by Kira Blakely
“Good for you, Casper,” I said, standing my ground.
My body was already beginning to react to his presence the way it always did. But this time, I had made up my mind to not give in. He was not going to have the better of me.
“So, you’re here to just thank me?” he asked, pursing his lips. His face was still darkened; he hadn’t relaxed. I was still afraid that he hated me.
“Yes, just… just because I know you are aware of how happy your decision has made me,” I said. My breath caught in my throat. I could smell him now, and his scent sent shivers down my spine. Casper breathed in deeply, and I noticed the way his shoulders squared. He was all hulking muscle, and I could feel the power of him in the room. I knew I had to stick to my resolve, but I could also feel myself disintegrating at the same time.
“And also, to apologize. I’m also here to apologize,” I forced myself to say.
Casper cocked an eyebrow up, as if to mock me. “You want to apologize to me?” he asked, and I was surprised to see that he had taken a few steps in my direction.
I shifted on my feet. This wasn’t going to be easy. Marla was right, apologizing to someone didn’t exactly come naturally to me.
“Why do you feel the need to apologize to me, Lily?” he asked, and I recognized that tone of laughter in his voice. He was enjoying himself again. Casper was back in his element.
“I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I know that I was too rash and impolite and a horrible guest,” I said, raising my chin up. The only way to battle my way out of this was by keeping my pride.
“A horrible guest?” he asked, raising both his eyebrows in mock-surprise.
“Yes, I was a guest on your plane and at your party, and I shouldn’t have made a scene,” I said, watching him as he came closer to me.
Casper suddenly threw his head back and laughed. My mouth nearly hung open from the insult. How could he laugh? Why did he always laugh at me? My fists clenched and unclenched themselves in fury. I could feel the back of my neck growing red with rage. If he didn’t stop laughing soon, I was going to slap him across his face.
“Lily, don’t ever apologize for standing up for yourself,” he said, his laughter dying suddenly as he looked me straight in the eye.
Wow. He really knew how to knock the breath right out of me.
He could see that I was confused, and he stepped closer to me.
“I have my own set of complications. Everyone does. But you stood up for yourself that day, and you shouldn’t have to apologize to me for it. That isn’t the Lily Fitz I know.”
I heard his words, but I couldn’t actually believe them.
Then he placed his large hands on my shoulders, sending electric shocks down my spine. I had to crane my neck up to look at him. He was towering over me, looking down at me with his warm gray-blue eyes. He had a smile on his face, and this time, something told me that the smile was genuine. He was pleased with me for whatever strange reason that I couldn’t understand.
“So, are you saying that you should be asking me for forgiveness?” I asked him, biting down on my lip.
Casper’s shoulders shook again as he laughed. “How about neither of us apologizes for the things we said?” he said, and I tried to suppress a smile that I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide for very long.
“I’m not apologizing. I’m just admitting that I was jealous. Of Samantha, of all the other women you are potentially sleeping with,” I said, and I cocked my head to one side to look up at him from a better angle.
Casper smirked and then drew in a deep breath. His hands dropped, stroking my arms as he went along, and he did it slowly so that I could feel his touch on every pore of my skin even through the fabric of my blouse.
“And I will admit that I did it for you. It wasn’t a business decision to move the wind farms. I did it because I wanted you to see me in an interview, to come running through the doors and forgive me for how angry I’ve made you,” he said in that smooth, deep voice of his that always made my skin tingle.
“Am I really that predictable?” I said with a laugh.
“Let’s test how well I can actually predict you,” he said, and I rolled my eyes and smiled at him.
“Go ahead,” I said, placing my hands on my hips as a challenge.
“I predict that you’re going to accept my job offer and come work with me so that I can start making more environmentally-conscious business decisions and never make you mad again,” he said.
I could barely hear him from how loud my heart was thumping against my chest.
