Brimstone Series Book 2 – Episode 2

**Episode 1 in comment section below**
___________________________

**Chris**

There was just too much to do and not enough staff to delegate to.

Tyco was taking up all my time, and the associates were getting stressed, even more than usual. Each of them had a stack of papers the height of Olympus next to their desk.

Tonight was going to be a late night, but unlike other stretches of time where that spanned only a few days, the entire month of October was going to be late nights.

Bursting into my room, Jillian held an eerie grin on her face. ‘So, how did Stacey interview?’ She wanted the answer to be “fantastic” because we needed to start hiring again, and I was just too busy right now to give a shit.

‘Not so well,’ I firmly, scratching my chin. ‘And those oak doors are expensive. If you bust a hinge, that’s coming out of your paycheck.’

‘Shove it up your ass,’ she sneered. ‘And why didn’t she? She’s a dynamo.’

I sighed. ‘I have to admit, her ideas were good, and she had a sharp eye for weeding out bad hires.’ It took me a lot of control to say that, to compliment her. I don’t know why she got on my nerves so easily, even just the thought of her, her judgmental eyes and her quick mouth.

Jillian pressed her palms onto my table top, interrogation style. ‘Then why the FUCK have you not offered her the position yet?’ She exploded. ‘If you haven’t noticed yet, Captain Asswipe, we are severely in need of new hires, and we both know the only person here with enough free time to interview them is Steve.’

I forced out a chuckle. I imagined Steve with his dumb grin interviewing people. Soon, this entire firm would be full of attractive blondes, and dive-bombing straight to the ground.

‘You think this is funny?’ Jillian demanded, folding her arms. She was the scariest person I knew, even if she was my sister. Luke and Jake are fluffy bunnies compared to her, and it’s probably why my business relationship with her was the strongest. She was headstrong where I was more cautious. She forced me to see the benefits of taking risks, and our firm would still be in the minors if she weren’t part of the team.

I waved my hand. ‘No, I just imagined Steve hiring people . . . the crazies that he’d let through those doors,’ I grinned.

She snorted. ‘Exactly, we both know that’s not happening. So are you going to hire her or not? Stacey.’

I averted her eyes. ‘No,’ I said bitterly, like going back to the topic of Stacey was uncomfortable for me.

Her nostrils flared. ‘I’m going to ask you again. Why not?’

I shook my head, contorting my face into a pained expression. ‘You didn’t see her today Jill, she was snarky and rude. She left without saying goodbye, just walked right out the door. I am not hiring someone with that kind of attitude.’

She stared a hole through me. ‘We are not running a goddamn therapy school here. We’re in the results business, I don’t give a shit if she didn’t say *goodbye* before she left,’ she growled. ‘Do you want to start holding hands and singing “Kumbaya” at the start of every day?’ I rolled my eyes. ‘No? Then offer her the damn job Chris. I’m serious. Our firm is redlining it, and we can’t take another week of this.’

She slammed the door behind her.

These fucking women and their sudden departures.

___________________________________

**Stacey**

I needed a drink.

Working all day at the front desk of an art gallery, smiling to pretentious wealthy socialites was bad enough, but the thought of Chris forcing me to fire that boy was still fresh.

The good news was that Abigail was meeting me at the bar, where they serve my favorite drink: Manhattan with extra cherries.

She was already sitting by the counter, on her phone, most likely texting Luke. Those two were joined at the hip – they can’t go five minutes without shooting each other a snap or an update.

Their chemistry was so . . . well, lets just say that I’ve never seen two people look at each other with tenderness and cutting hunger all at once. I wondered what that mixture of love and lust was like. I wouldn’t know; I never had that with Todd, the man I left in Washington.

Todd and I worked because he allowed me to be the boss of the relationship. I wasn’t anyone’s “baby girl”, I needed someone who worked around me – or so I thought. A few months in, the novelty of it wore off, and my attraction for him slowly slipped away. And as it did, I felt the suffocating weight on my chest grow heavier and heavier.

It began affecting our relationship, and between my dry libido and his hectic work schedule, we stopped having sex. Completely. I never knew how important sex was to me until I began spending hours a night with every as-seen-on-TV pleasure toy I could get my hands on just to stay sane.

But I still had feelings for him. He was always so caring, so thoughtful, and that nurtured bond held strong. It’s probably why I disregarded all the signs. Late nights “at work” every night, the smell of perfume on him when he came home, the way he became paranoid of my loyalty, ironically. I guess projection really is a thing.

