Page 40 of Cakewalk
I looked closer at the grinning cat. “It makes a cute tattoo, at least.”
“I call him Mittens.”
I laughed, having not expected something so cute out of a story that was essentially so sad. Here he was, permanently branded for a crime he didn’t do, but I could see how it gave him some power to own it. “I like Mittens a lot. He looks like a cheeky bastard, just like my boss.”
“Sounds like you need to set your boss straight.” He had a fire behind his eyes, a hunger.
“Well, now,” I started, feeling the same flame rise in me. “How do you propose I do that?”
He stood and closed the distance between us, putting his hands on my hips. “Are we saying to hell with it, Jade? To hell with professionalism and what everybody thinks?”
The heat between my legs definitely was. “Pros and cons,” I suggested, and he waited, his face suspended above mine. “Pro, we both really like each other and see eye to eye on a lot of things. Con, people are going to think this is nothing more than a work fling, one of us taking advantage of the other.”
“People think a lot of things.”
“Pro, neither of us care that much what people think at this point. We’re kinda used to it.”
“On the flip side, I care what you think, a lot, and I want to be the man you think I am.”
Hot.“I’d file that under ‘pro.’ But con, I’ve barely got my shit together, and you’re still picking up the pieces of your own life.”
He moved closer, his voice barely above a whisper. “If we all waited until everything was perfect, we’d never get anything done.”
My eyes dropped to his lips, and I unconsciously licked my own. “Con, we’ll have to keep this a secret.”
“And what is ‘this’?” he asked, his deep eyes searching for answers in mine.
What was our first agreement? Friends with benefits? Why couldn’t we be more? “‘This’ is whatever you want it to be.”
“I can’t lie to you, Jade.”
“What?”
“I’m not ready yet to be abandoned again.”
“I wouldn’t.” I never meant anything more in my life.
“We don’t know how things are going to turn out. It’d be better if we kept this an indulgence and nothing more. At least, for now.”
I knew he was being practical. I knew he didn’t want either of us to get hurt or to risk disappointment. I definitely didn’t want to repeat what happened with my last relationship, thinking it was more serious than it was.
“You’re right,” I said, and I saw just the slightest glimpse of pain in his eyes. “We’ll just enjoy ourselves. Not make this into a thing. When we aren’t working together, we’re just two lonely people who really like each other’s bodies.”
“Let’s just get this out of our systems. Then we can think clearly, and act like two sane adults again.”
I nodded, as much as I wanted it to be more than that, as much as I knew he did too, and he slid his hands beneath my ass and picked me up like I weighed nothing. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he carried me to the sofa, his lips finding mine. He sat with me straddling his legs, his grip still tight against my ass.
My hands traced the crevices of his back muscles as he unzipped my skirt. “Stand,” he commanded, and I did, only for him to pull down my skirt, then panties. He traced a finger between my legs, finding me already wet for him. “Fuck,” he whispered. “Are you always like this for me?”
“It’s become quite the workplace hazard.”
“Let’s just say you’re not the only one who’s been having ahardtime at work.”
“Is that a boner joke?”
He stood, and speak of the devil, his hard cock was straining against his pants. “Shush and bend over the sofa.”
I did as I was told and got to my knees, laying over the cushions. He walked off to pull something out of a drawer, then came back, unfastened his belt, and pulled out the cock I’d been fantasizing about since it was last inside me.
