by Eva Luxe
*****
Opportunist that she was, Bianca took us to the most expensive restaurant in the area, and had us seated right in the center of the room. It made it extremely awkward to open up my briefcase and try to discuss the project with her. It also made it look like we were on a date, which was the last thing I wanted anyone to think.
We ordered drinks, then I started to pull out files, and she rolled her eyes.
“Are you seeing anyone, Adam?” she asked, running a finger across the ridge of her wine glass.
“This is supposed to be business, Bianca,” I snapped. “My private life is none of yours.”
“Oh, your private life has everything to do with…business.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You won’t be able to keep them separate forever, Adam.” She laughed patronizingly. “Your business life and your private life have too many overlapping areas.”
She knew about Chrissy. Of all the fucked up luck. Or—I looked at her face carefully. She suspected that I was involved with Chrissy. She didn’t know for sure, because if she did, she’d have used the information to try to hurt me somehow. As though she still had that power.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, “but can we get through these specs? Look at this kitchen. I’m having the caterer—”
The waiter brought our salads, and Bianca ordered a second glass of wine.
As soon as the waiter left, Bianca leaned forward. She nearly spilled out of her low cut cocktail dress. “I know who you’re seeing these days, Adam. And Daddy wouldn’t like it.”
I was going to play this cool—more than cool. Cold.
I glanced at her contemptuously. “You think I’m dating Chrissy Monroe.”
She leaned back again with a satisfied smile.
“My boss’ daughter. My best friend’s little sister. She’s—what, nineteen?” She was twenty-one, but Bianca didn’t need to know I knew that.
“I don’t know if you’re dating her or not.” Bianca shrugged. “But I do know you’re fucking her.”
“Even if that were true, Bianca, it would be none of your business.”
“Oh, it’s true,” she assured me. “I stopped by the mansion Friday to check out the facility. I got an eyeful of something else instead. It did look like the two of you were having fun, though!”
Shit. Maybe she was still bluffing, but I couldn’t see how. I kind of remembered hearing a car door in the distance, but I didn’t have any idea that someone else had even come into the building.
Of course not. Chrissy was there. I couldn’t see, or feel, or notice, anything but her. Fuck. I was getting obsessed. She was truly all I could think about.
And look, maybe it was sexist of me, but if Bianca could enter that building, anyone could have. A mugger, or a serial killer. How was I supposed to protect Chrissy if I didn’t even know someone else was there?
And I had a bad feeling that Chrissy was going to need some protecting now.
“We do have a project we’re supposed to be working on,” I reminded Bianca. “Can we stop dwelling on my sex life and move on to business? Otherwise you’re going to have to pay for those three glasses of wine.”
“I doubt Gary will make me pay for a little wine,” she said. “Not when I’m so valuable to him.”
“The project?”
“Why don’t we finish up here, and then we can take the files back to your place and work on them alone?”
“Bianca,” I sighed. “Give it up. I’m not sleeping with you.”
“It’s just a fuck between old friends,” she said. “Surely even Little Miss Perfect can’t object to that. As I’ve so recently observed for myself, you’re always hot and ready, right?”
“Not always,” I muttered.
“Let me give you some advice,” Bianca said briskly, setting her napkin on the table. “I don’t know if it’s my brain, my skill, or my ass, but Gary likes me and he listens to me. He thinks you’re an idiot, and he suspects that you’re sniffing around after his little girl, so he’s going to hate you on principle. It would be to your advantage to cultivate a friendship with me. And seeing as we almost got married, that shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I stared at her incredulously. “If our positions were reversed, you could have me not only fired, but arrested, for saying what you just said. I mean, imagine it—a male executive uses a business dinner as an excuse for hitting on a young female executive, and during the course of that dinner, explains to her that if she wants to keep her job, she better sleep with him. Sounds like a fucking movie of the week.”
“Really?” Bianca laughed. “What are you going to do, Adam? Bring me up on sexual harassment charges?”
