LAYLAAiden’s mouth seared mine, and I only had a moment to thinkfinally!before my mind went blank. Only a moment to feel triumphant excitement before burning heat took its place. I’d deliberately avoided touching him up until the moment his control finally broke, but now I wrapped myself around him. I’d imagined doing so a hundred times, but my imagination hadn’t even brought me close to how good it felt to feel his hard chest against my breasts, the long, lean lines of his body bowing over me, the stubble on his chin scraping tantalizingly over the soft skin of my cheeks.I couldn’t decide where to put my hands–his broad chest, the muscular shoulders underneath his Red Sox t-shirt, or around the back of his neck where I could feel the ends of his hair. His hands were banded around my waist, his long fingers wrapped around my back, his thumbs on the waistband of my shorts.I don’t know how long we stood there, our bodies locked together, our mouths moving furiously over each other, c
AIDENOn Saturday mornings, I typically picked up doughnuts and coffee and drove over to my old neighborhood to spend some quality time with my little brother. He wasn’t related to me by blood. I’d hooked up with this mentor program a few years ago when I was profiled in a few local papers as a local boy made good.They’d paired me up with Carl O’Donoghue, a local boy determined to make bad. He made sure I knew that the doughnuts were the only reason he waited for me on the front steps of his run down rowhouse every Saturday morning. He called me big bro like he was spitting it between his teeth. Maureen gave me shit about bringing doughnuts instead of something with actual nutritional value, but Carl had a stomach curdling habit that involved chewing tobacco for breakfast, so I figured doughnuts were a step up.This morning, he was sitting on the bottom step, looking rough and hard and about as tough as a couple of matchsticks. An ulcerous splinter. He glared at me when I pulled up a
“Yeah, kid. Let’s get you some shoes.”Shoes, it turned out, were Carl’s gateway drug. Once he had shoes, he wanted jeans, and then a shirt. He was as tightly guarded with these desires as I was with mine, but I recognized them, and he got the fucking jeans and shirt. And then he was so jacked up on excitement and uncertainty that I managed to buy him a burger.He tore through it in a few bites, then leaned back. He was staring at me with an expression I recognized. Complete distrust. Why the hell was I doing this? What did I really want? Couldn’t be his mom, he could tell she wasn’t my type. Was I getting some sort of good press for this shit? He doubted it. It wasn’t like I was famous or anything. Was I a pervert? If so, I’d done a damn good job hiding it over the last few months.Basically, the same thought process I’d gone through when I was in his position and Jack was the one buying the burgers.“I want to talk about school,” I said, sensing that between the bags at his feet and
LAYLAIwanted to be irresistible on Monday morning, but I overthought it and changed my outfit so many times that Liv came out of her room to see what the hell I was doing banging my closet door open and shut so many times. Then, after the outfit was finally sorted, I almost forgot my lunch.“You look great,” she insisted, grabbing my lunch bag out of the refrigerator and stuffing it in my hands.I was wearing jeans, like everyone at the office did, but I was wearing heels and a tailored t-shirt, and I’d put my hair up because I thought it made me look older. More sophisticated. Something.“He kissed you,” Liv reminded me as she walked me to the door. Then, because she had nothing else to do since I’d woken her up before her alarm went off, she walked me down the hall to the elevator bank. “He told you he wants you. What are you worried about?”“That he won’t want meenoughto break his stupid rules.”Liv tapped her pointer finger on her chin and pointedly didn’t say anything. She didn’
But despite the glowing good looks, there was something about him that I didn’t like. It was impossible to put my finger on it. Maybe it was the way he dropped into his chair at the head of the table, lounging and indolent like he was one of the big cats he loved so much. I loved cats and their don’t-give-a-damn attitude, too, but the attitude hit different in a human being.He bestowed a shiny white, toothy smile on each of us in turn, but his glacier blue gaze snagged on me. “Hello,” he said, drawing out the word. “Are you new here?”Maybe if it was high school, I would have giggled like he so obviously expected. Now, though, I just smiled and said, “Yes. I’m Layla Davis.”“Layla Davis.” He repeated my name, pronouncing each syllable with great care, like he was sounding it out. “Nice to meet you, Layla Davis.”The tension that had existed in Aiden from the moment he stepped into the conference room increased. It was nearly invisible, but I’d become an expert on Aiden in the past we
AIDENThe idle thoughts I’d had about firing Andrew suddenly felt quaint. I didn’t want to fire Blake–I wanted to dismantle him. It wouldn’t be murder because he wasn’t a real person. If I wasn’t seeing him in the flesh, I’d swear he was an AI bot. Dismantling was too much work. I wanted to just erase his code or pull the plug on the machine.But the problem was that Blakewasn’ta robot, AI or otherwise. He was real, and he was really looking at Layla like she was an ice cream cone and he’d just trekked across Death Valley. It would have been shitty if she’d returned the sentiment, but I could have handled it. What was worse was seeing her grow visibly more uncomfortable the longer the impromptu strategy session went on.“The nerve of the guy just showing up here,” I’d muttered to Maureen when I found out about his decision to drop by unannounced. I’d been irritated, but as the minutes ticked on, I was becoming closer to enraged.Blake was up out of his seat, circling the table. He was
