Jake

JAKE

I hate parties. Especially mandatory parties, like the one we're hosting at the office for Christmas. Eli and Henry force me to stay for an hour, and usually, I make a quick exit.

Not tonight.

Because tonight, Paige is here, and she's as brilliant as she was at the investor dinner. She chats with everyone, turns people's attention from me, which is probably why I'm sticking to her back.

It's torture not to touch her like I want, like I'm used to in private. I've been behaving myself all day, and I just want my fix of her softness, of her scent, of the way she melts against me, of the way she gasps and moans so quietly…

This train of thought is not helping. My hands clench into fists before I slip away to grab myself a drink and refresh Paige's. She's chatting with Doreen, so she'll be occupied for a while. When I come back, they're laughing and Paige's eyes sparkle at me.

Our fingers brush when she takes the new drink and her cheeks are flush from the liquor. Christmas cocktails. Hers is wassail, which isn't as weird as the other options, and it makes her mouth redder. More kissable.

Fuck. This party has become more torturous than the others because I don't want to get away from her. She's here, but I can't have her yet.

It takes all of my control to behave myself.

Eli and Henry pull me away from her again.

"You being stuck to her like that is going to raise some eyebrows." Henry clinks his glass against mine.

"And start some rumors," Eli adds, sipping his drink and looking around the room.

True rumors. Fuck, I don't want to hide it. I want to be able to touch and kiss her whenever I feel like it.

But the last thing we need is more rumors. The ones from ten years ago were hard to detach ourselves from when we moved into the hotel industry.

Half downing my glass, I glare at the pair of people passing and they scamper off faster.

Eli slaps my back. "There's the surly beast we're used to."

I huff at him, following Paige's progress as she talks exuberantly with her team. I'm so enraptured with her that I nearly miss Henry's assistant slide into our group, looping her hand through Henry's elbow and leaning into his arm like she belongs there.

He stiffens but doesn't pull away immediately. She blinks up at him with sultry eyes and anger builds in my chest as I stare at her.

"Sabrina. How are you enjoying the open bar?" It's a gentle prod from Henry to let her know she's being inappropriate, but the girl doesn't seem to get it, nuzzling in closer, her breasts pushed up against his bicep.

"The Dom Pérignon is fantastic. I'll be craving it until the next Christmas party, like I did last year." Her voice is practically a purr.

Eli and I share a dark look, but Henry easily replies, "I'll be sure to send an unopened bottle home with you as a gift for all of the hard work you do, Miss Zinke."

He nabs a flute glass from a nearby tray, patting her hand and slowly peeling it from his arm as he offers it to her. Her pretty smile falls, eyes narrowing from the perceived slight as she takes the glass.

Her tactic shifts as she toys with the necklace at her throat, it's adornment perfectly drawing the eye to the swell of her exposed breasts. I roll my eyes and turn to view Paige again, who's laughing with her mini-me, Vanya. They do this little dance, which makes Casey howl with laughter.

Paige catches my gaze from across the room, her smile wide and beautiful. The things it does to my heart are new and, frankly, a bit terrifying, but I find myself giving her a version of my own smile back. She seems to be one of the few who can see them.

Downing the other half of my drink, I excuse myself from my friends and… Miss Zinke …to get a refill. This time, I wander around the outside of the room, hovering by the door when Paige walks toward it.

"You're not slipping away on us, are you?" I ask.

She wobbles to a stop. "No. Slipping off to the ladies' room is all."

Stepping closer, I gesture with my free hand, lifting the other to my mouth for a small sip. Really, it's to keep me from touching her in front of everyone.

"Oh, do I get my own escort to the bathroom?" Paige teases, but she follows my instructions without hesitation, walking out into the hall and past the cubicles and offices until we're far enough that I can touch her.

She shivers as my fingers graze the open back of her dress and find skin. I drop the touch almost immediately when I see the line forming outside of the women's restroom.

"Why don't you use my private one?" I ask in a low whisper.

Paige nods so I steer her to my office, unlock it, and let her inside. She beelines to the bathroom in the back corner and I follow slowly, allowing her a moment to do what she needs to.

Once I hear the flush and the water rush as she is washing her hands, I draw the door open and slip in behind her. Her eyes sparkle at me in the mirror as I press our bodies together.

