Man in Charge, Book 1

by Laurelin Paige

  Paris looked thoughtful. “It makes it personal for the corporation. That’s a plus. I vote yes.”

  “I have no problem with it,” Matt agreed.

  “Seems like it’s unanimous then,” Brett said.

  I couldn’t believe it was that easy. “That’s it? You all agree to move forward on a partnership with the DRF, so no more pitching other charities? We go on to the coordination meeting from here?”

  “That’s pretty much it, yes,” Brett said. “We’d want to do a thorough background check first, which will take a little bit of time to have ordered and performed. We have a department that handles that, so nothing is needed from you there.”

  “Okay. Anything else?” It felt like there was a catch. I was waiting for there to be a catch.

  Glances were exchanged among the team, something they all knew that I didn’t.

  “Scott,” Paris said.

  “Yep. Scott,” Matthew echoed.

  “We’ll have to tell Scott that we settled on an organization,” Brett clarified. “He’s still the final say.”

  “But he said he trusted us to make a decision, right? So he’ll likely go with whatever the group recommends?” I was feeling overly confident, maybe because the team had been so enthusiastic. Maybe because I believed Scott wouldn’t have left us alone if he didn’t truly mean to let us move forward without him.

  “He said he trusted you.” It seemed like a fact Brett wasn’t happy about admitting. “In other words…”

  Silvia finished for him. “In other words, we back your recommendation one hundred percent. You just have to convince the boss to get on board.”

  You. Not “we.” I had to convince him. Me and nobody else.

  See? I knew there was a catch.

  Twelve

  “Fine!” I exclaimed. As if it were actually fine. I swept my things into Kendra’s briefcase and stood up. “Totally fine.”

  Brett stood with me. “You don’t have to go right this minute. We still have half the hour left to talk more about it. We can make some recommendations for how to present to Scott. Then make an appointment for later. In fact, worry about all of it next week. His assistant probably isn’t even back from her lunch yet.”

  I knew Brett was attracted to me, which was the reason I assumed he was trying to keep me. He also might have been trying to save me from a confrontation with his “difficult” boss, at least for the day, and I appreciated that. Especially because I knew a meeting with Scott would be difficult on more than one level.

  It was a good reason to take Brett up on the suggestion, give myself the weekend to prepare for an encounter with Scott alone. Put together a presentation that solely focused on the DRF. Rehearse my talking points. Make sure I was wearing pretty panties.

  No, no, no no no.

  My panties could not come into this equation at all. The fact that they’d even crossed my mind was proof that I was not in the least bit ready to see him. That I should sit back down and make a better plan.

  Except waiting meant having to be worked into his already busy schedule. It might be days before I could get in, and I didn’t want to lose the time I’d saved by cutting out the other charity presentations. And since he’d planned to be at this current meeting once upon a time, there was a chance he was free now.

  “Thank you for the offer, but I’m actually fired up from all your enthusiasm. Might as well strike while I’m still hot.”

  Hot for the project, Tess. Remember that’s what you’re hot for.

  “Okay, then,” Brett said, his doubts obvious in his tone. “I wish you luck. We all wish you luck.”

  The rest of the team echoed his sentiments. And his tone.

  I managed to leave with my head held high anyway, though my footsteps did hesitate in the hall when I overheard Matt in the room behind me. “Does it feel like we just sent a lamb to slaughter?”

  Their ensuing laughter gave me fuel for the task. I sped up my stride. I’d show them all. I knew what I was talking about. My presentation was solid. Scott was difficult, but he wasn’t impossible.

  Even if he had hypnotic blue eyes. And charming banter. And irresistible lips.

  God, I was so screwed.

  Focus on the cause. Teyana and the cause.

  As Brett had thought, there was no one at Scott’s assistant’s desk, but it wasn’t an issue since the double doors to his office were wide open. That meant he was definitely inside. From this angle, I couldn’t see him, which meant he couldn’t see me. Which meant I could still change my mind.

  But there was no need to change my mind. We were professionals. This was all good.

