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  To my surprise, he stumbles over his words. “I don’t—I don’t know where to s-start.”

  “You could start by telling me how wrong it was to call me what you did. That’s a good start.”

  A dull red flush stains his cheekbones. “I should never have called you that. I’m really sorry. It’s unforgivable, I know. And I know now that you were right all along. I heard your father fighting with Ryland after their demo, and it was all just like you said.”

  “So…?”

  “So?”

  I shrug. “What’s all this mean? You were wrong. I knew you were wrong from the beginning, but that doesn’t change the way you treated me, the things you said. How small you made me feel that day, after—after everything.” My cheeks start burning at the mere mention of what went on in his office only hours before he fired me.

  “I realize that,” he mutters, shaking his head. “It was wrong. I can’t tell you how wrong I was or how sorry I am. I was deeply hurt by what I thought was your betrayal, Sam. It cut me to the bone to think that you were not what I thought you were. Not to mention the fact that so much of the business relied on our demonstration. What would you do in my shoes?”

  “I would ask why you were with Vince Weissman. I would ask flat-out if you had anything to do with the leak.”

  “Why would you have admitted having anything to do with it if you were really a spy? Why would you tell the truth?”

  “If you had an explanation for what was happening the way I did with Ryland you would’ve at least gotten the chance to share it. You could’ve had your say. I didn’t get to have mine. I had to email you, hoping you would read it without deleting it first.”

  “I did.” He looks and sounds sincere. I have to give him that. “I would do anything to make this up to you. Do you know that?” He takes one step closer, then another. “I mean it. Anything in the world.”

  I could move away, but I don’t. Having him nearer to me is a joy I don’t really want to refuse. I’ve been refusing myself for too long already. The weeks without him have been worse than torture. Even though I haven’t known him for much longer than that, the heart wants what it wants.

  So does the body.

  “Sam. I couldn’t have done anything I did without you.”

  When he reaches for me, I don’t pull away. I allow his hands to linger on my arms—light, gentle, not demanding a thing.

  “You’re the entire reason we were a success at the conference. It was all you. I would be nowhere without you. I’m nowhere without you now.”

  “What are you saying?” I whisper, not daring to hope.

  “First of all, I would love it if you would come to work for me again, because you’re really and truly a genius, and I need you on my team.” He strokes my arms, staring deep into my eyes.

  I can hardly hear him over the sound of blood rushing in my ears. Does he have any idea what he does to me? He can’t possibly. I narrow my eyes until they’re practically slits, pretending to think it over. He deserves to sweat a little after what he put me through. “Hmm…no. I don’t think so.”

  “What?” He frowns and pulls back a little, hurt and surprise in his eyes.

  He thought I would give in so easily, did he? “Well, I mean, I’d be happy to work with you. Just not for you. I have my own clients now.”

  “You do?” He looks deflated, but when he sees me raise my eyebrows, his expression changes to excitement. “That’s terrific news!”

  “Yes, it is. You helped quite a lot, dropping my name the way you did. I appreciate it more than I can say.” I take a deep breath, releasing it slowly before continuing, “I’ve been wanting to get out of my father’s shadow for as long as I can remember. I’ve wanted to make a life for myself away from him, completely and totally. And there’s no way he’d ever let me into his life after what he knows I did to him, so…”

  “Actually, even though I’m crushed at the thought that you won’t be in the lab at all hours of the night, I’m very proud of you,” he whispers, smiling softly, his eyes shining.

  I’m not used to hearing people say they’re proud of me. It sounds good. I could get used to it. “There’s another thing, too,” I whisper back, leaning in ever so slightly.

  “What’s that?” he asks with a totally sexy grin.

  “I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to date my boss.”

  His grin turns to a smile, wider than any I’ve ever seen from him. “You mean that?”

  “I absolutely do.”

  He takes my face in his hands, cupping it gently. “In that case, Miss Harper, I’m afraid your services will no longer be required by Guardian.”

