“Yes, I’ll be there too,” he answers.
Without another word he wraps his arms around me, spins and lifts me up to perch on the edge of his desk. He parts my thighs and plants himself between my trembling legs. His hands slide up my waist and over my breasts, feeling every inch before he cups my face in his hands and presses his lips to mine in a series of hungry, wild kisses that have me panting for breath in between.
He pushes off my jacket while my fingers simultaneously go to work on the buttons of his dress shirt.
“Adam,” I moan. His fingers search down the neckline of my shell top. “Please, please.”
He smiles and starts teasing my nipples through the sheer lace on my bra. I purr with need. Desire is exploding through me and I feel like my entire body is alive and electric with each new shiver. My fingers are clumsy, distracted with Adam’s touch. Eventually I work all the buttons free on his smooth shirt and push it back, off his shoulders, to reveal a perfect, sculpted torso that turns out to be even better than I had imagined in all of my Adam-centered dreams and fantasies. His stomach is flat and firm, each ab looking like it was chiseled in place. His hips are slim and the v-line running down each side is enough to make me drool.
“All you had hoped for?” Adam whispers, leaning in to blaze a new trail of hot, wet, open-mouthed kisses up the side of my neck before he stops to nibble on my earlobe. His hand is still down my shirt, working on freeing my heavy-feeling breasts from the confines of my bra.
“Yes,” I pant in reply.
He smiles and then slips the shirt over my head. In two seconds he unlatches my bra, and my breasts heave a sigh of relief as he holds one in each palm. He drops his lips and kisses each in turn, gently tugging at the nipple until I whimper.
“You’re gorgeous, Anna. Perfection.” He kisses my lips again, this time with more urgency and need.
It feels like heaven, his skin on my skin. I arch my back to press every inch against his hot, solid chest, loving the feel of my softer curves meeting and aligning with his rock hard muscles. He grabs my hips and pulls me against him, his erection very obvious through the linen pants. I rock my hips against him and he groans out before sliding his fingertips along my inner thigh, past the elastic edge of my pantyhose, and pausing only just long enough to tease the lacy edge of my panties.
“Are you ready for me?” He growls into my ear.
Something about the questions stills me. My entire body is screaming, dying for him to slide his hardness into my dripping wet center and relieve the pressure that has been building there since our night at the club. His question seems to clear my mind long enough for the voice of reason to sound the alarm.
“Wait!” I pull back, out of Adam’s grasp. “We can’t do this. I can’t do this.”
Adam’s eyes are dark and wild as he searches mine. “Why not?”
“We just can’t…God. I can’t believe I let things get this far. Look, Adam. I’m new here. I don’t want to have to constantly wonder if the things I earn are because of my work ethic or because of this thing, whatever it is between us.”
I want him so damn bad, but I hate every word as it leaves my mouth. I know that what I’m saying is the right thing to say, that stopping things is the only option, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
“Anna, it’s not like that.”
“Please Adam, this is just how it has to be. Okay?” I ask, looking up at him, trying to avoid dropping my eyes to admire his bare chest and abs that are on display.
He hesitates and traces a finger down my cheek. “Fuck. Okay,” he finally says, bringing his head to rest against mine for another moment as we each catch our breath.
He backs up and straightens his shirt.
I lower myself from the desk and pull my shell top back on over my head and shrug back into my jacket. My panties are soaked and I’m pretty sure I snagged my nylons on Adam’s belt buckle, but I do the best I can to get put back together. Once I’m sure everything is in place, I head for the door. “I’ll see you at the meeting later,” I say before leaving.
Adam grunts and goes to sit behind his desk.
My heart tugs at me to stay, but I know I can’t. So, with my last remaining shred of self-control, I pull the door closed and hurry down to my office before anyone has the chance to catch me sneaking out of his office.
Chapter 11
Adam
Anna leaves me with the worst case of blue balls I can ever remember. She’s been gone for fifteen minutes and I still can’t figure out where things went wrong.
I pull myself together and make it through the morning. After lunch, I go to the main conference room where there are two dozen eyeballs staring at me from the second I walk in the door. The only pair not on me belongs to Anna. She is busy scribbling notes on her paperwork.
“Good morning everyone.” I take my place at the head of the long table. “As you all have noticed, we have a new team member. This is Anna Nash.” I gesture at her and hope she will look up and meet my eyes. I need her to see me.
She flashes a smile around the room. It doesn’t reach me, so I continue.
“She is our new social media manager and will help to bring Trendsetter Magazine into the age of everything social.”
The line gets a few laughs and I start to relax.
“As you all know, we have the LA Fashion Week trip coming up. I am going to be taking Anna with me in order to document the trip on social media.”
A noticeable energy shift occurs at my announcement. It sparks an exchange of glances around the table. I have no idea what the problem is, but I can’t be bothered to deal with it now. If these people have an issue with my decisions, they need to take it up with me or get the fuck out. I don’t have the patience for it.
“Is there a problem?” I ask.
