Dan wasn't in the office on Monday. At about 8:30 am, Ella received a message from him.
I have the flu. Can you cover the weekly presentation?
The weekly presentation? Dan, and all the other editors, sat down once a week on Mondays with Nate to go over their plan for this week's paper and get his approval before moving forward. Ella had sat in a few times, but she'd never done the presentation alone before.
Alone with Nate. Fuck. She typed out a frantic message to Dan:
Where are all the summaries???
She needed his list of topics and brief summaries for each potential article. He replied immediately:
My office should be unlocked. The folder for today is on my desktop, just print it out and take it with you.
Ella rushed to his office. She sat at his computer and typed in his password and, despite the onslaught of anxiety she was feeling, still managed to laugh:
DERENA4EVER:*
Dan claimed it had been Serena's idea. The jury was still out on that. In any case, she found the folder on his desktop-- which was totally cluttered with a bunch of outdated shit. She rolled her eyes. One day she'd convince him to let her reorganize his folder system. She printed out the summary and took it back to her desk.
The lifestyle meeting was always last on Mondays. Not because it wasn't important (cough cough) but because other sections usually needed more time to reach out to sources and draw up evidence. The political editors had the first slot, for example.
So, at around 3:30, she waited nervously for the Sports editor to exit Nate's office.
"You okay?" Eddy asked, noticing the way her knee was bouncing under her desk on his way to the vending machine. "Forgot to take your meds or something?"
She glared at him. "I have to do the weekly presentation."
"And you're nervous?" He cracked up. "Aw, that's so cute-- I could do it if you're too scared, junior editor."
She rolled her eyes. "You don't even work in my section! Go bother Kendra, Ed."
"Geez, you're mean when you're nervous..." He wandered off, tsking.
She frowned and looked to Adam, following close after his friend.
"Was that mean of me?" She asked.
"A smidge," He admitted. "But that's not unusual for you."
Ella pursed her lips. She guessed she deserved that, considering how dismissive she'd been of them these past weeks.
"Thanks for the support, bud," She turned back around. She looked at Nate's office door. A few minutes later, it opened and the Sports editor exited.
"Wish me luck!" She called to the lifestyle writers. They'd been helping her hash out all the summaries over lunch.
"Good luck!" They called back. They, at least, still liked her.
She knocked on Nate's door before stepping in. He sat, enthroned behind his desk.
"Hi... Dan texted you, right?" She bit her lip.
"Yeah, he gave me a call. Sounded sick as a dog over the phone... Well, let's get started, shall we?"
Ella shut the door and sat down, neatly spreading all the relevant documents in order of importance.
"Okie dokies," She started, looking to him for permission to begin. Nate held back a smile and nodded. "So, first things first, the Prince of Wales is in town with his new wife and son, so we're going to need some photographers assigned to cover them and Jane's at the ready for articles covering where they go and what they wear-- we can go over the list of available photographers at the end, if you'd like, and sort them by assignment."
"Sounds perfect. What's next?" Nate couldn't help but smile now. She was chewing on her lip, but the skin had healed and just looked reddened now. It was distractingly adorable. Ella, for her part, was trying her hardest not to forget everything she'd rehearsed but being around Nate when he was smiling like that wasn't helping.
"The ousted mayor will be marrying his former secretary in a few weeks..."
"Really?" Nate looked surprised.
"Right?" Ella shook her head with a little laugh, "That man has terrible decision-making skills."
"Must be in love," Nate shrugged. Ella made a face.
"Uh-huh..." She dismissed his comment, "Anyway, I thought I'd cover it, since I have history with the story. I could do a newsflash and an opinion piece?"
"I'm sure it will be scathing," He raised an eyebrow. She looked at him, frowning a little.
"...I don't know if scathing is the right word? It will be funny, at least?" She looked over his face. He was being a little strange. "How do you want me to approach this? Do you want me to hold back?"
"It's not that I want you to hold back..." Nate scrunched up his mouth, thinking of how to phrase this. "But just consider that our readers might actually find this kind of romantic... He gave up his job for her, after all."
"After he cheated on his wife and spent months covering this up," Ella pointed out. "Besides, you can't argue with the ethical abuse. Public perception is against their relationship."
Ella wanted the earth to open as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Nate's face contorted.
