Cinderella & the CEO

by Maureen Child

  “Always is when you start lying. By the time you get around to the truth, the lies are so big you can’t see a way around them.”

  “You’re not exactly being comforting, you know.”

  He laughed again and threw one arm over her shoulders. “I’m not trying to be. You don’t need comfort, Ivy. You need to straighten this mess out, that’s all.”

  “That’s all.” She sighed again and let her gaze slide across the familiar scenes around her. “When he finds out the truth, he’ll be furious. And he’s warming up to the tree farm, but he’s not exactly a fan yet, so there’s still the chance that he’ll sic his lawyer on us and we’ll still be up the proverbial creek.”

  “Seems to not be as angry as he once was,” Mike said softly as he slid her a sidelong look. “You wouldn’t know the reason for that, would you?”

  Ivy groaned. “Just how much did you see?”

  “Not much, thank you God for not striking me blind.” Mike held up one hand when she opened her mouth to talk. “It’s none of my business anyway, honey. You’re all grown up. You can make your own decisions. I just want to know that you know what you’re doing. That you’ve got your eyes open wide.”

  “I’d like to know that, too,” she admitted.

  The trouble was, she told herself as she tipped her head back and stared up at the white clouds scuttling across a bright blue sky, she just wasn’t sure. When she’d started all of this, it had been with the idea of getting to know Tanner, easing him into small town life and hoping that once she’d accomplished the task, he’d stop giving the tree farm so much grief.

  But it had stopped being solely about that days ago. She hadn’t admitted it to herself, but that was the honest truth. Sunlight speared out from behind a cloud and looked like golden fingers reaching down from the sky. She sighed and the wind carried the sound away.

  “I don’t have to leave tomorrow,” Mike said softly, as if sensing the turmoil within her. “I can stay awhile yet.”

  She smiled and lowered her gaze to meet his. God, that was tempting. Keep her grandfather here as moral support while she stumbled head first into an affair that probably shouldn’t happen. Because she knew that even if Pop stayed, it wouldn’t make a difference. She would still go to Tanner. She would still share his bed because her body wouldn’t allow it any other way. She wanted him so much that her skin was practically humming with anticipation of his touch.

  So there was no reason to have her grandfather remain, just so he could watch her make a fool of herself. Besides, she wouldn’t let him put his life on hold.

  “No thanks, Pop,” she said, threading her arm through his and giving it a squeeze. “I appreciate the offer, but there’s a brand-new nursery waiting for you in Florida. Mom needs your help.”

  “And you don’t?”

  “I’ll always need you, Pop,” she said and tipped her head to rest it on his shoulder. “But I’ve got to stand on my own. This is my mess and I’ll either straighten it out or sink. One or the other.”

  “My money’s on you, kid,” he told her and patted her hand. “Now, why don’t we go and take another look at the new plantings. Want to make sure everything’s in good shape before Tom Howard takes me to the airport tomorrow afternoon.”

  “I can take you, you know. You don’t have to get one of your friends to make the drive.”

  “We’ve been over that, too,” Mike told her with a shake of his head. “Tom’s going into Sacramento to visit his son. There’s no reason for you to make the trip. Especially,” he added slyly, “when there’s plenty going on right here.”

  He was right, Ivy thought, walking with him through the rows of trees, headed for the back half of the farm. There was plenty going on. And a lot of it was inside her. Ivy wasn’t at all sure she was doing the right thing by getting even more involved with a man she was lying to. She only knew she couldn’t seem to help herself.

  It had been too long since she’d been touched. Wanted. Desired. And it felt good to have a man’s hands on her again.

  But that wasn’t entirely true either, she told herself firmly. It wasn’t just any man’s hands she wanted on her. It was Tanner’s. Her heart was falling for him and she couldn’t seem to stop that, either. Even knowing as she fell that eventually, her heart would break, as it had once before. Only this time, she thought, the pain was going to be even more deeply felt. How could it not be, when everything else about her time with Tanner was richer, deeper, more profound than anything she’d ever known before?

