Her palm was warm and smooth. Beneath my fingers I could feel the pulse in her wrist. I raised her hand to my lips and laid a single kiss on its palm. I didn’t break eye contact with her, hoping to silently communicate that this game of cat and mouse was over.

I wanted her to know that she'd caught me, but I wasn’t ready to let her be in charge.

Our bodies were inches apart. Backing her into a corner killed the last of the distance. The anticipation of touching her, any part of her, had my body buzzing with electricity.

I dropped her hand and smoothed her hair away from her face, sweeping it over her shoulder, exposing her alabaster neck. I leaned in and inhaled her scented skin; lavender with a hint of something spicy. I grazed my lips against her neck, caressing her slow and gently.

She moved her head back to give me better access. “Rolland,” she whimpered. I nuzzled my way up to her ear, ghosting my lips over it. I stroked the side of her face with feather light touches up her jawline, burying my fingers in her hair. I tugged her head back further, and turned my face to her so we were nose to nose. Tracing my finger over her plump lips, I watched her reactions, eager to experience them.

Her eyes went fuzzy. Desperate. Good—it was her turn to be teased. I allowed my hand to travel down to the exposed skin between her breasts, then I pulled apart her robe to finally have a proper look. She was wearing a black lace bra that barely covered her tits. I hooked my pinky under the lace and exposed her nipple. Caressing her breast I made a slow circle around her pert nipple, watching it harden with my attention.

Every few passes, I let my finger graze the tip directly, and felt her jump, her chest beginning to heave with craving. I licked my thumb and rubbed the pad over her nipple, causing her to bite her lower lip and let out a small whimper. As much as my body was telling me to pounce, turning her on like that, keeping her wanting, was too much fun to give up.

I could have played with her tit all night, but then Tatiana took a small step to the side and the bottom of her robe spread, exposing a bare leg. I skated my hand down the cool silk robe,  stroking her thigh. With my forehead against hers, just a hairsbreadth between our lips, I luxuriated in her wicked desire.

There was a spark of excitement in her eyes. I know when a woman wants to be kissed. It was written all over her face, but I wasn’t ready, not yet. I wanted to draw out this moment, watch her lose herself in the sensation of my breath on her skin and my fingers memorizing every angle of her body. I could feel the goose bumps rising under my fingers where I touched her.

Without thinking, my fingers traveled higher, slipping around to her inner thigh. Her breath was coming faster. I realized it was matching my own. Who was in control here? The answer was soon clear as Tatiana reached down to my hand and moved it up until it was resting against her panties. Heat emanated from her pussy; the lace was damp. I had to suppress the moan that had been building in my chest.

When she removed her hand from mine, I didn’t retreat. I softly ran a finger over her cleft, imagining how the friction would send shock-waves through her. My vision was blurring in this suspended moment; staring in her eyes, her mouth so close to mine, my finger so close to really feeling her.

“Touch me,” she begged. At those words, her tongue brushed across my lips. When I didn’t flinch, she went further. She placed her lips against mine, not kissing, just tracing my lips with her pink tongue.

She reached her hand between us and rested it against my zipper. I was rock hard and the pressure had me instantly thrusting into her hand. Any self-control I had flew out the window. I dipped my finger under her panties and traced her wet seam, coating my finger in her juices. She let out a hiss when I made contact.

My head was swimming with too many sensations, too many competing desires. I longed to have her hot hand on my cock, pumping it while I watched her face, a mask of desire. But my most urgent need was to watch her come. She was dripping wet and my finger slid easily over her swollen clit, finding a rhythm that had her panting in my arms.

“Faster,” she said, as she moved her hips in time with my finger. I made small circles over clit, hardly applying any pressure at all, hoping to tease an orgasm out of her and watch it explode across her face. I kept dipping my finger back inside her, so turned on by how wet she was, by how wet I made her.

Her mouth was against me, her fingers were digging into my scalp, holding on for dear life as she enjoyed the ride. I knew she was close, and I kept rubbing in a tight figure eight over her clit. I knew I was bringing her closer.

