“No, we’re not making love tonight, Marcy,” he told her, even as his hands slid up underneath her skirt. His fingers didn’t move higher than her knee though. “We’re going to take things slowly, get to know each other and then, when you’re more comfortable with me, then we’ll make love.”
She heard his words, but because of the pounding in her heart, she couldn’t answer him. He did lift her up into his arms, but only to carry her to the door of her own bedroom, not his. When he saw the disappointment in her eyes, he chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Soon, honey. Very soon because I don’t think either of us can handle this torture much longer.”
Chapter 8
Twenty-four hours later, they were in Austin, Texas and Marcy loved the warmer temperatures and the softer humidity. She knew she wouldn’t like it in the summer months, but it was beautiful right now. Seattle was great most of the year and she absolutely loved the temperate climate. But the sunshine here in Austin was fabulous! Sunny days in Seattle were few and far between some months.
Unfortunately, the problem at this construction project was a bit more complicated. She sifted through the contracts and supply orders, just as she’d done for the previous project. But this time, something just didn’t add up. Zeke suggested that she work with the accounting personnel and, after a full day of going through the invoices and matching them up against supply orders, she finally found the issue.
With a sick feeling in her stomach, she stacked all of the files up and walked into the suite where Zeke had been working.
He knew something was wrong just by the look in her beautiful, blue eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asked, immediately standing up and walking over to her. His hand reached out, his fingers gently touching her cheek as he looked at her with a worried expression in his eyes.
Marcy loved his touch, but she hated what she was going to have to tell him. “I figured out the problem here.”
Zeke knew immediately that something was wrong. “I’m not going to like it, am I?” he asked.
She shook her head, unaware of the dread in her eyes or the way her black curls caressed her shoulders.
With a sigh, she walked over to the large, polished table that could seat about eight people easily. Zeke had his work spread out and his computer opened up at one end, but she still had plenty of room to lay out the papers she’d brought along to explain the issue she’d found.
“Here,” she began, pointing to some numbers. As she went through the data she and the accounting person had discovered, the picture became clear. Zeke wasn’t stupid. He understood what Marcy was showing him.
“Jeff is stealing,” he sighed, referring to the construction foreman. Zeke stood up, rubbing a hand over his rough features.
“I think so,” Marcy replied with anger and resentment. The Steele brothers were good to their employees. The benefit packages they offered all employees were better than average, not to mention, they treated their employees like friends. Yes, it was a very large company, so not all of the construction sites had the same atmosphere, but no matter where one worked, it was an outstanding company to work for.
So when something like this was discovered, when someone betrayed their trust, it was like a slap in the face to everyone who worked for the company. Marcy didn’t even own the company, but she was angry with the man who was stealing.
“He’s buying additional supplies, but they aren’t reaching the work sites. I’ve found three different invoices where supplies were shipped to another address.” She waited as Zeke absorbed that information. “If it had been different addresses, it might be a shipping accident. But since the erroneous shipping addresses were all the same while the vendors were different, it seemed more than likely that the person ordering the supplies had been trying not to get caught. The errors had most likely been explained away, but…it was just too much of a coincidence.” She paused, looking at his furious expression.
“There’s more,” she said and pointed out several overages on supplies that could not be traced back to a requirement. Things that either shouldn’t have been ordered, or such outrageously high amounts had been requested that they didn’t make sense for the size and scope of the particular construction job under way.
Zeke sighed, the tension building in his shoulders. “I need to make some phone calls,” he said. He walked over to his computer where his phone was also resting. He immediately dialed a number and Marcy cringed when she realized that he was talking with the Austin District Attorney. Between the three of them, they figured out a plan.
“I want to figure this out, but I want your office to be in on the investigation, Dave,” he said to the district attorney. “If I’m wrong, I don’t want any of this to go further. But if I’m right, if Marcy’s findings are accurate, and there’s genuine embezzlement happening, then I’m going to need your help.”
They could feel Dave nodding at the other end of the phone. “I appreciate your confidence in me. I’ll assign a white collar crimes investigator to the case immediately. I’ll e-mail you with a name.”
Over the next few days, the casual atmosphere between herself and Zeke was put on hold. In fact, she rarely saw him during this time period and, she never thought to admit this, even to herself, but she missed him.
During the investigation, she was either at the construction site, going through the files to verify her findings, desperately trying to prove to herself that she was wrong, or she was at the district attorney’s office, explaining the data or answering questions. But every time she came up with another avenue to investigate, the evidence only became more solid. She worked with the police investigator, an incredibly intelligent woman named Jenny, who really knew her way around a spreadsheet. Jenny had a degree in forensic accounting and could sift through the numbers a lot faster than Marcy could. As the two of them worked long hours in a small, airless room in order to ensure confidentiality, they built the case against the construction manager. Too many of the invoices didn’t make sense and they found several more supply orders that were shipped to the same address, all making things much worse for the guy.
