Chapter 52
Juniper
My heart feels like it's soaring, and for a few minutes, I don't know if I am the luckiest woman in the world or the craziest. Remington takes my hand as we make our way to the elevator.
We stop and wait for it to arrive, and I can feel my heart racing as I look at him.
"So, you said you want Chinese food?" he asks softly as he looks at me.
His dark eyes are intense and full of sexual promise.
I lick my lips and nod. "That sounds good.
" I can still feel his lips on mine, his hands on my skin, his thumb on my nipple teasing me.
I can still feel his hardness pressed against my stomach.
I want him, and I know that if he were to ask me if I wanted him to be my first, if he were to promise to make it special, I wouldn't deny him because, even though he doesn't love me, I'm very much falling for him.
The ding of the elevator alerts us to the fact that it's time to go down.
I let go of his hand as we step inside, and he presses the button to take us to the ground floor.
He gives me a secret smile as we stand there.
I feel his finger on the tip of my nose, once again trailing across my neck.
“You’re so beautiful, Juniper,” he says as he stares at me. I push my glasses up the bridge of my nose again and run my fingers through my hair. I smile widely at him. I don’t even care if he’s lying because in this moment, he makes me feel beautiful.
"I have a secret," I say as the elevator moves down.
"What's your secret? Wait, don't tell me you're a princess."
"No, I'm not a princess. I wish."
"Do you?" he asks. "If you could be a princess, would you want to be one?"
"I don't know." I shrug. "I guess I've never really thought about it."
"Would you want to marry a prince?"
"No," I say. Inside, I'm shouting that the only person I would ever want to marry is him, but I know better than to say that out loud. I don't want to freak him out. Especially not now that we've crossed the line from just employee-employer to something more.
"So, what's your favorite Chinese food?" he says as the elevator beeps and alerts us to the fact that we're on the lobby level. He stands back and lets me walk out first. I love that he's a gentleman.
"I'm kind of basic. I like sweet and sour pork and chicken fried rice. What about you?" I say with a little bit of a giggle.
"I'm kind of basic, as well, I guess. I like Mongolian beef and vegetable lo mein." He grins. “But hey, we can be basic together, right?”
“I don’t think anything about you is basic, Remington Parker."
"Oh, and why is that?"
"I don't know. Because you just make me feel like there is a lot more going on in that brain of yours." He grins for a second and starts chuckling. "What's so funny?"
"I thought you were going to say something else."
"What did you think I was going to say?"
"Well, you started with the words you make me feel." He winks at me. "And my mind kind of went somewhere else."
"Where did it go?"
"Directly to the gutter." He grabs my hand and squeezes. "But I am sure you would've figured that out."
"To the gutter, huh? How far into the gutter?"
"Let's just say it went pretty far."
We step out into the brisk New York air, and he gazes at me before looking left and right. "You want to walk or get a cab?"
“I'm okay with walking," I say, nodding. "Do you know where we're going?"
"I know a little place not far from here," he says. "I think you'll like it."
"Ooh, you do, do you?"
"Yeah." He grins. "I do. So, I want to apologize," he says. "It wasn't very..."
"Don't," I say, shaking my head. "You don't have to worry that you've stepped over a line." I start laughing. "I mean, you've stepped over several lines now. So if I was going to be upset, I'd already be in HR's office."
He shudders. "I am really messing this up, aren't I?"
"No, you're not messing it up because I think I kind of like it."
"You do, do you?"
"I do. In fact…" I stare deeply into his eyes. "I think I may take you up on your challenge."
"Oh?" I see him stop. "You're not joking with me, are you?"
"I don't know," I say quickly, wondering if I've made a mistake. "I mean, we do have to have some ground rules, though.”
“What are the ground rules?”
“We cannot have sex,” I say quickly. “I do want my first time to be special.”
He nods solemnly. "And I want your first time to be special, as well. I mean, I guess I'll be taking your tongue virginity."
"Sorry, what?" I make a face of him. "What does that mean?"
"I mean, there's dick virginity, and there's tongue virginity, and I guess there's finger virginity, as well."
"What are you talking about?"
He grins. "Well, when a man inserts two fingers inside of a woman"—he leans forward and kisses me—"that's finger virginity." He sucks on his fingers. “We’ve already enjoyed that fun.”
"Yeah. Okay." I blush.
"Then when a man inserts his tongue inside of her, that's tongue virginity."
"Oh, okay. I get it."
"Has a man ever gone down on you before?"
