Egomaniac

“I have a belated birthday present,” Baldwin said as we waited in the restaurant lobby for the hostess to finish seating the people ahead of us.

“You do?”

He smiled and nodded. “You have an interview for an adjunct position in two weeks. It’s only teaching one class, but it will get your foot in the door.”

“Oh my God, Baldwin!” Without thinking, I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a giant hug. “Thank you so much. That’s the—” I was about to say best gift I could have asked for this year, but then I remembered what Drew had given me and corrected myself. “That’s amazing. Thank you so much.”

The hostess came and sat us, and we spent the next hour chatting about work and the professor I’d be interviewing with. It was nice to catch up with Baldwin—I really did enjoy his company. I realized that over the last month, my frustration because of the feelings I had for him had begun to interfere with our friendship. It was time I moved past it and enjoyed what we had for what it was.

After we finished eating, the waiter cleared our lunch plates, and Baldwin ordered an espresso. He folded his hands on the table and moved the topic of conversation away from work.

“So you’re seeing the attorney you share space with?”

“No. That kiss you saw was the result of too many margaritas.”

Baldwin frowned, but nodded. “Well, that’s good. I’m not sure he’s the type of person you should be getting too involved with.”

“What does that mean?”

Yes, I was currently pissed off at Drew, and I planned to kick his ass when I returned to the office, but Baldwin wasn’t going to put him down when he didn’t even know him.

“He seems…I don’t know. Gauche.”

“He’s direct. Yes. And sometimes even a little crass. But he’s actually quite thoughtful once you get to know him.”

Baldwin studied my face. “Well, I’m glad there’s nothing between you. I’m protective of you. You know that.”

Funny, in the little time I’d known Drew, I actually felt like he was the one who was protective of me.

Drew’s door was closed when I returned to the office. I listened to make sure he wasn’t on a call and then flung it wide open.

“You are such an asshole!”

“I’ve been told that. How was your lunch with Professor Pompous?”

“Delicious,” I lied. My fancy hamburger wasn’t even that good.

“Baldwin read what you wrote on my whiteboard. You need to stop screwing with me.”

He grinned. “But it’s so much fun to screw with you. And you won’t let me screw you. So I have to get my rocks off somehow.”

“I’m sure he thinks I’m not being professional with my clients now.”

Drew shrugged. “Why didn’t you tell him I wrote it?”

“He doesn’t like you much already. I didn’t want to make it worse.”

“I don’t give a shit what he thinks of me. Why do you care what he thinks of me?”

That was a very good question. One I didn’t have the answer for. “I just do.”

He stared at me. And then he began to rub that damn plump bottom lip with his thumb. “Wanna know what I think?”

“Do I have a choice?”

Drew walked around from behind his desk and leaned one hip against the front. “I think you like me. That’s why you care what that asshole thinks.”

“Right now I’m not liking you very much at all.”

His eyes dropped to my chest. “Part of you is liking me.” I looked down to find my nipples hard and erect. The damn things were practically poking through the silk of my blouse. Traitors.

I folded my arms across my chest. “It’s cold in here.”

Drew pushed off the desk and took a few steps closer to me. “It’s not cold at all. I actually think it’s warm.” He grabbed at the knot on his tie and loosened it.

Damn, why do I think that’s sexy?

My heart hammered inside of my chest.

He took another step closer. Maybe two feet separated us now. “I think your body likes me, and your head is fighting it. The two should fight it out like adults—naked in the bedroom with me.”

“I think you’re insane. And I’m a psychologist, so my diagnosis is probably the more accurate one.”

He took another step. “So if I pulled up that skirt of yours and reached between your legs, you wouldn’t be wet?”

My skin heated, and I wasn’t sure if it was hearing Drew say he wanted to reach between my legs or the need I felt to have him actually do it. I couldn’t look up and face him anymore, yet I also couldn’t walk away. I stared at him from my eye level—he was so much taller that I watched the rise and fall of his chest. Each breath grew deeper, and mine joined his rhythm.

“Look at me, Emerie.” His voice was deep and confident. Drew waited until my eyes met his before closing the gap between us with one small step. “You have three seconds to get out of my office. Otherwise you’re giving me permission to do whatever I want to you.”

I swallowed. My voice broke as I held his gaze. “I came in here to yell at you.”

“I like it when you’re angry.” He paused. “One.”

“You like it when I’m angry?”

“I find it turns me on. Two.”

“You won’t do anything at three if I tell you to stop.”

He inched even closer. “Of course not. You trust me. But you won’t tell me to stop.” He paused. “Last chance.”

I stood frozen as he counted off his last number. “Three.”

Before I could object, Drew’s mouth crashed down on mine. His bottom lip was so perfectly soft and plump. I’d been staring at it for weeks, and suddenly all that intense ogling took over my brain. I grabbed his tie and pulled him even closer as I sucked in that bottom lip. He responded with a groan and reached around, one hand going to each of my ass cheeks as he lifted me off the floor and squeezed hard.

