18. Pearl
Pearl
“Pearl? Pearl, are you listening?”
I snapped out of it as Emerson's voice filtered through to me.
Sitting straight, I realized that I had been daydreaming in the middle of a meeting with her and her team. Both Cristian and Leslie met me with a small smile before trying to hide their laugh behind their fists.
Embarrassment heated my skin. It was bad enough to get reprimanded by a boss, but to get reprimanded by Emerson was another thing entirely. Especially since it kind of turned me on, even though I knew it shouldn’t.
Stop it. Not the time or the place.
My eyes shot to Emerson, who was standing because she was mid-presentation.
“Sorry… What was that again?”
“Next slide, please.”
I nodded and quickly did what she asked. Such a simple task, but it was extremely hard to concentrate after the perfect date Emerson had taken me on.
She had taken what I said about choosing whose love I was worthy of seriously and then had made it impossible to choose anyone else.
As if that had ever been a possibility.
I never thought something like this would happen to me. I’d stopped reading my romance books in college, no longer able to fit them into my schedule between working and school. But now it felt like I was living my own fairytale.
I mean, my high school bully, who was never supposed to like me, taking me to The Met after hours for a private tour only to fuck me against the wall?
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
The more I stared at Emerson, the more I remembered her lips on mine. Her hand between my legs as she made me co—
“Next slide, Pearl.”
This time, her voice was loud and a bit snappy, putting a definitive end to that.
I shot her a smile, but her gaze told me she knew what I’d been thinking about. And she liked it.
I never allowed myself to think that my crazy dream of being with Emerson would actually come true.
Or that she would be that romantic, going through what she did for our date.
A smile pulled at my lips as she opened her mouth to speak, but this time she didn't need to tell me what to do because I was already paying attention. Her eyes shifted to me as if she was amused for a moment, but then she simply carried on.
“If you have no questions, we can end this now and go to lunch early,” Emerson said, and everyone got up. She was the first one to leave, while I stayed behind in the conference room to pack up everything.
“So, what does Pearl want for lunch today?” Cristian asked with a smile as he came up to me.
“Me?” I let out a little laugh. “I'm not picky. Whatever the company's getting catered.”
Cristian lifted a brow and then turned to Leslie, who was standing by the door. The look they exchanged had me thinking that I was missing something. Some sort of private joke, maybe?
“What?” I asked, stopping to look at them.
“I don't think she knows,” Leslie said, playfulness spreading across her features.
Cristian turned to me, his eyes narrowing as he looked for… something. I had no idea what he was on about.
“What?” I asked again. “What don’t I know?”
“Impossible. You have to be joking. You do know we don't actually get catering… right?”
I straightened, feeling confused.
“What do you mean? We get it every day.“
Cristian's jaw dropped, and Leslie let out a giggle.
“You truly don't know! Oh my god! That's so cute!”
At that, and without another word, Cristian left, shaking his head as he went. Leslie came to me and helped me gather the stuff on the table as she explained.
“Pearl… Emerson has a catering company bring lunch every single day… for you. We thought it was weird when she started asking either of us to order, especially since it was usually food she’d never ordered herself, but it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”
“For me?” I asked. “But she never even asked me…”
I stopped dead in my tracks as several of our morning conversations in the car hit me like a ton of bricks.
“I'm getting sick of sandwiches,” Emerson said as she drove toward the company.
“Aren't you, like, the boss? Can't you request something different?” I asked with a laugh. “I don't think the sandwiches are that bad. It's free food in my book!”
“It’s boring.”
“I don't know, then maybe ask if they can switch it up? Maybe Mediterranean or something?”
Her eyes shifted to me. “Do you like Mediterranean?”
I nodded and sent her a smile. “There was this really good place by campus that I used to visit whenever I had a few bucks to spare! It’s healthy too.”
She let out a hum.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
That’s when we started getting Mediterranean food for a few days. I didn’t think anything of it. And the Indian food… It came right after I teased her about not having tried butter chicken before, telling her it was one of the best things ever.
I met Leslie's gaze, and she gave me a shit-eating grin that told me she knew exactly what was going on in my mind. I couldn’t believe I had been so blind!
We walked down the hallway into the main area, but I already knew which food would be waiting there because of the chat we’d had this morning.
“You know the only thing that was missing last night?” I said with a smile.
Emerson looked at me as we stood in the elevator. “Are you about to complain?”
“No… But a date without food is not really a date, is it?”
“We ate at home.”
“Which is fine. Actually, I prefer it. Just me and you. You don’t have to do something so extravagant next time.
” She sent me a side glance. “I’m just saying that the next time you take me out on a date, it doesn’t need to be fancy.
The place doesn’t matter. Burgers will do, as long as it’s the two of us. ”
She looked at me like I’d offended her, and I had to suppress a giggle.
“I rent out The Met, and she wants fucking burgers,” she huffed under her breath.
The elevator doors opened, and she was out of there before I could respond.
Lo and behold, we were having burgers for lunch today.
Emerson was already at her desk, typing away on her computer.
I can’t believe she did this for me.
Emerson had to be the most thoughtful person I’d ever met, and she didn’t even try to take credit for it. Which made me wonder what else she was doing behind the scenes that I didn’t know about.
With jerky movements and feeling the stares of both Cristian and Leslie, I grabbed two portions and retreated to Emerson’s office.
She didn't look up when I came in.
“You know what? I guess having lunch in your office counts as a date too.”
At that, her eyes shot up to mine.
“Me, you, and burgers,” she commented.
