RILEY
I tip my head back and laugh as Gabriel rains kisses across my neck. We fall onto the fainting sofa, with me straddling him.
"Oh, come on. You're not planning to..." my voice fades when his hand slides under my dress, squeezing the tops of my thighs. "Are we going to fuck right here? Gabriel! You're shameless."
He chuckles. It's a deliciously evil sound. "I wish, because just seeing you in this little dress is making me hard."
He withdraws his hands from my thighs and cups my face gently. "If I didn't need to get back to my meeting, I would. But I did want to say hi and kiss you."
"Hi," I whisper.
He presses his mouth to mine and we kiss for a solid thirty seconds until he breaks away and puts his forehead to mine. "Hi."
I slide my arms around him and we hug. His body feels so solid, so protective. It's one of the things I enjoy most about him, physically.
"I also wanted to find out what you're doing here. Looks like a business meeting."
We stop embracing and look into each other's eyes. "Yeah, it's a bunch of editors from New York, they own the newspaper chain."
I roll my eyes.
"What's wrong? That's great. Who else from your paper is here?" He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"No one. Well, not yet. My editor's supposed to be here soon." I glance nervously at the door. I've already been here for a while. Maybe I'll tell the table that I got an important call from a source. "They wanted to take out a few star reporters."
"That's my girl." He kisses the tip of my nose. "But watch out for that guy sitting next to you. He's a douche."
My eyes widen. Kyle? "The one in the blue sweater?"
Gabriel nods. "When I walked past your table he was staring at you like he wanted to eat you with a spoon. I almost stopped so I could break his fingers, but I figured you wouldn't appreciate that."
My mouth opens in a half smile. "I'm not sure whether you're serious or not."
Gabriel's grin doesn't reach his eyes. "Serious as a heart attack."
A jolt of something goes through me. Maybe it's fear? I'm not certain. "Weren't you the one who said I was jealous the other day because I was asking an innocent question?"
He nods. "It's not that I'm jealous. I don't think there's any competition with Sweater Boy. I think you'd choose him over me any day."
"That's a hard yes."
"I worry about him saying or doing something inappropriate that will hurt you or your career."
An image of Kyle winking and smirking comes to mind. "Why do you think he might act that way?"
Gabriel shakes his head. "The way he was looking at you. Men can tell."
"I'll be careful." I'm not so sure about Gabriel's possessiveness, however. I can't tell if it turns me on or repels me. It's a side of him I haven't seen.
I bite my bottom lip as I watch Gabriel's eyes soften and shine.
There's an insistent knock on the door. "I've been waiting five minutes," a woman calls out plaintively.
"Use the men's room," Gabriel shouts back, and I collapse onto his chest, trying to hold in my giggles.
"You smell incredible." His hands work into my hair, which by now is a mess.
"Mmmm." I grind my hips against his and sit up so I can stare into his eyes. I'm intentionally teasing him now, thrusting my chest toward him and parting my legs. I'm too turned on to feel shameless, because that's what he does to me.
He licks his lips. "Well, maybe I have a little time. Do you want me to get you off?"
I feign shock. "Gabriel Greco, you are the actual devil."
He flips up my dress so my panties are showing, and his dark eyes go from my face to my white cotton panties. I'd just thrown any old underwear on tonight, and I'm a little embarrassed.
"I can see how wet you are. Soaking through the fabric."
An impatient grunt slips from my mouth.
"What, babe?"
I run my hand down the buttons of his shirt, remembering how gorgeous he is shirtless. "Clothes suck."
"Yeah, they do." He brushes a thumb over my panties and I whimper, wanting that delicious pressure and friction on my clit that only he can give me. But I'm also mindful of something else: my career. It kind of hangs in the balance at this meeting, and even my needy, Gabriel-addicted self isn't stupid enough to screw this up.
"No, we both need to get back."
"You're right. With a slow nod, he takes his hand away. "Tomorrow."
I give him a quick kiss then ease onto my feet, turning to the mirror above the sink. "I have to fix my hair."
He comes from behind and stands next to me. We make a startling, stunning pair, and we stare at our image in the mirror. Next to him I feel gorgeous, powerful, invincible.
Like I've never felt before.
"You're even beautiful with messy hair." He shakes his head. "Okay, I'm going back to my meeting. Please be careful, okay? Text me when you get in your car."
"I will." I wonder why he's not offering to meet up later, but I'm not going to seem desperate or clingy, so I won't say anything.
"And if that guy at your table gives you any trouble, just text me. I'll come over and fuck him up." A twisted smile plays on his mouth.
I suck in a quick breath, and now I'm certain he means what he says. "You're both terrifying and incredibly adorable, you know that?"
He kisses me on the cheek. "Now you're beginning to understand."
# # #
Two hours later, I've eaten a spinach-strawberry salad and a small filet mignon, all on the company's dime. I've long since stopped drinking wine and have switched to water, but I'm the only one at the table who has.
Everyone else seems pretty tipsy, but that's on them. They can all take a taxi to their hotel.
