Corrupt Desires

by Jennifer Bene

  “Fuck!” she hissed, clenching the bedding in fists as she lifted her hips to meet his, again and again, until with a growl he forced her other leg towards her chest. Bending her to his will, owning her inside and out, she cried out as each stroke rubbed against that bundle of nerves inside her. Everything building, focusing to a dangerous pinpoint, and then with one more hard thrust another orgasm hit and she cried out as pleasure blotted out everything in the world but the sensation of him inside her.

  “Beautiful,” he growled, slamming deep once, twice, again, and then he stilled, his cock jerking deep as she shivered, delirious. Releasing her legs, he brought them skin to skin. Both too hot, but she couldn’t care as his weight dropped over her like the press of the ocean, and he kissed her.

  Everything gentled, one hand exploring her side, cupping her breast to squeeze softly as he nipped her lip. Bryant didn’t say a word when she brought one hand into his hair, feeling the silken strands move through her fingers as she trembled under him. Little aftershocks keeping her breaths short, as she wrapped her other arm around his back.

  “So perfect.” Soft words as he nuzzled against her neck, face buried in her hair while he kissed a path down her throat, and then back to her lips. One more long kiss and he slid from her, rolling to his back beside her. Their breaths were a cacophony of ocean waves, and she laughed softly, still in post-orgasmic bliss, stunned by him. By everything that had happened, by the person he seemed to be under the boring suit and downtowner bravado.

  “That was… wow.”

  “Agreed,” he purred. “Now, come here.” Quickly shifting them under the covers, he wrapped a possessive arm around her waist as he pulled her flush to his front. “I want you right here all night,” he whispered into her hair, and she felt her lips shape a foolish grin.

  Entwining their fingers, nuzzling into the pillow of his arm, Phee felt the butterflies inside swarm as he squeezed her fingers in his. “Bryant…” she whispered his name, receiving a hummed noise in response, but she couldn’t find the right words. Delirium and exhaustion stole them away.

  So, she just pressed a kiss to his arm and settled against him. Wrapped in his warmth, floating, she knew for sure that she didn’t regret diving in with Bryant, fairytale or not, and she wanted to say it, wanted him to understand… but then she was asleep.

  5

  Morning came like waking up after a shipwreck. For a moment she was unsure where she was, the bed she lay on was impossibly soft, the room larger than most of her apartment. It only took turning over to remember everything. The dinner, their laughter, the walk, his confession about his mom, and the sex.

  Holy shit, the absolutely great sex.

  Her body was deliciously sore, and Bryant was snoring softly next to her. He had rolled onto his back in his sleep, and his abs were stretched out, leading down to where the sheet cut off her leering. Biting her lip, Phee was tempted to touch him, but her body urged her out of bed to find the toilet and she padded quietly across the tile to his enormous bathroom. When she was done she found him still asleep, so she wandered into his living room and gasped at the view. An entire wall was nothing but floor to ceiling windows, and in the early dawn light the city was wrapped in thick fog, the golden sunlight making it look like a roiling sea of clouds, an endless ocean of pale smoke. The tops of taller buildings pierced it, and she was in awe. It was like she could just step through the glass and previously unknown wings would unfurl from her back letting her glide on the updrafts of air—

  “Oh good, you’re still here.” Bryant wandered out of the bedroom, his chestnut brown hair a mess as he pushed a hand through it and smiled at her. He had snagged a cream-colored blanket from the bed, and she got an incredible glimpse of his hard body as he adjusted it over his shoulders and walked towards her. “I was worried you had snuck out on me.” He stepped behind her, wrapping her in the blanket with him so that his warm skin pressed against her back, his face nuzzling against her neck.

  “Your view is…” Phee couldn’t even find words to describe the sight, and he looked up at the windows like he’d just realized he even had a view.

  “Seeing you in front of the windows this morning was a much better view, I assure you.” He kissed up her neck, moving her hair out of the way as he nipped her. That warm, bubbly feeling was back.

