“Riley Moore here. Leave a message,” her sexy voice comes through the receiver and I hang up. I don’t want to leave a fucking message. I want to talk to her, and if she doesn’t answer her phone, I guess the only other option is to go to her.
Normally the days at the office go by fast, especially when I work on a project I like, and I love this project. Still, today time passes slowly, at a snail’s pace. All I can think about is finally getting to talk to Riley. We need to clear the air before I can get back to normal.
Mentally, I go through the steps of what I’m going to do and say. I’ll head to her apartment as soon as I leave the office. Explain to her that what happened is in the past, that she is now my employee, and that I’m her boss, so what we did can’t happen again. Then all will be well, and I can go back to being my normal asshole self, who cares nothing for anyone or anything, and put all my attention into the project.
Climbing into my BMW, I type the coordinates into the GPS and pull out of the parking garage. White knuckling the steering wheel the entire time, I peer out the window, realizing the longer I drive the deeper I get into the bad part of town. I double-check the address Paula gave me, just to be sure there isn’t some type of mistake.
Could she have given me the wrong one? Why would Riley live here?
I almost turn around, but decide on at least checking. I park on the side of the road in front of an outdated apartment complex. My car sticks out like a sore thumb between a rusted van and a banged-up Honda. Most of the houses and apartments are run down in this area, and if Riley really lives here, there are going to be some problems.
Getting out of the car, I lock it and walk up to the front door, which is cracked open. That’s safe. I shake my head and walk inside. The walk up to her apartment is a long one, and each step creaks beneath my feet. The carpet is stained and a putrid green color. Walls stained with God knows what, and the strange pattern that mars the ceiling is very close to blood spatter.
Her apartment is on the third floor, all the way to the end of the hall. The light bulbs towards that end are all burned out, making this an excellent spot for a predator.
She better not be living here.
A growl builds in my chest. I lift my fist and knock at the door, the sound echoing through the space. Pausing, I wait for someone to open it, but no one does. I don’t hear anything, no movement inside. I knock again, but there’s still no answer.
I’m about to head back to my car when I hear someone traipsing down the hallway. I look up and find exactly who I was looking for walking towards me. Because I’m standing at the end of the hall with no light, I can see her before she can see me, lurking in the shadows.
Her brown hair is in a messy bun, she’s wearing no makeup, and instead of her usual business attire, she’s dressed casually in jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt. She looks younger like this, almost like a teenager coming home from hanging out with her friends.
Only when she gets closer do I see her face more clearly. Dark circles under her glassy eyes make her look exhausted. She wasn’t lying. Something has happened to her father. I feel terrible for even considering she was lying. It’s clear that she has had a hard day.
Frozen on the spot, I wait until she gets close enough to see me. She looks up and lets out a loud shriek while jumping back two feet. The scene is oddly familiar, reminding me of the first time we met, when I startled her as she was getting into the elevator. Instantly, my cock is straining in my pants, thinking about that night.
Down, boy.
“What are you doing here?” Riley asks, after the initial shock has passed.
“I was worried about you, so I came to make sure everything was okay with your father.”
“You mean you came here to make sure I wasn’t lying about it?” She crosses her arms over her chest.
I can’t help but smirk as she calls me out on my white lie. It’s refreshing to have someone not take my bullshit. Being the boss normally lets me get away with…well, everything.
“Yes, mostly that,” I admit.
“Well, I wasn’t. My dad is really in the hospital.” She unlocks her door and pushes it open. I can tell from a brief look at the door that it wouldn’t take much to kick the thing in. Not only is the part of town she lives in unsafe, but her apartment is too. “You can leave now.”
Her dismissal is infuriating and makes me want to take her across my knee. The promise I made to spank her is still very much clear in my mind. If she was another girl, at another time, I’d give her pleasure that could only be imagined.
“I’d rather come inside so we can talk.”
“Fine,” she huffs, standing to the side.
Satisfied, I walk in behind her. She flips on the light and I take in her small apartment. It’s kind of cute, but very sparse. Definitely not somewhere I would expect an interior designer to live, especially not one that works for our company.
“Why do you live here?” I ask curiously, while still trying to sound as if I don’t care. “I know we don’t pay you this badly.”
“Did you really come here to insult my home?”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” I backpedal, but of course she calls me out yet again.
“Yes, you did, and it’s none of your business how I spend my money.” Her voice excites me, and her beautiful blue eyes go wide with shock as if she just remembered that she’s talking to her boss. Scrubbing a hand down her face, she peers down at the floor. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. I’ve just had a long day, and I’m tired, and worried about my father.”
I don’t mention it, mainly because it’s understandable, and in this instance, we’re not employee and boss. We’re simply two adults having a conversation.
“Do you live here on your own?” I push further, wanting to learn more about her.
“Yes.”
Deciding to speak freely, I tell her, “It’s not safe.”
“Can we just talk about what you really came here for? You know, the thing we did.”
“The thing we did?” I smirk. “You mean us fucking in the elevator?”
Her cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink and I make a mental note to say the word fuck around her more often, just to see her blush.
“Yes, that thing.”
“It wasn’t a thing. We had sex. Now, normally I don’t fuck where I work, but I didn’t know you would be working on the team at the time. I didn’t even think you worked at the company.”
“You know you’re kind of an asshole, right?”
I can’t help but grin. “I’ve been told that a time or two in my life.”
“If you’re asking me to forget about it, that won’t be hard. It wasn’t very memorable.”
My lips settle into a thin line, and I’m tempted to make good on the spanking she surely needs, but clench my hands into tight fists instead.
“If I do recall, you came so hard you almost passed out against my chest. I can’t imagine that’s not memorable.”
She fakes a yawn, and I can see the defiance in her eyes. “It was so boring I almost fell asleep. Now get out. You don’t want me to share how boring of a lay you are with the rest of the office.”