Reckless

by Stella Rhys

  “Thank God. But how do you mean?”

  “Well, with you, I know my employment doesn’t hinge on me sleeping with you, considering we went five years not doing anything close to that,” I said with a smile. “Plus, you’ve given me more responsibility and opportunity than any of my fellow assistants get. I know hundreds of other assistants, Adam. I know not every boss out there is like you.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, trust me, I never would’ve guessed you’d be this good of a boss based on my first impression of you.”

  “Wow, alright. Well that was nice while it lasted,” he said, pretending to be offended. “And what was your first impression of me?”

  “Honestly? That you were hot as fuck, but definitely an asshole that was used to getting away with everything.”

  “Accurate.”

  I snorted. “And what was your first impression of me?”

  He smirked. “I got a look of you from way down the hall, before you ever laid eyes on me. So between us, I was actually the first one to have inappropriate thoughts.”

  I looked surprised enough that he laughed, but before I could ask for details about that, Adam informed me that my pan was smoking, and I gasped as I remembered the fact that I was heating up oil on the cast iron.

  It was only after I’d cooked the chicken thighs, packed them with the vegetables and batched several mason jars’ worth of overnight oats that I found the time to think back on what he’d said about first impressions.

  I wanted so badly to ask what his inappropriate thoughts were, but I also knew they’d get me riled up in a way I couldn’t afford to be, because I really couldn’t figure out what I was doing here with Adam.

  Even in a best-case scenario where we were say, dating, it’d still look bad. I was his assistant and despite being just an assistant, I’d earned a fair amount of respect at the office. But that would be gone if people knew we were sleeping together. Assumptions about unearned opportunities and preferential treatment would be made, and I of all people knew how much that shit sucked.

  So I kept the conversation light as we ate together, talking about the game on TV, and a little bit about Knox. I warded off the barrage of sexual thoughts when Adam got up to get water from the fridge, treating me to the view of his very noticeable bulge in those sweats, and despite getting very hot and bothered, I managed not to writhe or squirm when he came up behind me to refill my glass.

  But God, the heat of his chest against my back was damn near electric, and all I wanted was to feel him touch me. Anywhere.

  It was honestly a miracle that I managed to survive dinner, though just to be safe, I got up as soon as we finished eating, citing the time—past 10PM—for why I had to get going so fast.

  “Yeah, definitely,” Adam had said, following me to the door.

  And for a moment, it felt like I was really going to get out of here unscathed, without a new incident to make me toss and turn tonight, sleepless and breathless in my bed. I was almost convinced.

  But then I felt a shiver up my spine when he said, “Hey.”

  “Yeah?” I turned around, a knot jumping into my throat when I found Adam standing right behind me, our toes barely a foot from each other. God. Standing this close put such an emphasis on his height. How much I had to lift my chin to finally meet his dark blue gaze, which was relaxed yet searching as he looked at me. His eyes moved from mine to my lips, then my throat as I swallowed, needing to steel myself through the thickness of the silence before he finally said, “Thanks for tonight. I needed it.”

  His voice was such a low, husky murmur that I felt immediately hot. Swallowing again, I smiled.

  “Of course,” I said lightly, a tingle darting over my skin.

  Then it was back to quiet, our bright eyes dancing on each other for the next two seconds. But on the third, our bodies collided, his shirt in my fists and his lips crushed against mine. His fingers laced in my hair, Adam rubbed his cock against me, all while our tongues stroked against each other, licking and laving with all inhibitions thrown to the wind, as if we’d kissed each other a thousand times. As if this were nothing new to us at all.

  For what felt like an entire night of its own, we kissed by the door, our hands smoothing over each other then grasping at each other tightly, greedily, like we couldn’t bring our bodies close enough.

  And when he pulled away first, I understood, because I felt every hard inch of why he needed to, and I was half-relieved myself. But with his forehead resting on mine, I let my hands slide to the back of his neck, tipping my chin up gently and returning my lips to his for one more kiss—softer this time.

  I savored the warmth of his breath when he breathed out after, exhaling like he was expelling the stress of the entire day.

  When our eyes glowed on each other again, he looked loose. Relaxed with a heavy-lidded gaze. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he murmured.

  I smiled. “Goodnight.”

  Then, turning around before I didn’t, I left, glancing over my shoulder once to wave to Adam as he stood by the door. I focused hard once I got into my car and pulled out of his driveway, but as soon as I was around the corner, I pulled over just to catch my breath, because it legitimately felt like I was driving under the influence—which actually seemed like a pretty good metaphor for what I was doing right now.

  I was playing with fire. Being totally reckless. And as always, I knew better.

  But for once, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

  19

  ADAM

  “So, when’s that cranky son of a bitch coming for a visit? Tomorrow? Thursday?”

  I laughed at Don Engelman’s question despite the fact that he had just been palming his shiny, bald head and was now grabbing the signed baseball from my desk to toss to himself—something I let him do solely because he owned the whole goddamned company.

  “He’s coming tomorrow,” I said, referring to Knox, whose potential signing had flown previously under the radar here. But now Engelman himself had a personal stake in it, for reasons most anyone in the sports industry, but especially I, could relate to:

  Fucking RTA.

