Corporate Fire: Corporate Romance Book 1 (15 page)

Royce's fingers wrapped around her waist with a tight grip. Grace lifted her head up slightly to meet him halfway for a kiss, but the strength of his passion forced her back to the pillow. She quivered, knowing she was about to have sex with a man she actually loved. He pushed her shirt up, and they had to part momentarily for him to tug it all the way off. The cool satin of her rose comforter against her back contrasted to the hot touch of his hands. She was impatient for him to caress her everywhere, while at the same time wanting the lovemaking to last forever.

She unbuttoned his shirt while they kissed and ran her hands over his undershirt, enjoying his firm pecs and abs. After she took his dress shirt off, he sat up and pulled his undershirt over his head and tossed it to the floor.

“Your turn.” he said.

“What?”

“Take your bra off while I watch.”

She sat up and blushed—there was never a sexy way to take a bra off. She put her hands behind her back and unhooked it as fast as she could. He stared at her breasts the whole time as if he were about to devour her. When she brought her hands back around, he grabbed the middle of her bra and yanked it off.

He held her with his hands high up on her sides and his thumbs circling her nipples. She kissed him with a fervor she hoped conveyed her desire for him. The way he thumbed her nipples caused a craving deep within her. She unbuckled his belt and unfastened his pants and felt him kicking off his shoes as their tongues explored each other.

He reluctantly released her and stood up. “You'll have to take your pants off yourself because I don't want to hurt your leg.”

She shimmied out of her yoga pants and underwear the best she could without giving her leg too much grief. Royce was much faster with his own remaining clothes and stood by her bed with a tall erection. When she'd pushed her clothes away, she scooted over to the edge of her bed and took his shaft in her hands, wanting to give him as much pleasure as she could.

She licked from his balls to his tip and then took him in her mouth. He moaned and ran his fingers through her hair. “Not too much Grace. I don't want to come fast.” Delighted she'd already aroused him so much, she slid her mouth back and forth over his shaft. His breath hitched, and he gripped her head and pulled out slowly. “Your turn, and I'm not going to take no for an answer this time.”

His hands landed on her shoulders, pushing her down to the mattress. She didn't realize what he meant until he knelt on the floor and spread her legs apart. She opened her mouth to protest, but his tongue lapped at the folds of her womanhood. He spread them apart with his fingers, and the tip of his tongue pressed right on her clitoris. She gasped—pleasure flooding her body. His tongue flicked rapidly, and her hips bucked beneath him. She hoped she hadn't hurt him, but the pleasure consumed her too much for her to worry long. His tongue changed pressure and pushed into her, sending her into ecstasy with an unexpected scream. She tried to wriggle out of his grasp because the intensity was becoming more than she could take, but he placed both hands on her breasts while he continued lapping at her. Another scream and several moans came out before he lifted his head up.

Buzzzzz.

Grace's body went rigid. She'd completely forgotten about Jill.

“Are you expecting someone?” asked Royce, standing up.

Grace sat up. “I'm so sorry. It's Jill. She's bringing me a mocha. I totally forgot she was coming when you showed up.” This was bad. There was no way she could put off Jill after inviting her over and not texting her all weekend. But Royce was here, and she hadn't told Jill anything about him. “I should answer that. I'm really sorry.”

“It's okay. I'll clean up and meet you out there.” He gave her a grin and said, “I knew I wanted to wait for a special night anyway.”

“But that was amazing.”

Buzzzzzzzzzzz.

“I'm glad to hear that since you were so hesitant. Get your clothes back on.”

This was going to be bad.

19| Jill

Grace scrambled with her clothes and hopped out to the living room. She pushed the button on the intercom. “Sorry, is that you Jill?”

“I have mochas and muffins Grace, and I'm not going away.”

Grace pushed the button to let her in without answering. She managed to lever her hands down the wall to pick up her crutches before opening the door to see that Jill was about to knock.

“Grace! What happened?”

