And now he was the man who twisted his head to face me as I stepped on a twig. The crack sounded loud. Too loud.
We stopped. Both of us. Trapped in the moment as our eyes crashed together across the gap in the hedgerow.
Then his stare slipped down. Slowly. His slipped down pink satin, over my heaving chest and the fingers pressed tight between my legs.
To everything.
To every part the dirty little girl I was daring to be on my birthday.
His fingers stayed tight around the other girl’s neck, and I recognised her. I recognised her as the office admin girl Dad had given a lift home to after school the week previous.
Her eyes widened to match mine, her mouth dropping open just like mine as I stepped backwards. But she didn’t move. Not a muscle.
Mr Lindon held her way too tightly.
I shook my head and muttered my apologies in the aftermath, but my dad’s dirty hero boss didn’t say a word in return. His thrusts were slow, and his eyes were filth.
He was filth.
And that was the moment, as I backed away, mumbling sorries. That was the moment I first discovered that Mr Lindon wasn’t just my daddy’s boss. Not even close.
Mr Lindon was my daddy’s dirty boss. My daddy’s very dirty boss.And it turned out it wouldn’t be all that long until he was my very dirty boss too.Chapter OneFaithTwo years later… Almost…Hell, how there was a shudder of nerves down deep as I followed my dad into Mr Lindon’s office that Monday morning. Okay. Well, not just nerves. Nerves and excitement. A crazily heady combination. One that had been a long time coming.
I kept my smile bright as I stepped on by Fiona, the receptionist at the main office counter, and held up my hand in a wave. She held hers up to her chest in response, as though I was some kind of prize specimen in my fresh little good girl blouse and pencil skirt, and I realised all over again how much they’d all seen me grow up these past few years.
I was taller. Curvier. Every bit the blonder young woman for the years at college.
Well, not quite all of them had seen me grow up these past few years. Mr Lindon himself had steered well clear of me since that birthday afternoon. The one that had seen me staring open-mouthed at him balls-deep in Penny Andrews before I’d backed the hell out of there like a babbling fool.
Cringe.
It really had been cringe, and I really had tossed and turned over the girl-turned-teenager aspects ever since. My fingers had been down my knickers way more than enough to have my cheeks burning. Still, Mr Lindon himself had stayed away without a word on the topic, and I’d kept my mouth shut too.
So yeah, I’d stayed away. Quiet and a good girl, keeping my grades coming okay, all the while dreaming up a future. A future where I could one day be as dirty as Penny Andrews. As much of a bad girl as Penny Andrews. These new days coming were… different…
Finally, college had kicked out and Dad had started up with the summer job ideas, and it was finally becoming likely that I’d get to spend some actual time with Mr Lindon on some fateful level. Pleaseeeeee. Oh, please…
Please, please let the fates hook me up with Mr Lindon finally on some fateful level.
My palms were clammy to the max as I kept following Dad in the direction of his hot boss, nodding and waving to the assembled finance team before stepping on through to the management suite at the back of the Lindon Associates offices. My cheeks felt achy with the sheer weight of the grin on my face, and my steps felt short and quick and stupid as I clutched my file to my chest and kept on going.
I knew Dad had already run my summer job idea past his boss and got the thumbs-up, but it still felt a precarious opportunity somehow. Fragile. A fragile dream I was desperate to explore.
That’s an understatement.
“Remember,” Dad said to me over his shoulder. “Mr Lindon is always busy. You be sure to make the most of his every little gem of insight. You can learn so much from him.”
I nodded hard right back at him. I had no doubt I could learn plenty from Mr Lindon. None in the slightest.
Mr Lindon wasn’t just the hugest hero crush I’d ever have in a million years because he looked the hottest part in a hundred mile radius. He was also the county’s best antiques and auctioneering expert, renowned right across the country for that super sharp brain of his. He knew so much, and had so much respect from so many people. The antiques world was specialist – so many experts respecting experts and he was right at the top of the pile.