Red Eye Pt. 01

"You're fine." He gave me a light, reassuring smile, but his cheeks were a little flushed too.

A flight attendant walked past us, did a double take at Jude, and snapped at him. "Sir. Please close your tray." I got the impression this was not the first time she had asked him. Jude raised his eyebrows. "Fine, fine, sorry ma'am," and began to pack up his laptop. He ordered us some coffee.

"Did you sleep at all?" I asked.

His cheeks flushed a little again, and I wondered if he had also dozed off to sleep while I was in his arms.

"Some," he said. "I don't really sleep like normal people though."

"What do you mean?"

He looked a little embarrassed. "Well, truthfully, I sleep maybe four hours a night. Sometimes I skip sleep completely. My system's all out of whack."

I laughed, lightly. "Too many problems to solve, right?"

He smiled, relieved that I got it. "Right."

"Do you ever dream that you're coding?" I asked, immediately realizing that my question was also a confession.

He laughed. "All the time. It feels like I'm putting tetris pieces together...nonsense syntax, connecting everything...and I wake up and it's gone. I've done nothing, except continue working, even in my sleep." He checked his watch, a Rolex, I noted slyly. What a bougie dude.

"Ok," he said brusquely, all packed up, "So we land in about twenty minutes. We need to get you something new to wear, grab a quick meal, and be onsite by 1pm. We'll have a meeting with their leadership to demo what we've built. Then the rest of the day, we'll work with their networking team, war-room style, to deploy the site."

I nodded. "Did you review the code I pushed last night?"

He smiled. "Yeah, very nice work. I pushed a build through so we should be ready to go for this afternoon."

Talking business made us remember our manners. We sat up, drank our coffee, and made easy conversation until we landed. We didn't check any luggage, so Jude sped us out of the airport. I was so hungry, and gestured towards one of the breakfast cafes right outside baggage claim. "Snack monster needs fed," I moaned.

"Nope," he laughed, "trust me, it's worth the wait. The food in this town is amazing. Here." He dug around in his laptop bag then tossed me a cliff bar, winking.

What an asshole. I was fucking hungry. I also hate it when dudes wink at me.

New Orleans, I noted, was a relic from another time. We drove through the downtown district, filled with high rises and classically old hotels, studded with the occasional palm tree. When we were stopped in front of a trolley, I drank in the loud hip hop beating over a small skate park. I opened my window and could taste the humid air as it flowed through the car.

Another minute or so and we entered the French Quarter. The buildings changed, dramatically. They were older, smaller, made with brick and wrought iron balconies that spilled over with hanging tropical plants. The smell was like nothing I'd ever experienced: It was somewhat salty and sewery, and yet fragrant, with fryer oil, spice, and cigarettes wafting through the air. Musicians, living statue performers, street artists and tarot card readers stood on the streets hustling for cash. Confederate jasmine burst out of window boxes, suspended from ancient buildings. "For rent - haunted," one low-hanging sign read, giving me goosebumps.

"Getting out?" Jude asked. We were here, and I hadn't moved because I was just sitting there, taking it all in, like a moron, and wondering if the voodoo shop we had passed was serious or just a gimmick.

"Yep sorry! Coming."

The boutique was beautiful, in an ancient brick building with the timeless wrought-iron detailing I was quickly falling in love with. Jude paused out front. "Do you want me to loop back around?" He asked sincerely. "I could walk around the block a few times."

I panicked all of a sudden. Business casual was a mystery of adulthood that I hadn't quite figured out yet. I dropped my eyes and shrugged.

"Or..." Jude peered, inquisitively, "I could help?" His eyes were slightly panicked. I felt like now I had caught a rare glimpse of the awkward nerd who lives hidden inside.

I nodded emphatically. "Um. If you don't mind? I've never worked anywhere...corporatey."

He smiled weakly and nodded. I saw a couple beads of sweat form on his brow, but that could have been the weather. It was uncomfortably warm and sticky, like a jacuzzi on a summer day.

We wandered the aisles, at least enjoying the air conditioning. I felt awkward and had no idea where to begin. Jude walked towards a rack of pencil skirts, and reached for one, his hand lazily idling at the hem.

"Uhhh...these usually work great, I think," he said, pulling one off the rack and handing it to me. "As far as the shirt, you got me, I have no idea what you like. But something...corporatey, maybe?" His lips lifted in a sarcastic smile.

