by K. Webster
I shove my phone into my purse and shake my head. “Just some asshole who thinks he can tell me what to do. I miss Shrimp. You ready to go already? The whore apartment is skeeving me out.”
He laughs, and I let out a sigh. I’ve dodged the first Morelli bullet. Let’s just hope I can dodge the rest.
15
Winston
Thank fuck it’s Friday. This week has rushed by in a blur as I’ve put out one fire after another. It’s like the universe is taunting me. Luckily, Ash is more than a pretty face. Pretty competent too. Between her and Perry, they equal the ability of any mid-level associate, which is surprising considering how green they both are. I’ve had them both running in a million different directions for me. Perry will make it on his last name alone, but it does comfort me knowing Ash plans to go to college. She’ll be successful one day, that’s for damn sure. After our fight over the apartment earlier this week, things have slipped back to the way they were. She works hard every night to please me, and I reward her by not sending her away.
I’m such a dick.
Ash doesn’t seem to be complaining, though.
As if she’s been summoned by my thoughts alone, she walks through my doorway, a paper in her hand. “Perry asked me to give this to you. It’s a list of businesses in a one-mile radius of the Baldridge building.”
I’ve been too busy to do much digging, and Duncan has been useless in getting me information. But, as much as I want to scour the list, my attention is stuck on Ash. Today, she looks hot as fucking sin in a classic cut, navy-blue and white polka-dotted dress that fits all her curves in a tasteful way. It’s very 1950s but fuck if I don’t think it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Close the door,” I rumble, “but don’t lock it.”
Her brow lifts in surprise, but she doesn’t argue. Instead, she swivels, her dress swishing around her, and obeys. I roam my stare up her shapely calves, ass, and hips, appreciating each part of her body. Once we’re sealed in the privacy of my office, I tug at the knot on my tie, loosening it so I can breathe.
“You’ve been too busy to even take me to lunch this week,” she says as she saunters over to me and sets the paper down on my desk. “I was beginning to think my boyfriend was losing interest.”
Not losing interest.
Trying to use my brain instead of my dick.
Yesterday’s lunch was spent with Layla Reynard. What I thought would be a good opportunity for me to put distance between me and Ash, reminding me of what I’m supposed to be interested in, turned out to be a torturous encounter.
Layla was beautiful, just like Nate claimed. Rich, polite, a perfect trophy.
But she wasn’t Ash.
Nothing about her sparked my insane need to possess and own and devour.
Rather than calming my tumultuous mind, it only sent it spinning further into chaos. I’d come back from that lunch and fucked Ash so hard over my desk I’m pretty sure the entire building heard her unravel with my name on her lips.
“Not your boyfriend,” I murmur, though I don’t put much of a punch into my words. “And I pay too much not to see my investment pay off.”
She rolls her eyes as though she’s used to my taunting, but I notice it hits her the wrong way based on the way she winces. “Whatever.”
“Do you like working here?”
A genuine smile touches her lips. “I do. It’s exciting. Lots to do. I’m better suited for working here than dusting your immaculate condo.”
Plus, she earns a paycheck that more than pays for the rent on her “whore” apartment as she calls it—the one she’s only stepped foot into once.
“Let’s be real, you only pretend to dust.”
“At least here I don’t have to pretend.” She cocks her head to the side, studying me. “I can see the cogs turning in your head. You have a nefarious plan. One that involves me. Oh god, I hope it pays well.”
I smirk at her smartass teasing. “You know everything I do pays well. Still planning to go to college in the fall?”
She tenses and frowns. “What happens between us doesn’t change that, Win. I had plans before I met you, and those won’t suddenly disappear now that you’re my boyfriend.”
“Not your boyfriend, and someone’s a tad defensive.”
“You are my boyfriend and I’m not. Just don’t want you thinking I’m a freeloader is all.” She shifts her gaze to the windows behind me, not meeting my stare. Whoever is filling her head with nonsense will get their ass chewed out later. My guess it’s either Deborah or Nate since those two are the only ones who seem to have a problem with Ash this week.