My nose dips into the crook of her neck, and I breathe her in deeply—so sweet, so tantalizing. My approval rumbles in my chest as I snake an arm around her waist.

She wiggles delectably back against me, and my half-hard cock springs to life. I mumble a groan into her soft skin and plant kisses across it.

"You're so fucking beautiful, Paige." I gather the fabric of her skirt in my hands. "And this dress…"

A nearly silent moan parts her mouth, and she presses her ass against my hard-on again.

"I can't wait to take it off of you, but for now…" I lift the hem up her legs, revealing the pale expanse of her legs and her bare cheeks under her skimpy panties. "Mmm. If I check, are you going to be wet for me?"

Another shiver draws out my dominant side faster.

Grabbing both of her hands, I place them palm down on the counter, leaning her forward enough that her back arches. Rotating my hips and grinding myself into her ass, I nip at her ear. "Keep these right here until I say otherwise."

"Yes, sir."

" Fuck ." I draw my touch over her bare hips, across her round ass, and tug the thin fabric covering her core aside. Rubbing her in a quick, light motion, I shudder at how she splays open for me with little provocation. Two swipes and I sink two digits inside of her.

We moan in unison, both of us biting the noise back to keep from being caught. Paige arches her back into my touch, but I pin her in place with a firm hand, gliding my fingers in and out of her at a languid pace.

The slower I go, the more she shakes. The wetter she gets. Perfection.

I groan against her ear. "I've been thinking about this all evening."

She sucks in a hard breath, eyes half-mast as she watches me in the mirror.

"Think you can stay like this if I move my hand?"

Her bottom lip catches between her teeth and she nods. I lift my touch and draw it up around her waist, over her left breast, squeezing her nipple lightly. She jerks back against my hand, and I tsk at her.

"Be still, Paige."

After another shudder, she nods again, bracing herself more fully.

I draw the thin straps of her dress down her shoulders, the top tight enough not to fall without a little tug, so I give it one. More of her beautiful skin exposed, the chill in the room tightens those rosy pink nipples into hard peaks.

"You're so goddamn beautiful." I drop my thumb over one, drawing small circles until she trembles. "And so fucking wet."

She's dripping down my palm and to the floor. I struggle against the want to coat my dick in it.

"Do you see yourself? This wanton creature so ready to come on my hand while the party goes on in the other room." The woman who, by some miracle, sees the real me and cares for me anyway.

I'm obsessed with Paige. Infatuated. In love.

I hate hiding it.

And the way she's looking at me right now prods at all of that tumult inside me.

Increasing my thrusts and pinching her nipple brings her closer, but like the temptress that she is, I feel the moment she stalls. See it in the frustration lining her features. An exquisite kind of torture as she's told me before.

"Is this your way of telling me you want my cock?"

Her mouth falls open with a gasping yes .

I don't give it to her yet. My thumb curling back, rubbing along her tight asshole. We've played with it enough to know how much she'll like being properly anally fucked. For now, I use it as the detonator for her orgasm.

Hips dropping into the new touch, she moans, pleads.

" Quiet . Keep it quiet."

Her whimper drives me to be rougher with her, pinching her nipple hard and rolling it. She clenches her jaw against a cry. Fuck, she's fluttering around my fingers now. I work the tip of my thumb against the tight ring of her ass and watch her reflection as her orgasm hits, crumpling her a few inches.

Still, she keeps her hands in place.

I withdraw to soothe her, praising her in soft whispers. "Such a good girl."

Stepping behind her, I unleash myself, so much more practiced at releasing my cock without removing my clothes than I was weeks ago. I grab both cheeks in my hands, massaging them slowly as my hard-on nestles against that slim scrap of fabric.

"Are you ready for more?"

One hitched breath has her head nodding, her wobbling elbows straightening, and a muted, "Yes, sir."

Taking the fabric to the side again, I barely have to work to coat myself in her slickness and push inside her hot pussy. It grabs at me, pulling me home.

My office door creaks open and shuts with an almost inaudible click.

I thrust hard to her hiccup of pleasure before I give her a mild, steady beat as confident steps slowly approach us. Her breasts swing free between her arms with each pump of my hips. The way her dress is pooled around her waist but she's completely bare to me is an image for my personal vault.

The bathroom door swings open and I cover Paige's mouth to muffle her cry of surprise.

"Were you going to keep her all to yourself?"