“It’s nice being inside you without the overwhelming desire I feel for you most of the time. I like the way you take me in and make room for me inside your body.”
“Are you just going to stay hard inside me for the rest of the night?” she asked quietly, shifting against his possession, making even more room, though she couldn’t say how it was possible.
He just laughed at her playful insults. “I’ll stay as still as I can for as long as I last. Then I’m going to hold you while you sleep in my arms,” he promised.
“And if I want something more than that?” she asked, eyes shining, body trembling under his.
“This raging hard-on I have belongs to you. If you want, I’ll happily pound you hard enough to break both you and the bed,” Casey told her, wanting to laugh when she trembled at his words.
Alexa was proving to be a hell of a woman to conquer, he thought, wondering if he was going to be able to be as still as he promised.
“I think I like the staying still part this time,” Alexa said meekly. “Pound me tomorrow after I’ve had some rest.”
Casey’s heart contracted at her willingness to be vulnerable with him and tell him the truth.
“We’ll compromise. How about this?” Casey asked, bending down and sucking an aroused nipple into his mouth. He sucked hard until she arched, and then released her nipple only to roll it between a finger and his thumb until she groaned.
“I bet I can ignite your fuse without moving at all.”
“Damn it, Casey. What are you trying to do to me?” she asked, exasperated not with what he was doing, but that he was calling all the shots, had all the control.
Casey didn’t comment, just bent his head to the other nipple and gave it similar attention. When Alexa arched again, he sucked even harder, not releasing her this time.
When he felt her twisting and thrashing to the point she was lifting both of them from the bed, Casey brought his attention to her mouth. He stroked hard in and out with his tongue until Alexa exploded around him, pulsing and throbbing. Her heart continued to hammer hard beneath his even after she’d calmed.
“What—” she stammered, had to clear her throat to speak, “what about you?”
Casey kissed her temple and put his face on the pillow beside her ear.
“I have everything I want just being inside you, but thank you for asking,” he answered softly on a laugh. “Sleep now. I won’t wake you again.”
“Casey,” Alexa began, unsure what to say to him.
She’d fallen asleep still connected after sex, but she’d never had a fully aroused man just resting contentedly inside her before.
“Shush. Just sleep. Trust me,” he ordered, pleased when she did.
When Alexa woke in the morning, Casey was not beside her, but she heard the shower running.
Looking at the clock, she saw it was seven fifteen, already later than her usual rising time. No workout today, she thought, pushing her tired and aching body upright. Climbing reluctantly from the bed, she pulled on yoga pants and a tee, headed to the guest bathroom, and then to the kitchen to make coffee.
Casey found her in the kitchen, staring at the coffee pot, hair mussed and face still foggy from sleep. It was his fault she looked so tired, he thought, fighting not to smile too much about it.
Casey walked to Alexa and pulled her into his arms for a hug.
“Morning,” he said.
“Good morning,” she replied, hugging him back, and leaning on him a little. “You smell nice.”
“You smell sexy,” he said, kissing her neck. “Are you going to work today?”
“Important meeting this morning,” she said, reaching into a cabinet and pulling out two matching mugs.
Casey sighed and poured dark, fragrant liquid into both mugs. “Damn. I guess I wasn’t good in bed after all. Well, you did try to warn me.”
“Come with me,” Alexa offered, the words tripping out, fueled by the urges developing much farther south.
Casey grinned over his mug, his eyes flashing. “Every time I can,” he promised.
Alexa slapped his chest with the back of her hand. “Fool. I meant come to work with me. I can probably get away at lunch.”
Casey’s eyes grew thoughtful. “How about I pick you up at lunch? I have something I want to do. Am I spending the weekend?”
“Up to you,” she said with a shrug.
“Alexa,” Casey said, shaking his head from side to side. “Do you want me to spend the weekend or not?”
“Does my attorney need to draw up a contract? What do you want from me?” she demanded. “We talked about this yesterday.”
