by Lyra Parish
At seven p.m., I walked into Parker’s office, and he was busy going through the contracts. I added another stack to the already large one.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked.
“You tell me why you’re doing this? Hmm. Maybe because you are a corporate attorney for VanBuren Investments? Maybe because you are one of the top-picked, upcoming lawyers in the U.S.? So why not have the best eyes double check the proposals that could make or break our budget?”
Parker stood, walked to the door, and shut it. He turned and looked at me, then stood inches from my mouth. “I’ll ask you again. Why are you doing this?”
I held on to each word. “Because. I’m. The. Fucking. Boss,” I said, not backing down. He moved away from me and sat on the other side of his desk, then continued going through the stacks of paper. I had to give it to him; he was quick and well practiced from his internship.
“Anything else, Ms. VanBuren? Are you finished flaunting yourself in my office?”
I leaned over the desk until I was eye to eye with him. For a moment, I forgot that I was mad, and forgot what I was going to say. His eyelashes brushed the tops of his cheeks as he looked down at the words on the pages.
“Are you going to stand there gawking? Why not pull up a chair and watch me work? Maybe you can even micromanage me for the rest of the week because you’re the boss.”
The sarcasm wasn’t lost on me. I rolled my eyes and slammed the door behind me. There was no one left in the office, except for a few people on the other side of the building. I went into my office, grabbed my keys and purse, and left. I couldn’t be there for one more minute. During the drive home, my mind was flooded with Parker. Fucking Parker, who had a mouth on him.
After I got home, Stacey called me and asked if I wanted to go out again this weekend. Orleans was having a costume party every weekend until Halloween, but I didn’t feel like it, and didn’t understand the damn point. For sex? Sex was great, but really? I wasn’t desperate, and Parker proved just how easy it was to see straight through those pathetic masks. No fucking thanks.
When I got home, I went straight to the tub, turned on the hot water, and filled it to the top. Sometimes when I was aggravated, a hot bath would help calm my nerves. I let the water sit for a few minutes as the steam rose, floating around the bathroom. When I stepped in, it was so hot that it burned my skin, but I didn’t care. I needed to feel something other than the crazy emotions that were streaming through my body. When I closed my eyes, all I could see was his face, and for a moment, I felt horrible for making him do that work. Menial tasks such as those really should be assigned to an intern.
I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the best of me.
When I got out of the tub, I crawled into bed and fell asleep almost instantly, something that hadn’t happened all week.
Parker pushed me against the wall and kissed me, and I melted in his hands. The next thing I knew, we were in my bedroom, and he was laying me down on the bed. Everything about him and that moment was perfect. Then we were instantly naked. He was kissing me all over.
“This can’t be real,” I whispered.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I don’t bring people home with me.”
“I’m not just people, Katie. We are more than that.”
“My name isn’t Katie.”
“Shhhhh,” he said as I straddled him.
Everything about the moment was perfect, except for the constant buzzing in the background.
I woke up gasping for air as my alarm screamed at me. What the hell!
I showed up to work at six. Parker’s light was on, and when I passed by, he looked up at me, then looked back at his computer. I kept walking toward my office, trying to forget the images of him seared into my brain from that dream. When I walked inside, the large stack of contracts was neatly placed on my desk with a note that read “Finished.” I couldn’t believe that he had compared that many in so little time.
The papers had colorful flags sticking out of the sides, and under my keyboard lay a sheet of paper with the differences typed neatly, along with references and page numbers. My mouth fell open. It must have taken him all night to get through this, and I felt like a bitch who let her emotions get in the way.
My morning routine started the same way it did every other day. Emails and meetings. I was on a conference call that ran over, and arrived late for the morning meeting.
Parker was speaking, and when I walked in, he looked at me, and then addressed the room. “As I was saying. In the report that I sent late last night, an amendment to this contract needs to be made as soon as possible. There are millions of dollars on the table, and because someone didn’t change the verbiage of one clause, the budget of the project could double, and no one … let me repeat, no one, wants that to happen,” he said.
Maybe I did make the right decision in having him look over everything. A smile lingered on my face as the law team looked at each other. They had read the terms Parker had pulled, the ones that VanBuren had agreed to. I made detailed notes, and would bring these issues up to the board of directors during my ten o’ clock meeting.
“Look at section 2.3. This is poor wording. It needs to be changed,” Parker said.
Carl spoke up. “Good work, son. I will get on this immediately. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. After I create the amendment, I’d like you to take a look at it, then we will bring it to Roxane.”
“So, what exactly does this mean?” I asked.
“This means you need to contact the project manager of the job in New York and tell them you are sending an amendment to the contract that they need to have their attorneys look over,” Parker said.
I made a note. “I’m going to New York next week. I’ll schedule a meeting with him, but will call and explain what’s going on. I’m sure it will be no problem.”
Parker hadn’t even been here a month, and he was already catching mistakes that our team made. Not just that, he possibly saved us millions of dollars, as long as the project manager agreed to sign. That was the tricky part. But I had my ways of getting people to do the right thing. Most didn’t walk all over me because I had learned to wear the pants early on. Some men hated a woman who took control the way I did. I thrived on it. He would do whatever I needed him to.
