Secrets On the Clock

by Nicole Disney

  “You seen Danielle?”

  Jenna and Danielle stopped to look at one another, and they both had to stifle laughter. Danielle’s fingers started working on the buttons of Jenna’s blouse while Jenna grabbed her jacket.

  “Maybe half an hour ago,” Jenna said. “Told her she could leave after our meeting.”

  “Her car is still here.”

  Jenna pulled her jacket closed. When she turned to look at Danielle, she’d already dived under the desk. Jenna cracked her office door open enough to not look strange, but kept it closed enough to remain uninviting. Sasha was eyeing her curiously.

  “You lock your door?”

  “I still can’t get used to these stupid suits,” Jenna said. “I may or may not take most of it off the second I know Paula has gone home for the day.”

  Sasha laughed. “I won’t tell.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “Maybe check the locker room for Danielle. Or the break room. She was talking about heading out.”

  “Okay.” Sasha frowned. “I guess I’ll look around one more time. I was hoping to catch her, congratulate her on finishing training and all. I assume you did release her, right?”

  “Yeah,” Jenna said. “Of course. No reason not to. You gave her glowing reviews.”

  “She earned them.”

  “I’m sure.”

  Sasha finally seemed to stop and examine her, and Jenna became very self-conscious, sure her hair was pure craziness. She was also certain her blouse was askew and she did everything she could to keep her jacket safely closed over it.

  “You doing okay?” Sasha asked.

  “Yeah, absolutely.”

  “You sure? The work getting to you? Seems like you’ve been locked away in here a lot.”

  Jenna shrugged. “It calls for long hours, but nothing I can’t handle. I’m kind of glad to be out of the house, honestly.”

  Sasha’s scrutiny landed on the bruise on her cheek. “You used to come knock back a few beers and talk with us when that happened. Seems like more effective therapy than work.”

  “It definitely is,” Jenna said. “Maybe this weekend?”

  Sasha lit up. “Yeah? Great!”

  “Well, you better hurry up if you want to catch Danielle. She didn’t sound like she was going to hang out long.”

  “Right, see you this weekend then.”

  Jenna closed and locked the door again and breathed out in relief. Danielle emerged from under the desk with a sexy smirk on her face and her hair tousled. “Do you really work naked in here when no one’s looking?”

  Jenna laughed. “Would you like that?”

  “Of course, I would.” Danielle kissed her jaw. “Wouldn’t mind getting you naked right now.”

  “I think we might be pushing it on office nakedness for one day.”

  Danielle wrapped her arms around Jenna’s waist. “Well, I simply must see you naked somewhere.”

  “Take me home with you.” Jenna kissed Danielle’s forehead, but Danielle stiffened in her arms. “Something wrong?”

  “No,” Danielle said quickly. “Home is just not very homey for me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t really want us to be around Brianna.”

  Jenna felt herself pulling away though she didn’t physically move. She’d heard things like that before, and it was usually code for, “I’m not as single as I let on.” She hadn’t seen any indication Danielle and Brianna were an item at the party. In fact, Danielle had outright said they weren’t, and she couldn’t imagine Danielle doing something like that, didn’t want to, but she’d been shocked before.

  “Oh,” Jenna said. “I see.”

  “Hey,” Danielle said, drawing Jenna’s gaze back. “It’s not like that. I promise.”

  “You don’t have to explain anything to me,” Jenna said. “This was kind of, unexpected.” Jenna let her hands fall. Danielle grabbed them, pulling Jenna back to her.

  “No, it wasn’t,” she said. “I mean the timing, maybe, but I’m not shocked. Are you shocked?”

  “No.”

  “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since we met. This wasn’t some mistake I made, and there’s nothing shady going on, I promise. Brianna is just,” Danielle sighed. “She’s just a real pain in the ass. I’ll explain it all later if we can go somewhere else tonight. I swear.”

  Jenna searched Danielle’s face and realized she would go anywhere with her, Brianna or no. Danielle had gotten deep under her skin, and if there were some hard truths in between them, she’d deal with it later. “My home isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy, either,” Jenna said. “You’d have to deal with my sister, and my mom.”

  “That’s okay,” Danielle said. “I’d like to meet them. I know they’re important to you.”

