by Juniper Bell
“No, but…” I turned my head so he couldn’t read my face.
He took my chin and tilted my face to his. “But what? Are you afraid to trust me?”
“No…”
“Are you afraid to let yourself go?”
“No.”
“But there’s something you’re afraid to tell me.”
When I didn’t answer, he put his hand in his pocket, where he must have stashed the remote control. In the next second, a new jamboree broke out down below. I bit my lip and closed my eyes and felt the crazy marbles pinball around inside me, finding every little sensitive spot. My heart began to race, my face heat, my skin quiver. My legs shook with the effort of not bringing them together, not rubbing my thighs to find the release I craved.
Then, suddenly, a hand was there. On my crotch, rubbing those tormenting beads against my sex. I stumbled forward and grabbed onto Simon’s shoulder. In great, endless spasms, I came. And came and came. His hand barely had to do anything, just press into me. But he did more than that. While the heel of his hand dug into me, his fingers danced and explored, finding new beads to finger, new spots to enflame. It was like a story that went on and on, a story you never want to end. It turned me inside out, shattered every last shield I’d clung to. When he’d wrung every last moan, every last convulsion out of me, he took his hand away. The beaded panties were absolutely drenched. As if I’d been showering in my underwear.
“Absolutely magnificent,” he said, his voice thick.
I couldn’t answer. Spent, drained, I sank to the floor in a little heap. On my way down, I took note of his erection (it was hard to miss), but I simply had no energy to react to it. I felt like I was someone new, someone I didn’t know yet. Curled up on the beige carpet, which smelled like potpourri air freshener, I could have slept for a week.
“I suppose it’s time to take those little rascals out of you,” murmured Simon. He kneeled next to me and rolled me onto my back. Like a doll, I let him move me around. He straightened my legs, lifted my skirt and reached under me. Closing my eyes, I drifted in a dream-like state while he gently probed inside me. One by one, he pulled out the balls. When they were gone, I felt empty. Lonely, in a way. They’d been Simon’s boys, Simon’s toys that he’d left inside to do his work for him. Even though they’d tormented me to my wit’s end, I missed them now. Go figure.
The next thing I knew, something warm and damp was against my crotch. A faint scent of lavender rose from it. Oh, it felt good. It was pure heaven. It patted my privates, gently wiping and soothing. My eyes were so heavy with my post-orgasm trance I couldn’t open them to see what it was. A washcloth, probably, made of the finest cotton, dipped in the most expensive lavender water from some rich foreign country…my imagination only took me so far. The finer things in life were beyond my experience. All I knew was that lying on a soft carpet with the sexiest man in the world kneeling between my legs with a warm washcloth was pretty much the height of paradise. I listened to Simon’s murmurs as he tended to me.
“When you came in to apply for the job, I couldn’t believe my eyes. You have a fire in you that nearly knocked me off my feet. Those tattoos, and that defiant look of yours. Ethan would never have hired you. He would have taken one look and thrown your resumé in the trash. But right away, I wanted you. I couldn’t let you walk away. I hired you as an experiment. I told Ethan it was a risk, but I had a gut feeling you’d be right for the job. I was proud I managed to think outside the box and hire a girl who is completely unexpected, but completely perfect. But now, now…”
I turned my head to look at him. He looked disturbed about something.
“Simon.”
“Yes?”
He gave me one last swipe and then the washcloth was gone. I felt clean and fresh as a newborn baby.
“I’m not afraid of you.” I felt my skirt being rearranged to cover my legs. One by one, my boots came off. I flexed my toes, appreciating the relief from the Goodwill hand-me-downs that pinched my feet. “The only thing I’m afraid of…” I whispered, “…is not being with you.”
“Little darling.” I couldn’t mistake the emotion on his face. A shadow came over him. “You’ve put me in quite a bind.”
My eyes questioned him, but he shook his head. “Not now. Why don’t you lie here for a while? I don’t think you’re in any state to go home yet. And I still have some work to do.”
