Nothing Forbidden Page 5

  IMBARK had a casual Friday policy but Katie made it a habit to maintain her professional image, so while everyone dressed down in jeans and sweaters, she still tied her hair up, wore a suit, and pretended like it was any other day.

  Today’s suit was tight and black. She didn’t wear it often because of how tight the pants clung to her, but the thought of Bradley’s eyes on her ass every time she walked away was too tempting. The top was cinched high on her waist with a white belt, emphasizing the hourglass lines of her otherwise lean body.

  She’d made sure that Max saw what she wore beneath, walking out of the bathroom in the black padded bra and g-string. He hadn’t said a word, but he didn’t need to. He approved.

  Friday proceeded like the other days she’d spent in that little room. She reviewed documents and papers. She drank coffee. She gazed across the street at City Fitness.

  She still had her gym bag with her, sitting in the corner of the conference room, unused but not forgotten.

  Katie hadn’t talked to Nadia since the evening they'd gone out for drinks and Nadia had eventually met up with AJ. Had that turned into more? Most likely it had, knowing Nadia. Katie wondered if he was as good the second time as the first. She found herself staring into the cardio room again, and had to shake her head to clear it.

  IMBARK knocked off an hour early for their happy hour. Katie told them that she’d meet them there because her hours were billable, but Bradley waved it off. “I’m the money guy. Don’t worry, you’re covered.”

  They went to Lucy’s, a tiny basement bar that Katie only knew about because her husband was in the bar industry. As flashier bars came and went, Lucy’s existed under the radar, small, slightly divey, but always charming.

  “So what’ll it be?” Bradley asked. Ten of them from IMBARK came out, mostly from Bradley’s team, but there were a few others mixed in. “Bud Light?”

  Katie cracked a smile. “If that’s what you’d like. For me, I’ll take a vodka martini.”

  “With a twist, or dirty?”

  Which would you prefer? Katie almost asked before she remembered herself. “Today feels like a twist of lemon kind of day.”

  “Twist it is.”

  Being married to a bar owner, Katie was no stranger to the bar scene—the noise, the tight confines, the conversation over drinks. But most of those times, Max was nearby, or she was in the company of his colleagues. This was different. It felt like her own thing.

  They mostly stuck to IMBARK-related topics and gossip, but it was still fun to listen to. They asked her about her opinion on things as an outsider. She gave it when she could while remaining neutral. Apparently their CEO was an asshole who wanted to run the place like a for-profit corporation—which incidentally led to the misallocation of revenue that Katie had to untangle.

  Occasionally the conversation would shift to Katie and her life. “You have a five-year-old? I can’t believe that!” one of the guys said, slapping his hand on the bar top.

  “Why not?” Katie said with a smile. She was fishing for the compliment, but it still warmed her to hear it.

  “Well, first of all, you don’t look like a mom at all—“ he began to say when Bradley cut him off.

  “What Steve here’s trying to say is that you’re so professional and pulled together that it’s hard to believe that on the weekends, you’re driving a minivan around.”

  “That’s not what I’m saying!” Steve interrupted. “I’m saying most moms I know are frumpy and stopped giving a shit about their appearance. Let’s be honest, here. Katie, you’re a babe.”

  Katie covered her mouth and laughed.

  Bradley put his arm around the junior accountant. “And you’re drunk.”

  “Pretty sure that goes for all of us, boss,” another guy said.

  Bradley ignored the comment, although judging from the blush in his cheeks, Bradley was feeling the drinks, too. He turned to Katie. “He has a point, you know. You don’t look like you should have a kindergartener at home.”

  “And how should I look? Sweats and a ponytail?”

  “I believe the MILFs wear yoga pants now,” Steve blurted.

  “I think that may be the first time I’ve been called a MILF,” Katie said. “To my face, anyway.”

  Even Bradley laughed.

  “We didn’t plan on having Mya. I was just 25 and in career mode, but life doesn’t like following plans.”

