“You win,” she said, setting the wide binder on his desk and opening it to a certain page.
He recognized his proposal. “Win what?” he asked, frowning at the sight of her bright red markings on the pages.
“I agree that we go forward with your proposal and not mine,” she said.
Alek was surprised and he didn’t bother to hide it. “That really was one helluva night, wasn’t it?” he quipped, and then instantly regretted it. Nothing but male bravado and his uncertainty about their relationship brought it on.
Alessandra’s face tightened in annoyance. “Your immature ego is exactly why I don’t normally mix business with pleasure,” she said, her voice ice-cold.
He nodded. “My apologies. That was childish, Alessandra, and I’m sorry,” he said, looking up to lock his eyes with hers, hoping she saw his sincerity in the depths.
Her body relaxed. “I came in to talk business and how I have a discovered a way to improve an already solid deal and save ADG another million dollars during the acquisition,” she said, coming around the desk to lean over him a bit to press her fingertips to the page.
The scent of her perfume, with its warm citrus notes, surrounded him. He leaned back a bit to look down the length of her legs, and his palms itched to stroke the softness of the back of her knees.
“Really, Alek,” she said.
He shifted his eyes up from her legs to find her looking back over her shoulder at him. “‘I can resist everything except temptation,’” he quoted, as he waved a hand by way of asking her to remove the enticement.
“Oscar Wilde,” she said, moving around the desk to take a seat in one of the black club chairs before it.
“I am a fan of the playwright,” he admitted.
“As am I,” she said, crossing her legs.
His eyes dipped to take in the move.
Alessandra sighed and uncrossed them, leaning forward to tap the proposal. “Focus, Alek,” she said.
He pulled the binder closer and began to seriously consider her revisions. With every passing moment, his brows dipped into a frown. He looked up at her before double-checking her facts, figures and notes. “So, we would be able to purchase the stock directly from them at a savings of a little over a million,” he said.
“Why pay more for something if you don’t have to?” she said with one shoulder shrug.
“And you discovered this on your own?” he asked, shocked that she discovered something he and his team had missed.
Alessandra threw her hands up in exasperation. “Alek, seriously. Come on,” she moaned.
He leaned back in his chair and eyed her. He knew in that moment that it was time for him to concede, as well. Alessandra Dalmount had just finessed an already strong deal and deserved respect for that.
“Alek, it is time to put aside your resistance and your ego to accept that we can make ADG more successful as a team—the same way our fathers joined forces and worked together to start the company,” she said, sitting on the edge of the chair and not at all hiding her passion and conviction. “If we just take our focus and energy off the constant battles with each other, then we could both do our jobs better.”
Alek remained silent.
Alessandra stood. “I truly would love to end the war between us, Alek,” she said before she turned to take her leave.
He hurried across the office, reaching out to catch her arm before she opened the door, turning her body and pressing her against it with his own. The flutter of her lashes and the quickness of her breath from their closeness was revealing. “Love conquers war,” he stated in a low voice.
“We don’t love each other,” she countered, her eyes dropping to his mouth.
“No, but we want each other, and that’s close enough,” Alek said as he lowered his head to hers.
Her resistance was weak at best. She breathed his name into his mouth in that second just before he kissed her. Her body went soft against his as she snaked her hands up around his neck to splay her hands on the back of his head.
Alek’s heart felt like it was fueled with pure adrenaline as he pressed his hands between her body and the door to raise her hem and cup her soft buttocks. He swallowed her gasp of pleasure as he lifted her up against the door and pressed his hips against her so that she could feel his aching hardness. Being there with her, caught up in their heat, kissing with a passion that was a feast after a famine was intoxicating.
Bzzzzzz...
The intercom broke through their haze.
Alessandra ended the kiss, tilting her head back against the door as she shook her head.
“No, no, no,” he pleaded, leaning in to lightly bite her chin.
Alessandra pressed her hands against his shoulders, still shaking her head, as she dropped down to her feet. She glanced at him briefly as she corrected the fit of her black lace panties before she smoothed her skirt down. “Business always comes first, Alek. Our fathers didn’t put us in charge just to sex each other in the office,” she said, her voice shaky as she walked unsteadily to the door leading to their private hall.
Bzzzzzz...
He stood there with his erection straining against his zipper, watching her leave, and already felt the loss of her. “Thank you for your help, Alessandra,” he said. “You proved me wrong.”
She turned and leaned against the door as she looked at him in surprise.
“Promise me we will have dinner tonight to celebrate our teamwork on this deal?” he asked, his heart pounding as he watched her closely.
Alessandra said nothing and just nodded as she licked her lips before turning to leave him.
* * *
Hours later, long after night reigned, Alessandra lightly bit the side of her finger as she watched Alek easily steering his Bugatti. He was looking ahead, focused on the road, and she allowed herself to enjoy his profile. His beautiful brown skin all the more flawless by his faded haircut and his groomed beard that couldn’t shield the square cut of his jaw. Long lashes that resembled small wings whenever he blinked. Supple mouth. Beautiful.
