With a sharp, startled cry, Maddie came on the spot. Her knees and thighs trembled as warmth spread through her nerve endings. “You’d actually agree to that?” Maddie gasped out. “Next time, I mean?”
Elena’s smile was equal parts triumph, amusement, and delight. “Of course not. My desk is for work purposes only.”
Maddie groaned. God damn it. Elena could play her like a fiddle. She used her power so perfectly in their sex life, with such precision, it should be a crime. Maddie both hated and loved how well Elena knew her weaknesses and every turn-on. It was arousing, thrilling, and probably a little pathetic if she bothered to care, which she absolutely didn’t. Maddie was, quite simply, putty in Elena’s hands, and they both knew it.
Heat flooded her, and only part of it was to do with that magnificent orgasm.
Elena smirked, dropped a kiss on Maddie’s cheek, and then stabbed her phone. Her voice was stern and dry: “Send my global art director up.”
* * *
Elena made it into her chair with seconds to spare when the elevator dinged announcing Perry’s arrival. Madeleine—teasing, intoxicating Madeleine—had insisted on distracting her with further passionate kisses, leaving barely any time to fix her appearance. Elena squirmed in her chair, self-conscious about what was missing, and darted an appalled look toward where a tangle of thong still lay. She hadn’t had time to reclaim it. Still, those kisses had been quite something. She prayed Perry wouldn’t notice what lay at the foot of her office window.
Madeleine followed her gaze and mouthed “sorry”, just as Perry swished into the office in an elegant, lilac, Brioni suit.
He stood in front of Elena and ran a hand over his dark-skinned bald pate. “What did you say to Tony for him to give me the third degree about sending me up?” He almost pouted.
“A better question is what has you in here so late? And what constitutes enough of an emergency for him to override a Do Not Disturb?” Elena drawled. “Especially after Bartell Corp’s dividend that’ll see half its shareholders off to Aspen, and a certain fashion mag’s destruction.” She leaned forward. “Do not tell me you’re here to ruin my famously good mood with bad news.”
He snorted at that characterization of her mood. “Yes, well, it’s CQ I’m here about.” He sagged a little. “Emmanuelle Lecoq specifically.”
Elena’s pulse kicked up at the mention of the rival magazine’s editor. “What’s she done now?”
He opened his mouth, then caught sight of the visitor’s sofa. “Sorry, Maddie, didn’t see you there. Hello.”
“Hey, Perry. Great to see you again.” Madeleine grinned, and her genuine affection for the man was infused in her voice.
Then again, her warm, affectionate lover seemed to like pretty much everyone. Elena could not relate to that in the least. She folded her arms. “Perhaps if you just spat it out.”
“Fine.” Perry reached into his briefcase. “You know I have contacts everywhere. This is out tomorrow.” A newspaper hit her desk.
Madeleine joined Elena to read over her shoulder.
‘NO PASSING FADS FOR ME!’ LECOQ DISHES DIRT
Elena scoured the page. Just a shallow profile about the CQ editor’s style, beauty, leadership, and, Christ, genius. The puff-piece was designed, no doubt, to take the heat off her circulation figures.
Perry tapped a paragraph. “Here’s where the bile begins.”
Unlike some, I’m not into fickle fads. You won’t see me having a desperate, midlife-crisis Sapphic fling with my empty-headed assistant-turned-reporter to feel young or relevant. I also don’t need the obscene trappings of success to prove I’m powerful. What would I want with a round, monolithic office and a helipad, any more than I need some ambitious, gold-digger lesbian lover? I’m as classic as my Jimmy Choos. I’ve been around longer than any other fashion magazine editor, and I will endure long after certain others get bored and move on to their next toy.
Elena stiffened. Of all the nasty, underhanded…
Madeleine hissed in an outraged breath. “She stuck a neon arrow on your head with all those clues. Round office? Helipad?”
Elena didn’t answer. She stared at the insults. Empty-headed assistant-turned-reporter. Ambitious gold-digger. How dare she? Madeleine was one of the most clever, insightful people Elena had ever met. She cared about people more than money. She was kind, decent, and loved with her whole heart. “I’ll kill her,” Elena hissed. “How dare she say this about you? I’ll sue her into the ground. Get me Felicity!”
Madeleine’s hand came out to latch onto Elena’s forearm. “Hey? Take a breath for a sec? Look, I know she crossed a line. But let’s not do some knee-jerk thing. Let’s talk first.”
“She called you empty headed.” Rage filled Elena. “A gold-digger. My mid-life crisis fling! I’m apparently desperate?”
Perry’s cheeks darkened, and he looked like he’d rather be anywhere but in the middle of this.
“Fuck it,” Elena snarled, “I don’t care what people say about me. God knows I collect insulting nicknames. But she attacked you.”
“Um, I’m not sure you’ve focused on the big thing here,” Madeleine cut in. “She also outed you.”
Elena paused. Oh. Her brain had skated right over that. Well, hell. She and Madeleine had never addressed their relationship. It was obvious to her valued staff members, such as Perry. But they’d never discussed officially coming out. “She outed you too,” Elena murmured.
“I’m just some Australian freelance reporter. But you’re…you. Emmanuelle was obviously hoping shareholders would choke on their cornflakes and see you as a lightweight flake having some scandalous fling.”
Elena glowered. “Nothing she said is true.” God, why had she never properly discussed any of this with Madeleine before? It had been so easy to hide themselves away at the ends of the earth in Sydney and forget their private life was newsworthy. “You are no fling,” Elena said heatedly. “I’m…a lesbian. This isn’t some experiment. What she said has no truth.”
Madeleine wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I know.” She glanced at Perry. “We know.”
“We do,” he said kindly. “Most people will see through what she wrote as the bitter, petty revenge it is. The problem is that ‘most’ people isn’t ‘all’. This could be harmful if left to fester.”
“But if we sue,” Madeleine said, “it looks like we’re saying we think our relationship is shameful or wrong.”
Elena ground her teeth. “I can’t believe this. Lecoq loses the circulation wars, so she shreds me personally? Defames us as air-headed and desperate?”