Jude wandered the store while I settled on a dark blue, silky blouse, and some low black heels. They looked great in the dressing room - the skirt was a little tight, and there was a small slit in the back that was a little sexy for work. But not a lot of time to be discerning. I came back out in my regular clothes and Jude found me as I was about to check out.

"No," he said. "Let me, it's a business expense."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. I'm sure. It's my company." His low, half smile, now sexy and confident, gave away his intentions as he came up very close behind me as he ran his card. I felt his hips brush up against mine, and bit my lip and leaned my ass back into him slightly.

Nope. Stop. Stop it Rae. This man is your boss.

Cafe du Monde, Jude said, was just a short walk away, and by this time I was so hungry I felt faint, which made my duffel bag and even the crinkly boutique shopping bag seem entirely too heavy. The sunlight bathed us as we walked up. It was bright and airy - with a tiled floor, bright orange walls, tall windows. A pair of musicians serenaded the courtyard of the restaurant from the street. One played the trumpet, the other sang, and the jazz they played drenched the city block in as much light as the sun.

Jude smiled at me and opened the door for us. "Do you like beignets?"

I brightened up and was glad we skipped the airport food. "Love them."

"Want me to order for you? You can go change and I'll grab a table outside."

"Sure." I went to find the restroom.

My hair was insane. Like it remembered my afro-caribbean roots insane. The curls had gotten frizzy and unwieldy, and I had to do some serious damage control. Luckily it wasn't anything that a little wet scrunching and curl cream couldn't fix, and I reigned them back into more of a curled beach wave. I pulled the pencil skirt, blouse, and heels out of the boutique bag and changed into them. Lovely. Professional.

I freshened up a bit and added a little concealer under my eyes. There. I didn't look so tired anymore. My sandy hair and large brown eyes made my pale skin glow a bit more, so I swept on a little bit of highlight onto my cheeks to really brighten up. The shirt looked good on me. It accentuated my breasts quite a bit, so I buttoned it up a little more than I normally would. This is a business meeting, after all, I thought, trying hard not to think of Jude. The pencil skirt was tight, and I was thankful I was wearing a thong.

Phew. Exhale. I took a moment to calm my nerves. I was randomly in New Orleans with my boss having breakfast. What a life this was.

I walked out and scanned the plaza to find where Jude had snagged us a table. The strong fans overhead swept a nice breeze into the courtyard, which was still very warm, but now bearable. Jude had unbuttoned his shirt a little and leaned back to soak up the sun. His eyes were shut, and the tousle of his thick black hair made we want to run my fingers through it. His arms were reaching over his head, stretching, relaxed. This must be one of his favorite places, I thought.

When he opened his eyes and saw me, he froze and stared.

I felt naked.

His dark eyes swept me from my eyes to my breasts - lingering there - down to my hips - lingering hungrily there as well while I walked slowly toward him. My heels lightly clacked on the stone ground.

Maybe this energy I felt wasn't in my head after all.

He jumped up and pulled out my chair. "Have a seat."

He said nothing about the clothes. He leaned into me when we spoke, and his knees were very close to mine. We drank coffee, spoke easily, and ate a couple of beignets together in the New Orleans morning sun. I caught him staring more than once. Our eyes met, and his lips curled into a slight, easy smile. We understood each other. I realized, with a delicious jolt up my thighs, that he wanted me.

My hands were covered in powdered sugar, and all of the napkins were gone. Damn these were good. The steam was still rising from the beignet that I was eating. I finished it, and noticing the napkins were gone, shrugged and started to lick the powdered sugar from my fingertips.

His eyes drifted down to my fingers, followed them up to my mouth, and I saw the man completely turn on. I slowed down and licked them just a little slower. He knew I was teasing him, I saw it all over his face, which was now noticeably tense and distracted. He sucked in his bottom lip. Our eyes met and this time something crackled into life between us, like fire. I felt like his gaze would burn me, it was so hot, and I dropped it and blushed.

The easy conversation was gone. The sexual tension was too high.

We took an rideshare to the client's office, and when we arrived, it was all business and handshakes. I was received enthusiastically by their team, which was shocking. With all of the pressure that I had received from project management - all of the whip cracking - I guess that I was expecting more of the same. I was totally wrong and pleasantly surprised.

