Chapter Three

 

Claire

 

“You seriously had sex with Jonah in his office like you guys were starring in an office porno?”

I leaned over and banged my head repeatedly against the kitchen table until Luna put her hand on my forehead and pushed me back into a sitting position.

“When you put it like that, it makes me feel even worse, Luna.”

She grinned at me.  “Sorry, I’m just…in shock.  You literally said this morning that you would never sleep with him, and that he was too uptight for you.”

“I was wrong.”

“I’ll say.  So…was it good?”

I hesitated.  “Yeah, it was good, but because of the vibrator, not him.”

“Ooh, does Jonah have a small penis?”  Luna raised her eyebrows.

“No, and just because you’re dating a guy with a dick the size of your forearm, doesn’t mean every woman wants that.”

“So, he does have a small penis.”

“He doesn’t have a small penis!  In fact…”

“In fact, what?”  Luna gave me an expectant look.

“Nothing, never mind.”

“What?”  Luna’s voice rose in an indignant squeak.  “You can’t tell me that you had sex with your boss and then not give me more details.  Spill it, Claire.”

I should never have told Luna what happened this morning between Jonah and me, but she was my best friend and I had to tell someone.  Besides, it wasn’t like I thought Luna would judge me or tell anyone else, it was just… Luna wasn’t the only one in shock.  How could I have slept with my goddamn boss?  Even worse – why did I have to enjoy it so much?

“His dick is the biggest I’ve seen,” I said.

“Nice!”  Luna tried to fist bump me, but I stood and paced back and forth in her small kitchen.  “I lied to you.  My enjoyment of the sex wasn’t because of the vibrator.  It was because of Jonah and how he took control.”

Luna sipped at her tea.  “So, he’s a Dom?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe.  He was just…very good at telling me what to do during sex and I liked it.  But, does that make him a Dom?  Maybe he’s just bossy in the bedroom like he is at the office.”

“But he’s definitely not as polite and uptight as you thought,” Luna said.

I shook my head.  “God, no.  But I can’t believe, that is, I don’t…

“What?”

“I had no idea he was even attracted to me.  He’s never once checked me out or made any indication that he even saw me as a woman rather than just an employee.”

“You’re his HR person.  It wouldn’t exactly look good on his business if you filed sexual harassment charges against him.”

“Yeah, good point.  Or maybe he isn’t actually attracted to me.  Maybe he just decided to take advantage of a horny woman wearing a goddamn vibrator at the office.”

Luna burst into laughter.  “I seriously can’t believe that not only did Roxie lose the remote, but that your boss knew what it was for and used it to bring you to orgasm.  It’s like we’re living in some kind of alternate fantasy world.  Shit like that doesn’t happen in real life, Claire.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So, what now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you gonna keep banging your boss?”

“Of course not.  I need my job.  Do you know how hard it is to find a job as an HR manager in this dinky little town?  Most of the companies are too small to even have an HR department.  I got lucky getting hired on by Jonah.”

“Is there an actual rule against sleeping with people at the office?”

“Well, no, but that isn’t the point.  I will not be the girl at the office banging the boss.  I’ve worked too hard to throw my career away like that.  If anyone found out that I slept with Jonah, I’d lose all credibility.”

Luna sat back in her chair.  “So, you’re just going to pretend it never happened?”

“Yes, and avoid him at the office.”

“I don’t think that will work.  Don’t you have weekly meetings with him?”  Luna said.

“I’ll figure something out.”

“I think you need a stronger game plan to avoid him, Claire-Bear.  Or, maybe just talk to him about what happened and -”

“No!  I won’t talk to him about this, and I can’t be around him anymore.  If I am, I’ll just…”

“You’ll just what?”  Luna asked.

“Nothing,” I mumbled.  “Never mind.”

“Claire,” Luna reached out and took my hands, “I’m your best friend.  Talk to me.”