"You make a good point," He said slowly, sorting out his wayward features into something more neutral. Ethical abuse. The words bounced against the inside of his skull. "What's next?"
"Vic's got a source who works for the Met who says they have access to the decision making process when it comes to the guest list for the annual gala-- could make for an interesting piece. What do you think?"
The meeting continued, relatively cut and dry. Nate gave her his feedback and they went through the list of photographers, dividing them up by topic. As their time ended, Ella decided she needed clarification on one last thing.
"Sure, go for it," He told her, leaning back in his chair.
"How do you want me to approach my piece after all?" She was chewing on her lip again. Nate tried not to stare, wishing he didn't have to think about the ousted mayor's predicament-- or how similar it was to his own. She continued speaking when he didn't respond, "I could take it easy on him, if you think the readers are for it, but I don't know... he's not a very likeable character."
"Because of the ethical abuse," He quoted her dryly. Ella slumped a little, eyes wide. Of course that had bothered him. She quickly straightened up, however.
"No... Although that's obviously a part of it," she told him, making eye contact now, her expression a little stern. "He cheated on his wife, Nate. Most of the people reading my column are women--."
"And Max Thompson..." Nate muttered. Ella rolled her eyes.
"Sure, but mostly women," She continued. "I can't just suddenly change tack and paint him as a romantic hero now!"
He frowned and leaned forward. "It seems like you have your mind made up-- I thought you were asking for my opinion?"
"I-- I am, I just..." Ella started wringing her hands. "I don't want to do something you aren't going to like."
His expression softened. "You'd be hard pressed to do something I don't like, El."
She turned pink.
"Oh, uh... that's good to know," She smiled a little. She glanced down and looked back up at him, biting her lip. This didn't seem nervous anymore, he noted. "... So what you're saying is I can crucify him?"
Nate narrowed his eyes, not able to stop his mouth from twisting into a half-smile.
"I can get you the nails and planks of wood, if needed," He replied. She giggled.
"Much appreciated..." She seemed about to stand, but then looked at him again. "Thanks for asking Serena to check on me, by the way. Our little talk really helped."
"I would have checked on you myself, but... meetings. You know how it is," He said guiltily. They both ignored the fact that his meetings usually ended before the work day was over. She knew why he hadn't checked up on her himself. He leaned back in his chair again. "Though, I think I would have made more of an effort if I'd known you two were going to throw a party."
Ella's blush returned again. "Okay, so we overdid it just a smidge with the rosé. I wouldn't call that a party--."
"Getting so drunk you fall asleep playing guitar hero?" He raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a party to me..."
She gasped indignantly.
"I'm sorry, and who are you to judge? You forget I've seen the kinds of things you do in your off time, Mr. Archibald."
He raised an eyebrow. He knew she was referring to the drugs, but that had almost sounded flirtatious. With the morbid curiosity of someone getting closer and closer to the edge of a precipice, he spoke again.
"Like I could forget when you were there doing them with me, Ms. Vazquez," He leaned forward with a smile.
Fuck. Why did he have to make her last name sound so sexy? Her heart was beating like a drum.
"I don't know what you're talking about... You know, plausible deniability and all that..." She said slyly, looking anywhere but at him. Nate's mind was going a mile a minute. She was going along with it. The perpetual debate he had with regards to her and... well, intimacy with her, had landed him on two sides of one very tall fence. On the one hand, they could write off New Years as a mistake. On the other... He'd been struck by a very stupid thought this past weekend-- what if he could have Ella at least some of the time? They'd already slipped up, the ethics were already all fucked up... But she wasn't done talking. She made eye contact with him, looking at him through her lashes. "... But if I did know what you were talking about, I would say I had a lot of fun getting into trouble with you."
Jesus, that smile of hers was killer. And she was totally red now, like she wasn't sure how he was going to react. But he didn't seem to be reacting at all. He was just sort of staring at her. The flush of embarrassment got worse. She cleared her throat.
"Anyway, thanks for... the, uh, meeting," She kicked herself for thanking him for a mandatory meeting but the words were out there now and she couldn't reel them back in. She stood and walked to the door.
Nate was on his feet faster than he could think to stop himself. Ella felt a hand on her waist, turning her. This is the stupidest thing you've ever done, his thoughts finally caught up to him. But contact with her lips was like a balm. He didn't feel stupid anymore. He felt... turned on, frankly, feeling how she melted into the kiss. When he pulled back, she was staring at him with her mouth hanging open.
