Page 12 of Bounced Into Love

“Yes,” she hissed as her inner muscles clenched around me.

It was all the go-ahead I needed to begin moving. I went gently at first. Carefully, even though it was difficult when every cell of my being urged me to go faster. But I held off until she was lifting up to meet my thrusts. Then I fucking lost it. After pulling out almost all the way, I thrust back in fast and hard until I was balls deep. Over and over again, mindless with lust. Her cries of pleasure spurred me on as I pounded into her.

“That’s right, angel. Take what you need from me while I give you every fucking inch I’ve got.”

“Yes! Jaxson. Oh, my God! Yes! I’m so close,” she cried out.

I felt the tell-tale burn tingle up the back of my spine and burn in my belly. My balls tightened, drawing closer to my body. I teetered on the edge, staring down into her bright blue eyes. They were filled with such trust. Giving me everything when I’d done nothing to deserve it. Because she was made for me.

“You’re mine!” I roared as the volcano erupted, and my cock jerked with long spurts I was helpless to stop. She screamed my name and fell apart in my arms, coming with me.

After my heart stopped thundering and Kiara’s aftershocks passed, I rolled to my back with her in my arms. I felt as inexperienced as she was because I’d never felt this way before. This was more than just sex. More than her giving me her body. She made me feel as though as I was everything to her, and I damn well already knew she was my everything.

Tilting her head back, I kissed her as if there was no tomorrow because with the life I’d led I knew there were never any guarantees. And when I lifted my head, the words slipped out. “I love you.”

I didn’t remember ever saying them to anyone other than my mother. But what I felt for Kiara was all-consuming and undeniable.

Her pretty blue eyes filled with tears even as she smiled up at me. “I’m not sure how it’s possible since we’ve known each other for such a short time, but I love you too.”

As easily as that, everything was right in my world...except for that niggling worry in the back of my head about her coworkers and whatever it was they were up to.

Chapter 10

Kiara

Jaxson’s warning about Susan and Candice stuck with me when I went back into the office on Monday. I didn’t want to believe Susan had an ulterior motive for being nice to me, but I had a sneaking suspicion that came to me while I was sleeping the night before. I didn’t mention it to Jaxson before he dropped me off at work this morning. I wanted to look into some things first.

Susan and Candice worked in our billing department, and they handled accounts payable. My bachelor’s and master’s degrees were in Accounting, and one of my duties was to audit all of the accounts. It only took me an hour of digging into the companies they were making recurring payments to for me to find the first discrepancies. Two hours later, and I had a list of a dozen accounts which I was ninety-nine percent certain were bogus.

I’d only been on the job for a little more than three months, but I felt like a failure for not catching on to the fraud that had been right under my nose sooner. Before I headed into Mr. Crenshaw’s office, I sent a quick text to Jaxson.

Me:You were right about my coworkers. I need you.

Jaxson:On my way.

Iknew Jaxson thought I deserved someone better than him, but he was wrong. There wasn’t anyone who’d treat me with more care than he did. Who’d put my needs above his own and drop anything to come to my aid without asking a single question. He thought he was the lucky one, but I knew it was really me.

The knowledge that a man as strong as Jaxson loved me helped to strengthen my resolve. Gathering up the evidence I’d printed, I took a deep breath and headed for Mr. Crenshaw’s office after calling the police. I wasn’t sure if my boss would want to keep the situation quiet, but with the amount of money they’d embezzled from the company, I felt like I didn’t have any choice but to alert the authorities. If it meant I lost my job, I could live with that. What I couldn’t accept was the idea that they’d get away with what they’d done.

When I filled Mr. Crenshaw in on what I’d discovered, he looked as stunned as I felt. The cops arrived only a few minutes before Jaxson, who hurried to my side as soon as he got there. He listened as Mr. Crenshaw and I explained what had happened to the police. Cradled in his arms, I felt cushioned from the reality that I’d so badly misjudged Susan. I understood that greed pushed people to make horrible decisions, but I didn’t get why she’d gone so far out of her way to be nice to me.

Turning to face her, I asked, “Why would you befriend me when I’m the person who was most likely to catch on to what you were doing?”

“Befriend?” Candice cackled as one of the police officers restrained her with her arms behind her back. “For someone who’s supposed to be so smart, you sure can be dumb about some things.”

Considering I was the one responsible for the cop who was holding Susan back, I wasn’t expecting her to come to my defense like she usually did when Candice got snippy with me. But that didn’t mean I was counting on the look of pure hatred she aimed in my direction. “You really are stupid if you think I was ever truly your friend, Kiara. You know what they say about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? I needed to stick close to you, and I was pretending the entire time.”

“Pretending?” I echoed with a shake of my head. None of this made any sense to me. Up until her weird behavior at Ice on Friday night—and catching on to her embezzlement—I had thought Susan was one of the nicest people I’d ever met. From my first day on the job, she’d gone out of her way to make me feel welcome and include me. “Why would you put so much energy into trying to hook me up with Jaxson if you never cared about me?”

She sneered at me as she answered, “I thought if you got all loved up, you wouldn’t pay as much attention at work. Then maybe you wouldn’t notice what’s been going on around here since well before Mr. Crenshaw hired you.”

“Yeah, if your job had gone to Susan like it was supposed to, then we never would’ve gotten caught,” Candice complained. “But no, you had to come in with your fancy degree, poke your nose where it didn’t belong, and ruin everything for us.”

As the cops escorted them out of Mr. Crenshaw’s office, I felt like I was the meddling kid who had solved the crime on an episode ofScooby Doo. Susan didn’t say anything else, but if a person could kill someone else with a glare, I would’ve been dead.

“I’m not sure why Susan thought she would be promoted to your position. The job posting made it very clear that an advanced degree was required, and she only has an Associate’s,” he wondered aloud as he followed behind them, leaving Jaxson and me alone in his office.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I guess that explains Candice’s seemingly random comments about Susan being jealous of me. She wanted my job so she could cover her tracks and get away with almost a million dollars.”

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