L.A. Fire

by Sarah Bailey

  He came back up to my mouth, just hovering over it, letting me feel his quick, hot breaths. His blazing eyes stared into mine, and he gently ran his fingers along the exposed wing bones of my back. “No,” he said, decisively. “Not tonight.” But then his lips were on mine again, hot, insistent, and his tongue thrust into my mouth; stroking me, exploring me, teasing me until I moaned so hard I could feel it vibrating through his lips. But then he pulled back. I gave him a hot and hungry look, and tried to pull him close again. He grabbed me gently, but firmly by the wrists, then stepped forward and gave me a gentle peck on my lips. “That’s enough for tonight.”

  I looked at him in frustration. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, feeling sexually charged and so needy for his touch.

  “No,” he said, simply, but I could tell by the look on his face that he was pleased I wanted more.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, and crossed my arms over my chest. “You are such a tease,” I said.

  He grinned at me. “I told you I’d tease you. But I also plan to please you. After we go on an official date.”

  I gave him a funny look. “Then what was tonight?” I asked.

  His eyes twinkled. “Me stalking you, and then conducting a successful negotiation.”

  I smirked at him. “Smooth, Mr. McGregor. Real smooth.”

  He shrugged his shoulders, his expression showing he was still pleased with himself. “Now get safely inside, Ms. Stevens. And get yourself to bed. You have a busy work day ahead of you tomorrow.”

  Realizing that he wasn’t going to budge, that he was definitely going home, I let out a long sigh, then keyed in my code. Before I let the door close behind me, I turned to Julian and said. “You’re going to be the end of me.”

  His eyes twinkled some more. “Pleasant dreams, Ms. Stevens.”

  I smirked at him again. “You mean pleasant wet dreams.” I winked at him over my shoulder, and let the door click behind me. Then I turned toward the elevators, realizing that the only way I was going to sleep tonight is if I had either a cold shower or a hot date with my vibrator.

  Chapter 6

  The next day I woke up with a wicked headache. I kept hitting the snooze button, until I realized I only had forty-five minutes to get to work. Then the adrenaline kicked in, and I busted out of bed. Jason, the potential new client I’d discovered, was coming in today to sign. He was coming in at 9:30, so I couldn’t be late for work. There was just no way.

  Coffee was a must. There was no way I could function without it, but I realized I’d have to skip my shower. I got the coffee machine running, then dashed into my closet and grabbed the first outfit I could find: a black pencil skirt, a purple silk blouse, and a pair of low-heeled black suede pumps. Once I finished dressing, I quickly checked myself out in the mirror, and realized that the silk blouse was quite wrinkled. I frowned at my reflection, but there was literally nothing I could do about it. I had to get out the door immediately, and do my makeup in the car.

  Traffic was brutal. I was stalled on the freeway, literally bumper to bumper. I took the opportunity to put on lipstick and mascara, but by the time I was finishing the final touch up on my eyelashes, the traffic had started moving again, without me noticing. A guy blared his horn at me, then pulled out from behind me and gave me the finger. As I eased into the flow of traffic, I cringed a bit. Yes, this morning I was that girl. Sitting in my blue Mini Cooper, a Britney Spears song blasting, doing my makeup behind the front wheel because I was late for work.

  When I pulled into the Cooper McGregor lot, it was already 9:40. I cursed myself internally, and ran as fast as I could to the elevator bank. Annabel saw me coming through the glass doors to the office two minutes later, and she had a worried expression on her face. “Mr. Burns is already here,” she said. “I took him to the boardroom. Mr. Cooper and Mr. McGregor are already in there as well.”

  I bit down on my lip hard. This was not good. “Thanks for stepping up, Annabel. I really appreciate it. I’m so sorry.”

  She gave me a soft, genuine smile. “Being late. It happens to the best of us. I’m sure it will all work out.”

  I smiled back at her, so grateful for her kindness. “I sure hope so, Annabel. Thanks again,” I said, rushing through the door into the office, grabbing a folder from my desk, and almost sprinting for the boardroom. I swiftly, but quietly opened the door and walked in.

  “I’m so sorry I’m late,” I said. “There was a major traffic jam on the freeway.”

  Paul glared at me, and started tapping his pen. I watched him take in my wrinkled blouse, and frown lines appeared on his forehead. Julian gave me a worried look, then took a sip of his coffee. Jason was the only one who didn’t seem to mind. He gave me a broad, lazy smile and said, “Hey, no worries. It happens.”

  Paul’s shoulders immediately relaxed, and I shot Jason I grateful smile. Then I quickly took a seat, and turned my attention fully on Jason, still scared of seeing either worry or disapproval on either Paul’s or Julian’s face.

  “Jason has decided to sign with us,” Paul began, getting me up to speed. “I trust you brought a copy of the contract,” he said, his eyes narrowing slightly. Luckily it was in the folder I’d swiped from my desk.

  “Here it is,” I said, a little too proudly, and everyone smiled at my eagerness. I could feel myself flush slightly, and I tried to hide it by busying myself with retrieving the document from the folder and sliding it down the mahogany table toward Jason.

