Never to Hope

by Aimie Grey

  Grunting, he changed up his argument. “You’re barely wearing any clothes.”

  “I’m wearing jeans and heels, and my front is covered up. Nothing of consequence is showing. Besides, I have a light cardigan in your car that I can wear in the restaurant, and I won’t stand out at the club because everyone else will be showing skin.”

  “What if your shirt shifts and you flash everyone?”

  “It’s fitted enough to stay in place, and I have the hem tied at the bottom. But if you’re really worried about it, you’ll just have to stay really close to me tonight,” I said in my most seductive, breathy voice. He growled and followed behind me.

  The drive was uneventful; however, the restaurant was packed when we arrived. Once we pushed through the crowd lined up outside to get to the hostess stand, we found Brandy leaning against a wall. Relief flooded her face when she saw us. “I was worried you weren’t going to make it,” she said. We followed after her as she pushed to the front of the line. Carter and I both apologized to the other patrons as we cut through them to follow in Brandy’s wake. “We’re going to wait in the bar for our fourth,” she told the woman behind the stand and then headed around the corner.

  “Two Sprites and a bottle of Bud Light, please,” Carter requested when the bartender acknowledged him. Not wanting to get drunk in case this guy was a total scumbag, Carter and I decided to sip on soda; however, Brandy wanted a beer to take the edge off her nerves.

  “Here,” Brandy said as she shoved her phone in my face. I pushed her hand back so my eyes could focus and then looked at a picture of pretty good-looking guy. After a few moments, she shifted and held the phone out for Carter to study. From that moment on, Carter’s eyes stayed firmly affixed to the doorway between the front of the restaurant and the bar.

  “How in the fuck are your feet not killing you?” Brandy asked, looking down at my platform stilettos which had a four-inch heel. “You strolled through this place as if you were wearing sneakers; I’d look like I had a broom handle rammed up my ass if I even tried to stand in them and would break an ankle if I actually tried to move.”

  “Years of practice,” I said. “Have you ever taken an indoor cycling class?” She nodded in response. “Remember feeling like you’d never be able to sit down ever again after the first four or five classes, and then after that, it was actually kind of comfortable?”

  “Yeah, it was the damnedest thing.”

  “Walking in fuck-me heels is kind of like that. It takes a while to get used to, but then your body adjusts.” Brandy laughed at my comparison.

  The moment Carter stood from his barstool, crossed his arms over his puffed-up chest, and put on an expression that could only be intended for intimidation, we knew Brandy’s date had arrived. Using a real picture online was Gary’s first check in the non-creepy-stalker column of my mental ledger. The fact he was even hotter in person boosted that check to a check-plus.

  The hostess followed behind him and led us to a table in another section of the restaurant and placed menus in front of each of the four seats. Ever a gentleman, Carter pulled out a chair for me, and Gary pulled out the chair next to mine for Brandy—another check in the non-creepy-stalker column. Once we were seated, the men sat down across from us.

  “Do you know what you want?” Carter asked me to break the awkward silence that had fallen over the table after everyone finished looking over the menu.

  “I think I’ll have the grilled chicken salad,” I replied. Carter’s eyes lit up with mirth at my response, reminding me of the last time I’d ordered the same entrée in his presence. Just then, our waiter arrived—our very straight waiter based on the way he eyed Brandy—and I was grateful I didn’t have to worry about the possibility of him spitting in my food. Gary, on the other hand, might have a problem.

  “Good evening, my name is Kyle, and I’ll be taking care of you tonight,” he said as he placed a glass of water at each of our place settings. “Can I get you started with something to drink?” He pulled a pad of paper from his apron pocket and rested it atop the tray he carried.

  “Is everyone ready to order?” Carter asked the table. After receiving an affirmative response, we took turns telling Kyle what we wanted. Looking over at Gary, I knew I wasn’t the only one who noticed Kyle had taken up residence beside Brandy the entire time.

