by Nana Malone
He laughed. “I grew up in Downing Street. You don’t get more London than that.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Snooty posh London. Not the same.”
“What? You think I haven’t run around in South London in dodgy clubs and partied in East London so drunk off my arse I couldn’t see straight?”
“Yeah, still snotty rich London. You’ve got to see the really grimy bits. The markets, the people. I’ll take you to this Ghanaian restaurant which is so incredibly delicious. But you might want to leave the fancy threads at home.”
“You’re on. Is that where your mom was from?”
“She was the Ghanaian ambassador to the UK for years. And then to the United States, Japan, France for a bit, and Italy. All over, really. Dad was British, but I happen to have been born in the States while she was stationed there. And then I just went to international schools most of the time.”
“And you’re talking to me about being snooty?” His laugh was more conspiratorial than teasing.
“I’m not snooty. I hated all of that stuff. So, wherever we moved, I quickly found the nicest local I could and hung out with them as often as they’d allow. It was the only way I really learned about a place. It kept me grounded. So, I’m very down to earth. I watch all the best down-to-earth shows,” I joked.
He laughed then. “God, something tells me I’m going to be scared of your telly viewing.”
I rolled my eyes at that. “I’m sure you consider footie on ITV to be the end all-be all of what’s on television?”
He laughed. “Well, I don’t really have a lot of time for TV.”
“God, don’t you ever just veg on Sunday? Take a walk, do something that isn’t putting oodles of money in your bank?”
To my surprise, he laughed. “No, I guess I don’t.”
“I want to make you a viewing playlist immediately.”
He brushed a blond hair out of his face. “Oh, yeah? What’s going to be on it?”
“First thing that’s going to be on there is Turn Up Charlie. Idris Elba’s in it. He’s British and part Ghanaian. It’s excellent and hilarious.”
“It’s a comedy?”
I smoothed my hand down over my hair as a quick wind gusted through the square. “I can’t believe you’ve never heard about it.”
“I guess I’ve been living under a rock.”
“You have been. We’ll fix that don’t worry.” He was easy to talk to. Too easy. I could forget that he was my boss. Or rather my boss’s boss. I could almost forget how we’d met and that I’d blackmailed him into helping me.
Not blackmail when he bribed you.
“You are an odd one.”
“I think I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should. You can come off as so buttoned up. Almost sterile. Like in your office. Why don’t you have any pictures or plants or something?”
“I was taught you might need to be able to move quickly. Best not to unpack too much.”
“Yeah, I kind of guessed that. Always ready to run.”
“Something like that. Granted, running isn’t by choice most of the time.”
“If you say so.”
We rounded a corner and strolled through cafés and boutiques. As we were headed back to the hotel, I heard a screech. A lorry was coming around the square, honking its horn. It jumped the curb, and I squealed. “Oh, Jesus, he’s going to hurt someone.”
Before the words could even finish tumbling out of my mouth, the driver lost control of the lorry with a trajectory directly toward us.
I don’t know what possessed me. Ben was busy looking in the window of a cigar store, and he was turning a moment too late.
“Look out.” I shoved him hard, toward an alley. He didn’t budge much, but he did trip over the lip of the curb into what looked like a trough of water of the nearby florist.
“What the fuck?”
The lorry skidded again and then managed to right itself before careening off.
“Hey!” I shouted. “Come back.”
Ben blinked up at me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m sorry. The lorry—”
“Yeah, I saw it. But why did you jump in front of it and push me away?”
Was he serious? “I was trying to save your life.”
Several people had come over at that point to try to assist us. Someone had gotten the driver’s license plate. As we were relatively unharmed, there was no point in waiting for the police, really. With slippery hands, a couple of people helped me get Ben up out of the trough.
When he was free, he glowered down at himself. His shirt, vest, and trousers molded to every muscle on him, and I stared.
Focus. You just shoved your boss into a trough of water. He’s not going to be thrilled. “So, is this the moment when you realize I saved your life?”
His glare told me everything. This was not a life-saving event to him. I was so totally screwed.
Ben
I was soaking wet. And it was all thanks to Olivia Ashong, who was currently chattering a mile a minute as she followed me into my office.
“It’s fine. It’s just a little water.”
I kept a change of clothes in the office for such an occasion that I stained my shirt or something. I just hadn’t planned on doing a full change.
“I’m really sorry. I was just trying to get you out of the way.
“I’m just going to grab a change of clothes.”
“But oh my God. I’m so sorry. I was trying to help. And honestly the lorry was so close, and we could have been killed.”
“We weren’t going to be killed. And I like the idea of you jumping in front of danger to try to save me.”
“If I hadn’t, you’d be flat as a pancake right now.”
“I tripped.”
Her eyes sparked with fire. “I saved you.”
She was holding a towel and blotting me dry. And standing far too fucking close. Her coconut lime shampoo was wreaking havoc on me. I couldn’t really think properly. I wanted to lean into her, to take a good whiff, to wrap myself in her scent and do all kinds of dirty things with it.
