Work & Play (Love at First Sight Book 2) Read online

“Actually, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about,” she said. I narrowed my eyes as she twisted her hands together again, nervously shifting her weight on her feet. “When are you going to tell Mom and Dad? I mean… Charles is really great and all, but he’s a lot older than you, isn’t he?”

  There was something in her voice that was worrisome, but I couldn’t put a finger on what exactly it was. I had a sinking feeling that there was far more to the question than she was letting on and it had to do with her own love life.

  But since she asked about mine, I supposed all I could do was answer truthfully.

  “I don’t know when I’m telling them. I honestly hadn’t even thought about it.”

  Her eyes somehow went wider as she squeaked, “Really? You don’t care what they’ll say?”

  I shrugged. “Not really. It’s not like they’re the ones dating him. Has Brooke told you about how her dad took it when he first found out about Joshua? He went nuts, Charlie. It was a clusterfuck. Now they go fishing together once a month.”

  The only response I got was a soft oh followed by her lips pursing and her eyebrows furrowing together. I waited patiently, raising my eyebrows in expectation as she chose her next words carefully.

  “So they… they became friends?”

  “Yeah. I bet Dad would like Charles after he got to know him.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I bet it’d be… It’d be even better if they already knew each other, right? Like, if they were friends already. It’d be less awkward. Right?”

  “Charlie, what are you trying to hint at here? Is there someone—”

  “Oh. My. God. You would not believe how long the line to the ladies room is,” Layla interrupted, slinging her arms around Charlie and leaning against her back. “Screw it. I’m gonna head up to the room and pee there. Want to come with?”

  “S-Sure,” Charlie stuttered, giving me a worried smile. “Thanks for talking with me, Finley.”

  “Whoa, hold up. Wait just a minute.”

  “Finley?”

  I spun around, surprised to find Charles standing directly behind me when it felt like I had just seen him across the room. I held up a finger and turned back, but Charlie was already escorting Layla to the guest elevators.

  “Fuck.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Not much. Just a vague, scary conversation with my kid sister about my love life. And her love life. I think. I honestly have no idea.”

  “Well since she’s preoccupied, how about I take your mind off of that?”

  “It wouldn’t be appropriate for the maid of honor to be caught getting busy in a broom closet.”

  Charles laughed loudly, shaking his head as he placed his hands on my hips. “How about a dance? I have no idea where anything is here so it’s unlikely I’d be able to locate a broom closet.”

  “I’ll agree to your dance on one condition.”

  “Name it.”

  “Tell me why you told my sister we’re dating.”

  Charles stared hard at me for a long moment, his face void of surprise or any other emotion. After a long moment, he shrugged as he stated, “It seemed easier than explaining the truth.”

  “And what’s the truth?”

  “I’m sorry, you promised me a dance in exchange for answering one question. Perhaps after you fulfill your obligation we can discuss bargaining for another.”

  “The sacrifices I have to make,” I muttered, laughing when he grinned and dragged me onto the floor next to Joshua and Brooke where we danced until our feet couldn’t take it anymore.

  It was kind of ironic how the happiest day of Brooke’s life quickly turned into the happiest day of mine as well.

  14

  They say that all good things must come to an end. I knew it had to be true of our weekend together in the honeymoon suite in Saratoga Springs, but I held onto the hope that it wouldn’t be true of our relationship in general.

  Even though I still wasn’t entirely sure what our relationship was.

  Despite what he said at the reception, Charles seemed intent on dodging my question and distracting me with sex for the remainder of our time off. I was happy to indulge in the ‘ignorance is bliss’ mentality for a weekend but after two weeks passed, I was getting pretty desperate for an answer. I was just waiting for the right moment to bring it up again.

  This Monday was not the right time. Last week, a former troublesome client of Arthur’s had gotten into an altercation and demanded representation even though there was little chance of him walking away unscathed. Since Arthur called on Sunday to let Charles know that he’d be out for a week due to personal reasons, both the client and the rest of his workload fell to Charles.

  So he was even more agitated than normal.

  Instead of stressing him out with my own insecurities about our quasi-relationship and where it was going, I opted to give him space by working through my lunch. As the work day drew to a close and I met him in his office, I could tell that it had the opposite effect.

  “Where have you been?” he demanded, rising from his chair and waving his hand to the door. “Get the hell in here and close the door.”

  Guess I really should have expected his wrath. I could see why it looked like I had been avoiding him.

  “Where were you?”

  “Working. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, Arthur being out means that my workload was doubled as well.”

  “So you couldn’t have lunch with me?”

  “I worked through lunch, Charles. Besides, I thought you would appreciate having the time alone to decompress.”

  “Decompress?” he repeated with a humorless laugh. “Come over here, doll. Let me show you how I prefer to decompress.”

  He retook his seat and I felt my cheeks heat up as I walked over, realizing one of my fantasies was about to come true. Charles and I had spent a considerable amount of time screwing since Brooke’s wedding, but never in his office. We always met at his apartment.

  “Closer,” he commanded when I lingered just out of his reach. He pushed his chair back and spun to face me, beckoning with a crooked finger. “Come to me.”