“I said I wanted to stay. I need you to ask me,” he ordered. “Just ask me to stay the weekend.”
“No,” she replied back. “I already did. I’m not going to beg.”
“Alexa, we’re about to christen your kitchen floor. I’m still stirred up from being inside you for hours while you slept under me. I’m going to have to pound you this time.”
“That was not my fault—“ Alexa began, and then changed her mind about arguing when Casey set his coffee on the counter.
“Would you like to spend the weekend with me?” she asked quickly as his arms came around her, causing her to slosh her coffee over the side of the mug.
“Yes,” Casey said. “But now I’m even more stirred up. I don’t know if I can wait until this afternoon.”
Casey backed her against the counter, moved the coffee from her hand to the nearest flat surface, and leaned into Alexa for a kiss that shared a whole lot more than just a taste of coffee.
“I knew this would happen. I want you even more today. What time is your meeting?,” he asked.
“An hour from now,” Alexa said, using her hands to stroke his back while his hips pressed into hers. She straightened and spread her legs to pull him between them.
Casey groaned at the deepened contact. “I can wait a few hours. I’m sure I can. I may be insane by that point, but I can wait. I need to go home, pack a bag, and run an errand. I’ll ride with you to work and take a taxi. I’ll come back at noon.”
He picked up her coffee and handed it back to her. Then he picked up his own.
“You make good coffee,” he said, thinking how it would be to wake up with her every day.
“Basic survival skill,” Alexa said, refilling her mug and heading to the bedroom. “Give me a few minutes to shower. I’ll be quick.”
“Can I watch?” Casey asked, smiling over the mug at her.
“Next time,” Alexa promised, finally smiling herself. This morning she didn’t trust him, but worse, she didn’t trust herself.
If it wasn’t for the marketing meeting about Lauren’s scents, she’d have taken Casey back to bed and seen if he tasted as good as he smelled. She sighed. Maybe her shower needed to be a cold one.
When she emerged from the bedroom a half hour later, Casey was sitting on the couch in her living room, flipping through a business magazine.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“That was fast. And you still look amazing. Tired—but amazing,” he told her.
Alexa smiled and offered him a hand to pull him from the sofa.
“So what are you driving today?” he asked, not able to keep the excitement from his voice.
Alexa tilted her chin down to smother a smile.
“Are you just having sex with me for my vehicles?” she asked.
“No,” Casey denied, shaking his head. “But they’re a real perk.”
“BMW,” she said flatly, slapping the keys into his palm. “You’re driving this time. I’m exhausted. Some horny Marine kept me up all night.”
“Lucky you,” Casey said, grabbing her hand when she laughed. “Have I told you I love that sassy mouth of yours?”
“Good thing,” Alexa said, leading him through the maze of her house to the garage. “I’m too old to change my personality, even for great sex.”
“Great, huh?” Casey grinned. “Honey, you
’ll be adding adverbs to that adjective before you have a chance to talk to Regina and Lauren about it.”
He unlocked the passenger door and held it open for her.
“You honestly think I’m going to tell my friends how good you are in bed?” Alexa asked, hands on hips again.
Casey smirked. “Of course. And when I piss you off, they’ll be the first to know that too. I was married. I know how it works.”
Alexa dropped her hands and sighed. “It’s true,” she admitted, climbing into the car while he laughed.
Casey put the key in the ignition and waited in awe as the soft leather seat adjusted itself perfectly around his rear.
“Oh, hell. I didn’t know what an opportunist I was until this seat molded itself to my ass.”
Alexa laughed, “So you are sleeping with me for my cars?”
“Maybe,” Casey said, backing out of the garage and smoothly rolling down the driveway. “I hope that’s not the case. I’ll let you know for sure in a few days.”
“Again, this is not a good way to win points with me,” she chastised, laughing at his pretense to like her cars better than her. Her ego didn’t dent so easily. “So I’m competing with my cars,” she mused, smiling to herself. “We’ll see about that.”
