Vanilla and Vice (Empire Sevens Book 1) Page 9

  An angry flash moved over his expression. “The men what? Did they touch you?”

  I looked away again, tightening my arms in front of me. “No, but they look at me like I’m nothing. They look at me like I’m just a body for them to stare at. It makes me feel small and disgusting.”

  “Yet you continued to work all night and wear the uniform feeling that way?”

  I shrugged, my eyes finding a spot other than his face to concentrate on. “It’s not like I had a choice.”

  Again, he moved closer, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he breathed me in just a bit. “You always have a choice.”

  “Not always.”

  He continued to inch closer, his chest brushing against mine and sending my senses into overdrive.

  “Sir?” I queried. “What’s happening right now?”

  I kept my eyes on his ample chest, not sure what else to look at and utterly unsure of what was happening.

  A whispered growl sounded from above me—manly and aggressive—and something inside me began to melt toward him.

  “Eden,” he whispered.

  It was so faint I almost didn’t hear it. Had he not been so close I know I wouldn’t have.

  I didn’t respond.

  “So you hate the uniforms?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  “And if we keep them, what will you do? Quit?”

  “I can’t. I need this job.”

  “It seems we have a bit of a problem then. What do you suggest we do?”

  “I don’t like the way they make me feel. I think we should get rid of them and go back to the old uniforms,” I said honestly.

  He had asked for my opinion, and I was giving it to him.

  I looked up at his face just in time to see a darkness move over his expression.

  “I don’t like the way you make me feel. Should I get rid of you, as well?”

  “What do you mean? I don’t do anything to you.”

  He chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. “You do more than you know.”

  “Whatever,” I said, moving to go around him. “I don’t have to put up with this.”

  He stopped me, his fingers digging slightly into my arm. Not enough to hurt me, but enough to make me stay.

  “You being here is making me very uncomfortable.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about.

  I just knew being this close to him was making me uncomfortable, too. Not in a painful way, but in a way that confused my body.

  I wanted to run away from him. He was demanding, dark, and menacing, yet the need to close the distance between us and feel his heat and fuel the fear in the pit of my stomach was there.

  What was I feeling?

  I didn’t understand it, but in a way, it felt like I wanted him.

  His eyes grazed my expression, and his hold loosened on my arm.

  “If I make you so uncomfortable, and if you’re so unhappy with my performance, then why don’t you fire me?”

  “Believe me, I wish I could.”

  “What’s stopping you? Fire me if that’s what you want. Either fire me or leave me the hell alone and let me do my job.”

  “Kennedy’s very important to Empire Sevens, and unfortunately, you’re important to Kennedy. Otherwise, I would have fired your ass the first time I saw you.”

  “So Kennedy is the only reason you haven’t let me go?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t understand. Why do you hate me so much? You don’t even know me.”

  “And I don’t have any plans to get to know you. There is no point since, sooner or later, you will quit. I’ll do whatever it takes to get you to quit.”

  “This is ridiculous. What’s your problem?” I asked, completely confused.

  “You’re my problem. You put me under a lot of stress. What do you plan on doing about the stress you’re putting on me?” he asked, confusing me even more.

  Then he turned a bit, forcing me to turn, as well, and I found my back against the wall. He moved closer, his body brushing against mine and making my pulse jump.

  His chin brushed my hair as he tilted his head down just so that his mouth was close to my ear.

  “Call me sir again,” he demanded in a whisper.

  His breath brushed my cheek, and I shivered. No one had ever made me feel so strange … so different … so needy.

  I licked my lips, feeling as though all the moisture in my body had headed south.

  “I …” I started, ready to say something sarcastic and push him away, but before I could, he moved closer, shattering my thoughts and sending my body into hyperawareness.

  He was hard.

  Rock hard.

  I had next to no experience with men, but even I understood what was happening.

  Usually, a man getting hard disgusted me. Then again, all I had to compare it to was Allen walking around the trailer in his underwear.

  This wasn’t like that.

  Zander was no Allen.

  He was so much more.

  He moved his hips, brushing his hardness against my stomach and letting me know what I was doing to him.

  It was a turn-on.

  “Better yet,” he said, leaning in so close his lips brushed against my ear. “Call me Zander.”

  My breath echoed around me, sounding louder than it ever had. For the first time in my life, I was aware of things like the depth of my breaths, the tingling in my breasts, and the wetness in my panties. The tiny nub between my legs throbbed, begging me to move closer and rub against him.

  He leaned back, his eyes moving over my face as he waited for me to do as he asked. Again, I licked my lips, and his eyes dropped to my mouth.

  Reaching up, he brushed his thumb over my bottom lip, pulling it down and separating my lips

  “Zander,” he said. “I want to hear my name on your sweet lips.”

  I swallowed, suddenly wanting nothing more than to please him. So I opened my mouth and let his name roll across my tongue.

  “Zander.”

