by Snow, Jenika
“Have a good morning, Miss Morris,” he said and turned to head into his office, but not before looking at me before he closed his door.
I sat down and exhaled roughly.
The phone rang, drawing me out of my thoughts.
“Baxter and Calvin, Mr. Shelby’s office, how may I help you?” I put on my “business frame of mind” and turned toward the computer to pull up Jason’s schedule. “Mr. Shelby just came in, but I’ll certainly pass the message along.” I looked over at the window to his office, saw him sitting behind his desk, the phone to his ear, but his focus was on me. I faced my computer probably a little too quickly, a little too obviously.
But the entire time, I knew he watched me.
Chapter Fifteen
Linda
I stood by the copy machine, my back killing me and my feet aching from these heels I thought were a good idea to wear because they’d been pretty. A tension headache started to creep up the back of my head and take up residence behind my left eye, like this tiny jackhammer that was slowly chipping away at the ground to set up the foundation for something bigger.
I lifted my hand and rubbed the back of my neck, trying to ease the muscles, to get the tension away.
It was fruitless though.
Over the past couple weeks, I’d done pretty well at keeping things on a very professional level at work around Jason. Although inside it was like a tug of war, my heart and mind fighting each other, logic and reason over desire and need, making it almost impossible to concentrate. And my heart was trying to win. My heart was winning.
I stayed afterhours, the majority of the office having already left. But I wanted to get a head start, because it was Friday and I didn’t want all this extra work piled up for when I came in Monday.
The headache started coming on a little fiercer, and I picked up the copies once the last one was done, put them in a neat pile, and turned around. A little gasp of shock left me when I saw Jason standing in the doorway. He had one leg crossed over the other, his shoulder leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed.
He looked tired, but he still smiled at me softly. I knew today had been especially rough, with back-to-back meetings, complications with a merger, and just overall stress I’d felt in the office. I’d come to find out that before a big deal went down, things were tense and rough. I hadn’t been with Morgan Financial Holdings long enough to really see that side. The side I saw was the tyrant I worked for.
But even through all that, Jason hadn’t passed that stress on to me. He always kept his voice calm, his attitude easygoing. He was so unlike my former employer that I was a little bit shocked and taken aback. Whereas Graham shouted what he wanted, demanding things, Jason was the opposite. I knew it wasn’t just because he was a nice guy. I knew I felt this way because of my emotions for him.
“I didn’t even hear you sneak up,” I teased and smiled. My head started hurting and I squinted my eyes, lifted my hand, and started to rub my temple. I instantly saw concern on his face as he pushed himself away from the doorframe and took a step toward me.
“Are you okay?” The concern in his voice took me aback a little bit.
I nodded and pointed to my head like that was going to answer all his questions. “I just have a little tension headache.”
He made a deep sound in his throat and tipped his chin out the doorway. “Come on.”
I followed him out of the copy room and into his office, where I set the stack of papers on his desk and watched as he opened one of his drawers and pulled out a little white bottle.
“I always keep a supply of ibuprofen on hand.” He handed me the bottle. “I can’t tell you the amount of tension and stress headaches I get working in this environment.” He smiled when I took the bottle from him. “You can take ibuprofen? No issues with it? I have acetaminophen, but that really doesn’t work well for my tension headaches.”
I shook my head and popped the cap, dumping a few little brown pills into my palm. “This is great. You’re a lifesaver.” He smiled at me before it faded just as quickly as it arrived. He turned and walked over toward the bar area in his office. There was a little stainless steel mini fridge, and he opened it and pulled out a bottle of water. He came back to me.
After he opened the cap and handed the bottle to me, I greedily popped the pills into my mouth and took a hearty swallow of the water. I felt droplets slide down my chin and laughed softly as I wiped them away, looking up at him from under my lashes and seeing him watching me. He wore a serious expression and I sobered.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, wondering if he was so serious because I should be more professional, not laugh as water dribbled down my face.
He blinked a few times, his vision seeming to clear as if he’d been focused on something else. “Sorry?” His brows knitted. “What are you sorry for?”
I shrugged, suddenly feeling on display for some reason. “I guess for being here? I guess for maybe seeming like this is not very professional of me?”
“Unprofessional?”
I nodded once and licked my lips. “Yeah, as in being in my boss’s office taking his pain relievers and drinking his water as it travels down my chin.” I shrugged, unsure what was going on right now, but there was a certain thickness in the air. It wrapped around me.
It wrapped around us.
He cleared his throat and looked away from me then, staring out the window and lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck. I didn’t know if I should leave, say something, or just be totally honest with him. Because if I was being truthful, I was feeling pretty stressed out with my turbulent emotions, knowing that how I felt was not wrong, but inappropriate given our positions. But then again, I’d known that when I got the job. And I accepted it and the position regardless.
“Can I be honest, Linda?”
I straightened at the seriousness of this tone. He turned around and faced me, his hands clasped behind his back, his expression showing no outward emotion. I licked at my lips and nodded. “Of course?” I didn’t know why I’d spoken it like a question, but as I waited for him to say whatever it is he needed to, part of me felt so nervous, so on edge.
