by Mika Lane
For a moment—just a split second, really—I’d entertained not calling her just to spite my sister-in-law. But how stupid would that be? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I walked into the gallery and immediately spotted my buddy Scott, the owner.
“Hey, bro. How’s it going?” he asked, giving me his usual bear hug.
“I’m well, dude.” I looked around the gallery. It was full of something he called neo-modern. If you asked me, it was all weird as shit, but I kept my mouth shut when it came to art. He knew what he was doing, no doubt. In less than one hour, the place would be full of buyers, and by the end of the night, he’d be nearly if not completely sold out. I’d bought a couple paintings he’d insisted I purchase. I wasn’t thrilled with them, but I had to admit, when I’d gotten them home and hung them, they’d done wonders for my bachelor apartment.
“So, I believe we’ll see some very beautiful women here tonight, my friend,” Scott said. He might have had strange taste in art, but he had great taste in women.
“Ah. I actually have someone joining me here tonight.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not another fix-up by your sister-in-law, is it?”
Oh, that’s right. He’d heard about the last one.
“Actually, this one I did meet through my sister-in-law. But this girl is cool. You’ll see.”
The door buzzed behind us, and Maizy walked in, taking my goddamn breath away. Scott sucked in his breath, also in appreciation.
She had enough hair for two people, and the masses of it tumbled down her shoulders in waves I was dying to run my hands through. Maybe I’d get the chance to, later.
She was wearing high-heeled fuck me shoes and this tight little red dress that flared out just above her knees.
And the glasses. Of course, she had the glasses. After she spotted me from across the room, she pushed them up on her head and made her way over to us.
“Holy shit,” Scott whispered before she got to us.
“Anson!” she said, throwing her arms around me.
I could get to liking that.
“Maizy, this is my friend Scott. He’s the owner of the gallery and our host tonight.”
“Great place,” she said, looking around. “I’ve walked past here many times and always wanted to come in.”
Scott could barely take his eyes off her. “Well, it’s about time we had you visit, isn’t it? Enjoy your evening, and let me know if you have any questions about the artwork. I need to take care of my introverted artist over there before he has a panic attack.” He scooted off.
“Can I get you a drink?” I asked Maizy.
“Yes, please. After the day I had…”
I grabbed her a glass of white wine from a passing waiter.
“Don’t tell me,” I said, taking a swig of my beer. “Your boss getting under your skin?”
She rolled her eyes. God, I could feel her pain.
She looked down at the floor, slowly shaking her head, as if she was holding something in. Which I guess she was because she exhaled this big blast of air.
She started to speak and stopped. Then she started again.
“How does your poor brother tolerate that woman?” She looked relieved, having expelled the negative thought.
“I know. I wonder the same thing. I have no idea. He was a nice, normal guy until she pussy-whipped him.”
She shook it out of her head. “Ugh. Let’s not let her ruin our evening.”
“Cheers to that,” I said, clinking my beer bottle against her wine. “Let’s grab a seat over here.”
Not only did Scott know how to pick out art that sold like hotcakes, he’d also done up his gallery like it was a little nightclub—with the lights on full-blast so you could admire (and buy) the artwork, of course. I led Maizy to an intimate little seating area where we sank into a cushy sofa. She watched the people coming in, walking around, checking out the artwork.
I, on the other hand, watched her. Discreetly, of course. Didn’t want to be a creep about it.
“Do you ever buy any art from Scott? He has some really cool stuff here,” she said.
“I have bought a couple pieces that he picked out for me. I don’t know a thing about art. I couldn’t tell you whether they’re good or bad. But they do look nice in my apartment.”
She swiveled on the sofa until she faced me. “Thank you for inviting me tonight. This is awesome.” She shimmied her shoulders a bit. Like a happy cat, purring.
“I’m glad you were free. And may I say, you are stunning tonight?”
She looked down at her wine while a faint pink blush washed over her face. I loved that she was modest.
“Thank you. So you work in the financial district?”
“Yup. Over by Wall Street. Yup, I’m a finance guy like nearly every other asshole here in New York.”
She threw her head back and laughed.
“Well, do you like it?” she asked.
I had to think about how to answer that one.
“It’s okay, I guess. I took over my dad’s small firm when he retired.”
“No kidding. A family business,” she said, her gaze searching mine.
“Thank you. Yeah, I’d been working at the firm since college, so it only made sense. My mom really wanted me to carry it on.”
“Where are your parents?” she asked.
“Out on Long Island. I really don’t see them enough. I feel crappy about it.”
“Does your brother go out there often?”
“He does. He makes up for my being a bad son.” I wasn’t really a bad son. I think I just said that for sympathy. I stood and pulled Maizy to her feet. “Let’s take a walk around.”
I’d helped Scott build out the place, so I knew it like the back of my hand. In fact, a couple years prior, when the heat went out in my apartment in the middle of winter, I slept in the gallery for a few days. It worked out great.
“I just love this painting,” she said, pointing at something that looked like a pot of paint had been spilled on it.
“Um, yeah. It’s really cool.”
I caught her looking at me. “You don’t like it at all, do you?” She was wearing a huge grin.
