CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: CHLOE

My vagina was going to need a week to recover from the pounding it’d had.

The literal pounding.

I should have known that Theodore Black would be a beast in bed. And he was—an unapologetic, dirty-talking, boob-biting, horny beast.

Not only was I struggling to come to terms with the fact that my boss had given me the best sex of my life, but I also couldn’t get his words out of my mind.

Starting with good girl.

Now, I’ll be honest. It wasn’t a kink I knew I had. It wasn’t anything I’d even remotely considered a kink for me—I’d heard it before in bed and it’d done absolutely nothing for me.

So, why was it that hearing the words ‘good girl’ come out of Theo’s mouth turned me absolutely feral?

Because that was what had happened. The moment he’d uttered those words for the first time last night, I’d turned into a feral, horny little woman. I’d gone from ‘Fine, I’ll do as you say,’ to, ‘Holy shit, yes, please order me around some more.’

Considering I was resigning as his secretary to get away from his incessant demands, it was quite the turn up for the books.

Mostly because I wanted him to tell me what to do again just so I could feel him grab my hips and call me a good girl again.

Like yes, sir. I will do literally whatever you want just to hear those words out of your dirty mouth again. I’d even seriously consider licking his feet if he asked me, and feet were definitely not in my kink repertoire.

See?

Feral.

I was fucking feral.

Worse than that was when he’d called me baby. Those four stupid little words of, “Come for me, baby,” had tipped me over the fucking edge and pulled me back up again, only to push me back once more.

Maybe I was unhinged. That was the only explanation for how I’d gone from trying to get away from Theo to wanting to pull down his trousers and literally wrap myself around him.

This was why you didn’t fuck where you worked.

It was especially bad for me. I liked sex. I wasn’t shy about sex. In general, I had a relatively high sex drive, which made things rough when the only option I had was toys.

It also meant that now Theo was there, ready and willing, all I could think about at this very moment was sex.

Specifically, sex with him.

My boss.

Like a shameless, thirsty woman.

I really did have no idea I could be so needy. For all the things I said about Theo being needy, I was just as bad—and really, I didn’t mind it. I didn’t mind that he coerced me into spending the night in his room to sleep together. I didn’t mind that I’d fallen asleep in his arms and woken up to him bringing me coffee.

I didn’t mind that, after we’d both showered this morning, he’d touched me at every opportunity. A brush of his hand over my shoulders, a touch of his fingertips against my back, that kind of thing that was so casual but still made me shiver. I didn’t even mind that he’d pouted at me until I’d agreed to do his tie for him, and that was usually my number one complaint.

I’d said to him last night that he was like a puppy, and while that wasn’t entirely wrong, it wasn’t entirely right, either.

Theodore Black was a cinnamon roll.

Sweet. Soft. Caring. He’d even driven us to the town centre so we could go into the office and see how things were going. More than that, he’d detoured us into a café to order coffee on our way there because he knew I was still tired.

It was his fault I was tired, but still.

If you’d asked me a month ago if he was a cinnamon roll kind of guy, I’d have laughed in your face. Yet here I was. Confronted with the reality that the man I’d always thought was an uptight, stoic, cold person was actually a big ol’ ball of warm fluff.

I had yet to put the two sides of him together in my brain.

Right now, there was London Theo and Buckley Heath Theo.

Would this version of him disappear when we returned home? What did we do about the change in our relationship when we were done here?

We were already halfway through our trip. I doubted either of us could go back to how we were before we slept together, but that only happened in the first place because we were living together and on this trip. There’s no way we ever would have crossed this line if we were in the office, and I knew that perfectly well.

When we returned to London, our living arrangements would go back to normal. The only time we would see each other would be in the office.

And, after all, Theo was averse to an office romance.

Not that this was some great love story. No—this was a sexual relationship that had started purely because the opportunity had presented itself.

It was all it could be.

It didn’t matter that my resignation was on the horizon.

There was absolutely no way I could burden him with the knowledge that my feelings were changing.

That rampant loathing I’d once felt for him had melted away into nothing. The things that used to piss me off on a daily basis were now annoyingly endearing. Seeing his face no longer made me want to beat it with a box file.

Now, it made my traitorous little heart flutter.