  He closed his eyes, his body leaning into mine as he pressed his hardness against me.

  Without thinking about it, I reached up and ran my fingers up his back, pulling him to me. A sound I had never made before pressed against the back of my teeth and broke through my lips.

  He moved in again, his lips brushing my ear once again before dropping to the side of my neck.

  My fingers moved up, getting lost in the thick, dark waves of his hair, prompting him to growl against my blazing skin.

  Fire.

  I was on fire and burning from the inside out. My body shivered, and everything tingled from a blaze I knew only Zander Hale could extinguish.

  “Your mouth’s so sweet when you say my name. It makes me want to slide my cock between your plump lips. Would you let me do that, angel? Would you like to taste me?”

  I should have been appalled.

  He was my boss. And an asshole to boot, but the way he was speaking to me was turning me on. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to taste him and all that he was.

  I nodded, nibbling my lip nervously.

  Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes and hissed as if he was in pain.

  “Fuck,” he blurted out before looking down into my eyes. “I bet you’re soaked. So fucking wet for me. I would have no problem gliding into your tight little cunt right now.”

  Then he backed away with a look of absolute anguish on his face. He reached up and ran his thick fingers through his dark wavy hair before he tugged a bit on the ends.

  “What the fuck am I doing?” he asked himself.

  And then he turned and walked away from me, leaving me pressed against the wall with weak legs, a racing heart, and a need I had never felt before.

  I wanted Zander Hale, and I knew that was something that could never happen.

  He was my boss.

  The man who signed my paycheck.

  Yet my body didn’t seem to understand he was completely off li
mits.

  14

  ZANDER

  MY IDEA BACKFIRED in a bad way.

  Not only did I spend the entire night stalking Eden like a lunatic to make sure no one put their hands on her, but I also made myself extremely uncomfortable.

  The moment she stepped out onto the bar floor and began her shift, I knew I was done for. Seeing her in the new uniform was like a punch to the dick. Immediately, I grew stiff, throbbing with want for her.

  The plan was to make the uniform so revealing that she would refuse to wear it or quit.

  Preferably quit.

  Yet that didn’t happen.

  Instead, she went in that locker room like a fucking fighting champ and came out looking so goddamn delicious that I almost threw myself off the wagon at that moment. I almost went to her, picked her up, and took her to my office where I could spend hours losing myself inside her tight virgin pussy.

  I was cursed.

  There was no other explanation.

  I could hardly believe she went through with it. I guess that went to show I didn’t know her at all.

  By the time her shift was over, I was done fighting it. I had concluded that there was no winning against Eden. I was exhausted, and it hadn’t even been that long. But with her, I was weak.

  So fucking weak.

  Which was what possessed me to stop her in the hallway just outside the locker room. It was what pushed me to move closer to her and breathe her in—to stop her just so I could feel her skin against my fingertips—and to almost take her right there in the hallway of my establishment like a fucking madman.

  But I didn’t.

  Control slipped back over me like a well-worn shirt, and I was able to walk away, making me feel like the most powerful man in the universe. Because if I was able to walk away from Eden with her fingers in my hair and my cock pressed against her tight virgin center so easily, I could do any-fucking-thing in the world.

  After leaving her standing in the hallway just outside the locker room wet and ready and almost begging me, I received my second wind.

  I could do this.

  I was already winning.

  I had gone six months without sex. I hadn’t even jerked off. I was a fucking champ.

  And because of that, I would try again.

  I felt strong at that moment, having walked away from Eden, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew keeping her around was only going to continue to weaken me. At the rate I was going, and now knowing she wanted me just as badly as I wanted her, I wouldn’t last another two weeks.

  She had to go.

  And so, I would continue to push, and I would come up with another plan to get rid of Eden.

  I spent the night thinking about it. Remembering her expression of disgust over the men gawking at her. And as much as I knew I would hate it, I knew the exact way to get her to quit.

  There were certain things the waitstaff did to keep the customers coming back for me.

  No.

  They weren’t fucking the customers. I was running a resort, not a fucking brothel, but a little flirting went a long way in my establishment.

  Eden didn’t flirt.

  I knew because I watched her regularly instead of sitting behind my desk doing actual fucking work.

  It was time she understood the nature of her job and the reason we only hired attractive employees to wait on our customers.

  The following night, I waited until she was halfway through her shift before I decided to pull her to the side.

  “I need to speak with you,” I said, walking away without another word, knowing she would follow me.

  I stopped at the entrance to the bar with my back facing the lobby.

  She wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes were everywhere but my face, and I hated that she was embarrassed by her reaction to me the night before.

  She was so natural at the moment.

  Wanting me as badly as I wanted her.

  Needing me.

  Embarrassment was the last thing she should have felt, but I would not bring that moment up again. It didn’t matter if I thought about it. I would never talk about it.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked, her eyes skimming the lobby behind me.

  I wanted to reach up, pinch her chin, and force her to look at me, but I couldn’t do that in a room full of people who worked for me.

