Chapter 23
His mouth moved expertly on mine, releasing some pressure only to reapply it again in a new way.
My hands, which had been resting on his back, apparently shocked into inactivity, finally awakened and wanted to explore every inch of him.
They started by traveling his strong arms, feeling his taut muscles holding me tight against him.
Then they moved across his shoulders and up into his thick, wavy hair, where they grabbed hold.
His hand drifted from my lower back to my ass to my thigh, which he lifted up so he could lower me back onto the bed, climbing on after me.
He stretched alongside me, my right hip connected to his left as he rested on his side.
I pulled his upper half onto mine. He relented, our mouths meeting again.
His fingers found a strip of exposed skin at my waist and traced the line until my body was on fire.
I let out a whimper. He gathered my hands in his and pulled them above my head, trapping them against the mattress.
I arched against him and his mouth moved from mine to my neck and then lower, his tongue tracing along my collarbone. His hand found my breast, teasing my nipple through my bra until it pebbled.
I wanted him on top of me, to feel the full weight of him.
Unable to pull him over with my hands trapped, I wrapped my leg around his waist and tugged.
He got the message, propping himself up with one elbow and lowering his entire body onto mine.
I could feel his pleasure, hard against the softness of my stomach.
I arched again, pressing into him and then grinding against him.
His moan practically brought me to a climax all by itself. His mouth was back on mine, his tongue both soft and urgent. He tasted like mint and beer and lust, all my lust.
“I need my hands back,” I said against his mouth.
As much as it turned me on that he was in control here, I wanted to touch him.
To dig my fingers into his back. To rake my hands through his hair.
He loosened his grip and my hands hungrily dove under his shirt.
His skin was hot and smooth under my touch.
His hand slid up my back to my bra strap, which he easily unhooked.
“Your friends are so lucky to have you,” I said against his mouth.
“So are yours,” he said, kissing along my jaw as his hand worked its way under my loosened bra to cup my breast. His thumb circled my nipple until I whimpered in protest and then he pinched it firmly, causing me to gasp with pleasure.
It took me a moment, in my completely high-on-endorphins state, to feel the buzzing against my thigh.
It took me another moment to realize it wasn’t something he was magically doing and that it was actually my phone.
He seemed to come to the same realization at the same time as me because he rolled onto his back with a groan.
“I’ll turn it off,” I said. I thought I’d left it in my bag.
It stopped buzzing. I pulled it out of my pocket and was about to power it off when it started buzzing again.
“It’s Sloane,” I said. “She normally doesn’t call twice in a row like this.”
“You should answer,” he assured me, pulling his shirt down and adjusting his pants near his crotch.
I cringed, but I wasn’t faring much better; every part of me throbbed with desire. I swiped to answer. “Hello.”
“I’m sorry to bug you,” Sloane started. “How is the website coming along?”
“I, uh…” The website. That’s why I was here. “Yeah, almost done. Is that why you called?”
“No. A courier just delivered an envelope to the door for you.”
“A courier? At eight o’clock on a Friday night?”
“It’s nine.”
Was it? “At nine o’clock at night?”
“I know. I thought that was weird too. I wouldn’t have called but it seems official and important. It’s from the agency.”
“The agency?”
“Your old work?”
I sat up and turned sideways to let my feet hit the floor, hoping that would help me feel more grounded. “Open it.”
“You want me to open it?” she asked.
“Will you?”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Behind me, Oliver had sat up as well. I wanted him to put a hand on my back or run a finger down my arm, anything to remind me of what had just happened between us.
Anything to keep my brain from jolting back into the reality of my overwhelming life.
He didn’t. He swung his legs to the floor, stood, and disappeared into the bathroom.
On the phone, I heard the zipper-like rip of a cardboard envelope being opened.
“It looks like a contract or something.” She flipped through pages, or at least that’s what it sounded like she was doing. “Oh, here are some tabs.”
“Like the sign here tabs? Rob wants me to sign something?”
“No, it looks like a copy of an old contract. Did you sign something when you started there?”
