Magic at Work: a Love or Magic novel

by Sotia Lazu

  Edmund just blinked. He’d never heard her use words such as comprehensive and applicable before.

  The grin on Ric’s face held a hint of pride. He was so getting a blow job for that look. Not that she’d ever tell him such a thing.

  Larry, the Marketing Manager, clapped his hands. “Why, that’s a magnificent idea.” He turned to Edmund with a thousand-watt smile. “Will you arrange for all the kiddies to gather here on Wednesday, or should I?”

  “I think Lexi should do it,” Ric interjected.

  Okay, no blow job for him. “Huh? Why? I’ve never said more than two words to them, and one of those was hello. I can’t be calling meetings out of nowhere.”

  Edmund finally spoke. “Richard is right, Lexi. You should call the meeting. As a matter of fact, I think you should have some proposals ready for us. Nothing too detailed—just a few thoughts. Take tomorrow, and ask the managers for any assistance you may need.”

  Well, if she was in for it, she might as well gain something. “No reason to put off for tomorrow what can be done today. I’ll just stay after work and see what I can come up with, so I’ll have all day tomorrow to prepare.”

  “I can help out,” Ric said. “Edmund, mind if we use this room?”

  *

  Ric spent the rest of the day looking at his watch. He hated waiting for everyone to leave before Lexi and he went back to the meeting room. Even his most adventurous part, however, knew the idea of shagging her while Pedelty was only a door away was way beyond risqué.

  Still, he had to exercise every last ounce of self-control, to refrain from following her to the meeting room as soon as she went inside at five. There were still people on the floor, despite the hour. If Melody didn’t get off the bloody phone, he’d rip the thing off the wall and drag her to the front door by the hair.

  It took no more than a glare for her to say goodbye to her winky-poo—whoever the poor sod was—gather her stuff, and make a hasty retreat.

  Chapter Seventeen

  What kept Lexi from biting her nails was the money she’d paid for her perfect French manicure. Instead of coming up with ideas on improving interdepartmental communications and cooperation, she kept thinking of the two times she and Ric had been together. So far, her trysts with him had been hasty and spur-of-the-moment. This one was planned. They hadn’t talked about it, but it was implied. Would they have to talk before? Or after? And could they talk, when talking didn’t involve yelling and throwing accusations around?

  Did she even want that?

  There would be no biting off the very expensive nail polish… Her thumb was already in her mouth, and she was worrying the cuticle.

  They didn’t have to rush, this time around. There was a perfectly valid excuse for them to spend as many hours as they wished behind the locked doors of the meeting room.

  But maybe he’d want to keep it quick and dirty. It could be just a session to get rid of the tension, before they got all worky.

  She let her head drop on the meeting-room table. The reflection of a red light blinked on the shiny surface. When it didn’t reappear, she thought of trying to locate its source. A knock on the door drew her attention from the light that might not have even been there. She bolted out of her chair and rushed to open the door, even though it wasn’t locked.

  The moment he entered the room, Ric grabbed her and spun her around. Her back hit the door and slammed it shut. Then his lips were on hers. His kiss was fervent and demanding as ever. His hands were in her hair, as if to keep her in place, while he pressed the hardness in his pants against her. There was such desperation in that kiss, such need, that all thoughts and doubts were erased from Lexi’s mind. She just gave in and melted against him, trusting him and the door to keep her upright. Ric let go of her hair and glided his hands down her neck, to her collarbones, over her breasts, and around her back, to cup her ass.

  He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his narrow hips, digging her fingers into his broad shoulders. She was intoxicated by his taste. His touch…

  Ric’s touch, not Rex’s. This was Ric, and she knew it.

  She’d withdrawn for the couple of seconds her internal debate lasted, but was back with a moan when Ric ground his pelvis against her. He smiled, turned with her still in his arms, and walked them to the huge oblong table. He carefully laid her down and unlocked her ankles from where they kept her anchored to him. With a quick peck on her lips, he placed his palm over her breasts. “Lie back, kitten.”

  It never occurred to her to say no or demand he hurry up. She was in a Ric—or Rex, or King of the Jedi; she didn’t give a fuck—induced haze. He was free to manipulate her body any way he saw fit.

  He ran his fingers down her legs, feathering touches on her heated skin. He clasped her feet and planted them on the edge of the table, before pushing her skirt upward until it covered no more than her hips.

  Lexi didn’t care that her high heels could scar the dark surface. Every whispery glide of his fingertips traveled straight to her womb. Letting her eyes drift shut, she focused on the sensations his touches brought forth, but tensed when the hem of her skirt licked the top of her thighs on its way to uncovering her bare pussy.

  He stopped touching her.

  Lexi opened her eyes and tried to raise herself on her elbows. “Something wrong?”

  “Don’t move.”

  She surprised herself by obeying his order, until he dragged a chair right in front of her with a scraping sound. She half sat up, drawing her legs close to her.

  With a look of determination in his eyes, Ric reached out and grabbed her ankles to pull her back into her original position. He wasn’t looking at her face, but at her pussy. His hungry gaze made Lexi self-conscious. The overhead lights were on, and he studied her so openly. She tugged her skirt down, to cover herself from his lustful look, but a shake of his head stopped her as effectively as his hands would have.