  She glanced over her shoulder at the roofline of Tanner’s house. She imagined him in that glass and wood mansion, waiting for her.

  And her body burned.

  Three hours later, the burning had only intensified.

  As if the entire world was collaborating against her, Ivy hadn’t been able to get away from the farm any earlier. Was it a karmic warning system? she wondered. Was someone, somewhere trying to tell her something? Trying to get her to step away from Tanner before it was too late?

  Because if they were, she wasn’t listening. She shivered a little as she climbed the front steps to his porch. In fact, she was actively shutting down her own early warning systems. She didn’t want to think. Didn’t want to wonder or worry. What she wanted was sex. Mind-blowing, soul-searing sex. And she wasn’t leaving here without it.

  Her conscience screamed at her that she should tell Tanner the truth. Tell him that she’d been lying to him. She should confess that she owned Angel Tree Christmas Farm and tell him all about her plan to soften him up so he’d stop causing trouble.

  But, she argued with herself, if the did that, confessed all, then instead of an amazing night filled with what she hoped would be great sex and multiple orgasms…what she’d get would be an argument. Lots of shouting and hurt feelings and—no. She’d tell him the truth eventually. But she wanted this night with him first.

  Adjusting the collar of her white cotton blouse, she flipped her hair back out of her face and then wiped her damp palms on the thighs of her best jeans. Not exactly seductive outerwear, she supposed, but she was who she was. And Tanner hadn’t seemed put off by her jeans and T-shirt earlier.

  Her blood pumped a little faster at the memory of those two quick stolen orgasms. She wanted more. Wanted to feel him touch her all over. Wanted the warm slide of his skin against hers. She squirmed uncomfortably as liquid heat pooled at her center. Even the fabric of her jeans pressing against her was nearly torture.

  She looked over her shoulder at the sunset staining the sky, and the roof of her home. If she had any sense at all, she’d turn around now, go back to her own bedroom and lock the door behind her.

  Ivy took a breath, held it, then let it slowly sift from her lungs. She was hoping for control. Hoping for calm. What she got was a whiff of his scent as he quietly opened the front door.

  Her head whipped around and her mouth went dry.

  His black hair was thick and damp from a shower. His eyes smoldered with the promise of exactly what she needed so desperately. His broad—as she’d guessed—muscular chest was bare and a sprinkling of dark hair dusted his skin, then trailed down across his abdomen to disappear beneath his jeans. The top button of those jeans was unbuttoned, giving her a peek of paler skin and his bare feet were braced wide apart.

  He looked her up and down quickly and Ivy was pretty sure she could actually feel flames licking at her skin under the intensity of his gaze.

  “What took you so long?” he growled in a voice that was low and barely restrained.

  She took another short breath and whispered, “Does it matter, now?”

  “Nope.” He grabbed her hand, tugged her into the house and slammed the door behind her. In seconds, his fingers were undoing the buttons on her shirt. He threw the garment to the floor as she swayed into him.

  Ivy lifted her hands and slid them over his chest, loving the feel of his warm, smooth skin beneath her palms. Her thumbs flicked across his flat nipples and he hissed in a brea
th as he made quick work of the front clasp of her bra. When he slid the straps down her arms to let the damn thing fall on the floor, he filled his hands with her breasts and Ivy groaned aloud.

  “I’ve been wanting you to do that all day,” she admitted, beyond pride, beyond anything but the overwhelming need for him.

  “Baby, I’m just getting started,” he said, then shifted his hands to the waistband of her jeans.

  Ivy was way ahead of him. She toed off her sandals and then wriggled in place to get rid of the denim that was separating her from him. Now only her pale pink panties stood between her and Tanner—when he tore them from her, she could only be grateful.

