Chapter 26

A s we're all having breakfast together, two and a half hours before the conference, what's about to happen really hits me. The guys are doing great, aside from Mace, who looks a little off, and I sit here, alone in anguish. My breathing grows short, the lump in my throat so intense it's painful to swallow. My vision's blurry, and I understand my eyes are watering. I'm having the worst case of stage fright, even though I'm far from being near the stage.

Oliver's the first one to notice. "Andy, are you okay?"

I look up from my bacon and eggs, only to see everyone's attention is on me. Pride wants me to say yes, but playing it off doesn't feel right, so I shake my head. We need to find another solution. I can't do this.

"Anything we can do to help?" Brian asks. As suspected, his eye is still swollen and even darker than yesterday. It serves as a harsh reminder that there is no other solution.

I look at the guys, wishing they could help, but only one person might be able to do that right now. Whatever silent plea I give Lex, he gets it.

"Shit," he mutters, getting up from his chair. "I'll take care of this. Everyone else, you can head to the convention center. We'll meet you backstage half an hour before the presentation." Ignoring the guys, he wraps his hand around my arm. "Come with me." I obey, a surge of anguish overtaking me. He lets go once I'm up to press his hand on my upper back instead.

"Do you want me to come?" Oliver offers.

Lex doesn't answer for a moment, and it takes me a few more seconds to get that Oli isn't asking him. He's asking me. I shake my head and smile reassuringly, not trusting my voice.

The professional and detached facade stays o n all the way to the elevator. However, as soon as the doors close behind us, Lex pulls me close and wraps his arms around me comfortingly, resting his chin on top of my head. In his strong embrace, I rapidly relax, his warm and solid form reassuringly familiar.

"Andrea, I don't want to force you to do this if it's too much," he whispers. "I thought you had it in you, or I would have never insisted."

"I—I'm sorry. I can do it." I pause, wrapping my arms around him. "I'm just so scared I'll mess something up and bring shame to the company, myself, or you."

"You can do no wrong," he promises, moving away to meet my eyes. "I've heard your pitch twice already, and it's brilliant. You'll nail this, Andrea." I nod, already feeling a little better about all this. "What can I do to help?"

I can't believe what I'm about to say, but here I go. "There's one way you can help me unwind."

There must be something in the look I give him that's very eloquent because he instantly gets what I have in mind. The elevator doors open to the seventh floor, but we stay in it as Lex presses the fifth button.

My phone dings with a notification, and I see it's Joseph in the group chat.

Joseph

Let us know if there's something we can do.

Me

Thank you, guys. We're going on a walk to clear my head. That should do the trick.

"You clever little thing," Lex amusedly mumbles while we walk out of the elevator.

As soon as we're in room 504, he grabs me, pulling me harshly against him to kiss me. Based on the demanding strokes of his tongue, I guess he's been dying to fuck, too, just as deprived as I am from yesterday's dry spell. We undress each other on our way to the bed, ripping away clothes, popping open buttons… Our refusal to let go of each other's lips for longer than a few seconds makes our advance slow. Still, we manage, leaving a trail of discarded garments on our way to the bed.

Lex pushes me, and I let myself fall on the mattress, crawling up the comfortable surface before taking care of the clothes I have left. He watches me slip my pantihose along my legs while he finishes removing his pants.

"I'll fuck you hard until you can't ta ke more of me," he says, his voice dripping with sin. "And then I'll fuck you some more, just to be sure."

It probably isn't a good idea to get on stage with a limp, but I can always pretend I twisted my ankle during our walk.

Mumbling something inaudible, he grabs my legs and pulls me toward him until my ass is near the edge, kneeling in front of me in the same move. He settles between my parted thighs, slips his arms around them, and I tilt my hips, ready for the touch of his tongue on my dripping core.

"So fucking wet…" Taking his time, he drops a kiss on my inner thigh, then licks the spot gently. "You never told me your favorite movie."

"Lex, we don't have time for this," I protest, tangling my fingers in his thick dark hair, determined to bring him where I need him.

"We're multitasking. So?" More butterfly-like kisses, but not where I need him.

"You'll make fun of me."

He tightens his hold on me, determined to make me talk, and gives me the faintest little flick of his tongue right on my clit. "What's your favorite movie, Andrea?"

"It's… Toy Story ," I give in, my breath short.

That earns me a slow, precise circle around the swollen crest. "So, according to you, the greatest movie of all time is a cartoon?"

"Animated movie. And it is the greatest movie of all time."

