by Skye Warren
She turns bright red. “No, I’m probably too heavy. You’ll--oh, okay.” she says quickly as I put my other arm behind her knees and sweep her easily off her feet, holding her under the arms and knees as I carry her up the stairs. “You’re pretty strong,” she says.
“I don’t know. I think that door would rather fight me than you. That was some kick.”
“Shut up,” she says, smiling.
“Is that how you talk to your boss?” I ask.
“With all due respect, if I miss that Christmas Eve party, I might say a lot worse.”
“As long as you’re ready to suffer the consequences.” And damn, would I love to discipline her.
She gives me a strange look as I set her down inside the doorway that leads to the roof. It’s cold as hell up here, but at least she has a place to sit where the snow won’t fall on her. I grab a handful of snow outside and come back to her, packing it tightly around her ankle. She winces as I work the snow around her injury, but her eyes dart up to mine several times, lingering a little too long. Stop, Adam. She’s an employee. The last thing you need to do is fuck an employee and start mixing personal feelings with business.
“What’s all over your hand?” I ask.
She holds up her small hand that’s smeared black. “Charcoal,” she says sadly. “It was supposed to look like Santa came into our office from the roof. You know, like he had soot on his hands from coming down the chimney.”
“There’s no chimney here,” I say.
“That doesn’t...ugh. Never mind. You obviously have no holiday spirit.”
I shrug. “My family was never big on holidays.”
She leans back, grimacing as she settles her ankle somewhere comfortable. “See, my family was a mess all year except during the holidays. My dad was a big drinker and my mom gambled. But they both liked the holidays enough to stop for a day and just spend time with us.”
“So you decorate the office like a maniac every year?”
She frowns, folding her arms tight and starting to shiver. “I wouldn’t say maniac…”
I laugh, grabbing my suit jacket from where I left it at the top of the stairs and kneeling to drape it over her. “Sorry. Would fanatic be a better word?”
Her lips twitch in the hint of a smile. “I don’t think either of those are very flattering terms.”
“You want me to flatter you?” I ask.
Her cheeks stain with red. “I didn’t say that.”
“Ah, then you don’t want me to.”
“I didn’t say that either.”
Chapter 5
Ally
My leg throbs with pain, and despite his coat--which smells absolutely amazing, like pine trees in November--I’m freezing. Still, the view is beautiful. New York lights the night around us, skyscrapers towering all around us and twinkling. Cars crawl around the streets in the distance, filled with people who are probably listening to Christmas classics and wearing warm, knitted caps and sweaters, heading to spend time with the people they love. The thought warms me, even if it’s just a little.
Adam hasn’t stopped pacing. He’s like a caged beast at the zoo, unaccustomed to being confined and ready to burst with potential energy. “You didn’t bring your phone up here?”
He shakes his head. “It’s charging in my office. You?”
“I dropped it in my office when I went back to grab the charcoal. I assume you checked for another way down?”
“Yeah. There are three other staircases like this, but they are all locked too.”
“So we’re really stuck up here. You’re sure you don’t bite?” I ask.
He smirks. “When the moon is out, I can’t make any promises.”
I roll my eyes. “Har har,” I say sarcastically. “Mr. Wolfe bites when the moon is full, I get it.”
“Bad joke?”
“Terrible.”
“Blame my father. His idea of a good joke was the kind that made him laugh and the rest of us wish we weren’t related.”
“Sounds like my dad, when he was sober, at least.”
“It was that bad?” asks Adam.
I shrug. “He wasn’t a violent drunk, or anything. He just checked out, I guess. The part that bothered me most about it was that it seemed like he was drinking to take a break from his life, from my mom and I.”
“What was he like during the holidays?”
“Good. Great, really. He would always come up with these crazy games for us to play, creative stuff, like he’d hide one of my stuffed animals and leave clues for my mom and me to follow if we wanted to find it.” The memory makes me smile.
“What about now? Does he still drink?”
My expression sours and I suddenly feel the cold more acutely. I hug the jacket tighter to myself. “Probably. I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him in years. He told me college would be paid for because he and my mom had been putting money away for college since I was little. I had a school picked out and a roommate for my dorm. Before the first semester even started they let me know that my balance was overdue and I wouldn’t be allowed to start unless tuition and fees were paid. It turned out he had been using my college fund as his personal booze fund. My mom couldn’t even be pissed at him because she was using it too for gambling money.”
Adam nods slowly. “What did you do?”
“I watched from a distance as their marriage fell apart because the money ran out. I worked my ass off and paid for college myself. It took a little longer, but here I am. I’m successful, happy, and I don’t need them for any of it.”
He purses his lips. “So you like your job here?”
“I love it. And the people I work with.”
A strange look passes over his face and he stands. “Well, I’m going to see if I can yell down to the street to get anyone’s attention. Maybe we can get someone to call the police and get us out of here. Being trapped up here with me probably wasn’t how you wanted to spend your holidays.”
