by Kira Archer
Her gaze shot to his, and he gave her that lazy smile that sent a fine tremor running through her body. If she could focus on him, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. She pulled her shirt off and dropped it to the floor.
“Skirt next.”
She didn’t hesitate, dropping her skirt so she stood before him in her white lace bra and panties. She’d worn something nice—just in case.
Elliot’s breathing sped up. He must like what he’s seeing.
“Bra,” he demanded.
Lena let her own smile spread across her lips as she reached up to unclasp her bra. Elliot bit his bottom lip, and the sight was so unexpectedly sensual Lena gasped. She dropped her bra and lost her panties before he told her to do it, slowly sliding them off while Elliot’s gaze raked over her. She let her hands trail back up her waist, then cupped her breasts, her head falling back with a sigh when her palms brushed across her tight nipples.
Elliot sucked his breath in with a hiss, and Lena looked back at him. His skin was flushed from the heat of the water, his chest heaving at the sight of her caressing her own breasts.
“Come here,” he said, his voice deep and husky.
She took his hand, and a deep breath, and stepped into the tub. The water reached to her upper thighs. Suddenly, her trembling limbs had nothing to do with Elliot.
He didn’t give her any time to think about it. The moment she stepped into the water, he grasped her around the waist, his lips skimming over the soft skin of her belly. His tongue dipped into her navel, and Lena’s back bowed, pressing her body to his tantalizing mouth. His hands slipped down to her hips while his lips continued their journey south.
The warm water caressing her bare skin created an intoxicating sensation. Elliot’s hands felt like silk stroking her beneath the surface. She still wasn’t thrilled about there being quite so much water surrounding her, but she was definitely starting to see the merits. He ran his hands up the back of her legs, spreading them a little so he could reach what he wanted.
His tongue darted out, flicking the tight little bundle of pulsating nerves. Her knees buckled, coming to rest on his shoulders. He leaned back against the tub, helping her to settle over him. He licked along her outer folds, and a fine tremor ran through her body. Her hands threaded through his hair, and he redoubled his efforts. She gasped, her body rocking against him, trying to bring him deeper. His hands massaged her ass, using his grip to help move her over his mouth.
The warm pressure built inside her, her nails digging into his scalp. Her legs gave out, and she slid slowly into the water. He kept his arms around her, holding her close until she was settled against him. His mouth met hers, and she could taste herself on his lips. His hand fumbled for something along the edge of the tub.
Lena barely registered the sound of the condom packet ripping open. She kept their lips fused together. His hands reached between them while he rolled the condom on, and he guided himself to her opening. She straddled him more fully, he turned them so her back rested against the side of the tub, and plunged inside her in one stroke.
She wrapped her legs tighter about him, rising to meet each thrust. The water sloshed around them, but every time she’d start to notice it, Elliot would send some new sensation coursing through her body that shattered her concentration. His mouth moved over her breasts, his lips teasing her nipples, sucking and tugging, while he thrust in and out of her. His rhythm increased, bringing her closer and closer until she cried out, the pleasure exploding inside her until all she could do was hang on to him and tremble.
He came a moment later, his arms crushing her to him while he pulsed inside her. Lena leaned into him, her body limp and boneless, floating in the water. Elliot kept his arms around her, cuddling her.
“That wasn’t so bad now, was it?” he asked.
Lena laughed. “No. That wasn’t bad at all.”
Truthfully, she still wasn’t very comfortable floating in the water. But snuggled against Elliot’s chest, his body anchoring her, it wasn’t quite as terrifying as it had been a few minutes ago. And she did enjoy the heat of the water soaking into her body, the silky feel of Elliot’s body behind her.
“See, you’ll be ready for a full-blown swimming pool in no time.”
Lena shook her head, rubbing her cheek across his chest. “That might be a little optimistic. This, though,” she said, letting her fingers trail up his skin, “this I might be able to handle again.”
“Hmm.” He tilted her face up so he could give her a long, lingering kiss. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll see what I can do.”
Lena smiled against his lips. “Deal.”
Chapter Thirteen
Elliot sat across from his parents at the huge table in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. He’d just delivered his presentation. Handed them a brief but detailed business plan in professional-looking folders. Gone through his entire idea from top to bottom. He’d done well. For the first time in his life, he cared about doing well. It was a good idea, and it deserved a shot. The fact that his parents actually seemed to be discussing it, instead of shooting him down at the get-go, stoked the little flame of hope in his chest. He really, truly believed they might say yes.
He should have known better.
He knew what his father was going to say the moment he stood up, before he even said a word.
“Look, Son, I’m happy to see you focusing on something…worthwhile for a change.”
“But?” Elliot said, knowing there was a “but” coming.
“However…”
Elliot’s excitement evaporated on a wave of disappointment so strong he thought he’d choke on it. He should have known. He had known. He’d just been too stupid. He concentrated on controlling his breathing, slowing the surge of anger that was fast overtaking his disillusionment. Losing his temper wouldn’t help anything.
