After introductions, Ben used his considerable people skills to make Azure feel comfortable, and soon they were engrossed in random conversation about Austin Powers movies. Ross gazed at her across the table as she sparred with his brother. Ross thought of his last encounter with her before Christmas.
It was embarrassing being caught outside her room, though they were simply standing at the door as she fumbled for her key card. After the kiss in the elevator, it felt like they were naked and on display. Azure’s team members had emerged and were headed downstairs. They’d waved at Ross and Azure, and then stood in front of the elevator, which took forever to arrive. It was awkward, and while they tried to ignore them, the damage had been done. He’d drug himself away from her and headed to his own room. They both knew it was her reputation at stake, not his.
Things happen at conferences all the time, but Azure would continue to work with this same crew at other events. With her troubles at home, he didn’t want to cause trouble for her at work as well.
That night he’d broken his cardinal rule of not partaking of the mini bar, and broke the seal on two Wild Turkey mini bottles. A splash of cold water to make up for lack of ice and he sipped it for taste, the bourbon burning its way down. Dani called and he let it go to voicemail. Last thing he wanted that night was to hear her voice. After talking with Az, his anger at Dani had subsided, leaving him calmer, at peace. Then he reved up again in the elevator, in a different way. A good way he didn’t want to back down from.
Relieving himself of four cups of diner coffee, he stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower.
Water sluiced over him, hot and sharp, needles pounding his skin into submission, forcing him to relax. He held a hand over his fading erection, shielding it from the onslaught at first, but he gave in to the demands of his body and his hand closed around it. Two quick tugs and it filled, growing hard and heavy in his hand. Resting his head against the cool tiles, his brain filled with images of Azure’s smile, her mouth hot and insistent under his. It’d been a while, and he could almost feel pliant lips sucking his cock, tonguing the underside and could almost see her violet eyes wide as she looked up at him. It could almost be exactly as he’d imagined it, over and over. Lately, even with Dani, it was Az he’d thought of. Completion hadn’t taken long, and the orgasm was long and intense and he spent several seconds hunched over in the shower, coming down, hands on unsteady knees.
After the shower, he’d toweled himself roughly as if to rub all notion of Azure from his skin. He’d spend all night awake and hard if he didn’t. He’d checked his phone for a text from her, the possibility of getting dressed and heading to her room still in his head. The hallway would be clear and it was nobody’s business anyway. She would let him in, he knew that, but then what? He didn’t want this to be some random hook-up with its awkward morning after.
On the eve of his mother’s surgery, after talking so lovingly of her, her faith, her goodness, he could not bring himself to break the rules. He didn’t think of being with Azure as sinful, it certainly didn’t feel sinful. In fact, it felt right. But the fact was, she was married and the rules of convention had already been pushed too far.
There was no text from Az. His phone lay blank and unforgiving. He collapsed on the bed, knowing that it wasn’t the absence of an invite that stopped him. Or the possibility of disappointing his mother, but if, in some other alternate wonderful universe—he and Azure ended up together—he didn’t want his mother to see her as the other woman, or immoral. He didn’t want Azure to see herself that way.
At the bar, Ross listened to his brother and Az talk like they were old friends. She’d asked about their mom and Ben filled her in on recent
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