  Jenna raised her eyebrow. “Sure, they’re important to me, but they’re no walk in the park.”

  Danielle squeezed her hand. “That’s okay,” she said. “Really.”

  Jenna shook her head and laughed. “Okay, you asked for it.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Danielle’s heart jumped when Jenna pulled into the driveway in front of a sweet two-story house with black shutters. There were tall, lush trees hanging over the driveway and yard. She imagined it had been someone’s dream home at one point, but from what she knew of Jenna’s past, the dream had fallen apart. Jenna’s hand landed on her knee.

  “I feel like I should prepare you,” she said.

  “You already told me about your mom,” Danielle said. “I’m not going to get scared off.” Danielle wanted to soothe Jenna’s trepidation, but she could see she wasn’t.

  “Brianna can’t possibly be worse than—”

  “She is,” Danielle said. “She’ll ruin the whole night.” Danielle felt a twist of guilt as Jenna’s eyes swam with confusion and suspicion. She had to explain Brianna. She had to tell Jenna the reason she dreaded them being in the same place wasn’t because Danielle was seeing them both, but because Brianna would be out of control drunk and would bother them all night falling on the floor, banging on the doors, talking too loud, flirting with Jenna, crying, puking, asking for a ride to the liquor store. It would be nonstop. And after explaining what a mess Brianna was, Danielle would somehow have to find a way to also tell Jenna that she’d dated that mess. And that despite all of that, that she also wasn’t crazy for not being able to kick Brianna out like any normal person would.

  She sighed. It was impossible to hope Jenna could understand all that. As much as she wanted to believe she could tell Jenna anything, everything in her life told her otherwise. Every time she’d dug down and exposed the rawest, scariest truths, she’d been cut off. Kicked out of her family, forbidden from speaking with her mother, tracked down and severed from her brother. People never seemed to understand the way she wanted them to, no matter how hard she tried to explain. Part of her still wished she’d never even come out to her family. Had it really been so bad in the closet? She had her family then, and it wasn’t like it stopped her from dating. Maybe honesty was overrated. Jenna squeezed her hand and pulled her back to the moment.

  “I told you about my mother, but I haven’t told you about my sister,” Jenna said. “She’s…”

  Danielle squeezed her hand. “Whatever it is, it will be just fine.”

  “She’s never seen me bring someone home, for one.”

  “That’s got to be a line.” Danielle laughed.

  “Nope.”

  Danielle wrapped her hand behind Jenna’s neck and pulled her into a soft kiss. She licked Jenna’s lower lip and delighted in the soft groan it pulled from her.

  “I’m going to lose my mind if you don’t touch me soon,” Jenna whispered.

  “We should probably get inside, then.”

  Jenna pulled back and nodded. Danielle couldn’t imagine what she was so concerned about, and she was so fixated on Jenna’s breathtaking face she couldn’t concentrate long enough to venture a guess.

  “She has sc
ars,” Jenna said. “Bad ones.”

  “Oh,” Danielle said. “Is that all?”

  “She’s sensitive about it. She doesn’t really let people see her.”

  “Okay,” Danielle said. She looked Jenna in the eye to show she was taking it seriously, though she wasn’t the slightest bit concerned. “I’ll be respectful.”

  “Of course you will,” Jenna said. “I’m more worried about her.”

  Danielle laughed. “Okay, well, I have thick skin. Can we go inside now so I can rip your clothes off?”

  Jenna smiled and opened the car door. She guided Danielle through the front. The doorway led to a small foyer that connected to the living room. Danielle spotted Jenna’s sister stretched out on the couch and couldn’t help but draw a parallel to Brianna in the lazy way she was lying that seemed to suggest she rarely moved. She had dark wavy hair like Jenna’s, but Danielle could tell her hairline was higher than usual. She couldn’t see much more than that from a distance. The girl labored to a sitting position.

  “About time,” she said. “Did you bring—” She spotted Danielle and her back straightened. Her face clouded with darkness.

  “Callie, I’d like you to meet Danielle,” Jenna said.

