Good Karma (48 page)

“Before oral stimulation,” she offered.

A distracted chuckle rumbled from his throat.
“Yes.”

For another minute more, he helped her stroke
him in long, even caresses.

“Give me your other hand,” he said, reaching
out.

She did, and he directed her below his
erection and placed her palm on his scrotum. Without saying a word,
he manipulated her fingers, rolling the healthy twin weights
against her palm.

“Mmmmm.” He closed his eyes. “I like that,
too. A lot.”

His erection grew more rigid against her
palm, and she licked her lips. His reaction made her naturally want
to take him further. Without even thinking, she leaned forward and,
taking the cues he’d given, she simply brushed her lips over the
head. Just a simple, slow, back and forth motion.

His entire body lifted, tensed, and then
relaxed as he groaned. “Yeeesss. God, that’s perfect.”

The glans felt just as velvety soft as the
rest of him, smooth and firm. Parting her lips, she closed them
again in a series of sensual, pouty kisses. Feeling his body’s
shuddering reaction, and hearing the way his breathing increased
and the way he groaned his approval, she continued the slow build
and outlined the ridge between tip and shaft with her tongue,
licking one long, luxurious line all the way around before closing
her mouth over the top inch, just the way her books had taught
her.

“Fuck.” The word bit out like the snap of a
rubber band, and he let go of her hands and reached for the lamp.
The light on the nightstand came back on, and he drove his fingers
back into her hair, pushing it off her face.

When she looked up through her lashes, his
chin was on his chest, his mouth open, eyes glazed and hungry.

“That’s good. Very nice.” His hips pressed
forward involuntarily, but only a little, not enough to drive him
deeper into her mouth. “Use your hand and mouth together,” he said.
“As you take me in, stroke down. And when you pull away, stroke up.
Please?”

Well, since he said please.

She did as instructed, taking things slow to
get the feel. He seemed to like it slow, because he nodded, letting
her know she was doing it right, and his hands gripped her scalp
more firmly as his hips got a bit more involved.

“Is this okay?” He said between clenched
teeth.

She nodded, her mouth too busy to answer as
she hollowed out her cheeks and applied a touch of suction.

“God. Damn. Karma.” His shoulders and arms
flexed and bunched, and his chest tightened.

Okay, so she was better at this than she
thought.

“Stop,” he said, pushing her as he gasped.
“You need to stop. Oh God.”

She sucked her mouth off the end with a pop.
A moment later, with his face scrunched tightly, he groaned as
semen shot out and landed on his stomach. His erection jerked in
her hand, over and over, as he continued to come. It was sensual
and fascinating the way his body convulsed and twitched, the way
his breathing hitched, the way his hands fisted the sheets as he
shivered through each wave.

After a long moment passed, Mark opened his
eyes and grinned. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“No, it’s okay. I liked it.” Watching him
come—from just her mouth—was thrilling. Arousing.

He blew out an unsteady breath. “I wasn’t
expecting that.” With his eyelids barely parted, he exhaled again
then licked his lips. “You give undeniably good head.”

Pride bloomed in her chest. “I do?”

He grabbed a tissue and smirked as he wiped
off his stomach. “Duh.” He tossed the tissue on the floor and took
her hand. “Come here.”

She slid up his body and laid her head on his
shoulder.

He kissed her temple. “Give me a few minutes
to recover and I’ll pay you back.”

“A few minutes?”

An amused rumble rolled in his chest. “Okay,
maybe fifteen or twenty. That was pretty damn good.”

Yes, it was. She had enjoyed giving him head.
Such power. To hold him literally in the palm of her hand, inside
her mouth, and lift him to the height of pleasure with her lips and
tongue was more erotic than she could have imagined.

She was beginning to think there was nothing
she couldn’t do now that Mark was paving the way.

Chapter 41

“
Nothing
happens by chance.”

-Paulo Coelho

Over the next few weeks, Mark and Karma thoroughly
explored each other’s bodies. For the time being, both seemed
content to keep the sex simple. Nothing too acrobatic, too wild.
Mark explained that first they needed to become comfortable with
one another. Then they could become more inventive.

