Guy lifted her into his arms and backed toward the wall. A little shock went through both their bodies when he came up against it. Neva didn’t react, afraid to break the kiss for even a second. Reality, she felt sure, would crash down any moment.
She rested her hands on his shoulders, enjoying the solid bulk of him. Her gesture seemed to encourage him. He switched his own grip to her ass, squeezing as he continued to hold her up effortlessly. Neva squirmed in his arms until she freed her legs to wrap around him. Guy responded by carrying her into the back room, kicking the door closed behind them.
Dingy filing cabinets covered an even dingier floor. The sofa had seen better days. Alone with Guy at last, touching him, to Neva this was paradise.
Guy pushed Neva’s legs free of him and set her on the hard stone floor. He held up both hands as if protesting innocence. “I’m not a nice man,” Guy said, his voice twice as deep as usual.
Neva shook her head, but he cut her off with a gesture before she could protest his assessment of himself.
“You don’t know how many nights I’ve lain awake wanting to kill Matthew Lodi. If we go through with this, Neva, I won’t be able to stand him touching you. Ever.”
A smile blossomed over her face, unbidden. “You thought about me.”
“Thought about you?” He scratched his fingers through his salt-and-pepper hair. “Obsessed over you. Wondered about you. Hell, everything short of following you home.”
“Why didn’t you ever make a move?”
“On my employee? The best employee I could hope for? I couldn’t risk losing you, no matter what else I wanted.”
“You never let me know what you wanted.” Neva smoothed her hands down the sides of her jeans, trying to collect herself. The breaths she took didn’t seem to make it all the way down to her lungs.
Guy stared a moment, then turned his back. “How could I talk to you about it? I’m your boss. It would kill me to think you felt obligated to do anything with me.”
Neva’s smile stretched wider, becoming a grin that engaged every muscle on her face. She ran to catch Guy before he retreated into himself, practically climbing his broad back in an effort to hug him. “All I wanted was for you to make a move. Believe me. I want this. I want you.”
He seemed frozen beneath her hands. She turned him gently, stroking hair away from his forehead, wanting to laugh with joy at the wonder filling his dark eyes. “Neva, I—” She touched his lips with a finger. She didn’t want to hear him stammer about her anymore. She wanted him to take her.
“Show me how you feel, Guy.”
He swallowed. “I don’t think you want that.”
She raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh really? You think I can’t take what you’ve got?”
The next few moments happened in a blur that she had to decode. Guy charging at her. Her shirt stripped off with efficient force. Her bra unclasped, yanked free, then tied around her wrists. His mouth on her nipples, first lips and tongue, then plenty of teeth.
Neva squirmed and yelped from the shock of his grasp, but Guy took the tip of her nipple pointedly between two teeth and she stilled immediately. Fear and arousal warred in her body as he pulled his mouth back, stretching the delicate flesh away from her body and pulling her breast taut. She winced as he continued to pull, pain flowering over her breast.
As the sensation hit her synapses, her instinct to surrender kicked in and she belonged to him completely. “Guy,” Neva whispered, “I want you to hurt me.”
He opened his mouth and let her breast fall out. “I don’t do soft,” he said. “You won’t be getting a play spanking from me. I want to own you.”
“Yes…”
He removed her jeans, shoes and panties. Neva stood naked before him in the back room of his office, trembling with desire and anticipation. Still fully clothed, Guy walked around her, surveying her body with an intense expression that reached deeper into her than Matthew’s cock ever had.
“If you want me to stop what I’m doing at any point, you tell me so. I’ll stop immediately.”
“I’m not going to ask you to stop.”
“You don’t know what I’m going to do to you.”
“You don’t know what I’ve fantasized about you doing.”
One corner of his mouth quirked up. Guy scooped her into his arms and carried her to the nearest filing cabinet. He shoved the drawers closed with his knee, swept the top clear of files with an elbow, and seated Neva in their place. She squeaked at the cold metal against her warm ass.
