Ardor
Copyright © 2013 by Elena M. Reyes
Malfunction Erotica
(The House of Malfunction)
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Edited by: N. Isabelle Blanco and R.E.
Hargrave
Cover image licensed by: 123rf.com/ curaphotography
Cover design by: N. Isabelle Blanco
Acknowledgements:
To my husband, my partner in crime, and best friend.
Thank you for all your support and love. Without you, babe, I would have never ventured past being a fanfic reader. You pushed, nagged, and almost demanded that I quit being afraid of what others would think. You wanted me to explore my creative outlet, and thanks to that I am here today, pursuing this dream…I love you, baby.
To my girls, what could I possibly say that I haven’t said before? Nyddi, you are the wackiness to my scary calm. Rachel, you are superwoman in my eyes and I am proud to be your daughter.
Steph, you get me and that’s scary, yet comforting to know I can always talk to you and you will never think I’m insane. My Cat; woman, I love you and your obsession with making me melt. Sonliz, you aren’t a part of this world, but will always be a part of me, Sis. I love you all with all my heart and thank God and Stephenie Meyer for bringing us into the fabulous world our fandom is.
Finally, to my son, who I would give my life for.
Everything I do, I do for you and the bright future I wish for you. You are the light of my life and I hope that you are as proud of me someday as I am of you every day… love you, bug.
Ardor
Gregory Thomas has always had an easy life. When it came to his profession, he excelled, gaining himself the position of manager to one of the nation’s biggest wholesale retailers. He was amazing at everything; except when it came to love. The night he found his ex-wife in bed with her gay best friend was the night Gregory decided it wasn’t worth it. He was better off just focusing on his career, and nothing more.
He became content with just being. That is, until Jasmine Velez, his new employee, walked
into his store.
Blunt, and honest to a fault, the woman captivates him against his will. Not only is she gorgeous, but she’s the first woman that doesn’t chase him around. Something that makes ignoring her that much harder. The last thing he wants to do is try to have a relationship with a woman again, and he knows that if he allows Jasmine in, that’s exactly what he’s going to go for.
Except, then he’s faced with the possibility of Jasmine being with someone else, and the choice is taken from him. He’s left with only one option: he needs to make her his. But that might prove harder than he originally first expected. How the hell does a man seduce a feisty woman who’s gotten tired of waiting for him and is hell bent on
not
giving into him?
Prologue
I sat at my desk, eyes frozen on the security feed, forced to watch that pathetic fool walk in and smile at the woman who held both my heart and cock in her small hands. The bastard was holding a single white rose as he approached Jasmine, and my hands clenched, the pencil I held between my fingers snapping as he came closer to her.
From what I could tell on the feed she was just finishing up with the last customer on her shift and was shutting her register down. Her station number was no longer shining bright into the front space as she pulled her drawer out.
We’d recently had special drop shoots installed by each register that sat above the stations. While it had been a success in regards to cutting down on the heavy foot traffic in the halls and my office as everyone cashed out, it fucked me over, too.
Jasmine no longer came to me at night.
The asshole waited on her to finish, standing over by the wall until she grabbed her bag. Jasmine never looked bothered by his inching way too fucking close to her or the whispering in her ear.
I saw Jasmine giggle and a low growl erupted from my chest, the sound echoing in my office.
What the fuck was she doing?
She’d turned him down the last time, at my request, but apparently that was no longer holding. I stood from my desk and made my way out to the floor feeling like I was about to explode with the damn jealousy pounding through me.
Lita and Thelma were instantly at my side, each with a hand on a forearm, as if to stop me if I had a bad reaction.
No, not
if.
There was no doubt that I was on the verge of causing that little bastard some harm.
He said something to her and Jasmine nodded excitedly. I took a step forward, dragging the two helpless employees holding me back, with me. The asshole reached for Jasmine’s hands, lifted them toward his lips, and marred my property with a kiss.
I'd had enough. "Jasmine, I need to see you in my office now!"
Her eyes widened, but soon turned to slits as she narrowed them at me.
"Sorry, Mr.
Thomas, I’m off the clock and company business will have to wait till tomorrow. Plus," she smirked saucily at me, "I have a date I have to get ready for."
My feet moved closer.
"This can't wait." My voice was foreign to even me by then. Jasmine's date decided to wise up, and after pressing his lips to her cheek for a second too long, he walked away.
