Chapter Eight

~McKenna~

I stumbled out of the building like a corpse. I could feel just how little blood there was in my visage and tears were stinging my eyes like citrus juice. I couldn’t believe that everything was ruined so soon.

I had worked so hard to get the papers I needed and all the IDs to change who I was. To stop McKenna O’Grady from having a footprint so I could finally have peace. But then some devilishly handsome man in a posh suit had to waltz in and topple it like a house of cards.

What could I do? Just sit around and wait for him to fire me? The very thought made me want to sink into the ground and stop existing, and yet I kept trudging on towards the bus stop.

I had no idea what time the next ride was coming, and I didn’t even bother to check. It would arrive when it arrived and there wasn’t much else I could do anyways.

I stared blankly ahead of me, trying to calm myself. The last thing I wanted to do was to cry in public, even though that was exactly what I was fighting off.

I couldn’t say how long I sat there. Maybe an hour, maybe two. All I knew was that I was still as lost when the bus arrived as I was when I first sat down. It just kept cycling in my head how the strange man had figured out who I was. It wasn’t like anybody saw me on a regular enough basis to know something was amiss, and I was absolutely certain that none of the janitorial staff would rat me out.

I guessed I should be grateful that I had the night off with pay. My shoulders were still achy from the past to nights of really dancing my heart out, so I could use the rest. But still, I couldn’t help but think of all the extra cleaning my two coworkers would have to do to make up for my unplanned absence.

It felt like an entire lifetime passed before I shuffled into my front door, kicking my worn shoes off into the three other pairs of also-worn shoes I owned. I went straight to my sink and threw it open, pulling out one of the last gifts I still had from my previous life.

It was a simple paper bag, but what was important was the contents within. Mouth watering, I slid out two bottled of mid-priced wine and grabbed my corkscrew magnet from the fridge.

I had been saving these for a special occasion, hoping to celebrate a change of luck or a new wind of fortune. But now that I was once again spiraling into a dark pit of awfulness, it seemed like a good a time to use them as any.

I uncorked the first one then placed the other in the fridge while I chugged directly from the bottle. It was bitter and dry, but it was exactly what I needed. The room-temperature liquid coated my throat and forced a little warmth into my freezing body.

How did this crap keep happening to me? I was well aware that I had made plenty of mistakes when I was younger, but I didn’t feel like that justified the punishment the universe was heaping onto me. What had I done to deserve all the terribleness? For once, couldn’t I catch a break and have something good happen?

I supposed that would be too much to ask.

Sighing to myself, I turned some music on my phone and walked around my lonely little place. As much as I had been mentally deriding it for the past few days, I was now panicking at the thought that I could lose it.

I fell into a pattern of cursing until I lost my breath, weeping about everything that might happen, then determinedly telling myself I would get through it. It wasn’t until I was standing at the fridge that I realized I had finished the first bottle and was yanking out the second one. Well that was fine too. I had earned it.

It was strange to be up and walking around with so much time left before my shift, and it was even stranger to be up while drunk. And I was definitely feeling tipsy by the time I reached the bottom of the second bottle.

I picked up my phone several times, intent on calling HR and telling them exactly where to shove it, but thankfully my practical side stopped me. No matter what happened, I still needed money to pay rent and get food. Although I still had a check and a half coming in no matter what they decided, that money would be gone incredibly quickly if I lost out on this job entirely.

It was just starting to get dark when I finally lost control. It happened suddenly. One moment I was fine, the next I was sobbing my eyes out. I had worked so hard, and fought so long, and I could feel that I was going to lose it all again. It just wasn’t fair!

I went on like that for several minutes, my tears streaking down my face and leaving shameful little trails on my cheeks. It didn’t take much longer before the second wave of tipsiness sank in and I fell down into slumber.

**

“Are you aware of why I asked you here, Miss O’Grady?”

I looked up to see the same man from work was standing over me. He looked just as intimidating as he had in the office, but I couldn’t help but notice that there was no shirt under his suit jacket.

