“You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am, Ems,” Lauren says as she looks at her reflection in the car mirror and fixes some hair that has fallen out of her band. “I’m very serious.”

She looks over at me with a playful smile, which starts to turn more serious as her eyes rake down my body, settling on my still-bare tits.

“I think maybe you’ll need a shirt on to go back into the office,” she says as she leans into the backseat for my folded blouse.

“You’re the one who took it off me in the first place,” I say back.

“Are you mad about that, darling?”

Lauren reaches over to help me pull my blouse over my head and gives me a quick peck on the lips before attempting to smooth down my disheveled hair.

“You know I’m not,” I say as I look at my own reflection in the passenger seat mirror.

When Lauren texted me on Thursday to “grab lunch,” I had a feeling where things would lead. The truth is I hadn’t been able to concentrate that entire morning anyway. Images of the night before kept rolling around in my head, making work impossible.

So, when Lauren texted, I didn’t hesitate to leave the building and jump into her car. When she parked in a secluded lot near the office, we didn’t waste any time getting each other undressed.

But now it’s Friday and we’re back in her car. I know we should be more careful, but when I’m around Lauren, all logic flies out the window. I just hope people haven’t started to wonder why we both come back from lunch around the same time, smelling like each other’s perfume.

Today we didn’t even get a full hour. With the development team happy hour for Lauren happening later and the strategy meeting we’re having with Jackie soon, we couldn’t take as much time as I would have liked.

Once I’m satisfied with my reflection and I’m sure that there’s no trace of having just been fucked, I look back over at Lauren who’s casually leaning against her steering wheel with a challenging look on her face.

“Why won’t you do it?” she asks.

“Because it’s a work event,” I say like it’s the most obvious answer in the world.

“No,” she says in a light tone. “It’s a work party. Celebrating me, I might add. So, you should do what makes me happy.”

She leans over to my side of the car and brings her left hand up so she’s cupping my cheek. She then slowly brings the same hand down my face and lets it rest lightly on my throat.

Like the other night, she doesn’t squeeze, but just the feeling of it there causes my breath to catch and my still-wet undies to get even wetter.

“I promise nobody will know. But having you submit to me in public like that, will please me very, very much. Don’t you want to please your mistress?”

Her mouth is next to my ear as she speaks and she hasn’t removed her hand. I can feel my chest rising and falling rapidly with every word she speaks and if she put her hand back into my pants, it wouldn’t take long for me to come again.

I turn my head slightly so I can look into her eyes. Eyes that a minute before had gone back to their original green but are suddenly dark once again. And as I look at her face, I know that I’ll say yes. Because even if this is something I would have never done just a few weeks ago, pleasing Lauren now feels linked to my own pleasure.

“How does it work?” I ask in a quiet voice.

She moves her thumb and fingers over my neck in soft movements as she leans in and gives me a long, slow kiss. After a moment, she moves so she can reach and grab something from her glove compartment.

And there is no mistaking the object she pulls out for anything other than a sex toy. Not only is it bright pink, it looks exactly like a standard vibrator, with the addition of a rounded antenna on the end.

“You’re just driving around with that in your glove compartment?” I ask.

“No, silly girl. I bought it yesterday and put it in here today so I could give it to you,” she says as she hands me the vibrator.

“Pink?” I say as I turn it around in my hands.

“They didn’t have blue,” she replies before taking it from my hands. “You slide this part inside of you,” she says as she holds up the egg-shaped part on one side. “This part,” she says as she points to the antenna, “will rest against your clit.”

“How do you control it?” I ask.

“From an app on my phone.”

“You have an app on your phone for a remote vibrator?”

“Not yet. But once you agree to wear this, I’ll download it,” she says as she plays with the ends of my hair, something I’ve noticed she seems to enjoy.

“You mean you haven’t used this before?”