"What time is it?" He asked, voice low.
"Huh?" She asked, mouth closing.
"What time is it?" He repeated, with a little chuckle. She still looked dazed, so he continued, "You have your phone in your hand."
"Oh, right," She took a peek. "It's about to be five."
She looked back into his eyes. He kissed her again, pushing her against the door. So that's what her hips felt like in slacks. He'd always wondered. She smoothed her hands over the collar of his suit, letting herself relax against him. He tasted so good. It brought back memories of New Years and she could feel herself getting wet at the very thought.
He pulled back finally after what felt like an eternity.
"I can come check on you later today... if you want." His eyes were smoldering.
"I would... appreciate that..." She smiled a little, reaching up to kiss him. She bit down softly on his lower lip before letting him go. He gave her some space to straighten up. She looked up at him one last time. "...I'll see you later then."
As she left, Nate knew he was totally, completely, and oh so stupidly fucked.
-------------------------------
Nate took the subway to go see Ella. Harder to be tracked that way, he figured. Her street was still as ramshackle as he remembered, but looked more benign in the golden hour of twilight.
He climbed all the way to the fourth floor before he realized he was forgetting a vital piece of information. He punched in her number. It rang for a moment and then she picked up.
"Hey."
"Hey... what's your apartment number?" He looked up and down the hall.
"You're here?" She tried not to yelp.
"Yeah, I just can't remember—." He heard a door scrape open behind him. He turned around. Ella had stepped into the hallway and was looking the other way. He smiled. "Behind you."
She turned around, wide eyed, but then broke into a smile. He must have changed after leaving the office, looking adorably casual in a plaid button down.
"Hey there." Her voice was low and welcoming through the phone.
He hung up and walked to her. She stepped aside for him and closed the door.
"You want to watch a movie or something—." He was cut off by Ella kissing him. She'd been nervous about him seeing the inside of her apartment, but now that he was actually here, touching her, the nerves were gone.
He was surprised for a second, but quickly composed himself, smoothing back her hair and kissing her deeply. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and just enjoyed him for a second. Here. With her. In total privacy again.
She'd showered and put on her cutest pajamas. Nate seemed to be a fan, breathing in deeply when he kissed the crook of her neck like he was memorizing her smell. Peach shampoo and cocoa butter lotion, she thought to herself. Winning combination. The shorts were a hit as well, just a little too short, riding up over that distracting derrière. His hands wandered there so quickly she could have laughed. At the moment, however, her mouth was busy.
He smelled delicious himself. Cologne and soap against the heat of his skin. She started undoing the buttons of his shirt, making him chuckle against her collarbone. He came back up for a kiss.
"Somebody's in a rush," He murmured. She pulled back and out of his arms.
"We could add some Netflix to our chill, if you'd like," She smirked, twirling around. She scooped the remote off the sofa and turned on her television. "I think they added the Simpson's recently..."
Was it weird that hearing her say that turned him on? Maybe it was the way she was leaning over the back of her sofa on her tiptoes to scroll through Netflix, back arched, shorts and tank top riding up to expose tantalizing expanses of skin... He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her midsection, and pulled her close. He pressed up against her ass and kissed her neck.
"Sounds good," he mumbled. Ella paused in what she was doing, distracted by his lips on her skin and the hard on he was pressing against her. Fuck. She shook herself and re-focused.
"If you keep doing that I'll never get Netflix on!" She protested, prying his hands off her. "Go sit on my bed! Go!"
Nate sighed melodramatically and sat on the bed that was only two feet away from the sofa. The only thing distinguishing her bedroom from the rest of the space was a rug. He took off his shoes and socks. Soft rug, at least.
"There we go," Ella sighed as she pressed play. She dropped the remote again and turned to Nate. He looked so good sitting there unbuttoning his shirt. She cocked a hip and smirked.
"You finished?" He asked with some petulance, dropping his shirt on the floor.