She started jerking, her movements becoming unpredictable,; her orgasm was inevitable. Just then, we heard the door slam behind us. We pulled apart quickly and I found myself stalking across the room, not knowing where I was even heading. Tatiana was pulling her robe together, tightening the belt and running to the door to see who’d interrupted us.

“What the fuck?” she said to me as she opened the door, but when she came back in she just shook her head. “I didn’t see anyone in the hallway. Maybe it was just the wind?”

“Or maybe it was one of at least a dozen people who absolutely should not see me fingering my boss’s daughter,” I said through clenched teeth. I was fucking angry. Not at Tatiana, but at myself. What the hell was I doing letting my dick make decisions for me? Just days ago my life was under control, motoring along as planned and on schedule.

I had a great job where I was climbing the corporate ladder. I didn’t have any problem avoiding unnecessary complications. I had two worlds: work and my personal life. So what if my personal life didn’t have much actual life in it? There was time for that. Later.

I sat on Tatiana’s bed and held my head in my hands. “Christ,” I snarled.

“Relax. It’s not like I’m a child,” Tatiana said, that teasing note in her voice again. She walked across the room and sat down next to me, leaning her mouth close to my ear. “And it’s not like I’m going to tell my father how talented you are with your hands and how wet you make me.” She started sliding her hand up my knee.

I jumped off the bed. This evening was over. It had to be. “Tatiana, this can’t happen. You of all people should understand the power your father has over me. I can’t risk my job, everything I’ve worked for, even if I–“

“Even if you what, Rolland? Want me? Because I know you want me. I know you do. And you wanted me, before you knew I was Sergio Montalla’s daughter, you saw me. This doesn’t need to be hard. Please, let me have this. Let me have this one thing.”

She was pleading with me, and she was breaking my heart. She was desperate for something of her own, and at this juncture in her life, she thought I could be it, the key to her freedom. I’d desperately wanted to make her come before, see her break apart in a million pieces, but I wanted to give her an escape, too. And now here she was, begging me for it, and I wanted to say yes. I wanted to finish what we started and see where it could lead.

She must have seen my resolve cracking because she walked across the room to me. Her cheeks were still flushed from before, and she started fingering the collar of my jacket. Her red silk robe was driving me wild. I couldn't stop imagining how it would fall into a puddle at her feet with just a pull on the belt and soft nudge at the shoulder.

Most decisions for me were black and white. I could weigh the pros and cons, risks and rewards, and come to the right solution for any problem. But standing so close to Tatiana, remembering how slippery she felt under my finger and how responsive she was to my touch, I couldn’t think past my most basic and primal urges.

“Just a kiss, Rolland,” she said. It was barely words, more like breathing. “Let’s just start with a kiss and see where it leads.”

I was hypnotized. I wanted this to be easy like she said it could be, so when her chin tilted up to me, and her mouth was so close to mine, I claimed her. I laid my lips against hers, firmly this time. I let her tongue sink into my mouth, tasting champagne and strawberries and so many erotic promises.

Her fingers twined through my hair; we were moving backwards, until her knees hit the bed and she sat down. She looked up at me with innocent eyes. I was so close. So close to taking that next step. To pushing her back on the bed and spreading her legs to taste her. Making her scream my name.

When she reached for my belt, I grabbed her wrist. It was all suddenly clear. “Tatiana, stop. I’m not what you think I am. You look at me and you think you see freedom, but you’re wrong. I’m tied to your father just as much as you are. I’m completely dependent on him. I’ve been working for years to get where I am in his company, to have him depend on me like he does. I am not going to walk away from that. He won’t let me walk away, especially with his little girl. If you want freedom, if you want to break away from your father, you need to find some way to do that without me.”

I didn’t wait for a response from her because I knew she’d convince me to stay.

And I knew I couldn’t.

I turned away from her quickly because I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment on her face. This whole night had been a confusing mess, and if my professional life survived unscathed, it would be a small miracle.

I walked out of her room and to my car as fast as I could.