About Last Night (7 page)

God, I was a tit man. Belinda didn’t have a lot in that department, but she was sensitive and goddamn responsive.

A growl escaped me as my mouth descended and I captured a sweet pink bud between my lips. I sucked and nipped until Belinda was a panting mess, all while still wearing her skirt and high heels. I worked quickly, unhooking then unzipping her tight tan skirt. Her panties joined it on the floor, along with her bra and shirt.

The high heels stayed put, and so did her silky thigh-highs.

Belinda scrambled to the middle of the bed as I began to disrobe. I worked slowly, unbuttoning my shirt then letting it fall over my shoulders and onto the carpet. My jeans and boxers came off in one swift tug then I was bare, exposed and damn excited.

Panting from anticipation, I climbed onto the bed and over Belinda, pressing a soft kiss to her mouth. “I’m going to eat you till you scream…Maya.”

Her eyes rolled back into her head at my blunt statement and it drove me wild. I pushed her legs open, lowered my face, and ate her like I was Pooh Bear and her pussy was the sweetest pot of honey. She came in my mouth, then she came again, harder, but it didn’t calm me. In fact, it only spurred me on. I was on fire, burning alive from the inside out.

I was about to combust; my hot, heavy cock told me so.

With Belinda in a delirious state, I moved down her body, settled between her legs, discreetly suited up, and gently entered her slick pussy. I worked her slowly at first, and just as I’d predicted, soon she had her claws in me and was panting, “Harder. Goddamn it, harder!”

Fuck today’s run. It had nothing on the workout I was getting right now. I thrust harder and watched as her mouth gaped, her eyes opening wide. I had it. I was hitting her sweet spot. I loved this part. My mouth turned up in a cocky smirk.

Slowing down, I pulled out then thrust hard. I did this again and again and, finally, she clamped around me, contracting as she came, her body taut, her eyes fluttering in bliss. She rode it out as I worked her hard.

Then, it was my turn.

I placed my hands up by the sides of her head and thrust eagerly, punishingly. She would feel me tomorrow; there was no doubt about that. I pushed into her again and again, and when I fixed on her face, I caught her soft, sleepy smile.

It caught me by surprise. My mind was overrun with thoughts of how Maya would look as she came. And with that, my balls tightened and I stilled deep inside Belinda, letting out an animalistic shout as I came.

My body slumped and I collapsed, breathless, on top of Belinda. She was warm and soft and welcoming. As her arms came around me and she ran her fingers up and down my back, muttering an astonished, “Wow,” I felt like shit for the mere fact that this beautiful woman hadn’t made me come, but a figment of my screwed imagination.

I was going to hell.

At three a.m., my body lay exhausted in my bed, but my brain wouldn’t quit. I stared at the text I had just written.

Me: Why is it that I had sex with a woman tonight, but couldn’t stop thinking of you?

I stared at it a long time before I deleted the draft, switched off my phone, and lay in bed, awake and drained. I reclined awake to witness a beautiful sunrise, only I took no pleasure in the pretty splashes of orange and pink.

At that moment, I hated that sunrise almost as much as I hated my weakness.

Chapter Twelve

Mia

It had been four long days since I had spoken to Quinn. Sure, we’d sent the occasional text in that time, but I was longing to hear his voice, which was stupid, because I didn’t like the way I felt when we spoke. I felt on edge, unnerved.

Perhaps that was the difference. I had known about Matt Quinn for so long that I was positive he would never do anything to hurt me—not on purpose anyway.

He was safe. I could never have a relationship with him, because of his friendship with my brother. Not that he’d ever want me in that way, and if my brother trusted him, it was all I needed to know that he was a good guy. My brother had always been a good judge of character, and even though he was a jock growing up, he never befriended assholes.
See? Safe.

It was my first day of work, and having spent the last few days in my apartment near memorizing complete websites of information, I felt confident today would be a good day.

I woke at six a.m., showered, dressed in my standard business wear of a feminine white shirt, high-waisted black pants, and heels, then added light make-up, and sorted my chaotic hair into a sophisticated chignon. I was happy with my appearance. I had come a long way in a mere forty-minutes.

After spending most of my weekend with Bill and Terry, we were becoming fast friends. I found myself telling them things I had never told other people. In a single evening, I told them about my crush on Quinn and how it began. I told them about my being so overweight that I started to develop health issues. And finally, I told them about my being a virgin. I blamed the wine.

Terry seemed to be locked in a state of shock, whereas Bill seemed to accept everything with a soft smile and nod, never interrupting. Terry, however, interrupted, and always managed to do this in a most dramatic way. The common curses used were, “Shut up!” and a gasped, “Oh, my God, no!” He would sometimes add a, “Nuh-uh. I don’t believe it!” or a “You’re kidding! Tell me you’re kidding!”

Terry had made me a project. And while this would normally have me running for the hills, I didn’t mind so much, knowing Bill would be there to manage the Terry situation.

