Ask Me Something (The Something Series Book 2) (20 page)

“If that’s it,
Jamie, I do have some clients to get back to.”

She stood and
turned to leave. “One last question.” She faced me.

I braced myself,
knowing without a doubt her parting shot wouldn’t be a pleasant one.

“I’m curious how
much Brian won in the bet now that you two are sleeping together. I heard the
pot was quite large down in the Charlotte office on whom you’d sleep with.”

It took every minute
of therapy I’d attended and self-visualization techniques I’d learned to
pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about. “It’s an interesting approach
you have Jamie. You’d like to be in a relationship with Brian, and yet you seek
to cut down those in his life whose opinion he values. I’m not sure how that’ll
work for you, but good luck.”

Her clenching
jaw was enough for me to know I’d scored a direct hit. She left through my door
without a backward glance.

It had barely
closed before I dialed Brian again.

“Hey, has she
left?” he answered.

“Yes. Were you
part of the bet?” My voice was barely audible while my breathing started to
slide out of control.

“What are you
talking about?”

“Don’t play
dumb. Were you part of the bet my first year in Charlotte about who I’d sleep
with first?”

“Sasha, it’s not
what you think.”

“Yes or fucking
no?” My voice cracked, and I could feel the panic welling up.

“Yes, but—”

I didn’t let him
finish, instead slamming down the phone. The betrayal lanced through me with
physical pain. Suddenly I was at school, sixteen again, having a strange woman
with eyes like mine show up during lunch and ask me for money. I’d found out
the people I trusted most in this world had kept the biggest secret of my life
from me. Shaking the painful memory from my head, I reached for my waste basket
just in time to throw up my coffee.

Brian found me
ten minutes later still hovering over the trash can.

“God, are you
okay?” He obviously didn’t bother to knock or have Nancy buzz me before coming
into my office.

I nodded,
thankful there wasn’t much more than coffee to come up, and my breathing had
almost returned to normal. I had to remind myself to stop clutching my chest.
“Fine.” I grabbed a bottle of water from my desk drawer and took shallow sips.

He knelt beside
me, looking concerned. “Are you not feeling well?”

“I’m good.
Please go,” I managed.

“Not going to
happen.” He dialed my assistant. “Nancy, please have a car meet us downstairs
in front of the building.”

I wanted to
argue, but all of my concentration was centered on getting my heart rate and
breathing back to normal and hoping that he wouldn’t suspect my panic attack. I
couldn’t even properly tell him to go to hell. The only silver lining was that I’d
gotten a handle on things about a minute before he’d come barging in.

By the time
Nancy knocked and peeked in to let us know the car had arrived, I was feeling
marginally better.

Packing up my things,
I walked unsteadily out the door. “Thank you, Nancy.”

She patted my
shoulder awkwardly. “Anytime, Sasha. Feel better.”

I was quiet
until Brian and I reached the car waiting curbside. Turning toward him, I held
up my hand. “I can take it from here.”

“I don’t think
so. We can have this discussion on the street in front of the office or back at
your place. Your choice, but you’ll hear me out.”

Some choice. I
got into the back of the car and stared out my window, refusing to look at him.
We were silent the entire ride and until we stepped inside my door.

“Why were you
sick?” he queried softly.

Under no
circumstance would my pride allow for him to know that his ex-girlfriend had
put me into a panic attack. I wouldn’t give either of them that knowledge. “You
wanted me to hear you out, so say your piece and then go.”

He hesitated and
then walked into my kitchen. Grabbing a glass, he filled it with water and
handed it to me. “That stupid bet seven years ago was made shortly after you
started. I suppose Juliette told you that ten of the guys in the office bet on
who you’d sleep with first. I wanted no part of it, but one evening when we
were all out and you’d left early, they started razzing me about it, trying to
get me to lay my money down. I bet that you wouldn’t ever sleep with anyone,
including me. And I never, ever put money on it. It was, at least in my mind, a
way I could get them off my back by showing that I respected you way too much
to make a bet like that. You can ask Juliette if you don’t believe me.”

“How did Jamie
find out about it?” I needed all of the pieces before I could process it all.

