Equity (Balance Sheet #3)

by Shannon Dermott

  “I’m sorry, Brian. I like you. But this is kind of moving too fast for me.”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry too.” He paused after taking one step back. “You have my card. If you’re ever in San Francisco, please call. And not because I want to sleep with you, well…”

  I laughed. “I understand. Night.”

  “Night,” he said laughing too and turned to take the stairs. I waited on the landing, hearing his footfalls down the two flights until I heard the front door close.

  I opened up my apartment and stepped into the loneliness. It would have been easy to let him in and lose myself in a one night stand. I’d been there and done that. It wasn’t a good idea. Brian seemed like a really nice guy. He was good looking. I just didn’t feel the sparks the way I did with Kalen. I sighed. Would I always compare every man in the future to Kalen?

  On the couch with my laptop, I decided it was time to work on my resume.

  Twenty-Five

  A calendar meeting alarm popped onto my screen. I didn’t often check my appointments regularly because my assistant was good at screening them and keeping me abreast when I needed to prepare.

  Lizzy’s meeting was personal, that much I was sure of. In fact, I was surprised she hadn’t come sooner.

  I sent a quick text to Griff, who’d traveled with me abroad to start grooming for more responsibility within the company. I wanted him to help me integrate my security company acquisition with all my current holdings.

  When my assistant buzzed me, I told her to send Lizzy in. Bailey’s best friend was a blonde knockout who wore confidence like a shield. In a former life, she was the type of woman that I’d gone for. When she breezed in, Violet, Bailey’s older sister, followed in her wake.

  Violet was also striking. In causal jeans and shirt, she looked completely at odds from her appearance at her family compound weeks ago. Nearly waist length brown hair framed big doe eyes that could undoubtedly bring men to their knees.

  “What brings you two here?” I asked cautiously.

  Before I’d spoken, Violet had sat in one of the two leather back chairs in front of my desk, while Lizzy marched up to face me. Her finger pointed down towards my desk, but she might as well have been pointing at me.

  “No, the question is why are you here?” Her eyes were narrowed with patience that appeared thin. I could have sworn she had the look of a snake ready to strike.

  “This is where I work.” I wasn’t stupid and it was obvious what she was implying. But there was no way I was giving in to her demands in my office.

  My eyes traveled to Violet who looked a bit out of sorts. She was calm even though I knew she too wanted to know about her sister. Her hands where clasped in her lap and kept turning and twisting. She seemed uncomfortable with the threat of violence rolling off Lizzy in waves.

  “I can’t believe you left her there,” Lizzy spat, bringing my focus back to her.

  “She’s safe,” I said, feeling the first stirring of my own anger.

  “All alone in a country she’s never been to.”

  “She wanted to be there,” I quickly retort in a flat tone. And where the hell was Griff? I had another meeting and didn’t have time to explain myself.

  Speak of the devil, the door opened without a word from my assistant. Griff was extremely good at distracting women and making them forget everything.

  “What happened to Turner?” Lizzy demanded.

  I shrugged. It wasn’t my place to tell.

  “Lasses,” Griff said.

  Lizzie turned. I couldn’t see her face, but her posture was tense and with hands on her hips. Griff was going to strike out if he tried his charms on her.

  Violet, on the other hand, had the normal reaction women have to my best friend. Her eyes became saucers and she drank him all in. Griff, having noticed, smiled and headed in the direction of friendly fire.

  He took her hand and kissed it. “I’m Griffith, Head of Security and Kalen’s paid friend. Who might you be?” I snorted at his jab.

  “Violet,” she said. A faint brush began to color her cheeks. A shy one, I should warn her. Before I could Griff turned up the wattage on his smile.

  “I might have guessed. You are as beautiful and delicate as a petal from a flower.”

  “Oh please,” Lizzy said, watching the exchange with disgust. “Where did you get that from? A cheesiest line website?”

  When Griff glanced back her way, I saw determination in his eyes. She was going to lose this round.

