Chapter 17

seventeen

. . .

Easton

I was in a foul mood. I’d fucked my hand in the shower last night and again this morning. Yet I still had a bad case of blue balls.

How was that even possible?

I’ll tell you how.

My coworker, Henley Holloway, had an evil side to her.

She’d purposely worn a fitted pink dress and some high fucking heels.

It hugged her ass, which was currently taunting me as she bent over the table and grabbed another file.

“Okay. You’ve got to stop fucking doing that,” I hissed.

She’d been all smiles this morning while we ate breakfast. She hadn’t said a word about what happened last night, and she seemed completely okay with everything. I’d prepared for it to be awkward.

I’d prepared for her to want to talk about it ad nauseam.

I’d prepared for her to be angry or hostile or something.

But nope. She was happy and calm and unaffected.

Un-fucking-affected.

And I was left with a pissed-off dick and two very angry testicles. Even though I’d given them relief, it wasn’t enough.

Not with those eyes looking at me right now. That devious smirk plastered on her face.

“Stop doing what?”

“Bending over the table,” I said, making no effort to hide my irritation. “Wearing sexy dresses. Laughing and smiling and acting relaxed.”

“You need to take it down a notch, Chadwick.” She smirked, coming closer. “I did not bend over the table. I barely reached for the file. My dress is very basic and comes past my knees and shows zero cleavage. And I’m not laughing or smiling. We’re having normal conversation.”

I groaned. “Whatever. You’re pissing me off.”

She narrowed her gaze, and then her mouth fell open. “Oh. Ohhhhhh. You’re frustrated. You want me, don’t you?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Princess. All men get blue balls.”

“I thought you were going to take a shower last night. I figured you’d, you know, take care of business.” She chuckled. She was enjoying this.

“I did. Twice. But it didn’t work.”

“Hmmm… what should we do about this?” She glanced down at her phone and then looked up at me. “We have twenty minutes until the first employee is scheduled to meet us here.”

“And?”

“Follow me.” She moved to the door and motioned for me to step out into the hall.

“I’ll remind you that I’m the boss. You don’t call the shots.”

“Sure. You’re the boss.” She paused as she led me to the end of the hallway and glanced around. “It’s still early, and no one is here yet.”

I just stared at her, unsure what she was talking about, when she pushed the bathroom door open, reached for my tie, and pulled me in. It was a private bathroom, and she closed the door and locked it.

“What are you doing?” I asked. My voice was gruff, making it impossible to hide that I was completely turned on.

“You said that if I wasn’t having regrets today, I could unzip your pants.” She shoved me up against the door, and I raised a brow with surprise.

“You want to unzip my pants?”

“Yes. I do. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Take what you want, Princess,” I said, as she dropped to her knees, and I nearly came in my pants at the sight of her looking up at me with those doe eyes and pretty plump lips.

Within seconds, she had my pants unzipped and pulled down, along with my briefs. My dick was swollen and hard as a rock, and her eyes widened as she wrapped her fingers around the base. I didn’t miss the slight tremble in her hand, and I reached down and tipped her chin up so she was looking at me.

“You don’t need to do this. I’m fine.”

Her lips turned up in the corners. “Remember how you said watching me get off was a gift for you?”

“Yes.”

“I want to make you feel good. So, this is as much for me as it is for you.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I groaned just as her tongue circled the head of my dick.

I sucked in a breath when her lips wrapped around me, and she took me in. The feel of her wet, warm mouth along my shaft was almost too much.

My hand tangled in her hair as she worked me up and down.

Over and over.

“Fuck, Princess,” I said, watching my cock slide in and out of her swollen pink lips. “Such a good fucking girl, the way you take me in.”

That spurred her on, and she took me deeper. She liked praise, and I was happy to give it.

Because this woman was good at everything.

I’d had plenty of blow jobs in my lifetime, but nothing like this.

The sight of this sexy woman down on her knees, wearing a prim little dress with her perfect lips wrapped around my dick. Big sapphire blue eyes looking up at me like she was enjoying it as much as I was.

I gripped her hair harder—a warning that I was close.

But she just kept going.

Faster.

And then she moaned and took me a little deeper, and that was it.

A guttural sound left my throat, and I tugged at her hair one last time, giving her a chance to pull away before I unloaded in her sweet mouth.

But she didn’t move.

She took every last drop and continued working me over as I bucked into her silky, warm mouth with fury.

My breathing slowed as I stopped thrusting, and she pulled back and wiped her lips with the back of her hand.

It was sexy and hot, and I just stared down at her in awe.

“Thank you.” It was all I could think to say as she pushed to her feet and chuckled. She turned to the sink and washed her hands before patting her hair in place in the mirror.

“Now, will you be a little less grumpy for the rest of the day?” She smirked.

I tucked myself back in and zipped and buttoned my pants.

I tugged her close and held her chin between my thumb and my pointer finger. “Yes. And those fucking lips are magic.”

“Really? Well, I’ll take that as a compliment because I’ve never dropped to my knees in a public restroom before 8 a.m. on a workday.”

I knew this wasn’t the norm for her, which was why I knew messing around with Henley Holloway was a bad idea. But some of the best things in life come from bad decisions, right?

This blow job, for example.

Not my best decision getting a blow job from my boss’s daughter in the hotel of our new client, but if I got fired right now, it would be worth it.

“When do I get to taste you?” I asked as I nipped at her bottom lip.

“Repeat hookups aren’t really your thing, so how about we use the Easton Chadwick strategy on you?”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Let’s see how you feel in a few hours, and if you want to unzip my dress after what happened this morning, all you’ll have to do is ask.”

