Roomies with Benefits: A Brother's Best Friend Baby Romance

by Amy Brent

  Enough for what? That was the question. Because the answer didn’t matter – nothing was going to happen between. How many women had he been through the same way he had gone through me? His confidence, his coolness, his class – you didn’t pull that off on the first try. He must have done that a dozen times before, a hundred, and to think that I was something special, something different for him, that was just arrogance.

  “Nia?”

  I lifted my head, blinking to dismiss the thoughts that have been running through my head. Freda was standing above me, hands on hips, looking down at me with the same concern she had had in her eyes yesterday.

  “Yeah?” I asked, plastering a big smile on my face.

  “Nathan needs to see you upstairs,” she jerked her head upwards. “You alright? You look exhausted.”

  “Yeah, I just had a busy night last night,” I replied, getting to my feet. I was running on autopilot because all I could think of was that Nate wanted to see me. What did he want? What did he need?

  “I need you back down here as soon as you can make it,” She nodded. I returned it.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I promised, and headed for the elevator. My mind was racing. Hat the hell was going on?

  I arrived back upstairs, in front of his office door, and remembered that last time I had all but crashed straight into him. If I did that now, I couldn’t imagine holding myself back. I might just have to close the door behind me and see if we could turn this one-time thing into a two-time thing.

  I knocked on the door, and he called from me inside to enter: the sound of his voice sent a long shiver up my spine, the kind that felt deep and dark and significant. I took a deep breath and opened the door; I could do this. I could be professional. Every jot of chemistry we’d had was left behind in that apartment building and that was all that mattered. At least, that’s what I told myself before I laid eyes on him once more.

  He glanced up and I noticed at once that he hadn’t shaved that morning – his stubble was dark against his sharp jaw, and I wondered if he’d slept in that morning, if he’d woken up too tired to bother with maintenance.

  “Close the door,” he nodded behind me, and I did as I was told, heart beating fasting. Could he read me that clearly? Could he tell how badly I wanted this? I turned back to him.

  “You said you wanted to see me?” I remarked, slowly lifting my gaze to meet his. “Mr Richards?”

  He seemed to bristle when I called him that and I enjoyed his reaction more than I would have cared to admit.

  “Yeah, I need to go over these numbers with you,” he nodded, his gaze lingering on me for a second longer than it necessarily needed to before he pulled out the papers that I had dropped off yesterday from his desk. He laid them down on the desk in front of him and I raised my eyebrows.

  “What’s the issue?” I asked. I knew I had gotten those numbers spot-on. The only reason he would be getting me up here to discuss them would be if…if he just wanted to see me again. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

  “It’s this, right here,” he pointed at the papers and I leaned over to get a look; I was so close to him that I could have tilted my head just so and our lips would have touched, and that would have been it. He seemed as aware of it as I was, swallowing heavily like he was trying to hide from himself, hide the fact that he wanted this. Or maybe I was just reading to far into this. Maybe there really was a problem.

  “Where you’ve split the donations between our charities,” he remarked, his voice a little husky. “We don’t usually…”

  He trailed off and I slowly lifted my head to look at him, to see what the problem was. His eyes met mine and I knew at once where this was going; I recognized that look from the night before, from when he’d been looking up at me from between my legs. I shuddered at the memory. Okay, I really hoped he’d called me up here with something else entirely in mind. His gaze flicked to my lips, like it had the first time I was here, and before I could stop myself I leaned forward and planted my mouth on his.

  Before I could take in what was going on, he had grasped my face and was kissing me back, tongue in my mouth, drawing me to my feet as he did the same.

  “Fuck,” he breathed as he pulled back, glancing over my shoulder to make sure that we weren’t going to be disturbed. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since last night.”

  “Me neither,” I confessed, and he moved around me swiftly, locking the door and then turning back to me.

  “How long do you have before you have to be back downstairs?” He demanded.

  “Long enough,” I shot back, and he grinned and kissed me again, harder this time, backing me up against the door and running his hands all over my body. I was wearing that skirt-suit again, and he hurriedly ran his hand up the inside of my thigh and spread my legs so he could grind against me. He was already hard. Was this why he’d gotten me up here? I didn’t exactly mind if it was. So, maybe it was a two-time thing. No harm in that.

  He grabbed me and moved me around, so that I was facing the desk once more, and I at once caught on to what he was going for. I leaned over and reached back, pulling my skirt up and wondering once more if this side of me had always been there or if it had sprung into being the first time I laid eyes on him. He grabbed my panties and ripped them down, pushing my legs apart. I heard a zip from behind me and closed my eyes, biting my lip to keep from moaning too loud.

  “Fuck, you’re so hot,” he growled, running a hand over my ass and up my back. He balled his hand in my hair and tugged me back a little, and I shivered as the rush of pain seemed to wake up every nerve ending in my body.

