Winning Appeal (6 page)

“Ha! No collision this time,” he said with a smile.

I didn’t answer immediately because I was busy noticing that he was dressed for the gym. His legs and his biceps were muscular, and there was the outline of a six-pack against the snug fabric of his t-shirt. Then there were the shorts. Tight shorts. And, oh wow. I felt like I wanted to cry. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I was openly checking out his equipment and I felt my face get hot. I looked up, and saw him trying not to smile.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to… ogle you.”

“It’s okay, I ogled you surreptitiously earlier.” He gave me the flirty smile. “I’m just headed for the gym, to work out and relieve some tension.”

“I’m going…” Suddenly, I couldn’t think straight. Where was I going again? “Uh, home. To relieve some tension,” I mumbled. “Painting! I’ll paint for a while to unwind.” I wandered out the door dazedly. He followed close behind and we got into the elevator together.

“Beth,” he said, a few beats after the doors slid shut.

“Hmm?” I asked, turning to look at him and willing myself to keep my eyes above his neckline, as elevator music played in the background. Just then the doors slid open on the floor below and a group of people got on with us.

“Nothing,” he replied, stepping closer to me to make room. “I’ll talk to you about it some other time.” I rode the rest of the way to the lobby, filled with curiosity, and intensely aware of every centimeter where our bodies were lightly touching. I went home that night and painted. And then I relieved some tension.

Friday 4:00 PM

We took our seats around the conference table and the meeting began. First we discussed how we soon would be taking on several new staff members. We were really growing. Then, when the lawyers started discussing their current caseloads, my mind started to drift.

As usual these days, it drifted to Mark. Specifically, I started having one of my favorite daydreams, about the two of us being alone in the office one evening, and having sex right there on the conference table. The meeting went much more quickly after that. I caught Mark giving me curious looks a couple of times, and I wondered if my expression gave away what I was thinking about.

When the meeting concluded, we all filed back to our offices. Liz stopped me in the hallway a few minutes later, as I was coming back from the ladies room, and asked me if I would drop a file off with Mark for her. I took the file down to his office, but he wasn’t there, so I just put it on his desk. When I turned to go, though, I realized that I had dropped a paper. So I picked it up and bent over the desk to pop it into the file. Just then, I heard Mark’s voice.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a minute,” he called out to somebody. Before I could move, he spoke again. “Oh my God. You’re bent over my desk. And you look even better like that than I imagined. All those times.” I quickly stood up and turned around in time to see him rake both hands through his hair. “Oh shit! I can’t believe I’m sexually harassing you in a law office.”

“You’re not sexually harassing me.” Before I could stop myself, the words were out of my mouth. “It would be sexual harassment if it was unwanted attention. Mark, I
want
you to bend me over your desk.”

He closed his door and came toward me, pulling me into his arms and bringing his mouth crashing down on mine. I responded by offering him my lips, my tongue, my whole body, arching my back and burying my fingers in his hair as we consumed each other wildly. His hand slid up between us and he began kneading my breast through my blouse, making me want to rip it off, the blouse, not his hand.

I moaned quietly into his mouth, and it seemed to drive him crazy. He backed me up against the desk and thrust his hips against me, but then he groaned and broke away, taking a step back, and staring up at the ceiling. I followed his gaze, half expecting to see God, but all I saw was florescent lighting.

“We have to stop,” he said, breathing hard.

“I know. I’m sorry,” I said, making an effort to compose myself.

“I haven’t been this desperate since I was a teenager. I can’t concentrate. You know those Viagra commercials where they say go to the hospital if you have an erection that lasts longer than four hours?” I nodded. “Well, how long is our work day?”

“I can’t concentrate either; I think about you all the time. And you’re not the only one with a thing for office furniture. I’ve thought about your desk, too and during that meeting, I fantasized about having sex with you on the conference table.”

“Oh my God.” He groaned again. “Don’t tell me
that
!”

“Mark, I can’t go on like this. I’m going through so many batteries.”

“I wanted to try to take it slowly, because I didn’t want to screw up, but Beth, I want you so much. There’s no blood left in my brain.”

“I was so jealous of Caitlin.”

