8. A Crack in The Facade
BY SOME MIRACLE, I manage to stay on my feet until Vincent disappears over the railing of my balcony. The second he’s out of sight I slowly melt to the floor, my legs finally giving out.
That was...
That was...
The hottest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire fucking life.
Have I imagined a similar scenario a time or two? Yeah. I have. I mean, a girl can dream. Did I ever think anything like that would ever actually happen?
Never in my wildest.
It took everything I had to hold my own with him. To keep from freaking out and being as terrified as he claimed he wanted me to be. But it didn”t take long before I forgot all about being scared and skipped straight to being turned on.
And then I taunted him. Decided to be brave and push for what I wanted. Did I get the job offer that initially brought me to his digital doorstep? No, and I”m betting I never will. But what I did get was so much better. No one’s ever wanted me like that. Fucked me with a desperation I could feel from the inside out.
Speaking of inside, I think Vincent has some sort of magical dick because that was not at all what I remember a dick feeling like. It rubbed me in ways that may have ruined me for other men.
Still worth it.
I take a deep breath, blowing it back out before working my way back onto my feet. My legs are wobbly, but they manage to carry me into the bathroom. I drag down what’s left of my power panties and drop to the commode. No way am I skimping out on post-coital protocol. I can’t afford a UTI right now.
Because I absolutely plan on figuring out how to make that happen again.
I”m not sure what it will take, but I almost feel like it might not be much. Vincent is really mad at me, and I know that was part of the driving force behind the crack in his perfectly controlled facade. The thing is, it didn’t seem like his anger was entirely because I hacked into GHOST’s system. I guess I”ll find out when he discovers I”ve done it again. And this time I locked him, and everyone else at GHOST, out of it for two hours from the time he turns his computer on.
I should probably be a little worried. If this is what happens when he’s mad at me, I”m a little excited to find out what happens when he’s enraged with me. And I”m almost positive that’s what will happen.
But Vincent stopped himself from the knee-jerk reaction that brought him halfway across the parking lot earlier, and he’ll probably do it again. That means I probably won’t see him again until tomorrow.
So, after going to the bathroom, I collect my pajamas and jump in the shower. I should probably be a little disturbed over having unprotected sex, but I”ve only been with one person, and I don”t imagine Vincent’s the kind of guy who would do something like that if there was a chance he’d pass something on. I know he tries to be intimidating and scary, but any man who continues taking care of his dead employees’ families financially isn”t a terrible human.
I wash the makeup off my face and scrub my body, taking a few extra minutes to handle any wayward hair that might need taking care of in my bikini area, since I’m hoping it will be getting more attention.
I”m putting my razor away and rinsing off the remaining body wash when the shower curtain’s whipped back, the sudden move and the cold air making me yelp.
Vincent glares in at me, but the hardness in his gaze heats as his eyes drag down my wet body. After slowly sweeping me from head to toe, he refocuses on my face. ”I changed my mind.”
I blink at him, trying to figure out what in the hell he”s talking about. ”About what?”
”I am going to kill you after all.” He steps back. ”Get out.”
He”s back to trying to be scary, but as I’m almost positive he won”t actually hurt me, his commanding tone affects me in a different way than I”m sure he intends. All those two-round nights with the contents of my self-care drawer have given my lady parts high expectations.
I shut off the water and step out onto the mat, shoulders back, head high, as unbothered as I look. I was ashamed of my body for a very long time. I spent years believing men liked teeny tiny skinny women and that being on the thicker side made me less valuable. Less desirable. Then I got divorced and joined a dating app and discovered nothing could have been farther from the truth.
I’ve learned to love my body, so I don”t try to cover any of it as I stand in front of Vincent, daring him to look away. ”I guess it”s a good thing I was finished then.”
”It wouldn”t fucking matter if you were finished or not.” Vincent whips one of the towels from the bar and flings it around my shoulders, wrapping me tight. ”Fix it.”
I bat my eyes at him, trying to look innocent. ”Fix what?”
He leans down, nearly coming nose to nose with me. ”You know exactly what I”m talking about, Angel Face. You”re not stupid. Don”t pretend to be. It”s beneath you.”
That might be the most genuine compliment a man has ever paid me, and flattery will apparently get him everywhere. That”s why I shimmy the towel lower, wrapping it around my chest and tucking it into place before offering a smile. ”Fine.” I start to move past him but pause, lifting my eyes back to his face. ”On one condition.”
Vincent scowls and there”s something almost adorable about the expression, but that might be the post orgasm glow talking. ”We”re way past bargaining, Jules. That ship has sailed.”
I lift one shoulder and let it drop. ”Okay then.” I walk out of the bathroom, but instead of going to my office I head straight for my bedroom. I take a few steps in and drop my towel to the floor. If he doesn”t want to hire me, that”s fine, but if he thinks he’s going to come in here and be a pain in my ass, then he better be ready for me to return the favor.
Seems like good sex makes me brave.
”Jesus fucking Christ, Jules.” Vincent storms past me, going straight to the doors leading to the balcony where he grabs the vertical blinds and drags them into place, spinning the tilt stick until they lay flat, blocking the view outside. Or the view inside, depending on which side of the glass you”re on. He spins to face me, nostrils flared, eyes narrowed. ”How are you still alive?”
I scoff, a little offended. ”Me?” I point at him. ”How are you still alive? You do shit way more dangerous than leaving a window open.”