My skirt pushed up as my legs wrapped around his waist. He walked a few steps until my back thudded against the wall, then pinned me to it with his hips, so he could free his hands.

God, he knows all the tricks. His mouth began to suck on my neck, and I heard the whish of his buckle being whipped through the loops.

That noise.

It sounded so forceful and desperate. If I hadn’t already been wet, I would have been after hearing that sound.

“You have any appointments coming in today?”

“No. Just video sessions. You?”

“Thank fuck.” He grabbed my shirt, one hand on each side, and ripped it open. Pearl buttons scattered across the floor. His thumbs pushed down the front of my bra, and he bent, sucking a nipple into his mouth. Hard.

“Oh, God.” I arched my back. It hurt, but I wanted more. I grabbed for his pants, but the way he had me pinned, I couldn’t reach. Yet I needed to pull something. So I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled as he increased his suction again. Never in my life had I felt so much desire. It was so powerful, I wanted to cause him pain. Which was completely out of character for me. I liked sex sweet and loving. This was pure, unadulterated, carnal need.

My body was so on edge, so buzzing toward fevered climax, that I almost lost it when his hand moved between my legs. Pulling my panties to the side, he groaned at my wetness.

“I knew you would be soaked.” Then he slipped two fingers inside of me, and I let out a loud moan.

It had been too long.

Way too long.

“Drew,” I breathed a warning. If he didn’t slow down, I was going to come. “Slow down.”

“No fucking way,” he growled. “I’ll go slow after I watch you come on my fingers. I’ll take my time as I lick every drop of your sweet juice from this tight little pussy. But right now, I’m not slowing down.” He pushed his fingers in and out and then crooked one at just the right angle, and it sent me completely over the edge. I moaned through my release, not even ashamed that it had taken him less than five minutes to make me come.

“Jesus, Emerie. That’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

I was just about to tell him he should go about making it happen again, when a voice echoed through the office.

“UPS. Drew, is that you?”

Drew had a few spare shirts hanging on the back of his office door, so I grabbed one while he went to go meet the UPS delivery guy. We’d stayed still, hoping he would go away, but he must have heard something because he started to walk up the hallway leading to our offices, which forced Drew to begrudgingly go deal with him.

Now I was frenzied, buttoning a man’s dress shirt that was ten sizes too big to get myself covered—as if Drew would have let the UPS guy come back to say hello or something. Two minutes ago, I’d been higher than high, which made the fast crash hit me hard. What am I doing?

Sure, Drew was sexy, and I was physically attracted to him. There was no denying that. But this was a mistake. We wanted different things out of life. The fact that I enjoyed his company and spent every day with him would make it very difficult to separate sex and feelings. He was like a drug—I knew I shouldn’t, but the addiction formed quickly.

I was on the bottom button when Drew came back to the office. “The UPS guy thinks I was jerking off.”

“What? Why?”

“He had a package for you and asked if you were here. I didn’t want him to ask for you to sign for it, so I said no, it was just me today.”

“So? How does that equate to him thinking you were masturbating?”

“When he went to hand me the electronic signature pad, I noticed his eyes latched on to this.” Drew pointed down. He had a considerable bulge, and you could actually see the outline of his penis pointing up through his pants. His zipper was also open and part of his shirttail was hanging out of it.

I clasped my hand over my mouth and giggled. “Oh my God.” Then I took a second look at his pants.

Oh my God. Drew’s penis was so wide and long it looked like he was carrying a whiffle ball bat.

I hadn’t realized how long I’d been staring until Drew chuckled. “Stop looking at it like that, or I’m not going to be polite and let you take it a little at a time when you’re sucking it in a little while.”

God, he’s so crass.

God, I want to suck that thing.

I shook my head and forced my eyes back up to meet Drew’s. His were dancing in amusement.

“Anything you need to do before we go upstairs?”

“Upstairs?”

“To my place. I want to make sure the first time I’m inside of you, we have no interruptions.”

“But…I don’t think—”

Drew quieted me before I could finish my sentence by pressing his lips to mine. When we came up for air, I was dizzy. He looked me in the eyes. “Don’t think. Not today. Think tomorrow. If you want this to be a one-time thing, I’ll accept that. But today is happening.”

My brain screamed no, but my head nodded.

He smiled. “Okay?”

“Okay.”

He fished in his pocket and came up with his keys. “Take your laptop and phone. Go upstairs to my place and cancel whatever you have the rest of the day. I’ll do the same and be up in fifteen minutes.”

“Why can’t we both do that down here?”

“Because I have a giant hard-on, and seeing you in my shirt is not going to help that at all. It’s bad enough that the way you come undone when you come is already burned into my brain. I need to get things under control so I don’t embarrass myself.”

“Oh.”

He grinned. “Yeah, oh.” Then he kissed me on the lips chastely and sent me on my way with a swat on the ass. “Go.”