Chapter Eight
Tabitha
”My family was in financial trouble back then due to my father”s accident. He was injured at work. As the oldest sibling, Kendall felt responsible for all of us.” Spencer turns toward me, and I unconsciously do the same. ”My brother started searching for a job, but he had no experience at...anything. So, he took the only position he could find.” Spencer”s mouth twists upward into a half smirk. ”He was the lead dancer at a male revue club called Bodacious Nights.”
”Male revue? I don”t know what that means.”
”Kendall was a stripper.”
I stop blinking. Did he just say what I think he said? I stare at Spencer, unable to speak for several seconds. ”Stripper? They have those kind of clubs in the UK?”
”Oh, yes, we have them. No one in our family knew what sort of job Kenny had taken, and we never asked. He kept our family afloat. That”s all we needed to know.”
”Sounds like your family is tight knit.”
”We always have been. But clearly, we weren”t close enough. Kendall kept his secret for a long time after he gave up working at Bodacious Nights.”
My boss”s brother used to rip his clothes off for a living. I shouldn”t ask, but I can”t shut my mouth up. ”How much did he take off?”
Spencer”s entire face cinches up into the cutest expression of embarrassment. ”Must we discuss the details?”
”Oh, God, I”m being such a nosy jerk. I”m sorry, Spencer.”
He blusters out a sigh. ”No, I”m the tosser. It”s unfair for me to tell you Kendall was a stripper without giving more of an explanation. The truth is that Bindy and I knew about Kendall”s job at the club. My sister went to the club with her mates one night, having no idea her brother would be on stage. When Bindy saw Kendall wearing nothing but a G-string, she panicked.”
”I can understand why. But I assume she got over the shock.”
”She did. But Bindy and I agreed to keep the secret. Kendall didn”t want our parents to know about his line of work.” Spencer knifes a hand through his hair. ”Talking about my brother”s racy job isn”t my favorite topic of discussion. Kenny doesn”t like to talk about it either. I”m not ashamed of what he did, but I”m glad he left that profession behind him.”
No wonder his sister freaked out. Seeing her older brother practically naked, writhing around on stage... Even I would freak out in her place, and I”m not easily shocked.
Spencer glances at the display that shows what floor we”re passing through---the fifth floor, it says. He sighs again, but this time he smiles too. ”Kenny got over his embarrassment at last during the Sommerleigh Halloween bash. He and several of his mates did striptease routines, then Kendall apparently ripped the G-string off. Then he grabbed his girl, Rachelle, and stalked through the house in the nude to take her into one of the bedrooms.”
I can”t stop the raucous laughter that bursts out of me. ”Wow, that must”ve been one wild party.”
”Fortunately, I wasn”t there to witness my brother”s outrageous behavior. Mum and Dad would have blushed. Bindy would probably have passed out.” He rolls his eyes heavenward. ”Please, don”t ever make me talk about my stripper brother again.”
”I give you my solemn vow that I will never instigate a conversation about that.” The elevator doors open, and we amble down the hall side by side. ”You don”t really mind that your brother was a stripper, do you?”
”No. I love Kenny, but don”t ever tell him I said that.”
”Men don”t like to talk about feelings. I get it. But it”s clear you love your family very much and would do anything for them.”
He halts us at my desk. ”We are that sort of family.”
”Not sure very many families are that close knit anymore.”
”What about yours?”
”The Remingtons do stick together, and we support each other just as much as I”m sure the Halfenakeds do.”
Spencer”s lips twist this way and that as if he”s trying not to smile. ”You really have no qualms about using my surname.”
”Why should I care? If you aren”t embarrassed, neither am I.” I move behind my desk to grab my purse. Then I raise my brows at Spencer. ”We”re going to a staff meeting. Don”t you want to grab your stuff? You won”t want to come back up here afterward.”
”Right. Of course.”
He disappears into his office, emerging a moment later holding his briefcase and his jacket. Spencer eyes my outfit. ”You look even better in a trench coat. It gives you a nineteen-forties air that”s dead sexy.”
”What a lovely compliment.”
”I can say things like that when I”m with you because I know you don”t mind.”
”By now, you must realize I”m not easily offended. In fact, I can”t remember the last time I took offense at anything.”
Spencer walks up to me, offering his arm. ”I love that about you, pet. You”re so comfortable in your own skin that nothing bothers you.”
I accept his arm. ”Another wonderful compliment. You”re spoiling me.”
