Chapter 49: The Pros of Mixing Business and Pleasure

Octavia made it back to the office before Raemon finished his meeting. The sudden unannounced arrival of a bunch of business associates from Hong Kong claimed the rest of his day.

Octavia technically spent the afternoon with him, only silently taking notes by his side.

She had to hand it to the man; he put on his usual granite-faced expression and sat through the long chat with his associates without so much as glancing at Octavia.

You wouldn’t believe how deep his tongue had been in her mouth only a few hours ago. Octavia was relieved. She didn’t want anyone thinking she was the kind of person who would sleep with her boss.

And she wasn’t going to, she vowed.

She would not find herself in his bed—again, of course, but this time not just for sleeping—until she was no longer his employee.

She just couldn’t be that much of a cliché—the naïve assistant who falls for her boss’s charms and then into his bed. Yes, she’d already been in his bed, but goddammit, that was different.

When Raemon and Octavia were finally alone, and she informed him of this decision, he did the unexpected.

He picked up the phone, called Indira, and informed her that Octavia would be starting her new role the next day. Indira didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

Octavia just stood before Raemon with her mouth hanging open in surprise.

“There,” Raemon said. “In twenty-four hours, you’ll no longer be my employee.” He grabbed her around her waist and drew her body to his.

“That’s it?” Octavia said. She gave an injured sniff. “You’d get rid of me just like that? Mr. Kentworth, I’m astonished! And after all we’ve been through.”

Raemon stared down at her with a familiar roguish grin on his face. “Never call me Mr. Kentworth ever again.”

Octavia smiled mischievously.

“Oh no, I was explicitly told that I should address you only as Mr. Kentworth while under your employment. Now, let’s see…who was it again who said that? I can’t quite remember…”

Before Octavia could bring up memories Raemon clearly wanted forgotten, he kissed her, long and hard.

Octavia spent the next week at Curie Tech. She met the designers at Indira’s company, sat in on their departmental meetings, toured their research labs, and received training on all their tech.

It was one of the best weeks of her life. She spent hours with the woman she had idolized for years, learning from her and seeing her perform her duties as a CEO.

During her time at Curie, Octavia became acquainted with the people she would be working with.

“For whatever technical questions you have,” Indira was telling Octavia, “Quentin is your man.”

A tall, lanky guy with curly dark hair stuck under a bowler hat, held his hand out to Octavia.

“Octavia Wilde,” he said, “lovely to meet you.”

Octavia returned his handshake, grinning. “Great to meet you too. Nice shirt.”

Quentin was wearing a short-sleeve, button-up shirt covered in neon-green-and-blue-checkered tiles.

He wore the shirt with faded gray jeans and red-and-black striped socks peeking out from his black sneakers.

“Thank you,” Quentin answered, “and in case you’re wondering, no, I’m not color-blind.”

“I wasn’t thinking that,” Octavia said. “I was actually wondering where you got that shirt. And if it came in shades of neon pink and orange.”

Quentin’s smile widened. “A fellow color fanatic, eh?” He turned to Indira. “Miss Indy, you have the most exquisite taste in employees.”

“Thank you, Quentin,” Indira said with a smile. “But do you think you two could save complimenting each other’s sartorial preferences for a moment for you to show Octavia our product schematics?”

Quentin bowed, even tipping his hat with flourish. “Your wish is my command, Miss Indy.”

Octavia felt that she would like working with him.

Only Quentin called Indira ‘Miss Indy.’ She was Miss Indira to all other employees.

It seemed that every single person, from the board members to the cleaning staff, regarded Indira with a sort of appreciative awe.

As pleasant as Indira Bhandari was, her intelligence and authority shone through without her having to say a word.

After her time at Curie, she went right back to Icarus Tech. Starting her new job at Icarus as a Software Design Consultant felt nothing like starting her new job as an assistant.

She got a spacious, fancy office in the new wing dedicated to the newly formed Curie-Icarus Department.

She also got to decorate her new office however she wanted. She immediately had the black office chairs and gray filing cabinets moved out.

She replaced them with bright-orange chairs and multicolored cabinets. She added a beanbag chair, an aquamarine couch, a turquoise swiveling desk chair, and a water cooler mounted on a yellow stand.

She also had the walls painted a pastel orange. As a final touch, she had large posters of her favorite comic book heroes mounted on the walls.

