by Cassie Cross
Abby rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a little uncomfortable talking about this in such a public place, but the cafe was nearly empty and there was no way anyone could hear them.
“Up against his desk.” Abby cringed again when she said it.
Becca squealed and clapped, both embarrassing Abby and making her laugh at the same time. Once she’d calmed down, she grabbed her chair and scooted over next to Abby.
“Holy shit, Abs. I never would’ve pegged you as…I’m just so proud.” Abby should’ve known Becca would react that way, and it made her feel foolish that she ever thought twice about telling her. In that moment, Abby loved her more than ever.
“Beck, I don’t know what to do now.”
“What do you mean, what do you do? You do it again. And again and again until you can’t do it any more. Why is this a question?”
“Well, there is the very small issue of, I don’t know…my job.”
Becca laughed, and Abby almost felt insulted.
How can she take this so lightly?
“Sweetie, guys don’t fuck you and then fire you, it doesn’t work that way. That would actually be the least productive thing ever. He’d either pretend it didn’t happen or do his damnedest to make it happen again.”
Abby took a sip of her tea. “He’s doing his damnedest to make it happen again.”
Becca smiled. “My kind of guy.”
“Well, kind of. He’s teasing me. Making me wait.”
Becca’s smile got impossibly bigger. “Definitely my kind of guy.”
“It’s kind of hot? I don’t know. I mean, he’s always been kind of an ass with me, but he’s definitely got this compartmentalized. He’s just completely different when we’re…you know.”
“If you can do it, you can say it, sweetie. Use your big girl words.”
“When we’re having sex,” Abby said, feeling like an idiot.
“Have you ever considered that this isn’t the first time he’s done this?”
“Obviously it’s not the first time he’s done this,” Abby replied, looking at Becca like she’d just spoken gibberish.
Becca rolled her eyes. “I mean, the first time he’s done this with an assistant.”
Oh god. I hadn’t considered that.
“Maybe that’s why your job was open.”
“Shut up, Becca.”
Even though Abby didn’t want to hear any more, the reality had already sunk in.
What if I wasn’t the first? What if this was the reason my job was open in the first place? Cole told me my predecessor had gotten an offer from another company, but what if she’d been forced to leave? She felt like she was going to hyperventilate.
Abby covered her face with her hands, then threaded her fingers through her hair, pushing it off of her forehead. “How could I have been so stupid, Beck?”
“Well, this thing does have an expiration date now. Start sending out your resume just in case, but have fun while you’re still there.”
Even though Abby allowed herself to go over the various scenarios for how this thing would ultimately play out, she chose to focus only on the good endings, because the bad ones made her sick to her stomach. She knew, deep down, that this wasn’t going to be a happily ever after. But she didn’t want to even begin to think about the clock ticking toward the end of it all.
Knowing Abby as well as she did, Becca knew what she was thinking.
“Lust is a powerful thing, sweetie. It makes us all jackasses. Besides, the whole power play aspect? I mean…honestly, I probably would’ve done it too. It’s so naughty and forbidden, oh my god. I wish my own boss wasn’t such a troll.” Becca grinned at Abby, giving her fingers a squeeze, and in that instant Abby knew she had made the right decision in telling her. “You didn’t tell me the most important thing though.”
“What’s that?” Abby asked.
Becca glared at her as if she was an idiot. “How was it?”
Abby couldn’t help the huge grin that stretched across her lips.
“Holy shit, Abby!”
“It was…amazing. Honestly. I don’t know if it was just the sex or the circumstances or both, but all together it was incredible. And-”
“And what?” Becca was getting excited, leaning forward in her chair.
“Well, last night when we were getting cleaned up, I was trying to lighten the mood.”
“Oh god.”
“So I teased him a little and told him that afterwards I thought he would’ve told me that I was the best he’d ever had and that I’d ruined him for other women. I was really lighthearted about it.”
“Your lighthearted face isn’t half as lighthearted as you think it is.”
“I know,” Abby admitted.
“What’d he say?”
“He didn’t say anything at the time. But when he leaves for meetings, I usually walk with him down to the car. Today, I handed him some proposals and told him which was which and who he should give what to-”
“I don’t care about any of this, get to the good stuff.”
“I’m trying! Anyway, so I was just talking to him about work stuff while we were in the elevator, and all of a sudden he reached over and pulled the emergency stop-”
“Oh my god.”
“-and he kissed me. Like, really kissed me. Hand on my thigh, lifting it up to his hip kind of kissing.”
Becca slapped her hand on the table and then pressed it against her chest. Abby almost laughed, but she figured she’d keep talking in case Becca blacked out from excitement.
“And when he pulled away, he rested his forehead on mine and said that I was the best he’d ever had-”
“Stop it!”
“-and that I ruined him for all other women.”
“Holy. Shit.”
Abby thought Becca was going to pass out, she was legitimately swooning.
“And then he walked out of the elevator, and I haven’t seen him since.”
“He’s going to fall in love with you,” Becca said, practically squealing.
“Don’t be stupid. Just a minute ago you were telling me that there was an expiration date on this.”
