7.
He released his iron grip on her ass and Sass slid down the wall of the elevator till her feet were on the ground. Only they didn't seem able to take her weight.
“Easy there.” His hands were back at her waist, holding her up till she got steady.
“Who the hell are you and what did you do with Kirk Anderson?” she asked when she felt like she could talk with the appropriate level of snark to conceal how fragile she felt.
“I'm not sure myself,” he said. “Must be something to do with the company.” But he said it blithely as if she wasn't even there. He disposed of the condom in a handkerchief from his pocket and slid his pants back on. His shirt was still open, and she couldn't help but look at the outline of his abs. Even in this murky light it was clear they were well taken care of, and her fingers tingled at the memory of running over them, feeling the tight bed of muscle under his skin.
The lift suddenly started to move and she was thrown against his bare chest. How did he get to be so hot on the outside and so cold inside? Looking up into his eyes, she saw how hungry they were. How they scanned her body, completely naked except for the panties he'd abruptly pushed to the side. She was bare. Completely bare and the lift was moving. Feeling self-conscious under his hot gaze, she slid her panties back into place and reached down hurriedly for her pants, bra, and top. But then the lift shuddered to a stop.
“This is getting out of control,” she managed just as the light flickered between the murky blue of the emergency light and bright fluorescent standard illumination for half a second, making her eyes ache before it settled back on the too bright fluorescent. The glare made her feel even more self-conscious.
“You're the one that's out of control. I'm not sure what the hell came over me, but that was...something,” he said.
Pulling up her pants and refastening her bra, she perked an eyebrow at him. “And you had nothing to do with it, right?”
“Nothing that I remember. You were the one who pushed yourself into my chest.”
“Me? You put your arms around me.”
“You kept asking me to distract you.”
She put her hands on her hips. “I did need distracting. I thought we were going to die.”
“I know.” He paused, and for a moment she thought this was it. The moment he revealed that he wasn’t the cold hard man she’d first met, but this more sensitive one who hurt, and dreamed, just like everyone else then he opened his stupid mouth.
“We need never speak of this to anyone.” The blithe tone in his voice had returned. Gone was the man who had shared a secret from his past and under the harsh light of the ordinary elevator lighting, his face had lost its softness, and his mouth was set hard in a grim line. But he still stood in front of her. Close enough that she could smell the strawberries they'd eaten for dessert. So, he's hot and made you lose control. So what. He still has no idea how to be an actual human with emotions that last longer than an elevator ride.
“You almost had me there,” she said. “I thought for a second you might have a real heart hidden under your boring suit. Guess not.”
“My suit is a uniform of success. One that performs its function perfectly well.” He took a step even closer, and she had to tip her head back to speak into his face.
“You have depth and history, and yet all you put out to the world is this abrupt, unfeeling front. Thank god I don't work for you.”
“Well we can agree on that.”
She tipped her head to the side, unwilling to let him have the last word. Opening her big mouth had always gotten her into trouble, why stop now? “You're never going to be any better than you are right now because you can't put it all on the line. You're scared it's all going to be taken away from you, and that would mean your folks were right about you all along.” Sass felt mean as she said the words and saw them hitting their mark one after the other. Cruel but kind, sometimes that's what it took to unlock a person's true spirit though. That's what she'd learned from her mother.
Kirk's face fell, and she saw fear in his eyes, real fear, but only for a second. He really was scared that he wasn’t good enough. That he wouldn’t make his stupid Forbes list. That his companies might fall if he didn’t work every hour of every day. That this was it, the high point of his life, and now he’d seen it, he’d found it wanting. Then the fear was replaced by anger. “What makes you think you have the right to talk to me like that?”
“You threw me out of your office, so I get to do what I like.”
“In what world?”
“In the world where you just had me melting up against that wall and then turned your cold hard heart back on to stifle any semblance of feeling you might actually have. You're the one who told me to let go, and I did. I want to experience life. All of it. I've seen the darkness, and I'm not going back there. Not ever again. So now it's my turn to tell you to let go and take a few risks. Let go of whatever is tying you up so tight, Anderson, or you'll find everything you think is so important is as cold as your cryogenically frozen heart.”
They stood there, the lift not moving, the only sound the heated rasp of their breathing. The anger and the fear played out across Kirk's face as Sass watched and a distant part of her waited, fascinated to see which would win. But the other part of her felt for this man. This tall, handsome, successful man who had everything and nothing at his fingertips.