  “Well, you let me know what you need from me, son. I’ll do the meet-and-greet. Show him around. The whole shebang. He got a girlfriend? I’ll find him one.”

  I snorted. “He’s all set in that department, but I appreciate the offer and I’m sure I’ll take you up on the rest—pending whatever his stupid fucking mood is that day,” I said. Engelman gave a belly laugh.

  “You better keep tabs on that stupid fucking mood of his. Text him. Ask him what we can do for him. We’ll get anyone in this town to cater the meeting. Sky’s the limit,” he said before plunking my baseball back onto my desk and seeing himself out.

  I laughed as I watched him waddle down the hall.

  Despite the baseball thing, I did appreciate my boss’s new interest in Knox. In fact, for as busy as it was, this week was actually going fairly well despite my personal life trying to drive me up a goddamned wall.

  Having AJ around obviously helped.

  Saved me, really.

  It had always been the case in the past, but this week, the feeling was multiplied a thousand times, because between the new background drama unfolding in my life and the scrambling to move up meetings, prepare for Knox and keep up with the often needy and dramatic clients I already had, I’d felt my patience wear thin about a thousand times since Monday. But every time I was close to snapping, AJ sensed it and strolled into my office, making a list of everything agitating me then addressing each bullet point separately to tell me exactly why it wasn’t a big deal and why we were going to have it handled.

  That part was what she’d always done in the past. Of course, this week, I got to enjoy a few added bonuses to that routine.

  Namely those lips I couldn’t stop thinking about since she came over Sunday night.

  They always came with her hand resting softly on my chest as she leaned over my chair, and I didn’t know what the hell it
was about that combination, but it was like taking a hit of something powerful. So good you had to sit for a little after and just breathe and relax.

  I was actually still riding the high of her last kiss about an hour ago, which explained my ease when Engelman rubbed his dirty paws all over one of my more prized possessions.

  But as it turned out, I’d be in desperate need of another hit in an hour.

  And surprise, surprise, it was because of Knox.

  After Engelman left, I’d texted to see if we could provide anything for him tomorrow morning, and an hour later, he sent a casually infuriating text.

  KNOX: Forgot to tell you I can’t make tomorrow

  I’d stared at the message for what felt like a full minute, reminding myself that there was no asking a potential client what the fuck his problem was.

  ME: That’s unfortunate. What day can we reschedule to?

  This time, his reply came quickly.

  KNOX: Don’t need to. Thanks

  I dragged my hand over my face.

  “What the fuck?” I hissed under my breath, and again when I tried Knox only to be sent straight to voicemail.

  I was trying again when AJ walked in with her eyebrow arched.

  “Knox canceled tomorrow and said he doesn’t want to reschedule,” I said when I hung up. “He isn’t picking up either.

  She stared. “That fucking asshole. Are you kidding me?”

  “I wish I was. He’s such goddamned difficult prick.”

  “I mean it’s his reputation for a reason. Remind me again why we’re so eager to sign this dickhead?”

  I rubbed my tight jaw as I reminded myself of the reasons. Because I’ve been quietly tracking him for years.

  Because whether I like it or not, he and I have some very important things in common.

  The unfortunate thought crossed my mind just as he finally texted again.

  KNOX: I’m going with RTA. Meeting them tomorrow

  AJ

  The same four words rang through my head in the past hour.

  Poor Adam. Fuck Knox.

  Rinse and repeat.

  At this point, I was working at my desk with my every sense tuned into Adam’s temper as we both waited for Knox to call back, just so Adam could convince him to take a second meeting with us tomorrow, before making any final decisions.

  I lied—it was six words.

  Because fuck RTA was also finding its way into the mix.

  Fuck RTA. And Schilling. And my classmate, Corbin, who had replaced me in that internship, and was promoted to agent at RTA two years ago. Admittedly, I’d Internet stalked one random night to find that out. But thankfully, those nights were few and far between, because my goals were about making myself proud, not doing better than others.

  But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t indulge in a quick Google of my old classmate just now and have a peep at his blog. His client list was mostly minor leaguers that he touted as “foolishly overlooked.” Mark my words. Corbin Mathews is representing a future World Series MVP.

  Not before I do, I instinctively thought just as I heard the sound of Adam’s phone ring once before he picked up.

  “Knox. Talk to me.”

  I stilled, listening to the silence that followed, but quickly sensing Adam’s fury just from the way he said “is that right.”

  Uh-oh.

  I knew he’d been particularly stressed all week with whatever was happening in his family, and beyond that, it wasn’t hard to sense that something about Knox just set him off. I didn’t know what that was at this particular moment, but I did know I needed Adam to be calm in order to convince Knox to meet us tomorrow.

  So getting up, I went into his office to find him in full Angry Adam mode, his rigid shoulders looking broader than ever as he sat forward at his desk, leaning on his elbow while holding his phone in front of his face like he wanted to watch himself crush it.

  I barely finished mouthing easy before he was mouthing back I’m going to kill him.

  I laughed, “Breathe,” I whispered, rounding over to his side of the desk to get a better listen on Knox.

