Craving Winter: Indulge Me, #1

By Alie Garnett

When your irritating employee shows up as your internet hook-up,

 

You turn and walk away, unless…

 

Win knew she should've turned and left, but her addiction to trouble always came out at the worst times. Giving into temptation, she closed the door behind her, letting herself enjoy the hot, angry sex before walking away. Then try to forget it ever happened. Forget for a moment he had caused her to lose control.

 

To win a bet with his brother, Daniel turns to a dating app, one where he can look for women who were looking for the same thing as he is, no strings. And it was working. Until his dreadful yet sexy boss Winnie walks into his hotel room, and winning takes on a whole new meaning.

 

They're both looking for no strings hookups with strangers. Neither wanted anything beyond a few hours of fun with that stranger. Neither are prepared for the newfound attraction to the other. Both know it was only supposed to be one night, but then the cravings begin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alie Garnett
• Release date: Apr 6, 2024
• ISBN: 9781954672420

Book preview

Chapter

One

One-night stands.

That was what Win Knight missed the most about drinking. Sober hookups weren’t as easy or fun as when you were wasted. Sure, she had done it over the years. Lots. But it was getting harder the older she got. At twenty-five, she could take home any number of willing men with no problem. But at thirty-five, the pickings were far slimmer, and a drink or two would really make them all look better.

Glancing around the dimly lit bar for the third time in just as many minutes, she took another sip of her diet coke to see if there was anyone interesting now. Anyone at all? It was a Friday night, and the bar was packed, but no one stood out as one she would willingly take home. Or, more importantly, wake up next to in the morning. There had been many regrets in that regard over the years. Mornings were the hardest part of one-night stands.

And a good one-night stand was all she was looking for. Win wasn’t here looking for a forever man. She didn’t need a good man to make her life whole. It was completely full as it was. She just needed to get laid once in a while.

The pickings are slim. Aurora Carlyle read her thoughts from beside her. Her platinum blonde hair was in a messy bun to match the faded jeans and cream-colored tank top she wore. Aurora didn't dress up for anyone but herself anymore, not that it mattered. She exuded sex in any outfit she wore. And this one showed off her breasts and ass beautifully, or that was what Win had gleaned from all the male eyes that had drifted to her friend’s assets since they arrived. Her friend, on the other hand, noticed nothing.

Maybe you should just grab one of these college guys. Make their day. Pushing her own black hair out of her face, Win gave her friend a wicked grin.

This evening she had dressed up a little more than Aurora, but the yellow silky blouse that hugged her generous curves over tight black leggings hadn’t gained her any attention yet. But she rarely did when Aurora was next to her. That was how it had been since they met, and Win was sure it wasn’t ever going to change.

Aurora spun in her chair, setting down her water glass with a thud, not spilling a drop on the scarred bar. And spend the entire night teaching him how to do it? No way.

You might luck out and find one who knows what they’re doing, Win pointed out, still looking at the offerings but still finding nothing that piqued her interest.

I know your luck, honey. They wouldn’t be the one you would pick out. Aurora laughed at her.

Not letting the comment bother her, Win laughed with her friend. They had been like sisters since they were fifteen and knew everything about each other. Well, almost everything. Neither was the trusting kind, and no amount of time would change that. Since they had both given up alcohol before they could even vote, hanging out in bars should have been odd to them. But you couldn’t pick up men at a soda fountain, so here they were.

How about that one? Aurora tilted her water glass toward a fortyish blond or maybe gray-haired man sitting across the bar. He was in a suit, but it was wrinkled, and she could see a stain on the left lapel. But more importantly, he was looking at Aurora—just not at her face. Not that Win would rule him out for that, but tonight she wasn’t interested in being someone’s second choice, no matter how good-looking he was.

Too old. She wrinkled her nose.

You’re old, Winter. Laughing, Aurora looked her up and down.

Win cringed at her name. Winter Knight was such a stripper name. She had dropped it in college to just Win or Winnie. Aurora still called her by her full name, and she let her since she and Aurora had worked through college as strippers.

