Chapter Six
Liv
It’s Monday morning, and I’m in my car sitting in the parking lot thinking about everything that has happened since the last time I was here. After Mason and I had very public sex on the boat, no one bothered us. My sister and Trey seemed to be at odds, as was told by their tense smiles. After we left, I texted Evelyn and told her exactly what Trey said to me. I was debating on whether or not I should but I know, if it was me, I’d want to know what a scumbag my future husband is. She never responded. I skipped family dinner yesterday not only because I didn’t want to come face to face with those who hurt me so much, but also I was a bit preoccupied.
I never left Mason’s house all weekend. We stopped by my condo on Friday night so I could pack a bag, and I didn’t return home until last night. To say the weekend was amazing would be undervaluing it. I’ve never felt so loved and worshiped and taken care of as when I was with him all weekend. Sure, there were still the dirty comments and jokes, but it made it interesting and I loved shutting him up. I think he would irritate me just so I’d sit on his face.
We didn’t talk about what would happen today, where we would stand once we were thrown back into reality. I think that’s the real reason I don’t want to get out of my car. In the back of my mind, I know where this weekend is headed. Nowhere. I can’t risk my job. I’ve gotten too far to ruin it. Trey made me choose between him and my dream. My feelings for Mason could possibly take it away. Maybe I should do what I’ve done with my feelings for him all this time…ignore them.
I walk with purpose into my office, curious as to why his computer isn’t up and running. He must not be in and for some reason, that comforts me. It pushes off the awkwardness for just a moment.
Entering my office, I don’t see any coffee or a printed out schedule for the day. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. This makes me nervous. Mason is never late, ever. I go through the motions of turning on my laptop and emptying my bag trying not to let my insecurities seep in. Once all that is completed I decide to get myself some coffee. The hallway is still semi-quiet but the breakroom holds a couple of assistants. I spot Mia pouring herself a cup.
“Morning, Mia.” I greet her. When she looks up, she seems surprised. I guess I get it…I’m never usually nice to her. Maybe I actually was jealous.
“Good morning, Ms. Marx.” She smiles back finally.
My hip hits the counter as I lean into it and brave the question. “Have you seen Mason?”
Her blonde curls bounce as she nods her head yes. “As soon as he walked in his dad called him into his office.”
I still. “Do you know what it’s about?”
“No.” She stirs the cream and sugar into her coffee before heading toward the door. “Have a good day.”
“You too.”
Unease fills my veins even more. What could Mr. Finn want? Does he know what happened between his son and me? Is he asking Mason about it? Will Mason tell him?
Oh my God. He would tell him. Would he use that to get my job?
My legs shake as I walk down the hall back to my office but this time I find Mason at his computer, leaning over it as something prints from the computer. He’s dressed in khaki pants and a blue sweater. As if he can sense me approaching, he looks up, his dark brown eyes meet mine. I can’t gauge what he is thinking and he volunteers no information. His eyes sparkle as he says, “Good morning, Liv.”
“Morning, Mason.” I walk past him, intent on ignoring our weekend tryst. Which is hard to do seeing as I can still feel his hands all over my body, and my mouth is still chapped from his tie. Yet I can’t help but wonder what he and his father spoke about.
Just before reaching my door, his hand gently grasps my wrist. “Liv, I need to talk to you.”
My head falls as I release a sigh. I know we need to discuss what happened. Where it will lead to or not lead to but right now is not the time. “Later, Mason. I’m busy.”
He doesn’t let go of my hand but instead leans in close enough so only I can hear. “I guess you didn’t need a good fuck to pull you from that foul mood, or are you just lusting for another round.”
The words irritate me, yet the brashness jumpstarts my hormones. Can I let this get to me? No. My eyes meet his. “Don’t kid yourself, Mason. It wasn’t that good.”
“You fooled me.” He growled, licking my ear. “The way your pussy convulsed around me all weekend says differently, but if you want to pretend like this weekend didn’t happen, I’ll allow it. Just for today but look at you. You’re trembling under my touch, and your nipples are begging to be sucked.”
My heart beats erratically. “Stop…” I whisper. “We can’t do this here.”
He looks down at my lips as though he’s ready to claim them right here, right now, in front of everyone. Instead he says, “I need to tell you what my father said.”
A knot forms in my throat. “You didn’t tell him…”
“Liv!” Mr. Finn calls as he walks down the office hallway forcing Mason to drop my wrist and step back. “Do you mind heading into my office when you get a chance?”
“Of course.” I look at Mason who seems to be giving away nothing. It’s just now that I notice he has a box on top of his desk and looks to be packing up. When Mr. Finn leaves I ask, “Why are you packing?”
He smiles, looking toward my office, and winks. “I’m taking over your office. It’s mine now.”
I gasp, probably loud enough for everyone to hear. “You’re fucking kidding me!”
