She’d dropped the trained grace she’d cultivated as a former beauty queen and well-bred heiress to a multi-million dollar baked goods fortune and spoke her intentions forcefully. “I’ve already demonstrated my value as a business partner by turning around your pet company’s customer service department. I didn’t have to do it Sky, but I wanted to demonstrate my value to you; my worth. Before we took over, Mountain Peak Enterprises had rock bottom customer service rankings. Now your precious business scores the highest in customer satisfaction of any company in its class. I’ve added value to your company, Sky. And I’m more than capable of adding value to your life.”
Stephanie sunk down in her chair embarrassed to be listening to such a private conversation being spoken so forcefully in front of all the participants of the business meeting. She curled in on herself further, also slightly ashamed that she was wondering what effect if any, Hailey’s sudden proposal would have on her new (relationship?) with Skylen.
Hailey continued speaking; still staring directly into Skylen’s brown eyes, while he glared back at her ice blue globes. “Together, we could create an unstoppable empire; one that would more than satisfy the financial and social desires of both our demanding families.”
She whipped her head to the side, looked down at Stephanie and snorted. “I see that you like to keep the new company… secretary, close.” She spat the words in Stephanie’s direction, but it was clear she was still speaking to Skylen. “I’ve been told she’s a skilled girl, albeit a little on the naïve, ditzy and chubby side.”
Harvey cleared his throat, stood up and walked away from the table. Stephanie hoped that his leaving might stop Hailey’s assault on her, but the distraction of him standing up and walking away did nothing to slow down the determination in her speech. “With your approval, Sky, I’d like to make little Stephanie here my newest protégé. She can take her college courses online while she learns from us and accompanies us in our business affairs as our…special assistant.”
Chairs rumbled around the conference table and all eyes turned to Stephanie. It was clear that everyone in the room – except Stephanie – knew exactly what sort of arrangement Hailey had in mind for her. “Stop this now. You’re not helping your case.” Skylen spoke, commanding Hailey to silence with the calm precision of his voice.
Stephanie felt the room vibrate. Under the conference table, she clenched one fist against her stomach and doubled over, her insides boiling with shame. The reality of a room full of high-powered executives all staring at her, judging and pitying her, made her literally want to vomit. “Excuse me,” she stood up straight and tall, even though in her line of sight the airplane's walls were twisting and rolling. She walked to Skylen’s private cabin at the back of the jet with as much grace as she could muster given the fact that she felt as though her legs were about to collapse under her.
“What the hell was that?” Stephanie whispered to herself as she closed the cabin door behind her and staggered over to the bathroom sink. What took Skylen so long to tell Hailey to shut up? She thought as she bent over and wretched into the metal bowl. And why didn’t he defend me when she so clearly insulted me? Stephanie panted uncomfortably as she held the anti-nausea acupressure point on her wrist tightly with her fingers, attempting to put a quick end to the sick, twisted sensations gripping her gut.
Ding
Stephanie looked up at her disheveled reflection in the mirror and watched a red light flash just below the medicine cabinet.
“Are you okay Miss Rain?” It was Marlena, her stewardess inquiring about her comfort.
At least someone cares. Stephanie removed her fingers from the pressure point at her wrist and reached up, pressing the intercom button with the tips of her extended fingers.
“Thanks for your concern, Marlena. I’m just experiencing some air sickness, that’s all.”
“Dramamine is available to you in the medicine cabinet above the intercom. It may help you to feel better. I can also bring you a cup of peppermint ginger tea if you’d like.”
“Thanks. I’ll start with the Dramamine and let you know if I need any tea later.” Stephanie’s insides relaxed into the genuine kindness apparent in Marlena’s voice.
“Just remember, I’m here if you need me.” Marlena’s voice was a cool refreshing breeze blowing against Stephanie's ears.
“I will. Thanks for helping.”
“You’re welcome, Miss.” The intercom rested in silence.
