A Little Red, page 3
Of course, neither of them had done very much talking over the weekend. Liam Grayson probably screwed every secretary that crossed his path. He was very good at it. He’d obviously had lots of practice. And this morning at all the meetings he’d barely even looked at her. So… clearly limiting it to the weekend had been the right decision. She would just have to hold her head high, do the job, and hope that the latest resume she’d turned in would be her ticket out of here.
Scarlet took a deep breath, smoothed her skirt and took the reports she’d completed into Liam’s office. She could hear him down the hall talking to Brett Hubbard. Liam’s voice had a distinctive bass note that she could always identify, even from the hallway. She started to layout the reports and her notepad on his desk, mentally rehearsing her talking points.
“I finished the Hearseman comparison,” she said, not looking up when he came in.
“That’s good,” he said shutting the door. She tried to ignore the wonderful closeness to him as he crossed the room to her.
“I wasn’t sure if—”
She cut off with a little gasp as he ran his tongue over her neck.
“Wolf,” she quavered as he nibbled her ear. His hands were working her skirt up and soon they were on the bare flesh of her thighs. His fingers ran over the lace of her panties. She moaned and nestled against him, rubbing her ass against his cock. One hand continued to caress her through her panties while the other went to her throat, turning her head so that he could capture her mouth with his.
“Wolf,” she tried to separate herself from him, but only managed to move her mouth. He had her pinned against the desk. “Wolf, we said the weekend.” Her voice ended on a squeak as his fingers slid beneath the edge of her panties.
“Yes,” he murmured, “but I lied.”
He was stroking her clit with firm fingers and she was so wet she knew he could tell she wanted him.
“We can’t,” she gasped, wriggling against him. She could feel his hard cock pressing up against her and she longed to have it inside her.
“Yes, we can.” He didn’t sound worried or argumentative. In fact, he sounded as calm as if he were talking about the weather.
Abruptly, he withdrew his hand and Scarlet heard herself make a little yip of protest. He spun her around and pushed her onto the desk. Before she had even registered what he was doing, he had peeled off her panties and dropped them on the floor. His hand went back to her pussy and this time he slid two fingers inside her while his thumb rubbed her swollen clit. He ran nuzzling, hot kisses along her neck. She clung to the edge of the desk as her legs spread involuntarily for him.
“We’re going to get caught,” she moaned, arching as he stroked her just right.
He moved up to her mouth, kissing her fiercely, but then pulled away and cocked his head at the door.
“Oh. Yeah. Actually we are. Brett’s on his way in.”
He grabbed her by the hips and set her back on her feet, pushing her skirt down.
She hurried to re-tuck her blouse, trying to smooth herself into some semblance of professional appearance. She spotted her underwear on the floor, but Liam was faster.
“Nope. These are mine now.”
He pocketed the panties and moved to sit behind his desk as a sharp knock rapped on the door.
“Come in!” he called, before turning to Scarlet as if they’d been talking the entire time. “I’ll go over the Hearseman report first. Hey, Brett. But I think we might need to run a few more comparables. Can you do a database search and find me some more companies about that size?”
Scarlet nodded mutely and picked up her notepad. Hurrying toward the door, hoping that it didn’t look like an abject retreat.
She sat down at her desk, trying not to gulp air like she’d been running. She recognized that she was not an expert in romantic affairs, but she had thought she at least understood the basics of dating. The only problem was that nothing about Liam was basic.
She logged into her computer, hoping that the rattle of keys would make it at least sound like she was working.
Had he ever had any intention of sticking to the weekend rule?
Liam
Liam waited until the door was firmly closed and he heard Brett’s off-key whistling head down the hall before he took Scarlet’s panties out of his pocket and held them to his face. She smelled so good. Like spring. Like the earth right after the first drops of rain hit the soil.
On the way to work he’d toyed with the idea of following her stupid weekend fling rule. And then he’d stepped off the elevator and caught the first wafting scent of her. By the time he’d glimpsed her chatting with one of the other secretaries in the break room he’d known that he was nowhere near done with Scarlet.
Liam tucked her underwear back in his pocket with a smile and reached for her Hearseman report, amused that she was being so conscientious. He felt like the weekend had earned them some slacking. He certainly hadn’t managed to do much more than respond to a few emails all morning. Honestly, after the endurance marathon of sex all he wanted to do was curl up with Scarlet for a nap. But she either had more energy than he did or felt required to double down on her professionalism, which was adorable. Hell, she was adorable. Every time she said Yes, Wolf, he wanted to… do everything he’d been doing to her all weekend.
He flipped open the report and then realized there were at least five more pages. Slowly he read through it. She had included everything that he’d intended to do once she pulled the initial data.
He scratched his head. That wasn’t normal for a secretary. He thought he’d been pushing his luck to have her pull the data, but she seemed so smart and hadn’t been confused when he’d asked for it. None of the secretaries Fosters Financial hired ever seemed to know the first thing about what Fosters Financial actually did. Apparently, he’d hit the jackpot in more ways than one.
