First Comes Love

by Juliana Conners

  All eyes are on Janice, but she merely shrugs.

  “I just thought… I’ve always thought… it would be best if…”

  “Best if you could get some dirt on me and have me leave my own firm, so that you could take it over?” Asher asks her.

  Cameron narrows his eyebrows.

  “Janice, if you had a concern about Asher I’d have appreciated it if you would have talked to him or me directly first. We’ve all been partners for a very long time. Instead you went to HR and my hands were tied. I couldn’t do anything but follow protocol and come to this meeting. I was afraid to even go and tell Asher about the meeting myself, but I thought I owed him that, considering we’d been friends for so long.”

  Cameron nods in Asher’s direction.

  “Since the marble ring,” Asher says, with a playful wink.

  I could tell that Asher was upset with Cameron but I’m glad he’s being so forgiving.

  “Maybe it’s best if you do go your own way, Janice,” Carmeron says. “But don’t use any of the firm resources or clients when you go. You can take Mandy with you though,” he says.

  I can’t help myself. I smirk.

  The HR Manager has long skedaddled and I can’t wait to get out of here too. I can’t believe my job has been saved. I just want to get away from the craziness that is Janice and Mandy combined, and be alone with Asher.

  Finally, we’re in my new office together, which is closer to Conference Room A than his office.

  “Nice digs,” he says, gesturing towards the window with the partial view of the Sandias.

  “Not as nice as yours,” I tell him.

  “You have to start somewhere.” He smiles.

  “Did you really mean what you said in there?” I ask him. “Or did you just say it to convince them to let you sign the form and not get either of us into trouble?”

  He smiles at me, rather mysteriously.

  “Either way, thanks,” I tell him.

  I cross the room and bury my head in his chest. He holds me tight and then tilts my chin up to look at him.

  “I meant it,” he tells me. “I love you. I have never felt this way about anyone. It’s almost scary, the way that I feel.”

  “I know what you mean,” I tell him, as he kisses me with those full, sweet lips of his.

  I always knew great things awaited me at this job. That it was a new start and a fresh leaf for me. I just didn’t know that those things included a relationship with the boss that was even more than either of us had bargained for.

  Epilogue

  Madilyn

  It’s Valentine’s Day and it’s raining. That’s fitting, because it’s the anniversary of my father’s death. We gather at his gravesite: Mom, my brothers and Asher and me.

  Of course my mom had opinions about me dating my much older boss. But I’ve never listened to her advice. And in the end Asher even won her over, by paying for her kitchen to be redone.

  “I can’t believe you bought my mother’s affection,” I often tell him.

  “Well, whatever works,” he always says. “And in my case, it’s often money that works the best. Plus, you helped me win that big verdict in the Schwartz case, so part of it was your money too.”

  Now, despite the rain and the thunder that starts roaring, my mother talks, because that’s what she does best.

  “I’d like to say a few words,” she begins, and my brothers and I smirk at each other, all of us trying not to roll our eyes because we know it will be more than a few words. “Your father had his faults but he was a good man. He left part of himself here with all of us. No one knows what it was like to live with him besides me. But even I have very good memories of him…”

  I slip my hand into Asher’s. I’m so glad he’s here with me. He gives my hand a squeeze and I look up into the sky, letting my dad know I remember him in my own way, although I don’t have quite the dramatic tendencies that my mother does.

  Later, after I say goodbye to my mom and brothers, I get into the car with Asher and say, “Thanks for coming.”

  “Of course,” he says. “I think it’s really great that you still try to have some relationship with your mom despite how… difficult she can be.”

  I shrug.

  “I mostly do it for my dad’s sake,” I tell him. “Because I know he’d want me to still have some sort of relationship with her. But it’s not like we’re particularly close.”

  “Well, you’re a very forgiving person,” Asher says. “And it’s inspiring. It makes me try to forgive my own mother more.”

  “I think you’re a forgiving person,” I tell him. “You forgave Janice.”

  “Not really,” he laughs. “I was just glad to be rid of her.”

  Janice had left to form her own firm. It wasn’t the happy ending she thought she would have when she had been colluding with Mandy and Asher’s ex to take his firm from him. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, though. She has a few of her own clients that went with her, even though she didn’t take any of Asher’s like she had hoped.

  “But you helped her transition smoothly,” I tell him. “And you let her take some of the clients she called her own, but which were really the firm’s.”

  He shrugs.

  “The oil and gas cases were hers anyway,” he says. “She brought them with her to the firm. And she’s just their piddly little local counsel anyway. It’s not like that work brought in a ton of money.”

  I smile.

  He downplays it, but he’s a nice guy at heart, despite his outwardly asshole appearance.

  “Well, I hope Mandy’s having fun working for her,” I tell him. “Even though she can’t be your pet like she wanted to be.”

  We pull up to the Alcove, where we’d decided to have Valentine’s Day dinner. In honor of our first real date.

  “I’m so glad I met you,” he says, as we are seated. “I can’t believe in the past my tastes would have run more towards the Mandy Calderon type. What was I thinking?”

  I laugh.

  “Yeah, luckily I came along to save you from your bad taste,” I tell him.