"Why is that?" He's giving me what I need, but not enough of it, keeping me on the edge of pleasure and frustration.

"It's—Well, the kid is named Andy, so, best name ever, great start, obviously," I half-joke, letting out a nervous laugh when Lex's tongue enters me.

"Keep going."

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nod docilely. Shit, he's making it hard to form sentences. "Also, the plot is amazing. I spent months spying on my toys after that, hoping I'd catch them moving when they didn't know I was looking."

I buckle under him as he plays with my clit again, my skin tingling from his teasing, my body feverish. "Keep talking, Andrea."

"Lex, I don't want to talk anymore," I whimper, tightening my fingers in his hair.

"A lesson for a lesson, remember?"

Fuck, right. He teaches me sex, and I teach him movies. Forcing my two functioning brain cells to rub together and form a proper sentence, I say, "The technical prowess of the movie is just—Aah!"

That teasing asshole is doing this on purpose. "The prowess is what, Andrea?"

"It's very commendable. And it is the first of its—Oh shit," I moan when he pushes a finger inside my drenched pussy, his tongue flicking and his lips sucking. "Yes, don't stop!"

"You're terrible at this," he jokes, his voice muffled by the way I keep him pressed there.

"Stop talking! Just—Ah! Fuck!"

The rhythm of his tongue grows faster, flicking over my clit with just the right pressure. His free hand slithers up to pinch my nipple, twisting it gently, and the flash of pleasure is enough to make me orgasm. My hips jolt from it, and the involuntary contractions of my abdomen make my upper body convulse.

His wicked, wicked tongue lowers to where pleasure is gushing out of me, lapping at it with eagerness. When I'm clean of any excess wetness, he moves away from my throbbing intimacy, wiping his lower face on the smooth skin of my inner thigh. The carnivorous expression on his gorgeous features releases an ultimate shiver in me.

"Alright, mission accomplished," I pretend. "I'm all relaxed and ready to go."

He doesn't seem to get the humor in my tone because his face is terribly serious when he says, "I don't think so, woman. Turn around and get on your knees."

Despite my heavy and clumsy limbs, I comply as fast as I can. Propped on all fours before him, I hear him shuffle with his discarded jeans, and then comes the tearing of a condom wrapper. That brings me back to our conversation yesterday. I want to be the first woman he'll enter without any protection because it'll mean I'm his first for something. But it's too soon for that.

The mattress dips as he positions himself behind me. It's insane. Two days since we last had sex, and I'm craving him like my life depends on it. I'm addicted to him. Heroin has nothing on this man. Meth who?

"Tell me if I'm going too hard," he says, his low voice making my insides flutter.

He doesn't wait for my answer and pushes himself in with a firm shove. I let out a throaty sound, half-cry, half-moan, the sensation of his massive cock fulfilling my every need. He holds my hips with both hands to make sure I won't try to escape his o nslaught—as if I would try to get away from any of this.

He slowly retreats and then harshly fills me again, making my ass jiggle when his hips meet it. "Words can't express how much I adore your ass."

By his third mighty shove, I can't control anything, pushing back in rhythm with him. Soon, he's plowing me with intensity, granting me the hard fuck I was so desperate for. Shit, I still want more. I want him to dominate me in every possible way.

"Pull on my hair," I demand with a trembling voice, remembering how amazing it felt when he did it during our first night together.

As he obediently complies, a shaky cry rolls in my throat, his fingers tightly clutching a handful of my curls. The gesture sends a flash of pleasure mixed with pain that travels down my nape, spine, and then ends right in my aching intimacy, where he's still heavily ramming into me.

"Aah, baby, yes! Don't stop…" I moan, sinking my teeth into my lower lip.

Everything stops, his grip on my hair loosening. After a moment without him resuming, he releases my hair, and I realize something is wrong. With a frustrated sigh, I turn around, meeting his perplexed face.

"Did you just call me ‘baby?'" he asks after a few more seconds pass.

Shit, I have no idea. That could have slipped past my lips in the heat of the moment. "I did?"

"You did."

I look forward, unsure if it's a good or bad thing. Clearly, it's an endearment, which means I may harbor tender feelings toward him. But, understandably, my brain acts up when he's fucking me silly.

"What should I do to make you say it again?" he asks. There's an unmistakable smile in his voice.

I let out a relieved sigh. It's not a bad thing, even though it's too early. "I don't know, maybe keep doing whatever you were doing?"

To my relief, the incident is left behind, and we return to more pressing matters—like relaxing me before the presentation.