“It’s not freeloading when you work for it, Cinderelliott. We both know you make enough to pay for your own apartment, but your spoiled ass refuses to live in it.”
“It’s too small for Shrimp to fly around. Besides, I’d rather just bug you all night.” Her body relaxes and she arches a brow in question. “So what are we doing today?”
I lean back in my chair, flashing her a wolfish grin. “You.”
“Duh,” she sasses. “I need more details before I agree. What am I working for?”
“How about your entire first year tuition paid in full?”
She gapes at me. “Winston, that’s too much. It’s like—”
“Right at seventy-five grand. Yes, I know. And it’s not too much. You’ll see.”
“I won’t traipse around the office naked. Deborah already hates me enough.” She crosses her arms over her chest, daring me to argue. At least I know who’s been making her feel like shit. Something I’ll deal with later.
“It’s like you don’t even know me,” I tease. “You know my imagination is far more colorful than that.”
“Unfortunately.”
I chuckle and gesture to her purse sitting on the bookshelf. “Get your phone.”
She prances over to her purse and fishes it out. “You can film it from your phone. It doesn’t always have to be from mine.”
“Who said anything about filming? You really are a filthy girl.”
She pretends to paint on lipstick with her middle finger. “Name your terms, Constantine.”
“I will have Harold open a college fund for you in the amount of seventy-five thousand that can only be used for tuition and anything related to your education. No one can access the funds. Not me. Not your father. Not your stepmother or stepbrothers. Hell, not even you. At least not without proof of where the money is going.”
“You don’t trust me to spend it on school?” Hurt shines in her hazel eyes.
“I don’t trust you not to spend all of it on sweet words from me.” I smirk at her. “I just like the idea of the money being there and untouchable no matter what happens.”
Uncertainty dances across her features.
“Don’t worry, little girl, you can pretend to be my girlfriend some more. I haven’t gotten bored of you yet.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’re an asshole.”
“I think you meant to say, ‘You’re an asshole, boyfriend.’”
“Nah, I don’t want to call you that if you want it.”
“Maybe I should pay you to say it.”
“And then my reverse psychology will have won,” she teases with a laugh. “I’ll have outsmarted the great Winston Constantine.”
“You wish it were that easy.” I gesture at her phone. “FaceTime your dad. Have a little chat. Let him know your boss paid your tuition for the first year.”
“Sounds too easy.”
“Because I’m not done.”
She glowers at me. “Of course not.”
“Make the call while sitting on my desk.”
“Fine, but you owe me dinner tonight. Someplace romantic.” She grins at me in that innocent but still deviant way of hers. “Boyfriend.”
I foolishly play her games because she’s always down to get dirty with my own fantasies. But, where I can turn off the good sex and easy banter with the snap of my fingers, Ash will still b
e staring at me with goddamn hearts in her eyes. It’s a mistake to lead her on, but I can’t stop. She’s an addiction—one that when I quit cold turkey, will destroy us both.
“That’s a whole other negotiation. We’ll discuss dinner later. Right now, I want your panties in your purse and your bare ass on my desk.” I pat the smooth surface. “I don’t have all day, woman.”
“I want steak, and we need to go by the candy store again,” she grumbles, shimmying out of her panties while hiding all the good parts from my viewing pleasure as though she won’t be spread out like a fucking Thanksgiving feast in a few minutes. “You’re out of gummy bears.”
My mouth waters at the mention of them. She’s created a monster. All my teeth are going to rot and fall out if I keep eating that addictive, chewy-ass shit.
With a victorious grin, she struts over to me. I roll back to give her space. She sits on the edge of the desk, spreading her thighs and pulling her dress up to expose herself as I slide my chair back closer.
“Scoot your ass to the edge,” I instruct as she settles her heels on the arms of my chair.
