Authors: Seraphina Donavan,Wicked Muse
Walking into his office, what he found only left him more befuddled. The files on the desk were neatly stacked. The messages that had been taken were prioritized by importance, and the place was clean. Not a speck of dust could be found anywhere. Walking through the reception area and into his own office, he saw that it too had been cleaned. The floor had been vacuumed, and the files on his desk had been alphabetized. There was also a thermos of coffee sitting in the middle of his desk. The thermos itself must have been left by Crystal, as it bore a sparkling ‘Hello Kitty’ with an iridescent bow.
Opening the thermos, he filled the pink cup with the hot liquid and took a long drink. Maybe it would get him through the evening, he thought. Thinking back to the way Cass had handled the phones earlier, he knew what was going through his head was completely insane. He’d just made the decision to limit contact with her, but given her undeniable administrative skills and his own dire situation, could he afford to? He needed a receptionist, and since the store she was working for had closed, he knew she needed a job. Her wardrobe would be an issue, he thought. Cass was all woman, with lush curves, and she dressed to show them, not indecently, but definitely provocatively. Of course, with a body like hers, a burlap sack could have been provocative. And those heels, he thought. God above, he didn’t know how she walked in them but he damned sure liked to watch her when she did.
The bell over the door tinkled again, and he turned to see Crystal walking in. Her face was streaked with tears, her normally perfect makeup smeared all over her face. She looked crazed. “I want my job back,” she said. “I’ll be good. I’ll be better than good. No more cell phone in the office, no more short skirts!”
It hadn’t been the short skirt. It had been the fact that she’d bent over in front of his desk to deliberately show him she wasn’t wearing underwear. She was only nineteen for the love of god. He might be a pervert, he’d thought at the time, but he damned well wasn’t a pedophile. Looking at her now, with her tear streaked face and her petulant, trembling lips, it only underscored for him how much of a child she was. He’d wanted to give her a chance when he hired her, and it had been a mistake. “I’m sorry, Crystal. I’ve hired someone else.”
Her face fell even further, and then the tantrum began. She grabbed the coffee thermos from his desk and hurled it at him. The hot liquid splashed over his chest, scorching his skin through the cotton. “You’ll regret this, Reed Harrison! I would have done anything for you!”
Reed watched her rush out, sobbing. Cass was there, coming in through the open door as Crystal ran out. She carried a white paper sack emblazoned with the logo of the diner that was just next door. “Well, I’m glad I missed that,” she said with a rueful smile. “Lover’s quarrel?”
“That isn’t funny, Cass. That girl is--” he stopped, unsure of what to say.
“It’s called cray-cray. She’s crazier than a shithouse rat, Reed, and apparently she really likes you,” Cass intoned sarcastically. Since Reed really wasn’t amused, she took pity on him, “Get that shirt off before you burn. Boy scout that you are, I know you have a spare around here.”
“I don’t, actually. Crystal didn’t pick up the dry cleaning.”
Cass chuckled, as she pulled his neatly folded and pressed shirt from her bag. “I promise not to go all Fatal Attraction on you. Strip. I needed to return this anyway.”
“You could get sued for that, you know.”
“I’ll take my chances.... I grabbed you a couple of burgers. I figured you were going to have a late night,” she said breezily, as she watched him loosen and then remove his neck tie. When his fingers moved to the buttons of his blue, oxford shirt, she felt the familiar tingle of lust that she always did. Reed Harrison, with his dark hair and chiseled features, not to mention his ridiculously keen mind, had been fueling her fantasies for months and his true, Southern gentleman routine of the other night had only piqued her curiosity. Each button that popped open revealed a widening V of bronzed skin, lightly dusted with crisp, dark hair. He was no slouch in the workout department either if the abs he was revealing were any indication.
When he finally shrugged the shirt off, revealing his broad shoulders and the bulging muscles of his arms, she found it difficult to breath. Nonetheless, she moved forward and took the shirt from him to pretreat it with the stain remover she’d found amongst the cleaning supplies. She needed the space.
“Thank you, Cass. If you hadn’t come by today, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“You’d manage, Reed. You may not have lived your whole life in the trailer park, but you were there long enough to learn how to make do,” she replied from the bathroom, her voice carrying over the sound of running water.
It was true enough. Though she was a few years younger than him, Cass had grown up in a rat-trap trailer just two doors down from him. He could remember her as a kid in her dirty, hand me down clothes, with dirt smeared on her face and the sound of yelling and broken crockery coming from the trailer behind her. She’d smiled all the time, regardless. Cass knew about chaos, and she knew how to work in the middle of it without being a part of it. Growing up where they had, it was a necessary coping mechanism. Biting the bullet, he said, “So you need a job?”
Pausing midway through rinsing his shirt, she wondered momentarily if she’d heard him correctly. She had and she did, but coming off as needy had never been her thing. “Depends on how much you pay,” she replied, walking back into the room. The black and cream skirt she wore fluttered around her legs as she moved.
Clearing his throat and willing his cock not to respond to the temptation she presented, he replied, “Not much. Ten bucks an hour, and I’ll pick up your cell phone bill.”
“Will you provide rhinestones and a ‘Hello Kitty’ decal?”
“Emphatically, no.”
“I guess that means I need to wear longer skirts,” she said.
He didn’t want her to. He needed her to, and should ask her to, but those mile long legs were a beautiful sight, even if they were off limits. “Only if you plan on going without underwear and bending over in front of my desk.” He knew that he wouldn’t have the same reaction to Cass doing that as he did with Crystal. If Cass did that--just the thought made him go hard.
“So that’s what she did,” Cass laughed. “She gets points for being brazen, if nothing else. All right, Reed. I’ll work for you. I’ll even dress semiprofessionally.”
