Page 11 of Charmed and Alarmed

“Good morning,” I greet her as I walk in, brushing past her desk, my mouth dry and my cock uncomfortably hard.

Previously, she wore what I guessed to be clothes borrowed from Honor or Sophie. The oversized garments were a mercy, and I almost choked on my own tongue when I walked into the office a moment ago and spotted her standing beside her desk in a black pencil skirt, tights, and a silky blouse. It’s the same sort of thing many women around the office wear. Not one part of it could be considered inappropriate. Apart from my dick’s reaction to the woman wearing it.

What I wouldn’t do to bend her over my desk and gather the pressed material in my hands, bunching it up around her hips while she squirms, moaning my name,“Holden, please.”I’d keep my eyes on her face, cataloguing her every response to my touch, learning how to reduce her to a panting, desperate mess who begs for my cock like she’ll die without it. The shit I would do to her if given half a chance?—

“Holden?”

I blink and realize I’ve been standing just beside my office chair, staring at the wall as if an image of Leni Vogel taking my cock is projected there. Clearing my throat, I sit down automatically, schooling my face into a passable imitation offineas I turn toward the woman hovering in the doorway.

Leni stares back at me. “Are you okay?”

“Hi. Yes. Fine.”Jesus. I’m so fucked up.Clearing my throat, I reach down to retrieve my laptop bag just for something to do with my hands. My dick is like an iron rod, and throbs viciously when I see the edge of a lacy bra strap peeking out from beneath her blouse.

Leni doesn’t push the subject. “The Garath Group requested a meeting.”

I wince. The Garath Group, who own a chain of boat dealerships, hired us for their new expansion, and the project has been nothing short of a nightmare. “Did he say for what?”

Leni checks her notes. “Something about unfavorable proportions of the men’s restroom.”

Scrubbing my hand over my face, I nod. “Fine. Christ. Set it up.”

“If you’d like, I can make a note to interrupt ten minutes in with an urgent family matter,” she suggests mildly, scribbling all this down on a yellow legal pad. “Something about your grandmother getting run down by a bicycle messenger, perhaps?”

I chuckle, warmth spreading through my chest. “I like the way you think, Vogel. Brilliant.”

“If you say so. Is there anything specific you need from me this morning? If not, I’ll continue with the data entry for the quarterly reports.” She finishes her note and looks up, gazing at me through eyes that are as cold and empty as ever. She looks—well, she looks like a ghost, andI can’t fucking stand it.

“Yes,” I hear myself say before I realize the word has even left my mouth.

That isn’t what I was going to say. What the hell am I doing?

Leni gazes at me, clearly confused by the stretch of stunned silence following this pronouncement. “Yes?”

“Yes,” I say again, standing abruptly as I make up my mind. “There’s an important project I worked on breaking ground upstate today, and I need to put in an appearance. You should come.”

“There is?” She glances at her notebook. “I didn’t see?—”

“Forgot to add it to the schedule. Sorry about that. I would promise to be better about it, but I think a week working for me is sufficient time for you to deduce that’s bullshit.”

To my total amazement, Leni’s lips twitch. “Okay. Are we leaving now?”

“Yes.” I grab my phone and keys from the corner of the desk I just deposited them on. My arm brushes hers as I pass through the doorway, and the brief contact with her warm skin lingers for far longer than it should.

I wait for her to gather her things, and the two of us walk toward the lobby, side by side. If I had any plan at all, or had thought this through, I would have done this very differently. As it is, we have a real chance of running into Bram, who knows full well there is no important project breaking ground today, and will undoubtedly have questions I can’t answer about where I’m taking her. Leni’s father is nowhere to be seen, and I slow my pace to match hers as we leave the building together, walking in silence across the street to the parking garage.

Ordinarily, I’m decent under pressure, but with every step, I seem to get farther from a possible solution to the corner I’ve painted myself into. I did something stupid because the thought of this woman looking at me with those lifeless eyes for even one more minute made me want to vomit.

What the fuck am I supposed to do?

Leni is quiet as we stop beside my car, a vintage pickup I had restored a few years back. It’s my favorite, but not the most practical option for transportation. When I reached for the keys to my more modern vehicle this morning, something had me taking these instead. At the time, I’d attributed the change of plans to the fine, summer weather. How could anyone ask for a better day to take a vintage car out? However, as I sit in the driver’s side and lean over to unlock the passenger door, Leni’s obvious approval has me wondering if—subconsciously—I knew this was the day my willpower would finally break.

“This is really cool,” she tells me, eyeing the spartan interior. “What year is it?”

“Seventy-one. A neighbor passed away, and his wife offered it to me for free. It didn’t run.” The car rumbles to life beneath us, and my heart seems to be lodged in my throat as I pull out of the parking garage, hyperaware of the woman beside me and the very pressing issue of having absolutely no idea where we’re going.

For lack of another idea, I head for the interstate, hazarding a look over at her when we stop at the end of the street.

Leni looks perfectly at ease, strands of dark hair dancing around her face from the open window, and her stocking-clad legs crossed beneath that fucking pencil skirt. Her bedazzled cane is leaning against the seat beside her, and as I watch, she scratches absently at the edge of the padded handhold, roughening the material.

---