by AM Hartnett
Reeve went deep and remained buried to the hilt as she gushed, dripping into the bedding, and then he clenched down on her with his entire body. She held tight, riding the surge of his cock between her inner walls as, in the film before her eyes, she watched Taureau reach his release. He squeezed down on his cock and jerked forward with a grunt, then went completely still as he spurted onto his belly and dripped down his slick hand.
She closed her eyes. She tried to muster her anger, but there was none left. Her body was far too blissful to allow any bad thoughts in just then, and her psyche was flooded with euphoria. She remained in her pose, muscles stretched and screaming from being bent by Reeve, slick sweat rubbing between their bodies. The sound of Reeve’s helpless, breathless sounds close to her ear as he trembled through the aftermath on top of her gave her a reprieve from having to listen to Taureau’s gasps.
She shuddered as Reeve finally pulled away, quaking through a wicked aftershock with his slow withdrawal, and then she lifted her head.
There was nothing but a blank screen where moments ago she had watched him coming on his hand.
Taureau had ended the call.
Reeve cleared his throat and rolled away from her. ‘Jesus, my head feels like it’s going to explode.’
‘Will he call back?’
‘No,’ he said as he dragged himself to the edge of the bed. ‘If he wanted to talk, he would have talked while wiping the jizz off his dick.’
He left her and disappeared into the hall. She didn’t move as she listened to him cleaning up in the bathroom, but pushed herself up on her elbows at the sound of his shuffling back towards her.
Her question met him on the threshold. ‘What are you, some sort of gigolo?’
‘I make things happen for Jacques. I always have.’
‘Don’t be cryptic. I’m tired of cryptic.’
‘Then you’re involved with the wrong man.’
She rolled onto her side and propped her head on her fist to watch him pull his pants on. ‘What sort of things do you do for him?’
‘I left those toys for you.’
‘I was looking for something a little broader.’
‘If it makes you feel better to call me his pimp, go ahead.’ He said this without malice and reached for his shirt. ‘I bring him what he wants. I go out into the world and find a pretty face and a hot body, someone who wants more than just a little vanilla sex. I put stars in their eyes by flying them to him on a private plane. I fuck them and he watches. Sometimes he wants to do more than watch, so out comes the blindfold. They get off like a firecracker and go home never knowing who just paid the tab for their little adventure.’
‘God, that’s so sordid,’ she muttered, and the image that formed in her mind was white-hot: she was that pretty face, that hot body, writhing as Reeve moved inside her as he had done moments ago, and then the shadowy figure of Jacques Taureau moved in and took his place.
She got out of bed and wrapped herself in her kimono. ‘I’m going to have a shower. Don’t be here when I get out.’
* * *
Grace simmered under a tepid spray. She hadn’t asked Reeve why Taureau had disconnected immediately after coming. She didn’t want to hear that the reason could be the same as why she had ended their thing; that it had been too much for him at last.
When she returned to the bedroom, Reeve was still there, dressed and lounging at the foot of the bed. He leafed through the pages of Burnout. She didn’t realise she had left it sitting there the whole time. He looked amused as he turned the pages.
‘Here, that’s me.’ He held the book open to a page from Taureau’s party days. Taureau and Laurin were in the foreground; behind them were three unidentified people, but as she peered at the faces she recognised Reeve’s handsome features.
‘Your hair was darker then,’ she said, and it struck her what a silly thing it was to say.
‘It was blue, if you can believe it. Just one of many stupid things I did when I was twenty.’ He returned the book to where he found it and faced her, tugging his jacket around him. ‘I doubt this will be the last time we see one another. You’re a different case altogether. To say you’ve gotten under his skin would be an understatement.’
An unwelcome thrill ran through her. ‘Meaning?’
‘It’s pretty obvious that watching you has become an obsession of his.’ He looked at her, a slight smirk on his face. ‘It must have killed him to watch me fucking you, though it worked out quite well for me. Like I said, you’ve got a cunt like a glove, and you don’t hold back when you’re into it.’
