Negotiating Skills

by Laurel Cremant

  As pissed off as she was at his demands, it seemed as if her body had yet to receive the message that the recent object of her obsession had turned from a sexy crush to an arrogant ass. Even now standing in front of him about to submit to his ludicrous demand, she couldn’t keep a warm flush from spreading throughout her body and a lick of desire settle in her stomach.

  She didn’t know who she was angrier with at this point, herself for being so aroused, or Victor for putting her in such a demeaning position.

  “Sometime this century please,” he said arrogantly. He no longer looked in her eyes. Instead he kept his eyes fixed squarely below her waist.

  Steeling herself against the need to physically hurt him, Veronica kept her gaze trained on him as she clasped her skirt in her fists and pulled it up to her waist. She saw Victor stiffen and hoped that he was just as uncomfortable as she was.

  She held her skirt up with one hand and reached down to hook her fingers into the hip of her blue lace thong with the other. She paused only briefly before pulling it down over her lips and releasing her fingers to let the patch of lace pool at her feet.

  She was about to smooth her skirt back down over her hips when Victor’s hands reached forward in a flash and grabbed her hips firmly in his hands.

  “I gave you more than just a few seconds worth of a look last night,” he said huskily.

  “I’m pretty sure I’m owed more than just a quick peek now,” he said as he moved her over slightly.

  Veronica felt the cool glass top of his desk graze her ass as he shifted her over. Her muscles felt frozen. The moment his hands clasped her hips she felt such a rush of heat she was afraid to speak. It burned so quickly, she struggled to keep it from fogging up her mind completely.

  She stood quietly, locked in a shocked haze of heat, as his hands leaned her back against his desk. The movement caused her legs to splay open slightly, just enough to give him a full view of her pussy.

  His thumbs stroked across her hips and down slowly to the crease of her inner thighs. He kept his touch light, his fingers never touching the aching juncture between her legs.

  “I wouldn’t have figured you for the clean shaven look,” he murmured.

  His softly spoken words jolted her out of her frozen state. She stiffened abruptly and straightened away from the desk.

  “Fuck you,” she said as she shoved his hands away and smoothed her skirt back down to her knees.

  She marched back around to the other side of the desk and crossed her arms protectively around her chest.

  “The VP’s have arrived sir,” came Marie’s disembodied voice into the room.

  Victor reached across his desk and pressed his intercom button.

  “Go ahead and show them in,” he said smoothly.

  Veronica watched as he swiveled his chair to the side and leaned forward to grasp something from the floor. She bit back an outraged shriek when he straightened up and she saw he held her blue thong in his hand. He rolled it up quickly and stuffed it into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He chuckled huskily at her outraged look.

  “It’s show time,” he said softly enough for her only her ears as Marie ushered in the executives for the demo presentation.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Several hours later Veronica was trying hard to pull herself out of the rabbit hole that had become her life. She sat at a private table nursing an amaretto sour in one of Downtown Miami’s most posh restaurants.

  Normally she would be happy to be sipping a drink after a long and stressful day. Unfortunately she wasn’t by herself or surrounded by friends, instead she sat panty-less, surrounded by Victor Rossi and the VPs of Nile Enterprises.

  There wasn’t enough alcohol in the world that could make the situation less uncomfortable. She knew because since they arrived at the restaurant after her presentation, Veronica began trying to drown out her frustration with drinks.

  It was times like these that she cursed her Haitian ancestry. She often joked with her friends that rum was such a staple in her country’s diet that it would take more than a gallon of alcohol to get her good and drunk. It wasn’t really that far from the truth.

  She was on her tenth drink and only had the slightest of buzzes. She frowned down at her drink and figured she would have to stop soon before she got liver poisoning. She shifted in her seat to uncross and re-cross her legs while trying hard not to blush when the motion reminded her of her in flagrante state.

  Unfortunately, when she shifted, her thighs lightly brushed Rossi who somehow managed to seat himself next to her when they first arrived at the restaurant.

