Neither of us has started eating. He finds my hand in my lap and takes it in his. “I’d like to see a lot more of you, and I also think you should go after what you want.”
I stare back at him, imagining what that would look like, and what it would involve. “What if things don’t work out?” I ask.
“What will you lose in trying?”
I think about that for another minute, while Duke takes his hand back after giving mine a reassuring squeeze, and starts to eat his food, which is probably getting cold. After I get into my late-night meal, we start to talk things through, and we make some tentative plans.
When we’re done, and the dishes are rinsed and stacked in the sink, he takes me back into his bedroom and has sex with me in a way that would probably be better described as making love. No, we’re not in love, at least not yet, but you’d never know that from the tender way he strokes my body and whispers in my ear, as he slowly sinks into me, over and over, all night long.
44
Garrett
It turns out my new management position involves a lot more meetings than I used to attend. They make it harder to get my actual work done, but I don’t mind being busier. It almost keeps my mind off of things.
Or rather, people. One person in particular.
I don’t know how I manage to continue working with her on a daily basis, wanting her every single day. I guess I had a lot of practice being in love with her from afar, but it’s a million times worse now. Now that I know exactly how her lips taste, and the softness of her skin, the feel of her mouth on my cock, and what it’s like to be inside her.
She’s so certain that we can’t be together, even though she said she misses us. She made herself clear, and I’d be an idiot to give up my new position for something she may not even want. If she wanted me, we could have been together long ago, and the time we did spend together would have lasted longer than four nights.
At least I found some old school friends in the deal. Not quite a silver lining, but better than nothing — no offense to Trevor and Adrian. Duke’s a pretty cool guy, too. The only bad part about hanging out with him is all of the memories it stirs up.
I’m eating a dry turkey sandwich at my desk between two meetings when Autumn herself appears in my cubicle without warning. “Do you have a minute to talk?” she asks.
I glance at my watch and adjust my glasses, which had slipped down my nose. “Ten minutes. What’s up?”
She twists a strand of her hair around her finger, something she does when she’s uncertain. “The conference room is empty. Can we go in there?”
“Sure.” I follow her to the corner of the floor, using all of my practice to resist letting my eyes sink to skirt level. I close the door behind us and head for a chair, but stop when I notice that Autumn doesn’t appear to be planning to sit down.
“I just had a meeting with HR,” she says, her hands motionless at her sides. “I’ve given my two weeks’ notice.”
“What? Why would you do that? And why didn’t you talk to me about it first?”
“I’m talking to you about it now, but first, I wanted to ask, if you’re not dating anyone, would you like to go out with me?”
I have to replay her words in my head to make sure I heard them right. Her hand is twisting the fabric at the side of her skirt, and the vulnerable look on her face hits me hard. “Are you busy tonight?”
The nervous expression on her face slowly shifts into a grin, and she shakes her head. “No, I’m not busy.”
We stare at each other for a long moment, standing face to face, but irritatingly far apart. “I want to kiss you,” I tell her. The conference room is unfortunately lined with windows that face the inner office.
Her eyes flicker down to my lips. “You’ll have to wait a few more hours.”
The afternoon is way too long, but it’s filled with a lot of lingering glances that keep me going until five. During one of my meetings, I text Autumn and we make plans for her to follow me to my house after work.
There are a lot of questions I want to ask her, but when we’re barely inside my door, I press her against the wall and finally get that kiss. It’s so perfect that it’s hard to believe it’s actually happening.
When she reaches between us and begins to unbutton my shirt, the desire that floods my body is nearly overwhelming. I start to open my pants, and her hands quickly join mine, both of us fumbling frantically. As I pull out my cock, she hikes up her skirt.
I lift her up and she guides me toward her opening. We don’t get it right the first time, but we’re both too intent on our mission to take much notice of the awkwardness. I readjust my hold on her, and then I’m sinking home, her heat swallowing me up, my cock finally finding what it’s been desperately missing.
“Oh god, oh Garrett.”
When she closes her eyes and her face shows me how much she’s loving this, I can’t imagine how I’ve survived the time apart from her. I need this like I need air and water.
She grabs my face and kisses me while I bounce her hips against me, and I can’t get over how good she feels until finally, some small corner of the brain in my head that’s still functioning sends me an alert.