“Okay,” I managed, already drifting off to sleep. Was he going to let me nap here on the carpet? It seemed an odd thing for the receptionist to do. But sleep called to me like a hovering angel and I couldn’t say no. As if floating on a cloud of feathers, I drifted into a sweet, dreamless sleep.
When I woke up, it was dark. A low voice was carrying on an urgent, incomprehensible conversation. Right away, my eyes flew to the desk, to where Simon must be. The only light in the room was coming from his desk lamp, which cast a round pool of illumination on his dark head. I was still lying exactly where he had left me. And Simon, I could tell from his voice, was in some kind of difficulty. I was completely tuned to him, to his wants and needs. How could I keep sleeping when he was so upset?
“I don’t know if she’s ready,” he was saying. “She’s still resistant, no matter what she thinks.”
Silence while he listened. He rubbed his hand against his forehead, where that adorable crease always appeared between his eyebrows.
“I’m telling you, it’s not right for her. No, of course I’m not arguing.”
Her. Was he talking about me? Was I the source of his trouble? I sat up. My mind felt bright and clear, like moonlight on the Long Island Sound. People think New York is all polluted and dirty, but there are some days (and nights) when it’s so beautiful it could break your heart. When the sky is clear and you look up and see the moon smiling down between two high-rises. Or when you pass someone’s pathetic little garden sandwiched between a vacant lot and a convenience store, and you see a perfect sunflower rising up straight to greet the morning sun.
That’s how I felt, like all the smog and pollution and craziness had cleared away for one perfect moment. And what I saw in that moment was everything had changed. Simon had come into my life and it would never be the same. Nothing else mattered.
I rose to my feet and padded over to the desk. The carpet felt delicious against my bare feet. In my town, you never go barefoot. Too much broken glass. Too big a risk of stray needles. But here in Simon’s office, it was safe. The two of us were in a cushioned cocoon where we could be completely free, where no one could hurt us.
Except whoever was on the phone with Simon.
As I came closer, he looked up and caught my glance. In the pool of light, his eyes were a color I hadn’t seen before. Deep, dark green, like pine trees. He looked worried. I couldn’t stand to see him looking worried. Didn’t he know nothing could hurt us here?
“What’s wrong?” I asked the question softly, so the person on the phone couldn’t hear.
He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. “Nothing you need to worry about.”
I stepped closer. Only the desk was between us. “You don’t understand. That sentence doesn’t even make sense. If you worry, I worry.”
His scar twitched, the way it did when a smile was making its way up his face. “You’re a sweetheart.”
“Not really. It’s just that you’re part of me now.”
He gave me a long look then spoke into the phone. “I’ll get back to you.” With the phone safely back in its cradle, we were alone. I moved around the desk to stand behind him. My hands on his shoulders, I began to rub. All that tension in his muscles. Why was he so tense?
“That was Ethan.” It was as if he’d heard my unspoken question, which didn’t surprise me at all. “This was his firm originally, and he did me a huge favor by bringing me in as an equal. I owe him. He’s like a brother. An older brother, used to getting his way.”
“You made him hang up when I was talking to him earlier.” It felt like a previous c
entury, a previous lifetime.
“Yes. He’s very excited to meet you. I shouldn’t have been quite so open about my high opinion of you. My mistake. Now I’m going to have to pay for it.”
“Pay for it? What do you mean?” I kneaded the flesh between his shoulders and his neck, and heard him groan. His skin was unexpectedly tender there.
“I’m going to have to let you go. You’re fired, Dana.”
Chapter Seven
“What?” I snatched my hands away from his shoulders. “You can’t do that!”
“Yes, I can.” He spun the chair around to glare at me.
“But, but why?” I felt the world crumble around me. “I thought you, I thought we, I mean, why, you sonofabitch!” My voice rose until I sounded like my stepmom yelling at my dad.
“Dana. Calm down.”
I wheeled away from him. “I’ve done everything you wanted. The regular stuff and the rest. Not only that, I liked it! Now you’re firing me?”
I heard him coming after me, but I couldn’t even look at him. “It’s for your own good.”