  “No. Let me see you, love. Never had the chance before.”

  She could give him one of half-a-dozen snarky responses at that point, but the amazing thing was she didn’t want to. Instead, she spread her legs more but kept her head lifted, not wanting to miss a second of his devouring gaze. She used the hands she’d meant to cover her nakedness with to bunch her skirt further up, allowing him to see all of her.

  He wetted his lower lip with his tongue, and Lexi was astounded by how much she wanted to taste his mouth again. She whimpered.

  *

  Her whimper snapped Ric out of his trance, and he graced her with a leer, before leaning into the source of his wonderment. He’d wanted to taste her even before their first tryst, and he finally got to.

  He’d savored the moment enough. Now was time to savor Lexi.

  At the first touch of his tongue, her hips shot up. He planted his hands on her hips and kept her down, while he traced her labia with his tongue. He took his time kissing and licking her bare outer lips, nuzzling her thighs, and grazing his teeth over the soft golden flesh there. He loved the way she quivered against him. Loved the little mewling sounds that escaped her lips.

  He parted her folds with his nose, running his tongue over her entrance on the way up, and she almost strangled him with her thighs. Prying her knees apart again with both hands, he slowly pushed the tip of his tongue inside her wet core. She bucked her hips, but he refused the urge to deepen the penetration, as she so obviously wanted. Instead, he withdrew from inside her to lick his way to her clit, then wrapped his lips around the swollen pearl and sucked on it gently.

  When he heard her head thud on the desk, he pushed his tongue back inside her, this time as deep as it could go. He snaked the fingers of one hand up her thigh. He found her clit with his thumb, circled it, rubbed it, and…

  “Oh, God. Just a little more. Please, Ric.” Her voice broke at his name.

  Ric increased the pressure to her clit and picked up the speed of his tongue’s thrusts inside her.

  Lexi rode his face and hand, until she crumb
led against him. When she threw back her head and gasped a word, it was his real name. For the second time.

  He waited until she turned her gaze to him.

  Then he stood and peeled off his T-shirt.

  *

  Lexi felt as though ages had passed since she last saw his sculpted abs, the snaking muscles that rippled in his arms, and his pecs that seemed made of marble, but she hadn’t forgotten how good his body looked. Still, she’d never seen the part of him that made her writhe with pleasure, and she had to dig her nails into her thighs to keep from reaching out and ripping the buttons he was languidly undoing. Her breathing had just returned to normal, but it sped up again while she took in the statuesque body in front of her.

  He fished a condom from his pocket, and she remembered yelling at him the last time they’d had sex. She shook her head. “No need.” They’d been over this. They were both clean, and she was on the pill.

  “You sure?”

  She was, and she was sorry she’d been a bitch about it last time, but an apology would ruin the mood. Plus, she maintained he’d acted like an ass. In lieu of an answer, she leaned in and tugged at his fly. When his cock was released from its denim confines, she couldn’t control the widening of her eyes any more than she could refrain from licking her lips. She’d felt his length and girth inside her, but she never knew a cock could be beautiful. As pale as the rest of his body, it stood hard, a study in perfection. Veins running close to the surface added to the marble-like effect. A very live and pulsing piece of marble, jumping under her appraising gaze.

  Lexi was torn between needing to feel it deep inside and wanting to run her tongue along its smoothness. Taste Ric like he’d tasted her and make him shudder with the same all-consuming pleasure he’d given her.

  In the end, she was selfish.

  *

  She wanted him. Ric could see she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  He was seconds away from having her again, from being sheathed inside her heavenly heat, but this wasn’t what the smile on his face was about.

  This time they weren’t playing someone else’s part, and they both knew it. This was them, Ric and Lexi, and he didn’t know if it was the truce or how long it would last, but he felt like laughing and crying and thanking the Powers-that-Be and whoever wrote that wonderfully wicked book, for allowing him to have this.

  She spread her legs wider and opened her arms to him, and it was like Heaven calling. She didn’t order him to fuck her or to hurry up. She opened herself to him, beckoned him to her, and he intended to take full advantage of that openness, short-lived though he feared it would be.

  Even if it hurt more, when she ended it all.

  He sank inside her slowly, with a sigh that was equal parts relief and longing. He wouldn’t be hurried. He raised the hem of her top and took his time laving her perfect creamy breasts and teasing the rosy peaks, before returning to her lips.

  He let her hair loose from her ponytail and buried his face in it, inhaling her unique scent and delighting in the silky feel of it against his cheek. Her nails dug furrows in the flesh of his back when he changed the angle of his thrusts. The way she clutched at him, more like holding on than being consumed by passion, shook him to the core.

  He was watching Lexi’s face when she came. He saw her eyes widen and roll back, before she squeezed them shut. Her mouth fell open, and a tremor shot down her body. When she bucked her hips, he came too, biting his lip to keep from baring his soul to her.

  He held her close as he turned to his side, never wanting to stop touching her.