“On your job, yeah. But that was before you told me that he had walked right out of a romance novel.”
“He’s still a jackass,” Abby said, not exactly sure why she felt the need to throw that into the conversation.
“A jackass who wants to fuck your brains out and then fall in love with you,” Becca said before she swallowed the last of her cappuccino.
“So what am I going to do?” Abby asked, not really sure what to take away from this conversation.
“You’re going to keep doing what you’re doing, look out for yourself, and let the chips fall where they may.” Becca stood up and held out her hand. “C’mon, let’s go.”
“Where?” Abby asked.
“To lingerie.”
Early Sunday afternoon, Abby stood at the foot of her bed, staring at an empty suitcase. She hadn’t seen or heard from Cole since Friday evening when he told her he wanted her to travel with him to Chicago. She was nervous, to say the least.
The two of us sharing a suite?
She wasn’t exactly sure how their time together was going to go, but even more importantly, she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to dress for it.
Abby knew Cole expected her to work; he wasn’t flying her a thousand miles away just to be his after-hours secret hook-up. If he wanted that, he could have anyone in the entire city knocking on the door to his room with just one simple phone call. No, there would be work, but she hoped there would also be pleasure. Lots of it. Then again, Cole did seem to have a penchant for teasing Abby without offering any payoff. Well, immediate payoff, at least.
Six days alone with him in a room with no satisfaction? That would’ve been torture, and even Cole Kerrigan wasn’t that heartless.
Stop second-guessing yourself, Abby.
“Whatcha doin’?” Becca asked, flinging herself across Abby’s bed
and making her suitcase bounce precariously close to the edge of the bed.
“Be careful,” Abby said, sliding it back to safety.
Becca looked at the empty compartments, her eyebrows furrowed. “It’s not like there’s anything in there. Why are you even bothering with a suitcase? Just put some fresh undies in your purse and call it a day.”
“This isn’t Sex Fest 2013, Beck. I will actually have to work.”
“Yeah you will,” Becca said suggestively, laughing at her own joke.
“Stop.” Abby flicked Becca with the blanket that had been spread out across the foot of her bed. “What should I take?”
“Take your normal work clothes. And your normal play clothes. And plenty of condoms. You two aren’t doing something stupid like barebacking it are you?” Becca rolled over onto her stomach, gathering Abby’s pillow between her arms to rest her head on.
“I’m not that stupid.”
“Good girl,” she replied, reaching for the magazine on Abby’s nightstand.
“I only have, like, two sets of lingerie.” Abby could not believe that this was something she was considering when packing for a work trip. The difference in her life between last Sunday and today astonished her.
“What difference does it make? Hopefully you won’t be wearing it for long anyway. Men don’t care about that stuff as much as they say they do. If they had to choose between seeing a woman in lingerie or seeing a woman naked, they’d choose the naked woman. Tits are magical that way, bless them.”
Abby laughed as she pulled a few blouses out of her closet and hung them over the door.
“You know,” Becca began in a sing-song voice, “it would be easier for me to help you figure out what to pack if I knew who it was you were trying to impress.”
Becca asked Abby about the identity of her boss on several occasions since she started working at Kerrigan, but Abby had never budged. Not budging was easy considering she’d lied about the name of the company she worked for. Becca thought Abby was a junior accountant for a firm on Wall Street. That’s what Abby told her, anyway. Becca was smart enough to figure out that wasn’t the truth. She didn’t know what the truth was, though, and Abby was going to make sure she kept it that way.
“You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Non-disclosure agreement be damned, Abby. Seriously, this is killing me.”
Not as much as it’s killing me.
In order to nip this argument in the bud, Abby asked, “Would you tell me who you worked for if doing so meant that you had a potential lawsuit on your hands?”
Becca looked up at her, forgetting the magazine for a moment. “I would, but we both know I don’t usually make the best decisions.”
Abby walked over to her dresser and pulled the two sets of lingerie she bought with Cole in mind out of the drawer and placed them gently in her suitcase.
“It seems like I’m not making the best decisions lately either.”
And surprisingly, she didn’t care.
CHAPTER TWO
“MOM, RELAX,” Cole said impatiently, cradling his cell phone against his ear. “We have this discussion every time I fly, and yet I’m still alive.”
“I know,” replied Olivia Kerrigan, Cole’s opinionated, yet loving mother. “Can’t I be nervous about my youngest son being propelled through the air at hundreds of miles per hour in what amounts to a tin can? The smaller planes are always the ones you hear about crashing.”
Cole sighed, resting his head against the seat in the back of his limo, watching the city lights blur on his way to the airport. “It’s not like I’m flying in a crop duster. I own a full-sized jet. It’s very safe, I’ve hired a capable crew.” He appreciated his mother’s concern for his safety, but did not appreciate having this conversation every time he had to fly somewhere. “Besides, I’m more likely to die in this car than I am on my plane.”
Olivia was quiet for a moment, accepting the fact that she ultimately had no hand in her son’s fate. “Where are you going?”
“Chicago.”
