Chapter 18 Rafael #2
I smile. Hillingdon, a sportswear mogul who needs insurance following a suspicious fire at one of his factories where some employees were injured. He wants to keep it out of the press, and I want to make Fairfax Guardian money.
Desperation attracts a higher premium.
‘Give me the details. I’ll look forward to beating his arse on the course before I take his money,’ I tell Dom.
I take the lid off my pen and write something on the pad, keeping it angled away from her. I’m not even listening to Dominic any more as I place the pad face down on my desk.
‘I’ll see you then,’ I murmur in response to his instructions about when and where to meet him. He’s a good friend to have, both in life and in business. He sends as much business our way as we send his.
It’s win-win.
I end the call and place the cap back on my pen.
‘How was he?’ Aurora asks, her gaze boring into the upturned notepad.
I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from chuckling. She has the subtlety of one of Benedict’s farts after he’s gorged himself on the special brand of tinned salmon that Gabriel insists on buying him.
I hold the pen, running my thumb up and down its smooth surface. ‘He’s having some issues, nothing major,’ I say, studying her reaction.
‘Oh really? What kind?’
She inches a little closer, reaching up to toy with her necklace so my eyes are drawn to the opening of her blouse and her smooth, bare skin.
‘Why did you really come into my office, Aurora?’
She drops her necklace like it’s on fire. ‘I told you. I came to say thank you.’
I lean back again and study her. Liar. Just like when she told the authorities she didn’t know where her father put the money. When she insisted that he was innocent.
‘Sit on the desk,’ I growl.
‘What?’ Her eyes widen.
I lick my lips, dropping my attention back to her blouse and the hint of lace bra that’s visible through it.
She thinks she can come into my office like this, bat her eyelashes at me a little, and what? I’ll tell her something that’ll re-write history and save her criminal of a father from facing his time? She’s deluded.
But it’ll still be fun to see how far Daddy’s little princess is willing to go. She’s spent long enough playing with me. It’s time I played back.
‘Sit on my desk,’ I repeat, dragging my eyes up her chest to her face.
Her cheeks are pink, but there’s a flash of determination in her eyes as she hitches one hip in preparation for sliding herself up on to the desk.
‘Not there. Here.’
I push my chair back just enough that there’s a space in front of me.
I can practically hear the nervous thud of her heart as she hesitates, before squeezing into the gap, and slowly lifting herself on to my desk.
For a second I just soak her in, sitting there in her tight little pencil skirt and silky blouse, blond hair pulled up into a high ponytail, begging me to wrap it inside my fist.
I could fuck that little pretty mouth. Stuff it so full she couldn’t spout any more lies.
She fidgets and I pull my chair even closer until her legs are practically in my lap.
‘Are you uncomfortable?’ I say, a perverse satisfaction rumbling in my chest as she shakes her head and lies to my face. Again.
‘No. Of course not. It’s nice talking to you.’
The look on her face is akin to someone being told they’ll need a rectal exam with a barbed-wire glove.
She might be a terrible liar, but she’s also a terrible flirt.
The latter brings a sense of calm to me.
She’s obviously never tried doing this to get what she wants before.
I like that I’m the first man she’s done this to.
That I’m the only man she’s ever done this to.
‘I’m enjoying myself too,’ I tell her, watching her reaction.
She brushes away imaginary lint from her skirt.
‘Sit still, Aurora,’ I instruct, a quiet bite in my tone.
She sucks in a breath, and her aquamarine eyes dart up to meet mine. I drink them in. The innocence that I know isn’t to be believed. The sheer beauty of them. A weaker man would fall for it. But when it comes to her, I know all of her expressions.
I know all of this is her pretending.
‘Quite the little wriggler, aren’t you?’ I muse.
She blushes and a flicker of something I’ve never seen in her eyes before comes to life.
Heat, mixed with denial.
Well, I’ll be damned. She likes this. She might not want to admit it to herself, but it’s in her eyes and the pink of her cheeks. Not to mention the way her nipples have stiffened into little suckable peaks and are pointing at me through her shirt, fighting for my attention.
She doesn’t just like this, she’s turned on by it.
I lick my lips and hold my pen up between my fingers for a few seconds until I know she’s watching. Then I slowly bring the end down, making contact with the bare skin on her kneecap.
‘You’re the first woman to ever sit on my desk,’ I say, sliding the capped end of my pen down the front of her shin.
She sucks in a little gasp, and I pause, looking at her from beneath my brows.
‘You like that?’
Her eyelids hood as I run the pen down to her ankle.
‘No . . . Y-yes,’ she breathes, her brow knotting in confusion at her confession.
Her breathing quickens as I repeat the move on the other leg. I study her face the entire time. Study the way her lashes flutter, until she finally gives in and closes her eyes, tilting her head back a fraction and surrendering herself to the sensation against her skin.
My dick’s hardened to the point of pain in my trousers, and I adjust myself while her eyes are closed, my attention glued to her chest rising and falling with laboured breaths.
‘I . . .’ She swallows.
I don’t give her time to make up an excuse. To say something to end the moment. She walked in here looking for something. And I intend to show her just what she’s going to get if she thinks she can play me.
Reaching forward, I take hold of her feet, lifting them until I can bring each of her high heels down on to the armrests of my chair.
She snaps her eyes open in shock.
I hold her eyes as I drag my chair forward. The move causes her skirt to rise up her thighs as they’re pushed wider. It’s a filthy angle that places me inches from her exposed white lace panties.
‘That’s better,’ I purr.
Leisurely, I lower my eyes to between her thighs, making a show of admiring what I see.
‘Do you want to leave?’ I ask, eyes glued to her lace-covered pussy.
She pauses, before her breathy answer has me licking my lips. ‘No.’
