22. Cora
22
CORA
“ O h!”
I turned around on my stool at the sound, my eyes widening. Aiden stood in the doorway of the lab, looking sheepish, like he’d stumbled in somewhere he shouldn’t be. His hand was on the door frame, like he might use it to propel himself in the complete opposite direction.
“I was just coming in to see why the lights were still on in the lab,” he explained.
“Still working,” I said, pushing my laptop aside.
“Right, sorry. Didn’t think you’d still be here at this time.”
I checked the time on my phone. It was well after seven. I’d intended to be home by now, watching K-dramas with Jennifer and listening to her restaurant updates, but the evening had gotten away from me while I’d been busy typing up my Elixir Free notes.
“I didn’t think you’d still be here either,” I said.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair, displacing the curls. “The list of things to do for the launch seems to be getting longer instead of shorter. I swear every decision I make sparks three more.”
I could hear the stress in his voice. “Anything I can do to help?”
He shook his head.
I smiled playfully. “I don’t know if you know, but I’m quite good at relieving tension.” I stood up, patting my stool.
Aiden’s eyes darted down to it, but he remained hovering in the doorway, like he was debating whether he should stay or go. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
“You didn’t,” I assured him with a soft smile. “I was just wrapping things up.” My job had technically ended when we’d finalized the new drink line for production, but Aiden and I had negotiated an extension to my contract—just as I’d hoped—so I could stay on with the team and keep developing some of our runner-up flavors.
“What are you working on?”
“The on-hold samples,” I said.
Marketing was already throwing around a six-month celebration idea where they’d unveil the second lineup of new flavors. And of course, the Masked Mixer would be on board to promote the flavor expansion.
“I’m glad to be interrupted,” I assured him. “Feels like I haven’t seen you in days.” I worked to keep my tone light, joking, though it actually wasn’t that funny. It had been a week since I’d seen Aiden more than just in passing. We’d texted a little, but he’d been increasingly busy with the launch of Elixir Free—or that’s the excuse he used for taking hours to text me back.
I didn’t want to doubt him. I could tell he was stressed by that persistent frown on his face. And I knew there were a million things that needed his approval before launch day next week. Still, I couldn’t help feeling like he’d sort of disappeared from my life. Was it just that the honeymoon, can’t-keep-our-hands-off-each-other stage was over? I couldn’t be sure, but what I did know was that I’d been missing him.
I reached for his hand, and he finally let the door close behind him, coming toward me. “Other than the launch causing you all sorts of headaches, how are you?”
“I don’t even know,” he said, stopping close enough for me to thread our fingers together. “My sleep’s been pretty crappy. I keep dreaming about launch night, about everything going wrong and the press hounding us with negative reviews.”
“Nothing is going to go wrong,” I said. “The press is going to have nothing but good things to say because I know for a fact the drinks are delicious. And that’s half the battle.”
He huffed. “What’s the other half?”
“Showing up with a smile on your face and trusting the line to speak for itself.”
“You’re right.” He sucked in a sharp breath. “Please don’t think I’m doubting the product.”
“I don’t,” I reassured him. I knew he believed we’d put out a line of great mocktails. But until the rest of the world agreed, he wouldn’t be able to truly enjoy the achievement. “Really, though. Is there anything I can do to help?”
He shook his head. “You already did your part. Actually, more than your part.”
That was true. I’d done a lot more social media marketing for Elixir than we’d originally agreed to. Working with the company just made it so easy, and I’d found myself having a lot of fun gathering little behind-the-scenes glimpses of work in the lab, with the team, learning about the production process.
“It hasn’t exactly been a hardship,” I said. “I’ve been having fun.”
He gave me a tight smile. It didn’t reach his eyes like it usually did, but I was okay to let him off the hook. I understood how badly he wanted this launch to be a success.
“Actually,” he said. “I think Dominic wanted to make sure you’re still good to post to your socials during the event. He knows it means you’d have to actually attend the event as the Masked Mixer.”
“Of course.” I’d happily agreed when Dominic had approached me the other week about that little bit of added marketing. Sure, it meant I had to play my alter ego all night—which meant autographs and selfies and not being able to just relax and enjoy the evening—but I’d also spent the last however many months endorsing this product on my socials. It only made sense that the Masked Mixer would make an appearance.
Aiden sent off a quick email on his phone. “Just letting Dominic know before I forget.” He glanced at me. “Are you the only one left here?”
“Yeah, Javeed hung around for a while, but he’s meeting someone for drinks. He wouldn’t say who,” I smirked, “but if you ask me, I think it’s Dot.”
“Wait. Really?” Aiden shoved his phone in his back pocket. “Why do you think that?”
“Oh please.” I crossed my arms. “The eyes those two were giving each other across the lab all day today. If they’re not meeting up to have sex, then one of them is planning to murder the other.”
Aiden snorted.