  I strode through his office with boldness that I hadn’t known I’d possessed.

  Then came to an abrupt halt when I’d made it halfway into the room. It was farther than I’d made it last time, and while I could tell there was much in my periphery that I would love to examine, my eyes were trapped on him, sitting behind his oversized desk, his leg nonchalantly crossed over the other, ankle to knee, the New York skyline backdropped behind him. He looked like a king on his throne, casually and majestically ruling his world.

  “Tessa?” His surprise quickly morphed into a sort of knowing grin. A smoldering smirk that made my stomach flutter and my heart trip. The words I’d prepared were caught in my throat.

  I jumped as the doors behind me suddenly closed, pulling my gaze for a fraction of a second. Then it was back on Scott, who’d stood and come around his desk, and even though men who closed their offices doors with a button when a woman walked in were shady as shit, it was also kind of hot, and now my breath caught too because every time I looked at him, he somehow just got more gorgeous, and what had I come in here for again?

  “Tessa,” he said again, and there was no question in his tone as he stalked toward me. Just raw need that sent an answering jolt to my lower regions. His eyes were dark. His lips were wet.

  I wasn’t sure if it was me or him who made the official first move. All I knew was that I dropped the briefcase as we came together, our mouths frenzied, our hands frantic, our bodies molded to each other.

  “We shouldn’t be doing this,” I panted in between kisses.

  “It’s such a very bad idea,” he agreed before slipping me his tongue and thereby ending any possibility of talking.

  The kissing was explosive, if it could be called kissing. Making out wasn’t even an appropriate description of what we were doing. We were desperate and urgent, our bodies moving with singular purpose—a very carnal purpose. With his lips locked on mine, he tore off his jacket, then wrapped his hands in my hair. My hand went lower to stroke the hard outline of his cock, earning me a groan that turned my panties into a flood.

  I moaned as well, not only because of the feral sound he’d made, but also because the shape of him in my palm was on the Magnum side of the cock-size scale, and holy mother of all saints, I was definitely going to hell because the only thing I could think about was how fast I could get that magnificent beast inside me.

  Scott, thankfully, seemed to have the same agenda. While I worked on his buckle, his hand tugged my skirt up to my waist (thank the Lord I hadn’t chosen to wear slacks that morning). I had to abandon the task with the belt half undone when he picked me up, but I didn’t complain since it brought my throbbing core to rest against his hard ridge.

  His deliciously well-defined hard ridge.

  I threw my hands around his neck and hooked my ankles behind him, bucking my hips to get more pressure against my pussy as he carried me...somewhere. I didn’t care where. A handful of seconds later, my ass landed on the edge of his desk.

  I fell back onto my elbows as he wrapped his fingers into the flimsy material of my panties. “Lift,” he ordered, and I did, as eager to have them off as he was. He tossed them aside, then moved to finish undoing his pants. He nodded behind me. “Top drawer on the right. My wallet’s there.”

  This wild with lust and he could still remember protection. It was probably an
indicator of just how well rehearsed he was in frantic fucking, but in that moment, he was my hero.

  Reaching back, I found the leather wallet, and after very briefly considering going fishing in it myself, I sat up and handed it to him.

  “Trade,” I said, letting him find the condom while I pushed his pants and boxer briefs down far enough to let his cock spring out.

  And wow.

  Even after getting a sense of him by touch, I had to blink. “Mr. Sebastian,” I said breathlessly as he rolled on the condom (Magnum indeed). “That is one spectacular cock.”

  His lips quirked up in a smirk. “I’m glad you approve. Let’s see if that pretty pussy of yours agrees.”

  I already knew she would. Still, I gasped as he drove in, shocked by the feel of his girth inside me. Shocked and very, very pleased. He was enormous, my pussy clamping down on him so tightly that his first few thrusts were stilted and shallow.

  Then my body adjusted, and both of us sighed in pleasure as he slid all the way in.

  “My pussy agrees,” I whimpered. “She really, really agrees.”