Vincent crowds me, coming closer so fast I don’t have time to back up.
Not that I would.
“Don’t act like all you did was leave a window open, Jules. You laid in front of it and showed everyone within a mile radius how you look when you come.” He brings the hard line of his body against mine, the soft fabric of his fitted t-shirt brushing against my stiff nipples. “And it better not fucking happen again.”
Why are his threats so freaking hot? ”Or what?”
I expect him to make some other threat about showing me how scary he is because he”s such a bad, bad man, but then Vincent’s hand snaps up, his fingers tangling in my wet hair as he jerks my head back. ”Or I will have to hunt down every man stupid enough to look so I can carve his eyeballs out of his head.”
That doesn”t sound like an empty threat. I know what it sounds like when Vincent makes empty threats. He”s thrown quite a few of them at me recently. But right now he sounds serious.
I swallow hard because, shocker, his real threats also turn me on. ”That sounds messy.”
”It is, and I”d prefer to not have to buy a washer and dryer while I”m here.” His lips hover just above mine. ”So no more leaving your windows open. Got it?”
I try to nod, but he”s holding my hair so tight I can”t move. ”Got it.”
”I”ll know if you do, Angel Face.” His head barely shakes. ”And you don”t want to make me come back here again.”
Yes, the fuck I do.
His eyes trail down the line of my arched neck before dipping to where my boobs are rubbing against his chest. ”And for the love of God, put some fucking clothes on.” He releases me and storms away. ”I”ll meet you in your office.”
I stand there for a few seconds, trying to recover from the closeness of his body and the arousing hair pull.
”Don”t make me fucking wait, Angel Face.”
The sharp tone of his voice makes me jump, but only because it startles me. His personality is abrasive and arrogant, but I think I might like that. He”s not the kind of guy who goes around oozing charm on everyone, trying to make them think he”s the perfect man.
No, that”s how my ex was, and I fucking hated it. Everyone else in the world thought he was great. Amazing. Smart and funny and interesting. None of them got to see the real him, and he liked it that way. He liked giving the best of himself to everyone else and leaving me the sludge at the bottom of the tank. It left me not only miserable, but also isolated because I was the only one who knew the truth. And I couldn”t say shit about it because no one would have believed me.
I”ve only really been around Vincent for a short while, but I can already tell he”s not the kind of man who spews bullshit to manipulate the people around him. He doesn”t pretend to be nice or sweet or conversational to trick everyone into thinking he’s something he”s not.
He probably doesn”t give a shit what they think, and I like that too.
”Julieanne.” He says my name as a warning, but like just about everything else Vincent does, it shoots straight to my middle, warming all my lusty bits.
”I”m coming.” I smile to myself because I actually was not long ago. For the first time, I actually got off during sex. Not just got off, but had what was arguably the best orgasm of my life thanks to Vincent’s superior clit identification skills and his magically shaped wiener.
I think I might see if I can accomplish it again.
Going to my drawers, I pull out an old, white T-shirt and pull it over my head. I skip a bra, because that would go against my entire goal here. After carefully arranging my hair so the water running down my strands collects right over my nipples, I pull on a pair of stretchy, easily removable lounge pants.
I also skip panties, because I don”t want anything to slow him down.
I stride into my office and find Vincent standing at my personal computer, bent at the waist, hands on my keyboard. His eyes lift to where I stand, fixing on the wet spots spreading across my boobs. Heat flares in his gaze and his jaw clenches. After a few long seconds, his attention snaps down to the monitor in front of him. ”Get your ass over here.”
I smile since he”s not looking at me, pleased that he noticed what I wanted him to see. Instead of following the path that would allow me to easily slip into the chair, I circle my desk on the opposite side, forcing Vincent to straighten so I can get past him. I make sure the curve of my ass rubs against the front of his pants as I wiggle my way through.
When he goes still, I decide sitting is overrated. Instead, I mimic his pose from earlier and bend at the waist, bumping my ass back against him as I lean down to reach for my keyboard. ”I”m actually surprised you didn”t just handle this on your own.” I shift on my feet, not because I need to, but because it also shifts my ass where it’s pressed against the hard line of his cock, which seems like it might be interested in round two as well. ”I just put up another firewall.”
”How do you expect me to handle it when no one on my team can access their devices?” It sounds like he”s talking between clenched teeth, which makes me shift on my feet again, this time adding a little extra rub to the action.
”They could”ve easily used a personal device.” It takes me all of thirty seconds to undo what I did, removing the firewall keeping GHOST from accessing their system.
”I don”t allow personal devices on site.”
”Well maybe you should.” I straighten, but don”t adjust my position, the move bringing my back flush against Vincent’s front. ”Just in case someone else manages to hack into your system.”
I wait, expecting him to move away from me. For whatever reason, Vincent wants to pretend he doesn”t want me, but that”s not really something he can deny at this point. It’s probably why he keeps jumping over my balcony. Which is what I expect him to do now. He got what he came for. There”s no reason for him to stay.
But instead of moving away, his hands come to my hips, fingers digging in as he leans into my ear. ”The only time anyone’s ever gotten into my system was six months ago when you did it, Angel Face.”
I could swear he sounds a little impressed, but that could just be wishful thinking. If he was genuinely impressed, wouldn”t he want me on his team?
I know that ship has sailed, but now I kinda want to make him see what he missed out on. ”That”s not true.” I tip my head, lifting my eyes to meet his. ”I”ve been back in at least ten times since then.”