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PENNY

I can’t stop smiling. Nothing is dampening my good mood. Not even the biting cold weather or the enormous amounts of snow I had to shovel not only from my own drive, but from my dad’s too. But I’m not letting anything ruin this feeling I’ve got.

It’s been such a long time since I was happy. My dad’s on the mend, my friends are all in love, and I’m having the best sex of my life with the sexiest guy I’ve ever seen. Who just happens to also be my boss. But we don’t let little details like that derail our happiness, now do we?

Nope. Nor the fact that we don’t know what the hell this is or how long this is going to last? How he really feels about me and what everyone will think when they find out. Or how I’ll cope with seeing him once he’s moved on now that I know what it feels like to be worshipped by him. We ignore those thoughts and focus on the happy times, because that’s the healthy thing to do, right?!

I know if I allow myself to give these thoughts any space in my mind I’ll spiral faster than a spool of ribbon. So today, I’m done questioning myself. Especially while wearing a ridiculously tight emerald green dress that drapes low in the back, has an obscene slit up to my thigh, and makes my ass look fabulous.

One final swish of mascara and I’m done. Standing back and admiring myself in the mirror, I grin when Angie’s blue eyes appear over my shoulder.

“You look fucking HAWT. I want to take a bite out of your arse.” She slaps my ass cheeks and whoops loudly as I shake my head.

“You do too. I wish I had your bazookas. Look at those bad gals.”

She shimmies, but the red corset she’s wearing barely lets her girls jiggle. The effort isn’t lost on me, though. She knows how envious I am of her boobs.

“You know we’re the only two from the family who’ll be in attendance tonight, so if you want to slip off somewhere and get your freak on, I promise I’ll keep it a secret. It can be your Christmas present to me whilst being a gift for yourself too.” She flutters her lashes at me as I roll my eyes.

The truth about me and Ben is on the tip of my tongue, but I want to keep it back from everyone for a little longer. I love my family, but they know everything about me—well apart from what happened at the school, and I have a good reason for not telling them that. I like that this is just for me and Ben to know. That we’re being discreet and not letting anyone see. He’s been so attentive, almost loving, and I don’t want anything to change.

Who knows, once the thrill of keeping it all hush hush has worn off, he might get bored. Move on and find someone way more glamorous than me, and I’ll be left looking like the poor dumpee, nursing a broken heart while the Brady clan decide to try and fix me by pairing me off with any singleton they can find. No thanks. It’s just safer and easier if I keep this to myself. At least until I know what this is.

But I’m desperate to tell Angie all the details. Mainly to get her take on it, but also because she’s scarred me with enough information about screwing my brother that I’d love to repay the favour by messing with her view of her boss. But it’ll have to wait for now.

“Angie, I’ve already told you. Nothing happened. We went ice skating, explored the city, and came home. He was hot and cold, but I’m used to it now.”

She opens and closes her hand in front of my face while shouting blah blah blah over my words. “You keep repeating the same old crap. But I know you. I see you. You think you’re clever, but you’re not. But I’m a good friend, so I’ll wait until you’re ready to come to me. Just know I’m getting pretty ticked off with you keeping things from me.” She folds her arms over her chest and a laugh bursts out of my mouth.

“I’m sorry, but you’re trying to tell me off while your boobs look like two angry bald men fighting each other. Stop crossing your damn arms, they look ready to burst.”

She eyes her cleavage carefully and grins back. “They are pretty impressive. I used to hate them, but now I kinda like them. Oh, you sneaky little witch. Distracting me with my own breasticles. Tut tut, your Brady is showing.”

I grab my bag from the dresser in my room, swing it over my shoulder, and wink as I stroll out of the bedroom with her giggles following after me.

“And then he ran across the field with nothing but pom poms in his hand. He tried to cover his junk, but when campus security grabbed his hand, it slipped and he ended up showing the whole school his wang. You’d think he’d be embarrassed, right? Nope, he helicoptered it for everyone to see. The man’s a legend.”

Laughter erupts from the group of people huddled around my desk in the office as I roll my eyes and sip my drink. I’ve heard this story about Jenson a million times. I was there for the origin of it all, and no matter who tells it, it always gets embellished. He wasn’t helicoptering his wang to anyone, he was mortified. But Jenson being Jenson, he pretended he didn’t care. Even made up a few embellishments himself, which then spread around to a few people who missed the action, and like wildfire, it spread.

Smiling politely at Travis as he starts to regale the group with another story about the Bradys, this one about Jameson—the one who got away from him apparently—I slip away from them in search of Angie. After all the preparation and organising of this party, it’s a bit of a let down. I haven’t seen Angie since we arrived, and I’ve only managed to catch a brief glimpse of Ben as well. For everyone else, it’s a great time. The beer is flowing, shots are being downed, but I’m not feeling the party mood. I’d rather be back in Ben's office, just me and him and his delicious demands.