“That’s crap!”
“Crap? You don’t know what I’m saving you from.”
“Then tell me!”
His voice snapped at me like a whip. “Ethan will insist on his right to the full services of the firm’s receptionist. He’ll want total access to you. At any moment. If he feels the urge, he’ll call you in to suck him off during a conference call. He might ask you to wear nothing but a leather bustier one day. He might want your mouth while I take your pussy, or he might want to tie you up while we both fuck you.”
My eyes went wide as Frisbees. Was I terrified or turned on? Maybe both.
“He’s the senior partner. It’s how he set things up from the very beginning. He likes to keep things interesting. It’s how we’ve always operated. We share. And he’s voracious. But I can’t put you through it. I don’t want that for you. The others, sure. But not you,” he said, his voice softer now, almost tender.
“Why?” I thought I knew what he meant, but I wanted to hear him say it.
“Because…” His eyes glowed a soft green. “You’re different. You touch me in a way no one ever has. We’re the same, underneath. We’re survivors. Lonely, tough survivors. Roughed up by life. Too smart for our circumstances. No matter who I’m with, I’m alone, always alone. Except when I’m with you.”
The world righted itself, and I could breathe again. “Simon, all I want is to be with you.”
He gathered me in his arms and sat us both in the chair. As I snuggled into his lap, he gently stroked my hair. “I know.”
“I’d do anything for you.”
“I know.”
“Your partner means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”
He was quiet for a moment, though his fingers kept moving in my hair. “He changed my life. I was a scrappy kid from the streets with a knack for numbers. Ethan’s always had an eye for talent. He saw something in me and hired me. I’d probably be in prison if it weren’t for him. So yes, he means a lot to me. But darling, so do you. I can no sooner do harm to you than I can to myself.”
I can’t describe the feeling that flooded through me at his words. In my lifetime, no one had ever tried to protect me from anything. It was fend-for-yourself from day one. The idea that Simon, that god, that divine master, would put himself between me and possible harm was a shock to my system.
“He can’t do me any harm. No one can, if I have you on my side.”
He nudged me off his lap, until I stood between his legs. “I don’t want to chance it.”
My breath caught at the expression on his face. Open, raw. Vulnerable. If I’d thought he was beautiful before (and obviously, I had), it was nothing compared to how he looked in that moment. I bent down and put my lips on his. With one hand, I cupped his cheek and ran my finger over his scar. Our two mouths clung together, skin sweetly touching skin.
“Don’t I have a say in this?” My words were little more than puffs of breath against his lips.
“To a limit.”
The touch of his mouth against mine was like oxygen, like an addictive drug. I felt my head swim. I had to pull away from him to make my point. “I don’t want to leave this job. I don’t want to leave you.”
He stared up at me. Out of the corner of my eye, in the glass window, I saw the glimmering lights of downtown. Out there, people were going to bars, walking down the street talking on their cell phones, walking their dogs, working late. But for us, none of that existed. We were alone in the world, in our pool of light, in our dark nest. My world consisted of one thing—the man in front of me, his strong legs slightly spread, his hands, with their big knuckles, resting on his thighs, his shirt open at the neck so black hair showed through. Most of all, those eyes, green as a new planet. I knew I would follow those eyes anywhere.
He reached for my blouse and unbuttoned the top button. Then the next one. When my blouse was half open, he reached in. He ran his fingers along the edge of my bra, where my breasts curved, then down into the valley between. The light touch gave me shivers. I closed my eyes.
“You think you could handle Ethan?”
“I don’t know. But I can’t handle no-Simon. Besides, you’d protect me.”
His fingers crept under the edge of my bra and circled my nipples, which immediately, obediently tightened. “You trust me that much?” He unsnapped the front clasp of my bra to bare my breasts.
I nodded. I didn’t want to talk anymore. Only one thing was on my mind now—his fingers and their journey across my nipples. Scratch that. One other thing penetrated my consciousness—the growing lump in his pants. It drew my eyes like the earth pulls the moon.
