© Carey Decevito, 2012

All rights reserved

Chapter 1 - Long Hours 

It had been raining for a week solid and it didn’t seem like there would be an end in sight.  Lacey was slaving away at the office.  She was buried in a mountain of documents that begged her attention like they had been due the previous week.  She huffed and took off her glasses.  Closing her eyes, she rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger and let out a loud sigh.

Anywhere but here.

She loved her job, don’t get her wrong.  There were days where she wished that she had taken the easy road and lived a life of pleasure and freedom instead of one of structure and discipline.  It was one of those days.

She looked over and across the cubicle ridden space and noticed that Darren was still at his desk.  It didn’t look like he’d be leaving anytime soon either.  Her mind began to wander again as she found herself watching him breathe his frustrations away.  She found herself glad that she wasn’t alone in suffering the wrath of their workload in preparation to their pending quarterly meeting.

His muscles were outlined by his light blue dress shirt which he had rolled its sleeves to his elbows.  He had taken off his tie which made him look more laid back, approachable and delicious to the extreme.  His longish dark brown hair was tousled and begged for a woman to run their fingers through it.  He hadn’t shaved in a few days and it made Lacey shiver at the thought of what that scruff of his would feel against her skin; what his body would feel like against hers.  What he would taste like if she licked, sucked and kissed him.

She leaned forward and studied him further.  She bit down on her bottom lip.  Her mouth began to water as his shoulders tensed under the careful scrutiny of his current project.  The man was serious eye candy.

She had always prided herself in maintaining a professional front with regards to her career; never dating colleagues or clients for that matter.  But Darren…he was different.  There was a chemistry there between the two of them just waiting to be explored but they both knew why neither of them had made an advance as of yet.  Their boss would have their heads if they ever did.

As Darren got up, Lacey feigned being busy by burying her nose into the latest communication analysis.  She snuck a glance up and was surprised to find him looking right at her, his eyes brooding, his lips quirked in what appeared as amusement as if he knew she’d been watching him.

The butterflies fluttered about her stomach with the depth of his gaze.  She bit down on her bottom lip again and licked the nervous tick of hers away.  She chased her seductive mannerism with a shy smile in his direction before getting back to that analysis that couldn’t hold her attention.

Darren had noticed her looking at him.  It hadn’t been the first time either.  Her mild demeanor got him hot and bothered at the single thought of touching her.  Beneath her prim and proper exterior, he knew that she had a great personality—he’d seen it a few times over the last year during external work events.  She was a professional at keeping her true personality at bay during work hours though and those small glimpses were so brief that he doubted anyone knew the real Lacey.  His mouth watered at the mere thought of having her alone; how he’d be willing to bet that she was different than the others he’d dated in the past.

He looked at the time on his computer monitor and realized that it was seven o’clock. 

No wonder I’m feeling famished.  He took another look in Lacey’s direction.  I wouldn’t mind a little dessert. 

She bit down on the earpiece of her eyeglasses while she wrote down a few notes onto a stack of papers.  He found himself wishing that his lips, his fingers, even his hardening manhood were that earpiece.  So much so that he had to fight the urge that rose from deep within him.  The one that begged him to just give into temptation and give her a night they would never forget.

Darren decided that it was high time that he do something about those urges and the chemistry that he knew all too well that she was aware of.  He got up and headed toward her office. 

He rationalized.  She wouldn’t say no to a bit of food.

Lacey Flannigan was in for a treat if he ever got his hands on her the way he intended.  He was tired of the rules, tired of being proper in the professional sense and tired of holding back.  Dinner might just be the ticket to getting to know more about the rather intriguing colleague of his that ran rampant through his dreams.

She noticed Darren heading toward her office with that customary swagger of his.  Her heart skipped a beat as the rest of her became nervous and excited all at once. 

She stifled a squeal that begged to escape her lips at the far from censored thoughts she was having about the man that approached her.

“Hey, Lacey.”

