by K. A. Linde
A few people in the back clapped, and then everyone joined in, applauding their own accomplishments.
“Additionally, I wanted to make you all aware that, as of next week, Wright Construction will merge with the Tarman Corporation headquartered in Austin.”
There were loud whispers all around as everyone tried to figure out what that would mean for them.
“Wright Construction is purchasing the company to continue to grow and expand in and out of Texas.”
I was about to say something else when a figure appeared at the back of the room. It was as if a spotlight were being held over Emery’s body, revealing her to me. She looked stunning in a tightfitting black dress. And, for a moment, I was completely frozen in place. All thoughts of letting her leave for her own good disappeared. I was not going to let that woman walk away from me.
I could feel her eyes on me from across the room. She smirked like she fucking knew what she was doing to me. And it only made me want her more.
“Jensen,” Morgan muttered, nudging me.
“Um…yes. Right. More details regarding that will follow,” I said into the microphone. I’d completely lost my train of thought. “Now, more booze! Enjoy!”
I handed the microphone back to the DJ and turned to go find Emery, but Morgan blocked my way.
“More booze? Enjoy?” she asked in dismay. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Something else is on my mind.”
“Jensen, you didn’t even tell them that we weren’t downsizing here. You didn’t tell them what the merger meant or that we’d be getting new employees from Tarman.”
“Then, you tell them, Morgan,” I told her.
My eyes drifted over her head to try to find Emery again, but she was gone. It was as if she had come to me like a vision in that moment and had since disappeared.
“What?” Morgan asked, staggered. “You want me to address the crowd?”
“You’re a Wright, are you not? You know just as much about the merger as I do.”
“But, Jensen…” she whispered.
I smiled and bumped her shoulder. “I have faith in you.”
“Wait, where are you going?” she asked as I moved away from her.
“To make another mistake,” I told her before melting into the crowd.
Seventeen
Emery
Okay, so I’d made my grand appearance.
I’d felt like Drew Barrymore in Ever After, whispering to myself, “Just breathe,” when I entered the room. I’d caught Jensen’s eye. He’d stared at me, momentarily in shock. I’d basked in the glow of that attention. And then I’d promptly and completely lost my nerve, disappearing into the crowd by the bar with Heidi.
What am I even doing here?
He’d pushed me away. Twice.
It was no matter that he’d been texting me all week. His text messages had been nonsensical. Half-trying to convince me that leaving me was for the best and half-trying to convince me to give him another chance. I didn’t know which half he wanted me to believe. So, I just hadn’t responded. I was still hurt from the conversation we’d had at Death by Chocolate. I should have just stayed home. Actually, I should have probably already left.
What am I trying to prove by being here? That I can get his attention? Check.
I knew that I couldn’t ignore him if he approached me. That was why I had moved out of the spotlight as soon as I had. I might have had the strength to push him away that day after our date, but after a week of his messages, I was too curious to step back now. I wanted to know why he had been acting like this and whether or not the guy I’d had that first date with still existed somewhere in there.
A hand on my elbow made me jump. I whirled around and came face-to-face with Jensen Wright himself.
“Oh,” I said, feeling like an idiot.
“Oh?” he asked.
And then I stared at him because seeing him across the room had not done him justice. I never thought I would be the kind of girl who swooned at a guy in a tuxedo, but hot damn. Jensen Wright wore a tux like a second skin. It molded to him, and all the long, straight lines did things to his body that just weren’t possible in other clothing. Or maybe I was biased.
“It’s you,” I finally managed to get out.
“You do realize that this is an office party, right?” he asked. He arched an eyebrow, as if asking, What the hell are you doing here?
“I might have heard that somewhere.” I sank into my hip and let him get a good look at the black dress I’d gotten earlier this week.
“Last I checked, you didn’t work for me, Miss Robinson.”
“True,” I agreed, fluttering my eyelashes. “Are you going to kick me out?”
“I might let you stay…if you tell me what you’re doing here.”
I swallowed. I had no answer to that one. I’d come at Heidi’s request, but I knew that wasn’t the answer he was looking for, and it wasn’t even half of the real reason.
“I came to listen to your inspirational speech. More booze, Mr. Wright. Very motivational.”
He laughed unabashedly. It was deep and masculine and sincere.
“Thank you. Probably not my best speech, but I got a little distracted.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked innocently. “What distracted you?”
“A beautiful woman walked in the door.”
“Oh,” I said with a shrug. “You must get distracted a lot then.”
Jensen ran his hand down my bare arm and firmly shook his head once. “Never.”
Where he touched me on my arm seemed to be radiating with heat. In fact, my entire body was aching to get closer to him. To let him run his hands all over my body again. Being with him was supposed to be something light and fun. I wasn’t supposed to want more. I’d thought I could get him out of my system. Yet here I was, at his office Christmas party. It was now crystal clear that I was not going to get Jensen Wright out of my system with a one-night stand. But I was sure that I wouldn’t mind trying it again and again until it worked out.
“I think I should escort you out, Emery,” Jensen said, drawing me nearer to himself.