  Danielle raised her hand in a half-wave. “It’s good to meet you,” Danielle said. Jenna took her hand and guided her into the living room. Callie scooted backward as if she could disappear through the back of the couch. She locked onto their entwined hands, then trailed up in obvious scrutiny. As they joined Callie on the couch, Danielle saw the full extent of her scars. They were severe, but Jenna’s warning had braced her for worse. They weren’t so bad she’d expect Callie to hide from people. Danielle was careful to neither avoid nor stare at Callie’s face.

  Callie glanced between her and Jenna half a dozen times. She looked like a trapped animal searching for exits, and Danielle was hit with a wave of guilt for insisting on invading Jenna’s space. Callie’s space.

  “How’s Mom?” Jenna asked.

  Callie’s gaze darted around the room again before it finally landed on Jenna. She shrugged. “In her room.”

  “Have you had dinner? I could make you some food.”

  “Is she staying?” Callie eyed Danielle but spoke to Jenna.

  “Yes,” Jenna said.

  “Until when?”

  “Callie, don’t be rude,” Jenna said.

  “It was just a question.”

  “As long as she wants.”

  Callie turned to Danielle. “How long is that?”

  Danielle’s first reaction was to laugh, but she held it back when she saw Callie wasn’t joking at all. Danielle knew if she really was the first woman Jenna had brought home, a certain level of protectiveness was to be expected, but as she thought about it, she didn’t detect protectiveness from Callie so much as outright anger and possessiveness.

  “Until morning, I guess,” Danielle said. Her stomach twisted as she glanced over for Jenna’s reaction. She had pictured them spending the night together, but they hadn’t talked about it explicitly. Jenna could expect her to leave after they finished satisfying their carnal cravings, but Jenna’s warm smile calmed her fears.

  “Gross,” Callie said. “So this is your sex pad now?”

  “Callie,” Jenna scolded her.

  “What? I can’t say sex? We’re all adults, aren’t we?”

  “One of us sure isn’t acting like it,” Jenna said. Danielle watched the exchange in fascination. Some part of her had expected Callie to be perfectly polite despite Jenna’s concerns.

  “What are you looking at?” Callie’s attention spun on Danielle in an instant.

  “Nothi—”

  “You know, I know my face is fucking melted, okay? I do own a mirror.”

  Jenna grabbed Danielle’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Don’t even answer her.”

  Callie scoffed. “Don’t cross paths with the schizo. Don’t talk to the burn victim. You should make a warning sign for the door before you let people into your freak show, Jenna.”

  “Stop it, Callie,” Jenna said as she started for the hallway. She paused and looked over her shoulder. “I expected better out of you.”

  “Please, it’s not my fault you brought your Asian fetish into the den of horrors.”

  Danielle felt Jenna’s arm flex and shake, and she pulled to start back toward Callie. Danielle tightened her grip on Jenna’s hand and drew her toward the hall. She had no idea where Jenna’s room was, but she knew it was the other way. Jenna resisted for a second, but when Danielle gently pulled again, she consented and went up the stairs.

  Danielle followed her into the second room on the left. Jenna closed the door and locked it, then ran her hands through her hair and tugged in frustration.

  “I’m so sorry, Danielle. That was so—”

  Danielle grabbed Jenna’s hips, stopping her from pacing. “Hey,” she said. “I was warned.”

  “No,” Jenna said. “A warning doesn’t cover that. That was inexcusable.”

  Danielle chuckled. “That is nowhere near the first time I’ve heard something like that. She’s upset, and that’s an easy direction to go with it. You told me we shouldn’t come here, and I pushed. That’s what happens.”

  Jenna’s eyes were colored with both pain and concern. Danielle felt guilt washing over again that she hadn’t just taken Jenna home to her place instead, but when she pictured Brianna drunkenly hanging all over Jenna and pounding the door at four a.m., she just wanted to be anywhere else.

  On top of that, she wanted to find a way to tell Jenna who Brianna was to her. She kicked herself for not just telling her at the bar when she’d asked. She felt stupid for talking herself out of it, for relying on the delusion their relationship would remain professional and that it wouldn’t bite her in the ass. At the time, it was easy to think Jenna didn’t need to know, but it was different now. She had to find a way back around to the subject, but she couldn’t figure out how to do it without making Jenna suspicious. She hated the idea of Jenna being uncomfortable with her living situation when she knew she wasn’t ready to change it.