I licked my lips, distracted by his perfectly sculpted chest and the very top of his abs. Lord, I just wanted to reach forward and stroke my fingers across those defined muscles.

He cleared his throat and I looked back up to his face again.

“Miss O’Grady, I asked you a question.”

Oh right. He had. “…what was it again?”

“Are you aware of why I asked you here?”

“You wanted to know about my fake name.”

“Exactly,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “So do you want to tell me why you thought it was appropriate to come here in your underwear?”

What?!

I looked down, and sure enough, I was dressed only in some fancy negligee that I actually didn’t recall owning at all. But it was mint and lacy, and seeing myself in it filled me with a strange sort of confidence.

“Why do you think I wore it?” I retorted, sounding totally unlike myself. While I liked sex as much as the next woman, I rarely was so bold on the first time. “I thought you might like it.”

The man loosened his tie and looked down at me with those hungry, green eyes of his. “I do like it,” he practically growled. “But I think I would like it even better if it was on the ground.”

It was in that moment that I realized I didn’t even know his name. But that didn’t seem to matter with his cologne swirling around my nose and his chiseled musculature just a breath away from me.

“That doesn’t sound very professional,” I reprimanded saucily, crossing one leg over the other in a coquettish pose.

“To hell with that. What I want to do is the farthest thing from professional as it could get.”

“Oh really?” I countered, looking up at him through hooded eyes. “Then what are you waiting for?”

It was as if I had unleashed a beast between us. One moment he was standing there as I flirted heavily, the next his mouth was on mine and his hands were gripping me like a lifeline.

I giggled happily into him, urging all of his actions onward. Part of me knew that this was dangerous, and that it didn’t really make sense for us to be in some sort of fancy hotel room, but I quickly shoved that part of me down as I let the intimidating man from work absolutely devour me.

It had been so long since I had felt the touch of a man, so long since I had been wanted, that I couldn’t help but melt into him. His strong arms wrapped around me like steel, and I had never desired to be squeezed so tightly.

He ravaged my mouth for several moments, and then suddenly were on a bed. How we had gotten there, I wasn’t quite sure, but the questions quickly slid from my mind again as he peppered kisses down my jaw and down my neck.

I gasped and arched up into him, craving more and more contact. I craved him like a drug, and I had never wanted to be higher in my life.

Then his perfect, heated lips ever so gently touched the top of one of my breasts. It was such a simple movement, but it sent such a surge of excitement through me that nearly shot me to the ceiling.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed into my skin, sending little bolts of lightning spreading through me. “Do you have any idea how hot you are?”

I flushed at that and didn’t answer. Although I was a fairly confident woman, it was certainly an experience to have such a breathtakingly handsome man tell me how attractive I was.

His fingers found the clasp as the center of my bra and deftly unhinged it, causing me to bounce out into the cool air. The cool rush nearly startled me, and I felt my nipples hardened as they stood.

They didn’t stay cold for long, however, his mouth enclosing one while his hand tended to the other. Once more I heard myself gasp wantonly, pushing my chest up into his mouth. The pleasure that flowed through me was mind-numbing, sending me spiraling upward into pure ecstasy.

After a few moments, he pulled back from me, eyes dark and full of lust. “You like that?”

“Yes,” I answered breathlessly, my heart thundering in my chest. “God, yes.”

“Good. Because that’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do.” Before I could challenge that idea, or ask for any clarification, he stood up. I almost complained that he was so far away, but caught myself as he moved to take off his clothes.

Yes! That was exactly what I wanted. Bit by bit, his perfect musculature was revealed to me, until he was completely nude.

He could have not had a more perfect physique if he had been handcrafted by a deity himself. Everything was smooth skin and hard-won musculature, while his dark hair was mussed in just the right way to look effortlessly sexy and not unkempt or slobbish.

Before my eyes could flick downward, he was crawling back on top of me, the look in his eyes like a predator. And I was more than happy to be his prey. I wanted to be chewed up and devoured until I forgot my name.

He settled over me and I felt his hands stroking down, sending little ripples of anticipation through my lower abdomen. I held my breath and little by little, he traveled downward until his fingers were just outside my lace covered entrance.

