Found in the Cold Ch. 03

Disclaimer:

All characters depicted in this story are over the age of eighteen. This is a work of fiction intended for mature audiences only and contains consensual adult content. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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Chapter Three

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Part One

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I woke before my alarm and lay there enjoying the feeling of a naked Katie curled into my side. Throughout the few hours we slept, we shifted positions until I was on my back, and she was using me as a body pillow. It felt natural, like we were made to fit that way.

I liked that position for a couple of reasons, but the biggest was how it allowed me to rest my hand on her hip. If I had wanted, or if I had been a braver man, I would've cupped her ass, which is what I really wanted to do.

As I lay there, hip in hand and her bare breasts crushing against me, I couldn't help but notice how low her own hand rested on my stomach. Low enough that her fingers were relaxing in my pubic hair.

I wasn't sure of the protocol for initiating morning sex with a naked woman whose fingers were mere inches away from my half hard cock, but I was pretty sure it wholly depended on what you were to each other.

And that was another reason I had woken up earlier than normal. I didn't know what the night before meant. Yes, she was homeless and needed a place to stay, but we had history. Granted, it was the history of a lifetime in the friend zone, but it was still history.

People in the friend-zone didn't fuck each other... did they? In my experience, they didn't. So, did that make the night before a one-night stand or something more? Around and around my thoughts chased their tails until the alarm on my phone started crying for attention.

I reached for my phone, but before I could do more than swipe at it, Katie stretched across me, nipple resting on my lips, and silenced it. When she pulled back, she looked down and smirked.

"Guess mama doesn't get any love this morning, huh?" she asked before giving me a quick kiss. "It's fine, I understand," she said playfully. "At least, I've got manners."

She smiled, a small seductive smile, as she disappeared beneath the covers.

Her fingers slid down my stomach, light and teasing, until she wrapped around my half hard cock to lightly stroke me to a full erection. I heard a quiet, happy noise come from her as she took me into her mouth. My body came fully awake as she used her mouth to slowly pleasure me.

I groaned, my hand finding the back of her head, my fingers curling into her hair. Her hand never left my shaft as her tongue teased my bulbous head. And with every downward bob, I felt the entrance of her throat try to open and take more of me in. She seemed frustrated when she could only get me in so far.

She tried different angles, but even with her ass brushing my head, she didn't find what she was looking for. I didn't mind her searching, because while she did, her head and hand never stopped moving.

And for all of her twisting in the bed, she had this lazy style of sucking my cock that was driving me insane. She wasn't in a rush, and she wasn't performing either, but there was this heat of pleasure that connected us. I'd never felt so desired in my life.

Especially when she made me twitch in her mouth. The way she moaned when I did told me she liked my cock in her mouth as much as I did. And the moaning vibrated through my spine in the most delicious way.

I'd finally hit the point where I had to cum or die of a slow torture. My hips began lifting from the bed as I tightened my grip and held her head steady. I thought she would've protested, but she didn't stop. Neither did she gag when I pushed too deeply. She just gripped my base and sucked even harder. I didn't know if it was my imagination or if she actually wanted me to cum as much as I needed to.

"Fuck, Katie," I breathed, eyes fluttering shut. "God, I'm going to cum..."

She answered with another moan and then began to move faster. One hand stroking what she wouldn't fit into her greedy throat, while her other splayed across my stomach like she owned me.

I couldn't hold out.

My back arched, breath caught in my throat, and I came hard--filling her mouth again and again. She never slowed, just sucked and swallowed, drinking me down with slow, satisfied pulls until I was drained.

When she twisted herself back to my side, she smiled and licked her lips.

"Mmm, I could do that a couple of times a day."

I returned her smile as my eyelids drifted shut. Her hand slapped my stomach, making me jump.

"Uh-uh, none of that, you've got to get to work."

"Five more minutes," I mumbled.

"Hey, that was a have a great day at work blowjob and if you want them to continue, you have to go to work."

I groaned, stretched, and rolled over onto her. She squealed like a woman in love and tried to open her legs beneath me--but my weight held them shut. I thought she was just squirming to play, so I held her there, grinning like an idiot. I'd learn later she wasn't playing. She was offering more than a goodbye kiss.

She tried again, but my mind thought she wanted to play, so I held her down, and a bit of confusion ran across her face.

I leaned down, kissed her, then rolled off, heading for the shower. She brushed her teeth as I washed us off me, then she showered while I shaved and combed my hair. It was a little slice of domestic bliss that left me wanting more than cumming down her throat had.

