“Hello?” came the mid-range voice lined with irritation.
“Ben?”
“Yeah. Krista?”
“Hi Ben, yeah it’s me. Hey…so I was wondering…”
“Please note that I am doing a big project this weekend.”
“I know, Ben. So it’s like this. My Captain needs this thing done by Monday and there’s an art bit involved. We would like to enlist your help, which will take barely any of your time, and in trade, he’s willing to offer you the entire weekend in our huge art department so you can use all its resources to finish your thing. And free meals.”
“Your Captain? Are you on a ship?”
“Well, he’s not technically my boss, but he’s in charge. Not important. What do you think?”
“How would I possibly get all my stuff there and back?”
“Oh…” She glanced at Sean. He was analyzing her with hope written plainly on his face. “Neither of us have a car.”
“I’ll pick him up,” Sean said without hesitation.
“He’ll pick you up.” She relayed to Ben.
“He? Your boss? Er, Captain or whatever?”
“Yeah. If you’ll agree to help.”
“I get the run of the whole art studio?”
“It’s an art department, Ben. Not studio. There is art stuff stocked there, you know? And no Abbey. Abbey-free all weekend.”
“Stocked art stuff… Oh!” Ben finally got the magnitude of the offer, although Krista thought the Abbey-free part was the sweet part. “Deal. When do you need me?”
“Now-ish I think. Hold on.” She held the phone away. “When does this happen?”
“How fast can you work?” Sean asked.
“Me? I can have the research done in a couple hours, tops. Less if we’re going for just passable. I can get all the art stuff together, too. So by tonight I am good to go.”
“Then you have your answer.”
“Yes but he needs a ride.”
“I’m ready when you are. Or whenever it suits him.” Sean nodded to the phone. He must have been out of his mind desperate to be so easy going about all this.
“Ben?” She said getting back on the phone. “Can you be ready to help in about two hours, maybe three?”
“That’s fine. I will have all my stuff packed by then.”
“Okay, I’ll call before we come.”
“’Kay.” The phone clicked before she could say good-bye. Ben was notorious for failing to give a farewell on the phone.
“He’ll do it. I’ll go get my part done.” She got up.
“I don’t think I got you a big enough raise,” Sean said, looking at her with soft eyes. His eyes were so lovely. She’d never seen that brilliant color green before. So pure. She wanted to drink in his look as he pulled her against his body.
Sean retracted his gaze when she gave a small jump and turned red. “Yup, okay. See you on the flip side.” And she whisked out of the office.
“It was a nice little moment, though,” Sean said to himself with a smile.
As Krista made her way distractedly down the hall, that last look echoing through her body, she realized someone was in her office. Slowing, she peered in the window from the hallway, just making out a buzz cut and the profile of Jacob’s face as he sat in her visitor chair, facing her desk.
Not now!
She hesitated, fidgeting. She didn’t want to go in. She was in a hurry, had possibly a ton to do, and Sean was waiting on her. But she didn’t want to be mean or brusque, either. The guy was the head of the IT department—he gaveth, he could probably taketh away. Or at least breaketh.
She’d wait him out. He couldn’t sit there forever.
Although, why was he sitting there in the first place? Creepy.
Decision made, she about-faced in a hurry, the break room in mind, when she ran smack into a hard chest. The sweet smell of cologne accosted her nose as a pair of fabulous pecs hugged her neck.
“What—”
“Sssssshhhhhh!”Krista slapped her hand over Marcus’s mouth and pushed him down the hall, crinkling her papers between them as she heaved with her whole body. The guy was slimmer than Sean, yes, but he definitely had lots of muscle tone. If Krista hadn’t been 90% positive he was g*y, she would take notice. Possibly cop a feel.
Another feel.
She pushed Marcus up against the elevator, frantically pushing the “v” button, drowning the hallway in click-click-click-click.
“Now can I ask what is going on?” Marcus whispered, unperturbed that her hand stayed in the middle of his chest, keeping him put. “Is the young stud na**d in your office? Because if so, I want to see that!”