“That’s more like it,” Octavia said, surveying her new office once all the changes had been done. “Now I can get some work done here.”

She gave a thumbs-up to the enlarged, cartoon faces of Wonder Woman, Sailor Moon, and Storm from X-Men.

During her first few days, Octavia was just as busy as she had been as Raemon’s new assistant.

She had meetings with the Icarus design team, she had trips to different Icarus research and development facilities, she had reports on testing data to read through, and who knew what else ended up on her long to-do list.

Octavia bounced from one activity to another—all the while completely happy to do so.

Her schedule being so packed, she and Raemon rarely ended up alone together.

She checked in with him on most mornings, bringing him up to speed on what was happening in her department, but even then it was only a few minutes.

They might as well have only been colleagues and not potential fuck buddies.

She’d basically come in, rattle off a list of information, and then dash out to make it to the next meeting. It surprised her that Raemon never tried to stop her.

He didn’t try to steal a moment with her even though she got the sense that he wanted to. All the same, she was grateful he didn’t get in the way of her job.

If it came down to choosing between Raemon and her work, no matter how amazing those lips of his were, she’d always choose the latter.

Fortunately, things calmed down for Octavia. The Curie-Icarus Department found their groove, and solid ideas for a new line of products began to form.

Octavia sighed in appreciation at the schematics of potential future products on her computer screen.

For the millionth time that week, she marveled at how she’d ended up in such a nice job. One she didn’t want to immediately quit.

Her phone buzzed.

It was a text message from Raemon asking her to drop the Curie schematics by his office when she had the time.

Octavia smiled at her screen. ~Look at him being polite, Octavia thought. If I’d known this side of him existed, I’d have kissed him a long time ago.~

She picked a stack of files up off her desk and walked out of her office.

When she reached Adelaide’s desk, she said as she walked by, “I’m just dropping off some files for Raemon.”

Adelaide looked up from her screen to Octavia, nodded, but said nothing. The expression on her face was cold enough that Octavia felt it even standing feet away from her.

It was strange. She knew Adelaide had never liked her, and she had guessed that Adelaide wouldn’t be thrilled by her promotion, but the level of hostility the woman was giving her seemed a little much.

“Surprise!” Octavia announced, strolling into Raemon’s office. She found him just as she thought she would, sitting at his desk and staring intensely at his computer screens.

He looked up as she entered, and the crease in his brow vanished. He stood to meet her.

“Octavia,” he said, watching her as she came around his desk and stood before him.

“Clearly,” Octavia said with a grin. “Are you terribly surprised that I delivered on time?” She held the files out to him.

Raemon took the files from her with an amused expression on his face. He spent the next few seconds looking through them.

“Hmm,” he said, “I can see why you’ve been so busy.”

“I know, right?” Octavia said happily. She sat herself on top of Raemon’s desk, perched with her legs dangling just above the floor.

She continued to talk. “Can you imagine what stuff we’re going to come up with? I can’t wait to get my hands on some prototypes!”

“From the looks of this, that shouldn’t be too far off,” Raemon said. “How is the Curie chip integration going?”

“It’s amazing!” Octavia said, her eyes dancing.

“With the Curie chips, you need way less processors to run all the functions of most of your tech as it is now. It could really cut the cost down for your current models.”

Octavia’s feet swung back and forth in her excitement. “You could have Icarus’s products on the market available at a much lower price. Only think of what that would mean!”

“We’d dominate the global market,” Raemon supplied in a matter-of-fact tone. “That was the plan.”

“True,” Octavia agreed, “but there’s also room for innovation. We could potentially have more capabilities in your current tech. We could add just about anything!”

“Really?” Raemon said, a particularly sly look in his eyes. “What are you thinking? A detachable nose-hair trimmer?”

Octavia didn’t lose her smile. “Maybe.”

Raemon set the files aside on his desk and centered his gaze on Octavia’s upturned face.

“Enough talking,” he said in a soft, husky voice. She said nothing as he moved closer to her and wrapped one arm around her. The other he raised to her face, caressing her cheek.

When he spoke, Octavia could feel his breath on her face. “I’ve waited long enough to have you in my arms again.”

Octavia frowned. “What? You don’t want to hear my plans for the nose-hair trimmer?”