His brows wrinkle, but he doesn”t say anything else. We end up riding in the elevator with three other people, so I don”t get to ask what perplexed him. It”s probably me. I confuse lots of people. A woman in her late thirties who loves to do silly things? No, people don”t get me.
Except for Spencer. He doesn”t mind my devil-may-care attitude.
The staff meeting takes fifteen minutes, which must be a land speed record. Spencer escorts me to the parking lot and to my car. He stands beside the vehicle for so long that I wonder if he”s thinking about screwing me on the hood. But no, he would never do that. Our brief, hot kiss was a one-time event. Jeez, when was the last time I had sex? Can”t remember. I might break the world record for abstinence and not even know it.
Finally, Spencer saunters over to his car and drives away.
As I head home, I keep thinking about the boss man. Maybe I should have told him the whole truth about my family, but I prefer to keep that to myself. None of the men I”ve ever dated earned the right to peek into my private life. I”d gladly share that information with Spencer, but only if we become something more than boss and assistant.
Most people just don”t get my family”s lifestyle.
Well, not our lifestyle. I gave up most of the kookiness when I graduated from college. I kept just enough of it so that I can still call myself free spirited.
Spencer seems to like that about me.
When I walk into my apartment, I find my thoughts drifting back in time to the way I used to live. My family has freedom, that”s for sure. But the drawbacks became too much for me eventually. Maybe that”s why I chose a relatively small apartment, though I could afford a bigger one. It”s nostalgia. The company pays me well. I guess I just don”t want to erase all of my past. It”s a part of me.
I take a nice, hot shower that steams up the glass door. Nothing feels more decadent after a day at work than letting the steam fill the whole bathroom. I love the sensation of beads of moisture dribbling down my skin. I don”t even step under the showerhead until the room has become shrouded in fog, as if I”ve slipped through a portal into another world. I close my eyes and let the warmth penetrate me.
Spencer”s face shimmers in my mind”s eye.
Without thinking about what I”m doing, I cup my breasts and toy with the nipples until I feel that delicious ache rising inside me, down low. I glide my palms down my belly, sinking my fingers into the wet hairs on my mound. Have I ever been this turned on before? Only once. The day Spencer kissed me.
I spread my legs as I push two fingers between my thighs.
Moaning deeply, I splay my fingers to rub my folds. At the same time, I massage my clit with the pad of my thumb. With my eyes closed, I can fantasize about the one thing I should never want---Spencer inside me. This one time, I will indulge that desire.
I rub myself faster, harder, desperate for the climax I need so badly. My fantasy becomes far more erotic and intense as I picture Spencer pushing me up against the wall and slamming his cock inside me, over and over, while I lash my thighs around him and hold on for the ride.
The orgasm hits me so hard that only a strangled cry bursts out of me.
I slump against the tile wall, unable to move a muscle for a minute or two. Then I turn down the temperature and take an actual shower, the kind that gets me clean but doesn”t involve moaning. As much as I enjoyed that little interlude in the shower, I want the real thing. I want Spencer.
The fraternization policy doesn”t forbid coworkers dating.
No, no, no, I will not risk my career for one good bang.
I don”t know that it would be good. Maybe Spencer is a terrible lover. He”s quite straitlaced at work, aside from the kissing incident, so he probably wouldn”t go wild in bed. Of course, he did spin around and around in his office chair. That suggests he might have wildness hidden inside that businesslike exterior.
When I wake up in the morning, I realize I should never fantasize about Spencer ever again. Those fantasies might bleed into my work life. I”ve never been great at reining in my passions.
For the rest of the week and all weekend too, I employ all my willpower to stop thinking about my boss naked in the shower with me. On Monday, I sit down at my desk at eight forty-five, as usual, and begin setting up my desktop for the day. I find a folder and fill it up with documents---Spencer”s itinerary for the day, suggestions for people he should speak to, the latest risk analysis assessments from his team. I”ve just closed the folder when I hear laughter coming from the boss”s office.
The clock on the wall tells me it”s ten to eight. Spencer shouldn”t be in his office yet, though I would expect to see him step out of the elevator at any moment.
More laughter. That”s definitely Spencer”s voice.
I approach the door and place my ear on the cool surface.
”---not going to make it a spectacle, I”m sure.”
He”s in the middle of a conversation. Should I knock? Or just go back to my desk? Not sure which is the better option.
Spencer laughs with even more volume. ”Yes, all right, you win the argument. I really must get to work now, love. Goodbye.”
Who is his ”love”? I didn”t think he had a girlfriend. Well, that term of endearment might be aimed at a friend, not a lover.
The door flies open, and I”m caught in the act. Oh, damn.