Rebound (23 page)

“Well, I do feel taller.”

She smiled, he looked so handsome. She had missed that face more than she could express.

“So how are you calling me? Are you on your father’s computer?”

“No, he left early this morning. I’m on an iPad.”

“Whoa, grams and grandpa are finally embracing technology.”

“No momma, it’s mine.”

“What? Who bought you an iPad?” Her brows furrowed.

“Not sure. It came in the mail yesterday. There was a note and it said, ‘Call your mom, she misses you’.”

Katrine sat quietly for a moment, warmth started radiating in her chest. There was only one person she could think of who would do something like that. 

“Well, what a nice gift. How did you know how to use it?”

“Mom, everyone I know has one of these.”

“Oh, sorry. I forget you are a very neglected boy.”

“Oh mom, you know I don’t care about that kind of stuff,” he said, smiling.

God she forgot how handsome her little man was. She wanted to jump through the computer screen and hug him.

“Well, it is so nice to see your face. Tell me all about your fishing trip.”

“Oh my gosh mom, it was so awesome!”

She just sat back, grinning, as Teddy dove into the tale of his nautical adventure...

It seemed like time was going in reverse. She decided to read to help pass the time. That she could do for hours. She started to read the same page over and over again. No focus, what so ever... Well, not on the book she was reading anyway. Finally after several attempts, she was able to lose herself and sunk into her favorite chair and read. 

Around three her phone rang. Katrine was so excited she was shaking a little. 

“Hello,” she said, in her most casual voice.

“Hey gorgeous.” The sound of his voice shot shivers downs her spine and a flame straight to her undies. 

“Well, hello.” 

Please come over and do me right now!!

“What are you doing?” he asked.

You, if you were here!!!!

“Oh, not much. I did some things around the house. Now I’m just relaxing.” Her voice oozed no biggie.

“Glad to hear it because I am right outside your building.”

OH MY GOD! WOOHOO, WOOHOO!!!

Happy dance, happy dance!

Do me baby, do me baby....

“Oh really. Well I guess you could come up, since you’re already here.”

“Well, I’ll be up in just a second.”

She ran to the bathroom and looked at herself. She brushed her hair and her teeth. 

“Mascara, mascara, wear is my f-ing mascara!”

There came the knock. She did the run and skid thing to the front door. Katrine put her shoulders back, took a deep breath and opened the door.

“How could I have forgotten how beautiful you are in just two days? For some reason when I pictured you in my mind, I didn’t do you justice,” he said and then he lifted her off of the ground and kissed her on the lips. When he set her feet back onto the ground she smiled. No, beamed up at him.

“So, I guess you missed me after all,” Katrine said with a laugh.

“Did you doubt I would? Then you haven’t been paying attention.” He kissed her again, with enthusiasm.

“Would you like to come in or are you going to stand out in my hallway making a spectacle of yourself?” she teased. He grinned his lopsided grin and came inside.

“I love your place, Katrine. It’s so you… warm, elegant and cozy all at the same time.”

“Wow, New York brings out your charming side big time. And thank you. I have finally finished decorating and it really feels like home now. But you’ve seen it before.”

Small talk, blah blah blah, rip my clothes off for the love of god!

“So, how was your trip?”

“I don’t really want to talk about my trip right now.” He gave her the look.

 
Don’t have to ask me twice!  Feet don’t fail me now…

She took his hand and practically dragged him back into her room.

After thoroughly reacquainting themselves with each other’s bodies, they finally disentangled.

“Damn, Katrine! You really know how to welcome a guy back.”

“And you, Xander, know how to work up a girl’s appetite.” She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. 

“Also, you deserved a little extra something.”

“I did? What did I do to deserve such an exuberant welcome?”

“You know exactly what you did and thank you. It meant so much to me.”

He wiped the tear that escaped and rubbed his thumb across her cheek bone.

“I just know how much you miss him and I hoped seeing his face might help a little.”

