Page 17 of Their Stolen Kisses
Al was indeed in his office, looking tired and worried. “Can I help you?”
“I was told you were the one who audited the company bank accounts,” I started, but he cut me off.
“I was, and I examined them three times against all the documents, instructions and information I have.” The poor man looked like he might throw his hands up and scream at any moment. “I’m going to get fired over this.” His voice was nothing short of mournful. “There must be some record in some account as to where the money went.”
“Hold on,” I said slowly. “What about our subsidiaries? Have they been contacted or checked?”
It was like the sun was rising and Al’s face was directly in the first brilliant rays. “No,” he said just as slowly. “And… and now I remember something. I got instructions to send funds to one of the subsidiaries, and I thought it was a lot of money to be sending there… Let me show you.” He spun his chair toward his computer and produced an email from the head of finance.
“That’s exactly how much money was supposed to go to the plumbing contractor!” I exclaimed, leaning close to Al to ensure I was reading right.
“And I didn’t even think of it, because it says right there in the instructions to allocate the funds to the subsidiary.” Al gripped the mouse so tightly I thought it might break. “The money’s still available, it just got sent somewhere no one would think to look, and I was the only person who could have noticed - and I missed it because I thought the money belonged there.”
“You’re right, it does say to send it to the subsidiary,” I agreed, pointing for emphasis. “Better make sure to save that email and send it to Cameron right now-”
“-Oh no, no. You found this, somehow. You should definitely take the credit. I’ll forward you the email right now and you can take it to Cameron’s executive assistant to review.” Al rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Maybe Matt will get fired over this. No one likes him, honestly.”
I laughed, then gave Al my email. I practically sailed back to my office and snatched up my office phone. Cameron’s executive assistant? No way. This news would go straight to the man himself. “Hi, Cameron? Can you come to my office? Or I can come to yours, of course, it’s just that I have some information on my computer you might want to see.”
“Information?”
“About the funds for the plumbing contractor.” Those words got his attention, and he knocked on my office door within a minute. I already had the email pulled up for him to examine, complete with the amount of money and the proof that the exact amount was sent to a subsidiary. “And the guy - Al Cordero - didn’t notice the amounts were the same because Matt sent this email with instructions to send the money there,” I summed up the information. “The money is still available. The funds were just misallocated, instead of-”
Strong arms pulled me out of my chair and onto my feet in a warm embrace. “You found it!” Only the tones of extreme relief told me exactly how thrilled Cameron was. “That project was already going over budget, and we couldn’t afford to lose that much. How on Earth did you figure out where the money had gone when finance couldn’t?”
“I, uh, I… I…” Cameron’s praises and his arms around me, holding me tightly in his excitement had left me far too flustered to do something like using my tongue to speak words.
“That’s incredible!” He laughed delightedly, spinning me around. I saw the exact instant when he realized exactly what he was doing - holding his employee’s waist, practically dancing with her, pulling her much too close… The strength in his fingers faltered, and I melted into his touch, wanting to feel as much as I could before he let go and became my boss again, wanting this moment to last just a bit longer…
He didn’t let go. He moved in closer and placed a kiss on my lips. His lips tasted like everything I felt - lingering relief, excitement, nervousness - but when I sneaked a glance through half-closed lids, his eyes were closed, lost in bliss. They opened slowly and I immediately turned a little pink at being caught staring, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away.
I knew that look. Cameron had it whenever he looked at Noah.
“You’re so beautiful.” The back of his hand brushed a curl of hair against my face, gently and softly as though he were afraid of damaging it. “So beautiful and confident.”
“C-confident?” I echoed, shocked. “Confident” had never been a word I could use to describe myself. Cameron… Cameron thought I was confident?
“Confident,” he repeated. “It’s why Noah likes you so much. And it’s why I respect you so much.”
Cameron thought I was confident. So… that meant he wouldn’t be surprised if I used that confidence and took something I wanted, right?
I decided to take that chance. This time, I initiated the kiss. Gentle and slow had been nice, but it wasn’t enough. The kisses I rained on Cameron were rough, passionate, and driven by the sway of my hips and motion of my shoulders.
And he responded. Oh, he responded. His lips matched mine and then one-upped me with tongue, then I found myself against the desk. The wooden edge of the top pressed a line right where my butt and thighs met, and something else was touching the tight rear of my skirt too - something that squeezed and cupped my two round cheeks.
“Cam - ” My tongue sprang into action to ward Cameron’s tongue away long enough to speak. “Cameron, the door’s still open!” I protested. The growing patch of dampness in my underwear groaned when he took away his hands.
But he didn’t take them completely away. They rested on my hips, just low enough to be suggestive. “What’s wrong with that? Is there some reason you would want it shut? Or something you want?”
“N-no- yes-” If any of my coworkers walked down the hall right now and saw me standing here, the CEO’s hands on my hips and my makeup and lipstick smudged, I’d die of embarrassment… “I-I want - something,” I managed. Was what I was about to say confidence? Or insanity? “I want - I want someone with… experience… someone to love…” But not to have sex in the office, right here, right now! Heat rose to my cheeks and my mind skipped and skidded with panic. I literally just asked for sex, but I meant somewhere else, some other time-
“-Then...” Cameron deliberately strode to the door, shut it, and locked it. “I think I can help you.”
My legs were Jell-O and the rest of me was clay to be molded by his touch as he took my arms. He kissed me backward - but not into the office chair or the desk as I had expected. Instead, I felt my back hit the back wall of the office, next to the window that I also kept blinded because of the glare against my computer screen, thank God-
No, I didn’t want to have sex yet, not here! I opened my mouth to tell him exactly that, but his tongue crept through the opening I’d given it and silenced me. Wait… he wanted to have sex like this? Standing up against a wall?
Cameron backed off, still holding me but giving me enough space to breathe, and whispered, “I don’t… I don’t do sex in the workplace. It’s not….”
