by Stella Rhys
“Trust me. I’m a fan of the outfit,” he said tightly. “But it’s telling me something’s going on with you right now, because you normally want the opposite of this.”
“‘This’ being what?” I asked.
“Eyes,” he said, annoyed. “On you. Particularly at work. ‘I don’t wan’t to give them anything to talk about.’ That’s been your line for years.”
“Well, like I said, this is all I’ve got,” I said, my heels click-clacking as I went back to the bathroom to grab my lipstick. “And I figure if I’m wearing it, I might as well make it look good,” I shrugged, grabbing my clutch off the TV stand and not even having to look at Adam to know he didn’t buy it. We both knew that he didn’t, but we were going to leave it at that.
At least I thought we were.
But as I opened up my clutch to drop my lipstick inside, Adam stopped me.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up.”
My eyes fluttered wide as he came bounding toward me in three long strides. “What?” I asked, stunned as I closed my clutch—but it wasn’t quick enough, apparently, because Adam hit me with a don’t bullshit me look.
“Open it back up,” he said.
And for the next five seconds, we stared at each other, engaged in a heated standoff that ended with me heaving a sigh and just opening my damned clutch, which contained exactly three things. My phone and credit cards, my lipstick.
And my toothbrush.
Adam looked at me, incredulous.
“You expect to be sleeping somewhere else tonight?” he questioned.
My mouth parted a few times before I settled on my reply. “I figured just in case,” I said with a nonchalance that clearly didn’t work this time, because Adam stared at me, his blue eyes searching me with unveiled irritation.
“What the hell is going on right now, AJ?” he asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re not acting like yourself.”
I forced a laugh. “Is that surprising? I mean I did have a bit of a life-altering day yesterday.”
“Well, should we talk about that?”
“Why would we?”
“Because you’re being rash for once,” he said heatedly. “You’re making decisions you wouldn’t normally make. And I don’t know if I’m supposed to be worried.”
He stood close to me now, his stare on me intense, relentless. Threatening to break me. But I refused to let it, so tipping my chin up, I met his eyes with confidence. “How did I do at the presentation today?” I asked.
“Good. Why are we talking about this?” he answered straightaway.
I stood up as straight as I could. “Because if I did fine there, Adam, that’s all you need to worry about. As long as I’m showing up to work on time and doing my job well, you shouldn’t have anything to say. Right?”
I’d verbally trapped him. We were technically just boss and assistant and as tight as we were, we’d never actually referred to each other as friends. According to the unspoken rules of our very-close-but-only-because-of-work relationship, that would be weird.
That was at least how I felt about it.
And I suspected Adam felt the same, because with a single clench of his jaw, he stepped back.
“Guess so,” he finally said.
And though he sounded mostly like he meant it, his eyes said something else entirely. They were hard, steely. They took several moments to move away from me and hours later, the intensity of that stare still burned in my mind, making my breath feel suddenly short, and my dress suddenly too tight.
Annoying, but I told myself it was good motivation, because that was the whole point of tonight—shifting my focus to someone else.
And getting Adam Maxwell the hell out of my head.
9
ADAM
“Bro… did I do this? Maxwell. I swear to God, I made this happen.”
For fuck’s sake.
My jaw tightened as I ignored Josh MacMillan while standing in the middle of the crowded ball room, taking a bigger than usual drink of my whiskey because, well, Josh was unfortunately pretty hard to ignore.
Especially when he wouldn’t stop running his mouth about AJ.
“I mean come on. I was just noticing how hot she looked and then I asked you about her stupid fiancé. Didn’t I? And then boom. They’re over. After five fucking years.” Josh gave a hearty laugh to the skies, like the gods of dirty rebound sex had just smiled upon him. “Bro. How does that even happen?”
Dragging my palm across my jaw, I looked at him then at Keith, the head of the music division whom I’d been talking to before Josh came loping over like an idiot. I took another drink before peering over at Keith.
