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Chapter 3

Lily

I awoke calmly and felt strangely rested. Yesterday I spent some time again in the mysteries of my mom, and I don’t even remember at what time I went to sleep. I rolled over to grab my phone and check the news.

“Huh?”, I muttered to myself. It took a few seconds, but then I realized it was 8:30AM. “Shit!”, I yelled. I jumped out of bed and got ready in record time. There was no time to decide on what to wear, so I just went with one of my safe options. It will just have to do for today. I grab some yoghurt from the fridge and run out the door.

It is not that Zara cares if I come into the office before 9AM. Heck, I could even work from home after COVID proved we could. The problem was that we do have our quarterly meeting with the external auditors at 9AM, and there simply is no excuse for missing that. Zara would have my head.

I rush into my office with a half-eaten cup of yoghurt, take another bite and shake off my coat. Will appears in the door opening and laughs, shaking his head at my antics. He puts his stuff on my desk and takes my bag to take out my laptop and notebook, allowing me to have a few more bites of my breakfast. Will knows how hangry I get without my food. “We do need to go now.”, he says after checking the time on his phone. I nod in response and take my last bite. We rush to the meeting room where Zara and Noah are already with the external auditors. We shake hands and take a seat as well, and I try to take a deep breath to get my heartbeat under control without anyone noticing. I see Noah take a glance at me, so I guess I failed at that. “If okay with you, I suggest we start.”, Noah says taking the lead.

These meetings are always long and depressing. Unfortunately, it is also mandatory for the bank to keep it’s license to operate. “I see the progression, but our estimation is that your bank is below the benchmark in getting grip on criminal activity that goes through your books.”, one of the auditors says. See? Depressing. ‘It’s great that you put in 50, 60, 70 hours a week, but you still suck!’

“What are your suggestions for improvements?”, Will asks. I roll my eyes because the suggestions never change. Noah nudges me underneath the table. “Careful.”, he whispers. He had seen the eyeroll. I failed again. “What if we combine our knowledge of the customers with behaviors that don’t match? Even if it is all still within legal limits?”, I ask, curious to see if there is anything we can do about mom’s case. That is, if she were to use this bank, so probably it would be persuading the other banks to do so. “No, unless repeated patterns exist with a criminal component. Otherwise, you will be violating privacy regulations. Not even to mention the risk to unconscious bias.”, comes the answer. See, again depressing! So, we can only find criminal activities if we already know that they are criminal activities, they are confusing me.

“Please follow our suggestions. Thank you for meeting.”, I shake their hands and smile friendly when they leave the room with Zara and Noah, leaving me and Will behind. “Argh!”, I exclaim and with a flair for the dramatics I let my head fall on the table. Will throws his head back as he laughs. “Come drama queen, let’s go for lunch downstairs. We need a treat after this.”

Will and I are in the middle of discussing the weekend when Zara joins us. “Hello you both. Are you sharing weekend stories?”, she asks as she sits down. I nod with my mouth full of food. “Lily was complaining about the lack of hot guys.” Zara laughed at that. “Lily has been complaining about that for the past years. I thought you liked Noah? He is more than willing you know.”, she said. “I know, but it is awkward you know. He is your boss. I have morals still.”, I say as I get up to clear my plate, hoping it will stop the conversation. Zara grins, “We get the hint Lily, but I’m not done picking on you!”

When we get in the elevator to go back up, we are already back to work conversations, thankfully. The doors are already closing when someone slips in. Someone tall, dark and handsome. Zara and Will are signaling to me to do something because he is hot! And way out of my league. “What floor are you going?”, I ask him. “Eight.”, he answers curtly, but he smiles at me. I avoid his eyes, but I see him discreetly sizing me up from the corner of my eyes. Not that I’m not doing the same! He looks completely at ease and confident, hands in pocket, white dress shirt with rolled up sleeves that emphasizes his tanned skin and tattoos on his arms and a few that are peeking out from under the collar. My mouth gets drier the more I look at him.

Finally, the doors open and we all step out. “Wait,” he says as he grabs my wrist, “can you show me to Noah’s office?” His touch feels too good, his smell is intoxicating and his brown eyes stare at me hopefully. It is all drawing me in and causing my breathing to get shallow. It takes a few seconds too long before I realize he asked me a question. “Yes sure. Do you have an appointment?”, I ask him as I steer him to Noah’s office. “He will make the time.”, he answers with an overpowering dominance.

“Hi Monica, Noah has a visitor.”, I say. “Tell him Tommaso wants to see him now.”, the man says. Monica was looking at something. “Do you have an appointment? You are not in his agenda for today, so I’m afraid Noah is not available.” Tommaso’s eyes grew dark to a near black color and his hands curled up into fists. He slammed one of his fists on the table with an impact that made me and Monica jump. Tommaso marched to the office and slammed the door shut after he entered with so much force that the windows shook a bit. Monica and I are frozen in our place for a few seconds. And then the yelling starts and it sure wasn’t Noah who was yelling. I quickly glance at Monica with wide eyes and rush out of there.

Zara is sitting on my desk waiting for me when I walk in. “Well?”, she asked. “He was looking for Noah. Seemed important, because he walked in without an appointment and was yelling at him when I left.”, I gave a factual relay of everything that happened. “But he was hot, right?”, Zara exclaimed. If you listened to her, you would expect me to be a spinster or at least socially awkward. “Yes, he was. Doesn’t mean I will jump him immediately.”, I laugh. “That body! Those muscles! Those tattoos! Those eyes…”, Zara said dreamingly. “Good thing you have Sam. Are you about to steal my option now?”, I joke. “He seemed dangerous though, aggressive even.”, I added on a serious note, wincing at the memory of his fist slamming on the table. “Even better! Imagine that energy in the bedroom!”, Zara said with a devilish grin. “It would be good for you, a little caveman energy.”, she added as she quickly jumped of my desk and left my office, laughing loudly down the hallway.

