by Keys, Hazel
“What?” He asked, puzzled.
“Nothing, nothing,” she quickly replied, burrowing her nose into the menu. Brad watched as she pretended to be consumed by choices on the paper, and it amused him greatly. Reaching across the table, he picked up her hand and gave at a small squeeze.
“My body was getting ahead of my mind,” he explained. “I like you, and you feel really good. But I’m not a one night stand kind of guy.”
Rachel’s face softened, and she relaxed her shoulders. “Oh,” she said. “That’s- well that’s actually really nice of you.” She nodded her head. “Okay then, I forgive you for sudden gear change.”
Brad chuckled. “I’m so glad.”
When the waitress came back with their drinks Brad ordered the spaghetti bolognaise and Rachel ordered the Eggplant parmesan. While they waited for their food they talked about their times in college, both getting their bachelor’s first, then their masters. He learned that RushIt was actually Rachel’s very first job out of college, and that she was just as young as she looked.
“Twenty-seven?” He asked, not believing it.
Rachel giggled and wiped a spot of marinara off of her lips. “How old did you think I was?” She asked.
“I guess I never really thought about it,” he admitted. “But now I feel like a pervert.”
This time Rachel laughed heartily, her beautiful voice ringing like a soft bell all around the table. “Well wait a minute, how old are you?”
Brad admitted that he was thirty-three, and Rachel, being nice, promised him that he didn’t look a day over twenty-eight. For as much as they fought at the office, they got along even more so outside of it. They took their time, savoring their delicious meals, and then ordered the decadent hot fudge brownie sundae to split for dessert.
“You sure know how to spoil a girl,” Rachel said as Brad led her back out to the valet stand.
Before answering, he stopped her in the middle of the foyer, and pulled her into his arms to kiss her. She melded into him immediately, only stopped when the polite host cleared his throat after the third time. Outside, he opened her car door and made sure she was securely inside before shutting it and walking around to his side.
“Where to now?” Rachel asked, once they were driving.
Brad smiled softly, and reached across the center console to grab her hand. “Now? Now I take you home, walk you to your door, and kiss you goodnight.”
From the corner of his eyes he saw Rachel’s eyebrows go up in surprise.
“But”-
“I told you,” he interrupted. “I’m not into one night stands.”
~
At the door he kissed Rachel goodnight, waited until she was safely inside, then preceded to go home. He’d had an intense erection the entire time they’d been together, but now that she was no longer around him it was starting to go away. By the time he reached home, he felt as if he had control of his body again, and sighed in relief when he fell into his bed.
Rachel. She was not the girl he thought he would fall for, but here he was. Beautiful, strong, intelligent Rachel, who looked so damned cute when she was yelling at him. Not that he’d ever thought being yelled at was cute before, even by her when she was just a co-worker. But something had changed over the last couple weeks. In both himself and her.
He wanted to get to know her. He wanted to figure out where her anger came from, where her joy came from, where everything came from! She was fascinating to him, and he wanted to study her like he’d studied all those books that she had studied back in college. He could only hope that she would let him.
The rest of the week went by in a blur. It was filled with meetings and work, and in between those two were the sweet, soft kisses from Rachel. Now that he was her boss, he found that she actually worked very well without him over her shoulder. Which was great, he found, because Ryan was calling him to perform vice president duties more than he thought. Surprisingly, he was calling him up for things that had nothing to do with his job as well. Like Thursday morning, for instance. He was supposed to be on the phone with their shipping warehouse on 6th, but Ryan had called him up for an impromptu meeting.
“You wanted to see me?” Brad asked, walking into Ryan’s office.
Ryan turned from the window overlooking the street below, and to Brad’s bewilderment he saw that the man was actually crying.
“Are you okay Mr. Miller?” Brad asked, taking a few steps closer.
Ryan put his hand out to stop Brad from coming any further. “Fine, just fine,” he told him, wiping a tear from his eye with his other hand.
“No you’re not,” Brad said blatantly, calling his boss out. “What’s going on?”
Ryan tried once or twice more to make excuses, but Brad kept him on track with the subject. Finally, he broke down and told his new vice president what was wrong.
“It’s my wife,” he said, plopping down into his chair. “After months of not hearing from her, she’s finally decided to send me divorce papers.”
There was a moment of silence, and Brad wasn’t sure what to say. What was there, after all, other than the obvious ‘sorry your wife is such a bitch?” Brad’s quietness urged Ryan to talk further though, revealing more of the story.
“I was expecting it you know. Someday. She couldn’t hold out forever. I just thought that by the time she did it I wouldn’t be upset about it, you know?”
Brad nodded his head. “Yeah, buddy. I get it.” He walked over to the beverage cart and picked up the decanter of whiskey. It may be morning, sure, but the man needed a stiff drink. He poured the liquid courage into the small glass and walked over to Ryan to hand it to him.
“Here. It will be out little secret.”
Ryan gave Brad an appreciative smile and took the glass. He gulped it down in one shot and shivered slightly as the brew hit his empty stomach. “Thanks,” he rasped, setting the glass down. “I needed that.”
