Susan nods. “Yeah, he kept bringing me all these reports, piles of statistics showing what he called your ‘steady chipping away at Morgan’s greatness’. Honestly, I felt the figures showed you turning around the divisions you’re working on and the appropriate reallocation of resources from areas you said we should discontinue. The figures showed exactly what they should have based on your plans. But Melvin just didn’t see it that way.”
The other members nod, muttering things like ‘he did the same to me’ and ‘could not get him to shut up about a zero-point-three-percent change.’
“Let me get this straight. Melvin Jackson has been coming to each of you, complaining about my leadership and trying to turn you all against me? How long has that been going on? Since I shot down his market predictions presentation?” I ask, surprised, though I should’ve seen this coming.
John leans forward. “It began before we even hired you as CEO. He applied for the position too, and because he’s a VP with a finance background, the board interviewed him. We felt his approach was too conservative and wouldn’t create the boon we knew Morgan needed to get back to where we once were. Your way is sometimes uncomfortable for us traditionalists, but we can’t argue with results.”
My head spins, and I begin to put the pieces together. There’s so much I should’ve seen with Melvin, obviously. But he hid it so well, none of us realized what was lurking beneath the surface of his nerdy exterior.
“It seems Melvin is more of a master manipulator than any of us gave him credit for. He’s been coming to me since day one, offering intel on each of you, saying that the board was questioning my decisions, regretting bringing me on, and actively working to renegotiate my employment contract. That stopped, of course, after I shut him down on his market forecast presentation. But I think the seeds of doubt had already been planted and watered by then, drummed up on gossip, rumors, and lies.”
I glance around the table, seeing the same realization dawning in everyone else’s eyes. We’ve been duped . . . badly. And not only did I almost lose my position of leadership here, but I almost lost something much more precious. Arianna.
“I think we’re going to need to start over in a lot of ways. Though the business decisions we’ve made under my time here are working and Morgan, Inc. is doing better, I want the partnership between me, as CEO, and each of you, to be transparent. It sounds like we have a lot to discuss.”
Epilogue
Arianna
I’m bundled up against the cold as I step into the lobby, but I immediately begin unraveling my scarf as the heated air of the building warms me. Striding through the echoing front area, I hear my name.
“Good morning, Ms. Hunnington. How are you today?”
I turn, seeing Dora Maples smiling warmly at me as she heads over with a cup of coffee. “Good, Ms. Maples. Any Christmas plans?”
She launches into a story about her kids coming home for the holiday week, and I smile, nodding along. It’s nice to listen to her, chatting casually and comfortably as I walk to the elevator.
It hasn’t always been this easy. Right after the whole thing with Melvin, word got out almost instantly that Liam and I were sleeping together. The rumors were pretty ugly at first, but I’d already been through that once before, so with Liam’s support this time, I handled it with my head held high.
When we let it be known that we were not some casual fuck but rather a happy couple, it seemed to help after a bit of cattiness about our age difference, albeit not too much, and drastically different financial statuses. But who cares about a number, whether it’s years on this earth or dollars in the bank? Definitely not me.
It took some time, but it’s all died down now and most people have accepted that I work for Liam and Jacob part-time and that Liam and I are a couple. It’s nice to not have to hide anymore, although we still have to sneak when we have a quickie at the office.
People are accepting, but not that accepting. Well, except Jacob, who just rolls his eyes.
“So, how were finals?” Jacob asks when I get upstairs.
He’s bundled up against the chill, wearing perhaps the world’s ugliest Christmas sweater, but apparently, it’s his tradition. I guess it does help add to the festive mood.
“Kicked ass. Come on, you and Liam have been giving me enough lessons that I should be able to pass Advanced Modern Business Theory with my eyes closed. Hell, Liam could teach the class!”
Jacob laughs, nodding. “Well, some would call that an unfair advantage . . . but that’s what business is all about.” He checks his desk, humming. “Hey, Helen sent over a few copies of the magazine. It hit newsstands already, but she wanted you to have a few for posterity. Her words, not mine.”