"Not yet... I've got one more thing I have to do..." He was about to protest but the words died in his throat as she had him stand. She got down on her knees, looking up at him while she undid the fly of his jeans. They pooled around his ankles. He kicked them off. When he was still again, she kissed along his thighs and then closed her lips softly over the erection tenting his boxers. Just her lips, dragging them softly closed so he could feel her hot breath through the fabric. She dropped down and let her lower lip catch on the protrusion, sliding it up. He was fully hard now.
She pulled down his boxers. He sat on the bed with a bounce.
"You're going to let me enjoy it this time," she warned, putting her mouth around him.
"Fuck, if you insist..." He exhaled. She was such a tease, barely putting any of it inside. As she slowly took more, he rocked towards her. She took that easily, letting him drag on her tongue and hollowing out when he pulled back. She smiled at him and then cupped his balls.
He hissed a little but the sensation became more than bearable when she kept sucking him off. He spread his legs a little, gripping her hair. She was taking it so deep now, he could feel the back of her throat closing around him. She was really good at that. He was jealous of whoever had taught her how to do it.
"You're going to make me come if you keep going," He finally made her stop, despite his promises. She smirked up at him. "Come here."
He pulled her onto his lap. She straddled him, pressing her lips to his and putting her tongue in his mouth so he could taste himself. Still in her shorts, she started grinding against his slick, hard dick. He gripped her ass. Was he crazy or could he feel how wet she was through the thin fabric of her shorts? He was way too fucking ready to find out. He laid them both back on the bed. She rolled off of him, stretching onto her belly while he stood. She stayed like that, arching her back and looking over her shoulder at him.
Rustling in the pockets of his pants, he fished out a condom. Safety first this time. Task complete, he ran his hands up her legs, over her ass and hooked his fingers into the waistband, peeling them down. She was so wet her panties stuck to her when they came off. She bit her lip at the sensation. Too horny to continue with oral, he put a knee on either side of her and pushed inside.
"Fuck," She moaned. He braced his hands on the mattress and didn't bother with the gentility this time. He knew she could take it. He remembered how she liked it from last time. He gave it to her deep and rough, his hips smacking against her ass, a hand coiling itself in her hair, keeping her back perfectly curved. He bit her shoulder, the sounds she was making drove him further.
"You like that?" He posed this question repeatedly in her ear and kissed her sweaty cheek when she looked back at him. She looked both surprised at this little power play and totally out of it with pleasure, whimpering yes over and over. He couldn't keep his eyes off the resulting expression, deciding he was going to keep it there as long as he could.
She wasn't one to come quickly, not with anyone, even herself. But maybe it was the situation, the knowing he wasn't supposed to be having sex with her, that just made it so fucking good. She knew she was fucked up, but she could tell he was getting off on it, too. It was the only way she could explain how intense this all felt with him. Which brought her back to the orgasm she was about to have very noisily while he pounded into her.
When she let go, he felt every spasm. He slowed down, pulling out and pushing back in slowly to see if she could keep going. She winced, she was so sensitive. He pulled out again with a little laugh.
"I thought only guys need a break after they cum. Can't take anymore?" He asked her teasingly as she rolled over onto her back. She was panting, but still managed to give him a look.
"As if, just give me a second," She spread her legs and started playing with herself. She'd just cum so hard her toes tingled, but she wanted to keep going. She had Nate in her bed and she couldn't waste the opportunity. Her eyes landed on his erection-- it was just so there, so impossible to ignore and so fucking hot.
He didn't give her long to stare at him before he lay down next to her. He kissed her lazily while she kept touching herself. The sight of her masturbating to him was pornographic, to say the least.
"Do you do this when you're alone?" He asked, cupping her breasts before ducking his head to worry them with his mouth.
"Sometimes," She admitted, gasping a little as he rolled her nipple with his tongue. His mouth planted wet kisses up the tops of her breasts to the column of her neck.
"What do you usually think about?" He murmured against her skin. She smiled, still rubbing at her clit as he latched is lips onto her earlobe.
"You mean... do I ever touch myself thinking about you?" She asked breathlessly. He pulled back a little to look at her face. She was smirking, of course. "Maybe a few times... Why do you ask?"
She reached between them and took him in her hand, gently stroking. He was throbbing again, picturing her with her hands down her panties in this very bed, thinking about him.