They were a long way from room 505 in the Cabot Reform School. A room they had shared for three years before graduating and achieving more than they or anyone else at the school had ever imagined they could. Win was the CFO at a tech firm in the city, and Aurora owned and operated four strip clubs. She owed that success to Rising Passions strip club and the money they had made there.

There has got to be a better way to get laid in this town. Win turned her back to the room and all the possible hookups. She set down her pop, giving up on the night.

Have you tried a dating app? Aurora turned around as well.

No, I don’t want to date. Ever. She wasn’t looking for a relationship. The few she had tried over the years had ended badly, not even close to happily ever after.

There are more hookup apps than dating apps, Aurora countered, having the same mindset.

I have a reputation to maintain, at least in a bar. I don’t want to sleep with someone I already know, Win pointed out. Over the years, she’d had no repeated one-night stands. She held fast to that rule.

There are pictures, Aurora argued.

People lie, Win informed her friend. They had both known a few liars over the years.

Not everyone.

Okay, Pollyanna.

I’m a complete optimist, Aurora said, but it was a lie. Both were hard-core pessimists from day one.

Your half-full glass is going to fall over. Win pointed at the water glass in her friend’s hand.

Not always. Aurora set her glass firmly on the bar. Some of the girls were talking this week about a new app where you can say exactly what you want, and you get set up with people who are like-minded.

I have seen the commercials, Rora. I’m not interested in finding my perfect match. She wasn’t looking for a relationship. Not anymore.

No, not relationship-wise, just sex. You know, foot fetish or missionary only, or anything. One of the girls has tried it and said it was spot-on. Aurora’s girls were, of course, strippers, and most of her other friends were strippers or former strippers. Win fell right into that category.

What’s the name of it? Win asked, pulling out her phone. She was game for anything tonight.

Indulge. Aurora watched her type the name in, then pointed to the app on Win’s phone when it came up.

I don’t want to pay for it.

Aurora let out a laugh that made six others at the bar look at them. Aurora could be loud if she wanted to be, and she usually wanted to be. Sometimes you have to pay for it, Winter.

Win started to fill out the profile page as Aurora watched. Username?

Winter Rose. Aurora laughed again. It was her actual name.

No. And you have to do it too, Aurora. She pointed at her friend with her phone.

Aurora didn’t hesitate as she pulled out her phone and started tapping on the screen. Fred.

What? Win looked over at her.

Your username, Fred. Winifred. Aurora didn’t look up.

Good as any. Yours should be Lioness.

Why? Aurora stopped typing and looked over at her.

Aurora, roar, lioness. Win pointed out what she had thought was obvious.

I like it and am going to use it all the time. I’ll call my male strip club The Lioness’s Den. And she laughed again. Aurora spent half her time coming up with new club names. So far, she had just used the name the club had when she bought it, but Win was sure one day she would use her list. Aurora was going to have a string of clubs one day.

So, what are you into? Win looked over at her friend. Though they had known each other forever, that line didn’t go all the way into the bedroom.

If you knew, you would say it as well. Smirking, Aurora turned her phone away from Win’s view.

Because I would cheat off of you on a dating app. Win covered her phone with her hands. They had gone to high school, college, and grad school together, but still, the trust was shaky at times.

Looking over the list, she tried to decide what she was into. Usually, it was just a willing man who knew what they were doing. Hence no college students, not even in college. No fetishes, that was always weird, no whips and chains. Sure, a lot of people were into it now, but not here. Well, not much. Domination? Maybe that one. Usually, she was in charge of her life, even her sex life. Maybe giving up that control is a change she needed, at least once. If it didn’t work, she could always change it. This was a one-time thing, after all. Checking the box, she decided to try to let go a little.

Since the day she had gotten out of reform school, she had prided herself on being in charge of her life. Even at work, she was the boss of around twenty people, and most considered her a bitch. Really, she didn’t like that they hated her, but she wasn’t there to make friends. She was there to make money and get ahead.

Done, Win said, as if they were in a competition.

You started first, Aurora complained and set her phone down on the bar.

You should’ve started at the same time, Win pointed out.

Are we done with this place? Aurora looked around the bar one last time.