Casey never heard her threat because he was totally absorbed in driving the car through Falls Church morning rush traffic.
Alexa leaned her head back and fell asleep on the way.
*** *** ***
At her building, Casey kissed Alexa goodbye and got off the elevator at the main floor. The doorman was flagging a cab for him as the elevator doors closed.
Alexa rode up to the office alone, missing Casey already. She was lost in fantasy thinking of last night, wishing he’d chosen to hang around this morning, when Sydney spied her.
He looked at his watch and then narrowed his eyes. “You’re late, but at least you finally got laid,” Sydney said, picking up his coffee with a grin.
“Got laid?” Alexa repeated. “What is it about men and their unflattering euphemisms for sex?”
“Well, what do you want to call it?” Sydney asked with a shrug. He tapped on his PDA. “Marketing meeting is in fifteen minutes. Want me to delay the meeting time?”
“No,” Alexa barked, then softened her tone as she realized she was on the verge of yelling for no good reason. “No. Sorry for yelling. I’m just tired. The meeting is the only reason I dragged myself here today. I need about ten more hours of sleep.”
“Hmmm…you’re awfully grumpy. Carter must not have been as good as he looked,” Sydney said with a laugh.
“Fat lot you know,” Alexa said, her mouth twisting into a playful snarl. “The man finally let me sleep after the fourth time. Hell, there could have been a fifth or sixth time. He was still up for it when I passed out.”
“So you’re mad because Casey didn’t fall asleep before you?” Sydney asked, feigning confusion, when he secretly wanted to do a happy dance and twirl Alexa around the waiting area.
“No,” Alexa said, turning to stride down the hallway. “I wanted him to stay with me today, but he had an errand to run.”
“Honey, you can’t bring a lover to work like he was a purse dog, otherwise Paul would never leave my side.” Sydney took a sip of his coffee and thought about it for a while.
“Though after four times last night, I can see why you might want to keep an eye on Casey. If word ever got out to the other women here, well, things might get ugly for you,” he joked, pretending to shiver at the potential violence of women fighting over Casey’s affections.
Alexa raised a middle finger salute over her shoulder.
Sydney was the only person who reminded her occasionally that beautiful was good, but it wasn’t always enough. She both loved and hated him for it.
“Hey,” Sydney yelled at the finger. “You weren’t the only one who got lucky last night.”
“Stop bragging and have someone get me a large coffee. Then come talk to me about business. I want you to sit in on the meeting about Lauren’s scents.”
Alexa walked on not glancing back, not wanting to see the I-warned-you look she knew was on Sydney’s face.
“Bossy today, aren’t you?” Sydney yelled down the hall. Then the light bulb turned on in his brain. “Oh, that’s it, isn’t it? I was right. Carter was just as bossy in bed as I suspected.”
Sydney heard her office door open, and then heard some stomping across the room. Direct hit, he thought, laughing. He shouldn’t tease her, really shouldn’t. But it was a lot of fun to see Alexa Ranger meet her match at last.
Sydney picked up the phone. “Ellen, is Jeannine with you? Can she make a coffee run? Somebody is a little down today. Yes. We will need sprinkles, lots of them. And whipped cream, too. Yes I know, but it’s one of those days. Yes. Thanks.”
Sydney picked up his PDA, his own coffee, and hummed all the way down the hall.
Chapter 15
Casey looked up at the steel and glass monster, wondering how a creative person could voluntarily work in a modern professional building so cold and unwelcoming every day.
Maybe to some it was a feat of creative genius. To him, it was no more attractive than a hangar or a Quonset hut, which were about as ugly as buildings could get.
Though Casey didn’t dwell on his military past very often anymore, today it was on his mind because of what he had to do.
As a Marine, he had served in many wars and altercations and managed to survive. There was the Gulf War, Somalia, and Afghanistan. Not to mention the six times he handled security for embassy duty, if you didn’t count the last one in Djibouti where being thrown by a bomb had taken out his hip.
