Oh my God…
I keep my lips locked around his sex, holding pressure until the pulsing stops and he slowly pulls out and releases an enormous sigh of relief.
“Wow,” I giggle. “That was really hot.”
“That was…” Mike’s voice trails off as he raises a palm to his forehead. “Who would ever believe that you’d never done this before?”
I’m taken aback by his words. “Wait. You do believe me, don’t you?”
He chuckles and lifts me to my feet. “Of course I do, kitten. I know you’d never lie to me. Besides, if you ever did, I’d totally be able to tell.”
I gasp and swat him lightly on the chest.
“You would not!”
“Oh, I totally would,” he laughs. “I can read you like a book.”
“Oh, yeah?” I reply, narrowing my eyes at his as though trying to form some kind of mental connection with him. “What am I thinking right now?”
Mike narrows his eyes back and focuses hard on me for a few seconds, then takes a long, deep breath.
“You’re thinking…that you could use something to eat.”
I burst out laughing. I was actually thinking about just how much I like him and how if this doesn’t work out I’m going to be totally heartbroken, but I guess expecting him to come out and say that was asking too much. But in all fairness, I am actually hungry.
“You know what?” I giggle. “I could use something to eat. But something a little less fancy than 4Pine?”
I get dressed, and Mike and I go out to a popular local pizza place just a block down the street. It’s always slammed, but Mike knows the owner, so we’re able to get in and grab a slice and a drink and a table in the kitchen where we sit for about twenty minutes while we eat and chat.
Something so warm inside me has formed in the last couple of days, and I can feel it for the entirety of our meal. It’s just there, like a miniature sun, not moving, not fading, not going anywhere.
As I chow down on my pepperoni and sip my lemonade, I know now that this has gone far beyond a simple workplace romance that I have to be careful with. I’m not just his assistant, and he’s not just my boss. This isn’t a movie theater either, and he’s not my manager. I can’t even picture him firing me at this point. Maybe I’m just being naïve, but that’s really how I feel. There’s no way he was just going for a smash-and-dash. There’s something real going on here between us. I just know he can feel it too.
7
Ivy
“You posed nude for him!?” Sara’s eyes look like they’re ready to pop out of her head like in a cartoon. I pull my blanket up over my face and hide, but Sara immediately pulls it back down. “You crazy hoochie mama!”
“Hoochie mama!?” I blurt out, blushing all over. “What!?”
Sara bursts out laughing and topples over back onto my bean bag where she’s been sitting across from me. It’s her day off from work, so I invited her over to the house to hang out and update her on my situation with work and with Mike.
“I’m only kidding,” she replies, clutching at her belly. “But seriously, I can’t believe you did that.”
“Do you think I shouldn’t have?”
“No, no, I think it’s great!”
“You do?” I ask.
“Of course!” Sara says, her face filled with excitement. “One, it’s so not like you, and that’s incredible. And two, remember I’ve been telling you for years that you should model?”
It’s true. Ever since we were freshman, Sara has been telling me I should model. But I always thought she was just being one of those encouraging friends. She knew I was interested in the fashion industry, so she was just trying to be supportive and show interest in my interests.
“You were just being nice.” I smile.
“As if!” she snorts. “You totally could model, and how awesome would it be if my best friend was the next Bella Hadid?”
I collapse back onto my bed and cover my face with my arm. “Would you stop? I am not going to be the next Bella Hadid, okay? And I did that shoot with Mike because…well, because it was an intimate thing between the two of us.”
“Between the two of you,” Sara repeats. “You two did a lot of things just between the two of you.”
I giggle as a warm, tingling sensation fills my tummy. Images of our time together instantly flash through my mind like photos taken at one of Mike’s shoots. “Yeah, I guess you could say that…”
My phone buzzes by my side, alerting me that I have a new e-mail. Knowing it could be work, I quickly check it. But when I see who it’s from and I see the subject line, my entire body goes cold.