Beck & Call (10 page)

Most importantly—the language here was in bold—hires agreed not to advance their sexual relationship when out of the hiring party’s presence. Doing so would constitute grounds for voiding the agreement. In any case, the contract would automatically expire but could be renegotiated at the culmination of two months.

Jake could guess which parts had caused Mia’s brows to lift.

“This seems to cover everything,” he said.

“It doesn’t cover the regular jobs he offered us,” Mia said. “The driving and the personal assistantship. I don’t know about you, but I like to do actual, useful things, not just play sex games 24/7.”

Her objection amused the CEO. “I thought HR could go over that with you. You can think about this contract and sign it when you’re ready.”

Mia and Jake sat side by side on the couch, not touching but adjacent. The cushions were deep, perfect for a man as tall as him. Call was across from them. He hadn’t pulled his chair any closer, and this left a body length of space between them. Now he leaned forward and cleared his throat. “I should mention I’d want you to adhere to the bolded passage even before you sign.”

Mia leveled a look at him. “You mean the part that says we can’t have sex without you there to witness it.”

“I believe the clause covers more than that.”

Mia wouldn’t need reminding of the exact wording. She inclined forward like Call was, her earnestness apparent. “What do you get out of this, Damien? You seem capable of participating. And, I’m not an expert, but you don’t strike me as sexually afraid.”

Call didn’t like this question. He sat upright, his hands contracting on his thighs. This was when Jake noticed what Mia evidently already had. Call had become aroused during their conversation. A substantial bulge distorted his trouser front—though it didn’t affect his manner otherwise.

“What I get out of it is my business,” he said crisply. He rubbed his thighs. “You don’t tiptoe around things, do you?”

Mia winced. “I don’t try to be rude, but I’m afraid diplomacy isn’t my strong suit.”

“Well,” Call said, “perhaps I’m … too used to people coddling me.”

Jake rubbed his mouth to hide the twitching at its corners. Mia wasn’t denying the other man’s admission. She probably didn’t realize she should. Call’s gaze sharpened when his attention moved to Jake. Jake erased his amusement, thinking Call might take offense. Instead, the CEO relaxed.

“All right,” he conceded. “I suppose we’ll find a way to tolerate each other’s oddities. Do you accept the contract in principle, or would you like amendments?”

“I’m okay with it.” Mia looked at Jake. “How about you?”

“As long as Damien understands we might say ‘no’ to him now and then.”

“I do understand. I’m not interested in making either of you unhappy.”

Jake shrugged, his lounge on the couch deepening. “In that case, I’m good.”

Jake’s words had a second meaning Damien seemed to appreciate—to go by the smile that flirted around his mouth. “Before we sign anything, would you two consent to a test of your chemistry? I’d like to confirm that the electricity you generated at Audition wasn’t a fluke.”

“Here?” Mia asked, startled.

“We’re private,” Damien assured her.

“This is your workplace.”

“So it is.” Damien flashed a grin that made him look more like a pirate than a sober captain of industry. “I thought, perhaps, you’d like to turn the tables on your friend.”

The CEO caught Jake unprepared. Lust streaked through his veins and heated his genitals. Damien wasn’t the only one with a hard-on then.

Mia blushed and stammered. “I’m not … I don’t …”

“We’ll keep it simple,” Damien soothed. “No whips. No chains. Just you in control of him. Do you think you’d enjoy that?”

Mia’s gaze jerked to Jake’s and an even stronger surge of desire crashed through him. Unlike himself or Damien, Mia’s face expressed every emotion. The emotion he saw on it then was longing. Jake’s cock pounded so hard it should have shaken Damien’s skyscraper. He’d known Mia wanted him. Now, thanks to the con they were playing out, he’d experience her yen for him directly.

Mia swallowed before answering. “I think I’d like that. I’ve never been the boss of him.”

“Have you ever touched him sexually?”

“Not before Audition. Assuming you don’t count fantasies.”

She covered her mouth. Sometimes she really didn’t have a filter.

Damien’s chuckle was low and charmed. “Did you ever fantasize about giving him a handjob? Maybe while you sat at one desk and he sat at the other?”

Jake’s mouth opened and immediately shut again. The wisest course truly seemed to say nothing.