  “It’s too bad you’re Irish.”

  “Irish,” she said. “I’m not Irish. Well, I may have some Irish, but I don’t have family from Ireland.” She appeared flustered for the first time under the weighty gaze Griff gave her.

  “Aye. You look so much like what a man would expect to find at the end of the rainbow.”

  Her eyebrows quirked. But Griff pressed on speaking while his eyes perused her body. “Hair of silken strands of pale gold, face and body so lovely with a shine from within, any man would want to hide you away from the rest of the world so only he could gaze at your flawlessness.”

  Lizzy’s mouth did the fish talk. It opened and closed unable to think of a thing to say.

  “You lovely ladies look ready for lunch. Let me take you out.” When he held out his hand to Violet, she was entranced and took it without remark. He gently pulled her to her feet. When he held out his other hand, Lizzy glared back at me.

  Her parting words were, “You bring her back and make this right.”

  Then she took Griff’s hand and let him lead her out.

  Just when they made it to the door, I heard Griff ask, “Do either of you speak French?”

  I shook my head. I knew what was coming. And he might have been charming enough to pull it off. Both of the girl answered no. Lizzy sounded cautious with her response. She was smart.

  Griff then said, “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”

  I distinctly heard two rapid thuds and Griff’s umph. Chuckling, he added, “I just had to ask.”

  Violet’s giggle spoke volumes. She was definitely under the guy’s spell. Lizzy, however, began to speak but not loud enough for me to hear as my office door closed. If Lizzy gave him a hard time, I would pay for this later. And if he got lucky with either or both, he’d pay me.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  My time in Ireland was filled with important firsts. It was the first time I’d truly been on my own and the first time I’d lived alone. It had been scary at first. When I’d taken the plane to Dublin, I was certain Kalen would find me and Turner would join me. Neither had. And aloneness soon sank in. However, after a time, when no one came after me, I knew that having independence was something that I needed despite my regular nightmares.

  I dreamed of being bound and gagged by Kevin and Kitty. Sometimes he would be the one to defile me, other times it would be his female partner. Each time I’d wake with a pounding heart and damp skin from sweat, which is why I hardly fell asleep on purpose. Usually, I drifted off while reading or surfing the Internet.

  Not ready to go to sleep after that night with Brian, I’d spent the rest of that evening updating my resume. I even constructed an e-mail to Brian’s friend, introducing myself and how I’d come to get his information. It was a huge step for me because I wasn’t sure what Brian might have said to his friend after the outcome of our date.

  What shocked me was that his friend contacted me the day after I’d hit send on the e-mail I’d agonized over. I hadn’t been sure I was ready to jump back into the work force. Yet I knew that I couldn’t hide away forever.

  Apparently Brian had stayed true to his word and had given his friend a heads up about me. After a phone call, then a Skype interview, I was given a tentative offer until after the results of a background check. I’d been honest about my part in the audit scandal with Kalen’s company. My new boss had been impressed with my candor and my tenacity, not put off by it. It probably also benefited me that I’d gotten a recommendation fr
om my first supervisor in Boston, the one who helped me get transferred to the New York office.

  It was a week into my new life in Washington, DC that I attended a work celebration. The hoopla was over completing one of our larger clients’ audits. We had a private room at the Palm Restaurant outside of DC in McLean, Virginia. It was a dinner as much for my colleagues as it was for our clients, who’d also been invited. I’d spent the week with this particular engagement learning the ropes and how my new firm handled things. It was much like my previous job in many ways and very different in others.

  I’d excused myself to the ladies’ room when my stomach rebelled from all the food I’d eaten. I hadn’t been feeling well over the last few weeks. In fact, I’d been lethargic and my appetite hadn’t been high. I assumed my body was readjusting to the place and time change. However, tonight, I began to think maybe I had some sort of virus. Airplanes were perfect places to catch illnesses due to the confined space.