Busted.
I wasn’t a very good liar.
I looked around to make sure no one could hear, and shrugged. “I don’t get it. I mean, what the hell is it?”
She was going to think I was a total dick now.
Instead, she put her hand on my arm.
“It’s cool. Everyone has their own tastes.” She looked around at the paintings. “I can totally see how these might not appeal to everyone.”
At that, I needed to kiss her. There was no way I was waiting any longer. I leaned toward her, and she fell right into me. So I kissed her harder, finally having the opportunity to sink my paws into that gorgeous blonde hair. There were a few people milling around us, but shit, I didn’t care. It was a freaking art gallery with weird-ass paintings all over the place. A public kiss was no big deal.
I pulled back, pressing my forehead to hers. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and her warm breath washed over me, a combination of something minty and white wine-ish. I kept a fistful of her hair in my hand, amazed at its silkiness. I wanted to take things further and bury my face in it, but I knew to go slow.
Girls like Maizy were worth waiting for.
Chapter 11
Maizy
Holy cow, was Anson a good kisser.
That, coupled with the delicious white wine, and the heady gallery atmosphere, left me swaying on my feet. I knew if I didn’t get a wall or something to lean up against soon, I’d be down on my ass.
“Hey, can we sit somewhere? I’m really warm,” I said.
“'Course, beautiful.” He led me by the hand toward a non-descript door. “Wow. I’ve never made someone pass out before. Maybe I shouldn’t let you sit down. Fainting women are sort of a bucket list kind of thing for me.”
Good sense of humor? Check.
>
We passed through the door into an office that looked like an extension of the cozy seating areas in the main gallery. There were fluffy white sofas and love seats and even an easy chair with a huge ottoman. An iMac sat on a rustic-looking desk with a couple neat piles of paper, and just above it was a huge window that looked out into the gallery. I peered through it to the party on the other side, which was quickly filling up.
“That window, my dear, is a one-way mirror,” Anson told me.
“What do you mean? It doesn’t look like a mirror to me.”
“It’s a mirror on the other side. That means we can see out but no one can see in,” he explained.
Oh, my.
I plopped my butt on the edge of the desk as my dizziness faded, and Anson moved right in for the kill, pressing me against the hard wood. I was pretty sure I felt his growing erection against my leg, even though he seemed to be sort of trying to hide it.
His lips were back on mine, and he smelled like expensive, spicy soap. I laced my fingers through his thick, red hair and parted my lips for some sexy exploration.
It was funny, but a newfound excitement had my heart racing in both a rush of emotions and reservations about kissing my boss’s brother-in-law, not to mention having gone on a date with Von just the night before. But I pushed that out of my mind.
There’d be plenty of time to fret over that later.
Anson pulled back, his gaze piercing mine with some kind of crazy, stony power that sent a warm throbbing to the center of my core. I glanced out the window that I was sitting just inches from and saw the party in full swing.
“It’s kind of hot, isn’t it?” he asked.
“What? What is hot?”
He nodded toward the glass just behind me. “You know. You know what I mean. Don’t pretend you don’t.”
Ugh. Busted. I totally knew what he meant. He was right. And he looked at me so intensely, he might as well have been seeing right through me.
“Here, baby,” he said, taking my hand and guiding me off the desk and back onto my feet. “Face the window. With your hands on it.”
I did as he said.
“Now, get closer.”
I scooted up to the glass until I could see my breath on it, and he stood behind me, whispering in my ear.
“See all those people? Just milling about, looking at art, maybe thinking about buying something. Do you think they’re wondering what’s going on on the other side of the mirror facing them?”
“I…I don’t know,” I muttered.
“I think they are. And they have no idea we’re standing right here. They have no idea how turned on you are. And they have no idea that I’m about to unzip the back of your dress.”
Shit. If I wasn’t leaning against the window, I might have toppled right over.
His fingers breezed down my back. Cool air tickled my uncovered skin as he pushed my dress down my shoulders and to the floor. I stood in my bra, panties, and high heels, separated from the rest of the party by only a piece of glass. And a rising passion that was bordering on explosive.
Pushing my hair aside, Anson ran kisses down the side of my neck while unclasping my bra. As soon as that fell to the floor, his hands were on my breasts, kneading as he pushed me against the window, my head turned so my cheek lay on it.
“Are…are you sure no one can see us?” I murmured.
“Yeah, baby.”
Unable to hide it any longer, his hard cock ground into me. I pushed my ass back to increase the friction on his dick, and a growl sounded in my ear.
“You’re so hot, Maizy. And your tits feel so good.”
He whipped me around until I faced him, his lips crushing against mine again while he reached inside my panties. I exploded in goose bumps with my back pressed against the cool glass, but his touch had set a fire burning between my thighs. Before he went any further, he checked in.
“You good, baby?”
“Yeah,” I said, thrusting my hips toward him to let him know just how good I was.
His fingers burrowed into my wet pussy, sliding up and down my lips and spreading my wetness from my clit to my ass and back.
“God, that feels so nice,” I managed to whisper.
“Take my cock. Please,” he said.
