Amber's Fantasy Read online

  Amber’s Fantasy

  by

  Pepper Anthony

  Amber’s Fantasy

  Copyright © 2013, Pepper Anthony

  ISBN: 9781937325961

  Publisher: Beachwalk Press, Inc.

  Electronic Publication: November, 2013

  Editor: Pamela Tyner

  Cover: Fantasia Frog Designs

  eBooks are not transferable. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Back Cover Copy

  If you had the chance to act out your secret fantasy, would you dare?

  Ray Ferris is the first person to discover Amber Jackson’s naughty secret desires. While helping her move some boxes, he stumbles on her stash of erotic romances featuring ménages. Despite a strict company policy prohibiting co-workers from dating, Amber finds herself inexorably drawn to Ray. She’s never been attracted to a white man before, but his intriguing invitation to actually have sex with two men at one time captivates her imagination. When the barriers to their relationship are swept away, will Amber have the courage to finally act out her forbidden fantasy? And if she does, will the experience open doors to a whole new world, or cost her a chance at true love?

  Content Warning: contains scenes of explicit sexual activity

  Dedication

  For Dr. Scott Rushing and the wonderful staff at Compass Oncology.

  Chapter 1

  Amber Jackson adjusted her gray linen pencil skirt and patted the neat twist of her hair, then pushed open the main door to the new office space. According to the receptionist, Ray Ferris would be working somewhere in this labyrinth of empty halls and unfinished cubicles on the seventeenth floor.

  Passing through what would eventually be the reception area, she walked by a couple of workers hanging sheetrock and then down a long corridor, the click-clack of her pumps like little hammers on the uncarpeted concrete. Her heart hammered too; if she couldn’t get her PC to boot up immediately and get those reports printed, Saundra would not be happy. And making her boss happy was Amber’s number one goal, especially with her annual review just a month away.

  She peeked into each doorway along the corridor, finally finding the object of her search in a small office four rooms down.

  She almost didn’t recognize him in casual clothes. As head of the IT department, the man normally wore slacks and a white dress shirt and tie. He pretty much blended in to the sea of other well dressed professionals populating the offices of Crescent Design. But word was he’d insisted on running the network cable in the new office space himself and had dressed way down for the job. Still, she wasn’t prepared to see him down on his hands and knees with his back to her, adding some kind of connector to the end of a length of thick, gray cabling. Thinner wires running from his shirt pocket to a pair of earbuds explained why he hadn’t heard her approach.

  It was as if she’d never really seen him before. She stood for a moment in the doorway, noticing for the first time how broad his shoulders were, straining against the snug black t-shirt he wore. Her eyes wandered lower. How could they not? A red-blooded woman would have to be blind not to admire the fit of those tight jeans on that perfect butt. A sigh escaped her lips.

  Suddenly the tall, quiet man who kept the computers running at Crescent Design became distinctly masculine. The fluttering response in her tummy surprised her; she couldn’t remember ever feeling this way about a white man before.

  But tummy flutters aside, it was his professional help that she needed right now. She hoped he wouldn’t mind leaving his work for a few minutes to come downstairs and troubleshoot her PC.

  She took a couple of steps forward, placing her feet and legs in his peripheral vision. Immediately, he sat back on his heels and turned around. His face lit up, and she thought—not for the first time—that he resembled Johnny Depp’s river pirate in one of her all-time favorite movies, Chocolat.

  “Hey, Amber.” A slow, warm smile bloomed on his face as he removed the earbuds.

  “Hey, Ray.” The piercing gaze of his dark brown eyes made Amber acutely aware of her own femininity. Her belly did a complete tuck-and-roll as he came to his feet and moved toward her, his well-built body as lithe as a tiger’s.

  Face it, girl, he’s pretty damn hot for a white guy.

  The realization jolted her, but intriguing as it might be, there was no point at all in noticing how hot he was. Employee dating was strictly forbidden at Crescent. He would never be hot enough to risk her hopes for a promotion.

  “What can I do for you?” He crossed the small room, ending up just inches away.

  Mmm, Polo cologne. Amber swayed, struggling to gather her thoughts into a coherent order. “Um—my computer won’t turn on and I really need to get some reports printed out for this afternoon’s staff meeting. Can you come and check it out for me?”

  His dark eyes roved over her face with friendly interest. Amber’s pulse spiked. They’d never been alone in quarters this close before. In fact, other than the first day she’d come to work there—when he’d set up her desktop computer to connect to the corporate network—their conversations had been limited to passing hellos in the hallway or business-related exchanges at staff meetings. Unlike many of the men at the firm, he’d never made a move that she would classify as forward. But now, his eyes seemed to be lingering on her face in a very familiar way.

  “Sure, Amber. Lead the way.”

  She brushed by him and headed out the door. Once in the hallway he came abreast of her. His shoulder grazed hers as they walked, and she felt a blush of warmth at the touch. He was a good six inches taller than she was, even in her heels, and she was more aware than ever of his broad chest and powerful arms. Who knew the man had such appealing, tanned muscles?

  “What do you think of the new space?” he asked.

