"Okay, I cannot be stuck in here with you!" Bonnie pushed past him, banging her fists against the closed elevator doors.
"Ditto." Kol replied, running his hand through his gorgeously rumpled hair.
"Are you gonna do something?" she barked back at him, shooting him a glance over her shoulder.
"Why don't you do something, Joan of Arc?" he scoffed, pulling his phone out from his pocket. Swiping his finger across the screen, he tapped a number and lifted the phone to his ear. He looked so calm. Why was he so damn calm?
"I can't get a signal." He offered after a bit and astonished by his composed demeanour, Bonnie ripped the phone out of his hand and tried to call for assistance.
"I'll do it!" she snapped, furiously tapping 9-1-1 on the screen. While she was busy attacking his phone and trying to find a non-existent signal, Kol picked up the elevator's emergency phone and waited for someone to pick up. She half llistened as he spoke to someone on the other side of the line.
"They say it'll be about twenty minutes." He declared, putting the phone back on its cradle.
"Twenty minutes stuck in here with you?" she huffed, shoving his phone back in his hand and rifling through her PRADA knockoff tote for a bottle of water. She paused when she finally retrieved the bottle and wondered if she would be able to hold it in should she need to use the bathroom. Option one would be to soak her dress and embarrass herself in front of him and option two would be to pee on him, perhaps he was enough of a freak to like that sort of thing.
"We could think of somethin fun to do in twenty minutes. " Kol shrugged, giving her lopsided grin, "Any ideas?"
Before she could stop her gaze, it had already slid down to his crotch and she could feel his eyes on her. She knew that he loved the effect he obviously still had on her. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it again when she noticed his gaze had dropped to her mouth.
She swallowed, her heart slamming against her chest.
He moved fast, closing the distance between them in two swift steps and grabbed her upper arms, pinning her against the wall. Without thinking, she parted her lips for him, heat shooting through her as his tongue brushed across hers. Catching his lower lip between her teeth, she slowly unzipped his pants while he fisted his hands in her hair.
"Fuck" Kol groaned, gripping her ass and kneading it.
"What are we doing?" she breathed, her nails digging his shoulders as she clung to him. He smelled so good.
"I don't know but I don't wanna stop." His response was muffled by her neck where he licked, suckled and nipped. Kol wrapped her legs around his lean waist, grasping her thighs and digging his nails into the plump flesh until he bruised her like a peach. He dipped his fingertips between her thighs, fingering the lace there until his fingers were deep inside her. His body was so hard pressed against hers, hard and as needy as the growl he breathed into their kiss. Grabbing her wrists, he pinned them against the wall with one hand while the other hooked one of her legs over the crook of his arm. Oh Christ, it would be so easy, she thought, swallowing his groans. It would be so easy for him to unzip his pants and thrust into her right here and now and holy fuck, she craved him but then what would happen after they both climaxed? They'd be back to square one of this complicated shit.
"Stop." She moaned breathlessly.
"Why?"
"I just… I can't do this…" she pushed him off and steadied herself. Kol watched her closely, his hands on his hips.
"I think I'm just a place you visit, a sensation you miss from time to time." The words felt thick as she said them.
"Bullshit," he scowled, cutting her off.
"It's true." She insisted, her eyes meeting his.
"What do you want, Bonnie?" his eyes cut into hers.
"That's the million dollar question, isn't it? "She spat back, not breaking the stare. Crossing her arms over her chest, she tilted her head up so that she could look at him through her fringe of eyelashes.
"What do you want?" she volleyed the question back to him.
"I miss you." He simply said, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed.
"You miss fucking me."
"I just miss you." The muscles in his jaw tightened, "Perhaps if we hadn't complicated things…"
"And how did we complicate things?"
"Maybe I shouldn't have invited you to the Hamptons…maybe it was too early."
"Which part are you regretting, inviting me out to your family's holiday home or fucking me in your family's holiday home?"
"Its not a holiday home, its more like a beach pad." His eyes twinkled momentarily as mischief eased its way into his half smile.
"Fuck you!"
"Bon, listen-"
"No, this is what you do. This is your little game that you play with me, kinda like how I'm always available when you need me, you can always reach me but I can never reach you. I've never even met any of your friends and you've met my friends. My stupid friends know you, my stupid friends know how stupid me feels about you and yet whenever I try to get inside that stupid heart of yours you pull this evading shit. "
"You've been trying to get inside my heart?"
