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  Mallory’s eyes bugged out. “Are you serious?”

  “Nothing else is working. So let’s try that.” He glanced around the table. “We’re done here, yes?”

  Mallory nodded, mute, as Avery shifted out of his seat, buttoned his jacket with one hand, and headed for the door without looking back.

  We finished running through our business, and I couldn’t wait to get out. Good thing Avery was gone. Otherwise I might’ve chased him and tackled him. Rode him down the hall like a damned pony to the elevator.

  But the electric buzz that ran through my veins as I packed up my things wouldn’t quit. It didn’t diminish when I called Mia, the comedian, and left a message, or when she called me back fifteen minutes later to say she was in.

  In fact, the feeling of energy and euphoria had me skipping down the street. I picked something up before returning to Alliance.

  The office was empty, so I perched on my desk for a few minutes until Avery strode in, pulling the door behind him against the noise of construction outside.

  Damn, just seeing him had me soaring. His tall build. Polished suit. The competent way he lifted his phone out of his pocket and dropped it on his desk.

  “Did you get the comedian?”

  “Mhmm. And I got you something. For backing me up in that meeting.”

  His gaze flicked to the treat in my hand, unimpressed. “It’s a half-eaten ice cream cone.”

  “It was an untouched ice cream cone, but you were out when I got back. If it helps, I’ve been thinking of you the whole time.”

  Avery hung his jacket on the back of his chair. Slow.

  His gaze never left mine. “You have.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Our conversation outside this morning had reaffirmed something. We’d been killing time. Treading water. Circling each other.

  None of the tension had gone away.

  If anything, it’d dialed up. Which was why I couldn’t resist licking a slow strip around the middle of the ice cream. Watching his eyes flicker when I did.

  “What are you doing.”

  A slow smile pulled at my lips. “I have all this energy. Who knew doing something good at work was such a rush. But this…this feels incredible.”

  Avery shifted off the desk and spanned the distance between us in a few deliberate steps.

  His charcoal suit was cut to perfection over his hard body. The pale mauve shirt should’ve softened him. Instead it accentuated the hard line of his jaw. The cobalt of his eyes.

  “Nice tie,” I murmured.

  “Thanks.”

  I hadn’t been able to fully appreciate it earlier in my stressed out state, but now? With just him and me and a tidal wave of need?

  The Tie was my downfall.

  Because he did look like a prince. And maybe he wasn’t the chivalrous Disney kind, but damn if he wasn’t better than he let on.

  It was sexy.

  All of it.

  A shiver ran down my arm. I noticed the drop that’d run down the forgotten ice cream cone and dripped onto my other hand.

  I lifted my hand to my mouth. Slow. Then sucked the ice cream off.

  God, double mocha fudge is good.

  Almost as good as the way he’s staring like he wants to lick you.

  My voice was low and a little rough. “The way you were in that meeting…I’ve never had someone stand up for me like that.”

  He lifted a shoulder, but the move couldn’t be mistaken for casual. Not from the intensity in his expression. “It was business.”

  “Is that what this is? Business?”

  He took a step toward me, and I felt the rush in every cell of my being at his closeness. His hard body. His masculine scent. His expression of confidence, swirled with a hint of wariness and arousal that was so damn him.

  “It’s business when you finger bang me after dark at some bar?”

  “It was your bar,” he breathed. “And your fingers.”

  I reached for The Tie. Felt my body tingle with anticipation as I slid it down. “Funny.”

  My fingers found the top button of his shirt, snug against his neck. I popped it open.

  “Charlotte, this isn’t happening.” I might’ve believed him if it wasn’t for the edge of temptation that lurked in his voice.

  “Because it’s wrong? You and I both know this place is so full of rules you can’t use the bathroom without breaking a dozen.” I reached for a second button and worked it free. “You’ve already fired me, and we both know this isn’t a play to get my job back. Sex is a healthy way for adults to blow off steam. And judging from what happened at Denim?”

