Chapter 4
FOUR
Kingston
My phone buzzes with a text from Ella. Hey, I need to talk about some career stuff. Do you have a minute?
For her? Always. I’m at the office. Want to come by?
Yep, I’m close. Thanks .
I let security downstairs know that she’s coming. They’ll check her ID and let her through.
Ten minutes later, she’s knocking on the edge of my doorframe. “Hey.”
“Come on in, sweetheart. What’s up?” I stand and come around the desk to pull her into a hug.
“I just met with Helena Tran,” she says.
Stepping back, I gauge her facial expression, trying to figure out if she’s happy about how the meeting went, or upset. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Yeah. She’s really, really great. I mean, she has to be if she handles the careers of all of these other successful musicians. I liked her immediately. And she really seems to believe in me. Maybe a little too much.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible,” I say.
Ella rolls her lips between her teeth. “I don’t want you to think I’m asking for hand-outs.”
“I have never thought that about you, and if you ever asked me for money, it would be for good reason.”
“You trust me too much,” she says. “If you knew what Tommy did?—”
“You are not your brother,” I remind her.
“You’re right.” She sighs and runs a hand along the edge of my desk. “Helena says I should consider quitting my job, and do music full-time. I mean, ludicrous, right?”
By the time she’s finished talking, her voice is high-pitched and breathy, like she’s panicking and unsure.
I get the sense that my reaction here could either lift my girl up, or do lasting damage. I want to be snarky and tell her she’s behaving like an idiot for not believing in herself, but her emotions are obviously fragile at the moment.
“Come over here,” I say, leading her to the more comfortable sitting area in my office. I fall into the loveseat and grab her by the hips, pulling her onto my lap.
She curls up, resting her head on my shoulder. We sit in silence for a long moment. My arms are loose around her while she simply breathes. I deepen and lengthen my own breaths, subtly trying to get her to match them, and slowly, she does.
“Sweetheart,” I say. “Ella. Helena Tran is a professional music agent with a very strong client list. Even when Bash was still working with the snake—I mean, Trina—he admired Helena’s professionalism from afar. I guess what I’m trying to say is, Helena knows her shit.”
“I agree,” Ella says.
“And she has advice for you—advice that might seem scary for you to take.”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll set aside the verifiable fact that Sebastian and I have both refused your offers to help pay rent, and that we badgered you to move in with us, and that if, god forbid, we broke up, neither he nor I would leave you on the streets. No matter what.”
“Okay,” she says slowly.
“So we’re going to focus on Helena’s advice. To quit your day job and focus on your music, full-time.”
“Right. You’re a businessy business guy,” Ella says, “so I was hoping this is the kind of advice you can give.”
“A businessy business guy?” I say, struggling not to laugh.
“Yes,” she says with a giggle. “That is the job title next to your name on the door, isn’t it?”
“That’s exactly what it says.” I chuckle and squeeze her. “So, I don’t have any experience in the music world, but there is something to be said for truly focusing on what your heart desires.”
“Yeah.” She snuggles closer to me, if possible, and presses her hand against my chest, over my heart.
Fuck, I love this woman.
“That said,” I say, “if you’re stressed about where you’ll find your next meal, or if a trip to the hospital is going to make you homeless, that could have a negative effect on your art, too.”
“Exactly, yes,” she says, her shoulders going slack with relief. “You get it.”
“I do. And.”
“And?”
“And I don’t know if Bash and I need to spank some more sense into you or what, but we are one hundred percent in on this relationship with you.
You aren’t going to be hungry. You aren’t going to be homeless.
Everything we have, is yours.” And if I’m being honest with myself, I’m hurt that she still doesn’t seem to believe in this, or believe in us .
But I don’t want to make this about me and my feelings.
Ella’s concerns about money and her fear of “using” us must be rooted deeply in her psyche.
“I’m sorry,” she says, her voice breaking. “I know, I have some kind of a block about this. It’s just…money isn’t important to you, I get it. But to me, someone who’s never really had it, it’s very important.”
I can see where she’s coming from, but she’s right in thinking that I probably won’t understand completely.
I grew up privileged—upper middle-class, never worried about food or housing or anything else.
My parents set up a good college fund for me before my mother even got pregnant, and I escaped university debt-free.
Because of my connections, finding investors in Tyler Analytics was surprisingly easy.
Some of that, yes, had to do with me having a kickass business plan and the smarts and willpower to execute it.
But I recognize, in the end, a lot of it comes down to my background.
“You’re right,” I say. “Money isn’t that important to me.
I like having it and it makes things easier, but I haven’t had to worry about it like you have.
I’m not trying to minimize your concerns, but if there is anything I can do to help you feel better about quitting your cleaning job, please tell me what it is. ”
“Okay,” she says quietly.
“Okay?”
“Yeah.”
She’s not giving me any ideas right now, but maybe this is all she needs at the moment.
“Is there anything else you need to talk over?” I ask her.
She shakes her head against my chest. “No, that was all. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Sitting up slightly, she holds my face in her hands and slowly, so slowly, brings her mouth to mine. She tastes like lemonade—I bet that’s what she drank while at lunch with Helena. She makes a soft, needy sound and squirms in my lap, her thighs brushing against my cock.
I’m starting to harden, my dick hopeful at Ella’s closeness.
Conscious that my office door is wide open, I break the kiss. “You are too tempting, little girl.”
“Not tempting enough, if you’re stopping,” she says with a pout.
“Really?” I say, amused. “You want to take this further?”
She shrugs one shoulder. “Maybe.”
