Page 16 of Pressure

He let out a low growl and for a moment, she thought he was going to come across the table and either kiss her or strangle her.

“You are damn infuriating,” he murmured as he took a pull off his beer.

“I’m infuriating? At least I don’t leave passive aggressive messages about the state of your code.” She winced. Her voice was louder than she’d intended and customers around her stared.

He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “I seem to remember my ‘neat freak’ ways saving our asses a time or two.”

Marissa felt her voice go up another octave as she spoke. “We clearly have very different memories of the past.”

“Still have beef with MIT?” she asked, purposely changing to a topic she knew would ruffle his feathers.

He lifted his middle finger in her direction and called her a bitch just as a waitress came by to check on them. She scurried away when she saw the look on Lance’s face.

His fist clenched around his beer and she thought he might shatter the bottle. OK maybe that wasn’t such a smart idea.

A minute later, the manager approached their table with to-go boxes in hand.

“I’m terribly sorry, but you’re making some of my employees and other patrons a bit uncomfortable with the language you’re using. It might be better if you took your food to go.”

Marissa gaped at the man, but Lance simply pulled a twenty out of his wallet and handed it to the manager. “Apologize to the waitress for us. We’ll get out of your hair.”

He efficiently boxed up both of their plates and stood, motioning for her to do the same.

“There you go getting us kicked out of a restaurant again,” Lance said as they stepped outside with their to-go boxes. “I didn’t even get to finish my beer.”

Marissa giggled. The fight had been invigorating and somehow just like old times. The only difference being the last time she’d had that public of an argument with Lance she’d ended her night tied to his bed screaming out her apologies for yelling at him, while he drove her body mad with a combination of pleasure and pain.

She did her best to squash the memory, but she knew it would follow her home.

When they said goodnight, Lance headed toward Solitaire, and Marissa drove the short distance back to the Glenview.

Isabelle was at the desk talking on the phone, but she gave Marissa a wave and a friendly smile as she walked through the lobby. Marissa just nodded.

In the elevator, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. It had been a long weird day. Hopefully, she managed to get some sleep.

When she got to her room, she went into the bathroom. Earlier, she’d discovered a jacuzzi tub and she intended to take full advantage of it. It took a while to fill the massive tub up but when it was full, she sank into the water and pressed the silver button to start the jets.

As she laid her head back and let one jet pound into her lower back, her mind drifted to another night in a similar tub.

Lance held her in his lap, her back to his chest, forcing her legs wide. The jet from the tub pulsed against her over sensitized clit and she writhed against him trying to escape the sensation.

“Stop moving, love. I want you to feel it. Let it wash over you. But don’t come. Not yet,” he murmured in her ear. One hand drifted from her thigh up to her nipple and squeezed as he nipped at her bare wet neck.

“Ah, God,” she cried. “Make it stop, please. I just want an orgasm.”

“And I’m not ready to give you one. Patience, Riss.”

There had been another ten minutes of torture before he let her have her orgasm. As she pulled herself back into the present, she realized her hand was between her thighs. Disgusted with herself, she pulled her hand out of the water and turned the jets off. There was no way she was masturbating to thoughts of Lance Moss dominating her. That ship sailed a long time ago.

When the water cooled, she stepped out and climbed in the shower to rinse off after pulling the plug on the tub. The cool air from the AC made her nipples hard when she stepped into the bedroom for clothes. At least she told herself that’s what caused the reaction. Slipping into bed, she pulled up her favorite bondage porn site. Maybe she didn’t want to masturbate to thoughts of Lance, but that didn’t mean she would deny herself pleasure.

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