‘Good.’ I lift my eyes to her face and inhale slowly, purposefully. Her cheeks flare bright pink. Because she knows which scent has just reached my nostrils.
Hers.
She’s wearing her arousal like a goddamn perfume.
I narrow my eyes at her, and she stares back, her lower lip quivering.
She walked in here pretending, but there’s no mistaking the scent of real, hot and needy arousal that’s seeping through the dampened lace of her panties like an enchantment calling my name.
‘Rafael,’ she whispers, shaking her head slightly like she’s telling me to stop.
‘Aurora,’ I counter huskily, loving the way her arse jumps off the desk as I place the end of my pen behind her knee.
I run it up her inner thigh with painstaking slowness until I reach the edge of white lace. Aurora sucks in a sharp breath as I trace the tip over the patch of fabric that’s darkened in colour from her wetness. I roll my wrist, teasing her clit beneath the damp fabric.
‘S-stop,’ she whispers.
I drag the pen lower until it meets the dip of her entrance. The fabric is even darker. Soaked.
‘You want me to stop?’ I halt, but keep my pen pressed against her, watching the way her pussy lips fit snuggly around it like they’re trying to suck it inside.
It could be my tongue in its place. My cock.
‘I don’t . . . I don’t know,’ she whimpers, screwing her eyes closed and shutting me out.
I reach down and give my dick a squeeze, before pressing a little harder with my pen. The fabric only allows me so far, so I move it back to her clit instead, stroking in deliberate circles.
Never in my life did I think when I woke up this morning that I’d have Aurora Thorne spread out on my desk, her pink, manicured nails gripping the edge of it as I played with her cunt with my pen.
Her scent intensifies and my mouth waters. What I’d give for one taste. One touch. And to hear her moan as I push inside her for the first time and make her stretch around my cock.
I stroke faster, mesmerised by the way the hints of pussy lips I can see either side of the white lace are flushed with blood as I push her closer to the edge.
‘How about you stop overthinking, and let me make you come?’ I growl.
‘Oh my God,’ she gasps, so quietly, like she doesn’t want me to hear. Like she’s saying it to herself. Trying to reason with herself. Asking herself why she’s enjoying the man she thinks is an arsehole rubbing her needy little clit through her soaked panties.
‘I know you don’t like me, Aurora,’ I say, rubbing more determinedly with my pen. ‘And despite what you think you know about me, I don’t care much for you, either. But it would make the sex between us even better, don’t you think? I know your ex never made you come.’
‘What?’ She jerks up, her eyes flying open like she’s realised where she is and who she’s with.
I lean back in my chair and bring my pen to my mouth. Holding her eyes, I dart my tongue out and flick it over the end.
‘Your cunt tastes like it agrees with me.’
She lets out a tiny whine as I push the pen past my lips and suck it with a rich groan. Her eyes drop to my tented trousers, my erection providing an impressive bulge in them.
She frowns. ‘I . . . How do you know that about Charlie?’
Just his name makes my blood boil.
I stand and step closer. She parts her thighs around my legs instinctively, letting me in, but her frown deepens like she’s fighting an internal battle.
‘It was obvious that night at dinner when I saw you with him.’
‘You’re wrong,’ she argues, the lustful haze clearing in her eyes a little to make way for disgust. ‘You know nothing about me. You think you do, but you don’t.’
‘Beauty,’ I rasp, reaching up to take her chin between my thumb and forefinger.
She doesn’t fight me. She stares back, her breath hitching like she can’t help herself.
‘Such a lovely little sleeping princess. Oblivious to the real villains. Or perhaps not. Perhaps you know where it is, hm?’ I allow my question to burn into her through my gaze.
My two hundred and forty million.
‘What are you talking about?’
I shake my head. ‘Now that’s convincing. You’re getting better.’
I tilt her chin up, bringing my mouth to within an inch of hers. She looks into my eyes, her lips parting.
‘Do you want me to kiss you?’
‘Never,’ she hisses.
We’re so close that as her breath fans over my lips I can taste a hint of sweetness radiating from her lipstick.
She moves. It’s imperceivable. But it’s there. A fraction of an inch in my direction.
She wants this.
She wants me.
I allow myself another slow inhale, tasting the breath she’s expelling, before I run my thumb over her lower lip, watching the way she opens them, inviting me in.
I smile wickedly.
‘Good, because I have work to do.’
I prepare to go in for the kill, determined to teach her a lesson for walking in here and pretending with me.
I reach down and curl my hand around the curve of her arse, giving it a firm squeeze. My cock leaks in my trousers as I get my first real feel of her body. And fuck, if it’s not a billion times better than I ever dreamed.
‘Time to go now. There’s a good girl.’ I flatten my palm and pat her bottom condescendingly.
She scoffs, a look of indignation quickly making way for disgust as I step back, giving her enough room to leap from my desk.
I bite back a rough chuckle as she stomps across the room.
‘Oh, and Aurora?’ I call as she reaches the door.
She whips her head back over her shoulder, her ponytail flicking with enough force to take out an eye.
‘What?’ she snaps.
I lift her coffee mug from my desk.
Her gaze narrows on it, and I can pinpoint the exact moment she recognises it.
I clear my throat, choosing my words carefully. ‘Next time you flirt with me to get something, be prepared for what would happen if I were to give it to you. Because if this was real, I’d have hitched that little skirt I bought you up over your arse and fucked you on my desk. Understand?’
‘You’re an arsehole,’ she spits, her usual hatred for me back in her eyes.
I can’t help my smile stretching. ‘I’d have fucked that too if you’d asked nicely.’
She throws open the door and storms out.
I wait for it to shut before I reach in into my pants and grab my throbbing dick.
Jesus Christ.