by L. D. Davis
“It’s kind of scary, because I don’t know which one is the real you,” I said when I found my voice again. “Are you more like Kyle the dick or Kyle the good guy?”
“I’m not going to lie…” he started slowly. “I am a well-meaning person, but I can be a jerk sometimes. I was raised that way, to have a hard exterior.”
When I remained silent, he turned off the sink and looked at me so intensely, I had the strong desire to turn away.
“I haven’t been nice to you and I’m sorry. You’re brilliant, always five steps ahead of me, and you work really hard. I would fall flat on my face without you. I have to be tough, though. Everyone there, including you, knows that I only have this job because my family owns the business. No one respects me because of that. So, to keep order…I have to be a dick.”
Speaking my mind without any consideration, I said, “That’s stupid.”
He blinked at me. “What?”
“That’s stupid. You’re right, everyone pretty much believes you’re a spoiled brat who never had to work for anything in your life.”
“Thanks. You’re making me feel so much better.” He frowned and I almost laughed because it looked so boyish.
“Kyle, you could have just chosen to be a good guy. You alone made the decision to be mean and nasty. Because you are who you are, there would have been order. But that’s all you have is order. No one is happy working for you. If only you knew how detrimental that is to your job.”
I turned the faucet back on. We finished the dishes in silence, but every now and again, our eyes would meet. He seemed to be deep in thought, judging by the crease in his forehead and his slightly glazed eyes. I was still trying to get over the fact that he was the same man that I wanted to kill the previous morning.
“Do you want coffee?” I asked when we finished. Admittedly, I wasn’t quite ready for him to leave, not this new version of Kyle Sterling.
He didn’t answer me. I don’t think he even heard me. He was staring off at nothing, his mind obviously somewhere else. I was beginning to feel like a dick myself. He was being something like a normal human being and I was beating him down. It must have been hard for him to open up to me like he did.
“Sorry,” I apologized softly. “You’re being kind of human tonight and I’m the one being a dick.”
He finally looked at me. “You’re a little harsh, but…” He ran a hand through his dark hair. “You’re not wrong.”
“I didn’t have to be so blunt,” I said, biting my lower lip.
“I like that you’re blunt, but it’s such a drastic change from how you are at the office.” He gave a small smile.
“If I start talking to you however I want, everyone else will think they can, too. Then it would be a mess.”
He nodded. “I understand, but maybe I need that from you from time to time.”
I realized that we were standing very close. The way he was looking at me caused an unexpected fuzziness in my belly. Coming to my senses, I moved away from him and wandered to the back door. I pushed the curtain aside to check out the weather.
“Holy snow!”
Kyle came over and looked out. “Damn.”
The snow was falling fast and heavy. Visibility was nonexistent and there was several inches on the ground already.
We looked at each other and without a word, we rushed to the foyer and opened the door. I could barely make out our cars in the driveway. The street had obviously been untouched by a plow, and the temperature had dropped significantly.
I shivered in the open door, but Kyle pulled me back a few steps and closed it. He rubbed my arms to take away the chill. I was extremely aware of how strong his hands felt and how my skin felt under his touch.
“How much snow are we supposed to get?” Kyle asked. He looked reluctant to stop touching me, but backed up and let his hands drop.
“I don’t know. I haven’t watched the news.”
He looked out of the window again. “It’s going to be a crazy ride home,”
“Are you crazy? You can’t drive home in that! Thank goodness it’s a weekend and you don’t have to work. You have a few appointments, but they’re lunch dates and such. Personal things.” I went on about his schedule, telling him who to call, who to email. He was looking at me funny, so I stopped talking. We just stood there staring at one another.
“Hey,” I said to break the freaky silent staring contest. “Let’s go watch a movie. How about Transformers? I love Transformers. You know the third one will be out this summer.”
“I’ve never seen Transformers.”
I was walking to the family room, but when he said that, I stopped so suddenly he ran into me. I whirled around to face him.
“I’m sorry. Did you say—what did you say?”
“I’ve never seen Transformers.”
“Do you live under a rock!”
“Jess isn’t really into those kinds of movies,” he said, but immediately looked away from me.
“Well, Jess isn’t here. So allow me to introduce you to one of the best movies in the entire universe.”
I ordered him to sit down on “our” couch while I got the movie started on the enormous flat screen. I sat down on the opposite side of the couch. I didn’t want to give him the wrong impression.
At first Kyle seemed unfazed by the awesomeness of the movie, but by the time it ended he was grinning and leaning forward excitedly.
“Do you have the second one?” he asked as the credits began to roll. His face was lit up like a light bulb.
“It’s like one in the morning,” I yawned.
“You don’t have to work tomorrow,” he said dismissively as he stood up to stretch. “And even if you did, you’re snowed in.”
Again, I was annoyed by his arrogance and general ignorance.
“Do you not realize the amount of effort it takes to run your office? To run you?”
He shrugged easily. “Well, I know it takes some effort.”
“Some?” I gaped at him. “Oh, no.” I shook my head as I got up and walked down the hall. Kyle hesitated and then followed me.
