Page 13 of Negotiation Tactics
The rush hour has long passed when I make it on the bus, so I spend the hour-long trip from downtown to Tigard reading the book I started yesterday. It’s one of those I only read during my commute, and it gives me something to look forward to before and after work.
It’s not until I’m in the comfort of my modest but cozy apartment that I let myself think ofhimand his sapphire blue eyes. Sigh, what a waste of handsomeness. Why is it always the evil assholes? But what’s more annoying than his sexiness and bad boy vibes is the fact that I can’t seem to get him out of my mind. He just… ugh, he’d be perfect if he wasn’t the CEO I have to take down. I’d even… consider a repeat, if I’m being honest, because he is the first person ever who not only could tell what I needed, but who also delivered.
“Fuuuck, Josh. Why’s you have to bone Devon Holidays’ future CEO?”
It takes me embarrassingly long to clear away the thoughts about Alistair. Once successful, I grab the leftover chili from my fridge and finish it with my ass parked on the old couch while I watch the new episode of that talent show the media is all over. It finishes just before twelve, and after a quick shower, I go to bed so I can be rested for tomorrow’s visit to the waste disposal company.
Daniel, my first ever boyfriend in high school, pushes me against the lockers in the changing room, caging me with his forearm. His other hand is fumbling with the buttons of my shirt, and my heart rate skyrockets when he undoesthe first two. Baseball practice has ended half an hour ago so there is no one around. The entire school is empty but for us and a few janitors cleaning classrooms in the main building.
“Stayed behind waiting for me again, Josh?” he drawls, his voice dipping lower and then too low as it takes on a timbre that doesn’t belong to him.
“No,” I hold my ground, because while, yes, part of the reason at the timewashim, I also needed the quiet of the library to study, what with my brothers having friends over all the time. “I was in the library. Thought I’d check if you were still around on my way home,” I say and turn my head to the side, breaking eye contact.
The sun is setting outside, but it’s not dark yet, because we’re in early summer. It’s my favorite season, even if Portland never gets truly hot.
“I think that’s a lie,” he counters, his voice not at all the slightly high-pitched tenor Daniel had but a deeper, richer cadence that has shivers running down the back of my neck and spine. “You stayed because you wanted to see me.”
I don’t give him a reply, instead narrowing my eyes and worrying my lips. He hums, displacing his forearm from the wall, and cups my chin with a little more roughness than necessary.
I like it.
“Do you want to do what we did last time?”
I feel a rush of heat surge toward my core. We did it for the first time a week ago, but since then we haven’t done it again. I’ve been too shy to ask for a repeat.
“Maybe,” I mumble too quietly for him to hear.
That’s when he turns my head so I’m facing him and we kiss while he dips his fingers under the hem of mypants… or that’s what usually happens in that particular erotic dream, but this time it plays out differently. The eyes that regard me are not Daniel’s pretty brown but a blue so intense I feel like I’m drowning in it, like it engulfs the entirety of me until it’s all I can focus on. His hair is not a closely cropped buzz cut either and nor is he wearing his Number 11 uniform jersey—the two things have been replaced by a slicked-back mop of dirty blond hair and a sexy suit that costs more than my monthly expenses, rent included.
“Tell me, brat, do you want my cock inside you?” Alistair Devon drawls in my ear, dragging his fingers up my stomach. Both his voice and touch are tantalizing, but he stops before he’s gotten to my nipples. As we look at each other, the blue in his gaze darkens to a hue that reminds me of the sky during a summer storm in the south.
Electricity crawls under my skin, zaps of it originating where he’s brushing his knuckles against my ribs. I swallow. I want him to keep going even though I probably shouldn’t, and I try to force the right words out of me, to reject him and tell him to fuck off, but all that comes out is a fumbled yes.
He wastes no time diving for me, his mouth smashing against mine as alarm bells ring in my head, each one a reminder of just how fucked up this all is. Alistair Devon is a spoiled billionaire who wasted my time and doesn’t care about his employees. He deserves a punch to his pretty mug, and not to get in my pants.
But I can’t stop this, I can’t bring myself to protest, when the way he’s taking charge of the kiss is so right… It lights me up on the inside, touching my every nerve-ending and turning me into a panting mess that wants to be put in his place like that night.
Fuuuuck, this is bad, reallyreallybad, because as his hands grope my ass and he plasters me against his strong chest, I realize that maybe I just don’t want him to stop.
A violent zap rushes through me the moment his hand firmly wraps around my cock. I wake up with a jolt, heaving in disorientation as my phone alarm goes off on the nightstand.
I stare at the device, trying to organize my thoughts. It takes me a few tries to hit the spot on the screen that turns the noisy thing off and I groan when I knock the phone off the furniture and onto the floor. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I try to forget the way my dream diverged from the script, I remember enough of it while showering and having breakfast. The intensity of Alistair’s eyes, the hunger in them, and the feel of his fingertips across my skin as he teases me with gentle caresses.
“Great, Josh. That’s exactly the start you needed to your busy day,” I scoff at my reflection in the mirror.
Okay, he’s objectively hot. He’s crazy good in bed too and we have killer compatibility. So, what? He’s still my enemy, a rich billionaire that needs to be brought down to earth. I shouldn’t be thinking about him, much less having those kinds of fantasies. Our encounter was a one and done deal, and it happened before I even knew who he was. It was a mistake and not one I’ll let happen again.
The office is still empty when I arrive, so I get right down to work, absorbing myself in emails and documentation until it’s time for Lily to show up.
“Hey, Josh,” she greets me some time later, clad in her slate suit and holding a folder to her chest.
“Hey, ready to head over?” I lift my eyes from the screen and meet her brown ones. Her black hair is tied ina loose bun at the top of her head, and she looks a little nervous.
“Yep,” she says with a sheepish smile. “And sorry for making you tag along.”
I pick my bag from the filing cabinet. “Don’t worry about it,” I reassure her, leading the way to the elevator, where I press the first floor number. “I’ll just observe and check the contract at the end, but this is still your case, so I won’t meddle unless you need me to.”
We discuss how she managed to get Garb & Agnes to agree to the Union’s terms. I am impressed. Lily has accompanied Mariam a few times, but this is her first independent case just like the Devon Holiday is mine. Unlike the headache I have to deal with, at least one of us is actually making progress rather than hitting roadblocks.