He glanced over the small divide between them, catching her eyes resting on him, and he smiled.
Alessandra looked away, her nervousness causing her teeth to dip a little deeper into the flesh of her finger.
“We’re here,” Alek said, driving through the entrance to a marina.
“I thought we were just having dinner?” she asked, her eyes taking in the sights of the boats and yachts lining the docks with the lit Lower Manhattan high-rises in the distance as he pulled into an assigned parking spot.
“Don’t worry,” he said, opening the car door. “I’m going to feed you.”
She waited as he came around the front of the sports car and opened her door for her. Taking his hand, she left the car and inhaled of the scent of the river. She walked beside him, quiet but curious, as they made their way down the dock to a sixty-foot white motor yacht.
Alessandra smiled at LuLu’s Baby inscribed in gold-trimmed turquoise lettering on the bow. “This is pretty humble for you, Mr. Bugatti,” she teased. “I wouldn’t have expected that.”
She pointed to a sleek all-black mega yacht of close to two hundred feet docked on the other side of the marina.
He chuckled. “That’s Black Joy and it is mine as well, Alessandra.”
Her nod was smug. “Of course.”
“We’re having dinner on LuLu’s Baby because it requires less crew,” he explained.
“How many?” she asked as she looked up at a tall, stout man with skin as brown as chocolate coming out of the covered main level of the vessel.
Alek gave her a wide smile. “Me,” he said. “And that’s the chef.”
Alessandra glanced at the boat and then back at him. “So you never really let go of your dreams of sailing?” she asked.
A warm breeze blew
in from the river as he looked up at the yacht with his anticipation clear. “It’s not in the way that I wanted, but it knocks the edge off the hunger.”
His eagerness was childlike and infectious.
“Permission to board, Captain Ansah?” she asked playfully, fighting the urge to kiss his cheek.
He waved his hand with a nod of his head.
Together they boarded. Alek introduced her to Chef Justice Brown, a Michelin-starred chef and winner of a James Beard Award, before Alessandra removed her heels. She already knew it was yacht etiquette not to wear street shoes on board and slipped on brand-new flip-flop sandals sitting in a basket. He led her up to the aft deck.
As he removed his suit jacket he stood in the helm station and began pushing buttons on the panel to start the engine. Alessandra moved to stand at the railing as a soft summer breeze blew in from the river again and fluttered a tendril of her hair that loosened from her topknot. “I would have gone home and changed or had my stylist bring me something if I knew you were planning all of this,” she said, looking down at the marina’s dockhands working fast to cast off the lines securing the vessel to the dock.
“Actually, I called Shiva myself and you have a change of clothes on board,” he said with a mischievous glint in his eye as he slowly shifted into forward at idle speed.
“And?” she asked, just as the yacht began to pull away from the dock.
He focused on keeping the yacht clear of any other boats, looking handsome sans tie and jacket with the top buttons of his custom shirt undone. “And there’s an outfit for tomorrow—”
“Tomorrow!” she exclaimed, her eyes widened by shock.
Alek cast her a charming smile that was all white teeth and bright eyes. “I thought we were celebrating our new alliance,” he said.
“A night on a yacht is more about the pleasure you seek than the business, Alek,” she said, hating that his charm softened her tone. “And we agreed it was just that one night, remember?”
He opened his mouth.
She shook her head. “Today in your office didn’t change that for me, Alek,” she insisted. “So why play with fire?”
As the boat entered free and clear water, Alek gradually increased the speed until soon the wind whipped across their bodies. “You have your own cabin and tomorrow I want to take us to my family’s private island off East Hampton.”
Alessandra was reluctant. “‘I can resist everything except temptation,’” she reminded him.
“I promise to be on my best behavior,” Alek said, watching her closely.
She smiled. “That’s what I’m worried about,” she mused.
They shared a laugh filled with the all-too-familiar sexual tension pulsing between them.
“To resisting temptation,” he said.
She said nothing as she looked out at the moon’s reflection on the water.
* * *
“Today was amazing, Alek. Thank you for sharing your island with me.”
He glanced back at her from behind the aviator shades he wore to block some of the sun’s rays. They were lounging on the bi-level deck that connected to the dock and enjoying the view of the river vista with the bright blue skies only broken up with clouds of varying thickness. She looked beautiful with her hair undone from her topknot, pulled back off her face and the bottom half loosened and floating down just past her shoulders in a white off-the-shoulder crochet cover she wore atop a white strapless bikini. “You’re welcome,” he said, forcing himself to look away as he sat on the dock with the legs of his white linen pants folded up to have his feet in the water.
As they had explored the abandoned camp in the midst of the towering pine trees, Alek told her of his plans to create a North American vacation spot for his family and the generations to come complete with a landing strip to enjoy entry to the island retreat by private airplane. He was going to clear it all except the surrounding acreage protected by a conservation easement and build a new dock close enough to the estate to walk out of the house and down one flight of steps to reach it.