  “Seriously, though, Madilyn, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he insists.

  “Awwww.”

  I’m used to him being sweet now— as well as dominant, possessive and sometimes a bit controlling, which is fine, because sometimes I’m a bit controlling too— but it’s still touching.

  Suddenly he’s kneeling down on the floor, looking up at me with that mischievous grin that I love.

  “Did you get us a room and drop the key card?” I guess.

  There’s no need to get a room, because I spend almost all my time at his house now, and we’ve been talking about moving into together. It will be nice to get away from the house I shared with Jimmy, and all my memories of that loveless, sexless relationship.

  But I figure maybe Asher got us a room just to be romantic, and maybe to be able to stay here and have another drink or two without having to worry about driving. Maybe he’s doing the “Oops, I dropped a keycard” game as a throwback to our first date. I assume he’ll look up my dress at my panties and feel me up while he’s down there under the table. And then we can continue the rest of the night just like last time.

  I’m excited if that’s true. It would be fun for him to tie me up in the same hotel bed again. But then again, it’s always fun to be with him, no matter where we are.

  “No,” he answers me. “I didn’t drop the key card. But I do have this.”

  I look down and see him holding up a large diamond ring.

  “Oh my God.”

  “Madilyn St. Clair, will you marry me?”

  “Yes!” I exclaim, and everyone in the restaurant looks at us. Only now I don’t care. Now I’m glad that everyone can see me happy and in love… and being proposed to!

  “I mean, yes, Boss! I will!”

  “She said yes,” Asher announces, picking me up in his strong arms and twirling me around.

 
“Very good,” says our waiter, and I realize that Asher was announcing it to him and not to just the restaurant in general. He’s the same waiter from last time. “I will bring the Chianti and the tiramisu. You can have dessert first, to celebrate the engagement.”

  “This is amazing,” I tell Asher, as I bury my face in his neck and try not to cry. I’m filled with happiness to the point that it flows over in tears.

  “I told you you’d changed my life for the better,” Asher says. “And I intend to prove it to you, every single day of my life.”

  Sleeping with my boss could have turned out to be a very bad decision. But luckily it has become the best one I’ve ever made. I can’t wait to come to work every day as Mrs. Asher Marks, attorney at law, co- counsel on the most successful cases in the country, and wife and “pet” of the founding partner.

  Asher

  It’s late when Madilyn and I finish dinner, but there’s still something I want to do.

  “We need to go back to the office,” I tell her.

  “But why?” she says, slightly tipsy from too much wine. “You have a perfectly nice king size bed at home…”

  “Because I want to finish the night where we started off our life together,” I tell her.

  Once we get to the Fifteenth Floor, I slide my pass card and take her into my office.

  “Now take off your clothes,” I tell her.

  “Yes, Boss.”

  She shimmies out of her little black dress and stands in her fishnet stocking and fancy lingerie I bought her. I start snapping pictures.

  “I once made the decision to make you my only pet for the rest of eternity,” I tell her. “And so I need some pictures of you for my iPad.”

  “Yes, Boss.”

  And then she says, “Why? Do you need to look at them the next time you run away to the end of the world without me?”

  “Oh no,” I tell her. “I’m not going anywhere without you. All of those mountain climbing lessons I’ve been giving you are going to come in handy when we go on a trip.”

  “I can’t wait,” she says.

  I snap a picture of her happy grin.

  “This is a great Valentine’s Day present,” I tell her.

  “Oh yeah.” She laughs. “Happy V Day. Thanks for the ring.”

  She holds it up and it flashes and sparkles as I take pictures of it.

  “I would have given you a V Day card but you already took my V Card.”

  “I sure did.”

  We both laugh.

  She strips down until she’s totally naked, wearing only the engagement ring I had just given her. I snap photos of her until I can’t bear it any more. I need to touch her body. To feel her skin against mine.

  I get closer to her and she unbuttons my Oxford shirt.

  “I remember the day that I met you, this was all I wanted to do,” she says.

  “And I thought you were so sweet and innocent at first.”

  She laughs as she unbuttons my pants.

  “Boy, did I have you fooled. I had a lot of pent up sexual energy, just needing to find the right direction. Which was towards you.”

  “I know,” I tell her. “You didn’t really have me fooled. I saw the way you looked at me. You couldn’t help but blush. You wanted me from the start.”

  She nods, as if she can’t bear to speak right now, as if it might ruin the moment. But she’s still looking at me in that shy but eager way that she looked at me during associate orientation.

  I push her up against my desk and bend her over, ready to take her again in the same way that I first took her virginity.

  “Are you my little pet forever?” I ask her.

  “Yes, Boss.”

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  “Yes?”

  “Maybe we need to make a little Asher Marks Junior.”

  She turns around and smiles at me.

  My heart pounds for a minute, a little scared. I suppose I should have asked her if she wants children before I proposed to her. I have decided I do want them, with her. But even if she doesn’t, I still want her, I’ll just be a bit disappointed.

  “What about a little Madilyn Marks Junior?” She asks, and I catch my breath again.

  “Fine with me,” I tell her. “I’ll bet she’ll have your beautiful smile.”