“If you don’t leave me and the people I care about alone, I’ll bring you up on any charge I can think of.”
The smile left her face like someone had hit the delete button on it. “Care about? Are you saying you care about that ditsy blonde pop tart? Oh, please.”
“I have no intention of discussing any of my personal relationships with you. I’m done.” I stood up and knocked back my wine. “The renovations should be complete within 60 days, then I want 30 days of promotional open houses, photo spreads, and tours, then we open for business. I’m about to hire a property manager, so I’ll put you in touch with him or her when I’ve finalized that. We’ll be open for events within 90 days. Be ready.”
I turned and left her there without another word, walked out of the restaurant, and walked to my car. She made me so angry—every minute I was forced to spend with her reminded me of why I never could have married her.
Chrissy had said that “Mansion Adam” was the real Adam—spontaneous, fun, passionate. And she wasn’t wrong; I felt all those things when I was with her. I felt completely free when we made love. But I was also hard working and excited about my job, and even though I’d only been doing it for a few weeks, I didn’t want to lose it.
Maybe Chrissy and I needed to cool it. The problem was that she was the only one who had ever seen Mansion Adam. Everyone else saw a serious, driven young executive, and even though I was those things, Mansion Adam only even existed when Chrissy was there.
But I didn’t want her to become a target for Bianca, and I didn’t want to come between Chrissy and her father. And sure, he was being medieval with the whole nothing-stands-between-you-and-the-company attitude, but it was his company. If I had built my company from the ground up like he had, I’d expect my rules to be obeyed too.
How was I going to tell Chrissy that we needed to stop taking risks? That being with her was something I should sacrifice for the sake of my professional success? And how could I get through days of Bianca baiting me, Gary dismissing me, and whole project teams depending on me, without knowing I’d see her at the end of the day, and that Mansion Adam could come out to play?
Chapter 11 – Chrissy
“No, baby, I understand.”
I was lying by the pool again, mostly out of boredom. I’d been looking so forward to having this summer off, to just decompress. I’d had a hard semester, between a full load of science and math classes—and like a genius I’d thrown in a business class just for the hell of it, because what if I opened my own clinic some day—in addition to my clinicals. Almost all my classes were in my major—any fun or easy Gen Eds had been used up ages ago.
And it was hard, and I was tired, and I’d just wanted to come home, plop down next to the pool with cold beers and fruity margaritas, and rest my brain. Then I’d run into Adam, and now all I wanted to do was him.
“I feel bad,” he was saying. “I miss you, baby. I keep thinking about Friday and how amazing you are.”
I laughed. “You’re just horny.”
It was funny, but it worried me a little too. I mean, the sex was amazing, and I had no problem with sex for the sheer enjoyment of it, but dammit, I liked Adam. I liked intense professional Adam in his suits and
ties, and I liked carefree, playful Mansion Adam. I liked that he’d asked me about my classes and my love for animals. I liked being an adult with him instead of a star-struck adolescent. We hadn’t really talked about it, but I hoped it wasn’t just sex for him.
He chuckled too. “I can’t deny it, but you know, we don’t have to have sex every time we’re together. I mean, at some point you’re going to have to take a break for a few days, right? I still want to see you.”
It took me a second to realize he was talking about my period. I was kind of impressed that he would bring it up. Yeah, I’d have to take a break for a few days. And he still wanted to be with me.
“At the rate my dad is working you, you won’t get to see me then, either!”
I didn’t mean to sound acerbic or bitchy; I was just frustrated. This was the third night in a row that he’d had to call and cancel. I knew that Daddy wanted to fast-track the mansion project, and they supposedly had a new hot shot media exec who was taking charge of the public face of things there, so Adam was busy with that as well as the rest of his projects. I guessed I’d just have to get used to sharing him.
Which was hard when I’d just found him. Or, re-found him.
