All right, this was getting plain uncomfortable. Though Wynn was not his girlfriend, something told him to get home. “Is there any circumstance where a woman wouldn’t think the man was cheating?” One couldn’t cheat if they weren’t playing the game, right? Wait, he wasn’t even cheating, game or not. Then again, he ignored her, made love to her, and then ignored her again.
“Only if you were one of those amazing couples, like two halves to a whole,” Janice told him.
He gathered his items. “May I have the same time tomorrow?”
Janice kept her back to him. “Maybe you can do another blog feature here.”
Well, he supposed he owed her something more than a coffee. “Consider it done.” He gave her a quick wave and rushed out to his car.
As he sped home, his mind wandered to Wynn, to the asteroid, to what was down the middle. He spent days combing over Wynn’s notes, but nothing said anything about there being an irregularity. However, it had been a while since she looked at the asteroid, and it may have changed positions.
By the time he got to his penthouse, his thoughts were all over the place and he rushed inside, practically colliding with Mrs. Benton.
She took his briefcase and raised her eyebrows. “Good evening.”
“Good evening,” he responded. Mrs. Benton was a woman, levelheaded, and an expert in etiquette. “If a man is out in the middle of the night, would a woman automatically think he is cheating, even if he’s not playing?”
Mrs. Benton narrowed her eyes.
With a huff, he shoved his hands in his pockets. “Do you happen to know what Dr. Carlsbad spent the evening doing?”
“I think that’s a question you need to ask her.” She pointed toward Wynn’s suite.
“Fair enough.” What was he thinking? They weren’t going out. They simply slept together, got it out of their system. If that were the case, then why did it matter that he did the research? Why did it matter where she was, what she did? Why did he rush home?
“Good night.” He stomped toward his suite in the opposite direction of Wynn’s. He stopped in the hallway and crossed his arms. If none of this mattered, then why was he standing there in limbo like him and Wynn? Maybe he should ask her. He spun on his heel and, holding his head high, passed Mrs. Benton again.
“Good night, Dr. Knox,” Mrs. Benton called after him.
Before entering Wynn’s suite, he paused. At last he carefully opened the door and glanced up at his sparkling faux star-studded sky. All the lights were off. No doubt she went to sleep. Did she think of him?
Unsure of his next move, he tiptoed to the bedroom and stood in the doorway
In the shadows, he spotted Wynn’s form in the covers. For a moment he simply stood there. There was something comforting and jarring about having her here with him, under his roof.
“Garner? What are you doing?” Her voice came out heavy, laced with sleep.
“Watching you.” Yes, he stated the obvious.
She yawned and stretched. The little bit of light from the window illuminated her curves. “Why? You can barely stand the sight of me.”
“You’re light years away from the right answer on that one.” He crossed over the threshold.
“What is the right answer?”
After all this time, she still didn’t get it, didn’t understand there wasn’t a more gorgeous woman, one who matched him the way she did, yet vexed him. Though he tried to ignore her, his thoughts always returned to his sexy stargazer. Since that night in their college observatory, there had been no one else who could even attempt to occupy the same place in his mind. “You are a vision. I can’t stop looking at you.”
“I’m merely a concession in your quest to get Personal Space up in the air.” Her tone lowered, draped with a bit of sadness.
“Again, untrue. First, let it be said that if I personally have to buy time on the Maverick probe to give a scientist a chance, I’ll do it.” He inched closer. For the last two weeks they had gone through the motions of work, but never talked. The fact he raced back to her told him everything he needed to know about wanting the woman in front of him. “Second, a concession is giving up something in order to get something better.”
“Then what am I?” she whispered.
“My obsession.” In two words he laid his cards on the table.
The room silenced then, without a word, she pulled back the covers on the opposite side of the bed.
At her invitation, he kicked off his shoes and pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it to the floor. Though his first thought was to join her, take her into his arms and be with her, he resisted. He still needed to continue his work, and she still needed to see him as something other than a talking head. Then again, he rushed home and came straight to her room. His one action said more than anything.
She sat up and let the blankets pool around her waist. “Apparently, you obsess from afar.”
With nothing on, the shadows outlined the swell of her breasts. His mouth watered and his erection thickened, causing him to run his hand over the bulge in his pants. “I tried to overcome it.”
“Then I ask again, why are you here?” She leaned back on the bed.
“I have to have you.” That was the one truth he could rely on. He unbuckled his belt and pulled the fly of his jeans open.
“What do you plan on doing about it?” She slid the covers off, revealing her gorgeous naked form.
“There’s only thing I can do.” Once ridding himself of his pants, he approached the edge of the bed. Without even touching her, his arousal grew.
She squirmed on the bed and lifted on knee. “What might that be?”
“I have to make love to you.” Finally, he joined her, took her into his arms, and gave her a deep kiss.
A low moan escaped her throat and she tangled her tongue with his before she pulled back and tensed. “What made you give in to your obsession now?”