“Kidding? No.” He laughs, putting a picture frame into his box. “Fucking, if you’d like.”
Now standing at the edge of his desk I attempt to keep my voice low. “What did you do, Mason?” I ask, millions of thoughts running through my head, and the worst of them all I spew out. “Did you fuck me so you could tell your dad and take my job?”
He stops what he is doing, rage evident in his eyes. “You think I would do that, Liv?”
Shrugging, I respond. “I do. I honestly do. You’ve been miserable since you took this job, and I wouldn’t put it past you to use my moment of weakness against me to get mine.”
His head is thrown back in a laugh. “I don’t fucking believe this.” He falls back into his chair. “A moment of weakness, huh?”
“Yes!”
“You didn’t sound weak, Liv. You sounded like a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. Someone who dreamt about it.” He laughs again. “You told me not to keep my big dick to myself. That you’d get on your knees and wrap your lips around it. That doesn’t sound anything like weak to me. You spent the entire weekend with me.”
Embarrassment flushes my face. I did say those things, and I meant it and despite all the shit I had encountered on that boat, it wasn’t a moment of weakness. It was a moment when a year of lust and longing collided. And now, knowing he betrayed me like this, I realized it wasn’t only physical. I like him.
Liked him.
“Well, fuck you, Mason. I’m glad you got everything you wanted.” I push off the desk. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see about my severance package.”
He shakes his head. “I want you to remember this, Liv. Remember this moment because you’ll regret it.”
Letting that little jab go, I walk toward Mr. Finn’s office, hoping like hell I get a good severance package. His secretary has me go straight in but I knock before entering.
“Come in.” He calls out.
Stepping inside I find him staring out his window before he turns and smiles at me. He is a handsome man. Just fifty-five years old and now just starting to collect some gray hair. Mason looks just like him. He has some good genes to grow old with but I won’t see it. If I walk out of here today, it’s forever.
“Ms. Marx.” He greets me, walking over to his desk. “Have a seat. We need to talk about your future here.”
***
Mason’s words play on a constant loop from four days ago. He told me I’d regret it. He said that I should remember that moment, and I do. It was the last time I had spoken with him. Now, as I look around my new – much bigger – corner office, I regret jumping to conclusions. My future here at FVS is secure. I was told that by Mr. Finn himself when he not only gave me a raise but also the new office. The one belonging to a colleague who left to pursue other avenues. Now, I have to pass by Mason’s office, my old one, every day as he has now been hired on as an architect. He’s taking on his own projects and a new assistant. He finally has the job he wanted. The one he waited patiently for, worked his way from the bottom and didn’t use me to get it.
Each of the past four days I have looked at his office door, more than once, trying to build the courage to walk in and apologize, but I’m a chicken. I’m afraid if I do, that I’ll also admit to all the things I figured out during my soul search this week. That every moment we don’t talk guts me. I may tell him I actually have feelings for him, not just physical ones. How I miss his touch, even just the accidental brushes against one another as we pass by. I miss the jokes, and the frustration, and the protection. I’ve seen him in the hallways, each time my heart beats out of my chest, and even though he doesn’t give me the time of day, I still catch him eyeing me up and down. I think both of us are just waiting for the other one to crack. I know it’s coming soon.
Today, he was at his assistant’s desk following me with his eyes. I could see the heartache and lust all mixed into one. I’m sure he sees that in me as well. I’ve read the employee manual three times, not once finding a clause stating no inter-office affairs. If we ever get over whatever this is and choose to start something, it will be explosive.
“Mrs. Marx.” My new assistant, Adeline, calls from the intercom. “I’m heading out to lunch.”
Ah, Adeline. She is trying and I know for a fact that Mason has been helping her. Not once have I had to alert her to any of my quirks. Since she started first thing Tuesday, she puts a paper copy of my schedule on my desk and knows I like my coffee black. She is in before everyone else and makes sure to leave me alone if my door is closed. The one thing she can’t do is remember that I’m not married.
“It’s Ms. Marx.” I enunciate the Ms. “Have a great lunch.”
She doesn’t bother to reply but instead leaves me alone, like she has the couple days during lunchtime. I’ve come to enjoy the quiet for an hour. It leaves me to think and regroup.
My head falls to the back of my chair, and I allow my eyes to close letting myself take deep breaths in and out. It’s a technique I got from the one yoga class I took a few months ago. The peace lasts for only a moment before someone bursts through my door. Shocked at the intrusion, my eyes fly open and discover Mason striding in before he closes and locks the door behind him. I blink a few times, wondering if this is real or if maybe I have fallen asleep at my desk.
It’s real. So fucking real as he walks over to my desk and spins me around in my chair. My face lines up perfectly with his khaki-clad cock. My instinct is to free it from its confines and slip my tongue over it. He’s mad, and it instantly turns me on.
