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  “Danica! I’m not some poor, desperate college grad. And I haven’t graduated yet. I’ve still got… 20 hours or so.”

  “Well, then you’d better hurry up. This might be the last dick you get as a college student.”

  I rolled my eyes at my friend and we laughed at one another. I felt a little more like I belonged now that I was wearing a nicer outfit. Danica still outdid me in the black silk number she was wearing. Her skirt was a little shorter and her breasts were definitely bigger. This wasn’t a competition though. I was excited about meeting someone special tonight.

  The familiarity of the club washed over me as soon as we stepped inside. The lights, the music, even the way the people moved felt so familiar. We headed toward the bar to get ourselves a drink when a man immediately took notice of my friend. I didn’t hear what line he used on her but it was enough to get Danica interested.

  I suddenly found myself alone at the bar once again. I didn’t mind though. It was a Saturday night and there were more than enough people to go around. I managed to catch the eye of a few good-looking men. Maybe it was the outfit. Maybe it was the vibe of a college graduate I was giving off. I leaned up against the bar and waited for one of them to approach me. One of them finally worked up the nerve to say something to me.

  “Hi,” the young-looking man said. “My name’s Blake.”

  “Hello, Blake. I’m Alice.”

  “Alice. It’s nice to meet you. How are you liking this new club so far? Is it your first time in here?”

  “Not my first time, no. But it’s a nice place. A really nice place.”

  Blake had short, curly blond hair. His outfit didn’t stand out too much, his shirt and slacks just as clean as the next man’s. He winked at me and I grinned back at him. I suppose I could do worse.

  “So, what do you say you and I have some fun?” he asked me.

  “What did you have in mind?” I said as I took a sip of my drink.

  “How about a dance?”

  “That sounds like—”

  I turned my head to the side and saw someone standing at the other end of the bar. I blinked a few times because I wasn’t sure I was seeing him correctly.

  Is that…

  The man standing across the bar stared at me. Our eyes met and I immediately realized it was him. It was the same man I had met just two nights ago.

  “That sounds like what?” Blake asked me.

  “That sounds like something a girl would enjoy.”

  “Then you’ll dance with me?”

  “Maybe some other time. Something… just came up. I’m sorry.”

  “Um… Okay…”

  Blake looked at me confused. As soon as he walked away, my eyes searched for the man standing across the bar. I could see the grin on his face all the way from across the room. I couldn’t take a chance and have some other man come up to me. Now was the time to move. I walked across the room and toward him as he leaned up against the bar. There wasn’t much room but I managed to squeeze in beside him.

  He didn’t say anything. Neither did I. I could feel the tension building between the two of us. As I sipped my drink, I waited for him to say something. But he didn’t. I had already taken the initiative to walk up next to him. He had me playing his game.

  “The same club twice in three nights,” I said. “There must be a reason you came back.”

  “Oh, there’s a reason,” he said. “This is still the place to be. I just wasn’t expecting to see you here again.”

  “Now tell me, James. Seeing me here again. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  He slowly turned to me and smiled.

  “That depends, Natasha. Are you that intent on finishing what we started?”

  “Yes. Yes, I am actually.”

  “What do you say we stop wasting our time and head out right now? I’m sure your friend won’t miss you.”

  “She won’t. But behind the club in an alley… You’re going to have to do a little better than that this time. I mean, can you at least take me to a hotel? Is that too much to ask?”

  He took his drink in his hand and gulped it down. He placed the empty glass back down onto the bar. Then he turned toward me and smirked.

  “I’ve got just the place.”

  * * *

  He slammed me up against the wall and dug his face into my neck. I groaned as I felt his lips against my flesh. He grabbed my hands and pinned them up over my head. As he ravaged me, I turned my head up as much as I could and enjoyed the sensations that were surging through me.

  “Maybe… we should wait until we get inside of the room,” I groaned to him.

  “Room? What room?” he said as his lips smacked against my neck.

  I became confused as he moved his face back up against mine to kiss me.

  “W-wait a second… Mmm… You have a room here… Don’t you?”

  He pulled his face away from mine and grinned at me.

  “You said a hotel,” he said, his breathing heavy. “You didn’t say a hotel room. Besides, even if I did have a room, I wouldn’t be able to wait. You wouldn’t either.”

  He moved his head back to my neck and kissed me along my chin.

  “Yeah that’s true but… Mmm…”

  He had me pinned up against the wall in the middle of the stairwell. There was nobody here but there was a door to every floor of the hotel. Our lips were smacking against one another. I couldn’t fight the erotic moans that were escaping from my lips. The sounds we made echoed up and down the narrow corridor. Even if they were several floors up, they would know what we were doing.

  “Someone’s going to catch us,” I whispered. “Don’t you remember last time?”

  “I do. I also remember how wet you were. You remember that, don’t you? You remember how hard my cock was? I’ve got a reminder right here.”

  He pulled one of my hands down and pushed it up against his jeans. The reminder had worked all too well. Just like last time, reason had gone out the window. Now I was just hoping that we wouldn’t be so rudely interrupted.

