Page 3 of Wicked Desire (Sapphic Billionaire Club #2)

Nicole

T wo hours ago…

“Look, I agree that our proposal will be stronger if Lowenthal Properties joins forces with Sanderson Real Estate Services,” Grace said. “But I’m only working at Sanderson part time. I’ve got a whole other company I need to manage.”

I stared across the table at the woman I’d had a secret crush on the entire time we were in school.

Not that I realized it back then. No, I’d always been convinced that I hated Grace since she’d been a royal bitch to me all the way through high school.

It was only with the insight of being an adult that I realized I’d liked her but was unable to process the emotions, so I hid behind our mutual acrimony.

It was easy to do given how much Grace hated me.

Unfortunately for me I realized that my feelings for her had never died.

That realization hit me about a week ago when she walked into a joint meeting between our two family companies, Sanderson Real Estate Services and Lowenthal Properties.

I hadn’t seen Grace in years, but I’d taken one look at her and despite the fact that I’d always thought love at first sight was a fairy tale, I’d fallen in love so fast it took my breath away.

There was a lot to love about Grace. She was beautiful, poised, and brilliant.

Her mind worked at least twice as fast as normal people.

When you talked to her she was always several steps ahead of everyone else.

And her analytical mind was amazing. I’d had to bust my ass all through school to beat her in mathletes competitions.

Grace was tall, at least five ten, with long curly blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and thick, luscious lips.

I stared at the pink gloss on them, dying to kiss them clean.

Dragging my attention away from her lips I cataloged her thin but feminine figure with small, high breasts, gently rounded hips, and strong thighs.

She was dressed professionally in a form-fitting navy dress with silver buttons down the front and a bright red belt around the waist, clearly a designer item. Her dress was perfectly matched with expensive red high heeled pumps that were sexy as hell.

Damn, I had it bad. This was so confusing.

“I just don’t think I have the bandwidth for a project of this size,” she continued.

“You won’t be doing it alone,” I reminded her. “We can share the work.”

I didn’t know why I was defending this insane idea of our parents. It was going to be a stretch for both of us, and like Grace, I had my own interests outside working for my family’s company. It would be a stretch, but I’d be lying if I said the project didn’t intrigue me.

“And what if we get the project?” she continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “We’ll be working on this for at least three years, even if we get the mayor’s office to push the permits.”

Chicago’s building permit process was notoriously slow.

“Our parents asked us to do this,” I reminded her. “We should at least give it due diligence.”

“You always were a goody goody,” she sneered. “At least around the adults.”

It was an old insult, and honestly well justified.

As a kid I had a knack for acting sweet and innocent around the adults, never letting on that I had a naughty side.

Of course I still had a bad habit of doing whatever my parents wanted, even if it ran counter to my own desires.

I really need to work on that , I reminded myself for the millionth time.

“How about we take the weekend to think about it?” I suggested. “We can make a go/no go call on Monday.”

“Sounds fine,” she said, standing up and shoving her portfolio into her fancy designer briefcase.

Grace had done well for herself, making a name for herself outside of her family legacy.

I liked that about her. She and her partners were all ridiculously wealthy.

They’d been super tight in school to the exclusion of the other girls.

While I had my own group of friends, I’d always been jealous of how close they were.

I followed Grace to the door. She tugged on the handle, paused, then tugged again.

“What’s the matter?”

“The door handle is stuck,” she said, squatting a little to look at it closer. “It doesn’t seem to have a lock.”

“It sticks sometimes,” I said. “I’ve been meaning to ask Maintenance to fix it. Let me try.”

I turned the handle and pushed against the door. Nothing happened. I tried again.

“Damn it,” I swore softly. “It’s really jammed.”

Behind me, Grace sighed impatiently.

I made a fist and pounded on the door. “Hello! Is anyone there?” I yelled. “We need help!”

When a few minutes of pounding didn’t yield a rescue, Grace spoke up again. “I’m going to break a window.”

There were large windows on both sides of the door. She looked around for something to throw through the glass.

“You can’t break the window,” I said.

“I’ll pay for the damage,” she said sarcastically. “What’s it going to cost? A thousand bucks? I’ll gladly pay that to get out of here.”

