Crossing the Line Read online

  No. This cannot happen.

  “Bennett, that isn’t necessary,” I protest. “I will work faster from now on.”

  “This isn’t about the speed at which you work.”

  “Bennett, did I do something wrong?”

  “No, not at all. This isn’t a punishment. I put you on this project to make sure that Noah doesn’t work himself into the ground again.”

  Again? What does that mean? Noah is shooting daggers at Bennett.

  Bennett goes on. “I also put you on this project to learn from Noah. There will be a vice president position opening up in the new mergers and acquisitions department he is heading up. If you can learn the skills, then the position will be yours. You can’t do that in a separate room, and Noah thinks he can do everything himself. So until I say different, you two are sharing an office.”

  Vice president position? So I would have to continue to work under Noah? Noah’s face is red, his lips tight.

  “You have something you want to say, Noah?” Bennett challenges.

  Noah takes a deep breath, and his hands clench. “No.”

  Bennett stands. “Send the numbers to me via email. Piper, pack up your office. A desk will be ready for you tomorrow morning.” He faces Noah. “I expect a weekly report on what you’re teaching Piper. Piper, if you have any problems with Noah, you come talk to me, okay?”

  He is waiting for me to answer. Not really sure what is going on with this meeting, I quietly respond, “I’m sure there won’t be any reason for that.”

  “Good.” He leaves.

  Shocked, I realize my insides are quivering.

  Noah places his hand on my arm. “I’m sorry.”

  I shake his gesture off. “Don’t touch me. And what did he mean by again? And don’t give me some nasty answer, or I’ll go ask Bennett to clarify.”

  Noah takes a big breath. His jaw clenches. “I had a nervous breakdown a year ago.”

  “What happened?”

  “I just worked too much.”

  “That doesn’t tell me what happened.”

  Noah’s leg bounces. “Do I have to get into the details?”

  “Yes.”

  Noah taps his fingers on his thigh again. “Bennett came to visit, and I was spinning out.”

  “Spinning out?”

  “Why do you need to know this?”

  “Does it matter? You just cost me my hard-earned private office. I think I deserve some honesty.”

  Noah rubs his forehead hard. “I became obsessed about a deal I was working on. It didn’t happen. I lost it in front of Bennett, and he made me go to a facility for a month.”

  He went to a mental hospital?

  Biting my lip, I tilt my head at him and feel my face relax.

  “Stop staring at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t need to be pitied.”

  “What do you need?”

  Several minutes pass, and I realize he isn’t going to answer, so I ask, “Why were you obsessed with it?”

  He still doesn’t answer.

  “It has to do with our current project, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me why you’re going after these companies.”

  “No.”

  “Why won’t you tell me?”

  “I just can’t.”

  I sneer at him. “You’re such an asshole.”

  He doesn’t respond.

  “What did Bennett mean by Monday?”

  Noah closes his eyes briefly. “I asked him to remove you from the project.”

  “You told me you wouldn’t hurt my career.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “You told me that you wouldn’t hold what happened between us against me.”

  “I didn’t. I’m not.”

  “No? What would you call it?”

  Noah rubs his hand through his hair. “I... I knew you were mad at me and thought you would be happier not working with me.”

  I glare at him. “He just said I am in a position to get a VP role from this project.”

  “I didn’t know that at the time.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Damn it, Piper, I’m not out to hurt you. I would never do that.”

  Taking a deep breath, I slide my chair back, stand up, shake my head, and start toward the door.

  “Piper!”

  I spin around. “What?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You can only apologize so many times, Noah. It gets old.” I spin back around and leave, blinking back tears and cursing myself once again for getting involved with him on a personal level.

  8

  Noah

  It’s 7 a.m. the next day. I enter my personal office and Piper is already there. “You’re here early.”

  She has a box on her desk and is unpacking it. “Yeah, well, I kind of had to rearrange my entire work life.”

  I pick the box up off her desk and put it on mine.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Taking one for the team.”

  I point to the desk they added to my office. “This is a shittier desk. It’s got a shittier view. I’ll take the shittier desk with the shittier view, and you take my desk.”

  After a moment, she says, “This doesn’t make up for the fact you’re an asshole.”

  I tilt my head at her and grin. “Not even a little bit?”

  She bites her lip. “Your stuff is still in it.”

  “Easily solved.” Resisting the urge to pull her in my arms, I grab things and toss them over to the other desk.

  When we get done, I have to hold myself back from touching her, but I don’t. “Hey, I really am sorry I was a dick and about your office. And I swear, I didn’t know about the VP position.”

  She takes a deep breath. “Okay. Thanks for the desk.”

  I give her a little salute, she rolls her eyes, and I go back to my new desk.

  My secretary, Ginger, strolls in then halts. “Whoa! How did you get him to give up his desk?”

  Piper frowns.

  “I needed a new view, so I made her take it,” I say like it isn’t a big deal.

  “Are you going to move your monitors?” Ginger asks.

  I shake my head. “They won’t fit on this desk.”

  “Then maybe you should switch desks and just rearrange your furniture?” Ginger continues to pry.