Stephanie slid her hand off the intercom button and up the wall. Already feeling some relief, she unclasped the door to the medicine cabinet, unstrapped the bottle of Dramamine and swallowed a pill with the aid of a handful of water from the sink. She kicked off her heels, and lowered her feet to the floor, glad to be standing on level ground. With her legs still so unsteady, she knew she couldn’t stay standing at the sink for the rest of the flight. She had to find somewhere to sit down.
Carefully, she turned her head to survey the room and attempted to find a place where she wouldn’t do any damage if her gut decided to explode and spew out a volcano of cupcake chunks. The turning of her head made her woozy and the mental image of her covering Skylen’s cabin in her vomit set her stomach boiling again. She had a strong urge to run back to the sink, but she pressed her fingers to her wrist again, her stomach calmed and she continued her search.
The comforter on Skylen’s oversized sized bed looked inviting, but Stephanie felt too unsure of her ability to hold the contents of her stomach to risk sitting on it. That corner looks safe. Nothing to damage there. Relieved to have finally found a place to sit, she grabbed the empty ice bucket off the bathroom counter, bent down and crawled towards the irregularly shaped, short wall that separated Skylen’s bedroom from the inner wall of his office.
Once she’d arrived inside the tiny curved nook, she turned around, pressed her back against the wall and closed her eyes while she focused on breathing away the spinning in her head and the churning in her gut. In a way – a small way - she was almost glad for the gift of her current discomfort. It was an intense and effective distraction from the pain of the humiliation she’d just suffered at the hands of her rival for Skylen’s affections, the undoubtedly wicked Hailey Savidge.
Chapter 20
Stephanie
“I’ll never trust you. You’re no different than your best friend.” Hailey snapped.
Hailey’s voice screeched inside Stephanie’s head, making her ears ring and her temples burn. Stephanie’s eyes snapped open. Damn. Why won’t that woman just let me rest in peace? Instinctively, Stephanie tightened her neck and lifted her heavy head away from the cabin wall. Immediately the screaming quieted to a whisper. Relieved to have Hailey’s shrill screaming out of her head, Stephanie let her head fall against the wall again.
“I’m not a naïve girl anymore. You can’t trick me so easily.” Hailey’s screaming was back. Stephanie lifted her head and squinted in disbelief. Something about the harmonics of the wall was magnifying the conversation in the other room, but only Hailey’s portion of it. Stephanie couldn’t hear anything the other person was saying. She didn’t even know who was on the receiving end of Hailey’s anger.
Who was the woman who’d just humiliated her in front of a room full of cupcake executives, Skylen’s best friend Harvey and her boss and lover Skylen himself, arguing with anyway? Stephanie knew Hailey’s conversation was none of her business, and that she should just lay her head down on the floor and go to sleep. But, a strong force inside her – a self-preserving and pissed off part of her psyche – willed her into action, demanding she investigate further.
Despite wanting to curl up into the fetal position and take a nap, Stephanie obeyed her stronger self and repositioned her body against the wall. Her thoughts raced rapidly, her mind working hard to solve the puzzle. Who was she talking to? Was it a stewardess? Maybe a cupcake exec? No. She’d used the words best friend. Aha moment! It was Harvey! He was the man Hailey was fighting with.
Ste
phanie scrunched up her nose in confusion. What was Harvey doing on this flight anyway? His presence on the plane had no discernable purpose. Even Skylen had seemed surprised to see him in the hallway when he and she had walked out of his private cabin together – just after he’d finished owning her body again inside the large cave of his luxurious in-flight shower.
All Harvey had done since Skylen introduced him to her was sip champagne, eat cupcakes and agree with every word Skylen said. Perhaps she was overthinking this. Maybe he was simply Skylen’s yes man, or maybe he just liked to fly on private jets drinking alcohol and eating desserts. She reviewed everything she knew about Harvey in her mind. He was handsome, rugged, a multi-millionaire, and best friends with Skylen. That was the extent of her knowledge of him. That, and pretty much everything about him reminded her of Skylen; they were like twins, only he was the calmer, blonder, and more carefree of the two men.
Stephanie allowed her blossoming curiosity to get the best of her and she gingerly touched the side of her head to the wall again. That’s better. Now she could hear Hailey’s side of the conversation clearly, but the woman’s voice wasn’t a jackhammer inside her skull.