I really didn’t want to delve too deeply into these changing feelings. Honestly, it seemed like a recipe for disaster, and while I knew that there was no real meaning to the phase out of sight, out of mind, I could almost gaslight myself into thinking these feelings for him didn’t exist if I didn’t focus on them.

I mean, that plan had worked splendidly until yesterday.

I’d straight up lied to myself just yesterday morning that I felt nothing for the man.

Which was why I was hiding in the staff room right now.

I didn’t trust myself to be locked in an office with Theo and not make a catastrophic mistake. Also, I was determined not to cross the line of doing anything during working hours like this, and given how touchy-feely he’d been all morning, I couldn’t guarantee he’d toe the same line.

I really needed to talk this out, but if I texted Heidi right now, I was going to get a big fat dose of ‘I told you so.’

Harriet wouldn’t be much better, and I certainly wasn’t about to tell Harvey I’d fucked his best friend.

I really would never hear the end of that.

Hmm. Maybe I did need to go back to London for Aunt Fizz’s birthday party next weekend. A little bit of separation between me and Theo wouldn’t hurt right now, even if it was only for a weekend so I could sort out my thoughts.

But until then…

Ugh, I was going to have to suck it up.

ME: I fucked up.

Translation: I slept with my boss so ridicule me later.

HEIDI: Oh my God. You actually fucked your boss.

This was exactly why she was my best friend.

ME: You were the one who insisted he had a crush on me.

HEIDI: I was only half-kidding. I expected you to have more self-control than that.

Yeah. She could join the club.

ME: So did I. But you haven’t seen his penis.

HEIDI: …Is it as nice as his face? In fact, you know what, you don’t even need a nice face to have a nice cock. That’s what doggy style was invented for.

ME: It would be a shame to miss out on that face while being fucked by him.

HEIDI: OH MY GOD, CHLOE ST. JAMES!!!!!

HEIDI: WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BEST FRIEND???

HEIDI: ALSO HOW DID THIS HAPPEN????

ME: It was an accident.

HEIDI: Unless God himself intervened so that you just happened to literally fall and be impaled by his erect penis, I doubt that very much.

I took a deep breath and typed out the whole story from beginning to end.

Well, not the whole story. She didn’t need to know every little detail about the sex, despite what she would inevitably insist upon.

HEIDI: Wow. You’re a real pervert, aren’t you?

Why was everyone calling me a pervert?

All right, so I’d absolutely peeped on him in the shower, but I hadn’t meant to.

HEIDI: And why didn’t you tell me about this when it happened?

ME: I was busy. And I was too busy thinking about my boss having a wank rather than telling you all about it.

HEIDI: I knew something would happen when you told me you had to live together. Didn’t think it’d happen this quickly.

ME: Can you save your bragging until we’re done? I need help.

HEIDI: Okay, so you fucked your boss. I assume you’re going to keep fucking him.

ME: I might have already done it again.

HEIDI: DAMN, GIRL.

HEIDI: What a slut.

ME: Hey!!!

ME: A little bit, yeah.

HEIDI: Shit. You’re down bad.

ME: I’M NOT DOWN ANYWHERE.

HEIDI: I bet your boss would like you to be down on your knees.

HEIDI: And down on him.

ME: HEIDI YOU AREN’T HELPING!

HEIDI: Did you really text me expecting me to help?

Yes, actually.

That was exactly what I was hoping for.

ME: That was clearly my mistake.

HEIDI: Indeed. You should have known better.

HEIDI: You’re obviously having a crisis. What’s on your mind, Slutty McSlutterslut?

Weren’t best friends great? They were always right there to tell you exactly what you needed to hear.

I did feel a little slutty.

It was nice of her to inadvertently validate my feelings.

ME: …What am I supposed to do when we come back to London?

HEIDI: That’s a conversation you should be having with your boss.

ME: Fine. It’s Aunt Fizz’s birthday next weekend. I should probably come back for it and have some time away from him, right?

HEIDI: If you think you’re getting all scrambled up, then yes. You’re living right on top of each other and can’t get any space. It might not be a bad thing to get some distance.

ME: All right. Thanks. I needed someone to tell me I wasn’t overreacting.

