Chapter 13 Alexander
ALEXANDER
The second hand on my watch ticked louder with every passing heartbeat. I’d worked all fucking day with that sound in my head. Tick. Tick. Tick.
It had never bothered me before, but today, all I’d been able to think about was Harper and how long it might be before I had the chance to touch her again.
I dragged a hand across the desk and flipped open the folder with the reports for the next quarter. The numbers blurred in and out of focus, forcing me to blink several times until they crystallized. A soft knock sounded on the door.
“Come in.” It came out gruff after sitting in silence all day, and I cleared my throat as Harper opened the door and slipped through.
She wore one of her regular pantsuits with a jacket that tapered at the waist and flared out over her hips. The sight of her high heels reminded me of the gala, and my mouth tipped into a smirk.
“Sorry to disturb you.” The meekness in the statement snapped my gaze up to her face.
She refused to meet my gaze.
What the fuck? I stood slowly and braced my hands on the desk. “I like your interruptions. What can I do for you?”
Harper locked her hands together at her waist and tipped her head toward the floor, avoiding my gaze.
My desk didn’t sit on a dais like Dante’s, but my height did put her at a bit of a disadvantage.
I’d gotten used to her confidence in the bedroom after the gala.
What pushed her to return to the meek little mouse standing before me?
“Harper?” I waited for her chin to lift before I continued. “Is everything all right?”
A shuddering inhale shook her shoulders. “We need to talk.”
“Four of the most hated words in the English language when they’re strung together like that.” I motioned at the chair closest to her and moved around my desk to take the one next to it. “What’s going on?”
She sank into the chair and crossed her ankles, pulling them beneath her. The motion almost looked protective, especially when she settled her knotted hands in her lap and swallowed hard. “I just want to establish that what happened after the gala was a one-time thing. It can’t happen again.”
Getting kicked in the balls by a sumo wrestler would hurt less than the impact of her words and the way she continued to avoid looking at me.
I took a second to compose myself, knowing that if I spoke right away, too much hurt and anger would come out.
Anger that would frighten her away instead of convince her to talk to me.
She’d been open and honest with me at the gala when we discussed her father.
I needed her to do that again. “What changed?”
Harper fidgeted, twisting her fingers and pulling them apart, only to tangle them together again. Finally, she raised her shoulders in a shrug that jerked her head to the side. “It’s complicated.”
“Yes. Most things are. But you were so sure that your father wouldn’t mind, and you have enjoyed our time together.
I’m unclear why you want that to end. I will respect your wishes, of course, but I deserve a real answer.
” I kept my hands on my thighs. If I touched her, I’d never be able to let go, and I refused to coerce her or attempt to manipulate her emotions.
If she wanted out, I’d let her go. Once I understood why.
Her chin dipped as she averted her gaze. Standing, she walked toward the windows that overlooked the city, effectively putting a dozen feet between us. “I’m concerned that someone has seen us.”
I stretched out my legs and crossed my ankles, adopting one of Dante’s casual poses. “The kid won’t talk.”
“Not him.” Harper locked her arms over her stomach and swayed side to side. Self soothing.
I learned about it in one of our CEO seminars. The sight of her uncomfortable in my presence set off every protective instinct and pushed me to my feet. “What do you mean?”
The swaying stopped, and she turned to face me.
“I think people in the office are talking about us. I have no evidence, but I’ve been on the butt end of gossip often enough to know what it feels like.
People stop talking when I walk into a room.
They look at me differently. If someone saw us at the gala and is spreading rumors, I’ll be ruined.
And so will you.” Her eyes went all soft and misty, and the sight of it broke me.
I ran my knuckles along the edge of her jaw before forcing my hands down.
“I would never expect you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. We were careful, and I haven’t heard any rumors.
” I tried to smile, but the slow ache of loss building in my body prevented more than a tiny lift of my lips.
“And I would be the first to know.” I took a step back to give us both space.
“I respect your wishes, Harper. If you do not wish to see us anymore, I would never insist on it.”
She swayed toward me before snapping backward another step.
So her head and her body were at war. I could use that, but I wanted willing women in my bed, not a woman I’d had to convince.
“I respect you as a woman, as our employee, and as my best friend’s daughter. I’ll treat you with respect no matter what decision you make. That was the promise we made to you that first night, and nothing has changed.” I walked backward to the door. “Is there anything else?”
She shook her head. Either words failed her because I’d given in, or she couldn’t trust herself to speak. Either way, I’d said what I needed to say. As always, the final decision rested in her power.
