Give Me a Chance (BYC #2)

13. Natalie

13

NATALIE

T he BYC used to be my safe space. It was a place where I felt comfortable. These people were like my family.

They still are. With the one exception. The new, unwelcome addition to my family.

So, I pretend I don’t notice him.

Not even when he rolls up his sleeves, showcasing forearms that don’t belong in an office. Not even when he puts on his glasses after a long day at the computer. Yup, you heard me. Glasses! Of course, the glasses make him look like the sexy professor from my teenage wildest fantasies—which is highly unhelpful.

He’s still an ass.

I need to get him out of my system, I know that. Yesterday, I had a Tinder date with the same goal in mind. I suffered an hour of dull conversation on the count of his good looks, but when we went back to his place, I couldn’t get into it.

Rina and I sit down for lunch in the break room, spreading our food and drinks all over the tiny round table. I take the first bite of my prepackaged turkey sandwich when she asks about my date.

“How was yesterday?” Online dating can potentially be dangerous, so I take great precautions. Other than bringing my pepper spray, I text Rina my location every time I’m on a date in case something happens.

“Umm . . .It was fine.”

“Fine? I don’t think you’ve ever described anything as fine.” She’s right. I’m a descriptive, talkative person.

“Ok, you want to know the whole story? He was really hot. Had this bad boy look about him, and gorgeous, tattooed hands. And you know I’m a big fan of beautiful necklaces.” She chuckles, not one bit surprised with my comment.

“But the conversation was boring,” I continue. “He tried to be flirty and sexy, but it came off as boring. We came back to his place and made out for a bit before I called it quits.” She looks surprised.

Not every date I have is a hit, but I’m usually able to make any situation fun. If the guy is too pushy, I’ll tie him up and take charge. If he’s boring, I’ll be fun for the both of us. If he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing, I’ll be happy to direct him.

“It was that bad?”

“Honestly, it was fine. I just wasn’t in the mood.” Partial truth. I’ve been horny at the office all the time, but I wasn’t in the mood for whatever tattooed hand guy had to offer.

“Good for you.” Rina is my ride or die. She never judges me, and she accepts me exactly for who I am. She used to be the shy one of the two of us. But she really came into her own since getting with Connor.

“Do you have any plans on Thursday? Would you mind babysitting Eric?” she continues.

“Mind? Mind hanging with my best friend?”

“I thought I was your best friend.”

“Sorry, you’ve been replaced. Of course, what do you have planned?”

“We want to do a show at L this drought is not good for me.”

“What drought, Nats? You’ve been sharing stories just last week.” Anne continues giggling. I shrug as if to say, ‘a week’s too long.’

But the truth is, my last week’s story wasn’t fresh, I took it from the archives. I haven’t had any new stories in a while—if you don’t count the boring tattooed hand guy. And it’s been messing with my head. Seeing the last guy to make me come at the office every day, in fucking glasses, certainly doesn’t help.

Rina notices I’m deep in thought. “Maybe you should come to the club one day, Nats. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t already.” And she’s right. If you were to ask a random person on the streets which one of us frequents a sex club, nine out of ten would point to me. But sex clubs require a level of trust I’m not comfortable with.

“What do you say about that, Anne? Wanna join me?”

“I don’t think so, Nats. But you go and have fun.” She’s not interested in casual sex. She’s looking for someone to marry and have his babies.

“What an interesting group of friends we are. One afraid of commitment, one only looking for commitment, and the only committed one who gets ass-fucked in front of a crowd.” They both burst out in laughter, and I join them.

We continue laughing all the way back to the office. But my day turns sour quickly, when Kiara calls me into her office.

Matt is already sitting there, his stupid glasses on his stupid face.

“Natalie, glad you joined us. Matt approached me with an idea for an extra project, and I love it. Here are some details about his proposal so you can get into it, but I want you two to work together on this.” She hands me a folder. “It’s basically PR, so you should be heavily involved. Can you both stay a little longer today and hash things out so we can start next week with a decent plan?”

Look, my boss is great. She’s great at what she does, she’s fair, and goes out of her hand for her employees. But when she hears an idea she likes, she’s pretty impatient to get it going.

“Of course, Kiara.” Matt is the first to answer—the kiss ass.

“Natalie? Of course, you don’t have to stay at the office, feel free to work on it wherever you prefer.”

“Sure, Kiara. I’ll do my best.” But we’re definitely staying in the office.

“Great, I’m looking forward to hearing what the two of you plan on Monday.”

We’re dismissed. Ignoring Matt, I head to my desk, reading the folder she gave me. He wants to offer free law consults, but not only to the families we work with. He plans to go into impoverished neighborhoods, setting up a pop-up law clinic and helping a wider community.

Tapping his foot, he waits for me to finish reading.

“Can I help you?” My voice is dripping with sarcasm.

“Yeah, in fact, you can. Maybe you can listen to what our boss said and work with me on this?”

“Of course. But you can’t seriously think I’ll drop everything this instant and get to work on your little side project? I’ll meet you in the conference room at...” I check the watch, “four o’clock.” He scoffs, but heads back to his desk.

At 4:08, because he can wait a few minutes, I enter the conference room. His hands are crossed over his chest, and there’s an indifferent look on his face.

“Sorry I’m late,” I say with a dazzling smile.

“Mhm,” he murmurs.