“I feel like I’m at the gynecologist.”
“Does your gyno lick your needy pussy?”
“Ew. Don’t be sick, Win.”
I give her pussy a playful smack. “Too late. Already sick. Now get him on the phone.”
“Are you going to just stare at it and admire it or are you going to lick it?”
“I’m not licking anything until you get your daddy on the phone, little girl. I want to make you whimper and moan as you tell him your sugar daddy took care of you when he couldn’t.”
“That’s mean.”
“Marrying that wicked witch with her rotten turds and treating you like you weren’t the most important thing in his world was mean,” I snap, a little too testily.
Her brows crash together, all playfulness gone. “Just when I think my boyfriend doesn’t care, he says something super romantic to me.”
“Get your head checked if you found anything about that statement remotely romantic.”
“We’ve ascertained I’m not quite right up here,” she sasses, “but I totally blame you.”
I give her pussy another slap that has her scowling at me. Finally, she dials her father. As soon as she starts to chat it up with him, I run my tongue along her slit, reveling in the sharp hiss of air she sucks in. She groans as I slip a finger inside of her while simultaneously sucking on her small clit. Her body is slick inside, clenching around my finger like she wishes it were my dick. I rub at her g-spot, thrilled when she whimpers.
“Are you okay, honey?” her dad asks, making me smile against her pussy.
“Great. Just sore from my run this morning.”
Big liar. The only thing she runs is her mouth.
They continue to chat, but she doesn’t bring up the tuition. I pull away, giving her a look that demands she moves the conversation along. She grimaces, but then whimpers again when I go back to driving her wild.
“I, uh, wanted to tell you the uh, unhhh . . .”
“The what?” her dad asks. “Honey, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes,” she cries out. “I’m fabulous. Very happy.” She gasps. “I’m just so thrilled that Winston is paying f-for my first year of school.”
Silence aside from the sloppy sounds of my mouth on her pussy.
“Manda said she would be paying for your tuition.” His voice is strained and a bit angry. “We don’t need Mr. Constantine to step in.”
“I don’t mind it at all,” I say, and then nip at her clit. “It’s my pleasure.”
“I didn’t realize he was listening in,” Baron grumbles. “Maybe we should discuss this later.”
“There’s nothing to discuss, Dad. Win and I made a deal.”
“What sort of deal?” he demands.
“Just work stuff.” She trembles, her ass lifting off the desk, desperately seeking my tongue. “We worked it all out.”
I suck on her clit and then pop off loudly, never losing stride as I finger her g-spot. “The money will be in an account that can’t be touched. By anyone.”
I let those words sink in, pleased that I’ve rendered him speechless. My focus is on Ash’s face that she manages to keep impassive aside from the gnawing of her bottom lip between her teeth. The moment she comes, she whines and clamps her eyes shut, her pussy milking my finger like it’ll come inside her needy little hole.
“Don’t cry, honey,” Baron says. “You know I’m sorry about your college fund.” He curses and sighs. “Look, I have to get back to work. We’ll discuss this later. I love you.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
She hangs up and glowers at me. “Happy?”
I slide my finger out of her and give her pussy another smack. “Unbelievably so.”
“You’re such an asshole.”
We have a stare down as my dick hardens with the need to fuck her sassy mouth. I’m about to suggest it when someone knocks.
“What?” I bark out.
“You have an important visitor,” Deborah calls through the door.
Ash scrambles off the desk and quickly yanks her dress down to cover herself. My fingers are still wet and the office smells like her sweet pussy.
“Send them in,” I say, enjoying Ash’s annoyed growl.
When the door opens, the blood that had been making my dick throb turns ice cold.
Fuck.
16
Ash
Oh my God.
Caroline Constantine. A golden, older replica of the man beside me. His freaking mother. I imagined a million different scenarios of when we’d meet, all including me making a wonderful first impression. Not this. Not walking in after the wicked act that transpired between me and Winston. A mother knows things. This one, I bet, doesn’t miss a thing.