“No,” I said. “You literally can’t break the glass. It’s bulletproof and shatter proof. It’s rated to withstand hurricane force winds and being shot at.”

“Damn it!” she swore again. “Are you guys laundering money for the mob here or something?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Then why do you have bullet proof glass in your fucking conference room ?”

I shrugged. “Dad’s a little fanatical about security.”

The poor guy had been in the wrong place at the wrong time during a mass shooting incident. He was one of the only survivors, and after watching gunmen shoot out windows he’d vowed to never let anyone get killed because of windows. Their house was like a fortress, and so was mine.

“What are we going to do?” Grace asked impatiently.

I wondered if she was getting claustrophobic or something.

“Oh I know!” I said brightly. “I can use my nail file as a screwdriver. I’ll disassemble the door handle.”

She looked at me suspiciously. “Have you ever disassembled a door handle?”

“Well no, but how hard can it be?” I asked. “Let me just get my purse… oh no!”

“What now?”

“My purse is in my office,” I admitted.

“I can’t believe this!” Grace threw up her hands, her long hair flying behind her. “I should have known you’d pull something like this if I came to your office.”

I was immediately angry. Our parents had set up this little collaboration, as she well knew, and I wasn’t any happier about it than she was.

“It’s not my fault,” I said, stalking towards her. “It’s not like I regularly trap people in conference rooms. How about you quit whining and help me figure something out?”

She moved a little closer until we were only about a foot apart.

“Whining? I’m whining?” she said incredulously. “God, you’re just as annoying as you were when we were kids.”

“And you’re just as much of a shrew,” I shot back.

We stared at each other, both of us angrier than we should probably be for the situation, breathing heavily. My eyes snagged hers and we stared at each other for a long, heated moment. Suddenly all the oxygen seemed to leave the room.

Then we flew together like someone had fired a starter pistol. Grace lowered her head, and I popped up on my tiptoes, and then we were kissing, our mouths crashing together.

It felt like the rightest thing I’d ever done. I was immediately more aroused than I’d been in my life. Not that I’d had a ton of experience.

I gripped Grace’s shoulders as the kiss went on and on. She wrapped her hands around my hips, hands going to my ass, pulling me closer as our tongues dueled for control.

“You’re too short,” she gasped as we broke apart to catch our breath.

“Maybe you’re too tall,” I said, leaning in to nip her lower lip with my teeth.

The instinct to argue with her was ingrained in me.

Grace growled, then grabbed me by the waist and swung me around to sit on the top of the conference table.

Our lips met again, and when my tight pencil skirt impeded her ability to move between my legs, Grace shoved the fabric of my skirt up to my hips then shoved my legs apart.

I immediately wrapped them around her hips, pulling her closer.

This kiss was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It was hot and passionate, but also somehow tender. It felt like something I’d been waiting for my entire life. And maybe I had.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Grace muttered against my jaw as she licked her way down and across to my ear. She bit down on my lobe, then kissed her way back to my lips.

I snaked my hands between us, unbuttoning some of the buttons on her blouse until I could get better access to her breasts. Then I cupped the lace covered globes, one in each hand, and squeezed and kneaded her flesh while Grace made love to my mouth.

I was burning up now, my entire body on fire. Our hips rubbed against each other as our tongues dueled for control of the kiss.

“Is everything… oh, I’m so sorry ma’am. I thought I heard pounding before.”

It took a few seconds for the male voice to penetrate through the haze. With reluctance I pulled away from Grace to see one of our security guards standing in the doorway, staring at us in shock.

“Darrell?” I asked, as if he was an apparition.

“Yes ma’am Ms. Lowenthal, I’m so sorry to interrupt.”

He seemed to be rooted to the spot, an embarrassed flush covering his cheeks.

“It’s fine,” I said, striving for some decorum. “I’m glad you came by. The door was stuck, we couldn’t get out.”

Grace finally came to her senses, stepping away from me like I was toxic. I closed my legs quickly, not wanting to give Darrell more of a show than he’d already gotten, and pulled my skirt down as I slid down off the conference room table.

“I’ll talk to you later, Nicole,” Grace mumbled in a very not-Grace like voice.

She picked up her bag off the floor and pushed her way past my security guard, not turning back as she practically ran away.