Truth Meets Love Read online

  She goes to get herself some coffee and set up the presentation slides in the back of the room. She hasn't looked up yet. I use it as my chance to sneak to the bathroom and throw some cold water on my face and gather my scruples. I need to get it together before she sees me in there. It is not like I can hide from her forever. We work together now.

  Hadley-

  I am waiting for everyone to take their seats as I queue up the first slide. It displays my name, title and position within the company. As usual, I noticed that I was the only woman in the room. I never make eye contact when initially surveying my audience; I look at each person's shoes. This guy who just came in has great shoes… I make the mistake of following the crease in his pant leg up and meet the familiar bulge I had in my hand two nights ago, before I moved it off to his hip.

  My eyes travel up his chest to meet his face. He has shaved close. He is wearing an off-white sweater and dark tan linen pants. I am told most of their very skilled creative design team work remotely and are not suits who work from the downtown office. Those folks are more administrative roles, like accounting, human resources and legal. His skills in Infrastructure Management are utilized at Mathis Engineering. Their area and his talents are two of the main reasons we looked at investing in their company in the first place! I had no idea!

  My heart just lost its footing and is sitting somewhere between my stomach and the barbell that is pierced through my skin just above my clitoris.

  It was supposed to increase my pleasure and according to Dez, it worked for her and I must just not be doing it right. I failed to mention to her at the time that I hadn't actually had sex with anyone. Dez gave me the piercing about seven years ago. Dez was a tattoo and piercing specialist and owned her own shop before Tyler sold it to go back to school after she passed away. She planned it all out for him. All he had to do was follow the phases in the plan I helped her strategize. However, according to her plan Tyler was supposed to have met someone new about six months ago. To my knowledge he was coming in behind schedule on achieving that milestone.

  I am glad I was just surveying the room and not speaking when I saw Tralen. I am sure I would have bit my tongue and screwed up my speech. I get through the presentation without looking directly at him. He did me a favor by lowering his head down behind his laptop so he wasn't staring or hanging off my every word.

  However, I could see that tick in Tralen's jaw return every time Ben would reach around me and touch my back, which he seemed to like to do a lot, or speak and pull me in like we were sending out a shared message--like I was supposed to be his "trophy" to show off. I was starting to get a little pissed off at his caveman tendencies but I bit my tongue. I had never been involved in this part of the process and I wanted Mr. Greyson to know I could handle myself and the additional responsibility and be proud of my accomplishments.

  Once the presentation was done and I answered questions, we wrapped it up. I was approaching Tralen to acknowledge one another directly when Ben comes up behind me, hands on my hips, and whispers into my ear, "You ready to get some lunch?"

  Tralen-

  Oh, this fucker better not keep touching her back and now her hips, rubbing his shit against her body that is clad in a form-fitting black dress with a slit above her left knee. She has dark red suede heels and belt and silver and red jewelry. She had such class and grace. How could I ever have thought she was just a "stripper"?

  How she moves on that pole, though, is more than erotic. It was like a fantasy coming to life. She seems oblivious to everything around her when she dances. It reminded me of Cody and how he is with his guitar when he plays--like they are somewhere else behind their closed eyes.

  "Mr. Harrison, good to see you again, Sir."

  I walk toward them and she freezes. I put my hand out for her to take. When she looks into my eyes with relief and puts her hand in mine, I pull her from his hip grip and into my side. I reach around her from the other side and stick my hand out for Mr. Harrison to shake, continuing with, "As I understand it, you may have already gotten yourself the opportunity to steal her away for dinner this evening. So I hope you don't mind, but I already made plans with Ms. Masters for lunch."

  Yeah, that's right, dumbass, look confused. Ben gives me an icy glare but I am not intimidated by this yuppie fucker. I have never backed down from a challenge worth taking.

  Hadley is smirking at me as we walk down the hall to the elevator. I grin over my shoulder at her as she pauses before it and I pull her past the elevator to the stairwell. We are only on the sixth floor and I want to take her somewhere private and close. I want to tell her what I need to, what I should have already. Then I can kiss her and see what bases she might allow me to round once we are in the "Wellness Room."

  I have missed her soft skin under my palms. I need to see if she has those black lace panties on under her black dress.

  Hadley-

  He has my hand in his and takes me down two flights before he pulls me through the door back into an empty hallway lined with doors. We take our first left as Tralen swipes his badge over a lock for the "Wellness Room", as the sign next to the door reads. He tugs my hand, clasped in his, into the dimly-lit room and lets the lock catch as it closes behind us.

  Tralen pulls me to his chest and starts kissing up the side of my neck as a whimper escapes my lips. His tongue trails up my jaw as he catches my mouth with his. Both his hands and all ten fingers are pulling the sides of my snug black dress up over my thighs. Just then he lies back on the reclining chair and pulls me to him, hooking one of my legs over him. I slide up and straddle him while he lies back on the chair. My red lace panties draw his attention and he shakes his head while murmuring, "Looks like you are holding out on me" as he sits forward, taking my earlobe in his mouth and sucking it hard. I squirm above him.