"Well, no reason really," He began, trying to focus on something other than her hand jerking him off. He ran his fingertips down the underside of her chin, down her sternum, pausing to draw light circles under her breasts and over her taut belly before touching her where he knew she wanted him to. Her eyes drifted closed. Her hand on him stilled a little, but he didn't mind. He leaned down to brush his lips against her ear. "I've just been thinking about this since New Years, is all..."
"Fuck," She whispered, bucking her hips a little, moaning as his fingers slipped into her slit, sinking in so tantalizingly slowly. He'd been thinking about her, getting off on the memory of the last time they had sex. The idea turned her on so much
Hearing the sound of her moans, he decided she'd recovered enough from her orgasm. He rolled her over onto her back, replacing her hand with his while he positioned himself between her legs. She brought her knees up to her chest as he sank in. Her mouth opened in an expression of utter satisfaction.
"You feel so good," She groaned, almost like a complaint, like she was asking how dare he be so good? He would have chuckled if he weren't currently buried inside her delicious wet heat.
He gripped the back of her neck and tried his hardest to fuck her gently. Nevertheless, she quickly started tightening up around him as she headed towards another orgasm.
"Who's pussy is this?" He murmured into her ear without really thinking about how possessive it sounded. It registered with him immediately afterwards that she wasn't really his to be saying shit like that to her. But, he excused himself, she was into the rough, possessive stuff, right? He was just helping her get off...
Somewhere in her mind, Ella was capable of being surprised.
"It's yours," She moaned, pretending that she was playing along because this was just what you said when someone was fucking you like this. But on some weirdly deep level, she meant it.
He kissed her, pounding her hard until she came, resting his forehead against hers. The convulsions of her orgasm tipped him over the edge and he felt himself pulse inside her. Fuuuuck that was good. He groaned and shuddered, pulling out slowly with a wince.
"Now look who's sensitive," Ella teased, kissing his sex-swollen lips when he collapsed next to her. He breathed heavily. She moved her lips to his neck. "You fucked the fuck out of me."
"Damn right I did," Nate laughed breathlessly, pulling her to his chest. This felt so comfortable. He'd been planning to go a few more rounds, but, honestly, he was exhausted from work. Maybe they could watch the Simpsons and nap this way for a little while until they got their energy back up...
"What if I told you I want to go again, right now?" She asked, taking in his drained expression. He looked down at her with despair in his eyes. She laughed. "I'm just kidding, I can't even move right now."
"You're lucky you're cute," He rolled his eyes, kissing the top of her head. That was too much, he realized after he did it. Fuck what was up with him? That was taking it too far, making this too intimate... But wasn't everything between them too far, too intimate at this point? He was too tired to care any more.
"Ah, so you finally admit I'm cute," Ella kissed his chest and settled against him comfortably. He shook with a chuckle, but she could tell he was going to fall asleep. That was okay. They had time.
———————————————-
When Nate woke up, he was alone in the bed. He could still hear Ella though. She was talking and laughing. When he reached full consciousness he realized she was on the couch, talking on the phone. From the sounds of the conversation— at least half in exasperated Spanish— she was talking to her parents. He got out of bed. The TV was still going so he sat next to her. She signaled him to be quiet.
"Yes, I'm going to be calling every day from now on Papi, I told you that yesterday and the day before," She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Ay, si? Yesenia, did you hear that? I must be dying or something!"
Nate could hear her father's distinctive cackle. Ella groaned. Nate tried to put an arm around her shoulders, but she shrugged it away, shifting further from him on the couch. He frowned. What was up with her?
"Don't joke like that! That's not funny!" She admonished her father.
"Only because you're being una pesada," he told her, still laughing. "I'm not dying, mi amor, I'm only sick. Pero, you can keep calling me every day, si quieres."
"You're so lucky I love you, old man!" Ella yelled into the phone.
"Adios! Te queremos!" Her parents called to her, obviously amused by her exasperation, before hanging up. Ella tossed her phone onto the coffee table and shook her head.
"I fucking love them so much, they're so stupid," She rubbed at her face.
"I can see where you get your sense of humor from," Nate teased. She made a face.
"Wrong thing to say, Nate," She shook her head frustratedly. He frowned.
"What do you mean? What's wrong?" He asked. Hadn't they just been cuddling? What could have possibly changed while he'd been sleeping?
"Who's Aurora?" Ella asked, crossing her arms. Nate raised his eyebrows. That was not what he'd expected to come out of her mouth.
