I couldn’t wait to get to work the next morning. I felt like I’d been starved of oxygen. I hadn’t seen Daniel for 24 hours: he hadn’t touched me, hadn’t kissed me, hadn’t made me come for longer than I could bear. I was desperate to catch a glimpse of him, however brief. I needed to quench my thirst for him.

After a brief pre-meeting, David, Deb, and I walked over to the Gematria offices. It was a beautiful sunny day and looking up and feeling the warmth of the sun on my face felt amazing and I couldn’t help but grin to myself. I’d worn another of my wrap dresses. I was going for sexy but professional. I stopped myself from doing downright slutty—which had been my initial instinct—but I knew I could never pull it off. I wanted Daniel to want me as soon as he saw me. I realized that if I was going to stop thinking about him in working hours I needed to feed my need for him in time off. I didn’t want to spend another night away from him.

Before being shown into our meeting room, we were kept in reception for a few minutes. I kept looking around to see if I could see him, catch that glimpse of him that I was so desperate for. No luck. There was lots of activity, lots of gorgeous young women I noticed jealously, but no Daniel.

We were shown into our huge meeting room with an incredible view of the City right to the river and beyond, and Jim and Emily came in and greeted us warmly. Jim started to take us through a list of things he thought we should cover today and we got straight down to work.

About an hour into things, I excused myself and headed to the bathroom, still secretly hoping to see Daniel—or even better, accidently-on-purpose bump into him. But my trip was unsuccessful. No Daniel. I resigned myself to actually concentrating on what we were here to do and buried my thoughts of Daniel at the back of my head.

Shortly after we reconvened after lunch and a couple more necessary trips to the restroom had not uncovered him, the door to the meeting room swung open to reveal Daniel looking heart-stoppingly handsome. His beauty caught me by surprise, as if I were seeing it for the first time, and I could hardly believe my luck—I had been in his bed. He had on my favorite blue suit and I remembered the feel of it on that first night we had been to the Coltrane Club. I smiled and looked down at my papers, being careful not to give myself away.

“So, how are things going in here?” he addressed Jim, not looking at me. David stood up and shook his hand. I kept my head down, pretending to read the document in front of me. His voice was slightly different: Work Daniel. He was these guys’ boss—I suppose playful Daniel or sexy Daniel would be slightly inappropriate. But Work Daniel was hot—the power suited him.

“Good, we’re making progress. I’ll need to run through the list of names we have for the due diligence interviews to ensure you’re happy with it, but I can do that with you tomorrow. I’m just about to leave for a meeting in the West End.”

“I’m free at 4 p.m. Have Leah bring it to me. I don’t want to lose pace.” And with that he swept out.

When 4 p.m. arrived I was a little nervous. I was really trying to keep my work head on me during office hours, trying to keep Daniel in a box, ready to open and enjoy later. This meeting could open that box and blur the boundaries. But I was sure he would be busy and could only spare me a few moments and it would be fine. I was desperate to see him.

I took the list, my notepad, and pen, and found his PA sitting outside his office. His door was shut but she greeted me brightly and led me right in.

“Ah, Leah, good, come in.” Gail, his PA, hovered in the doorway.

“Thank you for seeing me ... er ... Mr. Armitage.” He tried to suppress a grin at our formal exchange but didn’t correct me.

“Can I get you any drinks? Tea, coffee?” Gail smiled warmly, her eyes darting between the two of us. We both declined and Daniel stood up and closed the door and locked it behind her as she left. Hmm, that didn’t seem very business as usual.

“Do you have your list, Leah? Please set it on my desk.” Oh, he was still Work Daniel. I was a little disappointed, but I pulled the list from my papers and walked over to the desk. He came up behind me and moved me so I was standing facing the back of his desk and my flesh tingled at his touch. He didn’t invite me to sit down, so I guess he wanted this meeting to be quick.

“So, the first name is?” I expected Daniel to retake his seat and inspect the list, but he didn’t move from behind me.

I reached across his desk for the list to turn it around so I could read it and he took the opportunity to push me further forward so I was bent completely over the desk. He placed my forearms on the desk either side of the list. I gasped, but Daniel meant business—he splayed his hand on my back, ensuring I stayed put. My god, what was he going to do, here in his office, with people constantly walking by and his PA sitting right outside? I inhaled, and felt myself moisten with anticipation.

“The first name, Leah?”

“E-Edward Lockton,” I stuttered.

Daniel pushed up my skirt to my waist and, without missing a beat, mused, “Yes, that makes sense. The next?”

He ripped my wet panties from me and I felt a coolness as I adjusted to my lack of underwear.

I tried to focus on the next name. “Jill Elliot,” I said unsteadily, trying to suppress my urge to groan as Daniel thrust two fingers straight into me without warning.