  “Gee, that’s a shame, but thank you for letting me know, Mr. Cage.”

  “Now, that we have established you are no longer working for me, Ms. Harper. I’m afraid I’m going to need to get my tongue into your sweet pussy.”

  I giggle, letting him pull me closer. “I’m pretty gross right now, by the way.”

  “There are two ways around that problem. I could lick you clean or I can get you showered up, then,” he murmurs, sliding his hands over my back.

  “You would lick me even though I smell of sweat and bleach?”

  “Sweetness, I would take you any old way I can. I love you clean, I love you dirty, I love you drenched in sweat and stained with bleach. Anyway, I can take you.”

  I can hardly believe my ears. “What? You love me?”

  He smiles, the slowest, sexiest smile you ever saw and I wait with bated breath for it to finish.

  “I do. I really do.”

  “When did you realize that?”

  “I think it was when you were cleaning Maddie’s feet. I looked down at both your heads so close together and this strange thought crossed my mind. If any man ever hurts either of these two girls I’ll fucking kill him. I felt so protective towards both of you. As if you were both mine. But of course, you were always running hot and cold, so I talked myself out of it. I told myself it was just a thing. A fling.”

  “I was running hot and cold because I was scared. I didn’t know if—”

  “I would respect you in the morning,” he interrupts in a dry voice.

  I smack his chest. “See these are the kinds of things that made me run hot and cold.”

  “I could be that guy who professes to love a woman and never hears it back, but you know, it would be nice if the feeling was returned in some small measure.” He is joking, but his eyes are serious and almost apprehensive.

  My chest feels like it’s about to burst. Everything I’ve ever wanted is right here in this room, holding me in his arms. Just when I thought I lost out on my dreams of him, he came back.

  “I love you, too,” I breathe the words out, my eyes filling with tears in the instant before his mouth touches mine.

  Lincoln

  A month later…

  Come here,” I growl at her as soon as the door is shut. She looks so fucking good in that dress.

  Sam doesn’t hesitate, pressing her body hard against mine, so I can feel every contour of her.

  I love the way she feels. “Fuck, I want to tear this thing off of you,” I mutter into her ear as I draw her close to me, brushing my nose against her neck.

  She shivers. “Then do it.”

  It feels more like a challenge than anything else. If she thinks she can lay down a challenge like that in front of me and get away with it, then she’s got another thing coming. I pull back and cock an eyebrow at her. “You serious?”

  “Deadly,” she replies, that playful grin playing at the corners of her mouth. “Tonight—I want you to—I want you to do something wild.”

  I eye her for a moment.

  “I mean it.” Looking at my lips, she slides her hand between us and grips my hard cock through my pants.

  I can see the tipsiness in her eyes but I know this isn’t because of the alcohol. We both want this. Maybe we both need it.

  She tightens her grip slightly on my
package.

  That’s all I need to push me over the edge. Oh, I’m going to make this girl scream.

  I grab her, turn her around, and push her roughly down onto the bed. She lands with a slight giggle, scrambling to turn the right way up, but I shake my head, pulling off my blazer as I look down at her. “Stay like that,” I order. “On your front. Don’t look at me.”

  She raises her eyebrows and I can tell that she’s swallowing down a smart remark, but she does as she’s told, facing away from me, taking up on all fours so her ass is tilted towards me, wiggling back and forth temptingly.

  “Wild?” I repeat softly, running my hand over the curve of her butt.

  She shivers slightly. “Wild,” she confirms, looking over her shoulder at me with a grin.

  Without another word, I grab her dress and shove it roughly over her hips. Grabbing her panties, I yank them off of her with a sharp tearing sound of fabric. I toss them aside. She gasps when I grab her ankles and pull her towards me, running my hands up her legs until they come to rest on her ass.

  “Show me your pussy,” I order.

  She obeys, as she tilts her hips forward and uses her fingers to open her folds for my viewing pleasure.

  “Wider. I want to see it.”

