Picking up the stack of papers, she strode down the hallway to Matthew’s office right at the very end. She tapped on the doorframe with her knuckle, balancing the papers precariously against her chest. Immediately, Matthew swivelled around in his chair and beckoned her in.
Jilly hesitated, putting the papers down slowly. She’d done her job, she’d delivered the documents Matthew needed. She wanted to leave. Confusion pricked at the edges of her consciousness again. Why was he looking at her like that?
“Do you want to use my phone to ring home and check on your daughter?”
She frowned. “I’ve got a phone at my desk.”
He winked. “Ah, but Janice isn’t watching this one. Go on.” He waved his hand toward the phone, inviting her to use it. “Feel free.”
“Hang on.” Jilly looked across at him, puzzled. “Why are you being nice to me now?” And before, her inner voice reminded her, remembering the tender way he’d bandaged up her finger, but she pushed that memory away. “The only thing that mattered this morning was that I was seven minutes late. It mattered so much that you embarrassed me in front of everybody, instead of just reporting me like Janice would have done.”
Matthew gave her a knowing smile. “I’m not Janice. I’d much rather just take care of problems myself, rather than send them off to my uncle. Trust me, Jilly, you’d rather deal with me than him.”
Jilly sighed, exasperated. For a lawyer, he wasn’t all that smart, was he? “Except Janice will report me anyway,” she pointed out.
“No, she won’t.” Matthew shook his head emphatically. “She saw me tell you off. That was all she needed.”
His chair creaked as he stood up and her pulse pounded erratically as he came to stand behind her, resting both hands on her shoulders. “I did you a favour,” he whispered, his mouth so close to her ear she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. “You don’t want Janice off-side. She’s got a lot of sway with my uncle.” He squeezed her shoulders, massaging gently. “Better me being stern when I have to be than you coming to the attention of my uncle and getting fired by him.”
This is so wrong! her subconscious screamed, but the throbbing between her legs disagreed. If her body was to be listened to, there was nothing wrong at all with the way his strong hands worked out the kinks in her shoulders and neck, touching her almost possessively. His thumbs dipped lower, rubbing strong circles between her shoulder blades. Her pussy flooded, drenching her knickers, soaking the gusset of her pantyhose.
Her breath came in short, shallow gasps as the strong fingers rubbed bigger circles, the magical touch rubbing out all the knots of stress.
Suddenly, he stepped back. “Go on,” he encouraged, his voice hoarser than she remembered. “Ring home. Talk for as long as you need. Make sure your little girl is okay.”
“Are you sure?”
He sat back down, wheeled his chair back to his desk. Smiled kindly. “Absolutely. Speak to her for as long as you like. You won’t be disturbed in here.” And to make sure of it, he got up and closed the door.
Speaking to her daughter did set Jilly’s mind at ease somewhat. She sounded much better than she had that morning; while not exactly lively, her voice had some spark back in it and she was sounding much more like herself.
The whole time she was talking, she could feel Matthew’s eyes on her, watching. She twirled the twisty cord around her finger absently and he watched that too, raising an eyebrow as she tugged the cord a bit hard by mistake and the phone went scooting across his desk. She felt her face flame as she gently moved it back into position and her heart pounded as she met his eye. She fought to keep her tone neutral, to keep the arousal out of her voice, more for his benefit than Lily’s.
Putting the receiver back in its cradle, she turned to Matthew and smiled.
“Thank you,” she said. “She’s on the mend. She will be okay. My mother is taking good care of her. I hated to ask her, but I had no choice.”
“So there’s no father in the picture then?”
Jilly was momentarily taken aback. That was an inappropriate question, surely? What business was it of his? She gasped at his audacity, then the memory of his gentle hands as he’d tended to her stapled finger, the way he’d brought it to his lips and kissed it softly. What he had said about Janice went around in her head. It felt like they had a secret, almost. He’s already been far more inappropriate than that, her subconscious pointed out.
She shook her head. “No. No father. It’s just me and Lily. He abandoned us before she was born.”
The expression of anger that flitted across his face, the sudden clenched fists, startled her. “He doesn’t deserve a little girl then,” he declared vehemently, his tone ferocious. Right now, he looked like he wanted to do violence to somebody. Lily’s sperm donor, probably.
“Mmm.” Jilly agreed with him; Lily’s father didn’t deserve her. He didn’t deserve either of them, not the way he’d broken her heart like he had. But what business was it of Matthew’s? She pursed her lips, unhappy at his unwelcome intrusion into her private life. Eavesdropping on her phone call was one thing. It was his phone in his office, after all. But giving his unsolicited opinion of the man she’d lost her virginity to was quite another.
“So you’re raising her alone? All by yourself?” If she wasn’t imagining it, there was a hint of awe in his tone, far different to the contempt she usually got. For some reason she would never understand, society still wasn’t very accepting of single mothers. Especially young ones. Not in her experience, anyway. Yet the men who abandoned them, they got
