AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I guess,” he mutters, still pants-less.
“We do,” I affirm. “Plus, if I stay much longer, you’ll have me laying on your desk, legs spread, and there’s no way that I’d be able to be quiet for another round. I’m already too sore to keep from screaming.”
He chuckles, but he says, “I love you, Addison. Have fun editing something.”
“I will. And don’t get into any more fights with your dad. I want you in a good mood tonight since I’m moving in.”
He nods, and I turn around to walk away. I know he’s watching me walk away, and when I get to the door, I flip my skirt up to show him my lace panties again. I can hear his feet moving as he rushes toward me, but I’m too fast, and I slip outside his office before he can get to me.
I take a deep breath as soon as I’m in the hall. It’s like I’m finally back in the real world again. A world where this hallway is full of dangerous men who could crush my dreams with a single word.
Phillip is both the reason they might and the only reason they don’t. I know that no one in his world would approve of me. I know that I’m the enemy in their eyes, a gold-digger that got her hooks into a billionaire.
But I’m not, and Phillip knows that. Hell, I’m the one who tried to push him away from the very beginning. I don’t even really understand what it’d be like to have access to more money than I make as a junior editor.
Tonight, I guess I’ll find out. Part of me is terrified, but the other part can’t wait. For now, though, I’m just going to get through the day without going crazy.
Forty
PHILLIP
I’ve dreadedthis for so long. The day I have to leave the bliss and wonder of spending my days doing simple, stress-free work and my nights with Addison. As I look out at the city under my office, I don’t feel that dread. In fact, I’m ready for this melding of two lives.
There were so many wonderful pieces of my life as a junior editor. The laughing at the breakfast table. All the new experiences. And, of course, Addison.
But I felt helpless there. I didn’t have the tools I was so used to having. Waiting for buses or subways. The struggle to have fun with her without breaking our budgets. More than anything, the looming end of that month.
Today, I get to bring the good from that life into my world, where I have answers for everything. There are sacrifices I have to make to do that, but they’re nothing compared to going back to the nothingness I had before I met Addison.
And no matter how much I try to pretend like I don’t care, I’ve missed being at the heart of Loughton House. I’ve spent every day of my life working for this place, and it’s a part of me just as much as I’m a part of it. I’d leave if it came down to choosing Addison or it, but the loss would hurt.
Taking a deep breath, I turn away from the window and look at my desk that’s never changed for more than a decade. Simple, unmarked cherry wood that I’ve sat behind every day. A symbol of my solitude if I want to get metaphysical about it.
And right where I rest my hand during meetings, there are deep scratches that weren’t there this morning. Scratches that Addison made while I fucked her raw for the first time. I’ll touch those scratches and remember that moment every day.
I can’t help smiling at that knowledge. But it’s time to go, to embrace the change that both of us have dreaded for a month.
I stand up and walk down to meet the girl I love. A limo is waiting outside to take us home. I can’t wait to let her have fun redecorating it. We’d joked about that earlier, but there’s no doubt she’ll do just that since my home is as empty as my life was before her.
Addison is standing nervously by the break room, waiting like she said she’d be. I give her a smile as I walk toward her, and I can tell she’s not sure what to do. When we first met, there wasn’t an ounce of nervousness in her. She’d been fast with a sassy comment at every turn. Hell, even when I’d started working in her cubicle, she hadn’t been afraid. The rest of the office would have kept their heads down and tried not to draw my attention, but Addison hadn’t.
Now, she’s standing there like a girl on her first day at a new school. I guess that it’s understandable, but I hate it. I want her to be excited, to be ready for all the new opportunities.
“Ready to go?” I ask when I get close.
“Yeah.” She pauses and continues, “Us leaving together like this is weird. I mean, when you were wearing stained shirts and pretending to be like the rest of us peasants, it was easy to forget that you’re the big boss. Now, it’s different. It almost feels inappropriate.”
“What we did this morning was inappropriate,” I say with a grin. “This is fine as long as I don’t touch your career, something we both agreed to. Plus, as soon as you publish your novel, I’ll have to find another junior editor.”
That ought to bring out the fierceness in her. She always gets pissy when I mention her novel being published.
“Just forget about the damn novel,” she snarls. “I’m stuck on the dark night, and I think I’m ready to give the whole thing up.”
I just chuckle. Addison still hasn’t let me read anything, and she’s barely told me anything about it. “I’m sure you’ll get it figured out. You’re probably just letting all the changes in your life mess with you. Let’s get you settled in, and then you can tell me all about your struggles over fancy beer.”
She cocks her head. “You have some more of that weird stuff you had at the motel? The raspberries in coffee kind?”
“All that you can drink.”