Not to do what she was implying, though God knew I wanted that so much I could taste it. “I don’t want you on the Blake Morten account,” I said abruptly, deciding there was no good way to ease into that conversation. “I know Maureen wants this to be your trial run, but I think it’s a bad idea.”“My trial run?” Annoyance threaded Layla’s voice. She pushed her auburn hair back over her shoulder and frowned. “You do remember that I’ve already done this for two years in LA.”“I remember, but PR and Brand Development aren’t synonymous.”“Yeah, but it’s not about the work is it?” Now Layla sat down. She crossed her long legs. “It’s about Blake himself.”Following her lead, I lowered myself into my own chair. “Yeah, it is,” I said frankly. “I can tell by the way he acted with you in the meeting that he’s going to be a problem.”“And you think that in my two years in PR in LA, I didn’t learn to handle guys like Blake?” Layla’s voice was silky with confidence. She smiled privately, as if remem
LAYLAI didn’t have a plan exactly. More of an idea of a plan. An outline of an idea, anyway. Basically it was to put myself in Aiden’s way as often as possible until he gave in. Ironically, Blake made it easier for me. Aiden never followed through on his threat to take me off the account, and Blake never got the hint that we didn’t need to meet with him every other day, so I saw a lot of both of them.“I’m surprised Aiden is putting up with it,” Gloria mused one evening when it was just the core group of us staying late. We’d had to rearrange our schedule due to one of Blake’s unscheduled drop ins, so now the five of us were back in the conference room with our laptops, eating pizza.“It’s obvious why.” Joe rubbed his thumb against his other four fingers.Gloria scoffed. She and Joe were dating, or something like it, but they still never missed a chance to disagree with one another. “Cross Media isthego-to marketing firm in Boston these days. Local magazines are always doing profiles
* * *On Wednesday evening, I left the office before Aiden and drove straight to his place. I was relieved that I’d gotten my daily run in with nausea done around lunchtime. In his apartment, I made sure I’d thrown in the last few things I needed for the trip and then made myself a cup of coffee. I didn’t usually drink it past two or three in the afternoon, but lately, I could sleep at the drop of a hat. I’d been miserably tired in our last brand development meeting, and I was worried that Blake had taken my half-closed eyes as some sort of come on.He wasn’t happy about Aiden coming to the charity ball, either. He tried to play it off, but we could tell that his joke about how surely Aiden had more important things to do wasn’t a joke at all. I’d never tell Aiden, but more and more, Blake was starting to give me the creeps. Even though I’d made it perfectly clear my only interest in him was professional, he still let his gaze linger too long on mine. I’d taken to wearing oversized c
LAYLAI didn’t know what was up with me, but I was determined not to let it ruin my first trip with Aiden. Maybe it was just an extended work trip where we would be up to our old tricks in a new city, but it was still ourfirst vacation. Besides, whatever was going on with me wasn’t like any cold or flu or food poisoning or allergic reaction I’d ever had. It was waves of nausea that struck at strange times, peaked violently after about half an hour, and left me tired but functional for the rest of the day. For the most part, I could hide it from Aiden. He was busy doing a week’s worth of work in two and a half so we could leave for New York after work on Wednesday.Because he was so busy, I was home more, and it was Liv who caught me dry heaving in the bathroom one afternoon.“Whoa,” she said, gingerly placing her hand on my back as if she were considering rubbing it. She changed her mind at a particularly violent retching sound that, as usual, produced nothing. Backing into the doorwa
AIDENI had to tell Jack. I could tell the secrecy was beginning to gnaw at Layla. She was right–there was a point when it had been fun. Clandestine. Now I just wanted to be able to take her out to dinner on our side of town without fear of who we might run into. I wanted to think about our future together without the threat of Jack’s reaction overshadowing it.The problem was, I didn’t know how. The other problem was, the person I normally would have asked for advice was Jack himself. Maureen was my back up, but I couldn’t go to her either. So that was why I found myself telling Carl, my mentee, about it.I don’t know how it came up. It sure as hell wasn’t like he asked,hey man, how’s your love life?Strangely, Carl listened. When I was done, he said, “That’s a real fucking pickle, rich man. What are you going to do about it?” His voice was its usual mixture of disdain and sarcasm, but I sensed that he was genuinely interested.“Hell if I know,” I muttered. I was already regretting t
