Chapter 144: About to be crushed

“How do you mean?” the question left Josie’s mouth slightly shakily. She blinked, telling herself inwardly that there was nowhere he could have known.

No way. Her sexual fantasy was one thing she had never told anyone. It should definitely be coincidence.

Accepting that as a coincidence, Josie told herself inwardly that definitely this encounter was meant to be. Her body got a tangible reason to continue its shameless surrender…

Tom stepped in closer.

This time there was no polite space left between them. His body pressed into hers, firm enough that she felt the full form of him through their clothes, and the desk met her from behind as if the room itself had decided where she would end up. He held her eyes while one hand moved past her hip to push the papers backward across the desk in a rough, impatient sweep. Files and neat order gave way. The surface became cleared enough for what he intended.

Then both of his hands settled at her waist and gripped.

Josie gasped.

The sound was soft, startled, and far too honest for the sophisticated CEO standing in the middle of a workday. Tom’s palms stroked along her waist, slower now, feeling the way her body reacted under the fabric. He leaned in just enough for the next question to land against her breathing.

“Do you want me to stop?”

Josie opened her mouth but no words came.

Her body answered instead. The bracelet link flared hard across Tom’s vision.

[BRACELET LINK — JOSIE HALE]

Arousal: Critical

Body Response: Dripping wet

Resistance: Failing

Note: Silence is not refusal. Starved body is already past pride.

Tom read it and felt the last hesitation leave him. “I’ll take that as permission to continue.” his eyes we’re fixed on hers as he said.

Josie only breathed out, a broken little exhale that made her agreement without giving it the dignity of a sentence.

That was enough.

Tom lifted her onto the desk in one firm motion. Josie caught at his shoulders as her body settled onto the cleared surface, her legs left dangling over the edge, her elegant work clothes suddenly looking like an obstacle rather than armor now.

His hand rose to her neck and stroked downward, following the line of her throat into the open path of her blouse. The moment his fingers touched bare skin beneath the cloth, Josie lost the rest of her restraint.

She grabbed him…

Her mouth crashed onto his with raw need, no testing, no careful first pressure; just a woman kissing like the hunger had finally broken containment. Tom kissed her back just as hard, one hand locking at her waist while the other continued its path under her blouse, caressing the soft skin in between her breasts.

Everything after that sharpened.

Tom’s hand left her blouse and pushed down beneath her skirt. He found the waistband of her panties, gripped the material, and tore. The sound of it was brief and filthy in the quiet office. Josie jolted against him with a shocked sound that melted almost immediately into another desperate kiss. Tom pulled the ruined panties free and closed them in his fist for a second before setting the torn evidence aside near the desk drawer, exactly where a fantasy like hers would leave proof.

He adjusted her on the edge of the desk, bringing her forward until she sat open to him, her legs parted around his hips. Then he stepped fully between her thighs. The position left nothing to interpretation. Her skirt was shoved up. Her breathing was ragged.

Tom reached down and unzipped.

In the next moment he was there, hard and ready, the head of his cock pressing against her wet heat close enough that one thrust would have finished the line between almost and done. Josie’s hands gripped his arms. Her body was already tilting into the contact, soaked enough that the first push would have been easy-

“Wait,” she breathed suddenly. “Do you have a condom?”

Tom went still.

“No.”

The single word stopped everything.

For a suspended second they remained locked in the almost, her on the desk, her thighs open around him, his cock resting against the wet evidence of how far she had already fallen, both of them breathing too hard for the professional room they were in. Frustration cut through Tom. He had been one motion away from being buried inside her.

Before either of them could decide what came next, Josie’s phone rang.

The sound snapped the moment apart.

Josie pushed at his chest lightly, not with recovered dignity so much as forced urgency, and slid down from the desk on unsteady legs. She grabbed the phone, turned half away, and answered. The conversation lasted only a short stretch of clipped words. When it ended, she swallowed hard and looked back at Tom.

“I need to go. Something urgent came up.” she said.

Tom stared at her for a second longer, still hard. Then he stepped back and let the distance return, his jaw tightening with the unfinished act between them.

~~~~~~~~~

Downstairs, Tom sat in his car without immediately driving away.

He had not left Goldy yet. Part of him was still up in that office, still between her legs, still one thrust short of claiming the exact fantasy the System had exposed. He let his head fall back against the seat and muttered under his breath, bitter with the simplicity of what had caused the interruption…

“A condom. Of all things.”

As if answering the frustration, the System opened across his vision.

[RECRUITMENT INTERFACE — JOSIE HALE]

Attraction +30%

Obsession +10%

Tom read the numbers and gave a slow nod. “Not bad at all.”

She had stopped him. She had left. But her meters had still moved hard, and her body had already told the truth on that desk. The unfinished heat would work in his favor as much as it tortured him now.

He started the engine and pulled away from Goldy, turning toward the club property. If he could not finish with Josie this afternoon, he would at least put his eyes on what Bree and the decorator were building.

He drove on.

After a moment of driving, he had turned onto a quiet road when a trailer appeared…

It swerved into his lane without warning.

“What the heck!” Tom blinked and slowed down and flanked his horn. He expected the trailer to regain control and go back to his lane. But apparently, the movement was intentional not a drunken mistake.

The trailer flanked its own horn, so loud then began racing towards Tom’s car.

“What-” Tom’s eyes widened.

For a split second his mind couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Then panic hit him. His hands tore off the steering wheel on pure instinct, and his body locked as the trailer roared toward him head-on, so close.

It was certain that he was about to be crushed.