“You.” He brushed his lips over hers, down her neck to her shoulder. Her rose-scented soap lingered on her skin, the aroma making him light headed. “It’s always you.”
“Garner.” As if needing something to hold on to, she grabbed his hand.
He kissed her hand then slid down her body. “I obsess over everything about you.” With no time constraints, he wanted to take it slow, explore her. “Now I finally have you.” He kissed the top of her breasts, swirled his tongue over her, and grazed his teeth over her nipples, relishing in the way the hard pebble skimmed along his tongue.
She sat up and pushed him back. “Is that what you think?”
“It’s what I know.” He stared into her face.
Suddenly, she grabbed him and kissed him, knocking them both back on the bed.
With her in his arms, he guided her on top of him and arched his back while she took her turn to kiss and taste her way down his body, firing up every one of his nerve endings. She took her time, first skimming her fingers over him, followed by her mouth. His desire enflamed, and he wouldn’t be able to wait much longer to have her.
In the past they never had the opportunity to learn about the other. Their lovemaking had been quick jaunts in moments of passion in a race not to get caught. At last they were in the safety of his domain with nowhere to go and nowhere to be other than with each other.
The world, the universe, everything disappeared and it was only him and Wynn, lying together, exploring.
“Did you obsess over this?” A low chuckle escaped her throat before she took him in her mouth.
Her hot, warm mouth surrounded his already throbbing erection, and his breath caught. “More than an obsession.” He closed his eyes and focused on the way she sucked down his length, ran her tongue over him, cupped his balls in her hand. How many times did he lie awake at night visualizing Wynn’s head bobbing up and down on him, pleasuring him? He opened his eyes and peered down at the glorious sight. All too soon he was moving with her. Knowing he had to stop her before
he went over the edge, he took her by the shoulders. “You know what I’m more obsessed with?” He moved her to her back and kissed her inner thigh. Her feminine scent lured him.
“Tell me,” she whimpered.
“Tasting you.” He gave into one of his long time fantasies and lowered his head between her legs.
“Garner,” she called out to him.
Already she was wet and ready, providing him with a taste he only dreamed about on those many nights he spent alone.
He devoured her, explored every inch, lapped up everything she had to give him and was rewarded by her panting and twisting the sheet in her fist.
Yes, this was what he obsessed over, he wanted to bring her to the brink, know that when he slid two fingers inside her, she would clench down with need; know that when he licked in precisely the right way, she would buck her hips.
“Garner.” Beneath him, she writhed and pulled his hair. “Oh, God. I’m there.”
As he continued rhythmic licks designed to make her come, he reached down and stroked himself, bringing her to this point was almost all he could handle.
“Ah!” With her cry, she gave in, quivering under his lips and tongue as her orgasm took over.
Finally, her body relaxed, and she lay on the bed trying to catch her breath.
“You know what else I’m obsessed with?” With his heavy erection in his hand, he moved over her. He couldn’t wait another second.
Rather than answer, she shook her head.
“Being inside you.” As he said the words, he plunged into her.
“Yes,” she hissed.
Already satiated a first time, her body opened up for him, letting him in, begging to be his. “I need you bad.”
“I’m right here.” She pulled him down for a kiss. “Take me.”
“That’s what I’m obsessed with most.” Unable to resist, he drove into her, long fluid thrusts.
Over and over again their bodies connected, inching him closer and closer to his climax. They were always drawn together, even when they tried to leave the other.
As his own desire took over, he held her tight and continued his onslaught.
“Garner,” she crooned and wrapped her legs around his waist.
He slid deep inside her, his heart racing, his release upon him. “Come with me.”
“Um.” She held him tight, let him take control.
“Wynn, now.” The pressure built, he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.
The bed creaked as he moved faster, harder, doing as she asked and taking her.
Her breath quickened and her nails dug into his back. “Oh!” She lifted her hips.
“Baby, now!” He shook from restraint, but couldn’t hold back. Yes, she was always his obsession, and it was his time to make her truly his. His body exploded with his release.
Pure ecstasy washed over him as he ground his body into hers. Again, he was treated to her amazing pulses, this time rippling along his erection, drawing out his orgasm, and he was left panting. He held her close as they both came down from the euphoria.
Once he regained a bit of his strength, he slid off to one side and gathered her into his arms. After covering them up, he stared at the ceiling, immediately finding the little red jewel that represented Mars. The jewel he put there for her.
“Stay the night.” She settled down and her body molded to his.
“Of course.” Pure and simple, they fit together. Their own forces ripped them apart, but still they could lay in bed like this, like two halves to a whole. They were always drawn to the other.
Wait.
He tensed and tightened his hold on her. A spark shot though him. The asteroid, it wasn’t one asteroid, it was two. Two pieces orbiting one another, fighting to stay together though forces tore them apart.
“Garner.” She leaned up on her elbow. “What happens next?”
He pulled her closer and gave her a soft kiss. Had the asteroid broken up, maybe he would have had his launch, but he wouldn’t have her. Maybe there was a reason there was a crack down the center. “We wake up together.”
