"I don't want to be here." Wilhelmina huffed, swinging her arms brusquely as she walked.
"Darling." Connor drawled in her ear. "It's your party, you have to be here." He held her lightly by her elbow as they walked, his lips curving upwards, amused by her childishness, as he whispered in her ear in the tone that could always soothe the savage beast.
"It's not my party, it's Mode's party. Daniel can deal for one goddamn night." She was less than amused at having to forgo some of her, already limited, alone time with Connor.
Connor chuckled and took her hand, he took a step in front and faced her, stopping her. He bit back the urge to laugh at her. She looked, for all the world, like a teen about to throw a tantrum; petulant and bitchy, her specialty. Instead, Connor lifted the hand and kissed it before holding it against his chest and stepping in to close the gap.
"Okay, number one: Daniel can barely deal with a head cold. And number two: You are Mode, you know it, I know it, Daniel knows it and he hates it...and that's why you are going to go in there and blow every single one of them away like you always do."
She really hated it when he smiled at her like that, when he tilted his head and he swayed lightly on the spot. Everything; from the little crinkle around his eyes, to the way one corner always twitched slightly higher than the other, was guaranteed to break her and lift whatever mood she was in, no matter how hard she tried to maintain it.
Wilhelmina knew she could hold off a little longer, she could keep up the attitude all night if she wanted to; but what was the point when he would just keep looking at her like that until she melted. She exhaled loudly. "Fine...two hours and I'm calling it a night." She gave him a pointed look.
"You'll only need one to show them you have more talent in your little finger than Daniel Meade has in his whole body."
She rolled her eyes. "If you're going to try and suck up at least use an original phrase to pacify me." She marched past him and Connor laughed as he watched her go with an exaggerated sway of the hips. She pushed at the door and turned back to him, he had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his head dipped slightly; still smiling up at her with that damn smile. "Are you with me?
Connor took slow measured footsteps towards her and dipped in for a short kiss, pulling back only when he heard her catch her breath. He kept his head close to hers. "Always."
xXx
Inside the large conference room, which had been cleared of all furniture and the glass partitions moved back to create more space, Wilhelmina spied the real source of her consternation across the room; Molly.
She had only just let herself believe Connor when he said he loved her. As happy as it made her to hear the words, the memory of how he had acted when he had learned of Daniel and Molly's relationship had still stung. She was over it, she knew he loved her completely and there was no room left inside his heart for Molly; but she couldn't bear the fact that this seemingly insignificant person had made her feel so threatened. She watched the itty-bitty stick insect cling onto Daniel's bicep and laugh insipidly at something Karl Lagerfeld had said.
Please, as if she even has a clue what the man's talking about, she probably doesn't even realise who he is, she's probably thinking about glitter art and how to get kid snot out of her best polyblend blouse. Wilhelmina snorted, amused by her own wit.
"Having a better time then?" Connor breathed in her ear as he leaned in behind her and snaked an arm in front, handing her a champagne flute.
"Marginally, Anna Wintour just spilled melted camembert down her Chanel...that's what she gets for eating dairy." She grinned and raised her glass at the woman as she made hurried excuses and left.
"Well that's a pity." He growled low in her ear. "I rather like it when you're all pent up...makes for a better time relieving it later."
Willie smirked, unseen by Connor, who was still behind her, and let herself get momentarily lost in the sensation of his hot breath on her neck. "Oh give me time...I'm sure Barbie and Ken over there will do something soon enough to put my heckles right back up." She pointed at Daniel and Molly.
"Remember your motto Wil, never let the little people get you down."
"They're not the little people. He's my business partner and she's my boyfriend's ex fiancée...unfortunately they're in my life in a pretty big goddamn way." She took a deep slug of the champagne.
"And neither of them are a threat to you professionally..." He turned her to look at him. "...Or personally."
And there it was again; that smile, that look, his voice, everything about this man turned her to the one thing she had tried her whole life to stop herself becoming; weak. "Do you want to leave?" He brushed her hair behind her ear.
She shook her head. "No, you were right, no night of revelry at Mode is complete until I've made Daniel look a fool." She joked.