“Hmm, interesting. The next?” His fingers started a rhythmic dance in and out.

“David Green.”

I couldn’t hear my voice coming out as the blood was booming in my ears but my mouth seemed to move through the names.

As Daniel reached his other hand around me and found my clitoris I lost the power of speech.

“Leah, the next name,” he reprimanded.

“I’m sorry ... Mr. Armitage ... it’s Ben Amos.”

His desire seemed heightened by words and he grunted, but his fingers left me suddenly. Before I had a chance to turn to see what was next he pushed himself hard into me, pushing me off my elbows. He repositioned me quickly, and holding my shoulders for resistance, thrust again and again.

“Yes, Ben should be on there. Who else?”

I was overwhelmed by his steady tone and the feeling of his relentless cock, slamming into me over and over, but I refocused and I tried to keep my voice steady. I kept reading out the names. He approved each one while he slid in and out of me.

My whole body was on fire. What we were doing felt so illicit. His complete control of me, of himself, was more than I could bear. I felt myself begin to contract around him and he felt it, too, as he picked up his rhythm. The proximity of my climax made me forget where I was and I finally gave in and moaned.

“Quiet, Leah. The next name?” His verbal acknowledgement of our physical act ended me.

“I’m sorry ... sir,” I cried out breathlessly, unable to see the final name on the list as my orgasm crashed over me. Behind me I felt the last desperate thrusts of Daniel’s climax.

We stayed silent, joined together, catching our breath. Daniel withdrew from me and I heard him zip up his trousers and tuck in his shirt. I couldn’t move; I didn’t know if I should. He pulled down my skirt and pulled me up from the desk, his body still behind me and briefly kissed me on the top of my head. He released his hands from around my waist and moved back toward his chair.

He turned his attention to his computer. “You need to add David Richards and Matt Barnes to that list, and then I think you’ve got everyone. Thanks, Leah, excellent meeting.”

Feeling incredibly well-fucked, I replied confidently, “It was my pleasure, Mr. Armitage.” Daniel smiled at his computer screen as I left.

As I closed the door behind me Gail smiled sweetly, “Did you get everything you needed?”

I was caught a bit off balance. Had she heard anything? “Err, yes, I think I have everything. Thanks Gail.”

I went straight to the bathroom and removed my panties; they were destroyed so I threw them in the bin and tidied myself up before heading back to the big meeting room. I was sure I smelled of him, of his sweat and his come between my thighs. The thought made my knees weak and before they buckled I scrambled to my chair.

“You OK, Leah?” David asked me, watching me intently.

“Yes, fine. Just a little overwhelmed. We have such a lot to do.”

He smiled and nodded and I started sorting through some of the materials that we’d been given during the course of the day, trying to act as if my mind was on the job.

Back at the office I plowed through my emails and when I next looked at the clock it was 7 p.m. I grabbed my phone to see if Daniel had contacted me. I’d agreed that I would stay with him tonight, but we’d not agreed timings. There was a text from him.

The car is outside. When you are ready, Phil will take you to Anna’s to collect your things and then bring you home to me. Dx

I scrambled to log out of my computer. I couldn’t get out of there quickly enough.

When the car pulled up outside Daniel’s house I felt a swell of nervousness in my stomach. Daniel’s driver carried my bag up the steps and let himself in, putting my bag in the hall and wishing me a goodnight before he turned and left.

Where was Daniel? He didn’t seem to be downstairs in the open plan area. Not wanting to shout out to him I went looking for him, eventually finding him in his study. He didn’t see me. He was staring intently into the screen on his computer. I leant against the door frame, taking him in. It was so good to be able to unabashedly gaze at him.

“Hey, stranger,” he said without turning around.

“Hey.” I moved across to him and slid my arms around his waist.

He twisted toward me, took my face in his hands, and crashed his lips against mine. He ran his tongue along the inside of my top lip and darted in and out of my mouth, teasing my tongue. He kissed me like it was our first kiss and it seemed to last forever. It was such a contrast to our earlier, urgent fucking that it took me by surprise a little.

“Hmm, I needed that.” Daniel sighed as he pulled away looking at me. “Let’s have dinner. I’ve had my housekeeper prepare something but I have no idea what it is—we should investigate.”

“Your housekeeper?”

“Yes, Mrs. Bayliss. She cooks for me if I ask her to.”

“Oh,” was all I could say. I’d never met anyone with a housekeeper before, but I guess if you lived in a house like this, a housekeeper was a natural accoutrement. Suddenly his revelation really bothered me. “I really don’t know anything about you, do I?”

He looked confused. “I’m not hiding anything, Leah; we’ve just been busy with more pressing priorities than discussing my housekeeper.” He chuckled and pulled me toward him burying his face in my neck and kissing me to distraction. I relented and pushed my hands through his hair, savoring the silkiness. God, he felt good. No wonder I didn’t know about his housekeeper. I could no longer think about anything but his mouth on me.

