by Bella Court
He wasn't hers to be jealous over.
* * *
The fucking incessant knocking at his door would not stop.
"Who is it? Just come in already!" Connor snapped irritably. He had made it clear to everyone in the office that he didn't want to see anyone for a while. So who the hell was banging on his door?
John's dark head came into view. Ah, of course. His baby brother, his favorite person in the world right now.
"Hey." John didn't look too perturbed by the fact that his brother was in a particularly bad mood.
"What do you want?" Connor demanded.
"Here's the file you wanted." John placed the thick file on Connor's desk, watching his brother tense the closer he came. What was up with him? Connor's mood swings weren't a new thing, but he rarely saw his brother so angry and seething. His brother didn't seethe and sulk. Whenever Connor Wilde was pissed, he did something about it. Subtlety was not his thing.
John took a deep breath, knowing that he was taking a dip into shark-infested waters. "You okay, man?"
"Fine," Connor answered shortly, snatching the file off his desk and shoving it into his briefcase. "I'm gonna call it a day," Connor proclaimed, massaging his temples with his fingers. God, he had a headache, and if he stayed in John's presence any longer, he'd probably tear his brother down.
John frowned, wishing that for once, his brother would just tell him what was the matter. Wisely deciding not to pursue it, however, John nodded his head. "Yeah, you look tired. You really work too hard, Connor."
The familiar words rebounded in his head. Didn't she just say the same thing a few days ago? Connor let out a harsh laugh that surprised John.
"What else do I have but my work?" Connor sarcastically replied, getting up to leave. He missed the momentary hurt look that flitted across John's face. John carefully kept his face in place, as he watched his brother leave his office without so much as a goodbye.
Rounding the corner, Connor closed his eyes to ease the pounding pain in his head. Why couldn't he get Alyssa's ridiculous words out of his head? There was nothing between him and Kristen. They'd gotten off to a bad start, and by sheer bad luck, they were now working together, but that was all. What did he really know about her?
Connor froze, as he heard a sound he hadn't heard in quite a while ring through the corridor. Kristen stepped out of Reece's office, her Manolo Blahnik pumps clicking loudly against the tile. She was laughing, a pretty tinkling sound, as Reece followed her out.
"So you're decorating my office next? Good. More time I'll be seeing that sexy behind of yours come into my office." Reece grinned down at her, and Kristen returned the smile. In her hands, she clutched her sketching pad and the few other materials she had brought with her in a little portable filing case. They were both still unaware that Connor was watching them with blood pounding in his ears.
"You're leaving now? How's about I take you out for dinner? I know this great Thai place down the street."
Kristen chewed on her bottom lip for a second, contemplating her choices. To anyone else, it would have looked like she was being flirtatious. She liked Reece a lot but only as a friend, and she wasn't so sure that he quite understood that, yet.
"Well, I–''
"I need to speak to you." To her surprise and Reece's, Connor was suddenly at her side staring down at her with those haunting gray eyes and his lips set in a grim line.
"I'm about to leave,” Kristen said coldly, the warmth that she previously had with Reece had vanished completely. Connor could feel his head pound harder at this, and he could feel his anger grow.
"I need to talk to you first," he persisted, giving her a dark look that told her that she wasn't about to get out of this.
"Can't it wait until later, Connor? Kristen and I were kind of in the middle of–'' Reece began, but was cut off by Connor's deceptively calm voice.
"No."
Taking a tight grip on her wrist, he practically dragged her down the corridor. Furiously, he looked for an office or any room that would be vacant at this time. With a frustrated groan, he continued to move down the halls in fervent search, dragging an unwilling Kristen along with him.
Kristen tried to dig her feet into the floor, but only managed to stumble into him with her heels. He didn't seem to notice that she was having trouble keeping up, so intent on finding privacy. Meanwhile, his painfully tight grip on her wrist was getting stronger, and Kristen winced.