I’d already begun unbuttoning his shirt. When I reached his belt, I opened his pants and through a tangle of trousers, shirttails, and boxers, I grasped an erection that I couldn’t fit my fingers around. I dug deeply until I got to the root of his cock, and as my fingers wandered down to his balls, he sucked in his breath.
“Fuck, baby, that feels so good. Keep going. Work it,” he demanded while he continued stroking my own heated sex.
I could feel my orgasm build as he ran his thick fingers against my clit, into my pussy, and back. And it was clear from his trembling, as he pressed me against the window, that his own explosion was coming.
“Oh, god, I’m coming,” I managed to mumble as my head banged back against the glass. I knew the folks in the gallery couldn’t see me, but they must have heard my moans.
And I didn’t give a damn.
Just as I was at the peak of my orgasm, Anson’s cock erupted in my hand with thick streams of hot semen. We pumped each other until our shaking legs would no longer hold us up and staggered over to the office’s sofa, me naked except for my panties and heels, and him dragging his pants and boxers around his feet, trying not to trip.
Quite a look.
Actually, it was really funny. I tried not to laugh, watching him do an odd walk with his still-hard cock bouncing around, but a little giggle turned into a torrent of laughter, and when he looked down, he, too, began to roar.
“Hey, everybody okay in there?” a voice yelled. The doorknob jiggled but it was locked from the inside. Thank god.
“Shit,” I said, standing and moving as fast as I could to retrieve my clothes. Someone was going to come flying in, and I was nearly naked. I clutched my dress just in case they did.
“Yeah, Scott, it’s us. We’ll be right out,” Anson called.
“Oh, okay, bro. I was thinking that was you in there,” Scott said, his footsteps fading as he walked away.
“If he was thinking it was us, why’d he come knocking?” Anson whispered as he tucked himself back into his pants. He pulled a monogrammed handkerchief out of his pocket for me to wipe off my hands.
I smoothed down my dress as he zipped me back into it. When we were in one piece again, we returned to the party wearing big smiles on our faces. No one noticed a thing.
But the painting I’d been admiring?
Gone.
Dammit.
“Spark, wake up.” I shook my sister, who pushed her eye mask up on her head and looked around, confused.
Her eyes darted around the room, settling on me. She looked me up and down in a panic. “What’s wrong? Oh my god, Maiz, what’s wrong?”
Maybe I shouldn’t have woken her.
Too bad.
“Spark, I just had the most fun date with Anson, the guy my boss introduced me to!”
“You woke me up for that?”
“What? This is important. Besides, you wake me up all the time. Like to show me that new trick your rat could do.”
“That’s different,” she moaned, pushing herself up in bed and pulling the covers over her—you guessed it—naked body. “Whatever. Tell me what happened.”
“We went to his friend’s gallery for a really cool show. Great artwork.” I traced my finger over Sparkle’s bedspread.
“What? C’mon, spill it.”
“Well, we messed around a little.”
She clapped me on the back so hard, I almost fell off the bed. “Awesome! You got some nook-nook. I’m proud of you, big sister.”
Well, she didn’t have to put it like that.
“Do you like him?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I think so. Even if he is related to my boss.”
“By marriage, for heaven’s sake,” she said.
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“Yeah. I do feel a little skanky, though. Von last night and Brade tomorrow night.”
She yawned loudly. “I’m going back to sleep now. You’re a big girl. You’ll figure it out.” She yanked her eye mask back down over her face and burrowed under the covers.
“Goodnight!” she sang.
That was my signal to leave. And yes, it had been a good night.
Chapter 12
Braden
It was pretty cool that Maizy was taking care of my case and that we were becoming friends. I mean, it was hard to believe I was spending time with anyone in the legal profession, but this girl was cool as shit. She’d been in a band, after all.
And I was dying to know if she could sing. So I was taking her to karaoke. I had my hair tucked up into a cap and wore some tinted aviator-style glasses in the hopes that no one would recognize me. Sometimes I seriously missed my anonymity.
I had a driver for the night so we didn’t have to bother with cabs and such, and when we pulled up in front of her building, she was waiting out front on the stoop with her sister Sparkle.
“Hey, pretty ladies,” I called out the car window. I popped out, gave Sparkle a kiss on the cheek, and Maizy one on her sweet lips.
“Sparkle, you wanna join us?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s so nice, thank you. But I have a yoga class to teach tonight. You kids go have fun. Don’t get into any trouble,” she called over her shoulder as she ran up the steps to her door.
Maizy looked at me with that killer freaking smile. “That was nice of you, Brade, to include my sister.”
“Well, the more the merrier, right?” I guided her to the car, and we hopped into the back.
She swiveled on her seat to face me. “So. Where’re we going?”
“I told you it would be a surprise. And it will be.”
“Aw, c’mon.”
“Patience, my pretty,” I said, grabbing her fingers and bringing them to my lips.
Her hand fit mine like it was made for me, and when she gripped me back, I knew I wouldn’t be letting go anytime soon.
Was I turning into a pussy, or what?
The driver pulled up before a non-descript building. No one was around but a burly bouncer standing next to a door that looked like it opened only from the inside.