The knock on the door of my office almost sends my coffee flying across the room when I jump to my feet. I’ve been tense since I woke up this morning. I’d jacked off twice to the carnal images of feeling up my friend’s daughter in her car with my tongue down her throat, but nothing was dulling the ache. Nothing was quieting the roar in my cock. The crazy part is I don’t regret it. I don’t regret one second of the compromising position Serena Mitchell and I were in as we sat in my driveway last night. But that’s not why I’m tense. I’m tense because I want it again.
And again.
She’s like a drug; I had my first taste last night, and now I’m craving another hit. My hands keep flexing on their own as they remember cupping her perfect ass as she sat in my lap. My cock hardens every time I remember her rubbing against my dick. My mouth waters every time I remember running my tongue along her neck. I want my mouth on hers. Need her taste on my tongue. Need my hands wrapped around her tiny frame as she rubs against me.
Fuck.
My cock has already decided that Serena is on the other side of the door but it deflates instantly when I open the door and I’m met with Olivia, a cheeky smile plastered on her face before she sashays past me like she has the right to. I leave the door open so she’s not confused as to what’s going to happen here. She’s wearing that green pencil skirt that brings out the color in her eyes, that just last week, I had hiked around her waist as I feasted on her cunt.
“Miss Barrett?”
“Landon,” she purrs—actually purrs—at me. I hate when women do it so obviously. That forcibly sexy voice women take on when it’s not necessary. When men want you, they want you. The throaty voice, the hair flip, the sexy eyes—it’s not necessary once a man’s dick has been in your mouth. We don’t need the seduction at that point.
We’re a sure thing.
Unless we’re not interested.
And I’m no longer interested.
“Can I help you with something?” I stand in front of the open door, hoping she gets the picture that no one is getting off in this room.
Well, maybe me and Serena...
“I thought I could help you.” She smirks.
“Miss Barrett, you told me our arrangement was over.” I use my most professional voice, not loud enough for anyone outside of my office to hear, but it still creates the illusion that we are maintaining some level of professionalism.
“I think…I was hasty in my decision...” She looks behind me towards the open door. “Can we close the door?”
“Nope, we can’t. I have court soon, and I need to do a few things before then.”
“Like Mr. Mitchell’s daughter?” she asks, her voice laced with judgment.
I don’t ignore the spike in my adrenaline or my cock as I think about the “new girl” in question. “Watch yourself, Olivia.”
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes as she looks around my room. “You are such a cliché, Landon. The forbidden fruit really does it for you, huh? It’s not enough that she’s an intern,” she says with disdain, like the position is beneath her, like she didn’t start off as one herself.
“She’s already off limits, but you’ve got to take it a step further. Your partner’s daughter who’s young enough to be your daughter. What, is she a few years older than your son?” She scrunches her nose in disgust and tosses her hair over her shoulder. “I guess you do love a girl with daddy issues.”
“Enough, Olivia,” I snarl, my voice low, and even as I remember the open door behind me, I take a step towards her. “You wanted out. So, you’re out. You also said you were going to claim I sexually harassed you and forced you into a sexual relationship, so excuse me for not being eager to trust you again. To fuck you again.” I take a step closer to her and she backs up. “This conniving little ploy to get me to touch you due to some misplaced jealousy you have over Serena Mitchell is ridiculous. You said I wasn’t good for you, Olivia, so move on, and leave Serena out of it.”
Her mouth drops open and I can see she’s not like the others. The others cried, some even begged, some asked for one final fuck that I was more than happy to oblige, but most of them had their notice sent to HR seconds after their orgasms had waned. Olivia is different. Olivia has spunk and fire and a take no shit attitude that will make her the perfect partner one day. Sure, she has her share of issues that stem from a neglectful father, but she’ll make one hell of a lawyer. It’s part of the reason I was drawn to her.
She shakes her head with a wicked gleam in her eye. “You should leave Serena alone, Landon. She’s so young and naive, you’ll just ruin her like all the others…Haven’t you broken enough hearts?” She doesn’t give me a chance to respond before she’s out the door. I resist the urge to call her back and chew her out when I’m reminded of the conversation I had with P just last week.
“I swear on all that’s holy, West, if you cause another one of my paralegals to quit...Keep it the fuck in your pants, for God’s sake. What’s the matter with you? Do you know how hard it is to find a paralegal to keep up with me? How hard it is to break one in and train them to my exact preferences? I can’t keep finding a new one every six weeks. Fuck someone in another department. Fuck Frank’s team, I don’t care. Just stay away from mine.”
I close the door harder than I intended and spend the rest of the morning in my office, letting Olivia and Preston’s words that I do more harm than good swirl around my brain.
When I finally emerge from my office, my body is on high alert wondering just when I’m going to run into the sweet, young woman that I’d had in my arms just last night. Long gone are the self-deprecating thoughts I’d had in response to Olivia’s words. Now, I want to find Serena. A woman who is like no one I’d ever met let alone kissed. My eyes are all over the office, looking for her, and for a brief moment I think about going to Preston’s office to see where I can find her.
