Erogenous Zones: Monica's Secret (12 page)

“I think I’ll try to get us a couple of coffees,” Monica suggested, and glanced at Miss Moody. “We’ve been on our feet all morning already,” she explained, “and I could certainly do with one. What about you Alec?”

“That would be great. Thank you.” He directed the thanks to Miss Moody, building on Monica’s effort to get her out of the room.

When she took the hint and left the two of them in the office, they could still hear her moving around in the kitchen area beyond, filling the kettle and opening cupboard doors.

Alec was about say something to Monica when he saw that she was chuckling to herself.

“What?”

“I was thinking about what you said, Miss
Moody
.” Her eyes sparkled with humour and it was good to see her that way. She was too serious by far. They knew why now, but it seemed unfair. Sure, her talent was a gift. But she had become isolated by it; that was easy to

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see. Even though she was a sophisticated attractive woman, there was something almost naive about her at times. Her experience had been so limited. It reminded him of some documentaries seem about gifted kids and how difficult it was for them to make friends. He wondered what her sisters were like. She’d mentioned they were close. He was glad she had them, but it occurred to him that what she really needed was a man she could rely on.

Somehow, he didn’t think she would agree. There was a fierce independence about her.

For some reason, he had to kiss her. He stepped over to her and cupped her face in his hands, stroking his thumb over her cheeks. She was startled when he did, but melted in a moment. The sound of the kettle whistling from the room beyond made him step away.

“How do you take it?” their hostess asked, from the doorway.

They gave her their orders and when she’d gone, Alec nodded at Monica. He kept a watch on his download completion box, and on the doorway, then glanced at Monica as she began to move around the office, touching the surfaces here and there. It was fascinating to see what she chose to touch. She concentrated on objects she could lift from the desk, drawer handles, the backs of chairs, and the edge of the desk in particular. It was there that she paused and moved her hand around, her eyes half shutting in concentration. Cocking her head on one side, she looked thoughtful then reached for the handle on the desk again before making eye contact with him.

Alec knew she was about to say something when the door to the corridor burst open and a suited man in his mid-twenties entered the room. His staff identity badge poked sideways out of his jacket pocket, but Alec wasn’t able to read it. By the looks of him, he had a grievance.

“Oh dear,” Monica whispered under her breath.

He glared at Alec. “So, you are this bloke who has swanned in from headquarters?”

“One of them. And you are?” He offered a smile and put out his hand, but this bloke wasn’t accepting any of it.

He pointed at Alec rather aggressively and shook his head. “You think you can just come in here and take over. Promotion is my job.” He prodded himself in the chest, and rounded his eyes at Alec in what some people would consider a threatening manner.

Alec kept his hand extended for another moment.

“Gerry, don’t do this.” Monica stepped in. “Alec, this is Gerry Paterson, our in-house promotions and PR manager.” She offered Alec a rather weak smile. He could see this was

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awkward for her. “Gerry, this is Alec Stroud, he is Owen Clifford’s assistant. They aren’t treading on your patch, they’re here to help. Use it wisely while it’s available.” She tried to put it out there as a pitch, which Alec appreciated.

Gerry Paterson continued to glare at him.

Still his hand hadn’t been taken, so Alec withdrew it. He kept his smile friendly, though. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Gerry. We’re circulating amongst all the hotel staff looking for ways we can help you.”

When had lying become so easy? It was the nature of the job, and he often assured himself that he helped people like this to keep their jobs by weeding out the troublemakers.

Then again, this bloke could be the one spending money on promotional opportunities that never transpired. Nobody was exempt from scrutiny.

Alec forced his mind back through the staff résumé’s he’d studied before they arrived here on this mission. From what he could recall, the promotions guy was fairly new. He’d been in place for about two years after the previous person retired. Straight out of college, full of fresh ideas. Owen had yet to take a closer look at how those ideas panned out though.

“Am I going to lose my job?” Gerry asked. He folded his arms across his chest defensively, his expression tense. “I just bought a flat, I’ve got a mortgage to meet.”

“Not that I know of, so please don’t look negatively on our visit.” Alec couldn’t help wondering if he was the one who had sent the note. He seemed rather hot-headed. “You’re on my list of the most important people to meet here, so thank you for coming down. You saved me a task.”

