John swatted my shoulder. “You dirty bastard. How long have you been keeping that secret?”
“It’s not. We’re not shagging.” I stammered. The longer they looked at me he more ridiculous I sounded. My phone burned a hole in my pocket against my leg. I all but twitched to see what she said.
“Open the text, then,” John teased, “For us to see exactly how little shagging is going on.”
“It’s probably about work.” I unlocked the screen, keeping the phone under the table.
Taylor craned his neck to catch a glimpse of my screen. “Right. Work. You’ve been very busy working.” He gave up and sa back in his seat.
“I think our boy is in love.” John leaned into Taylor dramatically, they laughed and clinked glasses.
“She just got out of an engagement.”
“We know,” they said in unison.
“It’s not like that. We’re just messing around.” I pulled my phone out, seeing as the cat was all the way out of the bag.
Meet me at midnight?
When I looked up from my phone Taylor and John were exchanging a look that said they were going to talk about me the second I left for the night.
I checked my watch. It was only ten-thirty. “She just needs a rebound. It’s purely sexual. The lines were drawn before we started… this.”
Neither of my mates responded.
“We’re just having fun.”
“You look a tad bit anguished for someone who is having fun.” Taylor’s expression had changed. He looked worried.
“Someone at the office is picking up on it so we both went out to quell the rumors.”
“So, she’s out with someone else?” John asked.
“We’re exclusive. She’s just at a club. We’re meeting up later.”
John flagged down a waitress. “Do you hear yourself, mate? You’re in deep.”
“Don’t you think I bloody know that?” This was why I had avoided them. The inquisition and subsequent judgement was unsettling.
“Just making sure you realize you’re making a mistake.”
“Celeste isn’t a mistake,” I snapped. Letting myself fall for Celeste was on the long list of things I shouldn’t have done in this lifetime. But never having loved her would have been worse than the sweet torture of my addiction to her laughter. In truth, the way I felt for her was a euphoria I would spend the rest of my life chasing because inevitably she would end our little arrangement. Celeste was going to break my heart… I signed up for that when I kissed her back in that alleyway.
I texted her back anyway.
Bloody. Fucking. Wanker.
CHAPTER 32
Celeste
“Hi.” My heartbeat quickened.
“Hello.” Isaac grabbed my wrist and yanked me into the apartment, slamming the door behind me. He prowled towards me, tossing his shirt off. “Glad to see you couldn’t make it to Monday.” My stomach dipped as I backed up, thrilling at the feeling of being stalked like that. “That’s a lovely dress.” The clinking of his belt buckle. “I bet all the blokes were drooling.”
“Not exactly.” I turned and started towards his bedroom. I heard the whoosh of his belt as he whipped it off.
“Don’t take off your heels.” He commanded when I reached for them. I looked coyly over my shoulder at him. A sound low and deep in his throat was punctuated by the snap of his belt. “Take your hair down.”
“So demanding. If I recall, you owe me tonight.” I tugged at the hem of my dress and pulled it over my head. Isaac grabbed me around the waist and tossed me onto the bed. I giggled and pushed him playfully with my stiletto, the heel puncturing his bare chest. Isaac kissed my ankle.
“If I recall, you’re the nonverbal player here,” he nipped my ankle.
“I can be very vocal.” I dug my other heel into his chest, earning a devilish half-grin.
“You’re improving.”
“I used to just lay there.”
His smile faded for a millisecond before returning. “Let’s see how much you’ve improved, Miss McAlaster.”
“Fuck me,” I whispered.
He laughed. “Ah yes, I will.” He lowered himself over me and kissed my lips, just a soft tender brush of heat. “I want you to say every filthy thing you want me to do to you,” his whisper sent a trail of fire through me. “It’s just us in this room. You trust me, right?”
“Lay down.”
“I like where this is going, boss.”
I crawled over him straddling his hips. His hard cock settled in that perfect spot. I ground my hips once, relieving some of the pent-up desire.
“Anything you want.” Isaac encouraged me with his hands on my hips, sliding me forward and back again.