He hands over a stack of six magazines, and I trace the photo of Liam and me on the cover. That seems so long ago. Just an overworked and underappreciated intern who got roped into something wildly beyond her dreams and ended up with the perfect man.
The one worth waiting for, the one worth paying the price for the real thing. The one I love. “Hey, where is he?” I ask, thinking that Liam’s schedule had an early morning meeting, but he should be in by now.
“You should keep up with your boss’s schedule better, Ms. Hunnington. That is your job, after all, right?” I hear a voice say behind me, the laughing arrogance sending a shock through me the same way it does every time. He’s not a fairytale Prince Charming, that’s for damn sure, but he’s my Mister Right . . . and my Mister Right Now.
I spin in place, looking up at Liam through my lashes and clasping my hands behind my back. “You’re right, sir. I’m so very sorry. Perhaps you should remind me again about where to find your . . . calendar.”
Liam growls and grabs my hand, dragging me into his office. Right before he shuts the door, I hear Jacob call out, “I guess I’ll be holding your calls?” Liam’s answer is the click of the lock on the door.
“Such a naughty doll, forgetting about my calendar,” he teases, letting his voice drop down low as if he’s reprimanding me. “Strip for me. Get against the glass.”
I obey, but slowly, taking my own sweet time to give him what he wants. I slip my heels off, lay my skirt and blouse over the back of the chair, and then give him a questioning look.
He’s already rubbing his hand over his thick cock, the thin fabric doing nothing to hide how hard and swollen he is. “All of it, Arianna.”
I reach back and unclasp my bra, setting it on top of the stack of clothes before sliding my lace panties off and doing the same with those.
I take deliberate steps to the window, knowing that he’s stroking himself as he watches me. Once I’m there, only then does he follow me over. He crowds against me, pushing my overheated flesh to the cool window, his cock nestled against my ass. “Don’t worry, doll. No one can see you but me. But I want to fuck you overlooking my kingdom.”
I have a flashback to when he discovered me sitting in his chair, thinking it was fit for a king and that he was definitely the man in charge. He still is, and now, for as long as I let him be, he’s in charge of me too.
“Put your hands on the glass and arch your back for me,” he says, and I gladly obey that order, knowing he’s about to give me what I want. I hear his zipper being lowered and then him moving about as he stacks his clothes up on the chair with mine.
Sometimes, it’s a wild tornado of flung-off clothes with us, but this deliberate stall while I wait for him is so fucking sexy. The way he plays me the same way I did him. Both of us knowing what’s coming and letting the anticipation build.
Finally, he’s behind me again. Our entire bodies connect, skin to skin and heart to heart. He crouches, and I lift to my toes, letting his cock line up with my pussy as he slams in with one thrust. “Ahh, fuck, Liam!”
And suddenly, I’m complete. Like I walk around all day, missing a piece of myself, and when he’s inside me, I’m everything I should be.
His virgin.
His whore.
His
.
He thrusts again, slow but hard, hitting deep inside me on that secret spot he knows makes me come in moments. His pace picks up, pulling all my attention, and my eyes flutter closed. I feel him grabbing at my hands, holding them to the cool glass and interweaving our fingers.
“Open your eyes, doll,” I hear him say from far away.
Somehow, I do, blinking at the view of the city below us. Something tickles my finger, and I look over, seeing him twisting a diamond ring on my left hand. He somehow slipped it on without my realizing it.
His thrusts never stop, slowly and steadily driving me higher as my heart explodes in light. “That’s it, Arianna. You’re mine, and I’m going to fuck you over our kingdom. My dream, my reality, your dream, and now your reality. Look out and see everything I’m giving you.”
I cry out, so close to the edge, but I fight the orgasm back, tilting my hips to let Liam slip out of me. I spin in place, putting my back to the window and cupping his face. “Liam, I want to see the most important thing you’re giving me.” My eyes lock on him, all I’ll ever need, and I kiss him hard, our lips slamming together.
