19. Taylor
CHAPTER 19
Taylor
“ D o you think they know?” I tug nervously at my skirt, glancing up at Austin for a look of reassurance.
“Seriously?” He doesn’t seem worried at all.
“We’re both arriving late, which we never do, and we’re arriving together.” I keep my voice lowered, even though it’s only the two of us on the elevator. “Which we also never do.”
“I highly doubt that our employees will correctly assume I was blowing your back out all night just because we’re arriving late to work—together. Oh, and two more times this morning.” He swats my ass and my mouth falls open. “Don’t act like my crassness doesn’t turn you on.”
I blush because he’s right and also because I’m now turned on.
Shit.
“I just don’t want it to be weird.”
“Then don’t let it be weird.” He smiles. “But maybe wear your hair down today.”
“What? Why?” I reach up to my slicked back ponytail. “Did I mess it up?”
“I didn’t realize how carried away I got with you last night.” He drags his finger over my neck, just above my collar. “Fuck,” he whispers, leaning in to press his lips to the spot.
“Don’t!” I push him back, reaching up to undo my hair and fluff it out. “Not at work.”
“Bossy,” he murmurs, just as the doors open to my floor.
“Don’t forget I need you in that weekly eleven a.m. meeting today.” I turn to remind him since he’s normally not a mandatory attendee for it. “We’re going over the budget for next fiscal year.”
“I’ll be there,” he confirms but leans forward, reaching his arm out to pull me back into the elevator for a quick but scorching kiss. “Have a good day, baby.”
I half stumble backward through the door just before they close between us, a mix of alarm bells and excitement ringing in my head.
The ease with which baby has quickly replaced my name in his vocabulary and then my complete lack of self-control around him making me realize this could never just be a fun, sexy experience in my life. This is quickly venturing into oh shit territory faster than I realized and what’s really terrifying is that I don’t want to fight it.
The butterflies that have been dormant for so long are finally making a comeback. I float into my office, placing my bag on my desk and getting into my workday as flashes of last night replay in my head.
Not just the intense moments of excitement or the orgasms that took me to heights of physical pleasure I didn’t know existed but the way he looked at me when he made love to me. The way he whispered over and over again in my ear this morning how beautiful I am. How long he’s waited to touch me, to hold me and feel my body beneath his.
Even at our best, before the cracks started to form and the doubts started to creep in, Noah and I didn’t connect like that. No man has made me feel that way before and it’s terrifying. Not because I’m scared to lose it but because I’m terrified of what it means.
I’m falling in love with Austin faster than I imagined possible or maybe I’m just realizing I’ve been in love with him all along.
I push the thoughts from my head as best I can, focusing my attention on the meeting I’m presenting in the next few hours.
“Good morning.” My back is to the room when I hear Austin’s voice.
“Good morning,” Miguel responds, along with my assistant and our own legal team.
I straighten my shoulders, keeping my eyes away from Austin as I hand out the reports we’ll be going over. I know damn well that if he looks at me, the way I know he’s going to look at me, I’ll lose my train of thought and look like an idiot.
“I know you all were sent a copy of this budget last month, so I fully expect us to be able to make any final changes today after discussions.” I launch into the heart of the meeting, keeping myself focused.
A few questions pop up here and there as we walk through all of the different sections of the budget. I step around the conference table, my eyes quickly passing over Austin. Thankfully, he’s distracted, his eyes focused on my legs. I glance around to the others, trying to gauge if they can see where he’s looking, but they’re all focused on the screen behind me or their own reports.
After the meeting concludes, a few of us linger, having one-on-one conversations as we slowly gather our items. I’m the last to leave. I reach for my laptop and turn to leave just as Austin walks back into the conference room.
“Someone was struggling to pay attention today.” I smirk, proud of myself for not losing focus.
“About that.” He chuckles, taking a look back down at my legs again.
“Oh God, what now?” I look at my shoes, thinking maybe I somehow stepped in something.
“As much as it turns me on to be the reason for your bruised knees.” He reaches his hand down and lifts the hem of my skirt an inch. “And as much as I enjoy looking at them, you might want to switch to pants for a few days.”
“Oh my God.” I repeat the phrase several more times as I stare down at my freshly bruised knees. Between the angry red scrapes of the rug burn and the brownish-purple hue of my skin, it’s pretty evident that I was on my knees for a considerable length of time. “Oh my God!” I say again, this time punctuating each word with a smack against Austin’s chest which only makes him laugh.
“I can’t apologize for it,” he says with a cocky grin. “We both know it wouldn’t be sincere.”
“This is so not okay,” I grunt. “How did I get beat up after one night with you?” I try to exam any other parts of my skin that are showing today, looking for other telltale signs of what I was up to last night.
“To be fair.” He unbuttons two buttons on his shirt and pulls it to the side. “I’m not totally unscathed.” There’s a much less obvious bruise on his shoulder but the distinct outline of a set of human teeth make it clear that’s where I bit him.
“Oh.” I blush, starting to reach my hand out to trace it when I remember we’re standing in a glass conference room. I glance past him, two employees walking toward us down the hallway. He notices, fixing his shirt back into place and buttoning it.
“In all seriousness though”—his voice drops—“how are you feeling?”
“Sore.” That heavy feeling hits my lower belly again when Austin’s eyes really settle in on me. He looks at me like everything else around him disappears. I clear my throat. “But good.”
“Satisfied?” he murmurs, not even noticing when the two men pass by the conference room window.
I nod.
