by Harper James
He paused, his hips swinging back as he took himself in his hand, positioning himself at my core.
With his other arm, he wrapped it around my knees, so that the back of my thighs pressed against his abs. And then he plunged into me, with one hard, swift thrust.
I bit back a moan, my hands gripping each side of his desk. My breasts bounced as he fucked me, harder and harder, so quickly I was surprised his desk didn’t screech across the floor.
My head tipped back, heat building in my lower belly, pulsing through my body. I turned to the side, his desk cold against my cheek, his body hot against mine where it slammed into me.
My tits bounced harder with his rhythm, and he reached down, twisting one in his palm. “You feel so good,” he murmured, between what sounded like gritted teeth. Like for him, the pleasure was hard to control. Like he wanted to spiral into oblivion.
His rhythm was swift and relentless, faster and faster with each breath, until I was sure I could take no more. And then his fingers splayed out along my ribs, pulling me up into a sitting position, forcing me to hook my ankles behind his bare ass as he kissed me again, hot and hungry, his tongue sliding between my lips, across my tongue, his cock still hard and filling me to bursting as he ground his hips in a circle.
He growled under his breath, and then he pushed me back down. But instead of fucking me harder, he pulled out, and the sudden loss made me short of breath.
But he wasn’t done. He gripped my hips, rolling me over, face down on his desk. I was bent at the waist, my feet on the floor, my ass up to greet him. My tits pressed into his desk, the cold making my nipples turn even harder.
Our sweat mingled, the heat of our skin setting me on fire.
He leaned down, nipping at my shoulder. “God you look good like this,” he said, setting me aflame.
“I want you,” I murmured, pushing my ass up against him. Encouraging him.
“You want me to fuck you while you lean over my desk?” he asked, his tongue up my neck, onto my earlobe.
“Yes,” I panted, pushing harder up against him. Desperate for him to just take the cock in his hands and shove it inside me, to fuck me even harder than he’d done before, to bring me to climax. I was drenched, dripping down my inner thighs.
He teased his cock back and forth along my opening, as if to prove he had more restraint than I did. I groaned, no longer caring if his office was sound proof. I was too desperate, too hot for him.
He didn’t waste time, he simply thrust back inside, hard and savagely, just the way I wanted it.
I groaned, curling my fingers around the edge of his desk and gripping, trying to anchor myself in some way.
He thrust hard, his skin slapping against mine. He bucked harder and harder against me, his cock hitting something deep inside, something that sent vibrations of pleasure and heat through my core.
I was clinging to the edge, desperate for climax. His breathing grew louder along with my cries. My knees banged against his desk as he fucked me harder.
His groans grew guttural, raspy and desperate, just as a wave of pleasure pulsed through me.
“Oh god,” he groaned, plunging hard, deeper than before, just as I moaned, loud and long, my climax hitting.
I collapsed onto the desk and he fucked me a few more times, his moans heavy with pleasure, with satisfaction, until at last, he stilled. His cock still inside me, he pulled me up against him, so that my backside pressed up against his front.
He wrapped his arms around me, one solid against my ribs, like a strong cage, and the other resting on my breasts. He leaned down, tenderly kissing my shoulder. “That felt so good,” he murmured, his breath still coming hot and heavy against my skin.
It was several morel moments before he stepped back, his cock slipping out of me. He reached over for the sports coat hanging over the back of his chair, slipping it over my shoulders. Then he kissed me again, slow and tender, all of the urgency gone. “There’s a private bathroom through there,” he said, pointing to a red oak door.
“Thanks,” I murmured, quickly grabbing my clothing and crossing the room.
Though there was no shower, the bathroom was nicer than anything I’d ever seen, with gleaming white marble and sparkling silver fixtures. I cleaned up quickly, slipping back into clothes and straightening my hair.
I tried not to blush at what we’d just done, but I couldn’t help it. Landon brought out something different in me—something I wasn’t used to seeing. It was raw and hungry and primal and… completely irresistible.
Jesus, I’d just let him fuck me on his desk in the middle of the day.
I finger-combed my hair and then, deciding it was the best that I could do, headed out of his bathroom.
He was fully dressed, standing beside his desk as if he hadn’t just had me bent over it, fucking me from behind. He looked cool, calm, collected.
As if bending a girl over his desk was just another part of his day. I tried to pretend the same, as if I wasn’t the least bit affected by what we’d just done.
“Ready?” he asked, as if we’d just paid a dinner bill and were ready to go home.
“Mhmmm,” I said, as casually as I could muster.
I wasn’t sure what I expected from him. What I wanted from him.
He led me out of his office, the door clicking firmly shut behind us, and then back down the expansive halls of his center. I was relieved to realize there wasn’t a nearby-secretary’s desk, or water cooler. What Landon and I had just shared… it was between us.
He led me across the entrance, and I ignored the watchful eyes of the receptionists, hoping they couldn’t’ see the difference in my mussed-up hair, in my rumpled clothing. Hoping they couldn’t’ see at a glance that their boss had just fucked me on his desk.
Maybe the blond would pick up that Inbox of his later, scooping it off the floor and smelling the sex in the room.