“I just don’t know how you knew where to send it.” She lifted her eyebrow at him. He remained silent so he was obviously not going to enlighten her on his detective skills. She decided she didn’t really need to know.

“Does anyone else know how sweet and thoughtful you are?”

“Not many, so if you don’t mind keeping this between us please, I have a reputation to uphold.” 

His smile fell slightly.
“I missed you when I was gone. I don’t know how I am going to manage when I go back for good.”

This was the first time he had actually mentioned his inevitable departure. Katrine wanted to talk about it, she had been dying to. She had thought about it a million times, but was not up for that potentially heart breaking discussion. So she decided to keep it light for now. She got out of bed and stretched thoroughly, like a cat after a snooze.

“I’m sure you will do just fine. After a few weeks knee deep in beautiful women, I will be a distant memory. Now feed me, Abbot. I may be short, but I can get very feisty.” 

“Oh, don’t I know it.” 

He hooked his leg behind hers and tripped her. They both fell back onto the bed.

“I thought I would eat a little something here first.” He smiled wickedly.

Um, bon appétit!!

Chapter 27

Work, work, work. The deal was entering its final stages which meant Katrine was totally slammed. It was a blessing because it kept her from thinking about doing you know who…well, most of the time. And it kept her from thinking about him leaving…well, most of the time.

It was Wednesday and she had hardly spent any time with Xander. He had worked late every night, after which he would head straight to dinner meetings. She was starting to feel a little neglected and very horny. 

Great, I am addicted to his penis. That vibrator isn’t gonna to cut it after being with him. 

Well put some ice in your pants and suck it up lady.

 Maybe if she said it often enough it would really happen. Thus far it hadn’t worked.

Around 4:00, Xander called Katrine into his office. She grabbed her note pad. They were scheduled to go over the end of the week’s agenda.

“Katrine, could you come over here and look at this? Does this look right to you?” He had his back to her and he was over by the glass looking out at the skyline. He sounded pissed. She quickly made her way over to his laptop and found the report she had just sent him was open on the screen.

Crap, did I screw something up?

She bent her head towards the screen to get a better look at the numbers. Suddenly there where large warm hands gripping her hips. She froze and her breath caught in her throat.

“I think we need to go over these figures in detail, don’t you think, Ms. MacNamara?”

“Yyyessss, I think we do.”

Hot damn, cross naughty secretary fantasy off my list!

Xander didn’t say anything else. Katrine stayed where she was, which was bent over in front of him. He slowly ran his hands down the length of her skirt and lifted it even slower, inch by inch. Katrine’s heart was starting to pound and her breath was coming a little faster.  She could not believe she was doing this. It felt wrong in a way, but the sexual energy that was being generated between them overruled any second thoughts she was initially having. His cell phone rang. He made no move to answer.

“Might be important.” she said in a husky voice, because his hands were still hiking her skirt upwards and his fingers were gripping her outer thighs. She was really glad she never wore hose. It was really paying off today. He ignored his phone, even when it rang a second time. When her skirt was around her waist he moved both hands around to the front and stroked her over the soft material of her panties.
She moaned very softly, enjoying the sensation spreading beneath his hands. She arched back slightly, letting her head fall back near his shoulder. His cell phone rang a third time. She wished he would just turn the damned thing off. As if reading her mind he slammed a few buttons and threw it in the corner. She smiled. She turned her head, so she could find his mouth. They kissed and he palmed her, forcing her to arch back into his body. 

The office phone rang.

“Maybe I should get that.” 

Katrine thought it would be hot to answer the phone while he touched her.

“Leave it!” he growled, betraying the fact that he was as turned on as she was.

She ignored him and pulled away just enough to grab the hand set. 

“Alexander Abbot’s office, may I help you.”

He started to pull her panties down, obviously trying to make it harder on her. 

Maybe to punish her for disobeying... naughty little secretary.

“Yes, this is Alexander Abbot, I need to speak to my son right away.”