“Right now?” I asked, confused.
“Yes. Would you like to see my office on the way out?”
My mouth opened slightly, and I watched the way his gaze drift to my lips.
Was he thinking about how I’d sucked him? Was he thinking about much more?
It was all there in his eyes, and I was sure it was reflected in mine.
“I’d love to.”
Jensen and I walked out of the party without a backward glance. I thought for sure that someone would stop us as we exited the top-floor restaurant. But it seemed that everyone was too engrossed in the end of Morgan’s speech, the open bar, and the buffet. No one paid us any mind as we disappeared into the elevator and to the darkened floor below.
The elevator doors opened, and Jensen took my hand to guide me down to his office. We reached the end of the hall, and Jensen flicked the switch to turn on the lights. It was a massive corner office with a giant mahogany desk taking up the center of the room and an all-glass wall facing campus. It was modern and sleek and undeniably powerful. I could feel the energy from the room. It was the same power and control that I felt from Jensen.
He stood directly behind me and ran his hands down my arms. His mouth came down to my shoulder and placed a soft, possessive kiss there. “You’ve been ignoring me,” he muttered.
I shivered at his touch. It was amazing, how moving from a crowded party and into his office had given him so much authority. We were on his turf. This was his domain. And he knew it.
“You told me you made a horrible mistake,” I whispered into the room.
“Emery.” His hands moved to my waist and trailed down the curves of my body.
The back of my dress was open, and I could feel the heat coming off of him through his tux.
“You have principles, Jensen,” I teased.
That was what he had
said. Though I still had no idea what it meant. It seemed to be an odd rule that he refused to date girls in town.
He spun me around, and I nearly stumbled into him. I wasn’t used to Kimber’s Louboutin high heels, and Jensen made me feel off-balance. Like I was teetering between fantasy and reality.
“Fuck principles,” he said.
Shock registered on my face before I hastily concealed it. “Why? Why would you say that about the very principles that pushed me away?”
Jensen cupped my chin and forced me to look up at him. I hadn’t even realized that I’d been staring down at his bowtie, trying to hide my emotions. But they were plain on my face. Confusion, desire, hope, disbelief.
My shoulders were up, as if to guard me from the oncoming disappointment. I could see it coming.
“Because I had the best night with you, the best sex with you,” he added, pushing me back into his desk and making my imagination spiral away with all the things we could do on it, “and I slept seven whole hours with you in my arms. I’m an insomniac, and I cannot tell you the last time I slept that long. I said those things because I like you, and I didn’t know how to react to that.”
“So, you pushed me away?”
“I did, and I’m not proud of it.” His lips nearly brushed mine when he said, “But I can’t get you out of my head. You’ve taken over my thoughts, my daydreams, my every last desire, and I haven’t slept since that night.”
“How do I know you’re not going to change your mind again?” I whispered. Though I was sure my voice betrayed the fact that I had already made up my mind. I would do unspeakable things with him and not think twice.
“You don’t, but I’m willing to see where this goes if you are.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Good. One question, how much do you like this dress?” he asked, speculatively eyeing it.
“It’s a Christmas present actually.”
“God bless whoever gave it to you,” he said with a grin, “but I’d like it on the floor.”
I released a deep throaty laugh and reached for the side zipper. The dress slid down my body, all the way to my hips, and then it dropped into a heap on the floor. Since the dress was backless, I had to go braless. Now, I was dressed in nothing but a black lace thong and Louboutin heels.
I slowly stepped out of the dress and kicked it out of the way. Thanks for the present, Heidi!
“That’s better,” he said.
His hands slid behind my legs and lifted me off the ground. I squeaked at the sudden movement as he roughly placed me on the edge of his desk. He swept his hand over the top of it, letting half of the contents clatter to the ground, leaving a space for my body. He laid me back on the desk and raised my legs.
I tried to kick off the shoes, but he stopped me.
“Oh no,” he said. “If you’re going to wear designer shoes around me, then it’d be a shame not to fuck you in them.”
The way he observed me made my core clench, and I could feel my body responding to him…and he hadn’t even kissed me yet.
Then, I forgot all about the damn shoes as he kissed his way, achingly slow and tender, up my right leg. He reached the upper limit of my inner thigh, and I was writhing under him, practically begging for more. But he didn’t give me what I wanted. Instead, he moved to my other leg and started kissing all the way up that leg. It was torture of the best variety. And different than the last time we had been together.
We might have been at his house, but we had been on equal footing there. Here, he had the power, and I was his to guide. And, for once in my life, I let myself be ravaged. I didn’t care what would come after this and how we would move forward. I let him tease me until I could hardly take it anymore. His hands splayed my legs further apart, and then he blew hot against my damp underwear.
“Please,” I whimpered.
He hooked his fingers under my thong and slipped it off my body. I was completely naked now, save for the high heels. He propped my feet up on the desk and stared down at me, as if he were taking a picture for safekeeping.
Then, his hands went to the button of his tuxedo pants. He slipped the zipper down to the base and then dropped his pants. His dick was bulging under his boxer briefs, and I ached to run my hand down it, to take it in my mouth, and to hear him make all those delicious noises all over again. But I could see in his eyes that he had other things on his mind.
