29. Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Bee stormed into the kitchen Tuesday morning full of piss and vinegar. My grandma used to say that, and I never realized exactly what it meant until I experienced Mallori’s stormy glare as she stomped past me on her way to the coffee pot.
Lots of cream and one sugar in her sparkly pink and aqua cup with a retractable lid. That’s how she made her coffee every day.
“Want some coffee with that cream?” I asked, attempting to lighten the mood. It didn’t work. She shot daggers at me before marching back out of the room without a word. “That went well, don’t cha think?” I asked the kitten who was curled up beneath a barstool. She opened one impassive eyelid before closing it again.
The drive to the office was made without conversation. I had a sister and knew better than to speak to a woman in a rage of this magnitude, though I wasn’t going to allow it to go on for long. A plan began to form in my head.
“All right,” Shark said, standing from his chair at the head of the conference table later that morning. “Everyone go get some lunch and be ready for this afternoon.”
The sounds of shuffling papers and rolling chairs filled the room as Shark added, “Except Hawk. He’s going to work through lunch on the logistics for the book convention this weekend. Mallori, do you mind assisting? I’ve had lunch ordered for you both.”
She stalled about halfway out of her seat, eyes shooting instantly toward me. I swear the woman could give a fuck you look that would curl your toes. Unfortunately, it also made my cock twitch in my khakis. What was it about seeing this woman fired up that turned me on?
Mal turned her attention back to the boss and smiled professionally as she rose. “Of course, Shark. I’d be more than happy to.” The edge in her voice was almost imperceptible, but I caught it.
Yep, she’s definitely going to bust my balls. And for some reason, I was looking forward to it. Maybe because I knew I deserved it.
“Grab your laptop and meet me in my office,” I told her, hiding my smile as I exited the conference room.
I’d just set up lunch on my desk when Mallori entered. “You can sit here,” I told her, gesturing toward my chair and taking the one across from her. She eyed me warily before settling into the high-backed leather seat that looked way too big for her slight frame.
We began eating our sandwiches, and I slid a piece of paper across the desk. “This is the setup for the book convention. I’ve marked everyone’s stations and assignments on there, but can you add them to the schematic I emailed to you? I’m not sure how to add text to the map.”
Chewing slowly, she nodded. “I can do that.”
A frown crinkled her forehead, and I asked, “What’s wrong?”
Shrugging one shoulder, she said, “Nothing. My opinion doesn’t matter because I don’t really know what I’m talking about. It’s just…”
“Bee, your opinion always matters. What do you see?”
Her eyes flashed to mine and she tapped on one corner of the map. “Here, this area is raised, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you have Bode up there, and he’s really tall and already has a good line of sight. What if you put Woody up there since he’s a few inches shorter?”
Something akin to pride filled my chest, and I said, “Make the change.”
Mallori shook her head. “We don’t have to.”
“No, it was a good observation. Do it.”
She opened her laptop and worked on it between bites while I typed out a schedule on a spreadsheet. Five minutes later, I heard the printer whir behind her. Mallori swiveled the chair around and retrieved it before handing it to me across my desk.
“I color coded everyone so they could more easily find themselves on the map.”
I looked it over, impressed at how quickly she’d finished. “That looks perfect.” Then I lifted an eyebrow at her. “You assigned my color as black? ”
Her head tilted up a fraction. “Yes. I thought it was appropriate.”
“I’m sorry, Bee.”
She stared at me for an uncomfortably long moment before asking, “For what?”
“For the way I acted last night.”
Leaning forward, she didn’t break her bold gaze for even a second. “Which part? Are you sorry it happened in the first place, or are you sorry you left me sitting there feeling like shit after what we did?”
That struck me harder than any of Mike’s blows to my body last night. “I’m sorry for the way I left. I heard you say Cam’s name, and it made me feel guilty. I reacted poorly.”
She let out an indelicate snort at the understatement as she stuck a ruffled chip in her mouth, and then her voice turned soft and vulnerable. “You made me feel embarrassed about what we did.”
God, I’m such an asshole.
“You shouldn’t, Little Bee, and I apologize for making you feel like that.”
Her jaw tightened. “Because I’m grown, and neither Cam nor anyone else gets to dictate what I do or with whom.”
“Agreed.” I pulled an envelope from my pocket and placed it beside her sandwich. “I know this doesn’t make up for my behavior in the least, but please accept it as a start.”
Mallori stared down at it for a beat, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip before picking it up and opening it. “Tickets for the book convention?” Her eyes lifted incredulously to mine. “But it’s been sold out for months.”