"...Aurora?" He asked slowly.
"Yeah, you got a call while you were sleeping. I wasn't trying to snoop but it just lit up in front of me and you had unopened messages from her so they were right there and she said she wants to see you again... Who is she?" She rushed all this information out, refusing to get embarrassed. She hadn't purposefully invaded his privacy, this information had literally presented itself and she wanted answers.
"She's... the woman from the launch party. The potential investor," He explained.
"Right. Listen, Nate," Ella straightened up and looked him sternly in the eye. "I get that we aren't a serious thing and I can't ask you not to see other people. But if what you want is to fuck around with a bunch of women, then I don't want to be one of them. That's my prerogative, I think. So you just let me know if that's what you want and I'll bow out now. No harm, no foul."
Nate looked at her, eyes wide. He hadn't thought about making them monogamous or non... There'd been no planning involved in this afternoon's events. Was openly agreeing to only having one fuck buddy this fast a good idea? He didn't think it was, but the idea of not being able to keep what he had with her now that he'd had a second taste was growing less acceptable with every passing moment. Before rushing into promises, however, he decided to start with the truth.
"I don't have anything going on with Aurora," he informed her. "I took her on a couple of dates in December, but I haven't seen her or answered her calls since Christmas."
"You took a potential investor out on dates?" She raised an eyebrow. "I'm not in a position to judge, obviously, but Nate don't you think that's... a conflict of interests?"
"That's why I haven't been answering her calls anymore, El," He decided to gloss over the other factor in deciding distance was necessary between him and the Blake heiress-- that other factor being Ella and the mysterious gravitational pull she exerted on him. Besides, just because there were multiple factors affecting his decision it didn't negate what he was telling her now. "Taking her on dates was just me falling into old habits again..."
"Old habits? What does that mean?" She frowned, visibly relieved he hadn't been talking to someone else while all this was going on between them, whatever this was. Now she was inquisitive and she had a very intimidating version of her listening face going on.
"I've done a lot of things I regret in my life," Nate exhaled. He could never resist the listening face. "Most of them have involved mixing sex into situations where it just didn't belong. Like business. And friendships."
He told her about how his family had arranged a marriage for him before he'd turned 18 with Blair. He told her about sleeping with Serena when he was still dating her best friend. About his eventual affair with a married woman. About Diana Payne, another financial backer who'd blurred the lines of her sexual and professional relationship with Nate.
Ella knew about some of this already. But hearing it from Nate— how he'd been used as a trading piece for most of his life—made it so real. She could see how he was still living with the repercussions, how even now he was hesitant about telling her, afraid of her judgement about all of it. She tried to ignore how she seemed to be the latest part of this destructive pattern-- she could unpack that thought later. Right now, she just put her arms around him, listening to him vent.
"I don't care how rich the Blakes are. I don't want to sell myself anymore, to anybody. For anything," Nate concluded.
"Then I'm proud of you," Ella told him softly. "I... I'm sorry for overreacting. I know I don't really get to ask you for anything in this situation—."
"Don't say that," He shook his head. "I care about you. I don't want to hurt you... you know that."
"I appreciate that. Really, more than you know," She looked him in the eye, looking very serious and a little sad. "But I wanted to say that I just can't handle more stress in my life right now. Maybe getting involved with you at all is a bad idea—."
Nate gave her a look that made her laugh.
"Well, it's definitely a bad idea, but it will only be worse if there's other people involved fucking it up even more, don't you agree?"
"I see your point. So... just to clarify," He cleared his throat, "You want to keep doing this... regularly?"
"Well, as regularly as we can safely manage it," She said matter-of-factly.
That was... That was good. But Nate wondered if she felt pressured by him. He wouldn't be able to accept this unless she wanted it as badly as he did.
"And you're aware that if you want to stop there will be zero repercussions from me... right?" He pressed. She gave him a strange look and then quirked a brow.
"You are not taking advantage of me, Nate, trust me. I haven't been able to stay away from you no matter how stupid I know this is," She gave a small laugh.
"I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page," he chuckled, brushing her hair back from her face. She was looking at him so sweetly right now, he could feel his heart skipping beats. "And for the sake of staying on the same page, I won't be involving other people."
He hardly thought about it as he said it. He just knew it was true. She was blushing and looking away, a little smile on her face.