“You two deserve each other!” Hailey shouted.
Hmm. That’s a strange thing for her to say to her ex’s best friend. Stephanie quickly changed her mind, concluding that perhaps her analysis of the situation had been wrong. Maybe Hailey wasn’t fighting with Harvey or anyone else on the plane. Maybe she was arguing with someone who was somewhere else entirely. It had never occurred to Stephanie that Hailey might be speaking on a phone. It made sense, though. In fact, it perfectly explained why she could only hear half the conversation. With her curiosity peaked further, she focused her complete attention on listening to the rest of the conversation.
An ache of guilt poked at her chest for engaging in the crime of eavesdropping. But the sting of her guilt did nothing to stop her from keeping her head pressed to the wall. Listening in on Hailey’s private conversation made Stephanie feel powerful and safe; like she was simultaneously getting secret revenge on the woman who’d hurt her and defending herself against a monster who had plans to demolish her happy future with Skylen.
“A happy future with Skylen” she whispered the words aloud for the first time, although she’d been dreaming about the idea since last night and the hope of it had been floating around inside her head all morning long. Well, not all morning. When Skylen had whipped his tongue against her clit her mind had gone completely blank with lust. But after the pleasure of her riotous climaxes had subsided, her mind shifted comfortably back to fantasies of marriage, babies and romantic evenings spent together eating pizza with her new love.
“Love,” she whispered that word out loud too. She had only known Skylen for a short time, but in that tiny space, he’d already wrapped himself around her heart and made it ache, full of love for him. It was the truth. Her truth. Her heart harbored deep feelings for Skylen. Feelings that made her feel brave and powerful, yet silly and naive. She hadn’t even known the handsome, endearing billionaire for 24 hours and the man already owned her body and her heart.
“Leave Harvey, I need to speak to Hailey alone.”
Stephanie recognized the new voice. It was barely louder than a whisper, but it was deep and masculine and it belonged to Skylen. Her skin flushed with desire and her heart pulsed with hope at his clear display of anger. There wasn’t just annoyance in his tone. His voice was fierce with fury. He was angry, for her.
It means he cares for me. She giggled with the full force of her lungs, and then immediately covered her mouth on the slim chance that Skylen, Harvey, and Hailey could hear her from the other side of the wall. I’m not just his bought property or his food slut. I matter to him. I’m someone worth fighting for. Her fingers tingled, but not in the usual way they did when she was stressed or upset. Her fingers tingled with excitement. She was overjoyed that the man who owned her body, the man she was developing feelings for, cared enough about her to be angry that she’d been insulted and humiliated.
“Leave now!”
Skylen was shouting, and the rage in his voice shook Stephanie’s chest light a strike of lightning, sending her heart leaping up into her throat. Shaking, she coughed and ran her fingers down the front of her neck forcefully swallowing it back down. He’s furious over me. No one’s ever been furious over me before. It was true. No one had ever come to her defense before, not even her own mother.
She’d always had to fend for herself, fight for her own honor when it had been attacked in the past. It was a new and welcome experience to hear Skylen enraged, over her. Stephanie pressed her ear to the wall, ignoring the vibrations in her skull as the voices from the other room roared inside her head. Stephanie folded her tingling fingers into the silken fabric of her skirt and listened in on the private conversation raging inside Skylen’s office.
Chapter 21
Skylen
Skylen strode through the dual doors and then spun around, carefully sealing the entry to his private office closed behind him.
“Leave Harvey, I need to speak to Hailey alone.”
Harvey hesitated.
“Leave now!”
“I’m staying.” Harvey stood his ground. “I don’t trust you to be alone with her. Too much has happened here today for you to remain calm. You need a chaperone.” He fixed his jaw and set his gaze, staring down his taller, more massively built doppelganger, only trembling slightly as he refused to retreat.
“Fine, stay, but keep out of my way,” Skylen grumbled.
