17
EDEN
WATCHING ZANDER touch himself was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Seeing the need in his expression as he stared back at me, begging me with his eyes to relieve him.
When he asked me to stay, I had no other option. At that moment, I would have done anything he asked of me.
He needed me and was showing me a side of himself that I was positive no other person got to see. The vulnerability of such a powerful man was intoxicating.
I was high on him—buzzed—my body tingling for the hand on his penis to caress my body.
When he finished, and his body exploded, the expression on his face was my undoing. It was as if I was feeling the pleasure he was experiencing as well. I grew wet, my body throbbing in my secret places, and my nipples stung with want.
This was the second time Zander had made me feel these things except, this time, he wasn’t even touching me. He was stroking himself. The way he looked at me … It was all it took.
I wasn’t even supposed to be in his office. Indeed, I was supposed to be working fight night, but Kennedy had wanted me to attend the fight with her. She bought me what was probably the most gorgeous dress and heels I had ever seen, and then she had taken her time to straighten my long hair, making me feel more beautiful than I ever had in my life.
The night was perfection, but the cherry on top was going to Empire Sevens and seeing the entire waitstaff wearing the old uniforms. Gone were the sheer, sexy outfits, and in their place was our usual. I had a feeling that change was because of me. It was as if seeing me get manhandled had unraveled Zander’s control.
He had listened to me.
He had made the change.
And somehow that gave me pleasure.
So when Kennedy asked me to take Zander the key card for the large vault and a numbers count from Dell, the bartender, I had no problem agreeing.
I wanted to see him.
I wanted to thank him.
What I hadn’t expected was for him to be pleasuring himself, and I really didn’t expect that I would be so turned on by the act that I couldn’t move.
Once his body relaxed, and a look of pure rapture moved over his face, I left, leaving the key card and a post-it note on his desk and disappearing into the hallway. Once the door to his office closed, I pressed myself against the wall to keep myself from falling. My legs were shaking, my insides melting for him.
I spent the rest of the night wiggling in my seat while I watched two men beat the living crap out of each other. The crowd around me was amped up, cheering and booing, but all I could think about was Zander.
And when I finally saw him again, he was making his way to his seat, which was close to where Aunt Kennedy and I were sitting. His eyes connected with mine, and a tiny grin tugged at the corner of his luscious lips.
He knew what I was thinking.
He had to know what he was doing to me.
And at that moment, we shared two tiny secrets.
One: he wanted me.
And two: I wanted him as well.
THOSE TWO TINY SECRETS made for an extremely awkward feeling the next night when Luke picked me up for our date.
I liked Luke.
I really did.
But I couldn’t see past the memory of Zander touching himself.
It was all I could think about.
The way he looked at me—the way he stroked himself—and the roll of his shoulders when he leaned over, tensed up, and came in his fist.
It was the most erotic thing that had ever happened to me. I had never seen a man come like that before. I had never been one to watch porn, so to see Zander in that position, it did things to me that I didn’t understand.
“Earth to Eden,” Luke interrupted my thoughts.
I jerked, running my fingers through my hair to calm my racing heart. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
He looked at me as if I was strange before he chuckled nervously. “She wants to know what you want to drink.”
I looked up to see the waitress standing beside me tapping her small notebook with her pencil.
“I’m sorry. Pepsi, please.”
Once the waitress walked away with our drink order, Luke reached out and ran a finger across the back of my hand.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
He had asked me that at least six times already, and for the sixth time, I guiltily said, “I’m fine.”
I wasn’t fine.
But I couldn’t very well tell him that I was sitting around fantasizing about my boss and the way he jerked off in front of me. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Zander on the black leather couch with a look of absolute rapture on his face.
I squeezed my thighs together to control the throbbing inside my panties. Reaching across the table, I grabbed one of the glasses of water set out for us and took a sip. The iced water cooled me down a bit, but just as I was about to set the glass down, I looked up to see Zander staring back at me from across the restaurant.
I blinked.
I was sure I was seeing things.
There was no way Zander was at the same restaurant. There was no way he was sitting across the room, grinning over at me as he sipped his drink, and there was no way he stood and started toward our table like he owned the place.
“Well, look what we have here,” his deep voice penetrated my nerves, sending them scattering to below my waist.
“Mr. Hale,” Luke said. “What a surprise.”
Strangely, I wasn’t surprised.
Zander was everywhere these days. It was my luck that he would show up at the exact restaurant where Luke had decided to take me to dinner.
“I didn’t realize we paid you enough to afford such a nice restaurant. Unless you plan on washing dishes for your meal?”
Zander chuckled.
Luke’s face turned red with embarrassment.
And I just got mad.
