“So, are you enjoying yourself?” I asked.
“Yes. This is nice. I’ve never been to a formal work event like this before.”
“I personally think it’s overrated.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But I have to be here. Personally, there’s other things I wished I could be doing right now…” I tightened my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me.
She looked up, a smirk on her face. “Oh really? Other things like what?”
I leaned in, whispering in her ear. “Don’t tempt me to tell you right here in the middle of the dance floor.”
A low laugh escaped her throat, making me want to kiss her right then and there. She tightened her arms around me and gazed into my eyes. “Too bad we can’t find somewhere to sneak off to so that you could show me instead.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Is that a dare?”
Joanna tilted her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders. “No, more like a challenge.”
Come hell or high water, I would take her right now. I smirked at her. “Consider your challenge accepted.”
I searched for Tobias once more, but he was deep in conversation with the executives, which could allow us to make our escape. Concocting a plan, I stepped away from her.
“I’ll go first and wait for you at the staircase in the hall. Join me in five.”
“It’s a deal.”
Already missing her warmth and body, I left the ballroom and searched for a place that would allow us to have some privacy. Just as we had agreed, she appeared five minutes later, and I took her to a nearby closet. I glanced down the hall one more time, checking if there was anyone, and sighed with relief.
“Come on. Get inside.”
With a giggle, she entered the dark space that was stuffed with various coats and jackets. I turned on the light switch, but the light bulb didn’t provide enough light. Closing the door behind me, my eyes locked on hers in the poorly-lit room, and my cock jerked in response. I shrugged off my jacket and threw it to the floor.
“This is what I’ve been dying to do the whole evening,” I muttered and grabbed her waist, pressing her against my taut body. Her lips parted when I ran my tongue over them, and I pushed it inside. Our tongues stroked each other fervently, our kiss growing more heated with each passing second.
“I know,” she said and pulled my lower lip into her mouth, tugging at it. “You’re so handsome, Mr. Lawrence. I didn’t fail to notice some women throwing their glances at you.”
I pushed her against the wall and brought her arms above her head, burying myself into her neck. Her soft skin invited me to kiss it and do so much more, which messed with my mind. She was so beautiful in that gown, and I needed to be inside of her as soon as possible.
“I didn’t even notice. All I’m able to see is you.”
My hand descended to her breast and squeezed it over the material of her dress. As much as I liked her in it, I wanted to rip it off her and see her naked.
“This thing goes off for now,” I told her and helped her take it off, becoming breathless when my eyes landed on her ample curves. She was wearing a push up bra that fit her breasts perfectly, and I imagined my cock pressed in between her perfect tits. Soon.
I went down on my knees and rubbed my face against the front of her panties, earning her long moan. She placed her hand over her mouth, taken aback with her own reaction, and I responded with a chuckle.
“You better stay quiet, honey. Although I’m not going to make that an easy task for you these next few minutes…”
I removed her panties and brought my mouth right to her clitoris, intoxicated by the captivating scent of her arousal. She was already wet, and I lapped at her juices with hunger I had never possessed before. Joanna was unique in every way, and there wasn’t a part of her that I didn’t like.
She was whimpering, her hand pressed firmly against her mouth, which spurred me to pleasure her more roughly. I moved my fingers to her hole and probed her wet entrance. She started rubbing herself against my face, and it was so sexy that my dick threatened to explode in my pants. If I didn’t get inside of her soon…
“I’m coming… Ah! Anderson!”
She began convulsing, her sweet juices pouring out of her, and I collected them with my tongue eagerly. She was damn delicious.
Unbuttoning my pants, I stood up and brought my pulsating cock out of my boxers. “Turn around and support yourself against the wall,” I ordered her in a hoarse voice.
I wrapped my arms around her and ground against her ass, going delirious with need. I guided my cock to her inviting entrance and thrust into her, overwhelmed with the immediate pleasure when I slid all the way inside.
“Ah, Joanna… Finally inside of you.”
She moved her hips against me, adding to the pleasurable friction. “Harder, Anderson. Please. I want harder.”
I grunted and moved her hair to the side to gain access to her neck. I bit into it, driving myself into her harder and deeper. She screamed, but she quickly muffled her scream with her hand, growing wetter and hotter with each thrust.
Her walls wrapped around me tightly each time, and I wished this could go on and on. I took her breast into my hand and gave her nipple a rewarding caress, and it hardened instantly. I began pounding her wildly, seriously losing my mind and letting my primal urge take over me.
I felt like I was going to come any moment, the pleasure in me quickly reaching its climax. I brought my hand to her pussy and stroked it, kissing her neck like a man who was just having his final meal.
A couple of seconds later, her pussy contracted and pulled me further in, followed by a series of spasms, which triggered my own orgasm. Holding her against me, I thrust one last time and sent all my sperm into her, feeling like the luckiest guy alive.
CHAPTER 20
Joanna
“We really have to cut this out,” I said, pulling my dress back on and feeling a hysterical laugh threatening to break free.
Anderson grinned as he finished buttoning his pants and pulled his suit jacket back on. “Hey, you started it.”