HEIDI: You’re not overreacting, Chlo.

HEIDI: I think you’re a fool for tossing away a weekend of apparently good dick, but you’re not overreacting.

ME: Is it throwing away a weekend of good dick if I can get it any day of the week?

HEIDI: Damn.

HEIDI: Seriously. Who are you and what did you do with my Chloe?

ME: I’m embracing the slutty chaos. It’s not like I can run away from what we did, so I might as well roll with it while I can.

And that was the truth.

Like I’d said to Theo, it wasn’t as though we could change what we’d done. We’d consciously made the decision to sleep together. He’d asked me more than once for my consent—and it wasn’t an ambiguous consent, either.

It was me clearly saying yes. Every time.

I knew what I was doing.

He knew what he was doing.

But we really did need to clarify what was going to happen when we returned to London.

Was it too soon to have that conversation, though? Was Theo even thinking that this was something that would extend past that time?

After all, he was against office relationships, but as things stood, we’d only be working together for a month after our return.

Jesus.

What was I thinking?

I’d lost my mind.

No. There was no way this could continue on our return to London. I had to temper my expectations—and my feelings. I had to stop this warmth in my heart from growing. I had to make sure I didn’t lose myself in the frivolity of my emotions.

Because that’s all they were.

Frivolous things, and such things never did anyone any good.

I stared at my phone for a moment before picking it up and dialling Harvey’s office.

“Good afternoon, you’ve reached the office of Harvey Park. This is Shanna speaking, how may I help you?” Shanna’s smooth customer service voice crooned down the line at me.

“Hey, Shanna, it’s Chloe.”

“Chloe! How are you?” Her tone instantly brightened.

“I’m great, thank you. You?”

“Fab, thanks. Would you like to speak to Mr Park?”

“If he’s available, then yes, please.”

“He is. Give me two seconds to connect you.”

The line momentarily died before a little beep sounded in my ear. “What do you want?” Harvey demanded.

“Hello, beloved cousin. It’s nice to speak to you, too,” I said dryly, drawing out my words.

“Beloved cousin? Are you ill? Do you need a doctor?”

“This is why I’m never nice to you. You were calling yourself my beloved cousin not long ago. I was only picking up where you left off.”

Harvey laughed. “Now I know you want something. What’s up?”

“It’s about Aunt Fizz’s birthday party. I need to make sure with Theo, but I should be able to come.”

He coughed. “Theo? Since when did you call him Theo?”

Shit.

Double shit.

No.

Triple shit.

“Well, we’re cohabitating right now,” I said quickly. “It’s awkward to call him sir or Mr Black when we aren’t working, don’t you think?”

“Oh. Of course. I didn’t think of that.”

Thank God he was denser than brick. “Well, the party?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Mum has been bugging me about it, so I was actually going to call you. Are you going to drive down?”

“No, I’ll probably drive to the nearest airport and fly down,” I replied. “Don’t say anything to Aunt Fizz for now. I’ll call her when I know for sure.”

“All right. How are things going, anyway? Are you two getting along?”

Memories of the past twenty-four hours flashed through my mind.

Theo fingering me in the kitchen.

Theo licking my clit in his bedroom.

Theo leaving a hickey on my boob while I rode his cock.

Yup.

‘Getting along’ was one way of putting it.

“Yes,” I replied, my cheeks burning hot.

“He’s not as bad as you thought, huh?”

Something like that. “By the way, what are you doing in the office on a Saturday afternoon?”

“Cleaning up an intern’s mess. Why are you calling the office and not my phone?”

“Habit.” I smiled. “I have to go. I’ll text you later when I know for sure about the weekend.”

“All right.” Papers shuffled at his end. “Hey, Chlo?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re really getting on fine, aren’t you? I know how you felt about him before you left. You’re not just coming home to escape him, are you?”

My smile widened, and I dipped my chin.

Oh, Harvey.

He knew me so well.

“No. I promised I’d try to come back for the party, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Everything’s fine, I swear.”

“Mm. Okay.” He didn’t sound entirely convinced. “I’ll talk to you later, then.”

“Yep. Bye, Harvs.” I hung up and put down my phone, then buried my face in my hands.

Escaping?

Yes.

That was exactly what I needed to do.