Daddy’s Dirty Boss Page 7

  There was something in it. Something about it. Some lingering way that he focused on have her when he got the words out. I felt the ground opening underneath me, not sure where the hell to look as Mr Lindon’s stare shifted to the guy at my side.

  “No,” he said, and his tone was clipped and cold. “You can’t have her next week.”

  “Damn,” Stephen said, with a laugh in his voice. “I guess I’ll have to have her outside of work, then.”

  His arm was still hooked tight around my shoulders, and when he stepped on through the saleroom my legs went with his on instinct, even if my eyes stayed on the man I adored. I turned my head, and his was turning too, both of us locked in vision as I kept on moving.

  My belly fluttered and pained both at once, and I watched as his hands clasped in fists at his sides, his whole body rigid.

  But then I was gone, outside in the main office and still held in Stephen’s grasp as he guided us through to the main reception exit.

  “Alright then, soon to be birthday girl,” he said in the car park before letting me go. “You have a great weekend, and make sure you check out your calendar for next week.”

  I nodded, daring to smile a little, even though I had no intention whatsoever of checking out my calendar for any guy who wasn’t Mr Lindon. More fool me.

  “Thanks for showing me the ropes,” I said, and meant it.

  He didn’t wait to watch me leave, just flashed me one final glance before heading off on foot.

  I pulled out my phone to fire off a message to Holly, telling her again what a hot potential suitor Stephen could be for her, and couldn’t help but laugh to myself as a load of winks and obscenities came back in response to my description.

  The laughter was still going strong as I set off on foot myself, well and truly ready for a birthday weekend of a load more laughter with my awesome friend.

  The sound of footsteps behind me was enough to get my attention, and I was gasping in shock for the second time in a row as a hand clasped tight on my arm.

  I spun in a flash, staring up at the figure behind me who kept that grip tight. He was fresh from the office, the sternness of his expression still harsh enough to burn.

  “Stephen Jones is no fucking good for you,” my insanely perfect boss told me, in barely more than a growl. “Stay clear of him.”

  I tugged my arm away, trying to work out why the hell he was suddenly so bothered about speaking to me, but he seemed to come to his senses and stepped back, his brows loosening as he regained some kind of composure.

  “What’s wrong with Stephen?” I asked, my belly aflutter all over again.

  “Everything as far as you’re concerned,” he said.

  I shrugged, just a little. “Is that why you chased me out here? To tell me Stephen Jones is no good for me?”

  His jaw was gritted, his eyes still fierce. “No,” he said, but didn’t elaborate.

  “Why then?” I pushed. “Why did you chase me outside?”

  I didn’t know what he was going to say, especially when he closed the distance back up between us so tight I could feel the heat of him. He must have been able to feel my shudder right back at him, the quickness of my breath as I felt him there.

  “What do you want for your birthday, little girl?” he asked, his voice a rasp in my ear. It had that edge again. That filthy edge that drove me crazy.

  My answer was instant. Soft and shivery and every bit the little girl he told me I was.

  “You,” I whispered.

  “What do you want from me exactly, Faith?”

  I could barely breathe. “I want you to be my first,” I told him. “Please, Mr Lindon, sir. I want you to be my first.”

  I could have cursed as we were interrupted for the eight millionth time. It always happened, every single time I was getting somewhere, someone always had to come and wreck it like an asshole.

  This time the asshole was Rachel, again, although once again she didn’t mean to be. She came on up with a smile and slipped her hand through my arm. Mr Lindon was already away from me, stepping back and creating a distance before she’d even noticed our closeness.

  “I’m walking your way, birthday girl,” Rachel said. “Let’s hook up for the journey.”

  What choice did I have but to join her?

  It didn’t make any difference. Mr Lindon’s choice was to watch me leave.

  Chapter Twelve

  Miles

  Of all the things I was in this life, indecisive wasn’t one of them. I didn’t manage my business, or my ambitions, or succeed in so many of this world’s opportunities without sureness of will or intention.

