Chapter 20
Chandler
After Mr. Harold walked out of my office, I breathed out an internal sigh of relief that relaxed my entire body that had gone completely rigid with his surprise arrival at the office. I was not expecting him. Certainly not after I had spent the last hour defiling his daughter in this very office.
I had tried my best to play it cool, pissing Gabriella off in the process, which was just an added bonus.
She wasn’t as good at keeping her emotions in check because her face had gone as white as her knuckles that squeezed the bookshelf.
I honestly wondered if she had somehow left dents in the wood.
I had tried to lighten the mood by throwing in a few innuendos that went over the poor man’s head.
He might be sharp in business, but in sexual innuendos he was straight-up oblivious.
It was probably better that way. It gave Gabriella and me the chance to continue doing whatever it was we were doing.
Fucking like rabbits. That was what it was.
Ever since I showed up to her brownstone after my mother’s engagement party, drunker than I intended and ravenous for her to fuck my cares away, we hadn’t been able to keep our hands off each other.
We had done it at her apartment a handful of times, but mostly here at the office where we spent most of our time.
She seemed to be more nervous about it than me, although I knew the consequences if any of the employees caught on to what we were doing.
I think it was because she actually knew these people and cared what they thought.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about any of them and my only concern was word getting out and ruining my reputation as a professional CEO.
No one seemed to catch on to us though, even when her moans were almost past the point of being stifled.
I gently had to place my hand over her mouth several times in silent warning, though the sound made me rock hard.
That’s why I preferred her apartment where she could scream, moan, fuck, with reckless abandon.
She was wildly sexy and free in the confines of her bedroom.
I had yet to bring her back to my place. She never asked, and I never extended the invitation. I didn’t know why. Maybe it was some invisible boundary. A way to keep her at arms’ length by not inviting her fully in to my life. If she wasn’t complaining, then I wasn’t worried about it.
That was the beauty of Gabriella, she didn’t complain. Didn’t nag. Didn’t expect more than sex. It was why I liked her so much. Her attitude kept me on my toes. She was unlike any other woman I’d met. She was headstrong and stubborn and pushed my buttons. All of my buttons.
“I should go,” she said, taking a cautious step backward toward the office door.
“See you tomorrow,” I said with a wink.
She rolled her eyes and turned to leave, giving me a glimpse of that perfect ass I had just had my hands on. The fact that I had every intention of taking her here again tomorrow made it easier to watch her go, even though my cock was screaming for round two.
After she left, I was too wound up to go home. I needed a distraction and a cocktail to calm myself down after this afternoon’s escapade and close call of being caught. I picked up my phone from my desk and texted Wyatt:
Me: Drinks tonight?
Wyatt: After work old fashioneds at Bemelmans?
Me: I’ll be there.
I slid my phone in my jacket pocket and looked over tomorrow’s schedule, killing time until it hit 5 o’clock.
If Mr. Howard was still in the office somewhere, I didn’t want him to see me cutting out early.
I looked out the door, but didn’t see him.
Instead, I saw Gabriella sitting at her desk deep in thought as she scrolled her computer.
Her bottom lip was tucked in her teeth in concentration and my eyes were immediately drawn there.
This woman. Would I ever get enough of her?
I suddenly had an idea. I looked back at my computer screen, at our joint calendar and entered in a meeting for tomorrow.
It was completely made up, and an hour and a half long outside of the office.
I figured it would be risky to have sex in my office two days in a row, so a little drive around the city in my town car would be the perfect private escape for us.
Why not change it up a little? My driver wouldn’t mind.
I was sure he had heard and seen worse in the time he had worked for me.
I tried to come up with some sort of innuendo that would give Gabriella a hint about what was coming for her. I drummed my finger against my desk thoughtfully. Then it came to me.
I typed it out on the keyboard, thinking I was so clever.
Synergy Enterprise Xpedite.
I hit enter and watched in wait for her to see the calendar invite.
To see the anagram that spelt out exactly what I had in mind.
I heard the ding of her computer and sat back in my chair, smiling to myself as I watched her double-click her mouse.
She peered closer at her computer and then up at me.
She shook her head, but I saw the way her eyes darkened.
Mission accomplished.
I walked into the dimly lit bar, looking to see if Wyatt had beaten me there.
There was no sign of him, so I settled in at the rectangular bar with overhead round pendant lights casting a golden glow over the dark veneer of the bar top.
The place was pretty busy, as it always was this time.
The after-work crowd liked to come here and unwind, and usually there was a pretty little thing to look at.
