Reconsidering, I started to roll back in my desk chair, my heart rate rising . . .

Eva swallowed me.

“Fuck,” I hissed, my fingers digging into the armrests as her fingers dug into my hips.

The rush of wet heat over the sensitive crown of my cock was shockingly intense. Hard suction tightened around me and a satin-soft tongue massaged the perfect spot. Through the pounding of my heart, I heard the team questioning whether my webcam and headset were working properly . . .

Straightening my spine, I slid forward and activated my feeds. “Excuse the delay,” I said briskly as Eva took more of me. “Now that you’ve had the chance to review the deck, let’s discuss the steps you’ll be taking to implement the recommended adjustments.”

Eva hummed her approval and the vibration reverberated through me. I was hard enough to drive nails and her slender fingers were teasing me, stroking with just enough pressure to make me want more.

Tim Henderson, the project manager and team leader, spoke first. I could barely focus, seeing him more from memory than the monitor in front of me. A tall, painfully thin man with pale skin and a wild mane of dark curls, he liked to talk, which was a blessing considering how dry my mouth had become.

“I’d like more time to review this,” he began, “but off the cuff, I’m thinking this is a seriously accelerated schedule. Some of this is great and I’m excited about seeing what we can do with it, but phasing into consumer beta testing is at least a year away, not six months.”

“That’s what you told me six months ago,” I reminded him, my fist clenching as Eva took my cock to the back of her throat. Sweat bloomed on the back of my neck when she pulled off, her mouth a hot velvet suction.

“We lost our top designer to LanCorp—”

“And I offered a replacement, which you declined.”

Henderson’s jaw tightened. He was a coding genius with a brilliant creative mind, but he didn’t play well with others and was resistant to outside intervention. That would be his prerogative . . . if he weren’t eating my time and money.

“A creative team is a delicate balance,” he argued. “You can’t just plug a random person into the void. We’ve got the right man on the job now—”

“Thank you,” Jeff Simmons interjected, his angular face breaking into a grin at the praise.

“—and we’re making progress,” Tim went on. “We—”

“—keep blowing through your self-imposed deadlines.” My tone was gruffer than I intended due to my wife’s wickedly agile tongue. Soft, playful licks from root to tip were driving me half out of my mind. My thighs ached with strain, the muscles hardened by the force it took to keep me in my chair. She was following the line of every sensitive vein, stroking over the throbbing ridges with the flat of her tongue.

“While creating an exceptional and groundbreaking user experience,” he shot back. “We’re getting the job done and we’re doing it right.”

I wanted to bend Eva over my desk and fuck her. Hard.

To do that, I needed to get through the damn meeting.

“Excellent. Now, you just need to do it faster. I’m sending out a team to help you achieve the objectives on time. They’ll—”

“Now, wait a minute, Cross,” Henderson snapped, leaning closer to the webcam. “You send some corporate bean counters over to breathe down our necks and you’re only going to slow us down! You need to leave the development to us. If we need your help, we’ll ask for it.”

“If you thought I’d give you my money and be a silent partner, you didn’t do your homework.”

“Uh-oh,” Eva murmured, her eyes bright with laughter beneath the glass.

I reached beneath the desk and cupped her nape, squeezing. “The app space is highly competitive. That’s why you approached me. You presented me with a unique and intriguing gaming concept, and a one-year development-to-rollout timeline, which was judged by my team to be reasonable and achievable.”

I paused on a breath, tormented by the feel of warm lips gliding up and down my raging dick. Eva was working with purpose now, driving me on with hard pumps of her fist. There was no more buildup, no teasing. She wanted me to come. Now.

“You’re looking at this from the wrong perspective, Mr. Cross,” Ken Harada said, running his hand over a blue goatee. “Technical timelines don’t make allowances for an organic creative process. You don’t understand how—”

“Don’t make me the villain here.” The urge to thrust, to fuck, was clawing. Aggression built in me like a tidal wave, forcing me to fight for any semblance of civility. “You guaranteed on-time delivery of all elements on a schedule you created and you’re not holding up your end. I’m now forced to help you keep the promises you made.”

The artist slumped back in his seat, muttering under his breath.

Tightening my grip on Eva’s neck, I tried to slow her down. Then I gave up and started moving her, urging her roughly to suck faster. Harder. To drain me. “This is how this is going to play out. You’ll work with the team I’m sending. If you miss another deadline, I’m pulling Tim off oversight.”

“Bullshit!” he shouted. “This is my fucking app! You can’t take it from me.”

I needed finesse but had none, my brain hazed with the animal need to mate. “You should’ve read the contract more carefully. Do that tonight and we’ll revisit tomorrow after the team arrives.”

After I come . . .

Tingles raced along my spine. My balls drew up. I was a minute away, and Eva knew it. Her cheeks were hollowing with the force of her suction, her tongue fluttering over the sensitive underside of my cockhead. My heart was pounding, my palms damp with perspiration.

Staring into a half-dozen angry faces with a riot of protests exploding from my earpiece, I felt the orgasm hit me like a freight train. I fumbled for the mute button and let the groan tear from my throat as I spurted powerfully into Eva’s greedily working mouth. She moaned and milked my dick with both hands, pulling and squeezing as I kept coming in a flood I couldn’t stop.

I felt the heat race up into my face. Staring stonily into my monitor, I fought the urge to close my eyes and throw my head back, to free myself to absorb the singular pleasure of coming for my wife. Coming because of her.

As the pressure eased, I released her hair and touched her cheek with my fingertips.

