“Uh, all right. Just let me—”
“He said it needed to be now.”
She looked down at her red patent leather heels, bought especially for tonight. Dammit, she’d ruined everything by getting a little tipsy and acting stupid. She never should’ve come. Not after she’d gone home and seen her mom asleep on the couch. Her bout of walking pneumonia was kicking her ass, and every time she got sick, Wendy worried she’d lose her like she’d lost her dad. It wasn’t the first time the weight of her life had crashed down on her shoulders, but now she’d probably end up unemployed.
“I’m sorry, Cole,” she added when Cole didn’t move.
“Hey, it’s okay. Let’s go see what the big boss man wants.” Hooking an arm around her shoulders, he gestured with his beer bottle to his crowd of sycophants. “We’ll be back soon. Office business, you know. Try not to get the cops called, ya hear?”
Laughter followed them as they slipped away from the masses and down the hall to the relative quiet near the back offices. That was why she’d escaped into Cole’s office in the first place. She’d only wanted to get back her composure. Then she’d found Des’s shirt. The smell of his aftershave had been all over the damn thing, and the collar had been wet from a recent shower. Before she’d even thought about it, her hand had been under her skirt, and God, she’d been so ready…
She knew better than to do something so crazy at work. If he’d just let her make it up to him, to them, she’d prove she hadn’t gone off the rails. Everyone was entitled to one sanity flight per year, right?
Cole opened his door and ushered her inside. The room was empty.
He frowned. “I thought you said Des wanted to see me here.”
“Yes. He told me to get you.“
Footsteps sounded behind them and she whirled, her eyes going wide as Des strode inside and shut the door. The alcohol was making her head a little fuzzy and nausea crept up her throat. Would they fire her?
Des flipped the lock in the doorknob as casually as if he locked the three of them in Cole’s office every day. “This won’t take long.”
“I didn’t mean—please, I swear I won’t do it again,“ she pleaded.
Cole set down his beer bottle with an audible clink. “Des, what’s this all about?”
“Go kneel behind the desk, Wendy. In front of Cole’s chair.”
She fumbled for one of her jingling earrings, fingers shaking. She’d just drank too much and was imagining this whole thing. “I—what?”
“You heard me.” Des gestured impatiently and something shimmery pink flashed in his hand. “Now.”
Okay, fine, she’d gone too far, but this was insane. She wasn’t five and Des wasn’t acting like himself. His blue-green eyes were wild in the moonlight coming through the blinds and his jaw clicked as he waited for her to move.
“What the hell is going on?” Cole sounded as bewildered as she felt.
“This is between me and my secretary, Warner.” Even in the shadowy darkness, the weight of Des’s stare burned her skin.
“Then why I am here?” Cole snapped.
“Because you’re the one who’s going to discipline her for touching herself in your chair.” Before she could pick her mouth up off the floor, Des stepped forward and wrapped his hand around her jaw, tilting her face up to his. His nostrils flared and she had the errant thought that he could smell her arousal, now trickling hotly onto her thighs. “You have the choice to leave now. If you do, this stops here. Otherwise go kneel where I told you.”
Her heartbeat reverberated in her ears. She couldn’t process what was happening, especially since she could still hear the animated voices and cheerful Christmas music just outside the door.
Out there, life was still normal. In here, nothing made sense.
“Des, you’re scaring her.” Cole laid a restraining hand on Des’s shoulder, which he promptly shook off. “Perhaps you misunderstood what you saw.”
“Did I?” Des asked quietly.
She wanted to lie so badly. To make all of this end. But part of her…didn’t. That part of her yearned to see what lurked behind door number two.
“No,” she whispered.
“You chose to do that in here, in Cole’s chair. You must’ve wanted to be caught. Was that your plan? For Cole to catch you?”
She averted her eyes to the floor and wished the thick carpet would just swallow her whole.