The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories (98 page)

“Yeah, I’ll take a vodka cranberry now. Something without sugar on the rim.”

“Way to kick a man when he’s down.” I laughed, clutching my chest with my free hand, making her laugh.

“Sorry, not sure I’ll be able to have sugar on my drinks again, thanks to you.”

I stopped walking, but didn’t reply. She still wanted me, and I just needed to give her time to realize it. Most nights I didn’t like the challenge, but there was something about Anessa. Maybe it was her
good girl
appeal. But, the way she was dressed, I thought otherwise.

I needed to find out why she was fucking with my head. This girl came to a bar dressed in a mini skirt and fuck me heels, agreed to go out back with a decent looking guy only to put the brakes on? Something wasn’t adding up.

Just as she was about to speak, I started to walk up the stairs to my office on the right with her in tow.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“You’re fucking with my head and I want to know why. Usually, I really don’t give a fuck when a girl doesn’t give me the time of day, but I know you wanted to. Why did you stop?” I asked, closing the door behind me.

She stepped a few feet into the room, looked around at the standard office desk, computer, security monitors—and a couch. Avery and I were men; the office was bare of decorations other than a picture of Cheyenne on the filing cabinet behind the desk.

Deflecting my question, she asked, “Are we going to get in trouble in here?” Nervously, she glanced around the room again and then looked out the one-way mirrors that overlooked the bar.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I said, locking the door behind me to prove my point. Like it mattered. I was the boss, and no one was coming in.

I decided not to wait for an answer. I knew she wanted me, and if she stopped me again, I would leave her alone. Reaching up, I cupped her face with my hands, stepped forward and took her lips again. She didn’t back away.

“See, told you that you wanted it,” I joked, breaking the kiss.

“You’re a good kisser.”

“I know.” I smiled against her lips. “So are you.”

I kept stepping forward, directing her until she was sprawled on her back on the plush black leather sofa, my right leg pressed between hers as I straddled her other leg. She arched her back as I ran my hand up her thigh, slipping under her skirt and not stopping.

“Wait,” she said, stilling my hand. I looked down at her swollen lips then up to her eyes. “Tell me your name first.”

“Easton.”

“I’m Anessa.”

“Uh huh,” I said, working my mouth against her throat, my hand still working its way up her thigh.

My hand reached the thin, damp fabric covering her mound. Pushing it aside and wasting no time, I sank two of my fingers into her pussy, causing her to moan and arch her back in response again.

“Fuck,” she hissed.

“Told you that you wanted this,” I said, claiming her mouth again as she rode my fingers.

“Yeah—yeah, I do,” she moaned.

I pumped my fingers faster, in and out of her core that was clenching my fingers on the brink of spasm. She was grinding her hips into my hand, grabbing the back cushion of the couch for support and biting her lip as she enjoyed my fingers.

“Pull your shirt up for me, Babe.”

“I can’t. It’s all part of the dress.”

“Well, it needs to go.”

She wasted no time, sitting up and tossing the black fabric on the floor and laid back on the leather couch in only her black bra and matching thong. “Your turn.”

I stepped out of my jeans, threw my t-shirt on the increasing pile of clothes and then returned to Anessa. I crouched down on my belly on the couch, her legs resting on my shoulders as I moved the thin strip of cotton away from her pussy.

My tongue licked at her folds, causing her head to fall back against the armrest, my dick aching with need for attention, as I thrust my fingers into her soaking pussy again. My tongue licked up her juices from the bottom to the top, stopping on her clit and flicking the nub until she screamed my name.

“Your turn,” I said, motioning to my cock after I pulled my boxers down when I stood up from her limp body.

She looked at me through her post-orgasm high, her face and chest flush with a tint of pink. Licking her lips, she smiled. “Okay,” she responded, then sat up on the couch, taking my dick into her pretty mouth.

Hook, line and sinker.

B
rooke

Monday mornings suck. Period. I never look forward to going to work, especially since my boss is a cheating, pig-headed bastard. He loves drama more than the girls in my office do. He’s always in everyone’s business and talking shit behind their back, and he’ll throw anyone under the bus—and has.

