Ask Me Something (The Something Series Book 2) (7 page)

“What’s on your
mind?” he asked, sitting close and turning toward me.

“Explain what
this would be. It wouldn’t be a relationship, right? I mean you don’t do
relationships, and I certainly don’t.”

“I don’t do
girlfriends. It would be a sex between friends I guess.”

“What about the
whole boss thing?”

“I could have
Mark draw up a nondisclosure agreement if that would make you feel more
comfortable about keeping professional and personal totally separate. But I’d
like to think that with our friendship we wouldn’t need one. Unless you’re
afraid you can’t keep them independent.”

“Don’t patronize
me.” I was instantly annoyed.

“My apologies. I
didn’t mean to.” The amusement was back on his face.

“See, that right
there. You’re polite and charming, and everyone who meets you loves you. You’re
the perfect gentleman. That’s why this other side of you is throwing me.”

As if to prove a
point, he leaned into me and cupped my chin, meeting my lips. They were soft;
however his kiss was anything but. His hands moved to the back of my neck,
holding me in place while he ravaged my mouth and inflamed my senses. His
demanding tongue met mine, and I moved closer toward him. He slid his hands
under my backside, moving me so that I straddled his lap.

In an effort to
relieve the pulsing ache between my thighs, I ground my center against his hard
length, whimpering at the friction.

“Fuck.” He
pulled his mouth away, looking as turned on as I was.

My hips rolled
shamelessly into him, and I was rewarded with his groan.

His hands
gripped my hips, pushing them back and pinning them in place. “Enough,” he
croaked out. His face looked pained, but I could tell by the look in his eyes
he was serious.

I started to
move off of his lap only to have him hold me in place.

“No, you don’t.
Don’t get pissed off because I’m saying no.”

It irritated the
hell out of me that he knew what I was thinking before I did. “I’m not. You
don’t want to, and I get it—”

A second
scorching kiss was the way he shut me up. His hands gripped my ass and rocked
me into his erection, back and forth. “Does it feel like I don’t want to?” he
asked, tearing his lips away.

“But you need
rules?” I clarified, breathing heavy.

He nodded and
gently lifted me off of him and back into the corner, swinging my legs over his
lap so that I couldn’t get up. “We both do, and even then, it won’t be
tonight.”

My body rebelled
at the thought, and I tried not to be petty. “I need to ask you something.”

He exhaled, most
likely knowing the direction this was heading. “Ask me, then.”

“Did Jamie have
these rules?”

His face told me
the answer before his mouth did.

Unbelievable. I
tried to get up, but he wouldn’t let go of my legs.

“Sasha, wait—” He
pulled me back down and leaned over me. “Look, I’ve known Jamie since college.
I didn’t have any rules with her because she wasn’t someone I wanted to be
monogamous with or who merited taking the time and effort to ensure we had
everything agreed upon first. Also Jamie and I know a lot of the same people
from school, and although it may not seem like it, I’d like to keep my personal
shit, from being reunion gossip. Up until five months ago, she had a serious
boyfriend. Before that, it had been six years since we, ah, were together. And
although she may have implied I see her every trip to New York, the truth is
that I didn’t tell her every time I was in town.”

“Why didn’t
you?”

“Because I
didn’t want anything serious with her. I could tell she had started to want
more and was jealous of you.”

I swallowed at
his admission. “That’s why she showed up at the bar?”

He nodded. “I
think she believed she’d mark her territory, but instead, you know the
outcome.”

No, I didn’t,
and it was on the tip of my tongue to ask what was actually said to her to end
things. But considering this was my first real affliction with possessiveness,
and he’d made it clear we were monogamous; I decided not to push it. “Thanks
for telling me that.”

He regarded me
for the longest time. “Come here, give me those lips.”

Aroused by the
command, I did a very un-Sasha like thing and leaned over without protest. I
could tell from the flash of pleasure in his eyes that I’d pleased him by doing
so.

He kissed me one
last time and then sighed regrettably. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. Did you want
to go into the office or stay here?”

“Office.” It was
the one place where I was in control and could compartmentalize the holidays,
my sister, and Brian into a nice neat box while I got some work done.

***

The next morning
I showered and dressed quickly for work. The nice part about the Charlotte office
was that I could dress more casually than I did in New York. There was also the
fact that it was Christmas week, which meant hardly anyone would be in. The
owner, Josh, had given the week off to all employees. He was a lot more
generous with time off since he’d met his wife-to-be, that’s for sure.

When I entered
the kitchen, I spotted Brian’s younger sister sitting at the small table eating
cereal.

“Hey, McKenzie,”
I greeted, not knowing if she would remember me. It had probably been five
years or more since I’d last seen her.

