One Night (6 page)

“Absolutely.”

Changing into my party dress in the bathroom stall was a bigger challenge than I anticipated. Keeping my feet from touching the sketchy floor was a lot of work and I nearly stepped into the toilet bowl two separate times. So it was surprising that I somehow managed to look presentable when I surveyed the results in the mirror.

“Good enough,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Downright gorgeous, I’d say,” Tara disagreed. She wagged a finger at me. “You are so getting laid tonight.”

“Ha! I don’t even have a date tonight.” In typical fashion, I had forgotten to remind Thomas that he was supposed to be my date for the party. He had made other plans, and now I would be attending the party solo.

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem.” Tara nudged me with her elbow. “You could always go after Connor.”

I choked out a laugh and walked away before she could see the flush spreading across my cheeks.

One thing about William couldn’t be denied- the man knew how to throw a party. He had rented out an entire club
for the company holiday party. Tara and I checked our coats at the door and headed directly to the first bar we could find. We had worked late and missed the dinner, so we had a lot of catching up to do. I made a complete lap of the first floor, introducing myself to both co-workers and significant others. I was still new enough that I didn’t know at least 70% of the people at the party. After I lost Tara in the crowd and was on my own, I began to feel out of place. With a few hours of drinking under their belts, many people were already drunk, and some of them were bordering on inappropriateness.

I was relieved when I found the stairs leading to the second floor. The music started playing just as I began to ascend the stairs. I had a feeling I was leaving at the perfect time. The second floor was much quieter, and only a few people lingered about. I headed for the back, where I would be able to watch what was happening on the floor below.

“Hiding?”

I jumped as someone stepped out of the shadows. “Shit, William. You scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry,” he said, but I was close enough to him now that I could see his smile.

“This is your party. Shouldn’t you be downstairs mingling with the minions?” I hadn’t meant to sound judgmental but it came out that way. I stepped closer to the railing so I could observe what was happening below us.

William shrugged and moved next to me. “In my experience, people tend to have more fun when their boss isn’t sneaking up on them.”

I knew that he was probably right. William was probably the best boss most of these people had ever had, but he was still their boss and that meant they would act differently around him. “This isn’t such a bad place to be,” I commented, pointing out the great overhead view we had.

“I would have to concur,” William said, but he wasn’t looking at the view. “In fact, if it was up to me, this is exactly how I would spend the entire evening.”

“Hiding in the shadows?” I teased, nudging his arm.

“No. Alone with you.”

Very slowly, William reached over and took my hand. The shadows upstairs were dark enough that no one would be able to see unless they were within a few feet of us. I squeezed his hand and leaned into him slightly.

“I miss you, William,” I said, betraying my feelings for him for the first time.

“I’m right here, Livy.”

It did seem strange that I had seen him every day in the past week and yet somehow I still missed him. “It’s not enough.”

“It’s not,” he agreed. “Nothing has changed, though. I’m still your boss.”

“I know.”

“That was never my issue. You are the one that couldn’t handle it.”

“I know.”

William’s thumb traced a slow circle over my hand. “I want you, Livy. I’ve never tried to hide that from you.”

“I want you, too, William. I think,” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I think I need you, as well.”

Now it was William’s turn to let out a deep breath. “Are you sure about this?”

“No. But let’s do it anyway.” I smiled up at William, and when I saw his perfect lips curl up into the familiar playful smile, I wanted to have him right there.

“There’s something I need to take care of first,” he said. “Will you follow me?”

“Anywhere.” William squeezed my hand one last time and then let go. We were headed out into enemy territory.

I followed him downstairs and to the edge of the stage. He jumped smoothly onto the stage and grabbed the microphone from the D.J.

“Hey, everyone.” His voice boomed through the speakers and the music stopped. Everyone in attendance was staring expectantly at William.

“I hope everyone is having a nice time. I just wanted to thank everyone for their hard work this year. Gravity’s success is completely a reflection of the people who work here, so you should all be very proud. As a thank you, everyone will be getting their bonus checks on Monday. Spend it wisely.” William paused while everyone laughed. “This party is supposed to wrap up in twenty minutes, but I took the liberty of asking management to extend it for two more hours, in case any of you aren’t interested in going home yet.”

The crowd cheered loudly, but my heart sank. I really didn’t want to stick around the party for two more hours.

“Have a great time.
Happy holidays.” William tossed the microphone to the D.J. and jumped down from the stage.

“Two more hours?”
I asked, yelling over the music that had resumed its thumping rhythm.

“Meet me out front in ten minutes,” he said, sliding me a wink before disappearing into the crowd.

It took fifteen minutes for the coat check girl to find my coat and I hoped William hadn’t given up on me. When I stepped outside, he was nowhere to be found.

“Livy.” I turned at the sound of my name. William was waiting for me on the corner, holding open the door to a cab. I looked around quickly to make sure no one from Gravity was around.

