Insufferable Proximity 2

by Stefani, Z.

  Gavin lay on his bed listening to two other prisoners discuss their plan to take down one of the officers. Gavin couldn’t stand the condescending guard either. The guard and his brother treated them like filthy animals. Despite his distaste for the macho guard, Gavin considered using the information. When the time was right, that information could prove to be invaluable.

  The Coffee Incident

  Julian looked at the bedroom clock, to see that it read 5:00 am. He turned back to see that Heaven was still fast asleep; she was facing him, but the cover was blocking part of her face. He moved the cover and pushed a dark lock of hair from her face, and took the time just to watch her as she slept. Her breasts rose with each breath, the soft tips reaching out for him. He slid the blanket from her body and sat up to get a better view.

  He realized that he was blessed. He finally knew what he wanted, and he had something to strive for. He was no longer running around like a melted brain zombie with a hard dick—fucking anything that moaned. However, with love came other emotions he was having trouble containing. He was learning that jealousy was a very powerful emotion, and was having more trouble controlling that than his libido.

  There was no way in hell that he would allow someone like Clive Baker to come in and try to sweep Heaven off her feet. Although he knew how loyal Heaven was, it was her inexperience that made him worry. Did she think about what sex would be like with someone else? Did she wonder? He’d yet to meet a faithful woman. His mother turned cheating into a game. But Heaven was nothing like his mother. He immediately put it from his mind and continued in his exploration. He slid his fingertips across her shoulder, down her arm, to creep across her breast.

  “I’m a lucky man,” he whispered to himself as he slid back to lie beside her. He continued to trail his hand down to her sex. He touched her mound and smiled when she sighed in her sleep, then bent his head to run his tongue across her soft nipple before taking it into his mouth. Her body was responding rapidly, and he knew she was beginning to wake up.

  Julian toyed with her opening, slipping just the tip of his finger in, and watched her eyes flutter open as she moaned softly. Heaven slid her hand between her legs and covered his hand. She pushed his hand tightly against her sex. He pushed his finger in to the hilt, and she cried out. He withdrew his finger before pushing it back in. She arched her back as she continued to hold his hand. With her breasts thrust high, he sucked the tip deeper into his mouth. She wrapped her other arm around his head, holding him closer. He lightly bit the tip in response, and began to rub her clit with his thumb as she began to pant.

  “Oh god, I’m going to come,” she cried as he increased the pressure.

  He held her tightly as her orgasm barreled through her. She arched deeper and spread her legs wider as it burst upon her. She clamped her legs together, locking his hand in place. He stopped toying with her clit, but waited until her body settled down before he withdrew his finger. Then he lazily circled his tongue across her nipple for a moment before pulling back. He put his finger in his mouth and sucked it off as he propped himself up on his elbow.

  “Good morning,” he whispered before kissing her lips.

  “Good morning,” she whispered against his lips. “I wish we could stay like this all day.”

  “We can this weekend.”

  “I can’t wait until the weekend comes.”

  “I can’t wait to see how many times I can make you come this weekend,” he said with a grin.

  “Let’s stay in this bed all weekend.”

  “All weekend?”

  “Yes; we can even take our meals here.”

  “I love that idea,” he nuzzled his mouth against her neck, “but now, we must get ready for work.”

  “Damn,” Heaven sighed before she kissed him.

  ***

  Heaven walked into her office, to see a fresh cup of coffee on her desk. She knew it wasn’t from her secretary, who was late this morning and had arrived at the same time as Heaven. She walked over to her desk and saw the little card stuck to the coffee cup.

  Sorry we never got a chance to do lunch. The least I could do is buy you a cup of coffee after such an excellent recommendation. Miss Gloria Gray is exceptional, and it’s a pleasure to have her as my secretary.

  Thank you again,

  Clive

  Heaven smiled softly, satisfied that they were both happy. She tossed the note in the garbage and headed towards the bathroom, poured the coffee down the sink and tossed the cup in the trash. After that whole episode with Gavin Grant, Heaven wasn’t comfortable drinking beverages prepared by her co-workers. Besides, Julian had insisted they stop for coffee again that morning, so she’d had plenty.

  ***

  “Hi, Ms. Deville,” Clive smiled.

  “Oh, hello Mr. Baker.”

  “I just wanted to make sure you got your coffee. I wasn’t sure how you liked it, so I put the cream and sugar on the side; I did notice that you liked a lot of cream and sugar, so I brought you plenty.”

  “Thank you, but that wasn’t necessary.”

  “I just wanted to show my appreciation. Gloria Grant is wonderful as well as dutiful.”

  “Well, thank you again,” Heaven replied before she turned to see Julian.