She looked
shocked and then grinned. “Hey, Sasha. I didn’t know you were here.”

Getting up, she
gave me a hug which I hadn’t expected. Luckily, she didn’t notice my
awkwardness, but instead looked excited to have me here. She was tall like her
brother and had turned into a natural beauty.

“I got in late
last night. I was telling your brother only a few days ago that the last time I
saw you, there were braces on your teeth. Now you’re all grown up and
beautiful.” I meant the compliment sincerely.

She blushed
prettily and resumed her seat. “I don’t know about beautiful, but I am almost
twenty-two.”

Her
self-deprecation reminded me of myself in my early twenties: in college, away
from home, and feeling weird in my own skin.

“I didn’t know
you and my brother had gotten together. I think it’s great, though. I always
wondered if you would.”

Oh, shit. I
realized she was under the wrong impression. Or maybe the correct one, but
considering nothing had happened yet, I amended her assumption. “Uh, we’re only
friends. I drove in last minute, and Brian slept downstairs.”

As if on cue, he
opened the basement door on the far side of the kitchen. He was adorable, all
rumpled from sleep.

“Hey, Kenzie.
Hey, Sasha. Help yourself to coffee. I’m going to grab a shower, and then we
can go into work.”

Kenzie’s face
fell with Brian’s words.

Oh hell. I
hadn’t meant to leave his sister alone today by insisting on going into the
office. “Brian, you don’t need to come in with me. I’m probably only doing a
half day, and you should hang out with Kenzie.”

He looked
between the two of us and stretched his arms up, affording me a glimpse of his
abs. “How about we go in for a few hours, and then Kenzie can meet us for
lunch? You wanted to go to the mall for a dress or something, right Kenzie?”

My eyes inadvertently
remained glued to his stomach. By the time they journeyed back up to his face,
he was smirking at me.

“Yeah, I’d like
to get a dress for the wedding and maybe some shoes. I don’t suppose I could
convince you to come with me, Sasha, maybe after lunch?”

“Uh, sure.” I
didn’t know how I could say no.

“Kenzie, she may
not want to—”

I gave Brian a
pointed look. “No, I do, really. I love fashion, and I’d be happy to go with
you.” I might not know Kenzie very well, but I did love shopping. And it would
be an opportunity to get to know her better.

She smiled.
“Cool. Does that mean I get to drive your car today, big brother?”

He walked by and
mussed her hair on his way to the stairs. “Sure. No problem.”

I was thankful
for the Keurig machine and made myself a cup of coffee. Meanwhile, I thought
about how many guys would’ve freaked at the thought of their baby sister
driving their brand new Lexus. But he hadn’t batted an eye. He was laid-back
that way. So how could he be dominant in the bedroom? Maybe he only thought he
was. It could be that nice, easy-going Brian merely didn’t say please or thank
you during sex.

Kenzie’s voice
brought me out of my thoughts. “I suck at clothes big time. I brought a dress
that I wore in high school, but it’s kind of juvenile. I’d like something, I
don’t know, a little more grown-up.”

I was still
thinking about Brian’s defined stomach. “Of course. It’ll be fun.”

After spending
the first couple hours in the office wading through email and catching up on
some correspondence, I felt back to normal. Work is where I found my
equilibrium and sense of purpose. It’s where I was in control and could feel
confident, but by mid-morning I’d run out of things to do. Most of my clients
were on vacation, and I was supposed to have spent the day in a Disney marathon
with my nieces and nephews. I wondered if Brian was busy. Aside from a couple
other people, we were the only ones in the office today.

I headed toward
his side of the building where I heard the unmistakable voice of Juliette and
the sounds of a toddler before I saw them outside of Brian’s office. Smiling, I
walked toward them. She’d had this week off, and I’d been afraid I would miss
seeing her.

Juliette Walker
had started in the Charlotte office over eight years ago as the receptionist,
then began working for Brian directly. She was now officially the office
manager, but she continued to perform multiple tasks specifically for Brian on
a daily basis. She was the glue that held the corporate office together and had
endless energy as well as sass. She was the type of person who talked enough
for the both of us. In time, she’d eased me into a friendship whether I’d
wanted it or not. You pretty much didn’t have a choice but to like her. She’d
wear you down otherwise.

I missed hearing
her chat about everything from office gossip to what she’d seen on television
on a daily basis.

“Hey, Sasha,”
she greeted, spotting me coming toward her and giving me a big hug.

“Hi. I thought
you were off this week?”

Brian stood to
the side, holding Tristan, her eighteen-month-old son, on his hip. The adorable
little boy looked completely at home in his arms.

“I am,” Juliette
answered. “But Brian said you were in today, and I haven’t seen you in months.
Wow, you look skinnier. Turn around.”

