I close my laptop and decide to focus on other, more pressing issues.
Like Lara Caliper.
She's left a voice mail on my phone that I'm not sure I want to listen to.
I pull it up anyway and spin in my chair, so that I'm facing my window and the view of the financial district. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge rests in the distance, stretching out across the water like it's desperately reaching for the other side.
“Lex, it's Lara Caliper. I realize that the proposition I laid out for you on Monday was a big one. It wasn't my intention for it to come across as a threat. I'd like to know if you're available for dinner tonight, so we can discuss this further. Please, give me a call and I'll have my secretary set something up.” I sigh and put my cell down on my desk, rising to my feet as Claudia's voice comes in over the intercom.
“Mr. Lyndon, Olivia Ashcraft from acquisitions is here to see you.”
“Let her in,” I growl, forcing myself to run my hands down my shirt and collect myself in the few moments it takes that idiot, Claudia, to process the information. She opens the door and steps aside, allowing Olivia to enter with a black coat draped over one arm and a sardonic smile plastered across her lips.
My cock doesn't waste any time standing at attention, the hot folds of Olivia's wetness still a very recent memory. I'm practically salivating at the thought.
“You forgot this at my place on Friday,” she tells me, moving across the carpet effortlessly in her black suede heels. Olivia tries to hand my coat to me, dropping it on the desk when I neglect to reach out and take it. “Okay. Fine. Start the morning off with an attitude problem.”
“Me?” I growl at her, moving around the desk and watching as her pulse jumps in response. I imagine that whatever plain cotton panties she has on underneath those slacks are already soaking wet, the perfect match to my rigid cock. I wish I could set her on the edge of this desk and slide in, feel her ridges caressing my bare skin. I shiver and force my hands up to straighten out my hot pink tie. I've never worn this one before, too concerned about what people in the office might say about the color – people including my father and grandfather. Today, I decided it might draw Olivia's attention. It does.
“Nice tie,” she mumbles before I shake my head and take another step closer to her. Her emerald eyes find mine and stay there. Just the sight of those long, dark lashes against her forehead has me sweating. It's as if, by having sex with her, I've become addicted. I run my tongue across my lower lip.
“You're the one that started this morning off on the wrong foot.”
Olivia raises her eyebrows at me and tilts her head to the side.
“Oookay,” she drawls with a dramatic sigh. “And what, exactly, is it that I've done now?” I move up closer to her and she lets me, allowing our conversation to continue with little personal space remaining between us. I can feel the heat of her body from here.
“You ran out on me yesterday, without giving me a solid answer, and then you show up this morning and blatantly disregard everything that's happened between us.”
“Oh my God, Lex,” Olivia says, reaching up her hands and grabbing onto the lapels of my suit jacket. “Do you hear yourself when you speak?” I let her hold me there as she leans forward on her heels and looks up into my face. “Lex, you sound like a crazy person.” Olivia lets go and drops back down, the shoes she's wearing today lifting her up enough that eye contact is just that much easier between us. “If I didn't know any better, I'd say you actually liked me.” She chokes out the word like it's toxic. “And since I do know better, I'd just say you were a brat. A big, muscular, rude, arrogant, cocky brat.”
“With a – as you so lovingly phrased it – massive dick.” I smirk as Olivia rolls her eyes and throws up her hands.
“There's an elephant in the office, clearly, so let's just get it out there. You and I had sex. Okay? Does that make you feel better? I acknowledge that it happened. Is that good enough?”
“Say yes to the symphony next weekend and it will be.”
“Fine,” Olivia says, surprising me. I expected a much bigger argument from her. I watch as her lips twitch into a mischievous grin. “But first, you're going to join me this Friday for a little get-together.” The play of emotions on her face tells me that she's got something up her sleeve. Surely, I didn't just garner a massive victory for nothing. Not with this woman. “My brother, Craig, is having a commitment ceremony dinner celebration to get ready for his upcoming wedding.” Olivia reaches down to the desk and unfolds my coat, drawing a black T-shirt from inside the folds of wool. She glances over at me with a shark-like grin tearing across her face. “My brother has five bisexual lovers who are all into each other, like some kind of communal dating wheel/group family kind of thing. You are going to come to this dinner and,” Olivia unfolds the T-shirt and presents it to me, “you are going to wear this. If you can manage that, I will absolutely go to the symphony for your little corporate soiree.”