He’d even survived that, though it had cost him his military career.
Today he wondered what price he was going to have to pay for the fight he was about to have. He wished it didn’t have to be a fight, but if Alexa was right about her daughter, then it was probably going to be one.
Still, after seeing Alexa’s vulnerability last night, he’d decided it was worth risking this conversation, no matter what the outcome.
There was no doorman to greet him in front of the metal monstrosity, but just inside there was a round receptionist area where a woman hesitantly greeted those who entered. In his military mindset, the receptionist area reminded him of a foxhole.
Casey shook his head to clear out the past and brought his attention to task at hand.
“Casey Carter. I have an appointment to see Jenna Ranger at ten. I made it just a little while ago,” he told her.
“Yes, Mr. Carter. If you take the elevator on the left, Ms. Ranger’s office is in Room 337,” she said with a sympathetic smile, sneaking a look at his cane.
Normally, Casey would have been either irked or intrigued by the sideways glance, depending on his mood. His mind was on bigger matters this morning.
Outside Jenna’s office, Casey took a deep breath and then knocked. He wasn’t surprised when she personally opened the door moments later.
Jenna Ranger wouldn’t have yelled for him to come in unless she had to do so. Virginia manners had been bred into her.
“Hi, Casey. You didn’t need to make an appointment. I’d have seen you anyway,” Jenna said smiling. “Come in and sit. Can I get you some coffee or a water?”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks.” He chose to sit in a dark leather chair with chrome legs. It reminded him of the furniture in Seth’s condo. It was comfortable, but not very appealing to his nature.
“It’s nice to see you, but I should warn you before you sit down that I think your cause is already lost.”
“I certainly hope not,” Casey said fervently, working on producing a genuine smile.
“Look—before you start campaigning for Seth, I think you should know he and I are truly finished,” Jenna said softly.
He watched Jenna walk back to her chair, another leather and chrome version, even if it was the executive one.
“I’m genuinely sorry to he
ar it,” Casey replied. “I know Seth doesn’t show his feelings well, but he really does care about you a great deal.”
Jenna shrugged and sighed, reminding Casey of Alexa.
“I’ve concluded we’re just not suited,” Jenna said philosophically, looking at the desk because it was too hard to look into eyes so similar to Seth’s and say the words. “I’m already dating someone new. I think Seth should do the same.”
Inside Casey winced, but he only shrugged in reply.
“I guess that’s up to Seth,” Casey told her.
Jenna nodded. “Well, I appreciate you coming by. It’s nice of you to want to do this for Seth. Mama told me you even came to see her. I saw your cane in the office.”
“Yes,” Casey said, sucking in air, knowing her statement was his best invitation to just spill it. “That’s actually part of what I came to see you about.”
Jenna wrinkled her face in confusion. “The fact you left your cane in Mama’s office? She already explained Seth hadn’t put you up to coming. I’m not mad at you.”
“Try to hold that thought. You know, you look a lot like your mother when you get confused,” Casey said to Jenna. “Do you do the hands-on-your-hip thing, too?”
Jenna blinked a few times, trying to find the sense in what Casey was saying. Why was Casey so fixated on comparing her to her mother?
“Okay. Let’s try this explanation,” Casey said. “I left my cane in your mother’s office when I came to see her, but it wasn’t about Seth.”
Jenna nodded wisely, hoping she looked properly sympathetic. Seth had said Casey was worried about not having a job.
“Were you looking for a job in Mama’s company?” Jenna asked.
“Me? Work for a lingerie company? Not hardly,” Casey denied, snorting at the thought.
When she continued to look confused, he decided to just confess. “Oh hell, look I’m—I’m interested in your mother.”
Jenna blinked several times again, looking at Casey with new eyes, finally noticing his nervousness, and the slight flush on his face.
“Why? Mama’s menopausal, you know. I think she takes supplements to control the symptoms,” Jenna said, trying to shock him.
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