“Sorry,” I muttered, to which he laughed.
“Hey, I was like that once. I’ll let you young guys talk,” he said before excusing himself and leaving me alone with Josh and his cartoonishly blatant ogling of AJ from well across the room. He palmed his hand over his head as he stared at her.
“Goddamn, I just hope that isn’t a padded bra.”
My jaw clenched. It’s not, I thought as I reluctantly brought my eyes to her.
She was standing by the arched doors that led to the courtyard, looking like a fucking bombshell as she smiled wide, talking to Liza and some others from the office that I didn’t know. Christ, AJ. Don’t do that, I willed her as she leaned over to murmur in Liza’s ear, drawing both Josh and my eyes to the dip of her lower back—the way it curved into a round ass I couldn’t believe I hadn’t spent the past five years staring at. What the hell had I been doing with my time?
Probably working, I thought to myself wryly as Josh snorted.
“Look at those fucking clowns,” he said as a few guys—other assistants—inched closer to AJ and her friends, lingering around. Clearly waiting to cut in.
I couldn’t blame them.
It was why I’d avoided her since we got here. I knew well I could spend my entire night fixating on her. On how good she looked. Who she was talking to and who was looking at her. I knew it only took one glance in her direction to break the seal.
And now that it was effectively broken, I couldn’t stop watching her, staring hard the way I did when I wanted her to look up at me from across a crowded room.
It took another few seconds, but she then did exactly that.
“Oh, shit,” Josh said before giving a big grin and a wave. AJ paused, giving that slow, close-lipped, what’s going on smile as she waved back. “Goddamn,” Josh groaned through his smile. “See that little jiggle when she waved?”
I scowled, knowing well that he was talking about her tits. Whether or not I wanted to admit it, I’d been looking too.
“That’s it. No matter what happens tonight, I gotta smash.”
I managed a bored nod despite the increasingly hot irritation crawling through my veins. “Cool. I need another drink,” I said. And with a tightly-clenched jaw—along with a nod toward the bar when AJ caught my eye again—I excused myself.
AJ
I had been summoned.
I’d sensed it coming from well across the room, so as soon as my gaze locked again on Adam’s, I headed for the bar, giving an obligatory eye roll to Liza as I said, “The boss needs something.”
That was usually the case at these parties, and it was usually some work-related task, like getting intel from a fellow assistant or helping him eavesdrop on one of the partners.
But I had a hunch that wasn’t what this was about tonight.
“So.” Approaching the bar, I arched an eyebrow at Adam as he nodded his thanks at the bartender. “Any reason you and Josh MacMillan were staring me down?”
Adam eyed me over the edge of his glass as he took a drink. “There’s a reason he was. He wants to fuck you.”
My eyebrows flew up. “Really. And what makes you say that?”
“I don’t know. Just the fact that he told me explicitly.”
“Huh.” I blinked in surprise as I leaned one elbow on the bar and eyed Josh
from across the room. He was talking to the Melissas from marketing, a pair of bubbly BFFs who talked openly about their “giant boner” for Josh.
And now that I was single, I could see it. He was a bit of a bro, but at least that gym addiction meant he was pretty built. He wasn’t Adam-level ripped, nor did he look as powerfully good in a black suit as Adam did right this very second, but I very clearly needed to stop noticing Adam, so maybe Josh was the key.
He certainly wasn’t anyone to kick out of bed.
From the corner of my vision, I could see Adam watching me.
“What, are you interested?” he asked with open disbelief.
I laughed. “Well he technically doesn’t work at Engelman and he’s pretty objectively hot.”
“He calls everyone ‘broski’ and refers to himself in third person. As J-Mac, no less.”
“Well, thankfully this is an area where personality isn’t exactly the deciding factor.”
“No? Then what is?”
I squinted as I studied Josh a little harder. “Hmm. Well, a strong upper body is important but I think the deciding factor is the glutes.”
Adam coughed on his drink. “Come again?”