I reach out and take the cotton fabric between my fingers.
This is What a Feminist Looks Like.
Those are the words printed across the fabric in bold, white letters – unmistakably relaying their message. I feel my own lips twist into a grin. If Olivia thinks this is going to deter me from pursuing her, she's got another thing coming. I will get that contract signed. Either that, or I will somehow convince her to explore certain avenues in the bedroom for free, if that's what she really wants. Until I'm satisfied, I refuse to let Olivia Ashcraft go.
“Wonderful,” I say and her red brow quirks up. “Now I don't have to piddle around my closet trying to decide what to wear.” I look up at her and see the frustration shimmering in her green eyes. “And besides, I really would like to consider myself a feminist.”
“Hah!” Olivia chortles, throwing her head back and then dipping her chin to her chest with a chuckle. “You? You're the most misogynistic piece of crap I've ever met.”
“Please,” I retort, tossing the T-shirt back onto the desk. “I'm under no delusions that women are less than men. If, by any chance, you've somehow gotten that into your head based on my actions, just remember that I act like that with everyone I come in contact with – male and female alike.”
“I see. So everyone is beneath you then? You are not sexist, just an equal opportunity hater, huh?” Olivia pokes me in the center of my chest and then flattens her hand out, splaying her fingers across my pecs with a slight grimace. “With a nice body.”
“Now who's being sexist?” I ask, reaching up to take her hand. She draws it away before I get the chance and takes a couple of steps back, towards the office doors.
“Oh, and by the way, my personal confidante has assured me that she was not the whisper in Lara Caliper's ear. You might want to check your sources, Lex. Or at the very least, try to remember if you left that contract lying around somewhere. If there's a leak in your life, I highly recommend that you find it,” Olivia opens the door and pauses to glance over her shoulder, “and plug it.”
She disappears before I get a chance to respond, leaving me alone with that thought. Of course her confidante must be that blonde girl from accounting. It would make sense, too, considering the timing of the leak with Olivia's interview at Oceanstar, an interview she only got via a referral since nobody at my company was called as reference.
I could ruin the girl, or at the very least fire her, but that wouldn't gain me any points in Olivia's court. Besides, what if she is telling the truth? I could very well be creating an enemy where there is none, an enemy that presumably knows everything Olivia knows. That is, if that snippet of their phone conversation was anything to go by. It seems Olivia's not shy when it comes to sharing the details of our time in the bedroom. Or the parking garage. There are rumors circulating around the office that two people were heard fucking in the backseat of a car, but nobody saw a thing – especially not the security guard who monitors the footage for that area. I paid him to forget.
I lean on t
he edge of my desk and touch my fingers to the shirt that Olivia brought me. Her sudden change of heart is strange, but I can sense an ulterior motive. My guess? She doesn't expect me to last at this gathering of hers, doesn't expect that I'll be able to follow orders in front of others, but she's wrong. I will wear the T-shirt, and I'll go. I'll even make sure that on the outside at least, I enjoy myself at this party.
I glance over my shoulder and look out the window at the Bay Bridge again, spanning the length of San Francisco Bay. Hmm. I decide it doesn't matter what Olivia's motive is. She knows mine and she's still willing to go along with all of this, so I let it go. Unless she's actually falling for me? I cross my legs at the ankles and close my eyes. That wouldn't be so bad, I suppose. I've had women profess their love for me before, but not a single one of them had spent all that much time with me. Either they wanted my money or they were interested in having snagged one of the World's Ten Most Eligible Billionaire Bachelors, according to Forbes. I make a good potential husband candidate for heiresses and socialites, movie stars, and even CEOs like Lara Caliper.
