“What the fuck are you doing?” he demanded harshly.
Jay licked her lips and saw his eyes register the movement. “I was going to suck your cock,” she said, the words hard and unfamiliar in her mouth.
“You were—JesusfuckingChrist.” A bead of pre-come rolled from the head of his cock to his frenulum, sliding down his shaft, only to soak into his fly. “Fuck,” he hissed. “Goddamn it.”
“Nick—”
He shook his head viciously. She saw his chest rise and fall in quick succession. With a grimace, he adjusted himself in a way that was fascinatingly vulgar before zipping his pants back up. The way he released her felt like a reprimand. “Get out of the car, Justine. Now.”
Her full name hit like a slap falling off his lips.
Look what you did. You pissed him off.
But another part of her whispered,He’s even better when he’s forceful, isn’t he?
Jay slid out of the Tesla, shivering a little at the bite of the cold. She pressed her lips together, determined to endure the chill, but Nicholas noticed. He noticed everything.
With a face like stone, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and draped the warm wool around her shoulders. “Thank you,” Jay said, in a small voice, and something sharp lodged in her throat when he didn’t respond, turning to lock the car. Without a word,he closed his fingers around her bicep and steered her firmly towards the sidewalk.
“Nicholas—”
“Don’t.” The word fell into the silence like ice in a glass.
She glanced at the bulge tenting his slacks and said nothing, hating that she felt so guilty now when, once, none of this had felt like it was her fault at all. By the time they had gotten to the restaurant, he was calmer, and even managed to dredge up a smile for the hostess that didn’t reach his eyes. But Jay could feel the tension in his body and knew this was far from over.
???????
He was finally nearing the end of his fucking company-mandated “sensitivity training.” For several hours a week, they locked him in a room with a bunch of sad old men who had gotten caught playing grab-ass with their secretaries where they watched PSA videos featuring third-rate Hollywood actors and sat through apology tour seminars with guest speakers who talked about “microaggressions” and “accountability” while he discreetly checked his phone whenever the proctor turned away to adjust the tracking on the VHS player or hand out quizzes.
He had been furious when one of Meghana’s flunkies had floated the idea of him taking on a consulting position. The man even had the balls to bring up his father, as if what he had done was on the same scale. He had gotten up and left the room, because he knew that if he stayed, something—or someone—was getting tossed from the second-story window.
The meeting with today’s investors had been the first time in weeks that he’d been allowed out of his cage. He’d been surprised by how much it exhausted him. As he listened to theirvarious pitches, while Annica took notes for him to review for later, he could barely bring himself to pay attention. Why should he? He’d heard it all before. Everyone thought their mission statement was the most important. They all believed that they wereentitledto his money.
Nicholas cast a sullen eye towards Jay, who was sipping her blueberry mimosa. Her hair was mussed from his fingers. Even now, just thinking about her stockinged thighs was getting him hot.
Yes, Daddy?
His jaw clenched so hard that pain rocketed down the side of his face.
“It’s not too crowded for dinner,” she said, lips parting into wavering little smile, like she hadn’t just offered to blow him with that mouth.
He stared at her. The smile flickered and she squirmed in her seat, looking so guilty that he would have been amused if she weren’t the reason for the throbbing ache in his pants.
“I, um, meant to ask earlier. How did your meeting go?”
“Probably as well as you think it did.” He leaned back in his chair, spreading his thighs to relieve some of the godawful pressure.
She licked some sugar from the rim of the glass and another ache speared through his belly as he thought once more of the blowjob he’d denied himself. “Was it really that bad?”
“You remember what my meetings were like. Wealthy men, approaching hands-out, wanting to trade money for money. Then we all try to brutally fuck each other until someone yields.” He shifted in his seat impatiently. “The negotiation process never changes. Just the stakes.”
A veiled look settled over her eyes. “That’s crude. I thought you were good at it.”
“I am.” He scrubbed his unshaven face with his hand. “But I think I’m losing my taste for it.”
The waiter arrived with their appetizers. Jay had gotten a mustard greens salad with a vegan coconut cream dressing and he had ordered braised scallops.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said, and he found himself watching the way her lips folded over each bite. “I thought you liked your work. I admired that about you, actually. Seeing how you turned yourself around to manage your father’s company—it was impressive.”
