by Claire Adams
I could have just locked the damn door.
Groaning, I shook my head. Like I told Cat, I didn’t regret it, not even for a second. Maybe I even half-suspected she was the one who had knocked and wanted her to come in and see me exercising.
No regrets, not even a sliver. Well, one regret, that we’d not been able to spend an hour screwing in my office.
The only problem was that my sister would blow a gasket when she caught wind of it. She might have liked the idea of Cat and I being together when she was just a model working here for a few weeks, but I’d never hear the end of it, especially after we’d had the discussion about professionalism and all that crap.
This was the problem with working with my family. It’d be far easier to tell Daniella to shut the hell up if she wasn’t my sister.
My stomach clenched. Cat and Daniella were now friends, too. Women liked to talk about their men. Would Cat keep it secret? Or had she already gone and blabbed to my sister about how we’d done the nasty in my office?
I frowned and thought that over. No, I couldn’t bring myself to believe Cat said anything to anyone about what we’d just done, even though we both enjoyed the hell out of it.
Cat, more than me, seemed to worry about how news of us sleeping together might hurt her professionally. I was the owner and CEO of the company, so it wasn’t like it’d hurt me if it got out. Half the guys already assumed I’d banged all three of the models who’d work on the ad campaign.
With all that, it made sense that she might not want to tell anyone, even Daniella. At least I hoped she was smart enough for her to remember all that. Whatever else I might say about the woman, she wasn’t an idiot.
I leaned back in my chair as a dark thought hit me. Cat hadn’t told Daniella before that we’d slept together, but that didn’t stop my sister from figuring it out. I hoped that Cat’s poker face had improved. Otherwise, things were about to get very awkward for the both of us.
Someone knocked on my door. My cock jumped at the idea it might be Cat again. Maybe we had time for another quickie. If we didn’t take our clothes off and avoided a blowjob, we probably could both get our rocks off in a few minutes.
I took several deep breaths. “Come in,” I called.
My lust fled as my cock-blocking sister stepped in rather than Cat. I searched her face for any sign of disappointment or irritation, anything that suggested she knew about what Cat and I had done. Daniella looked happy, if anything, which meant she didn’t know. A little bit of good news.
“What?” I snapped. I hadn’t meant to come off like a dick, but Daniella had ruined my little erotic fantasy.
“Hello to you, too,” she said, frowning. “I see you had an extra dose of asshole pills today.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Just annoyed with a lot of emails people are sending me. Sometimes running this company is so tedious.”
Daniella sniggered. “Ah, the horrible pain of being a CEO, having to read emails. Oh, the horror.” She mock gasped and stuck a hand over her mouth. “You should get hazard pay.”
I waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m kinda being a dick. Doesn’t mean it’s any less annoying.”
“Kinda? Right.” She shrugged, “Anyway, I didn’t come in here to bust your balls. I just wanted to let you know that they shot the first scenes with the bikes today.”
Excitement ate my irritation. “Really? How did it go?”
“Great, at least so far as they said,” Daniella said. A slight frown appeared. “Though they are running them through some different stunts than they originally told us.”
“So what? I don’t see that’s a problem. We make bikes, not movies. Let’s leave the stunt work to them.”
“No, that’s not the problem.”
“Then what is?”
“It’s just we gave them bikes with certain specs based on certain criteria. It would have been nice if they’d stuck to what they told us they were going to do. Less chance of any issues arising.”
I nodded slowly. I could see her point. Our bikes were good, but no bike could be good at everything. That’s why we sold different models after all.
Still, the last thing I needed was Daniella worrying, especially since it sounded like nothing bad had happened anyway, despite the new stunts.
“Those are quality bikes,” I said. “I’m sure there isn’t going to be any problem. Just let me know immediately if there are, and we’ll deal with them. “
“We need those bikes to do well. Otherwise, it’ll be a lot of wasted time with little decent return,” Daniella said.
“Yeah, I agree. Let’s worry about the problems that we actually have and not make up new ones.”
Daniella turned to leave, then turned back to face me, a hesitant look on her face.
I suppressed a groan. I couldn’t be annoyed with my sister for doing her job. She was in charge of operations, which meant she had to deal with a lot more petty crap day-to-day than I did.
“If there’s something else wrong,” I said, “just get it out now. I can take it.”
“It’s not that,” she sighed. “There’s nothing else wrong, that is.”
“Then what’s got you looking like that?”
My sister shook her head. “There’s—so, Cat’s at HR going through orientation.”
I nodded, wondering where she was going with this. “Yeah, I figured.” There was no reason to let Daniella know that I’d even seen her that morning. The less reason I had to make her suspicious, the better, and I was seconds away from her leaving none the wiser.
“I guess,” Daniella continued, “I get that you liked her, and I might have even initially pushed you toward her a little,” she said. “But I’m glad you’re being so mature about not having a relationship with her now that she’s working for us full-time. I thought you might have had more trouble letting go to be honest.”
