“Yes.”
I can tell she’s still nervous when I put my hand at her back to lead her to the elevator. There’s a slight tremor there, and I feel a sick sense of satisfaction at that. I fucking love that I can make her body tremble with nerves. Later tonight, I’ll be making her tremble with desire.
We ride the elevator in silence, the bad elevator music the only thing keeping it from being too quiet. Poppy’s soft scent is driving me wild. I keep imagining myself walking her to the back wall and burying my face in her neck, wrapping her legs around my waist, and rubbing my cock against her warm pussy. I’d have easy access with the dress she’s wearing. All I’d have to do is slide her panties to the side, unbuckle and pull down my zipper, and witness heaven.
Yes, before we leave here, I’m definitely fucking her in this elevator.
The heat is still oppressive when we step outside to the waiting car. I hold the door open for her and slip inside once she’s seated. A minute later, we’re on our way.
“Where are we going?” she asks, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together in her lap.
“A small place called Hook Line & Sinker. They have the best Texas home-cooked meals around here.”
“Great! I can’t wait!” She smiles and it sends a punch to my gut. “How did your meeting go with Mr. Bennet?”
“Smoother than I thought.” I put my ankle over my knee and recline back in my seat with my arm thrown over the back of Poppy’s. “We’ll be drawing up a contract on Tuesday and sending it over to his secretary for him to review. If all goes well, he’ll be the newest member of Silver Technologies.”
“That’s wonderful news. I’ll get to that as soon I get in on Tuesday.”
She crosses her leg and the hem of her skirt rides up an inch, tempting me. Fuck, this woman drives me fucking insane. Has been for the last year, but more so now because I know everything is going to be out in the open soon, and I won’t have to pretend anymore. I try to keep my eyes away from her tanned legs, but they keep drifting down. She’s looking out the window at the scenery, so I let my eyes linger a moment. I can’t wait to have them over my shoulder, or wrapped around my waist. I know from the other night that they’ll be smooth. I want to start at her feet and kiss my way up until I reach her drenched pussy. And I know it’ll be drenched.
“What meetings will we be in tomorrow? I didn’t see anything on your calendar.”
I reluctantly bring my eyes back up to her face to find her looking at me expectantly. She looks down at her legs, and I almost laugh when she tries to tug the dress back down. It doesn’t work. I know this because I look and see it’s just where it was a moment ago. A chuckle escapes before I can stop it and her eyes narrow slightly when I look back up again. I like this side to Poppy. The nervous, unsure side is cute, but the irritation I see on her face now makes me want to reach across the space between us, hold her head in place, and nip and suck at her lips. Instead of doing that, I answer her question.
“There are no meetings for tomorrow. Stewart was more acceptable to my deal than I anticipated, so we’re free for the rest of the weekend.”
She frowns and says, “But I thought…” She stops, shakes her head, and starts again. “I don’t understand? If you had no other meetings planned, why did we come for the whole weekend? You had to have known convincing Mr. Bennet wouldn’t take that long.”
I did know. I planned it that way.
“We came,” I lean forward, brushing a loose curl off her cheek, “because I wanted to be alone with you.”
She freezes in her seat. She stops breathing, moving, and blinking for several seconds. When she finally releases a breath, I feel the heat from it against my lips. I lick the dryness from them and drop my eyes to her lips to see her do the same.
“Why?” she whispers. “After all this time, why now?”
“Because I co
uldn’t do it before,” I tell her truthfully.
A look of confusion crosses her face at my cryptic reply. I’m not ready to tell her why I couldn’t come to her before. That’ll come later, after I tell her I’m Sterling.
She closes her eyes. I don’t know if she does it on purpose or not, but she leans her cheek more into my hand. I feel triumph at the move, but it doesn’t last. She moves back and my hand falls away.
“I can’t do this.” Her voice is weak, breathless.
“Why not?”
“You’re my boss. And I’m… seeing someone.” Regret and longing are in her eyes.
“Sterling.” I don’t pose it as a question. She looks at me with surprise, but must remember the message from earlier and nods.
I grab the end of her braid, my fingers brushing the exposed skin on her upper chest, and give it a small tug. She ignores the move, keeping her eyes focused on mine.
“Look at me, Poppy. Me.” I stress the last word.
I don’t know if I’m trying to get her to see what’s in front of her—that I’m Sterling—or trying to get her to see that me, Asher, her boss, wants her. A small part of me is jealous of myself. It’s stupid because I am Sterling, but she doesn’t know that. To her, he’s another man. In her mind, another man is keeping her from me. But it won’t matter in the end. Before this night is over, every inch of her body will have felt every inch of mine. As Asher, not Sterling.