Fireline Read online

  Cassandra was tall, especially in her sky high heels, her hair a deep red that she always had tied up... though not today! I was shocked, her green eyes meeting with mine, unable to say anything.

  ‘Miss Fournier,’ she said, uninterested, though she stopped in front of me.

  ‘Cassandra,’ I managed.

  She looked towards the office. ‘I guess you were with Quinlan.’

  I nodded. ‘Yeah. I was just leaving.’

  ‘Good,’ she said, walking past me, stopping. ‘George.’

  ‘Ms. Sloane,’ he said, nodding to her.

  I looked her over, seeing that she was otherwise dressed as usual; a black pantsuit with a green silky blouse.

  Why the hair?

  I shook my head, pressing the button for the elevator.

  Chapter Four

  I got home to the phone ringing.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Hello,’ my mother’s voice said.

  ‘Mummy,’ I said, smiling. ‘Why didn’t you call my cell?’

  ‘I figured you’d be at home,’ she said.

  ‘Because I don’t do much else?’ I asked, slightly annoyed.

  ‘You said it, not me,’ she said, a smile audible in her voice.

  ‘Hmm. So, what can I do for you?’ I asked, unzipping my jacket.

  ‘We’re having a barbeque this weekend, if the weather is nice,’ she said.

  I kicked off my flats. ‘OK...’

  ‘This is me telling you that you have to be there,’ she said. ‘And Quinlan.’

  ‘Who else is going to be there?’ I asked, already wary.

  ‘Everyone... your father, me... your brothers.’

  ‘Oh no,’ I said, shaking my head, ‘No way. I’m not going to be there with those two idiots, especially with Quinn.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because the minute they find out Quinn has money that will be it. They’ll think of a zillion reasons to get money out of me.’

  ‘You need to be there on Sunday at noon,’ she said, ignoring my comment. ‘You will be there, as will your brothers.’

  ‘And their children, no doubt,’ I grumbled. I hated children, especially infants and toddlers. And combined they had three of them.

  ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘I know it makes you uncomfortable, but you’re going to be there.’

  ‘Why? What’s so important?’ I asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘It’s just going to be a nice barbeque and since you’re part of this family, you will be there. I also know you won’t go anywhere without Quinn, so he is invited as well. In fact, he should be there, since you’re so serious.’

  ‘I sense something going on,’ I said. ‘Why the get together? We didn’t do this last year.’

  ‘Your father’s got a new barbeque,’ she said. ‘Won it in a contest. He wants to try it out.’

  ‘OK, then what will I be eating? I can’t eat bread,’ I said, ‘so no hot dogs or hamburgers or anything like that.’

  ‘We’ll make you chicken and salad, as we always do,’ she said.

  I thought about it, trying to think of a reason to not go. I came up blank. ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Sunday at noon.’

  ‘Good,’ she said, obviously pleased with herself. ‘How are things otherwise?’

  ‘I just got home from lunch with Quinn. So, things are pretty peachy, especially now he’s home.’

  ‘How is he adjusting?’

  ‘Pretty well,’ I said, hanging my jacket up in the closet. ‘He’s just happy to be home. My lunches are booked the entire week with him.’

  ‘How is Michelle?’ she asked.

  I thought about my best friend, shrugging. ‘I guess OK. She’s been really busy with work. I think the last time I saw her was the first week that Quinn was away. Otherwise, I haven’t seen her. I think this is the longest I’ve gone without hanging out with her. She ends up working weekends a lot.’

  ‘She works for a councillor, right?’

  ‘Yeah. She goes to events on weekends. So, I’ve just been seeing Dani when we go to the gym during the week.’

  ‘You’re still keeping up with that?’ she asked.

  ‘Yep. I know I’ll never have abs, but my butt is getting great lift. I think Quinn has noticed. He seems to be liking my butt these days.’

  ‘Too much information,’ she said.

  I laughed. ‘Anyway, I’m going to try and get some work done. I’ll see you on Sunday.’

  ‘All right, love you,’ she said.

  ‘Love you, too,’ I said before hanging up the phone. I frowned as I put the phone back on the dock. ‘Great. Now I have to see those little cretins.’

