Perfect Strangers Read online

  “You’re making it sound so easy…” he whispered, leaning into my touch. I didn’t know if he was aware of what he was doing, but I liked that… it touched something in me.

  “This is the music academy project, right?”

  He nodded and frowned when I stood up to leave his office, “Wait here, okay? I’ll bring something from my office. Also, eat your lunch. We’ve got work to do,” I told him over my shoulder. A smile took over my face when I noticed the excitement in his eyes were back.

  Grabbing my notepad from my desk, I hurried back into his office, giving no explanation to him as he watched me with interest.

  “Will you tell me what are you doing, Miss Crown?” he teased me.

  “As your assistant, I’m saving your ass, Mr. Hawke,” I replied sweetly and started to share my ideas.

  “Well, since this is a music academy, I thought the buildings could be music related. You know the clefs in music? Treble, bass and c-clef? They have unique signatures and we can use them for different parts of the academy. Like keyboards, strings, brasses… all of them will be able to get their own buildings,” I explained, waiting for him to say something… anything… but he kept watching me with a strange expression.

  “Look, I know this isn’t a great idea, but I’m just trying to help, okay? Like giving you something to begin with. I’m sure you’ll work from here, right?” I said, feeling defeated that he didn’t like any of it.

  Standing up, he walked toward me, stopping behind me, leaning so close I felt heat radiating off him, his breath on my neck.

  “I think this is a pretty good idea, Miss Crown,” he whispered, causing tingling sensations on my body as goosebumps broke out on my skin.

  “Thanks… Mr. Hawke,” I forced myself to be formal as my mind recalled his body on mine.

  “Mr. Hawke… I really like how that sounds from those lips of yours,” he chuckled, nuzzling on my neck.

  “What are you doing? We can’t do this,” I protested, my voice was shaking.

  “Why? You didn’t protest before,” he insisted, running his lips down the length of my neck.

  “It was before… before I started to work for you, before I learned we were family… you’re my step-brother!”

  He wrapped his arm around my waist, flushing our bodies, pressing his cock to my ass, “I’m your boss, Melody, but I’m not your family… and I’m certainly not your brother, I have no intention of being your brother. I can bend you over this desk, right now, and fuck the hell out of you, with pleasure… because… I am not your fucking brother! Is it clear enough?!” he hissed in my ear, rolling his hips, making me moan for more.

  “Ye –yeah…” I breathed out.

  “Good… now, if you don’t want this to happen, tell me to stop… and mean it, Melody. Because if you don’t stop me, that is exactly what I will do,” he bit my earlobe, before rasping, “Tell me to stop.”

  I closed my eyes, absorbing the feel of his body behind me, allowing myself a few more seconds of the pleasure his warmth caused. But I couldn’t let that happen… no matter how much I wanted it.

  “I… I will leave you alone to work. Good luck,” I said, unwrapping his arm around my waist, I left the office in hurry.

  That was will power!

  Way to go, Melody!

  I ran back to my office, shut the door behind me and sat back behind my desk. Trying to focus on something, anything, I logged in and out of my computer, put all my pens in order according to their heights, opened and closed the files when I couldn’t focus enough to read any of them. Finally, I gave up. The throbbing between my legs wasn’t helping me focus, I couldn’t do anything but press my thighs together. His voice was still in my ear, I could still feel his hardness behind me… I knew leaving his office was the right decision, but my body was screaming at me to go back.

  Leaning back on my chair, I turned to look out of the window, trying to settle myself. Watching the view with a small lake and lot of trees helped my nerves, cooled my body till the ringtone of my phone startled me.

  “Melody Crown,” I answered before checking the ID of the caller.

  “Mel, how did your interview go with Kellan?” My mom asked excitedly.

  Sighing, “It was good, Mom. I’ve already started working,” I said.

  “Really? That’s great, baby girl! How is Kellan? Could you guys get along well?”

  Yeah, Mom. We got along pretty well. Actually we were just this close to fucking each other, bringing new meaning to human relations, I thought to myself.

  “Yes, Mom. He’s not bad. We’re good so far,” I said instead.

  “Great! I’m so happy for you, baby girl.”

  “Thanks, Mom. And thank Brad for me, again, please. I may not find a job like this if it wasn’t for him.”

  “No, no, baby. I knew you would find a good job even without his help. But we are just happy you’re working with Kellan… like a real family, you know?” she offered.

  I bit my lip to stop myself laughing at the irony of the situation, “Like a real family? Sure, Mom… I know…”

  “Well, I’ll let you go now, but we need to go shopping and have some mom and daughter time, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, Mom. Sure… love you,” I replied before ending the call.

  For the next a few hours, I’d marked Kellan’s meetings on my calendar and set alarms for each of them on my phone. I didn’t want to mess them up. I continued going through the to-do list his former assistant left for me, feeling grateful to her and even more grateful that she left it somewhere I could easily find.

  My office phone rang as I went through the emails from people who wanted to work with Hawke Architecture.

  “Kellan Hawke’s office, Melody Crown speaking,” I answered the phone.

  “Bring me coffee,” Kellan ordered in a grumpy voice and put the phone down before i could answer.

