rushed back to my desk and grabbed a file off of my desk.
"What!" He barked when I knocked.
I let myself in and walked over to his desk. I almost always stood on the opposite side of his desk when I talked to him, but this time, as if I did it
al of the time, I stood next to him. I put the folder on his desk and opened it.
"What is this?" He grumbled.
"You have to sign these," I snapped, trying to match his tone.
"Now? Don't you realize how busy I am!"
"We're al busy!" I leaned over him and started rifling through the papers. I flipped my hair so that it hung over my shoulder, a few inches from his
face. I took a painstaking amount of time to search through the paper work, cursing under my breath.
In reality, I knew exactly what he needed to sign, where it was, and it real y didn't need to be signed right then. After a half a minute of this, I
started to worry that my dumb blonde plan (and I'm a total brunette) wasn't going to work, but I suddenly realized how quiet he was. After another
moment, I felt his fingers raking through my hair. I pretended this was okay, didn't even acknowledge it, and magical y found the paperwork he
needed to sign.
"Here. Sign these, please, Mr. Sterling." I handed him a pen and stood up straight.
He stared up at me for a few seconds before he started signing. He
looked
a little calmer, but I couldn't be sure until he opened his mouth.
"Feel better?" I asked when he stood up and handed me the folder.
He reached out and entwined his fingers in a few wavy locks, leaned in close to me and inhaled.
"Yes," he said simply. His hand slowly slid down the length of my hair, the back of his hand lightly brushing my neck before he let go.
The skin on my neck felt like it was on fire, and I actual y stood there with my dumb mouth hanging open for several seconds before I was able
to col ect myself and leave the room.
When Kyle came out of his office a short time later, his demeanor was pretty relaxed. He made sure to find a reason to visit several areas of
the office so that his new mood would hopeful y rub off on everyone else. I was shocked by this, and thought maybe he had been paying attention
after al that night at my house. Of course, my awesome scented hair was a big contributor.
As he passed by my desk, he smiled and winked before disappearing into his office. I smiled, despite myself, and then got mad at my smiling
mouth and bit hard on my bottom lip as punishment. Dumb mouth.
***
there to participate. I was there as eye candy. Kyle told me so directly early in our professional relationship. I was slightly offended, and was tempted to beat his face in, but I knew appearances meant a lot to many of our clients. It was absolutely ridonkulous, but I understood that fact. If
Jess wasn't available, and she often was not, I would go. The Wednesday after the hair smel ing thing was one of those occasions.
My hair was pinned up that day, but in the back of the company car on the way to the restaurant, Kyle insisted that I let my hair down. He helped
me unpin it, and didn't hesitate to take a whiff when I was finished fixing it.
"Do you have earrings in your purse? Put them on."
"I feel like an upscale whore," I grumbled, digging out a pair of smal gold hoops.
"But I pay you so wel ," he smiled and took the earrings from me. It was true, I did get paid extra every time I did this. He put the earrings in my
ears, letting his fingers linger a little too long on my skin. It took everything inside of me not to gasp.
Much attention was paid to me by the two clients at the beginning of the meeting. I played along, flirting lightly and smiling too much, until they
final y got down to business.
Even though Kyle had the tendency to be a dick, from the beginning, I liked watching him talk when he was negotiating. He spoke passionately,
expressively, and with a conviction not even the hardest ass business man could ignore. As usual, I watched him as he spoke, watched him flash
his mil ion dol ar smile, and watched his muscles move under his dress shirt.
Oh shit.
When did I start paying attention to
that
? I also watched his lips, and would find myself daydreaming about the places his lips had been on my body. I tried real y hard to redirect my attention elsewhere, but it was a long meeting. At some point, I gave up, and let myself go a little wild in
the head, remembering how his fingers felt on me, and in me. I looked at his hair, recal ing how it felt to run my hands through it. When he looked
over at me, my own face must have given me away, because I immediately saw something like lust form in his eyes before he reluctantly looked
away.
A few minutes later, while the client was on a telephone cal and his partner was speaking to the waitress, I jumped when I felt Kyle's hand on
my upper thigh. He didn't look at me, and his other hand was out in the open on the table. He traced smal circles on my thigh, slowly moving down
my leg until he hit my stockinged knee. He paused for a few seconds before moving his hand to the inside of my leg and traced circles up, under my
skirt, as far as his hand could go without making noticeable adjustments.
I froze, shocked and incredibly turned on. I didn't know if I should move away, move his hand, pinch him, or shove his hand further up my skirt.
Before I could figure out what to do, he pinched me, kind of hard, and I started in my seat. The motion somehow closed the distance between us,
and his fingers were under my garter straps, fol owing them up my thigh until he reached pay dirt.
I cleared my throat to cover the moan that started to escape my lips. The meeting was coming to a close, and Kyle reluctantly removed his
hand. When he shook hands with the men, he used his "clean" hand. When they departed, I slumped in my seat and noisily exhaled. I took the straw
out of my girly drink and downed the thing in a few swal ows. I then reached over and drank the rest of Kyle's drink, too. He watched me with amusement.
"It's not funny," I growled.
"Why are you so mad?" He asked, draping an arm around me.
I sputtered some incoherent words before growling in frustration.
"What?" He asked in a low, velvety voice. "You mad at me? Did I violate you?"
He was making a joke of it, which set my head on fire. Our booth was in a back corner and no one sat close by. He felt free to put his hand back
up my skirt.
"Do you want me to stop?" He whispered in my ear.
I couldn't answer, because I was in the middle of an intense (very quiet) orgasm. I al owed myself two more, before I shoved him away.
"We agreed not to go there again," I said, breathlessly.
"You started it."
"I did
not
!"
"Oh no?" His eyebrows went up.