I lick my lips nervously. "I mean, no, not really."
He grins. "So, you're okay with me taking that?"
"Are you saying you want to go down on me?"
"I'm saying that I want to do absolutely everything that I can with you, Juniper, but I also want to be respectful. Fuck, you don't know how hard I am right now."
"I think I can guess," I say as I slip my hand down the front of his pants and squeeze. I swallow hard as I feel how thick and wide his cock is.
He groans. "If you continue to touch me like that, I don't think we're going to make it to the restaurant."
"Oh, then where would we make it to?"
"My place," he says. "And barely inside before I lift up that..." He pauses. "Oh, shit. I just remembered."
"Yep. You have your daughter and Lila and Skye there, so I don't think we're going to rush back to your place and do anything unless you want to traumatize all of them."
"We could go back to your place," he says, eyes searching mine.
"We'll see. Depends on how good the dinner is."
"Okay," he says, nodding. "I see how it is."
"What? A girl's hungry, and you made me go to work for nothing."
"Well, you didn't actually technically do any work." He laughs.
"I mean, I came into the office."
"True. I'll make sure you get an extra $5,000 bonus in your next paycheck for that."
"No," I say, swatting him on the shoulder. "I'm not going to ask for $5,000 just for coming in on a Friday evening."
"And that's why you're getting it. You didn't ask, but I want to give it."
“But I didn't even do any work. I..."
"I ruined your date," he says softly, and I made you come into work under false pretenses. Let me give you this $5,000 bonus, unless you don't need it, of course."
"You know how much money I make. $5,000 would definitely be helpful.” I grin. “Okay. I mean, if you want to give that to me."
"I want to give you so much more," he says in a deep voice, and I burst out laughing.
“Was that meant to be sexy, Remington?"
"I mean, I was hoping you would find me sexy, but maybe you don't."
"Or maybe I do." I reach up and touch the side of his face. "You're really handsome, but I guess you know that. I'm sure all the women tell you that."
"I mean, a couple have told me that I'm the most devastatingly gorgeous man they've ever seen." He grins. "But what's one more woman?"
"You're too much," I say, slapping him on the arm again.
"Hey, I might like that a little too much," he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me into him. "In fact, I like it a lot when you touch me."
"Remington, I don't know what to say to that."
"Just say that you'll keep doing it."
"Whatever."
I grin as we stop outside a restaurant called China Bistro. "You are basic, aren't you?"
"What?" he says.
"Even the restaurant name is pretty basic."
He grins. "Sometimes the more basic it is, the better." We walk inside, and immediately, an older Asian woman comes rushing forward.
"Ah, Mr. Parker. So good to see you."
"So good to see you as well, June. This is my assistant, Juniper.”
My heart drops slightly at his words, but I reason to myself that it’s not like he’s going to call me his girlfriend or even his friend. I am first and foremost his assistant. “Oh, nice to meet you,” she says. “You like Chinese food, as well?"
"Love it." I look over at Remington. "You must come here a lot if she knows your name."
"Maybe I come here a couple of times a week." He grins. "Well, not recently, but I used to when I first started. Now I come maybe once every other week."
"Wow, and you only get Mongolian beef?"
"No, I get other stuff."
"Is this where you bring all your dates?" I hope the jealousy in my voice is not showing.
"No, I have never brought a date here." He pauses and looks over at me. "Unless you count tonight."
My breath catches in my throat. Is he saying what I think he is saying? "Is this a date?" I ask him, my words sounding choppy.
"I don't know." He shrugs. “Is it?”
“No,” I say quickly. “It’s just two coworkers having dinner and then ...”
“And then going back to one of their places to have oral sex,” he says, raising a single eyebrow and leaning forward.
“I didn’t say that we were going to go back to my place, and I didn't say that..."
"You're the one who said you wanted to issue me the challenge, and I figured it would be back at your place.
I mean, I could get down on my knees under this table right now, pull those pants and panties down, and stick my nose right up in your pussy and eat you out like you've never been eaten before.
Quite literally." He grins. "Or we could wait until we got to the comfort of your own home so that your screams and moans weren't witnessed by"—he looks around the busy restaurant—"fifty other people in New York, but that's up to you. What do you prefer?"
"There's no way that you would go down on me right here, right now," I stare at him. "You are a top attorney in the city. You're not going to do that."
"You don't think I would?" He chuckles. "Thank you, June," he says as she brings two glasses of water and two menus to the table.