I growl under my breath and run my hand over my face.
I have to deal with her – and soon. My father and grandfather have their hands all over that family, in one way or another, and there's a chance, however slim, that Lara could divulge my secret to them. If she does, I could lose my spot as CEO. A media storm would ensue and Olivia would hardly escape unscathed. I don't think she'd enjoy the spotlight much. Sometimes it feels so hot it could burn.
I tap my fingers on my desk and then reach over to grab my cell.
Lara's offer is still quite impressive. If I let the business side of me analyze it, I feel like I have to accept. She's offering to do what I asked Olivia to do, but for a price that could only pad the pockets of the Lyndon family and grow our company to epic proportions. I'd have the wife that everyone so desperately thinks I need, could have some children, and Lara is hardly an ugly woman. In fact, she's quite beautiful. I think about her sitting down in my office chair, letting her skirt ride up, so I could catch a glimpse of her thigh highs and garter belt.
If I was a smart businessman, I'd call Lara and say yes to her proposal. We'd come up with some sappily sweet romantic dinner plan wherein I'd purchase an expensive diamond ring and pretend to be in love with her, popping the question in front of a restaurant full of San Francisco's elite. I'd say good bye to Olivia, cancel our trip to the symphony, give her back the T-shirt she was so sure would offend me. I'd go home and toss those dirty panties of hers in the trash, and I most certainly would never masturbate with them again.
It all sounds … miserable to me at the moment. By the very nature of her proposition, Lara Caliper is not the same type of woman that Olivia Ashcraft is. And I know all about her family – they're exactly the same as mine. The only difference is that the preening vultures in charge of the Caliper family fortune are women. Otherwise, they might as well be clones of my father and grandfather. I think of Olivia's family, of her lesbian mothers, her tattooed brother, her blonde friend in the accounting department. Much more interesting, like a reflection of Olivia as a person.
I tap my cell against my leg as I try to sort out everything that's going on in my life.
I give up after a while, not yet ready to make any sort of life decisions, and sit down at my desk to attempt some actual work. By the time I realize what I'm doing – drowning myself in numbers to keep the real thoughts at bay – I glance at the clock on my computer and find out that it's lunchtime. Most days, I have Claudia order me in something, and then I don't eat it. I just let it sit there while I sort through emails and make phone calls that feel like they can't wait. Today, I get up and force myself out of my office and down the hall, just in time to see Olivia disappearing behind the elevator doors.
I decide not to follow her. Why should I? I've already gotten what I wanted and, it looks like, will continue to do so. There's no point in chasing after her anymore, at least not right now. So I head back to my office and work until it's dark out. I don't do my usual tour of the office, don't even bother to check on my employees. I just focus on what has to be done until the day's long since been over, and I walk out to find that everyone has gone home.
Including Olivia.
Interesting.
I feel my lips twitch.
I guess we'll have to see how tomorrow plays out.
Thursday and Friday play out exactly the same way as Wednesday – minus one important detail. Olivia doesn't come to see me in my office even once. I watch her come in every morning, see her leave for lunch, lean against my open office door in the evening. She doesn't look at me, doesn't call me, doesn't even glance my way. It's as if we've retreated two weeks into the past, before I even knew her name, like we're nothing to one another. It's bothering me more than I'd like to admit.
At the end of the second day, however, I decide to catch her before she escapes into the elevators. Most of the office is gone – everyone but Claudia having packed up and disappeared for the weekend – so I don't bother to hide my eagerness to speak with her. Not that I would, anyway. I don't care what my employees think of me and Olivia. Their opinions are irrelevant.
“Olivia.” She pauses at the elevator doors and turns to me with a questioning look on her face.
“Yes, Mr. Lyndon?”
I grit my teeth.
“Mr. Lyndon?”
“Um, yes,” Olivia says, and I can see she's taking great pleasure in this moment. “When we first met, you got mad at me for calling you anything but. Now it's the opposite?”
