A challenge.

I push her dress up even more and she bites her lip between her teeth. I stroke her a few times at the juncture of her legs. She’s soft and warm and I just want to sink into her. I want to know how she tastes, but there isn’t time. Without further ado, I grab her legs, lifting her up. She hooks her legs around me and sink myself inside her.

We both moan and her eyes close as her head goes back against the filthy wall. This is what I pictured, only it’s so much better. She’s wrapped around me, clenching my cock and I can smell her and it’s perfection. I pull back and slam into her again.

She knew what she was asking for. I don’t do gentle. Ever.

I don’t last nearly as long as I thought I would.

We’re both panting as I step away from her and zip my pants up. She slides down the wall and it makes me a smile as she shimmies her dress back down.

“Well, you’re not a liar, Quinn Brand, I’ll give you that.” I still feel like I’m in a haze of lust. I wait for her as she straightens herself, picks up her purse, finds a tissue and starts wiping away any evidence of our tryst. I didn’t use protection and she didn’t ask me to, which is probably stupid on both our parts, but what’s done is done.

When she puts her shawl back on, I hold out my arm and she takes it, but stops me under a streetlight.

Her finger traces my mouth.

“You have my lipstick all over you.”

I raise my hand to wipe it away, but she grabs my wrist.

“Leave it.”

So I do.

She’s humming to herself as I drive back to her apartment. I half-expect her to berate me for what happened in the alley, but she doesn’t. I pull the car up in front of her place and turn off the engine. She turns to me as if she’s suddenly remembered that I’m in the car with her.

“Would you like to come up?” We both know what she’s asking and I’m more than happy to comply. But I find myself shaking my head. I can’t let myself be consumed again by her tonight. My head is clouded and I need to sort my shit out before I see her again.

She doesn’t seem upset that I say no.

“You’re right. We probably shouldn’t,” she says, her hand on the door. “Well, thank you for a lovely evening. It was… something else.” She leans over and kisses my cheek and then brushes her hand over the place she kissed. Like she’s rubbing it in.

“Call me.” She slinks out of the car before I can offer to open the door for her. I let her go, watching as she slowly ascends the steps and then turns to blow me a kiss and give a little wave with her fingertips.

“See you later, Redhead,” I say as she unlocks the door and vanishes inside.

I call Cash as soon as I get home.

“I don’t want to sound like a teenage girl asking you about the Sadie Hawkins dance, but details,” he says. I chuckle a little.

“Well, you do sound like that, but it doesn’t matter. It went well. I, uh, I may have fucked her up against the wall of a building.”

Cash doesn’t skip a beat.

“Before or after dinner?”

“After. She asked me what I wanted to do and I told her. I didn’t expect her to go for it, but she did. Didn’t even ask me to use a condom.” Cash makes a sound like a disapproving grandmother and I want to reach through the phone and introduce my fist into his windpipe.

“Yeah, I’m sure you would have stopped, given her a lecture on safe sex and then slid a rubber on. I’m sure you totally would have, Cash.” I pull into the parking garage and pop the trunk so I can put the sweatshirt back on.

“Of course I would have. Safe sex is very important, you know.” I imagine all the different ways I can kill him. There are so many…

“Well, I didn’t, okay? Jesus fuck.”

“Was it good?”

“Yes,” I say, even though it’s a lie. It was more than good. It was rollercoasters and boiling blood and fireworks in my brain. I haven’t felt like that in a long time. I’ve been numb and Saige slapped me in the face. I can still feel the sting of it.

“Uh-huh. Don’t you go falling for her.” I make a choking sound.

“I’m not falling for her. She’s hot. I liked fucking her. That’s it.” I don’t tell him about the dance. I don’t know why. But I fill him in on the rest of the night as I strip off my tux and play fetch with Leo.

“When are you going to see her again?” he asks.

“Soon. Definitely soon.” I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I have red lipstick all over my mouth. It almost looks like blood.

“Definitely soon,” I repeat and then hang up.

I don’t call or text her the next day. I want her to reach out to me. I’m distracted at work. I can’t get the image of Saige out of my head. I wish there had been more light so I could have seen her while I fucked her. But at least I could see her eyes when I came.

“Mr. Brand?” Grace’s voice barges through my foggy thoughts. She’s been saying my name several times.

“Yes?”

“There’s someone here to see you. A Saige Beaumont?” Her cool tone betrays nothing. Grace starts to ask me if I want to cancel my next appointment, but I interrupt her.

“Send her in.”

The door opens and Grace lets Saige in. I clench the edge of my desk as I rise. Her hair is down today, tumbling curls everywhere. She’s wearing a cream satin top with black pants, a black jacket and nude heels, looking every inch the young socialite.

“Saige Beaumont,” I say, stepping around my desk and pulling a chair out for her. “I’m surprised to see you. What brings you here?” My initial surprise has faded and now I’m a little bit… not panicked. Concerned. She shouldn’t be here.

“Quinn Brand,” she says, sitting in the chair and crossing her ankles. Something about it doesn’t seem right. Like she’s trying too hard. “I was out and about and I thought I’d drop in and see what you do during the day. Boring numbers and such.” Her eyes scan my office, taking in the sparse furnishings. The only thing I take with me from office to office is a framed Ansel Adams print. She stands up and is immediately drawn to it.

“Very nice,” she says, gesturing to it.

“Thank you.”

She studies it with a critical eye and then smiles.

“Very nice,” she repeats and sits back down. Her scent has started to fill the room and drift over to me. I’d love to open a window to clear the air, but I don’t move.

“Can I get you anything?” I ask and she shakes her head.

“Are you sure? You must have come here for something.” That makes her smile again and put up her hands, as if she’s surrendering.

“Fine, I had ulterior motives coming to see you. I just… I didn’t want us to do that thing where you wait for three days to call me and I wait around and all that.” I laugh a little, imagining her sitting next to a phone and waiting for me to call.

“You don’t strike me as a woman who would follow those kinds of unwritten rules.” I lean back against my desk and she shifts, uncrossing her ankles and leaning back in the chair. That’s better. More her.

“I’m not usually. Which is how I ended up here.” She laughs a little breathlessly. She’s nervous. I like that. It makes me want to throw her on top of my desk and fuck her all over again. I bet that material of her shirt would tear quite easily. I trace her body with my eyes. I’d gotten to touch her curves last night, but I want to see them. I want to know if she has other hidden freckles. I definitely want to taste her. And then I want to see her come completely undone.

“I think there’s something you want, Quinn,” she says and my eyes travel upwards to meet hers. Her body is something else, but those eyes. I’ve never seen eyes like hers.

“I should think it’s obvious that I want you, Saige. And if you say the word, I’d fuck you right on this desk. With my secretary right outside. She’ll hear everything and know exactly what I’m doing. But don’t worry, she’s discreet,” I say.