"You're hurting my wrist,” Kristen said in a quiet voice. Finally, he turned around to acknowledge her, glancing down at her wrist, and as if she was on fire, he dropped her wrist.
Kristen gently massaged her wrist, knowing that there would be bruises later, and she gave him a hard glare that he paid no notice to.
Connor jerkily brushed his hands through his dark wavy hair. Realizing there was nowhere else to do it, Connor lightly shoved her into the closest room.
"Back in the closet again, are we?" Kristen said dryly. With a grimace, Connor realized she was right. They had once again stepped into a dry, dusty closet that was rather cramped.
Ignoring this fact, Connor took a deep breath, trying to compose his thoughts. Finally, he opened his mouth.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Kristen gave him an agitated glare in return, "Funny. I should be the one asking that. You're the one who dragged me in here."
"I mean, with Reece! Are you trying to stir up trouble? As if there isn't enough drama around this damned office without you and John!"
"I don't think my relationship with Reece has anything to do with you,” Kristen replied tightly, her composure quickly unraveling. Who was he to tell her what she could or couldn't do?
"It has everything to do with me, Kristen. Don't fuck up my business by going out with Reece. You're going to distract Reece from work, and there's already enough drama around here started by you," Connor told her acidly. He tried to calm himself down, but there was no way around it. All the tension, all the cold looks, all the pretending. Enough was enough.
At his words, Kristen let out a cold laugh. "Me? You think I'm a distraction? What about your bitch of a girlfriend Alyssa? You think she's been around your building all this week helping me? Ha, I think it’s more like she was helping you out with something."
"So why don't you stop being a hypocrite. I can flirt and do whatever the fuck I want with Reece if you can with Alyssa all around the office,” Kristen hissed, poking at his chest with her fingers. The last time she had been so enraged was in the aftermath of John leaving her, but even then, she couldn't remember the emotions being so vivid. She could feel her eyes begin to water out of sheer anger and hatred.
Angrily, Kristen gave him a hard shove that made him step back a few steps. "I'm out of here. I don't need to listen to your bullshit. I can do whatever I want," Kristen proclaimed. She shoved past him, ready to leave, when he pulled her back roughly by the arms and slammed his body against hers on the wall of the closet.
His tall frame covered hers perfectly, and Kristen squirmed trying to get past him, but all the hard planes of muscle wouldn't allow it. Despite her immense anger, she could feel her heart triple in pace at the feel of him against her.
"For your information, Alyssa is not nor has she ever been my girlfriend. I don't know what the hell she's been doing all this time at the office, but if she bothered you, you should have told her to fuck off. Isn't that what the invincible Ms. Satou would do?" Connor taunted her. He could feel her squirming beneath him, trying to get out, but he wasn't going to let her go that easily.
Adrenaline and anger was pumping through his veins, and even in his fury, he could recognize desire when he felt it. He wanted her. Even after everything, despite the fact that they virtually knew nothing of one another, he still wanted her. The chemistry between them was palpable, couldn't she feel it?
"You don't know me half as well as you think you do," Kristen retorted through clenched teeth, breathing heavily. They were so c
lose now that she could feel his breaths fan across her face, and all her senses seemed to be aroused to a painfully acute state. The way he was pressed tightly against her, the hard planes of his body contrasted with the softness of hers. His hands were gripping her wrists, and his fingers were brushing tantalizingly against her sensitive inner wrist.
Suddenly, Alyssa didn't matter at all anymore.
Kristen inhaled deeply, instantly regretting it. He was wearing some sort of spicy, dark cologne that filled her with a longing for something that she knew should not happen.
"You're right I don't, but you don't know me half as well as you think you do, either,” Connor replied. His voice had gone hoarse and low, and he was now tracing some sort of pattern on her inner wrist. Unable to keep herself quiet, Kristen let out a small moan that invigorated Connor.
They were both still angry, but now that anger was mixed with something just as lethal. Lust.
"Let me go,” Kristen said, no true conviction behind her statement. Instead, her voice sounded breathy, and her hips had begun to move of their own accord against Connor's.