I thought back. A shiver went through me and I pulled the blanket up and around my shoulders. “Yeah, I think I did.”
“Oh…” she said.
“What?”
“He’s tabbed the parts that talk about how you aren’t allowed to solicit his clients now that you’ve left.”
“Solicit?”
“Reach out to, offer your agenting services to, you know, that thing we talked about doing.”
I knew what solicit meant, it had just taken my mind a second to understand it in this context. “Does it mention anything about our shared clients?”
“Yes. They’re included in the no-soliciting section.”
“And the people he’s rejected?” I asked.
“You’re not allowed to use personal information about authors you’ve gained through working at his agency if you find yourself as his competitor.”
“He knows I’m going to open my own agency?”
“Or work for another agent,” she said.
“Oh, right. That’s probably what he thinks I’m going to do.”
“It’s possible one of the editors you talked to this week spilled the beans about you becoming an agent.”
“Possibly. So much for the head start I thought I had.”
“How is he going to know?” she said. “He’s not going to remember every author who ever reached out to him.”
“Like I said before, the publishing world is very small. Things have a way of coming out.”
“This doesn’t say anything about any authors, past or present, reaching out to you . Just that you can’t reach out to them. I guess you’re going to have to put yourself out there and hope they come.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose to stop my stinging eyes.
“Margot, this changes nothing. You can do this.”
I nodded even though I knew she couldn’t see me. “I can’t believe he sent that to me. He’s the one who screwed me over, not the other way around.”
“We knew Rob was an asshole. He’s very good at proving it.”
“Yeah.”
“Go finish your website. You’re going to need that. I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Thanks, Sloane.” We hung up the phone and I threw it onto the bed beside me like the bearer of bad news that it was.
I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders.
My mind spun. Maybe I’d have to pay for advertising.
I couldn’t afford that; I already didn’t have enough savings to last me as long as I knew I’d need it for.
Oliver stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later and our eyes found each other. The tension in my shoulders relaxed a notch.
“Everything okay?” he asked from where he stood ten feet away.
“Not really. Just Rob reminding me that anything I learned while working for him I need to expunge from my brain. He’d probably want me to get my memory wiped if it were possible.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I…” I loosened my hold on his blanket and it slid down my shoulders and back onto his bed.
I stood and reached behind me, up under my shirt, trying to rehook my bra.
“I should probably go read through the contract. Regroup.” Bras were easier to unhook unseen than they were to hook, and I struggled. “Hey, help a friend out,” I said.
He chuckled and closed the distance between us. “I got it.”
His fingers fumbled on my bra strap, but eventually I felt it tighten into place. He pulled my shirt down and ran his hand down my back a few times. “What can I do for you?”
“You’re doing it. Thanks for the website help.”
“Of course.”
I turned back toward him and gripped the sides of his T-shirt. “In case it wasn’t clear.” I nodded toward the bed. “I don’t do that with my friends.”
He let out a loud laugh. “Yeah, me neither, obviously.”
“Are you ready to try the get-it-out-of-our-systems approach yet?”
The look of hurt that flashed through his eyes wiped the smile off my face. “I’m kidding,” I said. “We got this. We have self-control. It was just a setback. A slipup. I can keep my hands to myself.” I clasped them behind me and took a step back. “See? We’re still getting to know each other.”
He gave a whisper of a laugh. “I’m worried I’m making your life more complicated.”
“You really do think too much.”
“You have no idea.”
“I should probably go. Can you…?”
“I can finish up the website tonight and get it to you tomorrow.”
“Thank you so much.” I spun around, made short work of the hall, collected my things from the office, and headed for the front door.
He was there unlocking it for me when I arrived. “Good night.”
“Good night.” I stepped onto the lit porch and down the two steps toward my car.
“Margot?”
I looked over my shoulder.
He smiled that killer smile at me. “You owe me a coffee.”
My heart stuttered in my chest and I smiled back. Despite what I’d told him, I wasn’t actually sure I had one single ounce of self-control when it came to Oliver.