With the stall door shut, she urged him to sit on the closed porcelain lid, her still straddling him. A deep kiss as she ground down lusciously on him, his hands snaking under her skirt and around the lovely curves of her backside. Small moans escaped her every time he ground his hips into hers, his cock rock hard between them.
"No teasing or you'll have a very visible mark on the front of your pants when we leave here," she whispered into his ear. "Wouldn't want that. Everyone would see."
Hurriedly, he reached down between them and undid his belt. As much as he loved teasing her until she grew wild, he really needed to be inside her and it would be impossible to cover a patch of wetness right on his crotch.
Sitting back on his thighs, her fingers lingered along his cock as he freed himself, the light touches echoing through his body. Raising herself she impaled herself, slowly sinking down on him. She particularly loved this part, and so did he, her body yielding to his hard length, burying him deep inside her delectable body.
Her hands splayed along the walls of the cubicle, she rode him, her mouth frozen in a gasp. There was nothing better in the whole world than watching her ride him. They both liked control, but watching her take what she wanted from him had a certain eroticism he couldn't escape, making it additionally hard to last the distance.
His hands had to help her in her work, grinding down on him again and again, feeling her insides tighten around him. He had to fight himself from coming too soon, which wasn’t normally a problem for him, but when she rode him like this, it was hard to hang on.
Her movement and breathing grew more frantic, her eyes lost in the pleasure. God, she was beautiful like this. Reaching up to her lips, he needed to kiss her, needed his tongue to stroke her lovely, beautiful mouth.
Her orgasm started with whimpers, her body clenching around him. He loved coming with her and let himself go, let the pleasure wash over him and releasing into her. She shuddered above him, her head arched back and it felt as though they were fused together. All he could do was watch her as all the energy drained out of him. He'd happily give her his energy. He'd give her anything she wanted at that moment.
Slowly her head came down to his and she rested on him. Their fucking really took everything from them and they stayed as they were for a while, even as they heard the bathroom door open and someone coming in. In silence they sat, still joined, as someone washed their hands, whistling to themselves and then leaving.
Lukas' heart was finally slowing and Mercy raised herself off him, pulling her skirt down. Standing, he joined her, but before she could unlock the stall door, he pulled her to him, pressing her into the wall with his body. There wasn't an ounce of mistrust in her face and he slowly kissed her, her mouth opening to him. Pleasure soaked through his brain. Was he in love with her? Could it really happen that fast? This was all he wanted, though, to kiss her, to be inside her. Everything else was just waiting.
The thought sobered him and he pulled away.
"You go out for a moment, I just need to…" She didn't continue and he didn't need details. So he stepped outside of the cubicle and straightened his hair in the mirror.
The truth was that there was something here, and he wanted more of it. He and Mercy fit in a way he hadn't really found before. Sex was always good, but it wasn't like this. He didn't normally long for it like he did with her. "What happens when I win this job?" he asked.
"You're so cocky," she said with a laugh from inside the cubicle, then opened the door. "Question is what happens when I win?"
She wasn't going to win. He already knew that, and when he had the job, she wouldn't be here anymore, challenging and provoking him—but he still wanted this. It just wasn't supposed to be. "One of us will have to leave," he said, looking at her through the mirror. Did this mean anything to her, or was it just a fun fuck on the side?
Her smile faltered a bit, which gave him hope. "I don't know," she said with a shrug. "I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
Not exactly a declaration of love, but she hadn't been entirely dismissive either.
11
THE WEEK FLEW BY. Each day was more exciting than the last as they got more and more into the details of their proposal. They had to rely heavily on what the engineers told them was possible. The only downside that cropped up was that implementation was going to take longer than initially expected due to the additional development. It had Mr. Holland worried, but they were going to present it anyway.
The presentation to Mr. Lee was quickly approaching and there weren't enough hours in the day. There weren't enough hours during the night either, which Mercy tended to spend in Lukas' room. Sleep was perhaps not as plentiful as it should be. To a large extent, Mercy was running on adrenalin and pure joy. Everything about this was fun. Each day brought something new, and each night was decidedly sweet.
It was hard to keep their closeness under wraps at work, the little glances and touches that could so easily give them away. There was a familiarity with each other's bodies that they had to keep a close watch for, because at the end of the day, sleeping with your team member wasn't the height of professionalism.
"Alright," Mr. Holland said, turning his attention to Mercy as they sat in his office, which they did for ten minutes every day now. "So how are you doing with your side of the presentation?"
"Good. It is just about done. I think we're ready."
"Good," Mr. Holland said, biting the inside of his cheek. This presentation was a big deal and Mr. Holland was nervous. Not a wreck by any means, but he didn't hide how important it was. And the fact that they were proposing an AI solution had the whole company's attention on them. "Do a run through with Lukas before the actual presentation."
Mercy nodded and they were dismissed, and walked out of his office back to their own. "I actually don't have a lot to do until the presentation. How's it going with the technical stuff?" Lukas had a lot to finish, putting together network diagrams trying to display how the technology worked. "Do you really think the development lead time is going to be a problem?"