“I did not!”
“Yes, you did. You challenged me, and I just rose to the occasion.” He winked, and I laughed at the pun. Well played Anderson.
“Whatever,” I said and then gave him a peck on the lips. “How’s my hair?”
“Not a strand out of place, from what I can see. It is pretty dark in here though…”
I ran my hand over my hair self-consciously, hoping it didn’t look too disheveled. “Do you think anyone noticed us missing?”
Anderson shook his head. “No. People are dancing, and everyone’s bound to have had several drinks by now. No one should have noticed anything unless they were spying on us all along. And I don’t think anyone would have had a reason for that.”
“Let’s hope not.”
“Why? Do you want to stay here for the rest of the night?” Anderson asked, the devilish grin spreading across his face.
“You’re just asking for trouble, aren’t you?”
“I’m asking for whatever it takes to give me more time with you,” he said, and then kissed my earlobe.
I laughed and pushed him away. “Stop it! Seriously, we have to go back out there and be decent.”
“Yeah, I guess…” He sighed. “Oh shit…”
“What?”
Anderson pulled up his sleeve to glance at his watch. “It’s almost time for your brother’s speech. He’ll definitely notice us missing if we aren’t back out there.”
I swore. “I almost forget he was giving one,” I said, feeling slightly panicked. It was preposterous that I’d nearly forgotten, for I had seen him writing and practicing it all throughout the previous week. I sighed. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Yeah,” Anderson said, resigned.
I recalled that the bathrooms were just down the hall from the closet we’d snuck off to, which was perfect. I needed to make a stop in the ladies’ room to make sure I still looked presentabl
e, and that there were no signs of what had just transpired.
I reached for the doorknob.
“Careful,” Anderson warned. “Make sure no one is in the hall.”
I cracked the door open just slightly, peeking out into the hall. “The coast is clear,” I said, seeing no one in the hall or exiting the restrooms.
Anderson stepped up behind me and slid his hand onto my waist as we exited the closet. “Let’s just try to get through a couple more hours, and then maybe we can sneak out of here altogether,” he said.
I was just about to respond when the words froze right in my throat.
The door to the men’s restroom swung open, and out walked none other than my brother.
He paused, staring at the two of us exiting the closet, and at Anderson’s hand on my waist.
Anderson instantly dropped his hand and took a step away.
It felt like time was suddenly standing still. Tobias stared back and forth between me and Anderson, and the two of us stared back at him, terrified and at a complete loss for words.
My mouth dropped open, but I had nothing to say. I merely watched the varying expressions dashing across Tobias’s face. Surprise, shock, confusion, disbelief, disgust, anger…
“What the hell?” he said, when he was finally capable of speech. The restroom door swung open again. He momentarily stepped aside, permitting another man to exit, and then turning his icy gaze right back at us. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
I wanted to sink into the floor and disappear at the way his eyes trailed me from head to toe. Or at the very least, I wanted to make a run for it and hide in the women’s bathroom, where I would be free from the scrutiny of his gaze. I knew how incriminating Anderson and I looked, just like I knew there was nothing either of us could do about it.
After all the sneaking around, we had finally been caught red-handed, in the worst possible way.
“Please tell me that this isn’t what I think it is,” Tobias said, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes for a second.
Anderson gave a nervous laugh behind me. “It isn’t what you think it is,” he said, unsuccessfully trying to make his voice sound light.
“Then what the hell is it?” Tobias said through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing angrily.
I averted my gaze to the floor, feeling like a child in his presence. He may as well have been my father, catching me sneaking a boy into my room.
“Tobias, man—chill,” Anderson said.
“Excuse me?” Tobias said, incredulously. “What even gives you the right to speak to me right now? I do you a favor and find you a date for tonight, offer to let you take my own sister, and you do this? Have you lost your goddamned mind? That’s my sister, Anderson!”
“Tobias,” I said, casting a nervous glance down the hall and hoping no one could hear him. “Please, not so loud.”
“My voice level is the last thing you have to worry about, Joanna,” he said, his voice deadly serious. He shook his head and sneered at me. “I can’t believe you, Jo. I thought you had class. And here you are, running off with him during the middle of a gala.”
“Hey,” Anderson said, his voice suddenly stern. He stepped forward, no longer cowering behind me. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way.”
“And don’t you dare put your filthy hands on her again,” Tobias growled. He laughed mirthlessly. “I honestly cannot believe this. She needed a break Anderson, you knew that! She needed a moment to breathe and be herself, alone. But instead you sleep with her! I never thought that my best friend and my little sister would sneak off to screw in the middle of my company’s event, right before I’m set to give a speech!”
“Tobias, we’re sorry,” I said, trying to hold back the tears. I had never seen Tobias so angry. Anderson and I had both knew he wouldn’t take it too well when he found out about us, but we could have never expected this level of anger…
“You are beyond sorry,” Tobias said. “You are so reckless. And Anderson, this is just disrespectful. You’re supposed to be my partner.”
“All right, Tobias, that’s enough!” Anderson bellowed. “Cut it out! We get it, already. You’re pissed. We’re sorry, but you have no right to talk to us this way. You don’t control our lives.”