  Once I stepped out of the bathroom, I’d been inside my head searching for an excuse I could make to leave early. I had an urge to lie down for a while. Caught up in my thoughts, I hadn’t been paying attention and stepped into a massive chest.

  “Sorry,” I said, not bothering to look up. I was embarrassed and didn’t want to see the person I might have offended. I tried to step around when whoever it was snagged my arm.

  “Where are you going, Lass?”

  That voice had been on repeat in my fantasies for weeks, and I knew it well. I took my time lifting my gaze from the very nice shoes he wore to his gorgeous face.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, like I’d been stalking him.

  Had the synapses in my brain been firing, I would have come up with a snarky or witty comment about the free world so I didn’t looked affected by his presence. But that wasn’t the case. I was far from unaffected.

  Instead, I’d zeroed in where our bodies connected. His fingers were wrapped around my arm and I knew just how talented those fingers were. His leg pressed to mine where he caged me in. The reminder of power he could wield with his legs as he fucked me made me swallow. My body responded in ways readying itself for his invasion to conquer me.

  “Lass, I asked you a question.”

  And dumb me found pleasure in him calling me Lass. I wasn’t sweetheart or Bailey. I was back to Lass. “I’m going home.” I said it softly as I met his stare.

  We stood in the hall for a few long seconds with nothing but silence between us. He didn’t appear any more ready to go than I wanted to leave. His heady gaze left mine in favor of searching around for something or someone. The someone idea had me feeling sick again. How could I not be over this man?

  He’d found whatever it was he’d been searching for and went on the move with me snared in his grip. He opened a door and tugged me in what appeared to be another private room much like the one my firm was using but smaller. The only light came through the barely open blinds from the wall of windows opposite the door. He stopped just inside and closed the blinds that faced the hallway we’d entered from. He turned the lock on the door and I stepped out of his grip. My brain finally made sense of my situation.

  “What are you doing?” I asked incredulously.

  He cocked his head in challenge. “I’m going to have you and you’re going to let me.”

  My eyebrows rose with his frankness. His hand fisted and opened repeatedly. It caught my attention drawing my eyes from the man on a mission expression he wore. Turmoil of anxious confusion caused my heart to race. I met his eye and saw the decision he made. He wanted me no matter what the cost. It would be me that would pay with emotional currency I didn’t have. I would end up with a broken heart because in no way did he look like he wanted a reconciliation.

  I stepped back and met the wall perpendicular to the door. It was a mistake. I swiftly angled my body so that it was my shoulder not my back that was touching the barrier and I began to slowly walk backwards.

  “You think after all you did in Scotland and then ignoring me, I’m going to have sex with you… here… ever?” That last word was said far too weakly for my liking. It was too late to take it back and try for stronger and more resolved.

  “I think you want me.” He looked pointedly down at my shirt.

  Stopping, I gazed down and noticed what he had. Beaded peaks poked through the clingy fit of my sweater, giving away my excitement. I closed my eyes for a second. It was a good thing he hadn’t felt the dampness under my skirt… Skirt. One of Kalen’s first demands of me was that I should always wear one for him so he’d have easy access. Crap, crap, crap. Why hadn’t I worn pants tonight? Because I had no idea I would see him tonight, I thought logically.

  He stalked forward. I headed nowhere fast. The door was in the opposite direction. He easily caught me in my feeble retreat.

  “Kalen,” I pleaded.

  “This is going to happen.” His hand cupped and angled my head for what I thought was going to be a kiss. I turned away, knowing that was far too much intimacy and I would crumble beneath him. He hadn’t professed his undying love for me. He’d demanded sex.

  “So not going to happen,” I said, trying to find my courage to deny him. I withdrew from his touch and moved towards the opposite wall.

  “You are delaying the inevitable, Lass. This thing between us gets settled tonight.”