  Bradley nodded thoughtfully. Thinking about his own divorce, maybe?

  “And I bet your husband couldn’t keep his hands off you,” Steve said, going for a high five that no one reciprocated.

  “But you know what? I don’t regret any of it. Mya is awesome. Life is different, but I can’t imagine it without her anymore.”

  The conversation settled down after that. The IMBARK crowd thinned and Lucy’s filled up. Time flowed with the drinks, and before Katie knew it, it was pushing eight and she was firmly buzzing.

  “How did it get so late?” Katie laughed, checking her phone.

  “Something about having fun while flying?” Bradley said.

  “Oh, shit, look at that,” said Steve, the only other guy from the office left. “I promised to meet my girlfriend a half hour ago. She’s gonna be pissed.” He threw some cash down and was out the door with a nod.

  Bradley chuckled. “She’d probably be more pissed if she knew how much he kept checking you out.”

  Katie was too buzzed to be embarrassed. She’d noticed Steve’s eyes dipping to her cleavage every opportunity that he thought he had. She’d noticed Bradley doing the same.

  “You don’t have a leg to stand on there,” she said.

  At least he had the grace to look chagrined. He looked down at her tits, which peeked out over the top of her black jacket thanks to her padded bra.

  “You can’t honestly blame me.” He stepped back, holding his hands out. “But to be fair, go ahead and return the favor.”

  Katie laughed, but took up his offer. Bradley’s version of Casual Friday was exactly how she’d expect a finance executive’s to be: a golf shirt tucked into a pair of khakis. He did fill the golf shirt out well, though, and once again her imagination went to hot and sweaty places.

  “Very nice, Mr. Spencer. I’m sure you do alright.”

  That’s when she noticed him. Like fate. The crowd parted. There was a momentary break in the din of the bar—enough for her to hear a familiar laugh. She looked, and there he was, dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of worn jeans.

  AJ.

  Her body trembled like this was some kind of celebrity sighting. Her heart rate spiked. She hated that he made her feel like a fifteen-year-old girl. The crowd shifted again and she saw the woman that he was chatting up—petite, pretty, and blonde. That helped suppress the giddy palpitations she was having. Did she really want to be like that blonde?

  She didn’t dare answer that.

  “Hey, you there?” Bradley asked. He glanced over his shoulder to try and identify whatever she was looking at.

  Heat burst across Katie’s face. “Yeah, sorry. Thought I recognized a girlfriend over there.”

  Bradley turned back to her, oblivious to AJ. “So, Katie, I’ve really enjoyed working with you. You’re sharp. You’re capable. And you’re not so hard on the eyes.”

  He delivered the last statement with a light-hearted laugh, but Katie wasn’t drunk enough to miss the nervous look beneath. He was working up to something. She cut him off before he said something they’d regret in the morning.

  “Thanks, Bradley. You’re one of my easier clients.” It was a subtle reminder of their relationship, but it was enough.

  He nodded, understanding the rebuff. “Let’s see what next week uncovers.” He pulled out his wallet. “Time for me to close the tab and head home...unless you want another?”

  Katie waved her hand. “I’ve had enough. For sure. Thanks for the drinks, Bradley.”

  She suddenly had the urge to kiss him on the cheek, but resisted. Instead, she looked around as he waved down the bartender.

  Katie looked back at the spot that she’d seen AJ. He was still there, although the blonde was gone. Looks like you struck out tonight, she thought with a smirk.

  “Okay, the bill’s paid,” Bradley said.

  “Oh, I was going to offer to pick it up.” Katie refocused on Bradley.

  “You were going to pay for the drink I owed you? Doesn’t seem right.”

  “Well, I think I had a few more than just the one.” She picked her purse up, fishing out her phone again. Max had sent her a text.

  –hope you’re having fun

  Katie smiled, knowing exactly where her husband’s mind was. She couldn’t wait to get home to him. He wouldn’t know what hit him.

  “It’s about to get a whole lot better,” she texted back with a giggle.