“It was amazing, okay?  The sex was unbelievable, and I-I don’t know if it was because it was the vibrator, or the chance of getting caught, or because I saw a side of Jonah I never even suspected, but it was incredible.  If I spend any time alone with him, I’m going to fuck him again.  I know I will.  I’m already obsessed, and that’s after just one ten-minute bang in his office.  That’s not normal, Luna!  I can’t be addicted to my damn boss just because he bent me over his desk and fucked me until I couldn’t think straight.  Normal people don’t…”

A flicker of movement caught my eye and I groaned inwardly as I stared up at Asher Stokes.  He was the biggest and, unfortunately for me, the quietest man in town, and who knew how long he’d been standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Claire?  What’s wrong?”  Luna turned around, her face lighting up when she saw Asher. “Honey, hi!”

She jumped up and hurried toward him.  He bent down and pressed a kiss against her mouth.  “Hey, Sunshine.”

“I thought you were having beers with Knox tonight?”  Luna slipped her arm around his waist.

“He had to cancel.  I didn’t mean to interrupt.”  He glanced at me and I blushed before clearing my throat.

“You weren’t, I was just heading home.  Nice to see you again, Asher.”

He nodded and grabbed a beer from the fridge as Luna walked me to the door of her apartment.  “Claire, stay a bit longer.  Asher won’t mind if I send him to the bedroom for a while.”

“No.”  I smiled at Luna.  “Honestly, I’m tired and I just want to go home, have a hot bath and go to bed.  Thanks for listening, honey.”

“Any time.  Are you sure you don’t want to talk a little longer?”  Luna gave me a concerned look.

“I’m sure.  I love you, Luna.”

“I love you too, Claire-Bear.”

 

* * *

 

Jonah

 

“Why did you invite me to lunch if you were just gonna sit and stare silently into your soup?”

I grimaced and gave my best friend an apologetic look.  “Sorry, Matt.”

Matt took a bite of his sandwich and swallowed it down as our waitress returned.  Ignoring me completely, she smiled at Matt.  “How’s that sandwich tasting, Sugar?”

“It’s delicious,” he checked the nametag that was perched precariously on her porn star sized left breast, “Darlene.  Best sandwich I ever ate.”

“Well, if you need anything else, you just let me know.”  She touched his arm, her fingers lingering on his biceps, before she filled his water glass and moved on.  I stared at my empty water glass and rolled my eyes.  I was used to being completely ignored when I was with Matt.

“What?”  Matt grinned at me before taking a drink.

“You ever get tired of women throwing themselves at you?”

“Not yet.  Why, are you getting tired of being ignored by the ladies when you’re with me?  I can’t help it if I look like a model.”

“It’s the uniform,” I said.  “Which is ridiculous because you’re a paramedic and that’s not even fucking cool.”

“Like hell it isn’t.”

“Oh yeah?  How many times does a stripper show up to a bachelorette party dressed as a paramedic?”

“Ladies dig guys who can give them mouth-to-mouth.”

I just shook my head and forced down a mouthful of soup.  It was Friday afternoon and I had texted Matt to see if he’d have lunch with me because, frankly, I needed a break from the office.

Claire was avoiding me.  Not entirely surprising, but we needed to come to some sort of resolution.  I wanted that resolution to include more fucking, but the look on Claire’s face after we’d fucked yesterday morning, suggested I’d have better luck sprouting wings and learning to fly.

“Jesus, man, are you going to tell me what’s wrong or not?  I’ve only got thirty minutes before my shift starts.”

I shoved my soup away and checked the crowded restaurant before lowering my voice.  “I had sex with Claire yesterday.”

“Then why are you in such a bad mood?  You haven’t had sex in…wait, did you say Claire?  Claire as in Claire Hoyt, your HR manager?”

I nodded, and Matt stared at me, his sandwich forgotten in front of him.  “I’m gonna need more details, buddy.”

I shook my head.  “I’m not giving you details.  Let’s just say that Claire is way more adventurous than I thought, and it was a spur of the moment thing.”

“Spur of the moment?  You’ve been mooning over her for years and you’re calling it a spur of the moment thing?”

“Yes.”

“So, why so sad, my little bran muffin?”

“She’s avoiding me now.  After we were finished, she got dressed, grabbed the remote, told me ‘this never happened’ and left my office.  I had to -”

“Whoa…you had sex with her in your office?”

“Keep your voice down.”  I glanced around the restaurant again.

Matt gave me an apologetic look before lowering his voice.  “What do you mean by ‘grabbed the remote’?”

Shit.  That was a slip of the tongue.  I sighed and gave Matt a harsh look.  “You can’t say anything to anyone.  I mean it, Matt.  I won’t have people in this town talking shit about Claire.”

