One

“Hey, Ames?  You busy?”

Her heart immediately sped up and she hitched in a shaky breath as Mark Stanford strolled into her office.  He was wearing a charcoal coloured suit with a dark red tie.  She kept the saliva in her mouth with sheer willpower alone as he dropped into the chair across from her desk.

She tried not to stare at the way his jacket stretched across his broad shoulders.  She tried even harder not to imagine how he would look naked and stretched out in her bed.  Her cheeks flushed, and she turned back to her computer screen.

There was a knock on the door and her brother’s assistant, Elaine, stuck her head into the room.  “Amy?  Luke wanted me to remind you that you have a meeting with him in half an hour.  Hey, Mark.”

“Hi, Elaine.  How’s your mom?”

Elaine’s cheerful face fell a little.  “She’s not great but the doctors think there’s been some improvement.  Thanks for asking.”

He smiled at her and Amy’s breath caught in her throat.  She cleared it loudly and said, “Tell Luke that his three emails and four texts were enough to remind me about the meeting.”

Elaine laughed.  “You know how your brother is.”

“I miss one meeting and suddenly he has to remind me of everything.”

“I’ll let him know you’ll be there,” Elaine said.

“Thank you.”

The older woman left, and she stole a quick glance at Mark again.  He was studying the mannequin in the corner of her office and she took the opportunity to study him.  His dark hair was on the long side and he hadn’t shaved this morning.  A little unusual but she liked the scruffy look on him.  His full lips were pursed slightly as he stared at the mannequin and when an image of those lips sucking on her nipple popped into her head, she looked away hurriedly.

God, what was wrong with her this morning?  She normally had much better control over herself.  She sighed inwardly and stared at her computer screen.  She, Mark and her brother Luke were equal partners in Dawson Clothing.  Five years ago, when they had started the company out of her tiny little apartment, she never dreamed it would turn into a multi-million business.  Mark and Luke had no such doubts.  They pushed her and supported her as she created her very first line of business clothing.  The first year was difficult.  Long days and so many meetings with potential investors, that she barely had time to design and create. 

Eventually, they secured their first investor, and from there the business grew and then grew some more.  Her clothing lines were currently in every major department store across the country and they were even considering going international.

She snuck another look at Mark.  His attention was still on the mannequin and she bit at her bottom lip.  When her crush had first started ten years ago, Mark was already well over six feet, but he’d still been a bit gangly looking with his long legs and lean build.  He’d filled out over the last decade, thanks to age and a daily regime of exercise. 

Because of weekly poolside summer barbeques at her parents’ place, she knew first-hand how he looked half-naked.  The light layer of dark hair that covered his broad chest, the perfect ridges of his abdomen muscles and his mouth watering v-line.  His thighs were thick with muscle and his ass…oh god, don’t even get her started on his ass.  If she wanted to get through the day without masturbating in the ladies’ room, she needed to stop thinking about Mark half-naked.

So instead you’ll wait and masturbate tonight just like you do every goddamn night?  Admit it, girl, you have a serious problem.  When you can’t sleep without masturbating to just the thought of Mark fucking your brains out, you’ve wandered into obsession territory.  For God’s sake, you can’t even touch him anymore because you’re terrified you’ll touch him a little too long or grab his damn crotch, remember?

Ignoring her inner voice was becoming almost as difficult as ignoring her lust for Mark. 

He glanced at her and grinned before pointing at the bright orange fabric draped over the mannequin’s body.  “That’s…bright.”

“You don’t like?”

He shrugged.  “Orange isn’t my colour.”

“It’s in this season.”

“So, women want to look like pumpkins?”

She laughed.  “You just don’t get fashion.”

“True.  It’s why I’m the money guy and you’re the designer.”

She laughed again.  “We all have our strengths.  Hey, are you coming to family dinner this weekend?”

He nodded.  “Yes.  Your mom already sent me the reminder text.  You?”

“Yes.”

“Are you bringing Tom?”

“We broke up,” she said.

“Oh.  I’m sorry.”

He didn’t look sorry.  Or was it that she was just hoping he didn’t look sorry?  He had met Tom a few times and he was always friendly and polite.  Of course, that was Mark, wasn’t it?  She sometimes wondered how and why her brother and Mark had been best friends for so long.  They were the exact opposite of each other.  Luke could be controlling and his attitude of “my way or the highway” was occasionally off-putting.  Of course, underneath his gruff exterior, her brother was a marshmallow, but he hid it well.

Mark was incredibly easy going and laid back and while their employees feared her brother, they loved Mark.  He was sweet and kind.  He had a perfect body with big hands.  Big hands that could easily hold her down while he spread her legs and fucked her hard and rough until she was begging him to let her come.