“You can take it out,” said Simon. No need to wonder what he was referring to. I kneeled so I could reach his zipper. His pants were a fine-spun gray material that felt silky on my hands. The zipper slid down like butter. My heart pounded in my throat. After all I’d experienced at the hands of Simon, this was the first time I was getting to see his naked flesh. Under his pants, he wore plaid boxers. They made me giggle. I didn’t know what kind of underwear I expected a successful businessman to wear, but plaid boxers worked for me. Reaching into his fly, I felt the huge swell of his hard cock. My mouth watered, literally watered.
Eagerly, I drew it from its warm nest. It jumped toward me, extending to its full length, which was considerable, not that I’m an expert, of course. It didn’t matter to me what shape it was, what length, what color. It was Simon’s cock, and that made it perfect in my eyes. To satisfy my tongue, which was itching for a taste, I licked the tip. The skin was warm and tender, the flesh underneath hard and springy. Seeing the drop of liquid that appeared, I realized he must be aroused beyond anything I’d gone through in the past days. As far as I knew, he hadn’t had a single release, whereas I’d had orgasm after orgasm.
Overcome by gratitude, I sucked his entire organ into my mouth. It nudged against my throat, nuzzled against my tongue. The hardness was intoxicating to me. I’d been teased and excited to the point of madness, but not once had I gotten impaled. That’s what I wanted now. I wanted hard flesh to suck on. Better yet, hard flesh to ram me. Sucking and licking, I ran my lips up and down his cock. More than anything, I wanted him inside me. Nothing was going to be complete until I felt his cock slide into my wet pussy. Felt him fill me up with his heat. Pulling my mouth away, I looked up at Simon.
He met my eyes and, as usual, seemed to read my mind. “Come on up here.” The naked need in his voice gave me chills. Quickly, I hiked my skirt and straddled him. He slipped on a condom and I lowered myself on to his glorious purple-headed spear. Bliss. Beyond bliss. Completion. Glory. Destiny. He slid inside me like he belonged nowhere else. My insides throbbed with joy. Oh, this was it. Nothing else would ever do, ever again. From now on, my life’s goal would be to get him back inside me. Get him to move his hips the way he was doing right now, up and around, a devastating corkscrew.
Sighing, I
let my head fall back. The ceiling swayed over me. Ordinary white acoustic panels, but for me they were a Technicolor starscape. I felt his hands knead my breasts. Shots of electricity sizzled straight to my groin. Lifting myself up and slamming myself down, I rode his cock until the shivers spread to my fingers and toes. Inside, I felt him grow and surge to an impossible size. Our groans and pants filled the quiet room.
“You’re so juicy,” whispered Simon in my ear. “So unbelievably hot.” He hiked my skirt up in the back and rammed himself into me again. The world turned bright hot pink.
I gave a strangled sound. What I wanted to say was, don’t stop, don’t leave me empty again. But I had no more words.
Simon did. “I’m not going to stop until you come so hard, you forget your name. Forget who you are. Where you are.” His words shot like hot bullets past my ear. Each sentence matched with a thrust into the deepest part of me. “You’re mine. All mine. Never forget that.”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Both of his hands delved under my skirt, pushing aside the fabric so he could reach my pussy. He rubbed me until I screamed, then ground me against his hips. My breasts swung, nipples throbbing, longing for his touch. I twisted my torso so he’d see them and give them some love. But he was entirely focused on my burning pussy.
All I could do was let his iron hands pull me onto his cock. This way and that, back and forth, up and down, until my eyes went blind and all I heard was Simon’s ragged panting in my ear and the slippery sound of his cock sliding in and out of my pussy. His thighs tightened. A long groan echoed in my ear and I felt his spasms inside me.
Savoring every moment, I fought to stop my own release so I could appreciate his. But it was a pointless battle. In the next instant, the earthquake struck. My body flew apart into a million pieces. The top of my head blew off. Some kind of sound burst from my throat, but I had no ears to hear it. No eyes to see anything besides the bright sun that consumed my world in an explosion of ecstasy.