Oh, yeah. Win slid off her bar stool.

Are we going anywhere else? Or giving up? Aurora led the way out of the bar, ignoring the two men who tried to talk to her as they did.

I’m giving up. I have to work tomorrow. Win pushed open the door.

I do too. Aurora turned to head up the block.

You don’t. You work when you want to. Win walked beside her friend.

I work all the time. I’ll probably work when I get home.

I know. You want to work all the time. Win pushed open the door to the high rise on the opposite corner of the bar they had just been in.

Pot, are you calling me black?

Yes, I am, kettle. Win was just as much a workaholic as her friend. But in reality, Aurora had to work harder. She owned her own business. Win just did her accounting.

Waiting for the elevator, Aurora stated, Finding guys was a lot easier ten years ago.

As the doors silently opened, the women stepped inside. Now they’re either married or jerks.

Or married jerks. Aurora pushed the button for the top floor.

I would take a married jerk. I won’t keep him for long. The wife can have him back, Win said as the elevator took them high above the city.

I don’t want a married one, just one that doesn’t want to marry me. Aurora led the way from the elevator toward the far end of the hallway.

Each woman pulled out their keys and unlocked their respective apartment doors. It had been a miracle when they had found places across the hall from each other. Both made good money and weren’t saving it for anything, so a nice apartment was a priority.

Goodnight, Rora, Win said as she opened her door.

Goodnight, Winter, Aurora echoed as she closed her door.

When Aurora’s door latched closed, Win closed her own door behind her. Kicking off her shoes, she didn’t turn on any lights, just walked over to the bank of windows overlooking the city and looked at the lights below and beyond. This was why she bought her apartment four years before, to have the city at her feet. She had made it to the top.

Well, not quite the top. The top would be when she opened her own accounting firm. But that was a few years from now. She was putting in her time as CFO before she took it to the next level. Then she would have made it. For now, she had to settle for the CFO of a tech firm—not bad for a kid who was thrown away by her family at fifteen for being a drug addict. She had come a long way on her own. She didn’t need anyone.

Chapter

Two

That woman was going to drive him to drink! Oh, wait, he already drank because of her every day! All she did was pick apart his spreadsheets. This was wrong, this wasn’t adding up, this was in the wrong order.

Flopping into his desk chair, Daniel McIntosh glared at the woman in her corner office. Winnie Knight, CFO. Even her name aggravated him for no reason—except who was called Winnie anymore? From his tiny cubical, all he could see was the top of her head as she bent over a paper spreadsheet Rick Henderson had brought in for her to look at. Watching her, he saw her pull off her glasses and point at something on the spreadsheet that made Rick take a closer look, then gather up the paper and leave the office. His mistakes were pointed out as well.

There were just twenty in the accounting department at HENPEN Technologies, and he was one of the miserable, unfortunate few. When he had started last year, he had been disappointed he had to work in the accounting department. That wasn’t what he had gone to school for, nor did he have any desire to be there, but his dad had insisted he couldn’t just start in management, no matter what. He had to climb up the ladder like everyone else. Except nobody in accounting was going to be climbing anywhere. Winnie Knight was never leaving the corner office. Daniel was convinced she would die in there.

The worst part was that she had to be close to forty, so she had years to camp out in the office he wanted. Well, he didn’t want that office, but he had to go through it to get anywhere else in the company.

Since graduating from college, he had been wanting to do more for the company his parents had founded. Lately, his dad had started hinting about cutting back his hours, and Daniel would never be named his successor at this rate. Named? He wasn’t even in the running at this point.

His younger brother Adam walked by his cubical and laughed at him silently. He knew exactly how much Winnie Knight bothered him. Instead of responding, he pulled out his phone and shot his brother a text, calling him a few choice names. Adam was also stuck in accounting, but he didn’t seem to care and had no ambition to do more.

Mr. McIntosh, what is the company policy about cell phones at work? Winnie Knight asked from far too close for comfort. How she could sneak up so quietly, he would never know.