  “No need. I’m going to install wall monitors soon anyway.”

  Ginger glances between us. “Hmmm.” She leaves the room.

  Piper’s eyes widen.

  “Seriously? Calm down. That was nothing.”

  Bennett enters next. “Ah, glad you two have gotten settled.”

  “All ready for people to stop coming in so we can actually work,” I hint.

  He ignores me. “Piper, do you need anything?”

  She scrunches her forehead. “No, I’m okay, but, Bennett, please don’t give my office away.” My heart rips because I know I caused her to lose her private space.

  Bennett sits down across from her. “Your office will stay empty until you return. This is not a punishment, and I want you to remember that. This is so you can learn.”

  Piper takes a deep breath. Bennett swivels in his chair to face me. “Don’t forget, Noah, I want a weekly mentorship report.”

  “Okay. Can you get out of my office, now?”

  “Don’t you mean our office?” Piper smirks at me.

  “Sorry. Bennett, get the fuck out of our office.”

  Piper blinks, shocked, and Bennett chuckles and stands. “Piper, keep his ass in line.”

  I follow him to the door, shut, and lock it behind him.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I think we’ve had enough company for the morning, don’t you?”

  A smile plays on her lips. “Yes.”

  God, I want to kiss her.

  The next hour is spent working, but I have a hard time functioning without my three monitors, an
d I spend most of my time sneaking glances at Piper. From time to time, I catch her peeking at me. I finally sigh and rub my face.

  “What’s wrong?” Piper asks.

  “Nothing.”

  She smirks at me.

  “What?”

  “You can’t work without your monitors, can you?”

  “I’ll figure it out.”

  Piper stands up and unplugs the monitors.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Moving them.”

  “They won’t fit on this desk.”

  “Nope. That’s why I didn’t bring mine in.”

  “Then, what are you doing?”

  “Moving them to the conference table. We’re both working on the same sheets, and we can share until the wall monitors come in. Unless you were joking about that?”

  “What do you think about monitors on that wall?” I point to the wall across from our desks and the table.

  “That would be nice.”

  “I’ll order them, then.”

  We move the monitors. Before I know it, Piper is on the floor, crawling under the table with her ass in the air.

  “It’s not pulling through the grommet,” she mutters as my dick throbs in my pants.

  Do not grab her ass. Do not grab her ass.

  I get on all fours and duck under the table next to Piper, and, as I’m trying to figure out the wires, I bang my head.

  “Shit!”

  “Noah, you okay?” She kisses my head and freezes.

  It’s slow motion, and my mind tells me not to do it, but I reach for her head and pull it so her lips are right next to mine. “I’m going to kiss you right now, and I don’t want you to freak out now or later. But you tell me no if you don’t want me to.”

  She doesn’t tell me not to, so I take it as permission. I pull her into me, and the fire from the other night is hotter than ever.

  Quickly, I’m on top of her, and she rolls me over so she’s on top of me.

  “Be careful of your knee,” I whisper.

  “My knee is fine,” she whispers back as she grinds into my cock.

  “You’re going to make me cum in my pants, Piper.”

  I grasp a fistful of her hair, gently pull her head back, and suck on her neck.

  “Don’t you dare mark me at work!”

  “Okay, I’ll be good,” I tell her as she circles on my dick harder.

  “Fuck, Piper!”

  She softly laughs, and I yank my wallet out of my pocket and pull out a condom then unzip my pants. She tears the packet and slides it on my cock.

  “Ah, that always feels so much better when you do it,” I mumble against her lips as I yank her skirt up higher.

  Her thong is delicate, just like the other night, and I rip it off her.

  “Noah! I’m going to be panty-less all day now.”

  I can’t help but grin against her lips. “I know.”

  “You’re such an asshole.”

  “You like me as an asshole.”

  She slips onto me. I have to tell myself not to blow my wad right there because she’s in my arms. I didn’t think she would ever let me touch her again, and her sex is gripping and sliding on my dick so fast my balls are already tightening.

  I’ve never had her this way before. The night we spent together, I had to be careful of her knee, and my only regret is she isn’t naked against me.

  “You’re killing me, Piper,” I murmur as she’s panting against me, softly moaning, and working her hips harder into my thrusts.

  “Oh God...oh God.” Her voice gets louder, and I put my hand over her mouth, but I groan loudly, and she soon covers my mouth as well.

  I’m sweating, heat coursing through me, and my balls clench.

  Piper bites my finger so hard I’m going to have bite marks, as she vibrates on me, throbbing against my cock.

  For a glorious moment, everything seems perfect in the world. Piper unravels on top of me, quietly moaning and shaking as I pump hard into her.

  When we’re done, we’re breathing hard and a sweaty mess.

  “I can’t believe I did this at work,” Piper mumbles.

  Seriously? She’s regretting it while my dick is still in her?

  I stroke her hair. “Shh. It’s fine. No one knows. Just relax for a minute.” I hold her close to me, if only for this minute because I sense she’s about to go apeshit.

  I’m surprised when she snuggles into my arms. I think things are good, but after a few minutes, she is back to analyzing things. “I don’t know why I just did that.”