My emotional connection with him made discovering about the affairs that much worse. My heart broke when I found out about the first one, and shattered into a hundred fragments when I found out about the second. He never complained about our withered sex life, and now I knew why.

She was lucky, I thought as I approached Abigail. Luke was an easygoing guy, upbeat and positive, and therefore easy to love. It was strange to think that he grew up in the same household, with the same parents as the man who interviewed me this morning because Chris was the exact opposite. Critical and cold, nowhere near lovable.

Not that it mattered to me either way.

‘Hey Abbs,’ I murmured as I pulled into the seat next to her, dropping all my things and slumping into the chair. ‘Thanks for coming out.’

‘Are you kidding? I’d never miss a chance to get one of these,’ she chirped, holding up her Cosmopolitan.

‘A Manhattan, please, extra cherries,’ I told the bartender, who gave us a small frown. Cosmos and Manhattans were time-consuming drinks to make, and the place was already quite packed for Happy Hour. ‘Thanks,’ I smiled, as I slipped him a handsome tip, turning his frown upside down as his hands doubled in speed.

‘How was the interview? That was this morning right?’ she asked hopefully.

‘Yeah it was, but don’t look so happy for me,’ I sighed. ‘I don’t think Chris liked me.’

She frowned. ‘What do you mean? You’re one of the most work-saavy people I know. You and Jillian are like pit bulls.’

I gave her a look with lifted brows. I respected Jillian’s work attitude immensely, but she was a hot-headed woman.

‘Okay, she’s a pit bull, and you’re more of a German,’ she giggled. ‘Both fierce, is what I’m getting at. Now give me the details, girl.’

My drink was served, and I slipped a maraschino cherry in my mouth, savoring the sweet explosion. ‘Where do I start? How about that he moved on after showing me only two out of five mock hires?’

She flipped her hair back, and I saw a few hungry guys stare at her exposed neck. Ring or not, Abigail was a man-magnet. ‘Easy explanation,’ she said. ‘He was impressed early, and he didn’t see the point in continuing. You must know as well as me by now that Chris doesn’t like to futz around.’

I shrugged. ‘Maybe.’

‘Oh hush, not maybe, definitely,’ she said defiantly. ‘What else?’

I took a sip of the bittersweet mixed drink. ‘He made me fire an associate,’ I said darkly. ‘Right in front of him.’

Abigail’s jaw lowered slightly. ‘He did that?’

I nodded, taking another portion of the brown concoction past my tongue.

‘Wow, that’s a bit too far, even for Chris,’ she said breathily. ‘Did it bother you?’

‘Firing someone? No, I’ve done it before,’ I replied, shaking my head gently. ‘It wasn’t the firing itself, it’s that it felt like a show, like he was using that boy to make a statement.’

‘Statement?’ she asked quizzically. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I don’t know,’ I sighed, staring into the shelves of liquor behind the counter. ‘Maybe it was to tell me that he could fire anyone at anytime? Maybe it was to let me know that he could ask me to do anything? I don’t know, he technically could do either of those since he’s Captain Chris or whatever, but the whole thing just felt fucking cruel.’

We sat there sipping on our complicated drinks for a minute in silence.

‘Look Stace, you hate working at that gallery. I know you do,’ she began, and I rolled my eyes to the whites in obvious agreement. ‘This would be a perfect fit for you, this job. I hope you aren’t thinking of turning it down.’

I snorted. ‘You’re talking as if I have the job already. You didn’t see him in person today Abbey, he was so irritable.’

She placed my hand in hers. ‘Just please tell me you’ll take it if you get it.’

I swirled the remaining cherries in the drink a few rounds before replying. ‘Fine, I promise, but only because that fucker Damon at the gallery is such a creep.’

A wide smile broke out on her face as she puled me into a hug. ‘Oh, you’re going to be such a great fit, Stace,’ she exclaimed, and I couldn’t help but feel her infectious positivity spread through me. ‘And yes, you need to keep as much distance as you can between yourself and Damon. He screams bad vibes. Listen, I got to go, Luke wants me, and you know how grumpy he gets if he has to eat alone. Go easy on the drinks won’t you?’

I gave her a knowing nod. ‘Yeah, sure mom.’

She rolled her eyes while packing up her things. ‘I’ll talk to you later?’

‘Sure. You coming home tonight?’

Her smirk was too lewd for public. ‘Uh . . . probably not,’ she giggled.

‘Ugh . . . go, just go,’ I moaned.

I stared into the empty drink, and decided I shouldn’t order another. I could feel the darkness pulling me in, the same darkness that swallowed me up for a whole week after I broke up with Todd.