I don’t look at her as I ask the question and I know my forced casual tone sounds just that— forced. I hope the jealousy I feel at the thought of Lauren playing this game with someone else in Austin isn’t coming through.

“Ems, look at me,” she says quietly.

When I look up, her eyes are looking softly at me and she moves her hand down from my hair to hold my hand.

“I know this dynamic is new for you. But you should also know that I’m generally a monogamous person. I’m not saying we’re there yet. But I’m also not sleeping around.”

I’m embarrassed she even had to say something. I’m not usually insecure about women, but I also feel lighter after hearing her words. The thought of Lauren touching another woman makes me irrationally anxious.

I look down at the vibrator in my hand again. I want to please Lauren and the thought of being at her mercy while in a bar is becoming increasingly sexy and erotic.

“Will anyone be able to hear it?” I ask, feeling too many things to address her comment on monogamy.

She gives me a long look but doesn’t push the topic.

“No, it’s practically silent. Especially in a bar.”

“Okay,” I say in a low voice.

“Yes?” she asks.

Adorable would never be the right word to describe Lauren’s facial expressions, but the hopeful look she’s giving me now makes her look youthful and I can’t help but smile at her and nod.

“I’d wait until the bar to put that in. I would assume walking with it is a bit uncomfortable,” she says.

“Yes, Miss Callahan,” I say in a low voice as I slip the vibrator into my work bag.

“You’ll send me a text confirming that you’re putting it in.”

“Yes, Miss Callahan.”

“And you won’t give any indication that it’s in. Not to anyone.”

“Yes, Miss Callahan.”

She leans into me again, puts her hand behind my neck, and pulls me in for a deep kiss. She wastes no time sliding her tongue into my mouth and I’m instantly moaning into hers. But she only lets it last for a few seconds before she pulls her face away so our lips are inches from each other's.

“Good girl. I’m very pleased. Now we need to get back. We have a meeting to get to.”

Lauren leans back to the driver’s side of the car, gives herself one last look in the mirror and pulls out of the parking space we were in.

Part of me can’t believe I’m two blocks away from my office building, agreeing to use a sex toy at a company event.

But this isn’t the first time I’ve done something out of character in the name of Miss Callahan and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Michelle wants to see us,” Jackie says as she pops her head into my office. “And then do you want to grab lunch?”

I turn my attention to my computer instead of making eye contact with Jackie. Lying to her about Lauren is starting to get to me, but I also can’t tell her I spent my lunch hour getting fucked by the woman in her car. Not to mention yesterday’s lunch hour.

“No, I ate already, but thanks. What does Michelle want?”

“Not sure. I ran into her in the kitchen and she asked if we could both come chat with her. I’m guessing it’s about Ellison.”

I move around my desk and to the door where Jackie is standing. As I move past her so we’re halfway into the hall outside my office, she puts a hand on my shoulder and it feels much more intimate than a normal gesture from Jackie.

“You look nice today,” she says as she looks down the length of my body. “It seems to be a new trend these days.”

She doesn’t move her hand and when I look up into her eyes, they don’t seem to hold their usual warmth. She’s also standing much closer than seems necessary or normal for us.

“That feels like an insult, Jack. Are you implying I normally look like shit?”

She instantly moves her hand off my shoulder and takes a step back so she’s fully in the hallway.

“Of course not. I was implying—”

“I know exactly what you were implying. And I’m over it,” I say, cutting her off before she can finish her sentence.

I look down the hall to make sure we’re alone. I don’t want to have this conversation at work and now we’re not even in the sanctity of my private office. I know as well as anyone that what happens in an Altitude hallway definitely doesn’t stay there.

“Enough jabs about Lauren. Whatever is going on between you and me, it has nothing to do with her.”

I stop talking as someone from the client services team rushes down the hallway giving us both a quick hello as he passes.

“Look, this isn’t the place for this. Let’s talk outside of work,” I say in a lowered voice.