  “Condoms, in the drawer,” he pointed for me, and I reached in and fumbled around for them, trying not to think about the fact that this meant he’d likely done this before. He grabbed one from me, and I heard the rip of foil from behind me as he slid his hand back down to hold my hip good and steady. I spread my legs a little further. I was so ready for this. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea but hell, I’d be out of this place soon enough and God knows if I’d ever find an excuse to see him again – why not take him up on his offers when they were still on the table? Or while I was bent over it?

  Suddenly, I felt him nudge up against my entrance and closed my eyes and forgot everything that had been swirling around my head since the say before. Nothing mattered but how good he felt. I bit my lip as he slid into me, keeping myself as quiet as I could, and his fingers sank into my hips as he pushed all the way inside me. I was ready for him this time, used to him, but even still, the pleasure that echoed out from having him inside of me was almost too much to take. I grabbed the table, focusing all that tension into my hands and clenching my jaw to keep from crying out and letting anyone outside that office know what was going on.

  “Mmm,” he groaned softly, starting to move. “You’re so fucking tight, Nia.”

  Hearing my name on his lips sent another surge of pleasure through me and I arched my back and pushed myself back against him, grinding down so I could take as much of him as I could possibly fit at once. He felt incredible, beyond incredible, the physical sensations matched with the inherent filthiness of this situation enough to almost tip me over the edge right then and there. I could already feel the orgasm brewing and wondered how long I’d been holding out for this without even realizing it – since I left his apartment the day before? Probably.

  He didn’t waste time, knowing that at any second someone could bang on that door and force us to stop at once. He went hard and fast, any of the sensuality that last night had held forgotten as he screwed me deep over that desk. The ankle meant he could thrust into me even deeper than he had the night before and all I could do was grip the desk in front of me and try my hardest not to scream out in pleasure. Foreplay and teasing were one thing but this – this was something else entirely. Maybe even something better.

  “Ah…” I groaned softly, sliding a hand between my legs almost on instinct and beginning to play w
ith myself. He sank a hand into my ass, leaning back, presumably so he could get a better look at my busy fingers between my legs.

  “You close?” He demanded after a minute or two, and I nodded – the ability to speak had long-since left me and I knew there was no point in trying to reclaim it.

  “Come with me,” he ordered, and it wasn’t so much a suggestion at it was a demand. Something about the harsh edge to his voice, the fact that he didn’t seem to be giving me much of a choice, that was all I needed to push me over the edge. I clutched at the table, grinding hungrily against my hand as I massaged my clit in time with his thrusts, and soon enough I was there – so close I could almost taste it, my pussy tight and tense and-

  “Oh, fuck,” he groaned as he bottomed out inside of me, thrusting in one more time and burying himself deep, so deep it stretched me out around him, so deep it pushed me over the edge in the same instant. I pressed my lips together and stilled my hand and came hard, bent over his desk like that, my boss’s dick so far in to me it was like he was trying to imprint himself on me once and for all.

  He slowly pulled out, quickly disposing of the condom; I rearranged myself as best I could, pulling up my panties and straightening out my hair and rolling down my skirt. I knew the flesh in my cheeks would give me away, but there wasn’t much I could do about that for the time being.

  “So, a one-time thing, huh?” He remarked, and I shrugged and stole a look up at him.

  “Maybe two times,” I conceded. “Maybe more?”

  “More?” He cocked an eyebrow.

  “If you want to,” I hurried in quickly. He probably had a dozen women on speed-dial right now. He likely wouldn’t be able to fit someone else in.

  “I want to,” he replied, as though it was obvious. “How long are you here for?”

  “A week or so,” I shrugged.

  “You want a bit of fun till you finish up?” He suggested, a devilish grin on his face. I cocked an eyebrow at him. Was this a good idea? I mean, almost certainly not, but that hadn’t stopped me the last two times and I wasn’t about to let it get in the way now. My body was still flooded with adrenalin and excitement and all I could think about was how badly I wanted him again, how keen I was for this to continue any way it could.

  “Just till I leave?” I confirmed, and he nodded.

  “If that’s what you want,” he agreed He extended his hand slowly, the same hand that had been on me just a few moments before, and I felt a long shiver run up and down the length of my spine. Yeah, okay, I wanted this. I didn’t think I had it in me to say no even if I’d wanted to, even if I saw this for the terrible idea it was. I stuck my hand out and our skin connected again and I felt this long flutter in my chest, like something big had just happened.

  “Deal,” I grinned back at him, and he raked his other hand through his hair. There was a triumphant flicker in his eyes, like he’d just landed the biggest contract of his career to date. Maybe he had. I knew it was certainly true for me.

  “Down-low though, right?” I nodded at him. “I don’t want people to think that I’m hooking up with the boss for favours or anything like that.”

  “As quiet as you can keep it,” he agreed at once, and then that devilish smile returned once more. “Though I would consider myself a failure if you were able to keep completely quiet.”

