No Strings Attached

by Diana Nixon

  “Nothing. Just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “Not going to tell you.”

  “Uh, come on Scarlett! You know I hate charades!”

  “I will tell you when the right time comes.”

  I groaned, irritated. “Fine. I’d better go do something useful.”

  “Yeah, you’d better,” she said, watching me thoughtfully.

  “Stop it,” I said warningly. “I know what you are thinking. But I’m not going to give up that easily.”

  “Good luck, Baby. Good damned luck.”

  I rolled my eyes and went to see the person who was dying to be Mr. Devil’s new secretary.

  To my surprise, she turned out to be not just another young dreamer, praying for her first job to be as easy as a pie.

  “Hello, are you Mrs. Smith?” I asked the woman in her late forties, standing near my desk.

  She smiled pleasantly, saying, “Yes, that’s me. And you must be Jillian? Some lady from downstairs said you would show me around.”

  I felt a little sorry for the woman. She was obviously a good person, so I couldn’t even imagine her working side by side with my former boss.

  “Yes, I’ll be more than happy to help you. You can put your jacket in the closet over there,” I said, pointing to one of the wooden doors.

  “Do you think Mr. Altier would want to talk to me first before I start working for him?”

  “Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t give a da… I mean, he trusts the Human Resources manager’s opinion.”

  Oh, God, why would someone as nice as Mrs. Smith want to work for someone as impossible as Dominick?

  “Do you think he will be in the office today so I could at least introduce myself?” She asked, double-checking her outfit in the mirror’s reflection.

  “I hope so.”

  The woman looked a little nervous, and I wonder if she was ready to hear Dom barking at her every hour or so? He hated new people, especially if they didn’t do what he wanted them to do properly.

  “How did you hear about the opening?” I asked.

  “A friend of mine is working in one of your departments, so she called me when she heard about Mr. Altier looking for a new secretary, and I immediately sent my resume here.”

  “Where were you working before coming here?”

  “I have been staying at home for about two years. Couldn’t find anything well-paid and couldn’t afford to work for free; I have a sick husband at home to take care of.”

  “Oh… Then you have made the right decision.” I truly hoped my words would be true. The lady obviously wasn’t here for a piece of pie, but to work hard.

  “Okay, how about I show you everything here while Mr. Altier isn’t around?”

  “That would be great. Thank you.”

  A few hours later, I was more than happy to realize that my workday was over and that I could finally go home, no matter how much I hated the idea of going somewhere I would have to see Oliver again.

  Taking a deep breath, I sent him a message, “Do you need anything else apart from sugar and spices?” I swear he probably would laugh while reading it and probably reply with something dirty, but I also knew that I didn’t have the slightest desire to go shopping twice after forever and a half of working non-stop.

  “If I tell you, will you do it?” Said the reply.

  I was so tired, I didn’t even roll my eyes at the words. “Yes, unless you want me to lick that sugar and spices off of you.”

  “Damn, girl, do you know that you have just read my mind?”

  “Which means you don’t need anything else, right? And even if you do, you will have to go and buy it yourself!”

  God knew I was trying to be a good girl. Well, at least as much as it was possible, considering that I hardly knew how to be one.

  “Waiting for you at home, Baby,” a new message said.

  Ugh… I was going to kill him one day, probably today.

  After I was done shopping, I got into my car and when I was just about to drive home, my cell phone rang.

  “Jeremy? Why the fuck are you calling me again?”

  “We agreed to meet today, remember?”

  I looked at my watch. “I’m about to hit the sheets, so I don’t think it’s possible,” I lied.

  After a short pause, he said, “I miss you, Jillian.”

  And that was the last thing I had ever expected to hear from Jeremy.

  “No shit? Unfortunately, I don’t give a damn about what you feel.”

  “I mean it, Jill. I think about you all the time.”

  Oh, God, couldn’t he just shut up, wish me good night and back the hell off?

  “Sorry, Jer. You are about a year late to say you miss me. I’m seeing someone else.”

  “Oh… I didn’t know that.”

  “If that’s all you wanted to tell me, I’d better go home now. Someone is waiting for me there.” I said the words without thinking, but the moment I realized their meaning, I got even angrier at Jeremy and the damn fate that brought Oliver into my life. As if I didn’t have enough problems to deal with…

  “Bye, Jer. I really need to go.” I ended the call before he could say anything else. Knowing my ex-boyfriend, I swear he would call me at least ten more times by the end of the week.

  By the time I got home, I was as tired as ever. But all my worries and thoughts were forgotten the moment I saw Oliver, dancing in the middle of the kitchen, with a pan in his hands, wearing jeans and an apron over his naked chest…

  Wordlessly, I leaned against the doorframe and smiled, watching him. Why on earth were we so much alike? Why couldn’t he be just a random guy I met in the club and with whom I wanted to spend one night maximum? Why couldn’t I stop thinking about the things that had never crossed my mind before? What was so different about the man that I couldn’t take my eyes off of for even a second? He could hardly be my blessing, so I stopped at the thought that he was a curse. Yeah, a smoky hot and sexy curse. But then… I had only one life to live, so maybe I should send the damn worries and doubts to hell and just enjoy it?