  "I am getting us comfortable so we can talk," he states in my ear, waiting for my response. I just smile and nod, and I put my hair behind my ears and find a comfortable position with his bulge nudged between my legs. It is pressing against the damp warmth of my red lace panties. Inside I am reeling from it all… I am at work; I can't believe I am doing this. I have never done anything like this. He smiles back at me and proceeds, "Then we visit the deli down on the next floor for some soup and a sandwich."

  I ask in a shaky half-giggling and half-excited voice, "After we work up an appetite--was that your plan?"

  He chuckles and puts his hands around my waist and then slides one of his knuckles down, brushing against the outside of my panties just above my piercing, and his eyes come up and they are wide. He has an almost primal wild expression. Oh No, Skilled Infrastructure Tenant Guy! My clothes are staying on at work.

  I quickly adjust and counter-attack the plan I see coming in his mind… I lean down and take his mouth with mine. I raise back up and say, "I think I already mentioned, Mr. Creed. I don't fuck my tenants. I may also need to specify that same rule applies to my co-workers, as well. If I do determine to strike either of those points from the rule book, it still wouldn't allow for them to be executed at my place of work."

  I let out a giggle and I slide down Tralen's chest. I hover just above the now constant bulge he sports in my presence stating, "However, I can't watch you suffer with this any longer."

  I reach up, unbuckle his belt, unbutton the waistband, and zip down his pants. He is wearing light grey boxer briefs that are a silky soft, shimmering fabric. His shaft is bent down and struggling to make an entrance. I look at this face and I wonder what he is thinking, but then his hand comes up and strokes my jaw. Then he lets it fall down to circle his thumb pad over my shirt where my nipple is peeking out behind the cloth.

  I take the tip of his cock in mouth and use my hand at the base to pull him up and lick up his shaft. He lets out a low moan as he slides his hands behind my neck at the base of my hair. Tralen is holding me as I take him deep, the full length of him down my throat in quickening paces. He tastes like Tralen: leather and spice and everything so n
ice. He smells like a mixture of the great outdoors and a warm apple pie.

  I withdraw almost fully and come back down with my mouth tight around him on my descent. He squeezes gently on my neck; he tries to pull back. I hold him down and take him even farther down my throat. Considering the location of our interlude, I would really prefer to swallow the evidence this time. Especially in this case!

  Tralen-

  HOLY FUCK. The tip of my dick just hit the back of her throat as she groaned, and I about lost it. I brought her in here to talk, but having her this close was a problem. I couldn't keep my hands off her, even though I felt like a complete douche for not being honest with her. It was ignorant to think that I really would have cared any less about her just because she was a stripper.

  I have my hand gently around the back of her neck, not pushing her, but I know I am applying pressure with a squeeze when the tip of her tongue circles the underside of my dick.

  Ben had his hands all over her during the presentation but she wants me. I just fucking hope it is as much I want her. I have to tell her about the reception and the loft incident. Don't I? Is it a lie, really? It will embarrass her and hurt the connection we are making. Why would I ruin that… who in their right fucking mind would risk losing this!

  If she had been a stripper, then I would have learned to deal with it. She's not; she is a Mergers and Acquisitions Executive. She didn't lie to me, but I am still not sure she has provided full disclosures of her skills and experience. However, right now I couldn't be more impressed with her talents, regardless of how she got them.

  The pole dancing? Maybe it's just a hobby. It is probably some crazy, fucking awesome workout routine. How else would she keep her body looking like this? I may change my own workout regimen to get in on some of that action in the future for sure.

  I come apart and bite down to keep from saying her name as I reflexively try to pull out. I have never had a woman swallow my load before. That's fucking hot!

  Good thing, really. What was I going to do, pump it into my hand and walk it out the door to the bathroom? Knowing my luck, I would run into Mr. Greyson while en route with a handful of fallen soldiers, ready to be laid to rest. He always shakes my hand. Although it showcases my ego and I would never admit it to Hadley, at least not out loud, I have to confess, if that really happened I would much rather Mr. Greyson knew I was in the "Wellness Room" with her than think I was jerking off in there alone!

  Chapter TWELVE

  It's My Destiny

  HADLEY-

  Oral sex in the office--really? That is what I have resorted to? I have the haunting feeling that Mr. Greyson would be none too impressed with that behavior. I could have definitely been fired.

  Why would I risk everything I have worked for… for him? He could start blackmailing me. What if that is the only reason he wants to be with me--my position in the company? Maybe he sought me out and that is why he responded to the ad so quickly? Is he using me?

  I have to stop thinking that every guy out there is Luke or AJ. But aren't they? I think Tralen might be different. Please let Tralen be different. I want him. I deserve him. He's "Had-Worthy"!

  I need to focus on getting through my dinner with Mr. Greyson. Ben called to let me know that instead of Mr. Greyson sending a car for me, he would just pick me up. I tried to tell him I could just drive myself but he insisted.

  Ben is a very intelligent, handsome, successful guy… but he has control issues. I can feel it. He thinks even though we are peers that he can steer me and control me.

  I think in the car on the way to dinner I may have a little talk with Mr. Harrison. It is not professional or appropriate for him to touch me the way he did during the meeting--in front of co-workers or anytime, really. I need to establish some personal and professional boundaries with him.