  She, my sweet Faith, was the nemesis to my surety. An unscratchable tickle that wouldn’t be tamed. A flicker of a flame I was unable to snuff out.

  I didn’t know which I hated more. My own deviant desires and my inability to make them fuck the hell off, or the way I was back and forth like a prick of a pendulum, for and against spearing that begging little pussy with the stability of a toddler on an ice rink.

  One thing that was for sure, I was done with the flimsy bullshit and my own lacklustre willpower. It was in or out, finally for the taking or done with the whole lot of it.

  Another thing that was most definitely for sure – there was no way that cocky little prick Stephen Jones was going to be the one taking her.

  I wrote out the birthday card for my pretty little girl, and my hand paused with the pen held tight. As of today she was eighteen. An official adult. Certainly ripe for the taking by anyone who wasn’t morally barred. By anyone who wasn’t me, her dad’s friend and employer. Her employer along with it.

  I couldn’t believe I was truly contemplating it with a rational mind in the light of day, let alone acting on it, but I did. My hand worked of its own accord, my writing a flash of italics as I finished up the happy birthday message with an added sentence below.

  I do have a special birthday present waiting for you, little girl. Be sure to come and take it.

  My cock was already hard as I folded that envelope closed and sealed it tight. I slipped it into my inside pocket, despite hating myself for my plan to give it to her.

  Then it was time.

  I checked out my hair in the mirror, neat and slick, and smoothed down the lapels on my jacket. Yes, I was very much the professional looking Mr Lindon everyone knew so well, even if the interior was anything fucking but.

  I hadn’t been to Colin and Diana’s house for quite some time. Two years in fact. I walked up their driveway with strong steps, pushing my way straight around to the back garden where I could hear the activity already underway. Sure enough the celebrations were for a young girl and not for the woman stepping into the new phase of life. The row of bright pink balloons guiding my route through to their gathering were the same kind they’d been gracing her with from the very beginning. The party music was the same playlist that had been playing a decade ago.

  And there she was in the heart of it all. The beautiful Faith Martin in her beautiful pink dress, just like the usual celebrations. Only this time the dress was different – fitted, where previously it was bouncy and flared, hugging those curves proud on display in a way that made my mouth water.

  For once her hair was swept up completely, not so much as a tendril spiralling down that elegant long neck of hers. Her lips were perfectly pink to match the rest of her, and her eyes were the most stunning blue in the sunshine. She was stunning, as always.

  I was staring hard at her when her eyes found mine amongst the gathered visitors. Those eyes widened and that pretty pink mouth dropped open, and she was shocked. Visibly shocked to see me there.

  That delicious surprise only made me want her all the more.

  Colin exclaimed when he too saw me in attendance, and charged right on over to shake my hand.

  “Feels like a lifetime since you were last here!” he said, and he was right on that score.

  “Quite.”

  “We’ll have to remedy that. We’l
l have to get you and Erica over for a meal and a catchup.”

  I didn’t reply to that as Diane was a welcome distraction with a glass of champagne to hand over to me. I kissed her cheek then took a swig as she gushed about how big her little girl was getting, and I did my usual generic smile and thanked the Lord how private our own inner thoughts are in this world.

  It was a relief when they both got caught up with freshly arriving guests, and I used the opportunity to head on through to a few gathered members of my office team. I forced myself to feign interest in their general gossip bullshit, but I could feel Faith there in the corner of my vision, struggling to keep her eyes off me as much as I was struggling to keep my eyes off her.

  “Doesn’t she look beautiful?” Mandy from the accounts team asked, and I raised my eyebrows as I realised she was talking to me.

  “Faith?” I asked, and she nodded.

  “Yes, the birthday girl,” she laughed. “Such a beautiful little darling, isn’t she?”

  The others did their sighs of agreement and I forced another generic smile.