“I went over your proposal, and it’s a cute idea, but it needs a lot of work.”

“Look, I was hoping to do this on my own, so feel free to not overwork yourself with it.”

“Not going to happen. Like Kiara said, the idea is basically PR, so since you wanted to meddle in my side of things, we’re going to do this the way I say.” I pretend not to notice the way he rolls his eyes.

The conference room has a glass partition wall, and we watch the office desks empty one by one. Kiara lets everyone leave earlier on Fridays, assuming we’ve finished all our work.

How I crave to be one of them, instead of sitting here with Matt in a soon to be empty office.

I sit down at the conference desk as he rolls up his sleeves, distracting me with his forearms. Clearing my throat, I get back to the topic at hand.

“What did you have in mind in terms of space for the pop-up clinics?”

“I thought we could grab a desk and a couple of chairs and set them up in a well-frequented area.”

“What are you? Selling lemonade? No way, it won’t work that way.” He scoffs, but I ignore him, scribbling some bullet points inside my planner.

“How do you plan to market the clinic? Inform people you’re going to be there...” I continue.

“Well, I kind of thought they’ll see me on the streets,” I shoot him a glare. “Or maybe we could make some posters to put up,” he adds quickly. Again, I write down a few pointers of what we need to do.

Outside, in the main office area, Kiara waves at us and dims the lights on her way out. I sigh, wanting to get this over with. Checking my notes, I continue.

“How do you plan for people to book time slots?”

He looks exasperated. “I sort of thought they’ll wait in line, or something.”

“So, your plan is to have overworked people spend their day waiting in line for half a minute of your time? And that time wouldn’t even be in private?”

He clenches his jaw and gets up, walking toward the water fountain in the corner.

“Message received, Natalie. You think my idea is shit.” His tone is clipped.

“It’s a rookie mistake: thinking a good idea is all it takes. But all those ideas crash and burn without heavy planning.”

“It’s a perfectly executable idea the way it is. No need for all the PR complications.”

“Well, tough luck, because Kiara put me on this project, and I plan to do it right.”

“Right,” he scoffs. “And there’s not a part of you enjoying raining on my parade?” His back is still to me, like filling up a cup of water takes forever, and I’m done with it. I get up to him, forcing him to turn around.

“What the hell is your problem?” I’m closer than I planned. His eyes are a stormy sea, his jaw set in stone.

“Want to know what my problem is?” He stalks even closer. His scent seeps into my pores, something citrusy and fresh. He drops his gaze to the almost crushed paper cup in his hand before he glances back up at me.

“My problem is you. My problem is seeing you every single day and not being able to touch you. Not being able to do all those things I can’t stop thinking about.” A breath hitches in my throat. His voice is pure molasses as he stares at me hungrily.

“That gives you the right to act like a dick?” I bite back.

“No,” he closes the distance to my ear, “but trust me, if I were to act like I want to, it would be so much worse.” He shakes his head, removing the warm breath from my neck.

“What would you do?” The bite is gone, my chest heaving, my mind whirling with anticipation.

“I’d punish you.” His tone is matter of fact, but I’m pretty sure I let out a whimper. “I’d punish you for driving me fucking insane, day after day.” He downs the water slowly, and I’m entranced as I watch him swallow.

My nipples are begging for attention, and he notices.

“You see? Fucking tease.” I shut him up by grabbing his shirt and pressing my lips to his. He catches up immediately, grabbing my hair with both hands and kissing me like a man starved. His tongue teases my mouth, and I open for him. The kiss is molten lava, burning me up from inside, while his hand travels down to my aching nipples. He pinches one through my blouse and any chance of me stopping this is long gone.

He grabs my ass, lifting me up as I cross my legs behind his back. His mouth is on my neck, marking me. I rub myself against his hard-on, the friction just what I need on my throbbing clit. He slaps my ass with both hands, signaling me to stop. He looks deep into my eyes with kiss-mussed hair, but I don’t want that. I don’t want intimacy.

“Do it. Punish me.” I challenge, and his eyes turn darker.

Setting me down, he spins me around so I’m facing away from him, my thighs pressed against the edge of the conference table. He kisses my neck while unbuttoning my jeans and peeling them off of me, along with my panties. The cool air hits my already soaked pussy, and I quiver. Wasting no time, Matt pushes my upper body down until my chest is laying on the conference desk. He uses his foot to spread my legs wider, leaving me exposed.

His hands are on the backs of my thighs, slowly making their way up to my ass. I’m so fucking turned on. I have no idea where this dominant Matt came from, but you won’t see me complaining.

“You want to get punished?” His voice is low, almost inaudible.

“Yes,” I breathe out.

He slaps my right ass cheek.

“This. Fucking. Ass. Has. Been. Teasing. Me. For. Too. Long.” Each word is accentuated with a slap. They aren’t hard, but I’m already sensitive, so each one stings more than the previous one.

He grabs the back of my hair, lifting me from the desk.

“I’ve dreamt about spanking this ass red.” I moan loudly at the dirty words he whispers in my ear and the sting I feel on my scalp and ass. “I’ve dreamt about punishing you for pretending you don’t think about us. That you don’t think about the way my bare cock felt in your tight pussy.”

I feel myself dripping down my thighs, and apparently, so does he because the next thing I feel is his mouth connecting with my center.