  God, why did I find it so hot when he was demanding? When I was directly in front of him, he took a moment to softly run his hands along my frame, humming with approval when he gripped my hips.

  “Now bend over,” he whispered heatedly, his eyes conveying just how seriously pissed he was about my absence at lunch.

  But I had a feeling he wasn’t going to be angry for long.

  I hid my smile until after I was bent across his lap, forcing myself to keep from squirming as he ran a hand all the way down my back and bypassed my ass to rest on the back of my thigh. He rubbed circles there with his palm, widening them until he had no choice but to push my skirt higher and higher up my legs.

  When he paused and sucked in a sharp breath, I twisted my neck back and innocently asked, “What’s wrong, Mr. King? I thought this was what you expected of me.”

  To illustrate, I pushed my bare ass up further into the air and against his hand. He jerked the skirt the rest of the way up, chuckling as he caressed the globe before dipping down and running a single finger up my slit.

  “Naughty girl. It’s like you want to be bent over and taken until you can’t walk straight.”

  “Maybe I do.”

  His finger slipped into me and I gasped in surprise, the sound turning into a groan when a second finger slid in along with the first.

  “Is that right? You want to have your face pressed against my desk while I shove my cock here?”

  His fingers curled and I moaned in response, which was apparently enough of an answer for him. He pulled them out and before I even finished whimpering from the loss, his warm palm landed hard on my ass, both the crack and my squeal of surprise echoing through his office.

  “Liked that, did you?” Charles asked with a chuckle before repeating the action. “Say it.”

  “I like it,” I groaned as I attempted to ignor
e the hardness that was poking up against my stomach. I wanted it so badly.

  “You like what?”

  Another smack, this time followed by his palm fanning out over my sore skin and squeezing.

  “I like it when you spank me!”

  “Good girl,” he commended before delivering another spank. “Don’t skip lunch with me again.” He smacked my ass again, pausing for a moment before he quietly said, “It’s one of the few parts of the day I look forward to.”

  “What are the other parts?”

  “Mainly this.”

  He abruptly lifted me from his lap and immediately twisted me to drape my upper body over his desk just like he had said. I braced myself on my forearms while he frantically pulled down his zipper and a split second later, the sound of his slacks dropping to the floor preceded his cock pushing into my body.

  “If I could—I’d start and end every single day inside of you,” he panted, leaning over to kiss my neck and gripping my chin to twist my head back for an awkward, but passionate kiss.

  When we parted, Charles stood up straight and gripped my hips to use as leverage as he started moving. His slow heavy breathing matched the rhythm of his thrusts and each time he pushed forward, he pulled me back onto him.

  It didn’t take long for me to start moving on my own and match his pace, but he never let go of my hips. As the minutes passed by and the fire grew inside me, I gave up on trying, letting him have full control and moaning wantonly when he immediately started slamming into me.

  Apparently I wasn’t the only one of the verge of losing control.

  “I can always tell when you’re close, baby,” he ground out between grunts, leaning down to maneuver his hand below us in search of my clitoris. “Your little moans get so high pitched. Fuck, it’s so hot.”

  “Charles!” I screamed as my hips started bucking back on their own accord. “I’m—Oh, my God.”

  “I can’t hang on much longer,” he panted into my ear. “Come for me. Come now, Finley.”

  Hearing him growl my name sent shivers down my spine, a strange contradiction to the white hot pulses shooting through my body as my climax slammed into me. Charles failed to bite back a moan, but he kept his hips moving—albeit a little jerkily—and his finger working in circles over my clit until I was squirming in discomfort.

  I breathed out his name, gripping the edge of the desk as he straightened back up and slammed home hard four times before pulling out with a strangled moan of pleasure. I immediately spun around and dropped to my knees, staring up at him with wide eyes as he worked his fist over his cock and planted the head between my lips.

  As soon as I sucked, he threw his head back and roared at the ceiling, spurt after spurt of his come shooting into my mouth almost more quickly than I could manage to swallow it. His hand landed of the back of my head, gently caressing my hair even as he shuddered uncontrollably.

  “Come here,” he said breathlessly, offering me his hand after he unwrapped it from my hair. He helped me stand on wobbly legs, pushing me back until I was propped between the edge of his desk and his body. “That was incredible.”

  “Definitely. I’m sorry for skipping lunch.”

  “Apology accepted.”

  I wrapped my arms around his back and leaned my head on his chest, sighing happily when I felt his head gently resting on my own as his arms embraced me. We hugged each other in silence and I felt my heart thumping hard as I considered just how right this felt.

  Three words were on the tip of my tongue. I didn’t know if he was in the same place as me emotionally, but I was so damn happy that the possibility that he didn’t feel the same way didn’t even matter. I had to tell him.

  “Charles?” I said softly, waiting for him to pull away so I could tip my head back to look into his eyes. There was a soft smile on his lips and it was the only thing I needed for an extra boost of courage. “I—”

  “What the hell is this?!?”

  The roar made us both whip our heads to the now open door of Charles’ office where Arthur Black stood, his shoulders shaking and his cheeks red with rage.