Landon walked around his car, opening the door, and waiting for me to slide into the seat before closing it gently with a click.
Seconds later he was next to me again, turning the key in the ignition and then we were pulling out, leaving his center behind and gliding down the valley highway. We hadn’t spoken since he’d come inside me, and I felt awkward, desperate to fill the silence. But with what, I wasn’t sure.
“Let me take you out tonight,” he said, after a few miles of quiet.
My heart galloped to life in my chest. I’d wanted him to say something. Anything. But this had been too much to want. “On a date?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Where are we going?”
His lips twitched, like he was trying not to smile. I’d already agreed, without even realizing it.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“Okay,” I said. Wishing I could resist him, knowing I couldn’t. My heart seemed to swell, warm my whole body at once. I wanted to be so much more than a fling to him. Maybe this date… maybe that meant I truly was more.
He slid a hand across the console, trailing it down my arm and interlacing his fingers with mine.
It was an oddly intimate thing to do. This man, who I’d been close to, who I’d just been fucked, bent over his desk, was now holding my hand. It felt too familiar, too romantic. Holding hands was affectionate, and what we had was raw and sexual, hungry and insatiable.
We rounded a corner and turned onto my road, and then all too quickly, he was letting go of my fingers, putting the car in park.
“See you at seven,” he said, and I climbed out of his car. He idled in the driveway, watching as I ascended front porch steps and walked into the house. It wasn’t until the door clicked shut that I heard the engine rev and he backed out, then left us in his rearview mirror.
Today had been… insane. I wasn’t even sure what I was more elated by—that he asked me out on a date, that he offered me an insane internship, that he’d wanted me so badly he’d fucked me in his office.
“What’s
with that shit-eating grin?” Matt asked from his place in my dad’s old, fraying recliner.
My eyes snapped to his, the smile melting from my face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He sat up, snapping the footrest down with a screech. “I’m talking about my sister taking off with Landon Hill and then coming back three hours later, smiling like a lovesick puppy.”
“Don’t be a jerk,” I said, tossing my purse down on the battered coffee table and flopping down on the couch. “It was about business.”
He leaned forward in the chair, the springs creaking with age. “What kind of business could you possibly have with Landon?”
I leaned back on the armrest, crossing my legs at the ankle. “He offered me an internship.”
“You already have an internship. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be on a plane by now?”
I tried to ignore the guilt that threatened to damper my mood. “I turned it down.”
“What the hell, Taryn,” he said, leaning forward, his elbows propped up on his knees. I’d forgotten how intense he could be sometimes, how much he tried to parent me whenever our mom and dad weren’t around. “Why would you do that? This is your second chance.”
“It just… It didn’t feel right, okay?” I said, trying not to look at him, trying to pretend it didn’t have anything to do with Matt’s cancer. I stared up at the swirls in the popcorn ceiling. If he’d told me even a week sooner, maybe I would’ve come to terms with it and been ready to fly off and leave him behind.
Maybe I wouldn’t have slept with Landon and wanted desperately to stay in town to stay close to him.
“That’s a shit excuse.”
I picked up my head and glared at him. “I was offered another internship. A better one that doesn’t require me spending six weeks in Dallas.”
He snorted, like the idea of me having two opportunities was ridiculous. His reaction crawled under my skin, because I knew if I were in his shoes, I’d have reacted the same way. It had already been a year of working at that dumb kiosk. A year of forgetting my dreams.
Matt was relentless, as if he needed to rid himself of the toxins that were ripping him apart inside by spewing it all out at me. “Twenty-four hours ago you worked at the mall and now you have two internship offers? Where did the second one come from?”
“You don’t need to be a jerk,” I said, glaring. He was pale, with grey-green bags under his eyes. I knew he felt like crap, but he didn’t need to try and make me feel that way too.
“Who offered you the second internship, Taryn?” he pressed.
He knew. The edge to his voice, the accusation… he knew.
“Landon.”
His lip curled up in disdain. “Is he trying to make you his personal assistant or something?”
“Matt! That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” He asked, staring me down.
“Yes!” I said, sitting up on the couch. “For one, I wouldn’t even take that kind of a job. You know I want to work in a lab.”
“So what kind of job did you take?”
“It’s in the labs. I’m not sure what exactly it will entail- “
He laughed, his skepticism obvious. “And yet you said yes.”
“What is up with you?” I asked. “He’s your best friend, and you think he’d make me his secretary? Why does the idea of me working for him infuriate you?”
He stood up, the recliner rocking behind him. “Yes. He’s my best friend. But he doesn’t do friends with women. He needs to stay away from you.”
I rolled my eyes. His big brother shtick was ridiculous. This wasn’t high school any more. “I have a mind of my own, you know. I’m not just going to fall in love with him.”
“Everyone falls in love with him,” My brother said. “But he doesn’t reciprocate. He doesn’t do love. I saw it in high school, when a dozen girls came to me asking for advice. And he hasn’t changed. Trust me in that.”
The back door creaked open then, and I wanted to groan and bury my head under the couch cushions. This would certainly make things better.