His initially slow momentum increases, the shoves growing deeper and faster, pulling me back harshly each time. He returns his hand to my hair and tugs on it again, intensifying my enjoyment of his ministrations. Shit, he must look so, so hot right now, with the long and fast thrusts, the firm hold on my hip and hair… Good God, his ass must look divine as he plows into me like this.

He removes the hand on my hip to get it unde r me, bending over, and he places the tip of his middle finger on my engorged clit, never halting his thrusts.

"Yes, make me come," I beg. With just the perfect amount of harshness, he pulls my head back. My spine is arched to the maximum of its capacities, my ass and face tilted up.

"Make me come, who ?" he demands, his lips against the shell of my ear.

"Make me come, Lex ."

"Not that one," he insists, teasing my greedy nub just enough to make me frantic. He also tugs on my hair roughly, like a silent, disapproving punishment.

He always finds the most wicked ways to tease me, and I'm not calling him "baby" again.

"Alexander," I warn, reaching over my shoulder to clasp his hair.

"Not that one either."

I try to deny him the satisfaction of caving in too fast, but he's incredibly cunning, expertly teasing my sensitive bud to bring me as close as possible to my climax, keeping me there, helplessly balanced on a razor's edge.

"Make me come, baby ," I end up begging after less than a minute of this treatment.

"What was that?"

"Make me come, baby ," I repeat louder.

A low and approving grunt rumbles in his chest just before he kisses the side of my neck. "There. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

I'm about to tell him to go to hell when he finally gives me what I want. His finger strokes me with precision, and I let go of his hair to grab onto the covers. His shoves are even rougher than before, and he uses his hold on my hair to pull me back with each of them.

"Yes! Fuck—Yes!"

I come hard, my insides pulsing feverishly around his throbbing length as I scream his name. The pleasure is so intense I think I might pass out. Behind me, Lex tenses before biting on my shoulder with a groan. The pain of it strangely adds to my orgasm, mixing well with the waves of bliss. We come apart together in a mass of legs and arms, undulating and holding onto each other, our wet skin glistening, our ragged breaths filling the empty space.

By the end of it, he's lying over me, pressing me into the soft mattress, his dick buried inside me as far as it can go.

"Shit, it was so, so good," I moan, my h oarse voice muffled by the duvet.

"It really fucking was…" The sultriness of his voice makes me clench one last time. "Jesus Christ, woman. Give me five minutes, and I'll be ready again."

Hot damn… If I'm not entirely relaxed by the time I get on stage, it won't be for lack of trying.

" A h, there you are. We were starting to worry," Oliver says, putting his phone away and coming to me when I enter the backstage room where we're supposed to meet. We're slightly late, which I blame on our inability to take a shower together without it turning into extra sex.

"Sorry, halfway to here, I realized I forgot something back at the hotel, so we wasted some time," I lie.

"Well, at least the walk helped. You look much better."

"It really did," I agree, trying not to blush—a lost cause. Dammit . "Okay, we need to check a few things before it starts."

Everyone knows their role, and they are all ready to ace it. Mace looks a little pasty but promises he'll be fine. It's the last time he eats sushi at an all-you-can-eat buffet, he swears.

"It starts in a little under five minutes. People are already coming in. Half the seats are taken so far," Lex says as he joins us. I nod with a grimace, letting out a small sigh.

I can do this. I just have to not let it go to my head.

"We should go," I suggest, ignoring the lump in my throat. We leave the room, back to the outside's agitation. It'll be fine. Lex thinks the presentation is great, the team at Kelex made some incredible visuals, and I have Mason backing me up.

Oli, Steven, and Brian are in charge of handling the screens' content, so they leave for the control room. The rest of us—Lex, Mace, Joseph, and me—walk to the stage's side entrance. My nervousness increases more with each step.

Lex senses my gaze when I look up at him, but instead of turning to me, he grazes my forearm with his knuckles in a reassuring gesture. The simple contact appeases me. He trusts me and has faith in my ability to nail this. And he's the most intelligent person I know, so if he thinks I have it in me, he's right.

When we get there, someone from the sound department comes to pin a mic on my shirt and hands me the wireless transmitter, advising me to tuck it into the back of my jeans under my blazer. Joseph helps me do that, and I watch as Mace gets the same treatment.

"You'll be great," the latter assures. His eyes are glassy, and his dark skin is pasty. Damn, that must have been some awful sushi.

Lex comes closer to me to put his warm hand over my shoulder, encouraging more than intimate. "Don't stress about it. This morning, I read that focusing on some random point across the room helps."

