Accidental Rivals_An Office Romance

by River Laurent

  And a bottle of champagne, which he’s just opening.

  And two glasses. Zack is holding one of them out to be filled as he laughs.

  Oh, my God. E tu Rodney! I think I’m going to throw up. The two of them, celebrating like this, while I stand here and watch them. I don’t know what to do. I want to scream, I want to curse them both out, I want to throw things, break things, and rave like a lunatic because everything is falling apart. Everyone lied to me and used me. I was never going to get the sale.

  I was never going to get the man.

  My eyes fill with tears as I run to get my purse from my desk. I have to get out of here. Forget this place, forget Zack and Rodney and everything else. I don’t ever want to see either of them again.

  I run for the elevator, bumping into a pair of girls walking with their backs to me. They show surprise and concern, but I ignore them. They don’t matter. Nothing matters as much as getting out of here does.

  “Sienna!” Zack’s voice is behind me, as I jam my finger against the button. I should’ve taken the stairs. I turn blindly in the direction of the stairwell as a heavy hand falls on my shoulder.

  The bastard. He thinks he can touch me. I whirl around and barely have time to confirm that it is, indeed, Zack before my right hand swings and makes stinging contact with his cheek.

  He steps back, raising his hand to his cheek in surprise. I see the white imprint of his fingers and palm. “What’s that for?” he asks, his eyes wide.

  “As if you didn’t know. Shouldn’t you be in Rodney’s office, celebrating the sale you made without me? Go ahead. I don’t want to interrupt your celebration. Enjoy it. I hope you choke on it.” I’m so furious, so broken hearted, I can hardly speak. But he needs to know. He chose to follow me, so he needs to know that I know.

  “What are you talking about?” he demands, his hand falling to his side.

  “How can you lie like this?” I shout, and I don’t care anymore who hears. I don’t care what they think. I’m tired of cultivating an image of polished professionalism, of holding myself above them. I’m clearly no better than anyone in this place if it was so easy for a man to lie and use me the way he did. “You signed with the Dawsons yesterday, huh? And only your name is on the contract! I saw you in there with your champagne, celebrating your success. What excuse did you give Rodney, huh? For me not being part of it?”

  He sighs, his shoulders slumping.

  Yes, I got him. I called him out. And now he can’t handle it.

  “Come with me,” he mutters, taking me by the wrist.

  “Get your filthy, lying, piggy hands off me. I’m not going anywhere with you!”

  “I said, come with me.” He’s not taking no for an answer as he clamps his hand over my arm and drags me down the hall toward his cubicle at the other end.

  I feel the eyes of all my workmates on me the whole way there. I hear whispers and giggles and I want to burn the whole place down. I hope this is nice entertainment for them.

  When we reach the cubicle, he closes the door before reaching into a drawer. “I made a mistake yesterday and I didn’t notice it until this morning. I already called them to apologize and let them know I need them to sign another version of the document. Believe me, I feel like the least professional person in the world right now.”

  “Yeah, right,” I snarl. “Why did you have that version with only your name on it?”

  “Because I’m an ass,” he hisses, shoving another contract at me. “That’s the real one. I took the wrong one by mistake, the one I put only my name on, last week when we were both trying to take the sale from each other. Don’t pretend you weren’t thinking along the same lines. I wasn’t paying attention when I took it to the restaurant.”

  When I look down at the contract he is holding out, it seems his story is legit. This version bears both our names.

  “Call them yourself, if you want. They’ll tell you I already spoke with them and I was going to drive over to their house this morning to make things right.”

  “I wouldn’t do that anyway, and you know it,” I point out, handing the contract back. “It looks like we’re not on the same page.”

  “Regardless, you can come with me if you want to. You’ll see that everything’s on the up and up.” He shrugs, hands spread. “What else can I say? I was selfish when I drew up that original version. That was before, before… I didn’t know you then. I was only looking out for myself. I was determined to prove myself and be the big hero. I realize I was wrong.”

