The Promotion Ch. 04

It's 11:25 on Monday, and I haven't talked to Ella since she got into the Uber I called to get her home on Friday morning. I wanted to. I wanted to stand next to her desk and wait for her keys to stop gently cracking when she noticed me. I wanted to ask her what she was working on or what she was going to do on the weekend or just say hi and see a smile flare in her eyes. I wanted to say so many things to her, but I knew I couldn't or I'd find myself grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her into my office so we could repeat what we'd done until both of us were spent and sated, and Jules from HR was banging down my door in outrage.

Instead, I spent the past three days putting a plan in motion. One that will let me do what I said I would tonight. It's a plan that will give Ella a chance to see how much I respect her. She'll have a choice that I know she's never going to have at our company, even with the promotion. She'll have a chance to use all of those amazing skills of hers to be more than a particularly talented cog in a corporate machine. And if she doesn't want that choice, I'll show her the letter of resignation I have in the drafts folder of my email, ready to send at her command.

Last night, once I made sure everything was in place, I texted Ella for the first time since Friday. Meet me at the place where you swore off heels 'for good, or at least until they became less of a fucking trip hazard'. Wear that grey skirt with the pleats and your pink silk blouse. You know the one. Heels optional.

After what felt like hours but was actually less than 15 minutes, she texted back a single word. Okay. Okay.

My lungs ache and my heart is trying not to stutter as I wait next to a wide, open staircase that looks out at an urban greenspace through three story floor to ceiling windows. I stare at pink flowered trees instead of glancing back at the lobby or down at my phone, trying to calm my breathing.

At 11:29 Ella walks through big glass doors and climbs the half flight of stairs. She looks incredible in the skirt and blouse I told her to wear, the skirt clinging to her generous ass and hips before flaring out slightly into wide folds that reach just above her knees. The silk of her button up blouse is just opaque enough not to be sheer, the right balance of tasteful and sexy. I want to dart over and kiss her hard, feel her melt into me and my demanding tongue. I want to grab her ass and claim her body the way I did a few days ago. I want so many things when it comes to Ella. I want everything.

She crosses the polished granite floor, her knee high, wedge heeled boots clacking just slightly on the stone. She's stunning, and I'm not the only one to notice. A few people sitting at the cafe tables nearby stare at her as she approaches me. I smile, all the giddy energy that has me tapping my foot and fiddling with the cuffs of my crisp dark grey dress shirt fading into a slightly nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Ella's sparkly blue eyes meet my brown ones and for a moment everything fades out around us. A tiny smile curves on her lips as she takes the last few steps to where I stand.

Before I can say a word she asks, "Why so cryptic about the location?"

"It wasn't cryptic." I reply with a laugh. "I just wanted to see if you remembered. It was the first time I got to talk to you outside of work."

"It was the first time you touched me, too. I nearly fell up the stairs and you caught me." Ella throws back. She frowns in thought, then adds, "There was static. I felt the shock on my arm for the rest of the party."

"Me too," I murmured.

She stares at me for a second and then shakes her head. "Why are we here, Noah?"

I take a deep, centering breath and ask, "Where do you see yourself in five years, Ella? Where would you work? What would you do?"

"You know that already." Ella replies, irritation starting to color her voice. "I know you've heard me talking about it with Rhea and Tony and the rest of the team."

"I do know," I smile again, letting out some of the excitement that's been building since she walked through the door. "I want to hear you say it. Tell me about this dream of yours."

"Fine." She takes a deep breath and begins, "I'm leading the logistics team at a place that's just getting started. I'll be building something alongside great people who love what they do." Ella pauses and her eyes dart up to mine before slipping to the floor. In a much quieter voice she adds, "I'm not worried about what people think of me. I know I'm good enough to do the job. I know my own worth."

It hurts like a thorn piercing my heart to hear her say that last part and to know I contributed to making her feel that way. I rest a hand on her cheek, coaxing her head up so that she's looking in my eyes and command, "Don't you dare ever think that you're anything other than amazing."

A small smile, the secret one that goes straight to my cock, curls on her lips. She asks cheekily, "Are you going to spank me if I do?"

"For such naughty thoughts? Of course I will." I reach out to take her by the wrist with a firm grip and pull her up the first few steps.

Once we move, the intimacy of the moment is broken. She pierces me with an irritated glare. "Are you going to tell me what that has to do with us being here."

"We're meeting a friend of mine for lunch." I reveal. "Margot Kinkaid."

Ella stops as her whole body twists into a tight, compressed, coil. "Margot... Margot fucking Kinkaid is a friend of yours?! And you're just mentioning this now?"

I tug on her, pulling her up to the landing of the staircase. "It wasn't relevant until now."

"It wasn't... how could being friends with one of the most up and coming people in our industry not be relevant?!" Ella's voice has gone up an octave. A few of the people below glance up towards us.

Her pulse has started to flutter out of control. I put a finger gently to her lips and keep us moving. "We aren't that kind of friends. We went to high school together. We don't talk about work. At least, we didn't until two weeks ago."

"What happened two weeks ago?" Ella asks in her 'get to the point please, I have things to do' voice.