  “She is indeed a pretty little thing,” I said, and they kept up their nods and gushing.

  That’s when I truly realised how Faith had been right in the car on the Brayburn’s trip. The whole world did in fact still treat her as a little girl. But it wasn’t just her parents, and their pastel pink reluctance to let her grow up. It was the office women and their cooing over her like a schoolgirl on work experience. It was her relatives staring over at her like she was the same little girl they’d been visiting at birthday parties since she was a tiny little speck in this back garden.

  There was a huddle of presumably college friends who were more interested in laughing with each other than having anything to do with Faith on her big day, but the rest of this place was a sea of pretty little girl and nothing more.

  Ironically, pretty little girl around Faith Martin was both the thing that made my balls ache, and the thing I was most determined to counter, all at once.

  She was trying to get to me, I could see it, but everyone en route wanted a piece of her. People were hugging and kissing and pulling her in for sweet little chats, and I kept my distance, fuelling the fire of frustration. She had almost reached me, barely a gaggle of aunties away when Diane clinked a champagne glass at the main table and summoned the crowds to gather.

  And then it came. The birthday cake, complete with eighteen pink glowing birthday candles. The happy birthday to you started up, everyone joining in as Faith made her way back up to the glowing hulk of icing and plastered on that baby girl smile, hands clasped tight in front of her as she prepared to blow.

  I should have kept at the back of the crowd, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was sucked in, my heart pounding as my beautiful little princess smiled wide. I brushed on through, and I was there, eyes fixed hard as hers found mine, and it was everything. Everything unspoken. Everything deep and wrong and desperate. Everything forbidden and unspeakable.

  Everything I needed as much as she did.

  She blew out the candles with her eyes still on me, and I clapped just like everyone else, even though my stare was nothing like anyone else’s.

  She dropped her eyes as her mother started carving up the cake, and she was blushing, nervous.

  I loved how she was nervous.

  I was sure to bide my time before finally closing the distance. She was still at the top table with her parents when I approached her, and that blush stayed bright on her face as I handed over the birthday card.

  “Thank you, Mr Lindon,” she said, and her voice was such a husky little whisper.

  Her parents didn’t notice. They grinned and watched as she opened the envelope, completely oblivious to any hidden agenda in my words, but she wasn’t. She knew exactly what my intentions were.

  Fuck, her reaction was divine.

  The shock, the swallow, the wide open eyes. The way she struggled to stay still, her gaze shooting between the card and my face over and over as she struggled to truly digest it.

  “Oh, how lovely of Miles to get you a present,” Diane said, and grinned over at me. “You’ll have to go and collect it, sweetie.”

  “How exciting that you couldn’t have it at the party. I wonder what it is,” Colin said and squeezed her to his side. “Thanks, Miles. How kind of you.”

  I’d been getting her presents since she was a baby, but still they acted like it was some grandiose gesture on the generosity front. I got a fresh twinge of self-hate right then, enough to have me make my excuses and leave, nauseous at the knowledge I really was going to sink to the depths as I stepped on out of that garden.

  But the self-disgust wouldn’t stop me. Not anymore.

  Nothing would.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Faith

  I pulled Holly away from our college friends, barely able to hold back a squeal as I tugged her into the conservatory and out of view of the garden.

  I was jumping on the spot as I handed the birthday card over, and her eyes were almost as wide as mine as she read Mr Lindon’s message.

  “My God, no fucking shit,” she whispered. “You’re really getting some.”

  I tried to calm myself, but it was impossible. My whole body was alive, still not quite believing it.

  “That is what it means, right?” I asked in a panic. “He really is going to be my first?”

  Her nod was instant. “Hell yeah. He really means it. We’d better get your ass over there quick sharp.”

  I pressed my hands to my cheeks. “You really think I should go there tonight?”

  She laughed. “Unless you want to give him any chance to back out. Um, yeah, I think you should go there tonight. We’ll say you’re staying at mine.”