“No one talks to me like that,” he said finally.
“Except me.”
“Except you.” His voice was raw, the emotion winning out against his ever-rational mind, just for a moment. And then, just when she thought the emotion was going to fade and he was going to yell at her again, Kirk closed the space between them and pushed his fingers through her hair. It sent a ricochet of lust rushing through Sass's bloodstream all over again. “I don't know much about you Sarah Hunt, but you press every one of my buttons and then some.”
She smiled, happy that perhaps she'd gotten through to him. That he might look at himself a little differently in the mirror. “Guess people call me Sass for a reason.”
“Don't think this means I agree with you. I don't want to lose control, and I certainly don't want to risk everything I've had to fight for to get where I am.” Then he pulled back her head and took control of her mouth.
Like it had the first time their lips touched, the contact sent bright sparks across Sass's eyes. She screwed them tight, but felt herself sway as he delved deeper, demanding access to her tongue and then dancing his with hers. In the kiss, she could feel his frustration. Frustration that she was right or about some other thing she couldn't tell, but if he meant to scare her off he was doing it wrong. Instead, she felt herself fall deeper into him. The hot lust rippled across her body and threatened to drown her in sensation.
He came up for air, and the challenge in his eyes ripped through her like a knife. Sass saw him for an instant, then, the man he could be, and it unnerved her. That man, the one with bright ambition, who wanted to prove to his doubting parents that he could be everything, the one who did care what others thought of him and would do anything to show it. The man who would risk it all if he thought it would make the world change; that man was someone she liked. Someone she really liked.
She hadn't been looking for a man. Hell, she hardly even dated. Right now was all about starting up her business, showing New York that she was the best there was because she brought the best out of people. Here was a man who was her biggest challenge yet and she did like a challenge.
Then his hands were on her breasts, and all thought disappeared again. His tongue was on her neck, his breath in her hair and she wanted him, oh she wanted all of him.
Then, BING.
A cool blast of air blew over Sass's skin, and she registered a noise somewhere far away.
“Oh my god. This is the best wedding ever. This is too perfect.” It was Cara's voice. Cara laughing.
Sass pulled back from Kirk, and her jaw dropped.
“Oh shit.” Kirk backed away from her, fast, and she missed his warmth straight away.
But oh shit was right. Sass grabbed her top from the floor and quickly held it across her front. The doors of the elevator were open. Wide open. And in the space between them crowded the faces of too many of the wedding party to count. Cara's was stretched in a grin, and a few of the men behind her had lascivious smirks on their faces. Sass pulled her top closer. Thank god, she'd managed to get the rest of her clothes back on.
Kirk was quickly doing up his shirt and had his jacket already on, his face stony. “Nothing more to see here people. Move along.”
Several of the wedding party did just that and filtered back into the main room, making the audience in front of them smaller, to Sass's eternal gratitude.
Joe Diaz stood beside his bride. “Well, I have to give it to you, Anderson, you sure know how to steal a moment.”
“Your lift broke down, Diaz.”
Instead of faltering at the abrupt criticism, Joe threw back his head and laughed. “That it did. Looks like you made the best of the situation though. Sass is one great stylist. I wouldn't have picked the disheveled look fitting in in the Anderson boardroom, but it actually suits you.”
“Ms Hunt is not in my employ and likely never will be. Her ideas on how to run a business are ridiculous.”
Sass felt the words as if they were brightly sharpened blades. One by one they pierced through her skin, stuck between her ribs and headed for her heart.
“Hey,” Cara's voice was loud with shock. “Hang on a minute there.”
“No. I've been hanging on far too long. This was nothing more than a terrible accident.”
Sass blinked and her vision cleared. “Say what you really think.”
“I always do. And I've come to expect the same from you. Only I neither care nor agree with anything you have to say. People don’t change, not who they really are. It’s time you figured that out and left me alone.”
There was a collective gasp among the remaining guests, and Sass felt the blades twist deeper into her torso.
“Congratulations on your wedding, Diaz. Get this lift fixed. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I'll take the stairs.”
The elevator pinged, impatient to get going again now that it had rediscovered its purpose. For a moment, Sass thought about letting the doors shut and just slumping down in the corner, but as Kirk disappeared through the crowd, Cara and her mother bustled in and enfolded her in a cocoon of perfume and silk. She opened her mouth to speak, but there was nothing left to say. She was numb. Shocked. Broken.