2. Ivy
2
IVY
“ I brought these because I know they’re your favorite.” I buried my nose deep in the fragrant blooms I’d finished arranging on Mom’s windowsill. They were gorgeous and had cost more than I wanted to think about, but she needed a little cheer in this bleak, dingy room.
I turned away from the vase of roses, my gaze landing on what looked suspiciously like mouse droppings in the corner. Over the months, I’d seen more than a few mouse traps here in the only nursing facility I could afford, and while my stomach soured, I had no choice but to turn a blind eye. Aside from lodging complaints with the state advocate, there was nothing else I could do to try to improve Mom’s situation. I needed her taken care of so I could go out and work. But it was a vicious cycle. I worked so I could keep her here.
Taking a seat at her bedside, I pulled her hairbrush from the drawer in the nightstand. Her energy was low today. Normally, she at least tried to be awake when I came to visit, but she didn’t have it in her tonight.
Instead of trying to wake her up, I leaned in and unwound the long, silver braid hanging over one shoulder. Bits of food were stuck in her hair, which nobody had bothered to clean out after she’d eaten. Another thing I had to overlook. My soul was weary as I began brushing her soft locks.
“I’ll be making more here than I ever did at Jones Media,” I told her, and for once, I could let a little excitement leak into my voice. Not only would I be making more, but I would be making enough to afford an actual, decent facility in Hoboken. It wouldn’t be the Ritz, but it was clean, and the staff seemed kind and on top of things. She wouldn’t have to feel like she was simply waiting to die after her stroke.
I brushed slowly, remembering how soothing it always was when she used to do this for me when I was a little. Even when Dad walked out on us, and Mom struggled with bare cupboards and empty pockets, she still brushed my hair every night. “You should see the offices,” I whispered as I worked. “I swear, it’s like something you would see in a movie. Great big offices with all these windows so far above the city. They have an on-site masseuse, Mom. Can you believe it? I thought my eyes were going to fall out of my head when they showed us the gym and the sauna right there in the building for anybody to use. They have actual, professional cooks come in to prepare breakfast and lunch, so we don’t even have to leave if we don’t want to, but we can,” I continued. “It’s up to us. I know I sound easy to impress, but come on. It’s like a whole different world than where I came from.”
Something made me wrinkle my nose, though, and it wasn’t the pervasive, underlying odor of urine that always filled the air. It was the memory of a certain pair of smoldering eyes, so dark they were almost black and so piercing they practically stared into my soul. Of all the people to show up in my life, it had to be him. Lucian Diamond. He, of the huge dick and magic tongue.
He remembered me as clearly as I remembered him. Though we hadn’t exchanged more than a few words in front of his dad, I felt it as plain as anything. He knew who I was, knew why I was there, and for some reason, he seemed to resent me.
Not that it mattered. I was used to being resented by the men I had to work alongside, who thought the whole world should be handed to them just because they had a dick hanging between their legs. It’s like that was some great accomplishment. Forget those of us who had to work twice as hard to get half as far as they did.
I caught myself grinding my teeth until my jaw ached, then forced myself to loosen up. “It looks like I’ll be working with the boss’s son,” I told Mom, gazing at her beautiful, slightly unfamiliar face. The stroke had weakened her muscles, and there were times I was startled by how old and helpless she looked. I kept expecting to find my mom, the woman I’d always known—vibrant, bright, sharp as a tack.
A familiar stinging sensation started behind my eyes that left me blinking back hot, painful tears. One second, she was fine, and the next, I was scrambling around, trying to figure out what would happen next. How was I supposed to take care of her when I could barely afford to take care of myself?
“He’s pretty cute,” I told her, remembering all the talks we had at the kitchen table when I was a kid, crushing on one boy or another. The word didn’t come close to touching the truth. “Okay, he’s ridiculously handsome. I met him before. Isn’t life weird? He was at Rose Goldsmith’s wedding. Remember her? I did that piece about her a few years ago when she decided to quit modeling so she could work full-time in her family business. We really hit it off, and she’s a great girl. Turns out, she knows this guy. Lucian Diamond.”
And I slept with him.
I probably wouldn’t have if I’d known we’d end up working together, but that was the way my life went. Like somebody up there got off on throwing curveballs and watching me scramble to hit them.
Even saying his name sent a ripple of pleasure down my spine. It had only been a handful of weeks since that early June wedding. Time couldn’t make me forget how magical it was or how hot it was, and it was extremely hot. Even sitting here in a room that smelled of urine and mouse droppings, I somehow managed to get a little wet at the memory.
“So fucking tight.” He closed his eyes, grunting like he was trying to hold on and was failing miserably. All because of me, because he liked the way it felt inside me. This absolute god, this gorgeous, charismatic man with a body most women would kill for the chance to touch, losing his grip on himself, all because of the grip I had on his dick.