  Like a predator, he ghosted up behind me and snaked an arm around my waist. Effectively, he stopped my forward progress and my traitorous body leaned back into his warmth. His possessive touch wormed its way under my shirt starting the countdown to my detonation. My fuse was lit, my core on full alert. With his heat at my back, there was no denying my need. My longing for this man made me weak in the knees. I knew what he could do, damn it and my body crave it.

  His other hand disappeared under my skirt, which rose up with his movement. It took milliseconds for his talented fingers to stroke my nub with circular patterns. It didn’t take long for him to bring me to the brink only to stop.

  “What do you want Lass?” he dared.

  Damn him and his sexy brogue. “You,” I cried in my frustration. It had been far too long since he had his hands on me.

  He began to rub my clit once again hearing the response he’d wanted. Then he dipped a solitary finger inside me. Stubbornly, I bit back a moan, not wanting to give him any more response than I’d already had.

  Just as quickly as his finger glided inside, it slid out my silky depths. If I’d wanted to beg for him to do that some more, I wasn’t given the chance. He surprised me by smearing my arousal across my lips. “Taste yourself,” he commanded with his cheek pressed to mine. He reciprocated by sucking that same finger in his mouth, and didn’t that just turn me on more. Kalen was good at all things when it came to pushing my buttons. Imagining myself spread eagle before him made me wetter.

  “You know what to say to stop this. It’s universal.”

  With that, he spun me around to face him. The green of his eyes was lost in both the dimness of the room and the desire in them. I could have been turned off by his rough handling as he threaded his fingers in my hair. Instead, I grew more aroused the longer he held on. My body was trained for his touch no matter what he offered. I should have been stronger and left. Yet I wanted him any way I could get him. In the end, I feared my surrender and hoped I wouldn’t be hurt emotionally in the process.

  With a fist full of my hair, he tugged back releasing gasp, not a protest, from my throat. He pushed up my skirt with his other hand and tugged off my offending underwear as if it was tissue paper. My thong never stood a chance.

  Like the very first time we had sex, I was amazed at what he could do one handed. He freed himself in record time. When he finally let go of my hair, he quickly lifted me up. Without any more foreplay other than the raw tension between us, he impaled me on his cock. My body was so ready for him. There wasn’t much resistance other than adjusting to his size, his thickness, him. He stood holding me by his own strength
without plastering me to a wall.

  My head fell back and another sigh, something akin to being home again, left my lips. He lifted me up and down upon him as if I weighed nothing. The delicious friction caused small moans to fill the room that I was unable to suppress.

  He squeezed my hips as he pistoned in and out of me. At one point he gave me a sting of a slap on my ass. He said nothing. I took the hint of pain until I was lost again to pleasure from the way he had me angled.

  “Please, Kalen,” I whispered. I was so close.

  He paused in his movement, at least the fucking kind, and walked over to a table. I had a moment to wonder if I should have kept the plea to myself. He positioned me on my back, my legs on his chest with my feet on either side of his head. He angled my hips and thrust into me once more. One hand held me just where he wanted me to be. With the other hand he used his thumb to exert pressure of the orgasm kind against my small bundle of nerves. I fractured beneath him as he continued to relentlessly pound into me.

  I wasn’t given time to come down from the pleasure before it built up in me again. He shoved up my sweater, letting cool air touch my skin. He adjusted my bra to expose my breast. Possessively he kneaded them and teased my nipples between his thumb and forefinger. Smoothly, his expert hand came back to my clit to bring forth another orgasm. It was two to zero, but his movements started to not be so controlled. His breaths started to come more erratically.

  Just as quickly as he orchestrated this, he stilled inside me. “I don’t have a condom, lass. You’ll have to do the honors.”

  There wasn’t a bathroom inside this room. I felt as though I had no choice. I nodded and he pulled out, stirring the beginnings of another orgasm in me. I was suddenly on my knees with a massive cock staring me in the face. I could have been pissed. Maybe I should have been. But my mouth watered with the idea of taking him in and controlling his pleasure as he had mine.