95% g*y.
“No! It’s Jacob! He’s hanging out in my office!” Krista poked the button a few more times, then threw a glance behind her to make sure he hadn’t come out into the hall.
“Is he into you?” Marcus asked with a twinkle in his eye. His gaze conspiratorially glanced past her head down the hallway.
“Yes. Where the hell is the elevator? He’s asked me for drinks a couple times but I tell him I have a boyfriend.”
“Do you?”
“Kinda. I guess. I don’t know. But for him I do!”
“Really.” Marcus’s body eased back against the elevator door in a lounge, taking in the whole situation. “And why are you unsure if you have a boyfriend, my love? I myself am often unsure, but that’s because I don’t know if my boys are taking things the wrong way.”
100%
“Because—I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Just—“
The door finally opened with a nail biting slide, taking its merry time. Krista, still pushing at Marcus to get him moving, and Marcus, forgetting what surface he leaned against in excitement to hear her gossip, didn’t adequately prepare for the loss of a solid object. They both rolled along the shiny, metallic surface, falling in a cascade of limbs into the empty air.
Fortunately, someone was there to block their fall.
Unfortunately, he smelled like ocean and musk and delight and sin, all bottled in an aromatic elixir.
Sean stood firm, only taking a small step back as Marcus’s body barreled into him, sliding down his front to the floor, Krista riding him like a sled the whole way.
“What is going on?” Sean asked in utter confusion, his eyes focusing on the mess of papers littering across the floor.
“Krista is trying to turn me straight!” Marcus replied in a laughing wheeze from the floor, unable to properly breathe with a frantic Krista scrambling on top of him. “She even groped me!”
Krista righted herself, hair caught in the drool at the side of her mouth, and faced those piercing green eyes. The papers were in a wadded ball of distortion at her chest.
“It’s just—um…” Krista cleared her throat at Sean’s quirked brow and yanked her top straight, a possible reason for this mess eluding her. Exhaling everything in her lungs, she went with it. “Yes, I was trying to turn Marcus straight. I did, in fact, grope him. He’s got a nice bod.” She turned to Marcus, trying to shift the focus to him, pages crackling as she unconsciously creased another few. “Did it work, Marcus?”
Marcus preened, “Well thank you, honey. It’s nice to be appreciated.” He took up his lounge against the back of the elevator, one long leg crossing over the other. “But no. You don’t know how to use my equip—“
“That’s enough,” Sean raised his hand to stop Marcus. “This conversation is a H.R. nightmare. What is really going on?”
“Wrestling?” Krista asked hopefully.
The doors opened again.
“Fix your top, sweetie,” Marcus said, smoothing his shirt. “Everyone will think we’ve had a three-way. Actually, I’d be willing to try…”
Sean raised his hand again with a pained expression on his face, not in the mood for tomfoolery.
Theresa entered the elevator. Mrs. Morning After had been the reason Krista realized Sean really was a pig. The first instance anyway. It was also t
he first time Krista had met Jacob. The circle of life was complete.
Theresa surveyed the elevator with a sweep of her eyes, recognizing Sean instantly. Her face fell, then turned red. Then an angry, livid purple.
“Hi, Sean,” she said with a hand on her hip.
Marcus smirked and moved to the corner of the elevator to allow the former lovebirds more room. Krista quickly moved in his direction. Things had just gotten really awkward.
For a wonder, Sean didn’t even look embarrassed. There wasn’t a hint of remorse. He smiled and said, “Hello, Theresa. I haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been keeping?”
Some of the purple lessoned, making her face look a blotchy puce.
“Oh, well …” She scanned the rest of the elevator. When she saw Krista she glowered. Renewing the hostile in her voice, she said, “Moved on already, huh?”
Krista looked around in confusion. “I beg your pardon?”
“Hi, Theresa,” Marcus said in a lazy tone. “How’d your mixer go?”
