by K. A. Linde
His office was on my floor. It had been cleared out before I even got into the office. I didn’t know how I felt about it. Was it a relief or depressing? That we could erase someone so quickly.
I knew one thing. I was glad Sutton didn’t work for the company. We would have made her take time off anyway, but I couldn’t imagine her coming in and seeing that. It’d break her already broken heart.
But we couldn’t ignore work any longer.
Elizabeth Leyton would be coming in this afternoon for her interview for the CFO position. We’d moved her back from last weekend, and we had two more interviews to do before the end of July. I knew Jensen wanted to decide about the position before the end of the summer. That way, everyone could get trained into their spots, and he could work on his private architecture venture.
Everyone was moving into their dream job. Everyone, except me.
The thought of figuring out what I wanted to do with my life and everything with Sutton made me want to open a bottle. Patrick and I had thrown out all the ones in my office weeks ago, so I wouldn’t be tempted. I’d seriously reduced intake just enough to keep me from feeling sick to my stomach. I knew the worst was still yet to come with all of this. Giving it up entirely was the next mission, but it had been hard enough, reducing it. I didn’t think I was ready. My hands shook as the taste of whiskey flooded my mouth, as if I were actually drinking it. Sometimes, the taste would come to me so suddenly that my blood seemed to sing at the thought of having a drink.
But I had Julia. She could get me through this stress. I could make this work. I didn’t need a drink.
Fuck!
I pushed away from my desk and left my office. I’d thought I was fine with all this shit. It turned out, my clarity only came from Julia. Once I stopped and thought about Maverick’s death, everything hit me fresh. All the reasons I’d started drinking in the first place. All the reasons I couldn’t stop myself from craving the bottle. It ate at me.
I stumbled into Patrick’s office and shut the door behind me. “Do you have a drink?”
Patrick glanced up from his computer. “What the hell, man? I thought you were cutting back?”
“I am. Fuck!”
I slammed down into the seat in front of his desk and put the heels of my hands to my forehead. “I just…need a drink.”
“Dude. No. You just want a drink. Is this about Sutton?”
“Maybe.”
“Look, I’m like your brother. I’ve been there from the start. I know that Maverick’s death can’t be easy with your past,” Patrick said. “But is having a drink really the answer?”
“Do you have one or not?” I snapped at him.
“I’m not going to fucking give you one when you’re like this.”
“You’re a dick.”
Patrick shrugged. “You’ve been doing really well, dude. Take some deep breaths, and get yourself back under control. Would you have gone to Julia for this?”
“Of course not!”
“Then, you don’t need that drink.”
“I know!” I burst out of my seat and started pacing the room. “I know I don’t. But…what the fuck am I going to do, Patrick?”
“You’re going to sit your ass back down and deal with it, like how everyone else does.”
I sat. “How does everyone else deal?”
“With time,” he said. “I know that’s not what you want to hear.”
“No, it’s not.”
“But this will pass.”
I tilted my head back and looked up at the ceiling. He was right. Inherently, I knew he was right. But it didn’t stop the thirst. It didn’t make me feel any less crazy for wanting it so desperately. I didn’t know how to explain it. I didn’t think I knew anyone who could understand what I was going through.
“Okay. Yeah. You’re right.” I shook my head.
I don’t need it. I don’t need it. I don’t need it.
“Are we still on for my birthday next week?”
I nodded. “I’m down. What do you want to do?”
“I’d say dinner, but Mindi and I are off again.”
“Big surprise.”
“I don’t want to be the third wheel with you and Julia.”
“Then, invite someone else.”
“I guess I could see if Mor is free.”
I grinned. Was Patrick finally admitting what was between him and Morgan?
Then, I looked at his face and realized the idiot still had no clue.
Patrick wrinkled his nose and then shrugged. “But maybe we should just go out with the guys.”
“Cool, man.”
Patrick stared back at his computer screen. Case closed. “You should probably stay in here until you’re okay again. All right?”
I nodded and didn’t move from his office for several hours.
Fuck, I’m so weak.
Twenty-Four
Julia
My back ached. Why the fuck did I decide to wear heels to work today?
I had no clue how Heidi did it every day. All it did was make my feet hurt and put me in a bad mood. And I’d promised to have a girls’ night with Heidi and Emery tonight while Austin was out with the guys. I sure hoped they didn’t expect me to stay in my heels. Not happening.
I hopped out of my Tahoe with a wince and hobbled inside to my apartment. I kicked the annoying shoes off my feet, flexing them against the carpet. With a sigh, I stripped out of my work outfit and into sweatpants. Best part of the day.
I was just tugging on an oversize T-shirt when the doorbell rang.
“Coming!” I called.
A man stood on the other side of the peephole. Unease ate through me.
“Who is it?”
“I have a delivery you have to sign for,” the man said.
“What’s it for?”
“Uh…flowers.”
I released the breath I’d been holding in a whoosh. Flowers. Just flowers. Of course. That’s…logical. Not where my brain was going at all. God, I wished that I didn’t almost have a panic attack anytime someone showed up at my apartment.