I forced a grin. “Well, come on. There are plenty more fish in the sea, and chemistry is one thing, but it’s just that, chemistry, in the end. We had a fun time, and now it’s time to move on. I’m hardly a blushing virgin who obsesses over every woman he sleeps with.”
Daniella’s face contorted. “Ugh. I hope you don’t have some little brat running around out there.”
“I know how to take care of things.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.”
She stared at me for a long time. It was like she could see right through the lie.
“I guess. I just—” Daniella shrugged. “I worry about you, even if you are my older brother.”
I laughed. “Worry about me? Worry about me how?”
“You’ve been working yourself to the bone, and it was practically a miracle that you took a weekend off. I know you put on a show for everybody else, but I also know how tired and exhausted you are half the time and how you crave the road.”
I pointed to a folder on the other side of my desk. “We’ve both seen the year-to-year numbers. My hard work is pushing this company over the top. If I sacrifice a little free time, big fucking deal. I had years to do my own thing.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get that.” Daniella frowned. “But you know what they say, work hard and play hard. Yes, you’re doing a good job of running this company, but so did Dad, and he knew that sometimes you needed time off.” She leaned forward, “And we both know how he fell into work to fill the hole in his heart after Mom died.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Maybe there’s a hole you still need to fill, and I feel bad—because now you can’t even try with Cat.”
I snorted. “Needing a little sex is one thing, but I’m not to the point I need a woman to heal my heart or whatever.”
“Not getting any younger.”
“Neither are you.”
Daniella rolled her eyes. “Real mature.”
I shot her a grin. “See? If I’m not even mature, I shouldn’t be worrying about much more than one-night stands.”
“Just promise me now that things are sett
ling out that you’ll think about dating.” She circled her hand in the air. “Obviously not right away because things might get awkward with Cat, but after she’s had a chance to settle into the idea of working here.”
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll find some time for a woman or two here sooner than later.”
Daniella narrowed her eyes as if she didn’t believe me. “Okay. Just—you know, I love you and care about you, stupid big brother.”
I saluted her. “I know, bratty little sister.”
She spun on her heel. “I’ll let you know about the bikes.”
The door clicked closed behind her, and I let out a long sigh.
Shit. Now I was in it for sure. It wasn’t just that I’d slept with Cat, but now I was lying to my sister about it.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. Cat was a big girl. She’d gotten the job with the clear understanding that I didn’t expect anything from her, and then she came on to me, which meant she wanted it, and I wasn’t pressuring her at all.
Fuck professionalism. It was my company, and I was running it well. Yeah, I wasn’t about to go out and scream to the world that I was having sex with the new employee, but I wasn’t going to feel ashamed of it either.
Everything about Cat, from sleeping with her to just being around her, felt too good to let go. Maybe it was nothing more than an addiction, but I wasn’t about to give her up.
I also wasn’t sure anymore if I gave a shit if anyone knew.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Catherine
Wednesday rolled around, bringing with it my second day of work. As I stepped into the building, I swallowed. Unlike the day before, I’d not come in super-early, so plenty of people milled around in the lobby, chatting with each other.
The bitchy receptionist was even there. She offered me a pleasant smile. Okay, so maybe part-time bitchy receptionist. I’d have to strive not to hold her earlier behavior against her. I was going to be seeing her every day, and it’d make a lot more sense to have a good relationship with her.
With every step I took, I couldn’t help but imagine people were whispering about me having sex with Drew in his office. I knew it was silly. Most people didn’t even look my way, and there weren’t any smirks or scowls from the few who did.
A few men I recognized from the shoot glanced my way, quizzical looks on their face. I could tell they were trying to figure out if I was the same person as the model they’d seen before or someone who looked just like her. I decided to not say anything; I was just glad that no one was snickering or whispering about the new girl and the owner.
Paranoia. Not that I regretted having sex with Drew. Far from it. Honestly, it was taking all my strength not to throw open the door and offer to go down on him again. I could almost feel him pounding into me, feel the jolts of pleasure spreading out from my pussy with each thrust.
My center heated at the thought. Drew was a perfect balance of rough and caring, and I wanted to do a lot more than just have sex with him. I gasped.
As I rode the elevator up, I thought about the times I’d seen him around Jack. My son had talked about wanting to see Drew again. They got along as if Jack had known Drew for years. I didn’t really know what to say, so I’d told my son we’d have to wait and see.
That was a big question still in all this. We had talked about pursuing something after Jack was well, but then I’d made it clear that we shouldn’t since I’d be working in the company. Just a day before I’d come on to Drew in his office, and we’d had sex.
Lust wasn’t romance, though. Drew might not be interested in anything more than quickies in his office. He was a guy who’d lived most of his adult life without anything tying him down. Even if he was running a company now, he still may not want true roots keeping him off the road. As much as I hated bikes, he loved them and the lifestyle.
Would I be okay with only being bent over and screwed now and again?