She turned around in a swift motion, crossed her bare legs and smiled at him.  Her eyes moved downward from his head to his feet in unabashed appraisal.  “Hmm?”

“I’m ordering something in.  Are you interested?”

Biting her thumbnail in a ponderous manner, she pulled it out and gave him a quick nod.  “Sounds great.  I haven’t eaten all day.”  She knew that he understood where she was coming from since she doubted he’d left his office with the exception for the multiple coffee and bathroom breaks.  “Let me know when it gets here,” she said after they’d decided on their order.

After Darren returned to his office and placed their order, she got up and walked over to the black leather sofa she had in her office.  A very tiny speck of a perk of hers for being the Vice-President of Communications was having a sofa and taking naps on it when putting in long hours at work had become a habit.  She worked so much she even had a change of clothes hanging behind her office door.

Lacey sat to remove her shoes before lying down.  Her head had begun to pound with relentlessness earlier in the day and her headache wasn’t showing any sign of letting off.  She knew it was from the lack of food and the rather substantial information overload.

Why do I do this to myself?  She chastised herself as her eyes fell closed and she began to doze.

What felt like seconds after she’d drifted off, she felt a pair of soft warm lips massage her own in a tantalizing fashion.  In her mind’s eye she thought she was dreaming.  Goose bumps sprouted down her body while those lips remained in contact with hers.  It felt like someone was running a slow melting ice cube down the middle of her front.  Her core warmed as her hormones went into overdrive.

She moaned. 

Mmm. 

The lips pulled away.  The owner’s breath remained and tickled her face.  He smelled of spearmint and chocolate mixed with that sandalwood scent she had become familiar with in passing.

Curiosity took over and her eyes shot open for confirmation that it had all been a dream.

It hadn’t been.

She found herself face-to-face with Darren and those dark green eyes of his.  At that moment, she did what any other woman of sound mind would have done.  She smiled at him, licked her lips and pulled his face toward hers in an attempt to urge him and his lips to stay a while.  She needed to see if he tasted as good as he smelled—while conscious and not in her sleep induced haze from moments before.

Her hands found his hair.  She’d been right.  It was pure heaven to run her fingers through.  Lacey pulled him down on top of her wanting to feel his weight.  He began to kiss and suck on her earlobe which made her moan in his ear.

She ran her hands over his broad shoulders trying to feel every inch of his body all at once.  Her senses were in overdrive as she arched her back and pushed her chest into him.  He had her so hot and bothered her core was throbbing.  She couldn’t believe that with so little effort on his part her panties were being soaked with each passing second. 

It’s been too long.

And like a cold bucket of ice water thrown over the both of them, Darren’s phone rang.

He pulled away looking at her full of want and need.

She heard him curse the caller under his breath and she couldn’t help but do the same as he answered the call.

She still couldn’t get over what he had just initiated and how she had encouraged it to progress.  It wasn’t like her but she’d known that if he ever was to pay her any interest, that she’d fold that hand of cards of hers in an instant and she’d been right in that analysis.

He pocketed his phone and hovered above her.  He then lowered his face to nibble her lower lip and sucked to ease its sting.  His suckling was the most sensual thing that tugged at something inside her.  She had never experienced something that sensual before.

“I guess I know what I’m having for dessert.”  He winked. 

She blushed feeling the hot flash build and rise to her face.

Tease.  But she loved it.

He got off of her and pulled her up and away from the couch she had begun to melt into from the heat of the moment.  She stood in front of him her breathing shallow and her heart beat fast with excitement.  She watched his firm butt walk away from her.

With a lust-filled groan, Lacey found herself hungry for more than just pizza.  It was a different hunger…no a need none like any other—for Darren Hall and she aimed to fulfill that need of hers at some point.  It was clear to her then that he wanted her just as bad and she was relieved that the attraction she had picked up on was mutual.  What was the worst that could happen?

You can lose your job.  She fanned her face at the additional heated thoughts that floated into her mind.  If a short make-out session was hot, she couldn’t help but wonder how much more heated things could get between them.  What a way to go.