A dick that felt like it was going to rip me in half, but I loved it. Fuck, I craved more. I may as well have never had sex before this. It felt that new. All I could do was hold on tight, gripping him with my legs around his hips while he took me hard, mercilessly, urged on by the helpless cries he tore out of me.
The memory of his deep, primal grunts had me tingling by the time I stood.
I pushed away the memory as I refilled the empty water cup before leaning over and whispering, “ I’d better go.” Pressing my lips to Mom’s forehead, I arranged the blankets over her, making sure her phone and her remote control were nearby for when she woke up. “I love you. It won’t be much longer until I can get you out of here, I promise.”
I doubted she could hear me, but I believed there was still some part of her that could hear me in her dreams. That was all I had. Hope. And even that was starting to run a little thin.
It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait to be rescued. This wasn’t a fairy tale. I would have to rescue myself and my mother along with me. Nobody was going to stop me.
It was never early enough to take the subway and have it be empty enough to get a little peace. People were everywhere, pushing me around on the platform, then elbowing me as I gripped a metal bar to keep my balance while we whizzed through dark tunnels. Not that I wasn’t used to it. One of the rites of passage when it came to living in New York was learning to navigate the subway. Mom always used to tell me stories of how things were even worse when she was younger, which I’d found hard to believe until seeing pictures of the way things used to look when she was my age. The city was at least trying to make things nicer than they were back then.
Still, there was nothing like climbing out of the tunnel and breathing fresh air, at least as fresh as it could be in early July when it was already humid as hell and only seven in the morning.
The sight of my building up ahead and the promise of air conditioning carried me over the sidewalk in the worn-out flats I put on to get to and from work. A pair of carefully maintained pumps sat in my shoulder bag—I would leave them at my desk at the end of the day now that I had a desk to get settled in.
We weren’t supposed to report for work until nine, but I believed in the old adage of the early bird getting the worm. If Lucian didn’t like the idea of us working together for some personal reason, I had to do everything in my power to change his mind. I needed this too badly. It had to work out. Things were awkward enough without having to look over my shoulder and hope the owner’s son wasn’t somehow insulted by my existence.
Not that he struck me as being that childish when we met. Far from it. I wouldn’t have slept with him if he came off as some spoiled little jerk. I had no desire to waste my time on somebody like that, even for one night.
Stepping out of the elevator, I wasn’t surprised to find the floor mostly empty. Anticipation made the blood hum in my veins and left my skin tingling as I explored the large break room where a pair of cooks set up a hot breakfast buffet. There was also a refrigerator with a clear door that revealed cups of yogurt, smoothies, hard-boiled eggs, and fruit salad. I snagged a smoothie before continuing past clusters of cubicles where some of my old coworkers would sit now that we were expected to settle into our new positions.
I wouldn’t be in a cubicle, and I didn’t know how to feel about it. My desk sat outside the corner office of Lucian Diamond, the way so many assistants sat outside their boss’s office. He wasn’t my boss, was he? No. His dad, the man who signed my paycheck, wanted me to show his son the ropes.
His son, who now crossed his glass-walled office, was plainly visible as he took a seat at a sleek, black desk. A leather sofa sat at the far end of the room, opposite the desk, along with a pair of matching chairs and a long coffee table. Aside from a handful of plants like those found elsewhere on the floor, there were no personal touches. There hadn’t been time to consider that yet, I realized. He was that green.
He liked to come in early. The man managed to surprise me. There I was, assuming he would roll in around ten, maybe eleven, being the boss’s son.
I barely had time to process it when his obscene good looks erased everything else from my mind. It didn’t help that I’d always had a thing for guys who looked like they had a chip on their shoulder, brooding and smoldering. The man smoldered, that was for sure. It was surprising my skin didn’t blister in the heat.
When his attention landed on me, standing like an idiot next to my desk and gaping at him like every brain cell spontaneously died, the heat damn near singed my hair. Those eyes. They had the power to stop my heart.
And when they narrowed, they got my pulse racing in a dangerous way. There he was, resenting me. Why? What the hell had I done to deserve this attitude?
Do not let him ruin this.
Too many men had made me lose my cool in the past. Until now, I’d been lucky enough to keep my job in spite of my temper. There was a reason I made myself indispensable. Nobody wanted to fire the girl who always swooped in to save the day. So what if she had a sharp tongue and refused to suffer fools?
My shoulders rolled back, and my chin lifted. I left my bag on my currently empty desk and strode up to the door separating us. “Good morning,” I offered with a smile. Was it obvious I couldn’t help but hear his voice in my head? “Do you like that? Does my cock make that tight pussy feel good?”
Get it together. That was weeks ago.
This was now when we were both fully dressed and most definitely not in the throes of passion.
“Good morning.” Ugh, why did his deep voice have to bring velvet to mind? Rich, warm, sexy as hell. “You’re here early. Any special reason?”