“Yeah, I know.” He sighed, and I was a little mollified at how sad he sounded. “If it doesn’t let up, I may have to take a personal day. Tell them I have a doctor’s appointment or something.”
“Mmm… I’ll be glad to examine you,” I said. Then I burst out laughing. “You wouldn’t believe how many fantasies I had that involved playing doctor with you when I was about twelve!”
“Twelve?” he asked, sounding very interested. “Really? You’ll have to show me exactly what you had in mind.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure at twelve it was a lot of kissing and if we were very daring, touching my boobies over my shirt.”
“Not a bad start,” he said. “You were cute when you were twelve. Anyway, listen, I better go. I will try to see you as soon as I can. I miss you.”
“Miss you too, babe,” I said. And it was the most natural thing in the world to add, “Love you,” to the end, but I caught myself and just said, “Bye.”
I sat there by the pool, baking in the June California sun. Tomorrow night was going to be girls’ night out, and Raina and I would probably go to one of those summer bars with the shot specials and the big outdoor patios. At least I could talk to Raina about Adam—she definitely wouldn’t rat me out. But without Adam around, summer was a lot more boring than I had anticipated.
****
My parents somehow forgot to tell me they were having a dinner party that night. Most of the time they could entertain clients at restaurants and Dad could write it off as a business expense, but once or twice a year, they had to have a few people over for dinner and drinks, and I guess this was one of those nights. Back in the day, Jack and I often had to join them at the table and behave absolutely perfectly under threat of severe punishment, but of course, we didn’t live at home anymore and didn’t have to do that these days.
So I was kind of surprised when people started showing up. I grabbed my mom on her way out of the kitchen. “Do you want me to eat with everyone?” I asked doubtfully. “I didn’t know we were having company—I just came in from the pool.”
“No, that’s all right,” she said, smoothing her hair. “There’s food in the fridge and you can go up the back way.”
I ducked in the kitchen and made a sandwich, then took my food upstairs, showered, and sat on my bed watching TV. I could hear the polite social laughter drifting up from the dining room, though it got louder as the evening progressed, because the guests were drinking more.
My phone beeped around 9:00, and I looked down. Adam had texted me, and I smiled as I read it.
Stupid meeting just got out. Wish I could see you.
I wished so too. In fact… I called him.
“Hey,” I said. “Want to do something really crazy?”
“With you? Always.”
I laid out my idea for him, and when I was done, he was silent for a moment. Then he said, “You know there’s about a hundred ways this could go wrong, right?”
“Well, if you don’t want to…”
“I didn’t say that!” he answered. “I’m already on your street. I’ll go around behind the pool house.”
I grinned and hung up, then slipped down the kitchen stairs and out through the garage. Adam was coming through the foliage behind the house, and I smiled. I hadn’t seen him in days, and I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot.
“Hey,” he whispered, taking both my hands.
“Hey.” I stood on my toes and kissed him softly.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“Follow me.”
I led him through the garage and into the kitchen, where I stopped to listen to the sounds of the guests talking over coffee, liqueurs, and dessert. This was the really dangerous part, because someone else could come into the kitchen at any time.
“Go through that door,” I mouthed at him, pointing to the door where the back stairs were, “and wait for me on the stairs.”
I grabbed a couple pieces of my mom’s cheesecake, the best thing in the world, and slid through the door behind him. His eyes lit up at the sight of the cheesecake.
“That’s my favorite,” he whispered, his mouth right next to my ear. Shivers ran down my arms at his breath on my skin.
“Come on.” I led him up the stairs, down the hall and to my room. I locked the door behind me, sat on the bed, and patted the space next to me.
He sat by me, and shook his head slowly. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. Your father will fire me if he finds out. Or kill me.”
“Then we’ll just have to be very quiet.” I cut off a bite of cheesecake and fed it to him.
For a few minutes, we just sat in silence and fed each other cheesecake. I could see Adam relaxing minute by minute, and after a few more had passed, he got up and removed his jacket and tie. He moved the cake plates and lay down on my bed.