  I want to believe him. Dear God, forgive me for being a fool. I want to believe him. “What? What was the champagne for, then? Why didn’t you invite me in to celebrate with you?”

  He grimaces, his eyes leaving mine. “That had nothing to do with the sale of the house.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry. The two of you break out a bottle of bubbly every morning around this time?” I ask, hands on my hips. “I know you haven’t closed on any other houses, since this is the only listing you’re working on at the moment.”

  He looks uncomfortable, and for a moment, I think he’s going to tell me to mind my own business. Then he tells me, “That’s about something nobody knows about but Rodney and me. I wanted it that way. I didn’t want to ruin anything.”

  My eyes narrow suspiciously. “Ruin what?”

  “I guess it’s safe for me to tell you now.” He perches on the edge of the desk.

  For a second, I have to fight off the urge to laugh. What is he, a spy? Will he have to kill me once I know the truth about his identity or something?

  “Today marks the end of my apprenticeship,” he explains with a sheepish grin.

  I feel my face scrunching up into a scowl. “An apprentice?”

  “Like I said, I didn’t want anyone to know. I didn’t want people kissing my ass or treating me different because of who I am.”

  I stare at him dumbfounded. “Why? Who you are?”

  “I had an agreement with the owner of the agency, Rodney’s boss, in other words. The man who owns the entire chain of offices, from coast to coast. He’s retiring at the end of the year, and he needs a replacement. At the end of my apprenticeship, if I was successful and had put up solid numbers, I would be named his successor. I knew I could have sold this listing on my own, and I needed to prove to him that I was the man for the job. Do you understand why I did what I did now?”

  Once again, I need to hold onto the desk to keep myself upright. “Wait a second. You’re telling me you’re going to run the entire company?”

  He nods. “In my father’s place. Yes.”

  “Your father? You’re Zack Dunhurst?” I whisper, my mouth falling open.

  “Yes.” He laughs at my expression.

  I frown. “So Parker is not your name?”

  “It’s my mother’s last name, but like I said, I didn’t want word getting around that I was the boss’s son. I wanted to be just like everyone else. Rodney was just congratulating me on the completion of a successful apprenticeship. I was going to ask you to dinner again tonight and come clean about the entire thing. I didn’t expect you to see us and come to the wrong conclusion.”

  And again, the world is spinning around me. Not because I’ve been betrayed this time, but because I was so wrong—all along.

  “Sienna.” He reaches for me, and I go to him without thinking twice, allowing him to take my arms in his hands and pull me closer. “I know this is going to sound insane after all the dirty tricks I pulled on you, but I’m fucking crazy about you.”

  “You are?”

  “I am. Now that it’s all over and I can be honest about who I really am, I want to be honest about everything. So I thought you should know.”

  A smile—wide and disbelieving—spreads over my face. It only makes sense, him and me. The parts of our personalities that made us such good enemies make us even better partners. He’s everything I’ve ever looked for. He gets me, he understands my ambition, he respects my work ethic and celebrates my succes
ses.

  Not to mention the fact that he motivates me to do better.

  And he turns me on without having to try.

  “You drive me crazy,” I whisper, stroking his jaw with my fingertips, “but that’s probably because I’m crazy about you, too.”

  It looks like Tami was right, I think as he pulls me in for a long, lingering kiss that promises so much. She’ll never let me live this down.

  Sienna

  One month later…

  Zack laughs over the phone. “Take your panties off.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I said so.”

  “Look, I’m not masturbating in my office, okay? It’s completely inappropriate, besides anyone could come in.”

  “Lock the door and close the blinds.”

  “No,” I protest. “It will look suspicious if I do.”

  “Don’t worry I’ll do it,” he says as he opens my office door and walks in.

  I stare at him open-mouthed as he starts closing the blinds. “Zack, what are you doing here?”

  He turns towards me, a crooked smile on his lips. “What do you think I’m doing here?”