Connor didn't even bother to answer her, as his lips crashed down on hers.
His lips were so hot against hers, as he molded his mouth to hers. They fitted against her perfectly, and as the heat suffused her entire body, Kristen gasped. Without skipping a beat, Connor slipped his tongue into the warm caverns of her mouth. Hot, seeking, and taking all that she had to give.
Kristen was completely still when Connor had begun kissing her, but the second his tongue touched tentatively against her own, Kristen felt something inside her snap. Instantly, her hands reached up to sift themselves through his darker than dusk hair that she had been dying to touch since the moment they had left the heat of one another's bodies so many weeks ago. Obligingly she tilted her head upwards, so that Connor could have better access to her mouth.
Hot, wet heat swept into her mouth, as he roughly kissed her. Selfishly taking what he wanted, and in return, she did the same.
All the history, arguments, and people disappeared as the lust took over the both of them. Connor groaned as her hands stroked through his hair, her fingernails raking his scalp gently. Her fingers moved down his jacket, stroking the hard muscle beneath, and his body pressed even tighter against hers.
He was burning her alive with every touch and stroke of his lips and hands. His fingers were now playing with the edge of her hips, which were gently rotating against him. Through the thin fabric, his fingers seared her.
They broke apart like two hormone driven teenagers for breath before quickly diving in for more. Connor's lips lightly traced a path across her neck, sucking and lightly blowing across the moistened skin. Kristen instinctively arched her back, bending her body, and in the process, bending Connor's.
She raked her fingernails across his back in that familiar feline way of hers, and like the first time, it felt too damn good.
Voices outside the door broke them apart. Connor stood with his palms flat against the wall on either side of her head for support. He had to force his body from succumbing to the natural magnetism that gravitated his body towards hers. Both of them were panting heavily, and both still wanted more.
Kristen stared up at Connor, small pants issuing from her parted, deliciously swollen, carmine lips, and slowly, Connor moved away from her, his eyes focused on her lips with a possessive look in his silver eyes.
"What was that?" Kristen whispered hoarsely, finally finding her voice. Her voice sent tremors up and down his spine. If he liked the scratchy tone of her voice before, now he was in love with it. The breathy way she sounded after their kiss made him want to jump her bones all over again.
"What do you think?" Connor replied, his eyes still focused on her lips. Self-consciously, she licked her lips, and Connor's eyes darkened.
"I-I thought you hated me," Kristen whispered, still trembling slightly from the kiss. Never before in her life had she felt so out of control. Ever since she had met Connor Wilde, things were spiraling out of her reach more than she would have liked.
"Hate has nothing to do with this," Connor half whispered, his eyes running up the soft lines of her beautiful face. He did hate her, or at least, he should. She had called him his brother's name during a moment when he was sure he had the most mind-blowing sex with the most amazing woman he had ever met. She was his brother's ex fiancée. She flirted with his associates and distracted him with her every move. She drove him crazy with anger, desire, and lust.
"What does it have to do with, then?" Kristen already knew the answer. As if she could ignore all the angry looks he sent her way every time she spoke with Reece. As if she could ignore her own pangs of jealousy every time he was with Alyssa. As if she could pretend like that kiss wasn't exploding with unbridled chemistry and need.
In response, Connor took another resounding step towards her, and Kristen could feel her heart skip with every step he came. His lips were coming closer again, and Kristen could feel herself edging upwards to reach him when the jarring noise of Connor's cell phone went off.
Startled, Connor fumbled for his cell phone, and he glanced down at the caller id irritably.
Involuntarily, Kristen's eyes trailed down to glance at the caller id that had him so frozen up. She wished she hadn't.
Melissa Wilde.
Her name flashed like an ominous warning sign across his phone, and Kristen could feel her blood run cold.
"You'd better answer that,” Kristen said briskly, trying to get past him without touching him. Realizing there was no other way around it, she brushed past him, unaware of how provocatively her body was pressed up against his.
