CHAPTER 5
“Hey baby, this sure is a role reversal. I’m home early and you’re nowhere to be found. Don’t tell me you’re still behind your desk.”
“Ash, don’t tease me,” I whined into the phone. “You know I’m stressed about tomorrow morning’s presentation. I want to make sure it’s perfect, especially since I’m also going over the new protocol changes. I haven’t earned anyone’s respect yet, but I’m determined to change that with this meeting. I’ve been going over my lecture for the last three hours.”
“My god, are you going to talk for three hours? Because I love you baby, but I’m not sure I can sit through that.”
“Ha, ha. No, I’m not going to lecture for three hours. Unless I trip all over my words, I’ll have it wrapped up in forty-five minutes’ tops,” I promised.
His voice changed, grew deeper. “So now that the lecture’s perfect, are you on your way home? I miss you.”
I sighed into the phone. “I just need to scan through the graphics one last time to make sure the renderings are all perfect. I should be out the door soon.”
“Perfect. Text when you’re on your way and I’ll light the grill. I’ve had Hawaiian chicken marinating for two days. It’s going to be delicious.”
“I can’t wait. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I sat my office phone back in its cradle, saved my files, and closed all of my open documents. I pulled up the graphics folder and immediately noticed a problem—Rachel had checked out and edited the file less than an hour before.
I know she has access to everyone’s work, but I didn’t think she’d just check it out and make changes whenever she wants. Maybe that’s not what happened. Maybe she just wanted a little sneak peek at the presentation.
I checked out the file, held my breath, and hit ‘open’. My heart sank as work that wasn’t at all mine filled my screens. I stared at it for a moment, took a deep breath, and rose to my feet.
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I figured the easiest way to find out would be to ask Rachel directly. She still hadn’t really warmed to me, but I was certain there was an innocent explanation for the changes she’d made. I stepped up to her office door and let out a firm knock.
“Come in,” she called out.
I pushed open the door and took half a step into the office.
“Hey, Lauren. Is there some sort of problem?”
“I just saw you edited my graphics file for tomorrow’s presentation. I was hoping to bend your ear and ask about the changes you made so I can explain them to the rest of the artists. Unless plans have changed and you’re giving the lecture?”
Rachel’s brows narrowed and confusion filled her face. “Tomorrow’s all on you, Lauren. I’m not taking over the lecture and I certainly didn’t edit your file. I’d offer to reschedule the presentation, but I’m not sure that would set the best example for the people working under you.”
I kept my voice as even as possible. “I finished the graphics yesterday and they were perfect. Your name was listed as the last to work in the file, Rachel. And from the short portion I reviewed, nearly a quarter of the graphics are wrong.”
“Well, I don’t know how that happened,” she insisted. “Maybe someone came in and used my desk while I was at lunch. But if only a fourth of the work is ruined, you have time to fix it before the meeting. Unless of course you have something more important to do tonight?” Her voice rose on the last word and I realized she had a bigger problem with me than anyone else in the office.
You know I’d rather be with Asher. And I don’t believe for half a second that someone else logged onto her computer. She did this on purpose. And she’s going to judge me by the way I react to it.
“There’s nothing more important than making sure the presentation is right,” I assured her. “And you’re right, it’s nothing I can’t overcome by morning. Do you think you could do me a favor and be a little more careful about locking your computer when you leave the office?”
“Sure,” she replied with syrupy sweetness. “I’ll see you in the morning, Lauren.”
“Yes, see you then.”
I returned to my office and sank down in my seat. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Asher’s number.
“Hey baby, are you on your way?” he answered.
“No,” I replied with a sigh. “It looks like I’m going to be here all night.”
His face grew sharp. “What are you talking about? You showed me the graphics yesterday. They’re perfect.”
“Yeah, and if I’d emailed you a copy of them instead of showing them to you in my office, they’d still be perfect. Let me show you what they look like now.” I emailed a copy of the ruined presentation to Asher’s work address.
“I’m sure they’re not that bad,” he insisted. “How did this even happen?”
“Rachel suggested someone may have used her computer, but I have a feeling she was behind it, Ash. She didn’t seem at all sorry. If anything, she was amused. I think this is some sort of test. And I don’t want you to say anything to her… I think that’s part of the test.”
Asher was silent for several minutes and I realized he must be looking at the graphics. Finally, he let out a long sigh and suggested I at least work from home for the rest of the night.
“That’s a good idea in theory, but it won’t work. I’d be too distracted. I’ll get the changes done much faster if I just stay here. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to come home and at least nap before the presentation.”
