Knocked Up on Valentine's Day

by Amy Brent

  Shit. I just fucked myself out of the self-respect he had developed for me.

  But holy hell, it was fucking worth it.

  Chapter 9

  Ellison

  “Wait, all of them signed?” Michael asked.

  “Yep. All eighteen fucking investors are officially on board,” I said.

  “L, that’s the entire fucking fiscal year. That’s our base operating cost plus the fucking luxury hotel in the Bahamas. Dude! Holy shit! I honestly didn’t think you’d pull that off.”

  “What the hell do you think I do around here, klutz?” I asked. “And anyway, it really all came down to Charlie. She’s proven the promotion this company gave her, and she’s gonna stay there as long as she can stand it.”

  “Well that’s good, it’s great really. So how did her presentation go?” he asked.

  “It was good. She gave them every piece of information they needed and she even did these 3D images of the blueprints we’ve been bouncing back and forth. Then, she came up with this idea on the spot about the investors voting on which one they liked the best.”

  “Oh, shit. She sprang a vote on you?” Mike asked.

  “Yeah, and I didn’t hate it,” I said.

  “Who are you and what have you done with Ellison James? You feelin’ alright?”

  “I’m fine, just jetlagged. I’m not a hard ass, and I actually do shit around this company, unlike the impression you seem to have. Did you really think I wouldn’t have been able to close those fucking deals? I would’ve had them eating out of the palm of my hand.”

  “I’m just givin’ you a hard time. Lighten up, L. Geez, that flight really kicked your ass,” he said.

  Just then, Charlie came through the double doors of my office. She had the originally signed documents from all the investors notarized, and she set them down on my desk before her eyes hooked with mine.

  “I faxed them all the copies of their notarized documents. These are the originals, alphabetized by their last names with their financial contributions as well as their stock incentives highlighted.”

  “You know my secretary would’ve done all that, right?” I asked.

  “She hasn’t been at her desk all day, Mr. James,” she said.

  My dick twitched at the sound of my name dripping from her lips. Scenes of our night together flashed through my mind and I could’ve sworn I could still taste her on my lips. I leaned over and saw the empty desk of my secretary, then promptly picked up the phone and pressed the auto dial for her cellphone.

  I was thankful when she picked up because that meant I could shoo Charlie out of the room. There was no way in hell I was spending any time around her other than what was absolutely necessary until I could wash our excursion from my mind. What I needed to do was get through my day without encountering her again, get my dick under control long enough to have a professional conversation with her, then get my dick plowing into another woman I could fixate on.

  Because this was absolute bullshit.

  I hung up the phone after talking to my secretary and I saw the smirk on Mike’s lips. I kept chastising myself for even having the thoughts about Charlie that were running through my head, and the more distracted I got, the more it registered with Mike.

  “Take a deep breath. Her tits aren’t that glorious,” he said.

  But, you haven’t drank from their pools like I have.

  “It was rough, spending time with her like that in such close quarters. She pulled out these little flirtatious stunts I see women sharks do sometimes, and she had every fucking investor eating out of her damn hand.”

  “Were you eating out of it?” he asked.

  “She’s my employee. Off limits,” I said, lying.

  “I know, I know,” Mike said. “No office relationships or some such shit. One day you’ll crack, and I’ll be ecstatic when I shake the hand of the woman who broke Ellison James.”

  If only you knew she’d just walked into the room.

  “How’s that leg comin’ along?” I asked.

  “Itchy as fuck. My girlfriend’s fucking taken every single thing I had to stick down my cast and itch with. I’ve got nothing to help with it now.”

  “You scratch it too much and you’ll break open the skin and get it infected,” I said.

  “Sounds like you know from experience,” Mike noticed.

  “And it was the fucking worst, so stop itching. And your girlfriend has a name. Use it or drop her if it makes you that uncomfortable to date someone long term.”

  “Yeah, yeah. You stop gawking at the big tits in the office and I’ll give her a name,” he said.

  Mike left me to my thoughts while he hobbled out on his crutches, and I knew I had to talk with Charlie. There would be gallons of tension between the two of us if we didn’t have some semblance of a conversation about what happened over the weekend. I picked up the phone and called down to her desk, and her voice fluttered over the phone in that sultry tone I remembered her using as she yelled my name to the ceiling.

  I knew she was a screamer.

  “Hello?” she asked.

  “It’s me, Charlie,” I said.

  “Well hello, Mr. James. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “I was wondering if you’d be able to meet me somewhere tonight. We really should talk.”

  “I agree. But, we probably shouldn’t meet where anyone might see us,” she said.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “There’s a bar off an alleyway not too far from my place. It’s close enough to where you won’t feel obligated to walk me home, and no one in this company would ever be caught dead there.”

  “That seedy, huh?” I asked.

  “You’ve no idea. You might want to get your vaccinations up to date before tonight,” she said.