Zara had a point though. I was attracted to Noah because he had a very balanced personality. He was always in control, and I had never seen him in panic. Noah was safe, reliable, and dependable. Tommaso was very handsome and not to mention way out of my league. There was something about him that intrigued me though. He had been nothing but nice to me, but knowing that he could explode in a matter of seconds… I’m almost embarrassed to admit to myself, but it gets me excited.

“Argh!”, I muttered frustrated to myself. This is why I had avoided men in the past years: they bring nothing but confusion and frustration. And confusion and frustration make me lose my self-confidence. I don’t like who I am when I am insecure and overthinking what some man had sad to me. I sighed and went to get a coffee. I want to get all these men out of my head, because I had other things to worry about.

Just as I took my coffee from the machine, Tommaso walked by towards the elevators. As he noticed me, he slowed down and walked to me instead. He approached me like a lion does its prey, and it made me shiver. I’m still deciding whether it was a good or a bad shiver. “I do hope to meet you again, Bellissima.”, Tommaso said as he kissed me on the back of my hand. I was so surprised by his action and the warmth that kiss spread through my body that I was too late to respond. Tommaso had left the building.

Later that afternoon, Noah entered the office and closed the door. I frowned because he never did that before. “Can we go over the suggestions made by the auditors this morning?”, he asks. “Yeah, sure.”, I answer, and he pulls out a chair to sit next to me. Work talk is my comfort zone, and I can do this for hours. I pull up the slides the auditors sent to us after the meeting and go over them again with Noah. I share what we already do, and why we cannot do others. I am so engrossed in sharing the details of this morning that I am not registering Noah moving closer to me. Until I feel his hand on my thigh. What the fuck?! I’m not surprised that Noah is making a move, but I am surprised by Noah making this move. My head is spinning, because somehow, I never envisioned this scenario to ever happen. Noah had always been a safe crush to have. He was my boss’ boss so nothing could ever happen, right? At least that was what I thought, but apparently, he thought otherwise. And now I am paralyzed by my undecisive brain. Did I really want this? I kindly put my hand on his and took it off my thigh. He is my boss’ boss, so nothing can happen.

“Lily, please.”, Noah whispers. “Noah, you are my superior. We can’t.”, I plead my case. His hand now tucks a strand of hair that had fallen from my low bun behind my ear, followed by a touch down my neck. His touch feels nice, and in all fairness, I haven’t been touched by a man in a long time. “Lily, you know I want you.”, he whispers. He does? Am I that blind? God, maybe I am socially awkward. “Noah, you are my superior. It is against the rules.”, I pleaded to him. Did I mention before that I am a control freak, a goody two shoes that always sticks by the rules and a ‘stay in your comfort zone’ kind of person? “I’m the boss, I make the rules around here.”, his arrogance shone through his words. His hand moves down my body from my neck down my arm back to my thigh. He touches my neck with his nose as if he is smelling me and licks my neck from the base to my earlobe, and I sigh in pleasure. I guess Noah is taking that as a yes, because his hand slowly moves up my thigh again, getting dangerously close to my core. His thumb is slowly rubbing circles as his hand moves. I’m not sure whether I should thank the gods or curse them that my safe clothing option for today is thin wide leg pants. “Please, Lily, just say yes to a date. You know I will treat you right.”, he whispers in my ear again. His voice sounds husky, a bit deeper than normal and coarser. My body is enjoying his touch and all he is making me feel. Noah is overwhelming my senses with his actions and his words. On the inside I am in full on panic mode. ‘Do I really want this? Is it worth ruining my career for? Is it really Noah I want?’ “I don’t know, Noah”, is really the only thing I can think of to say.

Meanwhile, his hand is now no longer touching and rubbing my upper thigh but has slipped in between my legs. Stroking and teasing my core without touching where my body wants him the most, making me feel things that I have deprived myself of for a long time. “Noah, you are my boss.”, I whimper again, and I swear I am trying to push him away from me. But I cannot blame him if he feels like I am pulling him closer. My body and mind are battling for full control over me. Noah continues to tease me by stroking my cleft at a torturously slow pace, hitting my nub only occasionally. Whenever he does though, I whimper with the pleasure and the frustration he gives me. His assault on my neck feels so incredible. “Damn Lily, you feel so good.”, Noah whispers with his deep, coarse voice. “I can feel you getting wet for me through your pants, and it drives me crazy.”, he hisses and softly bites the spot on my neck below my earlobe. I’m still undecided on whether I should enjoy this as much as I do.

Then I hear some noise in the hallway, and my brain decides to focus on that. “Noah, anyone can walk in here any moment.”, I say, but all he does in response is started to circle my nub with his fingers, slowly hitting the right spot. I quiver with pleasure that his movements are building in my lower belly, and my legs start to shake a little. My head rolls back with my eyes closed, as I whimper at the sensations. In my defense, it really has been a long time since I allowed a man to touch me like this. “Please Lily, say yes. All I want is a date. A chance to make you mine.”, he pleads. His teasing of my clit becomes less while I struggle to answer. I just want him to continue what he was doing. “Yes!”, I sigh, though I am still doubting whether it was a response to his question or to the pleasure he was making me feel. With one last rub to my clit, he gets up and walks to my door. He adjusts himself in his pants and tells me “Next week Friday I want to take you to a charity gala as my date. I promise you will have fun.”, and he walks out the door.

I groan out of frustration, and I swear I will break out my Satisfyer when I get home!

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