“I broke my leg skiing.”

“On top of everything else? Why didn't you tell me?”

“I was still embarrassed over being fired.”

“The CFO is the one who should be embarrassed. Mile High Innovations is going to go down the toilet without you there. I don't know who he thought did all the programming.”

Jill pushed past her and set the mochas and muffins on top of the kitchen table. Even in her jeans and t-shirt, she looked gorgeous. Grace had to do a whole beauty routine every day just to be average, but Jill could wear prison overalls and look like a model. It was surprising that Royce had asked Grace out instead of her—he hadn't even had to fire Jill.

Jill sat on a chair and kept talking. “Come on, grab a mocha. Did you hear that couple going at it just now? Man he must've been giving good head because she was screaming her lungs out.”

Flushing across her whole body, Grace sat down and took a mocha from the carrier. “Um, Jill, there's something I need to tell you.”

“I know. You owe me big time for keeping your weekend exploits a secret, so spill it.”

The toilet flushed, and the sound of water flowing in the sink came out of her bedroom.

Jill stared at Grace with a piece of muffin midway to her mouth. “Oh my God, Grace. You have a man here? That was you, wasn't it? With the guy from Breckenridge?”

“Yeah, about that.” This was not going to go well.

At that moment Royce walked out with his shirt untucked and undone at the collar, but otherwise looking much more put together than Grace felt. “Hey, Jill. Nice to see you again under much better circumstances.”

Jill jumped up and yelled, “You? What the hell are you doing here? I told you to stay away from her.”

“What?” asked Grace, wishing she could jump up too. “Why did you tell him that?”

“He and his sidekick were talking about how to get in your pants when I took a coworker back there to get axed. I was going to warn you about it, but I thought your rules would be protection enough, and I didn't want to worry you.”

Grace got a sick twist in her stomach like she'd just been violated. Wild paranoia flared in her head. “I thought you were talking about Doug.” She turned to Royce. “You plotted this out? How did you know I was going skiing?”

“I didn't. This is all wrong. I told Ted I was interested in you, and he turned it into this whole sex thing like he always does. When Jill walked into the office, he'd just noticed your file sitting on the desk. He was the one talking, not me.”

“You didn't refute it when I came in,” said Jill.

“You had a client with you. I didn't want to talk about it at all.”

“Client? I heard Ted calling them victims all day,” said Jill.

“That's because Ted's an asshole. I'm nothing like him.”

Grace pulled her good leg up to her chest. She'd just told him she loved him. She'd just been more vulnerable than she'd ever been with a man. Her paranoia pushed out the knowledge that he’d said he loved her first and that he was always caring towards her.

Jill kept fighting while Grace stayed mute. “Don't blame this all on him. Look at what you do for a living. Is this part of it for you? You pick the pretty girls and victimize them further?”

Royce turned crimson and seemed unable to speak for a moment. “You have me all wrong. I look at my job as helping people to new ventures. Not victimizing anyone.” He turned his rage to Grace. “And maybe if you would let people get close to you, Jill would already know about us and know that everything I've done this weekend has been to help you.”

Grace couldn't look at him and bent her head to her knee instead. She heard him walk across the apartment and slam the door behind him.

What a disaster. She'd screwed everything up.

Jill pulled one of the kitchen chairs over, sat down and put her arm on Grace's shoulder. “What the hell are you doing hooking up with the guy who fired you?”

Grace lifted her head up and said, “He's the most incredible man I've ever met.” The whole story burst forth, though she left the sexual details out. Jill stared with wide eyes and sipped her mocha the whole time.

When Grace was done, Jill said, “Shit, he's right.”

“About which part?”

“You make it impossible to get close to you, Grace. You should've told me all this. You should've called and let me know you were going skiing. I was seriously worried about you. I'd already come over to your apartment once, and you were gone.”

“You had?”

“Yes! Jesus Christ, you and I talk all the time. Did you think since you got fired I'd drop you?”