Theresa turned to Marcus as the elevator started moving. “Oh hi!” She was suddenly a ray of sunshine. “I didn’t see you there. It went great! I met this fab guy that has already taken me out to dinner. He’s a gentleman.”
Krista surmised that was a dig at Sean. Based on the fact that Sean was looking toward the front of the elevator pleasantly, waiting for the right floor, it didn’t have much effect.
“Wonderful. Sorry I couldn’t make it, doll,” Marcus said, checking which floor was chiming. “I had a million things to do Friday night.”
“Oh, no problem.” Theresa waved the thought away. “At least you responded. Some people didn’t even bother to do that.”
Another dig at Sean.
The doors opened.
“C’mon gang,” Sean said, stepping out.
They were on his floor. Theresa stepped out as well.
“Okay, bye, Marcus,” Theresa said sweetly. “Bye, Sean.” Not so sweet.
“It was great seeing you, Theresa.” Sean continued to use the same pleasant tone. Theresa got stars in her eyes before she about faced and walked away, trying to throw as much hip into it as she possibly could.
As Marcus and Krista followed Sean around a corner, Marcus asked in a voice tinged with humor, “Another one of your ex’s, Sean?”
“It has to last more than a night to be an ex, doesn’t it?” Krista asked Marcus, struggling to keep up with their walking pace.
Sean half turned with a warning look as they reached the door for the stairs.
“Where are we going?” Krista asked.
“Back to your office, via the stairs,” Sean said, holding the door for the other two.
“Oh no! No way!” Marcus exclaimed. “I have a very regimented workout routine that does not involve stairs.”
“I have four-inch heels that are adorable but not all that comfortable.” Krista pointed at her feet. “My feet will not hold up for three flights of stairs.”
“They are adorable.” Marcus nodded thoughtfully, looking at her heels. “But you should put more money into your footwear. They’ll last longer and be easier on your feet. Girl, you should know this!”
“Yes, I do know this, but I don’t make enough to constantly buy pricey footwear. With as many—“
“Stairs, now,” Sean interrupted firmly.
“Ooouu, I like when he gets firm,” Marcus said with a smirk, pushing Krista in front of him.
“I don’t,” Krista replied petulantly, gingerly putting her foot on the first stair as if it was covered in grime. “It means it’s harder to get out of what he wants.”
“This is true,” Marcus followed Krista’s example with the same expression of distaste.
Halfway up, Krista had to stop. “My feet are seriously killing me, you guys. I can’t do this.”
“Take off your shoes,” Sean said behind her.
“Eww! I’ll probably get syphilis from this floor. No.”
“Then soldier on.” Sean put a hand lightly on her back.
She hobbled up another two steps before she had to stop again. Marcus was on the landing, waiting. Sean stepped up beside her.
He held out his arm, “Help?”
“It’s not my balance that’s the problem,” Krista said, looping her arm in his and the other on the railing, using the two like crutches.
Sean looked down at her shoes. “Are they worth it?”
“Yes, when a fool doesn’t make me climb stairs or walk around the company all day.”
“A fool, huh?” Sean asked, chuckling.
“Uh oh, someone who doesn’t pander to the young stud. What will his ego do now?” Marcus leaned against the wall, watching the scene with interest.
“You never told me,” Sean said, ignoring Marcus. “What were you two doing falling into the elevator?”
“Just, uh…”
“Running from Jacob,” Marcus supplied, looking at his nails.
“Jacob? Why?” Sean’s voice got suspicious.
“He was in my office,” Krista admitted. “I didn’t feel like talking to him so I thought I’d wait him out.”
“What was Jacob doing waiting in your office when you weren’t there?”
“Loitering? I don’t know. I didn’t want to find out.”
“Does he visit you often?”
Marcus looked from his nails, eyes finding Sean’s face.
“Not often, no.” Krista grimaced as her heel got a hot spot, a blister forming. “Just to ask me out on occasion.”
“To ask you out? And you’ve said…”
Marcus’s brow knit as he continued to study Sean.