“Thank you,” he said, alternately relieved and horrified. How in the name of God was he going to work in the same small office as her and not do something that constituted sexual harassment?
Working for Reed would be a challenge. But work hadn’t been the only thing on her mind when she’d crossed Main Street earlier that day, making a bee line for his office. She had planned to seduce him. Crossing to his desk, she perched on the edge of it, crossing her legs and leaning back on her palms. The pose showcased everything about her body that she loved. It showed her long legs to perfection and thrust her breasts forward. Watching his eyes drift over her, she knew he wasn’t immune. “So what are the rules about fraternization?”
“Cass--”
She matched his tone with her own, “Reed... I’ve seen the way you look at me. The way you’ve been looking at me for months if the truth were told. In fact, when I walked over here today, I had it in mind that I would be getting you out of much more than your shirt.”
He moved towards her, unable to do anything else. Her fiery red hair, a color never found in nature, spilled over her shoulders, bared by the wide neckline of her sweater. That tiny skirt barely brushed her mid thighs, and even though she was petite, her legs seemed to go for miles. The black stilettos that covered her delicate feet were the sexiest damn things he’d ever seen. “You work for me.”
“Only until five,” she said, and pointed to the clock on the wall behind her, which showed it be nearly six o’clock.
“Fuck,” he said on a hiss.
“Yes, please,” she replied with a cheeky grin.
There was only so much a man could take, and Reed had gone far beyond his limits. The memory of how she’d looked when he’d stripped the clothes from her body the other night had nearly driven him crazy. He’d jacked himself off more since that night than he had as a horny teenager. Even drunk and sick, she’d lit a fire in him. And now she was offering herself up to him like a sweet treat. The intensity of his desire both surprised and unsettled him, but not enough to make him stop. There were certain urges that he had to keep in check, things that he wasn’t quite ready to share with her, if ever, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take what she offered.
“You better be damned sure about this,” he said, his hand sliding into the cascade of her flame hair, gripping it tightly, as if he meant to never let her go.
Cass shivered at his touch and at his roughened voice. When his fingers tightened in her hair, tugging her head back, she arched her neck and bit back a moan of pleasure. She could feel the heat and power of his body as he pressed closer to her. Meeting his gaze, she saw the challenge there and issued one of her own in return, “I’m not the one hesitating, counselor.”
He muttered something in response that might have been ‘witch’. Cass smiled, but that smile faded as his lips settled over hers. Firm, demanding, and undeniably hot, the kiss simply melted her. Heat suffused her, instantaneous and overwhelming. Her hands came up of their own volition, clasping his strong shoulders. His skin was hot to the touch and smooth beneath her hands. Unable to resist, she allowed her palms to coast over his shoulders and up to his neck, holding him to her. Of course, she hadn’t anticipated that she would respond to him that way, or that he would be so masterful. As his lips played over hers, his teeth nipping at her lower lip, the scrape of his whiskers on her skin was the sweetest torture.
Pulling his lips from hers, he said, “Christ, you taste like sin.”
“Then let me lead you into temptation,” she replied, parting her thighs and tugging his belt so that his hips were cradled against hers. The hard ridge of his cock pressed against her and she arched against him. His hands settled on her hips, holding her still.
“Oh, no... You started this, Cass, but we’ll finish it on my terms, and I have no intention of hurrying.” He whispered the warning against the delicate skin of her throat, just above her collar bone. It was accompanied by soft kisses followed by the stinging scrape of his teeth. The abraded flesh was then soothed by the sensual glide of his tongue. It was slow, each movement designed to tease and torment, to build the fire that was burning in her.
“You’re killing me,” she said on a gasp.
“Payback,” he said, “Those short skirts and high heels of yours have had me walking around with a permanent hard on for months.”
Cass smiled, deciding to up the stakes. “It’s a very short skirt, Reed, and all I have on under it is a teeny, little thong. Nothing to stop you at all from just tugging that little scrap of satin aside...I’m so wet for you. Think how good it will feel... sliding your cock inside me, all wet and warm and waiting for you.”
Just hearing her say the words had cum leaking from the tip of his cock. He’d be damned if he’d blow it when he’d waited for so long. Shoving the files from his desk he laid her back, but rather than thrusting his aching cock into her, he bent his head and trailed kisses up her thighs, his hands sliding beneath her skirt, pushing the fabric up to reveal the scarlet thong that barely covered her mound. He pressed his face against her, inhaling the sweet scent of her desire, before tugging the thong upwards, separating the dew slicked lips of her sex. With the fabric bunched over her hardened clit, he settled his mouth over that bud and sucked it between his lips.
Cass cried out, her hands clutching at his hair, his shoulders, searching for something to hold onto as the world simply fell out from under her. Between the slightly rough texture of the satin and his questing mouth, she thought she was going to implode right there. “Oh, my god! Reed, please!”
He chuckled, the sound vibrating against her tender flesh. But he didn’t stop. He was relentless. With his lips, teeth and tongue he drove her up again and again, bringing her to the brink of orgasm, only to stop and pull back until she was writhing beneath him. With slow, deliberate movements, he slid two fingers into her hot, clenching sheath. Pumping them into her, he continued his oral assault on her clit. Her heels were digging into his back, her hands tugging at his hair. The noises she made; soft, mewling moans, were making him insane. He sucked harder at her clit, his lips closing over it completely. She bucked beneath him, and he felt the contractions of her body as her orgasm took her. When she gasped his name,he simply couldn’t wait any longer. He rose above her, opening his trousers. Gripping her hips, he turned her over. “Isn’t this what you wanted, Cass? To be bent over this desk and fucked hard?”