He jerked the bra away from her wrists and dropped it on the floor. “No restraints. You’re going to have to hold yourself in place for me.”
Neva bit her lip and nodded.
“Spread your legs,” Guy said. “And touch yourself while you wait for me.”
That didn’t sound horrible at all. Neva smiled, leaned back and opened herself, pulling her lips apart to give him a good view. Unfortunately, he wasn’t watching. Guy rummaged through a set of drawers across the room. She sighed and did as he had commanded, running her fingertips up and down through the wetness that had gathered in her slit the moment they had touched.
Guy turned back to her, a short metal ruler in one of his hands. “Good,” he murmured. “Now hold your legs out in front of you. And keep touching yourself.”
Fear thrilled through her as he advanced. Her stomach muscles quivered as she held her legs up. Nerves shuddered through her legs, creating little tremors in her toes. Guy smiled and tapped the ruler rapidly on the side of his leg. “Keep your left foot still.”
Neva held her breath and did as she was told.
He snapped the metal ruler against the underside of her foot, right across her sensitive arch. Neva sucked in a breath and threw her head back, struggling to take in the stinging pain.
“No. Don’t let your foot drop. We’re going to do it again.”
She tensed her belly and thrust her feet forward. She found his eyes with hers. He’d been watching her.
“Do you still want this?”
“I want you to hit me until it feels good.”
His lips moved, but she couldn’t read the words they formed. Then the ruler’s sharp edges cut across her arch again, the beginning of a fast and relentless rhythm. Words stopped making sense. Neva did her best to obey when Guy ordered her to keep her feet up, but really Neva’s entire being was focused on the fire spreading up her legs from the soles of her feet.
“Don’t stop touching yourself.”
Neva’s fingers moved frantically. Guy turned his attention to her other foot. The ruler’s sharp intensity made her strokes over her clit all the more intense. Neva’s body arched uncontrollably. Every muscle in her legs tensed, and her toes pointed until she thought they would break.
Arousal cocooned her. She stopped making noise or seeing the room around them. Guy gripped the toes of her right foot and brought it back to a flex. He held it taut and rained blows down. Neva breathed through her nose, fast and tight. Pain ricocheted through her body and brought with it blissful release, the sense of being entirely at the mercy of the man she wanted more than anything. She sighed and surrendered to him, her legs relaxing in his grasp. Neva smiled.
Guy paused. “How are you doing, Neva?”
“Happy.”
She did not sense the disapproval she got from Matthew when she went soft and pliant. Instead, Guy plied her with the ruler with wicked attention to detail. He spread her toes apart two by two and flicked the sensitive webbing between them with the corner of the ruler. He whipped the soles of her feet at top speed, then made her scream by running his nails lightly over the confused, pulsating flesh. He never allowed her to stop her attentions to her clit.
Neva spread her legs ever wider. She scooted her ass closer to the edge of the filing cabinet. She wanted him inside her, but she didn’t want him to stop his thorough attention to her feet.
Guy smiled at her indulgently, then sank to his knees. The hard stone floor didn’t seem
to bother him. He nipped her heel, then traded teeth for tongue. Warm and rough, his tongue rasped over the aching, stinging flesh of her soles. Even light pressure could make it burn anew.
Then his tongue found the reddened webbing between her toes. Even her clit couldn’t have been as sensitive. The shock of the pleasure made Neva writhe again. Guy held her easily in place with one big hand clamped around each of her calves. Rapid-fire gasps shot from her parted lips. Guy sucked her big toe into his mouth, his teeth scraping over its soft, fleshy underside. Neva could not withdraw from the warm, tickling torment of it. She pointed her toe into his mouth, rolled her fingers over her clit and came hard.
He sucked her toe until she relaxed, then released her and slowly stood. His cock bulged in the front of his jeans, but he made no move to free it. Instead, he watched her until she ran her hand self-consciously over her sweaty face.