  The thought of my brothers, John and Michael, didn’t sit well with me. I’d had problems with them pretty much my entire life. There was one point where John and I were like best friends, until he met his now wife. I wasn’t particularly fond of either of my brothers’ wives, especially Michael’s. There really wasn’t a Michael any more, there was just her.

  I stewed over it a bit, contemplating calling up my mother and refusing to go to the stupid barbeque, but then thought it would be great to flaunt what I have in front of my brothers. They always thought I’d end up fat and alone. Now I could show off that I was still thin and deliriously happy with a sexy, rich man. And I was doing what I loved. I was writing! I had an agent. I could rub my whole life in their faces. It would be epic. I was actually starting to look forward to seeing them for once in my entire life.

  I finally shook off the thoughts, finding my laptop and getting a few pages done. It was near to six when I texted Quinn.

  You on your way home?

  My phone buzzed a few seconds later. In ten minutes.

  I smiled, running into the bedroom and finding my black bustier and lacy black panties, putting on garters, since I knew they drove Quinn crazy. He loved garters.

  I heard the keys in the door, slipping on a pair of my black platform heels, which I pretty much only wore for Quinn. I walked out of the bedroom and into the entrance to the hallway, putting my arms on the frame casually.

  He was putting his keys on the little table by the door, but dropped them on the floor.

  ‘I take it I was a good boy?’ he asked.

  I nodded. ‘Very good. Now you’re going to be very bad.’

  He walked up to me, looking to my chest. ‘And how bad is that?’

  I grabbed his tie, leading him down the hall and into the bedroom, which was across from my office. It occurred to me that we had never done it in either of our offices... I guess I’d have to ambush him at some point.

  I pulled on his tie so he had his back to the bed before I pushed him on it. I straddled him, sitting on his lap and kissing him. His hands roamed down to my butt, feeling the lace of my panties.

  He pulled away from me. ‘I hate it when you wear underwear.’

  I smiled. ‘You hate it when I wear any clothes. Save for the garters.’

  His brow rose. ‘That would be interesting to come home to.’

  ‘It would,’ I purred.

  He grabbed hold of me, twisting me so I was on the bed. He got on top of me, grinding into me as I took off his suit jacket. I loosened his tie, tossing it with his jacket on the floor.

  His hand ran up my thigh, feeling at my garters. He broke away from me to kiss my chest, which was pushed up and on display from the bustier. He kissed my cleavage then my stomach, moving lower until he kissed my sex right over my panties.

  ‘These,’ he said, ‘have to go.’

  I smiled, removing the panties I had worn over the garters, and he continued, kissing my thigh. He moved to my sex, giving a long lick, making me shiver. He gently licked my clit sensuously, making me moan. He gave long, slow licks, making my legs shake and my breathing ragged.

  He pulled away, stroking until he pushed his fingers into me.

  ‘Where’s the toy?’ he asked.

  ‘In the drawer,’ I said shakily.

  He quickly got it out of t
he top drawer, pulling out the lube as well.

  ‘I thought you didn’t need lube?’ I asked cheekily.

  ‘I don’t, but the wetter the better,’ he said, applying a generous amount of lube to the toy’s shaft.

  He tossed the lube on the table before inserting the toy. It was similar to having a real cock inside of me, giving me the same tingle and filling me up, but it wasn’t the same. It still felt good, especially when he started to pump it in and out.

  ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Which button turns it on?’

  ‘The bottom one,’ I said.

  He pushed the button, the shaft starting to rotate as the beads inside did the same, the clitoral stimulator buzzing against my clit intensely.

  ‘Whooooa,’ I said, pushing my hips up as he started to push the toy in and out, the stimulator bouncing against my clit, sending electric shocks through me.

  He kept looking at me, the excitement playing in his eyes as he started to speed up, the sensations overwhelming me. I wasn’t sure how I was going to come, but I knew that either my clit or my G-spot was going to explode any minute.

  I grabbed hold of the sheets as I felt the orgasm building, my moans getting louder, Quinn’s name quivering on my lips. I felt it building inside, pleasure being drawn out of me from every pore, tossing my head back and forth as it exploded within me, making me call his name one last time as my whole body shook from the force.