“This is awkward,” Monica murmured, and she looked quite pale. “I should have introduced you earlier.”

Alec put up his hand. “It’s not a problem.” He looked at Gerry Paterson, who seemed to be calming down somewhat. “How about we grab a coffee in the after-sports café and I’ll come back to the accounts side of it later. Does that suit you?”

Gerry nodded. In the background, Miss Moody walked in with a tray of cups.

Alec glanced at the computer screen. The file had downloaded. He reached over and ended the process, withdrawing his USB. Then he turned to Miss Moody and apologised.

“I’m sorry, I’m going to be taking coffee with Mr Paterson here.” He put his hand on Gerry Paterson’s shoulder, which seemed to make him slump gratefully. Meanwhile, Miss Moody’s mood turned even sourer.

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“Fine,” she snapped.

Alec glanced at Monica. “Monica, this isn’t right. Staff morale seems to be at an all-time low, people thinking the worst. We’ll have to do something about that.”

When he saw humour flickering in her eyes, he grinned and winked.

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That afternoon, Monica escorted Owen and Alec as they spent time with the reception staff. They set up in one of the small meeting rooms that were available for use of business guests. The reception staff came in one by one and had a relaxed, informal meeting with Owen, while Alec worked on his laptop at a nearby desk. Monica did the introductions, provided refreshments, then sat back and enjoyed watching Owen at work.

His charm was exceptional. Both women and men gravitated to him. That was not surprising. The aim of the meetings seemed to be to find out how inspired they were by the company they worked for and their jobs. With clever questions, he managed to find out how much they enjoyed the buzz of providing good service. That was one of the basic tenets of Cumbernauld’s chain. It was a great afternoon, because all the staff that he was able to meet that day loved their jobs, and reflected a really good attitude about working with Cumbernauld’s.

Most of all Monica enjoyed the time working with Owen and Alec. Above and beyond their personal relationship, it was fresh and exciting to assist in a new approach to the territory she was so familiar with.

“We ought to dine in Shakespeare’s tonight,” she suggested when all the staff had gone. It was the silver service restaurant, the top level of dining in the hotel. That lunchtime she’d shot home for some more clothing and she’d brought something a bit more casual to wear out of hours. She didn’t want them to think she lived in a business suit.

“That menu looked pretty good,” Alec said as he packed up his laptop.

“I prefer to have you with room service,” Owen said, most seductively, “but if you insist.” His smile was telling. He’d enjoyed the afternoon. That was good, because he’d seemed a bit tense that morning, like his mission was getting to him.

Had they found what they were looking for yet, she wondered.

“If we go back to my office now, I’ll book us a table after I’ve checked my messages.”

It felt good when they followed her suggestion, and she’d begun to enjoy walking around in their company. Basking, that was what she was doing. It surprised her that she’d been able to do that. They had made it happen; they had made it easy for her to slip into

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something comfortable between business and social with them, once they had understood about her secret.

In the elevator, she took the opportunity to ask Alec how he got on with Gerry Paterson. She’d been curious about it all day.

Alec gave a gentle laugh. “He had me worried for a while there, but he’s off the hook.

He’s keen and he’s hot-headed, but he seems to be pretty sound. I went through the work he’s done and his plans and I’ve been able to track everything he’s done through the system accordingly.” He tapped his laptop. “I don’t think he’s our culprit.”

“Did you get anything from Miss Moody’s office?”

“There was something, a bit of a surprise. I don’t think it has anything to do with what you’re looking for.” She glanced at Owen, who was listening avidly.

“Go on,” Alec encouraged.

“Jane Mooney has a crush on Sheila Trent.” She shook her head. “That was a real surprise.”

“Is it reciprocated?” Alec asked.

“No. Sheila knows about it and she uses it to her advantage, but she’s not interested.”

Alec eyebrows lifted. “No wonder Miss Mooney is Miss Moody.”

Monica nodded. “Unrequited love, it explains a lot.” She had felt rather uncomfortable about the discovery. There had been a real aura of sadness in the sexual desire she’d experienced around Jane’s desk. Longing, and disappointment. “I know it’s not what you are looking for,” she added.

Owen shook his head. “Anything and everything might be important.”