“If you’re too tired to drive, call me and I’ll come get you,” he insisted. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Save me some Hawaiian chicken?”
“Done. Love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll talk to you later.”
***
I slid into Asher’s bed at three in the morning, trying my best not to wake him. But the moment I laid my head onto my pillow, I felt his arms fold around me.
“What time is it?” he mumbled, nuzzling his face into the back of my neck.
“It’s a little after three,” I whispered back to him. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.”
“I don’t want to. I missed you.” He kissed me behind the ear and held me closer. “Did you get the presentation fixed?”
“I did. I think it’s better than it was to start with. Maybe I should thank Rachel for messing up the originals.”
He hugged me tighter against him. “Baby, I really don’t think she would do that,” he insisted. “But if you’re certain it was her, I wish you’d let me talk to her about it.”
“Asher, it doesn’t really matter who did it. It’s fixed now. I don’t want to turn it into a bigger deal than it has to be. If anything like this happens again, then I’ll let you say something. For now, I’d rather just deal with it on my own like any other employee would do. I don’t want special treatment because I’m your girlfriend.”
“You don’t?” he whispered. He kissed my neck, pulled my t-shirt over my shoulder, and traced his tongue across my collarbone.
“That’s a shame, because I had something extra special to give you.”
Asher cupped my breast in his hand and rocked his hard cock against my back.
“Oh, baby,” I moaned. “That would feel so good right now. But I’m so exhausted.”
“I’ll do all the work, baby. I promise,” he replied. He slipped a hand under my panties and circled my clit with his fingers.
“You’ve had such a long, hard day,” he continued, his breath tickling my ear and his cock throbbing against my back. “I want to make you feel good.”
“You’ll do all the work?” I asked, arching into his fingers.
“Everything,” he promised. He slipped my panties down my legs, licking and teasing my calves on his way to my feet. I tried to roll onto my back, but he held me on my side. He kissed his way back to my earlobe and slipped two fingers inside me.
“Tell me what you want, baby. Tell me what I can do to turn this from a horrible night into a fantastic one.”
“Take me,” I whispered to him. “Just like this. Hold me in your arms and make slow, sweet love to me. Now,” I added with a hint of desperation. Asher’s fingers moved inside me, but I longed for more.
He rolled away from me for a moment and I heard the condom wrapper open. A few moments later, Asher rolled back to me and spooned me from behind. He lifted my left leg and pulled it backwards on top of his, opening me and angling his cock at my aching entrance. He pushed into me slowly, lowered my leg back down, and held his hips still.
“Oh Ash,” I cried out. He kissed the back of my neck and cupped my left breast, tugging at the nipple. He rocked his hips once and moved his mouth to my ear.
“Does that feel good, baby?”
“Yes,” I moaned.
“Slow and sweet?”
“Yes.”
Asher moved his hips in circles and stroked my side with a light, teasing touch. I felt trapped somewhere between exhaustion and ecstasy, too tired to contribute to what was happening but too turned on to end it. Asher didn’t seem to mind. He stopped moving completely, wrapped both arms around me, and held me tightly to his chest.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” he whispered into my ear. “Just you and me, connected as one, the way we’re meant to be.”
“I could go for that,” I agreed with a sleepy smile.
Asher started moving his hips again in wide, slow circles. I tightened my pussy muscles around him, my need for release growing with each throb of his cock. I mimicked the movement of Asher’s hips with mine, but in the opposite direction.
“Oh, Lauren,” he groaned and reached for my breast again. He pinched my nipple and quickened his pace.
“Oh, baby,” I cried out. “Just like that… right there… don’t stop.”
Asher’s shaft rubbed against my G-spot over and over again. I took his hand from my breast, wet two of his fingers in my mouth, and moved them to my clit. He took the hint and rubbed me until I, quite literally, gushed in release.
“Holy shit, baby,” he moaned. I felt his whole body spasm and then go slack. It wasn’t until my heart rate slowed and Asher rolled away from me that I realized I’d created a giant wet spot on the sheet.
“Umm…. I’m not exactly sure what happened here,” I confessed.
“You’ve never come like that before?” he asked, dropping his lips to my neck.
I shook my head and rolled onto my back. “No, not like that. But it felt amazing.”
“Well, I take that as quite the compliment. Come here, we can both sleep on my side of the bed.”
He moved to the opposite edge of the mattress and pulled me back into his arms. I laid my head on his shoulder and immediately drifted into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
***
I was disappointed when my alarm went off the next morning and I woke in an empty bed; the disappointment turned to anxiety when I checked the garage and discovered Asher had already left for the office.