  He withdrew the toy, tossing it aside as he moved up my body, his lips finding mine, kissing me deeply. I wrapped my arms around his neck, enjoying the coolness of his body against mine, which felt like it was on fire.

  He pulled away from me. ‘I guess we’ll be doing that again.’

  I smiled, kissing him again.

  I walked into his office. I had a silky robe on over top of my lingerie, which I hadn’t bothered to take off, knowing he was enjoying the thought of me wearing it around the condo.

  He sat behind his desk in nothing but his briefs, the light from the computer screen casting on his face as he typed away.

  ‘So, we have a barbeque on Sunday,’ I said.

  He looked up to me, his brow furrowing. ‘A barbeque? Where?’

  ‘My parents’ place,’ I said, walking into the office. ‘You’ll get to meet my brothers... much to my delight.’

  He looked a little dazed, shaking his head. ‘OK. This would probably be a good time to tell you we’re going to a wedding on the twenty-third.’

  ‘A wedding?’ I asked, surprised. ‘Whose?’

  ‘A friend of my family’s, her name is Miranda Davenport. Well, it will be Miranda Davenport-Calloway on the twenty-third,’ he said. ‘I accepted the invitation about a month ago, wasn’t able to tell you before I went away.’

  ‘Oh. Well, rich person wedding means designer dress, right?’ I asked.

  He nodded. ‘Yeah. You’ll be shopping a lot this month.’

  ‘Can’t I wear one I already own?’ I whined.

  ‘None of those are appropriate for a wedding,’ he said. ‘They’re too sexy, distracts from the bride.’

  I sighed. ‘All right, fine. Frump girl is who I shall be then.’

  He frowned. ‘No need to go that far. But you’ll meet a lot of my family’s friends before the ball.’

  ‘Oh goody,’ I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. ‘Looks like it’ll be all about family this month. Anita and Jack on Friday, my parents and brothers on Sunday. Then that wedding and the ball. Jeez, I didn’t know life was going to be so busy. It was so quiet when you weren’t here.’

  ‘You want me to leave again?’ he asked seriously.

  My brow furrowed. ‘No, where did you get that?’

  ‘I was joking,’ he said, frowning.

  ‘Well,’ I said, ‘don’t I feel silly?’

  He took my waist in his hands, looking over my lingerie. ‘I thought you’d be tired after our activities earlier.’

  ‘I am,’ I said, running my hand through his hair. ‘But I hate being alone in bed. I was alone for a whole month.’

  He nodded. ‘Understandable, but I have a lot of work to catch up on.’

  I thought about it. ‘Didn’t you have a meeting with Mister Brody this morning?’

  He nodded again. ‘I did.’

  ‘And...?’

  ‘And it went all right,’ he said, sitting back in his seat, letting go of my waist. ‘He hasn’t mentioned anything about the gala, about my almost pummeling his son, so I take it things are still going well.’

  ‘Until Donald showed up,’ I said, nodding.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, distress in his eyes. ‘Donald. That’s going to make closing this deal interesting.’

  ‘Well, Donald didn’t try to pummel Mister Brody’s son,’ I said, ‘so it would make sense that he might want to pick him. Haven’t you been doing this deal for a few months now? Aren’t things almost ironed out?’

  ‘They are,’ he said. ‘Which is why it is perfect timing for Donald to rush in and make a new deal. It’ll set me back another month at least, getting another deal together and hoping he’ll accept it. I wonder if I should wash my hands of it.’

  I frowned. ‘You shouldn’t let Donald get to you. He is slimy, though.’

  ‘You don’t know the half of it,’ he said, looking at the computer screen.

  ‘I saw Cassandra today,’ I said. ‘What did she want with you?’

  ‘Just welcome back pleasantries. She tried to drop a hint about lunches, but I informed her my lunches were booked for the week, perhaps even the next two,’ he said.

  I laughed. ‘Planning on stealing me for quickies that long, eh?’