The door opened and Scarlet came in her notepad clutched in one hand and a resolute expression on her face. She carefully shut the door and planted herself in front of his desk and held out her hand.
“My underwear, please.”
He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face. Firm Scarlet was priceless.
“No.”
“Yes!” She added a little foot stomp that made him wish she was wearing her Little Red costume so he could watch everything bounce.
“If you want them back you have to come over tonight.”
“No! This is strictly against company policy and I need the job.”
“Yes, very against the rules,” he agreed getting up and going around to her side of the desk. “Fortunately, you’re a rebel.”
She bit her lip and then he did the same, leaning in to kiss along her bottom lip with tiny nibbles. She softened for a moment and then sprang backwards.
“No, no I’m not. I’m a rule follower. Just one of the herd, coloring inside the lines—that’s me! Completely normal.”
This time he did laugh, even as he reached out and pulled her to him. He kissed her gently and softly, luring her into relaxing against him.
“Wolf,” she sighed, in the weakest of protests.
“My Little Red,” he whispered, “normal people don’t have to say they’re normal.”
Her eyes flew open and she stared at him, clearly uncertain of how to respond.
“You will come over tonight,” he said. “It’s what you want to do anyway and think how much easier it will be to argue with me when there’s no one else around.”
She looked annoyed but didn’t have a comeback, so he kissed her again.
“The Hearseman report was awesome, by the way. You saved me a ton of time. Can you do the same thing with the Applecourt account?”
“Yes?” She looked off-balance and he had every intention of keeping her that way.
“Great.”
She glared at him. “Liam,” she said, using his name like a weapon, “you are too used to getting your own way.”
“Come over tonight and you can have your way with me,” he offered and she gave a half-way decent growl before stomping out of the office.
Episode 6
Thanksgiving
Scarlet
Scarlet stared at Liam’s white plaster ceiling. He lived in a small, but very expensive apartment on the edge of Central Park. In a few minutes her alarm would go off and Liam would wake up and blink at her like he couldn’t remember who she was and then he would smile and kiss her. It was how her mornings started now. It had been three weeks and she’d spent most of the nights at Liam’s apartment. They sometimes went to Maxim’s or ordered dinner in, but the night’s all ended the same, with her sweaty and delirious from pleasure and wrapped in her wolf’s arms. Then they would wake up and Scarlet would leave by herself so that they would arrive at the office at different times.
This morning would be different though. This morning they would leave together and go to the train station before parting for the Thanksgiving holiday. She knew he thought she was going home although she had carefully never said that. And she knew he was going to his family’s property. Not that he ever specified exactly where that was. The amount of personal information he’d shared could be included in a tweet. She tried not to let that bother her. Just like she tried to not let it bother her that he never clarified how he viewed their relationship. He never said they were dating. He never said anything about going public. And the rest of his non-verbal signals weren’t any more positive. Nothing said not serious quite like having to pack her toothbrush and a change of clothes every night of the week. He didn’t even seem bothered by their arrangement. Scarlet couldn’t say that she felt the same. She had enough secrets in her life. She wasn’t sure she wanted her relationship to be one of them. But every time she thought about bringing it up, he’d fuck the thought out of her head.
But her alarm was about to go off and then he would smile at her and kiss her and somehow that meant everything.
Liam’s alarm rang five minutes before hers, startling her so that she jerked in surprise. Liam laughed at her and gathered her into his arms, spooning tightly against her, snuggling his face into the crook of her neck. He inhaled, running his mouth along her neck as if smelling and tasting her at the same time and Scarlet melted, breathing out and letting her silent morning angst go. It was hard to hold onto worry when he was hanging on to her.
They moved around each other in the silent dance of getting ready. Scarlet eating avocado toast over the sink and Liam carrying a glass of milk everywhere with him while he finished packing. She appreciated that he got his milk from a local dairy that was known to her family. It meant that she could have milk too. She tried not to wave her semi-vegetarianism around like a flag. It wasn’t that she didn’t like meat—the chemicals of the modern age made her a little crazy. And also itchy. All the radio waves were bad enough. Cable TV had been an absolute blessing for her family. Sending everything through cables made the air so much quieter. Everything still buzzed with electricity and radio and Wi-Fi and satellite signals and all the other rasping vibrating messages that had driven her mom to leave, and it wasn’t as though Scarlet didn’t feel it. Every morning she spent a few minutes hiding in the bathroom to complete her cleansing spells that allowed her to make it through her day. But some days the spells she used wouldn’t cut it in this busy city and she had to take about eight of her migraine pills plus drive out to some place with fewer signals in the air. But Scarlet still felt like it was worth it, particularly when she got to walk through the train station holding Liam’s hand.
Saying goodbye was odd and Scarlet spent most of the trip trying to figure out why. As the train pulled into the station and she spotted her brother’s pale blond head surveying the platform, looking for her, Scarlet realized that it was because Liam hadn’t looked back. He’d kissed her goodbye and left to make his own train. The thought sat like a lump in her throat, but she swallowed it and went to the exit.