  “Nothing personal, man. Just figure if I have to have some suit telling me what to do, I should at least get one from the biggest agency out there,” he said as I leaned myself against Adam’s desk. “And in case you didn’t realize, you guys are a distant second to RTA.”

  Adam’s jaw clenched just as his steely eyes locked like magnets on my chest. They were right at his eye level and I had to smirk over the fact that he still had time to notice my body while looking simultaneously like he might punch a hole in the wall.

  “Knox, they didn’t even know who you were until they heard Engelman Sports was interested,” Adam said in a tone so curt I practically heard Knox bristle.

  Okay, breathe, Adam. Dial it way back, I wanted to say.

  But I couldn’t actually say it without Knox hearing, so instead, I opted to bring Adam’s eyes back to me.

  With my hand curled toward my body, I undid the buttons of my shirt. Slowly, one by one, my little smile spreading with satisfaction as I watched Adam’s heated gaze follow my hand, fixated on it till I had my shirt open enough to flash my lacy white bra.

  I tried not to giggle at the sight of his gaze looking instantly heavier. Practically drugged.

  And when he spoke again, his voice was audibly calmer. Much more relaxed.

  “I hate to say it, but that’s just their MO at RTA. They only show interest once another agency does, because their game is blocking others,” Adam said, glancing briefly out the door before returning his lusty eyes to my bra. I smiled as I watched his free hand drop under the desk, his chest expanding under his pale blue shirt as he breathed deeper while stroking up and down the back of my thigh. “It’s all about keeping the highest numbers at RTA, and the last thing you need to be is another number on a never-ending roster of clients.”

  “Yeah, well…” Even without an argument prepared, Knox was hell-bent on being defiant. I bit my lip, Adam stroking his thumb along my inner thigh, both of us smirking at each other as we listened to Knox search for something to say. “I think it’s just a better match at RTA,” he finally concluded. “They just know me better.”

  “I can tell you now they don’t,” Adam countered easily, glancing out the door again before slipping his hand up my skirt. There was a light pulsing in my clit as I spread my legs wider, letting Adam rub his fingertips against my wet panties as I tugged lightly down at the lacy cups of my bra, teasing him till he lifted his eyes to me and mouthed show me.

  For some reason, I didn’t think twice about obliging. And when I did, I watched Adam’s blue eyes practically glaze over with lust—and a hint of surprise, like he hadn’t actually expected me to listen.

  Oops, I thought. But as crazy as it was, no one outside could tell what I was doing, and I didn’t regret it. Especially as I watched Adam wet his lips as he stared in awe, soaking me in, taking so long to follow up on what he was saying to Knox that I was afraid he’d forgotten. But he didn’t.

  “They know how to tell you what you want to hear, but they don’t actually know jack about you, Knox,” he said before rattling off a small handful of the things he knew off the top of his head. Specific stats and injuries. Management preferences. The teams Knox’s girlfriend approved for him to sign with, because she could easily transfer her job there.

  All this while he felt up my tits.

  My mouth hung slightly open as I finally felt a bit of the shock of the situation, mostly because I could still hear everyone working as normal right outside. Footsteps. Phone calls. Usual chatter. The sounds of the busy office were still clear as day as Adam fondled my naked breasts, massaging gently one second then rougher the other, moving his hand back and forth between them and rolling my nipples between his fingers.

  His voice was normal, at total ease as he spoke to Knox. But I could see him getting hard as he played with my tits, and as soon as my eyes made out the full outline of his dick
, he got up from his desk to go and shut the door.

  Oh boy.

  My pulse picked up and I bit a nervous grin back as I heard Adam’s footsteps return.

  My thighs pumped when I caught his hard-on snaked down his pants as he returned, and I practically moaned in relief when I watched him put the call on mute as Knox started rambling. All I wanted was to climb on top of him. To taste his lips as I rubbed my aching sex against his erection.

  But with a nod toward his desk, Adam murmured, “Get on there and spread your legs for me.”

  I stared at him, blinking for a few seconds, because I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant. Like… get up on all fours or sit facing him?

  I wanted to ask, but just then he took Knox off mute to address some misinformed point he’d made about endorsement deals. But even as he spoke, Adam looked at me expectantly, sitting back in his chair, stroking his dick over his pants and waiting for me. So without waiting another second, I hiked my skirt up—just enough so that I could spread my legs as I perched my butt against the edge of the desk.

  But judging from the way Adam didn’t move, his lips pressed firmly into a line as he looked at me, that wasn’t what he wanted. I snorted. What? I mouthed.

  He took a second to smirk at my nervous cluelessness before grasping my waist, hoisting me up on his desk and sitting me farther back, his lustful eyes on my wide ones as he positioned me to his liking.

  Once he had me propped up on my elbows, he made me lift my hips, pulling off my panties and slipping them into his pocket before draping my legs over his wide shoulders. Okay, holy fuck. I breathed jaggedly as it all happened in a rush. I’d been naked in his office before, but I’d never felt this exposed. It was daylight. I could hear voices right outside the door. Yet here I was, my boss’s head between my legs, cold air hitting my pussy as Adam rolled his chair back.