I snuggled up next to him. “Hard week?”
“Yeah.” He blew out a breath.
“Poor baby. Let me take care of you.”
I sat up and straddled him.
“That could be good,” he conceded.
I bent down and kissed him, then unbuttoned his shirt so that it hung open and I could see his muscular chest. I scooted down his body, kissing his skin as I moved, then knelt in front of him and took off his shoes and socks.
He squirmed in front of me. “My feet probably smell bad,” he said awkwardly.
“Actually, they don’t,” I assured him. I started to rub his feet, using a technique that trainers used on horses. “But even if they did, I’m going to be a vet. You think I’ve never encountered smells before?”
He laughed softly. “That is strangely reassuring.”
I rubbed both of his feet, then progressed up his legs to rub his calves. He was so muscular; I loved it. The feel of those strong muscles under my hands started to turn me on.
“You can’t make any noise,” I warned him in a low voice. “If my parents catch you up here, there’ll be hell to pay.”
He say up on his elbows. “I’m not making any noise.”
“Not yet,” I agreed, raising an eyebrow. Then I shifted and straddled one of his feet, rubbing my pussy back and forth across it.
“Fuck,” he murmured.
“Shh.”
“Sorry.”
That had gotten his attention, but feet weren’t really my thing. Those legs, though… damn. I stood up and rubbed them, trying to rub some of the stress out, but also just wanting to touch him. I pressed my face against his growing cock, nuzzling it, but not really doing anything for it.
“Stand up for a second,” I instructed him. He did and I stripped his slacks and shirt off so that he was only in his briefs. “Now lie down on your stomach.”
He did what I said, and I straddled his back so that I could rub his shoulders. I r
ocked back and forth, teasing my clit while I rubbed his back.
“That feels so good, babe,” he moaned.
“Shh!”
Pretty soon my arms were aching, so I had to stop. I made him turn over again so I could strip off his briefs. His feet were on the floor again, so I knelt between them and took his half-erect cock into my mouth. It went to full strength immediately.
Adam grabbed handfuls of my bedspread in his fists. His lips were pressed together and his eyes were squeezed shut. He was trying so hard to stay quiet, but I couldn’t make it that easy. I sucked harder and cupped his balls.
“Fuck!” he hissed. To his credit, it was still a whisper. Sort of. He started thrusting into my mouth. I had to use both hands to control the depth or I’d gag, but God it felt good to have that cock in my mouth.
He opened his hand. “Come up here,” he whispered. “Please, I want to be inside you.”
“Can you stay quiet?”
“I can.” He raised an eyebrow in challenge. “Can you?”
I wasn’t at all sure about that, but I crawled back on top of him and lowered my wet pussy onto his throbbing cock. I gasped as he started to fill me. He was so big it stretched me out every time.
“Shh!” he said.
“I am,” I said, my teeth clenched. “It’s just so fucking good.”
“I know, baby.” He grabbed my hips and thrust harder and this time I cried out. “You’re gonna be in so much trouble.”
“I’m not,” I panted. “God, just fuck me.”
He thrust faster, and this time the issue was how much noise the bed made. It wasn’t usually loud, but I didn’t usually fuck a tall muscular beast in it, either.
“Shh,” I said, louder than I meant to. “Bed…too…loud. Oh God, you’re so fucking big.”
I started to come, biting down on my lip to keep the screams inside. I hoped to God my parents couldn’t hear the bed, because I couldn’t stop bouncing up and down on Adam’s huge cock if my life depended on it. I needed it pounding into me.
My mostly silent orgasm ended but Adam was still pounding me. He sat up, wrapped his arms around me and flipped us over, then thrust into me that way, on top of me. His breath hissed in and out of his teeth, his voice controlled, but his body wild. I’d have been surprised if the whole dinner party didn’t come running to see where the earthquake was coming from.