Meanwhile, Zeke and Dave were working behind the scenes. Between the four of them, they figured out that it was actually the construction manager, a big guy named Jeff, who they suspected was doing the embezzlement. He was a huge, gruff man who had ruthlessly fired about ten percent of the construction crew over the past year, replacing most of them with less experienced people. Marcy suspected that he’d fired the men for either insubordination or because they might have gotten too close to the truth. Either way, Marcy had met the man and hadn’t liked him.
When they finally had no other alternative but to arrest the man, Jenny gathered up all the evidence and, with the district attorney, filed charges.
Three days after arriving, Jeff was arrested. Unfortunately, he didn’t go quietly. He made a big stink, calling everyone names, resisting arrest, and even taking a swing at Jenny when she approached him with handcuffs. Thankfully, Jenny was not just a good accountant, she was an extremely competent police officer. The slim, athletic woman had the huge, gruff man pinned up against the wall with cuffs on his wrists almost instantly. She was good!
After that, Zeke still had to work fast and furiously to ensure that a competent replacement was brought in temporarily and then another person hired to fix all of the issues.
After ten days, Marcy knew that Zeke was worn out, mentally exhausted, and angry with himself for not finding the issue sooner.
When he walked into the suite once everything was resolved, she watched as he braced his arms wide on the granite counter of the bar, his shoulders tense and his features angry and frustrated.
She felt horrible for him. More because he’d had to fire the man, but still.
“Zeke, you had to do it,” she said softly.
Zeke turned around and caught Marcy’s gentle look. Everything inside of him loosened with her words. “I know,” he replied, watching her carefully. “It’s over. Da
ve is taking charge of the situation. A new person is in place at the construction site. Tomorrow, he’ll start to get things cleaned up. It will take a while, but the project will still come in on time and only slightly over budget.”
Marcy smiled up at him. “I knew you’d put a plan in place.”
He laughed, pulling her closer and she felt warmed by the sound of his humor. He hadn’t laughed since the first day, when she’d brought him the evidence. “Thank you,” he said and kissed the top of her head, pulling her closer. His fingers dove into her hair and she almost sighed with happiness. Ever since that night when he had massaged her feet, she’d left her hair down. Knowing that he preferred it that way made her want to keep it down all the time.
And wow! Those fingers immediately started to ease the tension in her shoulders and neck. She leaned her head against his broad chest, thinking that she should be doing this to Zeke. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the courage to touch him as casually as he did her. She wasn’t sure she’d ever feel comfortable touching his incredible body.
But she wanted to!
Marcy’s mind started spinning, as it always did when Zeke touched her. And right now, it felt really good! There was an added element to his touch tonight and it made the moment feel even more intimate.
Oh, he was good!
Could she do it? Could she touch him in the same way? She’d just thought she couldn’t, but ever since that moment, her fingers had been aching to help him relax, to feel his shoulders underneath her fingers. Yes, she really wanted to do this.
Her heart rate sped up at the idea and she shivered. “Take your jacket off,” she whispered before she could stop herself.
Zeke pulled away slightly, looking down into her blue eyes.
“Excuse me?” he asked with surprise and an amused glint to his own gaze.
She stepped out of his arms, not wanting him to understand how truly nervous she was at following through on her suggestion. “Your shoulders are tense. If you take off your jacket and sit down on the sofa, I will massage them.” She watched him for a long moment, getting nervous when he continued to stare down at her.
“Stop it,” she whispered, feeling painfully self-conscious.
“You want me to strip for you,” he said, a teasing tone to his voice as his warm, strong hands rested lightly on her waist.
Marcy almost laughed, but it really was a relief to see him relax. “No! Definitely not strip.” She looked down at her toes. “I mean, yeah,” then shook her head, closing her eyes and trying not to imagine him naked. “I mean, no. Don’t strip down. Just…” she shook her head and breathed in slowly, trying to make sense. “You gave my feet a massage several days ago and then told me to take off my stockings.” She paused, looking over his broad shoulders as if she might need to re-evaluate her offer. But then she realized how the tension was coming out of him already. “Taking off your jacket isn’t nearly as intimate as taking off my stockings,” she mumbled, feeling silly and out of her element.
She waited for him to say something else about stripping off his clothes, but breathed a sigh of relief when he reached up and pulled his jacket off. Marcy couldn’t help it when her eyes widened. His shoulders really were magnificent. She hadn’t seen them since that day when he’d been only wearing a towel. Wow, had it really been over a week?
Looking at his shoulders, even while still covered by the tailored shirt, she held her breath. Wow! That word wouldn’t stop popping into her mind.
With a gleam in his eyes that Marcy was afraid to interpret, he walked over to the sofa and sat down. “Is this okay?” he asked, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.
Marcy licked her lips, her fingers already aching to touch him. If she were being perfectly honest with herself, the offer of a massage was only halfway about helping him to relax. The other half was completely selfish. She wanted to touch him. Offering the massage was a perfect guise for touching him without admitting to him that she missed touching him.