Jesus, you need help. “You are a magnet for trouble, did you know that?”
“I have never been a magnet for trouble until I met you. In a closet, mind you.”
“You were there before I got there.”
“But if you hadn’t ever come in, I never would have gotten that drive in my purse, or gotten mugged the first time, or almost gotten mugged the next time.”
“You’re blaming me?”
“Yeah, I’m blaming you. Before I met you, I was completely boring. No one paid me any attention.”
“You think this is my fault.”
“I’m just saying.”
“You’re the one who needs to be careful. You’re small and delicate, and you traipse around jumping into messes like you can’t get hurt. When someone tries to mug you, you try to fight back.”
“I just couldn’t let it happen again. Besides, they wanted to take me somewhere, and even I know that’s not a good idea.”
“At least you know that much.”
She jabbed me in the chest, her finger leaving an invisible, searing burn on my skin. And I wanted more.
“You need to be more careful.”
“Careful, Mr. Covington, someone might accuse you of caring.”
I squared my shoulders. “Hardly.” My gaze fell on her lips, and my gut tightened. No. Stop looking at her mouth.
Olivia swallowed hard. “I am… uh…” The spark of lightning between us danced. I could physically feel the tension in the room. I needed to get changed. I needed her to get out for me to do that. But goddamn, her hands were on me as she patted me dry. “Look, it’s fine. I’m just going to help you, and then we’ll get back to our day, okay? God, I’m such an idiot. I was really trying to help.”
She continued to pat me with the towel as she spoke rapidly, hardly taking a breath. Each press of her palm was stoking the flame, playing with
fire. “Um, Livy?”
She kept on talking though. About how I needed to be more careful. That I should have better situational awareness. Have a clue as to what was happening around me.
All the while, she had zero idea what was going on in my head. The war I was having with myself about touching her, about what was appropriate. All the blood rushed south, and I clenched my teeth, trying to fight against my growing erection. She chose that moment to glance down.
Fucking brilliant.
Her voice went throaty when she mumbled, “Um, I think you’re mostly dry. You can handle this yourself. I’m going to go.”
I cleared my throat in a desperate attempt to regain control. “You probably should.”
But she didn’t move, just stared at me with those wide dark eyes. Daring me.
“Olivia?” It sounded like a plea.
Her wide dark gaze met mine. “Yeah?”
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
Her mouth opened as if she meant to gasp, and I didn’t waste any time.
Yes. I knew it was wrong.
Yes. I knew it was a bad idea.
Yes. I knew I had zero business kissing her when I didn’t know if she could be trusted. She has a boyfriend you wanker.
Well, fuck him.
Deep down inside, she belonged to me. And yes, I knew that once I had broken the seal, it would be nearly impossible to put that genie back in the bottle.
But the kiss happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to register my own movements.
My lips slid over hers, and electric heat struck like a stick of dynamite. She gasped, and I slid my tongue against hers, while hers teased mine in a slow, seductive caress, making me momentarily lose track of time and space, of who I was and what we were doing. There was so much I wanted to take. So much I wanted to have. So much I wanted to communicate in the kiss.
My hand caressed her face before sliding into her coily curls. I pulled the pins free, letting her curls spring apart and cascade down her back and over her shoulder.
I liked her like this. Hair out and free, a coiffure better matching her personality. Sliding my hand into the springy softness, I tugged gently, angling her head just enough so I could deepen the kiss and chase the taste of sweet berry on my tongue.
I couldn’t think. Hell, I couldn’t fucking breathe. All I knew was the blood flowing thick through my veins had drummed out all rational thought. I slid my other hand down her back to just over her ass, itching to cup her like I had before.
I wanted to claim her. Mark her. Make her mine so she wouldn’t run again… so she wouldn’t want to.
Kissing her felt like time stood absolutely still. We stood locked in time for what could’ve been a second. A minute. Or it could very well have been three hours.
My skin was too tight, too hot and flushed, and my cock was convinced it needed to reside inside Livy. He was working on his escape plan from my pants, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
I kissed her until she made this little mewling sound at the back of her throat. Part whimper, part demand. Then we were moving.
A flat fucking surface.
That’s what I needed. But this, whatever this was, wasn’t going to be some hurried rush job on the desk. Not that I could stop kissing her.
I wanted her melting on my tongue and wrapped around me. Desperate as I was, I backed her up against the wall and angled my body so I could kiss her just the way I wanted. Desperate. Demanding.
Her hips ground against mine. There was no way she could mistake the hard press of my length against her.
Another whimpered plea and something shifted in the air. Instead of her fists grabbing into my shirt like they had been before, they were flat, and pressing against me.
I frowned, dragging my lips from hers, trying to make sense of the input I was getting. She sucked in deep breaths of air and pushed me away as she shook her head.
I released her easily and backed away. Even if it felt like I was cutting away a piece of me.
The severance of bodily contact enabled my brain to come back online. What. The. Fuck. Was. That.
“Fuck. That was not supposed to happen.”
Her eyes darted around and looked anywhere but at me. Her lips trembled when she spoke. “I—I have a boyfriend,” she stammered. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips swollen from my kiss.