No, that’s too obvious. The less Preston knows about our interactions the better.
A gaggle of interns whisk past me, giggling into their coffees and shooting me nervous glances from over their files. I let out a breath, suddenly needing another cup of coffee but instead of sending Valerie out, I opt for the break room.
As soon as I turn the corner, a familiar scent surrounds me. It isn’t something I would necessarily call sweet. It’s spicy and the sense of nostalgia hits my brain before I can put the pieces together.
And then I see her.
She’s standing with her back to me as she waits for her coffee at the Keurig. Her hair is pulled into a high sleek ponytail and even from behind I see her fiddling with her glasses. She’s wearing a gray high waisted pencil skirt with a white cap-sleeved shirt tucked into it. Sheer stockings adorn her legs that I want to pull off with my teeth as I discover if they’re full stockings or the sexy ones that stop mid-thigh. As I ogle her from behind, I expect her to feel my gaze. To sense my presence. To know I’m behind her, salivating. But she doesn’t move.
Can’t she feel the heat between us? Am I the only one that notices this stifling tension?
“Serena.” The word is out of my mouth like a command. Like that word alone is enough to tell her what I want. Her shoulders square and her back stiffens as she turns around and gives me a weak smile.
“Hi, Landon.” Her words are so quiet, like a whisper, and for a moment I wonder if she’s nervous, if her heart is pounding in her chest. Her lips quirk up in a smile and her eyes light up behind her glasses. “Do you want some coffee?”
Coffee? She thinks I want to talk about coffee?
“No. I mean…yes. But…” I cross the room, grateful that there’s no one in here. “Where’s your father?”
“Court.”
“He didn’t take you…again?” I ask. What is the point of having her intern here if she isn’t going to get to see anything?
“It’s another closed hearing.”
“Bullshit.” I grunt. We take interns with us all the time. Her face falls and I wonder if I’ve confirmed what she’d been thinking. “What are you doing this afternoon?” I ask, wanting nothing more than to take that sad look off her face, and knowing exactly how to do it.
“Ummm…” she starts.
“You’re coming with me.”
“With you…?” She cocks her head to the side in question, and I’m reminded that perhaps she thinks I mean something else.
“To court,” I finish.
“Really?” Her eyes widen even brighter than when she saw me for the first time just moments ago, and for a moment, my ego is bruised.
She’s more excited at the idea of going to court, than the idea of going to court with...me.
I straighten my tie slightly and take a step back, forcing my hands into my pockets so that I don’t touch her. “Yes, I go in at two. You’re welcome to come.”
“I would love to, thank you!” She claps her hands and spins around to grab the coffee behind her. “Here,” she says. “I was making it for you anyway. I…I asked Valerie what you liked.” I expect a blush or any sign of nervousness but her features give nothing away.
“Thank you.” No one had ever made me coffee without me asking. Correction: telling. Jana didn’t even make me coffee in the morning when we were married.
She rarely made me anything for that matter.
She hands me the cup and when our fingers graze each other, a spark ignites from her fingertips, setting me on fire. The room is so quiet I hear her breath hitch and that sound is enough to make me broach the subject.
I rub the back of my neck. “Serena…” I start when I’m suddenly aware that we are no longer alone.
“Hey, Serena.” The voice is of the male persuasion. Young, with a deep timbre that triggers my possessiveness. I am the jealous type through and through, which is why things with Jana could have never worked out once I learned of her infidelity. So, anyone sniffing around Serena when just yesterday I’d kissed those perfect lips with every intention to kiss her everywhere else, is not. fucking. happening.
Her eyes flit to mine like she can hear every thought in my head. Her beautiful hazel eyes are nervous and wondering if I’m going to tell this guy, whose name I probably don’t even know to back the fuck off. I turn towards the source of the voice and sure enough, no clue. Jake? Jack? James? No idea, he’s a mid-level associate, I think, but I can’t be sure.
“Hey, Justin,” she says with a friendly smile.
He must finally notice that they’re not alone because he acknowledges me with a nod, assumedly trying to impress Serena, because most mid-level associates are scared to death of me. They go to Preston most of the time, or Frank if it’s something basic and easy. “Mr. West.”
I nod back. For a moment the three of us stand there in the awkward silence as both he and I wait for the other guy to make their exit. “Serena, are we still on for lunch, today?” he finally speaks, when he realizes I’m not going anywhere.
She looks at me for a beat, before finding his gaze. “Yes.” She nods. “I mean, sure. That sounds good.” Her tone is non-committal but her words are enough to awaken the beast.
Fuck that.
“Actually, Miss Mitchell will be joining me in court this afternoon.” I turn to Serena. “Unless you’ve changed your mind about coming?” The wording I choose doesn’t escape me and most women I know would pick up on the innuendo instantly, but not Serena.
“Oh, no...n…no.” She shakes her head before turning to Justin. “Justin, I’m so sorry. Let’s raincheck lunch, though?”
Yeah, okay. We’ll see about that.