Karma’s relationship with her dad remained
strained, but she made it clear she didn’t want her time with Mark
to end until it had to. To be honest, Mark didn’t, either. The more
time he spent with her, the more time he
wanted
to spend,
and as their affair evolved and she became more comfortable making
love to him, the more eager he was to see her.

So, when Mark heard about the Fourth of July
celebration in downtown Indianapolis, he decided to make the
holiday, which landed on a Saturday this year, even more special
and reserved a hotel suite in the Marriott, making sure with the
reservation clerk that the room faced the direction of the
fireworks.

Everything was set, and the weekend promised
to be perfect.

The Thursday before the holiday, after
spending the night with Karma, he arrived to work late—something he
had never done before meeting her, but which felt perversely
thrilling—Mark turned the corner at the top of the stairs, smiling
as she came into view.

Her gaze lifted secretively to his, and color
touched her cheeks, making her look like she had a sunburn. Even
after reaching the pinnacle of intimacy with one another, he could
still make her blush.

“Good morning, Karma. You look rested this
morning.”

“I feel rested, thank you.”

He smiled, stopped at her desk, and gazed
down appreciatively at the ensemble she had put together while he
lay in bed and watched her get dressed. Her new skirt revealed more
leg than usual, and the blouse she had bought to go with it exposed
more of her modest cleavage. A few months ago, he imagined she
never would have worn such an outfit.

Lisa appeared from around the corner,
carrying a coffee mug. “Good morning, Mark. How are you today?”
Lisa had become a stalwart ally in helping them maintain their
secret relationship, and he had grown fond of her.

“I’m well this morning,” he said. “You look
nice.”

She glanced down at her patterned summer
dress, which hung almost to the floor. “Thank you. Karma and I went
shopping last weekend.” Lisa winked at Karma as she dropped a file
on her desk. “Well, I should be getting back to my office. Just
wanted to bring by some paperwork for Don.” She pointed to the
folder. “I’ll talk to you two later.”

“Bye, Lisa.” Karma stood and motioned in the
direction of the coffee station. “Coffee?” she said to Mark.

“Yes, please.”

Don was already in his office as Mark passed
by. “Good morning, Don.” He waved in.

“Morning, Mark.”

Today, he and Don needed to review a few
personnel issues. The time to start making some hard decisions was
fast approaching.

As he pulled out his laptop, he glanced over
as Karma brought in his coffee.

Will that be all?” she said coquettishly.

“No.” He kept his voice quiet.

“What else do you need?” She dropped her
voice, as well.

He licked his lips and let his gaze drop to
her skirt, which hit above the knee. “I need to know what you’re
wearing under your skirt,
Miss Mason
.”

She bit her bottom lip for an instant before
smiling and whispering, “You already know. You watched me put it on
this morning.”

He narrowed his eyes and skimmed them down
her body. “Well, tell me, anyway.”

With a lick of her lips, she grinned and
said, “I’m wearing a thong. A black, lacy one. Does that work for
you?”

He leaned in and grinned. “Yes, that works
for me just fine, thank you.”

“Thought so.” With that, she turned on her
pretty black high heel and swished her slim hips as she returned to
her desk.

Don entered the conference room a few minutes
later, closed the door, and sat down across from him.

“Okay, so we’re getting to the hard part,”
Mark said, shifting his mind from Karma’s black thong to the
meeting.

Don nodded. “Yes.”

Mark had been alluding to the pending
personnel discussion for over a week.

“This is the least favorite of all my tasks.”
Mark tapped a key on his laptop and brought up the report. “And,
just as a reminder, this is only a preliminary discussion.”

“I saw that Karma’s name is on the list,” Don
said, concerned.

There was no way Karma was going anywhere.
After observing her aside from their extracurricular activities, it
was clear she was too valuable to the company.

“This report automatically lists
administrative staff. You’ll see that Nancy and Jolene are also on
the list, as well as Phil’s assistant.” Phil was Solar’s owner,
president, and CEO.