“Of… what?! Beth! She thinks my name is Mike. I didn’t even
remember
her name. I’m not sure I ever knew it. The only thing I remember about her is how annoying she was.”

“Still, she’s had sex with you and I haven’t.”

“We can remedy that.”

“Can we?” I asked breathlessly.

“We have to. I’m running out of office furniture to fantasize about banging you on, and I’m Googling ‘injury’ and ‘excessive masturbation’.”

“Okay, well we have a date tomorrow,” I said, in a throaty voice and I saw his eyes darken and start to look hazy as he came closer again.

“And what are the female rules when it comes to physical contact on the second date?” he asked.

“There
aren’t
really any hard and fast rules.” I paused. “Is it just me, or did that sound kind of dirty?”

“Everything you say sounds dirty to me. In a good way.”

“Will you come out to the pub tonight with everybody? I mean, you’re not going to go out… somewhere else tonight?”

“No! What do you think; I’m going to make a farewell appearance at the clubs?” He was leaning down, about to kiss me again, when the sound of a quick knock and the door opening surprised us.

“Hey, you’d get lost?” Adam asked, and Mark spun around quickly. “Oh! Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.” He looked amused, as usual.

“And yet there you stand, interrupting,” Mark replied. Adam laughed and I got the feeling that it was an inside joke.

6:00 PM

Happy Hour at the pub was entertaining. We all had a good time joking around and talking about the week, but as it turned out, nobody wanted to stay all that late.

Cam and Jess left first. They wanted to enjoy the warm late May evening by grilling salmon on their deck, and before they left, they invited everyone else over to BBQ with them. Gab and Braden took them up on it, but said they had to go get Bruno first, and they left shortly afterward.

Adam and Lily had thanked them, but declined, citing “plans” for the evening. They had been flirting the whole time they were there, so it wasn’t hard to figure out what they had planned. They traded some suggestive looks, whispered something in each other’s ears, and wished us a good night. Then, Mark and I were alone at last, well, alone with a bar full of other people.

We stared at each other silently for a moment, and that energy was there between us again, pulling us together. I was starting to get much more confident now that our feelings were finally out in the open. I hadn’t even injured him lately.

“So, everything is on the table tomorrow physically? So to speak?” he asked, taking the last sip of his beer, and looking at me in a way that made my lady bits warm and tingly.

“Yes,” I smiled and took a deep breath. Then I laid my hand on his leg, and gently traced a path up his inseam with my fingertip. I was actually hoping that we wouldn’t have to wait until the next day.

“I love how you say that word, and I want you to touch me like that tomorrow night, and the next morning, and possibly into the afternoon, depending on how much stamina I have.”

“You don’t want me to touch you now, though?” I started to withdraw my hand but he stopped me and put it back.

“You can touch me. We’re in a crowded room; so there are limits on how far it can go. If we were alone right now, though, I would ask you to stop, because otherwise we wouldn’t make it until tomorrow night.”

“Why can’t we be together tonight too?” I wondered if that would be too much togetherness for him at once.

“There may not be any female rules on point, but there’s a code that guys live by, and it will make everything go a lot more smoothly down the road if I stick to it.”

“And part of the code is that you can’t be with a woman two nights in a row?” I asked, furrowing my brows in confusion.

“No, it’s not that. There needs to be date-like activity before you and I go there. Trust me on this; I’m setting you up for girlfriend status.”

“What kind of date-like activity?” I went back to tracing a path up his inner thigh with my fingertip. There was something about touching him under the table in the middle of a crowded bar that excited me.

“If a guy is interested in a relationship with you, he makes sure that the first time you have sex, the evening includes something special.”

“Like a fundraiser for a charitable foundation?” I asked dubiously.

“It’s a party. That’s close enough. Braden went the fundraiser route, and Adam even stretched it to a book signing.”

“But a bar doesn’t count?”

“That’s hooking up activity, and it confers one-night-stand status.”

“There are a lot of rules on the male side of dating.”

“Not rules, a code.”

“Does the code cover the actual sex part?” I asked curiously.

“Well, it does in some ways, but nothing you need to worry about. Trust me, it works in your favor.”