Ironic,
considering my sister’s friend had said the opposite about my weight. I turned,
bracing myself for what she’d say next.

“Your ass looks
fantastic in those black pants. Yep, you lost weight. Must be that New York
living. No down-home cooking or real food.”

Leave it to
Juliette to both flatter and embarrass me with a compliment.

“Don’t you
think, Brian?” she teased, turning toward him. Only she could manage to make
him uncomfortable and seemed to enjoy doing it as often as possible.

He blushed and
then shook his head. “I’m not looking at any female’s butt in this office, let
alone that of Sasha-B-Fierce.”

Juliette’s eyes
got large, and she quickly glanced at me to gauge my reaction. Ah, obviously
she had known about the nickname, too. I shouldn’t have been surprised; the
woman knew most everything about everyone in this office.

I shrugged it
off. “Good thing for both of you that I consider it a compliment.”

Juliette
grinned. “I missed you. Can you believe how big Tristan is now?”

I looked at the
chubby little boy, and he reached toward me.

“Hi,” he said,
waving.

“Hi, handsome.”
I was unprepared for Brian to hand him over, but luckily Tristan was quite
sturdy and completely enamored with my beaded necklace.

“Aw, Sasha, see,
you’re terrific with kids. And your sister, I hope you make her sweat it for
being such a—” She covered Tristan’s ears. “—bitch towards you.” She uncovered
his ears again and kissed his face.

My gaze slid
towards Brian, and he winced.

Juliette jumped
in before he could explain. “Don’t be mad at him. I asked why you came up
early. It was either he tell me the truth about your sister pissing you off
with her awful comments, or I’d assume that you two were finally acting on your
years of pent-up sexual frustration.” She’d wiggled her brows to drive home her
thoughts on the matter.

Terrific. Now
both Brian and I were blushing.

“On that awkward
note, thank you very much, Juliette. I’ll leave you two ladies,” he muttered,
walking back into his office.

Her smirk let me
know she’d achieved exactly what she’d wanted. “I was kind of hoping the
separation might make you guys, I don’t know; want to give it a try.” She’d
been convinced that we should be together since the very first year I’d
started.

After
accompanying me back to my temporary office, she placed Tristan on the floor
with a cup of Cheerios. “That buys us fifteen minutes,” she laughed.

“You know Brian
and I are better off as friends,” I said, revisiting her earlier comment. I did
my best to sound convincing. All of a sudden, I was feeling unease about people
finding out about us. “But it’s kind of funny to watch him blush. Only you can
manage that.”

She tightened
her blonde ponytail and grinned. “It’s a gift. And you know I’d never say
something like that in front of anyone else, don’t you?”

Juliette might
be over the top sometimes, but for the most part, she did know the time and
place for blurting out inappropriate comments. “I know. It’s why I can laugh at
your jokes instead of wanting to kill you for them.”

“Ha. If looks
could have killed me that first year, yours would have. But I knew I’d convince
you eventually that we’d be great friends.”

Our
personalities could not have been any further apart on the spectrum, but that
hadn’t turned out to be a bad thing. “You definitely brought me out of my
shell.” I thought about how much more reserved I’d been only a few years ago.
“How’s Rob?” I inquired, wondering how things were with her husband.

Instantly, her
eyes clouded. Juliette and Rob had been high school sweethearts. He was a
police officer in a nearby suburb. She’d appeared happily in love until two
years ago when he’d injured his back. Since then, he’d been moody and withdrawn
according to her. Having a baby wasn’t improving things.

“You know, all
I’m going to say is that it’s been tough. I want to work through things for
Tristan’s sake, though, so I’m doing everything I can.”

I noted that she
said ‘everything she could’ and bit down on wanting to give her my two cents.
I’d never been in love, never been married, and I obviously wasn’t a mother. I
had no business giving unsolicited advice in those areas. “Please know that I’m
here for you, okay?”

She looked
relieved and let out a breath. “I was sure you’d have something more to say.”

“Your friendship
means a lot to me, and I only want to see you happy. Everyone has their own way
of trying to do that in their lives.” Maybe I was evolving and learning when it
was appropriate to keep my judgement to myself. I’d come a long way in the last
few years and now had some amazing women I could call friends. Considering my
glass house, I was in no position to cast stones.

She let out a deep
breath. “Thank you and I hope you know you and Brian are my best friends. Now
if only my two besties could end up together, it would be a perfect world.”

I rolled my
eyes, feeling some guilt that her two best friends were definitely not telling
her everything.

***

“Do you want the
good or the bad news first?” Brian asked, filling the doorframe of my office.
His body looked casual, but his eyes were intense.

My stomach
fluttered with his presence. “Bad news.”