Mike never showed up, so the dinner dissolved into company gossip. I'm not going to lie; I loved it. Not just eating on the company dime but sitting and listening to all the corporate dirt.
I also haven't seen Gabriel leave, and wonder if he somehow exited out the back. I haven't texted him, and the conversation at my table has turned serious — about the plans for newspaper coverage for the election later this year — that I didn't want to be rude and whip out my phone to text him.
I stifle a yawn, and finally Kyle offers his company credit card to pay for the check.
"As usual, the bar tab is bigger than the food check," he says, and the other editors laugh and nod.
"See what you have to look forward to if you come to New York, Riley?" he says.
I'm going to have to learn how to drink more, I think silently to myself, but only laugh along with everyone else.
The idea of going to New York is...overwhelming. For one, I moved to Florida not long ago, and I'm still learning the industry. All of my professors said I should work for a few years at a smaller paper, because I'm bound to make mistakes. Better to make them here than on a bigger platform.
And...there's Gabriel.
But it's ridiculous that I'd be planning my life around a man who I met less than a week ago. I push all this out of my mind as everyone at my table clambers out from the circular booth.
We all cram into the elevator and ride down forty-four flights. The smell of booze hangs in the air, and I notice that Kyle is standing oddly close to me. I shift a few inches to my right, mashing my shoulder against the wall of the elevator.
Or, maybe I'm just being paranoid about Kyle, since Gabriel mentioned that he was staring at me? None of the other managers seem to notice, and continue talking about a legendary correction in the Toledo newspaper.
"The story said the guy was on drugs. But he was on drums. He was a drummer in a band."
The managers all howl with laughter, and I chuckle a little too hard. It's funny, but not that funny.
"Get it?" Kyle nudges my side with his elbow. "Drugs. Drums."
"Yeah." I maintain my nervous chuckle and the doors slide open.
I pause in the lobby and point to the parking lot. "Thanks again, everyone. It was a great time. I really appreciate it. My car's back here, so I'll see you tomorrow in the newsroom."
"Riley, it was a true pleasure. I'm glad you're on our team." The lone female manager shakes my hand and smiles warmly. I wish I'd been sitting next to her all night.
I shake hands with the others, who are calling for a cab. Maybe I should offer to give them a ride, but they have a corporate expense account and I want to exhale and relax in the privacy of my own space. I've hit my limit on the people-ing tonight, and the little interlude with Gabriel made me horny.
Honestly, I want to go home, pour myself a hot bath, masturbate with my vibrator, and go to sleep.
I again wave goodbye and turn toward the door leading to the parking lot.
"Wait," a male voice says.
Oh, God, it's Kyle. I paste on a smile.
"I'll walk you to your car."
"Oh, you don't have to." I wave my hand in the air dismissively. "This is a really safe area."
"I don't know if anything's safe in this city, after reading your articles. Come on."
There's something about certain men in certain situations that sets off a woman's intuition. Maybe mine is more fine-tuned because of Lorna, or because I've written about a lot of women in peril for the newspaper.
But right now, my stomach is clenching. How do I tell this guy to politely fuck off? Especially since he could play a role in a future promotion.
"Seriously, you don't have to. I don't want you to miss your cab."
He walks to the door and opens it. "I'll walk back. It's a nice night out."
I swallow, sliding my hand into my purse. Where the hell is my phone? Did I leave it upstairs on the table? No, there it is. I relax a little, knowing that I'm one text away from Gabriel — or the police.
"Okay," I say, passing through the door.
Outside is quiet and humid, and now that it's just Kyle and I in the darkness, I have no idea what to say to fill the void.
"Thanks again for tonight." I purposefully walk a few feet away from Kyle.
"Why are you all the way over there?" He joins me and now I'm hemmed in by cars on one side.
Why did I park so far from the building? Oh, right. I didn't want to pay the valet fee.
Amateur move. Next time, I'll always valet.
"Maybe you could give me a ride back to the hotel," Kyle says smoothly.
Oh, shit. How do I get out of this?
"Um, well, I ah, am going in a whole other direction." I stop and pretend to look for my key fob in my purse.
"I'm happy to go in your direction." Kyle stands close and puts his hand on my shoulder, sliding it up my neck. "I think we're both going to end up in the same place, aren't we?"
I freeze. Bile creeps up my throat.
"I don't know where you think we're ending up, but I have a—"
"It doesn't matter if you have a boyfriend, it's just for one night, we can go to my hotel," Kyle interrupts.
The balls on this guy. I gape at him in horror.
As I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to puke on this guy or punch him — either way, ruining my chances for a career with this company — Kyle steps back, his eyes flitting over my shoulder. Suddenly he seems agitated, and maybe it's because of my obvious discomfort.
"Okay, I get it. Sorry. I misunderstood. No harm no foul, okay?" He holds up both hands in the air and quickly walks away, back toward the building.
I take this opportunity to jog to my car. Once inside, my breath comes in heaving waves as I peel out of the parking lot, wanting to forget what just happened with a person who has the power to destroy everything I've worked for.