I know I’m being a hypocrite considering the things I’ve gotten up to with Lauren in this very office and right outside of it, but I just can’t have an emotional fight with Jackie while we’re supposed to be talking to our boss.

“Tonight? After the happy hour?” She asks and I feel a sudden rush of guilt at the hopeful expression that’s on her face.

My mind also goes to Lauren. I assumed we’d spend the night together, but I also know that I need to talk to Jackie. I don’t want to lose my friendship and lately, it feels like that’s been slipping away.

Maybe I can meet up with Lauren after that. Or maybe I’ll live if I take one night off of sex. I force myself to concentrate on the conversation at hand before thoughts of sex with Lauren threaten to cause a blush that I don’t need Jackie seeing at this moment.

“Sure. We can grab a drink somewhere,” I say. “Come on, Michelle’s probably waiting.”

It’s not uncommon for Jackie and me to end up back at one of our apartments after-work events to hang out and or watch a movie. But I suddenly feel uncomfortable at the thought of being alone with her. That probably shouldn’t happen until we have a conversation about whatever it is that’s going on between us. Getting a drink at a bar seems like a much safer bet.

Setting plans for later seems to do the trick to thaw Jackie’s mood and by the time we get to Michelle’s office, she seems to be her old self again.

Guy is sitting inside Michelle’s office when we arrive so we wait outside until he’s done. Jackie leans against the wall across from her office.

“Did you know Michelle has a boat?” She asks me as we wait.

“Everyone in Seattle has a boat,” I reply.

“Yeah, but she named it Higher Altitude. If that isn’t drinking the company Kool-Aid, I don’t know what is.”

“She seriously named her boat that?”

“Yep. Think if I change the license plate on my car to Alti-Dude, I’d get a promotion?”

“No. But it might get you an invite on Higher Altitude,” I say back with a smile. It feels nice to be bantering with Jackie again.

“I’m sure Guy’s gotten an invite,” she says with a mischievous waggle of her eyebrows.

“For the last time, they’re not sleeping together. Guy’s gay.”

“Guy’s never said he’s gay. Look at them in there,” she subtly points to the window of Michelle’s office. “They’re probably discussing their next tryst on Higher Altitude.”

“First of all, I’m going to get you a thesaurus for the modern decade so you stop using words like tryst and floozy. Secondly, Guy came to the office dressed as a glitter bomb for Halloween. I’m pretty sure that was his coming out to us.”

“That’s homophobic, Ems,” Jackie says as she points her finger at me.

“To say that glitter is gay?”

At that moment, Michelle’s office door opens and Guy is walking out of it with his perfect suit looking as crisp as ever. Guy gives us both a big smile as he leaves and I’m glad he has no idea what we were just talking about.

Michelle is behind her desk in her huge corner office when we enter and we both automatically take the cushy chairs across from her.

Michelle has been with Altitude for more than fifteen years. She’s definitely earned this office and I have a lot of respect for her in general. She’s been a great mentor to me over the past two years and my fast trajectory is partly due to the projects she’s given me.

I don’t know how old Michelle is, but she seems like she’s close to fifty and I can’t help but wonder if it bothers her that Lauren is now her boss. I don’t know how old Lauren is exactly, but I’m guessing she’s only a bit older than my own thirty-five.

I can’t help but be impressed with how far Lauren has come at such a young age. I also know that right now is not the time to let my mind wander there. Any time I think about Lauren I have a tendency to blush uncontrollably.

“Thanks for the last-minute chat,” Michelle says with a warm smile on her face.

“No problem, what’s up?” I ask.

“First of all, I hope you’ll both be at the happy hour tonight to welcome Lauren. It’ll be important for you both to create a relationship with her. She may not be your direct manager, but she will be leading our practice for the whole west coast.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Jackie give me a quick look before turning her head back to Michelle. I’m utilizing every tactic I ever learned as a kid in community theater to just sit still and not fidget at Michelle’s words. Create a relationship with her. I’m pretty sure Michelle wouldn’t condone the ways I’ve done that so far.