  He looked at it briefly, then turned his attention back to me. “Did you draw this up?” he asked.

  I shrugged slightly, and shook my head. “No, not really. I just followed instructions.”

  He nodded, and then gave me a funny look. “So I looked into you. And I found out you discovered a lot of really great scripts.”

  I suddenly felt uncomfortable with the attention on me. “Well, not really that many. Only three” I said, and shrugged.

  “No, forget the modesty, you’re really good. You have excellent taste in movies,” he added. “And it’s not three. It’s four. You discovered mine as well.”

  I bit down on my lip, feeling self-conscious. Julian suddenly gave me a hard look, but I ignored him.

  I heard Paul clear his throat. “Are you happy with the terms of the agreement?” he asked Jason, clearly wanting to get on with business. “As you can see from the contract, we will take fifteen percent of your earnings, and will fight really hard for you to retain moral rights.”

  Jason looked confused. “Moral rights?” he asked.

  Paul took a sip from his water glass. “You will have a say in how much your script gets to be altered, and have cause for legal action if the artistic integrity of your script is severely compromised.”

  Jason’s face lit up. “Okay, perfect,” he said. “That’s exactly what I asked for.”

  “Do you have any questions?” Paul asked.

  Jason shook his head. “No. I trust that I’m in good hands. You guys are the real deal. I’m happy to be signing with you.” And as if to prove his point, he picked up his pen and signed the contract.

  Everyone immediately looked relieved and pleased. “Fantastic,” Paul said, rising to his feet and walking over to shake Jason’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to be working with you. We’ll have your back, I can promise you that.”

  “Hey, I know,” Jason said. Julian stood up to come over as well, but then Jason turned to me and asked, “Hey, can you walk me out to the elevators? There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Julian immediately froze in his tracks, and his eyes narrowed and became icy. Jason didn’t seem to notice. He also didn’t seem to notice when Julian left the boardroom without shaking his hand.

  “Sure, I’ll walk you out,” I said, and led him back through the office. He said goodbye to Annabel, and then followed me through the glass doors to the elevators.

  I pressed the down button, but he immediately covered my hand. I looked up at him in surprise. His deep brown eyes were pe
ering down at me with a dark and alluring look. “Listen,” he said huskily, taking a step closer to me. “I was wondering if we could grab a drink sometime.”

  Oh no. So this is where this was going. I gave him a quick, tight smile and said, “Jason, you seem like great guy. But we’re working together here. We have to keep our relationship strictly professional.”

  I removed my hand from the button, but he held on to it firmly, and his gaze became more determined. “Paul is my agent,” he said. “So technically we’re not in a direct working relationship.”

  I bit my lip, and felt like pulling my hand away, but I didn’t want to be too abrupt.

  “Listen,” he said, his voice getting soft. I looked up at him again, and his eyes were almost pleading. “I think you’re a great girl. Super smart. Warm. Funny. I think we could really hit it off, you know?”

  I let out a deep sigh, but then he held up his hand. “Hey,” he said, “Just think about it, okay? I have your number. I’ll give you a call sometime soon.”

  I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to cause any awkwardness by blowing him off, so I just decided to stay silent and figure out how to deal with this later. There is no doubt that Jason was an attractive guy. His broad shoulders, smoldering dark eyes, slow, bad boy swagger, and boyish grin together hit more than a couple of my buttons. But he didn’t push me over the edge the way Julian did. Not even close. If anything at all, he invoked a nostalgia in me for Rob, my original heartbreaking bad boy. And I was so done with that type.

  The elevator arrived at our floor, and just as Jason turned to enter it, his eye was caught by something behind me, and he almost recoiled in shock. “What’s with that guy?” he said, holding open the elevator door. “He seems like such a prick. I’m glad I’m working with Paul, not him,” he said, then shook his head and disappeared into the elevator.

  As soon as Jason was gone, I immediately whipped around and found Julian standing in reception, his eyes icy, his body stiff, his expression hard. I hesitated for a moment before going back through the glass doors. I’d never seen him look so livid. It was almost frightening. I entered the office cautiously, determined to just ignore him and go back to my cubicle.

  “Sarah,” he said, a bitter chill in his voice. I flicked my eyes over to him. His eyes pierced right through me, sending a shiver up my spine. “In my office. Now.” He walked swiftly to the entrance to the general office, holding the door open for me, but not turning around. Annabel’s brow scrunched up, and she winced. She shot me a pained, sympathetic look, and I just shrugged my shoulders helplessly and followed Julian to his office.

  As soon as I entered, my eyes dazzled. His office was massive, like Paul’s, with two of his walls made up of floor to ceiling windows. The sky beyond was a cool, vivid blue, and the sun was blazing gold off the steel and chrome high rises in the immediate distance. Through the buildings, I could make out a strip of the foaming, green ocean in the distance, and off to the right, the rugged smoky mountains, their outlines slightly smudged looking because of the distant smog.

