn’t realize it. If he was, she would have lost by now.
Pulling away from her, his chin glistened in the early afternoon sunlight peeking through the curtains. He smiled. “You ready for me?”
“Always,” she said licking her lips. He plopped down on top of her with a chuckle, stopping himself just before he landed on top of her chest. He lowered himself down onto her body, slowly and then slid inside of her body.
Just as Whitney opened her mouth to speak, he put his finger up to her lips. “Let me handle this part.”
Whitney nodded silently and let him do just that. He pumped himself inside of her with every stroke building momentum. At one point he held one thigh in his hand while he anchored his other into the bed. He rolled his body into hers so they both could enjoy the sight of him moving in and out of her. His abs flexed as she ran her fingers down his stomach.
Pulling him down to her, she wrapped her legs around his torso as Julian continued to move. The sounds of her wetness splashing with every movement made her nipples harden even more. He took one of them into his mouth while she clawed at his back. There was nothing more important in that moment than chasing their climax. So they chased it together, until it finally happened.
A day of sexual escapades and relaxation followed until they were both too exhausted to continue. The moon was out by the time they were finished. There was a pitcher of water on the nightstand, and a damp washcloth. The sheets would have to be changed and the windows needed to be opened. The room stank of sex.
“I can’t believe we spent all day in bed,” Whitney laughed.
“I can,” Julian smiled hazily. “We gotta get as much in as possible if you’re going back to school next week.”
“You know I’m barely an hour away, and that’s by bus. If you come and visit, I’m sure you can get to me in a half hour,” she said.
“Really? The way you never came home, I would have thought your school was across the country. Don’t do that anymore either,” he told her, kissing her temple.
/> “I won’t,” she promised, “You ain’t gotta worry about me. I’m not running away anymore. You’re stuck with me now.”
“There’s no place or person I’d rather be stuck with.” He kissed her again.
The sounds of the Shadows riding by interrupted their moment. They hooted and hollered like they were after someone. Of course, there couldn’t be a perfect ending to their day. Cedar Breeze didn’t belong only to them. But at least, Whitney and Julian now belonged to each other.
THE END
= Bonus Book 2 of 20 =
Bargaining with the Billionaire
Book 1
“Can you do anything right, or is gross incompetence your thing?” the male voice sneered in her ear, almost making her jump out of her skin.
Shawna Jones pushed a strand of wavy blonde hair that had fallen from her bun out of her face and tucked it behind her ear in a nervous gesture before she continued typing. She’d been working on the document all day and had even skipped lunch, but the workload was impossible, and once again, Richard Lange was yelling at her in the middle of the bullpen, belittling her for anyone and everyone to hear.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” she said, angry at how her voice shook but she needed this job.
Shawna couldn’t go back to flipping burgers and barely making ends meet. This job had been a godsend and there was no way she could go back to the life she once led.
She didn’t stop typing, her fingers tapping out the keys quickly, but not quickly enough. It didn’t matter that her back was sore at the end of a nine-hour day without a break, and she didn’t care that she was supposed to get off work thirty minutes before. She had to finish the job he gave her or else she would be canned. He’d made that clear daily since she’d landed the job six months before.
“I can’t take any more of your crap,” Richard ground out, his voice menacing and loud enough for everyone to hear.
Shawna’s back went rigid and she held her breath.
Please don’t fire me, she thought, fighting back tears. Please.
Richard’s hand swept across her desk, wiping everything that wasn’t the computer off the desk and onto the floor in a grand, sweeping gesture.
“There, I started the packing process for you. Get your things and get out. We’ll send your last check to you tomorrow.”
“I’m almost done,” she said, typing even though she was trembling so badly that she started mistyping.
“Don’t make me have you escorted out of here,” he said.
He sounded amused, and with a sick feeling, she realized that he was getting excited humiliating her in front of everyone. She wanted to cry but she refused to give him the satisfaction. She stood, rolling over his foot as she pushed back the chair and doing her best not to laugh as he howled in pain.
He yelled, and she ducked, grabbing her purse out of the drawer and running out of the large office as fast as she could, the tears flowing before she got on the elevator.
She could still hear him cursing her name when the doors closed, and she was thankful that there was no one on the elevator to see her shame.
Why would there be anyone on the elevator? The only department that stays for hours after closing time was the secretary pool.
Everyone else clocked out right at five o’clock, the employees of Furst Industries smiling as they left, just like they were when they arrived in the morning. The company had a reputation for taking care of its people; except for its lowest paid, entry level workers. People like Shawna worked long and hard with the bare minimum in benefits and Shawna hadn’t seen anyone crack a smile in the bullpen for days. Just like everywhere else Shawna had ever been, there were those that made a killing, and those that broke their backs for the rich to get richer. Hiring on at Furst Industries hadn’t changed her status in life, it had just improved her bank account.