And when he enters me again, I keep my eyes open, never leaving his for a moment. I watch the orgasms get closer and closer, the pleasure and the love mixing in his eyes the same way I know they are in mine.
And we come together, the waves crashing over us, as sparkles dot my vision. But our eyes never close. Together, giving and taking everything.
Liam
CEO Playboy Ends Chaotic Year With Proposal to Student Girlfriend! I read, shaking my head. It’s Norma Jean’s second cover story for the student paper, the first being her exposé on the incident aboard Helen’s yacht. “Seriously?”
Arianna, who’s lounging on the other end of the couch, chuckles. “Read it, honey. I want to hear how your little sister describes you this time.”
Rolling my eyes, I clear my throat and begin. “Taking her side, I see. Okay, well . . . breaking rules and breaking hearts has been hot-headed CEO Liam Blackstone’s MO since he first stepped onto the corporate scene. But now it seems the notorious womanizer . . . I’m so gonna have to have a talk with Norma,” I mutter, not flattered with her description of me. “I’m not notorious, and I wasn’t a womanizer. I just . . .”
Arianna can barely contain her grin. “No worries. Whatever experience you had before me just meant that you could be a good teacher for me.” She winks at me sassily, a habit she’s picked up from my sister. They’re friends now and spend way too much time chatting on the phone and giving me shit. “As long as I’m the only one benefitting from that experience now . . . and always.”
I can hear the possessive threat, which should probably scare me but instead is sexy as fuck. I like that she claims me, because I damn sure claim her back. I’ve even threatened to make some appearances at her university, mostly so that the assholes there know to back the fuck off.
“But there might be some truth to the hothead part. Keep going,” she says, and I realize that she might have a point.
I give Arianna a lighthearted scowl, but I can’t be mad at her. The sparkle of the diamond on her finger is still too new. It makes my heart go soft and my dick go hard in about three seconds flat. “Let’s see . . . ah, here’s a part you’d like. The couple plans to celebrate their engagement with a trip to the coast, where they’ll begin a week-long cruise aboard a private yacht. Though rumors initially ran rampant about the couple, considering their age difference and the fact that Ms. Hunnington was an intern at Morgan, Inc., an anonymous insider stated that everyone is truly happy for the newly-engaged couple.”
“Anonymous insider? She’s got people at work talking to her about us now?” Ari exclaims.
We look at each other, then both say, “Jacob.”
I chuckle, and Ari growls a cute little kitten sound. “Sounds like I have something to talk to Mr. Wilkes about when he comes over for Christmas dinner. Keep it professional? Indeed.”
“I predict that when you yell about it, Norma Jean is going to take his side and say that it wasn’t him. Protecting her source and all. You’d be better served to give her the scoop on him . . . turnabout is fair play, after all,” I tell her.
She grins evilly. “Ooh, that’s twisted. I like it. Okay, here’s the plan . . .”
And Arianna is off and running, her plan to jokingly get back at Jacob ending up as a rehash of the Christmas dinner menu we’ve already discussed umpteen times.
“It’ll be fine, doll. It’s just the six of us, and I don’t think anyone is that picky,” I say, hoping she’ll relax.
This is her first time to plan a dinner like this, though I’ve told her it’ll probably be the first of many, and it’s Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day, so the pressure should be lessened. But she’s excited to have Daisy, Connor, Norma Jean, and Jacob over. She’d wanted to ask my dad and stepmother as well, something I think Norma Jean had suggested, but I’d vetoed that quickly. I just want a nice meal around a sparkly tree, with the people we love and who love us back. She’d easily given in, wanting the same thing and understanding since she didn’t want to invite her parents either.
And then Christmas Day, it’ll be just the two of us.
The real thing.
The cycle complete.
I’ve given Arianna my heart, and she’s taken mine.