It's surprisingly sweet to know he's been doing research for me, and I listen as he tells me everything he can remember. His voice has a soothing effect that I can't comprehend.

"Everything's ready," the sound guy interrupts. "You can go whenever."

I can do this. I'll nail this for Narnia and for Aslan. And for Kelex, too. Lex gives my shoulder one last gentle squeeze and lets me go.

Before I know it, I'm walking on the stage, trying to look casual despite my overbearing nervousness. A surge of adrenaline peaks through me, making me almost shake. Lex suggested getting in a good headspace, so I summon the memories of this morning, away from the world, with just him, me, and a bed. It works wonders, and I now dare to look at the people in the room. Oh, three hundred people aren't that many. For some reason, I thought it would be way more.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Andrea Walker, junior developer at Kelex," I start with a smile, my gaze fixed just above the public's heads. "So, there's been a slight change of plan, and I'm not here to present the amazing braille solution my colleagues developed as it says in the leaflet, but a revolutionary app meant to help out millions of Americans, as well as dozens of millions of people worldwide once we expand."

Before I dive into my app, I give a quick presentation of Kelex, the company's goals, purpose, values… It's the polished PR pitch the communication team sent me.

"In their pursuit to improve the lives of people with disabilities, Kelex recently acquired an app meant to act as American Sign Language's Rosetta Stone. ASL is one of the numerous sign languages that exist around the world. With one million Americans who are functionally deaf, over ten times more who are hard of hearing, and one in eight who has measurable hearing deterioration in both ears, hearing loss is the third most common chronic health condition in the US." I take a short break, remembering I should move around.

"These stats are growing because of various factors—including exposure to loud noises. And they are growing fast. The number of Americans with hearing loss grew by over 100 percent from 1971 to 2000 when the population only increased by 30 percent . And it's not only aging people who are becoming deaf. One in five kids suffers from some form of hearing damage, and the numbers are also increasing for teenagers.

"Some of those kids will be lucky enough to grow up in families who will learn ASL to interact with them. But ninety percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and an alarming number of families will never bother to learn it. It can be out of denial or because they want to raise their child in an environment they deem ‘normal.' This results in isolation and a secluded childhood," I explain, feeling myself grow a little emotional. Thank God we never did this to Rafa. "What we aim to do here is to not only help people learn ASL with a process that will make it easier for everyone. It'll also allow deaf and hard of hearing people to communicate with whoever, whenever they want, via a solution more organic than writing their words down."

I'm actually feeling great. The adrenaline is doing its job, and I'm speaking with ease and clarity, addressing the public, moving around, smiling… I get into some coding technicalities, and I can see the subject interests most of them. Those nerds… Most of my jokes land, and I decide it's thanks to my fantastic sense of humor, rather than being a woman when most are men.

"We all know hand recognition is particularly tricky. Facebook has worked on it for a while for their controller-free Oculus experience, so if any of you work for the social media titan, you'll get what I mean. Now, you have to realize ASL actually uses way more than hands. We are talking movements of the face, torso, and arms as well," I reveal, feeling quite proud of myself for developing such an app. I'm not exactly bragging, but almost.

Time flies by, and everything goes as smoothly as it can. The visuals are displayed without an issue, I don't forget anything, no one is getting up and leaving…

The live demo approaches, so I peek at the side of the stage to make sure Mason is ready. Instead of seeing him about to come up here, I catch him ripping his mic off and shoving it in Lex's hands before running away with a hand over his mouth, about to be sick.

What the shit?

What's happening?

Oh God, what am I supposed to do now?!

I already knew it, but fuck, this woman is incredible. She was a little tense earlier, but it's all gone now, and she moves with confidence around the stage, her brilliant mind shining for all to see. The crowd is mesmerized by her presentation, just like I am—even though I've heard it several times already.

My chest is full of what must be pride as I watch her explain her application to the world. She has never felt as uniquely brilliant as she does now, and I find myself wondering how I got lucky enough to have her on my team. More importantly, I wonder why this woman somehow wants me to the extent she does. She could have any man she wants with her incredible physique and even better mind, yet I'm the one she picked. For now, at least.

I'm entirely absorbed by her performance when Mason suddenly slams his mic system on my chest and bolts off with a hand plastered on his mouth. Andrea notices, and shock widens her eyes. Fuck, he was supposed to join her on the stage in a minute.

"Go get Oliver," I hurriedly sign to Joseph, who immediately complies.

Andrea's panic makes her stumble on her words, her speech now stilted. Oliver will take too long to arrive, so her stellar presentation will now be remembered as a poorly organized failure. I can't let all her hard work go down the drain like this.