She looked back over her shoulder and Xander was shaking his head. He had no intention of taking that call.

“Sorry, Mr. Abbot, but he is not avai...available at this time.” He was really making it hard to speak, as he slowly slipped his finger inside of her.

“I know he is in, Ms. MacNamara. By the sound of your voice, he is most likely behind you right now. Desk sex is a notorious past time for him.”

Her stomach lurched.

What the fu…

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, sir.” she said in a quiet voice, as she attempted to push him away. 

“Do you think you are the first assistant to be bent over my son’s desk? Don’t be naive my dear. You came highly recommended for your intelligence. Did he tell you how special you are? No doubt he has talked a pretty game, but I assure you it is just that, a game.”

She slowly stood straight. Xander had stopped what he was doing. He must have over heard the conversation. Katrine was frozen and mortified beyond belief.

“Hold please, sir.”

She bent her knees, pulled up her underwear, and smoothed down her skirt… with as much dignity as you could have while pulling up your underwear in this situation.

“Katrine... please, don’t freak out.”

She put her hand up, to silence him and walked as fast as she could out of his office.

“Katrine, WAIT!!”

She heard him tell his father he would call him back, as she grabbed her purse. He was yelling some other things as she was running out the door. Luckily she caught an elevator just before the door closed. He was a second too late and the doors shut in his face. Katrine fell backwards and leaned into the corner and let out a wail. The tears were cascading from her eyes. She let out a scream.

“STUPID, STUPID, SO FUCKING STUPID!”

She continued to scream and cry until the doors opened to the garage. She ran as fast as she could and got into her car. Her hands were shaking, so she had to try a couple of times before she got the key into the ignition. Katrine saw Xander run into the garage just as she sped away. The sight of him made her want to throw up. She felt sick, and used, and stupid.

When she got home her phone was blowing up. Three calls and four text messages, all from him. She didn’t read or listen to any of the messages. She threw her phone across the room.

“FUCK YOU!!!” she screamed.

I have to get out of here. This is the first place he’ll look for me!

She threw on some comfortable clothes and got the hell out of there. She took off on foot, not sure where she was going. She just ran. She did not want to be found. She did not want to see his face. She never wanted to speak to him again. How could she have messed up so monumentally? How was she going to work with him? She had to quit. There was no other way.

“GOD DAMN IT, KATRINE!!! ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK FOR NOTHING!” She screamed at the top of her lungs. Luckily there was no one on the street or they would have called the cops. “Escaped mental patient on the loose or possible crack head....”

She felt a little better having screamed and cried for the past hour. Finally exhaustion took hold and she stopped walking. 

“Where the hell am I?”

She looked around and noticed she was in a parking lot. It was the pub where they’d had dinner and snuggled in a booth all night. The same night Ian said she was going to get hurt. How right he was…  She ran over to the wall and started kicking the bricks. Katrine had gone into full on, freak out mode.

“Fuck you and all of your stupid lines...your cute face and your hot sex....IT WAS ALL BULL SHIT!” Kick, kick, kick....

“Katrine!” 

Xander had found her. She screamed and took off. 

I have completely lost my mind!

He was chasing after her and was gaining.

“Get away from me!” she screamed, as he caught up with her.

He grabbed her and she turned, punching and kicking him as best she could. 

“Damn it, Katrine stop kicking. Damn it that hurt. Let me explain. Please calm down, god damn it! You owe me that!” he yelled.

“I don’t owe you anything, you ASSHOLE!” she screamed, as she continued her getaway attempt. His grip tightened and she started to lose steam.

“Just let me go, please. Just let me go,” she sobbed.

“I can’t, I won’t... Please let me explain. My father is a complete prick. I told him about you when I went back home and I guess he could tell that I really liked you. He does this. He likes to screw with my life. I don’t know why. It’s like he gets off on it.”

She looked up at him. “You’ve never had sex with other women in your office, other assistants?”