I dressed while she finished, and when she came out naked, I honestly thought about calling in, but she wouldn't let me.

"Sorry, Alley-Cat, you missed your opportunity for morning pussy, now you'll have to wait until you get home."

"What'd you mean, I missed it? I didn't know it was on the table."

"In the bed... when you rolled me over... I thought you were going to fuck me. I tried to open up, but then you turned playful. Figured you were in a hurry."

I thought about it for a moment, then I wanted to slap my head for being so stupid.

I groaned. "I thought you were playing."

She laughed. "I mean, I was but not until you passed up on this tight little wet pussy," she whispered seconds before her lips touched mine. "But don't worry, you can have as much of it as you want when you get back."

"Don't make promises you don't intend to keep."

"Babe, I never make a promise I don't intend to keep," she said with a wink and a teasing grin.

"You're an evil woman."

"I know," she said with another wink. "What time will you be back?"

"Not sure, I'll text you when I know more."

She chuckled. "I don't have a phone."

"Oh. Well, the last time I was back here was by noon. If I'm going to be late, I'll call. I usually grab something on the way there, but you should feel free to order room service."

"I'm fine," she said just as her stomach growled. I gave her a look until she rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll order something, but you can't keep taking care of me like this. I don't like it."

"We've already established the only way you will be free of me taking care of you is if I die, and I'm feeling pretty damn healthy."

She laughed and pushed me toward the door.

"Get out, Alley-Cat, go make mama proud."

I laughed and left her alone, hoping she'd be there when I returned.

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Part Two

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The trip to Northbridge Insight took about twenty minutes, and then I took another thirty minutes at a little diner across the street that made the best waffles in Boston. If I hadn't been going to work, I would've brought Katie along to eat with me.

Instead, I sat in the small diner's booth and stared at the company's offices, which had been set up inside an old converted textile mill. Like the diner, it didn't look like much, just a red brick building with its tall windows, but what was inside was where it shined.

The whole place had been retrofitted into a set of modern working suites with exposed ductwork, polished concrete floors, and industrial-chic lighting that always seemed designed more for an Instagram shoot rather than a functioning office space.

I felt comfortable every time I went in, and one of the reasons I liked visiting every year. Except this year. This year, I couldn't think about anything but Katie.

Finally, my alarm buzzed, and I knew I had to get my mind straight, back on the task at hand. I paid the bill and, crossing the lot, I forced myself to focus on Northbridge instead of on Katie or the frigid wind cutting through me.

I'd been working with them for ten years. In the beginning, there were just ten people in the entire place, and they worked out a rundown rental in the bad part of town.

The first time they called me in was to untangle a godawful hybrid of an aging Linux server. It was talking to a third-party data aggregator through half-broken APIs. I almost walked out the first time I saw what they did with duct tape, but the CEO was desperate and offered to pay double my rate if I'd fix it.

Instead, I charged half and signed them on as one of my first clients.

That was then, but as I walked in, I smiled thinking about how far both of us had come.

They were still small, relative to what they did--just under a hundred employees--and punching above their weight in the market analytics space. The tools they'd created were used by more regional chains than I could count, and Erin, the current CEO, was talking about expanding into predictive staffing models and localized ad metrics.

I understood the concepts, but while the people who worked for Northbridge were sharp and passionate problem solvers, they weren't IT experts. That was where I came in. And that's the place I loved. Wanted, needed, but allowed to leave whenever I chose.

The receptionist, a young guy with a sleeve of tattoos and an undercut, smiled as I walked in. "Mr. Anderson, good to see you again. Erin's expecting you. Need anything? Coffee?"

"I'm good, thanks," I said, adjusting my laptop bag. "Just point me where I'm needed."

"Okay, but if you change your mind, we have a six-pack of that tea you like."

I stopped. "Sweet tea?"

"Yep," he said with a smile, "Erin ordered it special."

"Milo," a sharp voice called out, "you weren't supposed to tell him that. It was going to be a surprise."

"Sorry," he responded sheepishly.

Erin, the CEO, smiled as she shook her head. "I blame TikTok. Everyone's got to be the first to share good news," she said, holding out her hand. "How're you doing, Alex? Good trip?"

"So far."

"Really?" she asked, genuinely interested as she led me through the bullpen.

"I met an old friend yesterday. Haven't seen her in... well, the last time I talked to her was a few months before you all became clients."

