“Yeah, but my boss Max recommended I apply for the publishingdepartment—”
“Wait. I thought Greg was your boss.” The confusion in his voice didn’t seem to make the anger go away. I was scared to answerhim.
“He’s—” I paused and caught breathe before I continued. Choosing my words as wisely as possible “—my immediate boss, but Max owns thecompany.”
“No.”
I stopped pacing and stood in the center of my room. “No?” I was confused now. What did hemean?
“You aren’t taking a position that some hotshot decided to giveyou.”
I was shocked. This wasn’t my Adam speaking. I didn’t know who this was. “You don’t even know him,Adam.”
“I don’t need to. You don’t need that kind of job. You have me.” I tried to answer him, but the line went dead. I called back, but the phone went straight to voicemail. I tried to stop the tears that were running down my cheeks, but every time I pushed a few away, more replacedthem.
I was frustrated. Not with the fact that Adam wasn’t happy for me, but that he didn’t even let me talk about it. I lay down on the bed, pounded my head into the pillow, and screamed. I could have explained what the job was and how it related to my college major, but no. He wasn’t having it. And that was the hardest part to stomach. My husband didn’t see me as a working wife, and I did. We had had this fight numerous times before, when I was offered promotions through the years when I was working retail. It was the only thing we could never agree upon, so we ignored it until it came up, and this time, I was the one who detonated the bomb. I just thought that this time it would be different. I thought he would be proud ofme.
I rolled over, looking at the ceiling, not wanting to have to discuss this with anyone just yet. I needed some alone time with my thoughts to figure out my next step. I was keeping the job, I knew that much. But what would Adam do when he found out? Sleep consumed me all too soon, and even though my reality wasn’t shining, my dreams surewere.
Iwalked into an apartment,looking around to see only my books and a large bed. There were candles lit across the floor, and Adam was lying in the bed. My breath caught at the sight of him. My man. He had been working out since I last saw him, his arms bigger and his stomach now adorned with rigid abs. I licked my lips as I made my way to him, crawling onto the bed next to his sleeping figure. I trailed a finger down hisstomach.
Dark gray eyes met mine, but they didn’t stop me. The kisses that I trailed down his stomach turned into love bites. My nails raked down to the elastic band of his boxers, sliding my hand down his front and feeling his hardness. He pulled me up immediately and stopped me. His hands moved to my waist and brought my hips up to meet his. His erection pressed against my sex, and he reached down to grab my ass. I was already wet and becoming more turned on by the second. Adam had never been this aggressive, but I loved it. I was cravingit.
I looked down and we were both naked. I rubbed myself against his length. His hands crept towards my breasts, tightly pinching my nipples, making my back arch. He trailed one hand down to my throbbing clit. I closed my eyes but couldn’t open them again. I basked in the feeling of losing control. I raked my fingers through the hair on his chest, and his thumb circled faster against me. A load moan escaped me, and I rubbed harder against his hard cock. My hands went to his hair. It was much longer than normal, but I pulled it, leaning down to latch my lips onto his neck, marking him. He was mine and everyone would knowit.
He did the same. A hand landed across my ass, and nails dug in. I would have half-moons planted there for days, and the excitement rose in me. Foreplay had never been our thing, but damn, I could do this all day. I moved faster. I felt the my orgasm forming inside of me, and by the twitching below me, I knew he was close. Soclose.
The wave of pleasures crashed through both of us at the same time as cum coated my stomach and my legs contracted around his hips. I raked my nails down his chest, humming in enjoyment. I opened my eyes, but it wasn’t Adam’s face that I saw, it wasMax’s.
Igasped,sitting up straight in my bed. I looked around to see that I was still in Lilly’s apartment. This wasn’t happening. I wasn’t having these types of thoughts about Max. I refused to believe it. I closed my eyes and wished for it to be tomorrow afternoon, to be in Adam’s arms again, where I trulybelonged.
* * *
“You did what?!”Lilly was practically screaming at me as we walked out of her building. “I need all the details tonight. I can’t believe you waited until now to tell methis!”
The scowl on her face definitely made my morning, even if my night wasn’t sogood.
“It wasn’t like it wasintentional!”
“Do not tell me it wasn’t intentional or else it wouldn’t have happened!” Lilly poked my shoulder hard as we headed into the building. We both stopped when we saw Max by the front desk. I could feel my face turn a horrible shade of crimson. I bolted for the elevator, hitting the up button as fast as Icould.
“You look well today, Alexa.” I heard Max’s voice come from behind me. Lilly hadn’t gotten to the elevator yet, but she didn’t seem to want to come any closer. I looked over my shoulder and she was slipping into the stairwell. She snickered and mouthed that she was sorry. Sorry, myass.
“Not today, Max.” As fast as I was to the elevator, it didn’t seem to come fast enough. I waited there until the doors opened, with Max standing next to me,, a smile planted on his face until the doors closed. I thought maybe I could do this whole be-nice-and-friendly-to-Max thing, but after that fantasy about him… Nope. It wasn’t even his fault. It was all mine, and I couldn’t even face the fact that itwas.
I stepped off onto the second floor and saw one of the men who was at Stone Mountain with Max. He was staring at his phone and muttering tohimself.
“Chase?” He looked up immediately and a smile beamed across his face. His features were totally opposite from Greg and Max. Chase was soft and his demeanor was a lot more calm. The short light brown hair, full beard, and piercing green eyes contrasted the tan and muscles that hesported.
“You must be Alexa!” The normal professional handshake just didn’t do with him, though, and before I knew it I was brought in for a bear hug, lifting me a little. Definitely nothing like Max or Greg. “Greg and Max were able to tell me a lot about you already, and I’m so excited that you decided to apply for thejob.”
“When did they have a chance to talk about me?” I laughed it off slightly as he put me back down, but felt a tinge of embarrassment to be talked about by my bosses. “I mean, I just applied a few daysago.”
“Oh well, Max had mentioned you a while ago, and Greg just jumped on board, too. I’m surprised they couldn’t get you to change over to my department sooner. Your college résumé is impressive and I would love to make good use of you, since Greg said how fast you could read and review a book. Max also hadn’t realized you did an internship in college for editing.” I was fidgeting with my hands now, trying to digest all the words coming from Chase. I always seemed to get nervous with compliments about my work. I didn’t try to be anything special. I just did my job like I was supposedto.
“It was only a class I took, so not really aninternship.”
“Don’t discredit your work. I’m sure you ended up putting in more time then you neededto.”