"So demanding," I can't help but chide as I lower my voice. We've reached the top of the stairs. A bunch of Chinese religious sculptures wait for us to breeze past into a long, high ceilinged, white marble corridor. A few people glance our way before turning back to the sculptures and paintings they've been ogling. As we approach another staircase, I murmur, "You're so impatient, baby girl. We should do something about that."

"I'll be patient once you stop fucking around and tell me why I'm here," Ella replies sharply.

"You're not being a very good girl for Daddy right now." I say with mock reproach as I bypass the stairs to pull her into a low lit gallery with elongated, stylized carvings in stone and wood. All of them seem ancient, but I know some are less than a hundred years old. My mother used to take me to this gallery as a kid. She told me how all of this was here because of European and American greed, that I should never forget that they took and took and took. I grip Ella's wrist and keep drawing her along until we duck into an even dimmer room with walls cutting the space into a little maze.

Her tone is a mix of defiance and petulance when she says, "Daddy hasn't given me a reason to be-"

"Good girls don't need a reason to be good." I cut Ella off as I spin her around. My hand squeezes her breast hard enough to leave a bruise. She gives a tiny squeak of pained surprise when I grab her thigh and drag her back to my chest. The silk of her blouse teases my fingers. I hold her close, grinding a fast growing erection in the space between her legs. She moans softly and leans back so her head rests on my shoulder. Her rapid, nervous breathing starts to take on a more even rhythm. "If you want to know what's going on, you will be my good girl. The cameras can't see us, but you can't make a sound while I touch you because anyone could hear us. Anyone could walk in."

Ella whimpers as I lift her skirt and graze my fingers across her panties. The satiny fabric is already wet for me, and the cascade of nervous energy that flushes her body finds a new direction. "I... I'm not... we shouldn't-"

"Don't think about it." I whisper in her ear. I run my finger along the thin piece of cloth, making her shudder, then scrunch up her skirt so I can drag her flimsy material down her ass. I quickly help her step out of them and let her skirt slip back down as footsteps echo through one of the nearby rooms.

I nip Ella's neck and continue to fondle her breasts. When I pinch her nipple she lets out a needy cry so I cover her mouth and tell her, "You have to be quiet, baby girl. If we get caught I won't be able to tell you what you want to know."

She relaxes into my hold and sighs out a hot breath against my palm. I take my hand from her lips and go back to stroking her breast through the silk as I nip at the spot where her neck meets her shoulder. Her lips press hard together, keeping a whimper inside. As a reward, I lift the front of her skirt and stroke the soft curls that cover her naked pussy. "I bet your clit is aching for me. Three days without my attention after making you come so hard, I bet it needs me so, so badly."

She can't help but roll her hips against my hard cock. A voice echoes from a different direction than the steps, but the words aren't clear. Someone responds, moving closer. Ella's eyes go wide, but she doesn't make a sound. I murmur, "See? I knew you could be such a good girl for me. So quiet and obedient. So trusting. Do you want me to touch your hungry pussy? Want me to take away some of that anxiety that I know you're feeling?" I ask, grazing over her sensitive little bud as I nip her earlobe.

Ella hesitates. She's not normally a person that takes risks, even small ones. What she did in my office was so bold, so unexpected. It pushed me so off axis that I got lost in the moment. The so good, so bad moment that brought us to now. I should be ashamed of what I did, but this feels so right that I don't feel bad at all. I feel powerful and alive. I murmur softly, "You're so worked up, baby girl. So lost in doubt. So worried about what's about to happen. You don't have to be scared. I've got you. Let me help you get rid of all that."

Finally, Ella nods. My fingers slip between her folds. She's so aroused, ready for me to do all kinds of shameless things to her that would get us barred from the museum if we got caught. I could slide my cock right into her if I wanted, but that's not the point of this little adventure. Instead, I slowly circle her clit with my index finger, over and over, increasing the pressure until she's shaking with pleasure. She's rising so quickly that before I know it she's hovering at the edge of bliss. It's intoxicating, the way she reacts so readily to my touch and my control and the threat of discovery. I fill her ears with filthy words. "You're such a good slut for me, baby girl. I know you love this, love being so close to getting caught with my fingers in your cunt. You wish you could scream for me when I make you soak my fingers. I know you'll be my quiet, dirty little whore, though."

Ella tries so hard not to make a sound as I stroke her harder, but a quiet whine manages to slip out. The voices grow louder, closer, although the words still aren't clear. We can hear footsteps now too, a soft shuffle and a slow, staccato tap of heels. I raise my hand from her breast to her mouth as I pinch her clit and whisper, "Give it to me now baby. Give me all that cum that I know you've been saving just for me."

Her eyes roll back into her head. She thrusts her hips forward like she's riding my cock. Ella fights the cries that will reveal us, barely keeping them quiet enough to stay trapped behind my palm. I give her a quick stroke to finish her, then pull my hand from under her skirt and smooth it down as she falls apart in my arms.

A shadow peaks around the edge of the wall. I pull my hand from Ella's mouth and turn her around so that I can wrap my arms around her and hold her head to my chest, concealing my hard cock. My foot slides over to hide her panties just as a teenage boy and an elderly woman with her hand wrapped around the crook of his arm walk around the corner. Ella gives a soft cry that could be mistaken for sorrow. I stroke her back and murmur low enough that only we can hear it, "My amazing girl. You came so well for me."