Ryan spoke for a few more moments. About his wife. About how he was going to tell his daughter, and lastly, about how she might come after the company. He hoped that he could pay her to stay away from it with enough alimony.
“It’s just that things are finally going good here,” he vented. “We’re reaching a new level of success, and it’s because of me. Because this is my baby. I’ve put so much hard work into this place.”
Brad listened quietly, nodding his head when appropriate and saying words of comfort when he could slip them in. He hoped that Ryan’s wife wouldn’t be vindictive enough to try to take the company, but then again, he remembered how harsh his ex-wife had been. They’d only been married two years, but it had been enough for her to take over half of everything he had and run off with his best friend.
An hour and a half later, Marcy knocked on the office door and told Brad that the warehouse manager was on the phone. That spurred Ryan to let him get back to his job, and finally after a long delay Brad was able to get back to work. As he went back to his day though, he couldn’t help but think about the turmoil Ryan was going through. He was very happy at the end of the day when Rachel called him at the end of the day, and offered to come over to his place with takeout food. He gave her his address and in forty minutes she was at his door with a large brown bag full of delicious smelling Chinese food.
“You look like you’ve had a rough day,” she commented, laying the boxes of food out on his small dining table.
Brad choked out a laugh. “You could say that.”
“Want to talk about it?”
Rachel was new, but there was something about her that he trusted. He knew she was a good person, so while they ate through the mountains of fried rice, noodles and sesame chicken, he decided to tell her about Ryan’s problems with his wife, and how they had reminded him of his own.
“I didn’t know you were married,” Rachel remarked after it was all said and done.
“It was forever ago,” Brad replied quickly, fishing them two beers out of his fridge. “And it’s a part of my l
ife I don’t like to revisit. Cheryl was amazing when we were dating in college. But then after graduation she just changed. She became arrogant, and wildly dependent. I knew this before the wedding, but I was hoping that somehow she’d go back to herself after. But she didn’t. Turns out, she was just pretending in college. What she really wanted was to be a spoiled housewife with money at her disposal. When I wasn’t making enough for her lifestyle, she went and slept with my best friend, Paul, who was running his father’s law firm down town. They got married shortly after our divorce, but now that Paul has ran the business into the ground I suspect that she’ll be leaving him soon too.”
“That’s horrible,” Rachel replied, her face full of sympathy.
Brad nodded his head, and then leaned over the table to smile at her. “That’s why I find you so attractive though,” he said.
Rachel raised an eyebrow, not sure how to take that. “What do you mean?”
“You are so strong, Rachel, and independent. You seem to want an actual partner. Not just someone who will foot your bills. You are a fierce woman, and that drives me crazy in the best possible way.”
Chapter 14
Rachel
Rachel’s smile was wide and genuine. It warmed her heart to know that that was how Brad saw her. It was true too. She wanted an equal partner in life.
“Really?” She asked, leaning closer.
“Absolutely,” Brad replied, and she knew he was being honest. “Why don’t we stop all this ex-wife talk, hmm?”
Rachel got out of her seat, only to go over to his and straddle his lap. “I like that idea,” she whispered, lacing her fingers behind his neck. Their lips met in the first kiss of the day, and she immediately felt those warm, electric tingles that shot through her every time they kissed. Brad’s arms wrapped around her firmly, and she gasped when he stood up, and started walking towards his living room. He picked her up like she was nothing, and laid her down gently on the cool, black leather of his sectional couch.
He kissed her until she was breathless, and only when she gasped and pulled her lips away did his kisses move down her neck and towards her breasts. Brad’s warm, wet lips left a sizzling trail from her earlobe all the way down to the V in her blouse. She prayed that he didn’t want to go slow that night, and her pleas were answered when his sure fingers slid underneath the fabric and lifted it up and off of her.
Brad pulled away just enough to stare down at her, his eyes full of arousal and appreciation. “You are so beautiful,” he rasped, taking in her small curves, flat abdomen, and the swell of her pert breasts from beneath her push up bra. Whatever reservations she felt about getting involved with someone from work, they melted in those few moments.
“Kiss me,” Rachel whispered, pulling Brad back down to her. She gasped and moaned as Brad picked up exactly where his lips had left off, trailing over her breasts. With a simple flick of his wrist her bra was off and flung across the floor. She heard his moan of approval as he stared, only for a moment, at her naked breasts before taking her left nipple into his mouth.
“Oh!” She gasped, her back arching into his mouth, where his wicked tongue and teeth were teasing her ruefully. Brad took his time, teasing one nipple, then the other before he continued his exploration down Rachel’s body. She loved how thoroughly he explored every inch of her, and how he whispered praises of her beauty every time he removed another piece of clothing.
When she was finally naked, he stared down at her as if she were the finest piece of art he’d ever seen. “I am a lucky man,” he mused, his eyes gliding slowly over every inch of her.
“Brad, I…” she gasped, her hands wondering up and under his shirt. He felt so warm and inviting under his clothes, and she wanted to see as much of him as he saw of her. Knowing what she wanted, Brad immediately took off his shirt to reveal the muscled topography of his chest and torso.
She moaned in pleasure as she greedily took in the sight of his ripped, tanned flesh, her hands already roaming over the handsome physique that was Brad’s body.
