Wicked

by M. Malone

  Let him chew on that for a minute. Bailey wasn’t here to be his personal assistant.

  "Fine. Use her."

  As if the asshole had any right to her. "Thanks." I was sure to keep my voice chipper. After all, I was taking the woman of my dreams to dinner. Like she deserved.

  When I found her, she was hunched over her desk, reviewing two different stacks. "Come on, I’ve sprung you."

  She blinked up at me as if unsure she was really seeing me. "Hunter?"

  "Yep, in the flesh. Now get your stuff before Dent changes his mind."

  She frowned. "What did you do?"

  "Nothing. I merely reminded him that you don't actually do any work for this campaign. So him having you stay is ridiculous. And I got Stephen to give me an out. I said I needed you on my project."

  "Hunter. You can’t do that."

  I nodded. "But I can. If I need an intern, I can ask for one. And I asked for you. So I can, and I did. Now get your stuff, unless you want to stay here all night collating for a client you don’t work with, checking for duplicate pages." I put up my hands. "Hey, I thought I was rescuing you, but maybe you're happier here."

  After that, she didn't hesitate. She grabbed her bag and then signaled one of the other interns to come and take the stacks from her. And then she was scurrying out behind me.

  "Thank you. I thought I was going to go blind in there."

  "What are friends for? Now, let's have dinner."

  The elevator door dinged open and I stepped in. Bailey hesitated as she followed. "Listen, Hunter, I appreciate the rescue. You have no idea how much. But I don't think dinner at your place is a really good idea."

  "Look, I know Dent. He doesn’t order enough food and you're probably starving.” I pulled out the truffles and gave them to her. “These will tide you over until we get to my place."

  She licked her lips as she stared at the truffles. "Who says we’re going to your place?"

  "I do. We have a date, remember?"

  She flushed. "Hunter. You didn't ask me for a date. You told me we were having one. I don't like being told what to do."

  I leaned over, crowding her a little. She took an automatic step back, but she didn't have very far to go before she hit the wall of the elevator. I kept my voice low and asked, "Are you sure you don't like it?"

  Her breath came out in choppy pants. "Hunter, I just—" Her gaze suddenly focused on my mouth and her tongue peeked out to lick her lips.

  I barely bit back a groan. Did she have any idea how sexy she was? "Yes, Bailey?"

  "Hunter, this—"

  I leaned in closer, dipping my head down as if I was going to kiss her. Shit, who was I fooling? I almost did. I forgot that this was all about the tease, and making her want me.

  My lips hovered just over hers. "Just tell me you don't want this."

  I pulled back a little; she was panting hard now. As I watched the erratic rise and fall of her breasts, my hands itched to palm them.

  "I—" she swallowed hard. Then tried again. "Hunter, I can't think when I'm around you."

  “Good. Now you know how I’ve been feeling since you showed up here.” When the elevator dinged open, I took her hand. "Come on. You need to eat and we need to talk."

  She hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. "Yeah. I guess we do need to talk."

  Right now, I needed to do a lot more with her than talk, but we would start with that. And bonus, she was holding my hand, clasping it tightly, like I was her lifeline. I loved the feeling. Without hesitation, I hailed a cab.

  She was mine. She just didn't know it yet.

  7

  Bailey

  As soon as we arrived at Hunter’s apartment, I parked myself on the couch. I’d been to his place plenty of times before, but it had never seemed this small.

  Hunter, however, seemed to have no issues. I watched as he moved around the living room, turning on lights. He’d hung his coat on the hook by the door and rolled his sleeves up. Even the sight of his bare forearms was hot.

  What was that about?

  I shrugged out of my coat and tossed it over the back of the couch. Usually when I went over his place, we just hung out, ate pizza, and bitched about work. It was so weird to be here now that he’d seen me naked. I cringed. Worse, he’d seen me naked and barfing, and had to physically peel me off him. Fantastic.

  “Is Chinese okay?” Hunter’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

  I nodded frantically. “Yeah, uh huh. Sure, whatever you want.”