  “You need to do more.”

  Her brows dipped in confusion, and her eyes skimmed my face, giving me a rush.

  “I don’t understand. Am I doing something wrong?”

  “It’s the way you treat the customers.”

  “What do you mean? I treat them all very well.”

  “The men. They come here to drink, gamble, and flirt with the pretty girls. I suggest you flirt back with them. Keep them coming back for more.”

  What was I thinking?

  Why was I asking her to do this?

  I had never asked any of the other girls to flirt with the men in my establishment.

  What kind of business was I running?

  “But …”

  “No buts. You want to keep this job, then you do it.”

  Finally, her eyes landed on my face and remained. Fire blazed behind her bright blue eyes, rimming them with just a hint of red.

  She wanted to fight me on it, and fuck if I didn’t hope she would. I wanted her hot and angry. I wanted her ready to scratch me and bite.

  I wanted too many fucking things.

  Instead, she looked ready to toss in the towel, and I began to celebrate prematurely, but she shocked me when she shook her head, rolled her eyes, and said, “Fine.”

  Then she did something else I wasn’t used to.

  She turned and walked away from me before I was finished speaking to her.

  She was so defiant.

  In need of a good spanking.

  And it was a major fucking turn-on.

  Deciding against staying and watching my angel flirt with the men, I left and went to my office.

  I pored over contracts and business, keeping myself too busy to think about everything going on in the bar and what Eden was getting herself into.

  Two hours later, I decided I needed a drink. I had a stocked bar in my office, but that didn’t stop me from calling the bar and ordering something.

  “Have Eden bring it over for me,” I requested once I put in the order.

  “Yes, sir, she’ll bring it right over,” Jena, the bartender working, answered.

  Ten minutes later, a soft knock sounded on my office door.

  “Come in,” I called out, excited to see how well she was handling my new rules.

  She would crumple soon.

  She had to give in.

  Otherwise, I knew I would.

  “Jena asked that I bring you this,” she said as she stepped into my office and held up a tray holding a single drink.

  I waved her in, and she started across the room toward my desk.

  I devoured her in her new uniform. The pale skin peeking through the sheerness of her top was making me squirm in my seat, and I had to keep from adjusting myself.

  “Just set it on the desk,” I said, motioning to the spot on my desk where I wanted it.

  She moved closer, but just as she was about to set the tray down on my desk, she tripped, and the tray tumbled into the air. The drink I ordered rolled off, landing in my lap and soaking my crotch.

  “Oh, my god! I’m so sorry. Here,” she said, snatching a dry towel from her back pocket. “Let me get that.”

  She then began drying the crotch of my pants, which did nothing but send a shock of pleasure through my body. My cock hardened, bursting at the seams and throbbing in pain.

  I hadn’t had relief in months. I hadn’t so much as touched my penis, but having her frantically scrub at my crotch with a towel as she tried to dry the liquor she had spilled in my lap was all it took.

  “Please don’t fire me. I need this job. I’m just having a bad day or something and …”

  “It�
��s fine,” I said, trying to sound as normal as possible.

  I wasn’t normal.

  The fact was, I was so turned on. My hips arched to thrust into her touch. I wanted her to suck me. I wanted her to climb into my lap and let me inside her virginal slit.

  Fuck.

  I wanted.

  Period.

  I tried to stop her, gripping her wrist without hurting her, but she continued, not even hearing my strangled demand to stop.

  And then something happened.

  Something that hadn’t happened since I was thirteen and had no idea how to control my body.

  My body tensed.

  My balls lifted.

  And my shaft twitched with pleasure.

  Before I could stop myself, I came in my pants.

  Right there, in the middle of my establishment as an angel dried my pants.

  I could hardly believe it.

  I had never been a quick shooter.

  Never.

  There were nights when I had gone all night long without even coming once, but as the pleasure spiked and the hot cum rolled into my boxers, I knew there was no denying it.

  A small growl escaped my lips, quiet and menacing, and she paused, her eyes flickering to mine in confusion.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, too innocent to even understand what had just happened.

  I closed my eyes, shame and guilt choking me.

  “I’m fine. Please just leave.”

  When I opened my eyes again, I was met with her panic-stricken expression.

  “Zander, whatever I did, I—”

  “Just get the fuck out!” I snapped.

  She jerked as if I had slapped her. And then she stepped away, snatched her tray from the floor, and left the room, leaving me sitting behind my desk with embarrassment on my cheeks and cum in my shorts.

  15

  EDEN

  I COULDN’T GET OUT of his office fast enough.

  I wasn’t sure what happened, but whatever it was had angered Zander.

  I was confused.

  One second, his face looked content and relieved, and the next, he was yelling and snapping my head off.

  What could that mean?

  I passed the locker rooms and started toward the lobby, but just as I rounded the corner, my brain began to function, and I suddenly understood what happened.