He swallowed, and the fact that he looked anxious made me feel even more on edge.
“It’s really hard having you work here.”
His words were like a wrecking ball right into the center of my stomach. I felt the air leave my lungs almost violently, felt my heart plummet to my belly. I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t know what to say. I had my hands curled tightly into fists, my nails pricking at my palms painfully. I wouldn’t be surprised if they dug into my flesh, opening up the skin, creating outside wounds that matched my inside.
“Do you understand what I mean?”
I nodded then shook my head. No, I didn’t know what he meant, other than maybe he didn’t like having me work here because it was awkward and uncomfortable for him. Maybe he didn’t like my job performance.
“Are you not happy with how I do my job here?” My throat was tight, the words barely able to come out. And I realized this wasn’t just about possibly losing my job for whatever reason, but because the very thought that Jason saw me as weak, unable to pull my own weight… sucked.
He blinked a few times and slowly shook his head. “What? Your job performance?” He sounded genuinely surprised. “Linda….” He took a step toward me and rounded the desk until he was just a few feet from me.
I could’ve lifted my hand and reached out, placed my palm flat on his chest, felt his heart beating. I could’ve felt if it was just as fast as mine was right now.
“This has nothing to do with the way you work here, Linda. In fact, you’re an incredible asset to this company… to me.”
A wave of relief filled me, and I felt myself actually sag a little, not realizing I’d been so tense.
“Do you really not understand what I mean? Surely this isn’t one-sided? Surely the way you’ve looked at me, the way I feel that you… feel toward me, it’s not
all in my head?” There was this pitch of uneasiness in his voice, this worry.
My heart started racing double-time, the tenseness coming back. Was he actually saying what I thought he was saying?
He took another step toward me and I felt his body heat slam into me, smelled his cologne, felt myself getting drunk off of it. “Say it,” he whispered. “Tell me so I know I’m not losing my mind.”
This was insane. I was crazy for thinking this, allowing it to continue. I was fucking crossing the line for the words that were about to spill from me. I opened my mouth, unsure how to actually say the words but knowing they’d been on my mind for so long. They’d been tormenting me, because I wanted to tell him, to come clean.
Then do it. Say it. Tell him.
“Jason.” I said his name softly, maybe too low for him to hear me. But when he made a deep sound in the back of his throat, I knew he’d heard me.
“Yeah, you want this, don’t you? This isn’t just me, Linda, is it?”
I licked my lips and shook my head.
He made another gruff sound.
“I want you, Linda. I want you so much it’s physically uncomfortable being around you, because I know I shouldn’t desire you the way I do, that because we work together, it’s wrong.” He exhaled loudly. “But, shit, it doesn’t feel wrong.” He ran a hand over his head.
I couldn’t move, didn’t even know what to say. What could I say? Hearing Jason say all this stuff was exactly what I’d wanted, thought about... fantasized about.
He took another step closer. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even think clearly.
This was happening.
And I had no intention of stopping it.
Chapter Sixteen
Jason
I didn’t stop myself from crowding her, invading her personal space.
I was hard and saw the way she glanced at the way I tented my pants. My cock was bulging, maybe embarrassingly so.
When I was a foot from her, I looked at her face, saw the emotions playing across it. Without thinking and just acting on instinct, I lifted my hand and cupped her cheek. God, she felt so fucking good. Her breath caught, and I stared at her lips. I’d never been a man who wanted to do the love thing, never wanted the whole “forever” aspect of love.
But with Linda… yeah, I wanted all that.
“What are you doing?” She tried to sound surprised, maybe because I was touching her, but despite that shocked sound, I could hear the pitch of her voice.
She was turned on.
Linda brought her tongue out, ran it along the swell of her bottom lip, and that was when I lost it. I wanted Linda like I wanted to breathe. I leaned in close, stopped so our mouths were just a centimeter apart, and stared into her eyes. She didn’t stop me, didn’t stop this.
I kissed her softly at first, letting her get used to the pressure of my lips on hers, of my hand tightening now on her cheek. I pulled her closer, and when she didn’t immediately push me away, I tilted my head to deepen the kiss. God, she tasted incredible. She panted against my mouth, but that didn’t stop me from running my tongue along her lips, coaxing her mouth open so I could delve inside. I moved my hand behind her head, gripped the loose strands of her hair, and loved when she finally opened her mouth as she gasped.
I seized the moment and pushed my tongue inside, a groan leaving me on its own, as if I had no control over myself or how I felt for her. No. I have no damn control when it comes to her.
Taking her mouth harder, more fiercely, I felt this dam open up inside me, controlling my actions. She now had her hands on my arms, the feel of her nails pricking my flesh making me grunt in pleasure.
“God, you feel fucking good, baby.” I used my hand in her hair to tilt her head farther to the side, delved my tongue deeper into her mouth, and took her like a man possessed.
I am possessed. By her.
“Jason,” she panted against my mouth. “We should stop.”