  Clive smiled like an eager child. “I just can’t thank you enough.”

  “Why are you so eager to show her your appreciation?” Julian asked Clive, his eyes blazing with anger. As he walked towards them, he’d seen Clive’s eyes dart to Heaven’s chest. After Baker’s comment about the sugar, Julian realized that he was paying entirely too much attention to Heaven.

  “Miss Grant is the best secretary I’ve had. My last secretary stole money from me, and the one before her never worked. Let’s just say that it’s a breath of fresh air to have her assisting me. I wanted to thank Ms. Deville for making my life so much easier. The coffee was a mere token of my appreciation,” Clive explained.

  “That’s enough appreciation.” Julian’s voice was deep and laced with a subtle hostility. He was flabbergasted that Clive had brought Heaven coffee. Not to mention the fact that Heaven hadn’t mentioned it. He felt his jealousy soar with his rage. He wanted to shake Clive Baker and shove his fist into his face.

  He wanted to shove something else in Heaven…

  “I understand,” Clive nodded sympathetically.

  It took everything in Julian’s power to prevent him from slamming Clive against the wall. Instead, he turned and led Heaven into her office.

  “Wait here,” he demanded before he left.

  Julian went straight to Clive’s office; he needed to nip this in the bud right now. He didn’t wait for his secretary to announce him, instead knocking directly on the door.

  “Come in,” Clive called out and Julian let himself in.

  “Stop buying my fiancée coffee,” Julian warned him.

  “I was just trying to say thank you.”

  “You said thank you—that was enough. The coffee was overkill as far as I’m concerned.”

  “I was just trying to be friendly.”

  “Being too friendly can be hazardous; you should watch your step.”

  “Maybe you should be having this conversation with her,” Clive said in a suggestive way.

  “What are you implying?” Julian took a step closer to Clive.

  “Nothing, I just meant that…she’s the one who called me. I was only trying to be friendly in return. I’m new here; being friendly is a good way to make new friends.”

  “She’s not going to be your friend, get that through your head.”

  “Look, I understand where you’re coming from, but it’s not my fault that your girlfriend calls other men without your knowledge.” He tried to appear sympathetic, but Julian could see the game that he was trying to run.

  “We all work together, and it’s best to keep things civil. With that being said—if you buy her another cup of coffee, I’ll break your fucking fingers,” Julian threatened as he continued to glare at
Clive.

  “Whoa—are you threatening me?”

  “Yes.” Julian continued to stare at Clive for a moment, waiting for him to object. Clive responded in silence, so Julian shook his head in disgust before he left.

  ***

  “Are you on your way to lunch?” Gloria asked Ian as they walked towards the elevator.

  “Yes.”

  “Would you like a little company? I’d love to buy you lunch for helping me keep my job. I’m taking Heaven out to lunch soon, too.”

  “Sure, I would love some company, but I insist you let me treat.”

  “But I wanted to show my appreciation.”

  “You already have. Come on.” The empty elevator opened, and he motioned her inside.

  “It was such a pleasure to be able to work with you. If I’m honest, I really miss it. I like Mr. Baker and everything, he’s a great boss, but you were more than a great boss. I learned so much from you. Please let me buy you lunch.”

  “If you insist,” Ian grinned; he couldn’t resist her plea. He wasn’t accustomed to women buying him lunch.

  “Thank you,” she quickly kissed his cheek. “I’m starving; I can’t wait to get there.”

  “Shall we take my car?” He cleared his throat and adjusted his tie awkwardly—he was still stuck on that kiss.

  “It’s such a beautiful day outside, we should walk,” she bent close to whisper, even though they were alone in the elevator, “that is unless you don’t want to be seen with me.”

  “Walking sounds good, you’re right—it is a beautiful day.”

  ***

  Heaven sat at her desk and sighed. When she first got back to work, she had wanted Julian to give her a little space, so she could get some work done. Now that he had been avoiding her all day, she was reconsidering her wish.

  “Be careful what you ask for,” she murmured to her empty office.

  She could see that Julian was upset, but she didn’t understand why. She didn’t understand why a phone call would be so important, or why coffee would send him into a meltdown.

  By late afternoon, she was a mess. She tried to get some work done, but her mind just kept wandering back to Julian.

  “I have a right to know what is going on,” she blurted as she rose from her chair—she was on a mission.

  She needed answers, and she wanted them now. She stormed out of her office and went next door to Julian’s. She wasn’t paying attention to his secretary, and she didn’t bother knocking. She barged into his office and slammed the door behind her. Luckily, he wasn’t with a potential client or a co-worker.

  “Why are you so mad?” She put her hands on her hips as she looked down her nose at him.