"I hardly think he needs your help with that...now go. You've spent almost the full first hour talking to just me."
"Well maybe that's because you're the only person here I want to talk to."
Connor looked around him. "I'm sure Marc's here somewhere."
"Yes I'm sure...and with his little blonde friend and the chubby one, but when they're together you have more chance of getting a sensible conversation from Claire Meade after a night on the sauce. I swear I once caught them standing next to Donatella Versace with autograph books like kids meeting Mickey at Disneyworld."
Connor laughed. "Go...now, circulate. Go instil fear in the hearts of the naive and awe in the heads of the rest."
"You really are in suck up mode tonight aren't you?" She arched her brow smiling. "Either you're about to tell me you've done something awful or you want sex."
"Always the latter...now scoot." He smacked her on the backside as discretely as possible in the crowded room. "I'll make it up to you later."
She watched him go and mingle with some of the suits from upstairs, she hated these stupid mixers. Once a year, each magazine extended an olive branch to the others and invited several designers to boot; purely to maintain the facade that they wouldn't all stab each other in the back at the first opportunity if it stood to benefit them in any way.
But she would smile dutifully and make the required small talk as she always did; because this was her magazine, her creation, her life; at least it was until Connor had come along.
In the years previous, there was no way she would have even entertained the notion of bailing on one of these events. She would have been schmoozing every name in the room and leaving Daniel to feed on the tail end of whatever conversations she had struck up with all those who mattered. Now, she had turned into one of those women who would rather be home, watching bad TV, and forgetting about the world as she lost herself in her lover.
She hated those women.
As she nodded her head and raised her glass to those who happened to catch her eye as she perused the room, she was once again caught up in the sight of Daniel and Molly. She hated to admit it, but the woman scrubbed up well. Daniel had coerced her into squeezing herself into a Cavalli, not dissimilar to the one she was wearing. Wilhelmina's was a deeper shade maybe, and part of this year's upcoming fall collection instead of signed out of the closet from last year's; but the woman looked good. Willie turned her gaze side long and consoled herself that at least she filled it out better in the places that it mattered.
Daniel and Molly's relationship irked her, they had got together the exact same time as she and Connor but everyone was commenting on how obvious their love was. Was it less obvious for her and Connor? Had she made herself so outwardly cold that people couldn't see in her face what they saw in Daniel's? Or were Daniel and Molly simply more in love than she and Connor?
She shook her head. No, that wasn't it, she loved Connor and he loved her, just because they didn't parade it like a couple of kids at prom didn't mean it was any less prevalent.
xXx
Daniel was guilty of wondering the same thing; not the exact same, but he could see the obvious differences in the two relationships. He had spotted Connor and Wilhelmina the moment they had walked into the party, he knew Molly had too because he felt her hold him a little tighter and laugh a little too hard at what was being said; although she pretended not to have seen them.
Connor and Willie however, had not seen them for several minutes, after they finally managed to tear their eyes from each other. Daniel had watched as they looked only at each other, the tension between them palpable even to him, at the other end of the room. Was that what it had been like for Molly when she was with Connor? Why wasn't it like that for them? He loved this woman, he knew this was it, that everything before was just sex, attraction, even infatuation. But why did Molly never look at him the way Wilhelmina looked at Connor. Why did they never share that look across a crowded room that everyone around could decipher as 'as soon as I get you alone I'm going to rip all your clothes off'?
He had always had the heat, always been one half of the hot couple, and his little repressed, yet still sometimes present, playboy felt the need to prove his prowess and did not take kindly to being upstaged. Ridiculous: Perhaps. Petty: Most definitely, but still it was there. They had the romance, but where was the passion that he could clearly see when his oldest friend and adversary were near each other.
Wilhelmina was not the type of woman he would ever associate with public displays of affection; but he had seen her accept Connor's tactile little touches and he was almost positive he had just seen him smack her ass; a move which would have cost any lesser man his hand as a paperweight on her desk.
He was too busy nursing his bruised pretty boy ego to notice what their companion had been saying and only snapped to attention when Molly dug him in the ribs. "Huh! What? Oh...eh...yes." He said, as he spun his head back around, earning him a look from both Molly and the woman to whom she was speaking, clearly he had not been asked a question.