“I’m serious. The tension was so thick today, I was practically suffocating in it.” Speaking of sexual tension in the lab…With Aiden leaning up against my workstation, the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up, I couldn’t help remembering all the dreams I’d had about the two of us getting frisky in here together. “There’s just something sexy about all this sterile stainless steel,” I joked. “Do you know how many times I dreamed about us doing it in the lab?”
Aiden’s eyebrows arched with interest. “The lab does it for you, huh?”
“Let’s just say that in my fantasies, there were an awful lot of things crashing to the floor as a certain someone swept the table clear to spread me out on it. Very expensive things.”
Aiden licked his lips. I could tell he was getting turned on by the way he pulled at his shirt collar, and his arousal made a tension I wasn’t even aware of relax along my spine. He still wanted me—we were still okay.
“Just in case it wasn’t clear, we should probably try to avoid that.”
“Avoid—” he started as I stepped into his space, curling my arms around his neck. His hands automatically fell to my waist, his fingers tightening, grasping, clutching me the way I loved.
“Cora,” he said, his voice strained. “We can’t. Not here.”
“Why not?” I purred, lifting up onto my toes to nip at his ear. “We’re alone. Everyone else has gone home.”
“Because…it’s…This is headquarters.”
“And you’re the CEO,” I said, dragging my lips across his jaw to kiss him. “I’m not seeing the problem. You’re the boss.” I kissed him again. “Mr. Cock tail King. Haven’t you ever thought about this? At least once? Haven’t you wondered what it would be like to fuck me bent over a work bench, Your Majesty?”
He groaned into the next kiss, his hands shifting around my waist and dropping to cup my ass as he ground himself against me.
“That’s it,” I said as hormones and relief flooded my veins in a heady combination.
The next kiss was frenzied as I palmed his cock through his pants. He was already getting hard, straining against the zipper. I popped the button open, getting the zipper down, and reached into his pants, taking his length in my hand.
He moaned, clenching his eyes as my hand moved up and down his cock, the pad of my thumb toying gently with the head.
“ Fuck , Cora!”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” I said, squeezing gently. I rubbed him, back and forth, taking my time, listening to his breathing grow more ragged.
“Stop.” He reached down to interrupt my hand. “I want to hear you moan,” he said, pulling me in for a searing kiss. “Condom?”
“In my bag,” I said, breaking away from him long enough to dig the condom from my purse.
He tore the wrapper open with his teeth, and I squeezed my thighs together.
“Turn around,” he said, rolling the condom down his length.
I unbuttoned my pants, getting them down to my knees as I twisted, practically moaning in anticipation. It was the thrill of potentially being caught, of doing something we weren’t supposed to do, of Aiden touching me the way he did. I was already beyond wet, and as I leaned against my workstation, he pressed up against me, moving my panties aside with his fingers as he slid inside. Moaning, I took all of him, again and again. Aiden thrust into me, clutching my hips for leverage, and I bucked back against him, crying out. With one hand I reached down, rubbing at my clit, almost dazed by the sensations before he took over so I could brace my forearms against the table, struggling to stay upright as my legs started shaking, my whole body overwhelmed.
He didn’t last long, exploding with a cry, and I followed him into oblivion a moment later.
When we’d caught our breath and cleaned ourselves up, I blinked up at him with a satisfied smile. It felt like we’d finally reconnected after the days of stilted texts and weird excuses. Maybe we’d go get dinner now or head back to his place for a less frenzied round two.
But before I could even make the suggestion, his phone rang.
“Hey,” he said, pressing his phone to his ear as he finished buckling his belt. “Yeah, now’s good. What do you mean the colors seem off? I approved those weeks ago.” He made vague noises of concern. “You know what, why don’t I just come down there to check it out in person?”
My face fell. It sounded like he was on the phone with the venue that was hosting the launch event. Did he really need to be there to see if the color scheme matched? Couldn’t they send him a picture for that kind of thing?
“Sorry,” he whispered to me while backing away. “It’s the event planner. She’s got some last-minute things she needs help with. I’d better go.”
I nodded along, not wanting to make a fuss, but inside, I felt a little sick. He wasn’t exactly making excuses to get away from me…but it didn’t sound like the kind of thing that needed him there in person. And even if it did, couldn’t he have invited me along? I was about to offer to come with him, but I never got the chance.
He gave me a wave from the door. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yeah, we—” I started to say. But he’d already stepped away, leaving me behind in the lab that felt very cold and empty now. It was like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough, and not for the first time in days, I found myself wondering if I’d done something to chase him away. Had I screwed this up? We’d both seemed to enjoy the sex, so that couldn’t be it. I drummed my fingers against my lips as worry twisted in my gut. My mother’s words resurfaced.
Be careful .
Nothing was wrong though. Aiden was simply busy. He was the CEO of a successful company with a massive product launch coming up. These were all valid reasons for him to be too busy for me at the moment.
But if that was all that was going on, why did I feel like I’d just been abandoned?