“Tyler’s birthday is next weekend, pick up something with the Sears Tower on it,” she said. “You know how much that boy loves buildings.”
Cole grinned thinking about his 4-year-old nephew. As if he could forget the boy’s birthday; it was a recurring reminder programmed into his phone, not that he needed it.
“It’s called the Willis Tower now,” Cole gently reminded his mother, knowing how much being corrected annoyed her.
“And try to meet a nice girl while you’re there. Midwestern women are very down-to-earth. That would be good for you.”
Cole heard the teasing edge in his mother’s voice every time she reminded him that she wanted him to settle down.
“Mother, I’m in no rush to get married.”
“So the tabloids tell me.”
He rubbed his eyes, trying to relieve his exasperation. “Did you send me to Yale to find a wife or to learn how to run a business? Because business is doing well right now, I need to focus on that.” What he actually was focusing on was the fact that Abigail was waiting for him in his plane. He hadn’t seen her in two days, which was two days too long.
“You’re twenty-nine years old, Cole. It’s time to start thinking about settling down.”
“I can’t talk about this right now, Mom. I’m running late, and I need to board my tin can so I can be propelled through the air at hundreds of miles an hour to my certain death.”
Olivia sighed. “All right. Be safe, my love. Have a nice trip.”
“I will,” Cole replied, grinning. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The second Cole ended the call, a message from Keith McCall popped up on his screen.
911 - Check your email
Damn it, Cole thought. He was so looking forward to spending two uninterrupted hours with Abigail, of course there would be an emergency he needed to deal with during that time. He typed a quick response.
Almost on the plane - I’ll check ASAP
As if Cole needed another reminder of what this trip was all about, Keith fired off a reply that really drove the point home:
Have a good trip. Find out what this fucker’s up to so we can nail his ass to the wall.
Cole grinned as his car came to a stop on the tarmac. Keith was as loyal as they came, and he wanted to nab Hamilton almost as badly as Cole did.
When Cole stepped onto the plane, he saw Abigail sitting by the window. Her hair was up in a ponytail, leaving the lovely, graceful slope of her neck exposed. He wanted to kiss every inch of that neck; he wanted to see it arched in ecstasy as he pounded into her, giving her the most pleasure she’d ever felt in her life. His cock stirred just looking at her, and Cole was sure that it was going to be a long flight.
This is business. Think about your business, he reminded himself as he climbed the steps to board the plane.
COLE SPENT nearly an hour and a half dealing with the issue that Keith emailed him about before takeoff. When he finally reached a stopping point, he looked over at Abigail who was dressed in a smart-looking navy blue suit. She had her laptop out, typing away.
“Do you like the jet?” he asked.
“Eh,” Abigail said, shrugging. “I’ve been in better.”
“Have you?” Cole smiled, always amused by this intriguing woman. He knew at that moment that this trip was going to be the ultimate test of his will.
“Oh, definitely. Where I’m from, they hand these out like candy. I appreciate a yacht-slash-jet combo, just to make sure that the air and sea are covered. I value different methods of transportation.”
“I own a yacht.” Cole said.
“Of course you do,” Abigail said, laughing. “But do you own a catamaran?”
Cole laughed. “No, I do not.”
“Buy one of those, and then I’ll tell you how impressed I am.”
Cole closed his laptop and set it aside, then rubbed his tired eyes.
“Does this thing u
sually impress the ladies?” She was so curious, but unable to meet his gaze.
“Which ladies?”
“The ones you get photographed with.”
“Ah,” Cole replied, pressing his lips together. He figured this question would come sooner or later. “Why don’t you ask me what you really want to know?”
She was quiet for a long moment before answering. “Have you taken your other assistants on trips?”
“Yes.” Cole was amused at her line of questioning, probably because he knew right where it was headed. “As I said before, why don’t you ask me what you really want to know?”
“Have you…” Abigail stumbled on her words, uncharacteristically flustered.
“Fucked my other assistants?”
“Thank you. Yes.”
Cole’s plan to keep this trip mostly on the business end of things was quickly falling apart, but if anyone could multitask, it was him. Abigail was sitting on the other end of the long leather sofa that Cole occupied, which was much too far away for his liking. Unable to resist her, he turned to face her.
“This may come as a shock to you Abigail, but I do actually have a business to run. I wouldn’t be successful if I walked around screwing my employees. You might be surprised to find out that if I have a particular itch, there is no shortage of women I could find to scratch it for me.”
Abigail looked as if she’d been stricken. Her eyes were wide, absolutely stunned, and Cole felt the need to clarify his statement, to ease the harshness of what he’d just said.
“However, it seems that when I find a woman appealing, I don’t always follow my own rules. And,” Cole continued, his gaze locked with hers, “you are the first person I’ve broken that rule for.”
A smile broke through the tension on her face.
Christ, she is beautiful.
Abigail placed her laptop on the seat across from her and turned toward Cole. She crossed her legs, hitching her skirt up higher. He couldn’t help but let his eyes travel up the length of her thigh. This woman was going to be the end of him.
“So I’m the first?”
“Yes,” he replied.
