Chapter 29 #2
“I didn't tell anyone at work, and I asked Anders to keep it a secret. And I’m glad we did. Can you imagine what people would have said when Anders left me in charge? Can you imagine what Piotr would have said?”
I stare at each of them. “It was hard enough as it was. How much attention would he have paid to what I said if he’d known? He would not have been able to conceive that Anders could separate his sexual desires from his company’s welfare.”
“So why are you telling us now?” Ginny asks.
“Because Effie knows.”
“It’s that serious?” Nur asks. She’s a mother. She understands.
I nod. It was serious from the start. That’s what Anders knew, and that’s why he proposed. He gave up control so that I could have it. Because he knew I needed it. And he trusted that I'd eventually catch up.
“Well, there's only one thing left,” says Chloe. “Is he any good at sex?”
“I absolutely, categorically, will never tell you that.”
“Well, he’s shit hot at everything else. He’s got to be bad at something. It’s only fair.” Ginny complains.
“Except the world is not a fair place.” I pat her gently on the shoulder. She can make of that what she will.
Nur squeezes my hand again. “We are all really happy for you,” she says with a stern glance at the younger ones. “You've been alone a long time. We're just glad you found someone who will treat you well.”
“He does treat me well.” And that’s the end of it.
I don’t see Chloe again until late afternoon when she hurries up to my desk as I’m closing everything down, ready to go and fetch Effie. Her eyes are alight and she’s panting slightly.
“We’ve got him!” she whispers urgently.
“What?” I continue putting stuff away, my mind already having switched to my myriad of household concerns, like do I need to pick up milk.
“Piotr! We’ve found something!”
My head comes up. She has my whole attention.
“We looked for any emails or messages going to Wobbegong, but there wasn't anything other than round robin stuff. Then we looked for any emails that might be going to the Wobbegong CEO personally, or any sort of version of his name. Nothing.”
She pauses, “Then I thought to search for the information Piotr might have sent. And bingo! We found a direct message to RuinLord.” She holds out a phone, showing me the evidence. “But I can’t find who that is.”
“RuinLord?” I sit up straight. Where have I heard that? Then my brain fires, ping, ping, ping, and I’m back in the conference hall with Piotr staring at a bald man.
My smile shines wide. “It’s a gamertag.” I almost can’t believe this. “Used by Conrad Mars.”
“The CEO of Wobbegong.” She breathes out the last words.
I flop back into the chair. I never realised how much stress I was carrying from the threat of Piotr’s legal action until this moment.
“Oh my God! Chloe, you are a genius.” I’ve never wanted to kiss a girl until now.
She drops her eyes, embarrassed by the praise. “It wasn’t just me. The IT team helped.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I say. “Do you want to be the one to tell Anders? He’s in his office. You can go straight through.”
Her eyes widen as alarm spreads over her face. “Can’t you do it?” she asks.
When I nod, she flees.
It feels good to be vindicated. There was always a niggling doubt in my mind that I’d got it wrong, that Cerium and its employees would pay for my mistake.
That’s the price of leadership and actually, I realise I don’t want it.
If I had to deal with things like that every day, I’d never sleep.
I’m sure you get used to carrying that level of stress, but I don’t enjoy it. Not the way Anders does.
I knock before opening the door. For once, he’s behind his desk. But he pushes back his chair and stands when he sees me. We cross the room, moving towards each other until we stop just short of touching.
“You’re looking happy,” he says. “What is it?”
I look up at him, my grin widening with the joy of being the one to give him the news. “Chloe found a DM from Piotr to Conrad Mars, giving the original launch date, sent the day of the meeting where we decided it. We have our proof.”
He pulls me to him and places his lips on my forehead. “Good. But I never doubted.” His hands hold my hips.
“I did.” My reply is spoken to his chest.
“You should learn to trust your intuition.”
“Yeah, well, my intuition thought Mike was the hottest thing I'd ever come across. And look how that turned out.”
I feel a chuckle shaking his body. “I don't think that was your intuition talking.”
“You may be right,” I admit. “It must have been my lizard brain.”
“Hey, now you’re underestimating lizards.” His lips are somewhere near my ear. “Your intuition chose me,” he croons.
He’s fishing. It’s cute. Anders Anderson III is looking for affirmation. I let him have it. “Everything chose you.”
“I'll call you tonight,” he whispers, his lips caressing my ear. “After Effie is asleep.”
“Effie!” I wrench myself out of his grip. “I’m going to be late.” Again.
I dash out of his office without stopping for the kiss he was working up to. When I get to her childcare, Effie has her ‘you’re trying my patience’ face on.
She holds her tongue until we are home. Then she says, “We need to talk about dinner tomorrow.”
“What about it?”
“If Anders is to be my new stepdad…”
I interrupt that thought. “Nothing is fixed. It might not work out.”
“Exactly,” she emphasises. “Particularly if you cook for him.”
I object. “There’s nothing wrong with my cooking!”
“Do you remember the shepherd's pie?” Her mouth twists. The lid had come off the salt as I was making it. It was inedible. “And the homemade birthday cake?” I’d forgotten the sugar.
The curse of a child with a good memory. “What do you suggest?”
“Don’t try anything fancy. Stick to something you’re good at, like macaroni cheese. We want him to come back.” I really don’t think it’s my cooking that will keep Anders coming back but she’s too young to know that.
“Macaroni cheese, it is,” I agree.
Anders doesn't call until ten o'clock, long after Effie is asleep. When he does, I recognise his surroundings. “Are you still at work?”
“Yeah,” he says. “Steve's crew will be coming online soon. And I want a word with them before I go home.” The engineers at Cerium Malaysia are running double shifts. So are we, in a last intense sprint for the finish. Anders won’t stop working until long after I’m asleep.
“Do you remember last night?” He grins at me, and it's lascivious. Even his dimple appears to be winking.
Oh yes. Boy, do I remember last night. I can already feel the heat pooling at the thought of what I did to him.
“When you rode me hard and your breasts bounced each time you drove down.” His voice is lower, almost a growl. “That’s now my favourite memory.”
My lips curl at the praise.
“You have the most fabulous breasts. I wish I could see them now.”
And suddenly, I’m feeling brave. I unbutton the front of my pyjamas, pushing the cotton to the side, giving him full view.
He moans. “Touch them for me,” he says.
My vagina clenches at the thought. “Show me yourself.”
The camera pans down and I can see the ridge in his trousers. “Take it out,” I demand.
The view shakes as he unzips himself with one hand and exposes his fully erect manhood. I wet my lips.
“Touch them,” he says.
Fair enough. I prop the phone on a pillow and move both hands to my tits, tweaking my nipples. His cock surges and his hand strokes. Another bolt of lust courses through me. We move together. “Now your clit,” he says and I obey. I like this.
I hope his door is locked because I don’t want to stop. I’m on my knees on my bed, one hand between my thighs, one on my breasts, my eyes glued to the phone screen and his cock.
And then he groans. Shudders overtake me at the sound as the tension in me bursts.
“Oh, fuck, Cora. You’re so beautiful.” The words are a moan. “It’s killing me I’m not with you.”
The joy that brings is incredible. “Tomorrow,” I promise.
Then we say our goodnights and I snuggle down.
Turns out Cora, the boring old mum, is a phone sex goddess.