I barked out a laugh. “Such a smartass. I wrote the book on casual hookups, Princess. I assure you, if you want to lift the hem of that pretty dress right now, I’ll be on my knees so fast your head will spin. I’ll bury my face between those gorgeous thighs and lick you and taste you until you’re crying out my name.”

Her face flushed, and I grazed my finger over the slight swelling on her cheek that she’d tried to hide with makeup.

“Pace yourself, Chadwick. We’ve got work to do. I’m trying to impress my mentor.” She waggled her brows and stepped back, and I knew she was right because we had meetings that were starting any minute.

“He’s already impressed.” I kissed the tip of her nose and went to the sink to wash my hands. “How should we walk out of here?”

“I’ll go first. You count to ten and then you can come out then.”

“All right.” I dried my hands and leaned against the sink and watched her leave.

I didn’t count to ten, but I waited a few beats before stepping out and was startled when I heard Charles’s voice from down the hallway.

Good Christ.

I needed to pull my shit together. I was definitely more relaxed now than I’d been thirty minutes ago. Hell, I was more relaxed than I’d been in the last few weeks. But I sure as shit hadn’t expected to see her father after what had just happened.

“Good morning, Charles,” I said, as I stepped into the conference room.

“Easton, good morning. I brought coffee.” He handed me the cup. “I couldn’t find either of you, and Henley said she’d gone to check on you because you’d been in the bathroom for a while. You all right?”

I kept my composure and glanced over at Henley, whose eyes were wide.

“Yes. That food last night was a bit rich for me.” I took a sip of the coffee and patted my stomach. “But I’m feeling like a new man now. Never felt better.”

She looked away, but I saw the corners of her lips turn up the slightest bit.

“Well, you always know how to rally when you need to. This man is a machine, Henley.”

“Yes. I can see that.” She cleared her throat. “So, we’re going to meet with seven employees this morning, and then seven more this afternoon. We’ll just be going over the basics. Getting a feel for their employment packages and their general feeling for the company. On paper, everything looks perfect.”

“Sounds great. I just wanted to stop by on my way to the office and say hello. I’m meeting with Will in a few minutes. Jamison will most likely be taking some time away from the office. I’ll let you know what we decide. Check in with me later.” He kissed Henley’s cheek and shook his head when he studied the small bruised area on her face. He reached for my hand and gave me a quick shake.

After he walked out the door, her head fell back in laughter. “I did not expect my father to stop by this morning.”

We were playing with fire.

But for whatever reason, I didn’t care.

“I don’t think he suspected anything. Obviously, you thought of something quickly.”

“I’m a woman of many talents.” She chuckled. “Okay. Our first interview is with Cecilia Jacobs. She’s worked for the company for fifteen years. She’s got a management-level position, and she’s being paid the same as her male counterpart.”

“Great. I’m guessing this will be fairly easy. If everyone is paid the way they’re supposed to be and treated respectfully, I can’t imagine those women will have a leg to stand on.”

“It’s strange, though, isn’t it?” she asked, glancing down at Cecilia’s file.

“What?”

“Well, the energy and the money and the time that this would take for those women to pursue this. If you know you don’t have a case, why go through it all so publicly?”

“Money does crazy things to people. Maybe they think they can make a quick buck.” I shrugged. But I’d wondered the same thing, as well, when this case was brought to us. Going up against a big corporation would be costly and get a lot of media attention. The three women suing the company had mid-level positions. They didn’t have the money to take this on. And three voices were not going to be heard over the thousands of voices singing the praises of the King Hotel Corporation.

There was a knock on the glass door, and I pushed to my feet as Henley did the same. We greeted Cecilia with a handshake and offered her the seat across from where we both sat.

The interview went smoothly.

Is there such a thing as too smooth?

Yes. Unfortunately, there is. And there were some red flags going off.

“Well, this was super helpful. I’m thrilled that you’ve had such a great experience working for King Hotels,” Henley said as she thumbed through the papers in the file and paused to read something.

“Yes. This is a dream company to work for. Bruno King and his family are the most wonderful people, and they treat us all like family.”

I call bullshit.

First, because she sounded like she was reading from a script. Second, because no place of work is always perfect.

“That’s great to hear.” I sipped my coffee.

“Just one last question,” Henley asked.

“Sure. Ask me anything. I’m an open book, as are Bruno King and all the executives at King Hotels.” Cecilia chuckled.

Like I said… I call bullshit.

“I’m just flipping through your pay scale over the years. When you were moved to the management position six years ago, it looks like you were paid on the lower end of the pay scale for the position. Your big raise came eight months ago?”

I glanced over at the file to see what she was looking at. That hadn’t been in the original files that were sent to us, as there’d only been current salaries listed.

“Oh, yes. I think that’s fine. I had to prove myself.” She smiled, but I saw the way her hand trembled the slightest bit when she raised her coffee cup.

“Of course. Yes. That makes perfect sense.” Henley smiled up at her. “Thank you so much for coming in today and for making this so easy for us.”

“Like I said, I feel very fortunate to work for such a wonderful organization.” She pushed to her feet, and I noted the layer of sweat covering her forehead.

We shook her hand and thanked her, and she left.

When I sat down, Henley was already going through another file. “This might not be as much of a slam dunk as we’d hoped.”

“I’m getting that vibe, yes. Hopefully, there’s an explanation for it,” I said as the next employee knocked on the door.

Janet Burns had worked for the company for eight years, and she opened with the same line. “This is a dream company to work for. Bruno King and his family are the most wonderful people, and they treat us all like family.”

I looked over at Henley, and she raised a brow.

This was definitely not going to be the clean-cut case that we were hoping for.

But for whatever reason, I didn’t care.

I didn’t mind going into the trenches with this woman on my team.

By my side.

It was a terrifying thought if I allowed myself to go there.

So I wouldn’t.

I’d just focus on work.

It’s what I did best.