AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He left the lunchroom, and I rolled my eyes as Farah stared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Riley, that was… I mean… what happened to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve never seen you so confident. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but you’re usually very timid and go above and beyond to help the advisors.” She scrutinized me. “You want to be liked, and you don’t want people upset with you, and you go out of your way to make sure that doesn’t happen even when it negatively affects you.”
I laughed. “Man, I am an open book to you. Or I’m just really pathetic.”
“You’re not,” Farah said. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to help others or be liked. You would not believe the crap I do to get my boyfriend’s mother to like me, but you’re not even upset by what Gary said or that he’s pissed with you, are you?”
I thought about it before shaking my head. “No, I’m not.”
“Why not?” Farah asked. “What changed?”
Deacon’s face popped into my head. Was it because I had his approval that I didn’t care what other people thought of me? I decided that was part of it, but it was something more. Something had changed inside me, and while I would always crave acceptance and approval, I no longer felt quite so… desperate about it. Personal growth brought on by my weekly good girl sessions with Deacon? Maybe, but I would take the growth, no matter how it happened.
“Riley?” Farah prompted.
“I’m not sure,” I said.
“Well, I like this new badass version of Riley,” Farah said.
I laughed. “That might be going a little too far. I’m pretty sure I’d still burst into tears if Deacon or Mr. Wright yelled at me. But Gary and his ‘I won’t stop staring at your tits’ habit can go screw himself.”
Farah grinned and gave me a quick squeeze. “Baby steps, Ry. It’s all about baby steps.”
* * *
Deacon
I paced the foyer, glancing at my watch while I waited for Riley. I should have been working late tonight and reviewing the final numbers so that Richard could finish the statements for my review tomorrow, but I told myself we all needed a break.
The entire finance department had worked late all week, and we were all a little punchy and irritable. Making them - and me - work late on a Friday night wouldn’t make a difference in finishing the year end, but it would make a difference in our attitude. We all needed a break, and I could just as easily review the numbers from my home office tomorrow morning.
It was more important to give my team a break. To send them home on a Friday night and let them blow off a little steam however they needed.
Is that what you’re doing? Blowing off a little steam?
Honestly, I didn’t know what this was, beyond me feeling nearly feral with the need to see Riley, to touch Riley. She’d sat ten feet outside of my office all week, but I’d barely seen her or talked to her, and my cock strained at my pants at just the thought of being near her.
I took a deep breath, checking my watch again. Riley was already gone when I’d come out of my office at five. Every other night this week, she’d stuck around to see if I needed her to stay late, but not tonight. I’d been frustrated that I hadn’t gotten the chance to say goodbye, to see her gorgeous face before I went home.
I’d barely gotten in the door before I’d grabbed my phone and sent the sisters a message. It was late to book, and I was a tense ball of nerves waiting to see if Riley would say yes. The sisters’ confirmation that Riley was available and agreed to a last minute booking had turned my cock into a stiff spike and erased all of my tension in an instant.
The front door opened, and Riley stepped inside in a blast of swirling snow and cold air. She shut the door against the howling, yowling wind and leaned against it, releasing her breath in a low sigh. She looked pale and tense, and guilt swept through me. No doubt the roads had been a fucking nightmare, and I’d made her drive here in her piece of shit car with tires as bald as my Uncle Dennis.
“I’m sorry I made you drive in that,” I said.
She screamed and jumped about a foot before giving me a wide-eyed look of surprise. “What-what are you doing here?”
“I live here,” I said as I helped her remove her jacket.
“I meant - why are you downstairs instead of your office?” Her eyes went even wider. “Oh shit, am I late? I’m not late, am I? The roads were terrible, so I had to drive super slow.”
She tried to fumble her phone out of her purse, and I took her purse from her and set it on the floor before crouching and undoing her boot laces. “You’re not late, baby. Lift your foot.”