His father glowered at him. “However, we do not feel this is the direction the charity should go at this time. With the funds we raise, we help several charities—”
“Yes, but the problem is, we don’t ever use the money for the same charities,” Elliot cut in. “The charities we donate to can’t count on us for funds every year. I’m not saying that the ones we choose aren’t worthy of the money. But it’s like we sprinkle little bits here and there on whatever happens to be popular each year. If we concentrate on one specific area, we’d be able to make a huge difference.”
His mother chimed in. “The charities we donate to appreciate the money. Even if we wanted to take it in another direction, I’m not sure that I approve of the one you’ve chosen. There are those less fortunate and more in need of the help—”
“Are you saying foster kids don’t need help?”
His father’s scowl deepened. “Of course we aren’t saying that. However, they do have funds for their care provided from the state. There are others who would benefit more.”
“It’s not nearly enough. Those kids—”
His father held up his hand. “For now, we’d prefer you to keep the focus on the way things are currently run. Everything is already in place and runs smoothly. All you need to do is keep persuading the donations out of our donors.”
Elliot clasped his hands in front of him, his jaw clenching with the aching desire to respond. Sure. His family was happy to have him on board. As long as he kept his mouth shut and did what they told him to do. No rocking the boat, no new ideas. Just sit behind the desk and flip the switch like the trained monkey he was. His family didn’t really want him to be involved. There was just nowhere else to stick him.
But that wasn’t enough for him anymore. Maybe it never had been; he’d just been too lazy to do anything about it. Until he’d met Lena. She’d made him come alive. Made his desire to do something worthwhile with his life increase to the point that he’d never be able to go back to how he’d lived before. She’d changed him. For the better. And he liked the new him. If his parents didn’t… Well, maybe he didn’t need them in his life.
He couldn’t say a word of that to them, though. At least not at that moment. His sister was getting married the next day. He wouldn’t spoil her day with his nonsense.
His mother stood and he followed suit, his manners automatically kicking in. A lady stood, therefore so would he. Good monkey, treat for you.
She walked by and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You have a good heart, Elliot. You just need to make sure it doesn’t get…misdirected.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
She laughed a little. “Oh, come now. You’ve been running the charity for several years. You’ve never shown any sign of wanting to change things. Suddenly, you spend a few nights with that…girl… And you’re full of ideas about foster children? It isn’t difficult to see where that came from. I realize with her background, funding foster children might seem appealing, but that doesn’t mean we need to let her disrupt something that has run perfectly well for years.”
“First of all, I’m not sure why you think Lena’s background would make her predisposed to helping foster children. Other than the fact that they are children who could use some help and she has a child. Oz and Lena never spent time in the foster care system. Their parents died when they were both adults. Not that it would matter to me if they had. Second, this is something I’ve wanted to do for several years. I was never organized enough to make a real go of it. Lena isn’t disrupting anything. She’s improving everything.”
The disdainful disbelief on his parents’ faces was almost more than Elliot could take.
“I find the timing of this a bit…odd,” his mother said. “Up until now, your ideas had to do with making more money for the charity, taking what we’ve already established and making it better. Something we’d support if you came up with something substantial and executable. But now, that girl spends the night in your hotel room, and you suddenly want to revamp our charity into something unrecognizable. Benefitting one group of children instead of the many we currently help.”
Elliot shook his head. “The charity doesn’t help nearly as many as it could. The resources are spread too thin. Nothing is ever guaranteed. No one can really count on us. This plan,” he said, jabbing a finger at the folder in front of him, “gives us a true purpose. Yes, it focuses on one group of children, but it’s a group who can really benefit.”
His parents’ expressions didn’t change at all. Nothing he said was making a dent. He shoved the folder away from him, exhaling in disgust. “You never had any intention of letting me do anything useful, did you?”
“Excuse me?” his mother said.
“You’ve wanted me more involved for years. I’m doing exactly what you wanted. I came up with a good, solid idea, and it’s not just some whim I pulled out of thin air. It’s researched and thought out and planned down to the last detail. There’s no reason for you not to get behind this.”
“There are plenty of reasons, Elliot. If you’d spent more than only the last few days paying attention to how things are really run, you’d understand that. It’s encouraging that you finally want to become involved, but we are not going to restructure everything we’ve built because you slept with some girl and think you’ve had some sort of epiphany while on vacation.”
“Lena has nothing to do with—”
“Enough, Son. I don’t want this to turn into some sordid family feud. This isn’t really the time or place for an in-depth discussion. We’ve given you our answer. Now, let’s all move on and enjoy what we can of the rest of this week.”
“And when we get back?”
“Like I said, your interest is a step in the right direction. But we aren’t going to stake the future of the charity on you until we’re sure this isn’t another phase.”
Elliot wanted to scream, but he kept silent. Nothing he said would help. They’d already made up their minds about him. He was a screw-up in their eyes. It didn’t matter that he’d come to them as an equal, fully prepared and wanting to take the next step. You couldn’t prove yourself to people who’d already made up their minds about you.
