SHOOT: A Novel (19 page)

As soon as we
landed Rick looked over at me with shocked concern.

“Are you okay?” He
asked, instinctively reaching for me to ensure I was safe.

My eyes looked at
him wide-eyed and surprised as a huge grin creaked along my face. His own smile
grew with mine until we were both rolling on the floor with laughter, bodies
still sweaty from our spontaneous sex.
    

As soon as our
laughter finally died down I quickly got up and started getting dressed. It had
already been a little too long and Vivian was probably wondering where I had
gone.

“Sorry about your
desk.” I laughed as Rick zipped up his jeans.

“It was on its
last leg anyway.” He said as he put his shirt back on, his confident demeanor
finally returning.

When we were both
fully dressed and ready to walk out the door we stopped and stared at each
other, unsure what to do next.

“I like you, I
don’t usually like woman like you.” Rick said in his soft genuine voice.

“Big bad boy has
feelings huh?” I teased with a wink.

“I wouldn’t go
that far.” Rick shot back.

I straightened the
bottom of my shirt and headed towards the door. I was happy with our little
spontaneous encounter, but ready to get back and reassure Vivian everything was
okay.

“Do I at least get
a number.” Rick asked as I turned the doorknob. I quickly grabbed a pen and
paper that had fallen from the desk off the floor. By the time I was done
writing my number I realized it was my work phone number since that was the
only number I was used to writing down for people. I shrugged it off. Men like
him never called anyway.

I walked back over
to him, gave him the piece of paper, and nearly leaned up on my tippy toes to
give him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking out of the office and back
towards the bar.

“That took
forever.” Vivian said as I finally got back.

“Not nearly long
enough.” I said, laughing at my own joke as I dragged her out of the bar and
into the night air.

I stared at him as he delicately stabbed
steamed broccoli and put it into his mouth. Even the way he ate his food was
boring. I was on the date with Jonathan that my coworker Samantha had set up
for us. This was the last thing I wanted to do, especially after my wild and
crazy night with Rick. Next to Rick, Jonathan was more girly than I was. I
wanted a man’s man, not another office drone that had never picked up a hammer
in his whole life.

I had brought up every TV show and movie I
had ever seen in order to find something relatable I could talk to him about.
But the man was as interesting as a brick wall. But despite his uninteresting
personality, he was still sweet and I could tell he was trying real hard to get
me to like him.

We both shared a cab on the way home.
Jonathan was getting dropped off first since his apartment was on the way back
to my own.

“You…you wanna come up for a drink…or
something?” He asked me as he leaned back into the cab before shutting the door
behind him. I was surprised he even had the courage to suggest such a thing.
But I mulled it over for a moment, feeling the pressure of the cab driver
turning around and looking at me to hurry up and make a decision. I could
practically see the irritation written all over the cab driver’s face. The
driver’s expression practically screamed the question—
Are you going to fuck him or not?

I don’t know what possessed me to say yes,
I figured he probably wouldn’t make a move on me anyway.

“Yea, sure.” I said, shimmying my way
across the backseat and out the door. His face lit up with shock and excitement
the moment I said yes. Poor guy. Even though he wasn’t a bad looking guy, this
was probably the first time he’s had a girl up in his apartment in a while.
Jonathan leaned through the passenger side window to pay the cab driver before
leading me up to his apartment.

His apartment was nice and clean but had
very little character. In many ways it matched his personality. I wasn’t
surprised. I sat down on the kitchen barstool as Jonathan prepared a couple
drinks for us.

“Gin and tonic.” He said with a huge grin
as he sat my drink down in front of me.
 
“You had mentioned at the restaurant that that was what your favorite
drink was.” He smiled proudly.

He listened well, that was something a lot
of men didn’t do, so at least he had that going for him.

“Thank you Jonathan, you’re so sweet.”

I had barely swallowed my first sip when
he planted a swift kiss on my cheek. I sat there frozen for a moment, swishing
the gin and tonic in my mouth before swallowing and looking toward him. A nervous
smile crept along his face.

“You want to fool around or something?” I
laughed, trying to help the poor sap out. Wooing women clearly wasn’t his
forte.

“Yea.” He said as his nervous smile turned
into a huge grin.

I set my drink back on the counter as he
grabbed my hand and guided me across the living room towards the hallway. We
made our way to the bedroom. I wasn’t exactly sure why I was going to have sex
with him. He wasn’t a
bad
guy or
anything, he just didn’t get my blood boiling the way I liked. But if I was
being completely honest, ever since my steamy hot encounter with Rick, I
couldn’t get my mind off of sex.

Jonathan leaned in and pressed his lips
against mine. I tried my best to kiss back and go with the flow. He wasn’t a
bad kisser; he just wasn’t what I wanted. His hand snaked down my side and
around my back. I let out a little moan as he grabbed my ass and pulled me
closer, his bulge pressing against my hip. I pulled back and gave him a quick
smile as I placed my hand on his chest and pushed him against the bed. He fell
back on the matress with a nervous laugh.

