No one fucking touches her.

Seeing her sitting there on that asshole’s lap, his hand on her naked back, sent killer instincts flying through every cell. Never in my life have I been this possessive over a woman. Or this possessed. But Aura is not like other women. She’s young but she’s completely self-possessed and thoughtful, not to mention the sexiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on.

No one fucking touches her.

Aura and I may have our differences with regard to equality and how the battle of the sexes plays out in the digital world, but I will not allow one instance of men taking advantage in the office. Especially the ones that do so because they think they wield power. And especially not over Aura.

She belongs to me.

Or she will soon.

There’s something about Aura that hits me in my core, makes my skin tighten around the muscle. I need more of her. I won’t ever get enough of her.

Aura looks up at me and I expect to see rage in her eyes. Maybe she equates the game Lance just played with her with the one she and I indulged in less than an hour ago. In my mind she and I were completely equal partners in that game even though I was the dominant one. But I don’t know whether Aura feels the same because of the way she ran out of my office so fast the first chance she got.

“Thank you,” she mouths.

“Don’t,” I say. “I should be apologizing that you were subjected to that shit on my watch.”

“You get used to it,” she says, sadly resigned.

“Well don’t,” I order her again, more ferociously this time to get it into her head. That and the fact that all I want is to yank her into my arms and feel that luscious body pressing into mine. “You of all people should be fighting against this, because I certainly am and always will.”

“I know but sometimes it feels like just another wall to try crashing through when there are a hundred million troops of men all shielding each other and the barrier.”

I’ve never seen her this dejected and the thought that it’s somehow my fault spears through me. Maybe she took her spanking in entirely the wrong way. I feel completely bonded to her, as though that was the first in a long line of many games we’ll play that only cement the chemistry bubbling between us. Somehow she looks defeated and that wasn’t my intended outcome.

“It always starts with one,” I tell her, lifting a pair of cocktails from a passing tray and handing her a glass. “One idea, one ideal, one fighter standing their ground.”

“You make it sound easy,” she says, sipping the bright blue liquid.

“Not easy, but that’s why we’re here. To do what we can to make it a tiny bit better for each other. One step at at time.”

I touch the edge of my glass lightly to hers and she looks up at me with those eyes that make me melt faster than the ice in this alcoholic snocone. They’re wide and questioning and the fire of lust wrenches at my core again. I don’t care that we’re standing in the middle of the room surrounded by my employees, the urge to kiss her mouth is almost unbearable.

“What?” I rasp, trying to swallow down the hunger for her, the need to see her come undone under my touch. Her quizzical stare makes me uncomfortable.

“Did that really happen back there?” She whispers, looking around with a start as some jackass lurches too close, trying to ice skate on the fake snow.

I put my hand on her hip and she startles harder, as though my touch seared through her. I clasp her arm and press her behind a bunch of fake stalactites then push her into the hollow created by the grouping. With me up close, she’s blocked in and hidden from the rest of the party animals.

My hand slides around her back to scoop her up toward me as my mouth covers hers. Powerfully, forcefully but with a tender edge, I let her know that it really happened. It was no mistake and if she wants it as much as I do, it’s going to continue.

My hand is an iron clamp, huge on her back. She feels so small under my palm, as though I could break her. Which makes me want to take care of her more. She’s a feisty one and I get the feeling that causes her a lot of trouble, being so vocal with her opinions and being so steaming hot at the same time.

Feeling the initial resistance of her lips start to surrender as the swelling emotion of my kiss moves through her, I intensify the mouth fuck. My tongue plunges into her as firm and insistent as if I had her spread naked under me. She squirms a little and I slide my hand up her back until I find the bare skin in the plunging dress. Then she trembles under my touch so that I’m certain a rash of goosebumps rises all over her.

Her hands come up to cup my head and pull me into her deeper, harder. I ravish her with my tongue, flexing the pliable muscle around her mouth and plunging deep into her so she knows that very soon it’s going to be my cock she’s feeling.

I only break the kiss because we’re suctioned so hard to each other, we’re suffering oxygen deprivation. Aura releases my head but her hands slide down over my shoulders to grip my biceps as though she can’t fully release me. I know that feeling. I hold her firmly in my grip as well while she stares at me wild-eyed, panting hard.

“What’s going on?” She gasps out.

“This is,” I say simply. “Whatever’s sparked between us won’t be tamped down any more.”

“But you’re, my -“

“Best friend?” I say with a grin.

“No,” she croaks. “You’re my boss.”

“No one gives a shit about that Aura.”

“Don’t they? I’m sure every one of my colleagues would post plenty of smart tweets if they knew I was making out with the head of the company.”

“Making out? We aren’t kids, babe.”

“It kinda feels like we’re acting that way.”

At that moment one of the tech guys comes down the ski slope out, hollering “Merry Christmas and to all a good night” then wipes out into the snowbank I told Tania to construct for the purpose.

Aura and I turn back to face each other and laugh. Then the humor drops from her lovely features leaving only the pure lust ravaging at her insides visible. I can’t lead her through the crowded party to find somewhere I can rip her dress off and finally possess her. And I can’t fuck her here behind the fake ice where anyone might discover us. But I can make sure she knows she’s mine while she enjoys the party I created only for her. I reach up and snap the tip off one of the real pointed stalactites sitting along the top of the fake ones in the scene. A small point of ice perfect for the purpose.

As she watches me, intrigued, I slip the ice into my mouth and draw it out slowly from my lips. She puckers up instinctively, thinking I’m going to put it in her mouth as a talisman. But I pull the slit of her dress to one side and graze my knuckles up her inner thigh, holding her gaze as it grows wider. I connect to her swollen apex, burning hot under the damp panties. My fingertips hook into the lace edge and yank it to one side. Then my other hand swiftly inserts the ice cube into her pussy.

She gasps loud and her fingers dig into my muscle as the cold shocks through her heat. Jesus fuck, she is hot inside. And so wet. It takes all my self control to remove my hand from her panties and not stroke circles around her hard dripping clit, watching her come apart while the ice melts inside her heat.