SIX
Jordan
I clear my throat when Corrine strides in to the boardroom.
“Walk me through the process, Ted.” My gaze tracks her curvy ass as she rounds the table to set a pitcher of water in the middle. “How did this happen?”
Whatever the fuck my old college buddy says, I only half pay attention. The answer is laid out before me in data sheets, reports, and affidavits from his staff. I only asked him to spell it all out as though I’m fucking stupid so I could get a moment to appreciate the feminine form bent over beside me.
Goddamn. My palm itches to lash out and strike that firm peach.
She un-stacks the glassware, taking her sweet time to lay them out in a line beside the pitcher. A single jerk of her wrist before she sets the last down, and Ted shakes his head in response to say he isn’t thirsty.
“Mr. Bowman?”
I grit my teeth, and nod. If only to have her there a moment longer. I didn’t want her to know my last name yet. I didn’t want her to be able to track me down.
Didn’t factor on her being Ted’s right hand today, did I?
“Thank you, Corrine.” Ted smiles politely in the way that reads ‘Go now.’
She takes the hint, and rounds the table once more to march her long fucking legs out the boardroom door. Jesus. Seeing those pins in a pair of sky-high heels? As if it wasn’t difficult enough not to get a raging hard-on remembering how she spread herself wide on my bed.
Whole goddamn plan has gone to hell. I kicked her out the damn door, certain her pussy still ached from the hammering I gave her given how my balls did, with all intention of playing hard to get. A week here, a few more days there. I wanted her to hunger for me, to thirst for more like I have since she bent over, at sixteen, and promised me things I couldn’t have.
“Where are your servers kept?” I swallow a couple of times, bringing the focus back to Ted.
She wasn’t supposed to be here tonight. She’s just a technician. A lackey.
“I’ll show you.” He rises and gestures to follow with a jerk of his chin.
We make our way through identical cubicles, the space sickeningly clean and crisp. There isn’t a singular sign of life outside these walls on any one of the desks. No photos, no funny memes tacked to the wall. Nothing.
Ugh. I like order as much as the next guy, but Jesus, let the people feel human.
“What did you want to know?”
I humor Ted with question after question about how their servers are protected and backed up. What contingencies they have in place for each perceived threat to the business. He chews my ear off, giving me the details I need, yet my focus keeps sliding out the server room door and to the glimpses of Corrine I get as she moves around the place.
The woman’s always been beautiful, blessed with a fine jaw and large eyes set amongst a mass of natural blonde waves. But age has certainly been kind to her figure, filling out those bony hips with more than enough cushion to satisfy my preferences, her long legs balancing out her top-heavy frame. Yes. My girl was blessed with more than a handful of natural assets. She’s got the kind of fullness to her breasts that make a man dream of burying his face in there.
“Jordan?”
“Huh?”
“Anything else?”
I rub my stomach for good measure, just to thicken the lie a little. “Might head past the men’s. I’ll see you back in the boardroom.”
He flattens his lips and nods, before leaving me to count out the minutes until this gets suspicious.
She gathers up her purse as I approach, an unfamiliar panic settling in my chest when I realize I could have missed her.
“Leaving so soon?”
A gasp falls from her lips, full and painted the most appealing shade of red. “Jordan.”
“Must say it was a nice surprise to find you here.” I lean my forearm on her cubicle wall, aiming for casual and suave.
She shoots me down fast and hard. “You know, you’re quite ugly when you lie.”
“Pardon?”
She slings her purse strap over one arm, resting it in the crook of her elbow as she slams the other hand on her hip. “A nice surprise to see me? Pfft. Please. You couldn’t wait to get rid of me two nights ago.”
Fuck. What do I say now? This is not how I planned this conversation to go.
“Well, excuse me, but last time I checked women didn’t pick men up in a bar if they wanted anything other than a casual bit of fun.”
“Bit of fun.” Her lips press into a flat line as she nods. “Nice to know where I stand. Thank you, Mr. Bowman.”
Her shoulder hits my arm as she passes, her face a goddamn storm. Before I can think the consequences through, my hand shoots out and I capture her by the bicep.
“Wait.”
“Remove your hand, please.”
“Only if you promise to hear me out.” My heart hammers like a goddamn piston, pumping blood to the worst places in this point in time. But her arm beneath my touch… fucking woman drives me to distraction.
“One minute. I have places to be.”
Right. I’ve got this. Entirely.
“Fifty-five seconds, Jordan.”
I’m fucked.
“I was rude.”
“No kidding.”
“But.” I lift my palm as I remove my hand from her. “I was caught off guard, so I acted a little …”
“Like an asshole?” she quips.
“You could say that.”
Her stare is blank. “What do you want from me?”
Hot sex. Blowjobs. Your tits in my hands as you ride my cock— “A second chance.” Forever.
She blows out a loaded breath, gaze drifting past me as she seems to think the proposition over. “No.”
Wait. What? “Sorry?”
“No, Jordan.” Her gaze slides back to me, cool and calculated. “Find yourself another ‘bit of fun’ to practice on.”
“Corrine …”
“I believe you have a meeting you’re required in.” She turns and heads for the lifts.
I’m not the kind of man to beg, but, “Please.”
“No, Mr. Bowman,” she sasses as makes her way through the maze of cubicles. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Pleasure … I’ll give her pleasure.
She might think I already did, but hell that was simply the warm up.
Game on, little girl.
Time to play with the big boys.
Big boy.