‘I’m thrilled you had a good time,’ she murmured. As he departed she looked back at the empty screen at the foot of the bed.
This won’t happen again, she thought, but she couldn’t shake the tingling pleasure at the suggestion that she had become Taureau’s obsession.
Chapter Seven
‘Grace, I haven’t bumped into you in a while.’
Christ, this is all I need right now, she thought, as she slid her change across the counter to the clerk. She dropped a tip into the jar and turned to the man at her shoulder. Maybe if it had been anyone else but Devon Gregory she might have been inclined to at least be polite, but her experience with him had been less than pleasant.
She’d dated him when she first came to work for Taureau-Werner. The majority of the time he’d spent in her vagina he’d been campaigning for access to her asshole. She might have been into a little anal play, if Devon Gregory hadn’t been annoyingly relentless, and if just once he had expressed an interest in going down on her. He’d gotten married since their thing, but that didn’t stop him from trying to get into her pants whenever she had to share breathing space with him.
‘How are things on the tenth floor?’ She added a little emphasis to her last words. For as long as she could remember, Devon had been striving to move up the ladder to the executive offices on the thirteenth floor. He had been passed over for promotion after promotion, and it always gave her pleasure to throw a dig his way about his current position wrangling corporate contracts.
‘Uneventful, since you moved on up. Are you keeping Caroway on his toes?’
His suggestion was blatant and disgusting, but Grace allowed herself a chuckle at the suggestion she was taking care of all Caroway’s needs. If Devon knew she had been playing with the man whose name was on the company letterhead, he would probably burst into tears in front of her.
She chose not to respond to his remark. She moved down the counter to collect her coffee, Devon at her shoulder. ‘I hear you pulled a miracle last week. It was all over the news how the feds were waffling on whether to renew with us.’
‘It had nothing to do with me,’ he grumbled. ‘Word is that Taureau sent one of his own men to meet with Ottawa. Reardon or Reid or something like that.’
‘Reeve? Simon Reeve?’
Devon nodded. ‘That’s him. Slick as a fucking eel. I saw him slithering around here just before you walked in.’
‘Really.’ She flushed, as a white-hot memory rushed through her of Reeve pumping between her legs while Taureau watched.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if someone is out of a job by the end of today,’ Devon went on. ‘Some bullshit excuse about performance and that Reeve guy has himself a corner office.’
‘I don’t think Simon Reeve is gunning for anyone’s job,’ she said, and pushed the plastic lid onto her cup. ‘Honestly, Devon, if you put half the effort into going after your competitors outside Taureau-Werner as you did holding grudges inside, you might get that corner office you’ve been so wet about for years.’
She took her coffee from the barista, then left Devon blistering where he was and crossed the lobby to the elevator. She’d dished it to him, but it bothered her that even she didn’t know why Reeve was there. Grace knew everything, once. It annoyed her that she had stopped paying attention at some point, right around the time Taureau entered her life and she began to think with her pussy.
; She’d thought Reeve’s first appearance was tied to Taureau’s scheme to bring her back into his possession, but according to Devon Reeve was actually a shark in the water and his purpose at Taureau-Werner that week wasn’t all about her.
Her stomach jumped as the elevator lurched up, and a moment of clarity settled over her. Reeve was taking orders from Taureau in instances where a more personal touch was needed. His role in the company was akin to that in her bedroom. Buttering up bureaucrats, seducing women and bringing them back to the beast’s lair, and giving Grace an outlet for her desires while Taureau could still keep her at bay: that’s what Reeve did.
She hadn’t gotten any communication from him, either. She’d left her computer on that night, half-hoping he would call back, but finally shut it down when she woke in the morning.
The sting was there, but was growing less prevalent as they hours ticked by.
Knowing Reeve was in the building, the first thing she did after booting up her computer was to peek into her desk drawer to see if something had been left for her.