His father walked around the table and clapped a hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze before moving to open the door and wait for his mother. She kissed him on the cheek and followed his father out the door, taking with them any hope Elliot had of actually doing something meaningful in his life. His foundation wouldn’t be developed. He’d just be a figurehead to charm money out of people—day in and day out.
And Lena… He’d screwed that up, too. His parents would never accept her any more than they were accepting him. He had nothing to offer her.
Perhaps it was for the best. No one trusted him with anything of any importance. He had no business getting mixed up with a woman like her, especially with a child involved. He couldn’t even pull his own life together. He had no business messing up theirs, too.
He slumped into a chair, any confidence he’d had in his future had disappeared through the door along with his parents.
Lena paced down the hall from the conference room where Elliot had been ensconced with his parents for the last half hour. She had a good vantage point of the door. The second it opened, she ducked out of sight. She’d caught a glimpse of their faces, but it was impossible to tell how things had gone. They always looked like they’d been sucking on something sour. But they didn’t look any more out of sorts than normal, so that might be a good sign.
She waited a few more minutes, but when Elliot didn’t follow them out, she decided to go to him. She found him slumped in his chair at the conference table, staring off into space.
“Hey,” she said quietly, not wanting to spook him.
He blinked and looked up at her.
“Hey.”
She came around to his side of the table and leaned against it, close enough that he could reach out and touch her if he wanted. He didn’t. He didn’t say anything.
“So. How’d it go?”
Elliot gave a harsh laugh, rubbed his hands over his face, then shoved them through his hair. He stood up and started gathering his materials.
“They appreciate that I’m showing more interest in the charity, but they do not feel that foster kids are worthy of more help and think that I should keep my mouth shut and keep doing what they tell me.”
Lena’s jaw dropped. “They actually said that?”
Elliot let out a coarse sigh. “Not in those exact words, but their meaning was pretty clear.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said. She reached out to him, touching his arm, but he jerked away and continued to gather his things.
She tried to ignore his reaction and not be hurt by his rejection. His parents had really upset him. God knew they could be an ice-cold bitchfest of epic proportions. And a lot of men didn’t want to be coddled when they were upset. It was hard not to take it personally, but she did her best to put that aside for the moment.
“I’m sure they didn’t mean anything by it. Maybe it just wasn’t a good time to bring it up. The wedding is tomorrow, so I’m sure they’ve got a lot on their minds with that. After they get back from their trip in a few months, they could be more open to—”
Elliot was already shaking his head. “No, they won’t. They want me as a warm body on the scene, someone with the family name that can keep things going by my presence but who won’t really contribute in any significant way. I’m the monkey at the switch. That’s it. We were idiots to think this stupid idea would fly. Who were we kidding? There’s no way my parents were going to go for this. It was ridiculous to even try.”
Lena sucked in a breath. He’d loved the ideas they’d come up with, that she’d come up with. Her throat grew tight with tears she refused to let him see. This was all her fault. You’d think after years of coming up with one crappy idea after another she would have learned her lesson. It was bad enough she kept trying, but now she’d dragged Elliot into her vortex of failure. And sent him in to go up against his parents. What the hell had she been thinking? When he’d asked her fo
r ideas, she should have gone with her gut and kept her damn mouth shut.
“I’m so sorry, Elliot.”
“It’s not your fault.”
She wasn’t so sure about that. “What are you going to do now?”
“What difference does it make?” he asked, his voice harsh. He had everything gathered up and headed for the door. He glanced back at her, frowning at the worry he must have seen on her face.
“Don’t worry. I’ll still fund your business. No reason for both of us to be failures,” he ground out.
Lena gasped. He closed his eyes for a second and sighed.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, his voice softer. “I just wanted to assure you that I will still help with your company, even if we won’t be working together on the foundation.”
She reached a hand out to him but dropped it before she touched him. He didn’t seem to want her comfort. “Elliot, no matter what they said, the foundation is a good idea. Maybe we just need to—”
“No,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. He pushed the door open. “The foundation idea is dead, Lena. Leave it alone.”
He walked out and didn’t turn back. She didn’t blame him. She sank into a chair, struggling to shove all the pain rushing at her back in its little box where she could keep it at bay.
She’d done it again. Ruined something else. Why did she keep thinking she had what it took to make it in the business world? Hell, in any world. She’d never been able to make a success out of anything in her life. She should have known better. She still had the rehearsal and dinner to get through that night and the wedding the next day. Then she could go back home, back to her regular life. She could forget about Elliot, box up all her craft crap, and burn her idea binder. Elliot could keep his damn money. She’d rather work three jobs the rest of her life than take his pity money. Time to stop dreaming and wake up to reality.
Her dreams never became anything but nightmares.
Chapter Fourteen
Elliot sat to the side in the gorgeous courtyard where Oz and Cher would be married in less than twenty-four hours. The rest of the wedding party slowly filtered in, but Lena hadn’t made an appearance yet. He jammed his fingers through his hair. He owed her an apology. The look on her face when he’d stormed out of the conference room that morning had been tormenting him for hours.