Of course the bastard thought he could glare me down before doing so, warning me with his eyes to back off. Jasmine saw this and intervened before I forgot where we were and showed him that real men don’t glare or threaten.
We demolish.
"What the fuck, Greg? Why are you so hell bent on always ruining my plans?"
"Office.
Now, Jasmine!"
She flew by me, giving me a cold glare before throwing the door that led to our employee-only area open.
"You're losing it, Greg," Thelma chastised as I turned around to follow Jasmine. "Jasmine did nothing wrong for you to embarrass her like that."
"She promised me!"
"What did she promise? That she would become a nun?" Thelma gave me the disappointed grandma-glare.
"Well, no, but—"
Lita had stayed silent up until then, but now she shook her head and gave me an exasperated look. "Greg, she was doing what any single girl in her shoes would do."
I opened my lips, ready to protest.
“I’m not done. Jasmine is young. Beautiful. She isn't going to sit around and wait forever.
You need to let what Cassandra did, go, or you will lose Jasmine."
"I know that, but—"
"No buts," Thelma added, "get your butt in there and apologize to that girl."
Apologize. Yeah, okay. That was the last thing on my mind right then.
Jasmine was furious as I walked in—pacing and cursing up a storm in Spanish.
The sight caused m
y cock to harden with a painful throb. My feet refused to cooperate and move an inch as the Latin fire in her burned. Her tiny fists were clenched and waving around madly as she argued with the ceiling in my office. Jasmine was pissed.
In hindsight, it was obvious that the biggest mistake I made right then, was letting the chuckle I had been holding in, out.
Jasmine’s head snapped in my direction, before the cup full of pens on my desk flew my way.
I barely ducked in time.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Damn it, answer me!"
“If you would shut—“
"Finish that sentence, and I won't miss next time."
"Woman, would you please calm down! I still don't see how you have any right to be upset. You promised me you wouldn't see him. What the fuck was that?"
"I what?
Are you out of your ever loving mind? I broke one date," Jasmine spat, "never did I say I was turning into a monk. You have no ri—"
"The fuck I don't." Didn't she see how the thought of her with another man killed me? I was being wrecked by impulses that only a caveman could understand.
"How do you, a man who runs from anything reminiscent of a relationship, think he has a say in my love life?" she asked me, seething.
I cringed. "Because . . . well, fuck." The palms of my hands dug into my eyes. How did I make her see that it wasn’t that I didn't want a relationship with her, but that I just wasn’t ready?
That I was afraid to let someone in again?
"Is that all you can come up with? Three garbled words that mean shit and tell me that you are being nothing more than selfish?"
"Wait a minute, Jasmine, I've told you how I felt—"
"When?"
"The day I asked you to cancel your date.
You wanted the truth and I gave it to you. Why can't that be enough?"
"Because I need more," she whispered as a single tear escaped from the corner of her eye. My hand reached forward, so close to touching her perfect face—and she pulled away with a stern, "Don’t." Her soft face grew hard under my gaze as some unseen resolve morphed her features. "I’m not going to continue playing this game, Greg. I refuse to."
"What the hell does that mean? I'm not playing here, Jasmine, I—"
"I’m going on my date."
"No," I snapped, the word coming out as a rumble.
Jasmine shivered, eyes going wide.
"You can't do this." I walked toward her, stopping where she stood by the wall next to the door. My hands came down hard, slamming down next to her head. "Don't do this. Be mad, but don't punish me.” Her scent hit me with force and I couldn’t stop myself from skimming my nose down the column of her throat. "He will never be me. I'm the one you want. Give me time . . . wait for me."
"I can’t,” Jasmine cried out shakily, her body trembling. “I'm going to go out with him. It’s time I move on. You've had me at your disposal; waiting for you, but nothing. It ends now, I need to move on."
"You can’t, Jasmine, we—"
"I can and will," she whispered, stunning me with the determination behind her words.
It was such a strong punch to my psyche that I froze, giving her enough time to duck under my arms and leave my office. My heart broke at her words, but I was nowhere near ready to give up on her.
Jasmine had no idea what was happening inside me. How I was burning with an urge that was driving me slowly insane. The need to make her mine was growing stronger with each breath I took.
One thing was for certain. She was right. They all were. I couldn’t wait any longer. Hell, no.