Molly and the woman exchanged a confused look. "Excuse us." Molly apologised and steered Daniel away, stopping next to the quiet end of the temporary bar.
"Hey...where are you tonight?" She asked him gently.
"I'm here." He smiled tightly and squeezed her hand which was rubbing his other arm in concern.
"You were miles away, I saw you looking at him." She cast her eyes down.
"Who?"
"Don't pretend Daniel." She smiled at him. "Connor...you're not worried about him are you? You're not still threatened by our past?"
"No, no, that's not it." He laughed.
"Then what? Do you want to talk about it?"
Daniel fought to stop his eyes from rolling, he had obviously spent far too long with Wilhelmina. He was sick of talking, every little feeling, emotion, thought that he had, he was expected to share it with her. He was in love with Molly, but he didn't feel the need to discuss every thought that flitted through his mind; he wasn't one of her 5 yr old pupils who had not yet learned to master the inner monologue, some things could stay inside his head.
"No...no really it's nothing."
She smiled sweetly at him. "C'mon...tell me, it might help."
"How was your sex life with Connor?" He blurted, bluntly. She wanted to know the ins and outs of his head, then by God he'd share them.
Her compassionate smile fell, along with her gentle caress of his arm. "Excuse me?"
Daniel shrugged, regretting it already but knowing that he had to push on or it would continue to gnaw at him. "I see him and...and Wilhelmina. I see the way they look at each other, everyone on the room can feel the temperature go up about twenty degrees when they're within ten feet of each other."
"Where exactly is this going?" Her voice was wavering.
"Well...look...is it just them? Do they have this weird combustible thing going on? Or was he like that with you too? Is it just me and you that don't have the heat?"
Molly took a sudden step back, her jaw dropping. "We don't have...are you saying we don't have passion?"
Daniel suddenly felt very stupid and wished more than anything that he had never opened his mouth. "Molly, no, I didn't...I was just being..."
She held out her hand. "No, I get it. And just so you know...no, it was never like that for me and him. So I guess it's just me who lacks passion." She spat at him, trying to appear angry all the while holding back tears of hurt. "But I guess I was always looking for more than just sex...stupid me." She turned and walked away.
"Molly wait..."
xXx
Wonderful. Wilhelmina smirked around the rim of her glass as she watched Molly storm away, teary eyed. Not only had she made a laughing stock of little boy Meade by undermining his abilities to the few affable names she had spoken to, but the man in question was having a thoroughly miserable night and she hadn't even had to approach him.
She ran her tongue over her teeth and smacked her lips together. She was suddenly glad she had came, she was only sorry that she had just agreed to speak to Suzuki St Pierre alongside Tom Ford and now had to stay at this god forsaken gathering until the crew appeared, when all she wanted to do now was take Connor home and round off the perfect evening.
She had acted the part of host beautifully, as always, she had the room eating out of her hand with minimal effort and to top it all, Daniel looked like he'd just been cut from Little League. There was only one thing needed to put the icing on the cake and she was damned if she was waiting, she needed to sustain her good mood and keep this party bearable.
She vaguely registered Marc prancing up beside her, but her eyes were fixed squarely on Connor's back. "Oh my God Willie, can you beli-"
She waved a hand at him, ignoring him as she drained her glass and placed the empty receptacle in Marc's hand, all the while still fixated on Connor. She walked away, leaving Marc and the empty glass behind her and approached Connor, who was just breaking away from the group of people he was talking to.
She offered the men a customary smile as they milled away and she grabbed Connor's elbow and leaned up to his ear. "You know that making it up to me you mentioned...make it up now."
He leaned back slightly and tilted his head towards her. "Home time already?" He grinned.
"No...the end of the hall, copy room, ten minutes."
"Willie wh-" He spun round and met her eyes and saw how they had already darkened. "Make it two."
xXx
She knew how risky and moronic it as but as she walked down the dark corridor and slipped in the room, closing the door behind her, she didn't care. She had learned to silence that little voice of reason long ago, when it came to Connor. Besides, she smirked to herself in the darkness, this had practically become their 'room' at Mode, after they had realised they ran the risk of nosy assistants and pilfering receptionists if they succumbed to their urges in her office or the closet.