  She gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to turn and scowl at him.

  He was completely to blame for her miserable mood. In the course of one afternoon he had managed to save her business and ruin her mental health all with one request. Now it’s time for you to show me yours. She gave a mental snort.

  Ignoring her earlier decision to stop drinking, Veronica raised her glass to her lips and downed the rest of her drink.

  “If this project continues to stay within the timelines, we should have no problem pushing this out to all of our properties by the end of the year.”

  Veronica swiveled her head to look at Adrian Garcia, Ross’s VP of finance. The man had been in an excited mood ever since they left the office. The others nodded their heads and continued to speak excitedly to each other.

  Under normal circumstances, Veronica would be enjoying herself and basking in the praise the VPs heaped on her. After completing her presentation, the VPs expressed how pleased they were with her progress. Apparently, the company was poised to take over a large property management firm in Georgia named Continental.

  A key factor in the takeover timeline was how quickly Nile Enterprises could integrate Continental’s finance and accounting department with their own. The new features she recently added to the application would make that integration virtually seamless.

  When it was suggested they go out to celebrate, Veronica tried to excuse herself, but Rossi had insisted she attend. She briefly considered arguing with him, but the excitement of the VPs and the hard look in Rossi’s eyes, told her to save her energy.

  Thankfully the restaurant was only a short walk from the building that housed Niles Enterprises. The moment they arrived, the group was ushered into a private section of the restaurant and been given the VIP treatment.

  The service they received didn’t surprise Veronica. If anything it served to increase her anger, reminding her that Rossi was a rich man used to people tripping over themselves to please him.

  Thinking it about it now had Veronica clenching her right fist tight and signaling the waiter with the other. The man approached eagerly.

  Veronica was about to request another dink when she felt a warm hand land on her thigh and she stiffened. Before she could turn and rip Rossi a new orifice, she felt his warm breath tease her earlobe.

  “Don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink,” he whispered softly.

  Veronica turned to flash him a sugary sweet smile.

  “No, I haven’t,” she said calmly, then turned back to the waiter and placed her order.

  “Barbancourt on the rocks please, and make it a double,” she said smiling at the waiting young man.

  She felt Rossi’s hand squeeze her thigh tightly before his hand loosened. She turned back to face him and leaned in, her eyes glued to his.

  “Remove the hand, slick,” she whispered to him not bothering to hide her annoyance.

  Instead of removing the offending hand, he began to move it up and down her thigh in slow sweeping movements.

  “Hmmm,” he replied back as he chuckled softly. “I don’t feel like it.”

  Veronica was barely able to hold back an outraged shriek. The man was too arrogant for words. She was about to reply to his taunting comment, when the waiter returned with her drink.

  To spite Rossi she lifted the drink to her mouth and finished it in one swallow, her eyes
never wavering from his. She saw his lips tighten into a grim line as the rum burned a smooth path down her throat to settle with a warm caress in her stomach.

  As the warmth spread through her belly she finally began to feel the faint fuzzy glow of tipsiness. She swiveled her head back to the celebratory crowd and smiled warmly at Adrian.

  “I’m glad you’re happy with what I’ve done so far,” she said.

  Adrian focused back in on Veronica and gave her a wide charming smile.

  “You have no idea how much work this application will save us,” he said.

  Adrian was the one tolerable spot in her afternoon. Aside from being friendly and charming, he had heaped praise upon Veronica and the work she completed on CLEO. It wasn’t hard for Veronica to muster up a genuine smile and respond.

  “Just doing my job,” she replied.

  “Well that’s more than the last guy did,” he said derisively as he waggled his eyebrows at her, “I’m pretty sure he just sat around watching Family Guy episodes all day.”

  Veronica couldn’t help but laugh at his insight. She had thought the same thing on more than one occasion while trying to decipher the thousands of lines of bad programming code. She felt Rossi shift next to her and turned to see him frown over at Adrian.