At the mention
of her name, Brian’s eyes immediately reflected his anger. “We were chatting
months ago, and you came up in the conversation. She was talking about how hard
it was being a woman in an office with men commenting on who she’d sleep with
instead of her work ethic. I brought your situation up, meaning it as a
compliment in saying that these assholes had made a bet when you’d started, and
you hadn’t given any of them the time of day. She wondered if I was part of it.
I told her my bet was always that you wouldn’t sleep with anyone. Telling her
that seemed harmless at the time. Is that why she came by, to bring this shit
up out of the blue?”

I sat down on my
sofa and rubbed my eyes. Absolute fatigue was seeping into my body now that my
panic attack had fully subsided. It had been a roller coaster day, and I was
about to crash. “She came with the pretense of wanting to apologize about the
nickname comment, moved on to congratulating me for our relationship, and then
ended with the finale of asking how much money you’d won on the bet because you’d
slept with me.”

“I’m so sorry. I
didn’t tell her we were together, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to. It
was because of her connection to Josh. I didn’t think you’d like it.”

“What did you
tell her?” I had to ask.

He looked
uncomfortable. “That it wasn’t going to happen with us. She’d thought if she
apologized for that night at Evan’s that we could move past it. She brought you
up, and I told her we were good friends. But I think she’s always known I had a
thing for you.”

I wasn’t
completely over it, but I didn’t have the energy to stay mad either. “I need a
shower, then to go lie down.”

“Tell me what I
can do, and please don’t say to leave.”

I inhaled
deeply, trying to decide. His face look pained, and he was eager to do
something. “Maybe you can order in something for dinner in a couple of hours. I’m
feeling better, and I never got around to eating lunch.” I didn’t mention that
breakfast had come up earlier.

Moving toward my
bedroom, I was thankful that for now, my secret stayed my own. How ironic that
on the day I’d been at my best, by the end of it I’d go to my worst.

Later that
evening after my short nap, we dined quietly, eating pasta on the couch in my
living room by candlelight. My stomach started to recover after getting some
food into it. When I couldn’t eat another bite, Brian took my hand and led me
into my bedroom.

“Let me blow out
the candles and clean up dinner. I’ll be in shortly.”

I nodded and got
ready for bed. After climbing in nude between my cool sheets, I closed my eyes
briefly. A short time later, I felt him slide in beside me.

He didn’t move
toward me but instead lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. “You were
right about how I’d feel if the positions were reversed today. I would have
flipped out if an ex of yours showed up, and you’d been in town without
calling. I’m an idiot, and I’m sorry.”

“Were you ever planning
to tell me that you’d met up with her?”

“I’d like to
think that eventually I would have. She’d been calling and apologizing for
weeks. I have issues with things that are unresolved. I thought I owed her at
least some sort of closure.”

“I get it. You’re
always the good guy trying to smooth things over, but we had an agreement over
rules that you set. You should’ve told me ahead of time, or, better yet, you
could have talked with her over the phone.”

“I know. It
pisses me off that she purposefully went in to upset you, especially when you
killed the pitch earlier today. This should’ve been a night of celebration, and
instead I ruined that. What did you end up saying to her?”

I filled him in
on my parting shot, and he whistled.

“You’re
impressive with things like that. No flinch, no prisoners. I’ve always admired
that about you.”

Rather than take
it like the compliment he intended, it was a little depressing that Brian
admired traits that didn’t describe the real me. He, like everyone else,
believed I had a natural ability to deal with situations like that. If he knew
the truth, he’d be sorely disappointed.

“Do you forgive
me?”

I didn’t
hesitate, knowing him well enough to believe his intentions were exactly as
he’d explained. “Yes, but don’t lie to me again, Brian. Omission is the same
thing, especially to me.” I didn’t want to go into how not knowing I was
adopted had affected me, but it was a definite trigger for when someone hid the
truth about something involving me. I had a twinge of guilt that hiding my anxiety
disorder was not being entirely honest but reasoned that it was a private
matter that was nobody’s business. It certainly wasn’t something we’d put on
the table to agree upon like in this situation.

“I won’t do it
again.”

It was ironic
that I was once again on the receiving end of an apology. It was also somewhat
of a relief. His mistakes made me feel less intimidated and that I wouldn't be
the only one to screw things up.

We both heard
the sound of his cell phone coming from his pants pocket. He picked it up, frowned
at the caller ID, and then silenced it.

“How many times
has she called?” I asked.