I could’ve done without the heavy dose of suspicion in his voice. “Is it a crime to come in early on my first full day on the job?” I asked.
“Aren’t you a hard worker?” He folded his hands on top of his desk, wearing a smile that held absolutely no warmth or kindness. The longer he trained it on me, the further my stomach dropped until it was somewhere around my ankles before he spoke again, his voice filled with a heavier hint of disdain—if that were possible. “Just to let you know, you’re not going to score points by showing up this early. You can spare yourself the trouble if you think it’s going to get you anywhere.”
“Who said I thought it was getting me anywhere?” I asked in genuine confusion. No, this was not the man I remembered from the wedding, but then he had been tipsy, coming off what had to be a long day full of wedding stuff. He wasn’t sitting at a desk, absorbed with business. “I’m not interested in scoring points,” I assured him, though it was sort of a lie. Showing up early was part of that whole make-yourself-indispensable thing. “I wanted to get a little extra time to settle in on my first full day. That’s all.”
“Sure. If you say so.” Clearly, he didn’t believe me.
What had I done that was so wrong? Frustration swelled up in my chest. I never did well with being misunderstood, and this was worse than that. It wasn’t that he misunderstood me. He was determined to be a dick, already making up his mind about me and my motives.
What was I supposed to do? Let him sit there and talk to me like that just because of who his father happened to be? Or did he think he was going to get away with it because he was good in bed? If so, he was truly pathetic. Either way, I looked at him with fresh eyes, and I didn’t like what I saw. “Mr. Diamond?—”
“Really?” he asked, scoffing. “Are we doing that?” God, his sarcasm. And I thought I fell back on it too much. I would have to tell Mom I met somebody who used it even more than I did. She’d be so impressed.
“Lucian,” I amended, carefully enunciating through a tight and entirely insincere smile. “Things don’t have to be awkward for us just because of what happened.”
“Is that what you think? Like I can’t handle being in the same room with a woman I was intimate with?” His head snapped back like he was genuinely surprised.
The man was a goddamn enigma, one I wouldn’t try to solve if it weren’t for my job and everything hanging on it. I should’ve known better than to think things were going to magically change all because I was making a little more money. My life didn’t go that way. It never had.
And that was probably what had me so close to losing my shit as he continued sneering at me from behind his desk. A rush of heat washed over me, settling in my chest. “All I’m saying is, you don’t need to worry about me making anything out of it. I’m an adult. It wasn’t like we knew we would end up working together.”
“Is that the explanation you’re going with?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?” I fired back.
Lifting a thick shoulder, he muttered, “If it means keeping your job in this tough market? I’m sure you’d say anything.”
Something hot and bitter exploded in my chest, sending fire racing through my limbs and making my blood boil. This fucking bully. He might as well have hovered a finger an inch from my face and chanted I’m not touching you like some playground menace. I had left those days behind long ago. What a shame I couldn’t say the same for him.
“I don’t say anything I don’t mean, Lucian, ” I told him, emphasizing his name again. “But if you’re going to have a problem treating me professionally, maybe this isn’t going to work out.”
“Oh, I know it’s not going to work out, Poison Ivy,” he assured me, making my stomach sink further than it already had. He had even given me a nasty nickname! Everything was going wrong, all of it, and all I could do was watch it fall apart.
“I have no choice but to pretend I think otherwise, Poison, ” he continued. “So please, go out and find your desk, get yourself all settled in like the hard worker you are. You’re supposed to be helping me learn the ropes of my new position. Go figure out a way to do that.”
What was going to stop me from throwing something at his fucking head? I bit my tongue until it hurt. It was all that got me out of his office before I said something I would definitely get fired for. If it wasn’t for Mom, I would’ve said it, anyway. It would’ve been worth watching his reaction.
But I couldn’t afford to be selfish. Mom had gone through hell to raise me on her own, working nonstop to keep a roof over our heads and food in the kitchen. The least I could do to pay her back would be to put up with an asshole with hands that worked the kind of magic no vibrator had ever managed. How unfortunate, the way my brain insisted on reminding me of that as I walked to my desk on trembling legs.
One thing was for sure. I had worked too hard for too long to let some spoiled rich kid take what was mine. Three years younger than me, with absolutely no experience, and I was supposed to give him a crash course in what I’d learned through years of trial and error. Everything I had, I’d earned, unlike him. For all I knew, that was what he resented. The spoiled brat couldn’t imagine earning a damn thing and hated the idea of me being around to keep him on his toes.
And I would.
He could be sure of that.
I sat at the desk in front of his office and set my bag underneath, pulling out my patent leather heels and sliding into them like I’d slide into armor before battle. In a way, that’s exactly what I was doing.
He wanted to do things the hard way? Fine by me. I had been playing life on hard mode from the beginning. If anything, he was the one with a lesson to be learned.
I couldn’t wait to be the one to teach him what a bad idea it was to play with Poison Ivy.