When she walked over to him, she could feel her fingers already curling, wanting to feel more of him. As her fingers lowered onto his shoulders, she leaned her thighs against the back of the sofa, enjoying the way he felt. His muscles were tight, but as she pressed and pushed against the muscles, she was amazed at the strength in his body. There was incredible power under her fingertips and she explored as much as she massaged.
Over and over again, she pressed, unaware of how her fingers and thumbs started to become sore. Slowly, the tension eased somewhat and she actually smiled when he groaned as she found a particularly difficult knot near his neck and eased the pain.
“You have amazing hands, Marcy.” He looked up at her. “I can’t wait to feel them touching the other parts of me.”
She stared down at him, his eyes holding hers captive. When she realized what she was doing, what was happening, she gasped and pulled her hands away. Unfortunately, she wasn’t fast enough when she pulled away and his hand grabbed hers, not letting her move away from him.
One moment, she was standing behind him, the next, she was on the couch with Zeke looming over her. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up at him. “What are you doing?” she asked. But she knew!
“I’m going to kiss you,” he told her. His eyes moved over her features and she shivered.
Marcy thought about that for a fraction of a second.
“Do you have any objections to my plan?” he teased, his hand sliding down her waist. Oh, he was good! Those long, tanned fingers slid under her silk blouse, the silk which was supposed to be protecting her skin from the heat of his hand. The next moment, his fingers were exploring her stomach and she could barely breathe. The silk barrier failed!
Looking up at him, she knew that he was waiting on a response to his question. It took her several moments to remember what his question was. Objections. Plan. Fingers. Kiss! Was she finally going to experience another kiss? Yes! She wanted another kiss from him. She wanted to feel his lips on hers, to know what it felt like when he wasn’t holding back.
“No! No objections,” she told him hurriedly. In fact, if he didn’t kiss her soon, she might just…
Marcy couldn’t finish her thought as his lips captured hers. Over and over again, his lips slanted to hers, making her moan with the desperate pleasure he gave her. She wanted so much more, but he captured her hand and held it over her head.
“Why won’t you let me touch you?” she whimpered, wanting him to touch her more, to feel his hands against her breast. Her nipples were already hard and aching, brushing against the silk of her blouse and she wanted him! Never had she felt like this for any man before and she felt more than a little crazy with this desire storming through her.
“Because we can’t make love tonight,” he replied as his mouth bent lower to nibble on her neck.
“We can’t?” she cried when he found a sensitive spot.
“Absolutely not,” he said and chuckled when she shivered against him, pressing her hips closer, cradling his erection against her softness.
“Why not?”
“Because this week has been hellish. And I don’t want us to jump into bed until the timing is right.”
He was good! Those lips were exploring, his teeth scraping against her sensitive skin. She was wild for him at the moment and he seemed completely in control. Not fair! “What kind of timing do you need?” she demanded, yanking at her hands but his grip was strong. He wasn’t hurting her, but she couldn’t pull away.
“The time when you feel comfortable enough to touch me without being wary.”
She gritted her teeth. I’m already there, she thought silently! If only he would release her hands, she’d show him.
“And you can tell me all of the different ways in which you like to be touched,” he kissed her shoulder, “and teased,” he nibbled on her earlobe, “and what turns you on.” He teased her neck and she arched so that he had better access. “I want to know more about you and for you to feel like you can tell
me anything.”
She thought about her virginal status. Possibly something he would need to know about. Especially if the man wanted to know what turned her on. Ironically, so did she! She’d never felt this way about a man, never wanted to explore this world. She’d had a plan for her life and, oddly enough, Marcy hadn’t factored sexual exploration into that plan. But with Zeke, yeah, she wanted to explore, to learn more about what might turn her on.
The next moment, she was sitting up, his arms around her and his firm thighs under her legs. “Until that moment, until you feel more comfortable around me, we’re going to take things slowly, Marcy.”
She felt the bubble of frustration hit her hard. She wanted to throw herself against his muscular chest and beg him, but he was probably right. If she was too shy to tell him about her status, perhaps they didn’t know each other well enough.
“Fine,” she sighed and stood up, relieved when he allowed that. She was startled when he stood up as well, taking her hand in his as if he held her hand all the time. Normally, she wasn’t a touchy person, but she loved feeling Zeke touch her. His casual gestures, as well as the way he’d been kissing her -definitely not casual- were extremely nice.
“I also don’t want us to start a sexual relationship after such a bad day.” His hand reached up and touched her jaw, his rough thumb rubbing against her skin and making her feel special in some sort of weird way.
“That’s probably best,” she agreed. But her body leaned against his, her forehead resting against his shoulder as the sexual frustration throbbed through her body. She was feeling things that she didn’t want to feel. And it was all his fault!
“Goodnight,” she grumbled. She was just about to walk away when she turned around and punched his arm. It wasn’t hard, but it was enough to demonstrate to him that she wasn’t happy about the way this night went.
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