  “We’ll discuss it when we get home.”

  She stomped her foot. “I’m not waiting until we get home.”

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  “I want to know now!”

  “And I wanted to know that you called Mr. Baker. I also would have liked to have known about his gift. Unfortunately, he told me before you did. I had to wait, and so do you,” he said in an angry tone.

  “Is that why you’re mad? Because he told you before I did?”

  “We will discuss it later.”

  Heaven could tell by the look on his face that he wouldn’t budge. She had two options—she could argue until she was blue in the face and still end up with no answers, or she could give him a taste of his own ridiculous medicine.

  “Fine, have it your way. If you want to be mad at me for no reason, then I’ll be mad at you, too.” She turned up her nose haughtily, then turned around with the regality of a queen and left his office. A far cry from the tyrant who entered his office.

  Damn, it feels rewarding to be childish, Heaven thought as she headed towards her own office.

  ***

  It was a silent ride home as neither of them spoke a word to the other. Heaven pretended not to care, and Julian silently seethed with rage.

  After he parked the car, they walked into the house. The second he slammed the front door shut, he grabbed Heaven from behind, and ran up the steps three at a time as he raced to their room; slamming the bedroom door so hard, Heaven feared it would break. He walked over, tossed her on the bed, and immediately crawled on top of her. He was on his hands and knees above her. He grabbed her wrists in one hand, held them above her head, and grabbed the bottom of her face as he bent closer to her—his face a mere inch from hers.

  “I want to know every single word in that phone conversation that you hid from me.”

  “I didn’t hide it from you,” she snapped at him.

  “Then why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t think it was important.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about his gifts? You didn’t think that was important either?”

  “No, I didn’t. I didn’t even drink the coffee, I poured it down the sink.”

  Still holding her wrists, he reached down, grabbed her hip and rolled her onto her side. He yanked her skirt up to her waist as she tried to knee him. He trapped her thighs between his muscular knees and held her still, drew back his hand and brought it down hard on her ass, “It is important.”

  “Ouch!” she squealed, and tried to pull away. He had her locked in position, and there was no way she could escape.

  “Tell me how important it is.” When she didn’t answer directly, he smacked her ass again.

  “Ouch!” she yelped and tried desperately to get loose.

  “You’d better answer me; you know I can do this all night,” he smirked sadistically as he smacked her ass for the third time.

  “It’s very important,” she snapped as she tried to pull away.

  “I don’t trust him with you.”

  “You don’t trust anyone.”

  “Why should I? There’s not much to trust; especially after Gavin. That was an eye-opener.” He let go of her wrists and gently turned her to lay flat on her belly. “I trust you…that’s enough.”

  “Do you really trust me?” she asked as she looked into his eyes.

  “I do, but I don’t trust Baker. I see the way that he looks at you, and I know exactly what he’s thinking.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just do. He wants you, but he knows that you don’t want him. You’ve become a challenge to him.”

  “I think you’re being paranoid,” she shook her head and tried to get up.

  “Stay still,” he commanded before he spread her legs. He lay between her thighs, his head level with her butt, and gently ran the tips of his fingers over her sore skin. He carefully kissed the heated skin, trailing soft kisses across her behind. He began to kiss up her back, moving to lie beside her as he went.

  He was on his side, propped on his elbow as he faced her, and lovingly caressed her behind as he bent to kiss her lips.

  “Promise me, no more private conversations with Mr. Baker.”

  “I promise,” she vowed.

  The Case

  Ayden called Julian’s cell phone at three a.m. During the middle of the night, a well-known shipping heir was murdered. His wife, a socialite with megastar power, was accused of his murder. Her father had immediately called Ayden to represent her. Unfortunately, Ayden was in the middle of a case and wouldn’t be able to help directly. He called his sons with the news first. Ian was also representing another client and had no time for another case.

  ***

  Julian and Heaven left the house early that morning to head to the coffee shop before work. She wanted to sit down, enjoy her coffee and a little conversation with Julian before work started. She was feeling sort of strange, but couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong. She assumed that she was overly excited about the new case.

  “Tina Tucker and her boyfriend are being accused of murdering her husband. They turned on each other the moment they were arrested,” Julian said after they sat down with their drinks.

  “It will be all-out war; this will be a hard case to beat,�
�� Heaven said with a twinkle in her eye.

  “I know how badly you want this case.”

  “I do,” she replied.

  “No cheap shots, no stealing, and no cheating. We fight for this case fair and square.” Julian laid out the rules.

  Heaven smiled as she took a sip of her iced coffee. “Fair and square.”

  “And no fighting. We’re not going to fight or argue over this case.”