I used to be quite liberal with my alcohol intake in college, but afterwards, I cleaned up my act and reserved it only for social events. However, that week after finding out about Todd’s two little blondes re-opened the gates. It was the reason I decided to move back with Abigail; I needed someone to keep my shit in check.

Throwing a bill onto the counter, I began walking home, where I’d be spending the night alone and trying not to think about Todd.

__________________________________

**Stacey**

I spent most of the night preparing dinner. Though it was only for one person, I loved fresh, homemade meals, and smiled into the skillet when the chicken and risotto looked golden brown and ready to eat, the rich aromas wafting into my nostrils.

After a delicious meal and half a glass of wine, I saved the leftovers in the fridge – Abbey loved it when she found little treats like this.

I didn’t know what kind of freaky circus they were running over there, but every time she came back from Luke’s, she’s starving. I shuddered slightly at the thought of them going all *Fifty Shades* on each other. I wouldn’t even know who would be the dominant.

Shaking my head free of perverse thoughts involving my roommate, I walked to the bathroom, slipped out of my wears and moaned in appreciation as the hot water hit my body. As I rubbed the body wash over myself, I noticed that my limbs were defined, my belly flat. It’s all a result of a single kettle bell that Abigail stole from Luke’s. I wasn’t so sure stealing from her fiancé was a great idea, but I’ve gotten so much fitter with it that the results were worth the guilt.

‘He won’t notice, he never uses his home gym,’ she said with a roll of her eyes. Though Luke was quite fit, I could see what she meant. He reserved this mansion of an Air BNB for the engagement party, all-inclusive with an outdoor pool in the backyard. I’ve seen him topless, and while he had a large frame, his body was more lean and designed for cardio.

Unlike Chris.

Call me shallow, but I had a thing for muscular guys. When Chris took his shirt off next to the pool, I wasn’t sure if he was a lawyer or a Spartan warrior. While he was just an inch or two taller than Luke, his chest and arms were much bulkier, more defined, giving him the appearance of being much larger. His visible abs caught all of the late afternoon sun, and when he popped out of the water, all wet and glistened, I found myself staring at that hulking bod.

Abruptly, I felt a stir in between my legs, the image of Chris leaping out of the swimming pool like a damn Olympian stuck in my mind. Removing the showerhead, I turned to a lighter setting, and aimed the water between my thighs, a sharp moan escaping my lips. Using my free hand, I pressed my middle finger onto my clit, rotating softly but rhythmically, biting my lip to contain the pleasure.

A hotness rushed through me, warmer than the water itself. The fire spread from my sex down to my toes and up to my neck, flushing me with heated desire. I didn’t know if this was wrong, to be getting off to my potential supervisor, but I didn’t care, and somehow the thought of him being my superior turned me on even more. I was seconds away from release when the ring of my phone filled the room, and I was so startled that I lost most of what I had built up.

Cursing quietly, I wrapped a towel around myself and checked the call ID. Shit, it was from Chris’ firm. Taking a deep breath to clear the desire out of my voice, I mentally prepared myself to speak with his assistant.

‘Hello?’ I said as evenly as I could.

‘Hello Miss Kavanagh,’ a deep, rumbling voice called out. I froze, realizing that Chris called me himself. The desire between my thighs flared to life again, and added to it was the mixture of fear that it was going to be bad news. After my talk with Abigail, I realized how little I enjoyed working at the gallery, and began hoping that this would be a fresh start for me. ‘This is Chris. Do you have a minute right now?’

Swallowing as quietly as I could, I replied. ‘Hi Chris. Yes, of course. What’s up?’ Immediately, I bit my own tongue. *What’s up*? Who the hell greeted their potential boss like that? As far as Chris was concerned, we weren’t buddies.

Seemingly un-phased, he continued. ‘I wanted to talk to you about your interview this morning.’

His voice gave nothing away, and I thought for sure, this was going to be bad news. He was such an irritable ass this morning, and because of that, I felt like I had no chance. ‘Yes, I’d be glad to.’

He cleared his throat, like he was preparing to hit me with a painful blow. I pursed my lips. ‘Well, you did a great job. When can you start?’

My head spun. That was even more surprising than potential bad news. I was speechless, my mouth hung open and the towel nearly fell from my body as my grip loosened. There was an undertone of reluctance in his voice, but I didn’t care. *I got the job. I got the fucking job.*

Clearing the celebratory cobwebs, I issued out a reply. ‘I’ll need to let my supervisor at the gallery know, but I should be able to start in two days, Wednesday.’ While it was common policy for employees to give at least a week’s notice, I knew few girls who would love to throw plastic smiles for a paycheck, and I would provide Damon with an immediate replacement.