  “Oh yeah, this is how I’ve wanted you for days,” he murmured, dipping his head to kiss her, once, twice. His teeth and lips tugged at her mouth and delicious sensations spiraled through her in response. Her entire body was sizzling. She wouldn’t have been surprised to glance down and see that she was actually giving off sparks.

  “Well, you’ve got me now,” she said and linked her arms around his neck, going up on her toes so that she could kiss him back more forcefully.

  “Damn straight,” he said, undoing the buttons of his jeans to allow his really impressive erection to spring forth.

  Ivy’s stomach did a slow dip and roll and the dampness at her core increased. He was bigger there than David had been. She wasn’t a virgin, but she wasn’t exactly the most experienced woman on the planet, either. She’d only had one lover and that had been the man she had planned to marry.

  Well, there was no marriage in sight here, she told herself as she looked from Tanner’s hard, all-too-eager flesh up to his eyes again. But she wasn’t looking for that anymore, either. What she needed from him was more basic. More primal.

  She was here and she wasn’t going to second-guess herself. She and Tanner had been heading toward this moment since the first day she’d stepped inside this house. She knew that without a doubt. There was an attraction between them. A fundamental link that pulled them toward each other even when reason should have kept them apart.

  And she wouldn’t argue with it. Not today.

  Reaching for him, she closed her hand around the thickness of him and watched as he closed his eyes and drew in one long, deep breath. She was more than ready for this. More than impatient to feel him inside her. When she stroked him and slid her fingertips across the sensitive tip of him, he stopped her, and shook his head. “Just a minute.”

  He reached into his pocket, grabbed a condom and tore it open. She smiled. In her hunger and hurry, she’d tossed caution out the window along with good sense. Thank heaven Tanner was still conscious enough to do the right thing.

  When he’d sheathed himself, he looked into her eyes, gave her a slow grin and then set both hands at her waist. Lifting her off her feet, he ordered, “Hook your legs behind my back.”

  She locked her gaze with his and did just as he’d ordered.

  His big hands cupped her bottom and kneaded her soft flesh with an urgent tenderness that sent ripples of expectation rolling through her. “Tanner…”

  “Right there with you, baby,” he murmured, his eyes staring directly into hers.

  She read the same wild, raw desire in his eyes that she knew was written in her own. She struggled for air as an invisible iron band tightened around her chest. She held on to his shoulders and gasped as he pushed himself into her body in one sure thrust. She gasped at the intimate invasion. It had been a long time for her and her body had to adjust to his presence. She settled herself more firmly over him and quickly felt tingles of appreciation light up inside her.

  Ivy moved on him then, and her eyes slid shut on a groan as she twisted her hips, reveling in the thick fullness within her. Impaled on his body, she opened her eyes again to meet his. As he moved her up and down on his length, their gazes remained fixed, as if neither of them could bear to break the intimate connections binding them together.

  She felt him shudder and watched a muscle in his jaw twitch as he fought for control. She smiled to herself as she silently admitted that she didn’t want him controlled. She wanted him wild, abandoned. So she took his mouth with hers, tangling her tongue with his, giving him her breath and greedily taking his for her own. She lowered one hand to stroke his flat nipple with the edge of her thumb and when he groaned into her mouth, she knew she’d won.

  He spun around abruptly, braced her back against the door and with his mouth still fused to hers, took her in just the way she wanted. Over and over again, he plunged in and out of her body with a soul shaking rhythm. Each thrust was harder, deeper, than the one before, until all that mattered was the next one and the next. Her mind splintered of thoughts beyond the all-consuming need to reach the pinnacle she was racing toward.

  She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him hungrily as his body lay siege to hers. Tension coiled and tightened inside her as she strained for the release she knew was just out of reach. At last, when she thought she might die from the pleasure, a blinding orgasm crashed down on top of her.

  Ivy tore her mouth from his and shouted his name as a flood of incredible sensations raced through her with the force of an explosion. And moments later, as the last of the ripples wound through her, Tanner buried his face in the curve of her neck, groaned her name aloud and emptied himself, shuddering in her arms until they were both trembling and clinging to each other for support.