A few more people exchange knowing glances and I want to pound my hands on the table and stomp my feet.
“Come on, everyone, let’s get back on topic,” Kelly interjects.
The room is silent. I give her an appreciative nod before continuing with the rest of the business.
The meeting is less than halfway over when my phone starts ringing. “I’m sorry. Excuse me one moment.”
I fish the loud device from my pocket and see my father’s name on the screen.
Oh shit.
I may not be in trouble, but seeing his number flash across my phone always seems to lead to my receiving a tongue-lashing.
“I’m sorry everyone, I need to take this. Meeting adjourned.”
Everyone looks at me, puzzled by the abrupt end, but they start to stand and filter out of the room. I catch Anna scurrying away with Kelly by her side.
“Hello,” I answer once the room is cleared.
“Adam, you need to come to the house. We need to talk.”
“Dad, I’m in the middle of stuff here. Remember, I have a job now. A very important one.”
My attitude won’t get me anywhere with him, but I’m agitated and can’t seem to reign it in.
“Now, Adam.” He hangs up.
Shit, shit, shit.
I weigh my options. Dammit, there’s no point in prolonging the inevitable. It will only make him more pissed off. So, I leave the office and drive to Dad’s Central Park office.
The executive assistant, Doris, greets me and I saunter through the corridors, taking my time to get to my father’s office. Right before I enter, I straighten up and try to look confident, because I sure as hell don’t feel it. I’m not sure what to expect, but he wouldn’t take time out of his day to invite me over for a friendly chat.
“Sit down,” Wilhelm orders.
“Nice to see you too, Dad,” I quip before following the instruction and sinking into a plush chair across from his desk.
He stares at me over his fisted hands. “One week, son. That’s all it took.”
“For what?”
“For you to fuck it up.”
“What are you talking about?”
&nbs
p; “This,” he tosses a gossip magazine down on the desk. “This is what I’m talking about.”
I stare down at the cover. It shows a picture of Anna and I bumping and grinding at the club opening last weekend, and mentions her full name as well as the details about her famed parents.
“Jeez, Dad. How many of these mailing lists are you on?”
Apparently my dad gets more tabloid trash than any beauty salon on the planet.
It really is scandalous how much paper he is wasting with all these subscriptions when the same rancid content is posted all over the internet. Not that I was going to be the one to point that out to him. Heaven knows I don’t need him getting the information even faster than he already manages.
“Dad, it’s not a big deal,” I say, shoving the magazine back to him. “We were dancing, so what? The only reason I was even at that club was because of Trendsetter. We were invited to do a feature on the club’s re-launch. It gave the magazine a ton of free publicity to the exact demographic that we need to reach.”
Wilhelm stops and considers me. I know what he’s doing. He’s running his own internal bullshit meter over me to see what turns up. “And the girl?”
“What about her?”
“Who is she?” He asks.
I shrug. It’s time to lie. “No one. I met her at the party.”
My father slams his hand down on the desk. “That’s bullshit, son! Why do you insist on lying to me?”
Shit, this is not going to end well.
Wilhelm stands and turns his back to me, looking out the expansive windows of his office that give a view of almost all of Manhattan.
“Sorry, Dad. Force of habit. I’m sorry. Her name is Anna Nash. We just hired her to do social media work for Trendsetter. I took her to the party on business, and we got a little carried away. That’s all, okay?”
He spun around and put both fists on the table, leaning over me. “No, son. It’s not okay. Do you have any idea what would happen if she sues you for sexual harassment? I know you don’t give a shit about the state of my businesses, but you should be smart enough to know that Trendsetter can’t handle a huge payout as a result of a lawsuit. And it’s not just that. Think about the reputation a woman’s magazine would have, when it comes out that the recently instated CEO is some kind of lecher.”
My veins turn icy cold at the title. “What the hell, Dad? That’s carrying it a little far, don’t you think? I didn’t force her to do anything. Never have, never will.”
Dad groans and runs his hands through his salt and pepper hair. “Do you really think that matter, son? Really? If this girl sues for sexual harassment in the workplace, it will be a media shit storm and the gossip columns won’t flinch at throwing a title like that at you. Sure, that’s not who you are, but that never stopped them before. It is not the reputation I will tolerate for anyone running any of my businesses, including you.”
The picture he paints has more bark than bite. I shake it away easily. I doubt Anna would do something like that. Besides, we didn’t even have sex! Although, if Kelly didn’t catch us, that was certainly where things were headed.
“It’s not going to go there,” I insist. “Anna and I were just having some fun. Blowing off some Friday night steam.”
“You think that now, but what happens when your little girlfriend realizes the kind of payout she could get shopping the story or filing suit? She’d be rich beyond her wildest dreams and your career and social status would be over. Just like that,” he emphasizes his point with a loud snap of his fingers.
“What do you want me to do? Fire her?” I ask. I grit my teeth against the very idea, but if it comes down to my trust fund and Anna's job, I knew which choice I would have to make.
