Free The Darkest of Shadows by Lisse Smith

would have to head to the office.
    Carl kept up his monologue the entire way to the offices and then up in the elevator, too. I thanked God that he got off on the ninth floor, which allowed Patrick and me to travel the rest of the way in silence.
    “He’s got a lot to say, that man,” I muttered, as the elevator door chimed open on our floor.
    “How did we end up here?” Patrick asked in amazement.
    “Buggered if I know,” I admitted. I thought I was headed home, and yet here I find myself back at work.
    “About the only positive I can see is that there’s alcohol in my office. Let’s go.” He wandered off into the darkness, not bothering to turn any lights on. Pity I didn’t drink alcohol.
    As I followed his retreating figure, I wondered what my chances of getting a taxi this late at night on December 23 would be like.
     
REPLY:
  
Merry Christmas! How was the party
TEXT:
  
F U! R u drunk?
REPLY:
  
might be
    “Who are you texting?” Patrick asked. He lay sprawled on one of the lounges in his office, looking totally relaxed and comfortable.
    “No one,” I responded absently.
    “You text ‘no one’ a lot,” he commented.
    “Probably.” I crossed to the window. I never got sick of looking at that view. At night, the lights could have been anywhere in the world; it gave the room a wondrous luminosity that was magical and surreal.
    I felt Patrick before I saw him. He stood silently behind me for a long moment, then his hands reached up and gently pulled my hair back to expose the skin on my neck. His lips touched so softly against my neck that I almost didn’t feel them; then slowly he kissed his way down my back, his fingers leaving a trail of sensation across my skin.
    I leaned back into his touch. I’m not sure why I didn’t stop him, why that moment was different from every other moment I’ve experienced; but then, in that room, with the lights of the city gently illuminating the space, it felt right.
    He turned me gently in his arms. He was moving so slowly, so gently, and I was sure it was because he expected, at any moment for me to pull away, to back out of his embrace and stop what was happening between us. It’s what I should have done. But I didn’t. Instead I stepped into his arms, and gently, tenderly, they closed around my body, and he bought his lips down to touch against mine. The kiss was sweet at first, a nice kiss, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t do nice, I didn’t want nice.
    I wanted someone to possess me, to take away my thoughts and make me forget everything. Just for a little while, I wanted someone else to be in charge. I pulled his jacket off his shoulders, and suddenly everything changed. We couldn’t get our clothes off fast enough, I couldn’t touch enough of him and he couldn’t hold me any tighter.
    Within moments we were both naked, and with astonishment evident in his gaze, Patrick lay me down on the sofa in his office; and for the first time in a long, long time, I felt the oneness of sex.
    “Lilly.” Patrick whispered my name as I lay in his arms a while later, his fingers running a soothing caress down my side. “Oh god, Lilly.”
    I laughed at his stunned expression. I was surprised that I felt so clearheaded after that experience, but I didn’t regret it, which was all that was important at the moment.
    Patrick rose up on one elbow to gaze down at my face. “I know I’m not supposed to say stuff like this to you, but you are so incredibly beautiful that you take my breath away.”
    I smiled in genuine warmth at him. “You can say that,” I allowed. “Just not where anyone else can hear it.”
    He shook his head, still a little amazed. “I can’t believe that I’m lying here with you,” he admitted. “That this actually happened.”
    “Is it such a shock to you?” I asked.
    “Shock? It’s a freaking miracle.” He laughed. “I had visions of me wanting you forever and never getting any closer to you than my dreams. And