  I chuckled over the phone and was instantly reminded of why she was entrancing in the first place. I cleared my throat, trying to bury my respect and admiration for her, and we ironed out a time to meet before I hung up the phone.

  The entire day, the only thing I could think about was meeting up with her. My leg jiggled in excitement as I ironed out some building details over the phone with multiple contractors in the Bahamas. My mind was plagued with thoughts of her smile and laughter while I wrote memos and lists of things for my sick secretary to take care of when she got back in. I almost gave the florist the wrong fucking address when I went to send something to my secretary because I couldn’t get Charlie’s eyes out of my head.

  But, when I put the phone down and went to go grab my bag, I couldn’t get the memory of the sweet taste of her pussy out of my mouth.

  I decided to take a taxi to that part of town to give me time to find the bar. I’d already had a couple of drinks by the time 6 PM crept around, and my eyes started searching for her as the clock ticked nearer to our agreed time. My stomach stung with anticipation, waiting to catch a glimpse of her as she walked through the door.

  But nothing could have prepared me for the breath that left my lungs when I finally laid eyes on her.

  Her beautiful red hair was free from its typical business confines, billowing around her shoulders as she walked into the bar. She was in nothing but a gray t-shirt that fell off her shoulder and a pair of white-washed jeans that rounded out her ass, but she looked absolutely radiant even as she sat down in front of me.

  “I see someone didn’t go home to change,” she said.

  “Would you like anything to drink?” I asked.

  “Drinks put us in this situation. I think I might want to stay away from alcohol when I’m with you,” she said.

  “Fair enough.”

  I sipped on my third drink while the two of us made small talk, but the more we delved into the conversation the less willing I was to talk with her about why we needed to meet in the first place.

  “We can’t do this anymore,” I blurted out.

  “I know,” she said. “What we did was incredibly unprofessional and it put you in a bind with yo
ur morals. Not only that, but it made me something I never wanted to be.”

  “And what is that?” I asked.

  “Someone who fucks her way to the top,” she said.

  “You’re hardly that,” I said, snickering.

  “Not everyone will see it that way if this were to get out. We can’t let it happen again.”

  I was the one that was supposed to be having this conversation with her, and yet it somehow felt she was having it with me. I don’t recall a time when a woman had ever taken the reigns with me like this. When the fuck did she turn the tables on me?

  Why the fuck did I suddenly feel like the woman in this scenario?

  “Fine. Then this won’t happen again,” I said.

  “Rumor around the office says you’re trying to find someone to groom as another shark to stand at your side.”

  “I see Mike’s been talking to some people,” I said.

  “I’d like to officially put my bid in for the position. You know, since you saw me in action over the weekend.”

  “Consider your bid officially placed,” I said. “And remember, this didn’t happen, nor can it happen ever again.”

  “I know,” she said, winking. “I got it.”

  But honestly? I wasn’t sure I did. Her playful nature and her hot-ass body called to me unlike any other woman I’d ever come across. If I was going to groom her like I wanted to, then I was going to have to spend time with her. But, if she was this alluring to me in just a shirt and jeans, then there would never be a moment when she wasn’t.

  There would never be a moment when I wouldn’t wanna bend her over my fucking desk and slather my paperwork in her scent.

  “Are you picking up the tab, or am I?” she asked.

  “You didn’t drink. Why the hell would you pick up the tab?” I asked.

  But, the smirk on her face told me she was intentionally trying to throw me for a loop. She knocked her knuckles against the table before she got up and walked away, and my eyes locked onto her swinging ass and followed her all the way across the bar.

  Nope, I didn’t believe my own fucking words one bit. And part of me hoped she didn’t believe hers either.

  Why the fuck did she have to be my employee?

  Chapter 10

  Charlie

  “Charlie!”

  His voice fell heavily on my ears and I felt my gut sink to my toes. I’d tried my hardest to hop on this bullshit my boss was trying to sell, but everything inside of me wanted to jump him where he stood. His tailored suit dripped off his body and hugged every single crevice I could remember feeling with my hands back in Helsinki, and his voice rang out across the bar.

  Beckoning me back to him—like I wanted him to.

  Even as I turned around, I told myself we couldn’t do this again. He was my boss, I was his employee, and I didn’t want him favoring me in the office. If we continued these affairs and moments now that we were back here in Miami, he’d favor me just to get in my pants. Soon, we’d move from one of our bedrooms to the supply closets at work, and push boundaries just for the thrill of it.

  I know I pushed boundaries just for the adrenaline rush, and L would be no different.

  Even as I spun around on my heels and sank my eyes into his from across the room, my mind screamed that this was just a one-time thing. The moment people caught wind of what we were doing, I’d be history. In order to restore normalcy, L would have to fire me. In order to restore his reputation and keep the morals he had ingrained into his company, he would have to transfer me.

  In order to not seem like a hypocrite, he would have to break me.