  The third button I had to work at because his gaze had dropped to my mouth and I was having trouble concentrating…but finally it popped free too.

  “You have some serious steam to blow off.”

  I took another lick of the ice cream, then shifted forward and put my mouth on his chest.

  Avery hissed out a breath as the cold hit him. But all I could feel was heat. Taste the chocolate mixing with his flavor.

  “You taste so good,” I murmured against his skin. His hand tightened on my hip.

  It was the sweetest fucking game. Exploring his chest, the muscles that jumped under my touch. My kiss. Feeling him shift closer even as he resisted.

  My fingers worked open the rest of his shirt. Holy shit, the guy was cut.

  I trailed my lips down his chest. Pausing to nip along the way just to feel his sharp intake of breath.

  I dropped the ice cream into my coffee mug. Then continued to blaze a hot trail with my mouth.

  My lips curved against his skin as I trailed down to his belt. The serious bulge in his pants had me aroused and satisfied at once.

  I stripped my shirt over my head, and his gaze darkened. I made quick work of his belt, reached into his shorts, and wrapped my fingers around his cock.

  If I’d ever wondered where his confidence came from? This wasn’t a bad place to start.

  I let out a little moan. My mouth watered from the feel of him, soft over hard. From the challenge of wrapping my hand around him enough to squeeze, and…

  He grabbed my wrist. “What are you doing.”

  “You’re not ready?” I batted my eyelashes.

  “I’ve been ready since the day I met you.” The frank words sent a shiver through me. “I’ve always wanted you, even though I shouldn’t.”

  I pulled back. “Why didn’t you ever say anything? For two years, I thought you couldn’t stand the sight of me.”

  “It was easier. Cleaner. Even if you didn’t work for me—” his voice said it still bothered him “—I’d be one in a long line of men vying for your attention. I don’t line up for women. Not even you.”

  “Maybe I’m worth lining up for.” I ran my hand over him, and he hissed out a breath. “Damn, boss,” I said softly. “Maybe you’re worth lining up for too.”

  I squeezed the base of his cock, and his jaw tightened.

  Even if this wasn’t black and white, it was a midnight kind of gray. But whatever had been building between us, there was no ignoring it anymore. Not when my fist slid down the swollen length of his cock, tearing a sexy groan from his throat.

  A noise had both our heads snapping toward it. The phone on my desk.

  A reminder of exactly where we were. And how bad this was.

  We exchanged a look. “No,” he said under his breath.

  I smiled.

  On the final ring, I felt the muscles in my arm twitch. He reached for my hand, but I was faster, hitting speaker.

  “Charlie Merriweather,” I said brightly.

  “I have the CEO calling for Mr. Banks.” Redpath’s assistant was all business. Her professional tone sounded strange after the pants, groans, and murmurs I’d gotten used to in the past few minutes.

  “One moment please.” I hit the mute button.

  Avery’s commanding glare hit me full force. “Don’t you dare. You said we were on the same side.”

 
; I bit my lip. “We are. That doesn’t mean I don’t like to tease you.”

  “Charlotte, I’m going to strangle you with this bra, I swear to—”

  I hit unmute as he grabbed for my hands. Managed to get them, pin them to the desk.

  He cleared his throat. “Mr. Redpath.”

  “Avery. I wanted to talk about this program of yours in advance of your performance review conversation. Is now a good time?”

  “Of course.” He cleared his throat, eyed up the glass of water on the corner of my desk. Then reached for it, releasing my hand as he did.

  It was sexy as fuck, his hair wild from my hands. Him hovering over me. I reached for him again, brushed my thumb over the head of his cock, and he jerked under my touch. The warning look he shot me was the hottest aphrodisiac.

  Oh, yeah. I liked fucking with him. This was way better than pranks. It was mutual satisfaction. Mutual torture.

  Mutual destruction.