“The gluteal muscles.”
“Yeah, I know what glutes are, but why are we talking about them?”
“You asked what the deciding factor was in choosing a partner for a one-night stand and I say it’s a nice sculpted ass.”
“Holy shit, I hate this conversation.”
“Because your thrusting game isn’t going to be strong if you don’t have strong glutes,” I explained. “Also you asked for this conversation so don’t cry about it now.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t aware at the time that it would lead to a discussion about Josh MacMillan’s ass.”
“His very sculpted ass.”
“Christ.” Adam winced hard. He let a couple seconds pass as he took a drink, but then he muttered, “Mine is better anyway.”
I burst out laughing. “Really.”
“Yeah. We don’t have to pretend you haven’t noticed.”
I squinted. Umm. Okay. If there was one part of Adam Maxwell’s body that I did let myself check out from time to time, it was definitely his ass. So yes, that was true. But... “How do you know that I’ve noticed?” I asked.
“Reflective windows at the office.”
I raised my eyebrows way up. Oh.
“Damn.” I gave a genuine laugh as I thought of all those times I followed him into the conference room and totally looked. “Well, there goes my cover,” I said, making him laugh too, and for a second it felt like our usual joking around. Like we weren’t talking about how I did sometimes check him out.
It was weird. It felt half-normal, half-crazy. Like we were toeing the lines of safety. Was this flirting? Was it not? I had no idea but I didn’t ponder it for long, because suddenly, Josh was approaching us at the bar.
“AJ. Gorgeous,” he said, holding his arms out grandly. “I’d give my condolences over your idiot ex, but you look like you’re doing more than fine.”
I laughed, almost solely because I knew how much he annoyed Adam. “Thank you, Josh,” I said, managing a smile as he touched my hip and started to extol the beauty of breakups. Between nods of feigned interest, I eyed Adam, who didn’t bother disguising the way he was shaking his head through all of Josh’s pet names for me as he spoke. Sweetheart. Angel. He really was such a douche, but I couldn’t help being amused by it as Adam leaned against the bar, looking like he wanted to blow his brains out.
“Know what I say? Forget that loser. Okay? How long were you with him again?” Josh asked, his questions like rapid fire.
“Almost six years,” I replied with suppressed laughter as I eyed Adam, who mouthed Jesus Christ.
“Six years. AJ. You must be ready for a real man. I mean look at you. I know you’re ready.”
He continued talking a mile a minute till he was briefly pulled away, at which point Adam turned to me.
“Yeah, there is no way in hell you’re going home with that clown,” he said.
“Weird, I missed the part where it was your decision.”
“AJ. For Christ’s sake, he’s not going to be quiet about it, and the last thing you want is someone with ties to the office talking about what you were like in bed.”
I tipped my chin up. “Fine. I won’t have sex with Josh MacMillan,” I said, waiting till Adam’s tense shoulders relaxed before I added, “I’ll just find someone with no ties to the agency.” He groaned. “Or I’ll just go to a bar after this and pick some lucky guy.”
“You’re going to go home to some stranger’s place tonight?” Adam laughed. “No the fuck you’re not.”
“Sorry, boss, that’s actually not your call. And I’ve already made the decision, so.”
He stared at me, more serious now. “Remind me why you need this so badly?” he asked, looking at me like I was so out of my mind that I couldn’t help but take offense.
“Oh, I don’t know, Adam. Probably because I spent over three hundred dollars on lingerie and an entire week getting primped and preened and waxed so I would feel like walking sex for my fiancé, but he didn’t end up fucking me, because he was too busy fucking someone else, so on top of the fact that I was left completely high and dry, I’m dealing with a bit of an emotional shitstorm, I’ve got a lot of post-breakup logistics to deal with once I get back to LA, and all I want right now is to blow off this steam with a really, really good orgasm.” I was breathless, hot all over by the time I finished my rant, and it didn’t help that Adam had his gaze locked so fucking tightly on me, penetrating me in a way that made me feel as naked as I wished I could be right now. “Long story short, I’m feeling pent up in a way I don’t think you would ever understand,” I said, my ears tingling hot as I tossed back the last of my champagne.