Nothing.
Disappointment set deep in her bones and she slammed it shut.
She wondered how long it would be before Taureau made himself known again. She wondered if she’d find herself summoned to the boardroom and find Reeve waiting, hard and ready, with Taureau looming down from the big panel screen.
Just before noon, she did get a summons to the boardroom. It didn’t come from Taureau but from Caroway. She hadn’t seen her boss all morning and when she checked his schedule she found that he had marked himself as unavailable until noon. He didn’t say what he needed her for, and so she took her notebook computer in anticipation of a few hours’ worth of minutes-taking.
Over a dozen pairs of eyes turned to her as she entered the room, and when Caroway waved her in she knew that they had been waiting for her.
Oh fuck. Something’s happening.
She felt cold as she sank into her seat at the far end of the table, then turned to ice as she spotted Simon Reeve.
This is it. This is where that screen lights up and everyone sees all the things I did for Taureau.
Caroway stood. ‘Now that Grace is here, I can break the bad news – bad news for me, that is.’
He gave a meaningful glace towards Simon, who merely nodded for Caroway to go on.
His attention turned to Grace. ‘Grace has been my assistant for four years. In that time, she’s gotten all of our asses out of a sling at least once. Her dedication goes beyond expectation. The number of early mornings and late hours she puts into her job makes us all look bad.’
She faked a smile and glanced around the table, pausing on Reeve a little longer than the others. His right brow twitched, but nothing more.
‘Her reputation has apparently outgrown us here on the thirteenth floor. Most of you met Simon Reeve this week. He’s a member of Mr Taureau’s personal staff, and he’s here today on behalf of Mr Taureau to make this announcement.’
Caroway took his seat as Reeve stood, his physical presence immediately dominating the room. He gave a million-dollar smile as he looked around the table.
‘As Taureau-Werner continues to grow, Mr Taureau feels the need to add one more member to his personal team, someone who can anticipate his needs before he’s even aware of them, someone who would bend over backwards to get the job done, someone who will put every bit of focus in the job put before her.’
Grace tried to keep the scowl off her face even as his double-entendres nudged her. He was clearly enjoying himself, even as she started to come apart inside with anticipation.
No, she wasn’t getting fired, not unless this was some elaborate show for the rest of the staff. Something else. Something that made her heart pound so hard the sound almost drowned out Reeve’s words.
‘So at the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, Grace Neely is going to pack up her desk and leave whatever work she has to what, for now, will be a temporary replacement. After a quick stop at her place, she’s going to board Taureau’s private jet with me and she’s going to Quebec and she’ll begin her new position as Mr Taureau’s personal assistant.’
Even though she had known it was coming as soon as he said the words ‘temporary replacement,’ as soon as Reeve was finished she found herself stunned stupid.
Private jet.
Quebec.
Taureau’s personal assistant.
Caroway led the applause and the others joined in, but she couldn’t even muster a word.
Reeve laughed. ‘I’m afraid that Grace is a little stunned at the moment. No final decision had been made until early this morning, and I didn’t have a chance to give her the good news in private.’
Grace worked the muscles in her frozen face into a smile. Reeve didn’t so much smile at her as smirk knowingly, and she caught his gaze flick to where the camera was above the door.
She didn’t know what to think at that moment, or what to feel. Perhaps if the offer had come before she had told Taureau she’d had enough and before Reeve …
Now, she just didn’t know. She was overwhelmed and excited and terrified. The closest she could come to describing it was learning she was headed for the biggest, scariest rollercoaster in the world. She wanted to go forward, but at the same time desperately wanted to close her eyes and pretend it wasn’t happening.
With this announcement, Caroway adjourned the meeting and those people she had worked with for years came towards her with hands extended. She found she couldn’t recall a single name and flustered through her thanks. It was almost a relief when Caroway appeared before her and she could hold onto someone she knew.