“Too many. I’ll
need to talk to her sooner or later, though, or she’ll keep calling.”

“Jamie is going
to be an issue for me. I know you’re friends, and I’m trying hard not to give
an ultimatum, but—”

“You don’t have
to. Regardless of our relationship, I don’t want someone like that a part of my
life. She’s obviously changed, or—I don’t know—maybe she was always like that,
and I never noticed. I’ll send her an email tomorrow. What she said to you was
inexcusable and I don’t care what her story is.”

My mind was
marginally pacified by his lack of hesitation. “Wait. What story?”

He shrugged. “I
don’t know yet, but I’m sure she’ll have something. It doesn’t matter, though.”

Once again, his
complete faith that what I’d told him had actually happened humbled me.

“Were you sick
because you were upset?”

I knew this
question would come up again, and tried to play it off. “I was about to go home
early and had just told Nancy I was about to leave because my stomach wasn’t
feeling great when she buzzed in. Bad timing all the way around.”

He reached for
me and sucked in his breath upon finding me naked. “Can I rub your back or hold
you?”

It was
significant that he wasn’t playing his usual role in the bedroom and was asking
me what I wanted rather than dominating. “I’d rather have you inside of me.”

He inhaled
sharply. “Are you sure? You’ve had a hell of a day.”

“I know. But the
only time my mind truly turns off is when you take over.” And this was my
fundamental realization. Brian’s dominance in the bedroom allowed me a freedom
that I’d never experienced before. One that I craved at the moment more than
anything: escape from my own mind and thinking about my panic attack or past.

He quickly
slipped off his boxers. “What about your stomach?”

His hesitancy
made me want him even more. “I’m feeling better.” Reaching for him, I found him
hard already. His velvety softness and the bead of wetness at his tip made me want
to taste him. I moved down, only to have his hand fist in my hair and stop me.

“I don’t think
so,” his low voice warned. The absurdity of denying me the ability to pleasure
him was a testament to how much he’d rather have the control instead. “Sit up
against your headboard with your knees apart.”

I moved,
trembling already with need. Before I’d had a chance to settle into position,
his mouth found my center. But instead of moving fast and furious, he went
slowly. His languid tongue trailed along my cleft, and I whimpered, yearning
for more.

“You like it
when I take control in the bedroom?” His eyes locked on mine, illuminated only
by the moonlight coming in through the bedroom window.

“Yes,” I
whispered and felt a shudder run through him.

When his lips
descended onto my clit, my fists gripped the sheets as the electric current coursed
through my body. His finger pushed deep into my slick flesh, causing me to moan
with the delicious torture he was inflicting. He looked up and grinned.
“Remember when I told you to keep your hands on your head the first time I did
this?”

I nodded,
awaiting the same request.

“This time I
want them on my head, showing me how much you want me down here.”

Now it was my
turn to shiver. My hands threaded through his soft hair and pushed him back to
the task at hand. He went to work like a man possessed, and I hit my climax
swiftly. When I glanced down, I realized how hard I’d been shoving his face
into me and let go. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t ever
apologize for showing me how much you want me.” He seized my hips and lifted.
“I want you to straddle me.” He moved onto his back and assisted my movements.

I swung my legs
over him, spanning his hard length. It was the first time we’d been in this
position, and I rubbed Brian’s chest, loving the feel of his muscles. Easing
down onto his erection, I closed my eyes when the pleasure literally and
figuratively filled me. But if I thought being on top meant I’d be controlling
things, he quelled that notion quickly. One of his hands dug into my hip and
held me in place while the other one grasped one of my breasts.

“Don’t move and
give me that mouth.”

My body rebelled,
wanting to feel the friction of motion, but I leaned down, meeting his lips in
a searing kiss. The erotic way his tongue stroked mine made me want to grind myself
into him, but he wouldn’t allow it. “Touch yourself,” he ordered in a raspy
voice.

Moving back, I
watched, fascinated, when he took one of my hands and sucked on two of my fingers,
coating them in his saliva. I placed them onto my swollen knot and rubbed tiny
circles while he guided my hips into a rhythm.

“Look at me,” his
raspy voice commanded.

My eyes met his while
I took in the fact that his hands had shifted to my breasts, and he was now
letting me dictate the cadence. Wrong again. I tried to increase the pace, but
his hands shifted back down, holding me in place.