Chandler: A Standalone Contemporary Romance (20 page)

“Oh! I almost forgot,” she says suddenly, rummaging in her purse. She pulls out something in a black wooden frame and hands it to me. “I, uh, got you a present.”

I look down at the picture. A smile erupts on my face as I’m met with Mina’s big brown eyes, her soft brunette curls. It’s the image that I’d seen on Genny’s phone. The one she’d taken in the Hamptons and then sent to a random number.

“It was a text-to-print service,” she explains now. “You send them the image you want printed and then they mail it to you. I’ve used it a few times since I’ve been in the States. Much easier than having to deal with finding a color printer in the hotel.”

A text-to-print service. And I’d immediately assumed she was spying. I’m a dumbass. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Her smile is shy. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“I love,”
you
, “it.” I really do. So much.

Her grin grows more confident. “I’m so glad. She looked so pretty in her party dress, and you clearly adore her. I didn’t see any pictures of her in your apartment. So.”

She swallows, and I notice her skin is red and splotchy at her neck like it always gets when she’s nervous or turned on. “Also, I need to tell you something.” With her eyes cast down, she barrels on. “I need to tell you that you were right to be suspicious of me. I
was
scamming you.”

My shoulders tense. I can’t have heard her right. “Go on.”

Her breathing is shaky as she exhales. “I, um. I led you to believe I was after the Accelecom merger. That it was the reason I sought you out. But it was never the job I wanted most.”

“Then what was it?”

“You.” The word is soft but sure, and I want it to mean what I think it means, but I’m not certain.

“I don’t know if I understand.”

“You, Chandler. I just wanted you.” There’s no mistaking her now, and every coil of tension inside me unravels into euphoria. To hell with staying away. I tug her into me, my lips eagerly finding hers. She tastes like coffee and butter mints and relief.

I understand—I’m relieved to have her in my arms too. I kiss her deeply. Possessively. Like I’ll never stop kissing her. I never should have stopped in the first place.

Before we get too carried away, though, she pushes out of my grip. Leave it to her to remember we’re in the conference room of my office building and that not all the obstacles between us have been removed.

Obstacles like the fact that she lives on another continent.

“Chandler.” She brushes her lips with her fingers, as if cherishing the way it had felt to have my mouth on hers, before dropping her hand stoically at her side. “I don’t want this to be harder when I leave.”

“I know.” I run my hands up and down her arms, searching her eyes. “But there’s a way you could stay. Don’t you see it?” I want her to see it so badly, want it to be a feasible option and not just some fantasy I’ve concocted.

Her brow wrinkles, and it takes her a beat before her eyes light with understanding. “Pierce Industries.”

Yes. Pierce Industries. My company. “I need someone to head up the new department. It would be a high executive position, working right alongside me. You’d have a whole team. It wouldn’t be the same as running Accelecom, but you’d still get to put your ideas into action.”

“You’d give that job to me?” she asks tentatively.

“
Give
it to you? I
created
it for you. The job description matches your resume. The salary is negotiable, but—”

She cuts me off, jumping into my arms. “I love you!”

I blink, startled as much by her proclamation as her sudden movement. It only takes me a second to pull myself together. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I hold her tighter. “Is that a yes?”

“It’s a
hell, yes
. It’s also
I love you
.”

She loves me. She loves me!
Every cell in my body sings with that one simple phrase.

I draw back so I can study her, looking for any indication that she’s jerking my chain. I find nothing but sincerity. “You really do love me, don’t you?”

She nods. Then she repeats it because she gets that I need to hear it over and over before it sinks in.

And when it does, there’s only one thing left for me to say. “I fucking love you, too.”

“
W
e should get a dog
.” It’s the third time Genny’s brought it up in the last few days. I’m starting to think she might be serious.

I stick my head out from the bathroom and pull the toothbrush from my mouth. “We can’t get a dog,” I say, but it comes out a garbled mess since I’m talking around toothpaste.

“What?”

I put up a finger signaling to give me a minute, then disappear to spit and rinse before returning to stand in the doorframe. “We can’t get a dog.”

She looks up from the Pierce Industries Employee Handbook she’s been perusing all morning while I get ready for work. “Why not?”

There are a thousand reasons, but they’re not so easy to remember when I’m in the same room with her. Especially when all she’s wearing is one of the sleeveless shirts I use to work out in. We’ve been together four months now, and she still makes my pulse race every time I look at her.

“Why not?” she asks again.