  “Very funny. How high up are we?” Phee leaned forward and got a little dizzy at the sharp drop down the glistening tower before the fog obscured the ground.

  “I’m not being funny, Phee, and I’m on the forty-third floor.” He paused. “I meant to ask last night, but I got a little distracted. Your name—”

  “It’s a nickname, my full name is Ophelia. No one calls me that, though.” People had started calling her Phee when she was young, only her family and the teachers at school had called her Ophelia.

  “I like that. Ophelia. It’s perfect for you.” He shifted his hips behind her and she felt him growing hard against her ass. “So, when do you need to be at work, Ophelia?”

  “We open at seven. How far are we from the café?” Phee leaned back against him, liking the way her full name sounded in that growl, and his arms tightened around her.

  “Maybe ten minutes, and it’s not even six yet. I think we could—” Phee heard the tinkling ring of a cell phone and Bryant sighed. “Give me one minute. Don’t move, you look perfect right there.” He kissed her cheek and slipped out of the blanket to leave it with her, which meant she had a very nice view of his strong back and his ass as he walked towards the bedroom to get his phone.

  “Hey! What’s going—” Bryant smiled at her as he leaned against the door frame, naked, and then his smile slipped. “Wait, that’s not what he wanted. He wanted sixteen copies of the 48-C documents — no, that meeting is today. Hell, Michael, he has the meeting at nine this morning! What do you mean you don’t have it prepped?”

  Phee turned back to the windows, trying her best not to eavesdrop, but she could hear his feet padding across the tile behind her. The fog was still rolling like clouds, the sun making them glow gold, and she realized it was the most beautiful view she’d ever seen in reality. It was like something her head would have dreamed up. It was like the stories her mom told her of transforming into a bird to fly above the world, escaping the fog where the air was clean and bright.

  “NO! Dammit, Michael—” Bryant looked irritated, and she saw he had pulled on a pair of dress pants in his room. It was time for her to go. She smiled apologetically at him as she snuck past him to get dressed. “I’ll handle it. Like I always do, I’ll handle it. No, don’t apologize now, I gave you the list last week. You had plenty of time.”

  Phee got dressed quickly and moved to the door where she’d dropped her purse the night before. Bryant came out of the bedroom in an unbuttoned dress shirt, and he looked sad, his forehead creased.

  “Michael, Michael… Michael! Shut up. I’ll call you when I’m on my way in.” Bryant hung up and moved towards her. “I’m really sorry, I wanted to spend more time with you this morning.”

  “It’s okay, really, maybe if I get to work early to help with setup then Alex won’t be so irritated that I left before clean-up was done last night.” She smiled up at him and he smiled back, cupping her face so he could kiss her again. It was gentle but reminded her of how he’d felt on top of her, inside her.

  “I’ll call you, okay? Do you like plays? There’s a great play this weekend, we could go.” Bryant sounded hopeful and it made her blush.

  “Yeah, that sounds great. We’ll talk then.” Phee reached for the doorknob but Bryant spun her back around and kissed her again, pressing her back against the door and she moaned against his lips.

  “I’m really going to kill Michael for ruining this morning.” Bryant looked down at her like he was hungry, and she blushed harder.

  “Don’t kill him, it’s not necessary.” Swallowing, she tried to ignore the way her heart raced. “I’ll um, talk to you later, okay?”

  “Absolut
ely.” He held the door open for her and she waved as she headed towards the elevator, hearing a low whistle behind her that made her grin again. It wasn’t a fairytale. No, this was so much better.

  Phee had done her best to clean up in the bathroom at work. The bag she’d left there had a hairbrush, and she’d packed some normal clothes just in case she hadn’t gone home last night, which was smart. After bathing in the sink and putting her hair up in a loose knot on top of her head, she didn’t look like a total mess.