  On the wall facing his desk, he had up a lithograph that made my breath catch. It was a Charline von Heyl abstract collage, one of my favorites. It reminded me of a scene at a carnival or a costume ball, with dotted black stick figures looking vaguely like people in a crowd, dancing, rushing, and gesturing around a woman in a strange mask, her features blacked out except for her ripe, sensual mouth, curved in an enigmatic smile. “Lacuna Lotto,” I said, absently.

  Julian turned around, gave me a swift, deadly look and pushed a button on his desk. I immediately heard a click behind me. I instinctively tried to turn the handle on the door and realized he’d locked me in.

  I glared at him, and he responded with a cold smile. “Quite right, Ms. Stevens. I see you know your art.”

  He gestured to the chair on the other side of his walnut desk. “Sit, Ms. Stevens.”

  I folded my arms across my chest, and narrowed my eyes at him. I refused to budge. “What’s this about?” I asked.

  “Sit, Sarah,” he ordered, his eyes still frosty, his voice raspy. I sighed, and walked over to the chair.

  “Fine,” I said, sitting down and crossing my legs. My skirt hiked up a bit when I did, exposing some of my thigh. His eyes again seared into my bare flesh, and I heard him inhale sharply. Then he eyed my wrinkled shirt quizzically.

  “Your blouse is wrinkled,” he said.

  I smirked at him. “Thanks for noticing. I didn’t have time to find anything else this morning.”

  He leaned over his desk, and eyed me carefully. “Are you blaming me for bringing you home too late last night?”

  I felt a twinge of anger twist in me. “No, I’m not blaming you, Julian. I’m a grown woman. It’s my responsibility to get myself up on time in the morning.”

  “But you didn’t,” he said. “You were late. And Paul wasn’t happy.”

  “I thought you weren’t going to interfere in my relationship with Paul.”

  “And I thought you weren’t going to do anything to make yourself look bad.”

  I felt my cheeks color. “Oh, so as long as my shirt’s not wrinkled and I show up on time, it’s okay to fuck my boss’s partner?”

  His expression darkened, and when he spoke again, he hissed out the words. “It’s definitely not okay to fuck your boss’s new client.”

  Oh. So that’s what this was about. I let out a sharp laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, getting up and walking back toward the door.

  “Sit down, Sarah,” he ordered.

  I whipped around and shot venom through my eyes. “Go to hell, Julian.” I felt my hands clench into fists. “You don’t tell me what to do, do you understand?”

  His voice got very low. “You need a man who takes control, Sarah. I saw how your body was just dying to yield to my commands last night.”

  I felt my eyes turn to slits, and my lips form a thin, angry line. My hands were still clenched, but I was shaking. “Maybe in bed,” I said quietly, “But sure as hell not anywhere else.” I spun around, and tried to open the door again. I was beginning to feel desperate. I needed to get out of his space immediately. I was feeling angry, and cornered, and humiliated.

  “Are you going to date Mr. Burns?” he asked. I was still facing the door, trying helplessly to open it, but I could tell he had come out from behind his desk and was heading toward me. He grabbed me by the waist and spun me around, pulling me against his hard, rippled chest. I could feel his heart pounding hard and fast through his blue dress shirt. “Answer me, Sarah,” he said, his tone gruff, with the slightest hint of desperation. He tilted up my chin to meet his face.

  I looked him squarely in the eye and said, “No. I have no interest in Jason Burns.”

  His eyes were still frosty, and filled with skepticism. “Then what was that inappropriate display out in the hall all about?”

  I sighed, and pushed away from his chest. His arms were still wrapped tightly around my waist, and he kept me firmly in place. “He asked me out. I said no. That’s it.”

  He let out a long, ragged breath, and his eyes immediately heated up. “Good. Now that that’s settled, it’s time to punish you severely for putting me through such torture.”

  He swept me up off my feet, pulling my legs onto either side of him, and pushed me up against the wall. I could feel his hard dick pressing against me through his suit trousers, and my sex started to ache with unbearable tension. “I’m still angry with you, Julian,” I whispered, my words sounding hoarse and labored.

  “I’ll make it up to you,” he said, diving for my neck. The moment his lips touched my throat, I moaned softly and threw my head back in surrender. I felt a bolt of arousal so strong, I started squirming in his arms, pressing my sex harder against his straining cock. “Quit it, Sarah,” he said, “Or I swear I’ll take you right here, right now.”

  His mouth moved up, met mine, and his tongue slid roughly inside, probing me aggressively, then softly, then ag
gressively again, turning me on like crazy. I playful grabbed his tongue between my teeth, and he chuckled slightly. Then his kiss became more insistent, more demanding, and he unbuttoned my blouse, sliding his free hand beneath my bra, undoing the clasp. With my breasts free, he let me slide to the floor, and then kneeled down, taking my hard nipple into his mouth, tugging it, teasing it, sending spasms of pleasure bursting through me. My back arched, pushing my nipple deeper into his mouth. I was wet, wild, and ready to beg. “Please,” I moaned. “Please.” I crouched down, and went straight for the button of his trousers. He stilled my hand, and flashed me a devious smile. “Not yet,” he said. “You’re not ready yet.”