When the meeting finished, I stood and walked out. I stopped by the kitchen where Parker was talking closely with Sara, a girl from the accounting department. I walked in and grabbed a bottle of water. I had learned my lesson about the cups. He stared at me the entire time, but I didn’t acknowledge he even existed. Sara was smiling and being flirty with Parker, talking to him about how she had wanted to go to law school but didn’t. Everything he said, she laughed at, even things that weren’t funny. Though I was only five years older than her, I felt like we were from two totally different generations. The act, God, so overplayed.
“Ms. Hines,” I said. “How’s the forecast coming?”
“It’s going good. I should get back to work,” she said, then glanced up at Parker and walked out of the break room.
He leaned against the counter and shook his head at me as he sipped his coffee. I smiled knowing exactly what I had done. Romance at work made everything complicated, and should be avoided at all times.
“I did you a favor, Mr. Williams,” I said, then stormed back to my office. After I met with the board, everyone agreed that traveling to New York to oversee the progress was the right decision. I would find a condo, because when the office opened, I would be traveling back and forth quite often. When I left the board meeting, I knew that I would have to call travel and book the jetliner that several companies had purchased together. It was kind of like a timeshare, we each had a piece of it, but could only use it when it was available.
I stopped by Jane’s desk and gave her my travel dates, and she promised to take care of the arrangements. Before I walked away, she called my name.
I looked at her.
; “Can I meet with you about the new girl that you hired? I’m having issues with her, and I’m not sure she understands the concept of being a secretary.”
“Yeah, sure. Add a time to my calendar for tomorrow, since the day is almost over.”
As soon as I walked back to my office, Parker barged in and shut the door behind him. “So what angers you the most about me? That you kissed me at that house party and liked it, or that I know your dirty little secrets?”
“Get out, Parker.” My voice traveled through my office loudly. What if my employees heard me yelling at him? Hell hath no fury like my anger. Just the thought of him walking in here, talking to me like that, pissed me off.
“Your problem is that you have no respect. My advice for you is to know your place in this organization, Mr. Williams.”
The smile washed from his face, and he stood unwavering in front of my desk with his arms crossed. I gritted my teeth, and my annoyance was almost too much. Instead of continuing with the email to the board, I stopped what I was doing and looked at him. Really looked at him. It was something that I had avoided at all costs over the past few weeks. It was hard for me to admit what he said to be true. I hated the way my heart raced and slowed down, or how I got a little nervous around him. But my reaction wasn’t lost on him. He knew how I responded to him.
“Get. Out. Now. Mr. Williams,” I said more harshly.
“No.” His voice wasn’t loud or even cruel. It was monotonous more than anything.
“Do not make me say something I will regret,” I said.
He shook his head, again. Every second he stood in my office, he tested my patience, and I could feel the spikes of adrenaline rushing through my veins. I stood and walked around my desk until I was in front of him, face to face. After a pause, I demanded he get out one last time. I knew my nostrils were flared, but he didn’t back down. The smell of his skin, his soap, his shampoo lingered, and I hated that I even noticed.
“I know that I piss you off more than anyone else here. I know that I drive you fucking crazy, almost to the point of you hating me, and maybe you do hate me a little. Truth be known, I want you to hate me, because it would be easier for us both. I’m willing to bet when you’re lying in your bed at night, you’re thinking about me, thinking about fucking me. You’re probably asking yourself how I know, or you’re completely denying it. Well, babe, I know because of the way your body tenses when you’re around me, and how your eyes always seem to wander up and down my body when you think I’m not looking. You even try to pretend you’re not paying attention to what I say in all those meetings, but you are. I know you are holding onto every fucking word.
“That night, at Orleans, I knew there was something about you that was special. When we danced in front of the fire, it was like fate had knocked on my door and told me that I had another chance with you. But then you left and I didn’t know if I would ever see you again. When you walked into my interview as the late, wet, President of VanBuren Investments, I recognized you instantly. Your two different colored eyes gave you away. I secretly wished I wouldn’t get the job, and when I did, I knew this would be complicated. You think you’re a closed book, Rox, but I am reading all of your fucking pages, and already have most of them memorized. It would be stupid for me to deny what I’m feeling, and I’m not trying to be some hopeless romantic here with hopes of sweeping you off your feet. I know there is something between us. I don’t know what, but I refuse to pretend that feeling isn’t there. Now, if you completely disagree with everything I’ve just said, then demand me to get out, and I promise to learn my place in the organization real quick.”
I didn’t know it was possible to swallow my voice, but I somehow did when his lips brushed against mine.
I was everything. I was nothing. I was weak, crumbling, melting into little pieces each time his tongue touched mine. We didn’t rush. My world crashed down around me one touch at a time. This was my own personal doomsday, with an attack on my emotions, but I didn’t prep. I wasn’t ready to feel like, this but somehow I did.
He pulled me closer, so close, and his kiss deepened.
Parker.
His name was on my lips, but his lips were stealing my words, only allowing my thoughts to burn within me. I couldn’t focus. I was losing everything that I was, that I stood for, and that I believed in. Relationships and Roxane didn’t go together. What the hell was I doing?