  “I’m encouraged by the potential of the program as a sales development tool. However, given our public exposure at the moment, I have some concerns. About data safety, and access. To be blunt, I’m not sure it’s the right time to signal we’re amassing large amounts of client data, even if it will help them in the long run.”

  “I understand,” Avery ground out, his voice pulled tight like an elastic about to snap. “But this could transform the corporate banking department.”

  His hand covered mine, intending to pull me away. Until I stroked down his length. Avery’s head fell back and his grip loosened. I bit my lip. Did it again.

  “Then there needs to be a way to do this while managing client concerns about confidentiality. Until you have that, I’m afraid we can’t even look at deploying the system.”

  “Let me see what I can do to…” he gritted his teeth “…speed things along.”

  “We may be able to find some resources to support you. Come talk to my assistant as soon as you have the chance.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Redpath. I’ll—do—that...”

  I knew he was getting close. I kept stroking, using the wetness as lube.

  Redpath clicked off, and Avery groaned. “Holy fucking hell you’re the devil.”

  My fingers dug into the hard, flexing muscles of his back as warmth spilled over my body. I closed my eyes, basking in the feel of his shaking muscles. The slipperiness of his cock in my hand.

  The sticky heat coating my stomach.

  Normally I don’t care much about the male orgasm. But seeing, hearing, feeling my control-freak boss lose his shit because of me?

  It was something else.

  By the time he pulled back to look at me, my pulse had only just started to recover. Which was crazy, because he’d barely been touching me. It was all my hands on him.

  When his gaze dragged down my body to linger on the evidence of what we’d done coating my skin?

  I’d never felt sexier in my life.

  He shook his head like he needed to clear it. “I should see Redpath’s assistant. Let me clean you up.”

  He reached for the box of tissues, and I took it from him. “I’m good. Thanks.”

  I cleaned off what we’d done as he adjusted his pants. Re-buttoned his shirt.

  “So,” he started as he re-looped the tie that’d ended up on the floor around his neck. “Was that getting me back for last night?”

  My mouth tugged at the corner as I straightened my shirt. “Just showing you that if you don’t take this place so seriously, you might actually have some fun around here.”

  My attention drifted down to my “Black like my soul” coffee mug on my desk, full of melted ice cream. The cone sat on top like a sad hat. “It’s too bad about the ice cream, though.”

  “Charlotte?”

  Avery’s hot gaze met mine as he straightened his tie, pulling the knot tight against his neck.

  “Fuck the ice cream.”

  15

  Nsfw

  “How’s the job search going?” Payton asked over the rim of her lookalike G&T, which I knew for a fact was just T.

  I shifted on my bar stool, crossing one leg over the other. “Great. No—better than great. I interviewed this morning.”

  OK, the truth was I’d forgotten about the interview until the voicemail reminder the night before that I had an interview for an admin position at a dentist’s office.

  “What does the job involve?”

  “Scheduling appointments. Handling billing. We get maybe twenty patients through a day. It’s a small clinic.”

  “Sure.”

  “You have much experience with children?”

  I blinked at one of the two women in scrubs interviewing me.

  “Not really. But it’s a dentist’s admin position, right? I mean. I’m not babysitting.”

  My interviewers exchanged an amused look. “No, it’s not babysitting. But sometimes a parent will get distracted. Take a call. Go out for a smoke. It’s helpful if you can make sure no one swallows a Lego brick.”

  “Right. And how do you do that? Tackle them?”

  “No, no. You can’t touch the children.”

  “OK…”

  “Reason with them. Distract them. Entertain them.”

  I laughed, the sound dying off as they stared back at me. “Oh. You’re serious.”

  Payton leaned forward. “And how did it go?”

  “Oh. You know. Fine.” I reached for the drink the bartender passed me. It was the same as Payton’s, with the addition of a heavy shot of G.

  “You sound pretty casual for a woman who’s going to be out of a job in two weeks.”

  “If the gala goes anything like I think it will, Avery’s going to land that job blindfolded.”