Raemon didn’t respond; he merely gave Octavia one of his cocky smiles and trailed his fingers down her cheek, to her neck, then her chest.

“It’s a really novel idea,” Octavia continued complacently. It was a thin veil of an act; her insides were smoldering under his gaze.

“It will have a stainless-steel blade and a miniature air motor with vibration damping insulation, of course.”

“Fascinating,” Raemon said, pulling her close to him. Her legs ended up spread open and that very significant part of him directly between them.

Between their bodies, Octavia felt his hand trailing down her chest, pausing for a moment to clench her breast, then traveling farther down to her abdomen.

“It will also collapse into a compartment beneath a laptop model,” Octavia continued. Her fingers curled into fists from where they were resting on the desk surface.

“And…and maybe it will even be Bluetooth enabled so users can…um…play music or something while they trim their—”

Her breath stopped when she felt Raemon’s wandering hand slide into the waistband of her pants.

His fingers inched down her clothing, into her underwear, and went straight for the very center of her middle.

Octavia didn’t have time to recall the last time she’d shaved that particular area or wonder if he’d have a hard time finding her center through the jungle that was most likely thick and untamed down there.

Fortunately, Raemon had no trouble finding what he was looking for. His fingertips touched her clitoris and began to explore its fleshy surface.

She felt his fingers dipping into the crevices surrounding that pink bud-like part, stroking its sides with slow, smooth moves.

Octavia fixed her gaze on his face while he worked at her insides, pinching, teasing, and stroking her clit with just the right amount of pressure and speed to make her feel like fireworks were going off inside her.

Raemon stared right back at her, a light scowl of concentration on his face. But this look was tinged with triumph. He could see the pleasure in Octavia’s eyes and feel the response in her body.

He suddenly dropped his other hand around Octavia’s body, pulling her to the very edge of the desk. Octavia initiated the curve of her back and the titling of her pelvis toward him.

With this invitation, his fingers slipped farther down her insides. A brand new forest of flames erupted in her middle when the tip of his fingers brushed against the walls of her vagina.

He slid one finger in, then another, and began stroking her insides with a steady, pulsing rhythm. Her body answered with an eager wetness, and his fingers slid even farther down.

Octavia was holding on to the feeling of every shockwave his fingers sent coursing through her body.

Though every inch of her demanded for her to let go, she held on, climbing the wave that she knew would come to a glorious crest.

She felt another one of his fingers slide into her center. She was so close to the edge, she nearly fell off and plunged into the dazzling darkness below.

Octavia was breathing faster now. She needed to anchor herself to something; she suddenly reached for Raemon’s chest.

Her frantic fingers found the fabric of his shirt, and she grabbed fistfuls of what she could peel from his chest.

“Do it,” Raemon whispered huskily.

In her dazed state, Octavia scowled. “I will when I fucking want to,” she managed to voice between clenched teeth.

Raemon bent down to her with a wolfish grin and pressed his mouth to her temple.

“Fine,” he murmured against her skin, clearly enjoying himself. “I don’t have anything else on my itinerary.”

His hand around her tightened; his fingers clenching around her bottom. Inside of her, his hand quickened in pace.

When she hit the peak of the wave, it shook her harder than any of the shockwaves she’d felt before. She gasped and her head fell backward. Electric rivulets spread like a net over her body.

She was hot and cold, weak and energized all at once.

Raemon didn’t stop moving inside her. His fingers continued in their rhythmic dance, even as she clenched down on his hand with the contraction of her thighs.

She clenched and released her muscles repeatedly, soaking in every drop of the flames, absorbing every ion of the orgasm’s energy.

As if his hand in her center gave him access to all the feelings in her body, Raemon worked her insides like a pro. The feeling of his fingers inside her sustained the fire coursing through her body.

Each stroke of his hand satisfied her desire and simultaneously created a desire for more.

And as if he could feel how much she wanted to hold on to her peak, he drew out the feeling, keeping her high on the crest of her wave.

When Octavia was finally reduced to exhausted breaths, she brought her head back to rest on his chest.

She closed her eyes, feeling Raemon press his lips to her head, then her neck, gently sucking and biting at her skin.

“Fuck,” Octavia said breathlessly. “How the hell am I supposed to go back to work after this?”

She felt his lips curve into a smile on her skin.

“I guess you don’t,” Raemon said.