by Rye Hart
Unlike Lucas, who had completely changed since I saw him last, Conner was exactly the same. He was still tall, dark, and insanely handsome but with a few light patches of gray on his head. It made him look even sexier than I’d remembered. His smile, as he embraced his son was contagious, and like a lovesick girl. I watched them interact in awe. Only being around the two for seconds, I could tell that Conner was an amazing Dad to this boy who idolized him so.
Before I had time to pull my gaze away, Conner released Lucas to the ground and ask the nanny to get him ready for the day. Once they were out of the kitchen, he turned his gaze to me.
A crooked, unreadable smirk curled up on his lips as his dark blue eyes traveled slowly from my Jimmy Choo’s all the way up to my green eyes. His gaze had a kind of intensity I never witnessed before—at least, not directed at me. It was almost as if his eyes could touch me and I felt that touch everywhere. I felt it on my arms, legs, my neck, and especially, on my nipples and in between my thighs.
For the first time in my life in a public setting, I felt moisture gather at my center and soak the thin fabric of my panties. Sure, I had made out with boys in the past, but none of them had ever made me feel as hot and bothered as Conner was doing at this very moment.
What the hell was my issue? Only a few minutes in and Conner already had the strongest effect on me. My cheeks warmed and flushed a bright red as I pressed my thighs together to find some relief.
Needing something to focus on other than the completely surreal reality I was living in, I cleared my throat and said, “Hi, Conner.”
Very smooth Chloe.
Without breaking our eye contact, he took a deep breath and then opened those perfect lips. “Ch-lo-e Jones, I’ll be damned.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the way his tongue lingered on the lo of my name, and I couldn’t help but smile. With a sideways grin, Conner ran a hand through his dark brown hair and took a few steps in my direction. The closer he got, the stronger the scent of alcohol and a hint of women’s perfume that emanated from him became. Even though it was evident to me that he just left from the presence of another woman and wasn’t in his right mind, the attention I was getting and the glimmer in his eyes was like air in my lungs after being underwater for so long.
Conner came to a stop right in front of me and clicked his tongue. “Alex said you were taller, but he failed to tell me what a beautiful woman you’ve become.”
I pulled a deep breath through my mouth and grew a bit taller in my spine. My new posture made my boobs stick out a bit and, I could see Conner forcing his gaze away from my ample cleavage. I smiled.
“Even though I’m twenty-two, I think he hasn’t noticed that I’m not a little girl anymore,” I informed him honestly.
“He was always the smarter one,” he said cryptically as he peeled his eyes from me and walked toward the coffee maker shaking his head.
Confused, I just stared at him. Deep down, I could feel that there was some secret meaning behind Conner’s words and though a part of me wanted to ask him what he meant; a bigger part decided that I shouldn’t. This was supposed to be a job interview, and I’d restrained myself from Conner for so long - it only felt natural to continue hiding my feelings now.
“In that case, you’re in luck,” I started in a playful tone while still hoping to guide the conversation to a more business appropriate subject. He looked at me over his shoulder and smirked. I took a deep breath and continued, “I’m just as smart as he is—maybe even a little smarter. I’ve always wanted to work at Blackwater Resort, and I know I’ll be the best administrator the place has ever had. I promise you that.”
Conner stared at me with a surprised expression for a few more seconds. Then, he picked up his coffee cup and strutted toward the kitchen table. “That’s a big claim.”
“I know, but it’s still true,” I said firmly, finally feeling my usual confidence return.
With a smirk, he nodded at the chair in front of him. “Sit down and tell me why, then.”
And I did.
CHAPTER FOUR — CONNER
As soon as Chloe’s car disappeared between the trees, I rushed upstairs to my bedroom and crossed the hallway leading to my room in record time so I wouldn’t bump into my son. I knew he was excited to go riding and so was I, but I desperately needed a shower.
There was no denying that after my night with the blonde from the bar I smelled like sex and cheap perfume. However, that smell wasn’t nearly as bad as the scent of guilt that lingered on me after my meeting with Chloe.
Removing my clothes, I crossed my bedroom and made a beeline for my shower. Not even bothering with the hot water, I cranked the cold all the way and stepped underneath the massive rainwater spray. The cold water fell onto my skin like needles, but I didn’t dare to warm it up. I needed the cold and the sobering effect it provided.
“What the fuck did I just do?” I muttered to myself as I thought back on conversation with Chloe.
The interview went great. In fact, it was the best interview I could remember. She was competent, confident, and devoid of bullshit, which was how I liked my administrators. For those reasons, I had no doubt that ours would be a very successful partnership. There was only one problem with me hiring her - and I could feel it pulsing between my legs.
Never, not even in my wildest dreams had I imagined that the shy, awkward teenager I had once known would turn into this vixen with perfectly round hips, full tits, and the face of an angel. To top everything off, she was smart, funny and interesting in a way most women I came across weren’t. She was one of those whole package women, except that she wasn’t. She couldn’t be.
At least, not for me.
Chloe Jones was my best friend’s daughter, and no matter how hot she was or how much my cock twitched at the thought of her, that was all she could ever be.