He had enjoyed sharing his vision with her and loved the suggestions she made. She truly was smart and innovative, with a sharp wit that had him laughing several times throughout the day.
He looked back at her again, swatting away some flying insect that landed against his bare, sweat-soaked chest to find her eyes on him. She looked away as if caught doing something wrong. His eyes dipped to take in her long, shapely legs where she lay on a blanket he brought to enjoy their picnic lunch.
Last night, after he dropped anchor in the middle of the river, they’d enjoyed their dinner of roasted lamb shoulder in the main salon and successfully resisted that familiar buzz of awareness they created around each other. Afterward they sipped champagne and lounged on the deck stargazing. Neither said much, but the night air around them was bursting with tension and temptation.
Long after they retired to their separate staterooms, Alek had lain naked atop the covers on his king-size bed fighting his desire to go to her. Alessandra wanted him just as badly as he wanted her, that he knew. He was confident a knock at her door would lead to another explosive night.
But he refrained. It had been a true test of his will.
He took in the curves of her body with a regret-filled shake of his head.
That resolve was fading fast.
“I’m not blind, Alek,” she said, sitting up with her arms braced against the desk. “Is that too much? Me and you being here...alone?”
He smiled and focused his eyes on the yacht sitting moored to the dock. “Honestly, it is,” he admitted. “I want nothing more than to come over and give you what we both want, Alessandra.”
She rose and came over to sit on the dock beside him. “What do you want from me, Alek?” she asked. “If I admit that I would surprise you with how wet I am from just looking at you, then what? Because I’m not looking for love or a relationship, and sex could complicate things with ADG, don’t you think?”
He removed his shades and looked into her eyes, seeing the question, the concern and the hesitance. “I can’t put what we shared behind me, and I don’t want to, Alessandra,” he confessed, heart pounding.
Her eyes warmed over and she brought her hand up to cup the back of his neck as she leaned in to touch her forehead to his. “I crave you,” she admitted, her words softly whispering against his mouth.
“Just once more,” he said, his body alive with hope and want.
“We said that the last time,” she reminded him with a teasing smile before she brought her hand up to his chest and stroked the fine, flat hairs there as she tilted her chin up to taste his full mouth with her own.
He grunted in pleasure, pulling her pliant body over to straddle his lap as he removed the cover-up that did its job far too well.
They gave in to that craving yet again with nothing but surrounding flora to tell. They were witnesses to their passion. The rays of the sun and their slow, deliberate exertion caused sweat to coat their brown skin, slickening the primal movements against each other. And when they reached their climax together, their wild cries of release and fulfillment blended in the air above, echoing for miles.
Afterward, as they lay there seeking control of their bodies again, Alessandra breathlessly asked, “This wasn’t the last time, was it?”
“Hell no,” Alek swore.
Chapter 9
Three months later
It was only late October but the northeastern chill was present, the type of wintry air you feel in your bones. The type of cold to make you thankful for a warm body to press up against. To yearn to be close to.
Thank God it’s Friday.
Alessandra stretched her arms wide across the smooth leather of the back of the Jaguar with a smile on her face almost as wide. The week was over and Passion Grove was her destination, but lately her weekends
at home had found new meaning. She thought of that song “The Weekend” by R & B soulstress SZA.
As the lyric played in her head, she smiled and let her head fall back against the seat. Monday through Friday she and Alek were all business, but their weekends in her little guesthouse in Passion Grove were all about each other, their escape from hiding their liaisons from the world.
Alek had agreed to her request to not reveal their affair because of her fear she would lose her respect in the industry—something she worked so hard to attain and maintain. They even went so far as publicly dating other people at work functions—with the stipulation that the dates went no further than just that. Sex with anyone else was completely off the table.
She remembered the late-summer party they held on the terrace of their office building to celebrate the acquisition and ADG’s shift into the airline industry with his brother Naim being named the president. She’d brought Hill and he had his standard model type floating beside him when he entered. All night they surreptitiously watched each other until the party was over. In the end, it was all foreplay because they both sent their dates home before hotly pleasing each other atop the conference table in their boardroom.
As Roje drove up to the guesthouse on her estate, her heart skipped a beat to see that the windows of her living room were bright with light. She hadn’t left them on when she left on Monday and her cleaning staff wouldn’t have done so. Quickly, she eased her underwear over her hips and down the length of her legs and her heels to shove inside her purse. “Enjoy your weekend, Roje,” she said, climbing from the rear before he could exit.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said,
Alessandra held the edges of her bright yellow Maki Oh robe coat closer as she hurried inside the house. She moaned in satisfaction at the feel of the heat as she pulled off her coat and eyed Alek sitting atop the plush rug before the fire, already naked and waiting. She dropped her handbag and briefcase on the sofa as she walked over to him and hitched the leather eyelet hem of her fitted black dress up around her waist as she stood over him.
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