“Good.” He is looking at my lips again, his tongue darting out to lick his lips at the same time. “Mmm.”
That moan does it to me every time. I don’t think he even realizes he does it when he’s holding back from kissing me. The thing is, I think he’s looked at me like this more than I realized over the years, holding himself back far longer than I realize.
“Something on your mind?” I tease, cocking my head to one side. The flirtatious glimmer in his eye has turned dark in a second, his brow furrowing as he slides his hands into his pockets.
“Get to your office before I do something we both regret.”
His tone lets me know he’s not kidding. And judging by the way this man doesn’t seem to give a single fuck what anyone thinks about his feelings for me, he’ll act on the threat without a second thought.
I’m halfway through shutting down for the day when there’s a soft tap against my door, Austin casually leaning against my doorframe.
“Heading to yoga?”
“I was considering skipping tonight.”
“Any particular reason why?” He pushes away from the doorframe and that’s when I notice he has his suit jacket slung over his arm, his keys in his hands.
“Thanks to a very demanding workload from my business partner last night, I’m pretty exhausted.” I can’t keep the silly smile, that same one that seems to stretch my lips to their limit since last night, off my face when I flirt with him.
“He sounds like a dick.” He loops his arm around my waist. “The kind that will only add more to your workload if you skip your class.”
“Ugh,” I groan, burying my face in his chest.
“It’ll keep you limber,” he whispers. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”
“We?” I pull back to look at him.
“Is it okay if I go with you?”
“Oh, yeah, I didn’t realize you’d want to.”
“I enjoy spending time with you, Taylor,” he says, his expression sincere. “Not just when we’re having sex.”
I tense against him, the mention of us sleeping together while he’s holding me in our workplace still making me uncomfortable. He must see it on my face because he releases me and steps back.
“Apologies.” He smiles. “I forgot your rule.”
“Now we both have one.” I smile.
“Yes, well, you never respect my no work talk after four thirty on Friday rule so on second thought…” He reaches out to grab me again, but I jump out of his reach with a laugh.
He doesn’t keep his hand from the small of my back in the elevator, though, another intimate gesture I’m not even sure he’s aware of that he does. But my body is always fully aware, every single time.
We make a quick stop at my apartment, Austin already having a spare workout outfit in his office that he keeps there.
“Ugh, I can’t go like this.” I shake my head, tugging at my top to try and cover the marks on my neck. “I’m going to have to change into leggings and a long-sleeved shirt.”
“What’s wrong?” He reaches his hand out to stop my hurried attempt to pull the shirt off.
“Look at me.” I gesture to the bite mark that is more pronounced today, the bruises really settling in on my upper thighs and knees as well. “I can’t hide this.”
He steps behind me, turning me in the floor-length mirror so that I’m looking at my own reflection. His fingertips gingerly trace the mark, his eyes following.
“What bothers you about them being visible?”
I tug my shorts down, the marks on my inner thighs only visible if they ride up.
“It’s obvious what they’re from.” My exasperation is evident in my snippy remark. But Austin remains calm, his hand pressing me back against him.
“You don’t want people to know you’re a woman who has sex?”
“No, it’s not that. I mean, yes, it isn’t anyone else’s business if I’m having sex or not.”
“You’re right.” His hand brushes against my hair. “It isn’t anyone’s business what I do with your body, but that’s not what these marks signify. They’re not here so that people know you have sex.”
“No?” Goosebumps pepper my skin as he continues to gently drag his fingers over my neck and shoulders.
“They’re there as reminders.” His fingers slip beneath my sports bra, running softly over my breast. “So that every time I see them”—he tugs my bra down, exposing one breast—“I’m reminded that only I get to mark you.” He pinches my nipple. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yes.” I flinch at the pain.
He spins me around, clamping his teeth down on my breast and sucking. When he releases me, there’s another mark encircling my nipple, teeth marks already dark purple. He kisses it, pulling my bra back into place.
“And it also better serve as a reminder to you, who you belong to.” His eyes burn into mine. “Because when you were bouncing in that spin class”—he cups my breast, his hand sliding up my throat as he snakes his tongue around my earlobe, biting down softly—“all I could think about was wanting every single man in that room who was watching your tits to know that you are mine.”
That line echoes through my head the entire class. Along with a myriad of half a dozen other naughty things he said to me on the drive over.
“You know what the best part of going to yoga with you tonight is?” He drops his sweaty shirt on the floor of my hallway as he reaches for me. My shoes are kicked off farther down the hallway, my shorts halfway down my thighs.
“The staring? The stretching? The way you kept making sex eyes at me in the mirror, making me lose my balance?” I toss my shorts at him once they’re down my legs. He swats them out of the air, lunging for me. He grabs my arm, both of us tumbling into each other, our mouths crashing into each other in a lust-filled haze.
“The fact that this time, I get to try out some of those moves we just did, only naked.” He spins me around, pushing against my back. “Matter of fact, get into that downward dog position again.”
We both fall into a jumbled, laughing pile of limbs on my floor. Austin takes the opportunity to tickle my sides. I laugh for several minutes, my stomach starting to ache. But when the laughter dies down and I’m left beneath him, stretched out, that underlying tension that’s always present takes over.
And once again, instead of that panicked feeling of losing control, of not knowing, a calm sense of relief washes over me. Like this is exactly where I’m supposed to be—in Austin’s arms.
All at once, it feels right. That giddy, silly kind of excitement you get when your high school crush finally asks you out. When all of the heartbreak in your past seems worth it and almost trivial.
Like for once, you’re not overthinking it.