"No!"
"So, you didn't purposely lean over me on Monday? Exposing me to your cleavage and the scent of your hair I love so much?"
I stared at him. "I didn't mean to show you cleavage."
"Ah," he smiled. "But you meant for me to smel your hair."
I looked away, my face burning. "You needed to get a grip and calm down. Your attitude sucked and was fucking up the morale of the entire
office."
"But you did start it..."
I looked at him with what I hoped was a hard expression. "Now I'm ending it. Again. Now move so I can go to the bathroom."
***
abominable snow woman. On the elevator, Luke from legal also looked like a snow beast.
"You're melting," he pointed to the puddle growing at my feet.
"I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West."
He did an impressive impression of the witch during her watery demise, making me laugh.
"Do witches eat?" Luke asked me after we reached his floor. He held the elevator doors open.
"What?" His question caught me off guard.
"Do you want to have lunch with a warlock today?"
It wasn't the first time he's asked me to lunch and I have only gone a couple of times. I didn't have anything against Luke. He was a nice guy and
we had a similar sense of humor, but I was usual y too busy to have lunch anywhere but my desk. My mom was right, although I would never tel her.
My job kept me from a lot of things. Not that I had considered rol ing around in bed with Luke or even dating him, but I haven't even opened myself to
any
possibilities. And what happened with Kyle was ridiculous behavior not to be repeated, and we were supposed to be moving on. Therefore...
"Lunch would be great. 12:30?"
"Perfect." He grinned. "Meet you at your desk? I wil bring something."
"Sure. Now get out so I can get to work." I gave him a smal shove and the doors closed.
"So, I guess I should have asked you this before," Luke said on our lunch date.
"Asked me what?" I said, through a mouth ful of salad. I knew it wasn't lady like to talk with my mouth ful , but I never claimed to be a proper
lady.
"If you were seeing anyone. I ask you every now and then and most of the time you say no."
"Oh." I swal owed my food before speaking again. "The answer is stil no."
"Cool."
"I mean..."
"Yes?" He looked at me warily.
"I'm not seeing anyone. I..." I hesitated. Luke was a very good listener and good at keeping secrets, something I learned a long time ago, soon
after meeting him. I was having some family issues and during one of our very first lunches together, I unloaded on him; but I didn't know if I could tel
him about Kyle. At least not directly.
"I had a fling...thing...with someone not that long ago," I admitted.
"And you want more than a fling," he guessed.
"No, no. I mean, maybe if circumstances were different, but..." I sighed. "He's had a steady girlfriend for a long time. It should have never happened."
"Wow."
"Yeah, I'm a horrible person."
"No," he sat up straight. "I didn't say that, and I don't think that at al . I'm just surprised."
"Wel , it's over."
"Do you...have feelings for this guy?"
"Not real y," I lied. "It doesn't matter anyway. He's not mine to have and even though I hate his girlfriend, I'l never feel right about screwing her over. I don't like the guilt I feel."
"Hey, we al make mistakes," he said softly, giving my hand a quick squeeze. "But are you sure it's over?"
"For me it is."
"What about him?" Just as he asked that, Kyle walked in. His eyes immediately fel on Luke's hand resting on mine. He boldly stared at me as
he passed by.
"I hope so," I whispered.
Luke looked at Kyle's back with a thoughtful expression. If it connected in his head, he didn't let on. He turned back to me.
"I had a motive when I asked if you were seeing anyone," he said, with a sly smile.
"Oh?" I cocked an eyebrow.
"Would you like to go out on a real date with me?"
He's asked me out before, too, and I always gently declined, but looking at him now, I didn't understand why I had always said no before. Luke
was gorgeous, super smart, and he made me laugh, and he was very single, unlike Kyle.
"I would love to," I smiled warmly at him.
Later that night while I was reading in bed, my phone rang. I knew who it was before I looked. Kyle had been cal ing or stopping by a few nights
a week just to shoot the breeze. I liked talking to him like this. He was only half as obnoxious as he was at work, and the conversation came easily. It
was a compromise of sorts. We could carry on this friendship, but it had to stay out of the office, and it had to stay platonic, and the last part was the
hardest part.
"What was up with the hand holding?" Kyle asked after I answered the phone.
"It was a friendly gesture," I answered in a bored tone.
"You two looked real y cozy."
"Yeah. I suppose we were."
"Are you sleeping with him?"
"Wow. Not that it's any of your business, but no. I'm not. What if I were?"
"There's rules against that kind of relationship at Sterling Corp," he said smugly.
"There's no rule against me sleeping with Luke."
"Yes, there is."
"No, there's not," I rol ed my eyes. "He's not my boss, but I guess you should fire me, because I
did
sleep with
him.
"
"He doesn't count."
"Neither does Luke. Is that the only reason why you cal ed me? To question me about Luke?"
"Maybe. I was curious, but I feel better knowing you're not dating him."
"I said I'm not sleeping with him. I didn't say I wasn't dating him," I said.
"You're dating him?"
"Kind of. He's taking me out Saturday."
"I don't like it."
"I'm not asking you to, and I don't real y care," I lied. "You're stepping over that platonic line again."
"Sorry." He didn't sound sorry at al .
"Yeah. Do you have anything else to talk about?"
"What are you wearing?"
"Goodnight, Kyle."
I clicked the phone off before he could object.
"Wow, you look hot." Luke was standing at my front door, checking me out with a big shit eating grin on his face.
I was wearing short shorts and a tee shirt so riddled with holes it looked as if I had been shot. A lot. The shorts and shirt had matching bleach
stains and perpetual y smel ed like Lysol no matter how many times I washed them. My hair was in the messiest of buns and I was sporting a pair of
pink rubber gloves that went almost up to my elbows.