  I froze. And I mean froze. My body, my emotions—everything. All I could do was sit and wait in shock for whatever was going to happen next. From the corner of my eye, I could see Charles was in the exact same position.

  Arthur spluttered a few times, blinking rapidly like he wasn’t entirely sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not. Finally, when he accepted the fact that this was reality, he slowly backed out of the room and stormed down the hallway.

  Which is when the two of us snapped out of our stupors and into motion. I pushed my skirt back into position while Charles hastily bent down to pull his pants up, backing away from me with a look of terror in his eyes.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Charles cursed as he pulled up his zipper and ran a shaky hand through his hair. The look he gave me was a mixture of fear and apology before he called, “Arthur!”

  Charles ran from the room to chase down his partner and I was left shaking from the mortification with tears burning at the back of my eyes. With trembling hands I made myself presentable as best as I could manage without a mirror, wondering whether I’d be better off waiting for Charles to come back or slipping out unnoticed.

  I let ten minutes pass before I made my decision. Charles still hadn’t come out of Arthur’s office and I wasn’t sure I could face either man at that moment without bursting into tears of shame. So I grabbed my purse and took off, making a brief stop at the ladies room to clean myself up before hailing a cab and going home.

  I showered and got into my most comfortable pajamas before spending almost the entire night sitting perfectly still on my couch and staring at my cell phone.

  Charles didn’t call.

  15

  To say I was terrified to go to work Tuesday morning would have been a gross understatement. I barely slept at all and the little sleep I did get was ruined when I woke up on the couch with a nasty kink in my neck.

  The first thing I did was check my phone. No missed calls, no unread texts. Just… nothing.

  After staring blankly at the wall for an embarrassing amount of time and going back and forth about whether I should even show up at all, I took a deep breath and got up to get dressed. I got all the way to the office… but I couldn’t bring myself to get on the elevator. Not without even the faintest clue on what to expect.

  In a moment of desperation, I dialed Ava’s number to ask if her father had said anything to her about what happened. It didn’t even ring before going to voicemail and I started to question what kind of personal reasons had caused Arthur to take the entire week off. I could only hope that it didn’t have anything to do with Ava.

  But I could only focus on one problem at a time. Ava’s phone was off, so the logical move was to figure out what happened from Charles himself. Plus, hiding from my boss in a crowded lobby felt both humiliating and childish.

  I didn’t know what to expect as I went upstairs and numbly walked to his office. I was so nervous I even knocked on the damn door, something I had never done before. When I heard him call me inside, I sucked in a breath and entered.

  His eyes darted up—pausing on me for the briefest of moments before moving back down to his desk. He reached out a hand and lifted a slip of paper from the desk, holding it in the air without sparing me so much as a second glance.

  “Your task list for the day. Please complete it as quickly as possible.”

  I slowly approached the desk and took the paper, my arm falling to my side as I cocked my head and surveyed him. I stood there like a mute until he finally let out a frustrated growl, slamming his hands on the desk so hard it made me jump.

  “What?”

  I reared back like I’d been slapped. “Are you serious right now? Are we really going to pretend like last night never happened?”

  “I don’t know what you’re referring to. Now get to work.”

  It was my turn to slam my hands on his
desk, gritting my teeth together as I threw my task list directly at him. His jaw was tenser than ever as he looked up, glaring into my eyes so hatefully that I barely recognized him.

  He didn’t even look at me like that during my first few days.

  “Get. To. Work.”

  “This is bullshit, Charles. Maybe you can pretend like nothing happened between us, but I can’t. What did Arthur say to you last night?”

  “It doesn’t matter. He—”

  “It obviously mattered to you considering you can barely look me in the eye!”

  Charles straightened his spine and cleared his throat. He reached up to adjust his tie before folding his arms over his chest and giving me a bored look while he pointedly held my gaze. He was purposely trying to prove me wrong and I hated to admit that it was working.

  For a moment, I truly believed it was just a game for him and being caught had ended it between us.

  Then I remembered all the things he had said to me since we started hooking up in Saratoga Springs and realized that while he may have been able to fool himself, I knew he was completely full of shit.

  But Charles was stubborn. Full of shit or not—he wasn’t going to give up without a fight. And I wasn’t the type of girl to get into an outright screaming match with him. Especially not at his place of business. Since he didn’t seem inclined to even give me a courtesy call, I knew this had to be settled right now and I only had one option left. Honesty.

  “I want to be with you, Charles,” I said, cursing how softly my voice came out. It only lasted a split second, but I swore I saw a flash of pain in his eyes. “We both know we can make this work. We just… We have to be completely honest with each other. We can’t keep dancing around the subject like it doesn’t mean anything.”

  I wasn’t sure which part did it, but I watched in horror as he shut himself down and locked up tight. Dread coiled in my stomach as his eyes flickered over me with something akin to boredom and I swore I could feel my heart begin to crack.

  Please don’t do this.

  “It doesn’t mean anything,” he finally said, raising his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. “I’m sorry. I’m just a prick.”