  My trucker persona picks now to come alive: "coming from the girl who just knob jobbed a Hottie in the 'Wellness Room'!"

  Contradictions. I am full of them. I giggle to myself and finish getting ready for dinner.

  I hear a knock at the door and as I open it, I see a smug-looking Ben staring back at me as he eye-rapes me. I am wearing my white off-the-shoulder silk cream white blouse with my black flowing skirt that hits just above the knee and strappy sandals.

  Ben presses into the entry uninvited, and it is behavior like this that reminds me of … AJ and Luke. Just barrel over ya; come into your home without invitation. No respect.

  He doesn't wait for me to express that thought before I am grabbed roughly, gathering my wrists and pulling them up over my head. He wedges one of his knees between my legs, and his mouth is on mine.

  I try to push him back; his lips feel too wet and hard; his teeth dig into my upper lip. I try to collapse down the wall but his knee presses up hard against my core and then he reaches down and tries to push his hand up under the hem of my skirt.

  I know I am telling him to stop; I can hear it echo around the room. It sounds like someone else's voice, and I feel like I am having an out–of-body experience.

  I get an idea of what Dez must have felt like when she was being held on the ground by that guy in the trees behind the parking lot that night we met. I remember my mom crying and trying to hold it back as AJ taunted her and terrorized her.

  I am not her.

  Just as he pulls my skirt up, trying to get a better grip around to pull my ass in to his crotch, his finger grazes the tip of the scar at my rib. I go into survival mode. Dez is here with me; I can feel it. I let him widen his stance before I square my shoulders and knee him hard in the fucking nut-sack. He crumples to the ground, heaving and writhing on my floor.

  I am not scared of him, really. I mean, he was forcing himself on me but this is not something that really rattles me anymore. It was unexpected but I find my old reflexes are still intact. He is not the first guy that has ever been on the receiving end of that maneuver.

  I think now is a good time to finish establishing those boundaries I was going to discuss with Mr. Harrison in the car on the way to dinner.

  I begin to explain that I am not comfortable with the way he tried to push himself on me. He hisses, "OH Destiny! I would think a girl with your kind of background might miss being treated like the whore you are."

  Did I just hear him right? The pace of my blood and adrenaline from this interaction just got taken to the next level. Did this motherfucker just call me "Destiny" and a "whore"? HE KNOWS! HE KNOWS ABOUT MY PAST!

  My head gets foggy and I feel lightheaded. I can't say anything; my airway feels like it has closed off and I feel bile rising into my throat.

  I am brought back into the moment, the nightmare. He pushes to his feet with a cold, calculating smile on his face. He is glaring an icy stare at me and he regains his composure and holds back the anger you can see radiating from him now.

  "I know all about what you did to get to the top. What? Was Greyson letting you fuck your way up the corporate food chain? That's how I got passed up to lead his company?" he grits out.

  That's what this is about--he thinks Greyson picked me over him? I think it is a slightly over-dramatized version of the actual situation. He gave me a promotion. That is far from running his company. I think Ben has fucking lost it.

  "What do you want from me?" I ask.

  I am confused about what his angle is here. Why has he chosen now to enlighten me as to his discovery? I now understand his anger runs deeper and more resentful toward me because of my position in the company. It isn't because I turned him down with a knee to the fucking groin when it was so enthusiastically offered.

  His next bomb clears it all up for me. He snaps in a mocking tone, "Draw up an agreement naming Hadley Masters as his successor, Greyson told me. Like it was the obvious next step; no consideration for alternatives. Just done. Did he honestly think a fucking stripper could do a better job running this company than me?" Ben snorts and then laughs "He thinks we could make a could team."

  He looks me up and down and
licks his lips staring at my chest and snarls, "I bet he is right about that and I intend to find out just how good real soon. First things first, though. I am trying to decide if I should tell Greyson all about your previous job experience--you know, to help boost your career tonight over dinner. Maybe we should invite your boyfriend to join us, too! He might want to hear what kind of girl he's been dipping his fucking stick in, huh?"

  I panic and blurt out, "NO--what do you want from me?!?"

  I could almost handle the scandal of being a stripper to Mr. Greyson. I would have to explain the situation. He may have to ask me resign over the reputation risk. I never really thought this would ever come up again. I thought it was buried in history. It was supposed to be behind me and it was just a means to an end. I am going to lose everything. My career.Tralen. What will I do for a living, go back to stripping? Yeah, right!

  "I think we may make a good team after all… That's the spirit," he coos as he starts to walk toward me.

  I am frozen. I can't move. Should I hit him again? Should I run? Do I scream? He is going ruin me and all I have worked for? How did he find out? None of that seems to matter any longer. He has his hands rubbing over my silk creme blouse in search of a hardening nipple.

  I want to throw up all over him. THINK. FUCK. THINK.

  I step back to give myself time to think of what say when he bites out, "This is what I want from, you cunt. I want you to make sure this fucking merger goes off without a hitch. You need to act surprised when Greyson presents you with the news tonight that you are about to fulfill his legacy."