Take last night for example. The guys had dragged me away from my computer long enough to get me nice and tipsy on wine before Terry pulled out a pharmacy bag. My gut sank. I didn’t even want to know what was in there.

Smiling like the Mona Lisa, Terry pulled two boxes out of the bag and held one up. And I choked on my own saliva. Coughing, I shook my head and wheezed out a firm, “No!”

Terry’s smile vanished. He came to kneel by my spot on the sofa, tilting his head in a most pathetic way and begging, “Oh, please? Why not?”

I held the box in my hand and gave him a look that said, ‘You know why!’

Terry stood, feigning innocence. “I don’t see the problem.”

I fought down my argument, simply uttering, “It’s fire-engine red. I’m starting work on Monday for a very professional events management company, Terry. I need to meet with clients and talk to them in an expert sense. I am
not
dyeing my hair fire-engine red.”

Bill took the other box and handed it to me. I glared up at him. “You’re in on this? You’re meant to be the practical one!”

He grinned, and it was so gorgeous that I forgot my name. Then he spoke in that English accent I loved so much. “I chose this one. I think it’ll suit your coloring much better. Not to mention the fact your warm brown eyes are beautiful right now, but with this color, they will pop so hard men everywhere will need to cover their eyes when you pass.” He smiled down at me. “Did you know you have a small amount of green hidden in your eyes, and when you smile, it comes out to play?”

That was it. I was sold. I turned to Terry and whispered, “You are a very lucky man.”

Terry sighed while looked up at Bill lovingly. “Don’t I know it, sister.”

When I looked down at the box in my hands, I was pleasantly surprised. So, with a curt nod of approval and a loud “Yay!” from Terry, I was whisked off into their bathroom, where I had petroleum jelly rubbed into my forehead, ears, and neck, and then Terry snapped on a pair of gloves and got to work.

Thirty minutes passed. I was bent over the tub and washed, conditioned, and rinsed, and then Terry spent an insane amount of time blow-drying my hair. After he deemed my hair ‘Ah-
mah
-zing!’, I was finally allowed to see the difference. And what a difference it was. I could hardly believe my eyes.

How on earth could going from a dull brown to reddy-brown auburn make such a change? My skin looked as if it had more color and glow, my face looked sharper with my cheekbones more pronounced, and Bill, the sweetheart, was right. It made the slight green in my eyes look more apparent. So when Bill saw this, he stood behind me in the mirror, grinning, and then leaned down to my ear and muttered, “Pop.”

And I almost lost use of my legs. Bill was a seriously attractive man. He knew it, but he didn’t care about it, and he never—and I mean
never
—used it to his advantage. And that made me love him even more.

I loved my new color, and sitting on the bus this morning, I could definitely see men noticing my new ‘pop.’ When I felt eyes on me and caught a thirty-something-year-old man in a suit watching me, a blush lit my face. I dipped my chin to hide the furious pink of my cheeks and neck.

I still felt eyes on me though, and I felt them there from stop to stop. Curiosity got the better of me. I peeked up to find Mr. Suit smiling at me, and although my heart was racing, I smiled back, albeit nervously.

That was when he grinned, and something about that grin made my stomach flip. Mr. Suit looked a little like Quinn, only rather than being an explosion of perfect chaos, Mr. Suit had blue eyes matching the color of his tie, and his longish brown hair had been styled in an attractive business-do.

I liked it. So when I stood at the same time he did, and got off at the same stop as him, then almost walked into him as we made our way to the same building, my nerves had built up to the boiling point. I suddenly turned to face him as he held the door open for me, and then blurted out, “Are you following me?”

His chuckle washed over me, causing my skin to break out into goose bumps. “If I didn’t have work, I probably would be. But no.” His eyes narrowed teasingly. “I could ask you the same question.”

My cheeks heated so much that I thought they might melt. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m a little paranoid. This is my first day at Addison Limited.”

He blinked and his smile faltered for a second, but his eyes remained devoid. “Addison Limited? That’s level three. I’ll walk you up; it can be a little confusing if you don’t know your way around.”

I started to decline then thought better of it. I didn’t want to be late on my first day because I pulled up my big girl panties so high that I couldn’t see someone trying to do me a favor. Instead, I smiled through a sigh. “Thank you. The last thing I need right now is to be late. A first impression lasts, you know.”

He looked down at me, his brow creasing slightly as he muttered thoughtfully, “It sure does.”

We stepped into the elevator, and as he pressed the button, he held his hand out and uttered, “I’m Nicholas.”

Thankful for his help, I took his hand, shook it, and smiled. “Mia. Mia Bridgeton.”

He let go of my hand and we both looked straight ahead. Nicholas stated, “Pretty name for a pretty woman.”