Sharp laughter echoed through the office. “Aww, you’re actually concerned about my safety. I guess you’re not irreparably self-absorbed after all. Huh, Harvey?” Hailey winked at the blonde, blue-eyed giant as he sat down in the chair next to hers.
Harvey bit his lip, drawing a small bead of blood as he lowered his chin, then lifted it up again, surveying Hailey’s body from head to toe. “You’ve gained a pound or two since I saw you last.” He made no attempt to hide his approval of her weight gain.
Bang! The pair flinched.
Skylen balled up his fists and slammed them down on top of his desk. “Was humiliating Stephanie like that necessary?” He growled between gritted teeth, his fists grinding into the desk’s wood.
“She’ll get over it.” Hailey quipped with a surprising amount of levity, given the intensity of Skylen’s fury. “We both know she’ll need to grow accustomed to the pain of humiliation if she’s intent on marrying you.”
“How?” Skylen swung his head sideways as if he’d been slapped.
He stood up and walked out from behind his desk. “How did you find out about my plans to marry Stephanie?”
Hailey gave no response.
Skylen sat down at the front of his desk, his body half way between Hailey and Harvey. A low growl vibrated inside his chest as he lifted one black dress boot and pushed its metal tip firmly against Harvey’s shin.
“C’mon, Sky. Why are you looking at me?” Harvey pleaded, holding his hands up as he skirted his leg to the side to stop Skylen’s metal boot tip from gouging his shin. “Just because Hailey and I are on speaking terms now, it doesn’t mean that I’m betraying your confidence with her. I would never tell her anything about your personal plans. When I’m with her, we just talk about…us.”
A low rumble shook in Skylen’s throat. “One of you answer my question, now!”
“You’ve been hunting the poor girl for months.” Hailey spoke up. “And it’s no secret. Everyone at work already knows you want to own the girl’s body; but you’re the boss, so no one’s brave enough to let you know they're aware of your predatory game. Ugh! Men,” Hailey released a visceral grunt.
“All the other department heads think you just want to play your usual feed and fuck game with Stephanie. They’re all salivating, waiting for you to be done with her so they can each have their turn playing with the boss’s sexy toy. But, I know you, Skylen. I know Stephanie could never be just a pl
aything for you. That girl is everything you’ve ever wanted. She’s your heart’s desire and I’m surprised you’ve waited this long to ask her to be your wife.”
Skylen opened his mouth in a snarl. “So, let me make sure I understand. You decided you should be the one to call me out on my “game” and the best place to do that was right in front of the woman I love, in a business meeting, on a plane? Bullshit.” Skylen stood up intending to pace, but instead sat back down at the edge of his desk.
“You're full of shit, Hailey. You just wanted to take pleasure in humiliating Stephanie. Damn you!” He clenched his fists, his knuckles digging deep into the muscle of his thighs. “The worst part is you've hurt her for absolutely no reason at all. You have nothing to gain from this. We both know everything you said about you wanting me back is complete fiction. You don’t want me any more than I want you.” He wrung his hands together. “Is it spite that drove you to humiliate her? I can’t believe you still hate me so much that you’d hurt an innocent girl just to punish me.”
“Why I said what I said is unimportant. Feel free to interpret my actions in any way you wish.”
“Damn you. Damn you to hell, Hailey!” Skylen lifted his fist and swiftly punched himself in the jaw, busting open the corner of his lower lip.
Hailey’s eyes widened and she shifted her vision away from Skylen and towards Harvey as she uncrossed then re-crossed her legs.
“Is this what you want?” Skylen yelled. “Do you still need to punish me for choosing Harvey over you all those years ago? Should I punch him too? Maybe I should beat the shit out of him right here in front of you. Perhaps that would satisfy your thirst for revenge.”
Harvey lifted his fists up to guard his face. “That won’t be necessary. There’s already been enough violence here today.”
“I don’t know about that.” Hailey snickered. “I’d kind of like to see Sky beat you to a bloody mess. I think it would go a long way towards quelling my anger.”
Taboo Desires: Dirty Forbidden Secrets Bundle (The Complete Miranda Cougar Collection) Page 51