“Was that okay?” Neva whispered. “You didn’t think I acted weird, did you?”
Guy answered with a slow shake of his head. He brushed his fingertips over her foot, then slid her closer by tugging her leg. Neva yelped and gripped the sides of the filing cabinet, most of her body suspended in the air between it and Guy’s big hands. Moving deliberately, he settled one hand under each cheek of her ass. “You’re beautiful. I want to be inside you.”
Contentment flooded Neva’s chest. When Guy froze, she wondered for a wild moment if her secret wish to bask in the moment had stopped him. Then she heard the noises from the front office.
“Neva? You in here? Neva?” Matthew Lodi’s voice came through the walls loud and clear.
Neva stiffened and wiggled out of Guy’s grasp. She didn’t want Matthew to see her naked again. But Guy must have misinterpreted her reason for moving away, because hurt flashed across his face. Her eyes darted between him and the door. Neva couldn’t decide whether to go to Guy or deal with Matthew.
“Neva?” Matthew said. “I’m sorry I stood you up last night. I can explain.”
Neva growled and jumped off the filing cabinet. She hissed with pain when her tenderized feet encountered the stone floor. She reached for her clothes. “Just a second, Matthew!”
Guy touched her arm, his voice coming out through gritted teeth. “Let me deal with him for you.”
She shook him off. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve got a few things to say myself.” Her face softened. “You don’t have anything to worry about, Guy. He was my consolation prize when I thought I couldn’t have you.”
Guy grunted in response but released Neva. She took a deep breath and yanked her jeans back on. She dressed quickly but didn’t worry about fixing her hair or hiding the evidence of what had been going on with Guy. Gingerly, she eased her heels over her reddened soles. She caught Guy smiling at the sign that he’d left his mark. She grinned back, then opened the door.
Matthew hunched over her desk, pulling out drawers and lifting out papers. She strode toward him, the pain in her feet receding in the face of a sudden shot of anger and alarm. “What the hell are you doing?”
He glanced up casually. “Hey, Neva.” He didn’t look remorseful or even concerned. Neva ground her jaw together. Of course he knew she’d enjoyed sex with him, but did he have to get so cocky about it?
“Answer the question, Matthew.”
“I figured you wouldn’t mind if I took a look, considering the deal we made yesterday.”
Neva’s face flamed with outrage, but she also glanced over her shoulder, wondering how well Guy could hear the conversation. Matthew unfolded his body and stood, the wide set of his legs and shoulders conveying his extreme confidence in his appearance. He smiled, his eyes flicking over Neva’s disheveled hair.
“You don’t have to worry, Neva. I’m not jealous. Wait until I tell you what I’m going to do in exchange for the things I just found in your desk. You’ll forget all about whoever you saw this morning.”
“You had no right to go through my desk. I didn’t give permission for that.”
He stepped closer. “We both know that doesn’t matter, Neva. You’re so easy, you’ll give me permission for anything I want once I have you bent over my lap begging for my cock.” His finger brushed the side of her face. She didn’t want to give in to him this time, not with Guy waiting for her in the back room. Still, her body betrayed her, her knees going weak as always in the face of Matthew’s assured dominance, delicious smell and gorgeous musculature. She told herself to step away but couldn’t quite the muster the will to do so.
His triumphant smile twisted her stomach, but she remained in place as his hand trailed her jaw. A trance of arousal held her until the back room door banged open. She and Matthew both jumped.
Neva’s blood froze at the sight of an enraged Guy stalking in their direction. He didn’t look at her. Instead, he advanced on Matthew, hands fisted at his sides.
Neva didn’t want to see them fight over her, especially not when Matthew had youth and condition on his side. “Guy, no!”
“You don’t have anything to worry about, Neva,” Guy said, mimicking her words a few minutes before. He put his hands up in boxing position. “I’m just going to take a little consolation prize.”
Matthew let out a guffaw. “You’re the one she was with just now? Oh that’s sad. She must have felt really bad about getting stood up last night.”