I went into my dad’s office where I set up my own workstation. On the large mahogany desk were stacks of files, my laptop, a thick appointment book, post it notes stuck in various places with various notes scribbled on them, and a large portfolio.
“What’s all of this?” Kyle asked, his brown eyes big.
“This,” I said, gesturing wildly at the organized mess. “Is where I spend my time when I’m not slaving in the office.” I picked up the portfolio and opened it. “This has all of the guests for the gala. There are bits and pieces of information to go with each person. Even the guests who are of little use or importance are in here. Some guests, of course, require a little more information, like this one. This guy has a whole page to himself.”
Kyle looked flipped through the pages in awe.
“Last year you didn’t like not knowing who people were. This year, I am going with you to aid you, through text message, little notes, or a discreet whisper. I won’t hang around you, but I will be watching you and be there if needed.”
He looked at me, mouth hanging open.
“How do you get this information? How will you remember all of these people? There must be two hundred people in here.”
I smiled. “Two-hundred and six, and the list is rapidly growing. I don’t mean to sound conceited, but I’m good at what I do. You only see the surface of what I do in the office.”
I went on to point out the various projects I was working on for him. He shot question after question at me, waiting for me to trip up, but I was good at my job. I had worked for Kyle’s dad at one point during my career at Sterling Corp, and Walter Sterling had been very reluctant to give me up to his son because I was so efficient.
“When I said that you were amazing,” Kyle started. “I didn’t know just how amazing you are until now.” He looked at me with appreciation for the first time ever. “I had no idea you work
ed so hard. I feel like such a douche bag.”
Feeling like I’ve won something, I said, “You’re worse than a douche bag. You’re a douche puddle, the excrement of a douching.”
“Fine. I’m a douche puddle, you’re right. No wonder you think I’m a dick.”
“That’s not the only reason I think you’re a dick,” I muttered, giving him a sidelong glance.
“Well, as your boss, the dick, I am giving you the weekend off.” He said it as a command, which ruffled my feathers a bit.
“I can’t just leave it there all weekend,” I said with indignation. “The work isn’t going to do itself.”
“Emmy, seriously,” Kyle said softly. “Just leave it for a couple of days. It will be okay. Take a break.”
It was almost hysterically funny that he thought that I could just leave any of it for more than a day. It wasn’t just his work life that I took care of. I cared for him in nearly every other aspect of his life and he didn’t even realize it. He had no idea that he wouldn’t have clean underwear or soap to wash with if I didn’t oversee the housekeeper I sent to his apartment once a week.
Taking care of Kyle was not only my job, but kind of an obsession. I didn’t have much order in my own life, but I made damn sure that my boss had order in his.
Ending all conversation about work, Kyle put a hand on my waist and guided me away toward the door. I looked back at the desk, actually feeling a nervous pang about leaving the work for another day.
I so needed to get a life.
As we stood side by side in the hallway, Kyle pulled the office door closed. When he looked down at me with a libidinous expression, I gasped softly and started to back away, but he caught me by the hem of my tee shirt and reeled me into him. His arms banded around me, making my body flush with his.
“Kyle,” I said his name with a quavering and breathless voice. I feebly tried to push him away. “We shouldn’t,” I whispered.
He buried his face in my hair on my neck. “Your hair always smells fucking amazing,” he murmured. “It makes me so fucking hard.”
He grinded his hips, pressing his swelling shaft against me. I nearly choked trying to hold back a moan.
When he lifted his head and tried to kiss me, I turned my head, giving him my cheek. I let out a soft, surprised cry when his fingers firmly grasped my jaw and forced me to turn my face back to him. My heart raced painfully as I anxiously tried to escape him, but with an ease that was almost terrifying, he forced me back a few steps until my back crashed into the wall.
“Kyle,” I pleaded in a whisper. I didn’t know if I was pleading for him to release me or for him to continue.
The hand on my face relaxed. As he stared headily into my eyes, his fingertips traced lightly over my cheeks, my nose, and my lips. He leaned in so close that I could feel his breath on my mouth. I waited, gasping, my chest rising and falling against his. I could feel his erection straining against the fabric as it pressed against me.
I waited for several moments longer until I realized that he was waiting, too. Kyle was waiting for me to kiss him.
That arrogant dick!
I pushed at his chest again, this time with a little more effort, but he didn’t move away. He moved impossibly closer, crushing me against the wall. Realizing he had to take things into his own hands instead of relying on me, his mouth crashed into mine so hard that it hurt. I whipped my head away, but he again forced me to turn back before kissing me again.
Whimpering, I halfheartedly tried to fight him off, but his kiss was so inebriating, so bewitching, that I gave in. I kissed him back.
His hands dropped to my waist before caressing down to my thighs, my ass, and then slowly back up my body. He stopped just under my breasts, just enough to tease me. When he finally took his lips off of mine, I couldn’t even catch my breath before he simultaneously started to kiss my neck and flicked his thumb across a nipple. I inhaled sharply and my knees betrayed me.
Kyle didn’t let me fall. Lifting me into his arms, he commanded me to wrap my arms and legs around him. I obliged and then he was kissing me again as he blindly carried me through the house, crashing us into various pieces of furniture along the way. We stopped kissing long enough for him to carry me up the stairs. I pointed to my bedroom before pressing my swollen lips to his.