The elevator doors opened and she led them along the corridor to her office.

“What do you think will be the key?” she asked, when they entered her office and the doors closed. “What is that you’re looking for?”

“The more we chat with the staff, the more someone is likely to make a slip.”

“That’s why you came in as an ideas man, because it gives you free range to chat with everyone?”

He nodded and gave her a lazy smile. She thought about the fact that they were alone, the three of them, in her office. The look in his eyes was possessive. It also made her realise that he had been cautious about looking her way that afternoon. As she thought about it, it occurred to her that he was that way with Alec, too. His attention was all theirs when they

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were alone, but in the workplace he was the consummate professional. She, on the other hand, had been studying him while he worked, and that had kept her libido simmering. His air of command demanded the total attention of everybody he came into contact with. Yet he did it nonchalantly, it wasn’t something he projected, it was the essential Owen. People deferred to him readily. At first she had been curious about Alec’s easygoing yet submissive way around Owen, both as his PA, and his lover. Now that she was in a similar position herself, she saw that it was instinctive. Being around Owen made her want to submit to him.

It made her long to experience his guiding hand.

And the way he was looking at her right at that moment made her even more horny.

Behind her, the phone on her desk bleeped. She leaned over a look at it. “I better check my messages.”

As she picked up the phone, Owen walked around her office, studying the place. Alec had put his laptop on top of the filing cabinet, and rested on the cabinet on one elbow, watching her as she perched on her desk, legs crossed at the knee. They were prowling, both of them. It took all of her concentration to make notes on the messages left on her phone.

There was one message she didn’t particularly want to hear right then. “Oh no, it’s Flynn, he wants me to report to him this afternoon.” She glanced at her watch. “In ten minutes.”

Alec leaned up against the door to the corridor, his hands nonchalantly in his trouser pockets and a suggestive smile on his face. “Probably wants to hear about all the ins and outs of your time with us.” He paused and looked her up and down slowly. “You know, all the
juicy
details.”

The way he threw that out there, just like that, made her stare at him. Part of her wanted to laugh—the part of her that wasn’t already getting hellishly aroused by what he’d said. Then an image of herself sitting in Flynn Elwood’s office, mind drifting to sordid images of her tied up in Owen’s suite the night before crept into her mind. How the hell would she concentrate?

She put her hand to her throat, attempting to stay level-headed. “You absolute devil. I won’t be able to stop thinking about that when I’m in there.”

“Why, what are you thinking about?” Owen asked with faux innocence.

“I was thinking about watching you two.” She tried to sound chastising, but it wasn’t coming out right.

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Alec’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “That really turned you on, huh?”

“It’s turning me on right now, and that’s the last thing I need.”

“No,” Owen responded, “we can’t have you going into Flynn Elwood’s office all aroused and looking so wanton. He might be interested, and he’s had his chance. You’re our woman now.”

Our woman now
. If she wasn’t horny already, that would have done it. The problem was she was in a pretty bad state. Her underwear was damp and the pulse in her groin was thudding erratically. “You’ve got me in such a state.”

“There you go blaming us again,” Alec said with a grin.

She sat on the edge of her desk. That only made it worse and she couldn’t help grinding her hips.

Owen opened his jacket and rested his hand on his belt. “Anything we can do to help you out?”

“Don’t you come near me, please.” She gave a disbelieving laugh. “Don’t touch me, I’m already in a state and it’s getting too hard not to touch you.”

“You don’t have those lost handcuffs anymore?” Owen glanced at her desk.

Alas, they had gone. She shook ahead. “The owner collected them after I left the office yesterday, security let them in. Besides…I don’t do stuff like this. I never have sex in my office!”

“But you have to do something, don t you?” Owen’s mouth was locked in a suggestive, sensuous smile. “You can’t go in and see Elwood in this state.”

“You’re supposed to be out there hunting down a finance leak. What would the members of the Board think if they saw you…colluding with a member of staff, trapping her in her office in order to get her aroused?”

Alec shook his head. He appeared to be amused by that. “Oh, I have a feeling the Board would approve of this particular event.”

Owen gave him a sidelong glance then shrugged his shoulders. Monica sensed something pass between them and their barely restrained humour, but Owen quickly pressed on. “We know you, Monica. You’re a good girl. You’ll make up the time. You can always stay after hours, make sure the guests are comfortable in their suites.”