I opened the office door to absolute silence. Bethany’s empty desk next to the elevator announced the official end of the workday. Harper must have waited until the last minute to come up and talk to me. Why had she chosen me over Dante and Julian? My relationship with her father, maybe.
I almost wished she’d gone to one of them. Then I wouldn’t have to be the one to bring the bad news to tonight’s meeting. “Would you like me to walk you to your car? It’s after hours and everyone has gone home.”
“No.” She tugged on her jacket—a motion I’d come to recognize as a self-conscious gesture—and stopped beside me.
“Thank you, but if anyone happens to be lingering, I would rather they didn’t see us together.
It would only make things worse. You’ve never walked anyone to their car. I don’t want to be the first.”
“I suppose this is good night then.” And goodbye.
Her hair fell around her face in soft waves when she raised her head to meet my gaze. “Good night, Alex.”
The nickname hung between us, thick with memory and desire. I reached out without thinking and brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. My knuckles grazed her skin, and heat sparked across my hand and spread up my arm.
Her breath hitched, and she froze, her eyes going wide. A blink later, she gripped my wrist, pinning my hand in place against her cheek. I didn’t remember resting my palm there, but she refused to let me pull away.
“I don’t want to stop.”
Her admission was all I needed to back her against the door and lower my lips to hers. She met the brush of my lips with a gasp and tightened her hold on my wrist. Her lips parted for me, and I swept my tongue into her mouth. Heat spiraled between us thick and fast.
I’d never felt anything like it except with her. Before Harper, sex was nice. It was a pleasant release from the rigors of work and gave me a chance to escape the world.
With Harper, it became more. More intense. More pleasurable. I cared more about her and making her happy than I did about anything else. I would have let her walk away, but now that she’d told the truth about what she wanted, I was all in.
The door swung against the wall with a bang, and I backed her into it, pressing us closer with every passing second. I slid my hand down her neck and rested it against her thrumming pulse.
“Alex.” The hoarse sound of my name shot straight to my heart, and then to my cock.
I settled my knee between her legs, and she ground her hips over my thigh. “I want you, Harper. Right here in my office.”
“Me too. I want you too.” She ran her hands down my chest, her nails curved so they dented my suit.
“I want to feel those nails on my skin. Mark me as yours. Because I sure as fuck am going to claim you as mine.” I hauled her toward me and kicked the door shut, walking her backward to the desk.
I stopped long enough to swipe every fucking thing off the desk with one arm before I lifted her onto it and unbuttoned her blouse.
She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it aside as I pushed the shirt open and down off her shoulders to reveal the soft lace of a white bra. I kissed along the line of lace and cupped her breasts. “I need your pants off. Now.”
She wiggled and shimmied her hips, working the pants down to her ankles. I yanked them the rest of the way off, taking her heels off in the process.
“Lay back.” I guided her backward and lifted one leg to rest over my elbow. The sight of her eager and waiting for me never ceased to amaze me. I locked down my control and slid a finger along the edge of her panties. “Are you wet for me?”
“Yes.” Her eyes fluttered closed, her hands opening and closing until she found the edges of the desk and grabbed hold.
I rubbed my knuckle over her clit and hummed.
“So wet and ready. I could give you my cock right now and you’d take every inch of it.
You’d cry out my name as you come and squeeze my cock with that tight pussy.
And I would keep going.” I eased a finger inside her and pressed my thumb to her clit the way she liked.
Her moan matched the rise and fall of her hips as she rode my hand. “Such a needy little cunt.”
A surprised laugh parted her lips. “I never thought I’d enjoy hearing language like that, but the more you talk, the hotter it is.”
I added another finger and pumped faster.
“I never understood why people need to label it as talking dirty. There’s nothing dirty about sex.
Nothing foul about saying I like to fuck your pretty cunt.
There is nothing dirty or wrong about this.
” I added a third finger and grinned when her spine arched. Her other leg hooked around my waist.
“I want you inside me.” Her nostrils flared, and a delicious smile crinkled her eyes. “I want your fucking cock in my tight pussy, Alex. I want you buried so deep I feel it in my entire body.” She ran a hand up between her breasts and down her stomach.
“That’s my girl. Keep talking and I’ll give you exactly what you want.” I lifted her leg higher, draping it over my shoulder. “I’ll fuck you just like this, spread out across my desk.”
The door swung open and banged against the wall with a hollow thud. I froze, my fingers still deep inside Harper.
She bit back a scream and tried to cover herself. Too late. We were too fucking late to even think about talking our way out of this one. We’d been caught red-handed. I turned, prepared to face the consequences.