  I look at her like this, her sweet little cunt opened up for me, and I admire the woman all laid out in front of me like this. Her delicious pussy is pink and glistening. A very tempting offer. My mouth starts to water, but I have other ideas for her tonight. I lean down and plant a soft kiss against her ass cheek then move over and press my tongue against her tight asshole.

  She gasps again, and then lets out a long moan of pleasure as I move my tongue lightly back and forth across her butt, testing her. Her skin is sweet and clean and my cock is already rock-hard at the thought of pleasuring her like this. She slips a hand between her legs to play with her pussy, but I brush it away. “Not yet,” I order, pulling back a little. “I’ll tell you when you can touch yourself.”

  Sam groans in desperation but does as she’s told, planting her hands in front of her.

  I slide a hand over the small of her back to keep her in place and begin lapping at her tight hole, wondering if anyone has ever taken her here before. The thought of fucking her ass for the first time, of thoroughly devirginizing this gorgeous hole blows my mind, but for the time being I’m happy just to watch the way she reacts when I probe her with my tongue.

  There’s a specific pleasure in watching a woman driven so crazy with desire that she can’t quite consummate yet and knowing you’re the cause of it. And she doesn’t let me down, groaning and wriggling while letting out these desperate little gasps as I trace my fingers up her thighs and towards her pussy without giving her any relief. She did say wild, and I’m going to show her just how delicious it is to offer someone like me that kind of deal.

  Eventually, she gives in, murmuring the words that I’ve been longing to hear since the first moment I set eyes on her, “Fuck me, Lincoln,” she pants the plea out.

  I’m so into what I’m doing that I almost don’t hear her the first time. I decide to continue, to really make her beg. “What was that?” I ask, pulling back and shooting a look at her.

  Her face is painted with need, her jaw taut and her eyes bright. “Fuck me, please,” she begs.

  “Are you sure?” I ask innocently.

  “Lincoln, I need this…”

  “Need what?” I ask, stroking around the entrance to her pussy with one finger tauntingly.

  She lets out a frustrated groan. “Need you inside me,” she pleads. “Like this. Anyway you want. Please, just fuck me…”

  I look down at her dripping pussy and know I can’t hold back any longer. I have to have her. This is fun, but my cock is straining so hard against my pants, I fear I might do it damage.

  “Don’t move,” I order as I pick up her shredded panties from the floor. Leaning forward, I prompt, “Open,” as I tap her mouth. With her mouth open, I shove the panties between her lips, earning a surprised squeak as my reward. “We don’t want Maddie to hear now, do we?” I murmur, stroking her chin and drawing her gaze to mine.

  She nods and closes her eyes, wiggling her hips back and forth, reminding me as if I need reminding that her pussy needs my cock inside it.

  I pull down my pants. I’m so damn hard just by looking at the sight of her like this, desperate for me. Hell, it’s almost enough to make me nut. I press myself to her entrance and her pussy instantly clenches around my cockhead. I look down at her, and grabbing her hips, sink my fingers into her flesh hard. “Fuck yourself on my cock,” I order.

  She turns her head and stares at me for a second before it sinks in.

  I thrust an inch into her and then hold still, though it takes all my power to do so.

  Sam seems to get the message, and begins to work herself back and forth on my dick. Spreading her cream on my cock, making it glisten.

  I get to watch it all and the feeling is exquisite, but even better than the sensation of her hot, tight cunt desperately pushing itself up and down my dick is the sight of her doing this. She tips her head back and closes her eyes and even through the fabric of the panties, I can make out her deep, guttural groans of pleasure as she takes me in deep. I have never wanted anyone as badly as I want her in this moment, but I want to make her work for this. There’s nothing better than seeing a woman so desperate for you that she’ll do anything she can, to feel your cock inside of her.

  Sam looks completely lost to pleasure.

  I let her fuck me like that for a few more agonizing minutes, but having to hold back is killing me. My balls are tingling and my cock is aching for some real, deep fucking. Eventually, I can’t take it anymore. I lean forward and grasp a handful of her hair in my hand. Then I begin to thrust into her. I go slow at first, matching her pace, but gradually the two of us are moving faster, harder, our bodies in perfect harmony.