  She stepped closer and kissed Jenna’s neck. Jenna was stiff, upset and resistant. Danielle kissed her way up to Jenna’s ear. “Besides,” she said. “I know you don’t have an Asian fetish. I saw your locker, remember?”

  Jenna finally laughed and wrapped her arms around Danielle. “Still, I’m so disgusted that came out of her mouth.”

  “Be disgusted with her later,” Danielle said. “I’d rather you were turned on by me for now.” Danielle trailed her hands down Jenna’s flat stomach and hooked her fingers in the waist of her pants, feeling Jenna’s warm skin tremble at her touch. Danielle kissed her way along Jenna’s jaw. Jenna’s warm smell took over her senses, and she gave in to her need for Jenna’s lips, taking the kiss softly at first, then getting lost in it when Jenna parted her lips with her tongue.

  Danielle pushed Jenna backward until the back of her knees hit the bed, then lowered her onto it, crawling on top of her as they went. Jenna pulled at her shirt, but Danielle couldn’t bear to let any space between them. She gently pushed Jenna’s legs apart with her knee, never breaking their kiss. Jenna clawed at her shirt, and she felt it sliding over her skin. Jenna’s warm hands on her burning skin sent a rush of arousal through her, and she was so intoxicated by Jenna’s touch, her tongue, that her kiss was becoming wild with abandon.

  Danielle grabbed the bottom of Jenna’s blouse and pulled it over her head, moving immediately to Jenna’s bra. Jenna arched off the bed to allow Danielle’s hand to the clasp while Jenna caressed down her back. Danielle tossed the bra aside. The contact of her skin with Jenna’s made her weak and energized her all at once. Jenna’s breasts perfectly filled her hand, and her light pink nipples were hard. When Danielle took one into her mouth Jenna’s hand tightened in her hair as she sucked in air sharply.

  “God, that feels so good,” she said. “I need more of you.”

  Danielle
continued to work Jenna’s nipples with her fingers while she nibbled on her neck.

  “I want you to fuck me,” Jenna whispered.

  The words traveled to her core and made her pulse with desire. “Oh, I’m going to fuck you,” Danielle said. Jenna moaned and squirmed in her arms. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve wanted to fuck you?”

  Jenna found her lips again and moaned into the kiss, raising her hips in a plea for contact. Danielle undid the button to Jenna’s pants and ripped them down her legs. Jenna’s slim figure was toned and soft in all the right places. Her cheeks were flushed with desire, and her hair was wild and tangled. Danielle removed the rest of her own clothes while Jenna watched with dark, hungry eyes. She sat up and pulled Danielle back onto the bed, turning her onto her back and climbing on top.

  The view of Jenna straddling her left her helpless with need, and she pushed her hips up as Jenna ground against her. Danielle was quickly getting close to the edge, but she wasn’t going to get caught up in coming again before Jenna. She slipped her hand between their bodies. Jenna was so wet Danielle knew she could enter her right then, but she teased anyway, determined to be Jenna’s undoing. Jenna leaned down as if she couldn’t manage to stay upright and kissed her.

  “Please,” she said, never letting their lips separate.

  Danielle spun her fingers through Jenna’s hair and slowly plunged inside. Jenna’s moan made her feel like her skin was on fire with lust. She fucked deeper, letting Jenna control the speed as she rode her. Danielle used her other hand to tease Jenna’s nipples until a moan tore through her. Jenna’s head went back, and her rhythm slowed. Danielle sat up and held Jenna against her as she came in her arms. Finally, Jenna went weak in her embrace, and she collapsed to the mattress.

  Danielle wrapped her arm around Jenna’s shoulder and pulled her close. Jenna only snuggled up long enough to kiss her neck, and then she was trailing kisses down Danielle’s stomach. She lingered on Danielle’s hips, her breath tickling the sensitive skin until Danielle was squirming. The warmth tormented her until Jenna finally covered her clit with the soft fire of her mouth. She arched off the bed in ecstasy. Each caress of Jenna’s tongue took more of her strength away, and she was completely helpless to resist a single whim Jenna might have. When Jenna slipped her fingers inside without breaking the contact of her mouth, Danielle fell into a fuzzy blur of sensation. Her orgasm took her and she felt the vibration of Jenna moaning in pleasure as she came in her mouth.