“At least I didn’t mess your hair up any. Thank goodness for that braid.” I tucked my shirt in, as she’d untucked it when she was running her hands all over my back, a thing she loved to do.
Getting fixed back up, I found her frowning. “I kind of hate this.”
“Well, don’t,” I offered my advice. “In the reality of life, one has to go to work to keep a roof over one’s head. No one can lie in a bed with their lover, having sex all the time, leaving work out of it. What’s that line, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?”
She laughed. “Um, I don’t think you thought that one all the way through. What does all play, and no work make?”
“Oh, yeah. I see how I messed that one up.” I had to laugh at myself. “And the answer to your question is, all play and no work makes Jack a homeless boy. Which I don’t think we want to be either.”
“Yeah, I suppose we don’t. So, to work, it is. That means no sexy looks, no getting handsy, no whispered promises of what’s to come once we’re alone. Nothing. We are professionals, and we will act like it.” Lila looked at me with a stern expression then smiled. “And somehow, we’ve got to act like we’re just a couple of friends doing the morning news without bringing any intimacy into our newscast. This should be a piece of cake.” Her frown returned. “Not!”
She was probably right, but what else could we do?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lila
The male anchors all had a fitting to attend for the jackets Artimus wanted them all to wear for each newscast. The females didn’t have any specific direction for the clothing he wanted us to wear, so we were all free to leave after the rehearsals.
Nina and I left together. She wanted to see her aunt, so she and I caught a ride together to go to the bed and breakfast. After the visit with her aunt was done, she came up to my room to see me for a little visit.
Everyone was getting excited about going live now that the premiere was just a couple days away. I was nervous as well. “Nina, I can’t believe we’re so close. I’ve got goosebumps nearly all the time now.” Duke was part of that reason too, but I couldn’t tell her that.
“I bet you do. You’re going to be in front of the camera—your whole life is probably going to change. I’m not as nervous since I’ll be behind the scenes. It takes some of the pressure off for me.” She took a drink of the wine I’d poured us. “I need to use your facilities, Lila. This wine has gone straight through me, it seems.”
Jerking my head toward the bathroom door, I said, “You know where it is.”
Just as she closed the door behind her, a knock came to my door. I got up and went to see who it could possibly be. When I peeked out the little peephole, I found Duke standing there.
I opened the door quickly, hissing, “Nina’s here. What’re you doing here, Duke?”
He just smiled at me like it wasn’t a problem at all. “You and I have forgotten to exchange phone numbers, Lila. And as co-anchors, we should have them. Chill out, baby. I can play this off.”
I stood there, not knowing what to do. But when the bathroom door opened and Nina came out, the decision was taken out of my hands as she asked, “Who’s here?” She saw Duke, who stood there waving at her. “Oh, it’s you, Duke. What brings you here?” She glanced at me before looking back at him.
“Lila and I haven’t exchanged phone numbers yet. Artimus said we should just in case we needed to do any prep for the premiere outside of work hours. I stopped by to grab her number. How’s it going, Nina?” Duke came inside as I stepped back to let him in. Might as well, since he’d already come up with his little plan.
But I didn’t feel good about things at all. I didn’t want to be found out this close to our first newscast. I wanted to at least get on the air once before I got fired.
“It’s going good, Duke.” She took a seat on the small chair at the table for two near the bed. The only other place to sit was a small loveseat, and I took a seat on it.
Duke sat right next to me. He held out his hand. “Give me your cell, and I’ll put my name and number in your contacts.”
I had to get up to grab my phone off the nightstand by my bed. As I walked back to him, Nina asked, “And how did you know where Lila lived, Duke?”
Only Duke could see me, and I knew my eyes had grown to the size of saucers at her question. He was playing it cool as he answered, “I’ve been here before.”
Before he could go and confess anything, my brain took over and I sat down, handing him my phone and taking over the story. “We were sharing a cab, and I’d gotten out of the car without my purse. Duke noticed before they got too far away, and he ran it up to me. He caught me heading up the stairs. He said he called out to me, but I didn’t hear. I didn’t realize I’d left my purse until I get to my door and needed the key, and when I turned around to run after the cab I saw Duke, wiggling my purse at me.”
Duke had finished putting his number in my phone. Then he called his phone from mine and saved his number. “There, we can communicate effectively now.” He looked at the two glasses of wine, Nina’s empty, mine half full. “And if I recall correctly, you invited me in and gave me a glass of Scotch. You have any of that left?”
Nina’s eyebrows shot up, and I wanted to kick Duke in the shin for what he’d said. “You invited him in?” she sputtered. “And gave him alcohol? You two were drinking alcohol together? All alone?” She shook her head. “This is not good.”
“Why’s that?” Duke asked as he got up and went to the dresser where the Scotch still was and poured himself a glass. Then he came back with the open bottle of wine and filled both our glasses. “Which one is yours, Nina?”
She pointed. “The one on the right.”
He took it to her. “Now, why is it okay for you two to have a couple of drinks together and she and I can’t? We are friends, you know. We will be working closely together from now on. Why wouldn’t we get along?”
Nina sipped the wine while I tried not to freak out and gulp mine down like a lunatic who was close to being caught in an affair that would end my career before it even began.