  “Cabbing it?” Bradley said as they moved out into the night air. They pulled on their long coats, their breath clouding in the chill.

  “Yeah.”

  For a moment, she wondered if he was going to offer to split a taxi—and where that taxi would actually take them. She looked up at him through her lashes as he slipped on a pair of wrap-around earmuffs.

  He hailed a taxi, and when it pulled up, he opened the door like a gentleman. She imagined him sliding in after her. Imagined him wrapping his arm around hers and pulling her in for a kiss. She shivered—and it had nothing to do with the cold.

  He didn’t follow her in. Instead, he held the door and smiled. “It’s been a real pleasure working with you, Katie.”

  “You too. Have a good one, Bradley.”

  ****

  Katie and the taxi nearly made it out of the city when she realized that she didn’t have her gym bag. She considered leaving it there—she could pic
k it up in the morning, or worst case, buy a new set of workout clothes.

  But the in the end, the prudent side of her won out. “Sir, could you turn back? I forgot something at the bar.”

  The taxi driver shrugged. He didn’t care. The meter would run up no matter where they went.

  Traffic was thicker heading into the city than out. It was funny. The bar scene was just beginning to heat up, and she was well beyond ready to be home. Her wild days of bar-hopping felt like another lifetime.

  And yet parts of her life were wilder than ever.

  Even alone in the back of a cab with the night flashing by, she blushed. Not exactly the white picket fence lifestyle she thought she’d have in her thirties. It made her wonder what things were going on behind everyone else’s fences.

  She arrived back at Lucy’s just as a line had begun to form. The bouncer recognized her and let her through.

  As she stepped back into the bar in her dark suit and the coiled hair, she felt heads swivel in her direction. She saw herself through their eyes—a happy hour straggler on a Friday night. Someone who didn’t quite belong.

  She hurried to the bar where she’d been standing all night, but her bag wasn’t there. Disheartened, she waved the bartender down.

  “Excuse me. I think I left my gym bag here. Did someone turn it in?”

  He looked at her like she was speaking another language. She began to repeat the request when someone tapped her on the shoulder. “This what you’re looking for?”

  She knew that voice without needing to look, even though she’d only heard it once. She recognized the gruffness, the New York accent, the confidence. It was AJ.

  She turned to look, her heart skipping ahead of her.

  “Yes. That’s it.” Did he recognize her?

  He grinned. “You seem to make a habit of leaving things in bars.”

  She didn’t know whether she should feign ignorance. Would admitting that she remembered him make her appear weak?

  “Do I know you?”

  AJ saw right through the deception. He reached out, and for a second, Katie thought he was about to draw her in for a kiss and flinched. Instead he leaned against the bar beside her, their bodies only inches apart now.

  “You do.”

  Katie squeezed her thighs together, holding her breath as she half turned to face AJ pressed next to her.

  “How did your presentation go? Back in New York?”

  “It went…it went well.”

  “Did you have one here, in DC? Or is this home?”

  Katie considered lying, but realized that wasn’t going to work. “This is home.”

  “Well, that’s convenient. Same here.”

  This close, he looked even better than she remembered. His tight black t-shirt clung to his upper body in a way that made Katie want to tear it off. He still had the nose that looked broken, yet somehow perfect on him. And she still really, really wanted to climb into bed with him.

  He held up the gym bag. “Working out around here?”

  Katie blushed. “I was thinking about it. I’ve…I’ve been working for a client around the block, and noticed the City Fitness.” Her confidence grew as she spoke. Her heart rate started to calm. “I just never had the time to get away, you know?”

  “I know that story. People never make their bodies a priority.” He traced her own body, first with his eyes, then with his hand, resting it on her hip.

  She should have pushed him away. Instead, she looked around to make sure no one recognized her.

  “You look like you make time for your body, though.” He said drew her attention back to him. “You should have come over. I would have loved to help motivate you.”

  Katie would have liked to think that in any other circumstance, she would have laughed at his forwardness—that it was the drinks that had dropped her guard.

