Tempting Him by Isabel Lucero
14
I makeit to work early on Friday, not willing to piss off the boss again. I bring a coffee for him, Linda, and Luther, leaving Alek’s with Linda before going to Luther’s office.
“Trying to suck up?” Luther asks with a grin, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening.
“No, I’m being nice. Everybody needs a little pick-me-up in the afternoon.”
“I saw you dropping off goodies at Ms. Thompson’s desk.”
I grin. “Think it’ll work?”
“Mr. Drakos is too hard of a man to soften with coffee and cookies.”
“Do you have any tips?”
Luther chuckles. “No.”
“How long have you known him?” I ask, knowing it’s risky to try to inquire too much.
“A long time. I came over with him from Chicago to get this branch started. He’s a good man, and though he’s pretty young, he knows what he’s doing.”
I almost laugh at Luther calling him young, when Alek has been acting like he’s ancient around me. “Seems like it,” I say.
“He can come off pretty aloof, but he’s been through a lot.”
“His parents?” I ask. Luther’s eyes flick to mine. “I Googled a little about the company before I started,” I say. It’s only sort of a lie. I didn’t do it before I started, but he doesn’t need to know why I was interested.
“That’s only the most recent thing. Don’t worry about it, kid. Just do your job, do it well, and you’ll be fine.” Luther runs a hand through his white hair and calls me over. “Now, let’s get started.”
The first two hours fly by. I’ve been in contact with customers and clients about sponsorships and cross promotion. Most of what I’ve done has been traditional marketing, and under Alek’s orders, Luther’s taken me to the digital marketing department to learn more about leveraging digital channels. I’ve also spent time with social media marketing, since I’ve needed to use all aspects to market this festival.
Thirty minutes before the end of my day, I’m in the break room chatting with the other interns while eating a glazed donut.
Joel knocks his arm into mine, lifting up a donut. “Heard you brought these in today.”
“I did. Feeling generous, I guess.”
“Heard it was because you were late and trying to kiss up to the boss,” he says with a grin.
“Is this middle school all over again?”
He laughs. “We never grow up. Everyone loves gossip.”
I shake my head. “Turns out the boss isn’t a fan of cookies and donuts. So, I failed.”
“But we win,” he says with another smile, his eyes dropping to my mouth briefly.
Joel is definitely attractive. The epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. He’s lean, and his hair is cut so short he’s nearly bald. He’s someone I’d spend some time with for sure.
“Got any plans this weekend?” he asks.
“Well, besides working on Saturday? I’m not sure. My friends are having a pool party, I think.”
“Oh, Mr. Drakos is making you work Saturday? That sucks.”
I shrug. “Guess I deserve it.”
“Well, let me know when you’re free. I’d love to hang out sometime. You know, outside these break room moments.” He flashes me his perfect white teeth.
Joel hands me his phone, and I put my name and number in there without thinking about it. “Definitely need to get some more socialization. I feel like I haven’t been out in forever and it’s probably only been a week.”
Once he has his phone back, he sends me a text. “That’s me. Text whenever.”
“Okay.”
When I turn around to grab a napkin from the table behind me, I find Alek in the corner of the break room talking to a couple of guys, but his eyes are trained on me.
I give him a friendly smile, but it isn’t returned.
After wiping my mouth and hands, I head for the door with the plan to go to Luther’s office for the next twenty minutes.
“Excuse me,” Alek tells the guy who’s speaking to him. “Mr. Brooks,” he says as I’m passing. “Meet me in my office, please.”
“Right now?”
“Right now.”
“Oh. Yes, sir.”
As I’m leaving the room, I hear him continue his conversation, obviously not in a rush to meet me.
I sit in the chair for the first couple minutes before getting up and walking to the window. It’s floor-to-ceiling and overlooks the parking lot. Past that, you can see the buildings of downtown South River. Lost in thought, I don’t realize he’s in the room until he’s right behind me.
“Not quite the view from my hotel room, but good enough.”
I jerk slightly, angling my head to the side before staring back out the window. “Just like my ass, right?”
He chuckles. “Speaking of which.”
“My ass?”
“Yes. I just want to make sure you still remember our conversation about...safety.”
“You mean sleeping around?” I ask, turning to face him while I lean against the window.
“Looks like you might’ve forgotten that you and your ass are mine for the time being.”
I can’t help the grin that stretches across my face as I shove my hands in my pockets. “Oh, is that right?”
“You’re aware of our situation, and until one of us says otherwise, you are mine and you aren’t to be dating or leading certain interns on.”
My teeth sink into my bottom lip, my joy hardly able to be contained. “Sir, I have to admit, I like you like this.”
