TEN
Jordan
The call from Chase leaves me somewhat hopeful. So she wants to see me? This could be interesting.
I have to assume that she had her ass handed to her at work. Now to find out how committed she is.
My fingers work the knot in my tie, tugging it side-to-side to lessen the restriction at my throat while I watch the security feed on my monitor. She leaves her car at the roadway, her shoulders visibly rising as she takes a deep breath and heads for the house.
A smile twitches at the corner of my lips as I push the chair away from my desk and rise to meet her. I shouldn’t take pleasure in her pain, but who the fuck am I kidding?
I live for other people’s pain.
The feed shows her mere steps from the front door, her hands wringing before her as she appears to think over her approach. My feet make quick work of the yards between my office and the foyer, slowing as I near the massive timber door.
Any second now …
The tie still feels too tight; I work it free and toss it aside. Not as though I need it on anymore.
What is she doing?
My leg twitches, the indecision in my stance as I weigh up the choices: stay here and wait her out, or duck back in to my office and see why the fuck she hasn’t pressed the doorbell or knocked yet.
The simple monotone of the bell seems deafening by the time she finally fucking presses it. I lunge for the door, and then hesitate. No need to seem so eager. I mentally time how long it would take me to walk from the office, making the motions in my mind as I wait the appropriate length of time before opening the door.
“Corinne? What are you doing here?” As if I had no idea who it was … pfft.
She runs her bottom lip between her teeth before answering. “I have questions.”
I open my mouth to reply, yet she takes me by surprise, pushing past to bowl on in to my house. “Make yourself at home,” I quip as I shut the door and turn to follow her.
She makes tracks through the place, her head twisting left and right as she appears to catalog every detail. Her purse hits the sofa in the living area with a bounce, her heels clicking over the tiles as she heads toward the hallway.
“Anything you need help with?” I wisecrack as she tries a door.
“What do you really do for a job?”
“Cyber security.”
She spins, eyes narrowed. “Bullshit.”
Like that, is it? “You saw me at your workplace. What makes you think I don’t tell you the truth?”
“Last I checked,” she states, sticking her head in an open doorway to survey the spare room beyond, “people didn’t make this much from installing firewalls.”
“Maybe it’s old money.”
“Nope.” She marches toward my bedroom, and then seems to think better of it. “I haven’t seen a thing yet that screams heirloom.”
“Old money doesn’t mean old possessions.” I chuckle. “Maybe all that junk is at my parents’ place?”
“Don’t believe you.”
I catch her by the arm as she attempts to pass on her way back to the living room. “What happened, Corinne? Why are you here?”
Her disdain is clear in the curl of her lip. “There were cameras. Did you know that? Because I sure didn’t.”
“Do we get a copy of the file?” I smirk.
She smacks me hard in the arm with her free hand, and then jerks free. “God, you’re intolerable.”
“Not what you were saying while we made your adult film debut.”
“This isn’t funny, Jordan.” She storms ahead, blonde locks flowing behind her as she throws over her shoulder, “I lost my goddamn job.”
What? Come on, Ted. “Lost your job?”
“That’s what I said.” Her heels click into the kitchen where I find her perusing the fridge. “Tell me you have wine.”
“I have plenty in the wine fridge.”
Her face is hard as she slams the door and turns her attention on me. “Not everyone has a wine fridge, you jerk. God.” She groans. “You’re so full of yourself.”
She’s perfect. All fire and ice: beautiful despite her risk.
“Did you come here for anything other than to accuse me of being an egotistical liar while drinking me dry?” I rest a hip against the counter. “Because I know a few things that could cheer you up.”
She swallows, the acceptance in her eyes. She wants it. She wants me.
As she should.
“I don’t know why I’m here.” Her butt hits the counter opposite mine. “I guess … I suppose I felt you owed me an explanation after what happened today.”
“What needs explaining?” I take a step toward her, intrigued by the lack of response. She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t try to get away. “I thought things between us were clear now.”
Corinne laughs bitterly as she turns her face away. “How?”
“What’s unclear then?”
Stormy eyes find mine. She lays a hand against my chest, pressing her fingertips one by one into my pec hard as she lists the issues. “You’re a vague acquaintance of my brother, your work is IT related, and you’re loaded beyond belief. That’s all I know about you. Jordan. It’s not much, is it?”
“I guess not.” She flinches when I trap her hand beneath mine. “Is that a problem?”
“Are you serious?” An eyebrow lifts. “Hardly enough to take you home to meet the parents on.”
“As if we’re at that stage anyway,” I dismiss. I step away, frustrated by how she manages to turn my games around on me. “What do you want?”
“Honesty.” She sighs. “You ruined my life. You at least owe me the honest reason why.”