“Only if you put in a clause that I can still protest your decisions if I don’t like them,” I said, and in a flash, Casper lunged at me. “I only came here to talk to you,” I said, as he drew me into his arms, his hands gripping my hips tightly like he was getting ready to ride a bike. I was only pretending. I wasn’t really trying to fight him off.
“I know. But things change; you get naked, you scream when I make you come. You know, things happen,” he whispered in my ears as he held me in his arms. My body jolted from his touch. He had sent goose bumps all over my flesh. I knew I was melting. I was losing all my resolve. I had just agreed to work with him.
Chapter 20
Casper had his mouth on the base of my neck, on that sweet spot that made my body quiver. I was in his arms like putty, melting into nothingness as he held me close to him. I could feel his raging hard on, pressing into my hip as he held me in position. He was sucking on my skin, and I had never thought that it could feel this good.
He was being gentle this time. He was taking it slow, and like before, it was pure torture to my body. We were both still fully clothed, but I couldn’t wait for him to tear them off me. I knew what he felt like inside me. He’d been there before, but I still wanted him like I wanted him the first time. It was like his body was still surprisingly new to me.
“What do you want me to do to you, Lily?” he mumbled as he traced his tongue along my throat. He had his fingers gently splayed over my breasts. He had me in a bent position over his arm and made it seem like I was light as a feather. I could barely speak. My breath was stuck in my throat, and my heart was beating out of my chest.
“I want you inside me,” I said, shutting my eyes.
“Before that. What do you want me to do to you before I’m inside you?” he asked in his deep, throaty voice.
I could feel his hands on my legs now, trailing up my thigh, pulling my skirt along with his hands so that now it was bunched up at my waist.
“You’re ready,” he said, before I could answer his question. His fingers had found my wetness. He could feel my desire for him, and he stroked me through the fabric of my panties. I winced and wriggled in his arms. He was torturing me again.
“Do you like that?” he asked, and I opened my eyes. His dark blue gaze was focused on me, and his lips were set in a thin, grim line. It was like he was on a mission. I gulped and nodded my head, and he stroked harder, with two fingers now on my swollen, wet center. I dug my nails into his shoulders and threw my head back from the sensation.
My hips had started moving on their own accord in a circular, gyrating motion as he stoked and stroked. My hands started fumbling with his shirt buttons as he held me in position. I knew I had to see him naked.
Casper smiled when I started unbuttoning his shirt, popping them open so that his shirt flew open and his bare, bronze chest was revealed to me. My hands went instinctively to feel the contours of his abs. They were masterfully sculpted. Ridges and grooves on the sides of his torso, his belly was narrow, and a thin line of dark brown hair pointed from his navel to inside his pants. I flushed a deep red. He was stroking me still, and it was getting harder for me to keep my eyes open.
“This has to go,” he said like he was annoyed, and in one swift motion he pulled my panties down and they fell to my ankles. Now I was exposed entirely to him. I was entirely in his mercy, and I felt a gush of cold air where I was wet and ready and throbbing for him.
/>
“Casper…” I breathed his name in desperation. It was true, I was desperate for him. His fingers found me again, gently parting my slippery flesh so that he could slide both his fingers into me in a delicate but firm shove.
I squealed, and my hands gripped him tighter. Casper smiled.
“I love it when you scream,” he said, and slid out his fingers to thrust them in again, this time with more force. I was dripping wet. His fingers were covered with my juices, and I screamed again.
I had no other choice but to grab my own breasts. My nipples were yearning to be set free. They were hardened and pert, and I quickly undid the buttons and ribbon on my blouse, and it slid off me on to the floor.
“You are sexy as hell,” he said, more to himself than to me. And in an instant, Casper’s mouth was on my left breast, sucking and tugging at my nipple with his open mouth. He made a loud sucking sound as he continued to thrust his fingers into me. I squeezed my breast as he sucked on it, throwing my head back with pleasure. My body was shaking from how close I was to coming.