I groaned. “I don’t want to stop. Do you, Linda?”
She shook her head, and I felt my cock jerk in response.
I curled my fingers into her scalp, loved the little sound that came from her, and moved us so she was pressed against the wall. Then I pressed my dick against her belly, loving the softness I was greeted with. I ground myself against her obscenely, like some kind of damn teenager unable to control himself.
And then I kissed her like I was a dying man and she was my last meal. I devoured her, took everything she was willing to give me, and knew it wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough.
When I broke the kiss and looked down at her mouth, I saw how red her lips were, how swollen and glossy from my kiss. My cock jerked forward. I wanted to see another part of her looking the same, another part of her wet and pink, swollen and ready for me.
The sound of people right outside my office door turned me on more, knowing we could get caught, knowing anyone could see us.
“Someone could catch us,” she whispered breathlessly.
“So what, Linda baby?” My voice was thick with desire. “Can’t tell me it doesn’t turn you on a little bit, can you?”
She didn’t answer right away, but then I saw the way her pupils dilated, the way her breathing changed even more.
I knew she was soaked between her thighs, could practically feel the heat scorch right through me. I slipped my hand into the edge of her skirt, slid my fingers along the material, then pushed her skirt up. And then I felt the lacy edge of her panties, a harsh sound leaving me. “Damn, baby. You got little secrets, don’t you?”
She was panting.
“I bet you like the feel of that lace on your pussy, don’t you?”
“Jason. God.” She whispered that last word.
It took a lot of damn willpower not to just shove the fabric aside and thrust my fingers into her. A groan left me at that thought.
“Tell me, Linda. Tell me what you want.”
She stared at me with wide eyes, her lips parted.
“Touch me.”
Christ.
I didn’t waste another second. I pushed the material of her panties aside, that soft, delicate fabric that had my balls drawing up tight.
“Say it again,” I demanded.
“Touch me, Jason. Touch all of me.”
When I finally touched her pussy, all slick, smooth, hot, and wet flesh, I couldn’t stop myself from slamming my free hand on the wall beside her head. I leaned down to bury my face in the crook of her neck. She smelled so fucking good. I inhaled deeply then ran my tongue up the length of her throat. She tasted good too. So fucking good.
I worked my fingers on her pussy lips, moaned at the smoothness of her flesh, and started grinding myself against her.
“Tell me you like it.” The way she worked herself on my hand told me she did fucking like this. But I wanted to hear her say it. I needed to. “Tell me,” I demanded.
“I like it,” she said breathlessly.
“Yeah, you do.”
Linda let her head fall back against the wall and closed her eyes. I worked my fingers through her folds, moved them up and down her slit, and then started rubbing her clit back and forth.
“I want you, Linda. I need you,” I said against her neck.
“Tell me more,” she coaxed.
“You want to know it all? You want to know what I want to do to you?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“I want my cock in your pussy, want to feel how tight and wet you are for me, how slick I made you.”
“God,” she moaned.
“I want you in my bed, under me, giving me everything, because you can’t stand this sexual tension between us anymore, because you want me as much as I want you.” I stroked her faster, harder, knowing if I kept this up she’d give me what I desperately wanted.
“Oh. God.” She started moving her hips back and forth, grinding her pussy on my hand.
I wanted to keep going, wanted her to get off for me, wanted her cream coating my fi
ngers and palm.
“Please,” she whispered, and I knew I had to give her whatever she wanted.
I worked her over so good until she clutched at me like her life depended on it. She tipped her head back, closed her eyes, and finally gave me what I wanted.
Her surrender.
Her pleasure.
And as she tensed for me, moaned out, I absorbed all of it.
Fuck, I was hard as steel, and seeing her flushed, panting, her post-euphoric orgasm lingering between us, I could have gotten off from all that alone.
I lifted my hand so she could see how wet my fingers were, how creamy she’d made them. And then I brought them to my mouth. I sucked the digits clean, my gaze trained right on her the whole time. And when I’d swallowed all of her arousal, I leaned in and kissed her once more. I forced her to taste herself on me, to know her flavor mixed with mine. I broke the kiss but stayed close, letting her feel how hard I still was, what she did to me.
“This isn’t over with, Linda.” I stared right in her eyes.
She licked her lips, and I felt the way her body shook slightly. “I know.”
Chapter Seventeen
Jason
Later that night
I couldn’t stop thinking about her, about what I wanted with Linda, how she made me feel alive.
I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, my hands braced on the granite counter, the air around me filled with fog from my recent shower. I should’ve done a cold one, tamed some of this damn arousal that ate at me. I looked down, the white towel wrapped loosely around my waist, my erection tenting the fucking material.
The truth was, I’d had a hard-on ever since that first date with Linda. And I swore the monster between my legs hadn’t gone down since. It was like he was demanding I do something about it, and jerking off was only making things worse. Yet I still did it, still stroked my dick until I came, thought of Linda and all the fucking things I wanted to do to her. And even after I was spent, my balls drained, my dick was still rock-hard.