  “I thought you couldn’t wait to be out of here.”

  I sipped the drink and scanned the room. The crowd for Throwdown Thursday was thick as always. “It’s not all bad. I get free cookies. Air conditioning, most of the time.”

  “Your change of position on Alliance has nothing to do with the man who showed up to his own associates meeting this afternoon with his shirt buttoned wrong.”

  I frowned. “Seriously?”

  A grin broke over her face. “No, but he might as well have. It took him five minutes to answer a simple question. And I caught him staring off into space more than once.” She leaned forward. “So tell me. Did you?”

  “What. Hold hands behind the bleachers?”

  “No. Did you fuck hi—”

  “Ladies.”

  I choked on my drink at the sound of Avery’s voice. I turned to see him standing just behind me.

  His tie was gone. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone—a new record.

  Excluding this afternoon, when I’d gotten a lot more done than two.

  “Charlie told me you were going to be discreet.” Payton glanced at her stomach. “Thanks for that.”

  “It’s not a big deal.”

  “It kind of is. Remember when Brenda used to work in our group?” My boss frowned. “Exactly. She was supposed to be on the fast track to management. She had a kid, and Hollister decided she wasn’t coming back.”

  “They can’t legally do that.” Avery shifted, seeming uncomfortable with the words.

  “No. But there are lots of ways it happens. Downsizing. Getting passed over for promotions. There’s more than enough discretion in the system.” Payton sipped her drink.

  “Well, it would be a shame if that happened to you.”

  “Here here,” I offered, hiding my smile behind my drink.

  My friend shot me a curious look while Avery ordered something from the bartender.

  “I heard you’re doing an on-air news interview next week,” she said when he returned. “A millennial perspective on modern finance.”

  “It was Charlotte’s idea, actually.” Avery glanced at me before his attention migrated smoothly to Payton. “She arranged it with Mallory. We all know it’s toeing the company line. But we’ll take the good pres
s. Once the Sox are in first, Hollister won’t be news anymore.”

  I set my drink down. “Payton would be great in front of an audience. She’s charming. And funny. And good-looking.”

  Avery raised a brow in my direction. “Good thing I hired you to look after my files and not my ego.”

  “No way.” Payton glanced between us, and I tore my gaze away from my boss. “I figured you guys were… But I didn’t think…”

  Avery frowned. “What.”

  She smiled secretively. “Nothing. I see Emma, and I need to ask her something. Be right back.”

  “What was that about?” Avery mused, lifting his drink to his lips.

  Tilt was bustling around us. Someone brushed behind me for the bar, bumping me closer to him.

  “No idea.”

  There’s something different about having a conversation with someone who’s seen you naked. Even in a crowded bar, there’s an intimacy about it.

  “So tell me,” Avery started. “What trouble have you gotten into since I saw you last?”

  Last being three hours ago, when you came all over my stomach.

  “They were supposed to deliver the materials today. They delivered signage for the LGBTQ Alliance.”

  “We’re more progressive than I thought.”

  I grinned, and his face relaxed a few degrees.

  “How about you?” I asked.

  “I have a call in to Redpath’s assistant to understand corporate’s exact concerns about the program.”

  “Wait, if you don’t get it running, that’s a problem. Because it’s the core of your ‘promote me’ campaign.”

  “Exactly. But I’m getting stonewalled by the assistant.” He tapped his glass on the wooden bar in frustration. “See, this is why I need to be director. I can move this stuff along.”

  I cocked my head. “Being the boss isn’t the only way to get what you want, you know. Maybe if you showed her you appreciate her.”

  “For doing her job?”

  “Yes. It’s people like me who let people like you be successful. We can do our jobs fast or slow. If you show people you care, maybe they’ll do it faster.”

  “That actually works.”

  “Worth a try.”

  “Huh.” He nodded at my empty glass, wordlessly asking if I wanted another. I shook my head.