Page 90 of The Deception: Hercules Valentine and I
The Rest of the Week
Paisley Grove
Iwork all day, and later that night, Hercules shows up at my door again. We make love. At around three in the morning, he gets dressed and leaves. The next day, when I arrive at the lobby, Garvey sends me to Hercules’s elevator even though he isn’t around to ride up with me. Our relationship has certainly changed, though he’s still treating me like I’m special to him.
Then on Wednesday night, he knocks on my door again. We don’t make it to the bedroom. He bends me over on the kitchen table and enters my wetness from the back. The legs of the table bang against the floor, and it slides across the tile until the edge slams into the back of the sofa. But still, he doesn’t stop as I cling to the tabletop, refusing to let go. There’s meaning to this angry sex we’re having. I’m taking my punishment for my deception. There’s something else going on with him, though, and I don’t want to figure it out.
After he ejaculates into a paper towel and throws it in the trash, Hercules lies on the floor, asks me to part my thighs, and lowers me over his mouth, and he makes me orgasm until I’m as limp as a ragdoll. When his man of steel is hard again, he carries me into the bedroom and makes love to me tenderly and deeply.
“Can I come inside you?” he whispers.
“Yes.” I sigh as his thrusts blossom a new orgasm deep in under my hood.
“Oh,” Hercules cries as he holds me so close I can barely breathe. “I love you too,” he whispers in my ear.
* * *
On Thursday,Hercules makes an appearance in our staff meeting. Mason announces a big project on the horizon. He says it’s in the works but he’ll let us know more about it soon. When he winks at me, I know it has something to do with GIT. It is just as I thought—Killian must have been open to Mason’s pitch.
However, after the meeting, Hercules leaves, and I don’t see him again until he wakes me up after midnight. We screw—hard—and then he leaves again.
* * *
On Friday morning,my cellphone rings before I walk out the door, and I instantly know it’s Hercules.
“Hello,” I say, anxious to hear his voice.
“What are you doing, Paisley?”
My heart sinks. “Max?”
“Do you have the code?” He sounds cold and angry.
“No.”
“Get it, and then get the hell out of VTI. Today’s your last day.” He ends our call before I can object.
I’m so stunned that I can’t move an inch. I can’t just quit Hercules and VTI. He didn’t even give me a chance to explain what I did for both of our families.
It starts snowing again as I walk to work. I can’t help but see ice falling from the sky as some kind of omen. Max never makes empty threats. He’ll find a way to ruin everything for me. I’ll lose Hercules and all my new friends. I’ll be alone again, but I will never be his tool.That’s done.
Anger makes my stride faster and longer. I have to think this through, figure out how to come out of this with the advantage. When Max strikes, it’s hard to see it coming. When I walk into the lobby this morning, I’m on alert.
Garvey gives me access to the Hercules’s private elevator, which I like because riding up alone will give me time to really try to figure something out. It’s hard to outthink Max. But I can do it if I work hard enough at it. I hit the up button, the doors slide open, and I go completely still.
* * *
