Red Hot Rose Boxed Set

by Kandi Kayne

  I put my hand out. “No! This is a no touching date! Keep your kiss and your tongue over there and away from me.” I withheld the giggle that would have taken all the seriousness out of my rebuffing.

  He raised an eyebrow at me but halted his forward progress. “Okaaaay,” he said, taking the oar in hand again. “If you say so. But don’t forget, that rule cuts both ways.”

  I shrugged nonchalantly, all full of my sexual power now. “I can handle it.”

  Alex nodded but said nothing. He rowed us back to the dock, and we both got out. Only one of my feet got soaked with an unexpected dip in the water, so I limped back to the blanket with one shoe on and one off.

  By the time I’d gotten it dried, Alex had set out our late lunch. We ate the cold gourmet sandwiches, kettle chips, and strawberries in silence, but the undercurrents of unanswered questions and sexual tension were enough to make the evening feel positively electrified. I was almost glad to be done and headed back to the car.

  “Did you have a good time?” Alex asked, shutting the trunk on the picnic basket and blanket.

  “Yes, I did.” I walked past him and got into the car, waiting for him to join me.

  He got in and started the engine, backing up in the courtyard and leaving down the driveway. “I’d love to keep you out later, but we need to get up early and get ready for our first day.”

  “First day?”

  “Yeah. Tomorrow’s our first day at work together, remember? You ready to take the reins and get the team in line?” He glanced over at me as he shifted gears.

  I swallowed hard, finally getting my brain to understand that this was real. That I was really going to be a political campaign manager tomorrow, working with a group of people who may or may not be disciples of Samuel just waiting for me to fall flat on my face.

  “Yeah. As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said in a not very impressive tone.

  He patted my leg before putting his hand back on the wheel. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be great. Don’t be nervous. I’m behind you one hundred percent. And besides, even if you do screw up, it won’t matter. You’re my girlfriend now.” He grinned madly at me, which I figured was probably designed to get me to laugh, but all it did was make me sick.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, his smile turning into a frown of concern.

  “I’m doubly worried now. I don’t want to let you down as an employee or a girlfriend.”

  “Not possible,” he said, reaching over and squeezing my cold hand.

  I wanted him to keep it there, but he pulled it away, probably obeying that stupid no touching rule. Why did I agree to that? I needed to feel him on me right now, wrapped around me completely. Something about his heavy warm body and the way he focused on giving me pleasure, making sure I always enjoyed myself when I was with him - it gave me confidence in myself. Is that good or bad? I don’t even know which way is up anymore. Alex had turned my world upside down.

  I rested my head against the window all the way home, accepting a stupid handshake as my goodbye. I stepped into my apartment a very sexually frustrated girl, after watching my very sexy boyfriend whip off his shirt and walk backwards away from me, flexing a little. “Maybe next time,” he shouted, playfully stroking his abs up to his chest once before turning around and jogging to his car.

  “Jesus, what happened to you?” asked Jessica from the entrance to the kitchen.

  I leaned back against the door. “I’m not sure, but I think I agreed to be his girlfriend, possibly move in with him, start managing his campaign tomorrow, and not have sex with him for a while.”

  Jessica smiled. “I believe all of that but the last one.”

  I smiled back. “Me too.”

  I walked into my first day at campaign headquarters ready for anything. I’d dressed carefully for the part, making sure I would feel confident and in control no matter what happened and no matter who showed up to challenge me.

  Several hours later I wondered why I’d gotten myself so worked up. Everyone on the team was excited about having new blood in charge, and not one of them was shy about telling me exactly how they felt about their old manager.

  “Samuel had his head so far up his butt, he could see the light of day through his nostrils,” said one of the more outspoken workers.

  “Seriously, agreed her cubicle partner. He spent more time making weekend plans than discussing anything that would help what we were trying to do here.”

  I nodded at everything they said, taking mental notes sometimes but most of the time writing things in the notebook I’d brought.