  Bastard.

  What had gotten into him?

  He was friendly and caring as we talked yesterday in his office all afternoon.

  I wanted to go back to his office, yell at him for the way he talked to me… but that sounded childish. He was my boss and I needed this job. Annoying him wouldn’t help me get along well with him. Also, maybe something was bothering him.

  I suppressed a giggle with the possibility of him being sexually frustrated as much as I was.

  I know what could make him feel better, I thought, but shook my head to stop that train of thought.

  Coffee… he wanted coffee… but how did he drink his coffee? With milk, sugar, anything else?

  I checked other papers his assistant left me, aka new assistant, to see if she noted his coffee preferences. She even noted which size of shirt he wore, his shoe number… there had to be a coffee preference somewhere, too, but no luck. I had to go with my gut and that bastard could tell me how he wanted his coffee next time.

  I went to cafeteria, got his coffee –black, he seemed that kind of guy, and mine.

  “You’re new here?” someone said behind me. I turned to face him, “Yep, I am.”

  “I’m Troy, working in the finance department… and you are?” he said, extending his hand to me despite seeing my hands were full. I put my cup on the table and shook his hand, “Nice to meet you, Troy. I’m Melody, Mr. Hawke’s new assistant.”

  He was a cute guy, like the boy next door –golden hair, sea blue eyes, a cute face.

  “Oh, so you’ll be isolated for awhile, then. We don’t go up there till he finishes his projects. It must be boring for you,” he offered.

  “It isn’t that bad. My first day was interesting enough,” I told him, remembering how everything turned out since I got inside this building.

  “Good for you, then. If you get bored… or something… my office is on the third floor,” he said, scratching his neck, troubled.

  “Umm… okay?”

  “I mean… there are lots of people there, you can meet them all. You don’t have to come to my office… you can
come if you’d like, of course…” he mumbled, I couldn’t help but smile at him.

  “Jeez, I’m always being silly when I see a beautiful girl. Oh my! I should stop talking, right?” he continued.

  He was really the cutest guy I’ve ever seen.

  “Yes, Mr. Connor. You should stop talking. I don’t pay you to entertain ladies in the building.”

  Troy and I both jumped when we heard his voice… Kellan Hawke.

  “Yes, Mr. Hawke,” Troy answered, his face was a shade of pink already.

  “And Miss Crown, I remember I wanted coffee from you almost fifteen minutes ago. Was Mr. Connor more important than your boss’ needs?” he turned to me, his eyes were blazing.

  “I cannot compare a guy and a cup of coffee, Mr. Hawke. But I can say he was more entertaining than you, for sure,” I said, narrowing my eyes. I saw Troy’s head quickly turn to me in shock, but I couldn’t risk losing eye contact with Kellan.

  “Back to your work, Mr. Connor,” Kellan said through his gritted teeth without looking away from me.

  “I’d better go,” Troy murmured, almost like a whisper and hurried to get out of the cafeteria.

  “Coffee, Miss Crown. Now,” he hissed at my face and left me alone, panting.

  He was hot when he was angry!

  Kellan

  For the first time in my life, I didn’t fuck a woman when I wanted, even though I knew she wanted it as much as I did. It frustrated me, made me angry, but also turned me the fuck on. This was ridiculous… the whole situation with this Melody Crown.

  She was beautiful, I’d admit, with her shapely legs, curvy body, the bluest eyes I’d even seen, and that blonde hair like a golden halo around her innocent face. She was hot, too… the perfect mixture of shy, innocent and wild. But I have been with more beautiful women than her, wilder, more experienced women that would make her look like a school girl next to them. What was so extraordinary about her that I couldn’t shake off?

  I was sitting in my office, wondering what she was doing on the other side of the wall, instead of drawing the first draft of the project, finding myself smiling whenever I remembered her enthusiasm about the music academy designs. My cock hadn’t even gone down since she left my office hours ago, I was afraid of blue balls. I was trying to come up with an excuse to bring her back to my office.

  Why was she affecting me like this?

  Office fuck was my fantasy, yes, but why did it have to be her and not my other assistants before her.

  Since the morning of our one night together, with her message, her unexpected departure, there was something that fascinated me, I didn’t even throw away her note. She was cute, but just another mark on my bedpost. I fucked her away from my thoughts with that redhead the same morning…

  Yet, she had to be the one my failure of a father suggested to me.

  She had to be the one who had the best file among all the applicants.

  She had to be my step-sister.

  And like all that wasn’t enough, she had to be the one I wanted to fuck again and again without feeling boredom.

  Finally, when I just said “Fuck it!” and asked coffee from her, she didn’t bring it for fifteen minutes, pushing all my buttons at once. And like this wasn’t enough she was giggling and flirting with that boring Troy guy from finance.

  I saw red everywhere, not because I was jealous… C’mon why would I be jealous? I was angry because she was trying to anger me, defy me, and she wasn’t doing her job. Also, I was frustrated that I still wanted to bend her over my desk and leave my mark on her.

  That was why I acted like a dick… I was already a dick, anyway.

  I decided to ignore her from that moment, I thought this fascination would fade away. But I was still unable to focus on the project.