“We’ll be there,” Jackie says and I’m thankful that she jumped in since I suddenly seem incapable of speech. “It’s at Bell Town Brew?”

“Yes, I’ve asked the team to gather there around 5. Should be a nice time,” she says and her tone doesn’t imply any resentment towards Lauren.

Maybe Michelle is like everyone else in the company and also thinks Lauren walks on water. Even if she is her new boss.

“Now, on to business,” Michelle continues. “Some details around the Ellison pitch have changed.”

“Well that’s never a good thing,” Jackie says, her words mirroring the feeling in my own stomach.

“No, it’s fine. But they want to be here for the pitch. Same timeline, but the Ellison team will be here in person for it. We won’t be going to Austin.”

My mind starts going in all kinds of different directions. We usually prefer it when a client decides to come to our office for the pitch—especially an office as impressive as Altitude. It’s good for them to see the culture they’re buying into.

But I’ve never heard of an out of state client traveling to the agency. It’s hard even getting local clients to agree to come here. They almost always expect us to go to them.

“Why?” is all I manage to ask.

“We don’t know. They didn’t tell us. But it seems their new CEO, Richard Ellison’s daughter, is fairly hands-on. She probably wants to see how this office differs from our Austin office.”

Jackie looks over at me again and I’m sure she also picked up on Michelle’s reference to Olivia as “Richard Ellison’s daughter.” It seems we’re all going to just continue to pretend Olivia doesn’t have strong ties to one of our own.

I also can’t help but think back to my dinner with Lauren and what she said about Olivia needing to control things. Coming to Seattle to intimidate her ex-wife seems like just the thing someone like that would do. It’s not lost on me how defensive I feel towards Lauren in this moment. But Olivia Ellison has no reason to travel here just to hear our presentation.

“Are they going to the other agencies’ offices?” I ask.

“We don’t know for sure. But my contact over at Donnelly in San Francisco made it sound like they were still heading to Austin.”

“Who will be here besides Richard Ellison’s daughter?” Jackie asks, emphasizing the last part.

Michelle looks at Jackie for a beat before answering and I can’t tell if she picked up on her tone, but she moves past it.

“Olivia Ellison, her PR lead, three board members and possibly some other more junior people. We’ll get the official list sometime next week. Ultimately nothing about our process will change. But I wanted to give you both a heads-up since it may impact how we do things day-of. We can talk about it more next week.”

It’s clear the meeting is over so we both get up and head out of the office. I look at the time on my phone and see that we only have five minutes until our strategy session with Lauren and my stomach suddenly erupts in butterflies.

Being in a room with Lauren and Jackie alone for two hours isn’t my idea of a fun Friday afternoon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maybe one day seeing Lauren won’t make my body instantly vibrate with the need to touch her, but today is not that day. Even after our “lunch” in her car, seeing her sit at the conference table in Anchor still makes my heart rate increase.

Lauren’s dress looks impeccable, as if it just came from a dry cleaner. There’s no sign at all that she just had sex in a car. Though I was the only one in the car who got truly undressed. Lauren’s dress slid up her legs easily, negating that necessity in our rushed timeframe.

As Jackie and I move into the room, I know I should offer a casual greeting, but my eyes are busy feasting on the bare, gorgeous legs I can see under the table. Apparently, Lauren didn’t get the memo that Fridays at the Seattle office are more casual, because she looks like she’s ready for a pitch in her tight, professional-looking black dress.

I just saw the woman, just had her fingers deep inside me, and yet I can’t stop staring. Her hair is still up and right now she has on the same glasses I saw her in earlier this week. She’s the height of sophistication and sex and as we sit down, I finally force myself to tear my gaze away by fussing around with my laptop.

When I look back up, Lauren’s eyes are trained on me and I can’t do anything but stare back. I can feel whatever is growing between us getting stronger with every moment we have and hiding it is starting to become impossible.