I groaned and straightened my body so that every inch of me would be under the frigid spray. Defying the laws of nature, my cock didn’t shrink at the cold. It remained awake and ready for someone that could never be mine.
My eyes closed in an attempt to focus my brain and find a solution to the problem. However, all I thought about was Chloe.
Instinctively, my hand drifted down to my massive erection. Behind my closed lids, I saw Chloe’s sweet mouth wrapped around my cock. I wondered how much of me she would be able to take and how deliciously smooth it would feel. I pictured her tits bouncing and her pretty blond hair wrapped around my hand as I worked myself in and out of her lips.
I knew that even fantasizing about her was wrong, but for some reason, the forbidden aspect of it made the whole thing even sweeter. Before I knew it, my balls were tight, and my body felt like it was dangling from a precipice. I held onto the wall in front of me and kept Chloe’s face and tits front and center in my mind as I sped up my movements, until my body finally erupted with one of the strongest orgasms I’d ever had.
Once I was done, and she was still in my thoughts, I stood under the cold water waiting for my breath to return to normal and realized three very important things. The first was that working with Chloe would be hard as hell. The second was that since I was doomed to be around her every day, showers like this would become frequent. And finally, the third and most important was that I was incredibly fucked.
* * *
Not giving two shits that my boots and the rest of me were filthy, I opened the massive front doors of the Resort’s reception and walked inside. I didn’t stop walking until I was right underneath one of the big AC vents and the deliciously cold air was pumping right at my face.
As glad as I was to be out of the office and working on things I actually liked, like the resort’s maintenance and the training of our horses, I couldn’t deny that not having air-conditioning in the barn when the weather was this hot was a bitch. With a sigh of relief, I removed my hat and wiped my hand across my sweaty forehead as I filled my lungs with the cold air.
My breaths weren’t just meant to refresh m
y overheated body, they were also intended to calm my mind and prepare me to venture into Chloe’s office.
It had been two weeks since I laid eyes on her in my kitchen, and I was still unable to shake my desire. Making her mine was all I thought about when I was alone in the shower or buried inside a random woman from the bar. The situation was annoying as fuck—or better yet, as not fucking—and what made it a lot worse was the low-cut dresses she often wore to work.
For that reason, I spent all day making damn sure I was as far away from her as possible—as I did most days. However, as her boss, and despite my personal reservations, it was still my job to check on her and see if she was settling in okay.
With a long exhale, I started moving toward the back of the room. As usual, the door to her office was wide open. Chloe was a big fan of open doors and first names, a personal approach to administering a business that made her very popular with clients and employees – and also sidetracking the hell out of me.
I peeked inside her office and frowned. “You okay?”
Chloe lifted her head up from the desk to look at me. Her arms were still stretched across the table, and her body draped over the surface in a way that squished her tits into a cleavage so magnificent my cock instantly came to life.
Just as my mind started conjuring images of her in that same position while I fucked her from behind, Chloe exhaled and said, “Nope.”
That single word cleared all inappropriate thoughts from my mind and made my eyes bounce from those gorgeous pale mounds on her chest to her face. With my eyes locked on hers, I approached her desk.
“You’ve got dirt on your forehead,” she informed me casually once I was standing right in front of her.
For some reason, the comment made me chuckle and relax. If she was making jokes, things couldn’t be that bad. I sat on the couch facing her and raised a brow.
“You’ve got a bright red spot on yours,” I retorted in the same tone and smirked as her hand instantly rose to touch her forehead.
“So, tell me. What’s up?”
My voice made it clear that I wasn’t asking, I was commanding her to answer. Like a good girl, Chloe pulled herself to a sitting position and obeyed. Her immediate compliance pleased me in a way that went far beyond professional.
“Alice Bernstein,” she muttered, and I needed no further explanation.
Alice was a prominent wedding planner who was overseeing a big society wedding that would take place at Blackwater in a few months. She was also a major ball-busting, entitled, pushy bitch and the reason why my last administrator quit her job.
“What did she ask for this time?”
A heavy sigh passed through Chloe’s lush lips, and my attention was instantly drawn to them. My tongue glided across my lips in a desperate need to taste her. Frustrated by my inability to control myself around her, I ran a hand through my hair and ordered my mind to focus on her words and not her looks.
“She wants to change the date of the wedding to two weeks from now.”
“What the fuck?” I asked outraged and with wide eyes. Like most society weddings, this one had all kinds of extravagant crap planned, and though I didn’t know all the details, I knew we had already hired over a dozen companies to help with the event. The logistics of changing everything would be a shit show.
“That’s crazy. We won’t have the time to change everything.”
“That’s exactly what I told Alice,” Chloe assured me. “But she’s relentless and insisted. A lot. Apparently, the bride got herself knocked up, and they want to get hitched before she outgrows her Vera Wang.”
“And?” I asked with anxiety in my voice.
Although Chloe had proven herself extremely competent over the past two weeks, I had my doubts if she’d be able to work this clusterfuck of a situation out in a way that didn’t hurt our image. As annoying as Alice was, the ranch made a lot of money with the events we hosted and pissing off someone as influential as her, wasn’t something we could afford.
