The Other C-Word (17 page)

He tilted his head, grinning salaciously.

“Get back into your office now, buster!”

He complied closing the door. I opened it then slammed it shut.

“And stay in there.”

He came out five minutes later with his duffle bag. “I’m going to the gym.”

“I thought you’d already gone today?”

He shook his head in annoyance. “I’m going again. Is that okay with you?”

I shifted, suppressing a chuckle. “Yes, but I was just wondering why. Are you worried about your stamina?”

He flashed a cocky smile in my direction. “Not at all and you don’t have to either. I’m not going to work out.”

“Then why are you going?”

“I need a cold shower.” He stared at me for a second as if pondering his next statement. “I hope you’ve increased your workouts this week.”

“Why? Are you calling me fat?”

He laughed. “No, Marley, your body is quite perfect. I just worry about your stamina.”

As he left, I realised that my endurance was probably minuscule compared to his. I vowed to do some yoga that night. Billie would help me—she was into all that crap. And maybe…some Kegels too.

That night, I stayed an extra fifteen minutes to get out a report. It wasn’t late enough that I’d need him to walk me out. It wasn’t dark yet and that was our rule. I heard the sounds of the Violent Femmes waft out of his office. I swallowed hard before storming in there.

“What do you want, Marley?” he asked through clenched teeth. He was at his bookshelves filing some catalogues. It was my job, but I hadn’t been doing it. I couldn’t do it—he kept kicking me out of his office.

“You’re listening to
Blister in the Sun
?” My voice was accusatory.

“Yes, I’m taking a break from Santana. Why?”

“You can’t listen to this, Rick,” I said rather dramatically.

“Why is that?”

My voice came out in a choked whimper, “It’s about masturbation.”

He looked at me quizzically before turning his attention to his iPod. “No, it’s not.”

I bobbed my head ridiculously. “Listen.”

We were both silent, absorbing the lyrics when the realisation hit him. He rushed over to his desk, managing to bang his knee against it. “Fuck!”

“Are you okay?” I ran to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He moved out of my grasp.

“Don’t touch me, Marley…please.” He turned off the song and breathed deeply. We both did.

“You’d better be Mr Fucking Fantastic in bed. I want this all to be worth it.”

He chuckled sarcastically, gripping the edge of his desk. When he spoke, his voice was low, barely louder than a whisper, but commanding all the same, “Don’t worry, baby. I’m going to worship every inch of your delicious body, and then I’m going to fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk straight.”

I was thankful his back was to me, because my legs were shaking. I wanted to jump him right then.

“Sounds good, I’ll…um…see you tomorrow then.”
Sounds good?
I awkwardly backed away towards the door.

“Marley, wear a skirt for me, please.”

“Won’t that be hard for you?”

He didn’t turn to me, but I saw the slight shake of his head. “It will be hard. It will be hard all day, and I believe it will be hard all night as well. Do you understand?”

“Tomorrow is jean day.”

“Then wear a fucking jean skirt,” he said evenly.
Why isn’t his voice squeaking?

“What about you?” I asked with more conviction.

“What about me?”

“I want you in a suit…got it.”

He straightened, but didn’t turn to me. His voice was lighter than it had been a few minutes earlier. “But it’s jean day.”

“Then wear a fucking jean suit.”
What? A jean suit…is that even a real thing?
I pictured something from
Starsky and Hutch
, a sitcom my mom used to watch—a leisure suit made of denim—and I actually laughed despite the dampness between my legs. He laughed too, relieving some of the sexual friction.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he replied more relaxed. “I’ll have more time since I don’t have to shave tomorrow.” With that simple statement, the tension came rushing back in the room like a furious wave, threatening to sweep me away.

“Goodnight, Rick.”

“Tomorrow, Marley.”

“Tomorrow, Rick.”

No one slammed the door.

* * * *

Friday

I loved Fridays! They were the absolute best day of the week, and this Friday was the bestest of the best. I didn’t own a jean skirt, but my mom did. It was very cool and vintage with neat swirly stitching. I paired it with a fitted black button-down top and knee-high boots. I wanted to cover my legs, not for Rick, but for me. The way he looked at them had the potential to make me collapse on the floor. Underneath my ensemble, I wore my favourite black lace bra and panties. It was funny, I was covered from head to toe except for the tops of my knees, but I still felt alluring. It was totally sexy, not slutty, and I knew he’d be just the kind of man to appreciate that.

He grinned broadly when I brought him his coffee. “You’re bringing me coffee again?”

“Yes, I think you’ll earn it later,” I replied, trying not to stare too hard at him.

He was wearing a jean suit but it was totally hot. His jeans pleasingly accentuated his strong hips, and he wore a tight fitted button down black shirt with green tie that brought out his piercing, emerald eyes. A modern cut, denim fitted jacket topped it off. It was the perfect combination of conservative casual, and it made my mouth go dry. Ironically, we matched.

He reached into his desk and handed me a Zesty bar. “This is for you.”

“You’re giving me Zesty bars again? Do you think I’ll earn it?” I asked huskily.