“Well, I guess you’re right. It’s just that the strict rules of the company have me on edge. I don’t know what’s okay and what’s not. Like the camera crew was all together the other day. The others headed off, and Ashton and I were left alone in the studio. He asked me if I wanted to go grab a bite to eat and I told him that wasn’t a good idea with the rule and all.” She took a long drink, and I could tell she was a little worried.
Duke asked, “Did he make you feel uncomfortable, Nina?” He genuinely looked concerned about her, which softened my heart toward the man even more.
“No,” Nina shook her head. “Not at all. I like Ashton.” She stopped abruptly. “Not like in an inappropriate way or anything like that. Please don’t tell anyone I said that. I just mean that I like him as a person, is all. If there weren’t the rules at work, then I would’ve gone to eat with him like it wasn’t a big deal or anything.”
Nodding with complete understanding, Duke and I both knew what she was talking about. Things were hard to understand, and it felt like everyone was under a microscope. What could we do, and what couldn’t we do?
So I offered her my advice. “I think going to grab a bite to eat with a coworker of the opposite sex is okay. Duke and I have eaten together on a few occasions, and Artimus has come into the café, and he even joined us once. He never said a word about it being a problem. He even told us that he hoped we wouldn’t let the anchor job wouldn’t stop us from becoming friends when that was still all up in the air. He does want us all to get along—just not horizontally.”
Nina nodded, and Duke had a look that worried me a bit. “Nina, don’t let anyone ever get away with doing anything or asking you anything that makes you uncomfortable. But if someone asks you if you want to grab a bite to eat and you want to go, you shouldn’t overthink it. Don’t let all this harassment stuff interfere with anything that’s not harassm
ent, you know what I mean?”
“I know it shouldn’t be this complicated, but I feel like Artimus is just watching us all so closely and it’s gotten confusing. You guys should do a show on this stuff.” She sipped her drink. “You know, to help others understand the difference between harassment and genuine attraction, and how a person can go about figuring out if another person is attracted to you without making them feel odd about it.”
“I wish I knew how to explain that,” Duke said before putting the glass to his lips.
“Me too,” I added. “I guess it’s kind of hard to put into words. But the bottom-line is that if someone asks you to do something you don’t want to, then you can say no. If they threaten to fire you or blackmail you over not doing what they’ve asked, then that’s unacceptable, and you should report that right away. If a man asks you out and you don’t want to go out with him, you tell him no thank you, and if he respects your answer then that’s okay. I think it’s mostly just about respect, right?”
Nina nodded. “Yeah, that sounds right. But how do you know the difference between a date and just grabbing a bite to eat together? That’s what I want to know. Would our boss see Ashton and me eating together as a date? I mean, I see now that it would’ve been fine and that I was being overly cautious. But now that I’ve told Ashton no, he may never feel comfortable enough to ask me again, and I kind of hate that.”
“Well, how about you casually invite him to grab a bite sometime?” I piped up. “That should let him know that you’re fine with being friends who occasionally eat meals together. I don’t see what would be wrong with that.”
She looked at her wineglass with drooping eyes. “And if he says no, then what? Like what if he goes to the boss and tells him I asked him out or something like that?”
Duke was quick to say, “Ashton would never do a thing like that. Not over a simple meal. Now, what Gretchen did, that was lewd, and he didn’t even turn her in. Neither did I, even. Artimus saw what she was doing to both of us, and after talking to Artimus about it, we realized we should’ve gone to him and told him. He understood that we just felt it wasn’t the manly thing to do. The woman couldn’t actually hurt us or make us a do anything we didn’t want to, so why bother turning her in?”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I grew angry all over again about that woman. “I’ll tell you why. Because she shouldn’t be able to get away with something a man can’t. Just because she’s a woman doesn’t give her carte blanche to say anything she wants to a man. So what if she didn’t hold anything over your head when you turned her down. You have no idea if she would’ve stooped to blackmailing you both if you didn’t give her what she wanted. She could’ve told you guys that she’d turn you both in for sexual misconduct and then what would you have done? Given into her? Or reported her?”
Duke shook his head. “Well, I definitely wouldn’t have given into her—not in a million years. If she’d pulled a card like that, I definitely would’ve reported her. And I’m sure Ashton would have too.”
“I’m glad it didn’t get that far,” Nina commented. “And I’m like you guys. If a guy was just coming on to me, I don’t think I’d run and tattle on him. If he were lewd though, as you say Gretchen was, then I would’ve reported him. It would just be easier if everyone could just keep it in their pants and stop harassing each, but I guess it isn’t going to be a quick fix.”
Duke stood up after drinking the last bit of his Scotch. “No, it’s not. We all have things to learn. I dropped the ball when it came to stopping someone from making unwelcomed advances, and I won’t do it again, I can tell you that much. I hope no woman I know lets unwelcomed advances go unreported. And with that, I’ll leave you ladies to your visit. I’ll see you both tomorrow at work. Have a great evening.”
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted him to stay. Or I wanted to go with him. I’d had big plans for us tonight, and now I would be spending it all alone. What a disappointment.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Duke
I waited an hour before I texted Lila, telling her to give me a call when she could. She called me right away. “You left!”