Grace swiped away the tears on her cheeks feeling like a complete idiot, and then she did something she'd never done before—she hugged Jill. “I'm so sorry. You're my best friend. I just never thought you felt the same way. You have so many friends.”

Jill's arms felt good around Grace's back—like warm comfort that would always be there. “Most of them are just clubbing friends. But you, I can always count on—I just wish you realized I would do the same for you.”

“I'm so sorry. I just--”

“I know. It's hard for you to get close to people.”

Grace let her go and finally had a long sip of the mocha.

“I have to admit, you make Royce sound pretty amazing. I can't believe he stayed with you at the clinic instead of going back to the slopes.”

Grace sighed. “I know, but I hate his job.”

“I'm with you there,” said Jill, popping a piece of muffin into her mouth.

“And not only is it a crap job, but he travels all the time.”

“Maybe he's ready to settle down.”

“I doubt it. Every time I mention his job, he gets totally defensive.”

“Well, I don't think I've ever screamed with a man like I heard you screaming. At least he'll make a good weekend lover.” Jill grinned as she spoke.

Grace just drank her mocha in silent embarrassment—she had no defense. “Should I call him?”

“Definitely.”

She picked up her phone and tried Royce's number, but he didn't answer. She knew she'd really messed up, but she hoped he wouldn’t ignore her all night. He'd left his coat behind and had to be freezing. At least she knew he'd be coming back at some point.

Jill had gossip from the office, and Grace listened to what the first day had been like without all the Java programmers.

And then her phone rang. Grace answered it right away.

“What's the address of your old office?” he asked.

That had to be the most unexpected question ever. She gave it to him and asked, “Why?”

“Your building is on fire.”

20| Fire

As they drove by, Grace saw Royce standing on a corner looking up at her old workplace. Fire trucks and ambulances swarmed the base of the building, but the fire seemed to be contained to the floor of Mile High Innovations—right in the area where she used to work.

Jill had seen Royce too, and she parked her car before they reached him. She asked, “Do you need help?”

“I think I've got it,” said Grace, but Jill came around and helped her anyway, much to her relief.

The two friends made their way on the sidewalk. Grace had his coat hanging from one of her crutches. “How did you get all the way over here without a coat? You're going to be knocked out with pneumonia.”

“Grace!” He embraced her, preventing her from handing him his coat.

“I'm sorry about earlier. You're right, I should've told Jill about you or in the very least defended you before you ran out.”

“It's okay. I just hope we're all square now because you might be getting your wish.”

She pulled back and said, “What wish?”

Jill stood in front of them on the corner and said, “It doesn't look too bad. Somebody must've called it in soon after it started.”

“I think I was the first,” said Royce. I didn't see any firetrucks until well after I'd phoned it in.”

Grace handed him his coat and said, “What were you talking about?”

“I think Jeff started the fire, and if he did, they might try to hold me responsible. I could get fired for this.”

Grace gaped, and Jill spun around. “Jeff? He's got a bit of a temper, but I hardly think he'd start a fire. Oh snap, did he give you that bruise on your face?”

Royce nodded. “I didn't get his keycard, but I told security to get it when they took him away. The only thing I didn't do right was I didn't phone in the incident. I didn't want my company harassing him, and I just wanted to get out of there so I could figure out when to call Grace.”

Grace wanted to put her arm around him, but the crutches made that impossible.

“Let's get out of here,” said Jill. “It's fucking cold, and I'm hungry. I was gonna order a pizza when I got to Grace’s. You guys want some?”

Grace's stomach grumbled. Cereal all day wasn't exactly filling. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

Royce hadn't answered. He just stared at Jill. “I'm not out to hurt Grace. I came here to take her to the doctor tomorrow because she told me she hadn't asked you to do it.”

“Well, there's not much we can do about Grace being an idiot.”

“Hey! I'm standing right here.”

Jill grinned and continued. “Maybe together we can convince her the world isn't out to get her.”