I watch him walk away, trying to figure out why I don’t exactly want someone to come rescue us. Not right away, at least. Getting to see the more human side of Mr. Wolfe hasn’t made him any less intimidating or gorgeous, but it is doing some really bad things with my imagination. I mean, if it gets too cold up here, we might have to huddle together for warmth. I think I even saw on a movie once that the best way for two people to warm each other is skin to skin. We’d have to strip down and lie tangled in each other's arms. How terrible…
Chapter 6
Adam
“Hey! Asshole! Up here!” Like the last fifty people who have walked by, he either pretends not to hear me or he doesn’t hear me.
“You think they are going to want to help us if you call them assholes?” asks Ally from the doorway a few feet behind me.
I sigh. “I’m not used to asking for help. What do you suggest?”
“I don’t know, throw some money at them? What makes you think I know?”
I glare at her. “You seemed to be full of ideas back there. Look. I know you think I’m just a hard-ass and that I’d like nothing more than to stay at the office straight through the holidays, but I have—” My lip twitches and I stand irritably, suddenly not wanting to talk about it.
“You have what?” she asks, shifting her weight and sitting straighter.
“Someone waiting for me. And I have no way to get in touch with them, so I want out of here just as badly as you.”
Her face falls slightly. “Right. Well, I can try crawling out there and yelling insults at the people down there with you if you want.”
“No. I don’t want you crawling through the snow. You’ll freeze.”
She nods her head, pulling my jacket tighter around herself, but I see her jaw quivering with shivers. I know it’s a bad idea but I need to help her stay warm or she’s going to freeze. I sit beside her. “Come on, sit beside me before you freeze to death.”
She looks me up and down, like I’m a wild animal that might strike at any moment.
“I already told you. You don’t need to be afraid of me.” Except when I gut this place and take away the job you love and the people you love working with. This is exactly why I shouldn’t be letting myself get involved on a personal level. I had no qualms about what I was going to do to this business, until now. It’s not that I need the money anymore, but it isn’t about money. It’s about doing what I’m good at, and it’s not in my nature to let an opportunity for success pass by.
She scoots a little closer and I feel the softness of her leg against me. I put my arm around her and hug her to me.
“Jesus. Your skin is so warm.”
“I’ve always run a little hotter than average. It’s great in the winter but I’m miserable in hot weather.”
“Well, you’re a handy guy to have around when a girl is freezing.”
Her hand hesitantly presses against my chest, squeezing briefly and then pulling away. I take my hand and press hers to me. “Your skin is like ice. Why didn’t you say something?”
She shrugs. “You’re not the only one who doesn’t like asking for help.”
I laugh. “If I was about to freeze to death I’d probably say something.”
For a while she sits beside me in silence, eventually resting her head on my shoulder and squeezing tight against me. It feels good, really good. Women always try to tie me down and get my time, but work has always come first. I can’t remember the last time I just sat and held someone like this. It must have been before Lana and I broke things off. Damn. How long has that been now? Six years?
“You said you have someone,” Ally asks finally. “Who is she?”
“He, actually. My son, Gage.”
She pulls back a little. “You’re married? I never saw a rin—oh. Divorced obviously.” She claps a hand to her mouth. “God. I’m sorry. I’m being about as sensitive as a rhino.”
“I didn’t realize rhinos were insensitive,” I say, smirking. “It’s fine though. It was a long time ago. I actually haven’t even seen her for years.”
“She doesn’t see your son?” asks Ally.
“No. She took the breakup really badly. I caught her cheating with some climbing instructor in Argentina and, well...she decided life would be simpler if she took a chunk of my money and stayed there.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m just glad I found out. Anyway, I have a babysitter with him and she knows to stay the night if I don’t come home. Gage was just really looking forward to opening one of his Christmas presents a day early. It’s a little bit of a ritual of ours.”
Ally smiles, her face lighting up at the mention of Christmas. She really does love the holidays. “We always went to the manger service at church, but my mom and I spent the whole time dripping hot candle wax on our hands and letting the wax dry into gloves.”
“That’s...unique.”
She squirms her lips to the side in an adorable way that makes me think about kissing her. Why am I letting myself get so distracted by this girl? I should just be letting her keep warm and making a mental checklist of the things I need to handle first thing tomorrow.
She jumps against me when we hear a loud bang from the bottom of the staircase. “Someone’s in the office!” She whispers excitedly.
I stand, lifting her with me as I do and carrying her down the stairs. She huddles in my arms, still hugging my jacket when we reach the bottom of the staircase. “Can you stand?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” she says.
I gently set her down in front of the door, losing my footing a little as I do. I slip forward, my body pressing against hers. I can feel the soft mounds of her tits pressing into my stomach. Her hands reach out to brace against my hips. A little bend of the neck and her lips could be against mine.
Chapter 7
Ally
I bite my lip, feeling his hard body beneath his slacks and dress shirt, unable to pull my hands away from him. He doesn’t move either, his body still pressed into mine in a way that’s making me forget about the throb in my ankle.