This was the place the rich men came to unwind from the stress of having too much money, wanting to spend it on expensive curated cocktails and women who were looking for a little bit of that wealth.
I had taken a few of them home in my time spent here, not caring that they were only after one thing.
Could I blame them? I was after one thing too.
Once I got it, I sent them on their way, and their dream of being Mrs. Billionaire was dashed as they walked out the door of my penthouse.
I wondered why it had been so easy to bring those women home, but with Gabriella, I put my hand up. What made her different? I shook the thought away, reminding myself that she was just a pretty thing I liked to fuck. That was it.
“Hey, man,” said Wyatt, slapping my back as he took the barstool next to mine. “Been here long?”
“Nah. Just got here.”
“Good. Let’s order some drinks,” he said tiredly.
“Long day?” I asked, raising a brow.
Wyatt hardly ever talked about work, though he ran a successful company.
I wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t want to boast, or if he truly just needed to unwind.
People would hardly ever guess that he was very well off.
He just didn’t come off as that type of guy. He didn’t come off as someone like me.
He waved me off. “Nah, it’s all good. What about you?”
I thought about Mr. Howard nearly walking in on his daughter and me naked. Thank God the door was locked.
“Um…it was interesting,” I said, piquing his interest.
Before he could ask any questions, the bartender made her way over and played her part as sexy cocktail waitress perfectly.
Wyatt looked like a little puppy dog as he talked to her, trying to keep his eyes up and not fall to look at her breasts that were pretty much on full display in a black corset top.
I chuckled to myself and leaned back in my chair, enjoying the show.
Soon, she took our order for two old fashioneds, and went on her way.
Wyatt whistled under his breath as he watched her go.
“Now that is why I come here.”
“Aww, and I thought you came to be with me,” I said, pouting.
Once we had our drinks in hand and Wyatt’s attention was no longer pulled in the direction of the platinum blonde making drinks for the new patrons who had sat down to ogle her, he turned back to me.
“So, why was work interesting?” he asked, putting his fingers in air quotations.
“I was almost caught fucking the boss’s daughter by the boss himself…well, the old boss.”
Wyatt nearly choked on his drink as he looked at me wide-eyed. “Holy shit.”
“I know.” I ran a hand through my hair, feeling the stress of the situation rush back to me.
“How long has that been going on?”
“Uhhh, a couple weeks.”
“You cheeky little shit,” he said, slugging my arm. “I knew it would only be a matter of time before the two of you started hooking up.”
I hated that he was right.
He took a satisfied, “know-it-all” sip from his glass tumbler. “So what’s going on with you two?” He cocked a brow.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, clearly you’re fucking, but is it more than that?”
“No,” I answered quickly. Too quickly.
“Do you want it to be?” he pried further.
“No. We’ve both agreed it’s just sex.”
“And she’s cool with that?” he asked in surprise.
“Yeah. Surprisingly so.”
“Wow.” He gave an impressed nod, but he didn’t seem entirely convinced in the way his lips pulled down slightly at the corners. I ignored it and sipped my drink, enjoying the smooth burn of the amber liquid.
My phone buzzed in my pocket just then and I pulled it out quickly, somehow knowing who it was. I was right. Gabriella’s name appeared on the screen, but I left it unopened, knowing Wyatt was eyeing me knowingly.
“What?” I said sharply, meeting his eye.
“I won’t blame you if you leave to go get some.” He nodded toward my phone that I had set on the bar top.
I rolled my eyes and waved him off, though I really wanted to see what she had texted. I could hold out. I wasn’t a slave to sex. I lifted my head with pride and took another sip of my drink. Wyatt just chuckled and shook his head, knowing my curiosity would get the better of me in a minute or so.
When I couldn’t hold out any longer, I picked up my phone and slid open the text.
Gabriella: Synergy Enterprise Xpedite meeting was moved up. Meet me at my place.
She was forward, and I fucking loved it. I pulled my wallet from my jacket pocket and set a hundred-dollar bill down. Wyatt watched me smugly.
“Do me a favor,” I said as I stood up from my barstool.
“What?” he asked curiously.
“Take that chick home.” I nodded toward the bartender who was showing off her cleavage to another patron. “So you have something to distract you from putting your nose in my business.”
Wyatt gave me a shit-eating grin and a profane gesture as I left him at the bar.
I could hear his low chuckle behind me as I headed out the door.
As I called my driver, who was just down the block, I thought about how this was so unlike me.
Never did I drop everything for a woman, but there was some strange magnetic pull with Gabriella.
She called, I came. In more ways than one.
Any chance I had to hook up with her, I took.
It felt like I was losing my damn mind, but it felt too good to stop.