  He looked at me strangely before pulling his phone out of his pocket. While he called the order in, I had to give myself a stern lecture about acting normal.

  Just be cool. This is no different than the million other times you’ve hung out. Yes, you embarrassed yourself the other day, but Hunter is a nice guy. He’s not going to rub your face in it.

  I felt a little better after that thought. Hunter was a nice guy. There was a reason I liked him so much and secretly fantasized about him, after all. He was not only whip smart but he had a great sense of humor, and he just… got me. He would never want to hurt my feelings or embarrass me. I let out a long breath.

  Hunter put his phone in his pocket and sat on the couch next to me. We were both quiet for a few minutes and then he turned to me.

  “So, we need to talk about what happened the other night.”

  I groaned. Okay, scratch that. Hunter is an asshole.

  “No, we don’t. I’m totally on board with pretending that never happened.”

  He leaned closer, crowding me until I couldn’t ignore his warm sugar and sandalwood scent. “I’m not okay with that. Damn it, Bailey. You can’t just get naked and grab my dick and then act like nothing happened.”

  Hearing his version of events somehow made it all worse. Mortification flowed over me like lava. I covered my eyes with my hands. Maybe if I didn’t have to see him, I could pretend this conversation was happening to someone else.

  “I told you I was sorry about that.”

  I wasn’t much of a drinker usually and this was a perfect example why. I didn’t like being out of control and I sure as hell didn’t like making a fool of myself. An image of me rubbing my bare breasts against Hunter in the shower flashed through my mind, and I groaned as a new wave of shame returned.

  “I’m never drinking vodka again!”

  Hunter chuckled. “I’ll believe that when I see it. And I don’t want you to be sorry.”

  I peeked between my fingers. “You don’t?”

  “Hell, no.” He sent me a look that was hot enough to instantly incinerate my panties.

  I clenched my thighs together. Hunter had never looked at me like that before. Was he thinking about what I looked like naked right now? Was he as hot as I was, remembering what we’d almost done?

  Then I realized that despite us being just friends, Hunter was still a guy. He probably figured if I was looking to get laid, why not? Why else would he suddenly be looking at me like a lollipop he wanted to taste? He just wanted to hit it and quit it, and I’d made it seem like I was open to that.

  “Look, Hunter. I think we should just forget what happened. We’re friends. Good friends. And I don’t want this to ruin everything. I’m not into just screwing whoever comes along.”

  Hunter frowned and looked hurt. “That’s not what I thought at all.” He looked like he was about to say something else, but the doorbell rang just then. He cursed, but got up to answer it.

  I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe if we focused on eating, we could get past all this weirdness and go back to the way things used to be.

  Hunter returned with the food, and for the next twenty minutes, we were completely consumed with doling out portions from the various containers of food. I finally started to relax when Hunter dug into his beef and broccoli, and showed no interest in talking about our almost-sex the other night.

  Maybe it would be fine and I’d been worried for nothing.

  But after he’d cleaned up all the remnants
of our dinner, he sat next to me, and I could tell he wasn’t done exploring the topic.

  God, I’d created a monster.

  “So you’re really going to pretend like that night didn’t mean anything?” Hunter asked. His tone of voice indicated that he thought I was full of shit, but was trying hard not to say so.

  I sat up on the couch slightly. If we were going to hash this out, I needed to be forceful. Otherwise, I had a feeling he’d bring it up every time I saw him.

  “Look, Hunter. That was a mistake, and I know it was confusing to you and I apologize for that. You shouldn’t have had to deal with me when I was drunk and horny. I don’t know why I was acting like that. In fact, I barely remember it.”

  “Oh really? Hmm.” Hunter eyed me curiously. “So you think you would have reacted that way to just anyone?”

  “Probably,” I lied. “I was clearly out of my mind. It didn’t mean anything.”

  Hunter grinned. “Really? Well, if you think so, then you won’t mind putting it to the test.”

