Book 1 - Active Trust (8 page)

“Yes, I’ve got to get home.”

“Thank you for a fantastic
evening, Victoria. This isn’t something I normally do, but I do
want to see you again. No one will be the wiser; I promise.”

She scribbled her cell phone
number down and handed it to him. He took it and her hand and
kissed it. Her heart fluttered as she left his place.

“See you Monday,” she uttered as
he watched her leave and closed the door behind her.

She called a cab to take her
back to the office to her car. She didn’t dare venture inside so as
not to find that goody-two-shoes Michelle inside the building. She
would surely notice that Victoria was obviously doing the walk of
shame back to the place where she’d left her car, wearing
yesterday’s outfit.

Victoria hurried herself to her
Mercedes and sat down. She was safe. She turned the ignition on and
sped off to her place.

At her place, her text message
notification went off. She picked up her cell phone to find a
message from Michelle was on her screen: “Partners summoned me
upstairs – we’ve got a hot new associate. Thought I saw you pull
out of the office parking lot earlier.”

She texted back: “Okay, see you
Monday” and clicked send. She already knew about the ever handsome,
dapper John Steele – and in more ways than one. She broke her
mantra of not mixing business with pleasure, but she was glad that
he was being discreet for both of their sakes.

Victoria knew one thing was for
sure, she was definitely not looking forward to Monday rolling
around. She wasn’t sure how to proceed so that things between
herself and John Steele wouldn’t be completely awkward. Her
professional side eventually won out in her head, but her emotional
side really enjoyed his touch. She told herself that she would
steer clear of Mr. John Steele.

Monday was confronting her
before she knew it, but Victoria’s promise to herself was all about
her career path. She had several choices in the matter of John
Steele: she could play nice and keep away for professional reasons,
give into her carnal nature and have sex with him at any given
opportunity or she could screw his brains out and keep it quiet.
Her mind said to get past her infatuation, but she wasn’t sure she
could. There was something about this man that she couldn’t quite
put her finger on, but she had yet to figure it out.

She approached the Keurig coffee
maker and placed her Mudslide coffee K-Cup inside it. She hit the
brew button and noticed the smell of expensive cologne entering
into close proximity. She placed her favorite coffee mug down at
the base of the brewer and looked up to see John Steele.

She’d memorized in her head how
she would tell him that she was a professional and they shouldn’t
let one night of passion complicate any working relationship they
would have, but all she could muster was “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Victoria.”

“The other night was not a
normal thing for me and I just wanted to tell you that. I don’t
know if that can ever happen again. I’m on track to be made a
partner in this firm and I need people to see me only as a
professional.”

“Enough said, I can respect
that, but I would be lying if I said that I didn’t like the way you
taste.”

“It was fun, but I don’t see a
future between the two of us if we can’t keep a lid on it.”

“The lid is on tight, Ms.
Strauss.”

He gestured as if to say his
lips were zipped and she took her coffee to her office. She loved
his body and everything about it, but didn’t want any trouble at
work.

Michelle came in early at the
request of the partners so they could introduce their new associate
to her. She entered into the building and hit the top floor button
on the elevator.

She had a slight idea of what
their new associate looked like, but all she saw was a handsome
face and his beautiful eyes. She emerged from the elevator on the
top floor where the firm’s partners did their multi-million dollar
business. She, too, was on track to be made a partner at the firm,
but was glad to learn that their new associate, John Steele, was
just an associate and not brought into the partnership right off
the bat.

Mr. Briggs and Mr. Trice greeted
her out in the lobby of the top floor.

Mr. Briggs said, “Ms. Michelle
Mayor, I’m pleased to introduce you to our new associate, Mr. John
Steele.”

“Pleasure, Mr. Steele. You’re
joining a great firm. We have all come a long way here at Briggs
and Trice and I’m sure you’ll make an excellent addition to our
team.”

Mr. Trice said to Michelle, “Ms.
Mayor, would you kindly show Mr. Steele here where everything
is?”

She left the top floor with John
Steele in tow and they emerged on the floor where the associates
worked alongside their assistants. They walked along and Michelle
pointed out office after office.

“This is Mrs. Fanadee’s office.
She’s our office manager. She handles any office related
necessities and naturally, her office is right next door to the
supply office.”

They walked down the hallway and
to the office area with secretary’s desks out in front.

“This is my office,” she said,
pointing at the office with the small placard on the wall next to
the door that read, “Ms. Michelle Mayor.”

“Down the hallway there is the
office of Victoria Strauss. She is all about business and her
assistant is the same way.”

In between, the duo stopped
where a maintenance man was placing a placard that read: “Mr. John
V. Steele.”

“This must be where they’ve
placed you - between Victoria and myself. I’m going to leave you at
your office, but know that I am right here if you need
anything.”

“Thank you, Ms. Mayor – or may I
call you Michelle?”

“Anytime – and Michelle is
fine.”

“Can I show my gratitude for
this wonderful tour by taking you to dinner on Friday night?”

“It was nothing.”

“Nothing special, just dinner,
I’ll be a perfect gentleman.”

“Only if you insist.”

Michelle smiled when he said, “I
insist and would be offended if you refused.”

“It’s not a date, though, just
so we’re clear on that.”

“Consider it a dinner between
two professionals who need to eat.”

“Done.”

She walked into her office and
wondered if she made a good choice. She’d never given any thought
to an office romance, just because she hadn’t considered any of the
men in her office to be dateable. Now that there was and he was
handsome and looked fantastic in a suit, she was curious about Mr.
Steele.

She opened the lid to her laptop
and began a Google search on John V. Steele. The results turned up
only his Facebook page. She clicked the link completely out of
curiosity for the firm’s new associate.