  She didn’t pull away, and Ric knew better than to second guess this gift he was given. He feathered fleeting touches on her face, her arms, her sides—wherever he could reach—afraid she might just disappear if he lingered on any one place longer than fractions of a second. Her heat around him sent new jolts of life to his softening cock, and he loathed the thought of withdrawing from inside her.

  *

  Lexi didn’t know what changed from their previous encounters, but it scared her as much as it elated her. Ric’s body once more lit a fire all over hers, but this time it didn’t feel like a blaze. More like a deep burning. The kind that leaves scars. For a moment, when she caught his gaze, she wanted to shove him off her and run before it was too late.

  She wanted him closer. Deeper.

  And then he swiveled his hips and thrust again, and she was lost…

  She lay in his arms, one hand toying with the golden down on his forearms. She should go. She wanted to stay there forever. She wasn’t very consistent these days.

  “So…” She chewed on the inside of her cheek.

  “So…” Ric’s tone was careful.

  “So this truce is working out.” Her giggle was genuine, and she stifled it with her palm.

  Ric tangled his fingers with hers, pulled her hand out of the way, and kissed her. “Your laugh is doing amazing things to my nether regions.” He waggled his eyebrows. “You up for another round?”

  “Are you?” She batted her eyelashes.

  A rocking of his hips was all the answer she got. Not that she required further clarification.

  Chapter Eighteen

  This time there was no post-coital snuggle.

  Lexi said they had some work to do, but she said so with a grin, and just before giving him a quick peck on the lips.

  Ric’s own grin began to hurt the muscles in his cheeks, but he couldn’t drop it.

  Her hair was pulled back again, allowing him to study her profile. He couldn’t pry his gaze from her lips, wrapped around her pen as she considered where to start making the suggestions Pedelty had asked for. Well, he could, but it was to watch her fingers play with an errant lock.

  She gave him a questioning look.

  “What’s that, love?”

  “I said, if you didn’t write the book, who could have? And why?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Exotic Beast. Someone has to be behind it all. I mean, who’d know Mom calls me Xandra, and would have enough free time to do something like that? And what would they gain by my finding it?”

  “You’re saying someone uploaded it for you to see?” This never occurred to him.

  “Yes, Ric. I don’t know how much you believe in coincidences, but a novel that can only be read on my office computer, and features me and you, is too much of one for me.”

  “They had to know I was Rex too…” Ric mumbled.

  “You were Rex? Like how? Fangs popping out and eyes going yellow?” She giggled and a tiny snort escaped. Adorable.

  “No. Like with the hair.” He pointed at his head. “And the attitude.” He leered and then asked, “Only reached from your PC?” just as Lexi said, “You were really Rex?”

  Ric took a deep breath. “I called myself that. A rebel phase, that was. Ended when I started working here. Edmund knows.” He saw no reason to elaborate further. “Now you. You can’t access the novel anywhere else?” He raised both eyebrows.

  “It’s the weirdest thing…” Lexi explained how she first stumbled upon the site, as well as all efforts she’d made to reach it from other PCs. “Nothing works.”

  “Nothing works.”

  “Nope.”

  Ric watched her lips form the word and indulged in the fantasy of her rosy lips wrapped around his—

  She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Earth to Ric. You still with me?”

  “Yeah. I tried to access it from my PC too, and no page would load, but I thought I got the address wrong.” He was glad she still hadn’t asked how he knew about it in the first place, and hoped to keep it that way. “You do realize the only person who knows about your being Xandra and my being Rex is Edmund, right?”

  “Yeah… Somehow, I seriously doubt he’d go through all the trouble of writing an entire erotic romance novel—eww to his possibly writing those sex scenes, by the way—just to get the two of us together.”

  Ric chuckled when she scrunched he
r face in that charming way of hers, but when her point sank in, his eyebrows shot for his hairline. “Get the two of us together?”

  Lexi shrugged. “With all the Rex-loves-Xandra, Xandra-loves-Rex, they-seem-incompatible-but-aren’t-really, and the meant-to-be-togetherness… it’s like whoever wrote it wants to get us together.”

  “Whoever wrote it…”

  “Will you stop repeating what I say?”

  She glared daggers at him, and he was half tempted to repeat her last question, to see if her gaze could become any fiercer. Fierce was a good look on her.

  Pissing her off more wouldn’t be wise, though, especially since they seemed to be getting along so well tonight. “I’m sorry, love. Was just thinking… what if nobody wrote it for us? What if it’s not Pedelty, and it is the mother of all coincidences? Then it’s all about you and me in an alternate universe, doing the nasty and then—” He tried to come up with the best phrasing possible. “It could be a sign.” Subtlety wasn’t within his spectrum of approaches, but he didn’t want to scare her away by saying they might be meant to be together.

  Lexi laughed. “Oh, come on, Ric. This is a little fatalistic, coming from a techno-geek, don’t you think? So what? It was kismet that we’d fuck?” Her words squashed his hopes, ripped out his heart, threw it on the wall-to-wall carpeted floor, and stomped on it with her sexy spiked heels.

  The sound of her laugh would have expanded Ric’s heart under different circumstances. Now it hurt like a motherfucker. “I didn’t say that, did I? I distinctly remember not using the word kismet or anything of the sort.”