“I know you like to read those romance books, and this event is apparently one of the biggest in the nation. Each member of the security detail working the event received two tickets, and I want you to have mine.”
Her smile was so brilliant it made my chest swell. “Thank you. I’ve always wanted to go to one of these events, but I never had time because… well, I just didn’t have time.”
I read between the lines and finished her thought inside my own head. Because her mother wouldn’t let her do anything not related to dance.
“I’m glad you like them. Like I said, it’s not nearly enough to make up for being an asshole to you. If you want me to grovel, I will. Just let me know if you have a favorite groveling technique, and I’ll do my best.”
That made her laugh. “You don’t have to grovel. You’ve apologized very sincerely, and that’s all that’s needed.” She placed the tickets back in the envelope and held them to her chest. “But I’m still keeping these, and I would like to get one more thing off my chest. Then I’ll let it go.”
“Hit me with it, Bee. I can take it.”
She took a deep breath and then exhaled it. “You had no right to make me feel like I had done something wrong. I enjoyed it.” Just before taking her last bite of sandwich she added, “I think you did too, judging by the wet stain on the front of your pants when you stood up.”
I choked on the water I’d just swallowed, reaching for a napkin to wipe my mouth. With a huge grin, I admitted, “I enjoyed it very much. ”
The hint of a feminine smile curled her lips up. “Since we’re both adults, why can’t we fool around a little? We’re each obviously attracted to the other.”
Her aqua eyes held me in place. “I’m not the kind of man you need, Mallori.”
“But you’re the kind of man I want.”
Her directness startled me and made me hard at the same time. She was right. I couldn’t very well say she was an adult and could make her own choices and then turn around and say that we couldn’t “fool around” because her cousin wouldn’t like it.
As my perspective shifted, so did the plan I’d had for this lunchtime meeting. I’d wanted to apologize for being a dick and set things right between us, but now… now I think I wanted to change it up a bit. Tack on an addendum to the agenda, so to speak.
I stood and pretended to focus on placing our trash in the plastic bags, but I was watching her in my peripheral vision. “I think you’re pissed because I left you hanging without a second orgasm.”
Her eyes widened in surprise at my bluntness, but a faint blush mixed with the tan on her cheeks. “You did kinda go back on your word.”
“Hmm, can’t have that. I’m nothing if not a man of my word,” I said, tossing the garbage in the bin before slowly rounding the desk, my gait a slow prowl. Her pretty eyes followed me the entire way, and then I lifted her by the waist and set her on the now-empty surface of my desk. “Allow me to rectify the situation.”
“What?” she squeaked. “Here? Now?”
I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her stunned lips. “No time like the present, Bee. We’re the only ones here, and I owe you one. Since I made you wait for it, I’ll make you come on my mouth twice. Call the second one an interest payment.”
She swallowed hard even as her lips fought a smile. “How very businesslike of you.”
“I like to maintain an air of professionalism,” I replied with breezy casualness. Brushing her long hair behind her shoulder, I bent to her ear. “Until I get my face between these legs of yours. There will be nothing professional about what I’m going to do to you then, Little Bee. It will be raw and dirty as fuck.”
Mallori inhaled a breath with a bit of a hiccup beneath it as my fingers skated up her thighs. She’d worn a skirt with the requisite blue office polo today, nothing too short, but it was what my sister would call flouncy, flaring out a little at the bottom.
“Do your panties match your shirt today?” I asked as my fingers reached her tempting little cunt. It was warm, and her panties were already dampened with desire.
“Only one way to find out.”
When I pulled back, I saw an impish smile on her face, and her brashness made me chuckle. “You’re right. I am an investigator after all. I think I’ll enjoy finding out for myself.”
Standing to my full height, I stripped off my shirt, and Mallori’s eyes grew wide. “We’re not gonna… I mean, we can’t—”
I shushed her with a finger against her lips before replacing it with my mouth. I kissed her until she relaxed and wrapped her arms around my neck, and then I released her mouth.
“I’m not going to fuck you today, Bee. There’s not enough time for the things I want to do to your body.” Her cheeks pinkened as I trailed my fingers up the backs of her calves until I reached the creases of her knees. “I took my shirt off because I want to feel this spot right here against the skin of my shoulders.”
I brushed the sensitive spot, and her breathing quickened. I could read the arousal in her eyes as they roamed my bare chest and abs. When she leaned back onto her elbows, I took that as my personally engraved invitation and sank to my knees.
At this level, I could smell how much she wanted me and could barely restrain myself from diving right in. But behind the arousal, I sensed there was also an undercurrent of nervousness from Mallori. Taking that into account, I slowed my roll and eased her skirt up her thighs, following its ascent with tender kisses.