But she didn’t work for Furst Industries anymore, and now she was going to have to spend Friday searching frantically for a job and hoping that she had something lined up for Monday morning. She would miss a full day of pay, but if she could find something, then she could work through the gap in pay.
At least then, she wouldn’t lose her apartment and her car. She had some savings, but it wouldn’t hold her for more than a month. She needed to find work fast, and she needed to have a job by next week or she was screwed.
***
Shawna woke up the next morning feeling positive, the warm spring sun filtering in through her window as the city of Dallas woke up and greeted the day.
Shawna had lived in one part of Dallas or another all her life. At twenty-two, she had lived more than most people she knew, and her tenacity and persistence were borne of a desire to get out of the poverty she had been born into. With steel resolve, she got up and made a quick breakfast, then started calling every business that had an ad online looking for employees.
By the time she took a break for lunch she realized that getting a job like the one she’d had at Furst was going to be nearly impossible. Every conversation had gone about the same. They started out cordial, but when she discussed her reason for leaving Furst Industries, the tone changed and the once friendly voice on the line was suddenly ending the call as quickly as possible.
Shawna hung up the phone, sighing heavily and fighting back tears. This wasn’t working out like she thought it would; she hadn’t even gotten past the phone interview to land an in-person interview.
Her phone rang and her stomach clenched when Furst Industries came up on the caller id. She answered it, holding her breath after she said “hello” and hoping it wasn’t Richard Lange.
“Miss Jones?” a female voice asked warmly.
“Speaking,” she said, closing her eyes and grimacing at how weak her voice sounded.
Grow a backbone, Shawna, she thought angrily.
“I need you to come in and pick up your last check and sign a few papers.”
“I thought you would send it to me,” she said.
“No,” the woman said, sounding confused. “The check that posted to your account at midnight this morning was already deposited before you were let go. But the payment for this week and your accrued sick days and vacation hours was cut today and you’ll need to pick that up in person.”
“Sick days and vacation hours?” she repeated.
“Yes. You didn’t take any sick days and even though you hadn’t reached your one year anniversary so that you could take your vacation, you still accrued hours that we are required to pay you by law.”
“Can I ask how much it is?”
“The entire check or just the accrued hours?”
“The entire check.”
“Two thousand fifty-seven dollars and fourteen cents.”
Shawna sat down hard in her chair.
“What?” she said, not believing what she was hearing.
“You only worked four days, so your payment for the week was only six seventeen fourteen, then you had a week of vacation at seven hundred and twenty dollars and a week of sick days available, which also came out to seven hundred and twenty dollars. All of this is after tax, of course, which is why it sounds a little low. Unfortunately, you didn’t qualify for severance pay since you were let go for job performance.”
Shawna ignored the last sentence, her smile too big for her to care. The check they were giving her was almost three times what she usually made in a week. Plus, she’d forgotten that today was her weekly payday, bringing the grand total to just under twenty-eight hundred dollars. She had time to find a job, though she wasn’t going to waste precious time throwing herself a pity party. But she could rest today and this weekend, then hit the job search hard on Monday. She still didn’t have a job and she was going to have to find a way to spin getting fired, but she had some room to breathe, and that made all the difference in the world.
“When can you come in?” the woman asked patiently.
“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
“See you then,” the woman said,
then hung up the phone.
Shawna hopped into the shower and got dressed quickly, heading out the door with her hair still wet and hanging down her back in loose waves. As she got into her car she checked out her reflection in the mirror and almost laughed. Richard Lange required a strict, stereotypical secretary look for his floor, and he detested loose hair. She wouldn’t have to see him, because Human Resources was one floor up from where she had worked. But knowing that she was breaking the rules felt good, and for the first time since she walked out of those doors the night before, she felt like herself again.
She drove down I-35, and headed to Furst Industries, excited to collect her check and trying to get herself pumped up for her fresh start.
You’ve got this, Shawna Jones, she told herself.
She was going to own this change of plans and turn it into something better than she’d ever imagined.
***
“You’re all done,” the woman said, smiling kindly at Shawna as she gathered the last of the papers that Shawna had to sign before she left.
“And my check?”
“Oh, you’ll get that after your exit interview with Eric.”
“Eric?”
“Eric Furst,” she said. “You know, the President of the company?”
“What? Why?” Shawna asked, panicking suddenly.
“Don’t worry about it. Eric likes to do exit interviews personally. He wants to make sure that this is the best place to work and he wants to know why people leave.”
“I got fired.”
“He knows that. But knowing why you weren’t able to succeed at this company can help him improve training and mentoring programs in the future. It’s really not a big deal, but he won’t give you your check until you meet with him.”
The woman pointed to an elevator at the other end of the room.
“You can take that elevator. It only goes to his office.”
Shawna nodded, feeling like she was the lamb going to slaughter but there was nothing that she could do about it. She needed that money and Eric Furst was the only person standing between her and walking out that door with what amounted to almost a month’s worth of paychecks.