  “Shh. Everything is okay.”

  She puts her face next to mine. “Don’t kiss me again at work, Noah.”

  My heart sinks again. “Why are you freaking out about this? No one knows. It’s fine.”

  “No, it’s not okay for me to fuck my boss at work.”

  I roll my eyes.

  “Don’t roll your eyes at me.”

  “Piper, I told you not to freak before I did it.”

  “I don’t care. Promise me you won’t do it again, or I’ll turn in my notice.”

  I snort. “Don’t make threats—”

  “Noah, I’m not threatening. I can’t do this at work.”

  I sigh. “Okay. I won’t kiss you at work again.” But I don’t promise her I won’t do it anywhere else.

  9

  Piper

  Charlotte, Quinn, Vivian, and I decide to head out to Club D so we can go dancing. It’s Friday night, and working side by side with Noah for the last week and a half is driving me insane.

  Noah’s been mostly helpful and kind, and every day he spends at least an hour teaching me about mergers and acquisitions. Every now and then, I’ll press him for information about why we are working on these companies, and he’ll make a dickhead comment, reminding me he’s an asshole.

  From time to time, I catch myself sneaking glances at him. As much as I still hate him, I can’t deny that I’m still attracted to him.

  Who am I kidding? Attracted is too weak a word. Addicted might be a better choice because he is all I can think, smell, and breathe.

  The girls and I are on our first round of drinks. We haven’t seen each other since lunch the day I hurt my knee and met Noah, and they don’t know anything. I’ve debated whether I should tell them and finally decide that I need to talk to someone. They don’t work at my firm, so I figure the risk is minimal.

  After our first toast, I hold up my glass. “To fucking your boss!”

  Quinn spits out her drink. “You had sex with Bennett?”

  I choke on my wine. “God no! His nephew, who is his successor.”

  “Please tell me he is young and hot,” Vivian says.

  “He’s thirty-four and eye candy with a body to match.”

  “So, why isn’t he here?” Charlotte asks.

  “One, no one knows. Two, he’s an asshole. Three, we are not dating. It only happened once...well, I don’t know how many times actually...it was over a ten-hour period...and will not happen again. Oh, and once under the table in our office.”

  “Ten hours!” Quinn screams.

  “Under the table! Nice!” Charlotte lifts her hand out for a high five.

  My face burns with heat. I ignore the high five.

  “Wow. Does he have a brother?” Vivian asks.

  I shrug. “No idea.

  “So why aren’t you tapping that again?” Charlotte raises an eyebrow.

  “You did hear me say he’s my boss, right?”

  Charlotte waves her hand in the air like it isn’t a big deal. “Sign the HR form and get down to business.”

  Quinn chimes in, “Seriously, Piper, what is the big deal? You aren’t the first person to shlup the boss, and it’s not like you aren’t already high up on the corporate ladder.”

  “Can we go back to the ten hours?” Vivian grins.

  “Like I said, he’s an asshole.”

  “Talking about me again?”

  My gut drops. My friends giggle. I turn. �
��Noah.”

  “You were talking about me?”

  “No, I was not talking about you, but yes, you are an asshole.”

  He winks at me.

  Jeez. This is so bad. He looks super-hot, and we’re out of the safety of the office.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He gestures to the man standing next to him. “This is my friend Xander. He’s moving to Chicago and in town for the weekend. We’re out...like you,” he teases.

  “Ha, ha.”

  “Do you guys want to join us?” Quinn moves over, no doubt hoping to get some action from Xander who’s pretty tasty himself.

  I shoot her a dirty look. She ignores me.

  “Don’t mind if we do.” Noah sits down practically in my lap.

  “Jeez, why don’t you just sit on me.”

  He leans in to murmur in my ear, “Or, you can sit on me.”

  Seriously?

  Although that sounds like a really delicious idea.

  No, no, no!

  Noah’s sexy smell that’s been driving me crazy for the last week and a half is once again filling my senses.

  “Don’t I have to be with you enough all day long?”

  He raises his brows. “I don’t know. Do you think it’s too much?”

  “Way too much.”

  He leans in again. “You’re pretty hot tonight. But then again, you always are.”

  “Are you drunk?”

  He laughs. “No, why?”

  “You’re pretty cocky tonight.”

  “Well, you’re normally glaring at me, so I might as well deserve it.”

  “I don’t do it that much.”

  “Really? Is that what you believe?”

  I tilt my head to him.

  “Piper, why don’t you relax. No one from the office is around. We’ve worked hard all week. Can we play nice? My friend is in town, and this is the first night out I’ve had since I moved.”

  I take a deep breath. He is right. I need to relax. “Okay. But you kind of interrupted my girls’ night out.”

  Xander is getting showered with attention from Quinn, Charlotte, and Vivian. Noah puts his lips right next to mine. “I don’t think your friends or mine care.”

  I roll my eyes but smile.

  He stands, grabs me, and pulls me up.

  “Noah, what are you doing.”

  He tugs me toward the dance floor. “Let’s go dance.”