by Natalie Ann
“I’d think jumping on this table and pulling you forward was flashing the Green Lantern.”
“Just wanted to double-check,” he said, his teeth scraping the sensitive spot under her ear.
“It’s been a while, Brody, so I’d really appreciate it if you could hurry it up some.”
“You’re kind of demanding. I like it.”
“I don’t know that I’m always this way, but considering the circumstances, it seemed to call for it.”
He let out a laugh. “Well then, I guess I’ll get to it. Fair warning, just so you know, there is only so much I’m going to rush.”
“I’m guessing you know when and where to apply the right about of speed.”
He did. He knew exactly what he planned on doing too. Starting with her shirt. It had to come off. Just because they were in the conference room for their first time didn’t mean he wanted to cheapen this. Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to treat it with care and put a lot of effort into it.
His large hands slid around her waist, touching her bare skin, feeling her jump and feeling her quiver. Wishing he had a nice plush bed to lay her on. Yeah, this was sexy and secretive and one hell of a turn on, but he’d rather have a bed for the first time.
She didn’t seem to care though as she reached down and grabbed his shirt and whipped it off fast, then tossed it across the room. “You’ve got exactly the right amount of muscle that I’d been dreaming about.”
“You dream about me?” he asked, grinning then tackling her bra. White creamy smooth skin, luscious curves she was hiding from him. More than a handful.
He just took in the sight of her. Touching lightly, softly, watching her shake and watching her feel and come alive. Her nipples pebbling, calling his name, beckoning him to give them a taste.
He had to, he had no choice. His willpower was gone, along with his thought process. Slow? Did he say he wanted to go slow? It seemed his body had a mind of its own. Of course it didn’t help any that Aimee slid her hands down the front of his pants.
“Aimee,” he growled, his teeth nipping one then the other nipple in front of him.
“Mmm?” she said, arching into him more, the tip of her finger getting awfully close to the rock-hard evidence of his desire.
“Stop that.”
“No way,” she said, attacking the button on his shorts now. She was fast and efficient; he’d give her that. Before he knew what she was doing, he felt cool air on his backside and her pushing him back. “Let me look at you. Oh yeah. This time it’s better than my dreams.”
What guy’s ego didn’t want to leap and soar after hearing that? “Are you going to show me yours now?” he asked.
“Go right at it,” she said.
He did. Lifting her off the table and putting her on her feet. Undoing her shorts and sliding them down. She toed off her shoes and he did the same, then grabbed a condom out of his wallet before he forgot.
She climbed back on the table and shrieked, “Cold, but not enough to cool me off.”
“If it did, I’d just warm you back up,” he said. But he had no worries because her hand went down to grip him and his eyes rolled back in his head. “Cut that out.”
“Seriously? You’re joking, right?”
Was he? Was he really? No, none of this was a joke, or a dream, but one hell of a fantastic reality.
He stepped back and out of her grasp, then knelt down on the floor in front of her, spread her wide, and looked his fill. Wet and glistening, exactly like he’d hoped. Exactly like he’d dreamed, and now he was going to conquer.
His thumb and his finger started to move around, touching her, feeling her, making her hum and making her moan.
He couldn’t stop there though. So he dipped his head down and took a nibble, then a taste and finally full-on assault. His mouth, his hands, they went to work, sending her up and sending her over, then making her fly. Making her scream.
He was painfully aware of how far he’d pushed himself to the limit. But he had to get her there first. He had to show her he wasn’t selfish. This wasn’t just a quickie on a table. At least not to him, and he hoped not to her. She had to know it meant more than that.
He grabbed the condom out of his shorts, then stood up and stepped between her legs again, lifting her hips up and fitting her over him, then sliding in. Coming home, nestling in and staying there. Warm and tight, telling him it was going to be all right. That he’d found where he needed to be. Where she wanted him.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, yanked him tighter to her and started to rub up and down, grinding back and forth, working herself up to the ledge he’d pushed her off earlier. Going back for more. Wanting to soar like him.
He let her go, let her give it everything she had, let her lead the way and control the pace. If the pace happened to be more torture for him, he didn’t let on. How could he when everything he felt, and everything he saw, was bringing him toward a state of wondrous bliss.
His fingers were gripping her hips hard, holding on tight, his hips moving against hers, adding some friction to the kindling fire and feeling the bite of her nails on his back.
“Tell me you’re there,” he said. “Tell me when.”
“Now. I’m there right now! Give it to me. Make me yell. Make me say your name.”
No one had ever said that to him before. Told him that. He’d told other women to say his name, but no one had ever said “make me say it.”
Something strong and fierce took over. Something deep within, a hunger that was starving, needing to be fortified.
No thought at all, no worries either. His hips just moved. His body started to sing, hers matching his tune. Together, on the table, noises that he’d never heard before were sounding around them, sounding harsh, and animalistic and beautiful all at the same time.
The best noise of all was when she shouted out “Brody” and he whispered “Aimee,” then held her tight and kissed her gently.