“I think it's perfect,” I said with a smug grin and took a bite of my burger.
“Can I borrow a book?” I asked, peeking into Emerson's home office. I hadn’t seen her use it yet, but she seemed extra busy today, typing away on her keyboard, the screen light shining on her features.
She was wearing a white shirt and a cardigan with her hair pushed up away from her face and small rectangular glasses placed on her nose. I had no idea she wore glasses and found them adorable.
Probably best not to mention it to her. They were both adorable and sexy. I’d like her to fuck me while wearing them.
“Don't you have schoolwork to do?” she asked.
My face heated.
“I’m done already, Mom,” I said with a pout and slipped into her office.
“Brat.”
Her eyes ran up and down my body, no doubt knowing exactly what I wanted. I mean, I was wearing my flimsiest tank top and my shortest shorts.
I couldn't stop thinking about Emerson's hands on my body. Asking for a book was just an excuse to come see her, but now that I noticed the walls of books behind her desk, I wanted to explore a bit.
And hopefully entice her into exploring me.
“You can grab anything you want from here.”
She was back typing on her computer in seconds. Ignored just like that, huh? With a frown, I walked across the room, lingering at her desk for a moment, but she paid me no mind.
Most of the books were business-related—boring—but I expected nothing else from Emerson. I’d picked up a thing or two about her journey to the top, and I was sure she hadn’t taken shortcuts or handouts. Emerson worked for everything she had.
I ran my fingers down the spines as I went, trying to look for anything interesting, and paused when I got to a section on the bottom right corner.
Everything in there were titles I distinctly remembered reading back in high school when I was in my romance era.
These can’t be hers… right? Does she read for fun? Does she have the time?
My hand covered my mouth when I saw a specific one, and I reached for it, not fully believing what I was seeing.
It was one of my favorites. One I remembered I’d lost or misplaced after gym class.
She had it.
She kept it…this entire time.
It had my heart breaking and warming, all at the same time. She kept it. A part of me, all these years, while I left town to live my life, only remembering her in my fantasies.
Because you didn’t know you could have her… You didn’t know she didn’t hate you.
Still, I felt guilty. My love for her had never changed, but it would seem that she’d kept me closer than I had.
“I can't believe you stole this from me. It was from the library.” My fingers touched the cover. The edges were torn, and the spine was broken in one too many places after I’d reread it over and over again.
“I found it in a hidden section, and I had to sneak it out because it wasn’t supposed to be for us innocent high school girls. ”
“You wouldn’t ever return it. We both know that,” she said from behind me, her voice suddenly too close. “And I was curious to know what could grab your attention for so long.”
I let out a gasp as her hand came to hold my hip.
“When I read it, it was the first time I started to truly understand you.” Her other hand trailed my stomach, her touch scalding, sending butterflies exploding in my belly.
I had come in here wanting to get fucked, but I’d been caught so off guard by this that every caress had my mind short-circuiting.
“You read it?” I asked, not daring to turn around.
The hand on her hip trailed up to tweak my nipple while the other went straight to the front of my shorts.
“Read it? I studied it.” Her breath was hot on my ear. “That's how I know you like this…” Her fingers gently rubbed my clit through my underwear. “But also this…” She pinched my nipples so hard I let out a yelp.
She wasn't wrong. It was one of the first books that introduced me to the rougher side of sex.
“Page twenty-six,” she ordered. “Read aloud.”
With shaking hands, I opened the book as her tongue teased my neck. It wasn’t hard to find. The page was dog-eared, which would be sacrilegious if not for one realization.
She truly studied me. She wanted to know who I was. What I liked.
“I cried out. His hand fisted my hair and forced my head back as he entered me. The pain sent electric shocks up my—”
Emerson jerked my shorts and underwear down.
“Spread your legs for me.”
I whimpered but obeyed. She left me for a second, and I heard her digging around in her drawer before she was back with a…
I let out a gasp as I felt something push at my entrance, but I pushed back, telling her I wanted more.
She slammed the toy into me to the hilt, the connected clit sucker placed directly where it was needed.
“Now keep reading, my pretty slut.”
I tried to follow the lines of text, but as she turned on the vibration, I lost it immediately.
“What, suddenly you can't handle it? You think I didn’t see what you were doing, coming in here begging to be bent over?”
“I didn’t—”
“Don’t lie,” she hissed and turned up the vibration as far as it would go. She then hit another button, and the toy started to thrust inside me. It was so long that it hit my cervix with each movement, sending me further and further into my own demise.
“Yes,” I moaned as my legs began to shake and wetness fell from me and onto the floor.
“Yes, what?”
“I wanted you to treat me like your desperate little whore.”
“Good,” she praised. “So fucking good.”
Her hand came to pinch my nipples. Her mouth was on my neck, marking me.
I was completely at her mercy. White-hot pleasure rose so sharply that I couldn’t stop the cry that came from my mouth. She didn’t even bother to adjust the settings and left the toy on high as my first orgasm ran through me.
“If you want to be treated like a whore, all you have to do is ask.”
At that, I turned to her.
Emerson had the warmest look in her eyes. I could see the devotion she had for me.
And I decided she needed something from me too.
“Emerson… Give me a two-minute start and meet me in your bedroom.”
I could see the wheels turning. She had no idea where I was going with this.
“You’re not in charge here, my little whore.”
“I will let you punish me any way you see fit if you just give me two minutes.”
Something gleamed in her eyes—probably the prospect of punishing me again—and fuck, I wanted her again.
I would have her. In two minutes or so.