He palmed his cock in his hand, found a condom, and slipped it on. Then, he strode back toward me. I hadn’t moved a muscle the whole time. My breathing was shallow as I imagined what was to come. But I couldn’t have prepared myself.
Without comment, he slid into me to the hilt in one thrust. I was practically dripping on his desk, but I still gasped in shock as he stretched me to the fullest.
My body felt alive.
Alive and euphoric.
He gripped my hips so tight that he left little indents in the skin, and I worried there might be bruising tomorrow. Yet I didn’t care one bit. Just a sexy-as-fuck mark to show that he had claimed me. And claimed me, he did.
He pulled out of me and then slammed back in harder than the last time. My body rocked back toward the end of his desk, but he held on, rocking into me over and over again. Keeping up a jarring, uneven, intensely erotic pace that I couldn’t hope to match. So, I let him take complete control and tried to keep from screaming so loud that the people one story up could hear me.
We didn’t last like last time. We didn’t stand a chance. We were both heated up from our time apart and desperate for another round. I wasn’t trying to take my time, and he had no intentions of allowing it. It was clear that rough, hard, and fast were the only options in this scenario.
My mind disconnected from my body as I came violently and blissfully. I soared away into the abyss of pleasure. Relegating myself to base emotions only. Allowing myself to relish in how perfect every moment had been. To feel so extravagantly, so intentionally, and so unabatedly that all else fell away.
I realized Jensen was resting forward over me as I came back to myself. My legs were trembling like a newborn lamb, and a light sheen of sweat caressed my skin. Jensen’s eyes glimmered with passion and elation. I knew that he could go again soon, but for now, there was only immense satisfaction.
He slid out of me and offered me the bathroom attached to his office. When I finished cleaning up, I came back to see that Jensen looked immaculate again. His tux was perfectly in place, and if I hadn’t just seen the raw and wild man beneath, I’d never have known that he’d just fucked my brains out.
“Do you have to go back to the party?” I asked, unable to keep the caution out of my voice. I reached for my dress and slid it back on, securing the zipper in place.
“I seem to be otherwise occupied,” he said.
He drew me into him, and for the first time all night, he planted an affectionate kiss on my lips. I fell into it, wanting nothing less than a thousand more of them.
“I like that,” I said.
“I think I’m going to have to take you out now.”
“Oh? Tacos?” I only half-joked.
“Probably something nicer than tacos after the week I’ve put you through,” he said.
“You don’t have to do that. I don’t need a fancy dinner as an apology. I liked our first date,” I told him truthfully. “It felt…real.”
He smiled down at me and captured another kiss. “It was.”
Eighteen
Emery
“Emery!” Kimber yelled.
“Just a second,” I called back. I was putting the finishing touches on my hair, trying to make it do what Heidi had gotten it to do and failing miserably. I put the curling wand down and shrugged. It was better to go as myself than to try to be someone I wasn’t. And a girl who fixed her hair on the regular was definitely not me.
“Emery, now!” Kimber screamed.
My eyebrows rose, and I hurried out of the bathroom. “What is it? What’s going on?”
; I found Kimber curled in the fetal position on the floor of her bedroom. She was breathing deeply and winced in pain.
“Oh my God!” I cried. “Are you having contractions? Are you in labor?”
“I don’t”—she cried out and then clenched down, as if bracing herself—“know. It could just be Braxton Hicks contractions.”
“You’re speaking another language to me,” I said. I hurried to her side and helped her back up onto the bed. “I don’t know what that means. What can I do? Where’s Lily?”
“Nothing. Just—oh God!” she said, clenching up again. “Just stay here a minute. Lily is playing in her room.”
“Okay. Should I check on her? Should I just stand here?”
“Em, really not the time. Just hold my”—she viciously squeezed down on my hand—“hand.”
“Got it. Hand-holding.”
“Braxton Hicks contractions are prep for actual labor. They usually go away all on their own, but if they don’t, then I’ll have to go to the hospital.”
“Should I call Noah?” I asked.
She nodded her head. “You’d better, just in case. I know he’d want to be here.”
I dialed Noah’s number and filled him in on what was going on. He promised he’d be on his way in a matter of minutes. When I hung up, Kimber was in the middle of another contraction. I didn’t know anything about Braxton Hicks contractions, but she looked like she was in a lot of pain. Even if she wasn’t going into labor, I wanted her to be seen by a doctor. Noah should be able to tell if something was wrong, but I’d be happier if we got her to the hospital.
Noah arrived from the medical center in record time. He took a quick look at his wife. “Looks like things are progressing quickly. Better safe than sorry, my love.”
“Get the bag,” Kimber said with a sigh. “I hoped that she’d wait until after Christmas. This is early.”
“She’s as stubborn as her mother. Comes and goes whenever she wants without consulting anyone at all,” I joked.
Kimber gave me a grim smile. “Can you watch Lilyanne for us? I hate to ask. I know that you have a date tonight.”