Never with a Rich Man

by Tina Susedik

  “I do have one question for you, though.”

  “Mmm?” she mumbled against his neck.

  “What did you mean you’d always wanted to do that?”

  “I never wanted to do that to Tony, so I guess I meant what I said. Pretty sad for a woman my age to never having given a blowjob, huh?”

  “The more I hear about your ex, the more I realize what an idiot he must have been.” His skin burned where she smiled against his neck. “I can’t believe any man wouldn’t let a woman give him a blowjob. He was nuts not to let you give him one because you were fantastic. The guy was absolutely, positively a moron for letting you go. But I’m sure glad he did.”

  “Mmm. Me, too.”

  “What did he do for a living?”

  “Family business. When he was with me, he’d never talk about what he did.”

  “Sounds like he left you alone a lot. Did he travel?”

  Cassie yawned. “He was out of the country a lot.”

  Before he could ask any more questions, her body relaxed and her breathing slowed. She was asleep. The woman wasn’t making this easy.

  But as the clock chimed the single hour, Hogan found himself still wide-awake, which was unusual since he normally fell asleep after sex. He couldn’t help thinking about what he’d almost admitted to Cassie, something he wasn’t sure he was ready to admit to himself.

  First, he needed to do was clear her name with the Bureau. In his opinion, there was no way she was involved with the smuggling.

  But, unfortunately, opinions didn’t pass muster at the FBI. He’d pass on any new information about her ex this weekend and halt any ideas Kent might have about hauling her in for questioning.

  So now what did he do? Explaining about his family’s business and his role in it would only make things worse. She thought he was a salesman, and that was his fault. He dropped his forearm over his eyes. The hole he’d dug was getting deeper all the time. At this rate he would have to learn to speak Chinese.

  Right now he needed to go home and get some rest. He certainly wasn’t getting any here. Tomorrow he’d do more digging into Tony’s past.

  Hogan tried to slide out from under Cassie. With her arms tucked around his back, he could only move his legs.

  “Cassie. Wake up.”

  She mumbled and snuggled closer to him.

  “Cassie, honey. Wake up.” He shook her shoulders. “Cassie, I need to get up.”

  “Huh?”

  Trying to ease her arms from beneath his neck was like trying to move a boulder with a toothpick. “Sweetheart, you need to move. I’d love to stay, but I have to go to work tomorrow.”

  His words finally seeped through her. She moved her arms and slid to a sitting position across his legs. Her hand came to rest on his bare crotch. Hogan sucked in his breath.

  “Cassie, please,” he said, moving her hand and body from him. He swung his legs to the floor, stood, and zipped his pants. He frowned when he heard Cassie giggling. “What’s so funny?”

  Cassie covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her laughter. “What are you wearing?”

  Hogan checked out his attire and had to agree it was pretty silly—cut-off jogging pants, Bears T-shirt cut to the middle of his stomach, and a blue suit jacket. He hadn’t put on his socks, and sitting alongside the couch was one tennis shoe and one dress shoe. He ran a hand through his already-tousled hair.

  “Um. I was in a hurry. You sounded so frantic, and I was afraid you were hurt.”

  She stood and wrapped her arms around his waist. “That is so sweet, Hogan.” She tipped her head back. “Looks good on you.”

  Hogan chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I think.” He rubbed her back. “Listen, I really need to get home and get some sleep. Are you up for going away this weekend?” He squatted down and tied his shoes.

  “Go? Go where?”

  “You know, I asked to you go away with me for the weekend? Now we can leave earlier than planned and can spend a few extra days together.”

  Cassie bit on her lip. “I don’t know, Hogan. I probably wouldn’t be very good company. Maybe I should just stay here and figure things out.”

  Hogan finished tying his shoes. “A couple of days away from your problems may make them seem clearer when you get back. From what I can tell, you’ve done nothing but work and worry the last few months.” He stood and helped Cassie to her feet. Rubbing his hands up and down her arms, he continued, “With a rested mind and body, you’ll be surprised how ideas will pop into that pretty head of yours. So what do you say? Come with me? Please?”

  Cassie gave him an exaggerated sigh. “There’s that hang-dog look again. I couldn’t resist it before and I can’t now. I’ll go.”

  “I need just one promise from you first.”

  “I need to know what it is before I promise anything.”

  “No talking or worrying about work. We have a family rule that work can’t be talked about on vacations.”

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a vacation, so I’ll just have to take your word for it.”

  Her comment stopped Hogan up short. “How long has it been?”

  “Since my honeymoon to Europe.”

  “You went to Europe on your honeymoon?”

  Cassie wrapped her arms around his waist. “Yeah. But it wasn’t much fun. Tony was always gone.”

  Hogan frowned. Could this be the lead they were waiting for? “How the hell could he leave you on your honeymoon? I’d never have left the hotel room.”

  “Guess it was a chance to make contacts for work or something.”

  Her yawn pressed against his chest. Hogan kissed the top of her head. “Well, I can’t take you to Europe, but I’ll just have to make sure this weekend will be one you’ll never forget. Now I have to get going. Are you going to be all right?”

  “Yes. What time will you pick me up on Friday?”