My eyes traced over the bulging outline of
his cock underneath his slacks. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. He
kicked his shoes off as I walked towards him and quickly started unfastening
his belt.

“Just sit back and relax.” I reassured him
as I unzipped his pants and tugged them down his legs. I smiled as his hardness
sprang free. He wasn’t disappointing or small by any means, but he wasn’t as
big as Rick. I tried to shake the thought out of my mind. It wasn’t right to
keep comparing the two men, but I couldn’t help myself. As soon as his hands
were off I leaned down and gave him a soft wet kiss on the head of his cock,
giggling as he twitched underneath my lips.

“That feels so good.” He panted, rocking
his hips up to meet my mouth. I eased my lips down the towards the base of his
shaft and reached out my tongue. A light tremble shook his legs as my tongue
ran flat along the underside of his shaft and snaked its way up toward his
head. As soon as I made my way to the tip of his cock I grabbed him and aimed
his head into my puckered lips.

“Oh fuck…” He whimpered as I eased my
mouth down and hollowed my cheeks. His hands clutched at the comforter as my
head bobbed up and down, occasionally pulling my mouth back to twirl my tongue
around his head. As soon as I started to jerk him with a tight grip he reached
down and grabbed my wrist.

“Wait…wait…” He muttered, hips lurching up
a little off the bed. I stopped, wondering if he was actually about to come.
His eyes clenched shut and his mouth locked open as he mustered up all the
energy he could to avoid his impending orgasm. His whole body went stiff as his
pearly white juices exploded from his cock and oozed down my knuckles. A wave
of disappointment washed over me as I watched him tremble against my hand. He
couldn’t even last ten minutes with me.

As soon as he was finished he looked down
at me panting. “Sorry.” He managed to squeak out, clearly disappointed in his
lack of control.

“Don’t worry about it.” I said, trying my
best to look like I didn’t care.

“I can—”

“No really, it’s okay.” I said
interrupting him. “Maybe next time.” There wasn’t going to be a next time. I
just wanted to wash up and get out of there.

“Is there a bathroom I can use?” I asked,
pulling my hand away from him.

“Yea, just down the hallway to the left.”
He said as he leaned up and watched me walk out of the room.

As soon as I washed up I gave him a
cordial goodbye and left.
 

The next day at
work I spent the first couple of hours staring at the travel pictures on my
computer. My mind raced with a million thoughts about last night with Jonathan
and the other night with Rick. So many men are like Johnathon. They’re nice,
gentle, and caring. But none of them can spark that fire inside of me like
Rick.

As my mind’s eye
traced over Rick’s naked body once again my office phone beeped and shocked me
back to reality.

“Kayla, there’s a
man coming to see you.” Kimberly, the front desk secretary said over my
speakerphone. I couldn’t quite put a finger on her tone of voice, but she
sounded annoyed.

“A man?” I asked
as I quickly pressed the talk button on the phone. I rolled my eyes and said a
few curse words under my breath as I realize how desperate I sounded with that
question. Obviously it wasn’t odd or out of the ordinary for a man to see me at
work, but since I had
men
on the mind
my first thought wasn’t work related at all.

“Yes a man.”
Kimberly confirmed as I finished cursing myself for the desperation in my
voice. “I tried stopping him and telling him he had to wait, but he didn’t
listen and just walked right past the desk.”

“Okay…” I wasn’t
sure what else to say.

“He had on a
leather jacket and boots.”

My heart instantly
dropped. Rick. How could he know where I work? I leaned over my desk to get a
better look out my office window and toward the front desk. I couldn’t see him
yet.

“Kayla, he’s
tracking in dirt everywhere.” Kimberly said over the phone with an annoyed
sigh. “Do you know him?”

My heart lurched
the moment I saw him. It was Rick.

“Thanks Kimberly.”
I said, ignoring her question and promptly muting the speaker.

Quickly, I
scrambled from behind my desk and ran towards the window. I closed my office
blinds as fast as I could and leaned against the door. My breath stilled and my
palms felt sweaty. I wasn’t ready to see him. Not to mention, him walking into
my work looking as unprofessional as he did probably wasn’t the best image for
me.

I peeked out the
blinds just in time to see him talking to Jonathan of all people. Jonathan
looked at him confused before pointing towards my office. Rick gave him a smile
and a nod before heading my way. Even though he looked completely out of place
in such a professional atmosphere he was still as dead sexy as ever. He had his
leather jacket on, ripped jeans, and motorcycle boots that left a trail of
dirty footprints all along the hallway. Either he didn’t seem to care about the
mess he was making or he didn’t seem to notice.

“Fuck…” I muttered
under my breath as I shot my hand away for the blinds and readied myself to
talk to him. How could he have possibly figured out where I work? Was he some
kind of creepy stalker?