“You smell good, Bee. It’s making me hungry.”
“You just ate,” she retorted, and I nipped the inside of one leg with my teeth, making her squeal.
“There’s no way a sandwich can satisfy me as much as I know this pussy will.” I’d reached the apex of her thighs, and I covered her sex—which was concealed by tiny royal-blue panties that perfectly matched her shirt—with my mouth.
Mallori let out a sound that could only be described as wanton, her voice low with a sexy edge to it. “Tate.”
Hearing my real name dripping from Mallori’s tongue turned my hard-on into a raging boner that threatened the strength of my zipper.
Unable to go one more second without my mouth on her bare pussy, I slid her panties down her legs and stuffed them into my pocket. Cupping the backs of her knees, I draped them over my shoulders and lowered my head to run my tongue directly up the center of her .
Holy fuck.
She was lush and sweet, her flavor bouncing on my taste buds. I edged my hands beneath her ass and dragged her closer, holding her to my mouth as I buried my tongue in her pussy.
“Oh my god,” she breathed, and I looked up from between her legs to find her watching me raptly.
“You taste even better from the inside,” I told her before diving back into her sweetness. My eyes remained on hers as I tongue-fucked her long and slow, savoring every second of having her cunt on my mouth.
I never minded going down on a woman. I wasn’t a small man, and it was usually necessary to get her soft and ready for me before I fucked her. But Mallori… damn … I was actually enjoying this. The way her walls pulsed around me. The little noises she made. I thought I could probably come just from eating her out.
Pulling my tongue out, I lapped her until she was squirming, her butt cheeks clenching in my hands. Then I slowed things down and bit lightly on the lips of her sex.
“Please, Tate. Please.” God, I fucking loved hearing her beg, knowing I was in control of whether she came or not.
Taking mercy on her, I flicked her clit over and over until she grinded her hips in little circles, shamelessly rubbing that delectable pussy all over my face.
Mallori lowered all the way to her back and grabbed my hair with both hands, tugging with abandon as her little button thrummed for me .
“Fuck!” she cried as I was rewarded with a gush of her silky cream on my tongue. “Oh, ohhhh.” Her body tightened like a bow string, moans dripping from her mouth while she arched up off the desk.
I hummed against her as she came long and hard, her hands tightening to the point of pain in my hair. But I welcomed that little bit of hurt that told me I’d made her lose all control. It was fucking head-spinning, and I was glad I was on my knees so I didn’t lose my balance.
My tongue lapped at her, not missing a single drop. It would be a fucking crime to let any of that sweetness go to waste.
“You have the pussy of an angel,” I groaned, nuzzling my nose against the angle where her leg met her center.
When I lifted my head, Mallori was gazing serenely at the ceiling, a sated smile on her full lips. Her eyes met mine, and her grin widened. “Did you just call my vagina an angel?”
I chuckled. I had said that. Sliding my index finger through her wetness, I rimmed her opening with the tip.
“Yes, because it’s fucking divine, and I can’t wait for it to take me to heaven when I stuff it full of my cock.” I emphasized that last word by sliding my finger into her heat.
Mother of god.
She was tight. Really fucking tight. And her insides were as smooth as the satin material of her panties. Except for…
I curled my finger, finding that spot that was slightly rougher on her front wall, and Mallori tightened around me, a noise coming from her that sounded remarkably like the mewl Coconut made when she was hungry .
“That’s… mmmm, yes, right there.” One of her hands left my hair and buried in her own luscious blonde locks, just above her ear. Her eyes closed as I continued to stroke her. “Don’t stop, Tate.”
My name on her lips brought visions of looming over her, taking her from behind, my fingers denting the flesh of that perfect ass while she screamed my name into the mattress. She was so snug, she’d probably break my cock in half, but I could accept that for one more of her erotic moans.
Her sex was pink and swollen, her blonde curls soft and neatly trimmed, and I rubbed my face all over her, coating my beard with her juices. The slight abrasion turned the pink to a deep rose, bringing more blood to the surface and making her extra sensitive.
“You gonna let me inside this perfect cunt, Little Bee? You gonna let me fuck you and make you scream until your throat hurts?” I asked before circling my tongue around her clit. She seemed to like that, her entire body jerking and her elbow knocking a cup of pens from the desktop.
Mallori’s moan drowned out the sound of pens scattering across the floor, and she spread her legs wider for me. I nestled my shoulders between her thighs and went to town, alternating the clit-circling with teasing sucks of that little bundle of nerves.
She was so wet, I managed to work another finger inside her—barely—and she went wild, her hips bucking as she lost herself in the pleasure. I didn’t think I’d ever seen a woman who was more fuckable.