  “What does that mean?” By the hungry look in his eyes, I had a feeling I knew exactly what he meant.

  Hunter

  I had always considered myself a pretty good judge of character. Liars were easy to spot if you knew what you were looking for, even skilled ones.

  Bailey was not a skilled liar.

  She swallowed nervously and I watched with interest as her throat moved. Hiding a groan, I reached down and tried to adjust my suddenly hard dick inside my pants. Fuck, I was turning into a sick son of a bitch if I was getting off just at the sight of her throat working. But I couldn’t deny that it brought to mind a fantasy of Bailey on her knees, swallowing around my swollen cock.

  She wasn’t doing anything so pleasurable in real life though. Oh no, right now she was glaring daggers at me that were so sharp I almost ducked.

  “What do you mean, a test?”

  I figured this was the time to tread carefully. Bailey could be unpredictable, and I was trying to get her closer, not scare her away. But she also couldn’t resist a challenge; something I had no problem using to my advantage.

  “Well, you said you were out of your mind and didn’t know what you were doing.”

  “I didn’t,” Bailey insisted before crossing her arms.

  Danger. Danger. Alarms were blaring in the back of my mind but I pressed on. I’d been subtle this long and where had that gotten me? Maybe it was time to try a different approach.

  “And you said that you would have responded that way to anyone.”

  “I know what I said, Hunter. Do we really need to rehash this?” She stood abruptly and made a move to grab her bag next to the couch.

  Oh, shit.

  I jumped up and grabbed her wrist. If she left now, we’d always have this awkward thing between us. And frankly, I wasn’t sure I’d survive, never knowing if things could be as hot between us as they’d been in that drunken shower kiss.

  “Let me go, Hunter.”

  “I can’t. Because I need to know. Kiss me again. We’re both sober now. Then we’ll see what’s real and what’s not.”

  Bailey’s mouth fell open and a tinge of pink appeared in her cheeks. Interesting. She wasn’t turned off by the idea. That gave me hope. Because there was a little part of me that was afraid she wasn’t lying, that she really had been just drunk and horny and willing to hump anything. But a greater part of me suspected that little Miss Innocent had a thing for me, just like I’d had a thing for her ever since they met.

  “That’s- that’s ridiculous!” she stammered. “You’re just trying to cop another feel!”

  I moved a little closer and her lips parted slightly, her eyes going soft as she regarded him from under lowered lashes. Oh yeah, she was into this. She could protest all she wanted, but the look on her face gave her away. It also bolstered my resolve to have another taste—a sober taste—of Bailey.

  I wanted to see that look on her face while she was spread out underneath me.

  “I don’t think this is such a good idea.” Bailey bit her lip and slanted another look in my direction. But then she licked her lips, unconsciously giving away her thoughts. She wanted this. And I found that my new mission in life was to give her what she wanted. Especially when she was eyeing me like a treat she wanted to lick up.

  I raised my hand slowly, so as not to startle her. She watched it warily, but let out a soft little moan when I palmed her cheek. Her eyes closed and she turned into my touch.

  “I think this is a very good idea,” I muttered. “Let me taste you again, sweetheart. I’ve been dying for another taste ever since that torture session in your shower.”

  Her eyes popped open, so I made my move before she could say anything. The instant our lips met, I knew I was in trouble.

  Fucking hell, she tasted like peaches and sex.

  Bailey moaned against my lips and the sound drove me out of my mind. Then I turned my head to get a better connection between us, and that’s when everything blazed out of control. Bailey practically jumped into my arms, and then we were kissing like we wanted to inhale each other, while she scratched the hell out of my back. Our mouths fused together, and I wasn’t aware of anything other than the slick glide of her tongue against mine, and the fireworks exploding inside my mind.

  This was what I’d been missing, the thing I’d always suspected would be between us, and while my mind soared, my dick got harder than ever.

  If she walked away from me after this, I wouldn’t survive it.