“Livvy.” He leans over me. “When do you plan on apologizing? You walk around here teasing me, tempting me, after accusing me of using you to get my job, and yet, no apology.”
“Mason, I…”
He cuts me off. “No, you don’t get to talk now. I’m so fucking pissed at you for so many things, but right now all I want is to satisfy this madness brewing inside me. The sheer insanity I have for you and your body has overtaken me, and now it’s time for you to extinguish this flame.” Leaning back he commands me to stand up.
Without hesitation, I comply, because let’s be honest here, I need him more than I need air right now. He leans down, grabbing the bottom of my dress and flipping it up easily and off me.
“You stopped wearing your uptight suits and have been taunting me with these dresses, Olivia.” His hands roam down the sides of my body. “Tell me you want this.”
I’m shocked as I stand only in my white lace bra and panties, complimented by my three inch peep-toe shoes. He turns me around, unclasping my bra and letting it fall to the floor. I should care that we’re at work but I don’t. My nipples harden with the cold air just as I feel a sting on my ass. Mason spanked me! “Tell me you want this or tell me to stop.” He reaches around, taking a taut nipple between his fingers, his other hand dipping into my panties and teasing me while his teeth sink into my shoulder.
“I want this,” I say because anything else would be a lie. I’m tired of lying to myself.
I barely get out the words before he all but pushes me to the windows, my hands brace against the glass as I look down at the cars passing by down below. “Someone could see us, Mason.”
His lips move to my ear. “I don’t give a shit. Spread your legs.” He tells me while his hand digs into my panties and continues to glide through the wetness he created.
I widen my stance, all form of professionalism gone. I allow him to display me for anyone looking this way to see. I no longer care. My need for him overpowers all lucid thoughts. He pushes my panties aside while pressing down on my back, forcing me to bend slightly. Mason groans loudly as his cock slides into me with ease. From this position, each and every thrust hits my clit at the right angle. I’m already on the brink of orgasm.
I can feel the scrape of Mason’s zipper along my ass. We must look like a sight to see. Me, naked except my panties and he’s fully dressed with his cock hanging out. Desperate. Both of us needing one another.
“I missed this pussy, Livvy. It’s been on my mind since I had you spread out across my couch last Sunday.” He pumps into me faster. “I can’t think about anything else except how good it feels wrapped around me.”
“Oh God.” It’s the only coherent thing I can say. I’m moments away from exploding around him inside my brand new office.
“This could be yours, Liv. All yours.” He groans grabbing onto my hips. “Every night I could worship your body. Kiss every inch of you. Take care of you. Put my mouth between your legs and taste you. Every. Damn. Night.”
I’m close. So damn close.
“But you’re fucking stubborn. You think the world is against you.” He continues while relentlessly fucking me. “That you have to be strong and independent and not count on anyone. You need to realize that not everyone has an ulterior motive.”
“You don’t have one right now?” I manage to ask, willing my orgasm to subside. I don’t want to come in under a minute but Jesus this feels amazing. “Coming into my office and accosting me?”
Mason slows his pace, each push into me torturous but glorious all the same. “I told you why I was here. I want to get off, Liv, and you’re all I’ve been thinking about. There is no ulterior motive here. I want you, in all sense of the word.”
My phone begins to ring on the desk but while momentarily distracting me, it does nothing to deter Mason from his end game, which is to fuck me against this window.
I feel him starting to swell, his dick getting harder with each thrust. “I’m close and by the tightening of your pussy I know you are too. Come with me.”
And I do. We crash together, crying out at the waves of pleasure that consume us. Our breathing is still heavy while he pulls himself out of me. I stand up straight and turn to him, watching as he buttons himself up. “Mason, I…”
He shakes his head. “Don’t.”
Grabbing my bra and dress off the floor he helps secure them back on my body. Once the final piece is in place he asks, “Do you want me more than this?” His fingers motion between the two of us. “More than sex? Do you want to be with me?”
We both jump as my office door swings open again, this time it carries his father inside. The older version of Mason looks between the two of us. “Am I interrupting something?”
Mason looks at me. “I don’t know, Liv. Is he interrupting anything?”
I want to tell Mason I want him for more than just sex. I want to be with him. To fall in love with him. To grow old together and be dependent on one another as well as independent. I want him to take me on dates and make me swoon, but I don’t say any of that to him.
Because – I’m a coward.
“No, Mr. Finn.” I sadly respond. “Mason was just leaving.”
Mason shakes his head in disgust and walks out.
Hours later, while at home, and an entire bottle of wine is fueling my texts, I reach out to him.
Me: I’m so sorry about everything, Mason. I want more than just sex. I want it all…everything you have to offer. I want it.
Mason: An apology is no longer good enough.
Me: Please. Tell me. What can I do?
Mason: Prove it.