Fast and Cheap
The next morning Aimee entered the bar at Fierce, secretly hoping Brody would beat her there. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t been showing up until midafternoon for weeks. It didn’t matter that she’d been opening and running the bar alone.
What mattered was that they’d shared something special last night. Something magical and mind blowing. Tender and sweet. And, if she let her mind go there, maybe loving?
But she’d learned to never let her mind go places it had no business being. Like a long- term relationship with a guy—who happened to be her boss—that was better than her in every aspect of the word.
Their backgrounds in terms of their careers might be the same, but other than that, nothing. Not one thing in common.
She was a woman who made a lot of wrong choices in life and had always had to work harder to make up for those mistakes. For every poor decision that always ran up and grabbed her by the cheeks and screamed, “Pick me, pick me, you’ll have more fun that way.”
Brody was a man that had been given everything. Did he work hard? Yeah, he did, but he didn’t have to work to get the position he had. That was handed to him. He didn’t have to scrape by, suck up or make promises to find a job, let alone keep it. Not like her.
So why was she upset he wasn’t here this morning when he had no reason to be? Because she’d lain in bed last night thinking about what she and Brody had shared. Not the physical part of it, but the emotional one. An emotional tug that hadn’t entered her mind since before Sidney was born. One that she’d thought by now was destined to shrivel up in a lone dark corner.
Those out for fun never wanted long-term. And those that wanted long-term never wanted her.
Brody could have made last night fast and cheap and sent them both on their way. She knew going in that it was a huge possibility. But like everything else she’d done in her life, she threw caution to the wind and jumped. She’d been craving the physical and hoping for the emotional. The question was, did she jump alone?
But he hadn
’t cheapened what they did, when by all aspects it probably was. Sex on the conference room table with her boss. Cliché at best, trashy at worst.
Instead, he did everything he could to make her feel like it was just her he wanted. Her in a five-star hotel, with champagne and caviar. Things she’d never experienced and probably never would.
For a few minutes in time last night, she allowed herself to be carried away by those fantasies. By the thoughts that she was wanted for herself, for the person she was, not for what she did after hours.
She wasn’t going to dwell on it, though. She was going to put it from her mind and get to work. When Brody came in would be soon enough to see what had changed.
Two hours later, Brody walked in and slid behind the bar. Earlier than he normally appeared, but not so early she would think he was there for her.
“Hi,” she said, smiling at him, trying to play it cool. Play it like he didn’t strip her naked and have his way with her on the cold wood table with security cameras in the hallway outside the closed door.
“Hey,” he said, then moved to the other side of the bar and grabbed the special menu for the day, looked it over, looked up to see what the special flashing on the neon sign said, then started to get to work. Ignoring last night.
All but ignoring her.
She wanted to grind her teeth but didn’t. “How’d you sleep last night?” she asked. It wasn’t an odd question. She’d asked it before when she’d heard they had a long night.
“Not bad. How about you?”
Again with the monotone to his voice. “I slept like a baby. Went to bed feeling a high I haven’t felt in a long time.”
He smirked, but then caught himself. She wanted to pat herself on the back for getting a reaction out of him, at the same time she wanted to smack him upside the head and yell, “What crawled up your butt?”
“Sidney wake up at seven?” he asked. At least he asked her something personal, rather than pretending they didn’t do the naked tango a floor above them.
“Like clockwork. I’m used it,” she said, waiting on a customer at the bar. Two could play that game.
***
Brody watched Aimee walk away, his eyes going right to her back end, remembering every part of her body from last night. Every curve and every crease. The sounds she made, the smell of her skin, the taste of her essence. He was losing his mind.
He’d just lied through his teeth, saying his night wasn’t bad after they departed. It was horrible. Nasty. He’d slept no more than two hours and even then it wasn’t straight through.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her looking at him. Her eyes bright and searching, her hands reaching, her voice calling out.
Then he remembered how it all made him feel in that moment. Not like a guy out for a good time then going about his day. Not like a guy who couldn’t remember the name of the person under him, if he’d even asked it. And when he analyzed it more, he realized he was scared silly.
Scared that he was going down a road he’d never been and wasn’t sure he should even try to.
What if he messed up? What if he was completely wrong for her? What if he wasn’t good enough? Why didn’t he think of all this before?
There was Sidney to consider. It wasn’t just about him and Aimee, and it wasn’t about having a good time. There were consequences to this. To his actions. And consequences were something he tried to avoid now.
He never should have let himself fall into her. To her strength, her independence, her easygoing nature. With his judgment coming into question so much lately, he should have backed off and kept his hands to himself. His thoughts to himself.
Did he do that? Nope. The minute he got the green light he slammed on the gas, shifting through gears as if he was coming out of the final turn on the last lap of the Indy 500. He didn’t regret it, he couldn’t. Not when he’d been waiting so long for it.
Except now, he didn’t know what to do. The right thing would be to talk to her, to tell her what he was thinking and feeling, and maybe take a few steps back until he got a better handle on it.