I knew about her boyfriend. I just had stopped caring for a minute. All I cared about was tasting her again. Already like a junkie in need of another hit. “Livy, wait.” I reached for her, but she evaded my touch.
“I have to go.”
She darted around me, making her escape out of the office before I could stop her.
Livy
Two truths.
One, Ben Covington kissed like they were giving out Olympic medals for it.
Two, I’d kissed him back.
And not just kissed him back. I’d enjoyed every damn moment of it like I was never going to get another opportunity to kiss again.
And you’re not. At least not him.
I leaned my back against the bathroom stall and tried to catch my breath, but it was nearly impossible. Hell, I could barely stay upright my knees were so weak. My stomach knotted. I’d kissed him back. Who the hell was I? The old me wouldn’t have kissed her boss. No amount of crackly tension and heat would have made me do that.
I needed to find Dexter.
I had to talk to him. Apologize. Something. If I was going to be with him, I needed to be with him. I couldn’t have one foot out the door and ready to leave. It was either all in or all out, and I’d ridden that fence for too long.
I checked my phone to see where he would be tonight and recognized the swank pub where they often had their work happy hours. I needed to go talk to him. I had to tell him and apologize. Hell, what was I going to say, it’ll never happen again? He had no reason to believe me.
But I had to try.
From the bathroom, where I had every intention of hiding until it was time to leave, I used my phone to text a message to Jessa that I would be out of the office and on my phone if she needed anything.
Now all that was left to do was to remedy the guilt on my face.
16
Livy
Finding Dexter and his team wasn’t difficult.
They’d taken over the whole upstairs portion of the pub. It wasn’t even really a pub. It was more bar turned pseudo nightclub. They had dart games and billiards, loud music and a dance floor.
When I climbed up the stairs, I spotted Dexter in the corner playing billiards. He expertly sank a ball in the corner, and I couldn’t help but think his hand seemed fine.
Fantastic.
I swallowed my annoyance. I needed to do this. I’d messed up. Our whole relationship had gone off the rails. And if I wanted to get it back, I needed to fix this. To undo the harm that I’d done. Assuage your guilt you mean.
This wasn’t me. I wasn’t the kind of person who cheated. I wasn’t the kind of person who kissed and made out with her boss. I wasn’t that person. And Dexter needed to know.
I waved him down. His eyes went wide, and he faltered a moment.
He drank his drink before coming over to me. “Liv, what are you doing here?”
“Well, I checked the calendar, saw where you were going to be, and thought I would join you.”
“No, we’re entertaining clients. I can’t really have my girlfriend turning up for that.”
My heart sank. “Oh, I didn’t realize. I’m sorry, I just wanted to see you. We’ve been sort of missing each other like ships in the night.”
“Yeah, I know. We’ve just been busy, I guess. You’ve got your new job.”
I swallowed down the annoyance, the anger, the fear that he might not be helpable. I swallowed all of it because he was Dexter. My Dexter. He loved me, and I loved him.
He doesn’t act like he loves you. I ignored that twinge of reality.
“I just need five minutes, and then I’l
l leave you to enjoy your clients.”
He sighed, leading me down the stairs. “Liv, this is really inconvenient.”
“Sorry. I can go, I just really needed to see you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Is this about your mum again? Look, I get that you’re sad, but I thought you had a therapist for all this stuff.”
“I do. I see her and it’s good. But I need to see you. Look…” I shifted on my feet. This was not the way I wanted to have this conversation. “Can we go outside?”
He pressed his lips together into a firm line. “Christ, you’re so fucking needy right now. I need to get back to my client.”
Why was I here, begging him to love me? “It will just take a second, Dexter.”
We finally went outside where I could hear myself think. Whispered kisses of an impending drizzle brushed my face. I glanced up at him. His eyes were bloodshot, his pupils dilated. Come to think of it, he’d been using his hand just fine upstairs. I’d watched him angle a billiards cue. Expertly. His grip steady.
Stop it.
“Something happened today, and it made me realize that I want to work on us.” The hell you do. You’re running scared. “Really work things out. I know things have been a bit shaky, but I just want us to get back on track, you know?” You’re only here because you are desperate to know how else Ben can use his expert tongue, and it terrifies you. “I didn’t realize tonight was a client thing. I thought it was just a bunch of mates from work.” You did realize, but you need to cling onto this reality so you don’t slip your boss your wet panties.
He rubbed at the back of his neck. “Can’t we just talk about this at home?”
“Yeah, I guess.” I wasn’t sure what I’d thought. That he’d magically turn into the old Dexter who would have been happy to see me on a night like tonight?
“Everything okay out here?”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention, and a cold chill crept in through a crack I’d left unguarded. Dexter turned with a smile. “Fenton. There you are. Look, Olivia came by. She wanted to hang out. Why don’t you and her chit chat. Get to know each other better. Liv, Fenton and the missus have been saying we need to go over there for dinner. Why don’t you two sort it out? And be nice.”