  “No.” I start shaking my head. “No, seriously. You can’t just barge in here.”

  He rubs his chin. “I’m the boss. I can barge in anywhere.”

  I cross my hands over my chest. I can never resist him when his eyes twinkle like that. “I’ll have to report this as a sexual harassment incident.”

  He grins. “Go ahead, report me to anyone you want, but now will you please take those fucking panties off, babe. I’ve only got a few minutes between meetings.”

  “What if they hear us? These walls are paper-thin.”

  He takes a step towards me. “I want them to. I want everyone to know you’re my woman.”

  Giddy with excitement and feeling incredibly horny, I stand up and quickly get out of my panties. They’re already soaking.

  He beckons me with his fingers and I walk around the desk to him. He’s already unzipping his trousers and his cock is, as usual, hard as a tree trunk. I turn around and place my palms on the desk. He hitches my skirt up and over my hips and I back up on his bare cock. I moan as the thick shaft slides into my wetness. I keep on backing until it is all the way in.

  “Oh God, I love your cock,” I moan. No matter how many times he enters me, I never stop feeling awe at how truly massive he is, how full he makes me feel.

  “Fuck yourself, babe,” he growls, as he stuffs my panties into my mouth. I did not see him pick them up from the table.

  I begin slowly, luxuriating in the sensation of his dick stretching me, before I really fuck myself on his hard length. The excitement of knowing we’re doing it in my office made my orgasm build with shocking speed. As I get ready to climax he begins pumping too, making me feel as if the whole desk is shaking. I bounce back and he pumps forward until I scream. My cry is muffled, but hell—it’s certainly not quiet. But I have no time to think of that as one of the most intense orgasms of my life cascades through me. I freeze, my muscles contracting and locking, as he keeps pounding away, hard, fast and deep into me. It makes the pleasure last long after the initial intensity of my orgasm passes.

  When I feel his thighs start to harden against the backs of my legs, I know he too, is about to climax. I whip my panties out of my mouth and quickly whirl around. Dropping to my knees, I take his cock in my mouth. It didn’t take me long to learn how to deep throat him. He slides deep into my throat, and I taste my own juices on his cock as I milk it by sucking him hard.

  With an involuntary grunt, he shoots his cum directly down my eager throat.

  I hold onto his hips and give his cock a lavish, meticulous suck before I stand up.

  Zack grasps my face in his hands and kisses me deep and long. “I’ll say it again. Nobody does it quite like you. You are perfect, Sienna. Just perfect,” he whispers.

  I grin softly. “Yeah, and I’ll say it again. I’ve never met anybody with a cock like yours. It’s quite, quite delicious.”

  He laughs and starts to put his clothes right. “Got to run, but I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Tonight,” I whisper.

  “Don’t put your panties back on. I want to think of you going around the office bare.”

  I giggle. “Okay.”

  Epilogue

  Sienna

  One Year Later

  “Tell him we won’t go below eight-fifty,” I bark into the phone as I stride off the elevator, nodding to everyone I pass along the way to my office. Rodney is at the desk in his office, kitty-corner from mine, and I wave as I pass by.

  “Everything okay?” Denise asks as I end the call. She is waiting in the chair across from my desk with a notepad in hand. We’ve been together for eight months and I have to admit, I wonder why it took me so long to ask for an assistant. She’s a gem, and it’s so much easier to get my work done when she’s taking care of the administrative duties.

  “Oh, sure. The Becketts’ lawyer, trying to lowball us. I know they’ll settle on eight-fifty.”

  “The owner will be happy.” She grins as I take a seat opposite hers.

  I grin back, unable to contain my pride. “They spent just over six-hundred on it. They’ll sing our praises.”

  Once we’re finished with our early morning catch-up, she closes the door behind her and allows me a little privacy. I was so right to pressure Rodney into building me an office of my own. The leverage I had after selling Nick’s house last year helped quite a bit. As I told him, an agent who sells multi-million-dollar estates shouldn’t be working in a cubicle.