Unfortunately, too many times in his life he didn’t do the right thing.
So when it was nearing the end of Aimee’s shift and the two of them had spent hours just being cordial to each other, he felt like his hulking frame was teetering on a thin sheet of ice in eighty-degree weather.
“Do you need me to do anything before I leave?” she asked.
Yes. Meet me in the supply room in five minutes, he thought.
“No, I’m good.” She nodded and turned to walk away and he couldn’t let her go. Not without saying something else. Not letting her think he was a complete ass. “Do you have any plans for your day off tomorrow?”
She turned back and just stared at him. Those big brown eyes searching again. Trying to find what his problem was. “Chores. Just like every day I have off.”
“There’s a new aquarium that opened up in town,” he said.
“I heard you talking to someone about it today.”
“Do you think Sidney would like that?” he asked before he could stop himself.
“She probably would.”
When he didn’t say anything else, she turned to walk out. “I’ll see you on Friday,” she said.
She was gone before he could say anything else. Before he could tell her not to go. Before he could say that he was losing himself in her and was afraid it was a huge mistake.
She Belonged
For the life of her, Aimee couldn’t imagine why she was pulling up the long driveway of Gavin and Jolene Fierce’s house on Sunday afternoon.
It was her day off.
She had a million things to do.
She didn’t want to be anywhere near Brody at all.
Her little girl would be terrified of all the strangers.
Yet, when Gavin came in on Friday morning and extended the invitation to her for a company picnic, she found herself saying yes.
The urge to say no was great, but she’d heard Gavin reminding some of the kitchen staff and other full-time employees about the party. That it was an annual event. Since she was a manager, it would look good for her to participate. She knew that, and the last thing she wanted to do was alienate herself at her new job.
If she was hurt that Brody hadn’t said a word to her about it, she didn’t let on. None of the siblings told her about the party. She would have had no clue if Gavin hadn’t come in and invited her.
But Gavin had apologized up and down and said that it had always been him and his wife that extend the invitations, and that it completely slipped his mind. When Jolene mentioned not hearing from her, he rushed out the door and right over to let her know.
She saw he was sincere and maybe even slightly terrified of getting in trouble with Jolene, so she said she would stop in for a short period of time. It wouldn’t hurt to show her face. Time to put herself out there now, prove she belonged.
The party was in full swing, but she hadn’t been about to let Sidney go without her nap. As it was, she was showing up with a child that she was sure hardly anyone even knew about. She’d be talked about, no doubt, but she had to get beyond it. She was used to being judged in her life; this was nothing different than anything else in the last twenty years.
Obviously Gavin and Jolene knew she had a child, because Gavin made a point to say it was a child-friendly party, and even had a kiddie pool.
After parking her car on the grass alongside several others, she helped Sidney out, grabbed her big tote bag full of sunscreen and toys, even a bathing suit and towel, then held her daughter’s hand as she made her way around the back of the house. Mansion was more like it.
She would have felt awkward if there hadn’t been at least fifty people of all ages there. Employees, their spouses and children. Sidney’s eyes went wide, then she clung to Aimee’s leg in a death grip that was leaving marks with tiny little nails.
“Hey.” She swiveled her head and saw Brody coming over from
the side. “I wasn’t sure if you were coming or not.”
“I waited until Sidney woke up.”
Brody squatted down and got eye level with Sidney. “Hey there, cutie. Want to come with me?”
Sidney shook her head and held onto Aimee’s leg. “It’s going to take time for her to warm up with this many people.”
“It looks like I’ve lost all the ground I’ve gained.”
“I don’t know if the party had anything to do with that,” she said, then picked Sidney up and walked away.
***
Brody had that coming. He knew he did. Had he been a jerk the last few days? Yeah, he had. Was he purposely trying to ignore her? No.
The problem was, by trying to figure things out in his own head, he was pushing her away. Was he subconsciously doing it, testing her and maybe himself? He wasn’t sure. What he did know was he could see the results, and with little to no opportunity to be alone, he had no way to fix it. Or even to do damage control.
Today would be the first time he’d been able to spend time with her outside of work, and considering it was a company picnic, that wasn’t counting for much. This was probably going to be trickier than if they were at work.
“I didn’t know Aimee had a child.”
Brody turned to see Aiden standing next to him. “Yeah. Sidney.”
“How long have you known?”
“A few weeks,” he said.
There was no reason to say anything more. It either satisfied Aiden, or he just assumed Brody and Aimee talked about personal things when they worked.
While he nursed a beer by a tree in the shade, he watched Aimee and Sidney over at the kiddie pool.
It’d taken some convincing, he could see, but Sidney finally had her suit on and was standing hip high in the water. Other kids were laughing and splashing, but poor little Sidney looked lost. He knew that feeling well.
He desperately wanted to go over and be by them. To take his shoes off and stand in the water next to Aimee while she held Sidney’s hand. Instead he stayed where he was, drinking his beer and brooding.