  He nodded. ‘At least. I know I’m going to have to start up actual lunch meetings, especially with Mister Brody, but I have some leniency for a while until I settle back in. I can use that as an excuse to screw you in my office as many times as I can, as often as I can.’

  ‘Sounds so romantic,’ I said.

  ‘You want romance?’ he asked, confused.

  ‘Sometimes. Just to be surprised, you know.’

  He nodded to himself, obviously thinking.

  ‘I don’t expect poems or sonnets or songs, anything like that,’ I said.

  ‘Just normal stuff,’ he said. ‘Flowers, chocolates, jewellery.’

  ‘Not necessarily jewellery,’ I said. ‘That can be expensive... but yeah, jewellery can be nice. I guess that’s really for special occasions, though.’

  ‘Like Valentine’s Day and your birthday?’ he asked.

  I nodded. ‘Yeah. We didn’t really celebrate Valentine’s this year. I guess we weren’t really a couple.’

  ‘I spent it at your place, we were together, isn’t that what it’s about? Being together?’ he asked.

  I nodded again. ‘Yeah, but going out for dinner, little presents, flowers, surprising you when you get home, candles, that type of stuff would have been nice.’

  ‘We do that stuff all the time,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t have to be Valentine’s Day for us to go out for dinner or for me to get you flowers.’

  ‘Not that you have lately,’ I said. ‘The only person getting flowers around here is you, from Ellie. What was with her showing up here, anyway? I’m really tired of her stalking you.’

  ‘You didn’t really give her much of a chance to say anything,’ he said, leaning back on the chair. ‘I guess it doesn’t matter; she has to know by now that anything she tries is futile.’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, thinking about Ellie for a moment, the anger bubbling up inside of me. I hated her.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

  I looked to him. ‘Nothing, just stewing. It’s not often I don’t like someone, so it’s sort of blown out of proportion.’

  He stood up, taking my hand in his. ‘Did you eat anything today?’

  I nodded. ‘I had breakfast.’

  ‘But nothing else,’ he said. ‘We’ll order something.’

  I followed him into the bedroom where he grabbed his track pants. He
then put on his black T-shirt from on top of the dresser.

  I sat down on the bed. ‘Are you going to be OK eating in front of my family at the barbeque?’

  He took a deep breath. ‘I guess I’ll have to be, won’t I?’

  ‘We can make an excuse,’ I said. ‘I really, really, really don’t want to go.’

  ‘Why not?’ he asked, crossing his arms. ‘You don’t want me to meet the rest of your family?’

  ‘No, I really don’t. Not because I’m ashamed of you or anything. In fact, I had convinced myself that I want to show you off, as a way of sticking my tongue out at my brothers, but when they find out you’re rich and they only see dollar signs...’

  ‘Just because they try to scam money out of me doesn’t mean they’ll get it,’ he said. ‘If you tell me not to give them money, I won’t. There’s nothing that could convince me otherwise, unless I have your say so.’

  My brow furrowed. ‘You would give them money if I asked you to?’

  He nodded. ‘Yeah, though with good reason I would hope.’

  ‘Well, you don’t need to worry about that,’ I said. ‘The last thing I would do would be giving John or Michael any money.’

  ‘Michael,’ he said. ‘I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you mention his name.’

  ‘I usually try to avoid it,’ I said, laying back on the bed. ‘He tortured me until I lost the weight. He had horrible names for me. Used to beat me up. Almost broke my arm once, choked me until I almost fell unconscious.’

  ‘Jesus,’ he said. ‘And no one did anything about it?’

  I shook my head. ‘No, he has everyone played really well. No one would think that Michael would do something like that. Plus, he did it when no one was around.’

  ‘I don’t really like this person all that much,’ he said.

  I sat up. ‘I figured you wouldn’t. You won’t like him in person, either. You’ll hate his wife, Liz, even more. There is no Michael, only Liz. She does all the talking, makes all the decisions. He doesn’t even move without her say so.’

  ‘And yet he used to beat you,’ he said, shaking his head.

  ‘Yeah, I know, he ends up being whipped,’ I said. ‘I guess I didn’t defend myself enough. I think I was too vulnerable because of my low self-esteem.’