It’s ridiculous. I don’t have some caveman type claim on her. She’s free to do whatever she wants. But if Jack is telling her to sleep with potential investors, does she really want that? Does she feel like she has to because their relationship is new and she wants to do well with him and at the company? The idea that she might feel pressured into sex by her own father makes me feel even more rage. I’ve known Jack a long time, and he’s one of my closest friends, but I know for a fact that if I walked out of this hallway at this moment I would punch him in the face.
I sit down on a small bench and run a hand through my hair. I’ve got to get out of here. I have to; it’s too much.
“Michael?” Cora rounds the corner, and I spring to my feet. “We’re missing your company. What are you doing?”
“I don’t think I’d be very pleasant company at the moment,” I say, schooling my features. The heels she’s wearing make her just a little taller, which means her face is that much closer to mine as she approaches. And approach she does, taking each step deliberately. It’s easy to see the sensuality she’s putting into every movement. It puts a bitter taste in my mouth. “I know why your father brought you here, and that’s not for me. I would never want or ask you to do that.”
She smirks. “Yes, that is why he brought me here. Thankfully, my father doesn’t control what I do. And I’m not sure it’s any of your business.”
My chest feels tight because of how close she is. I could reach out and touch her. Kiss her, just like I’ve been thinking about all day. I pray to God she doesn’t look down because after everything today, I can’t control myself anymore. I’m hard, and I’ll probably have to fix this problem in the bathroom before I come back out in front of people. “It is literally my business,” I say. “What you’re doing affects that, and I don’t want anything to do with it.”
Cora takes another step closer. “Do I seem like the kind of girl who would do that?” She doesn’t sound angry or offended, just curious, and that step closer lets me get a hint of her perfume. Jasmine. Dear God, I think I’m going to explode.
“I don’t know what kind of girl you are,” I say. “I barely know you.”
“You want to know me better though.” Her voice drops, low and sultry. “And I want to know you better. I didn’t come here tonight for them.”
She reaches out like she’s going to touch me, and I grab her hand, stopping it. If she touches me, I won’t have any control left. “That’s not a good idea.”
She smiles, and I know the roughness in my voice is betraying me. I’ve faced down some of the toughest men with ease, and this woman is undoing me with the possibility of a single touch. “Maybe I’ll decide what a good idea is, Mr. Foster. You don’t control me any more than my father does.” I’m still holding her wrist, and I can feel her pulse beating fast under my fingers. “Besides, why would you care if I sleep with one of those suits? Your company only benefits from this, right?”
I grit my teeth. I’m not going to get into this. I can’t. “No. I don’t want to see you do that.”
“Why not?” She presses forward until our bodies are almost touching, looking up at me, daring me to rise to her challenge.
There’s no denying this heat between us, the way it’s spiraled out of control. She knows what she’s doing to me, and I can’t hold myself back from saying it. “Because seeing you flirt with them makes me angry in a way I can barely explain.”
“So maybe this,” she glances to my hand, wrapped around her wrist, “is a good idea after all.”
“It’s not. You know it’s not.”
Her eyes are all fire. “It is.”
I drop her hand and take a swift step back, the frustration of the day boiling up and over. “Why are you doing this, Cora? You shouldn’t be. You know, maybe have a little respect for me and the positions that we’re both in right now. For the next three months I’m your boss, so even though we’re not at work, my word is final.”
Cora’s breath hitches in her chest and her eyes widen, but that’s not fear I’m seeing. It’s excitement. That seductive smile she has appears, and she closes the gap between us, pushing me back against the wall and pressing her body against mine. Fuck, I can feel her every curve. Her breasts are pressed into my chest and I can feel how hard her nipples are, and there’s no way she doesn’t feel my cock. She moves, rolling herself down with a slow arch of her back and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from groaning.
“If you think what I’m doing is wrong, then you should punish me,” she says softly, her face inches from mine.
My entire body goes still, processing her words before my mind does. And then I see it, her words spinning into images in my head, of all the ways I could punish her with pain or pleasure that would satisfy us both.
She tilts her face up to mine, and her voice is barely a whisper. “Punish me.”
My control snaps. I pull her closer to me, so that while we were touching before, we’re glued together now. “That’s what you want?” I don’t give her a chance to respond. I pull her across the hallway to that little bench and suddenly she’s over my lap. Anyone could come around the corner and see us in this position, but after today, I can’t even bring myself to care.
Dragging my hand up her leg I flip the fabric of her dress up over her ass and I’m greeted with nothing but skin. Of course she’s not wearing underwear. I didn’t think my cock could get harder at this point. I was wrong. It presses up into Cora’s stomach and she moves, causing the most perfect friction. I smooth my hand up under her ass and it’s like heaven under my fingers. And then I spank her. Once. Twice. A third time.
Cora moans, and I place my other hand on her back to hold her still. “This is what you want?” I ask as my hand comes down again. Her ass is turning the most delicious shade of pink as her skin heats under my hand.
“Yes.” It’s a breathless sigh, and she arches against me, lifting her ass for more. I give it to her, the sound of the spanks echoing down the hallway. Smoothing my fingers over her skin, I soothe the sting after every slap. I love the way she jumps when my palm connects, the satisfaction that I’m getting a little sweet revenge for all she’s put me through today.
Jack’s voice is suddenly there, echoing from the bar. “I’ll be back in a bit, guys,” I hear him say. It’s like a fog is lifted. What the fuck am I doing? I flip Cora’s dress back down and set her upright, adjusting my pants as I stand. I have to get out of here. There’s no time to wait or to say anything, so I just go. I make it out of the hallway before Jack gets there, thank God. I hear him say my name, trying to stop me, but there’s no way in hell. He’ll know something’s up. He’ll know that I did something with Cora, something I never should have done. I can’t be here with these young investors and his ridiculous plan. I’m going home, and he can yell at me tomorrow.
But even though I don’t want to admit it to myself, Jack isn’t the problem. The problem is that I just spanked his daughter and I loved every fucking second of it. And for the rest of my life, I’m going to remember how goddamn perfect her ass felt under my hand, and how I’m never going to feel that again.
Fuck.
4
When I left the office yesterday, my goal for today was to finish my experimentation with the code and run some diagnostics, maybe show it to Cora to see what kind of feedback her fresh eyes could provide. Today on arriving at the office, I have an entirely different goal: avoid Cora at all costs. I jerked off three times last night and still wasn’t satisfied.
It’s only been a day and she’s gotten under my skin. I can’t have that. Not when Jack and I aren’t communicating well and suddenly have differing views. If he ever found out I had messed around with his daughter, that divide would only grow worse. Not to mention the optics of a thirty-five-year-old man sleeping with a twenty-year-old intern. Consumers and investors would drop us faster than gravity. The safest course of action for me is to just stay away from her. It shouldn’t be too hard; it’s a big office
and she’ll be doing plenty of busywork for other people.
Jack calls out to me as I’m heading down the hallway toward my own office. I hear him jogging to catch up. “Michael.”
I sigh, I didn’t want to have this conversation first thing. I was hoping to make it through lunch before being berated, but when I turn around, the look on Jack’s face isn’t angry, it’s worried.
“Are you all right? You left so quickly last night.”
“Yeah,” I say tightly. “I had a rough day, and I wasn’t in the mood to schmooze people I’m not convinced that we should be in bed with.”
He avoids my eyes, expression sheepish. “I’m sorry about that. You were right, I should have at least discussed it with you before springing it on you. I realized after you left that it must have felt like you were getting thrown to the wolves.”