“I’m sure you will, but right now, I want to make sure you keep your strength up.”

I took the bar from his hand, careful not to touch him. “Don’t worry about me, cowboy. I’ve been doing Kegels and eating lots of carrots this week.”

He blinked at me, but I just smiled sweetly. He smiled tightly and sucked in a deep breath. “Why are you still here, Marley?”

“Leaving,” I replied, walking away.

A few hours later, he rushed out of his office. I thought he was late for a meeting.

“Get your stuff. We’re going to lunch.”

I glanced at the clock. “Lunch? It’s only ten-thirty.”

He placed both hands on my chair, and brought his face close to mine. “We have some results to go over. They wanted to mail them to us, but I told them we’d pick them up in person. So, get your stuff and let’s go.”

I stood, moving swiftly, but a troubling thought suddenly froze me. The game we were playing was so erotic and consuming, I hadn’t thought about what would happen if the results were bad. I had always been careful, but you never really knew. I swallowed hard, and Rick must have sensed the shift in my posture because he came up behind me and embraced me. “It will be fine, Marley. We’re both in the same boat here. We don’t know what our results will hold, but I promise you no matter what it is, we’ll figure it out together.”

I nodded then we walked to the elevator silently. Rick punched the button and stood beside me. When the car arrived, he leaned against the elevator opening, allowing me to enter first. Before I could, he clasped my arm and pulled me towards him, whispering discretely in my ear, “I have another C-word for you, Marley…cunnilingus.”

A million things happened to my body at once. My pulse quickened, my heart thumped wildly, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and the area between my legs felt slippery.
Cunnilingus?
Not the sexiest word, but when it rolled off his soft, sumptuous lips, I felt like I could orgasm right there. He helped me into the elevator—he had to. We went to the opposite ends of the elevator car. We had to.

Then the annoying thing happened where we heard multiple shouts of, “Hold the door.”

Damn! Doesn’t anyone know common elevator etiquette?

I wanted to hit the door-close button, but Rick, the consummate gentleman, held the doors open. About twenty people piled on, separating Rick and I further. How was there this many people in the elevator? Crap, I hoped they couldn’t sense what a hot, damp mess I was. It was so freaking embarrassing, and I silently cursed Rick for turning me on so much with a simple word. Not even a smutty word, but a scientifically correct word. How did he do that? If I said fellatio, would it turn him on?

Kathy was among the passengers, and it was obvious she wanted to stand as close to Rick as possible.

“Where are you off to?” Kathy asked him. It was hard to see among the pile of people, but I leaned my head back, and could just make out Kathy caressing Rick’s arm through the myriad of elbows and shoulders that separated us.

“Lunch,” he replied good-naturedly, moving his arm from her grasp. Man, he was so much better at this than I was. Of course, I wasn’t able to whisper anything scandalous in his ear.

“But it’s only ten-thirty,” Kathy said.

“I guess its brunch then.”

“Oh, I was going to run a few errands, but I could go for some brunch myself. I’d love to join you.”

“No!” I hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but I did. I didn’t quite yell it, but the pleading whimper in my voice was unmistakable. People shifted in front of me and Kathy shot me an annoyed look.

“I didn’t see you there, Marley,” she said, although I knew she had.

Rick took charge of the conversation quickly. “Kathy, Marley and I are doing a working lunch. We have some…results to go over.” It amazed me how professional he sounded.

“Oh, on the website beta testing?” Kathy asked.

“Yes, on that,” Rick replied.

The elevator let us off and I breathed a sigh of relief to be in an open space again. Kathy wasn’t done though. She stopped in front of Rick, smiling broadly, flipping her dark hair. “Well, if three’s not a crowd then like I said, I would love to join you. I have some ideas of my own.”

Oh crap!
I almost laughed at the absurdity of her statement, but I restrained myself, leaning against the wall outside the elevator for support, not daring to speak again.

Rick smiled brightly and took Kathy’s hand. He took her hand! “Kathy, I would love to hear your ideas, but right now, I really need a one-on-one with Marley. I need to give her all my input, no matter how long it takes. I need her to take all the data I can possibly give her so she can…come…up with the finished reports.” His loaded pause between the word ‘come’ was not lost on me. “It will be boring for you to just watch us. I mean, there’s nothing you can do for me, right now. I’m in desperate need of Marley’s assistance with this.” His words gushed with sexual suggestion and he knew it…so did I.

Thankfully, Kathy didn’t. She smiled gleefully and took his statements literally. I felt a strong pang of jealousy like I’d never known. It physically hurt. “But Rick, I have so many ideas of my own.”

“Come by my office later then, and we’ll go over them,” he replied, releasing her hand. “My afternoon is free, right Marley?” They both turned to me expectedly. I had forgotten that I was standing there gaping at them. I shut my mouth and nodded, although in reality, I had no idea if his afternoon was free. Rick did his own schedule. I did my best to ignore the snarky eye-roll Kathy aimed straight at me as I walked past her to the parking lot.