The hum of an elevator met my ears, and I redoubled my efforts, finger-fucking her tight hole faster and faster. “The others are coming, Bee. You need to come for me. I’m not stopping until you do. I don’t give a fuck if everyone walks in here and finds me eating your juicy little pussy on my desk. I won’t stop until you give me what I want.”
The thought of being caught seemed to turn her on, and I cradled her clit between my lips before sucking hard. Over and over as she covered her mouth with one hand. It barely muffled the sounds of her orgasm, sultry cries that had my dick pounding behind my zipper.
I reached down and unbuckled my belt and pants, barely getting them pulled down before I was coming all over the floor on the underside of my desk. Fuck. I’d never come simply from eating pussy before.
Panting through my own climax, I kissed softly between Mallori’s legs as the last spurt left my dick.
When voices filtered down the hallway from the lobby, Mal sat up, her chest heaving as a huge, satisfied smile lit up her face. She was gorgeously rumpled and took my face between her small hands before kissing me full on the mouth.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely, like I had done that only for her. Maybe I should inform her that I’d liked the taste of her so much I’d come without even touching my damn dick.
She licked her lips, and her eyebrows lifted as she did it again, looking almost surprised. Had she never tasted herself before? Before I could think much about it, the sexy woman leaned forward and traced her tongue around my lips with a pleasured hum.
I stayed still as a statue while she licked at me, tasting what I had enjoyed a few short moments ago. Mal dipped her tongue inside my mouth once before straightening .
The crew was coming down the hallway now, and she swiveled her legs off my shoulders and swung them over the side of the desk.
“I need to go straighten myself up,” she whispered, nodding toward the washroom at the far side of my office. Something sparkled in her eyes, and I realized the thought of being found out excited her. Yeah, Mallori Fitz was more adventurous than I’d expected, and I looked forward to finding out exactly how far that streak went.
I got my shirt on, my dick tucked away, and my pants refastened when I remembered the pens all over the floor. Shit! After scrambling around on the floor to put them back in the cup, I’d barely stood when my office door opened and Cam strolled in, hands in his pants pockets, with Shark right behind him.
“Hey, where’s Mal?”
“She, uh, had to use the restroom,” I said, guilt flooding through my veins at the sight of my old friend. Despite the fact that Mallori and I were both adults, I knew there was no way Cam would approve of all the filthy things I wanted to do to the young woman he thought of as a sister.
Shark stalled and bent over, picking up a blue pen I’d obviously missed in my scramble to find them all. “Why is this on the floor?” he asked, holding it up.
I struggled to find a believable lie. “I was being a smartass, and Mallori threw it at me.” Flashing a grin that I hoped looked sincere, I added, “I ducked.”
He chuckled and tossed it on my desk. “Blaire’s always chucking shit at me. You and Mal act like siblings.”
I tried my best not to react to that. Oh sweet hell, Shark. If you only knew.
“You’ve got something on your pants,” Cam pointed out, gesturing toward the leg of my khakis.
Looking down, I saw a huge blob of my own jizz just above my knee. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Mayonnaise,” I told him, my voice almost a croak as I used a napkin to wipe it away.
Shark’s forehead wrinkled. “I thought I ordered you mustard. Did the deli get it wrong?”
Before I could formulate another lie, Mallori strolled out of the bathroom. “He ate mine.”
I practically choked on my own goddamn tongue.
“I really wanted to try that ham, so we went halfsies,” she went on, avoiding my eyes as she smiled sweetly at her cousin.
The little vixen.
We showed Cam and Shark the work we’d managed to get done over lunch, and they were satisfied with everything. “Looks good. Go ahead and get started on the assignments for day two of the convention,” Shark said on their way out the door.
Once they were gone, Mallori tugged on her skirt for about the fifth time in the past few minutes. “What’s wrong, Bee?” I asked, but I already knew. The answer was tucked into my front pocket.
“I need my panties,” she hissed. “I’m bare-butting it over here.”
Pulling the little blue scrap out, I dangled it in front of her. “This what you’re looking for? ”
“Yes,” she said in relief, reaching for the panties, but I pulled them high and out of her reach.
“I don’t think so. You’ve been really fucking naughty, Little Bee, and naughty girls don’t get their panties back.”
She narrowed her eyes at me when I sniffed the underwear and stuffed them back in my pocket.
“Fine,” she retorted, stomping behind my desk and flouncing out her skirt before sitting down. “But I don’t want to hear any complaints when I leave a wet spot on your chair.”
I chuckled at her sassy attitude.
Oh yes. This is going to be fun.