Chapter 20 #2
She didn’t have anything prepared, so she answered in the most honest way. “I’m not filing on Monday.”
Alexandra didn’t move. For three or four seconds, nothing in her expression or posture changed at all, then there was a barely perceptible shift around her mouth as her lips tightened. Her eyes stayed firmly on Simone.
“But you have the votes you need,” she said.
“Yes.”
“You have Patricia’s brief.”
“Yes,” Simone repeated.
“You could file on Monday and have my company by the end of the quarter.”
“I know.”
Alexandra was quiet for a moment. She uncrossed her arms and put her hands on the counter behind her and gripped the edge of it. Simone watched as her knuckles whitened then eased.
“So why aren’t you?”
Simone knew she was going to have to answer this question in one form or another.
But the truth is, she could barely answer it to herself, much less another person and certainly not to Alexandra.
She should have scripted something, anything, on the drive over, but she didn’t.
Instead, she said, “I can’t do it to you. ”
Alexandra’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t do it to me, or you won’t?”
Simone kept her gaze steady on Alexandra’s eyes. “I can’t.”
Alexandra stared at her, and everything else besides the space between them fell away. The normal hum of kitchen appliances disappeared, and the fire shifted in their hearth, a coal collapsing into another coal, a sound so quiet Simone wouldn’t have heard it if not for the silence between them.
Finally, Alexandra spoke. “You could be lying.”
“You’re right,” Simone said. “I could be.”
“Or you could be running a softer version of the same play. Stand down on Monday, wait for me to read it as mercy and be grateful, and lower the rest of my defenses so I accept terms I otherwise wouldn’t have accepted.
” She paused, giving Simone a once-over.
“I’ve watched people do that. I’ve done it myself too. ”
Alexandra stood there assessing her—clinical and judging, no warmth in her expression. Simone didn’t flinch from the scrutiny.
“I know you have, and I can’t prove to you I’m not doing this. And I’m not going to insult your intelligence and try. You’ll see what I do or don’t do on Monday. Watch as long as you need to.”
“And in the meantime…?”
“In the meantime, I’m here.”
“Why?”
It was another question that Simone didn’t have a clearly formed answer to yet.
She couldn’t even tell herself why she was here much less communicate it to Alexandra.
“Because I want to be here. Quite frankly, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
Or with anyone else. It just took me until today to realize it, though. ”
Alexandra stayed pressed against the counter, but her shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch before she looked away out the window at the lake. She turned back to Simone. “I don’t know what to do with you. I don’t have anything left to give to anyone right now.”
“I’m not here to take anything from you.”
Alexandra closed her eyes. The afternoon light highlighted her face, and Simone could feel the pull to cross the kitchen, to stand close enough to touch her. Simone crossed the kitchen, the floor creaking under her feet.
Alexandra opened her eyes, her chin lowered to look at Simone. “I can’t decide if you’re very brave or very stupid.”
“Neither can I,” she whispered.
Simone raised a hand and let her thumb move across Alexandra’s cheekbone. Alexandra leaned down and rested her forehead against Simone’s, and they stood there, breathing each other’s air and not saying a word.
Simone felt the warmth of Alexandra’s breath mingling with her own, a soft rhythm that tugged at something deep in her chest. The kitchen around them still hummed faintly—the low buzz of the refrigerator, the distant tick of the grandfather clock in the hallway—but it all faded under the weight of this closeness.
Simone’s thumb lingered on Alexandra’s cheekbone, tracing the sharp line with a reverence she hadn’t allowed herself to express before.
No more games, no more maneuvering for control. Just this.
Alexandra’s eyes, half-lidded and shadowed with exhaustion, met hers for a fleeting second before drifting shut.
Simone noticed the faint tremor in her shoulders, the way her body seemed to lean in with surrender.
It mirrored her own unraveling, the acquisition that had loomed over them like a guillotine now dissolving into irrelevance.
Simone’s heart thudded, a mix of fear that this tenderness might shatter and a desire so sharp it bordered on ache.
She tilted her head upward slightly, her lips brushing Alexandra’s in the barest hint of an invitation.