His hands were roaming further and further down my body and I could see where this was headed. Not that I wanted it to be headed anywhere else but neither did I want our relationship to just be about sex. I pulled him away.

“Let’s eat.” I said to him. “We have plenty of time tonight.” I could tell he wanted more, the evidence was right there in front of me, tempting me to touch him but I resisted. He took a deep breath and we set about dishing up the dinner left by Mrs. Bayliss.

We caught up on our day. Neither of us mentioned what had happened in his office. I told him about Brendan’s pouting over me not telling him who my flowers were from. After dinner, we moved to the biggest of his sofas and he motioned for me to tuck in under his shoulder as we sat leaning into each other, our legs extended on the footstool that was nearly as long as the sofa itself.

I gave him a run down on my evening with Anna and how she was considering meeting with Fran. He didn’t pass comment on whether he thought Anna should meet her or not. His attention was focused elsewhere.

“Have you heard from Charlie?” he asked as he pulled away.

“Not since the email he sent about the joint account and stuff.” I looked back at him, trying to work out why he was asking. I was trying not to keep my worries inside so I thought it was easiest to just ask him. “Why?”

He snuggled back into me. “I just wondered. I just don’t want him hurting you anymore. You’ll tell me if he gets in touch or wants to meet you won’t you?”

“Yes, if you want me to. But I don’t think he can hurt me anymore. I don’t think I care enough about anything he might say to be hurt by him.”

He kissed me on the top of my head. “You’ll let me know, though?” I nodded.

“What about you, though? Did your ex-wife hurt you? Have your girlfriends since hurt you?”

“Well didn’t I just open Pandora’s box?” He chuckled and he kissed my head again. “The quick answer is yes and no. Yes to Georgina and no to the girlfriends.”

I waited, willing him to expand on the quick answer, but he was steadfastly quiet.

“Georgina,” I muttered to myself. I hadn’t thought about what she might look like before now. We hadn’t talked about her since Daniel had put her on speaker phone in his office. Georgina—just her name sounded sophisticated, I bet she was extraordinary and glamorous and clever—all the things I wanted to be. And above everything else she knew him better than I did and I felt a stab of jealousy. Then the thought of his subsequent girlfriends overrode my thoughts of Georgina and added to the jealousy that was now running through me.

“So, how many girlfriends have you had since Georgina?”

“Girlfriends? None.”

“Are we about to have a semantic argument here?” I asked, picking up on his concentration on the word girlfriend. “I have to remind you I’m a lawyer.”

Daniel smiled at me and took a deep breath. “I’m not trying to hide anything from you, Leah, I never am. It’s just there’s been no-one I cared about since George. There have been women but nothing serious.”

“Lots of women?”

He laughed at my question. “I wasn’t keeping count, but no, not lots. But I guess it’s relative. How do you want them categorized? Women I had dinner with, women I kissed, women I saw naked?”

I was being silly. “I’m sorry, it’s just I’m not used to this. This history thing. Charlie and I were together for a long time and before that I was with Matt since University. Their previous relationships didn’t seem important.”

“Mine aren’t, either,” Daniel spoke softly, patiently. “But I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. I just want to make you happy.”

I reached up for him and brought his lips to mine. “You do. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, seriously. Whatever you need.” He paused and then continued. “I had a few one-night things just after Georgina and I split up. I didn’t see any of them more than once—I never even gave out my number. I was a bit of a mess and working through things, and I’m not proud of my behavior during that period. I’m used to getting what I want, and George leaving was a shock for me. It took me about six months to realize that trying to block out the pain with meaningless sex wasn’t going to work, so I stopped sleeping around and got a therapist.”

“Most men would have thought that was a bad trade—frequent, meaningless sex for a therapist?” I was trying to lighten the mood. He attempted a half-hearted chuckle but it wasn’t very convincing.

“So during that period it was a couple of women a week for about six months.”

That sounded like a lot to me, but like he said, it was all relative.

“Then since then, I’ve taken a couple of women to dinner in New York. Three women, to be exact, but I didn’t sleep with any of them. In fact I only had a second date with one of them.”

“How come?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just didn’t connect with them. Something wasn’t right. Maybe I wasn’t ready.”

“I noticed some very beautiful women in your office today. Were any of them the lucky women that you took to dinner?”

“I told you, Leah, all three were New Yorkers and I like to keep my work life and my personal life separate. Unlike your boss, David.”

“What do you mean, unlike David?”

“Well, you know he had an affair with his secretary a couple of years ago?”

“I did, but how did you?”

“I got him checked out. I hate that you work with him so much.”

I tutted at him. He could be so over the top at times. “Daniel, he’s not interested in me and I’m certainly not interested in him.”