  “Want to join us for lunch?” asked a girl named Melissa. She was one of the volunteers for the campaign. A little on the frumpy side, she was nevertheless a tireless worker, in charge of managing the television and radio marketing projects.

  “I’d love to,” I responded, looking around at the fifteen or so people in the room. “What about if we have a group lunch here … order in? Do you think everyone would go for something like that?”

  She shrugged. “You’re the boss. You tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “I’m not a slave driver, though. If you’d rather have lunch elsewhere, I don’t want to make you stay.”

  Melissa stepped in closer and spoke in a quieter voice. “Listen, we just want Mr. Blackstone to win this election. That’s it. With Samuel gone, we have a chance. Everyone knows that.” She nodded to a group talking animatedly in the corner. “See those people?”

  I nodded.

  “They were just about to walk off the job, protesting Samuel being the manager. Now they’re staying. They’re hungry to do the job. If I were you, I’d take advantage of it. But that’s just me.” She shrugged and moved away.

  I thought about it for less than a second and cleared my throat. “Hello! Everybody? I just wanted to get a show of hands … who’s staying with me here to work through lunch? My treat.”

  Every hand in the room shot up, and one of the girls from the Down-With-Samuel group detached herself and walked over. “Want me to order pizza or sandwiches for you?”

  “Sure, thanks. You guys decide which. I’m good with anything. I’m going to be in my office.” I stepped out of the main room and into the glassed-off area that used to be Samuel’s private office. Firing up the computer for the first time, I got ready to do a little bit of research into the campaign finances when a weird message came up on the screen.

  I squinted, leaning forward to read it.

  All data on the physical device will be erased completely and data recovery will not be possible! Are you sure you want to destroy data on the device? [YN]?

  “What the hell …?” I said aloud. I looked up, searching for the resident computer guru. I saw him standing in the corner of the room, fiddling with a computer on a rack. “Jason! Can you come over here for a minute?”

  He spun around in surprise, but then jogged over, bumping into the door jam on his way in. He rubbed his shoulder as he stood behind me. “What’s up?” he asked, out of breath.

  “You tell me,” I said, gesturing towards the screen.

  He bent over to read it. “Oh, shiiiiii … zle,” he said in horrified awe, glancing at me nervously before leaning over again and re-reading the message in the red box. “Did you do this?”

  “Of course not. I just turned the thing on.”

  He leaned over and pressed the N key.

  “What did you just do?” I asked, a panic settling in my chest.

  “I just told it not to erase your hard drive.” He frowned at me. “That’s what you wanted me to do, right?”

  “Yes,” I said, sweat breaking out under my arms. “I think so. Why did it do this, though? Why did that message come up? Is that normal?”

  “No, it’s most definitely not normal. Can I sit there?” he asked, pointing at my seat.

  I jumped up. “Go for it.” I sat down across the desk from him, watching as he tapped away at lightning speed on the keyboard.
He mumbled while he worked. “Went in and … well you sneaky little bas … terdly mother fudger.” He scratched his head, still staring at the screen. “What in the sam hill … no. No, no, no, no, noooo you didn’t …” He sat back, looking a little surprised. Then he jumped back on the keyboard and typed again furiously for about two minutes before he stopped on a screen that had a jumble of letters and numbers on it.

  “Well?” I prompted.

  Jason spun around in his seat. “I’ll tell you exactly what happened in here. That ass-munch Samuel, may he rot in four levels of hell, tried right before he left to erase your entire hard drive. But the dipshit didn’t finish the job. All he had to do was press the Y key, and it would have been completely wiped clean. Unrecoverable. Blotto. Deadski. Busted. Finished. Lost forever …”

  I held up my hand to stop him. “So, why didn’t he do it?” I asked.

  “I’ll tell you why,” came a deep voice from behind me.