“Sorry about that,” I said after I slid all the locks open.
“No problem. Just sign here,” the guy said.
He still looked at me like I was a lunatic. I forgot that the sign coming into Lubbock said, The Friendliest City in America. I probably seemed like a crazy person with all my paranoia.
I signed the paper and handed it back to the guy. He passed me a green glass vase with a bouquet of white lilies in it. My favorite.
I kicked the door closed and brought the vase inside. After setting it on the kitchen counter, I searched for the card. But there was no card.
“Seriously?” I said, glaring at the door again. Brought the flowers and forgot the card. At least it was obvious who they were from.
I grabbed my phone and checked the time. Austin wasn’t leaving to go out for Patrick’s birthday for another hour. That was plenty of time.
I laughed and tore out of my clothes again. Austin had no idea how much flowers were my utter weakness. They always had been. He’d done good.
I dug through my closet and found the slinky midnight-blue dress Heidi had talked me into a couple of weeks ago. I’d have to endure the heels again after all. I reached for my totally-not-work-appropriate, fuck-me strappy heels that made my legs and ass look sexy as hell. Two things I knew Austin couldn’t resist. I tousled my hair and applied a thick layer of red lipstick.
My phone, car keys, and Ray-Bans went into my purse, and I tossed the strap of my leather crossbody over my head. I took one big inhale of the lilies’ perfume before sauntering out of the apartment, ready to let my boyfriend know how much I appreciated the flowers.
Thankfully, Austin’s house wasn’t that far from my apartment. I parked on the street and walked straight through the front door without knocking.
“Austin,” I called into the house.
No answer.
Hmm.
I slammed the doo
r shut behind me, dropped my bag, and took the stairs up to his room. I could hear the shower running from the master. My mind drifted away from me, imagining the hot naked man behind that door. The sculpted abs, the sexy V, the tatted biceps, the long, hard dick waiting for me.
I pressed the door open and saw Austin’s naked figure silhouetted against the glass door to the shower. My feet stopped moving, and my mouth fell open. Austin had his dick in his hand. His head was tilted back. He was working himself back and forth. Jacking off with such vigor that my mouth watered, and heat spread between my thighs. I could watch this all day.
“Fuck,” I breathed.
Austin’s head whipped to the open door. His breathing was ragged. I swallowed as our eyes locked through the glass…and he didn’t stop stroking himself.
Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck.
I squeezed my legs together as my body ached for him. And he wasn’t stopping. God!
While he watched me, I ran my hand up my bare thigh and under my minidress. I found that most sensitive area and stroked across the light fabric. It was wet. I pushed the material aside, swiped some of that wetness, and swirled it around on my clit. My body shuddered at the contact. I could come like this.
He’d stopped stroking as he watched me with fascination. My eyes glazed at the touch, and I let out a breathy gasp.
Finally, he pushed the door open. His eyes were dark and needy.
“You going to get your ass in here and let me finish you off?” he demanded.
“Depends,” I said.
“No, it fucking doesn’t. Get out of that fucking dress now, or I’m going to get it very wet.”
“Oh, I get a choice now?”
Austin growled low. Then, he stepped over the threshold, his dick jutting from his body, and bodily pulled me into the shower. I laughed as all my handiwork got soaked. There’d been no point in fixing my hair or the dress or any of it. Austin hardly cared.
I held my finger up to him. “Want to taste what you do to me?”
He gripped my hand at the wrist and then took my entire index finger into his mouth. Then, he sucked me off, as if I were powdered sugar on a funnel cake.
“That what you want me to do to you?” I murmured, mesmerized by the way his tongue played with my finger.
He popped my finger out of his mouth and then found the zipper on my dress. He yanked the thing off along with my strapless bra, tossing them both from the shower without care. Then, he dropped to his knees, dragging my underwear all the way down my legs. They ended up in a corner, but I lost all coherent thought as he pushed me against a wall, drew my heeled foot up and over his shoulder, and then buried his face into my pussy.
“I love watching you touch yourself,” he said, nipping at my clit. “But your pussy coming under my tongue is better.”
And I did uncontrollably. Seeing him pleasure himself had gotten me so wet that the slightest provocation from Austin’s tongue sent me straight over the edge.
I dropped to my knees as my orgasm rocketed through me.
“Holy fuck,” I moaned.
“You’re going to be saying that a lot.”
My eyes locked with his. “Were you thinking about me?”
I reached out and wrapped my hand around his throbbing cock.
“Only you, babe.”
“What was I doing that got you so hard?”
He panted, slamming his hand against the wall, as I drew out his pleasure. “First, you sucked me off.”
I moved my mouth forward and brought my tongue all the way up his cock. Then, I sucked in the head.
“And then?” I asked.
“Then, you let me take that sweet ass of yours.”
“That what you want?”
His eyes met mine as I left bright red lipstick marks all up and down his cock. That was a yes.
I could feel him tensing, getting ready to come. As if he couldn’t hold out any longer. He shot sticky liquid into my mouth, bracing himself against the wall of the shower and crying out.
“Fuck, Jules! Jesus Christ! Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he cried.