I want to sit on your face.
I battled for a moment in my head. I wanted… I’d fantasized about it. It turned me on just to picture myself on him. I closed my eyes and imagined Isaac’s breath down there, his strong hands gripping my ass.
I was startled out of my fantasy when Isaac sat up and brushed my hair over my shoulder. “Celeste, love, I can tell when you’re fantasizing. You don’t have to say anything. I’ll follow your lead. I was just teasing.”
That feeling I was ignoring at the club blossomed again in my stomach and rolled up to my chest. I shoved it down and pushed Isaac back onto the bed. I crawled over his face and Isaac lowered my pussy to his lips. Bastard had the balls to smile against me. “Make me come.” He moaned into me as he kissed my clit. Slow. Teasing. Killing me.
Isaac rolled his tongue, sucked my clit in, and hummed. The sensation was new and so intense I hopped a little away. He caught my hips and pushed me back down and did it again. “Fuck,” I gasped, “Just like that.”
“Hm?” The wordless question sent another spark of pleasure through me and I rolled my hips against it.
“Just like that.” I shuddered over him.
He responded with a hum.
“Lick my pussy.” Isaac dipped his tongue into me and dragged it up my center, sucking on my clit. I rode his face, teetering on the edge of ecstasy. It wasn’t enough. It was too soft, too wet.
I rolled off of him and he followed me to the edge of the bed. He started to kneel, pushing my thighs wide. “Stand up and fuck me,” I commanded.
His blue eyes darkened as he did what he was told, settling between my legs. He wet his cock against my clit and pushed it inside of me. Isaac grabbed my ankles and hit a steady rhythm that had me writhing under him. “Faster.” Isaac didn’t miss a beat and thrust into me long and hard. All that escaped his lips were short growls as he watched where our bodies were joined, meeting my gaze between thrusts. It was primal and hard and the swell of him inside of me had me repeating filthy things in my head.
“Say it.”
“Come inside my fucking pussy.” I gave voice to my lust and watched as Isaac’s eyes widened.
“Fuck, Celeste.”
“Yes.” I gritted my teeth against an orgasm that jolted through me, ripping from my spine and washing over every nerve ending in my flushed and exhausted body. Isaac followed, slowing his pace as he spilled into me. I could feel the contractions of his cock inside of me as he collapsed over me, kissing me everywhere. Brushing my hair back, leaving a trail of kisses across my forehead to my neck.
“You’re very naughty in your head, aren’t you?” Isaac bit my earlobe and kissed my cheek.
“You’re corrupting me.” I dug my heels into his ass, earning myself a spank to my thigh.
§ Isaac §
I handed Celeste the book we were reading together, a best-selling murder mystery. “I have a confession to make.” I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly as she settled in between my legs. “Taylor and John figured us out.” It surprised me how little I cared. But I worried how she would react.
“How?” She shrugged and leaned back into me. I couldn’t identify any emotion from her other than droll amusement.
“They can tell when I’m smitten.”
&n
bsp; “Are you? Smitten?” She flipped open to the page we’d left off on. “Are you really that attracted to me? Or am I just—”
I cut her off with a hand to her jaw, turning her face to me. “Yes, I am that attracted to you. I’ve been like a fucking schoolboy since the day you showed up in my office. If you must know, you’ve been my only fantasy since that day, and reality turned out to be better than anything my dirty mind could come up with. I like you, Celeste, a lot. You.”
She stilled, her breath catching in her chest. What kind of piece of shit men had she been with? Her body language was screaming that she didn’t believe me. The way her heartbeat quickened screamed liar liar liar.
I leaned away from her, found her face distant, hesitant, thoughts racing. Maybe I was a piece of shit for lusting after my co-author. Maybe fucking her without thinking of the consequences made me an idiotic piece of shit. But I wasn’t a lying piece of shit, and I wasn’t using her. Maybe she was using me. Maybe we were growing into something more for her, too. I knew I was totally mad for her, and I meant it when I said, “I’ll never get enough of you, Celeste. You’re perfect.”