  It ended up being a good thing that she was early because Regan was over half an hour late. Without the wake-up call Phee usually made before she walked to Regan’s apartment so they could go in together, she had slept in. Phee and Alex had almost everything prepped though, and the first batch of baked goods were already in the case as he started the second. But Alex was still barely talking to her. He was being nice, but there were none of his normal jokes, or the shared laughter that usually filled the mornings. He’d barely even looked at her as she’d gone through the opening procedures.

  Eventually, she just stopped trying to ease his mood and did her job. Relieved when Regan arrived and broke the tension with her loud, energetic chatter.

  Hours later, there was a lull before the lunch rush, and Phee was leaning against the counter thinking about being over Bryant’s lap.

  “Okay, are you all dreamy eyed because you’re off in Ophelia-land again, or is it because the sex with mister tall and delicious was that good?” Regan grinned as she hopped up on the counter, and Phee blushed bright red.

  “Oh my God, Regan, can you be quiet at least?” Phee glanced at the window to the kitchen, but she couldn’t see Alex.

  “I’ll be quiet if you give me all the juicy details. Did he buy champagne at dinner? Take you away in a limo? Is he hung like a horse?” Regan cackled when Phee slapped her arm.

  “It was actually really cool. Kind of low key. I mean, it was still a restaurant downtown so it was kind of pricy, but definitely not over the top. The pasta was really good, and we just had wine. The wine was fantastic though, and—”

  “Okay, I was kidding about wanting to know about dinner. Come on, Phee, tell me the good stuff!” Regan actually managed to lower her voice as she leaned towards her to listen.

  Phee grinned and whispered, “Well… he spanked me?”

  “Yes! That’s what I’m talking about! I knew he looked like fun.” Regan groaned in jealousy before turning back to her conspiratorially. “Keep going!”

  “Um, he made me beg him to fuck me? It was kind of hot.” Phee laughed. “Who am I kidding? It was so fucking hot. And, oh my God, he was good in bed. Amazing. I think I saw stars when I came.”

  They were both cackling when a customer walked in and Phee tried to compose herself, which only made Regan laugh harder. The man and woman sat down in Regan’s section, and she hopped off the counter to go help them as Phee tugged her phone out to text Bryant: Last night was fantastic, hope everything is fine with work. TTYL.

  “You went out with that guy?” Alex’s voice made her jump and Phee shoved her phone into her apron.

  “Um, I’m sorry, Alex. Regan and I were just chatting because it was empty.” She swallowed. Alex was staring at her with those dark eyes, not a trace of his normal playful smile.

  “But you did. You went out with him. A downtowner.” Alex took a step towards her, his fists clenched at his sides, but he stopped before he was too close. A nervous flutter filled her stomach and she was suddenly very sure that Regan had been right about Alex having a thing for her. “What the hell, Phee? Is that why you took this job? So you could snag some pretty rich boy?”

  “Alex! God…” Phee crossed her arms over her chest, glancing behind her to make sure the couple that had just sat down couldn’t hear them. She kept her voice low, “I went out with him, yes, but you know why I took this job. I didn’t want to work in the fog, I wanted to work downtown so I could at least spend time where I could see the sky.”

  “I can’t believe you. All this time and you jump on the first downtowner who does more than pay the check?” Alex sounded disgusted and his expression looked almost angry, a flush in his cheeks as he glared at her.

  “That’s not—”

  “Whatever, Phee. You want to throw yourself at guys like him? Fine. Go ahead. But there are consequences to that shit.” Alex looked past her, and then he cursed under his breath as he turned away.

  “Alex!” Phee hissed, but he didn’t turn around.

  “Whoa, what’s up with Alex?” Regan stopped next to her, watching as Alex stormed back into the kitchen.

  “He heard us talking about Bryant, and he’s pissed.” Phee looked at her best friend and rolled her eyes, stopping her before she could gloat. “And yeah, you were right. I’m pretty sure he liked me.”

  “Liked?” Regan tilted her head.

