Riley:Yeah, I'll be waiting for something. Text me when you leave.Please.
Alex:Heading out in aminute.
Riley:Outstanding. I'll hang around outside, on Derne Street, at the off chance you don'tgetlost.
Alex:Sweetie, don't put yourself on the cornerforme.
Riley:I'm going to spank you until my handprint is visible on both sides ofyourass.
Alex:You and that big dick of yours make a lot ofpromises.
Riley:Are youchallengingme?
Alex:Maybe.
* * *
"Didn't get lost,"Alex teased, pushing up on her toes to wrap an arm around myshoulders.
"I'm proud of you," I said, backing her against the foyer wall on the main level of the office. I liked her here, the leverage it afforded. I could boost her up, wrap her legs around my waist, grind my cock against her belly. And she was at my mercy when she was pinned, a littlehelpless.
"If this is what I get for walking up the street and making a right turn," she said, moaning when my teeth scraped over the sensitive crook of her shoulder, "then I'll walk more often. Even if you do leave a handprint on my ass.Ortwo."
"Honeybee," I murmured, sighing into her skin. I loved the way she smelled right here. I didn't think I could drag myself away for anything. I didn't even want to spar with her. I just wanted to drown in the sweetness she offered me, and never come upforair.
I loved her. I knew it without qualification.More than that, I felt it inside me, heavy and expansive like abottomlesslake.
"I want you right here," I admitted. "But I don't want to rub up all over you in the hallway. There are three security cameras recording this right now, and at least one guy in Virginia with eyesonus."
"The recording is fine," she said. "But the audience? That's not ourthing."
"Nope. Not our thing," I agreed, releasing her from the wall. "Come on. Let's go to my office. The only cameras in there are the ones Icontrol."
I nodded to the stairs, gesturing for her to take the lead. I followed her, my hands on her hips and my mouth close enough to her ass that I could lean forward andbiteit.
I didn't. The security system Shannon's husband Will had installed last winter covered every door and window in the brownstone, and while it was probably contradictory that I enjoyed photographing her body in various states of pleasure, I had no interest insharing.
"I brought something special," she said, waving a large envelope. We rounded the landing on the second floor, heading down the hall to my office."It's special to me,thatis."
"What do you have there?" I asked, leading the way past Shannon, Tom, and Matt's empty offices. Shannon worked from home on Wednesdays, and the other two put in early hours to leave by five each night.I held open the door, gesturing for Alex toenter.
"This month's issue ofTheInternational Journal of Surgery. I got anearlycopy."
I glanced down at the envelope, my eyebrows arched. "And you brought it along in case the game is asnoozer?"
"Of course not," she said. "If it's a snoozer, I'll drink more beer and send you off to find interestingsnacks."
"That's my girl," I murmured."Make yourself at home." I pointed at the sofa and the chairs in front of my desk. "I'm just wrapping up a few designs before shipping them to Matt for structuralreview."
"Don't you want to see what I brought?" she asked, drumming her fingers along the envelope's edge. I dropped into my desk chair, staring at the manila while I debated whether I had the strength for a magazine dedicatedtoguts.
"Show me," I said. "But warn me if any of this will cause emotionalscarring."
She laughed at that while sliding the publication across my desk. Once it was in front of me, she flipped it open and tapped the text.I studied the page, eternally grateful to find words but no images, and then Isawit.
"This is you," I said, my fingertip circling her name. "You wrote thisarticle?"
"I did," she replied, an irrepressible grin stretched across her face. "Don't read it. It's about bile duct surgeries, and the most effective methods given certain complicating factors, and you'll behorrified."