“Is there something you needed, sir?” I asked, making him turn his attention to me. “Because I’m sure if there’s something you want, it can wait until we are actually working for you and not outside Empire when we are trying to enjoy a date.”
“I don’t usually like my employees dating.”
“I’m sorry—” Luke started.
“Is that your preference or something the casino forbids?” I asked, sure that he was full of it.
The look on his face told me he hadn’t expected my response. “Don’t let this interfere with your work performance, or I’ll have no issues firing you both.”
Without another word, he walked away from our table.
“I’m so sorry about that, Eden. I had no idea seeing us out together would cause him to react like that.”
“It’s fine, Luke, and certainly not something you have to be sorry about. Since I’ve arrived, Zander Hale has proven to be nothing but an overbearing asshole.”
We both laughed, and for the next thirty minutes, I was able to give Luke most of my attention.
“I’m going to go to the restroom before our food gets here,” I said, standing and smoothing out my top.
Getting up, I walked to the back of the restaurant and pushed open the bathroom door. It was probably the nicest bathroom I had ever been in, with the exception of anything at Empire Sevens.
Zander Hale and Kade King were extravagant if they were nothing else.
The bathroom was lavender and white, the countertops marble with everything a woman visiting the restroom would need.
I went into the first stall, and when I finished peeing, I stood at the gorgeous counter and starting washing my hands with the lavender scented hand soap.
The door opened at my side and when it did, I looked up. The smile on my face vanished when I met Zander’s eyes in the mirror.
My heart kicked hard in my chest when I asked, “What are you doing in here?”
“If you think a little thing like a sign on a door is going to keep me out, you really have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
I grabbed the towel off the sink and dried my hands as I moved to walk past him, but he slid his large fingers around my wrist and pulled back, stopping me.
“The bar back? Really? Is that the best you can do, angel?”
I tugged at my arm, but he held strong. “My name is Eden.”
His eyes crinkle with an ounce of humor that never made it to his lips.
“Maybe I should call you little devil. You have so much fire in your eyes when you’re angry.”
“If I’m angry, it’s only because you showed up on my date with Luke and made him feel like crap because he’s not loaded like you are. Not everyone has everything handed to them like you do, Zander. Some people have to really work for their money.”
His expression changed, and his fingers loosened around my wrist. I thought he was going to let me go, but before I could blink, I found myself smushed between the wall and the hardness of his body.
“You should know what you’re talking about before you open your mouth. Being wrong is a bad look for you, angel.”
He was so close, his breath hit my face in warm pants, and the urge to leaned forward and press my lips against his shocked me.
“Let me go, Zander. You shouldn’t be here, touching me like this. Not only am I your employee, but I’m also on a date.”
He laughed. “You think so? How do you know Luke didn’t get up and leave when he saw me come in here?”
My stomach twisted, and I panicked. “You let him see you come in here?”
“He’s not the kind of man you want, Eden.”
“How would you know? You don’t know me at all.”
“Oh, I know you better than you think. After last night, I think I’ve got you all figured out.”
Heat warmed my entire body, but before I could respond—not that I even knew how I was going to—the door opened and a women came in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me and Zander.
“Oh,” she said, and here eyes went wide with shock and embarrassment. She stepped out without another word.
“Oh god,” I groaned. “Please, Zander, please just go.”
I rolled my head away from him, but I could feel the tightness in his muscles, and I knew that he didn’t want to let go. But then he turned and walked away, leaving me in the ladies’ room feeling completely off balance and almost as turned on as I was when I watched him pleasure himself with my name on his lips.
When I got back to our table, Luke was nowhere to be found. I felt sick to my stomach, thinking maybe Zander had been telling the truth about Luke leaving, but when I turned around, I couldn’t see the entrance to the bathroom door from our table.
I tried to remain calm, thinking he had just probably gone to the bathroom, but inside, a sick feeling told me that wasn’t the case.
I folded my arms over the table and looked around the room. My gaze connected with the woman who had walked in on Zander and me. The look on her face was pure disgust, and I knew she had probably seen me here with Luke, as well.
Looking away, I tried not to let her judgment eat away at me.
After twenty minutes, I began to worry about Luke.
“Excuse me, miss,” I said, stopping our waitress when she passed. “The guy I was here with, have you seen him?”
“Oh, honey, he left.”
“What do you mean? He just up and left me here?”
I didn’t know why I was asking her these questions. It wasn’t like she knew what was going on.
“Yes, ma’am. He left. Mr. Hale paid your bill and said to give you anything you want. He also said to tell you there will be a car waiting out front to take you home for the evening. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I got a bit busy. It is a Saturday night, after all.”
With that, she left me sitting at the table completely shocked.
Zander would do no such thing.
Or would he?
And I looked across the table and imagined what Zander could have possibly said to Luke to make him leave me, I knew without a doubt.
Zander did.