Alec gestured at her hips. “Masturbate, quickly, we won’t tell…so long as you let us watch.”

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The suggestion made her face burn. “You’re a devil.”

“You’ve never touched yourself, in the privacy of your office?”

“Maybe. Stuff like those handcuffs…well, you can imagine.” She rolled her eyes.

Both of them looked like they were imagining. The atmosphere in the office intensified, the humour of the moment drifting into something much more specific.

“Do it. Lift up your skirt, so we can see you.” Owen’s tone was commanding. He’d grown serious. He meant it, he really meant it.

“Owen, please.” Her face flamed.

“Monica, lift your skirt up and show us what you’ve got underneath.”

She cursed under her breath. But he was right on one point, there was absolutely no way she could go to a meeting with Flynn in this state, and if either of them—or both of them—touched her, that would only make it worse because she would want more. She had to get relief and quickly. She stood up. With her hands on the sides of her skirt, she slowly eased it up. Both men watched, riveted. She paused when she revealed the black lacy G-string she had on underneath.

Owen folded his arms across his chest, and leaned his shoulders back against the wall.

He gestured with one finger. “All the way up, to your waist.”

She did as instructed, bunching the fabric at her waist. She felt incredibly rude and shameless, standing in front of the desk in her stacked heels with her skirt hoisted up and two men staring at her. It was empowering though, the way they looked, the commanding tone in Owen’s voice and his obvious need to see her.

“You’re horny, aren’t you?” Owen delivered the comment as if he was remarking on the tidiness of her office.

“You know I am.”

“No. I need to be sure exactly how horny you are.” His gaze lowered to the front of her underwear. “That scrap of lace that you are wearing…is it damp?”

Alec shifted. “I’d put money on it.”

Owen shook his head, and took a slow, obvious intake of breath. “I think we need to know for sure.”

The way they were talking about her while she stood there on display made her heart thunder. She was at their beck and call, but she wanted to be. Not knowing what they would

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ask her to do next was incredibly arousing. It baffled her that she could feel this embarrassed, and yet so aroused that she would have to come before she left the office.

“Take them off.” Again Owen gestured with one finger.

When she hesitated, he repeated the instruction.

A sense of shame rushed over her, and she moved awkwardly—still holding her skirt up with her elbows—and eased the band on her G-string down. The fabric clung to her damp groove, and she had to give it a gentle tug. The pull of the fabric on her sensitive, swollen folds made her gasp aloud.

Owen’s eyebrows went up. “Oh my, you are wet.”

“She might have to go knickerless,” Alec commented, “when she rolls up to the boss’s office.”

Monica cursed under her breath.

She managed to get the G-string to her knees then dropped it. It fell around her ankles.

“Alec, bring the evidence so that I can examine it.”

Alec sprang into action. Striding over, he dropped into a squat by her feet. He looked up at her with that now-familiar mischief sparkling in his eyes. “Lift your foot.”

She did so, one at a time, and he retrieved the undies. He passed the lace through his hands as he remained at her feet, then stood up and looked deep into her eyes for a moment.

He lifted the underwear and dangled it from one finger. Before he turned back to Owen, he winked at her.

Owen took the offering from his hand and held the underwear up to the light.

Humiliation washed over her when she saw the damp patch against the light. He tutted, then he took the fabric to his nose and inhaled. “You have the most enticing aroma.”

Swaying on her feet, she pleaded with him silently, desperate for relief.

“Sit on the edge of the desk, and open your legs.”

One step back and she was against the desk, and grateful for its support. She lowered her bare buttocks onto the wooden surface. For a moment she couldn’t bring herself to open her legs, but Owen shook his head and gave her a disappointed look, and she put her hands on her knees, swinging them apart before she could think about it any longer. With her feet pivoting on her heels and her legs open that way, the cool air did nothing to quell her need for relief. It seemed to make it worse, prickling over her exposed pussy.

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“That’s quite a sight, don’t you agree?”

Alec nodded. “I could look at the view all day long, of course it could get problematic.” He rested his hands over the impressively large bulge in his tailored trousers.

“And Mr Elwood is waiting for the lady.”