We all settled into a bright and modern conference room, Jude again pulling a chair out for me, smiling slightly and catching my eye. I bit my lip and blushed as everyone found their seats.

Jude led the demo. We pulled up the working version of our application, and overall, the executive team was very happy with it. We were still inundated with all kinds of idiotic questions.

"It's going to show real data, right, and not that test crap?"

"That's not what I thought it would look like. Who made that decision?" (You did, three months ago, I thought as loudly as I could).

"Can we fit this one extra feature in, if you have hours to put on it?" (We don't, Jude's tense face tersely responded).

I was relieved when the meeting ended and we moved into the IT department to work with their resident nerds. This is where I was the most comfortable. I pulled my hair up, took out my glasses, and we got to work configuring the production environment and fixing last minute bugs.

I was deep in the weeds of fixing the last one - got it - and I pushed up my changes. I thought that was everything and began to look over the changes to make sure I didn't miss anything. My chat screen lit up with a notification.

'having fun?', Jude asked.

I smiled and typed back, 'yeah actually. thanks for inviting me to come along.'

I saw him grin across the room. 'my pleasure. you made the trip much more pleasant than usual.'

A pause. 'any more issues? I'd hate to have you throw shit here in their office...might get me in trouble.'

I laughed to myself. 'nope, smooth sailing so far. release candidate is stable.'

'thank god', he said. 'let's get this released and get out of here.'

Didn't know what to say to that. I'm awkward. I blushed and settled on a smiley face reaction, then quickly switched screens to pull my text editor back up.

Another ping. Jude again.

'that skirt looks amazing on you.'

My stomach flipped. My boss was definitely flirting with me now. Fuck.

'thanks', I typed, and sucked in a quick breath. 'was it worth the expense for this quarter?'

'every penny...a little sexy for a client meeting, but. very professional.'

Shit. He just called me sexy. What do I do...maybe be funny? 'had to compete with that bougie charm you've got goin on.'

I heard him snort from across the room. 'who are you calling bougie?'

'definitely not you', I replied, smiling now. 'I would never insult my boss.'

'lol. bullshit you wouldn't.'

A pause, then:

'wanna go have a drink after this is over?'

He was asking me out. My cheeks burned, but I took it in stride.

'yeah, definitely.'

I looked down again and typed, 'god I'm hungry. what's a girl gotta do to get a snack around here?'

I looked over the top of my screen and saw Jude openly staring. He was sitting on the opposite side of the room, looking at me over the top of his laptop screen. Our eyes met and he did not look away. His gaze was so hot I felt burned by it.

He looked...hungry.

I bit my lip.

He gestured to the hallway with a lift of his head, then stood up and walked out into the hall.

I looked around to my left and right. The network guys were buried in their work. No one was paying attention, so, I stood and followed.

As soon as he saw me emerge into the hallway, he smiled and said, "Come on Rae. Let's take a break. There's a magical place just down the hall...snack kingdom."

I laughed. "Snack kingdom?"

"The kingdom of snacks," he affirmed, "for the angriest of snack monsters."

"I'm not a snack monster."

He rolled his eyes. I snorted indignantly.

"That was a very snack-monster snort."

I laughed against my will. "It is not!"

We got to a door with a card lock, which Jude magically found a card for and swiped. Oh, would you look at that. A room full of vending machines, almost tucked away, completely hidden. There was no sign or anything.

Jude raised his arms. "Mystical snack kingdom."

I grabbed the largest red bull they had and a 2-pack of twinkies. Jude helped himself to a small pack of salted pistachios.

"That is the single bougiest snack in this room," I teased.

"What," he protested, "pistachios?"

I leaned against the wall, took a bite of my twinkie, and laughed at him. "The most expensive of all nuts, the pistachio. And the one my boss barely demeans himself to consume."

Jude approached me with mock aggression. "I thought you weren't supposed to make fun of the man who signs your paychecks." I was quickly learning what his playfulness was like - deadpan remarks, accompanied by a glint in his eye and a lift on the side of his lip. He was playing with me now, but there was an undercurrent here. A powerful one. He did sign my paychecks, he was my literal, actual boss, so why in the hell did I physically ache to be touched by him right now? I could think of nothing else. Neither, it seems, could he, and he closed the space between us, breaking the rules, daring me to break them with him.