"Put this on me," I ask one of the stage managers, showing him the mic.

He swiftly moves into action and pins the mic on my jacket, and I help him slip the transmitter into the inside chest pocket. Just as he turns it on, Andrea looks to the side again and sees what's happening. Once more, she isn't very good at containing her surprise. But she recomposes herself quickly and clears her throat.

"Alright, enough chit-chat," she tells the public. "We're going to proceed with a live demonstration to show you the extent of the application's capacities."

After one deep breath, I shake my nervousness away and step onto the stage with the phones and improvised holder. My eyes are fixed on her as she introduces me. "This is my boss, Alexander Coleman, co-owner of Kelex."

I give the crowd a vague hand wave, looking above the public, and then back at her.

"So, who in the room has some basic knowle dge of ASL?" she asks the audience. A few of them raise their hands. More than the average. "For the ones who don't know about it, you have to understand that when using sign language, you aren't formulating standard sentences. It is an entirely different procedure that is extremely complex to cram into an algorithm. Even the most basic sentences can be signed in several ways. And facial expressions can also add meaning to what's being said."

Andrea explains what's happening as I settle the phones on a high table someone from the backstage crew brought. "Now, we could be in a bar, workplace, public service building… The idea is that all you need are two smartphones and a holder. Or not even if you're a bit of a MacGyver and can improvise something to keep them standing."

All of my focus is on her, and it somehow helps with my nerves.

"Hi, Alexander," she says softly, signing as well. The phone translates easily, and above us, the screen captures it.

"Hi, Andrea." Her phone shows the words.

"The weather here is very nice. Going back to Seattle will be hard," she signs as she speaks. The app adjusts for a moment, looking for the right combination of words, and soon enough, the sentences appear perfectly.

"Leaving San José will be hard for many reasons," I reply. I'll miss having her close by. And I'll miss room 504.

"I know what you mean. My boss is so obnoxious," she jokes. Some people laugh next to us, and the fit of humor helps me relax some more. This isn't too bad. It's just us interacting as we normally would.

"I hope he's giving you a raise for all this," I answer with a smirk.

Our back and forth is humorous and lively; our chemistry makes us particularly good at this. The second half of the demo unfolds just as great, and this time, people from the audience give us discussion topics.

Soon enough, we get to the end of our appointed time. Andrea concludes her presentation with the PR speech given to her about Kelex's work, goals, projections…

Some part of me feels compelled to give her more merit in this whole thing, so I turn to the assembly and say, "I'd like to point out that Kelex has only been working on this incredible tool for about three weeks—when we acquired it from Andrea. So, as much as I'd like for my company to take the credit for it, she is, in all honesty, the genius behind it."

Andrea all but gapes at me, utterly blindsided by my initiative. I then take it upon myself to lead us off the stage, resting a hand on her back and saluting the crowd one last time. Once we're backstage, two people take our mics off, and we're sent to the lounge we arrived in to pick up our things.

The sense of relief that I feel is grand, bu t I imagine she feels even better. The dreaded presentation is over, and she was incredible. We get into the small room, the first ones there, and she shuts the door firmly and turns to me.

Exhilarated, she grips my jacket, taking me by surprise, and brings me down for an ardent kiss. God, how I love kissing this woman.

After a short but intense peck, she moves back to look up at me in wonderment. "Thank you so much. It was… amazing. You were amazing. God, my skin is tingling, and I feel like I could run a marathon."

A lopsided smile twists my lips, and I bend for a hungry peck before moving back up. "It's the adrenaline. It'll go down soon."

"I don't think so. I think it's you," she blurts out, taken by the intensity of the moment.

My heart flutters at her words but even more at the enthralled expression on her face. The way she looks at me is… dangerous. There's more in her eyes than lust or need. There's something deep, meaningful, and undeserved. She shouldn't look at me like this. And I shouldn't like it as much as I do.

But here we are.

Nothing comes when I try to answer. What can I even say?

Because words fail me, I let my body respond to her declaration the way it craves to. I haul her to me again, capturing her lips with a hunger that matches my adoration for her. She clings to me, desperate for support.

I'd kiss her endlessly, but voices suddenly resonate outside. Shit, the others are here. We barely have time to step back and arrange ourselves before the door flings open.

"Guyth, you were fantathtic!" Steven utters first, looking at her, then at me. "You two make one hell of a team!" The others chime in, all agreeing.

I glimpse at Andrea, and when our gazes meet, we exchange a smile.

Yes, we make one hell of a team.