He knew it, too, because he increased his thrusting pace, pushing his fingers deep into me, stroking my clit with his thumb and edging me closer and closer till I knew I was going to fall over. When Casper Argent wanted me to come, I had no other choice but to come.
I gave in to him. I had no more strength left in me to fight him. With each of his fingers’ thrusts, I allowed my body to quiver and shake. The release made me scream louder and louder with every passing second, and I could see through my slitted eyes that Casper was smiling. He liked watching me come. He liked seeing me helpless and satisfied in his hands.
He thrust and thrust into me until my body’s shaking started to subside.
“I want you inside me,” I said hoarsely when he started pulling his fingers out. I hadn’t had enough. I would never have enough.
“Don’t worry, silly Lily, we’re only just getting started,” he said, and straightened me up.
***
Casper was unbuckling his pants as I stood before him completely naked, my clothes lying strewn all over the floor.
The scene reminded me of my first day here in this very office. He had commanded me to strip in this very way. He had bid me to do his wishes, and I had followed his command, going against my core nature. From the first time we met, Casper Argent had some sort of black-magic hold over me, and I was aware of it. As much as I knew this and tried to fight it, I couldn’t do anything about it.
My friends and family knew me as a hothead, a typical redhead, someone who never apologizes, who yells too loudly and fights till the end for what she believes in. And yet, as I watched this perfect embodiment of the male form strip in front of me, his honey smooth muscles glistening from sweat, his blond hair thrown back, damp from exertion, his eyes dark and focused on me, his biceps bulging… I lost all control. That wasn’t the Lily Fitz everyone else knew. Only Casper knew this Lily, and I was like clay in his hands, waiting to be molded.
I had just had an orgasm, but simply watching him undress in front of me, to see his enormous, throbbing cock hanging between his legs as he stood in front of me with his legs parted, made me even wetter. I could feel that familiar twitch in my belly that Casper Argent seemed to always cause. I took in a deep breath, preparing myself for what was about to come.
He was on a one-track mission, and neither of us were going anywhere until he had gotten his way.
“Get on your knees,” he commanded as he strode toward me. I could only focus on his cock and the way it was swinging from side to side as he approached me.
I knelt immediately, keeping my back straight and my eyes on him. What was he going to do to me? What was this hold that he had on me? I had come here to end it peacefully, and now I was naked with him again.
I knew I was fooling myself again, and I was making a mistake by accepting this job. I was going against everything I stood for by agreeing to work for him. He’d changed one business decision for me. He wasn’t going to do it again. And what about his womanizing ways? He’d admitted that he couldn’t change. That he wouldn’t change for anybody. Why was I fooling myself by working for him? By sleeping with him? The last thing I wanted was to be lured into being a corporate hack, a white-collar robot. And all for the body of a man who wasn’t even planning on being exclusive with me.
Casper had reached me now. His cock was level with my face, and I turned my eyes up at him.
In a sudden move, he grabbed my curls in his fist, and I gasped from the shock of it. He lowered himself slowly to the floor, craning my neck back. I bit down on my lip. Being made to obey someone had never felt this erotic.
“Are you going to do as I say this time, Lily?” he asked in a deep, throaty growl. I gulped and then nodded. He still had his hand in my hair, gently keeping my head in place.
“Spread your legs for me. Let me see what I’m going to possess,” he said. We were both on the floor, our faces inches apart.
I adjusted my body so that I could spread my legs now, my elbows folded on the floor and my head thrown back. I could feel the goose bumps covering my skin. The hairs on my nape were on end. I parted my legs wide, and Casper sat down in front of them, watching me, my body, and how my breasts bounced with every movement I made. He could see my wetness and how much I wanted him again so quickly.
A smile was forming on his face.
“Good,” he said, and he crawled toward me. I was nervous again. What was he going to make me do next? What was I subjecting myself to? How badly was I going to regret all this the next morning? Casper Argent was bad news. My mind felt like it was split down the middle with contradictory thoughts about him. I had no control over my body or mind anymore. Either way, I was a prisoner to his desires.
