‘Of course,’ she says. She looks a little surprised that I’ve asked. Or maybe she’s surprised that I’m considering a kiss rather than just bending her over my desk. I suppose at work I’m a bit more presumptuous, but it would feel weird to jump on her here in my home without warning, right after we’ve been discussing her musical talent. The rules feel different here.

She isn’t buttoned up and glamorous today. She’s soft and supple and undone with that cascade of long, silky hair and this thin athletic gear and all that gorgeous skin on display. Her arms are bare. Her midriff. Her chest. It’s all good, because I feel undone like this, too. I’m in shorts and a t-shirt, barefoot in what is honestly more of a trophy pad than a real home. Right now I’m not the big boss man prowling through his corner office in extortionate tailoring.

I’m just Brendan.

CHAPTER 33

Brendan

She sighs softly as I gather her up in my arms. So often, I act on impulse. I’m all about the destination and, in Marlowe’s case, the orgasm. See her. Fuck her. Make her come. Let myself come. Boom.

And repeat.

She’s a means to an end. A beautiful vessel that pours forth an endless stream of sexual gratification.

This morning, I’m going to bloody well enjoy her.

And I do.

I smooth her hair off her face with one hand and take a moment to absorb her before I dive back in. Her eyes are molten chocolate, her eyelashes fluttering, lips so soft and pink and lush. I can’t not kiss her. I tilt my head and I close my mouth over hers again, testing the seam of her lips lightly with my tongue. They part for me, and I’m flooded with her: her scent, her taste, sensory delights I’ve already grown to crave.

There’s always an element of time pressure in the office. Much as I like living on the edge, I don’t actually want anyone to barge in on us. Here, though, there’s a stillness, even as the sounds her voice made hang in the air like beautiful ghosts. I have a sense of presence that even my meds can’t always deliver.

We’re properly making out now, and it’s seriously fucking cool. I twist my body as much as humanly possible as I cup her jaw and stroke her skin and thread my fingers through her hair and entangle my tongue with hers. The more I give myself over to this kiss, the more it gives me. The more she gives me.