  “Come over where?” she asked. She wasn’t supposed to know that he worked at City Fitness—that she looked for him every day from her perch in that little conference room.

  AJ laughed to himself. “You realize that I can see as easily through your windows as you can see through mine, right? And I’m a sucker for the sexy corporate look.”

  Katie’s face went bright red. She wanted to curl up under the bar.

  “Were you looking for anyone in particular? Or just letting your…mind wander?”

  “Can I have my bag please?”

  “Want me to give you a tour of the facility? I have a key. It can be very private.”

  The suggestion registered like fire between her legs, and she hated herself for it. “My bag?”

  “Don’t I get a reward?”

  Katie grabbed for her gym bag, but he pulled it behind him. Suddenly they were face to face, her body pressed to his. Worse, the crowd shifted, pushing them even closer.

  He smelled clean. He must have showered at the gym before heading out, and that thought naturally brought the image of him in the shower, suds racing down the muscled contours of his naked body. The fire between her legs grew hotter.

  He was tall and sturdy. She had to lift her eyes to meet his. She didn’t realize that she’d grabbed his shirt to steady herself, and let go as soon as she did.

  “You know, you’re kind of a bully,” Katie said.

  “It was just a question,” he said. “How about your number?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m married, remember?”

  “Then you buy me a drink?”

  Katie sighed. She knew he wasn’t going to back down from this one. “Fine. What do you want?”

  “I’m easy. Bud’s fine.”

  Thinking back to her conversation with Bradley, Katie almost laughed. Of course he’d drink Budweiser.

  “Weren’t you working in an upscale cocktail bar the last time we met?” She flagged the bartender down and ordered the cheap beer for AJ and a glass of water for herself.

  “Worked there. I didn’t drink there.”

  Katie suddenly got the distinct impression of what AJ must have thought about that clientele. It made her self-conscious. “You think you’re better than us yuppies?”

  AJ grinned. “You said it, not me. But no, it’s not that.” He laughed. “Well, not really. Has more to do with where I choose to spend my money. A $15 cocktail isn’t it.”

  His drink arrived. She handed his to him and left some cash on the bar, intending to get out of there as soon as she could. “So where do you choose to spend your money?”

  “Thanks for this,” he said, downing a third of it. True to his word, he handed her the bag. “Rent, mostly. This city’s expensive.”

  “And the rest? Dates?”

  “I don’t date much.” He seemed to get a kick out of messing with her.

  “Seducing married women?”

  AJ’s laugh felt genuine. It even brought a smile to Katie. “That’s not as expensive as you think.”

  “You’re unbelievable.” Yet she couldn’t stop smiling.

  “Most women tell me that I’m amazing, but I’ve heard unbelievable, too. You sure you don’t want that private tour of the gym?”

  Katie set her glass of water on the bar and shouldered her gym bag. “Enjoy the beer. AJ.”

  “Don’t I at least get to know your name?”

  Katie smirked. “No, I don’t think so.”

  She couldn’t stop smiling all the way out of the bar.

  ****

  Katie buried her face in the pillow, her moans more growls than cries. She raised her ass higher, changing the angle of the cock pounding her from behind. So good. So full...

  She turned her head enough to breathe, her red hair spilling across her face, sticky with sweat.

  She imagined AJ on his knees, taking her doggy style. AJ’s hands on her hips. AJ’s cock driving deep, stretching her out.

  “Harder.” Her voice cracked. “Harder!”

  “You’re so sexy, babe,” Max groaned, his voice faltering under the strain.

  The illusion cracked. Her husband was back, giving her what she needed. Doing everything right.

  “Come, Max. I want to feel your come.”

  “I’m close. I’m so close...”

  Reaching between her legs, she danced her fingers across her clit, pushing herself over the edge. She clenched her teeth and crashed through her orgasm. A moment later, Max was there with her, flooding her, filling her, overflowing and dripping down her thigh.