  I walked her backward until she bumped up against the wall. All I could do was be thankful it was there, because otherwise, we would have landed on the floor. Neither of us were aware of our surroundings; only of each other, and the way it felt to be in each other’s arms.

  In that moment, I realized what a mistake I’d made. Not in kissing Bailey (that was nothing short of a miracle), but in thinking that I could walk away unaffected if she turned me down after this.

  Because if Bailey didn’t want me, it would have been better to never know just how damn good it could be between us.

  8

  Bailey

  Oh, God, yes. I couldn’t hold back a moan.

  Hunter's tongue slid over mine, demanding that I respond. His big body crowded me. And then he took my hands in one of his and pinned them above me as he licked into my mouth.

  This. This was what I needed. And I wanted more of it. And, bonus! Hunter was more than capable of giving me…more. His huge erection pressed against my belly, and I groaned.

  Why did it feel so good to have him pressing into me? Why the hell did it feel so good to have him be so take-charge and in control? Why did I crave it?

  I didn't want to be this woman. I didn't want to need him to restrain my hands above my head and to make me moan as he sucked at my neck.

  Who are you kidding? Yes, you do want this. You do need this. This was Hunter, and like it or not, I’d been fantasizing about him long before the events of last Friday.

  That was the truth. I had been fantasizing about him. And so what if my vibrator had gotten a lot of use since I’d started working at Bold Horizons? I wasn’t admitting that. Not to him, anyway. Because we were just friends.

  Oh yeah, you kiss all your friends like that?

  My mind tried weakly to restart, to take over the thickening of the lust in my blood. It tried to come online and use rationality to quell the burning need Hunter had sent thrumming inside my body. My brain tried to flush out the lust that was making my skin hum and my body purr. Unfortunately, my brain was losing that battle.

  Hunter tore his lips from mine. "You taste so fucking good. I could do this all damn day."

  He slid his hand up my torso. Despite myself, I arched into the caress, seeking more, wanting his hands on me. With his other hand, he palmed my breast, gently swiping his thumb over my nipple, and my clit throbbed.

  I was going to come. Just like this. With Hunter pressing up against my belly, swiping his thumb over me, I w
as going to come apart, standing up, backed up against a wall in his apartment. Was I really ready for that?

  Quick answer, no. Because Hunter was my friend. And whatever the hell my body wanted to do, whatever the hell I’d managed to convince his body he wanted to do, that line we were crossing was going to break us. I couldn't have that. I needed Hunter. He was one of my few true friends at the company, and I wasn't about to ruin that or my career just because Hunter Richards made my panties wet.

  With that, my brain finally started to come online, to run through all the reasons why this was a terrible idea. My brain helpfully listed the reasons:

  1.The two of us were friends.

  2.The morning after had sucked hard. I wasn't eager to repeat that experience.

  3.Hunter had one helluva reputation.

  He never talked about it, but the interns in the office pretty much swooned whenever he walked by. One of the interns told me that he’d dated a friend of hers. Word was, his dick was huge. Huge. Like, world-record sized. From the feel of it, they weren’t kidding.

  Was I really willing to have my vajayjay stretched out by my best friend? Yes, absolutely yes. What? No. Of course not. Not at all.

  I slid my hand down his chest and gently shoved. "Hunter. Stop. We can't."

  Hunter shook his head and looked like he was battling to open his eyelids. "What? Why the fuck not?"

  "I'm sorry. I just can't. We’re going to ruin everything if we do this. If you just wanted to prove a point, yes, I remember. I remember everything. But I can't handle this." That was the truth at least. I slid out from under his arm.

  "Bailey, wait. Look, if we just talk —"

  But I was done talking. I knew what would happen if we talked any more. I was going to climb him like a tree. I was going to sit on that monster dick and demand that he give me orgasms. And that wasn’t going to work out well for me. Better to run.

  Yes, tomorrow at work would be awkward, but we would manage. As long as we didn’t cross this line.

  "I'm sorry, Hunter."