  Hogan slipped into his jacket. “In the morning? Does ten sound all right? I have to work tomorrow and have a meeting tomorrow night, so I may not be able to call you before then.”

  “By which watch?”

  “Smart aleck.” He chuckled. The woman had a quick sense of humor.

  “Hogan?” Cassie said, following him with a grin.

  “What?”

  “Don’t stop anywhere on your way home.” Cassie wiggled her finger at him.

  Hogan glanced at his clothes and swatted her on the rear end. “Smart ass.” He laughed and walked out the door. A weekend with this woman should prove to be interesting in more ways than one. He just needed to remember the main reason he asked her to go was to learn more about her ex—not more about her delectable body.

  Chapter 14

  Cassie spent Thursday morning swearing as she rummaged for the papers Tony wanted. Grumbling about how exes should stay out of exes’ lives, she opened drawers, searched through papers, and dug through boxes, all to no avail. Knowing Tony as she did, or thought she did, he’d probably accost her again if she didn’t produce what he wanted.

  She glanced at the statues in the china cabinet. Nope. The box she’d brought downstairs couldn’t be what Tony wanted. Even if she didn’t recall bringing the box into her house, that didn’t mean one of her friends who’d helped her move out of Tony’s house hadn’t taken it to the attic.

  After lunch, she gave up and tore off old wallpaper from her kitchen and dining room, using her anger at Tony’s interference in her life and the loss of her job to get more done than she’d planned. Anger was a great motivator.

  Friday morning had her pacing the living room waiting for Hogan. Thoughts of several days together, not to mention the nights, caused her stomach to flip and roll and her heart to beat like a hummingbird on steroids.

  A combination
of nerves, excitement, and worry kept her from downing more than a piece of toast and glass of juice for breakfast. Nerves from wondering if he’d changed his mind after her mini-breakdown on Wednesday, excitement from—well, just being with Hogan made her giddy.

  Most of all she was worried. Worried about whether she packed the right things, whether she would make a fool of herself and start crying over her lost job and virtually no financial prospects, or that she’d blurt out her true feelings for Hogan and he wouldn’t reciprocate.

  She’d tossed and turned last night. Her growing feelings for Hogan terrified her. Was she in love? She had thought she loved Tony, too, and see how that turned out. What if it really wasn’t love, but a reaction to having a man interested in her after a barren sex life? Was it just raging hormones? Loneliness?

  Her feelings for Hogan were nothing like her experience with her ex. With Tony she’d never felt giddy or silly just thinking about him, only that she hadn’t quite met his lofty expectations of her. Most times when she wasn’t with him, thoughts of Tony never entered her mind. Hogan was constantly in her thoughts. And the sex. Well, there was no comparison between the two. No matter how she analyzed it, Tony lost out.

  By the time Hogan arrived, Cassie had herself wound as tight as the spring on her cuckoo clock when she opened the door. One look at his face, and her fears disappeared. His dimples deepened as his smile grew. His eyes smoldered with desire as he took her face in his hands. For a second, before his lips met hers, she thought she saw his glasses steam.

  “Two days was too long,” he murmured against her lips. “Ready?”

  “Mmm. I sure am.” She pressed her breasts against his chest.

  Hogan held her closer until there was no space between them. “Mmm. You’re right, feels wonderful, but actually I meant are you ready to leave?”

  A moment passed before Cassie was able to focus on his words. “Uh-huh.” She reluctantly stepped back. “I, um . . .” She was finding it hard to breathe. “I, uh . . . My suitcase is by the couch,” she managed to utter.

  The view of his rear in his tight jeans as he crossed the room had her salivating. A plaid flannel shirt, tucked into his jeans at his narrow waist, stretched across his broad shoulders when he picked up her bag. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing dark hair and muscular forearms. Her fingers itched to feel his taut skin. Yowza, that man had a bod.

  Now that he was within her grasp again, she wasn’t sure how long she could wait before jumping his bones. After all, not counting what she’d done to Hogan on Wednesday night, they hadn’t made love since Monday. Could a woman her age turn into a brazen hussy? She hoped so. She grabbed her coat and purse.

  In her hormone-fogged state, she missed his intense perusal of her grandmother’s antiques.

  Traffic grew heavier as Hogan maneuvered the green Bronco through Milwaukee and onto Highway 43, heading north. Passing the exits to Mequon, Cedarburg, and Grafton, Hogan watched Cassie from the corner of his eye. She was way too quiet. He wondered, and not for the first time since inviting her on this trip, whether she was having second thoughts.

  Was she worrying about her job? Not talking about it and not thinking about it were two different things. Maybe it would be better to let her talk and get it out of her system.

  “Cassie?”

  She angled her body toward him. “Hmm?”

  “I know I said we wouldn’t talk about work on this trip, but maybe it would be a good idea to get it out of your system. Tell me about this Richard.”

  When she didn’t say anything for several seconds, he thought she wouldn’t answer.