“He is interested in you. I caught him staring at your chest in the meeting today, I nearly punched him.”

“Is that why you summoned me to your office? To get me out of his clutches and to stake your claim?” I giggled at him and then flushed at the thought of our meeting. I don’t think I’d ever been so turned on as I had been during out encounter this afternoon. I’d never done anything like that before; it had been clandestine, urgent, and very, very hot. The thought made me very aware of my body so close to Daniel’s, and I shifted my weight away from him. He wouldn’t let me go and pulled me closer.

“Something like that. I’m sorry about your underwear; I couldn’t get to you quick enough.”

“Yes I’ve been without panties all day, thanks to you.”

“Jesus, Leah, are you serious? Thank god that you didn’t tell me that earlier. I’d have done no work today whatsoever.” And he cupped my bottom over my dress and there it was, that feeling of desire for him that was constantly simmering away suddenly started bubbling in me. He reached for the hem of my skirt pulling it up and reaching beneath it to my stocking tops trailing his fingers along the top where the lace met my skin. I could see his pants start to bulge and relief flooded me, he would be inside me soon. He seemed in no hurry though and just kept up the stroking of the outside of my thigh. Finally his fingers crept to the inside of my thigh but I kept my legs pressed together, not allowing him through, so he trailed up until he found my folds and forced his hands in and my thighs parted.

“Have you been wet for me like this all day?” Daniel whispered in my ear.

“I’m always wet for you. I just have to think of you.” It was true and telling him seemed the natural response. I didn’t feel embarrassed. I knew my words would excite him as they excited me.

I reached for the bulge in his trousers but he pulled my hand away and moved to stand up.

“Come with me.” He held out his hand and wordlessly I stood up, took his hand and he led me to his bedroom.

As soon as we entered his bedroom he stopped and pulled me toward him. He removed my dress in one fluid movement over my head and ran his hands from my face down my throat, over my breasts, stopping just momentarily to rub his thumbs over my lace covered sharp nipples and then down to my waist. He lifted me from the waist onto the bed and pushed me to my back. I threw my head back in anticipation.

“Look at me. Always look at me, Leah.”

I brought my eyes to meet his. He looked so serious, so dark. He stood over me, his eyes trailing down my body.

“Feel how wet you are, Leah. I want to see your wetness on your fingers.” He pulled off his t-shirt and his trousers and stood naked before me. He was so beautiful; I took in his muscular body and could feel my skin respond to the sight of him, tightening all over in anticipation of his touch.

“Leah,” he reminded me of his request, and looking directly at him, I trailed one arm down my body, running my fingers across my breasts, hardening my nipples. My other hand reached between my legs and Daniel’s eyes followed it as it flitted across my sex, delving between my lips, feeling how ready I was for him. Daniel groaned and I pulled my hand from my wetness and brought my fingers to my mouth and sucked off the glistening moisture.

“Your wetness is for me to taste.” Daniel pushed himself over me and his tongue delved into my mouth in what felt like a bid to reclaim me from myself. His possessiveness was intoxicating and I reached between our bodies to try and position him inside me.

“Always so eager, baby.” Daniel pulled out of my mouth and seemed amused at my need for him. I wrapped my legs around his waist, opening myself for him, desperate to feel him filling me.

“Please, Daniel, I want you inside me, please.”

“You know I love it when you beg.” And he thrust deep into me in one movement, giving me exactly what I wanted. I cried out.

He withdrew from me completely, pushing his length against my stomach and kissed me deeply. No, I wanted him buried in me. I reached for his hips desperately trying to position him, he was immovable. I squirmed beneath him and turned my head away from his kiss. If he wasn’t going to give me what I wanted, I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted.

Holding my head still between his hands, he looked at me. “Tell me what you want, Leah, I need to hear it.”

“I want to feel you inside me. I want you filling me up. Please, Daniel, please fuck me, I need you inside me, please.” I sounded desperate and I was.

He closed his eyes at my words and slid into me. I gripped his buttocks with my hands, desperate for him not to pull out and leave me empty like before but he pushed against them pulling out.

“No,” I shouted and he slammed back into me and I was overcome with relief. He found his rhythm and after a few more thrusts his teasing stopped. I could stay like this forever, him inside me rocking backward and forward. I looked at him and he read my thoughts like they were typed out on my forehead.

“I want to stay inside you forever, fuck you forever, never leave your bed.” I felt my body convulse at his words and I ground my hips and arched my back as my orgasm took me. Daniel didn’t change his rhythm and kept sliding in and out of me, my flesh was so sensitive after my orgasm it was nearly painful and I squirmed. He held my upper arms to hold me still.

“Don’t resist me, Leah. You’ll make me come and I want to fuck you all night, relentlessly. You are going to come so much you won’t remember your own name.”