The kiss started tentative, a press of their mouths that carried the sweetness of relief and salt.
Alexandra responded with a small sound, low in her throat, her hands coming up to frame Simone’s face.
Simone let herself sink into it, her fingers sliding into Alexandra’s hair, the strands cool and silky against her palm.
The taste of her—coffee lingering from earlier, mixed with something uniquely Alexandra—flooded Simone’s senses, making her knees weaken.
She pressed against Alexandra closer, their bodies aligning in the narrow space between the counter and the island, their hips brushing in a way that sent a spark of heat straight to her core.
Alexandra’s mouth opened under hers, and Simone took the cue, her tongue slipping past to explore with slow, deliberate strokes.
Simone felt Alexandra’s hands tighten in her shirt, bunching the fabric as if to pull her impossibly nearer.
A groan escaped Simone when Alexandra’s teeth grazed her lower lip, the sting pulling her deeper into the moment.
She could feel the heat building between them, the way Alexandra’s thigh nudged against hers, parting her legs just enough to create friction.
Simone’s hands roamed, sliding down Alexandra’s sides, her thumbs hooking under the hem of her blouse. She tugged it free from the waistband of her slacks, her fingertips grazing the warm skin of her lower back. Alexandra arched into the touch, her breath hitching against Simone’s lips.
“Simone,” she murmured, the word a quiet plea.
It undid her, and Simone kissed her harder, one hand cupping Alexandra’s breast through the thin fabric of her bra, her thumb circling the hardening nipple. Alexandra gasped, her body pressing forward, grinding softly against Simone’s leg.
The kitchen counter dug into Simone’s back as Alexandra pushed her against it, but she didn’t care.
She reveled in the urgency, the way Alexandra’s defenses had crumbled, leaving only this raw want.
Simone’s free hand slipped lower, palming Alexandra’s ass, squeezing the firm muscles through her pants.
Alexandra moaned into her mouth, her own fingers fumbling with the buttons of Simone’s blouse, popping them open one by one.
Cool air hit Simone’s skin, but Alexandra’s touch chased it away, her palm sliding over Simone’s bra, kneading with a hunger that made Simone’s pulse race.
They broke the kiss only to breathe, their foreheads pressed against each other again, but now their lips were swollen and breaths ragged.
Simone noticed the flush creeping up Alexandra’s neck and the way her chest rose and fell in quick bursts.
It stirred up something protective in her, mingled with the fire pooling low in her belly.
“Upstairs,” Simone said, her voice rough.
Alexandra nodded, her eyes dark with the same restrained longing, and took her hand, leading her toward the staircase.
The hallway blurred as they moved, their hands still linked, but Simone’s mind was alive with sensation—the slide of Alexandra’s fingers interlaced with hers, the faint scent of her bergamot perfume clinging in the air.
They climbed the stairs, pausing halfway when Alexandra turned and pulled her into another kiss, deeper this time, their bodies pressing against the wall.
Simone’s back hit the plaster, and she hooked a leg around Alexandra’s, drawing her in until their cores brushed through layers of clothing.
The friction was electric, a tease that made Simone’s clit throb with need.
By the time they reached the bedroom door, Simone’s blouse hung open and Alexandra’s hair was tousled from Simone’s fingers.
The room was bathed in the golden slant of light filtering in through the half-drawn blinds, casting long shadows across the king-sized bed with its rumpled white duvet.
Alexandra kicked the door shut behind them, and before Simone could speak, she was backed toward the bed, Alexandra’s hands shoving her blouse off her shoulders.
It fell to her feet, and Simone reached behind to unhook her own bra, letting it fall away.
Alexandra’s gaze raked over her exposed breasts, and her nipples pebbled under the attention.
Alexandra stepped closer, her mouth lowering to capture one peak.
Simone’s head fell back, a sharp inhale escaping as Alexandra’s tongue swirled around the sensitive bud, her teeth nipping just enough to send jolts straight to her pussy. She threaded her fingers through Alexandra’s hair, holding her there, the pull of her mouth a delicious ache.
“Fuck, Alexandra,” she breathed.