“Um,” Mia said. “Jake doesn’t sit a whole lot. Mostly, he’s a leaner.”

Damien smiled and rose. “Follow me, Mr. Reed.”

Jake shook himself from his daze, unused to taking orders from anyone. Damien didn’t turn to see if he obeyed, just led the way to his desk. The curved glass top resembled something that would fly if you pushed it out a window. A riveted steel pedestal with splayed legs anchored it to the floor. The thing was simultaneously butch and artsy, a sculpture you could work on.

Damien wheeled the desk chair away from the block of sunshine behind it. “Please stand here, Mr. Reed. With your hips resting on the edge.”

“You can call me Jake.”

Damien smiled faintly. “I’ll call you what I wish, Mr. Reed.”

O-kay
. Damien Call had a thing for keeping his distance. Jake noticed Mia had gotten more of a concession on this point. Finding this interesting rather than annoying, he stood where the CEO directed.

“Now you, Mia.” Damien gestured for her to come.

Jake’s heart beat faster as she approached. Her cheeks and mouth were flushed, her eyes very bright. He wet his lips without thinking. She stopped an arm’s length from Damien.

“As you can see,” Damien said, “this desk is sturdy and bolted to the floor. No matter what you do to your friend, he’ll be able to brace without toppling it.”

“That’s convenient.” Mia’s involuntary breathiness turned the wry response erotic. She looked at Damien who, for the moment, stood closer to Jake than her. The current of awareness he’d noticed before passed between the pair. “You have rules for this, right? Or suggestions?”

“I have two rules for Mr. Reed: that his hands remain gripped on the desk behind him, and that he not kiss you on the mouth.”

“And for me?”

“That you open his clothes rather than remove them, and that you use no other body part but your hands on his erection.”

Damien’s voice had gone slightly rough. When Mia shivered in response, an answering tremor ran across Jake’s shoulders. They could tell their would-be boss was really into this.

“Is Jake allowed to come?” she asked.

“Whenever he likes. How long this lasts is up to him.” Damien slid his gaze to Jake, his mouth curving knowingly. Damien didn’t need to set a time limit. No man would let another male think he couldn’t control himself—not if he could help it.

Damien stepped back out of touching range, his side to the sunny windows overlooking Manhattan’s tip. He extended his arm to indicate Mia should move in. “The stage is yours, Mia.”

Mia moved onto it. Jake could tell she was nervous. For his part, tingling waves of heat surged through him at her nearness. His natural urge was to put his hands on her waist. He had to remind himself not to release his grip on the desk’s rounded edge. Mia glanced down him, her attention catching on the ridge behind his zipper. Her cheeks had flushed by the time she dragged her gaze up again.

“I’ll just, um, start with your shirt, I think.”

Jake smiled but didn’t speak. He liked her timidity almost as much as Damien did.

Timid or not, her little fingers were torture undoing his buttons, every spot she brushed on his chest burning. She progressed to his belt and stopped. “I have to pull the tails out to get the rest.”

Her need to warn him was endearing. She tugged the garment out carefully. The cotton strafed his straining erection, but she wasn’t hurting him. She bit her lip as she freed the final buttons and moved to his belt buckle. He guessed she hadn’t undressed many men. The mechanism stymied her for a moment before she conquered it. Undoing his trouser tabs forced her to lean closer, her warm breath fanning his exposed skin. Her ponytail swung with her efforts.

Though Jake didn’t look at Damien, he knew the man had a clear view of everything.

“Got it,” she declared victoriously.

“Don’t stop there,” Jake joked. “This is getting interesting.”

She didn’t have the nerve to sass him back. She took hold of his zipper tab. Their gazes locked, her deep brown eyes seeming to pull him down a well. This was happening. She was going to touch him.

“I’m looking forward to this,” she confessed.

His breath rushed out even before she dragged the zipper carefully around him. God, she had a knack for getting to him, for making him want things he ought to leave alone. She had too much honesty, too much unhidden need for him. Jake knew he had a way with women; he’d charmed enough of them for his job and himself. Mia, though … Mia made him feel like the sexiest man on the planet just by being her natural self.

He sucked air sharply as her hand slid into his underwear.

She seemed to think the moment was special too.

“Ooh,” she said, circling his base with her soft fingers. Her hand and wrist fit closely between his briefs and him. “You’re so big and smooth.”