He had wedged himself between my thighs now, and I lay down flat on the carpeted floor. He pressed his body down over mine, his face hovering over me. He was studying me silently like he was looking deep down into my soul.
I was mystified, confused, aroused… everything at the same time.
“I want to make love to you, Lily. Take it slow and easy,” he said, and I nearly choked from surprise. What did he even mean by that?
I hadn’t replied, and I felt his hands on my body, feeling the curves of my hips, the flesh on my belly, up my torso, in between my breasts. Without warning, but slowly and very delicately this time, Casper slipped into me. His cock was so big, throbbing and hard, and he filled me up. My back arched to meet him, and I bit down on my lip.
But he wasn’t thrusting, he simply remained inside me, deep inside me where I needed to feel him. And then he began to pump quietly with his eyes open and staring into my face. Slowly but deliberately. He was going to make me come just like that with no fury. He was going to come, too, more simply than I had ever imagined sex with him. Some kind of peace had descended around us. I orgasmed, not surprisingly, just as he did. My lungs were bursting at the seams, and my toes curled as my nails dug into his flesh.
Six months later
Zoe was sitting in front of me with her legs crossed on the floor. I had a bunch of her hair in my hands that I was brushing with one hand and holding in place with the other. Zoe, the big reader, was reading a book silently in front of me, holding still.
“Your mommy’s going to pick you up from school tonight, okay? You’re staying with her. She doesn’t have a shift tonight,” I said, looping the hairband around her ponytail now. She had the same slick dark hair as her mother that shone the more I brushed it.
Zoe whipped around when I was done. “Oh? What are you doing tonight, Aunty Lily?” she asked, in her most grown up voice.
“I’m busy,” I said, a smile forming on the sides of my mouth.
“You have a date with Casper!” she accused me playfully, and I stood up. My new apartment was three times the size of my previous student one, and I still wasn’t used to it. There was too much room here now, and I was hoping that Marla and Zoe might move in with me soon. Marla kept ignor
ing the idea. She was convinced for some strange reason that she would be invading my privacy if they moved in. As though Zoe didn’t spend enough time with me already!
The truth was that I was still a little scared. Still a little afraid of where my relationship with Casper was going. I hoped that if Marla and Zoe moved in with me, I would be less tempted to move in with him. He had suggested it a few times, dropped a few hints, and when I kept ignoring them, he simply bought me this apartment on the pretext of company accommodation. So, I had to accept.
Zoe followed me around the house now as I started packing her lunch box.
“Aunty Lily! You have a date with Casper?” Zoe was excited.
I smiled at her and tipped my head in her direction.
Zoe and Casper had hit it off the moment they met, although I was still careful to make sure that they didn’t meet very often. He had met her two or maybe three times already and Marla only once. But he was always sure to bring presents and give her all the attention a young girl craves. The result was that Zoe couldn’t stop talking about him and was excited every time she sensed that I was going to see him.
The truth was that I was afraid of my feelings for Casper and the hold he had on me, which only grew stronger as time passed. I was afraid of him hurting me. I couldn’t admit how attached I was to him. I couldn’t bring myself to trust him. We were in a no-labels relationship, and even though he wanted me to move in with him, I was still holding back. I still wasn’t sure.
“Okay, we have to go now. I’ll be late for work, and you’ll miss your bus,” I said, picking up Zoe’s bag from next to the door. She came bounding toward me, and together we took the elevator down to the ground floor. I had my own car now, one of my many company perks.
“Did you and Casper save those trees yet?” Zoe asked, as we made our way to my shiny new car. I had told her about the forest in Nevada where Argent Energy was about to build a base. I was the consultant environmentalist on the project, trying to come up with a plan to best work on the contract and not destroy any of the natural habitat and cause minimal damage to the environment. I had been working on it for the past four months as my first major single-handed project.