  “So, what do you do for a living?” Carter asked Gary after Kyle retreated to the kitchen. Carter in big-brother mode was really fucking hot. Who was I kidding; Carter was always really fucking hot.

  “I’m a network engineer,” Gary replied after swallowing a sip of water.

  “Does that mean you pull blue cables through ceilings and walls all day?” Carter asked, digging a little deeper.

  “No,” Gary said with an amused smirk. “I’m more of an architect. People run the cables where I tell them to.” Even I knew he was severely dumbing it down for us. However, he was smart and had a good job, which earned him two more checks on the positive side of my list. “Brandy tells me you’re an attorney?”

  “That’s right,” Carter responded.

  “I’m sorry,” he deadpanned. Although his joke was cliché, I gave him another check for having a sense of humor.

  After a while, Kyle brought our food, but was thankfully too busy to stick around and peacock. The four of us continued to chat as we ate, and Gary kept piling up positive checkmarks until I was convinced he wasn’t a creepy-stalker-sociopath. We’d all let our guard down, and Brandy even loosened up enough to joke with him about us being her bodyguards for the evening. Gary said he totally understood and even showed us his driver’s license and work badge to prove his identity. What nearly made me swoon, right in front of Carter, was when Gary thanked us for taking such good care of Brandy.

  When the conversation was primarily between Brandy and Gary, I took a minute to admire the man sitting across from me. For some reason I couldn’t fathom, he was mine, and the way he was there for Brandy tonight made me want him even more.

  I slipped off one of my stilettos and slid my toes up the inside of Carter’s leg as far as I could reach without sliding down in my chair. In less than three seconds, the expression on my man’s face went from surprise to intense heat. Maybe it was cruel, but I continued to play with him until we’d finished our meals.

  Brandy pulled us aside as we left the restaurant and told us that she felt comfortable with Gary and didn’t need us to go to the club with them. He’d passed our inspection, but Carter and I decided to covertly follow them to the club, in case he started behaving differently when he didn’t think we were around.

  The club Carter had suggested for the evening played the usual mix of Top-Forty music remixed with a techno beat. The dance floor was crowded, but neither of us minded being pressed up against each other. My arms wrapped around Carter’s waist, and his wrapped around my back.

  “I’m going to have a boner from hell before the night is over,” he yelled in my ear so I could hear him over the music.

  “Is that a challenge?” I yelled back to him.

  “Definitely not. I’ve learned over the past few months that blue balls are not fun.”

  Ignoring his last statement, I stepped up my game. Over the years, I’d learned a lot of moves specifically designed to turn men on. Reaching down, I grabbed his ass, pulling his hips toward me. With the additional height from my heels, his cock aligned perfectly with my lower belly.

  I used the tempo of the song to guide my pace as I rolled my body against Carter’s, rubbing him in all of the right places. When his breathing sped up to a frantic pace, my lips went for the kill, latching onto his neck low enough so that his work shirt would cover the mark I’d leave. As he thrust his erection against my lower belly, I rubbed my breasts against his chest and continued to suck. When the song morphed into another, he tried to push me away but couldn’t due to the wall of people surrounding us and my hands in his back pockets holding on tightly to his ass.

  “I need to go to the
restroom. I’ll be back in about five or ten minutes,” he yelled. In his current state, I didn’t think it would take him that long to fix his problem.

  “I’ll join you.”

  “But I thought we were waiting?” The mixture of confusion and hope on his face was priceless. I had to help my man out, and I would enjoy every minute of it.

  “There are other things we can do…” I yelled, unable to use a husky tone thanks to the music.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I told you I was ready. I’ve been downplaying just how ready I am to give you a hard time, but I think it’s time to put you out of your misery.” Releasing my grip on his ass, I reached down between us and stroked his cock through his jeans. “I can’t fucking wait to get my hands on you again.” As soon as he caught my drift, he grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the bar, parting the crowd like the Red Sea.