He grinned and
shut the door. “Eighty percent of people say good news first.” He took a seat
and regarded me.

“I’m a
glass-half-empty kind of girl. So lay it on me.”

“The bad news is
that the new pitch I’m about to tell you about has an account representative
known for being a tough sell. She’s demanding and, according to Josh, will be
difficult to deal with.”

I blew out a
breath. Difficult clients weren’t anything new, but considering I was the point
person in dealing with them now, they presented their own unique challenges.
“Okay, what’s the good news?”

“The good news
is that we have four weeks to prepare for the pitch, and it’s worth six million
in phases. The client is Tryon pharmaceuticals. They have a number of drugs on
the market but mostly specialize in diabetes.”

“All right. I’m
eager to get started.” And, boy was I. The pitch was my sweet spot.

He shook his
head. “We’re traveling tomorrow. I’ll give you the file to allow you to start
brainstorming, but you aren’t going to bother your staff over the holidays.”

My temper
flared. “Could you give me some credit?”

He looked at me
like he often did when I was irritated. With patience and as if he had
something to say. We both knew this interaction was a test of sorts. What was
the professional landscape going to be like now that we were thinking about
moving into a sexual arrangement? “Of course I’ll give you credit. However, we
don’t start working on it until the day we return. We have plenty of time.”

I took stock of
his answer and realized it was exactly what he would have said a week ago. For
some reason, this was a tremendous relief to me. “Okay. Deal,” I agreed.

He also looked
relieved. Obviously, this was new territory for both of us. “What’s the plan
with my sister for this afternoon? You know you don’t have to go shopping with
her if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s okay.
McKenzie is sweet.”

He laughed.
“Yeah, she is, until she gets fired up, and curses like a sailor. But
considering she was around teenage boys from a young age, what can you expect?”

I could hear the
affection in his voice and smiled at the image.

“Before I
forget, here’s my credit card,” he said digging into his wallet.

My brow arched
as he handed it over. “This is on you?”

“Nice clothes,
not New York-designer-nice. Reasonable, please.”

I took the card,
amused. “You’re very generous with her.”

“I don’t get to
chance to spoil her now that she’s on the West Coast. How was your visit with
Juliette by the way?”

“Good.” I wasn’t
sure how to vocalize a worry about her figuring out we were starting a
relationship without sounding like I was backpedaling.

He sat back in
his chair, regarding me. “You do realize that her comments about us are nothing
new. She’s been doing it for years.”

I bit my lip.
“Right, but now that we’re entertaining the idea—aren’t you worried at all
about what others will think?” A few years after I’d started working in
Charlotte, Juliette had told me about a bet that some of the assholes in the
office had made to see who I’d sleep with first. That information had served as
a reminder that sometimes it didn’t matter how well you did your job. There
would always be people who would seek to bring you down.

He met my eyes
and spoke calmly. “We don’t work in the same office any longer. Juliette won’t
know anything. Neither will anyone else unless we choose to tell them.”

I swallowed
hard.

“And nothing has
happened yet, so if you’re having second thoughts, then we can go slower or not
at all. The last thing you need is more pressure from me, either,” he offered.

The thought of moving
any slower or not at all left me unsettled. “Is Juliette as unhappy as I think
she is?” I questioned, concerned for our mutual friend and desperately needing
a change in subject.

Luckily, he
shrugged, taking it in stride. “You know her. One minute she looks sad and the
next she pulls it together and is her bubbly self again. I think she wants to
make her marriage work.”

“Well that makes
one of them,” I retorted.

“I don’t
disagree. Did you tell her that?”

“What do you
think?” I was mildly offended.

“I think that
sometimes your well-intended advice may be a little harsher than you realize.”

I tried not to
let his words sting. “Duly noted.”

“I’ll call
McKenzie. You all right with heading out in an hour?”

“Sure. Send me
that file on the pharmaceutical company, and I should be.” I was anxious to get
some information about this potentially lucrative client.

He hesitated,
knowing that once I got the file I’d want more time. “Okay, I’ll tell her
ninety minutes.” He resigned, and left me to my work.

***

The late lunch
with Brian and McKenzie had been fun. They had an easy affection between them and
made sure I was part of the conversation whether I wanted to be or not.
Sometimes the people who put me most at ease were the ones not waiting on my
cues but who instead charged forward with exuberance. McKenzie reminded me of
Juliette in that way. Spending time with her was easy and found myself getting
comfortable with her a lot more quickly than I normally would with someone new.

It was in the
first dressing room, however, that McKenzie dropped a bombshell on me.

“I’m sorry, what
did you say?” I inquired, thinking I must have misunderstood her.

“I asked if you
could teach me how to seduce a man,” she repeated.