Epilogue Keaton
“There’s no way you’ll get them to agree to this pitch,” Olly had said.
“I think they’ll go for it,” I’d told him stubbornly. “I’d bet my career on it. This is a risk, yes, but it’s a good commercial. And the new CEO – I think he likes taking risks.”
“Fine,” Olly had said off-handedly, leaning back in his chair. “I bet you can’t get them to agree to the full proposal.”
“What do you bet?”
“If you get the deal…” my husband – it was still so new and thrilling to be able to say that – had seemed to think for a moment. “I’ll serve you champagne right here when you get back.”
“That’s it?” We had champagne all the time after closing deals.
“And I’ll be naked,” he’d said with a waggle of his eyebrows.
And that was how I found myself almost buzzing with excitement as I ran back to the office to tell Olly the good news.
“He’s gonna be thrilled,” Ace said with a grin. “Even I didn’t think you were going to pull that one off. But they loved it! The looks on their faces!”
“I know, right?” I grinned back. “You all doubted me. I’m actually good at this.”
Ace laughed and slapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. None of us doubt that anymore.”
“Any more?” I pretended to be hurt.
He chortled and shook his head. The elevator doors slid open and let us out into the corridor leading to our office. “We should fake him out,” he said. “Pretend we’re all miserable and shit. And then if he asks us if we’re serious about not getting the deal, we say nope and spring it on him.”
I shook my head with a smile. “You’re devious.” It was after hours and our secretary had gone home; there was no one to warn Olly or give us away.
“You know it,” Ace said. “Alright, game faces on. Ready?” He flipped his own expression into something mournful and sorry – the kind of face you might make if you were hoping your boss wasn’t about to fire you.
I was looking forward to tricking Olly almost as much as I was looking forward to winning the bet. I carefully schooled my own face to look as defeated as possible and opened the door.
I looked up at Olly’s desk with my downbeat expression –
And stopped dead.
“Why’d you sto- oh,” Ace said behind me and then burst out laughing.
“What the –!” Olly exclaimed, scrambling to get down from his desk and cover himself.
Apparently, word of our successful deal must have reached him before we did. Because my husband had been sprawled across the top of his desk waiting for me with nothing but a glass of champagne to preserve his modesty – and it did not do a good job of hiding much at all.
“Jesus,” Ace spluttered, laughing as Olly half-crouched behind his desk. I took pity and rushed over to him to help him grab his clothes. “No wonder Keaton’s so happy all the time. Now I know what he’s working with.”
“That’s enough from you, Park,” Olly grunted. His face was bright red. “Out!”
“Sure thing,” Ace beamed. He was clearly having the time of his life.
“And lock the damn door behind you!” Olly shouted.
Ace only grinned at me as he swung the doors shut. I could hear him chuckling all the way back down the hall.
“Goddamnit,” Olly said with his hand over his eyes.
“Well, it’s not the first time someone unexpected has seen you naked in this office,” I quipped.
He groaned. “Too soon,” he said. It had been three years, but it would probably always be too soon.
I laughed and took his hands in my own, raising him up. Despite all the scrambling, he hadn’t actually managed to get dressed. I looked him up and down with an appreciative stare. “I believe you owe me something, Mr. Harvey,” I said. “No ducking out now. A bet is a bet.”
He sighed and jumped up on the edge of his desk, sitting with his bare feet touching the floor. With a hopeless smile and a shake of his head, he held out my promised glass of champagne. “Congratulations on pulling off the impossible deal.”
“Thank you,” I said. I tipped it up to the sky in salute and then drained it all in one pull.
“You’re in a hurry,” Olly commented.
I put the glass down on his desk – then thought better of it and moved it to the floor under the desk, where it would at least be protected.
“I am in a hurry,” I confirmed. I spread my hands across his shoulders, smoothing them outwards. “For what happens next, I wanted my hands free.”
Olly tilted his head at me curiously. “What happens next?”
I dropped to my knees in front of him and smoothed my hands up his inner thighs, spreading them wider for me to move within their frame.
“I thought you were the one getting the reward,” he said.
I bit my lip for a moment and then licked that same spot with a slow and lascivious tongue. “Believe me,” I said, eyeing my meal with pure hunger. “I am.”