Page 4 of Sensual Games

My shoulders rolled back, and my chin lifted. I left my bag on my currently empty desk and strode up to the door separating us. “Good morning,” I offered with a smile. Was it obvious I couldn’t help but hear his voice in my head?“Do you like that? Does my cock make that tight pussy feel good?”

Get it together. That was weeks ago.

This was now when we were both fully dressed and most definitely not in the throes of passion.

“Good morning.” Ugh, why did his deep voice have to bring velvet to mind? Rich, warm, sexy as hell. “You’re here early. Any special reason?”

I could’ve done without the heavy dose of suspicion in his voice. “Is it a crime to come in early on my first full day on the job?” I asked.

“Aren’t you a hard worker?” He folded his hands on top of his desk, wearing a smile that held absolutely no warmth or kindness. The longer he trained it on me, the further my stomach dropped until it was somewhere around my ankles before he spoke again, his voice filled with a heavier hint of disdain—if that were possible. “Just to let you know, you’re not going to score points by showing up this early. You can spare yourself the trouble if you think it’s going to get you anywhere.”

“Who said I thought it was getting me anywhere?” I asked in genuine confusion. No, this was not the man I remembered from the wedding, but then he had been tipsy, coming off what had to be a long day full of wedding stuff. He wasn’t sitting at a desk, absorbed with business. “I’m not interested in scoring points,” I assured him, though it was sort of a lie. Showing up early was part of that whole make-yourself-indispensable thing. “I wanted to get a little extra time to settle in on my first full day. That’s all.”

“Sure. If you say so.” Clearly, he didn’t believe me.

What had I done that was so wrong? Frustration swelled up in my chest. I never did well with being misunderstood, and this was worse than that. It wasn’t that he misunderstood me. He was determined to be a dick, already making up his mind about me and my motives.

What was I supposed to do? Let him sit there and talk to me like that just because of who his father happened to be? Or did he think he was going to get away with it because he was good in bed? If so, he was truly pathetic. Either way, I looked at him with fresh eyes, and I didn’t like what I saw. “Mr. Diamond?—”

“Really?” he asked, scoffing. “Are we doing that?” God, his sarcasm. And I thought I fell back on it too much. I would have to tell Mom I met somebody who used it even more than I did. She’d be so impressed.

“Lucian,” I amended, carefully enunciating through a tight and entirely insincere smile. “Things don’t have to be awkward for us just because of what happened.”

“Is that what you think? Like I can’t handle being in the same room with a woman I was intimate with?” His head snapped back like he was genuinely surprised.

The man was a goddamn enigma, one I wouldn’t try to solve if it weren’t for my job and everything hanging on it. I should’ve known better than to think things were going to magically change all because I was making a little more money. My life didn’t go that way. It never had.

And that was probably what had me so close to losing my shit as he continued sneering at me from behind his desk. A rush of heat washed over me, settling in my chest. “All I’m saying is, you don’t need to worry about me making anything out of it. I’m an adult. It wasn’t like we knew we would end up working together.”

“Is that the explanation you’re going with?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” I fired back.

Lifting a thick shoulder, he muttered, “If it means keeping your job in this tough market? I’m sure you’d say anything.”

Something hot and bitter exploded in my chest, sending fire racing through my limbs and making my blood boil. This fucking bully. He might as well have hovered a finger an inch from my face and chantedI’m not touching youlike some playground menace. I had left those days behind long ago. What a shame I couldn’t say the same for him.

“I don’t say anything I don’t mean,Lucian,” I told him, emphasizing his name again. “But if you’re going to have a problem treating me professionally, maybe this isn’t going to work out.”

“Oh, I know it’s not going to work out,PoisonIvy,” he assured me, making my stomach sink further than it already had. He had even given me a nasty nickname! Everything was going wrong, all of it, and all I could do was watch it fall apart.

“I have no choice but to pretend I think otherwise,Poison,” he continued. “So please, go out and find your desk, get yourself all settled in like the hard worker you are. You’re supposed to be helping me learn the ropes of my new position. Go figure out a way to do that.”

What was going to stop me from throwing something at his fucking head? I bit my tongue until it hurt. It was all that got me out of his office before I said something I would definitely get fired for. If it wasn’t for Mom, I would’ve said it, anyway. It would’ve been worth watching his reaction.

But I couldn’t afford to be selfish. Mom had gone through hell to raise me on her own, working nonstop to keep a roof over our heads and food in the kitchen. The least I could do to pay her back would be to put up with an asshole with hands that worked the kind of magic no vibrator had ever managed. How unfortunate, the way my brain insisted on reminding me of that as I walked to my desk on trembling legs.

One thing was for sure. I had worked too hard for too long to let some spoiled rich kid take what was mine. Three years younger than me, with absolutely no experience, and I was supposed to give him a crash course in what I’d learned through years of trial and error. Everything I had, I’d earned, unlike him. For all I knew, that was what he resented. The spoiled brat couldn’t imagine earning a damn thing and hated the idea of me being around to keep him on his toes.

And I would.

He could be sure of that.

I sat at the desk in front of his office and set my bag underneath, pulling out my patent leather heels and sliding into them like I’d slide into armor before battle. In a way, that’s exactly what I was doing.

He wanted to do things the hard way? Fine by me. I had been playing life on hard mode from the beginning. If anything, he was the one with a lesson to be learned.

I couldn’t wait to be the one to teach him what a bad idea it was to play withPoisonIvy.

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