It had to have been more than two minutes, she was about to reach for the light when she heard Connor's footsteps on the other side of the door. In a flash, she twisted the handle and stuck her hand out, immediately finding the crispness of his shirt under her fingers and pulled him inside.
She pressed him up against the back of the door, pinning him by his biceps and crushed her mouth to his, startling him. After the briefest moment he responded eagerly, pushing his arms away from the door and circling her waist.
Wilhelmina was in no mood for tenderness and she started pulling vigorously at his tie, letting it hang around his neck as she undid the top buttons of his shirt with ease, the darkness in the room not hindering her in the slightest. He gasped when his lips left hers and his teeth nipped slightly at the curve of her neck, not hard enough to mark but hard enough to fuel her arousal further.
She quickly abandoned the buttons of the shirt and pulled the hem out of his suit pants; in doing so, she brushed against the hardness of his length and he pressed himself against her with force. Righting herself quickly, after allowing herself to get lost in the notion that his want, his need, was all for her, she went back to work on the buttons of Connor's shirt. Once the last one was opened, she pushed his suit jacket from his shoulders and heard it crumple to the floor.
She tried to bring her hands back to his chest, to feel the muscles move under her touch, but he grabbed her by the wrists and started pushing her backwards, all the while he kissed her as if it were the last thing on this earth he'd ever do.
When her back hit the machine which dominated the room, he grabbed her hips again and lifted her on to the edge of it. When he released her hands, Willie reached zealously for him, she pulled at the leather of Connor's belt and slid it through the buckle, popping the button at the top of his pants as soon as it was loosened.
The heavy breathing and the tell tale sound of a zipper was all that could be heard in the darkness, as she undid the last fastening of his pants. She ran a hand over him, through his boxers, only the quickest of touches, but enough to make him buck against her hand, and then pushed the pants and boxers down as far as she could.
She could feel him wriggling his hips and legs, trying to get the garments to fall to the floor; his hands otherwise engaged with pushing the skirt of her dress up to her hips. She flung an arm around his neck and lifted herself up against him, allowing him to push the fabric higher. Just as she lowered herself again, he pulled her underwear to the side and pressed his fingers against her. She bit down hard on her lip to keep from crying out, it wouldn't do to alert everyone in the building to what was going on.
When she felt his fingers go inside her, she thought she might have drawn blood this time from biting down so hard; every touch felt magnified by the fact they were in darkness, finding their way along each other's bodies felt like a new experience. He brought his lips to hers again and she felt the coolness of his tongue sweep across the spot on her lip which was now throbbing thanks to her sinking her own teeth onto it.
That, combined with the ministrations of his fingers, was threatening to take her over the edge without him. She brought her hand down, circling him, and guided him to her. Connor squeezed her thigh roughly and pulled it up high on his side and pushed himself into her. For only a second, neither moved, both suppressing the urge to emit a groan.
She clenched her muscles around him and he started moving, there was no slow build; they neither had the time nor the inclination to take it slow at this point. Wilhelmina held tight to his shoulder and her other hand scraped at the nape of his neck. He tried to keep his lips on hers, tried to keep as much contact as possible, but the force at which his body was moving wouldn't allow it. He buried his head in her neck as he continued to drive into her.
It wouldn't take long, she had known it wouldn't since she had first whispered at him to meet her, she could already feel the tightening behind her stomach; and he was right there with her, his movements were getting faster and harder, so much so that she could hear the crash of the copier ricocheting off the wall. With each thrust she felt her muscles tense a little more, taking her to the point where it almost felt unbearable, before the blessed relief washed over her and her body shook against him as she came.
She kept her head pressed against his shoulder as she continued to ride out her climax, she felt his body go rigid and his torso arched as, after one last push of his hips, he joined her. The only sound either made was the shuddering of their breath.
As much as she would normally enjoy basking in the afterglow, taking their time to calm each other's bodies before inevitably rousing to round two, she knew they would soon be missed at the party; if the hadn't been already.