"Do you even know anything about me?"
"I know you like silk scarves, dirty martinis and that thing I do with my tongue."
"You're something else." She shook her head, straightening her dress. She just had to get out of here.
"You said you've been trying to get in my heart." He croaked before clearing his throat.
"Yeah, I was…its totally past tense now."
"Bonnie, I…"
"I'm seeing someone."
"You're fucking some new?"
"I said seeing someone" she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms against her chest. With his mouth agape, he dropped his gaze down to the floor before his eyes darted back up to her face. Suddenly the elevator lurched twice then started up again and travelled up several floors. It was now or never she thought watching him, he had to say something if he wanted the same thing she did, he had to say something if he wanted to change the definition of their relationship from occasional booty-call fuck body to something more meaningful. He just had to say something….anything. He just stood thee staring at her dumbly.
He wasn't going to say anything to her was he? Bonnie nodded, swallowing back the tears that had begun to prick her eyes. She swallowed around the knot in her throat and when the doors flew open; she straightened her shoulders and stood tall before marching out of the elevator. She pushed her way past the waiting crowd and the service elevator men that were standing close to the lift and blinked away the tears. Maybe he didn't want to put himself out there but just how out there was she willing to put herself in return.
..
"I'm sure you can find a bunch of uninteresting people to talk about sex on camera." Hayley tossed her Chanel flap bag on the desk nearly toppling over a vase full of Casablanca lilies. She kicked off her PRADA mules and dug her painted toes into the new shaggy rug under her massive desk. She'd called Bonnie into her office for a quick briefing about what she expected from her for the week ahead.
"Is this the show's new direction?" Bonnie asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"It's a vlog, Bonnie. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Slowly, Hayley trailed her eyes down Bonnie's form and the sexpert could tell that her boss was evaluating her choice of outfit from the graphic print dress skimming her thighs to the wedge sandals on her feet then back to the tribal necklace around her neck before drifting back to her flushed face.
With a giant cup of Starbucks coffee, Leah zipped past Bonnie with a smile plastered on her pasty face.
"I got you a cup of freshly brewed organic coffee." Leah said, putting the coffee down on the desk in front of Hayley.
"Can I get you anything else, a gluten-free bagel, an energy salad?" Leah asked sweetly with a small curtsy.
"No!" Hayley snapped, shooting Leah a fierce glare that made her shoot out of the office as fast as she had rocketed in.
"Ehm, "Bonnie started again, clearing her throat before asking, "Is this the direction of the vlog?"
"Yes. We had a small brainstorming session and we're just trying out a few things."
"Who's we? Was there a weekly staff meeting I don't know about?"
"Never mind that just go do your job."
"Thank you, Hayley." She paused before asking, "Am I getting a camera man to help with the project?"
"Did someone die and make you Diane Sawyer?"
"No Hayley." She stammered, "Thank you." As she turned on her heel to exit the cold office and head back to her desk, Hayley's shrill voice called stopping her in her tracks.
"I need you to pick up me dress at the dry cleaners on Broadway."
"Your dress?"
"It's for that launch for Esther magazine Tuesday night?"
"The launch?"
"You know the party to officially launch Esther magazine formerly known as Moda magazine?" Hayley said, pulling out a ticket from her purse and handing it to Bonnie.
"Of course."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" she glared at Bonnie, "run along." She dismissed her with a wave of her hand, whipped her iPhone from her purse and started typing something furiously on the touchscreen.
..
The trip to the dry cleaner lasted at least an hour what with her scurrying her way around the city's congested traffic. By the time she returned to her office building, she was pretty sure she that she had soaked right through her dress. She ran through the lobby, stumbled forward; nearly toppling a figure clad in black but found her footing. The man in black wrapped his arms around her prompting her to push at his chest before she even realized who it was.
"We gotta stop meeting like this." Enzo purred, sweeping his gaze over her.
"Do you want to grab a drink or something after work?"
"At your place again?" she raised a sceptical eyebrow and held Hayley's dress closer to her chest.
"No" he chuckled, shaking his head.
"Nice dress, "he gestured to the wispy gray dress in the clear dry cleaning bag, "Is it for the Esther magazine party?"
That damn party gain! Was everyone in the office building in the loop except for her?
"It's my boss's dress." She hissed, glaring at the thing draped across her arm.
"Oh, are you going to the party?" he asked.
"You know what, my invitation must have gotten lost in the mail."