Another noise from inside the office breaks the spell. He pulls back, putting his face close to the window and banging against the door. “Hey! Let us out!”
Or don’t. You could just come back in the morning, after we’ve had to resort to the whole naked bodies thing...
The janitor looks up and walks over to let us in. The door opens and he gives us a strange look.
“What were you two doing out there? It’s freezing?”
“No shit,” says Adam. “I’m going to give you a big fucking bonus. What’s your name?”
The janitor raises his eyebrows. “Curt. Curt Lowe…”
Adam claps him on the back. “I’ll wire it to your bank account, Curt.”
The janitor watches in astonishment as Adam and I grab our things from our offices and meet back by the exit.
“Come on, I’ll help you to your car.”
“It’s okay, I can manage on my own,” I say. I wish I could take the words back as soon as they leave my mouth, because the truth is I would love to have one last excuse to put my hands on him and have his hands on me.
“I won’t take no for an answer,” he says firmly.
I lick my lips. “Okay then…”
When we reach my car he positions himself between me and the door before letting me in. “Gage is always complaining that I never bring anyone to the house. What do you say you come by tonight and spend Christmas Eve with us? You can watch him open his present.”
“I couldn’t impose like that. Thank you, but really, everyone from the office will be worried about me too. I should really just try to get to the party before it’s over.”
“Come to my house, meet my son, and then we can go to the party afterwards if you still want to. I’ll have the babysitter watch the house while he sleeps.”
I can’t fully explain my hesitation. I don’t have a boyfriend, I don’t have any real obligation to be at the party, but I still feel afraid of him. I’m not worried that he will try to murder me or something, I’m just scared that a man as powerful and dominating as him will suck me in and spit me out, leaving me powerless to control my fate. There’s so much command in his eyes that he could tell me to strip off my clothes right now and I don’t know if I’d flat out refuse. Then again, that might have more to do with how drop-dead gorgeous he is.
“Okay,” I say finally. “I’ll go with you.” What am I doing?
“Good. We’ll take my car.”
His car is some kind of exotic high-performance vehicle. It’s low to the ground, sleek, and the seats automatically adjust when I get inside to give me the right amount of legroom. I raise my eyebrows.
“I took you for a luxury car kind of guy,” I say as he starts the engine. It roars so loud that the whole parking garage must shake.
“I guess you could say I have a wild side,” he says, smirking.
I’m a little sorry that he’s not able to show me what the car can do because the streets are so crammed with people going to Christmas parties and trying to reach family members before tomorrow morning. I look over at him as we wait for a red light. The scarlet glow of the light gives an ominous cast to his features that makes me uncomfortable and excited at the same time. Something about him thrills me in a way I’ve never been excited by before in a man, and it’s not just how gorgeous he is.
He has a hint of something behind his eyes and in the way he commands a room, a promise, a promise that sex with him would not just be sex. It wouldn’t be sleeping together. If I went to bed with him, he would fuck me. He’d make my toes curl with a whisper. He’d touch me in ways I’ve never been touched and ruin sex with other men for the rest of my life. He would be a devil between the sheets and he wouldn’t stop until I was moaning his name into my pillow.
I squeeze my thighs together, moving a strand of hair behind my ear. I really think I know all that just from the way he looks at me? I feel silly for a moment until he glances over at me
again and I see it all again in his gaze, clear as night. He would do all that and more. He will, if I let him. The question is, am I going to let him? Having wild, crazy, and dirty sex on Christmas Eve has never been a tradition of mine. In fact, having sex in general is very far from a tradition for me. It’s more like a once in a long while kind of thing.
We pull into a parking garage below a tall skyscraper. He moves to open the door for me after we park, leaning down to help me get out of the car. I don’t bother telling him that my ankle feels much better. Having his strong arm around me again feels good, and I’m already wondering how I’m going to go the rest of my life without having his powerful touch whenever I need it. I can tell he’s the kind of man who takes care of a woman. So why do I still feel a lingering sense of unease, like something so close to fear that I could almost confuse it with anticipation? It’s almost like the feeling on a roller coaster when the coaster is slowly pulled up the track, and every clink of the chain means the fall is only going to be that much faster, that much more terrifying. And that much more exhilarating.
But what If I’m misinterpreting all of his signals? What if he’s actually planning to have me meet his son, open some presents, and then wish me a good night without so much as a peck on the cheek?
Chapter 8
Adam
There are two elevators in the building. One grants access to all the other apartments, and one grants direct access to my penthouse. I press my thumb to a scanner beside my personal elevator and help Ally inside. I don’t complain at all when she still clings to me the whole way up. Her tits press into me, and I let my hand around her waist slide down until I can feel the gentle swell of her ass. Fuck. My resolve to stay uninvolved and avoid making things personal went to shit about thirty minutes ago when I invited her to my place. I might as well embrace it now.