“Hello, Lila,” I said with a laugh. “I thought that was what you wanted me to do. And I felt like you two needed time to talk.”
“That was nice of you.” She sighed. “She left about a half hour ago, and I’ve been moping around ever since. I had big plans for you. Our car ride to work this morning was very … inspirational.”
“And that’s why I’m currently waiting at the curb by the bed and breakfast. Pack a bag, baby. You’re coming home with me tonight.”
She squealed with delight, and I loved the sound. “I’ll be right down!”
I ended the call and waited for her to come join me in the cab. Rolling down the window, I waved at her when she came out, then scooted over so she could get in. It all felt rather covert.
She kissed me right away, the wine still on her tongue. “Yum.”
Her eyes were bright and shining as she looked at me. “You tasted the wine, huh?”
“Yep. And I can’t wait to taste every last inch of you, my dear.” I licked up one side of her neck. She still had the braid in, and I tugged at it.
Her hands gripped my biceps as she looked at me with pure lust. “Oh, tonight’s going to be good. I can tell.”
We pawed at each other the entire ride to my place, and barely got inside my door before removing all our clothes. She tossed her bag on the floor, and I pushed her to her knees right there on the living room floor.
Giving her ass a good smack, I moved around behind her, biting her sweet ass before kissing it and running my hand around to play with her clit, which was already swollen with arousal.
She moaned with pleasure. “God, you’re going to destroy me, aren’t you?”
“Destroy, no. Reinvent, yes.” I grabbed her by the waist and thrust my aching cock into her, moving at a slow speed that had her mewling in seconds, begging me to go faster.
Sweet little Lila was a full-on slut in my hands. She’d do anything I wanted. But she’d only do it for me, and that made me one hell of a happy man.
Her body began to tense, on the cusp of orgasm, so when I pulled my cock out of her, she leveled me with a frustrated look. “What’re you doing?”
“You’ll see.” I pulled her up and led her to the sofa. “I want you to suck me off, but stop before I come. I read something today and want to give it a shot.”
“Care to share that information?” she asked as she followed me.
“Nope.” There was no way I was going to try to explain what I was about to do to her. She’d see it as torture, I was sure, and would protest. But I was confident she’d be thanking me in the end.
Taking a seat on the leather sofa, I watched her get on her knees in front of me and start playing with my balls. “Heavy.” Her brows went up. “Full.” She winked. “You sure you want me to stop before you empty them down my throat?”
My cock jerked. “Damn, woman! The things you say get me off so fucking easily. I’ll stop you before I do that, though.”
She licked her lips then pressed them against the top of my dick, licking it a bit. She smiled wickedly and then leaned forward, putting my cock between her big tits. She moved her body up and down, using her breasts to stroke my dick.
“How’s this?” she asked me.
The sight was beyond beautiful. The tip of my cock would peek up in her cleavage then disappear into the hot depths of her luscious mounds. “Fucking amazing.” I had to lean back a bit to give her more room to do her thing.
The sensation was different than what I was used to. No chick had ever done this to me. Probably because it took a lot of stamina, as Lila had to raise her body up and down with each stroke. I wondered how long she could hold up. But then I recalled that I wasn’t letting her get me off completely, so she wouldn’t have to do it that long.
And I was right. Watching her, feeling her in that new way,
was very stimulating and soon my balls grew so tight I knew if she went on, I’d burst, spurting come all over her gorgeous face.
Grabbing her by the shoulders, I stopped her. “Your turn.”
“Already?” she asked, letting her boobs fall away from my shaft.
“On your back, knees bent, feet on the ground,” I told her.
She lay back on the floor and did as I’d told her. I could see she thought I was going to eat her out, but I had something different in store.
When I pulled it out, she gasped, “Really, Duke? I’ve never used one of those before.”
“You’ve never had a vibrator?” I was stunned, I had to admit. This woman was phenomenal in the sack. How could she have learned the things she knew without one? She’d said her sexual partners had been few, and that none were any good.
“No. What’re you going to do with it?” She bit her lower lip, turning me on even further.
My grin grew naughty. “Fuck you with it, of course.”
Her eyes went wide. “Of course.”
Turning it on, I decided to start slow, running it down the inside of one of her thighs. She watched it as I moved it. When I pressed it to her clit, I watched her entire body tighten up. “Seems you like it, baby.”
“If you leave it there for even a few more seconds, I’m going to blow apart at the seams,” she let me know.
I moved it down a bit before taking it away to lube it up with some strawberry scented and flavored gel. I figured why not add some flavor to things?
Moving around to get behind her, I sat on the floor and raised her head to lean back against my chest. “I want to watch this with you.”
The lavender dildo wasn’t as big as my cock, or as long, but the vibration would feel different inside her. Inserting it into her pussy, I felt her heart rate increase since my chest was pressed so tightly against her back.
Moving it nice and slow, I wanted to use it on her for a while before I had to take it away. I was acutely aware of my hard cock pressing against the small of her back, feeling every twitch her body made as I toyed with her.
Dirty News (Dirty Network Book 1) Page 14