‘Jesus Christ, I had no idea,’ she exclaimed as he pulled her into a stiff hug.
‘You’ll be fine,’ he said, and quietly added: ‘He’s a bit of a weirdo, but you’ll be fine. If you don’t like it you can come back.’
Easier said than done, she thought.
Caroway meant well, but he had no idea of the implications of this announcement.
He turned to Reeve. ‘I’ll leave you both to it. Grace, don’t you dare leave before saying goodbye.’
The door closed behind her, leaving only herself and Reeve and the omnipresent Jacques Taureau. Reeve walked towards her, his hand over his mouth to conceal a smile.
‘I swear, I had no idea until this morning. I was on my way to the airport when he called me and told me to get back here.’
Grace drew a deep breath. ‘I need to leave. I need to get out of here, right now.’
His smile faded and a look of concern took over. ‘For Christ’s sake, don’t hyperventilate in front of me. Where do you want to go?’
‘Anywhere but this building.’
A couple of hours later, after three cocktails and a very large and very strong cup of coffee, Reeve took her back to the office to get her things. Neither of them had said much. Grace couldn’t come up with words and he didn’t offer anything. He sat watching her with an amused expression. Once she asked him to elaborate on his conversation with Taureau, and he just shrugged.
‘He called me and said, “Bring her to me. Tonight.”’
Tonight.
The immediacy of the word struck her. Tonight. As in: when the sun went down. That was just a few hours away.
‘You know, most people loosen up after a few drinks,’ Reeve said from his perch at the edge of her desk. She shot him a dirty look, then thrust the storage box in her hands at him.
‘Yeah, well, most people don’t live the kind of life I’ve lived in the last few weeks.’ She glanced at Caroway’s door. ‘I’ve got to get in there. I have things in there.’
‘Already taken care of. If you give me your keys, your car will be stored until you come back for it.’
Grace gawked at him. ‘How in the hell do you propose I pack in the little time you’ve given me? What about my life? I have people to call. I have –’
‘Grace, would you calm down?’
He grunted when she tossed a
heavy hardback book that had been in her desk for weeks into the box. She was glad it hurt him. ‘Don’t tell me to calm down. I don’t know you. I only met you a few days ago, and you turned out to be a fucking fraud.’
He set the box at his feet, leaned forward and lowered his voice. ‘If you want to change your mind, you can.’
‘I never said that.’
‘Then stop and take a deep breath, or else I’ll make you take a tranquilliser before we take off.’
Her exit was painfully lengthy, like trying to crawl out of a bog that just kept sucking her down. Word had spread quickly about her destination and everyone wanted a word so as to pump her. If it wasn’t for Reeve tapping the box he carried for her and indicating that they had a flight to catch, she might never have gotten out. Caroway walked her out, and she tried to hold onto the sight of him standing on the sidewalk as the car pulled away from the curb.
She was entering another world, and she needed that anchor, even if it was her boss.
The stop at her apartment was less than an hour, long enough for her to stuff some things into her suitcase, empty her fridge and call her mother and stepfather in Florida to let them know she would be mobile for a while. Then they were on the highway headed for the airport. When Reeve’s phone chimed and he checked his message, she leaned forward.
‘That’s Taureau, isn’t it?’
‘He’s just checking our progress,’ he murmured, his thumbs flying over the screen. ‘Calm down.’
‘I just left my job, my home and everything to go live out the plot of some Gothic novel in the middle of nowhere with a man whose face I’ve never even seen.’
Her knees knocked as he escorted her through the airport. She’d never gone through security so quickly before, and her head spun as an airport employee took them down an empty corridor and through a door that led right onto the tarmac.
Taureau’s plane was a sleek white tube. No logo on the outside indicated that it belonged to Taureau-Werner. The interior was filled with six taupe seats, four facing the cockpit and two flanking a mahogany table that stuck out from the wall. Opposite this was a long sofa.