“I bet she would have planned great vacations for you,” I said quietly. I set down my glass of wine and reached over to squeeze his hand. He didn’t let mine go though, when I went to pull back. Instead, he rose in his seat and tugged me up, too. We kissed across the small bistro table. A warm, heady kiss that was sweeter than the dessert.After we sat back down, I rearranged my napkin in my lap and said in my own carefully casual way, “Maybe one day I can plan a vacation for all three of us.”Aiden shot me a grin. He looked almost normal again, though the fire was still simmering in his eyes. “Maybe,” he agreed. “I guess you two should meet before we fly off to the Bahamas together.”“It’s only fair,” I agreed. “I mean, you do knowmyparents.” I held my breath until Aiden laughed. We were getting better, but the subject of my parentage was still loaded. “I do want you to meet my mom,” he said, sliding his credit card into the bill holder and pushing the last of the dessert closer to me
LAYLAAiden and I were still careful at work, but we let our guard down outside of it. We went to dinner together on the other side of town, and once in a while, he even spent the night at my place now that he knew that Liv and Bran were in on the secret.Liv and Bran had their own secret they thought they were keeping, but Aiden and I were experts at this by now. We knew my brother didn’t really crash on the couch at the end of a long night, and we heard him on those nights he pretended to leave and then doubled back.It was nice to see my brother and my best friend falling for each other, even if it was kind of strange. I hoped that when he eventually found out about me andhisbest friend, my dad would feel similarly.“Don’t count on it,” Aiden said when I mentioned it one night. We’d driven across town to eat at a restaurant we figured was far away enough that no one we knew would be there. We were doing that more and more. It was starting to feel normal to be out with him in public
“Layla went home sick. I’m just checking up on her.”Our footsteps echoed loudly on the uncarpeted steps. By mutual agreement, we’d both turned toward the stairwell rather than waiting for the dodgy looking elevator. Bran was ahead of me, and I thought I saw a ghost of a smirk on his face as he turned to go up the next flight. But all he said was, “Cool,” in a voice so indifferent I wondered if I’d imagined the smirk.Thanks to Bran, I didn’t have to knock. The door was propped open on its deadbolt because they were clearly expecting him. He walked in and gestured for me to follow.I’d never been inside Layla’s apartment. I’d only waited out front while she ran in to grab something. It was… fine. Not the kind of place I thought she should be leaving the door propped open, but it could be worse. It had style, even if I wasn’t impressed by the elevator or the security.“Layla,” Bran called. “Your boss is here.”Two voices came at once. An unfamiliar one that said, “I’m on a call!” and t
AIDENWhen I heard that Layla had gone home sick, I texted her.Are you going to my place? I’ll try to leave, too.She didn’t answer. I figured she’d take a nap, but hour by hour crawled by without a response. At lunch, I stepped outside and called her. It went straight to voicemail. I texted again, but I was starting to get the bad feeling that this silence had nothing to do with a cold or a nap.At four, I told Maureen I was leaving early.“You’d better not be sick, too,” she warned.“I’m not. I’ll be online.” I was too distracted to worry about whether she thought it was suspicious that I was leaving early.“What about the happy hour?”I’d already been walking toward the door, but now I pulled up short. I’d forgotten all about the damn happy hour. It wasn’t for anything in particular, just a monthly get together where I got face time with anyone who wanted it, and we patronized our favorite local bar. It wasn’t the most important thing in the world, but I tried to never miss it.“S
Joe glanced at me, sensing for the first time that this news might not be as benign as he thought. “Um, yesterday?” He scratched his nose and eyed me, checking to see how that information went over. When my face darkened, he added, “Maybe. I don’t remember.”“Well I just talked to Maureen about it yesterday morning, so either it was yesterday or it was really early this morning,” I said evenly.“Yeah, it was probably yesterday.” Joe pulled an apologetic face. As if he were the one with something to apologize for. Then he wrapped up his uneaten egg sandwich and made a quick exit.I stayed in the break room for another few minutes, trying to get a handle on my anger. My tendency was to go with the emotion–let it swell and break and deal with the cause of it. I didn’t like to let things fester. This time, though, I really did try to tame it. I asked myself if I was being unreasonable–maybe this wasn’t actually Aiden treating me like a child. Maybe there was some way in which he could ask
LAYLAI sensed Aiden’s mood even before I saw his face. It was the way he moved when he came out onto the balcony. A stiffness in the set of his shoulders that was echoed in his face when he turned around. He lowered himself into the chair beside mine without kissing me first.I closed my book, keeping my finger between the pages to save my spot. I had a pretty good idea what this was about.Aiden didn’t waste time getting to the point. “You went around me.”“I went up the chain of command,” I countered. “I report to Maureen.”“I don’t give a damn who you report to at work. You went aroundme.” He bit off the words. “Not as your boss, but as your–whatever the fuck we’re doing is called.”“I think that about describes it,” I drawled, hoping to tempt him out of this fight. I dogeared the corner of my page and set it down beside my chair.Aiden wasn’t tempted though. Or amused. If anything, his face grew stormier. “If that’s all it was, I wouldn’t bother.”I stood up and slid into his lap