“You know I won’t say anything.  Tell me what happened.”

Ten minutes later, Matt leaned back and drank half of his water in two large gulps.  “Jesus, that’s the fucking hottest thing I’ve ever heard.  Who would have thought Claire would use a vibe?  She’s got the straight-laced librarian look to her.  Why the hell was she wearing a vibe at work, anyway?”

“I have no idea,” I said.  “I had to go to a job with Ryan right after, so it’s not like I could ask her about it.  I was so fucking distracted, I’m lucky I didn’t electrocute myself.  When I returned to the office just after lunch, Claire was gone.  She told our receptionist that she wasn’t feeling well and went home.”

I stared at my soup again.  I’d spent the rest of the day in my office, trying to finish up some paperwork and telling myself repeatedly not to go over to Claire’s house.

I knew where she lived.  Hell, I’d even been there three months ago to pick up an employee evaluation sheet.  Claire had invited me in, more out of politeness than anything else.  I’d sat in her kitchen, her cat weaving around my legs, and tried not to stare at Claire’s tits in her tight t-shirt as we chatted about work related things.

I never asked Claire anything about her personal life, never made any effort to get to know her outside of work.  Not that I wasn’t curious.  Fuck, I was almost obsessed, and had been for probably the last year and a half.  I’d always found her attractive and had more than one dark fantasy about her, but I’d kept a lid on letting it go any further.  One, she worked for me, and two, she was much too vanilla for my tastes.

Of course, that was before she’d come to the office wearing a goddamn vibrator.  I was dying to know why.

“Jonah?  Pay attention.”

“What?”

“I asked if Claire was in the office today.”

“Yes, but we haven’t spoken.  We have our weekly meeting this afternoon though.”

Matt shook his head.  “I can’t believe you had sex with the woman of your dreams, and you weren’t even going to tell me.”

“She’s not the woman of my dreams.”

“Bullshit,” Matt said.  “You’ve been into her for years.  Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you haven’t had sex in over a year.  You’re in love with her.”

My neck was turning red, but I couldn’t argue.  Matt was right, but I hated admitting that I was in love with a woman whom I barely knew anything about.  But, it wasn’t just that.  If Claire knew what I wanted from her, she’d freak the fuck out.  I wasn’t ashamed of my kink, but I knew a woman like Claire would never be into it.  And no matter how I felt about her, I would never be truly happy without at least a monthly indulgence in it.  I’d tried to give it up once before when I was with Anna, and look how that turned out.

“I can’t be in love with her, I don’t know anything about her,” I said.

Matt shrugged.  “You’re in love with her, despite not knowing anything about her.  Maybe that’ll change once you start dating her, but -”

“We’re not going to date.  I’m her boss.”

“So what?  People date at work all the time now.”

“Claire isn’t like that.  She won’t want to work for me and date me at the same time.”

“She could get another job.”

“It’s not just about the job.”

Matt stared at me solemnly.  “Maybe she’d be into it.  She’s obviously less vanilla than you think, if she’s wearing a vibe to work and fucked you in your office.”

“There’s a huge difference between that, and what I like and what I need from her.  You know that, Mattie.”

“Yeah.”  He was silent for a minute.  “You can’t compare her to Anna though, you know that, right?”

“I’m not.  They’re nothing alike.  It’s what makes me even more certain that Claire wouldn’t be into it.  If Anna, who loved going to the club, and participated in lots of what vanilla people would think is sexually deviant behaviour, refused to do it, what do you think Claire would do?  She’d run screaming and probably tell the entire fucking town about what a pervert I was.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do,” I said.  “Claire’s not like that.”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“What happens if she’s disgusted by it?  Then what?  Not only will I have lost any chance with her, she probably won’t ever speak to me again.”

“You could,” Matt paused, “test the waters so to speak and see what happens.”

“I’m not even sure how I would do that.”

“Take her to the club, have her watch a show.  If she’s into it, then -”

“There’s a big difference between watching a show and being the show, Matt.  You know that.”

“Yeah, but -”

“It doesn’t matter.  Claire’s horrified that she slept with her boss and she’s not going to do it again.  I got to be with her once, I need to be happy with that.”