“Pants,” she breathed, and he obeyed quickly, stripping down until he was just as exposed as she was. They both moaned as he gently lay down on top of her, feeling the full vulnerability of one another as their bodies slowly began to move with one another as they begin to kiss passionately yet again.
“I want you,” Brad whispered, his voice raw with need. “I want to taste you.”
Rachel’s eyes rolled upwards at the mere thought of the pleasure, and she quickly agreed that she wanted the same thing. Once again his lips travelled down her body, faster this time until they reached their destination. She gasped and bucked her hips when his tongue, so wet and skilled, slid expertly over her clitoris and lit her entire body on fire.
“Bradley!” She gasped, her hands delving into his hair as she let the waves of pleasure roll over her again and again as he continued to taste her, to explore the depths of her with his wondering and expert tongue. All too soon she felt her orgasm rise up, and with a cry of ecstasy she felt her wave of pleasure crest and wash over her. When she tried to pull him away though, he refused to budge, and instead flicked his graceful tongue ever diligently over her most sacred spot again and again.
~
Rachel smiled lazily as she watched Brad making them tea in kitchen. He was still gloriously naked, and she found she loved him being so doing the most normal of things. He had incredible body, she thought as he poured boiling water into mugs. In a suit he looked bulky, almost rounder. But with no clothes it became very obvious that Brad was a man that took very good care of his body.
“What are you smiling at?” Brad asked, catching her staring.
Rachel stretched languorously out on the large couch, letting every bone and vertebrae pop before she answered. “You’re a very handsome man, you know that?” She mentioned, taking her mug from him.
Brad chuckled, and picked up her legs with one hand so he could sit down and drape them over his lap. “I think I’ve been told once or twice,” he told her.
Rachel rolled her eyes, and playfully pushed at his free arm with her foot. “Seriously though. Do you see how many girls hit on you? Or do you just think they’re being super polite and peppy?”
Brad sat his steaming mug down on the coffee table, and began massaging Rachel’s right foot. She moaned in relaxation, and sank further into the couch. This man was heaven.
“I see it,” he said, after a while. “At least part of me does. When it’s women I know that are married, like Summer, I think I try to block it out even more so. After what my wife did to me, I was jealous for a long time. I ruined every relationship before it even got started because I just assumed she was going to cheat on me. When I realized what I was doing, I started yoga, and took a step back from the dating scene all together.”
He looked over at Rachel, smiled, and switched over to her other foot. “Well, until you that is,” he added.
Rachel smiled back, and leaned up to kiss him affectionately on the lips. She was starting to like Brad, baggage and all.
Chapter 15
Bradley
Brad woke up the next morning, instantly reaching out across the bed for Rachel. They had started kissing on the couch and somehow graduated to his bedroom, where Rachel performed some of the best fellatio that he’d ever had in his life. He remembered the feel of her lips around him, the electric shock of his ejaculation, and then her small, warm body wrapping around him. But…had he fallen asleep so quickly after that?
“Oh no,” he groaned, putting a hand over his face in embarrassment. It had been late, yes, and it had been his first blow job in over a year, but really? To pass right out after? He hadn’t done that since he was a freshman in college and a novice at sex. Getting up, he looked around his small house for any sign of Rachel still being there. In the kitchen he found her note.
Dear Brad,
Woke up early to go home and get changed for work. Hope you don’t mind that I slept over, but you were just so comf
y See you at the office.
Xo,
Rachel
Brad sighed in relief. So she had spent the night. Good. He hadn’t planned on her staying the night, but he was glad that she had. As he started getting ready for work, he wondered if he could convince Rachel to spend the night with him at his place that night or tomorrow, since it was the weekend after all. So far she was respecting his pace with all the sex stuff. Maybe it was time to reward her for that.
At work, Brad went straight to his office. He had a meeting with Ryan and the investors at 2:30, but until then he wanted to spend his time with Rachel and Tristan to see where they were on the new project. Tristan came in first, and happily showed Brad all of his progress on all the social media platforms.
“Our sales have been steadily increasing since we started advertising on Facebook and Twitter,” Tristan explained, showing Brad the report. “Every time we get a new product it immediately goes up on our social media platforms.”
About that time, Rachel and the Bella’s walked in. Brad couldn’t help but give her all of his attention as she walked by, and without even noticing it he was starting to smile. She looked beautiful in her outfit, a black pencil skirt with a matching belt and shoes, and a lavender fitted button up shirt rolled up to her elbows. Sleek and classy, that was his woman.
“I knew it,” Tristan said suddenly, shoving Brad’s arm.
Brad snapped his gaze back to Tristan, surprised. “Knew what?” He asked.
Tristan rolled his eyes and smiled. “I knew that you and Rachel had a thing for one another! Don’t try to lie, I already know.”
Brad opened his mouth, the shut it again. What use was it to argue, other than to make a scene?
“Don’t say anything to anyone,” Brad warned. “It’s new, and the employee handbook doesn’t say anything about fraternizing. It just states that we are supposed to be respectable and friendly to one another, which we are. Don’t you think?”
