What just happened in there? Ivy asked herself.
He spanked you. He pulled your skirt up, ripped your panties down, exposing your bare ass. He was going to do a lot more than that, but you ran away before he got the chance.
Ivy took a deep, shuddering breath as she stood just outside Cullen Sharpe’s closed and locked office door. The tears were very close to the surface, but she’d so far managed to keep them at bay.
He can see you right now. There are cameras everywhere around here.
She wiped her hair out of her face and started walking, pretending that everything was fine. She didn’t want the CEO to know that she was so upset, if he was indeed watching her over closed circuit TV right now.
But as she walked to the elevators and waited for the doors to open, the images and memories of what had just occurred were flooding her mind.
She closed her eyes and allowed it to happen.
His hands, touching her.
The feel of her panties as they were slid down over her hips, revealing everything. His warm hands, those long fingers, the beckoning wetness between her thighs…
Even now, as she relived it, Ivy felt so many competing emotions that she could hardly stand it.
The doors swished open and she got into the elevator. Before they closed, she had the half-hearted thought that maybe Cullen would appear and tell her to stop. He’d invite her back into his office and they could resume their lesson.
But then the doors slid closed and the elevator descended, causing her stomach to do that fateful little drop.
The tears started to fall as she realized that somehow it had all gone wrong. Sometime between waking up this morning and right now, she’d made every mistake in the book.
What was I thinking? I’m no match for him.
I fell apart.
I fell apart and I’m still falling apart.
She got out of the elevator and tried to collect herself before she went back to the cubicles and resumed working.
Everyone around her was walking by, people in groups, discussing business, checking their phones, or just heading wherever they were headed. People had things to accomplish, and none of them saw her or cared what she was going through.
Somehow, everything was normal, but Ivy’s entire life had changed back there in Cullen Sharpe’s office.
Everything had changed. Her ass exposed to him. Her panties down.
I shouldn’t have run. I should’ve stayed.
Finally, she’d admitted the truth and that made it hurt all the more. She wasn’t so upset because Cullen Sharpe had spoken inappropriately to her, or touched her in an unwanted way. In fact, just the opposite was the case.
I wanted it so badly that I got afraid, I freaked out and ruined it.
That was what hurt so bad—knowing that she’d screwed up. And she could pretend that he was a bad guy and he’d taken advantage, but the truth was that she’d simply been too inexperienced to handle a man like him.
And even he had realized it by the end, which was presumably why he’d told her she’d made the right decision to leave.
Ivy sighed, letting the air out of her lungs, feeling her stomach relax as more tears flowed from her eyes and down her cheeks.
Composing herself a bit, she wiped the tears away, drying her face with an old napkin she found in her purse.
Just as she was contemplating a trip to the bathroom to clean up her makeup and make sure she didn’t look like a sad clown, a familiar person came striding towards her.
It was Lucas from her orientation group, and for a fraction of a second, she even wondered if the young man had purposely come looking for her. But she knew that was ridiculous.
Lucas waved as he approached her. “Hey,” he said, his expression changing from friendliness to concern as he got closer. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah. Totally.” She sniffed and hid the crumpled napkin in her palm.
“You seem like you’ve been crying.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, smiling. “What’s up? Having fun at good old Biomatrix Pharma?”
“Oh, it’s a regular party, here,” he said, rolling his eyes.
She had to give him credit for still being willing to joke around after the tongue lashing that Cullen Sharpe had given him in orientation.
“Well, on that note, I’ve been away from my desk way too long,” she sighed. “I should head back.”
“Sure,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pants pockets.
She gave him one last smile as she started back towards the cubes.
“Hey, Ivy!” he called after her.
She turned around. “Yeah?”
“A bunch of us temps are going out to get a drink after work today. You want to come with?”
Ivy hesitated, but then brightened. A bit of alcohol might be the cure for her memories and regrets about what had happened in the CEO’s office. Something, anything, to numb her emotions sounded like just the thing right about now. “Sure,” she said, laughing. “Why not?”