  Why was I trying to stop myself anyway?

  When had I ever stopped myself from doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted?

  I wanted this girl, whether Brad decided to marry her mother or not, whether it wouldn’t be a one time thing anymore, whether the world would stop if I did this or not.

  I wanted this girl.

  I wanted her sweet little pussy wrapped around my cock at every opportunity I got.

  “Fuck it!” I groaned, standing up from my chair and headed toward her office.

  Rest of the evening went by without any more action. Kellan didn’t even make eye contact with me when I put his coffee on his desk. He was drawing, though. It made me happy that I could be some kind of help on the project.

  I went back to my office, replied some emails, took notes for the things I had to do when I came back in the morning and continued reading files Kellan put on my desk. I was trying to learn from him, to be honest. He had a signature style in architecture; I would recognize his designs anywhere in the world. But my real passion was in interior design, that was my real profession, the place where I could work magic. I was making some mini drawing for his buildings, how I imagined their interior.

  I lifted my head, massaging my taut neck muscles. Kellan was leaning against my door, for how long, I had no idea, watching me strangely. When our eyes met, he cleared his throat, “What are you doing?” he asked.

  I could have asked him the same question, but instead I answered him, unsure, “Umm… reading the files.”

  “No, I mean... what are you drawing?” he said, coming closer to my desk.

  “Nothing, just some ideas,” I shrugged, trying to hide the paper, afraid that he would find them silly.

  “Show me.”

  “Kellan…” I started to protest, but he stopped me, “Show me, Melody.”

  Giving him the paper, I felt so nervous like he would tell me whether I passed the class or not.

  “Interior designs… they are good, really good, to be honest,” he praised me, heat rose to my cheeks from my chest.

  “Thank you,” I murmured.

  “Do you think you can make the full interior design?” he asked, eyes calculating.

  “In college, I was doing that, all the time, even if my class required only one room. But I only did it on paper… so I’m not so sure if reality will be as fun.”

  He nodded as he sat on my desk, next to my chair. I didn’t need x-rays to know the wheels were working on his mind.

  “This music academy project… they were begging me to do their interior design as well, but I didn’t accept it because I couldn’t do both at the same time and their time frame for this wasn’t enough. But they wanted me to think about it until our next meeting. And now, I want you to think, too. Can you do that? I will help you, of course. We will work together on this. But I need to know if you’ll be able to handle most of it,” he offered.

  I searched his face for a hint of mockery, but he was serious. He was really offering me this great chance. I was giddy with excitement, “Kellan, would you really let me do this? Make it my own project?”

  “Of course I would. You graduated with an architecture degree, you’re an architect. There is no difference between us except some experience. So yes… I would let you do it if you’re up to it,” he told me. His words were sincere, encouraging. His eyes were captivating, excited, and intense. It was too late before I could stop myself from hugging him.

  “Yes! I want this. Thank you!” I said into his neck.

  Wrapping his arms around my waist, he sighed and repeated the same vulnerable words I gave him, I wasn’t sure if he meant the project, “Don’t make me regret this.”

  The next day we started working on project. Despite my fears, working with him was fun. We worked in his office all day and he treated me as an architect not like his assistant, like we were on the same level. He was encouraging whenever I became nervous and insecure about my ideas. He might have been an asshole sometimes, but as we worked he was the best help I could ask for.

  For two days we worked like that, in his office… side by side, but the tension between us was getting stronger each second. My eyes were staying on him a few seconds longe
r than necessary, his hands were touching me more than it could be explained as an accident. Whenever we leaned down, focusing on the designs on table our breathing became shallower, my panties got wetter and my vibrator worked overtime those two nights.

  Finally, at the end of the two days, we both had some good drafts on exterior and interior design of the music academy. I sighed in relief when Kellan decided to continue working from home till the meeting.

  The following days went by without any action since Kellan mostly worked from home. He only sent me some emails for the things he wanted me to prepare in the office. I was bored, to be honest. Being alone on the floor made me feel uneasy and no matter how ridiculous it sounded, I enjoyed working with Kellan when he was in the office. In this short amount of time, I saw how much talent he had and how important this job was to him. I loved the exciting thrill whenever I was near him, enjoying the way his eyes roamed over my body, making me feel naked and wanted when he looked at me.

  I was twiddling my thumbs to fight the boredom, after the fun lunch with Stacey. I was running through ideas for the interior design of the music academy, I was doing research, taking notes, trying to create the best I could. But mostly I couldn’t wait to see him at work…

  ***

  On Sunday morning my phone woke me up. I groaned when I saw it was just eight in the morning, but seeing it was Kellan calling put an end to my frustration.

  “Melody Crown,” I answered the phone, biting my tongue with the silly habit.

  “Do you always answer your phone like this? You have a businesswoman inside you,” he chuckled.

  “Yeah, a habit I cannot get rid of,” I groaned.

  “It’s hot,” he said. His voice was husky, making my already sensitive body –thanks to overused vibrator- alert.

  “Good morning, by the way,” I murmured.

  “Come to me today.”

  “What?” I lifted myself by my elbows.