"You don't have to say that, Nate..." She said softly.
"Well, I said it because I wanted to, so get over it," He told her. She was always protesting when people did nice things. He wasn't going to take this bit from her, no matter how cute she managed to make it. She grinned at him now, laughing at how brusque he was being.
"And here I was thinking how sweet you are," She giggled, planting a chaste kiss on his lips. "Geez, I let you get on top a couple of times and now you think you're in charge, huh?"
"I am sweet," He growled, kissing her back— but more deeply this time. "And since when wasn't I in charge?"
"Oh, forever ago," She smirked against his lips. He pretended to pout but couldn't keep it up when she pulled herself halfway onto his lap to make out. As though suddenly remembering something, she paused and pulled back a bit. "Unless having me in a room with three of your exes this last Saturday was part of your big master plan?"
Nate snorted. "If I had known who would be at breakfast I wouldn't have shown up, believe me."
Ella's mouth opened in a gasp. "You— knowingly, willfully— would ignore information that I was trapped with your exes for breakfast and leave me to muddle through on my own?"
He squinted. "You were getting along perfectly with them!"
"Because they don't know that you and I are—," She gestured with her hands, which he assumed meant 'fucking.' She sighed. "Who knows, they would probably cool with it, they seem really great, I just... I'm a jealous person."
She laughed embarrassedly into her hands
"You're a jealous person?" Nate asked incredulously, "You hide it pretty well."
"It's not their fault you fucked them," Ella shrugged, ignoring his protests that he didn't fuck Jenny, at least. "And I've already dealt with enough people disliking me, I don't need two more..."
At the reminder of all the office drama she'd been plagued with because of him, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. She sighed. He then pulled back and tilted his head at her, squinting a little.
"What?"
"If you're admitting you're a jealous person..." He began, eyes narrowed. "Then please tell me you haven't purposefully been torturing me with Adam and Eddy."
Ella gave him a look.
"I have not been torturing you with Adam and Eddy," She rolled her eyes, leaning down to bite his shoulder. He hissed.
"Then what's the deal with them, huh?" He muttered, biting her right back on the soft skin of her neck. She squealed and kissed him. Rather than pulling away immediately again, though, their lips slanted and parted almost instantly.
"Fuck," Ella pulled back, shaking her head like she was waking up. "Kissing you is really distracting..."
"I have that effect on people," He replied smugly, eliciting another eyeroll. "But quit deflecting."
"Nothing is going with Adam and Eddy. I danced with them at the launch party and talk to them sometimes at work," she explained, her tone dry and amused. Absently, she started playing with his hair the way you pet a riled up dog. "I'm not going to lie to you and tell you they aren't trying to sleep with me... 'cause they are. But I haven't had time to take them up on the offers and I plan on continuing to be busy."
"That must be going over well," He remarked, tucking his hand in the waistband of her shorts.
"Oh, they hate me now, I'm sure of it. But they're civil and professional, and that's what matters," She nodded assuredly.
"Does anyone at the office still bother you about the... rumors?" He asked, suddenly curious. Dan hadn't mentioned anymore incidents, but he knew that rumors— especially one's like that— tended to stick around.
"Oh, the ones where we've been sleeping together since you hired me?" She laughed shortly. "I think they've realized I'm there to stay and I know what I'm doing. But not having to deal with the political writers anymore has definitely cut back on the amount of bullshit I deal with."
"I don't think anyone will suspect something's changed," Nate was pensive. "We'll just keep staying away from each other at work."
"Works for me," She kissed him again. Fuck, it just felt so nice being able to touch him how she wanted. As long as she got to do this with him while they were in private, there were a lot of things she was sure she could make work. She was sure of it.
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1. Cesar Vazquez: "Only because you're being una pesada."
Translation: "Only because you're being a Debbie downer." (Literally translates to "You're being a heavy" and could also be translated as "You're being difficult," but this is Cesar and he'd definitely call Ella a Debbie downer.)
"I'm not dying, mi amor, I'm only sick. Pero, you can keep calling me every day, si quieres."
Translation: "I'm not dying, my love, I'm only sick. But, you can keep calling me every day, if you want."
2. Cesar and Yesenia Vazquez: "Adios! Te queremos!"
Translation: "Good bye! Love you!"