Lip Lock

by Susanna Carr

  “And why would I do that?”

  Molly shivered slightly inside the voluminous coat. She wasn’t sure it was from the cold wind. “Because you planted the blueprint on my desk.”

  “I did?” Sara’s eyes rose with disbelief.

  “Yep,” Molly said with a sharp nod. “I thought about this all last night and it dawned on me. All of the top advisors were in a meeting that you didn’t know about. They cornered one of your partners in crime and you needed to get rid of the evidence fast.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sara said.

  “Oh, don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.” Molly turned to face the choppy water. “I could shout it from the rooftops and no one would listen.”

  Sara rocked back on her heels and studied Molly. “What is it that you want?”

  “Why did you make me lose my job? That’s all I want to know.”

  The woman looked at her in the eye. “Like I said, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Huh. I must scare you somehow,” Molly said, trying to sound casual as her stomach did flips.

  “Excuse me?” Sara’s voice rose.

  “Because there’s no reason to frame me.” Molly really hated in-your-face confrontations. She was never good at this. “And there was no reason to come running over the minute you heard I was here.”

  “You think I’m here because of you?” Sara’s laugh was short and sarcastic. “Have you forgotten that Glenn told me I had to be here?”

  “No, he didn’t. I heard his side of the conversation. You invited yourself over here and made it sound like it was his idea.”

  “And once again, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sara pivoted on her heel and walked back to the house.

  “I guess I’m trying to figure out why you did it,” Molly called after her. “You have a cushy job. Accumulated a lot of stock options.”

  Sara kept walking.

  “For all I know, you could be secretly in love with Kyle and see me as a threat.” Okay, it was a wild hypothesis, but it was all she could come up with.

  “Kyle is not in love with you.”

  Ouch. Didn’t even miss a step on that. “Are you in love with him?”

  “I have worked with him for over ten years, and believe me,” she said with a quick glance over her shoulder, “there is nothing lovable about him.”

  Molly wanted to disagree, but she had to keep her focus on the real issue. “Ten years?” she asked as she hurried up to the other woman. “Wow, so you’ve been working at Ashton Image Works almost from the time it started.”

  Sara’s brisk walk slowed down to a shuffle. “Almost?”

  “Yeah, because if it was on the very first day, you would have…” Molly smacked her forehead with her hand. “The picture.”

  “Picture?” Sara stood still.

  “You’ve been with them since the beginning,” Molly said as it finally dawned on her. “You were the one behind the camera.”

  Sara’s shoulders dipped and she looked away. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

  “How come you’re not in the picture?” she persisted. “Because you’re not one of the founders?”

  Sara closed her eyes in defense. “Go away, Molly.”

  “Because you’re a woman?” she guessed, and then shook her head at her mistake. “No, that can’t be right because Annette was in there.”

  “Because,” Sara said in a low, raspy voice. “I. Was. The. Secretary.”

  “Huh?” That was not the answer Molly had expected. “I…I don’t get it.”

  “I helped build that company,” she declared. “But do they see it that way?”

  Probably not, Molly admitted silently. “I’m sure those guys invested money, and…and…” Okay, she had nothing to argue with.

  “You really don’t get it.” Sara irritably swept her red hair from her face. “I showed up for work when a regular paycheck wasn’t guaranteed. I worked for them before they could offer me benefits.”

  “Really?” Now that was dedication. Molly wasn’t sure she could do that.

  “I have a college degree, too, you know.” Sara’s mouth twisted in a wry smile as she looked back at the water. “But guess what? They needed my office skills more in the beginning.”

  “And you wounded up being the secretary.”

  “I didn’t set out to be an executive assistant. I wanted to be an executive. I still do. And I can’t be that at the company I helped establish.”

  “Why not?”

  Sara sighed with impatience. “Molly, a little career advice,” she said, and looked at her. “Once you do secretarial work, the powers-that-be will never see you as anything but the girl at the front desk.”