‘Good,’ his deep voice boomed. ‘See you Wednesday, eight am. Congratulations.’

The line went dead, and I didn’t know what to think as I finished washing the soap off my body. Drying myself off, the towel brushing against my swollen lady parts reminded me that they were unsatisfied from the unfinished session.

*I got the job. He didn’t hate me.*

Remembering that Chris was the object of my desire, and now officially my boss, I blushed a shade of scarlet as I slipped into bed. Moving a hand downwards, I found my clit once more, intending to finish what I started, and his muscular torso entered my mind again.

Instead of fighting it, I allowed myself the fetid desire, using my other hand to pinch one of my nipples between the index and my thumb, rolling slowly. A muffled cry filled the room as I released it from underneath the blanket, my mouth partially covered.

I lost myself in the sensations, rubbing, rolling, before I slipped a finger inside myself, realizing that I was already wet from my lewd fantasy. Breaking through all inhibitions, I gained pace, and quickly the fire filled by body once more.

‘Chris,’ I whispered with desperation, as if begging for his presence.

Maintaining steady motions, I brought myself to a carnal explosion, a long, deep wail of desire flooding the room as my muscles locked in position for the duration of the event. Breathing heavily, I suddenly felt empty and tired, and after blinking a few slow times, drifted off into a deep sleep with the realization that I made myself orgasm to the thought of my boss.

____________________________

**Chris**

The next few weeks passed in a relaxed, busy pace, with Stacey running hiring and associate structure. She’s been bringing in solid hires, and for the first time in a while, our firm wasn’t running on fumes.

To say that she was adapting to the position well would be an understatement. Other than bringing in six competent associates within her first two weeks, she’s also managed to make the associates keener to take initiative in their cases, now that she’s reassigned them to ones that matched their dissertations.

I haven’t had to micromanage nearly as much, and as a result, I’ve been able to put my total focus onto Tyco’s class action. With a reduced work plate, I’ve been able to go home earlier than I can ever remember, and even getting eight hours of sleep most nights.

I wasn’t sure if it was the increased sleep hours or what, but I’ve also been getting more dreams at night. Dreams about *her*.

They came to me nearly every night, my mind unable to get Stacey out of my head as I wound down with my head on the pillow. I could toss and turn for hours – and I’ve tried – but in the end, a shameful tug was the only way I’d be able to get her out of my head. But then she’d return again as I slept.

The dreams were always set in the firm, mostly in my office, but sometimes in Luke’s, where she set up home base. I had to evict an unhappy Steve because we didn’t have enough space to give her a private office, and there was no chance in hell I was about to leave her alone in the same room with my playboy of a brother, Jacob. But Luke wasn’t ever present in my dreams, thank the lord. It would just be Stacey and myself, alone, but frustratingly, I could never touch her.

This led to me waking up every morning with painful morning wood that would not deflate unless taken care of, and between that and the pre-bed sessions, I went through Kleenex like a pneumonia patient.

I tried to keep my delusions to myself, but having her working thirty feet away from me every day didn’t help. I’d catch myself using the bathroom every twenty minutes just to catch a glimpse of her. That flaming hair was so fucking long, reaching her lower back when she let it down, but during work hours, it was always tightened at the base into a ponytail that was just begging to be grabbed. I was visiting the bathroom so often that our office assistant, Diane, advised me to get checked up for a urinary tract infection. That’s a fun conversation to have.

But her hair was just the start of it. She had a perky set of tits that my eyes couldn’t stay away from, and the inability to explore them was torture. Whenever I would see her from the back, my hands twitched every time with the thought of filling themselves with her tight little ass cheeks. Oh, and not to mention her legs were literally a mile long.

However, my perverse attraction for her was simultaneously juxtaposed by irrational irritation. I knew how difficult her job was, considering Jillian and I split the load for years before we could afford hiring an HR manager. There was always a complaining associate, a slew of shitty hires, and firing was never fun. It took me nearly a year before I felt competent with all the office politics, but Stacey did it all without breaking a sweat.

For some reason, her natural competence bothered me. I knew she worked in HR for a few months in Washington, but it was like she found my tasks child’s play. Every time I’d deliver a new idea – which I found plenty, using them as excuses to talk to her – I’d be given a curt, ‘Sure’, and afterwards she would implement it better and faster than I imagined. She never complained, her quick fingers and bright eyes analyzing every situation with efficiency, finding the best route of application.