I half expect him to combat her excuse by inviting her to join him in court, in which case I would have to get whatever bullshit hearing he has moved to another day, or have him removed from said case altogether. And that would be a fuck ton of paperwork. I’m grateful when he nods and makes his exit with a promise that they would rain check tomorrow.
Think again.
My eyes snap to hers as soon as we are alone. “Don’t have lunch with him.”
Her timid gaze meets mine and her lips part slightly. “What?”
“Lunch. With him. Or any other man. No lunches, no dinners, no coffees. None of that shit.”
“Why?”
Is she fucking with me? “What do you mean, why?” I’m used to women understanding that I’m a jealous caveman. That I don’t want other guys getting the wrong idea about a woman that belongs to me.
“It’s a simple question.” She shrugs. “I don’t have anyone else to have lunch with. Why can’t I have lunch with him?” She blinks her eyes a few times and every time her thick lashes fan out over her flawless skin my cock swells in my pants.
“Because I said so, Serena.” Smooth, West. What are we kids? Might as well tell everyone on the floor, that Serena is your toy to play with and no one else can touch her.
“Are you…jealous?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widen like she wasn’t expecting me to say that. “I don’t like him, though. You shouldn’t be jealous.”
Holy fuck is she naive. I am so out of my league here. “Not the point. I don’t want him getting the wrong idea.”
“Which is what?”
I huff, growing irritated with this conversation. “That you’re available.”
“I am available.”
“The hell you are,” I snap. I take a step closer to her, but she holds her ground, not taking a step back even as I invade her personal space. “Do you remember last night?”
She nods her head, her eyes wide, unblinking and innocent as her ponytail bobs up and down. “I wasn’t sure you did.”
“As you pointed out, I wasn’t all that drunk.”
“Did you call me on purpose?”
I shake my head. “No. That really was an accident.”
She doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, her eyes studying me and for some reason, it makes me nervous, so I take a step back. I’m not used to women staring me square in the eye. I’m used to them averting their gaze. I’m used to our eye contact being on my terms, when I command them to look at me. “Okay fine, no meals with other men. Does that mean you’ll do the same?”
“The same what?”
“No meals with other women? No Olivia?” She raises an eyebrow at me and it makes me wonder just what Olivia has disclosed to her.
“My relationship with Olivia is over,” I tell her honestly.
“But there was a relationship.”
I clear my throat. I don’t want to get into the logistics about Olivia or any other women. “An arrangement.”
“Is that what you want with me? An arrangement?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“I want a lot of answers,” she quips and the words leaving her mouth turn me on almost as much as her mouth itself.
“I’m not capable of…much, Serena.” Sex. Very good sex. Buying you whatever you want. A weekend in the Hamptons. That is the extent of what I can offer a woman. I’m in the middle of a tumultuous divorce and a rift with my son that I’m desperate to fix. I don’t have an excess of time that I can commit to a woman who doesn’t get it.
“People are capable of anything…if they want it bad enough.” She raises an eyebrow at me.
“You’ll make one hell of a lawyer one day, Mitchell.” I nod at her.
“That doesn’t exactly answer my question but…I’ll let it slide for now.” She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before she speaks again. “You scare me. This…” she points back and forth between us, “scares me. I barely slept a wink after I left your house last night. And maybe I’m not supposed to tell you that. Maybe I’m supposed to play it cool and act like it wasn’t a big deal for me. But because I’m twenty-one and I have zero experience with the opposite sex, I’m out of my depth. No one has ever told me what to do or how to act. So, I’m out here in the deep end with…you, and I just…don’t want to get in over my head.” I stare at her unblinking, unsure of what to say when she continues. “I’m not asking for a whole lot…or maybe I am.” She shrugs. “Just be honest with me.”
“Honesty.” I nod. “I can do that.”
“Can you?” Her gaze narrows. There’s a fine line between curiosity and judgment and she’s towing it, but her vulnerable candor makes me believe it’s the former.
“Yes. I’m always honest and transparent about how things are. It’s not my fault that women want more than I’m willing to give.”
“Fair.” She turns and begins to make herself a cup of coffee. My eyes rake over her body lasciviously.
I want her. Whatever she’s willing to give me, I want it. I want to be greedy with her. Her time. Her body. Everything. I want it all.
“Can I see you tonight?”
She turns her head to the side for me to see her profile. “Like…a date?”
“I was thinking you could come to my place…but…if you’d prefer, we can go out? I’m sure we could find somewhere outside of New Haven where no one would recognize us? I am certain neither of us need it getting back to your father.”
She clears her throat. “I have class early tomorrow but…I could come over for a little while.”
Thoughts of waking up and burying myself inside of Serena’s no longer virgin pussy tomorrow morning comes to a halt and I nod. “That sounds good.”
“What time?”
“Around eight?”
She nods as she grabs her coffee and holds it between her hands. “I’ll be in my father’s office…just let me know when I should be ready to go to court.” She doesn’t wait for a response before she’s gone, and the air I didn’t realize I was holding, leaves my lungs.