“Matt,” Dad called out. “I got us some frozen dinners.”
He stepped inside the living room, and it took a moment for his eyes to shift from Matt to me.
“Oh,” he said, his voice falling as he set the grocery bags down. “I thought you were supposed to be in another time zone.”
I glanced at the bags as a Salisbury steak dinner slid out onto the ground.
“Is this the crap you guys eat when I’m not around?”
“Don’t deflect, Taryn,” my brother said. “Tell him why you’re not in Texas.”
I shot a glare in my brother’s direction, but my dad just stood there, waiting. The man had the patience of a saint and would stand there all day if he needed to.
“I accepted a different internship,” I said, my voice level. “At Prestige Sports Medicine.”
Dad darted a glance at my brother, who was still scowling. “Isn’t that- “
“Landon Hill’s company,” I said. “Yes. He offered me an internship I couldn’t refuse. Cutting edge medicine. I’ll re-enroll at UW and work at the center.”
Dad didn’t know what to make of it, just stood in the hall, the grocery bags beside him. He chewed hard on a piece of pink gum, buying himself thinking time. “What was wrong with the internship you already had?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “It was a good internship. But it was so last minute, and this way I don’t have to travel.”
My dad leaned down, picking up the spilled groceries and setting them on the kitchen table. “But you like traveling.”
I stood, tossing the pillow in my lap down on the sofa. “I never said I liked traveling. I’d probably have to travel to know if I liked it. Also, Matt’s not feeling well today. Make sure he drinks plenty of fluids.”
I knew it was a shitty way to deflect attention, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
And then, like a coward, I fled the room.
8
It took me two hours to decide on a denim mini and a blouse comprised of a pink silt tank top with a sheer outer layer. It was casual but sexy without trying too hard, just a peek of flesh to catch his eye. With a pair of black strappy sandals, he’d be staring at my legs all night.
I knew I was flirting with fire, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I wanted him to want me. If all I ever got from Landon was the hottest sex of my life, I’d have to be satisfied with that. Even though I was still sore from earlier today, I wanted him again. And again and again and again.
I heard his car in the drive, and snagged my purse off the window seat in my room. Then I took the steps two by two.
Matt was still in the recliner, more than half asleep. His blanket had slid off his body, so I walked over and pull it up to his chest.
He looked more at peace like this, sleeping soundly. Like today’s incident had never occurred.
Like his diagnosis wasn’t even real.
I slipped out the front door just as Landon was walking up the front steps. He looked deadly handsome in a dark blue button-down, left open at the collar, along with dark indigo blue jeans and leather loafers. He belonged in New York or Paris, not our silly little town. There was no way they even sold his brands of clothing here.
“Hey,” I said, smiling up at him. I knew I should look at this as a casual date. As two people simply seeing each other. But I wanted it to be the first of many. The first of something.
“Ready?”
“Always,” I said, and then tried not to cringe. It sounded like I was always ready for him, like he could ravish me in the car on the way to our date and I’d be okay with it.
Not exactly untrue. I’d probably be okay with that.
Who the hell was I kidding? If he wanted to park at the end of a back road and pull me into his lap, I’d definitely be okay with that.
He walked to the car, holding the door open for me.
My eyes skimmed over the s
leek lines of his car, and I froze. “Wait, is this the Nova?”
He grinned. “Maybe.”
“It looks amazing.”
“Yeah. A new paint job did wonders. That and a new fender.”
I snickered, trying to keep the heat from my cheeks and I dropped down into the car. The leather bucket seat curled around me, as if enveloping me. I waited as he walked around the car, dropping in beside me.
I slid my hand across the dash, surprised at the sleek, immaculate interior. The Nova I knew in high school had been beat up. “I know you said you kept it, but somehow I can’t believe I’m actually sitting in it. It’s been years.”
“Like I said, no one lets go of good American muscle. It’s like a fine wine; it only gets better with age.”
“And a paint job,” I quipped. Maybe it was the prospect of a real date, or of sitting in this car again, like I was seventeen and didn’t know how it would all end. But I was feeling lighter somehow, like we were at the beginning of something. Something more than a hook up.
I shoved away all my brother’s warnings, refusing to believe that I was just another girl to Landon.
He pulled out of the drive, hitting the valley highway. The engine was loud and throaty, the opposite of the quiet purr of his Audi. It rumbled beneath my feet, vibrating the floorboards.
“I told my brother and dad about the internship.”
Landon glanced over at me for only a moment before turning his attention back to the road. “Which one?”
Ha. A fair question. “Both of them.”
“And?”
I leaned back against the buttery-cream leather seat. “They weren’t happy.”
“Why?”
“Pretty sure they think you have ulterior motives.”
He glanced over at me, his gaze lingering, but unreadable. His eyes were hooded in shadow. “Would it matter if I did?”
His answer threw me off kilter. “Of course it would. This is my career, Landon. Not some passing fancy. The internship has to mean something.”
He shook his head, turning back to the road again as we rounded a hairpin turn. “Of course it means something for your career. I wouldn’t offer it to you if I didn’t think it would help you.”