Chapter Thirteen
Five years before, Garner made love to Wynn on the floor of their college observatory the night before he defended his dissertation. Wynn had known something was wrong when he dropped her off at her apartment and when he said he had to go home after his defense and finally when he ignored her at graduation.
She went to her apartment that night, too, and dried her tears in her doctoral robes. He used her for help in earning his degree and she never even saw it coming. Up until the moment he walked away from her, she could have sworn that along with her PhD, she would have been sporting a brand new diamond engagement ring. It was a stupid dream from a girl who had her head in the stars. That night she promised herself one day she would see him again and hold the upper hand.
Five years later, for one bright shining moment, she reached her goal. She stopped his launch, she won him with science, she made him see she was a success in her own right, and she called in her rightful favor.
In essence, she won.
Then, as if they were right back in graduate school, she lost her heart all over again.
Simply put, he saved her. He gave her what she lacked in too many ways to count, and he did as she dreamed and made love to her. Again in an observatory, again incredible, and again leaving her confused.
Afterward, she expected they would come home, maybe talk about their relationship, and grow closer, but he spent two weeks sneaking in and out of the penthouse. Never even touched her.
Right before she was ready to demand an answer to the question she continued to ask him, he came to her room. That had been three days ago. He said all the right things, made love to her again, and stayed with her until the morning, in fact all day. Until he left again off on his mystery. Yes, every night in the wee hours, he returned to her, but still he never spoke about what came next, what they were doing, or where he went.
She paced the length of his office and looked out at the peaceful city in the middle of the night. She wondered how on Earth she kept getting sucked into Garner Hemingway Knox’s gravitational pull.
All her life she shot off like a pistol. For heaven’s sake, she was named for a rifle. One day she might learn to slow down and think, be the scientist she trained to be and take in all the evidence the man gave her. He wanted sex, he wanted her to stay until the launch, and of course he wanted control. He didn’t want her. No more research necessary.
Well, with him gone off on his super-secret mission, she was going to make some changes. First, there was absolutely no way she was going to go to bed. She wouldn’t allow him to slide in the sheets with her one more night. She had lived the fantasy and it must end.
With conviction she nodded, stomped over to Garner’s desk and sat down at his computer. No wonder he liked sitting here, with the huge computer screen and grand furnishings it was like she could control the world. Over the last few weeks, she enjoyed working there at times. She logged into her email. It was time to get her résumé out in the universe. Once this rocket flew, she had to find a place to make her nest.
After locating her document and adding Personal Space to her already too long document, she sent it to a few space agencies and sighed. She needed to get back to public sector space, her own research, and away from Garner.
Noticing one email from Jim outlining the flight plan for the launch for her seal of approval, she stopped. Only in the private sector would they insist that the human decoration approve such a thing. Still, no one could ever say she didn’t give her all to her job, and she studied the report.
The whole race to get this probe up in the air seemed exceptionally rushed. Six weeks to recover after a cancelled launch was fast. She leaned in closer to the screen. In a world ruled by profit and loss rather than science, she supposed they had to perform or risk losing investors and publicity.
Though not a ro
cket scientist, she noticed something odd with the amount of fuel needed to pull off the launch.
She quickly found her notes on the first launch. The quantity of fuel was significantly less with the launch she stopped. No doubt they chose that time because quite literally, the planets were in alignment to sling the probe into its orbit using the least amount of resources as possible. Since planets and moons and everything in the universe moved, that particular window of opportunity had passed, but the increase in fuel was startling.
Wait, hold on. This wasn’t her gig. She huffed and spun away from the computer. This was the path they wanted to take. Technically, this route would get them from Earth to Mars. Her job was finished. What did she care? Garner wasn’t even home to bounce around her idea. Instead, he was out gallivanting who knew where all night while she lay in bed waiting for him.
Still, she glanced back over her shoulder at the computer. The flight path seemed to stare her down. No doubt they already conducted a profit and loss when they chose the time.
She strummed her fingers on the desk and stared at the number, which mocked her, exactly like Garner.
At the moment she only knew two things. One, she was not ever sleeping with Garner Knox again, and was only waiting here to make sure he knew this fact. Two, she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she didn’t at least check the stupid flight path and fuel estimates.
Of course, an extra added bonus was if she was right, she could garner another favor from Garner, but above everything she wanted to be sure before she caused mass panic in an already jittery company. Maybe it was best if she didn’t mention her findings to anyone involved at Personal Space until she was certain. She returned to the computer and composed an email to Adam, her friend from NJL, explaining the situation. At the end, she made sure to tell him she was ready to get back to the land of real science instead of dollars and cents.
No sooner did she hit send, than the slamming of the front door boomed through the penthouse.
With a quick glance at the clock, she closed down her documents and email. The man was early, perhaps his first booty call of the night called in sick. Well, he wasn’t getting a second.
Seducing the Stargazer Page 14