  I took a breath. A deep one. My belly was churning with so many butterflies, I felt sick.

  “Oh God,” I said, “Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God.”

  “It’s just nerves, that’s all.” Holly grabbed me by the arms. “It’s going to be amazing.”

  “Oh God,” I said again. I knew she was right, but still. I couldn’t believe it.

  “Happy eighteenth,” she giggled and pulled me into a hug. “Now, let’s get this party finished up and we can get you ready.”

  I tried my best to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. I chatted and smiled. I opened nice gifts of chocolates and bracelets and cute little teddy bears, and I meant all my thank yous and love yous. I was ready to burst as Auntie Mary said her goodbyes and left the garden empty. I started helping Mum and Dad to clear the plates and glasses, but Mum waved me away.

  “No, sweetie,” she said. “You leave this to us and go enjoy your evening with Holly.”

  I gave her such a huge hug, and one to Dad right after her.

  “Thanks for an amazing day,” I said, then shot off to catch Holly up on the stairs, already on her way to my bedroom.

  We dashed on in and up to my wardrobe, giggling as we looked through the clothes. She pulled out dresses and cute little tops with skirts, but I shook my head, already knowing exactly what I was going for.

  She gasped when I dug my school uniform out from the back.

  “No way! You for real? You’re really going to head over there in that?”

  I told her it was a no-brainer. “We know what he likes to watch. When he sees me in this, he won’t be able to resist.”

  She was shaking her head, one eyebrow raised, “Trust me, Faith. You could walk in dressed in a sack and he’d eat you up. He isn’t gonna say no. Anyway, you’re right, that little number will have him begging for it.”

  I only dared hope she was right.

  “And, since he likes schoolgirls,” she went on, “are you going to shave before you head over there?”

  I told her I’d shaved before the party.

  She raised both eyebrows and the penny dropped deep with a nervous clatter.

  “No way,” I said.

  “Yes, way. Get your ass in that shower and make it all nice and smo
oth for him.”

  “Oh wow. You really think…”

  She was nodding before I could finish. “Hell. Yes. I think you should jump in that shower right now and get yourself well and truly fit for his filthy fantasy. I mean, this is your big night, right? Make it count, Faith. Trust me.”

  I did trust her, and I had every intention of making it count.

  I soaped myself so well in the shower, and was so thorough with the razor that I had Holly banging on the door and asking if I was ever coming out of there. I’d never shaved down there before, only trimmed, and it felt so different when I was done. So sensitive and so exposed.

  I felt so exposed.

  Holly was already working on my hair as I started getting dressed. I chose my best white lacy bra and checked myself out in the mirror as I slipped my blouse on.

  “You look amazing,” Holly said. “You always do.”

  I loved her confidence in me and told her for the billionth time that she really was my best friend forever. She told me I was hers right back.

  My blouse still fit perfectly and it was still second nature to fasten my school tie up just right. My pleated skirt was a couple of inches shorter now, which was an extra bonus, and my knickers made me feel so naughty in their most innocent white cotton. I really had picked out the most baby ones.

  Finally I pulled on my Arlock Academy blazer, perfectly smart in its navy blue with its lovely yellow crest on the pocket.

  I did one last twirl for Holly once my makeup was done and she slapped her hand to her chest.

  “Perfect,” she said. “Absolutely perfect. He’s gonna fall in love with you in a heartbeat.”

  I daren’t even consider him falling in love with me. It would be the most crazy dream of all time.

  “Now to disguise you to get past your parents,” Holly said, and turned me back to the wardrobe.

  We did a pretty good job of it. I wrapped myself up in a decent length coat, ready to blame it on a summer chill. I put a floaty scarf around my neck and tied it in a big bow, and hoped my socks and shoes were subtle enough to make it past them without drawing attention. Luckily, Mum and Dad barely even noticed as we waved our goodbyes on the way out. They held up their hands and wished us a good time, but didn’t give my outfit too much of a look.