I let out a quiet moan, and my cheeks heated. I was lucky no one else was in the elevator. The last thing I wanted to do was explain that I was remembering being naked in the boss’s office on my first day at work. I imagined more than a few people here would already be speculating that I’d gotten the job because of my pretty face and nice body. I had a lot of work ahead of me proving myself.
It was good that Daniella and Drew believed in me, but I needed everyone to believe in me too.
The elevator door slid open, and I walked to the office area. Once inside I headed straight to Daniella’s office. With all the HR nonsense out of the way, I’d actually be able to start working.
Yes, the HR forms were important, because, among other things, they included the forms I needed to get my family medical insurance started, but no one enjoys spending hours filling out paperwork and reading policy books.
A few people glanced up as I entered and offered a polite nod, but no one said anything, smirked or anything like that. So far, so good. Apathy would be easier to handle than dislike.
Unlike Drew, Daniella generally kept her door open. I still knocked. Even though we were friends, I didn’t want to assume too much, especially on the clock. She looked up from her computer and offered me a bright smile. Jumping to her feet, she hurried over to give me a tight hug.
After pulling away, she pointed to a fern in the corner.
“Like it?” she said.
“The plant?”
“Yeah, it’s new. I think it’s supposed to help with the energy flow or cleanse toxins or something.” Daniella shrugged. “Though I don’t really care about all that. I just like the way it looks.”
“It does look nice.”
She clapped her hands together. “It’s going to be so great working together. We are gonna have so much fun together, I can’t wait. Cat, I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re part of the Stroker family now.”
I almost coughed and quickly reframed the comment because I knew she meant the company. Still, it was hard not to think about the fact that I’d been naked and sweaty with her brother just yesterday morning. Talk about getting to know the family well.
Nodding quickly, I tried to focus on Daniella. The last thing I needed was for my first real day of work to end up being a mess because I couldn’t concentrate on anything but sex with Drew.
Daniella gestured toward the door, “Let me show you your desk.”
Stepping out of her office, she stopped right away at an empty cubicle just to the left.
“Nice and close,” she said.
“That’s convenient.”
“Did IT get all your accounts set up yesterday?”
I nodded. “Yeah, they said I should be good to go.”
“That makes everything a lot more convenient then. Okay, I hate to do this because it’s boring, but I’ve sent you some documents to read through. It’s just to bring you up to speed on all our advertising and PR strategies and where we’re looking at things. I want to ease you into this, but as you go through, if you come up with any ideas, let me know, and we can talk about passing it onto PR. They are territorial, but in the end, I call the shots, not them.” She gave me a feral grin.
I laughed. It would be nice working for someone who had my back. So many modeling jobs involved either the models or the photographers giving me crap, so the idea of a powerful boss who would help me get my ideas through to an entire department was almost intoxicating.
She gave me a little wave and headed back into her office. I sat down and turned on my computer. After a quick log-in, I was into my email in no time and looking through the first of the documents Daniella had sent me.
Luckily, I didn’t find it totally boring after all. Maybe it was because I’d spent so many years as a model, but I liked reading about the different plans and strategies. I took the opportunity to take note of some future ideas involving models and photographers. I could help Daniella and PR by helping them avoid some of the more difficult models and photographers, especially since they seemed interested in doing
more ad campaigns like mine, depending on how it went.
Something in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned. Drew walked onto the office floor, his phone to his ear and a frown on his face. Something was wrong. He stared at me for a second before giving me a nod, then continued toward his office.
Should I go talk to him? Maybe the nod was a signal that I should come and talk to him.
I glanced over at Daniella’s office. Should I ask her?
No. It was time to show some initiative.
I rose from my desk and smoothed my skirt. For all I knew, maybe the frown was about me. Drew might be getting an earful from someone who figured out what we had done.
A glance over at his office showed me that his blinds were closed, but I decided to risk it anyway. I walked over to the door and knocked lightly. I wasn’t about to burst in on him. After all, I knew the kind of things he did in his office.
The thought of our tryst the day before heated my cheeks.
“Come in,” Drew called, his voice sounding a little clipped.
I stepped inside, but I didn’t close the door. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t the time to even risk more sex.
Drew furrowed his brow. “Something wrong?”
I laughed. “I was just about to ask you that.”
“Why?”
“You looked upset earlier, and you still kind of do. I just wanted to ask if there is anything I could do.”
Drew let out a long sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s nothing you can do.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with me, does it?”
He shook his head. “No, nothing to do with you. It’s just, we had this project running concurrent with the photo shoot. We’re supplying stunt bikes for Thunderstruck V.”
My eyes lit up. “They’re making a Thunderstruck V? I didn’t even know that. I love those movies. So much action. Lots of female empowerment, too.”
Drew grinned. “Yeah, solid, great flicks. You have good taste.”
“So you’re supplying the bikes for a movie that’s going to make a lot of money? I don’t see what the problem is?”