She dawdled on the social
networking website for a while, paging through the events that led
John to the law offices of Briggs & Trice. She found that he
was from California, but moved to her home city for a job offer
that he couldn’t refuse.

He wasn’t married and his
relationship status is single. The only other thing she could find
about John was that he had a sister named Madison.

She closed the tab containing
his Facebook information and was pleased that she didn’t find
pictures of John with a girlfriend. She couldn’t consider being
anyone’s woman on the side in any scenario. She had been a serial
monogamist for years and wasn’t looking to change that any time
soon.

Throughout the week leading up
to their “non-date”, John charmed Michelle like it was his mission.
He was funny and kind, two things that she would look for in a
husband.

“Are we still on for our
non-date tomorrow night?”

“Sure, where are we going?”

“I’ve heard about this little
family establishment on Fifth and Pike called Mazzino’s. The menu
is said to be authentic Italian.”

“I know the place; it’s a great
choice.”

She couldn’t help but to think
that it was a great family place with its cozy atmosphere and
delicate lighting. The food there was mesmerizing and people that
she knew proposed at that spot.

Friday came with a quickness and
Michelle went home to change. She wondered if she should dress as
if this were a real date. She couldn’t take the idea off of the
table completely. In her mind, he was an eligible, handsome
bachelor.

She threw on a black cocktail
dress and heels and drove her Altima to the restaurant where they
met up. He had arrived first and when they met up, he watched her
legs as she emerged from her car. Her dress was low-cut and it
exposed her breasts enough as if to say she knew it was a family
place, and she wanted to leave something to the imagination.

They made small talk as they
enjoyed their dinner and once the check came, he threw down some
twenties as they both got up. He held open the door for her and she
made her exit.

“That felt like a date,” she
told him as he walked her to her car.

“Then this should make it feel
even more like a date.”

He leaned into her body,
pressing her up against her car. He sensed her lack of resistance
and planted his lips on hers. She breathed in the scent of his sexy
cologne. She was overtaken by his giant hands and closeness. She
kissed him back and he slid his tongue down her throat.

She pushed him away and said, “I
bet you do this with all of the girls.”

“You’re the first. I’m sorry if
I came on too strong there. I don’t really know anyone and you were
being so nice to me. I apologize if I’d gotten the wrong idea.”

“No, it was me who had the wrong
idea. Can we start again?”

“Only if it means I get to kiss
you again.”

She smiled and pulled him closer
to her and kissed him deeply.

“We can do this, but I am not
the kind of girl that dates a man who sleeps around.”

“I don’t sleep around. I just
got here from California, but you’re beautiful. And, after getting
to know you over the past week, I thought we could make something
out of this.”

She admitted to herself that she
was curious about John. It had been such a long time since she felt
the touch of a man and she offered up herself to him.

“Want to take this back to my
place for a night cap?”

“Sure, I thought you would never
ask.”

They both got into their cars
and he followed her to her apartment. Inside, she offered him some
wine and they clinked their glasses together lightly to savor the
moment. They sat down next to one another on her black leather
couch.

He set his glass down and then
she followed suit. He looked at her revealing dress and said, “Your
personality and brains are so attractive, but I would be remiss if
I didn’t say how much I would love to make love to you right now.
That dress is just amazing and you look so beautiful.”

She stopped him in the middle of
his last word and said, “Stop talking.”

She stood up and slid off her
dress to reveal her lavender matching lace bra and panties. ‘Her
breasts were large and amazing,’ he thought, and he had to have
her.

She sat down on the couch and
said, “If you want it, come and get it.”

He leaned over and kissed her
lips and explored her breasts with his free hand. He slid his hand
behind her back, unhooked her bra and tossed it to the side. He
played with her nipples with his tongue and laid her down on the
couch.

He took her legs and bent them
to expose her panties that covered her wet nub. He snatched those
off of her body and discarded them. He brought his head down to her
warm middle and buried his head between her legs. He went at it
like making her come was his only important mission on the
planet.

When she let out a moan of
climax, he persisted in doing more. He kept her laid back and his
tongue lashing continued. She came three more times before he
released her.

He sat down next to her and she
noticed that he was still fully clothed.

“Wow.”

She breathed through the word as
if she were completely spent. He was already the best she’d ever
had and they hadn’t even had sex yet.

“See you Monday?”

“Wait, you’re leaving? But
we-“

“We didn’t get to the sex part?
I know, I just wanted to please you.”

He got up and turned to her and
looked down at her gorgeous naked body and said, “There is plenty
of time for us to get to know each other better, if you know what I
mean.”

He left her place, got into his
car and sped off.

She was left in a state of “What
the hell just happened” for the first ten minutes following his
departure. She’d come over and over and over again due to this
handsome sexy man’s tongue and he leaves afterward? She was in a
state of awe and found herself wanting him in the worst possible
way.

At Victoria’s, she was curled up
with a soft chenille blanket covering her silk pajamas. She’d
turned on the television set to watch late night television, but
her channel surfing was interrupted by her cell phone.

She glanced down and saw a
message from John: “May I make love to your vagina?”

He was quite the jokester and
everyone was becoming well aware of his funny ways. She giggled to
herself. Her brain was saying, “Tell him no, tell him no” over and
over, but her inner sex goddess said, “Screw it. Let him come over,
and at least you’ll get sex out of it.”

“8542 Prosperity Way,” she
responded via text.

She silenced her inner angel
with a glass of whiskey straight. It was going to be a long night,
she’d decided.

He knocked on her door twenty
minutes later and she allowed him entry. He picked her up, ripped
her clothes off and rammed his shaft into her moist wetness. He
held her in the air while he proceeded to give her a good pounding
and then they proceeded to have a sex marathon the entire night –
in various positions.