  “Are you ready?” he asked me as he pulled his face away from me.

  “Do you really have to ask that?” I nodded to him.

  He smirked at me and started to hike my dress up my body. While he did that, I began unbuckling his belt. The anticipation was beginning to take over. With his belt loosened and his zipper down, I was eager to see what I had only felt in the darkness just a few nights before. The wetness was building up between my legs. My heart was pounding. My chest was heaving.

  “Wow,” I gasped a deep breath as his thick cock sprang up and out of his boxers.

  I didn’t have much time to marvel at it as his hand dug into my panties. My body shuddered as his finger found its familiar place against my clit. Just a few swirls and already the wetness began to leak out of me.

  “Take them off,” he groaned to me.

  I nodded again and bent over. I couldn’t lower my panties down fast enough. I stepped out from them and they rested around one of my ankles. As he examined me, I was grateful I took the time to shave myself clean. I was slightly embarrassed, standing there with my panties down and my dress up around my breasts. His jeans fell down his legs and around his knees.

  “Protection?” he asked me.

  “The pill.”

  He smirked at me. I pushed my ass up against the wall and spread my legs. I looked down and watched as he positioned himself at my entrance. I looked up and down the stairwell to make sure that nobody could catch us. Even if they could, I didn’t care. There was nothing that could stop us now. He was too close.

  “Give it to me—Hnggh!”

  I groaned as he pushed the full-length of his cock inside of me. He wrapped his arms around my thighs and picked me up off of the ground. I was waiting two nights for this. It felt like an eternity. I wrapped my legs around him, my panties dangling off of one of my ankles. I did the same with my arms and pulled him in closer. He drove himself into me with long, full stroke
s. Every time he pushed himself into me, it forced all the air out of my lungs. I could feel how hard the muscles in his shoulders were as I rested my arms on them. He pounded me up against the wall with little remorse.

  As much as I was enjoying this, I knew that we couldn’t take too long. Someone was going to catch us. It felt too good but it had to be over soon. The sound of a door opening above us echoed through the stairwell.

  “Holy sh—”

  He shoved his hand over my mouth to shut me up. Even though there was someone just above us, he didn’t stop. He continued to fuck me hard and deep. I moaned into his palm, my eyes rolling in the back of my head. I could barely breathe through my nostrils. He looked into my eyes and had an intense focus. Even though we were on the verge of being caught, he didn’t stop. And I didn’t want him to.

  The door closed above us. He released his hand from my mouth.

  “Oh, fuck!”

  I groaned and gasped a deep breath. I pulled him in close to me and began to kiss him passionately.

  “Hurry up,” I whispered to him. “Before somebody catches us.”

  “They’re… Mmm… They’re not going to… catch us… Stop… Mmm… complaining…”

  He started working even harder. He suddenly grunted loudly. I felt his cock twitch as he began to empty himself inside of me. I pulled him closer to me and held him tight. His muscles tensed underneath my grip. His body felt even harder than it already was.

  As his orgasm finally came to an end, his body started to loosen up. He slowly lowered me down to the ground and pulled out of me. Some of his seed spilled out of me and onto the floor. I looked down and his cock glistened with my fluid underneath the lights of the stairwell. Our moans of ecstasy were replaced with heavy breaths. The two of us were busy trying to regain our composure. While he pulled his jeans back up and zipped himself up, I bent down and pulled my panties back on. I lowered my dress down and straightened my hair. It would still be obvious to anybody who looked close enough that I just had sex but it was late and I didn’t plan on running into anybody else for the rest of the night.

  We stared at one another. We weren’t immune to the awkward silence that usually accompanied a hook-up like this. He grinned at me and I started to blush.

  “Well, I did take you to the hotel like you asked,” he winked at me.

  “Yeah, you did indeed. Do you really not have a room here? Then why would you bother taking me here? We could have just done it in the alley.”

  “You insisted.”

  “I… I suppose I did.”

  He leaned in close to me as I started to laugh. He gave me another deep kiss.

  “So, what was it like?” I whispered to him.

  “What was what like?”

  “Fucking a Natasha.”

  He smirked at me then began to laugh softly.

  “Come on,” he said. “The night is still young. I’m sure there are some young men who are still looking for a good time.”

  “Maybe,” I replied. “But I’m not interested in them at the moment.”

  “You’re still not satisfied?”

  “No. I was just giving you a break.”

  I grabbed his shirt and pulled him in close to me. The two of us made out in the stairwell. The feeling hadn’t left me. Now I was just waiting for it to come back to him.

  Chapter 6

  A few days had passed since my graduation. I had a modest celebration with my family but they headed back home soon after. Even though school was over, the reality of the situation finally hit me. That was the easy part. Now I had to figure out a way to put my degree to use and finally start to make a living.

  I had sent out my resume to more companies than I could count in the hopes that they would take notice of me. I received several responses. I even got a few interviews. It was still early and nothing was set in stone but I still felt like I couldn’t wait on this.