"It could be if Mr. Lee decides he can't wait. I suspect Mr. Holland is going to present a staged solution, but we'll see."
If one of the engineers hadn't been sitting at the hotdesk in their office, Mercy would have kissed Lukas, feeling compelled to taste him yet again. "Early lunch?" she said hopefully.
"I can't. I have too much to do. We're going to get some pizza in the boardroom, to finish off the slides. It's coming down to the wire."
"Of course," Mercy said. There wasn't really anything she could do to help on the technical side and her stuff was done. "I might skip the pizza, though, and go get something a bit healthier."
In fact, her afternoon was probably going to be quite boring. Maybe she should catch up on everything she had put on hold over the last week as things had gotten crazy busy. Lukas disappeared, leaving her to make her way out on the streets of Hong Kong. It was just before lunch, but the streets were packed with people, mostly buying lunch to take back to their offices.
It felt stark having very little to do, as if she didn't quite know what to do with herself. The meeting was at ten the next morning and she was basically killing time between now and then. Lukas would be working late too. It was the final push for them and they still had a fair bit to get through. It might be best that she retreated back to her own room tonight.
Which was exactly what she ended up doing, missing Lukas like crazy as she sat in the fluffy, white dressing gown and flicked through the TV channels with nothing being recognizable until she came to CNN. In fact, she hadn't watched or read the news since she got here. The world outside of her own vicinity could have fallen apart for all she knew.
Despite being nervous, she had a decent sleep and woke at seven-thirty, texting Lukas first thing.
Already at the office, he texted back. See you soon.
Hopefully they hadn't worked through the night. Getting ready, she made her way over to the office, bu
t the boardroom was empty and completely clean by the time she got there. Where was everyone?
"Hey," she said as she walked into their office and found Lukas at his desk. "Where is everyone?"
"They've gone out for a bit. Had to clear the boardroom. Can't have it looking like a bunch of engineers have been living in there for a couple of weeks."
"True," Mercy said. "Probably good to give it some time to air out." Lukas smiled but didn't look over at her. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good. Tired. I think I'll crash after the presentation."
"You deserve it."
Mercy left him to finish off what he needed to and got herself a coffee and a croissant. Time was ticking by. Hopefully Lukas would get everything done. It was coming down to the wire.
After she returned. Mr. Holland was walking in with Mr. Lee, who smiled when he saw her. He was a lovely man, but very astute. Men with real power were rarely assholes, she was starting to learn. They were nice and polite, but they'd rarely bend on what they wanted.
Danish sugar biscuits had been laid out artfully on the table. They called them biscuits here, not cookies. Being as they were a British colony not so long ago, a lot of British terms were common. A neat cluster of coffee cups sat along the side wall table.
"Coffee?" Jasmine asked Mr. Lee, indicating to the seat of honor at the far side of the table, opposite the projector screen.
He declined, but took one of the chocolate dipped cookies as Mr. Holland asked Jasmine to gather everyone. Mercy felt her nerves starting to twist her stomach. She was first up and when everyone was seated, Mr. Holland started describing their approach to the solution, then everyone turned their attention to her, who started her slideshow with the clicker in her hand.
It went well. She didn't stumble over any sections, and Mr. Lee asked intelligent questions that she responded to without embarrassing herself or the company. Finally she handed over to Lukas, he presented the technology. Mr. Lee stopped him and asked questions about the details, where the engineers had to step in, and then Lukas had to interpret what they said.
Mr. Holland finished with the bad news, and the expected staged approach, where they would set up the system initially, and the AI would be launched secondarily.
"Interesting," Mr. Lee finally said. "We will talk."
Then it was over.
"Was that good?" Mercy asked Lukas. "We'll talk; does that mean anything?"
"Not sure. He won't make up his mind until he sees what the others are doing, and then talk it over with his board."
"So we won't know for a while."
"Nope."
"Well done, everyone," Mr. Holland said as he returned without Mr. Lee. "It went well. You two," he said to Lukas and Mercy, "in my office."
Mercy hadn't been expecting that, had no idea what they were about to discuss, but they both followed as Mr. Holland walked back to his office.
"You both did really well. Mr. Lee was pleased with the proposal."
"He said so?"
"Not in so many words, but I think he was impressed. You have been invaluable in this project, Mercy." He was singling her out, or was he simply complementing both of them. They had both worked really hard. "You have shown initiative and cleverness, and you certainly have a bright future in this company." Uh oh, she thought. This was not good. Bright future was something said before bad news. "But Lukas will be staying on as the regional manager for the product line. In saying that, we absolutely have to nurture your talent."
Mercy smiled awkwardly, still stuck on the blow of losing out. The rest of it just sounded like fluff, the stuff you get in a rejection letter saying you were so close and you shouldn't take the loss personally. The fact was that she had lost, had not been deemed as good as Lukas. But this was her proposal. She was the one who had pulled this together, had created an innovative solution beyond what Lukas would have done. Why was he preferred over her? It wasn't fair.