We stopped for a moment, and his smile lingered against my mouth. He enjoyed this, and if I said I didn’t, I would be lying.
I wanted and needed him. It was a desire so powerful that it almost hurt. I pressed my body against his and felt his length; hard and longing. Just the thought of him inside me stirred emotions that I thought were lost long ago.
We both knew where this was leading, and I didn’t want it to stop. I knew how dangerous opening Pandora’s box was, because once it was done, there was no going back. It was like trying to take back words that were already spoken. Impossible.
I couldn’t concentrate as he slid his warm hands up my shirt. Every last ounce of control I had left was melting away. Parker Williams was toxic; a poison that was slowly filling my veins, my body, and my soul. As I slowly shattered inside, I understood my rules were being broken.
Don’t mix business with pleasure.
These rules were made to protect me. They were one of the only constants in my life.
He smiled down at me, and I noticed freckles lightly dashed across his nose. How could I ever have missed them?
When he tugged on the corner of his lip, I wasn’t sure I could take it much longer. Parker Williams was the definition of sexy.
A finger teased up the side of my leg, and lifted my skirt until the material was nothing more than a circle around my waist. As I stared into his deep-blue eyes, I didn’t even notice he had backed me against the window while we kissed. It was so cool on my skin that it almost felt like an extension of me. Parker looped his fingers around the thin lace of my panties, and with one quick motion, ripped them from my body. I liked those panties, but I seemed to like what he did to them more. No words were said, only deep groans as he admired me. My bare ass pressed against the window, but I couldn’t think of anything but him. Light kisses started on my neck and sprinkled up toward my ear, unraveling me at the core.
I poked my fingers through the loops on his suit pants and pulled him even closer, then I took my time unbuttoning his shirt. Abs. For. Days. And a scripted tattoo across his bicep. Tattoo. Holy fuck. One day, I would read every word of it.
Parker gave me a quizzical look, then smiled. I would never forget those abs. Never.
Our bodies pressed against one another. His teeth grabbed hold of the skin on my neck, and sparks of pleasure swept through me. Somehow, my hands found the buckle to his pants, and before I could unbutton and unzip them, he shook his head.
Say something, dammit.
I wanted to hear his voice, but I couldn’t seem to find mine. I wanted to take over, but he wasn’t allowing me to, and oddly, I was okay with that. He was in charge, and it was so fucking sexy.
He nibbled on my bottom lip as his hand trailed down below. With care, he applied just enough pressure to drive me crazy. I balled my hands into fists and tried with everything that I was to hold back moans, but I didn’t want to. Briefly, I almost forgot that I was at work. The thought of what we were doing should have scared me, should have made me say stop, but it didn’t. At that moment, I felt no regret or doubt. It was like this was supposed to happen, regardless of whether I was ready or not.
His eyes were on me, and it made me feel so fucking sexy as he admired my body. It made me want to scream out to the world, because at that moment, I was surrounded by Parker, Mr. Blue Eyes.
As I stared at him, I couldn’t believe Parker was breaking down my walls. Breaking all my rules. Smiling, kissing, and touching me. Making me feel so fucking good. I was lost in my thoughts of him.
More pressure was added, and then he dipped o
ne finger inside of me. I gasped, wrapping my arms around his neck as he took his time sliding in and out. Our bodies fit together, almost as if we were made for one another. He was the perfect height to me. When I looked up into his eyes, his lips parted, and I felt his warm intoxicating breath on my cheeks. Two fingers practically filled me, and he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. His kisses became more intense, almost greedy, and I devoured him. His lips. His skin. His taste.
I closed my eyes and smiled at the thought of the building across the way. The windows were slightly tinted, but in the late afternoon, it was easy to see inside. Three fingers now. I gasped and whispered his name, “Parker.” I couldn’t take it anymore. I quietly moaned, and he stopped all movement.
“Say it again,” he said, as his three fingers waited deep within me.
I swallowed, then whispered, just as he wanted, “Parker.” His name was sweet, like candy in my mouth. A devious smile crossed his face as he continued to finger fuck me against the window.
The phone rang, stopped, then rang again. I knew I had to answer before someone came bursting into my office. I looked at Parker, and he grabbed my hand and led me to the phone, knowing that I had to answer, but not before he bent me over the desk and spanked my ass, hard. As he rubbed it, I pressed speaker.
“Roxane speaking,” I said.
“Roxane. I’m actually looking for Parker, are the two of you having a meeting?” Dad asked.
Parker lightly ran his fingers over my ass, and I gulped. “Yes, Dad. We are right in the middle of an important discussion,” I said, trying to steady my voice. Parker threaded his fingers through my hair then turned me around on the desk as he dipped his hand below.
“Is that all you needed, Dad?” I asked.
“Yes, sorry, pumpkin. I hope you two are getting along just fine. I know how worried you were about him,” Dad said.
Parker lifted his eyebrow and gave me a smirk.
Pompous ass. “Dad, you’re on speaker phone.” I held back a gasp as Parker inserted a finger in me.
“Oh, sorry. Well, you two finish up and send him my way when you’re done with him.”
