Page 44 of Bound By Words

“I’m not one of those people who needs everyone to like them. I knew he was jealous that I got more attention for my work, but I just chalked it up to him being upset that I wouldn’t go out with him.”

“Wait,” I stopped her again, leaning back and tilting her face so she could look at me. “This started after you turned down advances from him?”

“Well,” she shrugged, almost looking embarrassed. “They weren’t sexual advances or anything like that at first. But he’d sometimes ask me to get a drink with him after work, and I turned him down. If the department went out together, I always tried to stay away from him. I just didn’t like him. He was so into himself it was a turn-off. He also had his lips suction-cupped to Deacon’s ass. A brown nose wasn’t a good look for him.”

“You said at first,“ I prompted, trying to calm myself. I’d dealt with men, and women for that matter, like Trent. They always seemed harmless at first, but they escalated before you knew it. We’d had a carpenter on one of my crews who would hit on the female architects when they came on-site, trying to play off sexist comments as jokes. Eventually, he’d made a physical pass at the wrong woman, and she filed a complaint against him. He was off the site within a week, and I hadn’t worked with him since.

“Then he started making derogatory comments about my friendship with Tom. He was convinced something was happening with the two of us behind his wife’s back. He even told Charley about how we spent too much time together. She knew I wasn’t interested in her husband, but it made things awkward.”

“Hmm,” I hummed, knowing that sometimes those speculations were true, and sometimes they weren’t. I had a feeling that they weren’t in Kelly’s case.

“I wasn’t,” she quickly said, sitting up slightly to make eye contact. “I was never involved with Tom like that. He reminded me of Evan.”

“What happened?” I could tell she’d been building up to something big.

“Trent didn’t like that I was being left in charge during Tom’s paternity leave. He was very vocal about how unqualified I was to lead the rest of our team. A few people defended me, but he still hated the idea of reporting to me, even for a few weeks.”

“What did he do?” My blood pressure started to rise as she clung to my shirt, her heart hammering against my chest. Grasping her hand, I leaned down to kiss her knuckles and the top of her head. “He did something, didn’t he?”

“He told me that I kept my job because of the skills I had while on my knees. He cornered me in my office and said some other nasty things, and I kicked him out, threatening to go to HR about his behavior.”

“And did you?”

“No,” she whispered, her voice breaking. My arms tightened around her shoulders as I tucked my face into her hair, feeling her body tremble. “I know I should have, but I was working on a project with a deadline, and I didn’t want to seem like I was overreacting to it. I guess I thought it would show him I was weak if I couldn’t handle it alone. He went to HR that afternoon and told them I’d sexually harassed him. And now I can’t return to the office or interact with anyone for the next eight weeks because he’s trying to ruin my career. I didn’t even do anything to him, ever. I’d never…“ her voice broke as she gripped my shirt in her fist, burrowing her face into the fabric.

What an epic asshole. Who did shit like that because their ego couldn’t take a woman who’d shot them down supervising them for a few weeks?

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered into her hair, pulling her closer. Kelly shifted, her knees settling on either side of my thighs as she tucked herself into my chest, laying her head on my shoulder. “I’m sorry he did that to you, sunshine. What he did to you was not okay. I know how hard you work, and I can’t believe he’d let his jealousy cloud how much of an asset you are to that department.”

She sniffled, holding onto my arms, her nose buried into my neck, puffs of warmth spreading along my skin as she breathed heavily. I held her, softly running my hands through her hair as she clung to me for comfort. Eventually, her body relaxed, and the tension drained from her muscles. I almost thought she was asleep until I felt one of her hands burrow its way underneath the back of my shirt, softly tickling my lower back, making sensations run through me that I couldn’t control.

“Touch me,” she whispered into my neck as she wiggled on my lap, her lips dragging along the edge of my beard.

“What are you doing?” I whispered, laughing a little as she nipped at my pulse point. “I’m supposed to be comforting you, silly girl.”

“I know another way you can comfort me,” she whispered, sitting up straighter and kissing a path from my neck to my ear. I shuddered beneath her, trying to control myself, but I could only do so much to fight off the sensations a wiggling, warm, sensual woman kissing up my neck was causing.

“Kelly,” I scolded, but it turned into a groan as she rocked against me, biting down on my earlobe as her hand wandered into the back of my jeans. “What are you trying to do?”

“I’m not doing it right if you’re asking that,” she laughed as she leaned back, scraping her fingernails through the hair at the edge of my jaw.

“I know what you’re doing,” I laughed, grasping her waist as she rocked forward, causing me to grunt as I leaned my head against the back of the couch. “But I don’t know what you want from me.”

“I want you to make me forget,” she breathed softly, her eyes wide and vulnerable as she took a deep breath. “I want you to make me forget my name.”

“Kelly.” Her name was a harsh whisper as my fingers tightened, a surprised gasp escaping her mouth as I tried to hold her still.

“I want you to make me come, Nathan.”

Fuck…

How had comforting her turned into this?

KELLY

Connecticut

As the moment dragged out into another, I was almost afraid Nathan would turn me down as his grip on my waist tightened, my thighs clenching in response. He was staring at me with his head thrown back, his chest heaving as he tried to hold me still. I wasn’t sure at what point the soft caresses of his hand on the back of my head and his comforting hold turned into something more for me, but suddenly, I couldn’t help remembering how good we’d felt together and how much I wanted to feel that again. Not to forget about all the shit that’d happened to me in the last few days, but to remember how it felt to be with him.

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