  Molly clucked her tongue. “That’s not true.”

  “Yes, it is. I’m living proof. If I want to be an executive, I have to go elsewhere. And I have to move into an executive position, otherwise those entry-level jobs are just another way of becoming a secretary.”

  “And for you to walk in as an executive, you need to bring something big to the negotiating table,” Molly guessed. “Like a blueprint.”

  “Now you’re catching on.”

  But it didn’t make sense to Molly. “Why would Curtis help you with this?”

  “For the money,” she answered simply.

  “What money? I thought this was all for an executive job with the perks.”

  “I wouldn’t exchange a blueprint just for a job. There’s money involved. Big money. I’m giving the blueprint to the one company that would give me the best price and the best executive position.”

  “You got the blueprint?” This was news to her. “But you gave it up when you planted it on my desk.”

  “That was a temporary setback,” Sara said confidently. “And it all worked out in the end. Everyone thought you were behind it and then they let their guard down.”

  “Then why did you come running over here if you already have the blueprint?”

  “Because of you!” Sara pointed at Molly. “You keep popping up, messing up my plans. You are the only factor I can’t predict or control. I had to find out how much damage you could cause.”

  “And what did you find out?”

  “You have no power at all,” Sara said with a smile. “Not over my plan, and certainly not over Kyle.”

  Molly felt her chin tilt with defiance. “Wanna bet?”

  “You could run back to Kyle or Glenn and tell them everything I said verbatim,” Sara taunted, “and they won’t believe you.”

  “It doesn’t mean I’m going to sit on the sidelines quietly.”

  “Go ahead, Molly. Do your worst,” Sara said with a jeering grin. “Because by the time you get someone to believe you, I will be long gone.”

  Kyle stood at the balcony and watched Molly and Sara from the shadows. Anger, cold and fierce, roared back inside him. When he first saw Molly approach Sara, he wanted to go down there and interrupt. But something stopped him. They were too far away to hear, the wind muffling their voices, but he picked up the signals and body language.

  Doubt crept up again, and he couldn’t shake free.

  He watched Sara as she tilted her shoulders back. His skin prickled with warning as she braced her stance. And then numbness blanketed him as he took in Sara’s angry, indignant gestures with her hands.

  Something wasn’t right.

  Damn Molly for filling his head with suspicions. Kyle stepped inside the master bedroom. Just once he would like to look at someone close to him and not shield himself.

  He retrieved his cell phone and punched in a familiar number. “Timothy?” he asked as he stared out the window.

  “Kyle, this had better be good,” the head of security said, his voice thick with sleep. “You are screwing with my wild weekend.”

  “Sara is behind the blueprint theft.” His announcement was met with stunned silence. “I need you to check her computer and office. Find anything that lin
ks her to Curtis.”

  “You are going off the deep end, Kyle. This is Sara we’re talking about.”

  “I know.” Kyle said as he watched the two women and noted Sara’s cynical smile.

  “Okay, fine, I’ll do it,” Timothy said. “I don’t like it, but I’ll do it. Sara’s going to find out about this eventually. And when she does…”

  “I’ll deal with the consequences.” And if he was wrong, he wouldn’t forgive himself for allowing Molly Connors get under his skin and in his head.

  Timothy’s sigh was loud and long. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah,” he suddenly decided and turned away from the window. “See if human resources has Molly Connors’s job performance review.”

  “Huh? How is this related?”

  “They are. Trust me on this.”

  Molly lay awake that night, wondering why she left the light on for Kyle. He’d probably shared this room twice during the course of the week. What made her think he would do so today? Wishful thinking?

  Anyway, she didn’t need the distraction. She had other problems. Her mind buzzed with random questions, but no answers.

  Why was she trying to come up with a solution for Kyle? He was going to be fine. She needed to think of what she was going to do after this weekend. As of Monday, the charade was over, and she needed a place to stay.