  A long, low muffled wail of pleasure emits from her mouth.

  I feel a surge of triumph. I said I was going to make her scream and I did.

  “You want to come?” I ask, leaning down and running my free hand up her spine.

  She nods.

  Oh no, I want to hear it. “I said, do you want to come?” I demand, pulling the panties out of her mouth.

  “I need you to make me come,” she almost growls at me, animalistic, a side of her I’ve never seen before.

  I smile. That’s my girl.

  I gently stuff the panties back into her mouth and slide a hand down between her legs to stroke her clit, matching my movements with the pace of my thrusts, watching as her jaw clenches once more and her eyes roll back. She’s moving as if on instinct now, her body taking over, every motion pushing her closer and closer.

  I’m so focused on making her come that my own orgasm almost takes me by surprise. I tip my head back and let out a roar, forgetting Maddie is asleep in the next room. I bottom out inside of her. My cock twitches as I hold myself deep, making sure she can feel every pulsating inch of me as I empty my load in her.

  She carries on, fucking me, her movements now frantic. Her body starts to arch and spasm. A moment later, I feel her come, her clit throbbing and her pussy clenching me as she milks the last of my climax from my erection.

  Our bodies still, the two of us lost in this shared bubble of pleasure that takes a good long while to burst.

  When it does, I slowly pull out of her, and slide down on the bed next to her.

  Sam turns to me and I take the gag out of her mouth.

  Leaning in, she plants a soft kiss on my lips. “I enjoyed that. Now I’m going to use my mouth to clean you up, you dirty, dirty boy you.”

  I laugh softly as she moves down along my body. Life is good.

  Epilogue

  Samantha

  One Year Later

  That sounds just great. We’ll have the proposal over to you sometime in the next two or three days.” I’m smiling when I hang up after talking to the repres
entative of the company that will most likely be my next client. I fire off a quick email to my assistant, confirming she needs to get the finalized version of the proposal over to me for review.

  “Sam?”

  Maddie’s knock at the door to my office is well-timed, and it’s with a smile that I get up to answer. “What is it?” I ask, tussling her curly hair and taking her hand to let her lead me to the kitchen. One thing I love most about having my own consulting company is being able to work remotely. Why pay overhead for an office when I can do everything from home? I’ve been successful in the past year, but I’m nowhere near needing more space than what I have here.

  Besides, there are situations in which working in my pajamas, with my feet up, might come in handy in the near future.

  “I made lunch!” Maddie waves her arms with a flourish, showing off her handiwork. For a seven-year-old, she didn’t do half bad. Tuna sandwiches, salad, and Nutella cookies.

  “Very well done, young lady.” I kiss the top of her head before shooing her into her chair. “Just make sure you finish all the good stuff before you start in on the good stuff.”

  She laughs impishly before I sit opposite her and we share lunch, and as we always do when she is on a school break. Sometimes, I can’t believe my luck. I fell into the family I always wanted. She’s such a great kid. Even after eight months of being married to her father, she hasn’t lost her charm. I couldn’t ask for a better stepdaughter.

  “Are you finished working for the day?” she asks, chomping on a mouthful of sandwich.

  “Yup. And Daddy should be home soon, too.”

  “Where is he? He doesn’t work on Saturdays anymore.”

  “I know, and that’s such a good thing. He had to pick something up from the store.”

  “Oh! Ice cream?”

  “No!” I laugh. “Something even better. I promise.” At least, I hope she thinks it’s better. I know I do.

  My husband gets home just after we’ve finished eating, and he’s carrying a gift bag in one hand. My heart skips a beat, the way it always does when Lincoln enters the room. I never thought marriage could be like this. Lord knows, I didn’t have the strongest example while I was growing up. Every day I get to wake up beside him is a joy, one which hasn’t lost its magic over the past months.