  He flashed a satisfied smile before getting serious about the work of fucking me. And kissing me. And saying dirty, dirty things that made me clench tighter around him.

  “I knew it from the minute I tasted it, from the minute I saw it. This was a pussy that needed to be fucked.” He hardly sounded out of breath despite the driving tempo of his thrusts.

  “Yes, yes,” I agreed. “Needed to be fucked.” Forget the fact that it shouldn’t be fucked. It was too late to pretend I hadn’t craved him to the point of distraction.

  He rewarded the admission with a searing kiss. “I hope you’ve given me credit for how much restraint I’ve shown in pursuing you.”

  He’d shown restraint?

  I wasn’t in a position to call him on it. “I think right now we’ve both demonstrated a lack of self-discipline.”

  “Does that mean you think we should stop?”

  He didn’t show any indication that he thought we should stop, his fingers digging in at my hips as he tilted me to get a better angle. Still, in case it crossed his mind, I rushed out, “No! Please, no.”

  He smiled against my lips. “Good because I wasn’t going to. But I do like it when you beg.”

  “Please, please, please,” I begged, wanting to make him happy, though I wasn’t sure I could take much more. My thighs were quivering with the tension building in my body. I was on the verge of an orgasm that I was half certain would kill me.

  “Does my cock feel good, Tessa?”

  The way he said my name! “So good. You feel so fucking good.”

  “Touch yourself. I want to feel you come all over me.”

  I didn’t tell him I was already on the brink. I just did what I was told, putting one finger on the swollen bundle of nerves, letting the rest graze against his cock as he glided in and out of me. I was a powder keg. Being fucked by a man who I desperately wanted, on his desk, in the middle of the day, with all of his employees on the other side of the wall, when I shouldn’t be fucking him at all—it was a scenario that lit all my buttons. What had he said last time we’d been in here getting into trouble? Maybe that’s why it’s so fun.

  And ohmygod was it fun.

  Explosively fun. Even knowing it was coming, my climax caught me off guard as it burst through me. Stars pressed against my closed lids. My muscles went rigid as they convulsed with pleasure. I let out a cry that Scott had to stifle with a hand clamped over my mouth.

  “Fuck, yes. That’s a good girl.” He looked down between us, watching as he forced his cock into my clenching pussy. “God, you’re so wet. So tight. So fucking perfect.”

  His words broke off into a grunt, his body jerking as he hit his own climax. Still not recovered myself, I forced my eyes open so I could watch him lose control. It did something to me to see him like that. As majestic as he looked when he was composed and in charge, he was just as striking when he’d come undone, and for the briefest of moments, I wished I could see that version of him over and over and over.

  But who was I kidding? This would be a one-time thing. He was the type who didn’t like repeat pussy. I knew that going in.

  I was still looking at him when he opened his eyes. Too late, I turned my head away, but he put a hand to my cheek and brought it back. His lips pressed against mine, softly, a sharp contrast to the frenzy from moments before.

  “This isn’t where I thought I’d first fuck you,” he said.

  My heart skipped, fool that she was, wanting to find meaning in his words.

  My head knew better. Thank God she was the one in charge of my mouth. “Is that a line you use often?”

  He brushed his thumb against my skin, his expression serious. “I mean it. I think about it. Think about fucking you. A lot. In detail.”

  There was a possibility for hope in that statement. What was the point in saying it after he’d gotten in my panties unless he wanted to get in my panties again? Maybe this didn’t have to be a one-time thing. Maybe I could see that look over and over and over.

  It was easier thinking that it wasn’t an option. Because when it was an option, when I was the one who got to say yea or nay, I would undoubtedly say yea, and I knew exactly what that would lead to—lots of amazing sex and a big fat broken heart. Mine, to be specific. Been there, done that; I was wise enough to know better.

  Knowing better meant believing the option was not on the plate. “And now it should be out of your system.” I pushed him away, then snatched a handful of tissues from the box on his desk so I could clean myself up.

