Smiling and in complete control, Cecily moved forward to straddle him. “The bad ones really turn me on. Especially the really smart bad ones. And I have a feeling that you’re one of the exceptionally clever bad boys.” She leaned into him and whispered something in his ear that had his hands tightening on her ass, pressing her closer.
“Tell me how bad you really are, Pierce. I can make it really good for you.”
“I’m amazing at taking companies with bad press and making the public love them.”
Cecily made a moue of disappointment. “I already know that. Tell me something I don’t know. Tell me a secret.”
He started talking, mentioning different accounts and clients he’d worked with, who he’d snowed, how. Cecily proceeded to gradually undress him, touching, stroking, arousing with each secret he revealed.
Norah felt sick.
“I was always jealous Norah got to do those things with you. It’s so freaking hot.”
“Norah didn’t have the stones for it. She was such a Pollyanna, thinking she could be a success in this business being nice. That naive goodness has its place and it totally worked for certain clients, but she never stepped a toe out of line. Not like you. Jesus, Cecily, the things we could do together.” He kissed his way down her throat and the camera caught her eye roll.
“But what about all those allegations of professional misconduct your dad made?”
Down to his boxers, Pierce lifted her onto the desk, stepped between her thighs and began to pull off her blouse. “Insurance. Revenge. Whatever you wanna call it. He’s pissed that the firm lost a whale of a potential client to her.”
“Really? Who?”
“That big real estate development corporation he’s had Matthew working on. Peyton Consolidated. Out of Denver.”
Oh God, Norah thought. Cecily was right.
Pierce kissed a trail down Cecily’s collarbone, down toward her lace-covered breasts. “Don’t know why the CEO was so hell bent on having Norah. Between that and the other accounts that walked after she left, he had to take drastic measures to protect our remaining client base. What better way to cover our asses than pin it all on her? No way to prove it one way or the other, and we’ve got the strength of the company behind us. What does she have?”
A door burst open. “The word you’re looking for there is loyalty,” Christoff said from off camera. “Show’s over.”
Braced above Cecily, Pierce froze.
“Thanks so much for your cooperation,” she said with an innocent smile, and drove her knee into Pierce’s groin.
He collapsed to the floor with a series of wheezing curses as she stepped away and began calmly buttoning her shirt. “You bitch. I’ll have your job for this. Both of you.” Pierce continued to spew threats and invective as he clutched his crotch and tried to get to his feet.
“Oh no.” Christoff moved into the line of sight and put an arm around Cecily. “If you or your father lay a hand on either of us, physical or otherwise, the video of that confession is set to go live on every video hosting site, SEO optimized for maximum impact. Pretty sure you don’t want any of those clients getting wind of your shenanigans. Now, you’re going to issue a retraction countering every single email or phone call your father sent, denying Norah's involvement and clearing her good name, and you will convince your father to settle the lawsuit with a generous severance package for the shit you put her through. You have forty-eight hours.”
Pierce stared at him, murder in his eye. “Norah would never condone blackmail.”
Christoff’s grin was just a little feral. “Of course she wouldn’t. But thanks to you and your father, she’s not here to stop us, now is she? Believe me, honey, nobody has a finer-tuned sense of revenge than a gay man. You’ll find our resignations on my desk outside. C’mon Cecily.”
The video stopped.
“And sadly, I will not win the Tony Award I so richly deserve for that performance.”
“Maggie the Cat ain’t got nothing on you,” Christoff assured her.
For a few moments, Norah couldn’t speak. “Well, I see that your TaeBo classes paid off.” She loosed a shuddering breath trying to shake off the skeevy sensation along her skin. “That was… I can’t believe…Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Norah started around the table to check Cecily over, as if it had just happened.
“I’m fine. He didn’t do a thing to me that four scalding showers didn’t cure. He didn’t lay a hand on me that you didn’t see.”
“We saw enough,” Norah said.
“The point is, so did he. He did what we asked. Here are copies of the retractions.” Christoff handed over a file.
Norah just set it on the table without looking.
“I’m pretty sure what you did was highly illegal,” Cam observed.