We’re not supposed to use our phones at work. Rolling his eyes, Daniel spun his chair around only to find her standing with her arms crossed, looking down at him. It almost made him laugh. She was nothing over five-foot five, and that was with heels on. He himself was a nice inch over six feet, towering over her when he stood. Her shortness was only emphasized by the fact that she had a large chest. Very large. When he first met her, he was convinced they were fake, but after knowing her for two minutes, he knew she would never have bought big boobs. Which meant they were natural and totally wasted on her.

Then why is your phone out? She tapped her red-heeled foot, which matched the red skirt and jacket she wore over a pale pink shirt. Her jet-black hair was in a tight bun without a hair out of place, like every day. The outfit changed, but not the hair.

Sorry, Miss Knight, he acted contrite. There was no way had she never looked at her phone during the workday.

If I see it again, I’ll have to write you up. Her brown eyes stared down at him. Staring back, he saw a smirk on her lips. Was she enjoying this? Did she get off on getting him in trouble? Getting anyone in trouble?

She had to know he was the boss’s kid. Well, step-kid, but just the same. His parents had decided their boys wouldn’t get special treatment because of who their father was, or mother, for that matter. Adam Jenkins and Daniel shared a mom, not a dad, nor was the dad that raised them either of their fathers.

I’ll keep that in mind, he said. She wasn’t wearing her glasses now, and Daniel wondered if she was actually seeing him since she almost never took them off when walking around the office. He also noticed for the first time that she maybe had some Asian genes, which threw him off even more.

You do that, was all she said, and he watched her walk away from him toward the break room. Her ass was bigger than it should be, like her boobs. God, he hated that woman.

Slipping his phone into his pocket, he got up and went to the bathroom. Would she be lurking in there to see him on his phone? Probably. But he wanted to see if she would walk into the men’s room to catch him on it.

In a stall, he opened his phone, seeing if Adam had sent him anything back. Nothing. Adam feared Knight, and both were stuck in accounting purgatory until their dad decided they could be moved. Or got fired, whichever came first.

Screw her, he decided, and opened his emails to see if he had gotten anything good. Usually not, but a few days before, he and Adam had been drinking, and each had dared the other to join a dating app to see who could get laid more. Daniel planned to win.

This morning he’d been matched to someone, but the profile lacked a picture, so he wasn’t interested. Not that he cared what someone looked like; he just wanted to see who he was going to have sex with. His picture was of his junk. Why not? It was what Indulge was about.

Jackpot, he thought, as the lady he had been matched with had submitted a picture since then. He was a little leery that the lady’s screen name was Fred, but he was willing to go with it as long as there was a picture. Opening the email, he clicked his way through to the profile and saw the picture he had been waiting for. It was of a perfect brown nipple with a bar piercing through it.

Wow, Fred, he groaned under his breath. It was exactly what he was looking for. Hell, it was more than he had expected.

Quickly, he typed a message before he was forced to go back to being watched like a hawk by the Witch of the Night. He would not waste his time getting to know the woman better. Instead, he had more pressing questions that needed to be answered.

MAC: Is that you’re only piercing? Will I have to spend a lot of time looking for others?

Clicking send, he knew it was cheesy, but so was an app called Indulge. All he had to do was beat Adam in numbers, which was going to be easy. Adam had fallen in love with everyone he’d ever dated. In fact, he had almost been engaged three times. And even though Daniel had spent almost four years married, he had been with way more women in his life than Adam.

After putting his phone away again, he washed his hands and left the bathroom. The witch was back in her office, and Adam was in his cubical, so Daniel sat down in his chair and wished for the day to be over quickly.

After work, he had to swing by his parent’s place to pick up his son, Xander, who his mom watched for him during the day. The only good thing that had happened during his four-year marriage was his four-year-old son. He mostly had custody, but on Fridays, Kimber picked Xander up and had him until Sunday afternoon. But Kimber got remarried a few months ago, and maybe she would soon stop wanting to see her son when she had kids with the new guy. One could only hope.

The only thing Daniel had learned from the entire experience was that when you were a senior, you never screwed a freshman. They were not worth four years of your life—even if you got a great son out of it.

But as long as his ex-wife took Xander, Daniel was able