Keeping the smile on her face, she tried not to show any emotion. Emotion was bad, leading to accusations of not being strong enough in this environment. She had been strong enough. She'd pulled deep and created something beyond expectations. So why was she being punished?
At this point, she barely listened to more of the fluff. Mr. Holland was still excited about this project and expected it might go in their favor.
"How long until we find out?" Lukas said. Mercy supposed it was his project to worry about now, not hers. It didn't matter how long to her. She wasn't going to be around to see the next stage of it. In fact, she would be packing up and leaving, maybe even in the next day or so. Logically it shouldn’t, but this had come as a complete surprise. This was done and she was going home, back to her old job—a failure. Nausea rolled her stomach.
12
MERCY," LUKAS SAID when they returned to their office. Mercy was withdrawn and not looking at him.
"I'm gonna go for a walk," she said, looking flustered. "Congratulations on the job." She wasn’t looking him in the eye.
"Can we talk about this?"
Not saying anything, she grabbed her wallet and jacket and marched out of the room. She was taking this news hard, but Lukas had known it had been coming. The job she'd done was fantastic, but she just didn't have enough experience. Mr. Holland had pointed it out, but Mercy wasn't taking any comfort in it.
A few, short weeks back, he would have been over the moon, but he knew full well how hurt she was over this. Perhaps it was her first real rejection. It wasn't anything personal, but he knew she wouldn't take it that way.
Sitting down, he dropped his pen on the desk and stroked his hand across his forehead. If only Mr. Holland had given them a day or two to celebrate, instead of just slamming it on her the minute after the high of a successful presentation. Mr. Holland wasn't one to lead anyone on after he'd made his decision, which he had done either during the presentation or even before.
Exhaustion was deflating him, as was Mercy's reaction to this news. She was so hurt by it; he could tell by her movements and the fact that she’s refused to look at him. If only she'd stayed, he could perhaps have explained that it wasn't anything she'd done that had caused this decision, and that Mr. Holland was really impressed with her. But it wasn't something she was hearing right now.
Picking up his phone, he called her, but it went straight to voicemail. "Give me a call if you want to have lunch," he said, but he already guessed that she wouldn't.
With a groan, he sunk his head back on the headrest. It was always going to turn out this way. But Mercy wasn't one for contingency planning. She didn't want to think about not succeeding, so she didn't, which was part of the reason she wasn't ready for this role. If being bright and enthusiastic was all that was required, the job was hers, but it wasn't enough. Experience counted, and she would have it, after a few more projects.
Turning off his computer, Lukas got up. Everyone from the project team had already left, needing this time to decompress and sleep. For everyone else, it was just a normal working day, but Lukas had barely slept in the last few days. Everything he'd had had gone into preparing for this presentation and now he was spent.
Both the exhaustion and Mercy being so hurt made it impossible to celebrate getting this job. Looking around this office, he knew this was his new digs. This was where he'd be working from now on, and Mercy wouldn't be. It seemed unfair. She'd worked so hard, and they'd worked so well together.
They'd been good together, but that was coming to an end. It wasn't something that had ever started on solid foundations. They were two strangers in a strange town, going for the same job. It was never a possibility that it could be something more substantial. It just wasn't meant to be.
When he reached the hotel, he called her again, but she still didn't pick up. Most likely, she'd turned off her phone, not wanting to speak to anyone, including him—perhaps especially him.
In his room, he pulled his clothes off and fell into bed. A few hours sleep, then he would get up and have a late lunch.
Hopefully Mercy would have worked through her hurt and outrage by then and they could talk. He just wished she was there with him.
Groggily looking up, Lukas saw it was four in the afternoon. Too late for lunch, so he was better off hanging out until dinner. Reaching for his phone, he called her again, but she still didn't answer. After a moment of staring at the ceiling, he got up and showered, then dressed in jeans and a sweater.
A few texts were on his phone, saying that some of the engineers were going out that night and he should join them. Hopefully they invited Mercy too, but engineers could be a bit short-sighted sometimes, not seeing why they should invite a marketing girl to their blowout. That would doubly sting her if she felt she was already being excluded from the project celebrations.
Leaving his room, he made his way to Mercy's and knocked on the door, wondering if he should leave a physical note. Could be that she wouldn't turn on her phone again for a while, but to his surprise, she opened the door. As per usual, her room was a mess. Her eyes were red as if she'd been crying.
"Come here," he said, pulling her into him. "I'm sorry."
"Congratulations."
"You already said that. You didn't do anything wrong." She didn't respond, simply let him hug her. "He just doesn't feel you are ready."
"I am ready."
It was not the time to argue with her. "I think he just wants you to have a bit more Asia experience."
"It isn't the be all and end all. But what is the point of arguing? I guess I'm leaving sometime in the next day or two. Jasmine doesn't seem to know."
Mercy moved away from him, again not giving him her eyes. She was still so hurt and embarrassed.
"I think you should take on the project management job in Guangzhou," he said.
"And what, report to you?" she said incredulously.
Seduction in a Suit: An Office Romance Collection Page 104