I gulped. He was an inch away from me now. We were only barely not touching. I could feel the heat radiating from his body. A thick silence settled in as we both realized we were so, so close to what we wanted. I had no retort for his teasing. Against my will, I panted just a little, bit my lip, arched my back just enough to push myself into him. He pushed back with his own body, and then took my wrist, raised it up to his mouth, and took a bite out of my twinkie.

He was challenging me.

Jude swallowed, and licked his lips. "Rae," his voice was shaky, dropping to a near-whisper. It was an invitation. His arms were over my head, leaned against the wall, his face looking down at mine in earnest. His eyes were dark and intense and hungry still. A small bit of fear, way back in there somewhere, but it was overtaken by hunger.

I was overwhelmed with the smell of him. Sandalwood and sweat and sex. I whimpered slightly, and whispered back, "Yes."

He obliged, crushing my lips with his, and fuck. That kiss. Blinding. Holy. His lips were perfect.

I meant to just kiss him, I did, but I couldn't stop. Neither could he. He moaned and grabbed me by the hips, pushing me up further against the wall. I kissed him deeper. Our tongues twisted as they fucked, and he groaned and ground his hips upward into mine, his cock straining against his pants, shoved against my skirt. I gasped into our kiss. I felt the form of his cock pushing against my panties. I grew dizzy when I realized how large it was.

I groaned into his mouth from the sheer power of it, and he broke our kiss, just in time for us to hear the beep of the card reader outside the door. We quickly jumped apart as the door handle turned, and Jude immediately resumed being the picture of casual elegance. I stood there, flustered, hair frizzy, clutching my twinkie in shock.

Jude briskly walked out and I followed. He gave me a sideways smile, that little half lip lift that he does as we walked down the hall in silence, hiding the secret of what we had just shared on our faces as best as we could.

We passed an empty conference room and I slowed, then began to walk backward. Jude stopped and looked at me.

I bit my lip and gave him a look. "Come here," I mouthed. I was so not done with him yet, and anyway - he overpowered me just then. I wanted to return the favor. Flirting I am horrible at, but sex...

I slipped into the conference room. He followed me and shut the door.

"Rae, what - " he was confused and flushed, smiling at me like he had a guess what I wanted.

I grabbed his shirt with my finger and pulled him into a deep kiss. Jude groaned at me and obliged, picking me up and setting me on the table, kissing me fiercely. He began to kiss down my neck, passionately, nibbling slightly, his hands moving up my thighs, just under my skirt hem. I moaned and moved into his kisses.

His lips traced the top of my breasts, and his warm breath on them raised the hair on the back of my neck. His large hands had found the delicate lace of my thong, and his thumb rubbed over the soaked cotton.

I heard a sharp intake of breath. "Fuck, Rae," he whispered. ""Fuck, you are wet, you good little girl."

Hearing him call me a good little girl woke up every slut bone in my body. I almost convulsed as his fingers grazed over my pussy. I panted into him.

I was not used to this.

His fingers plunged into my pussy as he kissed me, expertly stroking my g-spot, circling my clit with his thumb. "Yes, good girl," he whispered.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned into him, softly. He grabbed my hair and pulled it, gently, firmly, bringing our lips back together to fall back into a kiss. It was raw and blissful and powerful and I'm certain we would have started fucking had he not pulled back.

"I..." he fixed his shirt...and smoothed his hair...exhaled deeply. "Rae."

I slid off the table and began to fix the buttons on my shirt. In the, um, confusion, over half of them had come undone. I took a deep breath and smiled slyly. "Maybe not here."

He sucked in his lip and smiled, laughter in his eyes. "Maybe not. Quickest ways to ruin your business reputation include..." he trailed off into silence, his dark eyes boring into mine.

Suddenly he growled and pulled me back into him. We kissed again, not wanting to stop, and one of his hands wandered down to the slit in the back of my pencil skirt and began to trace up...up... I slapped it lightly.

"It seems that my boss is getting fresh with me."

He leaned in and whispered in my ear, his lips brushing my earlobe. "It seems that you like it."

"You're not wrong," I said, shivering with the need to let him take me.

He shifted his pants. "You're not helping me with my situation." He took my hand and placed it on his cock, holding it there, leaning into my palm. He was hard. Massively hard. I grew dizzy, thinking of him, with that. I wanted to get on my knees, then and there, and taste him.