“So what’s the plan for after the fundraiser?” My fingers traveled higher still. Now I was within inches of what I had caught a glimpse of under those gym shorts, and his breathing picked up.

“Then I want you to come back to my place. I would really love to spend the night with you.” He paused looking pleased, and then went on. “I want to have a lot of time, and a lot of space and a lot of condoms. By the way, I’m healthy. You’re not on the…”

“No, but I’m healthy too, and I have a prescription for it. It’s actually in my desk at work.” He looked at me curiously and I shrugged. “I had my annual exam recently. Call me an optimist. So, what do you think?”

“What do I think? I think I love your optimism, and I think that we should go back to the office, and I think that I’m so happy right now I might cry.”

“I guess that means you would like me to fill the prescription,” I said and smiled. “It still takes a week, though.”

“I’ve been waiting since puberty. I can wait a week, but no sense wasting time.” He tossed down some cash on the table, grabbed my hand and led me toward the door. “We can stop off at a drug store after we leave the office,” he said over his shoulder.

“What’s the rush?” I asked when we got to the sidewalk. “There are tons of places open on Saturdays.

“But if you start tonight, we’ll be good to go by next Friday. And as I stated, there is no code provision against two nights in a row, so we can start a really great tradition even earlier.”

“Thank you counselor, and good thinking.” I was onboard with that plan. No more Friday night dates with a Chihuahua.

Mark

We were back at our building in minutes. We smiled and waved casually at the security guy at the desk, signing in and showing our identification cards, and then, we headed for the elevator and rode to our floor, listening to piped in mood music.

When we arrived, I punched in the alarm code to our suite and we entered, heading straight to Beth’s office. She sat down in her desk chair and dug through her drawer. When she found the prescription, she stuck it in her purse. Then she looked up at me. And kept looking.

I was sitting in her armchair, with my tie loosened and my shirtsleeves rolled up. I had a five o’clock shadow and my hair was probably half wild. No wonder she was staring. I must have looked like shit.

“What?” I asked.

“This code of yours… can it be interpreted liberally?” she asked sitting back, crossing her legs, and striking a contemplative pose. Immediately, my dick sat up and took notice.

“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.

“Well, how do you define ‘sex’ for example?”

“How do I define sex?” I tried not to smile. “Remember the black wire and the computer port?” I couldn’t help teasing her. She was so damned adorable.

“So, if you don’t insert part J into part K, it doesn’t count?” Uh oh. I had walked into that one.

“Well, wait a minute, Mr. Clinton…”

“We’ve kissed and that was okay,” she pointed out, pushing her advantage. “I mean it was better than okay, but it allowable, even without date-like activity.”

“Are you negotiating with me?” Holy shit, this was hot.

“We’re here alone, and kissing is allowable,” she went on.

“The thing is Beth, kissing you is a particularly stimulating experience for me. It can get a bit frustrating after a while.” I was already headed for blue ball land after this little bargaining session.

“Well, what if while the kissing was occurring there was also some touching?” she asked in a throaty voice and I felt my dick twitch.

That was it. I was done. The
one
thing Braden had asked, that I not do. And I was about to do it. It wasn’t during work, though. It was after hours. That made a difference didn’t it? Make one last attempt, Mark. You owe him that.

“I don’t think it would be in the spirit of the code to hang out with you in a bar and then have you give me a hand-job as soon as we’re alone.”

“
I
think that it would, arguably, be a demonstration of your respect for me, and of your self-control, if we did touch each other, but you still didn’t actually insert part J into part K until tomorrow night.”

There was a moment of charged silence where we just stared at each other and then I conceded. If I was going to die, this was at least one hell of a way to go. “Are you sure you’re not a lawyer?”

She smiled, got up and walked over and shut the window blinds and turned on a small lamp on her bookcase. I got up and locked her door, went over and sat down on her loveseat, smiled and patted the cushion beside me. She wanted this and I needed this. I didn’t have to ask twice. She crossed the room quickly, sat down and reached up to bury one hand in my hair and run the other along my back.