I unmuted my microphone.

“My admin will call you in a few minutes,” I cut in, my voice hoarse, “to arrange tomorrow’s meeting. I hope we can come to an amicable agreement. Until then.”

I shut down my browser and yanked off my headset. “Come here, angel.”

My chair was shoved back and I’d hauled her out before she had the chance to come out on her own.

“You’re a machine!” she gasped, her voice as rough as mine, her lips red and swollen. “I can’t believe you didn’t even twitch! How can you— Oh!”

The tiny scrap of lace she wore as underwear dropped to the floor in pieces.

“I liked those panties,” she said breathlessly.

Lifting her, I set her bare ass on the cool glass, aligning her perfectly to take my cock. “You’ll like this more.”

“ANGEL.”

Like a sleepy kitten, Eva blinked at me as I stepped out of my office washroom. “Hmm?”

I grinned at finding her still slumped in my desk chair. “I assume you’re okay.”

“Never better.” She reached up and ran a hand over her hair. “Missing the brain you just fucked out of me, but otherwise, I’m feeling excellent, thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome.” I headed toward her with a warm damp washcloth.

“Are you trying to set a new record for most orgasms in a single day?”

“An intriguing proposition. I’m willing to give it a shot.”

She held out her hand as if to ward me off. “No more, maniac. You screw me again and I’ll be a drooling, babbling idiot.”

“Let me know if you change your mind.” I kneeled in front of her and urged her legs open. Waxed smooth and pretty pink, her cunt was lovely. Perfect.

She watched me as I cleaned her, her fingers reaching out to comb through my hair. “Don’t work too hard this weekend, okay?”

“As if there’s something else worth doing without you around,” I murmured.

“Sleep in. Read a book. Plan a party.”

My mouth quirked. “I haven’t forgotten. I’m asking the guys tonight.”

“Oh?” The laziness left her eyes. I pulled back before her legs closed. “What guys?”

“The ones you want to meet.”

“You’re calling them?

I stood. “We’re getting together.”

“To do what?”

“Drink. Hang out.” Returning to the bathroom, I tossed the washcloth in the hamper and washed my hands.

Eva followed me. “At a club?”

“Maybe. Probably not.”

She lounged against the doorjamb and crossed her arms. “Are any of them married?”

“Yes.” I slung the hand towel back on the rack. “Me.”

“That’s it? Is Arnoldo going to be there?”

“Maybe. Likely.”

“What’s up with the short answers?”

“What’s up with the interrogation?” I asked the question, but I knew. My wife was a jealous, possessive woman. Lucky for both of us, I liked it. A lot.

She shrugged, but it was a defensive gesture. “I just want to know what you’re doing, that’s all.”

“I’ll stay home if you will.”

“I’m not asking you to do that.”

There was a smudge of dark makeup beneath her eyes. I loved mussing her up and giving her that just-fucked look. No woman wore it better. “Get to the point, then.”

She made a frustrated noise. “Why won’t you tell me what you guys have planned?”

“I don’t know, Eva. Usually we meet at one of our places and drink. Play cards. Sometimes we go out.”

“Trolling. A group of hot guys who’ve got a buzz and want a good time.”

“That’s not a crime. And who said they’re attractive?”

She shot me a look. “They’re trolling with you. That means they’re either hot enough not to completely pale in your shadow or too confident to worry about it.”

I held up my left hand. The bloodred rubies in my wedding band caught the light. I never took the ring off and never would. “Remember this?”

“I’m not worried about you,” she muttered, her arms dropping to her sides. “If I’m not fucking you enough, you need help.”

“Says the wife who couldn’t wait fifteen minutes.”

She stuck her tongue out at me.

“That’s what got you fucked right there.”

“Arnoldo doesn’t trust me, Gideon. He doesn’t really want you with me.”

“It’s not his decision to make. And some of your friends aren’t going to like me, either. I know Cary’s on the fence.”

“What if Arnoldo tells the others how he feels about me?”

“Angel.” I went to her and caught her by the hips. “Talking about feelings is predominantly female territory.”

“Don’t be sexist.”

“You know I’m right. Besides, Arnoldo knows how it is. He’s been in love before.”

She looked up at me with those uniquely beautiful eyes. “Are you in love, Mr. Cross?”

“Irrevocably.”

MANUEL Alcoa slapped me on the back as he rounded me. “You just cost me a thousand dollars, Cross.”

I leaned against the kitchen island and shoved my hand into the pocket of my jeans, wrapping it around my smartphone. Eva was midflight and I was alert for any word from her or Raúl. I’d never feared flying, never worried over someone’s safety while traveling. Until now.

“How so?” I asked, before taking a swig of my beer.

“You are the last man I figured would tie the knot and you turn out to be the first.” Manuel shook his head. “Kills me.”

I lowered the bottle. “You bet against me?”

“Yeah. Although I suspect someone had the inside scoop.” The portfolio manager narrowed his eyes across the island at Arnoldo Ricci, who lifted one shoulder in a shrug.

“If it’s any consolation,” I said, “I’d have bet against me, too.”

Manuel grinned. “Latinas rule, my friend. Sexy, curvy. More than a handful in bed and out. Hot tempered. Passionate.” He hummed. “Good choice.”

“Manuel!” Arash yelled from the living room. “Bring those limes over here.”

I watched Manuel leave the kitchen with the bowl of lime slices. Arash’s condo was modern and spacious with a panoramic view of the East River. There was a notable lack of walls except for those hiding the bathrooms.