You know for a guy, you act like a little bitch!

I woke up as the alarm clock blared in my ear. Jared was already at work, and it felt like I had slept with a boulder under my right shoulder. My arm was still hurting from bowling, and I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like I didn’t go to the gym a few nights a week and was that out of shape.

After a cup of coffee with my favorite Crème Brûlée creamer, I put on black slacks, a purple tank top with ruffles that tied in a bow in the front and a black cardigan to keep warm throughout the day. In the middle of winter, the office building still had their air conditioning blaring, and it never failed that I was always cold.

“Hey, Lucy,” I said, passing her office on the way to mine when I arrived at work.

“Mornin’, Brooke. How was your birthday weekend?”

I sat in a maroon chair in front of Lucy’s desk as I told her the events of my weekend. Nothing was really exciting other than my bowling party and Nicole giving me the cruise ticket. After my day with Nicole, Jared took me to a nice steak dinner and a movie. It was the perfect day, getting to hang out with two of my favorite people. Actually, what could have made it better was to see my sister, but a phone call was just as good.

My mother called me on Sunday—the day
after
my birthday. I wasn’t surprised. She explained that she was in Paris with her boyfriend and didn’t realize the time difference. I started to remind her that Paris was almost a day
ahead
of Boston (not
after
), but I didn’t bother. It was just one of her excuses, and over the years, I’d heard them all. What was another birthday?

Rubbing my right shoulder blade with a wince, I turned to go back to my office. “Oh, is Mike in yet?”

“I don’t think so. What’s up with your shoulder?” Lucy asked, brushing her short black hair away from her eyes.

“It’s sore from bowling,” I said, continuing to rub my shoulder and rotate the cuff to try to stretch it.

“You need to do more kickboxing. Or lift some weights.”

“You’re one to talk.” I laughed.

Lucy was not one to go to the gym. Her working out only consisted of walking her two Boston Terriers. Her Asian genes were working for her. She was a size two, and I wanted to cry every night when I would go home to work out and she would just go home to relax after a long day at work.

“Don’t hate.”

“I do hate you,” I joked with her. “I must have pulled a muscle or something, though,” I said, still rubbing my shoulder blade.

“Why are you asking where Mike is?” Lucy questioned.

“He and Nicole were getting pretty close on Saturday. I was wondering if he called her yesterday like he said he would.” I shrugged.

“When you find out, let me know. You know I love drama.”

“I will. Speaking of drama, I better get to work before Ian gets in. What time is he coming in anyway?”

“Probably ten or eleven.”

I rolled my eyes. “Figures.”

I actually preferred Ian not coming into the office. I worked better without him acting as if I didn’t have any work to do, and it was peaceful without the boss hovering. I caught up on my emails, grabbed another cup of coffee and proceeded to work on a few cases by preparing legal forms, amongst other things.

We were never short on work, especially when Ian pawned everything off on us. Lucy was one of the attorneys in our office and always picked up the slack for him. I couldn’t count the number of times she had to specially appear for him in court. I wondered why people even hired him as an attorney when he barely did anything.

In the middle of working on a case, I received an instant message from Mike.

Mike:
Hey! I thought you were a better bowler than that?

Me:
Shut up!

Mike:
That ass whoopin’ you dealt was brutal.

Me:
Don’t make me come down there and punch you!

Mike:
Your bark is better than your bite.

Me:
Whatever. Did you call Nicole yesterday?

Mike:
How do you know I was supposed to?

Me:
Dude, she’s my best friend. I know everything.

Mike:
I didn’t
.

Me:
WTF?

Mike was an attorney like Lucy. Our office was small, and even though he and Lucy were technically my superiors, we all had a friendly relationship. Lucy was supposed to come to my bowling party too, but something came up with her fiancé, and she wasn’t able to attend. I was thankful that word didn’t get to Ian, because he would have invited himself. He was
that
type of person, and quite frankly, I hated him.

Mike:
I’ll call her tonight.

Me:
Whatever.