It makes me feel dirty. Less like a girlfriend and more like a prostitute. I just let him eat me out in exchange for my college tuition. I’m ready to run away to my whore apartment and hide forever if we’re being honest.
Winston clears his throat, seemingly rattled by the intrusion. If he’s rattled, I’m completely fucked. It normally takes a lot to rattle him.
Caroline’s icy glare sweeps over me, slowly cataloging every detail from my flushed cheeks to the phone in my hand to the way I shift awkwardly on my heels. The room smells like sex, which makes me cringe in horror.
“Mother,” he grunts out, finding his voice. “This is my assistant, Ash Elliott.”
Right. Assistant.
Not girlfriend.
It’s a painful sting of reality.
“I know who she is.” Caroline waves a dismissive hand at me. “I need a word with my son.” She gives me a fake-as-hell smile. “Alone.”
I glance at Winston, but he won’t look at me. He’s gone rigid. So much for saving me from the evil queen. I try not to wither under her hateful glare.
“I’ll, uh, just see if Perry needs anything,” I stammer as I turn and start for the door.
“I’m sure Perry can handle himself just fine.” The warning in her voice has me shrinking away from her. “Perhaps you should . . .” She waves another manicured hand at me. “Freshen up in the ladies’ room.”
My cheeks burn hot. All I can do is nod before I bolt out of Winston’s office. His secretary, Deborah, smirks at me, clearly enjoying my embarrassment. Rather than let her see me frazzled, I do as Caroline suggested and freshen up—and put my damn panties back on.
The way Caroline had looked at me still haunts my mind. As though someone like me will never be good enough for her son. Sometimes I wish I’d met Winston four years from now—after college. So that I’d have my own value. That money wouldn’t be the connecting factor. That he’d see me as a successful woman with similar bedroom tastes.
But I’d never have had the opportunity to meet him had things not transpired the way they did.
With a sigh, I head over to Perry’s office, hurrying past Nate’s
so I don’t have another confrontation with him like earlier in the week. He stops tapping away on the computer to smile at me as I enter.
“Hey, sis,” he greets, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief.
I shake my head at him. “Don’t let Winston hear that. Or Nate for that matter. He already thinks I’m trying to get Winston to put a ring on me.”
Among other things. Like fucking someone behind Winston’s back.
If only that were the worst of my worries. But, on top of everything, I have this building, burning worry about what I’ll do about Leo. I haven’t heard from him in a couple of days, ever since I fed him false information, which should bring relief, but it only brings uneasiness. It won’t be long before he accosts me again to see what I know. I’ve been lucky to come out unscathed thus far, however, I’m not sure that will always be the case.
Perry’s features grow serious. “Nate giving you shit?”
“Just protecting his friend.” I let out a harsh breath. “We have bigger problems.”
Besides Leo and Nate and the triplets and all the other crap in my world.
“Oh?”
“Your mom . . .” I trail off and wince. “Let’s just say I met her for the first time, and it didn’t go well.”
“She’s here?” He sits up in his chair, frowning. “Why?”
“I’m not sure, but she ran me out of Winston’s office.”
He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “It’ll be fine. She’s just . . . overprotective sometimes.” His blue eyes find mine. “Speaking of overprotective, have the triplets fucked with you anymore since the night of the party? You’ve seemed edgy this week.”
It warms my heart that Perry seems to care about me and my wellbeing. Where Winston tries to pretend he doesn’t, Perry makes it clear he does care. I’m glad we’ve become friends. Since the triplets ran all mine off, it’s nice to have someone to talk to—someone who isn’t interested in getting me naked.
“No,” I tell him with a shrug. “But, in their world, that’s scarier. If they’re quiet, then they’re up to something.” Just like with Leo. Of course, I don’t mention that.
