Laura stared listlessly at the mouths wagging on the TV screen. Lips and teeth of the actors gnashed together in rapid synchrony. All she could hear was a cacophony of words that rattled the warm air of her living room.

The damning dilemma that tore through her life splintered her ability to even enjoy her favourite show.

She collapsed back into her cushions, the couch sinking beneath her like a belaboured friend.

She cast her eyes down. The glint of the thumb drive taunted her from the spot on her coffee table where Charlie's laptop used to sit.

There was no way she could work for someone like Jacqueline Cook. That woman was a jealous, rabid creature – a spider that had tempted a fly into its web, and was now going to consume the prey who was trying to flee.

But turning Flaco away would mean kissing goodbye to the future she could have had. A modern, forward-looking future, with a visionary company who could recognise her talents.

And that would also mean Laura had to return to the shitstorm that was her stunted career at Spectre.

Her gaze wandered over to her phone. She needed to unload. She couldn't tell Geri any of this – to put it bluntly, it wasn't her business – and she needed to keep the severity of this storm under wraps.

As much as she could trap a tornado, anyway.

There was only one person she wanted to talk to. One man whose voice she wanted to be comforted by.

With quivering hands, she reached for her phone.

♥

The face that appeared at her door was worn down by fatigue, but it barely stopped a frustratingly smug smile from playing on his lips.

"Hey," Charlie drawled, sporting a pack of ale in his hands and a mischievous spark in his eyes. "I thought you'd kissed and said goodbye."

Laura rolled her eyes. "Come in before I change my mind."

She shyly closed the door behind him, as if she wasn't already acquainted with him spending late nights at her apartment. He sauntered past her in a casual white sweater, and she found her gaze helplessly glued to the delectable way his grey joggers shifted around his thighs.

The short hem of her airy boxer shorts suddenly screamed for her attention, and she panicked, realising she had been too occupied by anxiety to change into something less... inviting.

Charlie set the beer onto her island counter and turned, his eyes immediately running over her exposed legs.

Too late.

"I don't think I've ever seen so much of your skin," he teased. He tore the cardboard pack apart and thrusted a bottle towards her.

Brushing away her embarrassment, Laura stepped forward, her clammy hands meeting the cool mercy of the glass. The label popped with a picture of lime and strawberries.

"I know you like your alcohol with fruits in them." Charlie picked one for himself and wandered into her kitchen. "Where's your bottle opener?"

He followed her gestures and found the tool, popping off his cap before reaching over the counter and doing hers.

"So..." he started, walking back out to the living room. "What did Laura Rain need so urgently that she would willingly invite me into her home on a Sunday evening?"

She had settled into her couch, barely comfortable in the presence of the man that might very well be her undoing. Said man had the decency of taking the adjacent rattan armchair instead, and she breathed in relief.

"Celene is in trouble," she began, cracking her laptop open.

He sighed. "Are you going to tell me she's cheating on me again?"

"No, I mean she is in deep shit, Charlie." Laura swivelled the laptop around, showing him the obscured flurry of files with tiny thumbnails.

He shook his head. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"Look at this." She pointed to a preview of one of the files, where a blurred image of Celene's face was barely visible.

"Is that..." he trailed off, his eyes glazing into a thousand-yard stare.

Laura scrolled unnervingly through the folder, its contents flying through the screen in shocking scores. "Flaco has all of these pictures of her and some woman. Charlie, they're going to release it to the media to ruin Langford Medical."

He pulled out his phone, and Laura launched from the couch to grasp his hand in desperation.

"You can't tell her," she pleaded. "We don't know what she'll do."

His eyes stormed with confusion and anger. "We have to help her."

"I know, but how can we do it carefully?"

He clenched his jaw, pocketing his phone. "We have to tell her tomorrow. We'll think of a plan together."

Laura nodded, her panic somewhat appeased. "Flaco can't know that we know."

Charlie frowned and his eyes darkened. "But they know that you do."

He rose from his seat and forced Laura back onto the couch, her hair fanned across the white pillows. He bent over her with a demanding scowl.

"How did you get this?"

Her pulse spiking, Laura tried to eke out an excuse, but all that managed to slip from her mouth was a weak apology.

"I – I'm sorry," she whispered.

The tension in his jaw softened, but a cold look suddenly invaded his blue eyes.

Hunger.

He gripped her chin and pulled, consuming her lips with ferocious desire. She relented and greeted his greed with her own, drinking in the taste of danger that had tempted her for far too long. As their tongues violently fought in a brutal stalemate, her hands snaked down his tightened back and found their place around the curve of his ass, squeezing tight.

She was not going down without a fight.

He grunted against her lips and broke away, staring her down with a taunting glare.

"So, this little kitty wants to play a game."