  “Well there’s still a lot of work to do,” he said sternly.

  Adrian’s smile dimmed only slightly at Rossi’s comment. What a buzz kill, thought Veronica derisively.

  “Yes, well the work will definitely be a lot less frustrating now,” said Adrian regaining his humor. He reached across the table, grabbed Veronica’s hand, and stared earnestly into her eyes.

  “Marry me, Veronica. I promise to shower you in nothing but the latest technology and trips to Silicon Valley at least once a year,” he said jokingly.

  Veronica couldn’t hold back her snort of laughter.

  “Sorry Casanova, but I don’t think you can afford the unlimited Newegg account I can’t live without,” she said chuckling and withdrawing her hand from Adrian’s.

  “Ouch! That hurts,” exclaimed Adrian placing a hand over his heart, feigning heart break.

  “Don’t you have a meeting with the Continental finance group tomorrow,” asked Rossi, in a flat tone.

  Surprised, Veronica turned to look at him. For a few moments she almost forgot he was there. As if reading her thoughts, Rossi ran his hand down her thigh and squeezed her knee hard causing Veronica to stifle a yelp.

  Adrian cleared his throat and Veronica could tell that he was as surprised by Rossi’s tone as well.

  “Yes, we’re meeting with their head of finance and lead accountant in the morning,” said Adrian.

  Veronica barely heard Adrian’s response. She was too distracted by Rossi’s roaming hand. It moved from her knee and was slowly making its way up her skirt. She tightened her crossed legs trying to prevent his movements.

  She couldn’t believe what he was doing and even worse she couldn’t seem to control her body’s response to it either. The moment she had felt his hand creeping up her leg her nipples tightened and she felt desire pool to her center.

  When his hand stopped at the top of her inner thigh and began to trace small circles on her flesh she fought hard to hold back a moan. Maybe having that last drink wasn’t such a good idea, she thought, because as she sat waiting for his hand to move only a few inches higher, she was finding it hard to recall all the reasons why she should hate Victor Rossi.

  “Hmmm,” said Rossi, his eyes trained on Adrian.

  “Then you should probably call it an early night. I’ll settle the tab here and wait until our star programmer here sobers up a bit,” he said smiling slightly to the group.

  Recognizing that they had just been dismissed, the group made a hasty retreat.

  His comment about her needing to sober up was enough to snap Veronica out of her haze. She took deep breaths while she waited for the rest of the group to hurry out of the restaurant.

  When they were all gone she counted to ten, glanced at Rossi’s smirking face, and counted to ten one more time before dropping her hand to her lap grasping his meandering hand in a tight grip.

  “I’m not drunk,” she said, wincing only slightly when she heard the slight slurring of her words.

  Victor raised a dark eyebrow at her slurred declaration and made no move towards removing his hand from beneath her skirt.

  “In the past few hours I’ve seen you put enough liquor away to put any frat boy to shame,” he said, “Whether you believe it or not, you’re drunk,” he continued not bothering to hide his smirk.

  “Well if that’s the case, wouldn’t you consider this taking advantage of me,” she said glaring at him and then glancing pointedly down at her lap.

  “Hmm, you have a point there,” he said. He leaned forward and placed a finger from his free hand, beneath her chin, drawing her head up to meet his gaze.

  “I tell you what,” he said. “I’ll trade you for it.”

  “Trade me? There’s no trade or negotiation here,” she said glaring at him.

  “Come on Veronica, where’s the fun in that,” he said chuckling softly.

  “How about a friendly drinking game at the very least or a game of Truth or Dare instead” he asked.

  “Are you on drugs,” asked Veronica scathingly, “What part of your tiny little brain thinks I want to be here right now?”

  “Okay Truth or Dare it is. I’ll go first. I choose dare,” he said ignoring Veronica’s cutting remark.

  “How about you just move your hand and I decide not rip you a new ass hole,” she seethed.