“Amy?  What’s wrong?  Your face is beet red,” Mark said.

She tore herself out of her sudden sex fantasy.  What was wrong with her?  Mark would never be rough with her in bed.  Hell, Mark would never be with her in bed - period.

“Nothing,” she said.  “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Okay.  Hey, do you want to go to a matinee on Saturday?”

Her pulse pounded.  There was a time not that long ago when she would have jumped at the chance to be alone with Mark.  Mark loved to go to the movies and so did she.  Luke hated going to the movie theatre and there were many times growing up when she and Mark had gone to the movies without him.  No one in the family had thought it strange when they continued to do so as adults.

But two years ago, she had finally admitted the truth to herself.  She went to the movies with Mark because she secretly hoped that if he spent enough time with her, he would eventually want her the way she wanted him.  It was stupid of her.  Except for that brief moment on that hot summer day ten years ago, Mark had never indicated she was anything more to him than a bratty little sister. 

It had taken almost six months for him to stop asking her to go to the movies with him.  She wondered if he had finally seen through her excuses for why she couldn’t go with him.  She didn’t think he had.  Her crush –

Crush?  Girl, you’re in love with Mark and you know it.

She ignored her inner voice.  Her crush on Mark was a fiercely guarded secret – she hadn’t even told her best friend Valerie how she felt about him – but Mark was a smart man.  Maybe he had seen the truth and thought she was pathetic.

It was that thought – Mark seeing her as pathetic – that had convinced her to move on.  She had stopped coming up with excuses to spend time alone with him.  She had stopped touching him or sitting near him.  She had started to date with the intention of finding someone to fall in love with, not just to fuck.  It hadn’t gone that well, Tom was only the third guy she had dated in two years, but she had thought he might be someone she could fall in love with.

How wrong she’d been.  She could still hear the disgust in Tom’s voice when she had told him what she wanted in bed.  Maybe he was right.  Maybe she was sick and needed help.

“Ames?  What do you say?  Want to hit up a movie like old times?”

Why was he asking her to go to the movies with him again after all this time?  What exactly did that mean?  Maybe she should go with him.  No harm ever came from going to the movies.  Right?

Amy!  Stop it!  Don’t do this to yourself again.

“Sorry,” she said.  “I can’t.  I have plans with Valerie.”

“Okay,” he said before smiling at her.  “Did you get my email about this quarter’s sales numbers?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Mark sighed as she turned to her computer and scrolled through her inbox.  “I don’t see it.”

She jerked in her chair when she heard Mark’s low voice directly behind her.  He had moved silently across the office to stand behind her.  “Check your spam folder.  I’ve been having problems with my email.  I need to talk to Dustin in IT about it again.  He said he would fix it a few days ago but obviously that hasn’t happened.”

She clicked into her spam folder as Mark said, “Why do you have a tab open about beanbag chairs?”

“I hate the chairs in my office.”

“Didn’t Luke just get you new chairs?”

“Yes, and I hate them,” she said.  “I ordered the bean bag chairs and sent the invoice to Kyla.”

Mark laughed.  “Your brother’s going to have a fit.”

“Probably,” she muttered.  She took shallow breaths and tried to concentrate on her email.  God, Mark smelled delicious.  Shivers ran down her spine.  Fuck, how much trouble was she in if just the feel of Mark’s breath on her skin made her nipples harden and her pussy ache?  Her hand tightened into a white-knuckle grip against her mouse.  When Mark leaned forward and his broad chest brushed against her back, she jerked away from him.

“There’s the email,” he said.

“You’re standing too close,” she snapped.

He straightened and stepped back.  “Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry.  I’m just – it’s one of those days where I don’t want anyone in my personal bubble.”

He smiled at her.  “I get it.  Do you have time to look at the reports today?”

“Sure,” she said.

He laughed.  “Are you going to actually look at them or just pretend you did.”

“I told you and my brother that I didn’t want anything to do with the business side, remember?”  She said with a small smile.

“I remember,” he said as he headed toward the door.  “Later, Ames.  I’ll see you on Sunday.”

“Bye, Mark.”

She waited until he’d left before leaning back in her chair and rubbing at her forehead.  She felt like she’d been put through the wringer.  She pulled her phone out and sent a quick text to Valerie.

Hey, we still on for this weekend?

She hadn’t even put her phone down when it buzzed.

Of course we are, doll!  You’re going to love it, I promise you!  See you Friday!

She shoved her phone into her desk and stared blankly at her computer.  She would live out her biggest fantasy this weekend and maybe, just maybe, her obsession with Mark would end.