  “Well, he definitely isn’t happy with me right now.” Phee sighed, groaning inwardly. At least he hadn’t fired her, but work was definitely going to be awkward the rest of the day.

  And it was awkward. Alex didn’t even speak when the orders were up, he just rang the bell with a slam of his hand and then moved back into the kitchen, basically ignoring both of them. With all the tension in the air, the day crawled, and when it came time to close up Alex put their money on the counter and then told them to leave.

  They’d left quietly, and Regan was just as subdued as her on the long ride home. As she sat on the train, stomach turning with the steep angle down, Phee couldn’t even dwell on the fact that Bryant hadn’t responded all day. She just really hoped she still had a job the next day.

  6

  Two Days Later

  “Nothing?” Regan came back from the bathroom to find Phee checking her phone again on one end of the couch.

  “Nothing since this morning when he texted that he’d see me again soon. But I’ve sent like ten messages and that’s all he’s said back.” Phee groaned and poured herself another glass of whiskey, the mid-range stuff for stressful days.

  “What a dick! He can’t be that busy. It’s been days!”

  “He works for the COF, Regan. Who knows what he’s doing? I’m sure he’s just caught up in something. I told you that he’d had kind of an intense phone conversation the morning—”

  “That’s no excuse, Phee. If he wanted a one-night stand he should have been up front about it, he shouldn’t have been all sweet with his cute date plans, and his oh, I can’t wait to see you again. Not if he was just going to fall off the face of the earth!” Regan muttered as she grabbed the bottle of wine she’d brought with her and poured another hearty glass.

  Phee tried to ignore the bruised feeling in her chest. Regan was right, if she had known he just wanted to have some fun, she wouldn’t have even thought about really liking him. Wouldn’t have thought beyond the fun they could have — and they’d had a lot of fun. She took a sip of the whiskey, and the fuzzy feeling in her head was helping. She just didn’t understand why he hadn’t messaged her anything substantial back. Why be so sweet, why kiss her the way he had as she was leaving, if he didn’t want to see her again? She was an adult, she didn’t need to fall in love with every guy she slept with. She’d had a couple of one-night stands herself. She could have handled it fine if he’d just been honest.

  “Aw, hey, look at me.” Regan had settled on the other end of the couch and she nudged her with her foot. Phee looked, and Regan gave a little smile. “You know you’ve always got me, right? Even if he doesn’t call, and Alex seems to be getting over everything.”

  “Of course I know that. I’m fine, Regan, I swear. And who knows, maybe he’ll call and have a good explanation?”

  Regan didn’t look convinced as she drank some of her wine, but Phee knew there was more to their evening than just a one-night stand. He’d taken her to the park with the art installation that his mother had loved. What guy would do that if he wasn’t at least sincerely interested?

  Unless he’d made it all up?
That was a miserable thought.

  “Why don’t we just watch a movie and crash, and then I’ll keep you distracted at work tomorrow. If he calls, great, if he doesn’t…” Regan shrugged. “Then he’s missing out on all of your hotness, and on his deathbed he’ll think about how much he regrets never getting to touch you again.”

  Phee laughed, and so did Regan. Best friends, they always knew the right things to say. “Deal. What do you want to watch?”

  Another day passed and Phee was busy at work. It was better that way, when the café was packed, and there were even people waiting on the tables outside in the thin fog of downtown. Her and Regan were running around like crazy, and Alex had even called in a friend of his to help in the kitchen. The chatter of so many voices was a din in the restaurant that made her ears ring as she rushed back and forth delivering orders, bussing tables, and taking new orders.

  She had just set plates down at table five when she turned around to see Bryant walk in with another man. The sunlight through the window made his hair shine and her breath caught in her chest as he spoke to the man with him, both of them in nice suits. Walking across the café she smiled brightly, calling out, “Bryant!”

  Bryant turned to her with a blank expression on his face, not even the hint of a smile. The guy next to him looked at her with surprise before his eyes trailed over her curves. “Who is this, Holbrook?”