Ann Bruce | Ella, Part 2

Ella, Part 2

The warning knock on her office door had Ella looking up from the computer screen where she had been testing the beta version of her company's new software. The door opened and the head of her department entered, followed by a tall, dark-haired stranger.

"Ella," the middle-aged manager began, "there's someone I'd like you to meet."

Ella rose from behind her desk, a pleasant, if somewhat tired, smile already plastered on her face, and walked around to the front. She looked up, way up, right hand outstretched.

"Ella, Jay Mackenzie has requested..."

Whatever Colin's last words were, Ella didn't hear it. The roaring in her ears made that impossible. And her vision had just narrowed considerably. All she could see was the man in front of her. A dark charcoal, two-piece suit coordinated with a pale blue, button down shirt replaced the flannel shirt and the soft, faded jeans. However, it was the same dark hair that had a trim since she saw it last. The stubble was there, but not so pronounced as before. The same harsh features that hinted at a roughness that turned her on even at that very moment. His eyes were as dark as hers. That was the one thing she hadn't picked up on that night so long ago. And in those eyes she didn't see even the tiniest flicker of recognition or remembrance. Ella didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

"Ms. Caldicott." The voice was deep and husky, just as she remembered. A large, callused hand closed over hers. Warmth spread through her. "Colin's told me a great deal about you."

"Only good things, though, Ella. Only good things," Colin quickly reassured. A wide grin split his surprisingly boyish face. "But not so good that Jay would be tempted to steal you away from us."

"Hmm. I don't know about that, yet," Jay drawled, making Ella aim a questioning look at him.

"Ella?"

She blinked and decided it was time she said something before Colin put two and two together and come up with five. She swallowed to moisten her dry mouth.

"Sorry, my mind was just wandering for a second."

A smiled tugged at the corner of the unforgettable mouth she had been studying. "I'm insulted," Jay Mackenzie said lightly, but he tightened his grip a bit. It was then that Ella realized her hand was still captured in his and she discreetly tugged it free. She clasped her hands together in front of her.

"I didn't mean it like that, Mr. Mackenzie."

Colin frowned. "Are you feeling okay, Ella?"

"Hmm?" Ella cast her fuzzy gaze in his direction. "I'm feeling fine, Colin."

"Good, 'cause I told Jay that you would be happy to give him a demonstration of version 5.2."

"Of course. When?"

"How about now?"

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Uh, sure. If Mr. Mackenzie has the time now," she said, switching her gaze back to him, still searching for a sign. Any sign.

"I have no other appointments for the rest of the day."

"Wonderful!" Colin exclaimed, already making his exit. "I'll leave you two to it, then."

The sound of her office door closing gave Ella a case of uncharacteristic nervousness. She swallowed and looked at the large, masculine frame before her. Jay Mackenzie looked back. It was a long silence. Ella didn't know what it meant.

Finally, she cleared her throat and took a step back. "If you would just take a seat--"

"You never told me your name," he interrupted quietly, startling her, making her inhale sharply.

Ella fell back a few more steps until she came up against her desk. "I didn't think you remembered."

He took a couple of steps towards her, seemed to think better of it and stopped, shoving his hands into his pant pockets. "I couldn't forget."

She broke eye contact and glanced down at the plush, oatmeal-colored carpet. "You didn't tell me your name either."

His grin was sardonic and faintly self-mocking. "You took off before I even had a chance to catch my breath."

"I-I wasn't thinking clearly. I wasn't thinking at all." Ella closed her eyes. But that was a mistake for her mind took her back to the dimly lit bar, its small dance floor, the small corner where this man had made her feel things she had never felt with Peter or with anyone else, for that matter. Her lashes fluttered and her lids lifted. "Despite what you may think, I don't normally do that kind of thing. That night...it wasn't me."

"Could've fooled me," he growled softly, a hint of anger coloring his tone for the first time. "You look just like the woman who made me hot enough to all but take her in a bar filled with people." He stepped closer to her and bent his head down to her. "You smell the same. I'll bet you even feel the same in my arms.

"Dammit, who was that guy you left with? Someone else you decided to pick up because I wasn't enough for you?"

If she could've, she would've physically retreated from the venom in his low voice. Instead, all she could do was close her eyes and slowly inhale. Her fingers grappled with the edge of her desk, trying to find purchase in more ways than one. Then her lashes lifted. The heaving mass of angry male was still in front of her. She could almost feel the heat coming off of him, warming her tight skin.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me. I've been told that I'm more intelligent than I look."

"Cunning, more like," she muttered, glancing down, breaking away from the intensity. But it didn't work. She could still feel him.

"Ella?"

"Peter was my boyfriend. I was meeting him at the bar that night."

He should've been expecting that, Jay thought. It shouldn't make him want to stagger. It shouldn't make him feel weak and hollow and enraged enough to bruise his knuckles on that desk she was using for support.

"Are you still with him?"

She shook her head. "I...uh, broke it off with him that same night."

The satisfaction that surged through him was primitive, but it was far from what he really wanted.

"Was he cheating on you? Were you using me to get back at him?"

Ella swallowed, not reassured in any way by the soft-spoken questions. She trained her eyes on his chest, coward that she was. The same coward who ran for the relative safety of Peter's arms that night so long ago.

"Yes and no."

Ella snuck a peek up at him through her lashes. He was waiting expectantly. Her right hand came up to play with the thin, gold chain about her neck, but when that only drew his gaze to her too vulnerable throat, she dropped her hand.