“Jesus, Matthew! You can’t stand me up and make fun of me for how I react!” As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Wanting Guy had nothing to do with Matthew’s rejection, but he didn’t seem to know that.
Guy’s face fell, and he lowered his fists. He stepped back before Matthew. “You’re right. I guess she must have felt really bad.”
“Wait!” Neva cried. Guy still wouldn’t look at her.
“You need to get out, Lodi. Not because of her, but because you can’t go through papers like you own the office. Neva, you’re fired. I asked you not to allow your personal relationship to compromise the security and interests of this business. I’m sorry, but I can’t trust either one of you.”
Neva gaped. She couldn’t find words, even if Guy would have listened to anything she had to say. Matthew left quickly. She barely noticed, even when he patted his pocket, winked at her and mouthed the word, “Later.” She stood perfectly still while minutes passed, trying to comprehend the idea of a life without Guy in it at all, just a short time after it seemed Guy would finally take her to bed.
Guy nudged her with a cardboard box. “You need to pack your desk.” He kept his head turned at a ninety-degree angle from hers.
“Guy, I swear I didn’t want—”
“Neva, I need you to understand that I’m not firing you over sexual jealousy.” His voice was frighteningly calm, dead of his usual inflections. “That wouldn’t be right, no matter how much I hated seeing you with him. I have to fire you because it’s clear that you continued to give him privileged information after I requested that you stop.”
She opened her mouth to protest but closed it again because what he said was true. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“I hope so.”
He released the box, and it fell from her boneless fingers, landing on her toe. He sighed and turned toward her for the first time since Matthew had shown up. His eyes were small under the wrinkles of a troubled forehead. “Can you imagine,” Guy said, “I actually believed when you said that you wanted me, that I was your first choice? It was only after I saw you melt for him that I came to my senses. Then I’m standing there looking at him, on the verge of hitting him over you, and I have to ask myself what the hell I think I’m doing. I’m just an ugly old man. Maybe you thought you could get some kind of special information out of me. I don’t know what you were thinking, but it certainly wasn’t what you claimed.”
“Guy…” Neva began to protest, but his face was so closed to her that the effort felt useless. He waited for a moment, then turned away.
Tears began to fall from the corners of her eyes. It didn’t feel li
ke normal crying. The drops of water fell without any participation from her at all, outside of her control, steady and constant.
Neva packed slowly, dabbing at the corners of her leaking eyes. She tried not to damage any papers that belonged to Guy, but water spotted everything she touched. It was only after two hours of slow and careful packing that she realized the notepad Emily had used to write down her tip was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
“Where are we going?” Javier said. “This doesn’t have to do with my brother, does it? I already did as much as I can for you on that front.”
Emily sighed, steering her car toward the exit. She didn’t have the words for many things she wanted Javier to know. It had seemed easier to just show him. She wanted him to know that she didn’t ask for his help against his brother lightly. She understood how it felt to have a family member in jail. Since they’d slept together a week before, she’d come to believe he deserved that.
On the other hand, all he had to go on were the signs for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, which had him understandably concerned.
“Actually,” Emily said, “this is about my brother.”
Javier’s hand covered hers on the steering wheel. She smiled at the thought of where his fingers had been. Remembering the fun, intimate experience they had shared made Emily willing to give him a little more. “It’s been about two years since I visited my brother. His name is Scott. He used to be my idol. Most of my friends don’t even know he exists. Matthew never did.”
“Thank you,” Javier said.
Emily pulled into the parking lot beside the maximum security building. “Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t met him.”
“I mean, thank you for trusting me.”
She avoided his eyes, knowing they would see into her too deeply. She shut off the engine. “You told me about your sister.”
Javier nodded and got out of the car. When Emily opened her door, she was surprised to find him waiting for her, offering a hand to help her out. She hesitated. If she took his hand, would she weaken herself in his eyes? As always, he seemed to understand her concern even when she hadn’t spoken it aloud.
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