I had a sneaky suspicion he was going to talk to Rachel, despite the fact I’d asked him not to. I decided to take a quick shower and head into the office early myself.
I washed and dried my hair in record time, pulled it into a sleek bun, and applied a light layer of makeup. The office wasn’t super formal, but I wanted to look like I merited the authority I’d been given. I chose a simple, tasteful cream colored pantsuit, slipped my feet into ballet flats, and grabbed my purse. I checked the interior pocket and found the flash drive I’d saved my presentation to; if there was one lesson I’d learned, it was to keep my work saved to something no one else could get their hands on.
I grabbed a cold bottle of coffee from the refrigerator and returned to the garage. I climbed into my car and set off for the office. As I’d expected, Asher’s truck was parked outside his private entrance. I used my key to get through the door and I wasn’t surprised to find his office empty.
I asked him not to talk to Rachel, but I should have known he wouldn’t listen. I know he’s friends with her, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why. She isn’t exactly warm. And after what she did to me, I know she can’t be trusted. I guess I should go upstairs and see what’s going on.
I rode an elevator to the top floor of the building and slipped unnoticed into the empty main room of the art department. Lights were on in Rachel’s office, but the rest of the floor was dark. I stayed in the shadows along the far wall and made my way to her door. It was cracked just enough for me to listen to their conversation without making my presence known. I held my breath while Asher and Rachel fought.
“You can’t do shit like this, Rach. Not to her,” he demanded.
“You need to know what she’s made of,” Rachel countered. “If you insist on getting serious with her, she’ll have to learn the truth eventually. Better we know now what kind of woman she is.”
“I already know what kind of woman she is,” he insisted. “Lauren’s not the type of woman who bails when things get tough. She didn’t just pass your little test; she saw right through it. Which means you’ve got to cut it out. If you pull anything else like this, I won’t be able to defend you. Not without Lauren asking a lot of questions.”
“For God’s sake, Billy. If you trust her so much, why don’t you just tell her the truth now? It would save us both a lot of lying and sneaking around.”
WHO THE FUCK IS BILLY? And what the FUCK is going on?
Jackson’s warnings flashed into my head and I felt my knees go week. I braced myself against the wall and continued to listen.
“Don’t call me that,” Asher hissed. “You’re getting sloppy, Rachel. I can’t afford that. We can’t afford it. When you tracked me down and showed up in my new life, I was thrilled to see you. But I explained then and I’ll explain it again… if you want to stick around, you have to play by my rules.”
“I know, Asher,” she hissed. “I don’t need the lecture again. And trust me, I have more motivation than you do to make sure no one from our old life tracks us down. I spent a lifetime calling you something else. I can’t help it if I slip up when we’re alone sometimes.”
“You slipped up last week in front of Dave from marketing,” he reminded her. “And I doubt he bought your lame ass cover about thinking I look like Billy the Kid.”
“Dave in marketing is stupid,” she assured him. “But Lauren’s not. And she doesn’t strike me as the type to forgive blatant deception.” She sighed, a sharp exhale I could hear clearly. “Look, Ash. I think you’ll have a fighting chance if you sit her down and tell her the truth. But if you let little suspicions pile up, she may go digging on her own. How would you explain everything she doesn’t find?”
Jackson and Kennedy were right. I don’t know what the fuck else is going on, but they were right. And I was such a bitch to them. I can’t even think about that right now.
“You’re the only one giving Lauren any reason to be suspicious,” Asher insisted. “If you back off, she’ll never have any reason to question me. It doesn’t matter who we were back then, Rachel. It only matters who we are now. And as Asher Reynolds, I can make Lauren happy. Will you just stay out of the way and let me?”
I’d heard everything I could stand to hear. Confusion, disappointment, and heartache coursed through me, but they were mild compared to the outright rage that built in my chest.
I straightened my shoulders, took a deep breath, and pushed open Rachel’s office door. She and Asher startled and jumped to their feet as I stepped into the room.
“Good morning, Lauren,” Rachel greeted me with a fake smile. “Asher said you were able to fix the graphics. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. I just promised Ash I’d do a better job of locking up my office when I leave.”
I ignored her, staring instead into the eyes of Asher, or Billy, or whoever the fuck it was I’d fallen in love with. He met my eyes for a split second, then looked to the floor as the color drained from his face.
“How long were you at the door?” he whispered.
“Long enough. Billy, is it? I think you have some fucking explaining to do.”
THE END
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