  “It’s going to be wonderful. I’m starting to feel a little claustrophobic in my old, small office, especially now that it’s full of moving boxes. From my new office, I’ll have a great view of the skyline and twice the space.”

  Suddenly the hostile face of her older brother, Charles, popped into her head. She remembered his snarled predictions when she’d told him she’d be leaving Colorado to work in the prestigious design firm. He was sure she’d hate the west coast, that she’d be taken advantage of in Portland, just as he perceived himself discriminated against in his hometown. Of course that had proved to be the farthest thing from the case, and she could hardly wait to rub Charles’s nose in that fact the next time she went home for a visit.

  Mostly, she was hoping to convince her younger sister, Dinitra, to move out here. The sooner she got that girl out of that seedy Aurora men’s club where she worked, the better! A promotion would go a long way to showing both her siblings what determination and success could look like, and would help her support Dinitra while she looked for a good job in Portland.

  Amber let out a little sigh of satisfaction. She really loved her job, even if it did seem that her drive to succeed sometimes created a barrier between herself and her coworkers.

  “The new IT department is much more spacious too,” Ray was saying. “I’ll finally be able to add the two extra servers we’ve needed.”

  “That’s great.” And what the heck is a server?

  “I’ll have to give you a guided tour some time.”

  “Sounds like fun,” she murmured, wondering how she would ever pull off pretending to be interested in a bunch of computer equipment.

  At the elevator she kept her eyes on the dial that showed the approach of the car.

  “They always take longer when you’re in a hurry, right?” he said, and she turned to find him still smiling at her. She’d never realized before how straight and white his teeth were. Toothpaste-commercial white. They made his tanned skin seem even darker. Her insides did another strange flip-flop as their gazes held for the space of several seconds.

  She’d never thought much about going out with a white man. It wasn’t that she had anything against dating outside her race, but she’d just never felt particularly attracted to a Caucasian. The Denver suburb she’d come from was predominantly African American as was the college she’d attended. She simply hadn’t taken the opportunity to date out.

  Here in Oregon, the reverse was true. In fact, there were only two brothers who worked at Crescent and they were both married. She was surrounded every day by white men, several of whom had made it clear they were interested. The company policy notwithstanding, she wasn’t sure she was quite ready to venture into the new territory of mixed-race dating.

  But Ray Ferris would certainly be a great place to start.

  Startled at the thought, Amber covered her discomfiture by reaching out and poking the elevator call button several more times.

  He chuckled. “I don’t think that’s going to make it come any faster.”

  “Maybe not, but it makes me feel better.”

  The elevator arrived then and he stepped back, motioning for her to go ahead. Amber hurried in and backed up into one of the corners.

  * * * *

  As the elevator doors whispered closed, Ray let his eyes slide over Amber’s smokin’ body. It sure was a crime to hide all those lush curves beneath that plain gray suit. The jacket was so long it t
otally hid the sexy, rounded contours of her hips, and the skirt came almost to her knee. Only her perfect calves and ankles hinted that she had a great pair of legs that went all the way up.

  He only knew that because he’d spotted her a month ago in a neighborhood grocery store on her day off. She’d been wearing a sweet little pair of shorts, and the sight of her had knocked the air out of him. She was with some beefy black guy and didn’t see him, so he didn’t say hello, just watched her from across the produce aisle. Now, the stiff set of her shoulders reminded him that he wasn’t supposed to know anything about her long, shapely legs. And he definitely wasn’t supposed to remember the way her yellow tube top had molded to her big soft breasts, showing off to perfection the warm, smooth color of her arms and shoulders. Today, her suit jacket concealed those considerable assets entirely. In the office, Amber Jackson was all business, and always dressed to keep it that way.

  All right, since that’s how the lady always played it, he’d just pretend his jeans weren’t getting tight at the thought of backing her up into that corner and kissing her until she melted into his arms. Then he’d pull her close and introduce his hands to all those fine, womanly curves and—

  Ding. The elevator stopped on their floor and the door opened. She gave him a tight little smile and went ahead of him down the corridor. As he followed, his eyes straying to the feminine sway of her hips, he thought about the comments he’d heard from the other guys at Crescent. So far, no one had succeeded in cracking Amber’s cool exterior. She didn’t date anyone from the office, regardless of race. She was known around the water cooler as the Ice Princess. But Ray didn’t think she was frigid or gay, as the other guys sometimes speculated. Or even that she was above dating white guys. He just figured she was paying serious attention to the company’s dating policy. He could respect that. If she wanted to get ahead in this corporation, she was wise not to fall into bed with any of the guys there.

  But he had to admit, he was just as curious about what turned her on as the rest of them. He wouldn’t be a normal man if he didn’t wonder what it would be like to be with her. He just didn’t feel comfortable gossiping about her the way they all enjoyed doing.

  They came to her office door and she went in, standing off to one side of the desk. She motioned toward the errant PC.

  “Well, doc, here’s your patient, ready for its exam.”

  He sat in her chair and hit the power button on the computer tower. Nothing. No indicator lights, no boot-up noises. It was almost as if the thing wasn’t getting juice. He glanced down at the surge protector hidden by the desk. Sure enough, the light was out.