“I’ve said I had a boyfriend,” Krista replied slowly, uncertain where this round of questioning was going.
“A boyfriend? And do you?”
Krista felt the weight of the stare. Also that Sean had slowed their climb to nearly not moving at all. “Um, kinda?”
“You’re not sure?”
A wicked smile crept up Marcus’s face as he honed in on Sean.
Unused to the third degree from anyone but Kate and Jasmine, Krista got anxious. “Uhhhmmm…no—well, yes. I don’t know. I’ve been seeing him. Paul. I’ve mentioned Paul before…”
“You’re still seeing Paul?” Sean cut in, stopped now, his body facing her.
“Yes?”
“Didn’t you say you were bored?”
“Urrmm…well…I’m still getting to know him. I just…have issues...” The man was sounding like Kate when Krista was being grilled about Sean. She wasn’t sure what the hell Sean wanted. Why did it matter who she saw? And why was he asking in front of Marcus, who was all but taking notes?
“You are trying to like a guy that you currently don’t so you, what? Get good Samaritan points?” Sean demanded. He stared at her, emotions warring on his face, none of them readable. Before Krista could say anything, he shook his head and said, “Forget it. C’mon.”
He turned his back to her and lowered, reaching back with his hands.
“What—why?”
“What just happened?” Marcus asked, looking back and forth between the two of them like the TV was switched off by a ghost.
“Get on. I’ll give you a piggy back,” Sean explained casually.
Marcus’s smile turned back into a puzzled expression, his head tilting at Sean’s sporadic behavior.
“I’m in a skirt, I’m not—“
“Get on. I’m losing my patience,” Sean said quietly.
“I can’t believe I am doing this in a skirt,” Krista uttered, climbing on to Sean’s broad back.
“I wish I had my phone on me,” Marcus whispered excitedly, “I need a picture of this.”
“Shut up, Marcus,” Krista muttered, hiking up her skirt to get her legs around Sean’s middle.
“I know about Mike at the Christmas party, Marcus,” Sean said casually, looping his arms around Krista’s thighs. “If you tell this story, I’ll tell that one.”
“You know
about…” Marcus fell silent, suddenly less relaxed than Krista had ever seen him. He turned away from the other two and continued climbing. “This would have been good, too. I really wanted to see Monica’s face.”
It was a pleasant climb. While Marcus was quietly contemplating whatever secret Sean knew, Krista was breathing in Sean’s scent, squeezing him with her legs, feeling his muscles bunch and extend beneath her. She nearly rested her head on his shoulder and tucked her face into his neck. It would have been great to lightly tickle his neck with her breath, give him a gentle brush with her tongue before she nipped him. She’d love to see what he did. Love to see if he lost control. She wanted to feel the body under this jacket, currently rubbing her crotch through her thin panties. She wanted to know if he’d become aroused—if he’d treat her like all his other girls, or slow down for her. Focus more on her pleasure than his own.
She was lost in her fantasy. Lost in the thoughts of tasting his skin. In seeing if that taste was as great as its accompanying smell.
And then to her horror…she did!
While her mind was thoroughly in the clouds, she bent her face and ever so lightly trailed her wet lips across the base of his soft neck. She felt his arms flex around her legs, his biceps hardening around her parted thighs. She tightened her hold too, lost to it, lost to the sensation of what she was feeling in that moment, completely unaware of everything else around her. She opened her mouth and trailed her tongue up his neck, making his body go slightly rigid…then followed through with nipping him lightly.
Sean took a deep inhalation of breath and stopped dead. It was what finally woke Krista up from her erotic dream.
“Oh holy f**k!” She nearly threw up with what she’d just done. What the God-damned hell is happening to me? I-am-losing-my-mind!!
Marcus was turning around, just about to open the door that would let them out onto the floor. Sean, still frozen, would not let go of her legs. Marcus’s confused eyes hit Sean’s face, of which Krista couldn’t see, then knit in another confused furrow.
“What’s a’matter?” Marcus asked Sean.
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