  “I hope she doesn’t inherit my cankles,” she says. “I hear that’s genetic.”

  “You heard all of that from a very unreliable source,” I assure her. “You don’t even have cankles.”

  I kiss her neck, her back and I trace my fingers down her side until I feel her skin rising up with tiny goosebumps against my chest and arms.

  “You have beautiful ankles that match the rest of your beautiful body,” I tell her.

  I bend her over the desk and hold her hands behind her back.

  “I love your ankles. And I love all of you.”

  “I love you too, Boss,” she says.

  I push my cock into her wet pussy, not bothering to worry about a condom this time. Her naked pussy feels so welcoming, so pure and like it’s exactly where I belong.

  “I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to fuck you without a condom,” I tell her.

  “It sure feels good,” she moans.

  I realize she’s already about to come, so I massage her nipples while I thrust my cock in and out of her pussy slowly yet purposefully.

  Mmmmm.

  She leans more into me as my cock swells up even bigger.

  Being inside her is the best feeling in the world. And I’m so glad it never has to end now. I can truly take her any time I want, anywhere I want. She’s not only going to be my Pet but my wife.

  I hear her moans as she comes and I tell her, “I’m going to come in your pussy, okay?”

  “Yes, Boss.”

  We come together, my cock pulsing and shooting its cum into her pussy, joining her wetness and making us truly one. And perhaps a family of three. If not now, then hopefully soon.

  “I love you,” she says, hanging her head and panting from the force of our combined orgasm. “You’re the best boss ever.”

  “I love you too. You’re the best fiancé ever.”

  And I used to think I got everything I fucking wanted. Now I’m just glad that I realized what I was truly missing. Madilyn was the one women I was always looking for the entire time.

  Extended Epilogue

  ONE YEAR LATER

  Asher

  It’s Valentine’s Day and it’s also Madilyn’s and my wedding day. Ever since Madilyn first walked into my law firm, I had wanted to fuck her for her very first time. But I didn’t know I’d want to marry her.

  I never thought I’d get married again to anyone after what my ex-wife put me through. But ever since meeting Madilyn I’ve done a lot of things I never thought I would do. And so has she.

  Before she met me, she never thought she’d let her boss bend her over his desk or tie her up to his office chair and fuck her pussy and her ass. She hadn’t even had sex when I’d first met her. But within no time— and certainly by now— I’d explored and defiled every inch of her body.

  At the same time, I wasn’t used to opening up to someone and learning how to heal and grow. Madilyn is the only woman who had ever inspired me to do that. She’d given me her virginity and I had given her my heart. I think it turned out to be a pretty good deal for both of us.

  So now I’m standing at the alter waiting for my bride. Four hundred and eighty-nine of our closest friends and family members— or colleagues, or acquaintances who wanted a free open bar reception— are gathered here today to witness our union.

  And Ron Sanchez is standing beside me as my best man.

  “You really picked a winner this time, Asher,” he’s told me on multiple occasions since that crazy day he found out about Madilyn’s and my “illicit” relationship through HR. That day we thought that our secret and super hot love making sessions had finally ended up getting us both canned. “I can tell she’s good for
you. She makes you happy.”

  My response is always “I’m glad you finally approve, Ron.”

  At first it was rather annoying that he always seemed to think I valued his opinion so strongly but I guess he’s right that I do. He’s always been my right-hand man ever since I started that marble-trading ring way back when.

  And now as I see him wink at his wedding date in the second row— his secretary who is a lot younger than he is and who Ron always gushes to me as being “the hottest little number” he’s ever seen— I know that he approves of my choice so much he decided to copy off me.

  And he’s right that I’m happier now too.

  My ex-wife hasn’t tried to call me since the fiasco with Janice and Mandy, but even if she had, I wouldn’t pick up the phone and I wouldn’t fucking let her bother me anymore. I don’t know why I ever did. I guess some things were too hard to get over before I had the love of Madilyn, my own “hottest little number” I’ve ever seen.

  Speaking of Madilyn, I don’t know where she is. The guitar player looks confused but then begins playing the same song over again after the wedding officiant walks over and whispers something in his ear. The guests look around, beginning to realize that something is amiss.

  Our female wedding guests wrap their sweaters around themselves and huddle into their wedding dates’ arms as a gust of cold air blows in. Even though it’s February we decided to have an outdoor wedding at the park across the street from the cemetery where Madilyn’s dad is buried. She said that way he could see her get married to the love of her life.

  But now she isn’t here. I shift back and forth, growing anxious. I know Madilyn wouldn’t flake out on me, on what is supposed to be the best day of our lives. Would she?

  This past year has been amazing. We’ve worked on several big cases together and we’ve moved in together. She’s sold the smaller house she had lived in with Jimmy and I sold the condo I had always jokingly referred to as my Bachelor Pad and we bought a nice house in the Northeast Heights.

  Our new house has plenty of bedrooms in case we manage to successfully have a child. But the prospects on that are beginning to look slim. After a year of trying, nothing has happened and so it’s back to the fucking fertility doctors for me even though so far they have no further answers than I was able to get out of them the last time around.