  I should’ve asked sooner because he agreed immediately.

  My phone rings as I’m finishing going through my inbox, and I can’t keep the smile from my face as I answer in a low, seductive voice. “Yes? But make it quick. I’m a very busy woman, you know.”

  “I intend to make you even busier tonight,” Zack purrs.

  The man can make my toes curl even over the phone. “Oh? What did you have in mind, sir?”

  “I don’t know. Dinner, maybe? At home?”

  “Ooh, an intimate evening. I like the sound of that.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so.” I grin, dropping the act. “Only if you’re cooking, though. No fair asking me over only to have me cook.”

  He laughs. “I was going to suggest we order in.”

  “Even better. No offense, but you need to expand your repertoire a little.”

  “Gee, thanks. You’ve never complained about my performance in the kitchen before now.”

  I blush, pressing my lips together before replying, “I was talking about what you do at the stove, not what you do on top of the island.”

  He growls softly. “And the counter, and the floor, and…”

  “Zack,” I warn, as I start to squirm in my chair.

  He laughs. “See you at seven.”

  “Can I tell you a secret?”

  Zack looks up at me, chopsticks in the air. “What’s that?”

  “I like nights like this even better than the times when we go out on the town. This is so much more my speed.” I pull my feet up onto the sofa. I’m dressed in the sweats I keep in his dresser and my hair up in a bun on top of my head.

  “You mean, you don’t like it when I wine and dine you? I wish I had known. I could’ve saved a lot of money this last year.”

  I poke at him with my chopsticks.

  Sparring a bit with me, he deftly defends himself.

  I roll my eyes. “Ha, ha. You know what I mean.”

  He leans back, feet up on the coffee table. “I do. You know I feel the same way. I’ve always been more of a homebody.”

  Just another way in which we’re perfect for each other. I figured out quite some time ago that all the time I spent telling myself I hated him was a waste. He’s my match in every way.

  Including at work, where he maintains a desk at Rodney’s branch and comes in every so often to work with me on
a complicated sale. We’ve managed to put together a half-dozen deals like the one we did last year, the selling price higher and higher every time. He’s allowed me to up my game in every way, both with him and on my own.

  “Oh, you know what? I left a bottle of wine in the fridge. Can you grab it for me?” He smiles at me.

  “What’s wrong with your legs?” I ask, looking pointedly at them. “Did they break all of a sudden?”

  He sighs. “Come on. I’ve had a long day, and I would like to relax in my own home for a little bit. Is it so much to ask my woman get a bottle of wine for me? I’d do it for you.”

  “Right I’ll do it for you, but watch it with the ‘my woman’ crap,” I mutter as I get up. His chuckle follows me into the kitchen as I take the bottle of Chablis out, uncork it, and pick out a pair of glasses before heading back to the living room.

  “Thanks. I’ll pour,” he offers.

  “You’re such a gentleman.” I smile, handing the glasses over.

  “You know, your charming personality is by far one of my favorite things about you.”

  When he hands me my glass, I notice the strange look in his eye. “What’s up?”

  “Hmm?”

  “What’s up? You look like there’s something you want to tell me, but you don’t know how to say it.”

  “How do you always manage to see through me?”

  I shrug, grinning. “I’ve made a habit out of studying you over this year together, you know. You’re practically a full-time job.” I’m still chuckling as I lean forward to place the glass on the coffee table and pick up my container of fried rice.

  And that’s when I notice what he added to my meal. Or, more specifically, what’s now hanging from the chopsticks I left in the container.

  “What about signing a lifetime contract for that full-time job you just described?” he asks.

  I pick up the container with a shaking hand, bringing it closer to my face so I can study the ring which seems to be almost as big as a cherry. “Is this for me?” I whisper, admiring the way the diamonds sparkle in the light from the TV.