"You can be my plus one."
"I'm sure you have a bevy of models you can take with you."
"And yet here I am asking you."
"I don't know" she admitted, biting the corner of her bottom lip.
..
"Pizza?" Bonnie asked Matt as she held up her mobile phone. After the day she had at the office she was looking forward to winding down with her best friend and some good wine.
"No, I have officially renounced carbs," the blonde held up one hand, palm up, "besides, I've brought sushi." He indicated to the white plastic bag on his other hand before setting it on top of the tiny kitchen counter. Surveying the dishevelled room briefly before settling his gaze on Bonnie again, he smiled at her ratty t-shirt and pulled out a bottle of wine from the shopping bag.
"I heard about your little ordeal in the elevator." He smiled, taking out a platter of sushi from the plastic bag then removing the clear lid covering the container to reveal rows of California rolls, maki rolls, sashimi and a sprinkling of nigiri. She raised her eyebrow at him, wondering where he had gotten his information from when she realized that the only link between her bestfriend and office gossip was a little office harlot who penned the entertainment column.
"Katherine." Bonnie nodded, pointing at him with a pair of wrapped chopsticks she had retrieved from the bag. She retrieved two wine glasses from the cabinet and set them down on the counter in front of Matt.
"Did you have sex with him?" he asked while she poured them each a glass.
"We were stuck in an elevator!"
"Girl, that's not what I asked you." His lips quirked into a smile and he picked up his chopsticks, toying with the sliced ginger.
She took an urgent swig from her glass and relaxed as soon as tasted the chardonnay "No, I did not have sex with him." She sighed, breaking apart her wooden chopsticks then reaching across the table to snag a tuna sashimi with them.
"Good, I'm proud of you."
Bonnie opened her mouth to offer Matt a snide response but the sight of Caroline standing at the door interrupted her. Dropping her key in a ceramic bowl on a table by the entrance, she leaned against the door and heaved a sigh.
"You're home early. You hungry?" Bonnie waved, gesturing to her plate.
Smiling, Caroline slipped her bag off her shoulder and advanced toward them "Nah, I'm running late." She said and gave Matt's right shoulder a squeeze.
"You heading out?" Bonnies green eyes grew wide over the rim of her wine glass.
"Yeah, I'm meeting Tyler in an hour." She smiled weakly, glancing at the watch on her wrist before settling her eyes on the sushi decorating the table.
Tapping a finger on the side of his glass, Matt smiled mischievously and asked "Pre-fuck drinks at the bar again?"
"Well he said he was going to give me a key in a few weeks he's just sorting out a few things." Caroline smiled, raking both hands through her hair.
"I think you have a better chance of winning the lottery than getting a house key from Tyler." Matt rolled his eyes, exchanging a glance with Bonnie.
"And on that note!" Caroline playfully punched the side of Matt's arm and left the two to disappear into her bedroom.
"Did you know that Esther magazine is having a launch party on Tuesday night?" Bonnie darted a quick look at Matt as soon as Caroline left the kitchen.
Noticing that her glass was empty, he lifted the bottle and indicated to her glass with a smile, "Party and an open bar, two of my favourite things."
Nodding in the affirmative, she watched as he refilled her glass and sighed when she lifted it to her lips, "I found out from Hayley because Kol didn't even have the decency to invite me to that after everything we've shared."
"Was his mouth occupied the entire time during your elevator ride of passion?"
"There was no passion! I told you nothing happened."
"Then maybe he thought that you had a condom seminar that evening, what with you being a busy vlogging sexpert and all." Matt gestured to a lone piece of California roll and shaking her head, Bonnie prompted him to polish off the last piece.
"That's not funny." She furrowed her eyebrows, taking another sip of wine.
"I thought you'd moved on, that you weren't going to be hung up on men who treated you poorly anymore."
"I have." She muttered, staring into her glass and drawing her knees to her chest.
"Then can we please talk bout the amazing promotional pictures you took for the column and the photographer who cooked for you? When are the pictures scheduled to run on the side of buses anyway?"
"I don't know. I'm waiting for Hayley to gibe me the 411" She twirled her chopsticks around in the air as if she considered the outcome of the pictures and what it meant for her column.
"Can we toast?" Matt asked, startling her.
"To what?" she narrowed her eyes and looked at her friend suspiciously.
"I have a feeling that a star will be born." Matt grinned, tapping his glass against hers.
..