Not that the list was long. There were only
ten out of nearly a hundred employees pointed out for suggested
termination. He figured six of them would need to go. Karma, Nancy,
Phil’s assistant, and one other, a member of IT, would stay, so
long as Nancy was willing to take on extra responsibilities. Right
now, she was under-utilized but more productive than Jolene. And
Jolene needed to go for a lot of reasons. Other than making too
many mistakes and possessing an atrocious work ethic, she was also
too much of a gossip. Karma already did the brunt of Jolene’s job
because the sales and marketing staff had little confidence in Jo’s
abilities. And if Jo even knew what the term confidential meant,
Mark would be surprised. And, lastly, sleeping with your married
boss, who happened to be the son-in-law of the company’s president,
was too out-of-bounds even for Mark’s tastes, and he thought of
himself as pretty nonjudgmental about other people’s personal
lives.

Mark leaned forward and threaded his fingers
together. “Don, I can see you’re worried. Trust me. Karma’s not
going anywhere. I’m very good at what I do, and I can see how
valuable she is. Believe me. I know what’s going on. I know she
does half, if not more, of Jolene’s job.”

There was a moment of silence before Don
spoke again. “You’re going to recommend Jolene’s termination?”

Mark nodded. “Yes. She’s not pulling her
weight, she spends too much time stirring up gossip and spreading
rumors, and she’s just not contributing. She’s dead weight, Don.
She’s dragging the company down.”

“Jake will fight you.”

“He already tried.”

“You’ve already spoken to Jake about
this?”

He had stopped by Jake’s office a few weeks
ago when Jolene had been exiting. She had looked guilty, and both
of them had been flushed, their clothes rumpled. Jake and Jo could
take a lesson from him and Karma about how to have a proper office
romance. Rule number one was never fuck at work unless you knew you
wouldn’t get caught or could hide it well. Jake and Jo had failed
on both counts.

“Yes.”

“And…?”

“Like you said, he resisted at first, but he
eventually agreed.” All Mark had needed to do was drop a subtle
hint that he knew about Jake’s inappropriate relationship with
Jolene to convince him that releasing Jo was the right decision.
Jake was more worried about not letting his wife and Phil find out
he was screwing his admin than he was in sticking his neck out on
Jo’s behalf.

So much for those good looks Jolene relied on
to get her out of troubled waters.

Don nodded and sighed as he crossed his arms
and rocked back in the chair. “He does like Jolene.” He sounded
like he was choosing his words carefully, as if he, too, knew about
Jake and Jo’s relationship. “But when it comes to getting the job
done, he prefers Karma.”

Mark leaned back, his hands still linked in
front of his body. “Do you have a problem sharing Karma with Jake’s
department?”

Don shook his head. “No. But that’s a lot of
work for one person to do.”

Mark explained his idea to redistribute the
administrative tasks to incorporate Nancy more in higher level
functions, which would loosen Karma’s schedule.

“That could work nicely for all involved,”
Don said. “I think that’s more than do-able.”

“Karma’s a valuable employee. She’s smart,
efficient, resourceful.” He knew her passion rested in writing, but
she was good at her job here. “She’s a real asset.”

“I’ve been very pleased with her,” Don
said.

“Likewise.” That sentiment held dual meaning
for Mark. “She’s quite capable. I think she just needs a subtle
nudge, and the possibilities are endless.”

“I can tell you’ve been working with her,”
Don said, his eyes shrewd. “Since you arrived, her confidence has
really improved. I’ve never seen her so eager to dig into new
projects. You’ve been good for her, Mark.”

He smiled, thinking of all the ways Karma had
changed in the last two months. “I just recognize talent, and I
enjoy bringing the best out of people. It’s been fulfilling to
watch her grow.”

Don nodded emphatically. “Yes, it has. In two
years, I’ve not been able to tap in to that talent the way you have
in less than two months. She just seems so much more confident now.
Everything about her has changed.” Don met Mark’s eyes in such a
way that gave Mark pause. He was an expert in body language and
nonverbal communications, and he could swear from the look on Don’s
face that he was aware of what was going on between him and Karma.
If he was, he didn’t pursue it. Maybe Mark was just
overreacting.