“All right.” I ease her off my lap and stand up next to her. “Get under my desk, little girl.”
“I—what?”
“You heard me.”
Her expression incredulous, she walks over to my desk while I go to the office door, shut it, and flip the lock.
“Go on,” I say. “Under the desk.”
She gets under there, so I go to my chair and sit down, unzipping my pants.
“Take out my cock, sweetheart. I have a call to make.”
“You—no,” she says. “That’s nasty, Daddy. You can’t call someone while you make me touch you.”
“I can and I will. And you won’t just be touching me, baby girl. You’ll be sucking on my cock.”
She gasps.
“Unless your scandalized noises are suddenly a safe word, Ella, you better get busy with my cock.”
It isn’t easy for her, but she manages to maneuver my dick out of the opening in my pants. While she licks around the head, I pick up my phone and dial.
No, I’m not calling an actual business associate. Kinks are fun, but others should only be brought into them with consent. So it’s Sebastian I call.
“What’s up?” he answers.
“Yeah, hey,” I say into the phone. “I needed to talk to you about some businessy business things.”
Beneath the desk, Ella pauses.
Bash laughs. “The fuck, King? What are you talking about?”
“Well,” I say, “this is a very important phone call, while a certain little girl learns what she can do for me when she comes to visit me at work.”
“Is she on the desk or under it?” he asks.
“Under. Numbers are low,” I answer. “The initial models are showing up strong, and hopefully the initial vigor won’t get sucked out too quickly.”
“Fuck, take a picture for me,” he says, rightly understanding my coded language.
Ella has said before that she’s comfortable with he and I taking pictures just for our own use, but I hold my phone up where she can see it. “For Bash?” I say.
She nods and bobs her head forward, swallowing me all the way to the edge of her throat.
“Fuck,” I say, tapping the button to save the image. I text it to Bash immediately.
“Wish I was there,” he says.
“This is the kind of service we only offer to our VIP clients,” I say, putting on an official businessy business voice.
Ella moans softly, and I can feel it in my balls.
I continue, “Of course, the trajectory of success is dependent entirely on those numbers from the final quarter matching up with our initial estimates.”
“Is she into this?” Sebastian asks.
“Hell yeah,” I say. “I’ve never had such an enthusiastic meeting in my office.”
“You sick fuck,” Sebastian says, laughing. “But we’ll have to do this again another time. I have to go—video call with Pat to talk about next week’s set line-up. Tell Ella I said hey, and that she looks beautiful.”
“Will do,” I say, closing my eyes as she swirls her tongue over the head of my cock. Damn.
The call ends and I pretend to check my email for a minute, typing nonsense into a blank window while Ella goes to town on my cock. Her warm, wet mouth is both treat and torture.
Before I can come, I pull her head away from my cock and slide my chair back. Her lips part in surprise—they look wet and swollen from sucking me. Slowly, she puts her index finger in her mouth and tightens her lips around it. Pulling her finger out again, she says, “That was fun, Daddy.”
With a frustrated growl, I grab her by the arm and haul her off the floor, yank down her pants and panties, and then spin her around, bending her over my desk.
“Are you wet, little girl?”
“So wet, Daddy.”
I plunge a finger into her pussy, and it is wet as advertised. “Did playing with my cock get you ready for me?”
“It always does—you taste so yummy, Daddy. Even when it’s so, so wrong.”
“Tell me how wrong it is.”
“Licking you…like that,” she says slowly, “here, under your desk, in your office? It’s very naughty. We shouldn’t be doing this?—”
I plunge my cock into her pussy. She cries out in a moan and I clamp my hand over her mouth.
“Shh, little one. Don’t be too loud or someone will come investigate what’s going on in here.”
When I let go of her mouth, she nods and whispers, “Sorry, Daddy.”
“It’s okay. You’re doing great.” I ease out of her before sliding back in again, the glide effortless because she’s so wet.
I reach around her and fondle her tits, but I’m unable to get a good grip on her nipples through her bra and shirt.
Continuing the strokes in and out of her pussy, I shove my hand up her shirt and yank down one of the cups of her bra.
Her tight little nipple is hard between my fingers, and I give it a good pinch.
Ella gasps, but she doesn’t cry out this time.
“Good girl,” I whisper. “You feel so good like this. I know it’s wrong, taking you here in my office, but it’s too right. You’ve been so obedient, you should get a reward.”
“Mmm,” she says.
“Would you like to come?”
Her pussy tightens on me rhythmically. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Play with your tits, sweetheart.”
She reaches up to take over for me, and I bring my hand down to the front of her cunt, slipping my fingers over her clit in time with my strokes.
“You can come whenever you’re ready,” I say in her ear, sucking on her lobe while I continue to fuck her. I hope she comes soon, because I’m about ready to fucking blow.
“Daddy,” she says, her voice hoarse.
“Yes, little one? Are you close?”
“Yes, so close—fuck—there, yes?—”
She covers her mouth with her own hand, muffling her cry of pleasure. The pulsing of her pussy as she comes is too much, and my orgasm hits me with a vengeance, gathering in my balls and exploding outward, filling her with my come.
I hold tight to her hips, pumping through her aftershocks, easing her down.
Once we’re both still, I gently pull out of her and grab some tissues from the box in one of my desk drawers.
I wipe us both down, then bend to pick up her pants and panties, and get her dressed again.
She straightens her shirt and bra, turning around to face me while I’m tucking my cock back into my pants.
“So that was amazing,” she says. “Too bad I had to have an existential-slash-career crisis to make it happen.”
“You can come visit me at work anytime,” I say, kissing her. “And crises aren’t required.”