I had never cursed panties before, but I did now. I wanted to be bare before him, exposed and ready to join together as one.

As if he could hear my thoughts, his fingers hooked into the waistband of my underwear and slowly slid them down. I lifted my hips to aid him, and it seemed that the moment I was bare, his fingers found me again.

Long and slightly calloused, they stroked at my folds while he kissed me once more. He didn’t try to barge in, didn’t just shove himself inside and start feeling around like it was a damn treasure hunt.

No, instead he took his time. Bit by bit, he stroked, fingers circling around to the apex of my center, just dancing around that sensitive point that all women were quite familiar with. I felt my body tense, my breathing growing harsher as it did. A thousand and one thoughts were flying through my head, and for once, none of them involved fear or running.

For once, I was completely in the moment, drenched in the sensuous experience and nothing else. I had needed this so badly.

Then, after I had grown plenty slick, the man finally slid his fingers into me. The moan that escaped my mouth was downright pornographic, but I didn’t care.

Slowly, reverently, he worked me over, sweat beading on my brow as I felt my end start to roll towards me. Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I needed this. The unfettered release that would send endorphins flowing through my body until I forgot about all of the bad and there was only the good.

He curled his fingers within me and I felt myself rapidly coming undone. My thighs clamped together, and I called out something right before I went over the edge.

And then I woke up.

I sat up with a gasp, confusion and frustration setting in quickly. In less than a second, I had gone from being about to orgasm with possibly the hottest man I had ever seen, to sitting alone on my worn mattress with no one but the mice in the walls for company.

“Dammit!” I cried, slamming my fists down onto my thighs. Of course, I would have a wet dream that faltered out before the big crescendo. I couldn’t think of a better way for life to spit in my face.

Grumbling to myself and mood completely soured, I stomped to my bathroom. To be honest, I was a bit embarrassed that I had a sex dream about a man I had only met once. That seemed pretty desperate, and while I was desperate for a lot of things, I didn’t like to think men were very high on that list.

Hell, I didn’t even know is name, and he could fire me tomorrow. Not exactly the best time to be getting my rocks off.

Oh well. I blamed the wine. I hadn’t gotten tipsy or drunk in months and clearly it had brought up some subconscious needs that I had thought I buried.

I turned on the hot water and stepped in, feeling better once again as the steaming water rushed over me. It was impossible to be mad in a nice shower, right?

But without the frustration to distract me, I was left only with images from my dream. My mind replayed different parts like snapshots in a slideshow. His glistening abs, the way his hair flopped over his strong brow. The perfect little upturn to the corner of his mouth as he told me what he was going to do to me.

Before I knew it, I found my hand at my own center, pushing into myself and finding that nub that felt so good. I played the whole scene over in my head, letting the dream rush over me just like the steaming water.

It didn’t take long for my body to get in gear. Obviously, the dream had done its fair share of finding me up in reality. Soon, I felt my knees start to shake and my end come rolling in like a long-lost lover.

I couldn’t stay silent when my orgasm did hit, and I cried out into my little bathroom. My release rocked me, affirming that was exactly what I had needed, and I slumped against the wall.

Wow. How long had it been since I had taken care of myself? I had been so stressed with the job and money situation that it had to have been at least three months. I definitely needed to work on bottling up my needs; it wasn’t healthy.

The water started to turn lukewarm and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before it was outright cold, so I turned it off and got out.

Wrapping a towel around myself, I just stood in the center of my bedroom/living room and looked around. According to the clock on my microwave, it was somewhere around one am. If this were a normal workday, I would be up on the CEO floor, dancing my heart away. But now, I was too blissed out from my orgasm to do any hardcore moving and shaking.

Sighing, I went back to my bed and laid down. Although I knew I wouldn’t be falling asleep, it wouldn’t hurt to give myself a rest and do nothing for a while.

But as soon as my head hit the pillow, my thoughts went right back to the mysterious man who held my future in his hands. I guess I just had to hope he would be merciful.