*~*~*

A
fter lunch, I sat at my desk, working on cases and resisting the urge to go on Facebook every two minutes. Not long after being back from lunch, I sneezed hard. Yes, of all things, I sneezed. The motion of me snapping my head forward tugged on the muscles in my shoulder blade. It felt like fire tore through my back on the right side, and it took everything I had not scream or cry.

Holy mother of fuck!

After a minute, the pain went from a shooting, burning feeling to a feeling like I had just torn something in my shoulder. How could a simple sneeze hurt so much? I told Lucy (because Ian ended up “working from home”) what had happened and went home for the day. The pain wasn’t going away, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything but the pain radiating around my shoulder blade. On my way home, I called the doctor and made an appointment for the following morning.

I arrived home and jumped into the shower. The warm water was helping the pain to subside. I changed into my pajamas, texted Lucy that I would be late to work in the morning and crawled into bed with an icepack. This was why I should have had a bowling party at ten; my body was falling apart at thirty.

*~*~*

I
woke the next morning; my shoulder was feeling a little better, but not one hundred percent. After having my morning cup of Joe, I got dressed and made my way to my doctor’s office. Even though my shoulder felt a little better, I was still concerned about the burning situation that happened the afternoon before. My body was not supposed to feel that way. I literally thought my back was on fire. Okay, not literally, but that is what it felt like.

“You probably just pulled a muscle. Let me give you a prescription for muscle relaxers. Also, take it easy at the gym. You should stick to cardio for a few weeks until your shoulder is feeling better.”

That was my doctor talking to me. I arrived at her office, and she never once touched my body. She didn’t have me move around my shoulder while she felt around. She didn’t even get within two feet of me. She sat at her computer charting system, talking to me, and then just told me she would order my prescriptions so I could pick them up from the pharmacy when I left. She never once tried to feel for
anything
. Jared told me that I wouldn’t be able to just walk in and get pain meds with a snap of a finger and well...I pretty much did.

I called Lucy after I left the doctor’s office and told her that I needed to wait for my prescriptions, and then I was just going to go home to rest my shoulder. It was still hurting, and I wanted the muscle relaxers to kick in. Plus, the doctor told me that they would probably make me sleepy.

And that they did. I slept all afternoon, not waking up until Jared got home at four in the afternoon. I thought that he would be around to cook dinner for me, but when he arrived home, he told me that he had plans with his friend, Justin. Justin, who he hadn’t seen in a long time. Since he hadn’t seen Justin in a few months, I didn’t want him to cancel. I ate a Hot Pocket for dinner since it hurt to move my shoulder and cook, took another relaxer and went to sleep.

*~*~*

A
fter taking Monday afternoon and Tuesday off, I worked the rest of the week as normal. Friday night, Nicole and I met up for our weekly dinner and happy hour and then went shopping for cute outfits for our cruise.

During the day, my shoulder was still hurting. It wasn’t as bad, but it felt like more than just a pulled muscle. I took the muscle relaxers at night, hoping it would get better soon. The doctor told me I’d be in pain for a few weeks while it healed. I was right handed and I did everything with my bum shoulder. I was in pain all day since the relaxers would knock me out, and I couldn’t take them during the day. My routine quickly settled into coming home after work, making dinner the best I could, watching a little TV, icing my shoulder and then going to bed once the relaxers knocked me out. I didn’t really speak to Jared since he was busy playing COD every night or hanging out with Justin.

“We need to find a store with bikinis,” Nicole said, stabbing a piece of her parmesan-crusted chicken.

“It’s April—you think places have swimsuits already?” I asked.

“We better hope so. I need at least five.”

“Five?” I asked, wide-eyed.

Why the hell did she need five?

“Yeah, we’re going on an eight day cruise. I can’t wear the same suit more than once.”

I always knew that Nicole was high maintenance, but I had never really traveled with her. Well, I mean, we would go on trips for long weekends, but nothing this long. What was so wrong with wearing the same suit while you were there? I had gone on trips and washed my suit with shampoo before. I was only planning to bring two bikinis. Now I needed to buy at least three to meet her standards.