Page 20 of Secret Desire
“Do you mind staying to help, Ash?” Ariel asked.
“Not at all. I am the new girl after all, I have to pay my dues.”
“Okay, we’ll see you all later,” Ariel said.
She and Grace and Theo headed out with their significant others while Maeve and I worked with the caterers to subtly get rid of all the lingering guests. Closing the bar helped move them along. By the time everything was cleaned up and the building was finally empty, the limo was idling in front of the building waiting for us.
“Where to, ma’am?” the driver asked Maeve as he opened the door for us.
We exchanged a heated look.
“My place,” I said, giving him the address. “She’s coming home with me.”
Maeve
Ten years ago…
“Thanks for coming with me. These events are insufferable.”
“It’s your sister’s graduation,” Grace pointed out. “You just have to show up, smile, eat some food, and congratulate Ashley. And give her a nice gift of course.”
Ariel shook her head. “Nope. My father will try to corner me to give me another lecture about why I should go to law school so I can join the family firm. And my mother will try to convince me that I’m not really a lesbian, that if I just meet the right guy I’ll be fine. And then she’ll try to introduce me to the spoiled loser son of someone she knows.”
I shook my head. “It’s a pool party. Let’s just get some sun. We’ve all been working way too hard.”
AGM was getting off the ground now and we were having better success than any of us had anticipated. We’d had a lucky break, meeting the right person and landing a big project with the city. It had paid off handsomely for all of us and seemingly overnight we were the company to call for innovative design ideas. Now we were talking about building ourselves an office tower – and maybe even some housing units where we could all live in close proximity to each other, just like we’d dreamed of when we were younger. Ariel found a great spot with the right zoning on the Gold Coast, and we’d already secured the rights to three of the four existing buildings on the site.
“I’ve always loved your parents’ pool,” Grace said happily as we scoped out three loungers right next to each other.
It was nice. Olympic sized, with landscaping along one side for shade. We should definitely find a way to put a pool in when we built our new building.
I put on my sunglasses and leaned back, enjoying the feeling of the sun on my pale skin. It had been a long, cold winter followed by a miserable rainy spring. This unexpectedly warm June day felt like a gift.
“Hey everybody.”
I followed the sound of the voice and nearly swallowed my tongue. The young woman standing in front of us was atouch on the skinny side, but she was still a stunner. The tiny bikini she wore highlighted beautiful breasts, full and high and straining against her bikini top. I dropped my eyes, noting a tiny waist, round hips, and miles of long, muscular legs. Damn. Something stirred in my belly that felt a lot like attraction. I wondered if she went for older women.
“Hey sis. Congratulations.”
Oh crap. I felt myself recoil as I realized that the woman I was ogling was Ariel’s little sister. I hadn’t seen her since Ariel, Grace, and I graduated college three years ago. She’d looked much different then, skinny with frizzy hair and braces, not the beautiful young woman she was now. Ashley was eighteen, technically an adult, but I still felt like a pervert checking her out the way I had. Thank God my sunglasses hid my eyes.
“Congratulations Ashley,” I mumbled, popping out of my chair and hurrying away. “I’m going to go get a drink.”
***
As soon as the door to the limo closed Ashley and I flew together, our mouths meeting in a crash of lips and teeth. It felt like years since I had her in my arms, years since that hot scene in the supply room at the office, and now I couldn’t believe we’d held out this long.
Being together felt inevitable. And that was a problem on so many levels.
“Stop thinking,” Ashley whispered against my mouth. “We’ll think tomorrow. Tonight you’re mine.”
We made out like horny teenagers until the limo reached Ashley’s building. She lived on the north side in one of the typical brick buildings that lined Chicago’s inner city neighborhoods. Taking me by the hand, she pulled me through the courtyard and up three floors to one of four units on the floor.
“No wonder you’re in such good shape,” I laughed. “You live in a third-floor walk-up.”
“No elevator in these older buildings,” she reminded me.
Ashley opened the door, and I had a brief impression of a comfortable living room before she dragged me through the small dining room and down the hall to the bedroom.