Adam didn’t take his eyes off me, but he took his time responding. “And what makes you say that?” he asked once I was done with my drink.
“Oh, just the fact that you have a full roster of eager fuck buddies in every city,” I replied, my tipsy gaze fluttering down to his broad shoulders in that black suit, and that white shirt so perfectly fitted against his hard chest. “I can’t imagine that you’ve been sexually frustrated anytime in recent memory,” I said, bringing my eyes back up to find his gaze heavy on me.
“I think you’d be surprised,” he said, his voice suddenly husky, prickling over my skin. “Believe it or not, the past twenty-four hours haven’t exactly been a cakewalk for me.”
A shiver darted up my spine as I swallowed. “Because my Caspar drama cock-blocked your date last night?” I asked hopefully.
He looked at me with a knowing smirk that he let sink into my skin, waiting till I was fully hot all over before he answered. “Because I saw you damn near spilling out of that black lingerie and then I told your fiancé that I was going to fuck you all night,” he said bluntly. “And since then, I haven’t had any time alone to…” His eyebrows pulled slightly together as he wet his lips and chose his words. “Take care of myself. As you would say.”
My heart slammed against my chest as I processed his words.
Unless I was hammered again, my boss just admitted to wanting to jerk off to the thought of me.
Wow. Okay. I was shocked. And floored.
And so completely turned on.
But I refused to show it.
“Well… you could have gotten it done in the shower,” I pointed out smartly.
Adam eyes glimmered with amusement. “Seemed like a bit of a risk with you right outside the door.”
“I mean I doubt I would have heard you jerking your dick over the sound of the water running.”
“No.” He took a drink. “But you would’ve heard me come.”
Oh.
I unstuck my tongue from the roof of my mouth, the casual filth of his words making my pussy clench so hard I wondered if it was physically possible to be turned on any harder than I was.
&
nbsp; But just as the thought crossed my mind, Josh’s voice reentered our space.
“Hey, babe—” He spun around only to bump directly into the server passing in front of us. “Shit!”
My pulse spiked as two flutes of champagne toppled off the tray. But in a flash, I felt Adam grab my waist and jerk me close, my body crashing against his just as the glass splintered at my feet.
“Miss!” The server was immediately frantic. “Miss, I apologize! Are you hurt?”
Eyes wide, my heart pounded. “No, I’m okay! I’m fine,” I assured him as he held his arms out to block anyone else from passing. And as a few other servers rushed over to clean, I joined everyone around me in reacting to the scene, making sure I wasn’t in the way.
Of course, it was all an act.
Because while I had my head twisted around, staring wide-eyed at the sea of champagne and shattered glass at my feet, all I actually processed was the fact that Adam was still grasping me tightly in his arms, the front of my body still pressed flush against his and every inch of him feeling so hot and hard against me. His chest. His abs.
His cock.
Holy fuck.
My mouth fell lightly open as my fingers curled hard against his chest, and though I was still looking behind me at the mess, it was all just a cover at this point. A ploy to direct everyone else’s attention to the ground so they wouldn’t see what was happening right in front of them.
My boss pressing his steel erection against me.
And my cheeks flushing as I leaned into him, lightly writhing against it.
I convinced myself it was for balance till I felt Adam’s hot breath near my ear.
“Don’t do that unless you want to get fucked, AJ.”
My eyes glazed over as I stared at the shattered glass, the low murmur of his threat sending both a chill up my spine and a flood of heat in my panties.
Holy hell.
This is your fucking boss, AJ, I reminded myself as the servers began sweeping at my feet. The man who employs you, so for the love of God, peel yourself off his rock-hard body and throw your panties in the trash like this never happened, I implored myself as Josh’s laugh pierced through my fog.