Page 27 of Whiskey and Regret

“I’m not showing you a damn thing,” I chuckled. I tried to close the computer but Xari launched herself across my desk. Nearly landing in my lap. Her long lean lines were laid out on top of my papers and notes about characters while her leg hung off the side, brushing against my lap.

I pushed the laptop to the edge of the desk but it was too far out of my reach to close it so Miss Lucas got an eyeful of the sex scene I was working on.

Her greedy eyes ate up the words on the screen while my greedy eyes ate up her perfect body. My hands ached to slide down the curve of her back to grip her ass through the silk. I wanted to pull her on top of me and stuff her full of dick while she rode me.

“Fuck,” She said, sliding off my desk…finally. I was paralyzed while she was sprawled out like that. “You um…you have a way with words, Freeman.” When she stood up, her nipples were stiff pebbles.

“Yeah. Thanks. You weren’t supposed to see that.” I pulled the laptop close to me and shut it with a huff. “Look, you want help with your budget or not?”

“Um…yeah. Sure.” Her cheeks turned pink as she tucked a chunk of fluffy hair behind her ear.

“I’m sorry you saw what I was writing. If it made you uncomfortable, I apologize. But you did insist on reading it.”

“Uncomfortable?” A half-laugh escaped her. “You have to get to know me more. I’m rarely uncomfortable.”

“Then what’s that?” I asked, pointing to the pinched-pink hue on her cheeks.

“You really wanna know?” She smirked, showing off a hint of those dimples.

“I do.” I folded my arms and tipped back in my seat once my erection settled down. I knew better than playing this game with Xari but the whiskey helped to erase my common sense.

“This is my turned-on face,” she said gesturing to her gorgeous features. I tipped my head to the side and laughed.

“You got turned on reading that one page, huh? Doesn’t take much for you.”

“It’s a start.”

I intentionally let my gaze drop to her perfect tits, zeroing in on her nipples. I shook my head and ran a hand over my close-cut hair. “Let’s keep things professional, Miss Lucas. I’m sorry for overstepping my bounds.” I turned on the desktop computer and told her to pull up a chair.

“You know I’m never letting you off the hook, right? Now that I know you’re not the buttoned-up human yawn I thought you were, I’m going to fuck with you.”

I wished there was a way for me to let Xari know she was barking up the wrong tree. I understood where she got the idea of me being a stick in the mud from but it couldn’t have been further from the truth. The things I wanted to do to her were proof of that. Thank fuck she couldn’t see inside my mind.

“That’s unnecessary,” I said.

“Whatever, Freeman.” She made sure to enunciate as many letters as humanly possible, making me laugh. “Also, I saw the way you were looking at my tits.”

“You came in here empty-handed. Do you already know all of your numbers?” I asked, ignoring her previous statement.

“It’s all on my phone.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and waved it in my face before she sat beside me behind the desk. Her leg brushed against mine when she crossed one over the other. I had to get away from her subtle floral scent. I walked over to the bar and poured myself another glass of whiskey.

“You drink a lot,” she noted. Her eyes tracked me over the top of her phone.

“You pay too much attention to me.”

“What are you trying to drown, Freeman?” Her voice was a soft purr. She reminded me of a rambunctious, curious kitten that couldn’t stop getting into trouble.

“Let’s look at your income versus your expenses first.” I moved back to my desk and picked up her phone to look at the figures she’d put down. I learned that if I ignored Miss Lucas consistently enough, she’d let go.

I was right. Eventually, the fact that she wanted to work on her budget outweighed her need to push my buttons.

After an hour, a frown had made itself at home between Xari’s sculpted brows. “I need more money,” she said.

“Yeah. Your paycheck from working for me still isn’t enough to cover your credit card bills. You need to cut it down to maybe three at the most. You have ten cards, Miss Lucas.”

“Well, I’m not getting rid of my Starbucks card or my Neiman’s card.” She rubbed her temples and blew out a puff of air.

“Keep a low-interest rewards card, a standard Visa card, and a Capital One card. Your credit score isn’t bad thanks to your parents helping you out but if you want to handle everything on your own, you’ll have to eliminate most of these cards.”