He reached for the bottom hem of her shorts and tugged, revealing the white lace that peeked out playfully between her intimate folds. The corner of his mouth twisted deviously as his eyes raked her figure in lustful admiration.

"Charlie," she gasped, throwing her hands over her crotch, but he snatched them away, pinning them over her head. Her breath heaved as her heart sprinted with anxiety and, surprisingly, impatience.

"Last chance to turn back, Laura," he warned, his ferocity laced with a hint of concern.

If the bastard wanted to play, he could play on her terms.

"Don't look," Laura whispered. "Not now."

"Fine, I won't see," he drawled, his finger trailing agonisingly down her belly, as though tracing the current that raced through her body and puddled between her legs. "I'll just touch."

He brushed against the blissful bump in her lace and her chest shot up into an arch.

All semblance of scheming in her mind crumbled under his hard and unrelenting assault.

"Now, Laura." His eyebrow cocked suggestively as the heavy husk of his voice stroked her senses. "I know you. You aren't evil enough to film this, but neither are you innocent enough to simply stumble upon it."

He locked her eyes in a persistent glare, and she whimpered as his fingers pulled away her lace and found their way to her honeyed spot. With the impatience of a ravenous beast, he dipped into her slick and flicked against her clit.

Her tightened throat released an anguished moan as her nerves frayed against his torturous touch.

A tsk crawled out from his clenched teeth. "I liked that sound, Laura, but it's not an answer."

He swirled around her entrance, his thumb keeping pressure on her button, and gently slid one finger in. She balked against the invasion, thrusting her hips out to swallow him deeper. Accepting the invitation, Charlie glided another finger in.

His slender touch filled her with unbelievable pressure and nudged against a throbbing spot inside her flesh, edging her towards a life-changing orgasm. Her eyes rolled back and her mouth fell open in a silent scream.

He prodded. "You're going to tell me how you got those photos."

"Charlie, I – I can't," she choked out.

"Last warning." He pushed. "Or I'll stop."

"Please, Charlie, don't make me –"

His fingers cruelly fled from her core and she cried out helplessly at the aching vacuum within her.

"Are you going to keep playing this game, Laura?" He returned to lazily circling her wetness. "Because I can go all night."

"I hate you," she moaned, shivering beneath the devil who was robbing her of release.

He smirked and rubbed her clit, forcing her eyelids shut and shooting white sparks through her vision. The sensation electrified her being, but it was barely enough to launch her into the rapture that was sorely promised.

"Now. Let's try again."

The void within her brimmed with pleasure once more as he thrusted back in. She fought a losing battle against the fear of being caught scheming with their rival.

Charlie leaned down, planting a kiss on her forehead while murmuring. "Tell me. Whatever happens, I still mean what I said. I will look out for you."

With insane ease, he found the nuclear button within her and pushed.

The walls came crumbling down.

"Celene's ex at Flaco gave it to me." Her confession erupted through strangled breath. "Flaco wants me."

He grunted in annoyance, but the displeasure quickly dissolved as lust clouded his eyes.

"I want you more."

Thumbing her clit, his fingers hooked against her wall, and Laura broke. Shudders racked her spine as she surrendered to the unworldly pleasure, the climax coursing through her veins and colliding into every corner of her body, her soul escaping in an elated sigh.

When she had the presence of mind to flit her eyes open again, she saw only the unending depth of blue peering back at her with soft adoration. She glanced down to his magical fingers, which he gently withdrew from her throbbing walls and playfully licked.

"Well," he remarked, his cocky cadence returning. "How do you hate me now?"

She blushed, sitting up from her crumpled pose. "More like I hate that you're engaged."

"So do I." He collapsed onto the couch beside Laura with a strangled sigh. Stretching his arms over the seatback, he tilted his gaze to the ceiling. "Were you really going to join Flaco?"

"Mmhmm."

She leaned back against his left bicep, her hair trailing over his skin. He dangled the crook of his elbow over her shoulder and twirled a strand around his fingers, the curling tresses tickling the side of her jaw.

"Whatever happened to not giving your life to another company?" His voice sank, flattened by the weight of fear and disappointment.

"They are more modern. More forward-looking. I could see myself doing more for them." She blew out a heavy breath. "Until I saw the photos."

Charlie turned to Laura, studying her with intense purpose. "What if I changed Spectre Corp? What if we could bid goodbye to the stubborn slag of tradition and reform the company?"

She blinked and took in a tentative breath. "Well, that would be marvellous."

"... But?"

"It doesn't change the fact that you're giving your life to another woman."

Releasing a pained exhale, Charlie pulled Laura onto his chest. His arms closed over her in a warm cradle that tried to ease her mind with nebulous promises, but the quiver of her sinking heart knew that it was just an empty lie.

♥