  Chapter 5

  Oliver

  I knew Jillian was home the moment she closed the door behind her. I also knew she was watching me. After our interesting moment that morning, I thought I would start my being-all-nice-and-sweet day with making her dinner; I was sure she never expected that from me. But what I never expected from her, was the following…

  Dropping a bag of groceries on the table, she wordlessly headed for her room, dropping all of her clothes onto the floor, the whole way there, piece by piece...

  Holy shit…

  I felt my palm burning. Literary. It even started to smell a little.

  “Fuck!” I put the pan I was still holding in my hands back on the stove and shoved my hand under cold, running water from the sink. There was going to be a nasty burn there tomorrow. Right now, it just looked a little red and angry, but tomorrow it was going to be much worse. Great…

  Thinking no more than about two seconds about what to do next, I went to Jill’s room. She had gotten changed into another shirt that hardly covered anything, and I couldn’t help but say, “If your little show was some unspoken invitation, you could have stripped right in the kitchen and saved me the trip here.”

  “How was your day, Oliver?” She asked, ignoring my words.

  “Damn good, yours?”

  “The same. Actually, I was finally promoted, so how about we celebrate it?” She came closer, close enough that I could smell the scent of her perfume and see those dancing devils in her eyes.

  What exactly was she up to?

  “And how exactly do you suggest we celebrate it?” I asked carefully, barely able to form my words into an intelligible question. I got hard in all the right places, and the only scenario I could see in my mind, was congratulating her in the most exciting way I could come up with at the moment, by spreading her over the bed and giving her obviously exactly what she wanted, judging by her litt
le display on her way to her bedroom; one simply does not strip in front of a man that she doesn’t want to get down and dirty with.

  She took one more step closer and wrapped the strings of my apron around her finger. “I’m starving,” she said in the most seducing voice ever. “How about you feed me?”

  Her eyes locked with mine, and I could swear she wanted nothing more than to have me fucking her senseless right now. Her cherry lips were parted, her cheeks flushed and there was no way I would let her leave the damn room without a kiss at the very least.

  Sliding my palms down her naked legs, I quickly lifted her up and wrapped them around my waist, pinning her body between the closed door and my torso.

  “I told you teasing me would do you no good.”

  Then my lips crushed on hers, and just like that, the battle that hadn’t even started yet, was lost. I was lost too, but I hardly cared about anything else, except savouring every inch of the lips that I had been dying to kiss for… I don’t even know for how long. Right now, if felt like forever.

  To my surprise, Jillian’s response to my moves was anything but cold. In fact, it made the pain in my pants simply impossible to stand. The girl obviously knew how to kiss, sliding her tongue in between my lips and sucking them painfully slowly and teasingly. With her hands wrapped around my neck, she broke the kiss and looked at me with so much fire in her eyes, I had never expected anything like that from her. Who the hell was I trying to fool hoping I would be able to be a good guy around her? Screw me dead, I wanted her like crazy.

  “I don’t want our dinner to get cold,” she said.

  “I’ll make sure it stays hot all the time we need to finish this.” God, she was getting me going. I already knew that she was wearing a thong, and I couldn’t wait until I would actually be able to touch what was hidden beneath the soft fabric.

  “A deal is a deal,” she said, smiling slightly.

  I didn’t immediately realize what she was talking about.

  “You promised to be a nice guy, remember?” She asked, tilting her head at me.

  “Does being a nice guy also mean keeping my hands, lips, and the rest of my body off of you?”

  Her smile widened. “Actually, yes.”

  “Which means I have already broken all of the damn rules.”

  “You still have a chance to mend your ways.”

  Slowly, I put her down, keeping my hands wrapped tight around her small waist.

  “You are not going to help me, are you?”

  She shook her head with that devilish look in her eyes that I already loved so much.

  I bent down and whispered into her ear, “Then I can’t promise you anything. Unless, you want to re-write the rules of our deal.”

  “First, I want to taste whatever you have made for dinner.”

  I smirked. “What if it’s the most delicious meal you have ever tasted?”

  Her eyes slipped down my apron. “Then I might consider changing the rules,” she said, turning to the door.

  With my hands on her hips, I said in a whisper, “Then, I will make you forget about all the rules and trust me, I can be really good at making a woman lose her mind.”

  “We will see.”

  “Mmm… Smells like heaven,” Jill said, opening the cover of the pan. “What do you call it?”

  I could hardly think about food, seeing her stand on the tips of her toes, with the damn shirt showing the best part of her hips that my palms still remembered sliding up and down.

  “Um, A Delight,” I finally said, taking the plates.

  “Sounds good.” She smiled and went to set the table. “What did you need sugar and spices for?”

  “I thought we already talked about that.”

  “No dirty licking until I check out your culinary skills.”

  “Until? Damn, sounds fucking promising.”

  She turned away from me quickly, but I still managed to notice that mischievous grin that was lightening her face.

  “So tell me, what did you do to make my brother promote you?”

  “Nothing that your naughty mind might have thought of. I simply did my job well, and worked hard.”