“You’re sure about this?” I asked him.

He kissed me quickly. “Let’s go.”

“Hey, that’s my line.”

When we got closer to William’s place, he began to fidget anxiously. I hoped he wasn’t having second thoughts.

“Calm down, jumpy,” I said, putting a hand on his shaking leg.

“You touching me really
isn’t going to help the situation,” he said with a wry smile. I slid my hand further up his leg and he laughed. Three minutes later, we were in front of his place. I climbed out of the cab and stared in awe.

“This is your place?” I tilted my head back to take in the full view. “Which floor?”

William finished paying the fare and then took my arm. “All of it.”

“All of it? You own all three floors?” I was dumbfounded. Given the cost of housing in Chicago, it had probably cost over five million dollars for this piece of real estate.

“What can I say, I don’t like living close to strangers.” William opened the door to his house and stepped back to let me in.

I walked carefully over the hardwood floors and wondered if I should take off my shoes. My heels made a loud clanking noise as I walked. William locked the door behind us and watched my hesitant steps into the living room.

“Why are you walking like a chicken?” he asked.

“I don’t know. This place scares me.”

“My home scares you?” William placed a hand over his heart, feigning offense. He looked utterly adorable.

“You are so rich,” I said,
with a laugh. “I keep forgetting that. But this place makes it hard to forget.”

William shrugged. “I have money, yes. But it’s not who I am.”

“I know that.” I took off my coat and tossed it on the floor. “There. It’s less scary now.”

William took off his own coat and threw it down next to mine. “Better?”

“Yep. Not scared at all anymore.” I nuzzled up to him and kissed his chin. “How many bedrooms does this place have?”

“Six.”

“Yikes.”

“Why yikes?” William put his arms around me. “Are you scared again?”

“Nope. Not scared. Curious.” I began untying his tie.

“What are you curious about, Miss Harris?”

“I’m curious how I’m going to decide which one of those beds to violate you in, Mr. Connor.” I used the tie to pull his head down to mine and kissed his lips softly.

“Why limit it to just one bed?” he said, and then quite smoothly picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder. “Let’s start with the closest one,
hm?”

“Sounds like a plan.” At this vantage point, I had a wonderful view of William’s rear end. “Faster, please.”

The bed in the first room was deliciously soft, I discovered when William placed me on it. He reached into his pocket and tossed a condom next to me and then he wasted no time getting undressed. When he climbed on top of me, his eyes were burning with desire. I could get lost in those eyes.

His hands went under my dress and up my thigh, searching for the panties he was dying to remove from my body. At first his face registered confusion when his hands found nothing but bare skin, but then he saw the smile on my face.

“You planned for this?” he shook his head. “You knew you were going to seduce me.”

“I hoped for it.” I kissed him long and hard. “Just in case I was able to seduce the amazing William Connor, I wanted to make sure he had easy access.”

“Well played.” William shifted his position over me. “I take it this isn’t your first time being a temptress.”

“Don’t play innocent. You’re the one that had a condom at the ready.” I closed my hand around it and held it up. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Of course not.” As William worked to get the condom in place, I sat up. He looked at me in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

“It just occurred to me.” I moved quickly out from under him. “It’s my turn to be in charge.”

William laughed and let me push him back on the bed. I lifted my dress up and over my head and threw it across the room. I straddled him, letting his hardness meet my softness and then pulling away. I did this several times, teasing William until he finally growled, “You are evil.”

I finally steered him into me and he let out a pleasured moan. As I lowered myself on him, my body vibrated with delight. I leaned over his body, my breasts full and tempting. William lifted his head and his lips moved over my breast, his tongue flicking over my nipple. I gasped and began to rock slowly on top of him. As our bodies got used to the rhythm, our pace picked up. We moved in unison and at one point, William sat up. I shifted over him and wrapped my legs around him. The shift of his body inside me, and mine on top of him, reached new areas of pleasure and my body shook as the orgasm ripped through me. William was right there with me, his body tightening against me as he reached his own completion.

Our bodies were still pressed together, our breathing irregular and labored, when William said, “I would like to say that I enjoy it thoroughly when you are in charge.”

“Then you might consider giving me a promotion at work,
boss,” I replied. Our bodies shook together as we laughed. William fell back on the bed, the picture of exhaustion.

“No you don’t,” I said, tugging him up.

“You wore me out,” he complained.

“You promised me six beds. This is only the first.”

William kissed me hard and said, “That better be a promise. I intend to hold you to that.”

“You don’t have any plans this weekend, do you?” I rubbed my hands over his chest.

“I’m all yours,” he said, and I knew that he was. “But that means you’ll have to stay longer than one night.”

Looking into his eyes, I answered confidently, “I’m okay with that.”

TO BE CONTINUED…