He narrows those piercing eyes at me. “It’s about safety.”
“I think it’s about jealousy.”
Alek sighs. “Maybe I have a sharing problem. I am an only child, after all.”
I laugh, crossing my arms over my chest. “You can admit you like me, you know? I won’t tell anyone.”
His face remains emotionless. “I hope you won’t be texting Mr. Grenald anytime soon.”
“Who?”
“Joel.”
“Oh. Well, he might text me.”
His jaw clenches as he gets more annoyed. “Then I expect you to let him down easy.”
“If me and my ass belong to you, then that must mean that you and your cock belong to me, yes?”
He hesitates. “If that’s how you want to look at it, yes.”
“No, that’s how it is.”
My phone vibrates in my pocket, so I reach for it and read the screen. It’s a message from Joel. I look up and smirk at Alek.
“It’s Joel.”
“And?”
“He said he thinks I’m sexy. He was too afraid to tell me to my face. Wants to take me to dinner tonight.”
Alek’s chest expands as he inhales. “And your response will be?”
“Maybe I should say yes. It’s not like you’re taking me to dinner or saying I’m sexy. Maybe I am a romantic, after all.”
I’m just talking shit to piss him off, hoping it’ll push him to open up a little more. I assume he likes me enough if he wants me to himself, but he doesn’t voice that. I could very well just be a hole for him to use.
I move past him and head to the chair at his desk, typing a response.
“Jayden,” he says huskily.
“Not in this building, Mr. Drakos.”
His inhale and subsequent exhale is loud as he marches toward me. “Stop playing these childish games.”
“Oh.” I look down at my phone. “Dinner invitation just turned into dinner at his place. He’ll cook for me. That’s sweet.”
Aleksander stops in front of me, reaching down and pulling me up by my collar. His hand snakes around my throat as his eyes focus on my lips. He stares at them so long I think he’ll kiss me. Instead, his other hand goes to my button and zipper, undoing them with ease.
“What’re you—”
“You don’t want sweet and you know it.”
I attempt to think straight as his hand slips into my pants, palming my cock through my boxer-briefs. “I know what I want.”
“What is it then?”
With a moan, I say, “Your mouth on my cock.”
“What else?”
“Your cock in my ass.”
“And?”
He reaches into my boxers, his palm running down my shaft. I suck in a shaky breath. “My cock in your ass.”
“You know what I heard? Mine and yours. Nothing including Joel or anyone else.”
“Yeah,” I moan. “Me and you.”
“Good. Now tell him you can’t make it,” he says, wrapping his fingers around me and stroking.
“Okay, but don’t stop,” I breathe.
He stops. “Tell him.”
“I was just joking. He didn’t invite me to dinner. I was messing with you.”
“You were joking?”
I meet his gaze, my lips quirking up on one side. “I just hoped you’d show me you wanted me.”
He grabs my hand and places it on his hard cock. “You don’t already know? I have to avoid seeing you during the day because otherwise I’d rip you away from your work and fuck you over my desk.”
“Oh,” I say, gripping him in my hand.
Alek grins slightly. “Yeah. Oh.”
“Wanna hang out this weekend?”
He steps back, removing his hand from my pants and letting my hand fall to my side. “I overhead you earlier. You want to socialize, and hanging out in my hotel room isn’t that. You should be with your friends.”
“I didn’t mean for it to sound like I wasn’t happy with what we did last weekend. I enjoyed every second of it.”
“But you’re young and there are parties to attend, right?” he says with a fraction of amusement on his face as he sits behind his desk.
I shrug. “I’m an extrovert. I thrive on being around people. Do you want to take me out?”
“We’re fucking, not dating.”
I try not to let the sting of that statement show on my face. He’s right, and if I’m being honest, I’m pretty sure I’ve said the same thing to others. The medicine is bitter.
“I can do both—hang out with them first, meet up with you later.”
“We’ll see. Be here at eight sharp tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.” I hesitate, not sure how to leave.
I’ve always been the one in his position—calling the shots. I’ve slept with people and controlled how it all went down. If I wasn’t interested again, I’d let them know. If we fucked and I was ready to leave, I’d dismiss them without a second thought, without caring about how they felt. It was all very mechanical, and being on the other side is a little jarring.
I’m not saying I have feelings for this guy. I guess I have sexual feelings, but just because I want to fuck him doesn’t mean I care deeply about him. I don’t even know why I feel this way. I should be used to this, it’s what I do.
“Bye,” I say before walking out.
He doesn’t respond, and I hate that I feel a tinge of disappointment that he didn’t want me to stay.