  “Okay,” said Ross, smiling softly at her.

  Veronica felt Rossi’s hand flex underneath her skirt. She released her grip on him to allow his hand to withdraw.

  “Dare accepted,” he said.

  Veronica saw a gleam brighten his eyes and before she had a chance to voice a protest, she felt his unhindered hand plunge forward. His fingertips paused for a moment to stroke her smooth nether lips and she couldn’t hold back the aroused whimper that escaped her mouth and she barely held back a moan when his finger slid into her damp folds and began to slowly brush her clit with light teasing strokes.

  “What are you doing,” she managed to ask in a low croaking voice.

  “Just playing the game,” he said.

  His gave flickered across her face and Veronica felt his hands adjust once more. He replaced his stroking finger with his thumb and with a slight turn of his wrist his forefinger slid down her slit to rub just above the rim of her pussy.

  “You dared me to move my hand and I did. Now it’s your turn. Truth or dare?” he asked.

  Veronica could barely think past the heat blazing through her body. She struggled to take smooth deep breaths, despite her racing pulse.

  “I don’t like games,” she finally managed to get out in a relatively smooth voice.

  She watched as amusement twitched Rossi’s lips upward and felt his finger slip past her rim and plunge into her core.

  “Truth it is then,” he said while his finger plunged slowly in and out of her.

  “Why did you stay last night,” he asked.

  Veronica stared at him with a blank look of incomprehension. It was so hard to think past the feel of his fingers on her. She couldn’t keep from clenching around his finger or her hips from rolling to meet his fingers.

  Her core was greedy for more of him. She couldn’t even muster up her earlier anger. All she could focus on was the pleasure his fingers were giving her.

  “Why did you stay,” he repeated stopping the movement of his thumb and fingers.

  “I wanted to leave you the report,” she said huskily desperate for him to resume his ministrations.

  He began to rub her clitoris again with his thumb in partial reward to her response. Her breath began to hitch. She was so close to the edge.

  Weeks of sexual frustration had left her body hyper aware. Heat began to prickle at her neck and sliver up and down he
r back. As much as she wanted the release of orgasm she fought to hold on to some form of control.

  “No that’s why you were there. Why did you stay,” he asked again.

  Veronica shook her head at him and pressed her lips firmly together.

  Despite the obvious evidence pooling between her thighs, she refused to voice her attraction for him. She didn’t want to admit that the situation wasn’t what kept her from leaving, it was what made her stay. The opportunity to see him in such a sexual state had been too tempting to ignore.

  She watched Rossi take in the line of her firmed lips and she let out a moan when he plunged two fingers deep into her.

  “No truth then,” he said, stroking deep into her with an increased tempo. He leaned closer over her. His lips were only a breath away from hers and his eyes stared deeply into hers. She licked her lips and braced herself for his reaction to her refusal to respond to his question. She inhaled his scent, a heady mix of earth and spicy vanilla. It engulfed her and she didn’t know if she could handle him stopping. Her brain was just too fuzzy with arousal, too consumed with the need to come.

  “I guess we’re going to have to settle on a dare,” he said. He withdrew his fingers from her core and Veronica let out a small whimper of protest before she felt his forefinger join his thumb and pinch her clitoris.

  “Come for me,” he demanded before his lips covered hers. Veronica fisted her hands on his chest and moaned into his mouth as she splintered apart in a wave of pleasure.

  CHAPTER NINE

  VICTOR SAT IN HIS CAR DEBATING how to best deal with a certain Ms. Veronica James. Several weeks had passed since their encounter in the restaurant and he was still struggling to gain some ground with her.

  His hands gripped the steering wheel in frustration as his mind flashed back on that night for what felt like the millionth time. The taste of her mouth as she came apart on his fingers had ingrained itself in his memory. Even now just the thought of it was enough to make his dick twitch in anticipation. Unfortunately the moment his lips left hers that night she jumped from her seat and hurried to the rest room.