“I’m not perfect.” She nestled into my embrace again.
“I beg to differ. Read.”
Celeste rested her head back and I let her voice fill the room for a while before she drifted off to sleep. I plucked the book from her chest, tossed it aside, and curled up with her. The little sighs that escaped while she fell deeper into sleep had me kissing her shoulder and running my hands over the curve of her hips until I drifted off after her. Chasing the nagging feeling that she hadn’t responded to me when I told her I liked her.
CHAPTER 33
Isaac
“Shit, Celeste, wake up.” I put a hand on her shoulder. She stirred and shot up.
“What?”
“We need to get into the office. Now.” I was throwing on a pair of pants. She bolted out of bed and scrambled to pull on her bra. “They found a shipping container of women.” I tossed her my phone. She stood there, in her bra and panties, scrolling at the speed of light. She covered her mouth in shock and her knees buckled, the bed sinking as she collapsed to it.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. My phone dinged. “It’s Michael. Shit, it’s already nine.”
“I know, he’s been calling since six.”
“Shiiiiiiiiit.” Celeste tossed my phone on the bed and ran to the bathroom. Within five minutes she came out in a pair of my workout shorts. She’d taken one of my tee-shirts and tied it at the side, giving the illusion it was an oversized woman’s shirt. Her hair was up in a messy bun, and she’d thrown on some makeup haphazardly. I thanked God above that she’d left a pair of sneakers at my place to come running one day… even though we never got around to it.
“How are we going to make it seem like we weren’t together?” She picked up her phone from the dresser and groaned. “Yikes, I have fifteen missed calls.”
“You have to get there first.”
“We have to stop silencing our phones.” She was calling someone. I came up behind her and slid my hand around her waist. I kissed her cheek and made my way down to her neck. She swatted at me me. “Michael, I’m so sorry. Yes, I just called Isaac. He’s up. We’re both headed in now.”
Michael was screaming through the phone, “I’ve been calling the both of you for hours!”
“I’m sorry. I was out for a run and I forgot my phone,” she lied.
“Isaac better get his dick out of whoever he’s fucking and get his ass here, now!”
He hung up on her and Celeste threw her phone in her purse. “Oh my God, we’re in so much trouble.”
“First of all, it was inappropriate for him to say that to you. Second of all, it’s you I’m fucking so, joke’s on him. Third, it’s Saturday, technically neither of us has to pick up work calls on the weekend. We have lives.”
“You better do the talking then, because I’ll probably just cry. How many women did the article say?”
“Six hundred and fifty-three,” I informed her. Her face twisted in disgust and pain. We shared a moment of silence, grieving for these women. “Looks like Sarah Taylor sold out some information for immunity. She’s got to be back in the UK. Article doesn’t say anything about that, though.”
I’d been working for years trying to prove the sex trafficking of women from and into Russia. My whole book was about my suspicions. My entire career, dedicated to tracking and taking down the organization orchestrating it all. I was never able to report more than my suspicions because I didn’t have enough evidence. No witnesses. No victims willing to tell their story. No government officials willing to give more details than the vague assertion that they’re, “doing all they can.” I always knew Sarah Taylor didn’t belong with those oligarchs. She was the one puzzle piece that didn’t make any sense.
“You have to call Meghan right now.” Our feet were pounding the pavement. We were both gasping for air, the sense of urgency and purpose driving us forward. My flat was only a few blocks from the office. We would be there in just a few minutes if we kept jogging. I dialed Meghan and put her on speakerphone.
“Isaac? The hell do you want?” Meghan’s voice was raspy, like she’d been sleeping.
“Check the news. I need you to get me in to see your boss.” I filled her in and I could sense the shock in her silence.
“Of course. Of course. I’ll call you back.” We exchanged goodbyes as Celeste and I approached the building.
“I’ll say you waited for me in the lobby. Let me handle Michael.”