I kissed her pretty demandingly, pushing her lips apart rubbing my tongue up against hers. She didn’t resist at all, just accepted me into her mouth and leaned back, pulling me with her. I knew I could have had her ten different ways at that moment, but I decided to stick with the plan and be as minimally sexual as possible, while still making sure we both got off, of course. I really am a gentleman after all.

There wasn’t much room to work with, but somehow we managed to semi-recline, while kissing and touching each other. I slid my hand under her blouse and ran it over the curve of her hip. Jesus, she felt good, so soft and warm. She was tall, but she was voluptuous. What a freaking great combination that was. I was so hard it was almost painful.

She squirmed and arched her back, so I moved my hand higher and slid it under the soft fabric of her bra. Oh man, her cup overfloweth. Her tits were perfect, exactly how I liked, full and heavy. I wanted to rub my … Okay, focus on her, Mark. The way she shivered and moaned into my mouth when I rubbed my thumb across the tip almost made me lose it.

Her hands traveled down and undid my belt and pants. I was just trying to stay in control. I desperately wanted to be buried deep inside her. She slid one hand under the waistband of my boxers, and wrapped it around my cock and I almost came right then. When she started moving her fist up and down, I groaned and started reciting baseball stats in my head.

Oh God, she was using just the right amount of pressure and just the right speed. I couldn’t remember this ever feeling so good. Nothing
What a Boy Should Know
prepares you for this. My head was getting fuzzy when I moved my hand away from her breast and pushed her skirt up. Sliding it into her panties, I discovered how ready she was for me. Okay, Mark, not going to fuck her. Not going to fuck her. Why not? Not going to fuck her!

She breathed out sharply and started making this little keening noise that was probably the hottest thing I had ever heard when I slid my fingers deeper into all that hot, wet goodness and began teasing her pussy. She was panting and pushing against my hand so desperately that I didn’t want to tease her too much. Besides, I didn’t know long I could hold on. I felt like I was going to explode.

“I can’t wait to be inside you,” I said as I slid my fingers in and out of her. I started circling her clit with my thumb and I felt her pussy clench. The rhythm of her stroking faltered, and I realized I was going to have to get her off first, which was fine with me. I wanted to watch her come.

She was whimpering quietly, breathing fast and rocking her hips against me as I pumped my fingers in and out, rubbing her inner wall and her clit along the way. I was so focused on her pleasure at that point, I didn’t even mind that she had stopped stroking me all together. She was becoming as tight as a vice and I felt her muscles stiffen. I knew she was on the edge, so I leaned down and whispered in her ear, “You’re going to come. I can feel it.”

That did it. She arched her back and moaned. Her body shook and I felt her pussy start to spasm as she lost control. Her face was flushed and her eyes were squeezed closed. When she opened them again a moment later they looked dazed and unfocused. She lay there gasping and then she seemed to pull out of it and she looked up at me. Adam said it would be more intense. I think that was the moment when I understood.

Still looking into my eyes she firmly gripped me at the base of my cock again and slid her fist up to the tip. I was so hard that I could feel myself pulse in her hand and I felt the pressure and the hot ticklish sensation in my balls that let me know I wasn’t far behind her.

Our mouths met again and our tongues tangled together, licking and thrusting against each other while she stroked me. My hips began to pump in rhythm with her hand and I felt my muscles tensing. I had to break the kiss because I was so close. I was so out of it I could barely form a coherent thought. I sucked in a breath and pushed my hips forward when I felt the pressure start to build beyond the limit and I reached the point of no return.

“I’m going to come,” I said hoarsely and shoved my shirt out of the way. I groaned and went still as I exploded in her hand, pulsing in hot waves against my stomach. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Then, I finally breathed out raggedly and my muscles relaxed. I lay there panting, and lightheaded, as a feeling of euphoric exhaustion settled over me. “I come a hell of a lot harder in your hand than in mine,” I said finally. I was spent. I could have slept for a month.

“That was so sexy,” she mumbled in a sated voice and I smiled. I would actually liked to have held her tightly against me, but it would have caused some gossip at her dry cleaners. It was a wonderful moment while it lasted. And then we heard Bruce’s voice in the hall.

“Hey, what are you guys doing here?”

“Oh,
fuck
!” I growled. She quickly reached for a side table, grabbed a handful of tissues and gave some of them to me, as we set about cleaning ourselves up.