  “I know it’s almost impossible to gain the Devil’s blessing, so I guess you were damn good at whatever you were doing.”

  “He’s not that bad, you know?”

  I laughed. “Well, of course, not! Especially, after he promoted you. Hey, is there anything I can do to make this lovely shirt of yours raise at least a little higher?”

  “Can you think about anything other than getting into my panties?”

  “Nope.”

  “So I thought. Tu es une cause perdue, Olivier — You are a lost cause, Oliver.”

  “Merci du peu! Je ne savais pas que tu parlais Français — I didn’t know you could speak French!”

  She leaned against the table, crossing her arms. “You don’t know a lot about me.”

  I took a step closer, placing my hands on both sides on her hips. “I’m dying to know more.”

  “Oh, I’ll just bet you are.”

  Our faces were inches apart, and I didn’t even know how I managed to not kiss her again, especially with the memories I now had of her lips touching mine just a few moments ago, I was sure I would never forget.

  I kissed many girls, but hardly any of them could turn me on in the blink of an eye. But with Jillian, everything was different. I felt like a cat, playing with a mouse that was smart enough not to get too close to me. Well, maybe not always.

  I inhaled deeply and forced my body to walk back to the stove to finish making the sauce.

  “Who taught you how to cook?” She asked. I could feel her eyes watching me closely. I didn’t know how far we would go with our games, but I couldn’t wait to find out.

  “My grandma. She was the only person who never judged me, no matter what others thought about me.”

  “You said was?”

  “Yeah, she passed away a few years ago.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t know that.”

  “It’s okay. None of us is immortal.”

  “Is that why you do your best to get all the pleasures that life can offer you?”

  I turned around and saw her smiling at me. God, that smile, oh, I loved that smile, she was so beautiful; sexy as hell, and so fucking sweet. I could almost taste her skin at the back of my mouth, like you do when you have a craving for a specific food, you’re so hungry for that specific food that you can actually taste it; well that’s what I was having, a craving for Jill’s skin, I wanted to taste her again, I wanted her body close to mine.

  “You are damn good at reading between the lines,” I said.

  “That is the only way to survive swimming in the same waters with a shark like you.”

  I laughed under my breath. “I don’t even know who is more dangerous between the two of us.”

  “Good question.”

  Again, I couldn’t help but admit how much I liked our little teasing conversations.

  “Okay, I think I’m ready to get to stage two,” I said. “Give me your plate.”

  She took one of the plates and came over to stand next to me.

  “What was stage one?”

  “Your lips,” I said, leaning closer to her face.

  “Meat, wine and spices. Delightful,” she said, ignoring my response.

  “Wait until you taste it.” I put a few pieces of meat on the plate and added the sauce and spaghetti. “Now, close your eyes.”

  She frowned. “What for?”

  “To feel the delight of course.”

  Wordlessly, she complied, and for a second, I couldn’t think about anything but how much I wanted to taste every inch of her. An idea came to my mind. Dipping a small piece of meat in the sauce, I put it in between my lips and leaned closer to Jillian’s. The moment the sauce touched her lips, her eyes flew open, and she froze, finally realizing that was going on. She hesitated only a second, before she took a bite, and smiled, saying, “Sweet and spicy
.”

  I grinned, self-satisfied. “I told you, you would love it. Wait until you see my other talents.”

  “Unlike cooking, I don’t doubt the rest of them.”

  I laughed. “I knew today was not the first day that you wanted to play with me.”

  “I’m not going to play with you, Oliver.”

  “Oh? Then what shall we call it?”

  “A friendly agreement?”

  I grimaced. “Sounds so damn boring. Unless we are talking about a friendship with benefits?”

  “Depends on what you mean by that.”

  “We both know what I mean, don’t we?”

  “Hmm… Not sure. Can you be more specific?”

  “Daring the devil?” I smirked.

  “I’m not afraid of him.”

  No, really?

  I put down the plate with a clink on the counter, took off the apron and came to Jill, who obviously didn’t expect me to do whatever I had on my mind. Lifting her up a little, I settled her in a high bar chair, and stood in between her open legs.

  She looked up at me, obviously taken aback by the intimacy of our bodies touching.

  “Now, let me make myself clear, Darling,” I said, leaning closer to her lips. “Rule one: if we play, we play fair, with no half-stops or cold showers.”

  “But-”

  I put one finger on her lips, saying, “Rule two: if you tease me, be ready to pay the price. I told you playing with me wouldn’t do you any good. But damn, I love playing with you. So yes, if you think you’re gonna strip in front of me and I will still sit pretending to be watching TV or cooking, you are so wrong about me. You were right, I take everything that this life gives me, including things I like most.” I stopped only for a moment to slip my palm up her hip and all the way to where I could touch the silk of her thong. “Rule three: if I make you come, it doesn’t mean I’m gonna marry you in the morning.”

  “Do I have a right to correct your rules?”

  “Sure.”

  “If you make me come, it doesn’t mean I become your property.”

  “No strings attached?”

  “No guilt involved.”

  I smiled. “Works perfectly for me.”