“Maybe it wasn’t intentional?”
“Maybe,” she murmurs, clearly unconvinced. “Still.”
“Why did you lose your job?” I cross to where the wine fridge is concealed beneath the counter. “Red, or white?”
“White.” She folds her arms, watching as I pour her a glass. “Apparently it wouldn’t have been gross misconduct if you were a colleague.”
“Understandable, yet somewhat a double standard.”
“I know, right?” She accepts the drink, immediately taking a sip. “God, that’s better.”
“What did you say when Ted told you?”
She scoffs. “Not much. I didn’t really know what to say. I mean, I couldn’t deny it, and really, there’s no justification for what we did.”
“Yes there is.” I stand beside her, arms folded as I lean my hip into the counter. “We’re human, Corinne. You want me. I want you. It’s the basic law of attraction.”
She flattens her lips on a sigh. “Maybe. But normal people don’t act on carnal desire at work, let alone on the damn break room table.”
“What’s normal anyway?” I shrug. “Normal is boring, safe, pre-defined. Normal is being dead while you’re still alive.” I move in front of her and set my hands on her hips, hoisting her to the counter.
She balances her wine to one side, allowing me to step between her spread legs.
“Do you want to be normal?”
“I hadn’t really thought all that hard on it, to be honest.” She turns her head to the side to sip her drink.
“You like the safe, predictable route?” I lean in and kiss the exposed part of her throat.
“Most days.”
“Why?”
A shiver jerks her body as I nip at the peek of her collarbone, visible from beneath her blouse. “It’s easy to manage.”
“Do you feel fulfilled though?” I continue to kiss a path to her ear where I bite the lobe. She smells sweet, yet with a hint of something more erotic.
“Fulfilled, how? As in, my bills are paid and I have a loving family?”
“As in—” I pull back to look her in the eye “—you don’t feel the need to dream of another life, to wonder what if, to seek something more.”
Her gaze drops to my throat. “No. I’m not fulfilled.”
“So why be normal, then?” Her blouse bunches beneath my palm, hand skimming over the soft flesh of her waist. “Why not step outside the box and live a little?”
“Is that what you do?” She raises an eyebrow in challenge.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You’ll know when you need to.”
“I need to know now.” She takes another cocky swig of wine.
“No. You don’t.”
“I disagree.” Her eyes narrow; the slightest tilt of her chin shows challenge. “You want me, you need to be honest with me.”
“I am.” I tighten my grip on her waist, reminding her who’s in charge.
She doesn’t flinch.
“I haven’t lied to you once.”
“Really?”
I shake my head, caressing the skin below her bra with my thumb. “Nope. Merely omitted to tell you what I don’t need you to know.”
“So it’s not that you don’t want me to know?” She narrows her gaze, seemingly unaffected by my gentle exploration of her abdomen.
“It’s that you’re not ready to know.”
“Hmm.” The last of her wine slides down her throat with ease before she sets the glass aside. “When will I be?”
“When I tell you that you are.”
“Cryptic.”
“As much as you’ll get, too. Stop asking questions, Corinne, and undo your blouse.”
“Do it yourself.”
I take a side in each hand, and jerk my arms wide. The buttons skitter across the floor, the satisfying tear of satin music to my ears.
“Unnecessary,” she taunts.
“To the point,” I challenge in return.
Why fuck around with semantics when I can buy her another one? I want what lies beneath; the material got in my way.
Palms to the counter, she leans back in invitation, presenting her gorgeous fucking tits to me. I do the only logical thing and pull the cup of her bra beneath the supple mounds, and then take her nipples in turn, swirling and flicking my tongue on each until they’re firm peaks.
Her answering moans leave my slacks straining and the need to fuck her heavy in my balls. She challenges me, unafraid. She pushes me for more, testing boundaries.
She goes against everything I’ve ever said I needed in a woman.
Which is why she must stay.
“When did they ask you to finish?” I ask as I step back and reach beneath her skirt to remove her panties.
She shuffles her butt to assist as she answers. “Immediately.”
“Good.” I discard the useless fabric, and then run my fingers either side of her slick heat.
She moans in the back of her throat, eyes closed with her head thrown back in abandon. Lust is a good look on her. Uninhibited and real.
“I still hate you for ruining my life,” she feebly complains as I run a single fingertip between her pussy lips.
“I didn’t ruin it.” I punctuate my point with a digit in her cunt. “I liberated it.”
“I wasn’t trapped.”
“You were bored. Admit it.”
“Maybe.” She rocks her hips onto my pistoning finger. “But I didn’t feel as though I needed out, Jordan.”
“You needed what your normal, safe little life couldn’t give you.” I add another digit.
A heavy exhale passes her parted lips. “And what would that be?”
“Me.”