"Peter was cheating on me, but I didn't find that out till after..." What could she say? Till after an experience that replayed in her dreams--and fantasies--for weeks, months, on end? Making her wake up night after night, hot and trembling and wet with desire. "Till after," she finished lamely. And brutal honesty made her add, "But I started having suspicions about Peter that night while I was sitting there waiting for him."

The ice returned to his voice and his flinty stare. "Since you weren't trying to get back him, you get your kicks from cheating on your boyfriends for the hell of it."

Ella instantly straightened away from her desk. "No! I told--"

"Then why did you do it?" he demanded, his fingers gripping her shoulders hard to make the first trace of fear slide through her.

And fear always heated her temper.

"Why did you do it?" Ella, eyes stormy, threw his hands off her and gave him a shove. It was like trying to move a wall, but at least he was no longer touching her. "If I remember correctly, you were the one who approached me!"

"Only after you kept throwing those come-hither looks in my direction."

Her eyes rounded with a mixture of shock and outrage. "What come-hither looks?"

"Is your memory really that faulty? Do you need a reminder?"

"No! And, dammit, what is it to you anyway? My reasons are my own. I don't owe you an explanation. I thought guys fantasized about no-strings sex. The no commitment thing. And that was definitely it!"

"That wasn't sex, sweetheart. This is," he growled, and with a large hand tangled in her hair to hold her in place, he forcefully brought his mouth down to hers, bruising the soft flesh.

Jay expected her to struggle, to push at him, or, at the very least, remain unresponsive to punish him.

But her mouth was already opening under his, drawing him in, demanding that he taste her. And he did, boldly, deeply. There was no finesse in that kiss, just a possessiveness that made him run a large palm down her back, molding her to him, cushioning all his hard planes and hollows with her softness.

Ella moaned and dug her fingertips into his sides, crumpling his jacket. She used her hold to both pull him impossibly closer and steady herself as she rose on her tiptoes. Understanding more than he would've liked, Jay found the hem of her short, black dress and ran his hands underneath. Her textured nylons gave way to soft, smooth skin mid-thigh. He flexed his fingers and found satisfaction in the tightening of her arms about his waist. And the way her whimper turned into a gasp when he cupped her bare buttocks and lifted her onto the edge of her desk, her dress rucked up about her waist, only made his erection strain painfully against his trousers.

"Christ, you're hot," he muttered against her voracious lips, earning him a quick tug on the collar of his shirt and a seeking hand below his waist. "Damn, yes."

His hands bracketed her hips, his fingers stretching her thong tight. Ella squirmed, trying to get that oh-so-painfully-elusive pressure against her throbbing clit. When no relief came, she bit down on her bottom lip, lowered her lashes until her eyes were mere slits, and very deliberately molded her hand along the hard, hot length of him. After he had cursed considerably, Ella, as if in deep concentration--and she was--caught the tip of her pink tongue between her teeth as she pulled his shirt free of his pants, popped open the first button, and slowly pulled down the metal tab of his zipper. And just as slowly, she eased the elastic band of his briefs over his hard shaft. She could only go so far as to push the briefs down to his knees before her hands came back up to wrap around his cock, stroking up and down the smooth, searing skin.

Jay thrust into her hands, one moment grateful that she knew just the right amount of pressure to apply, and the next going out of his mind with anticipation, desire, need. His motions jerky, he plunged his fingers into her hair, dislodging the pins so the dark mass fell down and tangled with his hands. He pushed down, and the first hot waft of her breath over his sensitized skin was almost enough to make him come.

But he didn't. He couldn't. He had waited too long for this moment to spend himself so quickly.

Ella, not ready to give him what he so obviously wanted, closed her eyes and rubbed his shaft with her cheek, running it up and down his length, once, twice. With one hand, she cupped his heavy sacs and squeezed, earning her an expletive and more pressure on the back of her head. Tentatively, teasingly, she flicked out her tongue and picked up the drop of moisture that had formed on the tip of erection. Salt and musk spread on her tongue.

His fingers fisted in her hair and his harsh voice drifted down to her ears. "Dammit, Ella, take me in your mouth."

Hands braced on his hairy thighs, she pushed him back a step and fell to her knees. Then she obliged him, but not in the way he meant. Stroking his shaft, she leaned forward and took a heavy testicle into the warm, wet cavern of her mouth. She sucked it, laved it, teased it, gently rolled it back and forth with her tongue, pouring her imagination into that one act. From the way he was groaning and reflexively tightening and relaxing his hands in her hair, Ella thought he approved. Then she took the other one into her mouth and treated it to the same.

It was several long moments before she turned her attention to the shaft that had grown even bigger in her hands. She started at the base of his cock, planting sucking, sometimes nipping, wet kisses along its length as she moved to the tip.

The air was sucked from Jay's lungs. She had closed her lips over his head. He couldn't help it; he held her head steady and began thrusting. They were shallow, tightly controlled thrusts, the same ones he had used in his fantasies for the past three months. And like his fantasies, the woman at his feet was more than willing, if the nails digging into his buttocks was anything to go by. But unlike his fantasies, it only took a few thrusts before the light exploded behind his lids and the orgasm exploded in his brain and the rest of his body, making him go taut.

After she had swallowed the last of his come, he lowered his suddenly jelly-like frame to the carpet, facing her on his knees. He kissed the luscious mouth that had tortured him countless times since he first saw it. "Thank you."

Amusement glimmered faintly in her eyes as she let him draw her to him, and she whispered, "According to the President of the United States, that wasn't sex, either."

His chest reverberated against her ear with laughter. He kissed her ear, starting a small chain of explosions that lead to her already throbbing pussy. "We'll get it right eventually."