“Well, things didn’t start off great,” Chloe began in a tired and weary tone that made me lock my jaw and take deep breaths to control my temper. Clearly flustered by my reaction, she quickly continued, “At first, I told her that their request was unacceptable. She yelled, bitched and whined for two exhausting hours until I told her I would see what I could do and call her back.”
With increased worry, I raised a brow and asked, “And you didn’t come look for me…why?”
As if my question was absurd, Chloe narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. “Because you hired me to handle this stuff, Conner.”
The defiance in her tone and expression made my body come alive. My cock twitched, my hands itched, and my heart pounded. It took all my strength and concentration not to close the door and teach her what happens to sexy little smart assed girls like her.
“And, did you handle it?” I inquired with a raised a brow.
With an almost cocky grin, she said, “I’m still waiting on the confirmation from the butterfly guy and on our chef to stop whining about having to prepare an ice-cream cake in the middle of summer, but I have almost everything handled. I had to do some planning gymnastics and give some of the wedding guest more expensive rooms to be able to fit everybody and keep all the bookings we already have for that week, but it worked, and we’ll be at full capacity which is great. And, as an added bonus, I convinced Alice to pay us fifteen percent extra as a rush fee, and to handle all the rescheduling fees from the vendors.”
For a few seconds, I just stared at Chloe in complete awe and admiration. It had been a while since a woman had extracted those feelings from me while still wearing her clothes, and even longer since I felt like I had an actual partner running my business. It was refreshing, and a particular kind of sexy that added a whole new layer to the attraction I felt for Chloe.
My lengthy silence made the excitement in her face fall a bit. “I don’t see how I might have fucked things up, but if you don’t say something, I’m gonna start thinking I did.”
I brought my right hand to cover my lips so she wouldn’t see the smile there. Holding her gorgeous green eyes in mine, I said, “I was just wondering how in hell you ended up not okay and draped over the desk after dominating the day like that.”
An adorable smile formed on Chloe’s lips at my words and, unable to help myself, I added, “You’ve been here for just two weeks, and I’m already thinkin’ about how to keep you here forever.”
With a deep breath, Chloe looked at me from under her lashes and shrugged. “The desk thing was a combination of Alice-induced exhaustion, a desperate need for alcohol, and no booze in this office. As for how to keep me forever, a drink would be an excellent place to start.”
Even a blind person could see that we were flirting, which wasn’t something I did. Ever. I seduced, insinuated, and fucked, but I never flirted. The fact that I was doing it now—with Chloe Jones, nonetheless—should have been my clue to get up, go away and find the closest available pussy. One that did not belong to my best friend’s daughter.
That would have been the smart and safe choice to make. However, safe and smart had never really been my thing. I was a lot more interested in wild and fun, and after two weeks of cold showers and self-control, I was ready to let go.
I pressed my forearms over the table and leaned forward. The sweet scent of roses that emanated from her filled my lungs and made me wonder if she smelled like that all over. The mere thought made my cock pulse with desire and my lips curl in a sexy smirk.
“That can be arranged, but not here,” I told her plainly. “We’ve got strict rules about drinking on the job, after all,” I added as I watched her face fall to a disappointed frown.
“But if you still want that drink later tonight, I’ll be waiting at Rusty’s Bar with an open tab at eight.”
Before she had a chance to say anything that would bring my brain back to the head above my shoulders and make me regret this, I got up and left the office. Once again,
I started to think about how incredibly fucked I was, but this time I just didn’t care.
CHAPTER FIVE — CHLOE
The twilight zone. If anyone asked for my current location, that’s what I would tell them. After all, I was stuck in the backward world where I talked to Conner Wilkes without overthinking everything, and he invited me out for drinks like a normal woman.
Deep down, I knew his invitation had to be innocent. I worked hard and did the company a service. As a good boss, he wanted to thank me. That was it. It was the only logical explanation after all. However, the horny teenager in me couldn’t help but jump up and down with joy and obsess about what to wear and how to behave.
With my mind running a million miles per hour, I parked my Jeep in the driveway of my home just as the sun was starting to set and exited the car. I was so distracted by my thoughts I almost had a heart attack when a high pitched, perfectly tuned voice sounded from the far side of my front porch.
“Sup, Bella?”
My heart beat like a freight train as I turned my face to look at the caramel skin, honey eyes and wavy hair that belonged to the only person who ever called me that. “Oh, my God! Hayden?”
“No, Tooth Fairy,” my childhood best friend replied in her usual brand of sarcasm.
Laughing, I dropped my purse on the ground and hurried to hug her. Although we had talked on and off since I moved away, it had been way too long since we last saw each other and I missed her like crazy.
For the next several minutes, we embraced and shrieked gibberish even we could barely understand. It was fun and familiar and filled a hole in my chest that neither Italy nor New York had ever been able to fill.
“What are you doing back here?” I asked once we calmed down and settled on the porch swing. Hayden was a backup singer for a prominent pop star and, as far as I knew, was supposed to be on tour for the next three months.
“Oh, such a warm welcome after being so far away,” she muttered.