“Ochre!” she called, stepping out onto the platform and waving. Ochre Lucas lifted his head at the sound of his name, spotted her and waved back.
“Hey!” he exclaimed striding toward her. He was close to six-foot-five and towered over most people. He swept her into a quick hug and set her back down again. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah,” agreed Scarlet, hefting her backpack onto her shoulder and smiling at her brother. His hair, a little more red-gold than hers, was getting long again. He was the worst at remembering to get a haircut. She remembered when they’d been children, it had grown down his back because, after the first disastrous cut from Azure, he’d refused to let her try again. But he had been willing to let Scarlet braid it, which she had enjoyed enormously. Privately, Scarlet thought his long hair and pointed ears made him look like their father, but Scarlet had only met him the one time and she didn’t like to ask Azure if her impression was right. When their grandmother had found them, she’d made Ochre get his hair cut. She said they needed to blend in. Diana had been right, and living with her had certainly been better than the subsistence life the Lucas siblings had been eking out on their own, but Scarlet found that she sometimes missed their wild-child days.
“Don’t need to stop for any last second supplies?” Ochre asked.
“I probably won’t even need the ones I brought, will I?” asked Scarlet, looking up at Ochre in confusion.
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “But you’re all citified now. I thought you might be high-maintenance or something.”
“I’m not sure how having a job that doesn’t require me to sit in the dirt makes me high-maintenance, but OK.” Scarlet rolled her eyes and Ochre laughed again. Sometimes being the youngest sibling sucked.
Ochre led the way out of the train station and out to the parking lot. She was used to following Ochre. His height made him easy to keep track of. Scarlet wondered if he ever got tired of being used as a sign-post by his family and acquaintances. He never said anything, but he had always been the quiet one of the three of them.
“Hey, did you bring my bow?” asked Scarlet, climbing into the truck and noticing the lack of equipment.
“Ohhhhhh.” Ochre grimaced and Scarlet sighed. “Sorry,” said Ochre. “I forgot.”
“It’s OK,” said Scarlet. So much for getting any meat on this trip. She had the distinct impression that this weekend was not going to go well.
They drove in until they were bumping down a logging road into the back country. Azure met them at Ochre’s campsite. Azure was always the odd duck in the family. Although, she was lanky like Ochre, and pale like Scarlet, and she shared the family blue eyes, she took after their father with thick black hair. She dressed in the witch tradition of all black—although Scarlet wasn’t sure an outfit counted as witchy when it was dusty, faded, black jeans and a black zip-up hoodie.
“Scarlet!” Azure said holding out her arms. Scarlet hugged her and tried not to feel self-conscious that all of her clothes were newer than Azure’s.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come,” said Azure, tucking a stray strand of hair behind Scarlet’s ear. She had always been motherly. When they had been children it had been reassuring because their own mother hadn’t been able to be the kind of mom who tucked them in and read them stories. And after her mother had left, abandoning all of them, thirteen-year-old Azure had been the one who took care of them. It had been another two years before Diana had found them and brought them back to Virginia. And Scarlet appreciated that Azure had taken care of the family when they were younger, but these days Scarlet found her mother-knows-best attitude condescending. Scarlet was a grown adult, paying her own bills, living her own life. When was Azure going to stop telling her what to do?
“What part about I’ll be there was unclear?” asked Scarlet with a tight smile.
“I just couldn’t see it happening,” said Azure with what felt like a fake smile—Scarlet tried not to give a wolf-like growl.
“What’s the plan, Azure?” asked Ochre, going to the fire and giving it a poke. The embers flared up as he tossed in a fresh log.
“I have seen that the security forces the logging company hired will be here tomorrow. I have also seen that this is our moment of opportunity. We have a chance to change the course of events here, but I need both of you in order to accomplish it.”
Azure looked from Scarlet to Ochre as if assessing how useful they were going to be. Scarlet was willing to bet Azure was no end of annoyed at needing them to get the job done.
“You want to do the thing we did in Richmond?” asked Ochre.
“Yes,” said Azure, confidently. “I’ve made some refinements to the spell. I think we can do this. The problem is that we have to stay near the trees to make it work. And with the security forces coming in soon, there is some risk.”
“I have to be at work on Monday,” said Scarlet, frowning. As usual, Azure hadn’t told them everything that was going on.
“Yes, your vitally important work as a secretary,” said Azure. “How’s that going?”
Scarlet took a deep breath.
“Hey,” said Ochre, gently. “We all have our paths.”
“Some paths are more worthwhile than others,” snapped Azure. “I happen to think that saving old-growth forests are more important than going to work on Monday, but that’s just me.” Azure was still pissed at Scarlet for moving to the city and apparently wasn’t going to be letting it go anytime soon. “Fortunately,” Azure said, turning to Scarlet with a brittle smile, “I have seen that, win or lose, we’ll be done by Sunday night.”