She pushed him from her gently and jumped down from the machine; he stood before her, spent, leaning his forehead on top of hers and still taking great gulps of air to subside his breathing. Wilhelmina smoothed her dress back down and reached for the trousers which had bundled at his calves. She pulled them up fastened them, before buttoning his shirt again and tucking it inside. The whole time, he kept leaning against her, apparently too depleted to even lift his hands to fasten his tie.
Wilhelmina staved off the laugh she felt bubbling, as she tied it, when she was presented with the mess she could reduce a man to. With the tie now tied, she smoothed her hands over his shirt and he finally lifted his head. She kissed him lightly, walking him backwards, back to the door. Connor's hand held her hip and he tried to deepen the kiss, but she dipped away from him, picking the jacket up off the floor. She thrust it against his chest and rose to peck him on the lips once more, twisting the handle as she did. When she pulled away from him, she opened the door and unceremoniously pushed him back out into the darkened corridor.
She closed the door behind him and bit her lip, smiling, counting to a hundred before she would rejoin him.
xXx
Daniel stood in the middle of the room and grinned when he saw Molly walking towards him. She gave him a tremulous smile as she approached. "I've decided to forgive you."
"I kinda guessed that." He chuckled.
xXx
Wilhelmina walked back into the room and smiled, nobody seemed fazed by her sudden reappearance. She saw Connor standing by the bar and walked to him, a satisfied smile on her face. He turned around and straightened up when he saw her approaching.
"Darling...I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Well it wasn't exactly what I'd call a marathon go, but trust me you have nothing to apologise for."
xXx
"Well you seem very sure of yourself." She did not look as amused as Daniel felt she should.
"Well I kinda thought that...you know...who said anything about no passion huh?"
"Daniel, what the hell are you talking about?"
xXx
"Willie, what the hell are you talking about?"
"What the hell do you think I'm talking about? The copy room." She added under her breath,
"Yes ok I get it, I said I was sorry, there's no need for sarcasm. I met Molly on the way and she was upset..."
"Wait...you what?"
xXx
"You know...you...trying to put the spark in, the passion, all that stupid stuff I was going on about...I gotta say I never thought..."
"Daniel, I understand...and I will try. I met Connor and he told me Wilhelmina's having all these silly insecurities too and-"
"You met Connor? When?"
"About ten minutes ago...where did you think I was? Are you even listening to me?"
"But we...you...you grabbed...you pulled...we..." Daniel spluttered.
xXx
"Don't get the wrong idea with the Molly thing Wil, she was just upset. I only spoke to her for a couple of minutes."
"And THEN you came to the copy room right?"
"I was just coming I swear, I just brought her back in here to make sure she was okay...wait, why are you..."
"Oh I...uh, I got caught up too. Cornered by Jean Paul, you know what he's like, I was just worried that I'd left you waiting there alone."
"Well, no harm done then."
xXx
Wilhelmina's eyes were darting around the room, searching the face of every man she could see.
"Wil?" Connor spoke gently, getting her attention. "Fashion Buzz are setting up, they're ready for you. Let's get this done so we can go home shall we?"
"Uh-huh sure." She mumbled distracted, still covertly trying to scan the crowd.
"Come on then. Sharpen those claws and get ready to once again let the world know what a talentless nit Daniel is."
Daniel; she spun around to find him, before she even located him she knew it was true, she knew the second Connor said the name aloud. Any fleeting hope that she was wrong was quickly killed when she found him, and saw the same panic stricken look in his eyes as he scanned the face of every woman.
As soon as his eyes met hers, he stopped, his jaw dropped and his eyes stood out on stalks. Neither of them could break the stare. This did not happen, it could not have happened. She felt Connor tug on her arm.
"Willie, did'ya hear me? Fashion Buzz...Daniel...talentless nit."
She nodded, "Oh...I don't think I'd say talentless." She mumbled, under her breath as she tore her eyes away and followed Connor.
She stopped at the edge of the room and looked back, he was still staring after her, the most indecipherable look on his face. When their eyes met again, it was as if the message passed between them.
They each had the perfect opportunity to hurt the other now; but in doing so they would hurt themselves irrevocably. They nodded once, curtly, in unison; in agreement.
It was incredible.
But it never happened.
x