  Seconds, then minutes ticked past and still they stood there, braced against a door, each of them too shaken by what had happened to try to move.

  Heart hammering in her chest, Ivy absently listened to the mingled sounds of their harsh breathing. When she thought she could speak without her voice breaking, she whispered on a strained chuckle, “Tanner King, you’re a man of many talents.”

  “Ivy Holloway,” he managed to say before he lifted his head to meet her eyes, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

  Eight

  He carried her upstairs to the bedroom.

  Ivy smiled up at him and Tanner felt like a damn superhero for carrying her. The truth was, he didn’t want to let go of her long enough for her to climb the stairs on her own.

  He’d had her once, hard and fast and it had only fed the quickening fires inside him. Now he wanted to see his fantasy in the flesh, so to speak. He wanted to stretch her out, naked, across his bed. Then he wanted to take his time and lick his way up and down her amazing body.

  Instantly, he was hard again and wishing he’d just peeled his jeans off downstairs. The walk down the long, dimly lit hallways seemed to take forever. But soon enough, he was kicking his bedroom door open and stalking across the room.

  The heavy, bloodred quilt was pulled back already, displaying fresh white sheets. A dozen pillows were mounded against the headboard and the last glow of the sunset painted the sky outside the window a deep orange. One bedside lamp was turned on, creating a golden puddle of light and when Tanner laid her down on the bed, her bare skin seemed to glow in its radiance.

  She stretched her arms up over her head and sighed as she wriggled against the mattress. “I feel wonderful,” she told him.

  “You’re about to feel even better,” he said.

  “Promises, promises,” she teased and held her arms out for him.

  Tanner shook his head slowly, tore off his jeans and grabbed a fresh condom from the bedside table. He sheathed himself again and noticed that her gaze was locked on the motion. Instantly, he went even harder and he wouldn’t have thought that possible. It seemed though, that where Ivy was concerned, his body couldn’t get enough.

  “Tanner, come to me,” she coaxed.

  “In time,” he said and went down on his knees beside the bed. Grabbing hold of her, he pulled her to the edge of the mattress and draped her legs over his shoulders.

  “Oh, Tanner…” She pushed up on her elbows to look at him and she was still watching him when he first tasted her. She gasped aloud and moved against his mouth.

  He ran h
is tongue along her slick folds and tasted her as if she were running with honey. Her scent flooded him and Tanner gave himself up to the fantasy of having her at his mercy, naked and writhing.

  Again and again, his lips, tongue and teeth worked her most sensitive flesh. The only sounds in the room were the sighs of her breathing and the slapping of her hands against the mattress as she fought for something to hold on to.

  He relished her and when he felt her coiling for release, her body tightening, he stopped, pulled back and grinned at her outraged squeak of “Don’t stop now!”

  She was shaking with unanswered need and Tanner skimmed the tips of his fingers across her center. She jolted and then settled down again, waiting breathlessly for him to finish what he’d started. And when he couldn’t wait another moment, he did just that. He flicked his tongue across the one spot that held so many sensations and then he suckled her as she splintered in his grasp, crying his name.

  When her climax at last ended, he rose up, joined her on the bed and rolled her over onto her stomach. She sighed blissfully as his hands rubbed up and down the length of her spine, tracing every curve, every line of her body. His mouth went next and he licked and kissed his way across her skin until he knew her body as well as he did his own.

  She squirmed against him, rubbing her bottom into him and the fires inside him roared.

  “Again,” he muttered thickly. “I need you again. Now.”

  “Now,” she agreed and when he pulled her up to her knees, she threw her hair out of her face and looked back over her shoulder at him. “Be in me, Tanner. Be with me.”

  “Grab hold of the headboard,” he said and moved to cover her body with his. When she had a grip on the intricately carved oak wood, Tanner held her hips still and entered her to the hilt. He buried himself as deeply as he could and knew it would never be deep enough.