“Olivia will be here in person for the pitch,” Jackie says, breaking the spell Lauren and I seem to be under.

If Lauren is annoyed by Jackie’s lack of a greeting, she doesn’t show it. She looks like her normal, confident self, sitting back in her chair with her legs crossed. She moves her eyes slowly from mine over to Jackie’s.

“The pitch isn’t in Austin?” she asks.

“Nope. She’ll be right here, in our office,” Jackie says and to me, her tone implies that she’s altogether too happy about the turn of events.

“Not just her,” I finally say. “The whole deciding team. Her internal PR lead, and a couple of key board members. We’ll have names by next week.”

“I see,” Lauren says. “We should probably stop talking about details. I don’t want you to betray the NDA.”

I’ve gotten to know the different facial expressions of Lauren to know she’s not happy with the information she was just given. Jackie probably can’t tell like I can, but the slight shadow that comes over her face at any mention of Olivia just got darker.

“The pitch team isn’t part of the NDA. I figured it was important information for the purposes of this meeting,” Jackie says back with the usual bite she has when speaking to Lauren.

“Michelle just told us,” I add and I feel like I’m forever trying to diffuse the tension between these two women.

“Even so, we have other things to discuss,” Lauren says.

She hands us both a document.

“I’ve outlined the major players at Ellison in this document. I’ve also emailed you both a link that includes the ongoing PR work we’ve done out of Austin for Ellison, as well as the specialized campaigns. Please review those and we can go over them in more detail next week. But for now, I want to focus on this,” Lauren says as she points down to the document she just handed us.

Over the past two days, Lauren hasn’t talked about Ellison much and because I’m trying to keep my relationship with her separate from this pitch, I haven’t brought it up either. But seeing the detail on the page in front of me is just another reminder of Lauren’s severe ties to this account.

“There are a few different decision-makers at Ellison, some of the board are just as important as the executive team and we need to play to those men. We’ve already lost Olivia—”

“We?” Jackie asks with a harsh laugh, cutting Lauren off.

Lauren turns her stare onto Jackie and it’s one I’ve never seen. I’ve seen her be authoritative and serious, but I’ve never seen the scorching look she’s giving Jackie.

“Jackie, think what you will of me on your own time. But I’m an Executive Vice President in this company and you need to respect that. If not, we’ll have to find someone else who will.”

The comment wasn’t directed at me and yet even I still feel a tremble roll through my body at Lauren’s words. Jackie doesn’t answer but does give a small nod and scoots back in her seat. That seems to be enough for Lauren who continues.

“As I was saying, Olivia is a lost cause. But there are two big players who aren’t. Alan Simpson is the Chair of the Board of Directors. You could say he doesn’t always agree with Richard’s direction of the company. Alan has been a huge influence on the company when it comes to sustainability issues. He’ll care about this pitch and who they choose.”

“And he’ll for sure be in the room for the pitch?” I ask.

“I guess we’ll know next week, but every pitch I’ve ever done for Ellison’s business, he’s been there. But he’s only one piece. His son, Simon, will most likely also be in the room. He’s new to the board, but he owns a slew of companies in Austin, including one that makes electric trucks for larger manufacturing companies. That company hired Donnelly & Schneider for their launch and rumor has it that Simon wasn’t happy about the results.”

“And what about their PR lead?” Jackie asks, and her voice is noticeably less combative than it was before.

Lauren sighs before she answers. “Unfortunately, from what I hear, the PR lead that we’ve worked with for years is being replaced by Olivia. We don’t know who the new hire is, but we can guess that whoever it is, sits firmly in Olivia’s corner. My guess is that she’ll hire Madeline Rosario. Maddy is Olivia’s right hand in her consultancy company. They’re close and she’s very talented.”

“So our best bet is to appeal to these two men?” Jackie asks, pointing down at the page. “That’s our secret weapon?”