My eyes widened. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. I was sure a ‘thank you’ would make him assume I was shallow and thought I was pretty, but if I said ‘oh, I’m not pretty,’ then he’d think I was fishing for compliments. So rather than respond, I simply smiled and swallowed hard.

The silence was deafening, even though Nicholas looked rather comfortable in it. I was so grateful when the doors opened that I stepped out of the elevator and into the reception area of Addison Ltd, turning to thank him and let him on his way. I was surprised when the woman at reception stood, looking wide-eyed at Nicholas. She sputtered, “M-Mr. Dietrich! I didn’t see your name in the book today.”

Nicholas smiled at her, but it was cold. When he muttered a flat, “That’s one of the perks of owning a business, Janet. You can come and go as you please,” my brain channeled Terry and yelled, ‘Shut
up
!’

Then I wanted to shout, ‘But you can’t own a successful business! You can’t be rich! You take the
bus
!’ but, of course, I didn’t. Instead, I did the best thing I could think of, which was keep my mouth shut.

Janet, also playing it smart, uttered a soft, “Of course, sir.”

Nicholas walked over to the door and held it open, waiting for me to walk through. I did, my feet carrying me quickly as I clutched my satchel for dear life. I followed him as he walked, nearly stepping on his heels every few steps, until he led me to a large office at the end of the hall. “Come on in, Mia.”

He closed the door behind us then sat, motioning for me to do the same. “So I think you’ve gathered by now that I am Nicholas Dietrich, owner of Addison Ltd.”

I nodded gently, but said nothing. Why was it only now that I was feeling intimidated? When he was just Nicholas, I still felt nerves, but not nearly this bad.

He leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “I’m not often at the office. I prefer to work from home. There are too many distractions here. I hire people to do work for me, but when I sit in this office, it’s as though people think that’s an invitation to come in every five minutes to show me what they’ve done and ask if the work they’ve done is ‘okay.’”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you need me to check your work every five minutes, I’m assuming it’s not okay. That’s a really good way to get fired here. So here’s my first tip to you, Mia: Have confidence in your work and stick by it when others rip it apart. My second tip is: Hold your head up high. Pretend you’re a badass, the best at what you do, because if you don’t…” his eyes drift over me, looking me up and down, “…you’re going to get eaten up for breakfast.”

My voice small, I mumbled, “I am the best at what I do.”

He smiled then. “That’s the spirit.”

I choked down a laugh and explained, “No, I mean…I am the best. Of this year, anyway. I came top of my class. Every class.”

His eyes widened as his mouth pulled down. “Impressive.” Then he conceded, “And I should probably know that already. Alas, I don’t do the hiring.”

Feeling bold, I pointed out, “Of course not. You have someone to do that for you. You probably have assistants for your assistants.”

A cocky smile played on his face and he opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off with, “Why were you taking a bus this morning?”

His smile fell. And just as I tried to apologize for prying, the door to the office flew open and a blonde, rail-thin woman came rushing in, her high heels clicking with every step. Fury sparkled in her eyes. “We had a deal, Nick. You work from home; I work here at the office.”

A cool smile graced his face. “Good morning, Addison. How lovely to see you.”

His polite demeanor only seemed to fuel her fire. She hissed, “I want you gone by lunch, or I’m calling my lawyer.”

I remained silent, locked in an awkward bubble between the obvious animosity between the two. And then she was gone.

With his eyes fixed on the door, his jaw worked. “You want to know why I had to catch the bus this morning? Because my charming ex-wife, as you just met, claimed she needed my cars in conjunction with her alimony.” His eyes met mine. “That’s right. Not car, but car
s
.”

“I see.” But I didn’t see. I had no idea what the hell I was getting myself into working at Addison Ltd.

At the look on my face, his lip twitched. “Don’t worry. It’s not always that eventful working here. I swear.”

Even though I told myself I should leave it alone, my mouth opened and words spewed forth. “You work with your ex-wife? That must be tough.” Then I winced. “I’m sorry; this is none of my business.”

He nodded. “You’re right. It isn’t. But it’s nothing you won’t hear as part of office gossip.”

My face gentled. I wanted to tell him I wouldn’t listen to the gossip, but that seemed unlikely. So rather than say that, I asked another personal question. “Why does she hate you so much?”

He paused a moment, thinking of what to say. His face wore no expression, none whatsoever, when he uttered a very clinical, “Because I cheated on her.”

And that was how I met my boss.

My apartment welcomed me home with open doors. Well, not really, but if an apartment could hug a person, mine would be hugging me right now. I loved my place. It was small and bare, but it was mine.

I was tired as hell, but the day had improved with every hour that passed. I met two colleagues I would be working closely with, Ella and Pip. Ella was a short, plump woman who wore the tallest of heels and rocked a massive head of curls, while Pip was a middle-aged man with smile lines around his eyes and salt-and-pepper hair. They were both sweet and welcoming, and funny too.

I had a feeling the pros of working at Addison Ltd would surely outweigh the cons.