  “When Richard started at the office, he was friendly. Maybe too friendly,” she added, shrugging her shoulders. “After he finally understood I would never, ever in a million years go out with him, he became nasty. Whenever I would suggest an idea, he’d put it down, then after a bit it would turn up as his suggestion. I finally got to the point where I wrote down my ideas to tell my boss on my own. Before I knew it, Richard was telling the exact same thing to Mr. Peters.” Cassie shook her head as if to banish the nastiness of her co-worker. “I’m not sure if he had a way to eavesdrop or was going through my desk.”

  “Did you talk to your boss about it?”

  “No. I didn’t have any proof. Besides, I didn’t want to sound like a whiner. Especially with the promotion coming up.”

  Hogan took his eyes off the road and smiled. “Seems to me they were crazy not to give you the promotion.”

  Cassie’s heart warmed. Another point for Hogan and against her ex. Not that she was trying, but she couldn’t help comparing the two. Tony never would have supported her desire to move up in the company.

  “Everyone in the office thought I would get it. Many of them wanted to make the move to the new office with me. I haven’t talked to anyone since Wednesday, but as I was leaving, a few hinted they wouldn’t work for Richard.”

  She stared out the window and watched the fall scenery pass by.

  “Why didn’t anyone report him?”

  “Have you ever worked with anyone who had a special knack for brown-nosing his superiors to the point where everyone else knew if they complained, the higher-ups wouldn’t believe them?”

  “Yeah. I’ve worked with a few of those. I suppose people were afraid he’d make them lose their jobs.”

  Cassie held back a snort. “You got that right. He reminds me of my ex.”

  “In what way?”

  “Putting people down to bolster their own inadequacies.”

  Hogan glanced at her, then back at the road. “Must have been hard to live with.”

  Cassie shrugged. Hogan had no idea how hard.

  “So what will you do now?” Hogan said after a few moments of silence. He took her hand and rubbed his thumb back and forth over her palm.

  How was she supposed to think? The combination of his heat and the way his voice dropped at his last word sent electric shocks pulsing through her body. Ideas were coming fast and furious and they weren’t job related. He squeezed her hand, nearly sending her through the roof.

  “You all right?” he asked, his smirk suggesting he knew what she was thinking.

  Was he as on edge as she? His thumb massaging her palm was nearly orgasmic. Thinking about his hands running across her bare flesh sent shivers of electricity to her core. It was going to be easy not thinking about work this weekend. She refrained from sighing like a besotted teenager and whispered, “I’m just fine.”

  They rode in companionable silence for a few miles. The Port Washington and Cedarburg exits were long behind them. The sign for Sheboygan loomed ahead.

  “Where are we going?” Cassie finally asked.

  “North.” He let go of her hand and gripped the steering wheel.

  “Even I, who has the poorest sense of direction of anyone I know, can tell we’re headed north,” she answered. “But north goes a long way. We’ve been heading in that direction for a while now. C’mon. Tell me.”

  Hogan grinned. “You sound like a little kid waiting to open a present.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him.

  “Look like one, too. I’m taking you to a place near and dear to me. Unless you hate the outdoors, you’ll love it.”

  Different scenarios entered her mind. Manitowoc? Green Bay? A hotel? Resort?

  “So tell me about your poor sense of direction.” Hogan interrupted her thoughts.

  “Unless you know exactly where you’re going, we’d better stick to straight north because I certainly won’t be able to help.”

  Outside her window, Lake Michigan twinkled between tree branches. So far she’d only been able to see glimpses of it as they passed through Sheboygan. Gradually the trees changed color the farther north they traveled.

  “As long as
the lake stays where it is and I’m in Milwaukee, I know which direction is east.” She turned away from the glittering water and faced him. “One time I had to make a trip to Toronto for work. I’m not sure how many times I got lost before figuring out Lake Ontario is south of the city and not east.”

  Hogan laughed at her story so she went on. “The second time I went I hired a taxi. It saved me time and plenty of gas money.”

  “I’ll make sure and remember.” His eyes twinkled like the water. “I’ll just have to keep you in bed all weekend so you don’t get lost.”

  Her senses perked up, and her skin tingled at the vision of being wrapped in his arms.

  The Manitowoc exit was almost upon them when Cassie snapped her fingers with glee. “I know where you’re taking me, Hogan.”

  “You do?” he asked, his voice rising. She couldn’t possibly know.

  “Green Bay,” she announced, her eyes shining. “You’re taking me to the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame. Maybe the Packers are in town,” Cassie teased. “Oh dear, if they are, then we’ll never get a parking place.” She tapped a nail on her upper lip. “But you did tell me to bring hiking boots, so that must mean we’ll have to park a ways away from the stadium and hike in. Right?”

  She gave Hogan a smile to knock him clear off his seat if he hadn’t been buckled in. “Like a snowball in hell. I’m not spending my time off wandering through the halls of a team that took thirty years between championships.”

  “Why, Hogan,” Cassie said, her voice oozing sugar, “one would think you didn’t like the Packers.”

  Her teasing tickled his fancy. It wasn’t often he could talk sports with a woman. This should be fun. “Why any self-respecting . . .”

  “I know. I know.” Cassie gave an exaggerated sigh. “Any self-respecting Bears fan would never set foot in the Packer Hall of Fame.” She paused for effect. “He’d be afraid of seeing all those trophies. If I were a Bears fan . . .”