He dropped me onto my bed and immediately pulled his shirt up over his head. I scrambled to my knees and began kissing and biting his naked chest, making him hiss. My fingers fumbled with the button on his pants as he struggled to take my shirt off of me. We were a mess of hands and lips and half removed clothes.
My shirt came off, then his pants. Then my pants came off, along with my panties, leaving Kyle in his boxer brief underwear. I stroked him through the fabric, making him moan deeply against my collar bone where he was kissing me. He thrust his hips forward and I squeezed him tightly and stroked again.
No words needed to be spoken. We both knew what the other wanted. Kyle’s underwear dropped to the floor and then he was climbing onto the bed with me and pushing me down onto my back. Gazing heatedly into my eyes, he slowly entered me.
My head tilted back and my hips rose off of the bed in a reflex to take him deeper. He kissed my upturned chin and grazed it with his teeth as he let out a breathy moan.
As he began to thrust inside of me, I again thought about how careless I was being to have sex with my boss. It wasn’t just careless, it was reckless.
Chapter Five
When I woke up around ten, Kyle was still asleep in bed next to me. I watched him for a moment before I remembered what that usually implied in a book or movie when a woman did that. While I had an amazing night with Kyle, I was not all doe-eyed and dreamy about him.
I got out of bed, slipped into my robe, and went to a window. It was still snowing. There must have been two feet of snow out there.
After our romp in my bed, we went downstairs with renewed appetites and got into my stash of homemade cookies. We carried them and glasses of milk into the family room to watch the news and get a detailed weather report. We were getting hit with a Nor’easter that was going to dump about two and a half feet of snow on us, maybe more.
I had looked at Kyle out of the corner of my eye while he was absorbed in the ongoing storm coverage. I was going to be snowed in with him. Him. My boss.
Even if I wanted to send Kyle home in the storm, he wasn’t able to. We were under a state of emergency and no one but plows and emergency personnel were allowed on the roads. He was going to stay for the duration of the storm, and maybe a day or so more until the roads were somewhat drivable.
I guess I could say Kyle and I were officially sleeping together. If I was normal, I would have been thrilled to be stuck with him, having someone to cuddle with on the couch, having someone to keep me warm as winter pressed against the windows, but I never claimed to be normal.
As I looked at Kyle again, sleeping peacefully in my bed a sensation of being trapped suddenly came over me. Trapped in a box with a guy who just two days previous I thought was a huge tool.
As quietly as I could, I gathered what I needed from my room and crept out and showered in my parents’ bathroom so I wouldn’t disturb him. I made a cup of coffee with my Keurig, slapped some butter and grape jelly on toast, and went into the office. I never actually promised not to work. Besides, it made me feel like I was putting necessary space between us. By the time Kyle came down about an hour later, I was in full work mode. I barely glanced at him when he sat down opposite of me.
“I thought you weren’t going to work,” he said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“I never made any promises,” I murmured, trying to concentrate on a cluster flip of an upcoming week in March.
He sat quietly for a moment. When I made no attempts to communicate, he abruptly left the room, slamming the door behind him.
I saved what I was working on, but didn’t immediately get up. I didn’t know what he wanted from me. We were just having sex, and jus
t barely doing that. Did he want me fawning over him and being all girly about what happened between us? That wasn’t going to happen.
With a sigh, I got up and went to find him. He was in the kitchen making eggs. He didn’t look at me, but said, “I’m sorry.”
I tried to keep my expression indifferent, but I was once again startled by those words. I had never heard the man apologize before he found me at the bar, and suddenly he was offering his apologies freely.
“No big deal.” I shrugged and put my coffee mug in the dishwasher.
“Do you want some eggs?”
“No, I’m good. I see my brother’s clothes fit well.” I had given Kyle some clothes that belonged to my brother Emmet. He had been gone since his first year of college, but he never completely moved out. He still left things behind during his visits.
“Yeah, they fit great. Thank you.” He flashed me a heart-stopping smile.
And did he just say thank you?
“Come here.” He motioned with his finger.
I hesitated, but slowly approached. When I was close enough, he leaned over and kissed my forehead, which made my heart skip a beat, which made me mad at my stupid heart for being so stupid.
Involuntarily, I smiled.
Stupid mouth.
After Kyle ate, he helped me do my Saturday cleaning. I dusted, he vacuumed. I cleaned my bathroom upstairs and he did the powder room on the first floor. He helped me change the sheets on my bed and then we tackled the kitchen and put in a load of laundry. I panicked when I realized how domestic we were being, how well we worked…together. The cresting moment was when I really thought about the fact that his boxers and my SpongeBob panties were washing in the same confined space, possibly grinding up against each other in their efforts to get clean.
I excused myself abruptly and locked myself in my personal bathroom. I sat on the edge of the tub for a long time, thinking.
I didn’t want to feel so comfortable with Kyle. What was happening between us wasn’t something that was going to go beyond the weekend. It couldn’t. I didn’t want to feel…let down when it was over. I wanted to feel relieved, to say a good riddance.