“No. But we can win those two over. They won’t want to change PR agencies just to please Olivia. In fact, Simon will fight her if she makes a strong case for Donnelly, who’s our biggest competition in this. But that intel is not our secret weapon.”

“Then what is?” Jackie asks.

“Emma,” Lauren says, directing her gaze back onto me. “If we have any chance of winning this, it’s because we have Emma in the room.”

Jackie looks like she wants to respond, but after Lauren’s reprimanding earlier, she just sits there.

“Do you disagree?” Lauren asks in a challenging tone when Jackie continues to just stare down at the document.

Finally, Jackie looks up with her own steely gaze. “No. Emma is the best there is.”

Lauren’s smile is so slow that it seems to take a full minute before her lips curve up, but despite the smile, her eyes still hold a challenge as she stares Jackie down.

“Yes, I know.”

I can’t tell if I’m reading into things, but it suddenly doesn’t feel like they’re talking about PR anymore. After they continue to just stare at each other, I decide to put an end to the meeting.

“She’s also sitting right here and isn’t a fire hydrant. You don’t both need to pee on me to claim ownership.”

I pick up my laptop and the document Lauren gave me and walk out of the conference room to my own office. I know I shouldn’t have said that and just walked out. Even if I am sleeping with her, Lauren is an EVP and pretty much my boss. But the two of them have been like this since they met and I’ve about had my limit.

It’s not the most ideal situation, but it would be so much easier if my kind-of-girlfriend and my best friend got along. Though I suppose everything would be easier if the said friend didn’t also have feelings for me.

By the time I get back to my office, my head hurts. I fall into my chair and dramatically put my head against my desk. Maybe I can just sleep for the next hour until I have to go to this damn happy hour.

It’s not long though before I hear someone come into my office and over to my desk. It only takes a second for her perfume to hit me to know that it’s Lauren.

“Ems,” she says sitting in the chair across from my desk. This is the first time she’s ever actually used one of my office chairs.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I shouldn’t have just walked out like that.”

“No, I’m sorry. I was childish. I was annoyed and I acted unprofessionally.”

“You weren’t the only one. I’m going to get a drink with Jackie after our happy hour to talk about things.”

“Things?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.

“About what’s going on with her feelings. Not what’s happening between us,” I say pointing back and forth between our bodies.

“Us, huh? I like the ring of that,’ she says with a playful smile. “She doesn’t know then?”

“She knows about the first time in your hotel. Not that we… reconnected,” I say and I can feel a small blush shade my cheeks.

“You are so cute,” she says, casually leaning her elbows on my desk. “Are you planning to tell her we reconnected?”

I appreciate that Lauren is asking me instead of just demanding that I keep quiet like she did when I first found out about Olivia. Even though I also know that we do need to keep this quiet for now. At last until after the pitch, and even then, I don’t know what we’ll do. Office relationships aren’t exactly condoned by HR.

“No. I don’t want to lie to her, but I think after the talk we’re going to have tonight, it wouldn’t be kind to tell her. And selfishly, I don’t want to risk the ramifications of anyone here finding out yet.”

“Do you think she’d tell?”

“Until you came into town, I thought she was over me. So, I honestly don’t know. Do you think I’m a bad person for not telling her?”

Lauren’s eyes soften before she answers. “No, Ems. Granted, I’m biased in this too since it wouldn’t be good for either of us if this got out before the pitch is over. But all you’ve ever expressed to me is an immense care for Jackie. I don’t think you’re a bad person at all.”

We both look into each other’s eyes tenderly for probably way too long considering where we are. Finally, Lauren gives her head a slight shake as if bringing herself out of a daydream. She gets up from the chair and leans over the desk.

“I’m riding with Michelle to the bar. See you there?”

I simply nod up at her.

“Good. And don’t forget to bring our pink friend,” she says with a wink, leaving me blushing in my office as she walks out.