He was getting bigger by the second. Mia wrapped him in her hold and pulled. He couldn’t stop his flesh from leaping. She wasn’t using a lot of pressure, but the sensations that rocketed through his shaft were indescribable. This was
her
hand, the off limits honorary sister of his boss. The muscles of his thighs and ass tightened. In that moment, he was very glad he wasn’t supposed to stop this from happening.

He ground his teeth as her stroke rubbed across the flare.

“Is my hand cold?”

He had to unclench his jaw to answer. “No,” he forced out. “It’s perfect.”

“You like this?”

He couldn’t believe she needed reassurance. He’d broken into a full body sweat from a single stroke, his breath just about panting. Mia pushed her fist down his length again. His eyes nearly crossed at how good that felt.

“I like it,” he promised jerkily.

“You might want to slow down,” Damien said.

Mia stopped what she was doing to turn her head to him. The other man tapped his index finger across his lips.

“I’m not going fast,” she said.

Damien laughed. “He’s reacting fast. So the question is, do you want to embarrass him?”

“Seriously?”

“See where his hands grip the desk? His knuckles have gone white.”

Mia looked, and her lips formed a surprised circle. “Wow. I’ve never seen him do that. Jake is the original cool cat.”

“You have power over him. He’s as attracted to you as you are to him.”

Jake wasn’t sure he enjoyed being talked about as if he weren’t there. On the other hand, he didn’t want to ruin Mia’s fun. He couldn’t mistake that having sway over him titillated her.

“Press your lips to his breastbone,” Damien suggested. “See how fast his heart is beating.”

Mia leaned in a bit shyly, one hand still down his pants. She didn’t quite kiss him, but her lips were warm as they flattened on his skin. Jake struggled not to push closer. He knew his heart thudded.

He liked the feel of her almost-kiss better than was good for him.

Mia backed up and her head turned to Damien. “What can I do besides jack him off that won’t break your rules?”

Sunshine flared in Damien’s green-and blue-flecked gold eyes. “You can touch him anywhere you like. Just don’t open his clothes any more than they are.”

Mia considered the possible territory. Jake wasn’t a bear but he did have hair on his chest. He guessed that appealed to her. She slid both hands under his gapped shirt and scratched his skin lightly with all ten nails. That felt amazing, like she was waking a million nerves simultaneously. Seeming oblivious to the storm she was stirring up, she explored his pecs and his ribs and the ridged muscles of his abdomen.

“Lean down to me,” she said.

When he leaned, his hands moved with him automatically.

“Those stay on the desk,” she reminded.

If she’d been anyone else trying to order him around, he’d have made her work for it. He was a natural top; he didn’t bottom unless it was for a good reason. This was Mia, though. She wasn’t a fan of confrontation and wouldn’t relish a battle to subdue him. Still leaning toward her, he put his hands back where they belonged.

“Thank you,” she said politely.

Possibly he should have thanked her. She reached under his shirt and around his back, her smooth nails pushing up his muscles to his shoulders. The position put her between his legs, almost hugging him. He could feel the curve of her breasts, could smell the peach shampoo she used to wash her hair. Damien had told him not to kiss Mia on the mouth, but that didn’t exclude the rest of her. Unable to resist, he nuzzled the tender spot where her neck curved into her left shoulder.

She gasped when he sucked it hard.

“That’s allowed,” he told her, murmuring the taunt against her ear.

Her eyes flashed, and he sensed he’d challenged her temper.

“This is allowed too,” she said. Her nails scraped down under the back of his unzipped trousers, both hands running over and then squeezing his ass cheeks. For Mia, this was pretty bold, especially when she continued kneading him. Her thumbs were strong where they gripped the first inches of his cleft. Pleasurable feelings rippled into parts of him she probably wasn’t thinking too hard about. “You have a great butt, Jake. I’d really love watching it get spanked.”

Okay, maybe he’d refrain from jumping to conclusions about the vanilla nature of her fantasies.

He looked up to find Damien rubbing his smiling lower lip, obviously entertained by their repartee. He wondered if the billionaire honestly thought
he’d
give Jake the spanking.

“Please continue,” Damien said, noting his attention. “I’m enjoying this.”