  Why was she even thinking of Kyle? Molly rolled her eyes with self-disgust. He didn’t want her help, her love—and he definitely didn’t want her opinion.

  “If it comes down between choosing her word over yours, I will choose her side. Every time.”

  Molly sniffed as the words echoed in her head. Fine. Be that way. Trust the wrong person. See if she cared.

  Molly stared at the ceiling. She did care. She didn’t have a whole lot of a power—okay, she didn’t have any—but she could watch over him.

  She lifted her head off the pillow when she heard the doorknob turning. Molly quickly turned to her side, tucked her hands primly under her head, and closed her eyes. She peeked through her lashes as Kyle opened the door and stepped inside.

  She truly hadn’t expected him. Molly closed her eyes and tried to breathe as if she was asleep. For several nights he’d worked in his office, and she suspected he fell asleep on the couch. He didn’t even look in her direction last night, so angry that she should suggest Sara was less than trustworthy.

  So why was he here right now?

  She nearly leapt out of bed when she felt the mattress sink. She didn’t know if she should pretend to sleep. That was a form of lying, though, wasn’t it? And she really shouldn’t break her new rule over something so trivial. Why did she come up with this new rule, anyway?

  “Molly?” Kyle said in a whisper.

  Molly slowly opened her eyes. “Yeah?” she asked cautiously. She saw his grave face and foreboding trickled down her spine. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” He placed his hand on her arm. “Everything is going to be fine.”

  “Going to be?” She wasn’t sure if she liked the sound of that.

  His fingers glided up and down her forearm. “I want to tell you…”

  Uh-oh. It wasn’t like Kyle to talk in incomplete sentences. “It must be something important if you’re waking me up in the middle of the night.”

  “I think it might be,” he said with a shrug. He looked down, not meeting her eyes. “I want to tell you that I’m sorry.”

  Here it was. The big brush-off. The it’s-been-fun discussion. The don’t-get-too-comfortable-around-here talk. Or just the I-don’t-trust-you would do the trick.

  But did he really need to do this in the middle of the night? Then again, time meant nothing to Kyle Ashton.

  “…and so I followed up,” Kyle said. His fingers stilled on her arm.

  Followed up? On what? She was almost embarrassed to ask him to repeat himself. Then again, if he was going have a discussion in the middle of the night, he better expect some nodding off.

  “And what did you find out?” she asked hesitantly.

  “That you were right.” Kyle sighed. “Sara is behind the blueprint theft.”

  She lay quietly, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It didn’t happen. “This is your big news?” Because she already knew this. Told him about it yesterday. Got a whole lot of grief from him because of it.

  “Hey,” Kyle said, the corner of his mouth twitching. He looked up and met her gaze. “I was wrong and I know that now.”

  Apparently this was a momentous occasion. One that required getting up in the middle of the night to commemorate. “What are you going to do with Sara?”

  “Pretend everything is okay, and when she returns to work on Monday, she’ll be caught by surprise.”

  “This is your plan?” She thought he would devise some brain-bending strategy. “How come I got the full public humiliation and Sara gets the kid-glove treatment?”

  “Because you’re special?” Kyle asked with a smile. “Come on, Molly. I don’t have security guards here that can escort her off the island.”

  “True.”

  He lay down beside her, his face inches away from hers. The way he looked at her made her nervous. It was like he was really seeing her. She closed her eyes, her only line of defense.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” he said quietly.

  She shrugged, feeling very charitable now that she was proven correct. “You had good reason.”

  “And you kept at it.”

  She frowned, keeping her eyes closed. “What do you mean?”

  “I saw you confront Sara this morning. I couldn’t understand why you bothered when I swore I would believe Sara before I took your word.”

  “Heh. Still sounds harsh.”

  “Why did you pursue it?”

  “I dunno.” She was getting uncomfortable by this line of questioning.

  “To prove to me that I was wrong?”

  She fought the smile wavering on her lips. “I’m sure that had something to do with it.”

