Page 57 of My Office Rival

I laughed. “No, loud and bossy. Too many shoes and too many opinions.” I shook my head. “I don’t think the country is doing it for me. All this exposure therapy isn’t working.”

He grinned. “Just wait until this weekend. I was thinking we could go to the festival. Maybe wrangle something?”

I snorted. “The only thing I’ll be wrangling is something deep fried, but let’s do it. Maybe some insight into this place will be good for me.”

“Maybe you’ll even start liking beer.” His voice was dry and teasing.

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

34

JASON

Cynthia and I had reached a tentative truce at work. I hesitated to call it friendship exactly, because being friends with the work version of Cynthia was like befriending a rabid lioness. But her emails to me now included punctuation, and she had stopped talking to me like I was an eight-year-old who had suddenly been staffed on a merger.

For my part, I was making a concerted effort not to torment her. In fact, I was having to make an effort not to think about her at all, which wasn’t helped by the fact that she seemed to be everywhere. In the kitchen when I needed water, smiling at me and looking too gorgeous to handle, walking back from the bathroom when I was headed there, forcing me to sidle by her in the hallway.

I was rapidly coming to realize that having sex with her again had fundamentally broken something in me. I thought about her constantly. She was a forbidden fruit I couldn’t have, and of course, I wanted her even more because of it. Had I been unaffected before? It was hard to imagine. She’d turned the tables on me now. She seemed to revel in innuendo, and her skirts got shorter every day. Just this morning, she’d asked me to grab some paper towels in the kitchen because she was “all wet.”

My phone dinged. It was her. My hand hovered over the phone, and I flipped it over. I was not going to look. I was going to work. I clicked into my email and started preparing an update for Nisha. She was the co-head of our group and the senior partner on most of Mitchell’s clients. I lasted two minutes before I opened my phone to see her message.

Cynthia

It’s freezing in here. Does your client not make enough to keep the heat on?

The side of my mouth kicked up.

Jason

I actually told them to turn it off on your side of the floor.

Cynthia

Careful. I might make you switch offices with me.

Jason

Not a chance. There’s a window in here. I’m living in luxury. You’ll have to kill me first.

Cynthia

I can be very persuasive.

A frisson of excitement went through me. Damn, she was fun. I should not have been texting her right now, and somehow that made it better. That always made it better.

Jason

I’m listening…

Her typing bubble appeared and then disappeared. I waited with bated breath.

Cynthia

Well, if I can’t convince you, I could always tie you to the table.

I was instantly hard.Did she have any idea what she was doing to me?I dismissed the thought. She didn’t know about my predilections, but I couldn’t help but wonder…would she ever want to try that? Images of her leaning over me filled my head. I would ask her to tighten the restraints just to the edge of pain, just to the point where my hips could piston into her, but that was all, just to the point where I could finally lose control.She might.Arousal sang through my blood. Of any woman I had met outside the apps, she might be the most suited to playing.

Stop.If two nights meant I couldn’t stop thinking about her, three nights would have me obsessed with her. For just a second, I let myself fantasize. Ignore all the reasons we couldn’t be together. Pretend I wouldn’t get fired for fraternizing with her. What if I weren’t fundamentally broken?We could be so good.

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