  I saw Jason’s eyes go wide just before he leapt to his feet. “Mr. Blackstone! You’re here!”

  “Of course I’m here. What’s going on with the computer? Something Samuel did, I take it.”

  “Yes, sir. He tried to wipe the drive clean.”

  Alex sighed. “I came in here over the weekend and caught him at that desk. I told him to get the hell out and took the door key from him when he left.”

  “Well, you got to him in the knick of time. One more keystroke, and it would have been lights out for your mailing lists, financial records, everything.”

  “Don’t we have backups?” I asked, not believing for a second that they’d be that stupid.

  “We did have backups,” said Jason, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

  “Talk to me Jase,” said Alex. “The short version.”

  “I was just working on that when she … Ms. DuPont called me in. Looks like he messed with the backups too. I couldn’t figure out what had happened at first, but now it’s clear. Samuel was busy in his last days here.”

  The muscle in Alex’s jaw jumped. “Thanks, Jason. Can you fix this?”

  “You bet. Just give me the rest of the day, and I’ll have everything backed up and back on track.”

  Alex nodded sharply. “Great. I’ll leave you to it.”

  Alex’s words were a clear invitation for Jason to leave, and he didn’t need to be told twice. He practically ran out of the room in his haste to leave.

  “Want to go to lunch?” he asked me, changing his expression to one not so murderous.

  “I can’t. We have a lunch meeting today. You’re buying everyone pizza or sandwiches.”

  “Great. I love pizza.”

  I shook my head. “Sorry, but not today. I need to get into their heads, and if they know you’re listening, they’ll hold back. Maybe tomorrow.”

  He laughed. “I think I’ve hired a shark to head my team.”

  I shrugged unapologetically. “If you wanted a goldfish, you should have kept Samuel. I’m not going to apologize for helping you win.”

  Passion flared in his eyes, and my body responded immediately. I almost took a step towards him, but I forced myself to remain in place, calm, collected, and cold as ice. This is business. I have to do this right, or I’ll lose everyone’s respect and it’ll be all over.

  “You’re coming to my place for dinner,” he said.

  I raised an eyebrow. “What if I’m busy?”

  “Change your plans,” he said quietly, and left the office without a backward glance.

  I watched him work the room, stopping to talk to everyone, shaking hands, touching shoulders in friendship. He clearly respected these people and what they were doing for him. And their responses told her a lot about how they felt. He was obviously admired by everyone in the room.

  I calmed my racing heart and revved up libido by chanting to myself. Be strong. Do your job. You can have Alex to yourself later. And it was thoughts of that later that energized me through the rest of the day. The meeting was a huge success, and after two hours of passionate discussion, the team had a solid set of milestones and a clear pathway to reach each of them. They were still working hard when I got up to go at seven that night.

  “Ready to call it a night?” I called out.

  Jason and Melissa were the last to leave with me. “So what do you think of your team?” asked Melissa.

  “You guys are amazing. You know exactly how to do what we need to do. The talent here is better than I expected. Way better. And the dedication is what’s going to take us all the way through. It’s going to be exhausting, but I truly believe we can pull this off.”

  “Us too,” Melissa said. She held out her hand. “Thanks, by the way.”

  “For?” I asked, taking her hand in mine.

  “For taking on a job that might have looked like a hopeless case. I think you can do this. I think he has a chance of winning with you here.”

  I grinned huge. “Thanks for saying so. I hope I don’t let you down.”

  “You won’t.” She pulled her hand back. “Come on, Jason. You owe me a beer.”

  “See ya,” he said to me, before following Melissa over to her car.

  “Bye,” I called out, getting onto my scooter. Jessica had offered to have me use her car, but in the end I’d decided to just be who I was and ride to work like I did everywhere else. As I was lifting my helmet up to put it on, my phone beeped. A text from Alex was on the screen. Come to my place. I have dinner all ready.

