by S. M. Maddox
For all the notes that Jack and I had gathered, Magnus’ people still didn’t have any solid leads to go on yet. Madison, their hacker, was hard at work trying to make anything stick that she possibly could, connect any dot that could be connected. It wasn’t over, it wouldn’t be over for a long time. At least we were out of immediate danger for a time being.
I don’t know what they did with Jason’s body after I’d wrecked him, and I don’t plan on asking. I know he’s behind me, permanently, and there’s nothing to look forward to but my future with Roland.
When I finally did go back to work, Tina all but slashed my tires. My stapler would be emptied every day. My lunch would mysteriously be taken out of the refrigerator and left on the counter to spoil. My purse, more often than not, was filled with glitter when I wasn’t looking. If I took my shoes off and left my desk, when I came back they’d be filled with Styrofoam peanuts. The garbage would magically be spilling over with rotten bananas and fruit flies every Monday, after a long weekend of festering. Which was all fine. Petty bitch, petty shit. If that was what made her feel better, bring it on.
Oh, and, I may or may not have slightly retaliated. More often than not, after one of her stupid stunts, I’d walk by her desk and purposefully wave to her with my hand in reverse, allowing her to see my giant blue sapphire engagement ring. I call that reverse bitching. She started it. Roland fussed at me, telling me to be nice to her, to which my response was:
A. When did he get a fucking conscience for being nice to people, specifically Tina?
B. I’d been through enough shit, I deserved some humor every so often. And she started it.
I loved when Tina ruined my lunches. There’s a minibar in the conference room, with a basket of peanuts and crackers and protein bars. All the good stuff, too. Not off-brand shit. More often than not, on my hunt for lunch, I would find myself in a precarious situation when my boss bent me over the table and had his way with me.
Also, I may or may not have upped my wardrobe game to purposeful seductress status, too. I started wearing more and more skin tight dresses, in light and nude colors to give the appearance that I was, in fact, naked in public. I would parade myself back and forth in front of Roland’s office when he was with a client, watching his gaze zero in on my movements as I licked my lips.
His clients, of course, would be oblivious to what was going on behind their backs. They’d regard him with awkward glances, as if he were having a stroke from the nervous facial ticking in his jaw and eye as his skin responded to me from a distance. A few times clients had even offered to call an ambulance for him. That’s how you know you still got it, Jessie.
Sometimes, no, all the time, when I caught him on a conference call in his office, I would sneak in, draw the curtains, and crawl over to him on my hands and knees. Slowly spinning around his fancy office chair, I’d run my hands up his Tom Ford pants legs, pushing them apart with my palms. Most times, just that movement alone was all Roland could do to not drop the phone. Finally, he got smart and started putting his calls on speaker. Just in case.
Which was more of a challenge for me.
Challenge accepted.
My next move would be to undo his belt and his pants button, pulling the zipper down with my teeth while never losing eye contact. When I could pull the zipper down, anyway. There were plenty of times Roland had to help me, because just the sight of seeing me slink into his office on all fours in a nude colored dress was enough to get him so hard that I couldn’t free him comfortably without hurting him.
I’d massage his inner thighs with my palms, all while licking and sucking his cock ravenously like it was a popsicle on a hot summer day. My ultimate goal was my own pleasure, succeeding in bringing down one of the most powerful men in the city while he quaked for mercy between my lips. I knew I’d won when he’d utter those six little words that were music to my ears. “I’ll have to call you back…”
Spoiler alert: I always won. This is why Tina really hated me.
Eventually, I’d stopped even trying to bring my lunch. I got tired of throwing Pierre’s awesome meals and skills into the garbage. It broke his heart, but I hated wasting food for no reason and giving Tina the satisfaction of being the one to do it.
Today was just another normal Tuesday, and I’d resorted to eating my crackers alone in the conference room. Roland was out of the office and had been at court all morning. He’d strictly forbade me to come to court with him, afraid of what I might do. Who me? Never.
It was absolutely for the better, on his part. He’s managed to bring out a particularly deviant and horny side of me that I’d never known existed, and all I wanted to do was ruin him over and over until we died.
I was on my last sour cream and chive cracker when the conference door burst open. Roland came in, carrying a manilla envelope.
My eyes grew wide at the look on his determined face. “Did they find something?”
“What?” he glanced down at the file in his hand. “No, Malone. This is a contract I just signed. Get your sweet ass up right now and get in my car. I’ve got something to show you.”
I hoovered my last cracker, nearly choking on the crumbs as I inhaled it down the wrong pipe.
“That warehouse we went to before,” his voice trailed off. How could I forget it?
“Well, we bought it because it was cheap with a lot of land that could be repurposed into something right? After everything that happened, I wanted to do something for you, Malone. Something that would be yours, and yours alone, to try and make up for all that you lost. No matter what ever happens with us, and my god Malone, if you ever decide to leave me that will be the end of my life, but I love you more than I love myself. That’s something I’ve never felt before, except with my mom.”
He’d told me the story in bed one night, of how she’d died in his arms. My heart broke for him, for the man he could’ve been and the man that he’d risen to become.
“I’m never leaving you, Andersen.”
“I know, but I’m just saying, that’s how much I fucking love you. If we ever do split, I still want you to be happy and to have your own life.” He tossed the file at me that he’d been clenching. The outside of the manilla envelope was wet and wrinkly with sweat from where he’d held them for so long.
I pulled the papers out of it, slowly reading to try and comprehend what I was seeing. It was a deed for the land in my future name, Jessie Malone Andersen.
There were also business licenses, state, tax, city, all sorts of things that I didn’t know anything about, all in two names.
Jessie Malone Andersen
DBA The Otis McCallister Foundation
“Roland, what is this? What’d you do?”
“Babe, congratulations. You’re now the proud owner and president of The Otis McCallister Foundation. A charity and rescue for retired greyhounds, and whatever else you want to bring in if you want to expand it. It’s all yours.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you spend a lot of time with me, babe. At home and at the office. And I’m not complaining one bit, don’t get me wrong. I’d fucking sew you to my hip if that’s what you wanted, but I know you’ll eventually need more. I want to be the man that gives you more. More than you’ve ever thought possible. More than you’ve ever dreamed.
“Bonus points: If you want, you can make at least twenty of our kids work here for free until they figure out they’re being ripped off.”
Laughter and tears, tears and laughter, I didn’t know which had come first. Was I so blissfully happy that I was laughing, or was I laughing because I was so blissfully happy? “Roland… I have no words…”
The car rolled up to the warehouse as workers swarmed the grounds. It looked completely cleaned up from when I’d last seen it. Was it a little twisted that I’d murdered my ex-boyfriend here? Maybe.
Or maybe it was the perfect revenge because it was also the site of new beginnings.
“So what’re you going to do now, Ms. Malone?�
�
“I think we’ve got a couple of wedding to plan.”
The End
Thank you so very much for reading and joining me on this journey!
If you enjoyed it, please, please leave a review! It may seem silly, but reviews are like currency in the author world.
Each book can be read as a stand-alone, OR in order as a longer book.
If you liked Roland, don’t forget to read about the other two brothers!
Thor and Anya’s romance is The Serpent – Book One of the Billionaire Vikings Series.
Then, if you still need more sexy Vikings (because who doesn’t?), you’ll want to stay tuned for the exciting conclusion in Magnus’ story! I said Roland was my fave, but Magnus is starting to take my breath away ; )
Magnus’ story is The Stallion – Book Three of the Billionaire Vikings Series.
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I also wrote a short space story, if that’s your thing, called Karen On Mars