All the lights were off and the lift ride was tense and uncomfortable with Celeste. She looked worried. I reached for her fingertips and gave them a squeeze. Celeste followed my lead, holding her breath.
“Morning,” I said as I pushed open Michael’s door and made room for Celeste.
Kieran’s fiery red hair was nothing compared to the shock in her eyes as she instantly put together what I knew Michael wasn’t keen enough to understand. She blinked several times, and it was Celeste who broke their silence. “Sorry, I left my phone back home when I went running. I wondered why you were gone when I got back. I got here as fast as I could.”
Kieran looked like she might grab the paperweight from the desk and knock us both out. She didn’t answer quickly enough so I stepped in, “My phone was on silent, Celeste stopped by my flat and woke me up. We’re here now, let’s get to work.”
Celeste and I couldn’t be more obvious if we bloody tried. Luckily Michael was pacing the room, too busy berating us to catch the women’s silent exchange in looks and a deep sigh from Kieran. Celeste looked to me and I avoided her gaze, stepping into Michael’s warpath instead. “I called my source, she’ll get me an interview.”
“She better or I’ll have your ass! We were the exclusive! We were on the map! Internet traffic to our site has gone up,” he paused searching for a number.
“Two hundred seventy-eight percent, sir,” Kieran interjected.
“Two hundred and seventy-eight percent! Whatever that means!” I could feel Celeste’s boldness withering under his temper and Kieran’s scrutiny.
“We’ll have our report ready for publication by Monday. We were almost finished, anyway. And by then we’ll have an interview set up. We can keep people engaged if we keep releasing while the news unfolds.”
I shot a look at Celeste, who stood firmly at my side, clenching her jaw. We were nearly done, but our deadline wasn’t for another week. We’d be up for the next forty-eight hours to finish the full project report.
“You bet your ass! Neither of you have plans with anyone but each other and me until this all ends. Do you understand me?”
§ Celeste §
Little does he know. I thought sourly. I’d never seen Michael raise his voice in a rage. Did he yell a lot? Sure. But not like this. Not in a way that sent waves of self-doubt and shame through my bones. I nodded. Isaac stood at my side, unmoving.
Michael’s expression turned, the
angry lines in his forehead relaxing. “People are listening to us right now, to our mission. This doesn’t happen often. This story can open doors for potential donors in all of our divisions. It seems wrong, but we have to exploit this story and our exclusive access,” he shot Isaac a knowing look, “For as long as we can. Neither of you can forget your phone or have it off. For now, your whole life is this job. When this is over, I’ll give you an extended holiday or something.”
Kieran left the room first, claiming she’d drop copies at everyone’s desks in a few minutes. I ran down the hallway to catch up to her. I called her name. She didn’t turn. Before she could close the copy room door on me, I pushed the door back and forced myself inside.
“Kieran, I’m sorry.”
She scoffed. “Isaac is the guy. All this time.”
“He doesn’t want anyone to know. Please, Kieran, you can’t tell anyone.”
“Oh? Because I’m such a gossip? Because I’ve spent the past few months airing your dirty laundry all over the office?” She slammed the papers into the copy machine and pounded at the buttons. The sleepy machine clanked and whirred in protest while it began scanning.
“No! I know you’d never.” I took a step towards her.
“Then what?” She cut me off. “What is it then? You made up a whole name, address, everything. I thought we were friends.”
“We are.”
“Are we? Because it seems like you chose to trust Isaac over me.”
“No!”
“So, what? Why didn’t you tell me it was Isaac, since you trust me that much?”
I froze. She was right. She had every right to be angry. “I don’t know. No one knows. We just… kept it a secret. And it’s not what you’re thinking. It’s just sex and we’re going to end it. We’re just, screwing and don’t want it to get complicated.”
She pointed at me, her face twisted in disgust. “You’re wearing his shirt and you reek of his cologne. You’re lucky Michael is as thick as a barge.”
I hid my face in shame. “I know. I know.”
“You’re lucky Payton isn’t here, yet!”
See You Monday: An Office Romance (Weekday series Book 1) Page 23