  I was tempted to type out a raincheck request, but then decided to just go over. I wanted to share the news of the day with him and get his reaction to my new plans going forward, anyway. Might as well finish my work over there.

  Twenty minutes later I was pulling into his driveway. He met me at the door, taking my backpack and helmet from me. I left my shoes at the entrance and padded behind him to the dining room.

  I thought we were going to stop there to eat, but he just kept walking, through that room, the kitchen, and out onto a back porch. My heart melted a little at the small table he’d set up out there, complete with candles and champagne.

  “You went to a lot of trouble,” I said, sinking into the comfortable chair he pulled out for me.

  “You had a big day. I thought we’d celebrate.”

  I took a big breath and let it all out slowly, forcing the stress and anxiety to dissipate into the air. Alex stepped behind me and massaged my shoulders. I was going to tell him it wasn’t necessary but quickly changed my mind.

  “Your muscles are really tight.”

  I felt a spasm of a response between my legs. He’d called me tight there too once.

  His hands slid down to my upper arms where he massaged the muscles there.

  Goosebumps broke out all over my body.

  He leaned down and spoke on my ear. “If you’re not really hungry right now, we could go for a swim.”

  “That sounds like a great idea, actually.” I surprised myself with my response. “I don’t have a suit though.”

  He stepped over to the side and held his hand out for me. “You don’t need a suit.”

  The promise in his voice kept my goosebumps going when they should have disappeared. Maybe I’d entertained the notion of continuing with the no-touching program before, but not now. I needed to feel his hands on me, or at least see his body again. I was addicted.

  I followed him out of the screened-in porch to the pool area that was completely surrounded by high walls and fifteen-foot high, sculpted shrubs. It was dark enough now that I felt comfortable taking my clothes off and not worrying about anyone seeing me.

  He stopped at the edge of the shallow end and took my hand, drawing me to him. “I missed you today.”

  “You did?” I whispered, smelling him now, getting aroused just by his nearness.

  “Yes. A lot. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Imagining what it would be like to do this …” He leaned down and simply kissed my neck.

  I thought he was going to pull away when he lean
ed down again.

  “…And this …” He made a trail of kisses, starting at my neck and going down the V of my open shirt collar. His hands came up and slowly unbuttoned my blouse, one button at a time, with a kiss pressed to each bit of skin he exposed to the air. The warm breeze brushed along the places he had dampened with his lips and made me shiver more.

  “Are you cold?” he whispered against my neck.

  “No,” I breathed. My head was leaned back now, accepting the licking and sucking he was using to slowly drive me mad.

  My hands drew down his arms and then to his waist. I pulled his shirt out of his pants and ran my hand along the edge of his belt, stopping when I got to the buckle.

  He took one of my breasts in his hand and squeezed, pinching my nipple between two fingers. It send a shock of pleasure down to my hot folds, causing me to gasp.

  “You like that?” he whispered.

  I nodded, now intent on getting my hands into his pants. I wanted to feel his heavy, silky hard rod. He stepped away to pull his shirt off over his head, tossing it to the side. The starlight gave me the perfect view of his amazing torso. I pulled him back to me by his waistband and made short work of taking his pants down. They fell to the ground at his ankles, but he didn’t move to take them off, too occupied with my hands on him.

  I stood in front of him, stroking his hard length slowly, languidly. The meaty head swelled and bulged out towards my stomach, and all I could do was picture it going inside me. But tonight I wanted to thank him for everything he’d given me, both in bed and out.

  I kissed his chest, grazing my teeth across his nipples before sucking on them hard. He hissed in a breath and put his hands in my hair, pulling it gently as he clenched his hands a little. My hands continued to stroke him as my lips moved lower, kissing and licking a trail down his abs. When I reached the trail of hair at the top of his pelvis, I got down on my knees, using his shirt to cushion them.

  His breath was coming more ragged now, and he was looking down at me with an almost tortured expression on his face. “What are you doing?” he nearly growled.