I clench my thighs together to stop my arousal and take another sip of my coke. I wonder how long I can stay without my leaving being seen as rude. I could go home, text Ben and let him know I’m waiting for him. Strolling along the hallway toward the elevators, I look longingly at what could be my escape route, but know realistically I have to stay for more than an hour.

The party noise is duller on this side of the offices and I can finally hear my thoughts clearly without the Christmas music blaring through the speakers. I take another sip of my coke and wander between the desks, looking at the small differences between each one. A family photo here, a mug for a pen holder there. A pang goes through my chest at the thought of my old desk in my classroom. The notes, drawings, little trinkets the kids had given me—I left them all behind.

Guilt swarms me and I walk a little faster past the desks and try to keep my emotions at bay. I don’t get very far when I’m grabbed by the elbow and pulled into a dark room. A scream builds in my throat, but before it can bubble out of my mouth, Ben’s voice stops it.

“Shhhh, Little One, it’s just me. All I’ve wanted since I saw you arrive looking so fucking sexy was to be alone with you, so imagine my surprise when you stumbled past my hiding spot.”

My body relaxes against his, my back pressed against his chest, my head dropping to his shoulder. His fingers drag along my collar bone and wrap around my neck and a small moan slips out of my mouth.

He laughs softly and places his lips to my ear. “You like that, Little One? You like my hand wrapped around your throat?”

I nod and push my ass back into his groin to show him just how much I like it.

Within a second, I’m pinned against the wall, his tall figure looming over me, his eyes blazing black with lust. “You’re fucking perfect,” he growls out before he crashes his lips to mine.

My head swims with the onslaught of his tongue against mine. Gripping the lapels of his blazer, I tug him even closer to me, desperation surging through me with the need to have him consume me.

He breaks away from our kiss and trails his hand up the slit of my dress as I widen my legs apart, urging his fingers to trail higher and higher. “Is this what you want? You want me to fuck you with my fingers in the middle of the office?”

“Please.” It’s barely a whisper, and before I can say anything else, his fingers are brushing aside my panties and thrusting into my pussy. The intrusion is what I needed, and I grind down on his hand chasing my release. “Ben, more, please.” I’m begging and I don’t care. I want more of him, I want to feel so full of him, I’ll burst. He inserts another finger and my eyes roll to the back of my head as I moan loudly.

“Shhh, Little One, I don’t want anyone to hear us. I want to make you come, then I’m going bend you over and fuck you from behind. But I need you to be quiet so we don’t get caught. Can you do that?”

He kisses me hard, and the swirl of his tongue against mine intensifies my building need for release. When he curls his fingers and hits the sweet spot inside me, I see stars. Beautiful golden stars behind my eyelids that erupt into fireworks.

“ Vasilissa mou. ”

I slowly open my eyes to see him smiling down at me. I reach up to stroke his cheek, I think I’m falling for you on the tip of my tongue.

“Oh, I’m sorry. My bad. Pretend I wasn’t here.” A London accent breaks the moment and I turn startled eyes toward the door to find Angie grinning at me. I try to move away, but Ben stands strong, his hand still inside my panties. “See you in a bit, Pen.” She giggles as she closes the door behind her, and I bury my face in Ben’s chest.

“Well, that was unexpected.”

“You could’ve moved away.” Mumbling into his shirt I feel his sigh before I hear it.

“If I had, she would’ve seen my hand slip out from your pussy covered in your orgasm. I was trying to save you the embarrassment.”

I bring my head out of his chest and meet his eyes. Irritation flashes through them as another sigh falls from his lips.

“Thank you.” He nods a little but his mouth remains in a tight line. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He backs away from me, but not before straightening my skirt and making sure I’m decent.

“Well, that was convincing. Wanna try again and this time actually tell me what’s wrong?” I take a step closer to bridge the gap he made between us, but he shakes his head.

“I saw the panic in your eyes. Is it that bad if everyone knows about us?”

The vulnerability in his words makes my heart stutter, and that terrifies me. But I gulp the fear down and take another step closer to him. I cup his cheek and let my breath out loudly. “I’m not ashamed of what we’ve got going on here. I just wanted to keep it between us because once everyone knows, there’s no going back. You’ll be dealing with the Bradys and my dad. It won’t be fun.” I step back slightly and steel myself to say the next bit. “Plus, I was worried that once the thrill of sneaking around was done with, you’d get bored.”

I lower my head and let my chin hit my chest. Why did I say that? He didn’t need to know I needed reassurance. I should’ve stopped talking.

A finger is placed under my chin and he tilts my head back to look at him. His eyes are kind and a small smile is on his lips. “Penelope, how do you not know I’m crazy about you by now? You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

I raise my brow and a grin starts to form on my mouth as he laughs in answer to my silent question. “Yes, really. You’re mine and I’m yours.”

Laughing, I fall into his arms. Clinging to him, I bury my face in his neck and smile. I don’t care if Angie is telling the whole world right now. He’s crazy about me. Crazy about me . Holy fuck!