“No! For heaven’s sake, son. Use your head. If you fire her now, that would pretty much guarantee a lawsuit. No, you have to keep her on staff, you have to keep her happy, and you can’t even give a hint of treating her any differently.”
“All right, Dad. Message received.” I stand, ready to run as soon as I’m sure there won’t be repercussions from the slip.
“It better be. I won’t tolerate this, Adam. I said I would give you a year, but so help me,” he pauses. “I still hold the power here. I can shut this thing down at any time and your trust can be shut down just as quickly. Where would you be, then?”
I don’t even acknowledge his last statement before turning to leave his office. I hurry through the corridors and only seem to exhale again once in the safety of my Maserati.
The conversation with Anna is still fresh in my mind. That, coupled with the new insight from my father, should be enough to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Should be.
As I drive back downtown, the only thing I can think about is the taste of Anna’s skin.
“One and a half billion, Adam. One and a half billion,” I recite to myself.
Chapter 12
Adam
On my way back to the office, I get a text from Anna. It’s only a little before five in the evening, and she’s at home in a panic—and it’s Monday. She just found out about the pictures of us in the club and was too humiliated to stay late at the office. Somehow, without much thought or effort, I drive over to Anna’s building. I reply and tell her to have her doorman let me up so we can talk about it. She says okay and I hand my car keys to the doorman to find a valet so I can get up to talk to her.
She let me in. I can’t believe she’s in tears over this.
“My career is over before it even started!” she spurts out between sobs, walking back to her sofa, although she doesn’t sit.
“Don’t cry,” I tell her, hating to see the tears she’s not even trying to hold back. I wipe some away with my thumb and then lean forward and the kiss the ones that follow, tracing it from her cheek, past her nose and to the corner of her lips.
“My parents are going to disown me for this. These articles all mention their name, and make me sound like the wayward slut of a daughter. They’re bound to find out. This is their reputation too.”
She shudders in my arms and her fingers cling harder to my shirt, clutching as if I’m a life raft and she’s drowning. A part of me feels sorry for her, but another part isn’t able to empathize. I’ve never cared enough about anything, never been responsible for anything enough to take something so minor this seriously.
“I’m so sorry,” I tell her for the hundredth time. I pull her tighter against my chest. My nose is in her hair, the fragrance of vanilla and something else stirring my senses. I wonder what the rest of her smells like.
“Shhh, it’s okay. We’ll figure it out,” I assure her.
Deep down, I have no idea how I’ll manage that task. She has to figure out dealing with her parents, and I have to work out being close to this woman without risking my inheritance. I stroke a hand through her hair, and sink my fingers through the strands, pulling, forcing her head back until she looks up at me.
“You’re going to be okay,” I tell her.
The moment I say the words, I know it’s a mistake. Not a mistake about her being okay. A mistake to be this close. Dad made it abundantly clear that she was hands off. Even Anna herself told me to keep away.
Except now. Right now. There was something else in her eyes. Desire.
Looking into her beautiful green eyes swollen from weeping is my undoing. Her lips look so soft, tender and edible. They draw me to them, but still I hesitate. I won’t be rejected again. I shouldn’t even be here, touching this woman. I swore I would let this girl slip by. I can just fuck the girls where things aren’t complicated. I don’t have to beg for it. I tell myself she has to ask me. She should beg me for it.
But, holy shit, those eyes.
Sensing my hesitation, and probably knowing one of the reasons behind it, she says one word. “Please.” The she strokes her fingers through my hair.
What the fuck?
Just like that, huh?
“Are you sure?” I ask. I need the confir
mation. I refuse to touch her until I’m sure she’s sure.
She pauses her crying, but is still somber, needy, clingy. “Yes. I want you.”
Her fingers dig into my shoulders and she arches against me, pressing her hips into my groin. I harden. It’s an almost instant reaction. I harden tighter when she pulls my head down to meet her mouth. Her tongue grazes my lips, licks at the seams before I open and welcome her in.
“Please,” she moans against my mouth like she’s been possessed by a sex goddess, and then licks inside again, her tongue curling with mine.
“Please what?” I challenge her and push her back, holding her at arm’s length. My eyes never leaving hers, I walk her backward until the back of her legs touch her sofa.
She shivers. It vibrates on my chest. Our eyes stay connected. She opens her mouth then closes it, as if she’s forgotten the words she wants to say. Finally, she opens it again and says, “Please fuck me, Adam. Hard.”
I growl, a sound that comes from deep within, a primal response to the lust firing inside since the second I met her. Lowering my head, I claim her mouth again. Deeply. Urgently. No hesitation this time.
Fisting my hands in her hair, I pull down again, and am rewarded with a groan. I pull down harder and her head falls back, exposing her neck. I trace my tongue down her pulse point, feeling it throb in rhythm with her heartbeat. I sink my teeth into her shoulder, biting the right amount of hard.
“Lift your arms,” I order her.
Like an obedient child, she does what I say. In a single movement, I pull her blouse up and over her head, tossing it to the side before tracing my hands back down her arms.
Ex-Con Times Two Page 51