  “Here’s your problem. No power.” He got up and followed the cable that ran from the surge protector. It disappeared behind a stack of file boxes that crowded the wall in front of Amber’s desk. He pushed the boxes aside and found the dangling plug and stuck it back into the wall. “Try it now.”

  Amber pushed the power button and the computer responded immediately, coming on with a soft whir and a series of little beeps.

  “I feel so foolish,” she said, her cheeks turning an appealing rose color. She sank into her chair. “I didn’t even think to check whether it was plugged in. I guess I knocked the plug out when I was moving boxes earlier.”

  “In the new space everything will be hard wired,” he said, “so this kind of thing won’t happen.” He toed the boxes to one side. “Why don’t I just restack these for you so they’re not so much in your way?” Without waiting for her response, Ray began shifting the piled boxes.

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “It’s okay. It’ll just take me a minute. Give you some extra room in here.”

  Some of the cartons had lids and some didn’t, and their sizes varied, so arranging them neatly was challenging. Toward the bottom of one stack he found a smaller box with no lid. Inside it was a hodgepodge of paperback books. Based on the cover of the top book, he assumed they were mostly romance novels: A naked Nordic guy with huge muscles and flowing hair holding a half-dressed, swooning woman. Ray grinned. So this was what the proper Ms. Jackson did behind closed doors on her lunch hours.

  “Quite a library you have here,” he teased, holding up the book. He read the title out loud. “Love’s Perfect Promise. Ha! Too bad love’s only perfect in paperback novels, right?”

  He glanced toward her, expecting maybe an embarrassed little smile of agreement. Instead, her face had gone scarlet, her eyes wide. She shot up from her chair and made a grab for the box.

  “I’ll take those.” Her voice sounded funny, and her big, brown eyes were glued to the box in his hand.

  Ray glanced back into the box. The next book’s cover showed two bare-chested men sandwiching a sexy black woman in a bikini top. Mandy’s Mates, the title read.

  Whoa! He checked out the book underneath. Three to Get Ready. Another cover shot with two muscular males fondling a nearly naked young woman. Under that was one entitled Just Us Three.

  His gaze shot back to Amber’s face. Her eyes slid away.

  “You know what? This is so not my business.” He set the box back on the floor and dusted his hands. “I need to get back upstairs and finish pulling that cable.”

  “Right.” Her gaze was still on the floor. “Um, thanks again for rescuing me.”

  “Anytime.” He left her office and strode down the hall without looking back.

  Whoa! Who knew? Ray couldn’t stop a grin from pulling at his mouth as he stepped into the elevator and headed for the upper floors. He could hardly believe what he’d just found out about the Ice Princess. Apparently, beneath that modest gray suit beat the heart of a secret siren.

  Holy shit! She wants two guys at once!

  Maybe more than two! His blood started racing as he pictured it. Though he’d never given a thought to sharing a woman with another guy, the idea didn’t hit him as totally repulsive, especially if the woman was someone as hot as Amber.

  But what set of circumstances would have to occur to make such a thing possible?

  All afternoon, as he worked pulling cable three floors above, he turned that question over in his mind. He found it didn’t take much to imagine the lovely Amber being sexually entertained by two guys at once, her full, red mouth taking one erect cock while a second guy took her from behind. Yeah, that image came easily to mind and was hotter than hell.

  But could he see himself as one of the guys in that scenario? That was another question entirely.

  Chapter 2

  Amber put her forehead on her desk and groaned out loud. She couldn’t believe she’d been so careless as to let Ray Ferris see her stash of what she liked to think of as her “lady porn”. How could she have forgotten that box of ménage erotica, which she normally hid in her file cabinet, was mixed in with the other moving boxes in the stack? She certainly hadn’t expected anyone but herself to go rifling through them.

  What must he think of her? She’d always been so careful to project a businesslike persona at the office. Now he knew her darkest secret, a desire she shared with no one, not even her best friend Eva. She barely even admitted it to herself.

  Wait. It wasn’t a desire, was it?

  Lord, no! It was a fantasy pure and simple. Just a theme she’d gravitated toward when choosing books to order from the internet. If it really came down to it, she’d be horrified to act out the steamy scenes she so avidly read about. She couldn’t even begin to imagine having two men at once vying to please her in bed. Two men kissing her, stroking her. Touching her in ways that a modest woman like herself should never allow.

  Amber squeezed her eyes closed tight, doing her best to deny the thrill of arousal that was unfurling in her core. Suddenly she found she could imagine taking part in a ménage a trois. And while the fantasy man who stood behind her—pinning her arms back as his hands reached around to fondle her bared breasts—was a faceless stranger, the fantasy man she imagined kneeling between her legs was none other than Ray Ferris.

  Ray Ferris! He’d never showed up in any of her fantasies before—no white man had—but today there he was, bigger than life. Shirtless, his naked pecs were hard and impressive, decorated with a fine sprinkling of black chest hair, and the expression in his dark eyes was pure animal hunger.