"Oh my!" The woman says with a dry rattle. "Dear, are you alright?"

Ella turns her head enough that she can give the pair a subdued glance. In a voice that's ambiguously breathy, she says "Fine. Yes. I'm fine. Just... orga... over... overwhelmed."

The woman's eyes take in Ella's flushed cheeks and disheveled state, then drift down to the floor. I glance at my feet. A piece of the lace band of Ella's underwear peeks out from under my shoe.

"Oh... I see. I do." She says with an unexpected, sly wink then tugs on the young man's arm. "Come now Grayson, dear. Let's find the elevator. There's a Degas upstairs that I just now realized I want to see before we go."

"But Nana, didn't you want to see the-" Grayson starts.

"I changed my mind." She cuts him off and pulls him around the wall. As they walk away, the clipped sounds of the woman's heels move much more quickly than when they came towards us.

Ella looks up at me, her shoulders shaking as she struggles to hold back a laugh. I grin back before bending over to scoop up her panties and shove them in my pocket. She tries to reach in after them but I grab her wrist.

"Hey!" She exclaims with frustration as I pull her hand to my mouth so I can kiss the palm. Ella glares at me. "Noah, come on! I can't go back to work without those. My desk chair will never forgive me."

"After today, you won't need to worry about that chair or anything else at your desk." I reply as I smooth down her hair and make sure her minimal makeup isn't smeared. "And I'm going to enjoy the thought of your cum coating your thighs as it seeps out of your naked pussy while you wow my best friend."

Ella's nose wrinkles, irritation gathering in her lips and brows. She presses, "Why are we here Noah? Why is your old high school buddy that you don't talk about work stuff with and the newest darling of the local financial press, Margot Kinkaid, suddenly relevant enough to invite me to your apparently regular lunch date? And why the fuck did you feel the need to get me off in a so very public way beforehand, not that I'm complaining."

"She's looking for a lead logistics specialist for her new startup. She asked me if I knew anyone at our last lunch."

"She's-you-how-why?!" Ella pulls her hand from mine and compulsively smooths the front of her blouse. "Why the fuck are you just telling me about this now? You've been sitting on this for two weeks and you didn't think I'd like to know that my dream job is out there, waiting for me?! What the fuck, Noah!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about it. I was so focused on getting you promoted." I say quietly. The suspicious, angry glint in her eyes prompts me to add, "I didn't want to think about it because I didn't want you to leave."

Ella's fire flares. Her hand lifts like she's going to try to slap me. I'll let her if she wants, but she just squeezes it into a fist and drops it back to her side. With a growl that's a threat and a capitulation at the same time, she says, "You're a real piece of work, Noah Adams."

"I'm pretty sure that's part of what you like about me," I quip back. I know I'm not helping my case, but I can't stop myself. Ella's so fun to spar with.

I see her mouth turn at the corners and a sparkle that isn't anger shines in her eyes before she grumbles, "My fucking traitor of a cunt is the one that likes it. The rest of me is trying to figure out how big a tip I need to give an Uber driver so they'll help me hide your body when I shove a knife between your shoulder blades."

I catch Ella around the waist and pull her against my chest again, trapping her arms between us. With a grin, I reply, "It's a good thing your cunt is so pleased with me, then." Before she can come back at me, I steal her breath with a deep, hard kiss.

"My cunt doesn't know what's good for it." Ella murmurs when we come up for air. She slides her arms up around my neck and continues, "Explain to me why fingering me somewhere anyone could walk in on us before I go into what could possibly be the most important meeting of my career was the right move."

"Are you nervous?" I ask with a sly grin.

"I..." Ella wrinkles her nose and concedes, "I'm not."

"Were you when you walked in and I told you about Margot?"

She glowers as she replies, "I hate you."

"I know." I beam as I release her waist and pull her hands from around my neck. "Now let's head back downstairs."

Ella plants her feet and a little of that tension that I worked so hard to pull out of her body creeps back in as she worries her lower lip. "But Noah, I don't have anything with me, not my resume or my portfolio. I haven't done any research-"

"I sent Margot an updated copy of your resume and portfolio this weekend," I assure her as I cut her off with a finger to her lips. I "And both of us know you've been following Margot's moves obsessively for at least the past six months. You don't need to do any more research to know what kind of expertise she's looking for for the business she's going to build."

"I really hate you," Ella declares, but she lets me tug her toward the exit. "And we're going to talk about the huge overstep you made in sharing my stuff without asking me first tonight at dinner."

"Of course, baby girl." I say as I grab another quick kiss and direct us out of the galleries back to the cafe, pushing all the dirty thoughts that have me rock hard to the side so I can walk back without scandalizing the rest of the patrons. I focus on the lunch we're walking into, where Ella is going to impress the hell out of my oldest friend. Then she know how incredible she is. I'll give her back what I stole from her and I'll show her how much I want her, that she's not just a thing to be used and tossed away. I'll show her she can trust me once and for all.