Like lightening, we got up and started fixing our disheveled clothes. Making sure she was decent, I went over to the door and popped my head out. Across the hall, Adam popped his head out of Lily’s office.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Probably the same thing you’re doing here.”

“Hey guys,” Bruce said. “Are you having a late meeting or something?”

“We stopped by to drop something off,” Adam answered.

“Uh, so did we,” I volunteered. Oh shit. Brilliant, Mark.

“O…kay,” Bruce said, sounding dubious.

Beth walked out into the hall with her head held high and a cheerful smile on her face. Adam walked out into the hallway, and Lily joined him, looking as flushed and as rapidly put together as Beth did.

“Hi, everyone!” Beth said brightly. And then I heard a little Chihuahua-like bark and I almost cried. Braden and Gabrielle walked in with Bruno on a leash. What was this, a reunion?

“What’s everybody doing here?” Braden asked.

“They were dropping something off,” Bruce replied looking at Adam and Lily. “And so were they.” He glanced over at Beth and me.

“We were all here
together
,” Lily emphasized.

“Okay,” Braden said, giving her a funny look. “We stopped by to pick something up. I left my cell phone here,” he said, heading for his office.

“The four of you have fun
together
,” Bruce said, heading off toward the library.

“Hey honey, maybe the Patterson’s want to have a key party with us next weekend,” Adam said with a smile. “Uh oh, Mark’s glaring. Is that a ‘no’?”

“I just wanted to let Braden know that they weren’t alone,” Lily explained.

“Wait, you guys were here
together
?” Gab asked quietly.

“Not
together
, together,” Lily answered. “Just at the same time.”

“Why?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“We didn’t
plan
it,” I said through gritted teeth.

“And who is Bruce
together
with?” Gab asked, looking confused. Just then Braden came back out of his office.

“Okay, well, see you guys Sunday,” he said as he headed for the door. “Come on baby, that salmon won’t wait all night.”

“Have fun,” she said following her husband out.

“If anyone ever asks, and by anyone, I mean Braden…” Mark said when the door had closed behind them.

“As far as I know, you were dropping something off,” Adam said. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to get the missus home so that we can
finish
dropping something off.”

“Have a good night,” Lily said. We waved and Beth wished her a good night too. As soon as they were gone she turned to me.

“You have no idea how much that turned me on.”

“Me too,” I said, grinning like a fool I’m sure.

“Not just what we did, but the fact that we did it here. I’ve never done that before. I mean, well, I’ve done
that
before, but only in a bedroom.”

“Never anywhere else?” Wow.

“Never. Not in an office, not in a car… not in a club, not in a bar.” She smiled at me and I wanted carry her off to do her on the conference room table. I don’t think Bruce would have appreciated it though.

“The door was locked, you know. Nobody would have walked in. I just didn’t want it to be quite so obvious what we were doing.”

“I know. It’s not the danger of getting caught that excites me. It’s just doing it somewhere different. I’ve always been so careful. I’m not even sure it was necessary, though. It’s not like paparazzi follow me around.”

“Well, I would love to explore this with you further, but we have to be exceptionally well behaved together. There’s a lot at stake here.”

“Mark, I know you want to be very good with me, and I’m fine with that. But I also want to be a little bad with you. Maybe we could compromise and just be careful.”

“What are you suggesting exactly?” And why was I simultaneously so worried and so turned on?

“The fundraisers have themes. Maybe we could play a little, sneak off for a sexy tryst?”

“At the
fundraisers
? Where the paparazzi actually
are
? That was one of the two places I promised Braden we would never be intimate. The other one was the office. I’m obviously doing a great job so far.”

“You discussed where we would be intimate with Braden?” Uh oh. She didn’t sound happy. I
knew
there were rules!

“I wanted him to give me his blessing. He’s one of my best friends and you’re his sister. He said he was happy for us, but he asked that we please don’t mess around at the office or when we’re representing The Justice Project.”

“Well, your intentions were good,” she said. She no longer sounded annoyed and I relaxed again. “Just for the record, though, I don’t consult with my brother about my sex life.”