  “Come on, Tessa.” He took the crumpled-up tissues from me, grabbed another to wrap the condom in, then threw all of it in the garbage by the side of his desk. “Are you really going to be like that?”

  “Like what?”

  His desk phone buzzed before he could respond. Reaching around me, he pushed the intercom, simultaneously giving me a glare that told me to be quiet. “Yes, Sadie?”

  Of course his assistant had a sexy name. She was probably blonde and five foot nine with big boobs. Oh, and they’d probably fucked plenty of times. I hadn’t forgotten that I’d met him finger-banging the front office receptionist.

  “Your father called down to let you know he’s on his way down for your one o’clock meeting.”

  Scott’s expression changed instantly. He checked his watch as though to confirm the time, then quickly began to do up his pants. “Thanks for the reminder,” he told her, then hung up before she could say anything. “Hate to cut this short, but that’s our cue to wrap this up.”

  I pulled myself together while he went into full-on clean-up mode, picking up my discarded panties, then his jacket, then retrieving my abandoned briefcase. I met him in the middle of the room where he handed me the latter. He put on the jacket, and not surprisingly, stuffed my panties in the inside pocket. “These, I keep.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know the drill.” That there was a drill, that I was being ushered out in a rush, were both reminders that this absolutely could not happen again.

  At the door, with my hand on the handle, he stopped me with a hand clasped possessively around my neck. “This discussion is to be continued,” he said before kissing me once more.

  A spine-tingling kiss that made it obvious to me that whatever I wanted to believe about how Scott Sebastian felt about me, he most definitely wasn’t out of my system.

  I was still dazed when he pulled away. Without a word, he fixed my lipstick and opened the door. “I’ll look over those materials and talk to you more next week, Ms. Turani,” he said a little louder than he needed to. “Thanks for stopping by.”

  God, he was good. So experienced with daytime trysts that he could shift gears in an instant.

  I made every effort to do the same. “That’s. Yes. Same. Thank you.”

  Obviously, I didn’t quite pull it off as well as he had. But I did manage to walk out without falling flat on my face, an amazing feat cons
idering how much my knees were knocking.

  As I passed Sadie’s desk on my right—oh, she was a sultry redhead; figured—a distinguished man with salt and pepper hair and blue eyes matching Scott’s passed me on the left.

  He glared as I walked by, or that might have been my imagination, or maybe the scowl was for his son who I heard greet him behind me. “Surprised to see you down here, Dad. I’d assumed our meeting would be in your office.”

  “I prefer to keep you on your toes.”

  Then the doors closed, or they were simply out of earshot. I didn’t bother to look back and check. It took all my concentration just to put one foot in front of the other and get myself the hell out of there.

  I’d made it to the main reception area before someone tried to stop me. “How’d it go?” Silvia asked.

  “Good, good.” I kept walking, eager to be on my way. “Late. Gotta—” I pointed in the direction I was going.

  “That’s great!” she called after me. “Congratulations!”

  It wasn’t until I was in the elevator and the doors were shut that I realized what she was congratulating me for.

  Shit! The foundation!

  Thirteen

  Fortunately, I was able to get an appointment with Scott for eleven-fifteen on Monday.

  “He’d like to know if this is business or...?” Sadie, the busty redhead, had asked when I’d called.

  “Business,” I’d said a little too quickly. “Definitely, definitely business.” I wasn’t sure who needed to know that more—me or Scott? Both of us had proven our willpower wasn’t exactly the best.

  Sadie had confirmed the meeting and even sent an email invitation, making it all official. With that set up, my mind was free to ruminate on other things. Specifically, what had happened in Scott’s office. How good it had felt. How wrong it had been. How the wrong of it had contributed to the feeling good.

  By the time I’d fallen asleep, I’d replayed the scene a hundred times. Thank God for the portable purse vibrator that Tey had gotten me for my last birthday because my hands weren’t doing it. Though, knowing Kendra and her spending habits, she probably had several still in their boxes hidden somewhere if I decided I wanted to explore.