  “Good luck.”

  I smiled when I looked at my friend Danica’s text message. I told her that I didn’t have time to mess around with her. At least, not yet. It didn’t mean an end to our weekend adventures but I would definitely have to put everything on hold until I got everything settled in. She knew how important finding a job was to me. She had been working as a beautician in the city for several years now. Once I was able to find my own career path, I would finally be able to enjoy the stability she did.

  I headed toward my next interview downtown. It was a few blocks away from where I was partying just a few nights ago. In place of the clubs and bars were massive skyscrapers home to some of the most successful businesses in the world.

  The outfit I was wearing was a modest business suit. The skirt left everything to the imagination and the matching black jacket covered me up just as well. I had scrounged up every penny I could to look presentable for every interview I came across. The first paycheck would be spent on putting those pennies back into my bank account.

  “Let’s see… 39th floor…”

  I stepped into the elevator and was immediately surrounded. Men and women in business suits brushed up against me. It was another reminder that I was part of a different world now. I swallowed anxiously and looked straight above the door, waiting for the elevator to arrive at my destination. I gripped my bag tight and excused myself when I finally arrived.

  Thankfully, the floor had signs posted everywhere. There was little chance of me getting lost. I looked at my watch to make sure that I was on time. I rushed toward the room my interview was scheduled then saw several potential candidates already waiting outside of the door. There was a receptionist just to the side of the room.

  “Hello, I’m here for the—”

  “What’s your name?” the curt lady asked me.

  “Alice. Alice Pratt.”

  “All right, Alice. Take a seat. Someone will be here to interview you shortly.”

  I nodded my head to the old lady then took a seat along with the other candidates. I sat there silently, growing more and more anxious with each passing second. I had to keep reminding myself that I was ready for this. I had studied so hard for this opportunity. There was no way I could screw this up if I just told them that I was capable of handling myself.

  One by one, each of the people sitting next to me headed into the room. As they disappeared, another person would arrive and occupy one of the empty seats. I began to notice that there were so many candidates for the job here. It was a large building with a hundred floors. I didn’t know exactly what company I would be working for, since it was splintered and spread throughout the building. All I knew was that this was big business and this was the opportunity I was looking for.

  “Alice Pratt?”

  A red-headed woman with her hair tied behind her head stepped out from the doorway. I immediately jumped up from my seat and looked at her. She motioned for me to follow her.

  “Right this way.”

  I did as I was told and followed her through the doorway. There were several smaller offices inside. I could see other candidates being interviewed through the windows.

  “After you.”

  She gave me a polite smile then held her hand out toward her office. I stepped inside and took a seat in front of her desk. I listened to the door click behind me. I had to remind myself not to be nervous. That still didn’t stop me from gulping.

  The woman was dressed in a modest blouse and a skirt. While she made her way around her desk, she flipped through a stack of papers. She didn’t look up at me as she took her seat. I couldn’t tell what her silence was indicative of. She finally looked up at me and smiled again.

  “Nice to meet you, Alice,” she said. “My name is Estelle. You can relax. I’m just going to ask you some questions about your application first.”

  “Of course.”

  “I will say that your resume is impressive.”

  “Thank you, Miss…”

  “Call me Estelle.”

  “Thank you, Estelle.”

  “I see you m
ajored in International Business but you also have a minor in Psychology.”

  “That’s correct. I’ve done most of my work in Behavior Analysis.”

  “Interesting,” she raised her eyebrow at me from behind the thick frames of her glasses. “That’s kind of an odd combination. You don’t usually see the two paired together.”

  “I can’t speak to how common it is. But I thought it only made sense.”

  “How so?”

  “Business is about understanding the market. It’s about making the right decisions. But rarely is it one or two people that make these decisions. You have to understand a person’s behavior to see how they’re thinking. Sometimes you can influence them. Sometimes you just need to understand them. It’s sort of a subjective way of looking at things.”

  “Interesting,” she nodded her head, a slight smile on her face. “That’s really interesting, Alice. Everything else seems to be in order. Stellar GPA. Loads of extracurricular activities to show that you’re the people person you claim to be. Recommendations from some of your professors. I can’t argue with any of this. But you do understand that there are many people trying to work here, correct?”

  “Yes. Yes, I’m aware.”

  “Now tell me, Alice. What do you know about Barnett Industries?”

  Barnett Industries. I didn’t have to think long to find an answer. It was one of the most prominent companies in the city. They did business on an international level. I had to compose myself because I was taken aback at the sudden question.

  “Barnett Industries?” I asked. “I know that they do business with companies worldwide. They have a strong business in emerging technologies… They deal with finance, as well… I think they have their hands in everything from agriculture to medicine to—”

  “Why do you want to work for Barnett Industries, Alice?”

  “W-well, I…”

  “You do realize that this is what you were applying for, right?”

  “To be honest with you, Estelle, I didn’t. I knew that Barnett owns this entire building but I assumed it was just the parent company for something beneath… There are a lot of smaller offices…”