  “The reason I chose this place is because I know the owners,” he yelled when I looked at him with confusion. He leaned in and spoke with one of the men behind the bar for a moment and was handed a key. The bartender briefly looked my way as we walked by, but his gaze didn’t even stutter when it passed over my chest. Based on the way he quickly turned his attention to my man’s ass, he was obviously more interested in Carter than he was me.

  The next thing I knew, my back was pressed up against the closed door, and Carter’s lips crashed into mine. I immediately opened for him when he sought entrance, and he took my mouth with a primal hunger, as if he felt like he hadn’t kissed me in years.

  Our tongues danced as his big, strong hands moved down my body, coming to a stop at my waist. “Off,” Carter commanded against my lips as he tugged on my shirt. We broke apart just long enough for him to pull the shirt over my head. Carter’s hands immediately found my breasts, aching with need for him, as he reclaimed my mouth.

  “God, I missed these,” he said, when he eventually broke our kiss. Before I knew what was happening, he ducked his head down and captured my right nipple in his warm wet mouth.

  “We’re gonna get caught—” My argument vanished and my eyes closed as pleasure shot through my body. “Oh, Carter,” I moaned as my back arched away from the door, pressing my ample breast even harder against his face. He drove me crazy, alternating between biting my nipple and sucking on it hard enough to leave a mark. I was almost sure I could’ve come from nothing more than the caress of his tongue.

  Carter broke free and gasped for breath. Only then did I realize I’d been smothering him. “Sorry,” I said, not totally meaning it as he rolled my nipples between his fingers.

  “I’m not,” he said with a lascivious grin on his face, right before he dove back in and claimed my other breast.

  So caught up in the moment, I barely registered his hands working to unfasten my jeans and then slide them down past my hips. My body imploded the minute his finger made contact with my clit. This man knew how exactly how to touch me to make me fall apart. All I could do was convulse as he continued to rub the overstimulated bundle of nerves, gently bringing me down from the most powerful orgasm I’d ever had.

  Knowing I couldn’t take anymore, his finger stilled and then pulled away. Collapsing in his arms with my jeans now hugging my knees, I struggled to catch my breath as he rubbed small circles over my back.

  “I love you,” he whispered. Before I could even begin the internal debate as to whether or not I should say it back, he steadied me on my feet and then bent down to right my panties and pull my jeans back into place. “We’d better get going.” He looked around the room and found my shirt.

  “No, not yet.” I moved behind the desk and took a seat on the office chair. Brazenly, I opened several of the desk drawers until I found what I was looking for.

  “What are you doing?” he asked in a tone somewhere between scolding and slight panic. Spinning the chair around, I braced the back against the edge of the desk and crooked my finger at Carter.

  “Come here.” With a quizzical look, he obeyed and moved to stand in front of me. In just a few swift movements, I freed his cock, which immediately lunged for me. “I think he missed me,” I teased.

  Reaching beneath the chair, I found the lever I was looking for and adjusted the height until it was exactly where I wanted it, and then flipped open the cap on the bottle I’d removed from the desk drawer.

  Not being able to resist, I leaned forward and swiped my tongue over the head of his cock. The groan vibrating from all the way down in his chest drove me crazy with the need to pleasure him. As soon as the test results came back, I would definitely be setting up camp.

  I drizzled the clear liquid from the bottle over his cock and then tossed it aside so I could stroke him with both hands to get an even coating. His head fell back as he thrust into my grip.

  “That’s not what I had in mind, babe,” I said, releasing my grasp on his erection. The disappointment in his eyes quickly vanished when he saw me scoot forward and press my breasts together.

  “Oh my god. I think I’m gonna come.” I reached out and squeezed the base of his dick to make sure that didn’t happen.

  After a few moments I moved my hands to his hips and guided him a half-step closer to me. Leaning forward just a little bit more, I lined his cock up between my breasts and then used my hands to squeeze them together around his length.

  “Fuck!” he shouted and started rocking his hips into the crevice I’d made for him.