I sucked in a
nervous breath. Great, now I had some unkempt man that tracks dirt into my
office, who will probably show up there every day. That night was supposed to
be my wild and crazy night out. Even though I couldn’t get my mind off of him,
it was supposed to be a one-time thing. Now I felt like my two worlds were
colliding—my fun night out with Vivian and my professional career.

A loud thud banged
against my office door and I instantly opened it without another moment’s
hesitation. I wanted him inside my office and out of sight as soon as possible.
The moment the door swung open Rick looked at me with a wide smile.

“Hey sexy.”

“Get in here.” I
said, grabbing him by the arm and tugging him inside.

“Who is that? He’s
making a mess.” I heard one of my coworkers say as I shut the door behind us.

Rick looked at me
with a confused expression written across his face. “What’s the matter with
you?”

“You can’t come up
here like this.” I said, practically scolding him.

“Like what?”

I looked him up
and down and gave a motion with my hands toward his outfit. He looked down at
himself then back up at me, unable to figure out what I was suggesting.

“This is a
professional atmosphere at my job. My career. And your tracking dirt
everywhere.”

“Sorry...” He
muttered as he tried to make sense of my anger.

“How did you find
where I worked anyway?”

He handed me a
wrinkled piece of paper with a number scrawled across it.

“I called the
number you gave me. The woman at the front desk answered it has O.P.
Advertising Firm. I wanted to see you again, so I looked the place up online
and here I am.” He said, holding out his arms like he had just performed some
kind of magic trick.

I sucked in a deep
breath the moment he said he wanted to see me again. Clearly I had some kind of
effect on him, just like he had an effect on me. It felt good, but I still
wanted him out of the office as soon as possible. I walked back towards the
window to peek out the blinds. Jonathan was talking to Samantha and pointing to
the dirt footprints and then towards my door.

“You have to go.” I
said as I turned around and tried to push him toward my door.

“Not without a
date.” He said standing still. He wouldn’t move. It was like pushing up against
a brick wall.

“A date?”

“Yes a date. Don’t
act like the other night wasn’t something special to you.” He said with a smirk
as he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me closer. The moment I smelt his
manly scent my knees wobbled. All the sexy memories from the other night came
crashing over my body in one giant wave.

“It was, but you
have to go.” I said, trying my best to tear away from his grip. His eyes were a
piercing stare as he held on tight, refusing to let go until I gave in. “Fine,
one date.”

Rick let go of me,
grabbed a pen and paper off my desk, and wrote his number down. He handed it to
me with his typical cocky smirk.

“Text me your
address.” He said. His eyes squinted as if he were studying my every
expression. “You’re not going to leave me hanging are you?”

I let out a short
giggle. “No, of course not.”

“After all, I do
know where you work.” He laughed.

“Speaking of work,
I need to get back to it.” I said, pushing back toward the door.

“Oh, you should
wear jeans.” He said as he looked me up and down, “a skirt won’t be comfortable
on a motorcycle.” He said with a wink before walking out the door.
 

I peeked over his
shoulder out into the office to see Jennifer and a few others gawking in our
direction.

“Bitch.” I said
under my breath.

“What’s that?”
Rick turned around.

“Nothing, see you
later.” I gave him a quick smile before shutting the door behind him. I opened
my office blinds just in time to see everyone’s eyes glued to Rick as he walked
out. His boots fell with a thud against the floor as he walked out as confident
as ever.

There was a meager
knock at my door. I opened it to see Jonathan standing there, eyes cast down to
the ground.

“Who was that?” He
asked, barely able to make eye contact with me.

“It was nobody,
just a friend of a friend.” I said, trying my best to brush it off. I grit my
teeth and cursed myself inside my head. I knew it was wrong to try and hide
Rick from everybody else. But he didn’t belong there and right then I was
starting to think I didn’t belong there either.

That was when the
true dilemma washed over me. I felt trapped between two ‘different selves’. On
one side of me I wanted to go out and be crazy, live free, and be wild. That
was the side of me that wouldn’t judge guys like Rick. The other side of me
felt like I needed to conform to office politics and not associate with people
like Rick. If I wanted to get ahead in the company, I couldn’t have strangers
walking in looking like him and leaving dirt footprints across the office
carpet.

I let out a heavy
sigh as I watched Kimberly sweep up some of the stray clumps of dirt. The
office was too much of a sterile and boring place anyway. Sometimes things need
a little dirt to add character.

I was too sterile
and boring. I was a cookie cut out the perfect businesswoman. I always dressed
right and did the right things. Everything about me was predictable. An
undeniable part of me started to bubble to the surface that wanted to dress
differently and do all the wrong things.

I needed a little
dirt in my life. I needed character.

I needed Rick.

But that wasn’t
me, if I wanted to get the Vice President position I would have to stay as
perfect as I had always had been.

Chirp
Chirp.

I grabbed my phone off the desk. My eyes
instantly rolled as I saw my daily motivational text from my mother.

What
you are looking for is not out there…it’s in you.