Gently but firmly, he gripped her hip, as she slipped past. "I'm not going to answer it."
"Good for you,” Kristen said icily. Inwardly, she scolded herself for letting her traitorous body react that way towards him. This was Connor Wilde. Her boss and her ex fiancée’s brother. In what screwed up world would they work out?
"Mind letting go of me?"
"Don't go out with Reece," Connor intoned, reiterating his point at the beginning of the whole ordeal.
In her head, Kristen knew that he had no reason to worry about that at all. She wasn't in the slightest bit interested in Reece. What worried her now was standing right in front of her, gripping her hips with masterful hands.
Nonetheless, she scowled at his order. "Why shouldn't I? Would you prefer I flirt and go out with you?" Kristen asked sarcastically, batting her eyelashes up at Connor who glared down at her in return. Instantly, he let go of her hips.
"Don't flatter yourself. Don't think for a second that what happened just now means I like you," Connor told her coldly. With Kristen, it was always an extreme. Either he detested her with a passion, or he wanted her like a desert traveler desired water.
"Likewise,” Kristen replied, suddenly feeling incredibly childish. Here they were, two full-grown adults, huddled in a closet, exchanging barbs.
"This is ridiculous. I'm out of here. You don't have to worry about me and Reece, he and I aren't anything but friends." A brief look of relief passed over Connor's face, but it was too dark for Kristen to see. Suddenly, the whole atmosphere seemed much lighter, as the misunderstandings disappeared.
"So you can stop sulking like a girl," Kristen smirked, her plump rosy lips suddenly looking very inviting again.
"I don't sulk,” Connor replied, unable to keep the grin from his handsome face.
"You were. You know, I didn't peg you as the type to brood and keep it all bottled up."
"I don't brood and sulk. If I were, then what are we doing in here?" Connor deadpanned.
Kristen quirked her eyebrows and nodded her head, conceding. "True. We've met up in closets before. I think you know the drill on how to leave by now."
With a cool as you please nod, Kristen left the closet, as if nothing had happened at all.
* * *
Jade toyed with her bangs, wondering whether or not it was
time to give them a trim, while popping her bubble gum in her mouth, making a succession of loud popping noises. Nell clucked disapprovingly at the amount of noise she was making, but couldn't help but give Jade a fond smile.
Jade had come bounding up into the office that morning, looking for Kristen, but to her chagrin, her boss hadn't arrived yet. Instantly, the two souls had bonded due to their excessive amounts of energy.
"Is my gum bothering you?" Jade asked considerately, smiling at Nell.
"A bit." Nell admitted. "But only because I don't know how to do that."
With identical mischievous grins, Jade handed Nell a piece of gum, and they were both popping their gums in succession in no time. Lila had gotten annoyed with the excessive noise and had left in a huff to get early lunch, leaving just the two to their own devices.
"What the hell is that noise?" Reece irritably came out of his office minutes later, but he softened considerably when he saw Nell laughing hysterically in a way she hadn't in quite a while.
"Nothing!" Jade and Nell said quickly.
Reece quirked his eyebrows at Nell, and gave Jade a quick once over. "Hey, aren't you that chick? The one with Kristen?"
Jade instantly became defensive. Standing up from the corner of Nell's desk, she smoothed out her gray pleated mini skirt. Instantly, Reece's eyes went up and down the length of her legs appraisingly. Not bad. She was on the petite side and the top of her head barely came up to his shoulder, but her legs were long and smooth. Teenagers sure were growing up fast these days.
"The name is Jade. And aren't you that other guy? The one with Mr. Wilde?" Jade shot back, glaring up at him. She might have been short, and he might have been tall, but even she could see that he was a handsome devil. He had blue eyes that went perfectly with his sandy colored hair, and he seemed to know all too well his effect on women. Well, on this woman, he was going to be surprised.
Reece smirked, and distantly remembered how irked she was that he had thought she was younger than she was. "I get the feeling that we got off on the wrong start."
