Even Odds (16 page)

Isabel didn't usually work
on the weekend. Okay, now and then, maybe once a month, twice if there was a big project coming up . . . all right, so she didn't mind working on the weekend. There was something soothing about the office with no one else there, just the hum of the air conditioner to keep her company. She got a wave from Chuck, the building security guard, as she walked past.

“Working on a Saturday again?” Chuck asked with a good-natured smile.

“Big project coming up.” She'd finished submitting the
Squish
bonus levels, but Will wanted the
Frost Prince
overview by the end of next week, and she had to assimilate all the design notes from five days' worth of work and meetings.

“Must be. The new guy's here, too.”

Isabel stopped just past Chuck's desk. Caleb was there? “Why is he here?”

“How should I know?” Chuck shrugged. “I assumed you all had a big project coming up. Just ask him. He got in about half an hour ago.”

“Thanks, Chuck.” Like hell she was going to ask him. If she were smart, she could avoid him altogether, stay in her little cubicle and not even let him know she was there. She unlocked the main office door and let herself in.

Everything was dark and silent, just as she liked it on a Saturday, but the idea of running into Caleb here made her jumpy. She hadn't been alone with him, really alone, since DiceCon. Even though he'd been perfectly professional with her all week, her Hitachi had gotten a workout almost every night after she spent so much time near Caleb. Rather than improving, the situation was only getting worse. She'd hoped that coming in on a Saturday would give her a day of peace, but she couldn't even be assured of peace knowing he was in the building.

As she settled into her cubicle and fired up her computer, she told herself she was being ridiculous. She'd asked him to be professional, and he'd been professional, and now she wanted . . . what? Did she want him to be inappropriate? Of course not. Maybe there was some middle ground, where she could be professional with him at work and inappropriate with him
out
of work . . .

Dating. The middle ground she was thinking of was dating. It figured that she'd been out of the game for so long she didn't even remember what it was called. The whole situation was bullshit.

Maybe work would distract her. She pulled on her headphones and fired up her music. Normally on a Saturday she'd play it without headphones, but she didn't want Caleb hearing and coming to investigate. Then she pulled up the meeting notes on her tablet and started synthesizing their discussions into a game overview.

She wasn't sure how long Caleb had been standing behind her when she finally felt him there. It was strange how he could press into her personal space as if he were touching her, his aura overlapping hers, his presence brushing against her as lightly as if his fingertips were sliding over the back of her neck. The sensation wasn't unpleasant, and if she could just keep this feeling without having to talk to him, it would be perfect. Any moment now she'd have to turn around and face him, look into those beautiful clear eyes and
not
think about him fucking her into the mattress.

Without looking up from her computer screen, Isabel pulled off her headphones and set them on the desk, the sounds of Pavarotti fading into the background, a tinny drone echoing from the table before she stopped her music. No use putting it off any longer. She turned in her chair and looked up at Caleb.

He was delightfully mussed, casual in straight-leg jeans and an old band T-shirt that stretched snugly across his chest, his tattoos just visible above his elbows. Isabel felt her body temperature rise, heat flowing from her chest outward, pooling in her groin and making her throb. This was just fucking ridiculous.

“I was on my way out and the security guard mentioned that you were here.” Caleb rubbed his jaw. “I didn't know you worked on Saturdays.”

“Sometimes, when I have a big project. I was hoping to get these notes synthesized before Monday.” Isabel turned her chair halfway to check the computer screen. Wow, it was already after four. “Looks like I won't make it.”

Caleb stepped in, his hand going to the back of her chair to brace himself as he shifted in to check out her work. “You're very organized.”

In her position, Caleb was practically leaning over her, his chest close enough to her face that she could lift her head and bury her face in his neck. Hell, she wanted to. Wanted to stand up and kiss him senseless, feel him lean and firm against her body. Caleb froze, as if realizing how close he was, and slowly stepped back. Isabel looked up, meeting his eyes.

Terrible mistake. Caleb was staring down at her with his lips slightly parted, eyes hooded and dark in the dim light. Isabel got to her feet. “Caleb, I . . .” she began, but trailed off. The cubicle felt much smaller with him in it, and the air conditioner must have stopped working, because it was way too hot. He was only a few inches away, right in her personal space, and she was not going to make it out of this alive.

“What?” His voice sounded loud in the silence. He stepped closer and leaned forward, daring her to back away. He must be able to hear her heart beating because it sounded deafening in her ears. Caleb's eyes didn't leave hers as he said, “I can't stop thinking about you.”

Isabel swallowed, her mouth going dry. She could play this off as nothing. She'd already told him she wanted to forget DiceCon, and if she turned him away now, he wouldn't press the matter. She could tell he wasn't that kind of guy. But she didn't want to be left alone. She wanted this, and everything in her was crying
yes.

Isabel's voice was barely audible, a whisper in the silence that hung between them like a curtain. “I can't stop thinking about you, either.”

He closed the space between them and kissed her hard, bruising, and Isabel tasted his desperation that mirrored her own. She melted, her knees struggling to support her as he tangled his tongue with hers. Oh god, this was probably a terrible idea, but with his smell in her nose and his taste on her lips, she couldn't remember why.

Isabel sucked in a breath as his mouth left hers, but the breath left her in a whoosh as he began sucking on the skin of her neck. He hitched her leg up over his hip and pulled her against him, the hard bulge in his pants now pressing between her legs. At the contact, both of them let out a low groan.