  But he looked so incredible and I could smell his cologne as he approached me from across the room. He picked up a random pink drink that was set on the bar for someone else before reaching into his pocket and mindlessly throwing a $50 bill in its place. He strode towards me, with his hardened blue eyes and strong, broad shoulders, then held the drink out for me to take just as his body heat radiated against my skin.

  “Have a drink with me,” he said.

  Three drinks later, a mariachi band hit the stage. I’d never been in this bar before, but the moment they struck up their music my hips were swaying to the beat. The bartender kept the pink cocktail coming while L grasped a plastic cup that had some sort of amber liquid in it, and I felt his hips behind me while I gyrated across the floor.

  The trumpets were calling out and the drums rattled my ribcage. I couldn’t understand a fucking word they were singing about, but soon my hand was within L’s and the smile that graced his cheeks was so wide it closed his eyes. He twirled me around next to our table, our shoulders moving and our feet dancing, and for the first time everything from work fell into the background.

  There was only me, him, the music, and our beat.

  He twirled me into him before he set his drink down, then he plucked mine from between my fingers before his nose tickled my ear. I tipped my head off to the side, giving him room, as he wrapped his arms around me, interlocking our fingers while his breath danced along my neck. My God, it felt incredible to be back in his arms, and I could feel the alcohol eroding my walls while he slowly ground his hips into my ass.

  “You smell divine,” he said into my skin.

  “And you feel so strong,” I said.

  He chuckled into my skin and it caused goosebumps to ricochet up my arms. He pulled me close to him while we swayed to the music, our hips following one another’s while we both let loose. I knew I was treading in dangerous territory. I knew that at any moment, someone would want to get away from the office and walk right into the screaming mariachi bar. They would see us, wrapped up in one another, and our entire bubble would be burst.

  Our secret would be out.

  I’d be the dick-sucking queen everyone already thought I was.

  Just as we finished our drinks, I realized neither of us would be able to get home alright. We agreed to split a cab as we leaned on each other out of the bar, and his arm flagged one down so we could get in. He agreed to see me to my apartment complex and then he would text me whenever he got home, and that was going to be just that.

  But, when we sat down next to one another, the air in the back of the cab crackled with electricity.

  The sharpest knife couldn’t cut through the tension between the two of us and I saw his cock throbbing visibly underneath his pants. My nipples were hardened against my bra and I could see how taut his muscles were, so I made a bold move and slid my hand onto his thigh. He jumped at my touch, his muscle contracting underneath the feeling of my warm hand.

  And as I turned my head to look at him, he turned his gaze to look into my eyes.

  He threw himself at my body, tackling me in the cab as his lips latched onto mine. My free hand flew to his hair while the other was trapped underneath his body, and our tongues danced like fire lapping at the heels of a kerosene can. He was panting against my body, breathing me in while his tongue raked along the insides of my cheeks, and my teeth clattered against his while his hands made their way up my shirt.

  “Fuck, Charlie,” he said, groaning. “You taste so good.”

  His voice melted whatever small piece of the wall remained and I laid my teeth into his neck. I felt his pulse point underneath my tongue, beating rapidly while his cock pressed against my leg. He shifted so he was between my legs, freeing my hand so it could claw at his back, and my lips kissed down his neck as I nipped at every available piece of skin he had to offer.

  “Fuck,” he said.

  I felt his hand slide up my shirt and palm my clothed breast. He wanted access to what I had given him before. He wanted to feel my tit in his hand and suckle it with his lips, and just the remembrance of how his warm tongue felt on my nipple caused me to spill into my jeans.

  Holy fuck, how wild it would drive him when he realized I wasn’t wearing underwear.

  The cab came to a stop and he threw his door open wildly. He ripped me into an upright position before pulling me out of the c
ab, and we both stumbled up the steps to my complex before I got us buzzed in. He slammed me into the wall of the elevator, his lips attacking my chest as he pulled my shirt down. I heard something rip behind me, busting me at the seams before I felt my tits fall forward in freedom, and that’s when I realized he had popped my bra completely off my body.

  I giggled as his lips attacked my skin, and when the elevator doors opened I tugged him to my door. My fingers trembled as I tried to get my key into the lock, but all he did was take it from me and open my door himself.

  “That’s a bit better,” he said.

  “Would you like to come in?” I asked, fluttering my gaze up to him.

  “Oh, I would definitely like to come,” he said, growling.

  He pushed me into my apartment before his leg darted out and kicked the door closed. He spun me around, giving me a moment to lock the door, but by the time I could gather myself he was already ripping my jeans down my legs. My pussy came into view, glistening for his viewing pleasure as I heard him drop to his knees, and a devilish chuckle peeled from between his lips when he realized the surprise I had underneath my pants.

  “Oh, you naughty fucking woman,” he said.

  He parted my legs before he dove into my depths, pinning me to the wall as his tongue licked my slit. He tweaked my clit just right, pressing and swirling and flicking its tip. I jumped with every stroke as I swung a leg over his shoulder for leverage, and it gave him just enough of an angle to slip one of his fingers deep into my pussy.