“You live in an apartment building.” We both live here, but she reminds me daily that it’s her name on the lease. Stubborn as she is about being independent, she refused my invitation to move in with me at the loft and got her own place in Hell’s Kitchen. Yeah, not my first choice, either, but it’s roomy and within walking distance to the office.

It only took a week to realize that we might as well have gotten a place together. We agreed to wait until after the New Year for me to officially move in, mostly to make her father happy, but before that I only spent a handful of nights at the loft.

Now I’m here full-time, and spoiler: she’s not getting rid of me.

“Thousands of people live in apartment buildings and still have dogs,” she says now. We’ve been over this already. Nothing she’s saying is new.

Nothing I’m saying is new either. “We work all day.”

“We’ll hire a dog walker.”

“A cat would be easier.” I’m not even a fan of cats. Just…are we ready for a dog?

“A cat is not the same as a dog. You said you were a dog person.” She narrows her eyes in my direction. “I feel like I might have been duped.”

“I
am
a dog person. I love dogs. I also love kids. It doesn’t mean I want one of either
now
.”

She tosses the handbook on the nightstand and stretches out on the bed. “Yes, you do. I know you do. Imagine it. A furry buddy sleeping at your feet. You could train it to bring you your slippers when you get home.”

In her new position, the light blue edge of her panties peeks out from under her shirt. “You’re too adorable.” So adorable that my boxers are about to tent. I rub my semi through my underwear. “Lift up your shirt—I want to see your tits.”

“Will that get me a dog?”

“Possibly.” Probably. After all, my new mission statement is Make Genny Happy. Best job I’ve ever had.

She sits up, lifting the tank slowly to expose her firm, round breasts. Her nipples are pink and peaked and my mouth waters from the sight of them. After a bit of teasing, she pulls the shirt off all the way and throws it to the ground.

I let out a sigh. My life is pretty goddamn awesome; I’m not going to deny it.

“You’re so fucking hot.” I stroke myself, hardening completely. “Move your panties to the side. I need to see your pussy now.”

She leans back against the headboard and, with two fingers, pulls aside the crotch of her panties to reveal the lips of her pussy. Jesus, she looks just like a
Playboy
pinup.

Guess what. It gets better. Because next she takes her panties off altogether. “If losing my shirt gets me a dog, what will losing my panties get me?”

It will get her finger-fucked, that’s what it will get her. She already looks wet, and I can’t help myself—I have to feel. I head over to the bed and stick two fingers inside her. Damn, she’s soaked. I rub in and out of her a couple of times before pulling away.

“Done with me already?”

“I have to get ready for work,” I say, licking my fingers. “And you’re such a naughty distraction.”

With her eyes locked on mine, she puts her own fingers inside herself. “You mean, I have to take care of myself?”

She’s so fucking coy I want to either spank her or eat her. Maybe both.

I glance at my watch. I guess I have a few minutes to spare. And I do have that new mission statement to live up to.

With my boxers pulled down just far enough to release my erection, I sit on the bed next to her and bring out what she calls my bossy tone. “Climb up on my cock. I’m going to make you come.”

I should mention that she loves my bossy tone.

She’s scrambling over me in a matter of seconds, positioning my cock at her entrance before sliding down.

And oh my god, I practically forget my name. Forget everything but how tight and wet and luscious she is. She feels so good I have to take a few deep breaths to stop from coming right away.

I love it when that happens—when I have to struggle a little to get control. It’s like racing my car around a series of tight curves. The challenge is what makes the ride so fun.

When I have myself in check, that's when I push on the gas. “Faster, baby.” I spank the outside of her upper thigh.

She speeds up, her muscles tensing and her tits bouncing as she works herself up and down on my cock. “Just like that, Genny.”

It’s better than the goddamned Indie 500.

I run my hands along her hips, itching to take the wheel, but just as eager to see where she’ll take us on her own.

Or, rather, with my guidance.

“Touch yourself,” I command now. Like a good girl, she brings her index finger to her mouth and licks it before bringing it down to massage her clit.

“Like this?”

“Just like that, baby. Feel how hard that makes me?”

“Yes,” she pants. “Yes. You’re so hard. Fuck. I’m going to come.”

“Do it.” I shift so I can take over, lifting my hips to meet hers, picking up the pace and pounding into her like she likes. Reaching behind her, I grab a handful of her hair and tug it hard so her back arches.

She gasps and her body starts to shake as she nears climax.