“No, I don’t control your lives. You do. And what’s pathetic is that I’m standing in front of two so-called adults who don’t even know how to control their own hormones! Even if you wanted to sneak around behind my back, did you have to do it here? Right now?! Does the word ‘discreet’ mean anything to either of you idiots?”
“We’re sorry! What more do you want us to say?!” I yelled.
A hush fell among us as several others passed through the hall, entering and exiting the restrooms, casting curious gazes at us along the way.
“I’m so disgusted right now, I don’t know what to do with myself,” Tobias said. “The two people I trust the most, and you go off and do something like this? Just get the hell out of my sight. Both of you.” Fuming, he turned around and stormed down the hall.
I stood, trembling on the spot and listening to Anderson calling after my brother.
The ‘big reveal’ for Anderson and I had gone ten thousand times worse than I could have ever anticipated. I was shaken to my very core. But on some level, I couldn’t entirely blame Tobias for being upset. It was incredibly stupid and inappropriate for Anderson and I to have snuck off in the middle of the gala like we had.
Our whole relationship thus far had been irresponsible.
Anderson chased Tobias down to the end of the hall and then swore at the top of his lungs. I watched as he disappeared back into the ballroom.
All the while, I continued standing in front of the closet, at a complete loss for what to do. My heart shattered into a million pieces at the mere thought that I had potentially caused such a riff between Anderson and Tobias. The two of them had been lifelong friends, and I’d never known them to be seriously upset with each other.
I felt sick to my stomach.
Anderson rounded the corner, coming back towards me. I suddenly felt a powerful wave of nausea that sent me running to the women’s room. I reached a toilet just in time. Every ounce of the fancy food that I’d consumed came pouring out of my mouth. When I was done, I almost felt too weak to stand.
Thankful the bathroom had emptied as everyone prepared to listen to my brother’s speech, I went to the sink, washing the tears and vomit from my face with cold tap water. I then stared at my reflection for a moment, seeing that I looked worse for the wear. My hair and makeup were ruined, making me look just as bad as I felt.
How could I have messed up so badly? After all Tobias had done for me in the aftermath of Zander—opening his home and workplace to me, loaning me a car, giving me the opportunity to have a safe haven and get back on me feet…
“And the worst sister award goes to…” I said, and gave a laugh that quickly shifted into an ugly cry.
I reached for paper towels to dry my face, and then realized I couldn’t stay. I needed to leave.
With trembling hands, I reached into my purse and ordered and Uber.
When I finally left the bathroom, Anderson stood right outside of the door.
“Joanna, are you all right?” he asked, rushing toward me.
I held my hand out, stopping him.
“Joanna—”
“No,” I said. “Just leave me alone.”
“Let me take you home.”
I shook my head. “I’ve already got a ride.”
“Uber? Why? I’ll take you home. I don’t give a damn about your brother.”
His words sent another pang through my chest, forcing me to realize once again the damage I had done to their friendship.
“I’m so sorry to come between the two of you like this,” I said, tears coming to my eyes once again.
Anderson shook his head. “Don’t you dare take all the blame. I’m at fault too. And Tobias, he’ll get over it. Don’t worry about h
im.”
Anderson may as well have been talking to a brick wall though, because I wasn’t in the mood to be comforted. I just wanted to get out of the building and put the whole miserable night behind me.
“Goodbye, Anderson,” I said, and rushed passed him. Just as he had chased after my brother, he began chasing after me. But I didn’t look back, and I ignored the stares I got as I rushed through the ballroom and toward the exit.
“Joanna!” Anderson yelled.
But I hopped into the car that was waiting for me without looking back.
CHAPTER 21
Anderson
I got to work early Monday morning, determined to catch Joanna when she entered the building and insisted that the two of us approach Tobias together and get him to see reason. From the moment she ran out of the gala and hopped into the cab, I had been trying to call her repeatedly. But she wouldn’t accept any of my calls. She wouldn’t even answer any of my texts…
And neither would Tobias, for that matter.
I never knew how much losing both of them would impact my life until I was faced with the reality of it happening. The Gentry family had been in my life for decades, and I had taken for granted how important they were to me. Now, with neither Tobias or Joanna speaking to me, it felt like my whole world had been shifted completely upside down, and if things stayed this way for much longer, I didn’t know how I was going to possibly carry on. A deep depression was starting to come over me, something I had never felt before in all my life. I could hardly even bring myself to get out of bed.
When my alarm clock went off Monday morning, I’d just lied there, letting it screech, unable to muster the energy to turn it off. I only turned it off when I heard the angry thumping from the tenant below me who had undoubtedly taken a broom to bang on her ceiling to send me a message. I already felt like shit, so by no means did I want to hear Ms. Ryan’s angry mouth, or find out that she’d complained to the landlord about me over a damned alarm clock.
When I finally managed to sit up in bed, I instantly reached for my phone—hoping that I had a message from Joanna, or even Tobias. But of course, I’d had no such luck. Besides, I had barely slept to begin with; if either of them had tried to contact me, I would have known immediately.
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