  “That’s the idea,” I said. “Oh, god,” I moaned as my nipples rubbed against the hair of his thighs with each thrust he took. What I wouldn’t give for a free hand to soothe the ache growing between my legs. Squeezing my thighs together created a little friction between my core and panties, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

  “You feel so good,” he said brokenly as he picked up his pace. “Your tits are fucking perfect. Fuck, tits isn’t a good enough word for them. I don’t think there is a word that could describe them.”

  Squeezing my breasts tighter around his cock, I leaned down and licked the head as it burst through the top with each stroke. The thrusts of his smooth skin between mine grew wild, losing all sense of rhythm. Shouting incomprehensible words, he stilled and came between my breasts which were still squeezing him tightly.

  After sliding free, he braced his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned down to capture my mouth in a sweet, gentle kiss.

  “That was perfect,” he whispered against my lips.

  “It really was,” I replied.

  He stood a little and reached across the desk for a box of tissues. After taking the time to carefully clean my chest, he fixed his clothes and then handed me my shirt. While I pulled it over my head, he asked, “How did you know there would be lube in the desk?”

  I giggled to myself as I thought back to the way the bartender was eyeing Carter. “Lucky guess.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Carter

  Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend wasn’t nearly as much fun. Expecting to be finished reviewing the previous budget and looking through the spreadsheets Bill had prepared so far, Alissa and I had made plans to watch a movie in my room Sunday evening. I looked at my watch and was relieved to find I still had three hours left before our date.

  What felt like twenty minutes later, Alissa came into my room with a bowl of popcorn and a DVD case. Still buried in paper, I looked at my watch again, realizing the three hours had flown by and it was already after seven.

  “Damn, I’m sorry. Time got away from me. This shit is a complete mess. For someone with an MBA and a law degree, Bill can’t seem to tell the difference between a fixed cost and his ass.” My voice trailed off into a mumble. “No wonder my parents were so eager for me to trade with him.” I reached over to my nightstand for my phone. “Just give me a few more minutes, and then I’m all yours.”

  “Are you really going to call someone about work on a Sunday evening?” she asked.

  “All employees and contractors are expected to be available to work an
y time, day or night.” I found the number in my contact list and hit send before she could say anything else.

  “Hi, Max. Unfortunately, this isn’t a social call. I’m sure Mom told you I’m taking over the budget from Stevens.” Max was one of the few people to whom I could refer to one of the named partners of the firm as “Mom”. Calling the woman who gave birth to me “Lewis” always felt weird.

  “Yeah, I heard, and all I can say is thank god.”

  “Why the fuck is it such a nightmare?” I asked. I could tell Max was just as frustrated as I was, if not more.

  “That’s a story I’ll need a lot of alcohol to tell without exploding. Needless to say, we’re going to have to start from scratch. I have some files I’ve been working on, but there’s only so much I can do without knowing the business plans for the next few years. I thought we’d be done by now, so I scheduled audit prep with another client this month. I don’t know I’m going to manage both.”

  “I know the feeling. My case load is still about eighty percent full. Looks like we’ll be spending a lot of nights and weekends together for the next couple of weeks. If I’d known it was this bad, I would have started on it when I got it on Thursday.” I glanced over at Alissa and sighed, knowing this would be one of the last chances we’d have to spend much time together for a while. “Hey, Max, I have to go. I’ll meet up with you tomorrow morning.” I wasn’t one for goodbyes with anyone but Alissa, so I disconnected the call without one.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Alissa said from where she still stood across the room.

  “Yeah. Max and I are going to have to cram two months’ worth of work into two weeks.”

  “Aren’t the accountants contracted through the CPA firm a few floors down from Smith and Lewis?” she asked. “Max doesn’t mind putting in the extra hours?”

  “Nah, it will probably make Max’s billable hours high enough to get employee of the fucking year.”

  “Do you know Max well? Is he nice?” Alissa set the bowl and movie on the nightstand closest to her and climbed onto the bed.