"I thought you were from Tennessee."

"I am, and so is she." I almost started telling her about Katie. The whole messy, unexpected, still-waiting-to-be-defined story. But I stopped. Some things weren't ready to be shared yet. Instead, I said, "It's a long drawn-out story, and you know how us Southerners love telling long-winded stories."

"I understand," she said with a chuckle, allowing me to bow out of the hole I was about to dig for myself. "Maybe I'll get to hear it one day, but for now, you'll be working here this year."

I looked at her, confused, "Isn't this Jacob's desk?"

She smiled. "It was, but he retired in July. Said he was finally taking Mary to Italy."

"Good for them. I'll let you know when I've finished."

She nodded, and as she walked away, I heard her tell Milo to bring me a tea. I chuckled and looked around as the computer started up.

Half the faces were new this year, but the vibe was familiar--collaborative and quietly intense. It was the type of place I would've felt comfortable in.

After I got set up and ready to begin, two of their systems analysts and a lead engineer named Jonah joined me. We ran diagnostics, checked traffic loads on their internal forecasting engine, and fine-tuned some middleware that had beenclogging up the data flow between their web dashboards and backend services.

I could've done it all myself, but I understood Erin's need for her people to be involved, so I didn't complain too much when they hit enter at the wrong time and cost us ten minutes of rework.

By twelve-thirty, I had half the issues sorted and a decent action plan for the rest. I'd called Katie and told her it was running long but should be done by one.

As I ran the final report, Milo stopped by and asked if I wanted to take the rest of the teas with me. I said yes, thanked him, and headed upstairs to Erin's office.

I liked Erin. Yes, she had the corner office with the large windows that overlooked the harbor, but she wasn't an ass about it. Her door was always open every time I was there, and her office had a clean, elegant, lived-in feel to it. It was like she was saying, 'Come on in', instead of, 'Behold and fear me'.

And by lived-in, I mean, her whiteboard was covered in planning sketches, and they stood behind her desk, and her running shoes were sitting neatly next to a standing treadmill desk. And judging by the light sweat glistening along her hairline, she had just used it.

She looked up when I knocked and smiled. Another reason I liked Erin because she was always smiling.

"How's it going?"

"The final report is... well...," I trailed off, not knowing how to finish my sentence, but she did.

"Finalizing?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said with a chuckle. "Have I ever told you how much I love this view?"

"It'd be nicer if I had time to look out at it," she said with a grin as she joined me. "So, you're going to make me wait for the report to find out how we're doing?"

She wasn't being mean, just curious.

"You're doing good. The whole system is leaner than last year, but for some reason, it's still choking during peak demand hours. I've reworked some of the auto-scaling thresholds, and you've got a couple of security patches pending on the cloud services side."

She groaned. "Is it bad I keep forgetting about those security patches?"

"Don't worry, it's not really that bad, but I'll add a subroutine that'll alert me whenever they need updating. I can run those from home."

She laughed. "I swear, I think half the reason I use you is for your calm. So what's the fix?"

"I've got the hands-on stuff already going. You should see some changes tomorrow when you come in, and the rest I'll take care of remotely."

"Be honest, you could've done it all remotely, couldn't you?"

I grinned and ducked my head, looking a bit like Milo. "I could've, but this'll allow me to be on hand if anything goes sideways."

"And will it?"

"Shouldn't, but I'm here until Saturday if it does."

"Good man. Now, give me a rundown of what you did so I can sound smart to the board."

I laughed. She was plenty smart without needing my help, but for the next fifteen minutes, we went over my notes. She listened when I explained the tech and asked intelligent questions to follow up. Erin was the rare exec who didn't pretend to know everything--but wasn't afraid to learn.

As we wrapped up, she leaned back in her chair and gave me a look I recognized from previous visits.

"Tomorrow's our annual Winter Kickoff Dinner." I nodded. "You really going to make me ask?"

"At this point, it's tradition," I teased, making her laugh.

"In that case, we'd love for you to join us. And this year we're serving BBQ." I groaned. "You're from the South, you love BBQ."

"I do, but Northerner BBQ?"

"Hey," she said, affecting a heavy accent, "this is Boston, baby."

I laughed as she showed me out, and Milo gave me the leftover 'Southern' sweet tea.

"Oh, and bring your friend along. I'd love to meet someone who knows something more about you than, 'He's good with computers'."

I nodded and, as I headed back to the hotel, I smiled, thinking I would finally get to take Katie out on a proper date.