  I rolled my eyes. I walked into that one.

  “I should get going,” I brushed myself down, checking myself in my reflection in the mirror. “I don’t want anyone to notice how long I’ve been away.”

  “Good idea,” he agreed, and waved his hand at me. “Catch you later.”

  “Your place?”

  “My place,” he nodded. “See you soon.”

  I lingered for a moment, a moment longer than I should have. I wasn’t sure what I was waiting for but something in me was expecting him to come out with something more. I knew it was a fool’s errand, that I was being silly to think there was anything else to say, but still. I wasn’t sued to this casual thing, and even despite what had happened the night before, it still find kind of weird to just walk out of this place when he’d been inside me only a few moments before.

  I ducked, tearing my gaze from his, and went to the door, heading over to the elevator and stepping in – there were a few other people in there and one of them, a woman I’d waited behind in the coffee queue a couple of times, gave me this long, hard look like she knew precisely what I’d been up to. I quieted a smile that threatened to give me away and looked at my feet to keep my expression to myself. Okay, so keeping this quiet might be harder than I thought.

  Chapter Four

  The next few weeks, as I finished up with the company, were some of the craziest shit I’d ever pulled in my life. Sometimes, I had to pinch myself to remind myself that yes, this really was happening and yes, this really was real life.

  We hooked up in his office a few more times, and yeah, those were probably the hottest of our encounters. There was something about the white-hot intensity, the knowing that at any moment someone could walk in on us and catch us in the act getting my pulse racing in a way nothing had before in my life. One time, he took me from behind, pressing me up against the enormous windows that looked down on to the city. When it hit me that anyone could look up at any time and catch us in the midst of this, I just about came on the spot.

  Compared to Matt, Nate was…fuck, he was on another level. I guess I had imagined myself as pretty sexually open before I met him. Who didn’t? I wasn’t aware of a person alive who didn’t want to think of themselves as some louche sexual adventurer, and I had certainly brought into that even when my entire sex life had consisted of Matt rolling on top of me and then rolling off again twice a week with next to nothing in the way of foreplay to get me in the mood. But Nate luxuriated in this, in all of it – once, he carried me to his bed, lay me on my back, and ate me out for the better part of an hour, letting me get so close to the edge before he pulled back again, pushing and pulling over and over again until I was a quivering wreck. After he let me come and I lay there in the afterglow, he planted a soft kiss on the inside of my thigh and then slid up the bed next to me. He liked to look at me after I’d come, as though he was admiring his handiwork.

  “Here, let me-” I rolled over to touch him once I had come down from the cloud he had landed me on, but he brushed away my hand.

  “Don’t you want to?” I asked, frowning – I was constantly living in this panic that he was going to lose interest in me and realize that I was nothing compared to the other women he’d hooked up with in his long and prolific sexual career. He shook his head.

  “I want to,” He murmured, tracing his thumb over my bottom lip gently. “But I just want you to come first.”

  “That’s the greatest thing I’ve ever heard,” I admitted as I let my head sink back into the pillow and closed my eyes, reveling in how good I felt at that moment. There was something outrageously decadent and deviant about coming home after a long day of work and getting swept off to bed and serviced by the most gorgeous man I had ever seen in my life.

  Because damn, I swear that every time we did something like this, I found him more attractive. It was like my brain was learning to associate him with orgasms and pleasure and all kinds of good stuff, and it was starting to mess with me a little bit. I needed to talk to someone about it – someone outside the situation. I knew just the person for the job.

  “So, how long has this been going on?” Patricia asked, sounding a little doubtful. I had been damn careful not to name names, knowing that my best friend had the detective skills that would have put Sherlock Holmes to shame and having no interest in tempting fate by allowing her to figure out what was going on between me and Nate. I told her that I was hooking up with someone at work and that was all she needed to know, and I wasn’t lying.

  “Just a couple of weeks,” I replied truthfully.

  “And…it’s good?”

  “Yeah, I mean, the sex is,” I nodded, lea
ning back on the couch and pinning the phone between my shoulder and my ear as I tore open a packet of peanuts and tossed a handful into my mouth. Maybe it was just because I’d been squeezing in a lot more activity these days, but I found myself hungrier than usual.

  “You don’t sound sure,” she pointed out, blunt as ever. I wrinkled my nose.

  “What about?”

  “I mean, what about the stuff that isn’t the sex?” She pressed. “You put up with a lot of shit from Matt. You couldn’t hide that from me, remember?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. I wish I had been able to keep that from Patricia. She had always been less than a fan of Matt and our relationship, even if she never actually came out and said it to me. I could see it in the way she looked at the two of us, back when the three of us would head out for evenings on the town when we were all still back in college. I had always put it down to the fact that she was a little jealous that I was dating and she wasn’t, but now I could see that it was just her trying to bite her tongue in the face of knowing that I would never take her criticisms seriously, because I was a damn fool.