“Do it, Genny. Come all over my cock. I want to feel you squeeze me so hard.” I coach her to her orgasm, praising her and pushing her until she’s reached the crest.

And then, with a groan that borders on a scream, she’s falling apart on top of me. Her pussy clenches my cock, pulsing as her climax shoots through her in waves.

“There you go. Just like that, baby.” We’ve discovered we both like it when I pressure her to come. Like it when we’re both working toward her release. Both of us focused on the same thing. It’s even better than when we come together.

Okay, I’m more than a bit whipped. Sue me.

While she’s still in the throes of ecstasy, I flip her to her back and kiss her. I slide out of her and down her body, kissing her belly before laying a final kiss on the folds of her pussy.

I pull up my boxers as I stand, then stare down at my sleepy-eyed girl. Something in my chest pinches, and I swear, I wouldn’t be surprised if I cracked a rib with how big my heart is over her. Maybe we’ve moved fast, but the road goes on and on, and I know without a doubt that it’s never going to end. I love her. Deeply. Completely. Eternally.

She smiles up at me, her breath still ragged. “What about you?” Her eyes dart to the steel pole in my boxers.

A steel pole I have to ignore.

I turn to the dresser and search for a pair of socks. “Unlike you,” I say over my shoulder, “I have a job I have to get to.” Genny’s official start day isn’t until next Monday. Though I put the development of the new department into action as soon as Warren signed off on it, it took a while to get everything ready to launch. Genny’s worked on it with me as much as she could around moving across the Atlantic, getting a visa, and settling into a new apartment. There were also holidays to account for, as well as my own move. “It feels like it’s taken forever to arrive, but your first day is finally around the corner.”

“About that…” She reaches for the handbook and holds it up. “I’ve discovered one little snag in our relationship. This says you can’t date someone who is your superior.”

Ah, that. The good old Pierce Industries Anti-Fraternization Policy. It’s not like I haven’t thought about it. A lot. “There are ways around it.”

“Such as?”

With a pair of socks in hand, I sit on the chair next to the dresser. “We could break up.” I’m teasing, of course.

She pretends to mull it over. “Well, I’m not going to stop dating you now. I’ve just gotten used to seeing your hair products on my bathroom counter.”

I pull on one sock as I talk. “Then we could ignore it. Hudson can’t fire me, and I’m not going to fire you.”

“I suppose we could do that. People will talk, though. There might be backlash.”

I wait until I have the other sock on before bringing up the last option. “There’s another loophole in the policy,” I say then hold my breath. It’s a loophole that’s only existed for the past few years, one that allows fraternization if the couple is married. Hudson claims he made it so that he could work with his wife if he ever wanted to, but I’m pretty sure he added it so that Norma could marry her assistant, Boyd.

“I read about that,” Genny says slowly. “One that involves a ring.”

“Yes. That one.” My heart is pounding in my ears. I wasn’t planning on having this conversation for at least another week.

But I’m ready. And if she’s ready too, then, what the hell are we waiting for?

I stand and step closer to the bed. “I would have brought it up earlier but didn’t want to make assumptions.”

“After what I let you do to me last night, I think you’re allowed to make assumptions.”

Hmm. Last night. When she let me tie her to the kitchen counter and whip her with a dishtowel…

Shit, I’m so hard.

She sits up and bats her lashes, but her expression is solemn. “In other words, make assumptions.”

I move closer. “Maybe I should mention that I opened a line of credit at Tiffany’s a few days ago.”

She shifts so she’s kneeling on the bed, facing me. “Maybe I should mention I prefer princess cut solitaire.”

Bending so my lips are hovering over hers, I say, “Maybe you should be happy with whatever you get.”

“Maybe as long as what I get is you.”

“You win.” Though, really it’s me who wins. “Now, no more talking.” Roughly, I take her lips, kissing her back into a prone position.

“I thought you had to be to work,” she says, breathless, when I finally let her up for air.

Work. Yes, that. I have a meeting with Hudson this morning, and another with HR this afternoon, along with a pile of papers on my desk to go through and a long list of people I need to call. I’ll be working overtime as it is, staying at the office long after my secretary has gone home, like I have most days the past few months. I’ve taken on a lot with this new department. With the job, moving to an apartment not owned by my family, a serious girlfriend, and a dog on the way, I just might be becoming a full-fledged responsible adult.

So I really should pull away and finish getting dressed.

But Genny is so soft and delicious beneath me…

“Fuck it. I’ll be late.”

About that responsible adult thing—I’ll start tomorrow.