"Then you don't want to owe me.' The words were flat, a bald statement of fact. He rubbed his thumb up the meeting of his ribs, the only indication that I'd hurt his feelings. My throat tightened.
He was right. I didn't want to owe him. To me, debts meant dependence and dependence meant vulnerability. I didn't want to owe anyone. Never mind that was already too late to avoid. Sean and Joe had given me more than I could ever repay: they'd given me back my confidence.
So why don't you act like it? I asked myself.
Unable to answer, I switched legs and started on my second foot. The position bared the outer curves of my sex, now pink and clean and fragrant. I wasn't trying to be seductive, but before I could work past the ankle, Sean plucked my foot off the lid and scooted on to the seat himself. When he set my sole on his hairy thigh, a carnal shock streaked towards my sex.
'I'll take care of this,' he said, and tugged the bottle of moisturiser from my nerveless fingers.
He squeezed a cool line up the length of my leg and massaged it into my skin with long, voluptuous strokes. His cock stretched as he worked, becoming a bold silhouette beneath his briefs. It might have belonged to a different person for all the attention he paid it. He murmured a compliment for my shaving job. I guess he thought that ankle-to-groin sweep was for his benefit -and maybe it was. I grimaced at the private admission, but didn't pull away, not even when his lips brushed my kneecap. The ghost kiss set off sparks in my clit, making
it swell and pulse within its warm, plump trap. His circling hands climbed my left thigh. One finger teased the edge of my towel-fluffed pubic hair.
I knew it wasn't an accident, especially when he wound a crisp auburn curl around his pinkie and tugged my labia apart. I couldn't hide what he'd done to me, what the whole evening had done to me. His middle finger stroked my frilled inner lips, slipping easily along the arousal-slicked channel.
'See what a good employee I'd be.' He cruised round the crucial delta and tickled the other side. 'I'm so good at anticipating your needs.'
'Well.' My voice came out an octave higher than normal. 'I'd appreciate your help - but only until I can find someone permanent.'
'Hire someone to input data,’ he said. With an abruptness that startled, he set my foot on the floor and began rubbing moisturiser up my belly. 'I can handle the rest in no time. I'll even train the person.'
His creamy palms slid over my breasts. He splayed his fingers and pressed my bosom back against my ribs. My resistance weakened. I shifted my hands to his shoulders and inclined my body into the delicious pressure. 'You really want to work with me? Even though you know I can't pay what the lawyers do?'
'Of course, I do. Mostly Romance is a great shop. You've got satisfied customers, happy employees, and all the coffee they can drink. What more could a number-cruncher want?'
'A better salary?' I suggested, but his estimation of my business warmed me. Marianne's crack about my 'close, , personal employees' had shaken me more than I cared to admit.
Tm thinking of my future,' he said. 'You'll make me a partner a hell of a lot sooner than the lawyers will, and once Mostly Romance opens a few more branches, a partnership with you will really be worth something.'
I could feel my eyes bulge. He must have known how presumptuous he sounded because he wouldn't look at me. Instead, he focused his attention on the furled red tips of my breasts. They shone with cream as he plucked them. I found the sight a bit distracting myself, so much so that I could not formulate a diplomatic answer. Sean had such labourer's hands. Their callused strength lent a piquancy to his gentle manipulations.
'I've been reading up,' he continued, as calmly as if he were discussing the weather. 'Romance is big business. I wouldn't be surprised if MR Enterprises went national one day.'
Finally, I found my tongue. ' "MR Enterprises"? Sean, aren't you jumping the gun here?'
Satisfied with his handiwork, he dropped a kiss to one lengthened nipple. His golden lashes rose. He was smirking. I don't know why. I was reasonably certain I hadn't accepted his proposal.
'I'm not jumping the gun,' he said. 'I'm only jumping ahead of you. But I know you, Kate. You're too proud of what you've accomplished to rest on your laurels - and too smart.'
'Now I understand why no one says "no" to you. You're a bulldozer.'
'I'm a Halloran,' he corrected. 'Hallorans think big. Now let's hit the hay, Miss Kate. I've got you all to myself and I don't want to waste the opportunity.'
He didn't waste it, either. He took me vaginally first, a surprisingly intense quickie - to warm me up, he said. Then he positioned me face down with a pillow bolstering my hips and took me anally. If I'd ever doubted, I knew then that this was his favourite way to fuck. The way he lingered over every thrust betrayed him, the way he caressed my bottom and sighed and quaked and came like a man with a thousand volts running through his cock.