  “Or to protect me?”

  The need to smile disappeared. “Probably.” He was getting too close to the truth.

  “Or because you love me?”

  She opened her eyes. “Oh, so now we’re not ignoring what I said almost three days ago?”

  “Maybe,” he said with a smile. He tilted toward her and placed a gentle kiss against her lips.

  “Maybe?” she asked against his mouth.

  He kissed her again, his touch soft and exploratory, but his touch still managed to sizzle right through her. “It depends if you still feel that way,” he said.

  Molly turned her head to the side. “Oh, gee. It has been three days. I’m sure my mood has swung entirely to the opposite direction. I’m flighty that way.” Sheesh, was this what he thought of her?

  “Kiss me,” he commanded in a whisper.

  She scooted away. “Forget it.”

  Kyle cupped the back of her head and prevented her escape. “You know you want to.”

  Yeah, she wanted to, Molly silently admitted as he outlined her mouth with small kisses. Wanted him. But more than anything, she wanted him to trust her and her feelings for him.

  That wasn’t going to happen overnight. So she had two choices. Either she grabbed this last chance to make love with Kyle, or she ended everything right here and now.

  Okay, it was kind of hard to make an unbiased decision as his tongue darted along the seam of her mouth. And as the heat from his body made her skin tingle. And she was very aware that the only thing she wore was his T-shirt.

  She wanted to take this last chance and make it good. But how good could it be if he really didn’t trust her? Would he give her full access to his body? Hand over total control? Not likely.

  But she could try. Gain his trust little by little, inch by inch. There had to be a way to convince Kyle to give her anything and everything.

  Molly gradually surrendered to his kisses, softening under his touch. She framed his face with
her hands, fanning her fingers along his jaw. The bite of his whiskers promised an uncivilized side to her lover.

  She darted her tongue past his firm lips and tasted him, but Kyle had other ideas. She teased him with the tip of her tongue, but before she knew it, he was invading her mouth, boldly staking his claim.

  She felt his hands under her T-shirt. Molly arched and swayed against his knowing touch. When Kyle pulled the cotton off of her body with little effort, she knew she couldn’t wrestle control from this man.

  Why was she even trying? She could easily allow him to sweep her away and enjoy every delicious moment. But she wanted more. She wanted to see a glimpse of him unguarded, or a sign of trust.

  One step at a time, she reminded herself. And this time, she was not going to be the only one naked. Molly struggled with his shirt. Stripping his clothes off wasn’t going to strip him of his power, she decided, but it would equalize.

  Kyle pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it over the edge of the bed. She stared at his sculpted muscles before he pulled her against him, the hair on his chest scratching her breasts. Okay, how was this supposed to be an equalizing maneuver?

  His jeans rubbed against her bare leg. He was still overdressed. Forget equalizing, she decided, bailing on her plan. She wanted him naked. Now, if not sooner.

  She hurriedly unzipped his jeans and pushed them down his lean hips. She hated how her hands shook and her muscles quivered with impatience. Her fumbling was at odds with every deliberate, sleek move Kyle made, designed to give her maximum pleasure.

  She wanted to give him pleasure. Molly grasped his penis with both hands. Wrapping her fingers around him, her palms tingled and the sensations zinged through her wrists. Kyle lay back, stretching his arms above his head, welcoming her to explore.

  Her pulse galloped as she watched how he twitched and hardened under her touch. How his eyes glittered and his skin flushed as she caressed him. This was where she felt powerful and weak. Dominant and submissive.

  She wanted to see him go wild. Lose control from her touch. Molly scooted down the bed, intent to take him in her mouth. Kyle tried to stop her progress, but was too slow. He only managed to bunch her long hair in his hands.

  Grasping him firmly with her hand at his base, Molly teased the domed tip with her tongue. She started with small, darting licks. As he flexed and bucked against her, she became bolder. She laved him with broad strokes of her tongue, pumping him with her fist.