I swallowed his come and teetered back on my heels. “You’re going to be saying that a lot,” I teased.
I reached for the strap on one of my heels to take it off.
Austin’s hand shot out. “Don’t fucking take those off.”
“Oh?”
“I’m fucking you in that. Only that.” His eyes traveled over my flushed body. “I’m never going to be able to look at those heels again without thinking about you showing up and getting me off.”
I blushed, pleased with myself. Austin reluctantly wiped the lipstick off his dick, turned off the shower, and then dragged me into his room.
“I want to try this,” he said.
“Try what?”
He grabbed a bottle of lube, and then we walked back downstairs.
He moved me over to his couch and then bent me over the arm of it. He smacked my ass, leaving a stinging pain in its wake. I gasped and squeezed my legs together. But it was a waste. I was spread open for him and completely at his mercy. And I was soaking wet. So ready for him.
“God, Jules,” he groaned as he pressed his cock against my opening.
I whimpered as he entered me, taking me in long, easy strokes. I didn’t know how I was even functioning with how he was teasing me. He held on to my hips hard. I could see why he’d wanted to try this. The arm of the couch was the perfect level. And he bottomed out over and over and over again.
“Perfect. You’re perfect,” he said, shaking from exertion.
We were both already so close again. I could feel the early waves of an orgasm washing over me. I sank my hands into the sofa cushion and muffled a scream into the pillow.
“Not yet,” he instructed.
“Please,” I begged.
I felt a cold squeeze of lube over my ass. He pressed one finger into the hole and then another. I tensed around him, and then I took a deep breath and relaxed.
“You ready to come for me?”
I nodded, pushing my ass toward him. He chuckled at my desperation to have him take me like that. I wasn’t ashamed that I loved it. We both did. And I was going to come so hard once he filled me.
The head of his cock touched my ass, and slowly, he stretched me around him. I gasped as my body opened to take him all the way in. It burned at first, but as soon as he fit into me, that subsided. And all I felt was pleasure as he moved in and out of me with ease. Not slamming into me, as he had with my pussy, but taking care with my ass. Knowing that every little movement shook us each to our core.
The next time Austin filled me, I came with a force. I squeezed around him, and he finished with me. My body was properly filled, fucked, and finished. Austin withdrew, and still, I didn’t move. I didn’t know if I could.
“That was…wow,” I murmured into the pillow.
“Yeah. It really was,” he said.
Twenty-Five
Julia
After a few minutes, we both moved to clean ourselves up. Another shower was in order. Then, Austin had to find me clothes of his to wear until my dress was dry. There was no hope for my hair. I was just lucky to find a hair tie, so I could slick it up into a ponytail.
I crashed back on his bed and yawned. “You took everything out of me. I could go to sleep.”
Austin smirked, all proud of himself. “I’d just have to wake you up for another round when I got back.”
“You’d have to convince me. This one was a thank-you.”
He shot me a quizzical look. “A thank-you?”
“Yeah. For the flowers.”
His expression didn’t change. “What flowers?”
I shot up in bed, a stone sinking in the pit of my stomach. “The lilies you sent me.”
“Uh, I didn’t send you lilies.”
“Wh-what?”
“Who’s sending you flowers, Jules?” he asked with a laugh. “Who do I need to beat up?”
“I…” I sputtered. “Oh no
.”
My chest rose and fell rapidly as realization shot through me. Austin hadn’t sent me the flowers. He didn’t know that I loved lilies. He didn’t know that flowers were my weakness. He couldn’t possibly be that good of a guesser.
But there was someone who did know those things.
My blood ran cold.
“Oh, fuck,” I gasped.
“Jules?”
“No, no, no, no, no,” I said over and over again.
“You’re white as a ghost. What is going on? Does this have to do with who sent you the flowers?”
I shook my head back and forth and then dropped my head onto my knees. “Oh my God, I’m so stupid.”
“What is going on?”
“I thought I got away,” I whispered. “I thought I was safe.”
“Babe, you’re safe with me.”
I looked up at him through hollow, unseeing eyes. “I’m not safe anywhere.”
“You’re scaring me. What is going on?”
“My name isn’t Julia Banner,” I blurted.
Austin sat heavily on the bed. His eyebrows were scrunched together. “Okay. What is your name?”
“Juliana Peterson.”
“I don’t understand. Why did you change your name?”
“Because of Dillon.”
“And who is Dillon? This guy send you the flowers?”
I nodded. “I think so.” My hands trembled. “He’s my ex-boyfriend.”
“A serious one, I’m guessing.”
“Yeah. The reason I didn’t want to have the exes talk.”
“So, why is he sending you flowers? Are you still seeing him?”
I laughed, but it came out choked and disbelieving. “No, Dillon destroyed my life. There’s so much you don’t know, Austin. Fuck. I wanted to tell you everything. I wanted to tell you who I really was. Ever since Mav died, I wanted to spill it all, but I just…I was worried you’d hate me.”
“Jules, how could I hate you?”
“Because you don’t know anything about me.”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I know everything I need to know about you.”