“Back then, I hadn't had my naked cock inside your wet pussy. Things were different.” Olivia cringes and glances around me, presumably at Claudia. I could care less what that woman is doing.
“Lex, goddamn it.” Olivia sighs and rolls her eyes to the ceiling. “Do you want to come to my brother's thing with me or not?”
I lift up the bundle of black fabric in my hand – the T-shirt.
“Since you haven't even elected to say hello to me in days, I wasn't sure I was still invited.” Olivia sighs again and grabs my hand, sending a thrill through my body that ends up straight at my cock. She drags me onto the elevator and waits for the doors to close. Her hair is loose and wavy today, hanging to her shoulders, accenting those bright green eyes. The purple skirt suit she's wearing must be new because I've never seen it before. I would've remembered it if I had. The jacket seems to pull tightly across Olivia's breast, and the skirt seems much shorter than normal, highlighting the bronze sheen of the panty hose she's wearing underneath. Or maybe that's just my mind playing tricks on me. I blink a few times and realize that Olivia's skirt, at least, is all the way down to her knees. Apparently I'm having delusional daytime fantasies about this woman. I'm not sure how to interpret that. “Why are you ignoring me?” I ask, feeling anger swirl around my body. I don't like being ignored.
“I'm not ignoring you, Lex. I'm trying to maintain a professional working relationship.” Olivia lets go of my hand and takes a step back. The fact that we're crammed together in an elevator doesn't escape either of our attentions. Olivia wets her lips. “Just because we had sex one time – ”
“Five times,” I correct, counting her orgasms up in my head. I consider each one a separate event. Olivia grits her teeth in frustration and clutches her purse strap with white fingers.
“Whatever. Just because we did it doesn't mean I'm suddenly going to go sprinting into your office every morning for another round. I'm not sure what you thought was happening between us, Lex, but it's not that. Besides, if word gets around the office that we slept together, people will start acting like whiney little douche bags, saying I'm getting unfair advantages or something. Lex, I've worked hard in my life to get where I am. I won't have anyone demeaning me because I'm a woman who fucked her boss.” She cringes when she says this. “I mean, I'd hope that stereotypical bullshit wouldn't happen, but you never know.” Olivia crosses her arms over her chest with a sigh. Under
her purple suit jacket, she's wearing a white button up that hides her cleavage from sight, so even though the motion presses her breasts together, there's nothing for me to see. It makes me that much more excited for it.
“Interesting explanation.” I lean in close and smell her perfume; it's clouding up the elevator and scrambling my brain. “But you're always welcome to stop by my place. After all, we're practically neighbors.” Olivia ignores me, pulling her phone from her pocket and checking her messages. She gives an unladylike snort that turns my dick to stone. The quickie we shared in my dining room didn't even come close to satisfying my desire to be naked and bare inside of Olivia. Hopefully, after her brother's event, she'll come home with me again.
“Just a second, Lex,” Olivia tells me, making a phone call and crossing one arm over her belly while she waits for whoever's on the end of the line to answer. “Craig? I just got your message. Yes, I'm on my way. Well, okay, not on-my-way, on-my-way, but I'm taking the elevator down from the office.” Olivia pauses as I sigh and cross my arms over my chest, leaning against the back of the elevator. “You want me to buy what?” She wrinkles her nose and makes an odd facial expression. “Craig, if I go into the store and I ask for this, will I get looks?” Another pause. “Not at Whole Foods?” she snorts again. “It's pronounced gooey duck? But it's spelled g-e-o-d-u-c-k. It's a clam that looks like a penis?”
I raise my eyebrows and give Olivia a look that she returns with crinkled lips and an amused expression that makes me want to kiss her.
I freeze.
Whatever it is I'm feeling right now towards Olivia, it's not of an entirely sexual nature. I push off the wall and step out of the elevator ahead of her, shaking my heads out and forcing myself to take a breath.
Taming Her Boss Page 20