“This is a terrible idea.” He said the words she was thinking. Despite his words, though, he didn't stop what he was doing, which was now cupping her ass through her jeans. His mouth still worked at the skin of her neck, never staying in once place long enough to leave a mark, his lips on her ear and then below it, his breath rasping hot across her skin.

“Yes it is.” Her words came out as a gasp. She couldn't see anything, realized she'd closed her eyes, and opened them. Their location flooded back to her then, standing right in the middle of her cubicle, visible to anyone who might walk by. But they were alone in the office.

Caleb started unbuttoning her jeans. “Do you want this?”

Isabel nodded, panting, glancing once toward the door.

“No one's coming in.” Caleb tugged her jeans down over her hips, taking her underwear with them, and pulled them past her sandals and all the way off. “Up on the desk.”

Isabel pushed her keyboard out of the way and sat, too dazed to do more, her feet dangling. Caleb knelt down in front of her and nudged her knees apart, kissing his way up her inner thigh.

Oh fuck, he was going to do this, right here, right now. She spread her legs farther apart and bit her lip to keep from moaning as he ran his hands up the sides of her legs and held her by the hips. She could feel her legs trembling, and she gripped the edge of the desk with white-knuckled hands.

“Shhhh.” His shushing breath whispered against her skin, right near the juncture of her thighs. God, he was right there, eye level with her pussy, his mouth only an inch away, and she could feel his lips barely brushing against her. He'd gone down on her the first time they slept together, sure, but this was different, spread out on her workstation where anyone could walk in. Between the convention center lounge and this, she might be developing a new kink for public sex. She had just enough time for that thought before she felt the tip of his tongue flick against her clit.

Isabel exhaled in a quick gust, making a surprised noise deep in her throat, and her head hit the top of the cubicle wall as it dropped back. Then Caleb really dove into his task. He dragged his tongue through her folds, then plunged it into her, fucking her with his mouth, his hands digging into her hips to hold her steady as she bucked up against his tongue. Then he returned to her clit, licking and sucking the little bud, and she was so wet she should probably have been embarrassed if she wasn't so caught up in the feeling of his mouth against her.

“Isabel.” His breath and beard tickled her, words spoken between licks of her sensitive pussy. “I want to fuck you.” He licked her again, and the strangled gasp she emitted didn't sound human. “Please say you have protection.”

She managed to nod, slow to speak. “My purse,” she managed at last.

Caleb sat back, wiping his beard in a way that was both filthy and incredibly hot. She scrabbled around for the purse, shoved to the corner of the desk in their passion.

“Thought you didn't date much,” Caleb said, taking the condom from her and unbuttoning his jeans.

“They're left over from DiceCon. Are you happy I have them or not?”

“No complaints here.” Caleb unrolled the condom over his cock and stepped between her thighs. “Fuck, I've wanted this so bad since the moment I saw you the first day here.” Tilting her hips back, Caleb lined up his cock and slid all the way in with one fluid thrust.

Isabel bit his shoulder to muffle the loud moan she couldn't hold back. Caleb's arms came up around her back and held her flush against him as he started to rock into her. At this angle, he couldn't thrust hard, but each shift of his hips dragged his cock against all her sensitive parts, and Isabel just closed her eyes and hung on. Heat curled in her groin, building with each stroke. She gripped the back of his head, fingers slipping through the short strands of his hair, her other hand reaching down between them to rub her clit. The low heat swelled into something greater, something measurable, and she gripped his biceps to steady herself.

“You like this?” Caleb said into her ear, his voice husky with strain. “You like fucking me here, like this, all quick and dirty?”

She didn't answer, just moaned again, a needy, desperate sound that might have been embarrassing if she cared at all about anything. She'd never been fucked like this, hard and urgent like a desperate hookup, and it was glorious.

“I asked you if you liked fucking me like this.” Caleb pulled back far enough to look her in the eyes.

“Yes,” Isabel breathed, nodding. “God yes.”

Caleb took her mouth under his, kissing her hard and fierce, each press of his hips driving her closer to climax.

Isabel broke the kiss, her breath coming in gasps. She wanted to say more, wanted to tell him how he was making her feel, but all words left her as she came apart with her orgasm. It was bright behind her eyes, her world fading into pure sensation: his thick cock inside her, his cologne on her skin, his shirtsleeves in her hands as she clutched at his upper arms. She could feel his hips stuttering against her as he found his own release.

In the aftermath, silence descended between them, their ragged breathing the only sound aside from the quiet hum of the air-conditioning. Caleb stepped back, withdrawing from her to take care of the condom. Isabel felt her nakedness keenly in his absence and slid down from the desk to find her discarded clothing. What had they done? Sick realization settled over her. This was exactly what she
hadn't
wanted to happen—except she did, she'd asked for this, practically begged him for it—and her stomach twisted with regret. Without the heady concoction of hormones running rampant through her bloodstream, she felt disconnected from her body, her limbs working automatically to pull on her clothing. Her legs felt wobbly and overstretched. What was she supposed to say to him now, in this moment?

Caleb broke the silence, draping an arm across the wall of her cubicle. “So what happens now?”

Isabel shook her head, trying to think of how to respond. “I don't know. We shouldn't have done this.”

Caleb blanched. “Don't say that. Didn't you enjoy it?”

Of course she had. That wasn't the point. “Sure I enjoyed it. But now what's supposed to happen?”

Caleb tipped his head to the side. “Well, I need about fifteen minutes, but then I could probably go again.”

Isabel stared, agape. “You're kidding.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, whatever, just wanted to lighten the mood. You're staring at me like it's the end of the earth. It's just sex, right? It was just sex at DiceCon.”