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Preview: Dirty Deeds
Prologue
Shane
I lean back, keeping an eye on the club from my position near the wall. On the far side of the club, Marco the bartender is mixing up a pitcher of margaritas for one of the tables while looking cool as a cucumber in his dress shirt and vest, the sleeves on his cranberry-colored shirt rolled up to just below his elbows. Seeing me, he gives a little salute with two fingers. I return it, knowing that within a few minutes, I’ll have some refreshment myself.
“Hey, Shane, you want to switch?” Nick, the guy I have working the door right now, asks. “I gotta piss.”
“Yeah, I’ll cover the door for a bit. Just hurry. I want to do a walk-around.”
“No sweat,” Nick says, heading toward the back. I take over the door, leaning back in the stance that allows me to keep an eye on the floor while still keeping the door under control.
Nick takes his time. He always does, which is one of the reasons I’m the bouncer in charge here, but I’m not upset as I see a tight, petite blond make her way toward me. “Hey, Shane,” she says, handing me a big beer mug filled with Coca Cola. “Marco said you were looking thirsty.”
“Thanks, Meghan. You doing okay?” I ask, taking a moment to appreciate the wide-eyed cuteness that is Meghan. She’s only been here about a week, but there’s something about her that draws my eyes to her again and again, and not because I’m doing my security job. “No troubles with the tables?”
“Of course not,” Meghan says, giving me that shy, sweet-girl smile that I’ve started looking forward to. “Actually, I’ve got a friend coming in later. Uhm, if a tall knockout chick comes in asking for me, you mind pointing her my way?”
“Sure enough,” I promise her, an unfamiliar smile crossing my face. I almost never smile at work, but Meghan seems to pull them out of me without even trying. “You two gonna discuss cookie baking or something?”
For a split second, I see the most beautiful shade of pink as her cheeks blush, but then she ducks her head shyly. “No, she’s just having a tough time with a guy she’s seeing and wants my advice. I think she mostly needs girl talk, you know?”
“Sure,” I lie through my teeth. “I’ll keep an eye out. Be safe out there.”
Meghan nods, sashaying away. She tosses her hair back over her shoulder
, her hips hypnotizing me with each swing left and right. On her, the sexy moves seem unintentional, not a practiced performance like the other girls here. Nick comes back and I drain my Coke before patrolling the floor. It’s not really needed, but letting the customers have a silent warning helps stop about ninety percent of the shit that can happen around here before it even starts.
As I move around the floor, my eyes tick back to Meghan as she works her tables. It’s almost like I’m circling her, edging ever so closer, tempting fire and keeping the best view of her that I can. Her uniform miniskirt hugs her tight ass like it was painted on her, and as she bends down to put a pitcher of beer on a table for six, I swear she’s showing off especially for me, popping her ass out in a fantasy-come-to-life move.
Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s Meghan’s natural charm, but I can’t help watching every move she makes. The way she licks a thumb when she splashes something on it, the way she shows her cleavage as she moves in her uniform bustier corset . . . it’s all so damn seductive, and the contrast between the shy girl she is around me and the sex kitten she acts like while working makes me wonder which is more real.
Meghan straightens up, turning and looking over her shoulder at me, adjusting those thick-framed ‘nerdy’ glasses that push her from cute to hot as fuck. She seems surprised to find me watching, her eyebrows lifting behind the frames, but I catch her biting her lip to hide the little smirk tugging at her mouth. She’s fucking with me, she’s got to be. I have to hold back a growl as she goes over to her next customer, striking a pose beside the table as she takes their order.
I’d never let any of the fucknuts who frequent this place lay a hand on one of the girls, but I keep a special eye on Meghan. It makes some of the long shifts a bit easier, and stocks my spank bank with plenty of imaginary material . . . Meghan bent over the bar as I take her from behind. Or maybe twirling around a pole in one of the private rooms just for me. The dangerous fantasies are the ones where I picture her in my bed . . . hair a mess with flushed cheeks, wearing nothing but the smile I just put on her full lips.
Leather and Lace Page 14