The woman was a damn cyborg, and while I should be happy with the results – she’s every employer’s dream – her frosty indifference towards me left me leaving the office every day in desperate dissatisfaction.

I needed to get closer to her, to break that icy wall, because I couldn’t handle her cold shoulder any longer.

But I needed to be smart about it. My little idea chats weren’t getting me anywhere, and asking her for drinks held too dicey of implications. Deciding that inviting her to a work lunch was a good middle ground, I entered Luke’s office one morning without knocking, the door already wide open as it always was.

For a moment I thought the space was empty, the desk that I built the only thing I could see. I decided to turn my spare bedroom into a wood shop, because instead of subjecting them to store-bought particle board crap, I wanted to handcraft all of my siblings’ desks. Being tall men, Luke and I naturally opted for desks higher than the industry standard.

Scanning the room, a flash of red caught my eyes, and I noticed that hair poking out from behind the desk. I walked around, coming up from behind her. She was examining a collage of papers spread on the floor, but I didn’t give a shit about the papers; I was focused on her position. Bent over at the waist, she was kneeling, with her flats tucked underneath that ripe little ass. She decided to wear a knee-length skirt today, but in that position, it was riding up her sides, giving me a clear view of her milky thighs. Even on her knees, her head came to my waist level, and perverse thoughts raced through my mind.

I felt my pants tighten in response, but before I could leave to compose my situation, she turned around – thank goodness for the chair behind me – and I sat down immediately, hiding my blatant erection.

‘Oh, Chris,’ she said, in that cool tone she always used around me. ‘What can I do for you?’

I swallowed. There were several things that she could do for me right now, but I didn’t feel like asking and getting arrested today.

I cleared my throat, which seemed to be thick and heavy all of a sudden. ‘I wanted to see if you were available for lunch today.’

I saw something change in her eyes, a faint glimmer that only lasted for a fleeting moment. It was so quick that I wasn’t sure if I imagined it. And then I was left with her cold look, that impersonal glance that reminded me there was nothing between us. ‘I’m swamped today,’ she motioned to the collage of papers laid beneath her, and I saw that they were profiles of the associates. She didn’t say anything else.

Fuck, she was so closed off, but I haven’t wanted anything this badly in a long time. I needed to find an opening, and I think that would require an attitude change. ‘So, how’s it going with the associates?’ I asked, trying to get her talking.

She frowned, as if that was a stupid question, and a flame of annoyance flashed within me. ‘Good, but there’s still several issues needing correction,’ she said, tilting her head. ‘I think you should allow them more responsibility.’

This was good. Her tone was still chilly, but at least she’s stringing more than three words together. ‘Really? Well, I’d be happy to discuss more, but, I’ve got a lot of work to do too. Is there another time when we could mull this over lunch? Maybe tomorrow?’

She bit her lower lip, and my eyes flickered downwards before returning to her eyes. Juicy and full, they were yet another part of her I wanted to take. But she needed to give me a chance. Just a fucking chance.

‘Sure,’ she said, slightly warmer than before. Another shot of annoyance, less sharp, sprung through me, but mixed in was an arousing elation. She returned to the profiles, dismissing me wordlessly. Instead of taking the cue, I stared at her kneeled body with hunger, resting my gaze on her hair. That fucking hair.

I must have stood there for an obviously long time, because she looked over and said, ‘Was there something else Chris?’

Snapping out of my fetishical trance, I mumbled incoherencies before giving an awkward nod, and couldn’t leave fast enough. I caught something on her face as I turned around to leave, something on her mouth. It turned up slightly in the corners, a bud of a smile.

It gave me a strange joy to know I created that smile, even if the cause was my fumbling exit. It meant she wasn’t totally immune to me, and that there was a potential for something, but I didn’t know what that something was. A connection. Maybe more.

I spent the rest of the day feeling unusually light, the hours melting by, and just before I finished my last write-up, I heard a knock at my door, and I groaned internally at what was sure to be another delivered task.

To my surprise, it was Stacey, her long flowing hair down, signaling the end of her work day. She waved her long fingers at me. ‘See you tomorrow.’

Composing myself quickly, I cleared my throat. ‘Good night, Miss Kavanagh.’ She offered me a faint smile before leaving.

*She’s coming around*, I grinned to myself. And as I watched those long, long legs walk away, I realized I was holding my breath.

Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/7rm2c0/brimstone_series_book_2_episode_2