Page 29 of Dirty Deal

“I won’t do this if you don’t want me to.” The gray fabric of her dress is slippery and soft, pooling over her thighs as I place her feet one by one on my arm rests. Her heels look wickedly sharp—a warning.

“Lena?” I wait for her to meet my eyes. She looks so out of her depth, my chest aches. “You can say no to this. You can always refuse. But just know… if you let me, I’m going to make you feel so fucking good. I’m going to make you sing for me, baby.”

It’s the pet name, more than anything, that settles her. Not the P-word, butbaby.A name for someone you love and treasure.

Lena wets her lips and gives a small nod. “Okay,” she rasps.

I inhale deeply. My heart drums.

Then I press her thighs wider and flip her dress up onto her hips. A triangle of dark purple silk greets me, with a damp spot already growing.

I bite back a groan.

“There you are.” Lena shivers as my fingertip runs along the edge of her panties, hooking beneath the fabric. Teasing her. Teasing both of us. “Can I keep these too?”

“What?” Lena sounds startled, propping up on one elbow to glare at me. “No! Lingerie is expensive, you dirty big thief.”

She cuts off when she sees me grinning at her. Lowering down, I puff out a warm breath against the damp spot on her panties. Just like that, color climbs up her throat, and Lena bites her lip and squirms against the desk. My chair creaks as she kicks against it.

“No offense,” I say, straightening up to take her high heels off one by one, dropping them on the floor next to my desk. “But I don’t want a stiletto speared through my femoral artery. And Iamgoing to make you thrash.”

“Promises, promises,” she says.

Lena’s eyes widen as I place my hands on the delicate bones of her ankles, then stroke my way up her calves, her knees, her thighs. Her legs tremble beneath my touch, and her skin is smooth and flawless, all the way up to where my thumbs meet the edges of her panties once more.

Was it really only yesterday that I touched her like this? That I got my hands on her for the first time?

It feels like a thousand years ago. Like I’ve waited a whole millennium to do it again.

“So fucking beautiful,” I grind out, rubbing the mound of her pussy through the purple silk. Lena bucks and moans, her damp spot growing. Theheatof her down here… Christ, I can’t wait to get inside her. It’ll be like sliding into a hot bath. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. That used to make me so bitter and angry, but it doesn’t anymore, Lena. Do you know why?”

She shakes her head, pupils blown wide.

“Because you’remine.” My thumb slips beneath the fabric, stroking her slick core. The temperature climbs between us, until we’re sure to fog up the office windows.

“Just because I let you touch me, that doesn’t mean I’m yours,” Lena points out. It’s a reasonable argument, but she sounds like she’s trying to convince herself too.

“I know.” My thumb dips inside her, just to the first knuckle. We both suck in sharp breaths. “I do know that, baby. I need to earn you, and I will.”

Lena bites her lip—hard.

And I keep talking to her in a low, gravelly voice, even as I peel her panties down her thighs and set them on the desk. Even as I stroke between her legs, teasing her pussy until she’s glistening and plump, visibly aching for me. All that time, I tell Lena about how wrong I’ve been.

I should never have been so bitter and resentful toward her. Even if she didn’t want me back, it’s not like my feelings were her responsibility. That was shitty of me. I see that now.

And I never should have assumed that she was just like her parents: spoiled and entitled and rude. I read her all wrong, andif I’d seen her clearer before, we could have had so much more time together. That’s a regret that will haunt me forever.

On and on, I list all my mistakes, baring my soul to my rapt audience where she gasps and moans beneath my touch. I confess all the weak, shady, shitty parts of myself, hoping against hope that Lena willhearme. That she will accept this vulnerability as the offering it is, rather than use it against me.

I’ve never shown anyone else this side of me. The soft underbelly.

I’ve never tried totrustsomeone before. Not gonna lie—my body does not feel good right now. I’m light-headed, queasy, and there’s a sharp stabbing pain in my gut. Every instinct is screaming at me to stop, to armor up again, but I ignore them all for her.

For Lena.

My pulse thuds in my ears as I lean down to her slit. There’s a gasp above me, and fingers weave through my hair, holding on tight as I press a kiss on her mound.

“Let me show you,” I say, words humming against her clit. Lena sighs and rocks her hips up. “Let me show you how I feel.”

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