by Desiree Holt
He laid the menu down in front of him and looked at her, his face expressionless but some dark swirled in his eyes. “And that would be?”
She inhaled and let her breath out slowly. “I apologize for leaving so rudely last night. This morning,” she corrected herself. “I owe you an explanation.”
He flapped a hand at her. “Nothing to apologize for. We had a good time and you needed to get home.”
She stared at him. Was he that unaffected by it? Where was the angry man who had called her so many times this morning?
“Well?” he prompted. “We did have a great time, right? Then you left. No harm, no foul.”
Livy tried to swallow but her mouth was dry. She’d never been in this position before. The men she spent time with always knew the rules and expected nothing more of her than she was willing to give. Certainly not some emotional bonding in the light of day. She was supposed to be giving this speech. How had he turned the tables on her?
“Good. I enjoyed myself as much as you did. And I’m sure it comes as no surprise if I tell you you’re spectacular in bed.”
“Thanks for the endorsement, but what’s this really all about?”
Had he changed his mind? Had his anger really wiped away what she sensed he felt for her? She wet her lips, hands clasped nervously in her lap. “But I don’t do relationships. I never have. I can’t.”
“Can’t is a pretty restrictive word,” he pointed out.
“I know, I know. There have just been…things…in my life… Well, let’s just say I’m no good at it.” She tried on a smile. “Believe me, I’d be a disappointment to you.”
“Not that it matters now, but don’t you think I should be the judge of that?”
She shook her head. “I have a feeling you see something that’s not there. Without pulling all the skeletons out of my closet, you’ll just have to trust me on that.” She cleared her throat and glanced down at her lap. “If you can accept that there can’t be an emotional relationship, I’d very much like to continue the physical aspect. Because you’re just so damn good at it.”
God. Is that really me sounding so stupid? And why can’t I look him in the eye?
She lifted her gaze to check his reaction.
Alex stared at her as if she was some kind of apparition. She wouldn’t blame him if he thought she was.
“Never mind,” she said, taking a sip of her water, trying to cover her unfamiliar embarrassment. “Let me just apologize again for my rudeness and abrupt departure, let’s order and get on with business.”
“No.” he raised one eyebrow. “I think that’s an interesting proposition. Is that your standard line?”
“I said forget it.” If only she could tear her gaze away from him. Not see the hurt flash briefly in his eyes.
He continued to stare at her until she picked up her own menu and hid behind it. Okay, so she’d done it. Made a damned fool of herself. In all her adult years she’d never behaved like this. She’d be lucky if he didn’t just get up and walk out.
But he doesn’t want to screw up the project. Thank god for the damn project.
By the time they ordered Livy wondered if she’d dreamed the whole conversational gambit. Alex launched right into a discussion of the project as if she’d never said a word. With an iron will born from years of discipline she focused completely on business and they discussed preliminary details. She explained to him how Frank liked his reports, what his timeline was, what he’d be looking for.
“You’ll probably have to attend a couple of meetings with investors,” she told him. “They like to hear what’s going on from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.”
“No problem.” He forked up the last of his pasta. “I’ve done that before.”
“I also wanted you to know that Frank’s put one of the planes at your disposal for trips back and forth to the site.”
His eyes popped open at that. “One of his planes?”
She nodded. “The company has four used for various purposes. The two Gulfstreams are used by Frank and some of the other executives as well as investors. There’s a Citation Mustang and a Piper Arrow. The Piper’s the smallest but it’s probably all you need. It can haul four people besides the pilot and someone can sit in the co-pilot’s seat if necessary.”
Alex stared at her. “Does he do that with all his jobs?”
“Yes. It’s a matter of efficiency.” She swallowed the last bite of Italian roll and patted her mouth with the napkin. “For example, the closest place to the Wyoming site with an airport is Laramie. It’s less than an hour to the site, but the way he sees it, that’s forty-five minutes you could be on the job. We have someone who’ll work with Josh and Tyler to figure out where to put a temporary runway so you can land right there.”
“That adds to the cost of the job,” Alex protested.
“It’s our choice so we pick up the tab on that. Also for the rental car Tyler will need while he’s there.”
At that he smiled. “I’m sure I can persuade my brother to accept such a generous offer. But won’t it be a waste of time to construct a runway?”
She shook her head. “Calumet Industries makes metal planking especially for this. We’ve used them several times. It’s all good.”
Over coffee they discussed a feasible schedule for meetings, including when the next one would be, and Alex called for the check. The air between them was only slightly less frigid and Livy wondered if she’d ever get back the easy feeling between them. Probably not, having screwed it up so badly. In that one unguarded moment she’d seen the flash of hurt in his eyes. Damn, damn, damn. From the beginning she’d sensed something happening between them, something she wasn’t prepared to handle. She should have known her usual method of operation wouldn’t work this time. She should have just left it alone.
But at least the business end was back on track.
The rest of it? She could cry in the shower where no one could see or hear her.
Chapter Six
Alex shifted his gaze from the file he was working on to the calendar on his computer’s dashboard. A week had passed since his lunch with Livy. Although he’d kept himself more than busy every day it seemed to him as if time stretched along one slow second at a time.
Schoolboy crush.
He kept telling himself that over and over again, even though he knew it was more than that. He’d seen the woman beneath the shell and he wanted her. His heart wanted her, even though he knew he couldn’t have her. The soft, vulnerable woman he’d had such brief glimpses of was firmly hidden again, not even a hint of her showing.
All for the best.
All for the best. He’d bury himself in work until some other woman came into his life. Except he didn’t want another woman. He wanted this one.
Damn, damn, damn.
A knock sounded on his closed door. Before he could ask who it was Tyler walked in.
“Josh left ages ago,” he announced. “Besides me, you’re the last one here. And I’m on my way out. Don’t you think it’s time to hang it up for the night?”
Alex leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair. “Soon. I just want to work on this a little while longer.”
“Alex.” Tyler leaned against the doorjamb and folded his arms across his chest. “Enough with burning the midnight oil. You’ve practically lived in this office for the past few days. Go home. Eat. Get drunk if you want to, if that’s what you need. But do yourself a favor. Do all of us a favor. Get the hell out of here and don’t come back until you’re human again.”
“I’m human,” he protested.
Tyler’s laugh was more like a short bark. “If you say so. I wish you’d tell us what the fuck is bugging you. You’re driving us all crazy.” He moved closer to the desk. “Can you just give me a hint what the problem is? A woman? Want us to find a new one for you?”
Alex slammed his hand down on the desk and immediately was sorry for it. He didn’t need to take this out on his brothers.
“I’m fine. Really. I can work this out by myself.” He made a shooing motion with his hand. “Go on. Go home or go out to play. I promise I’ll close up soon.”
He sat there for a long time after Tyler left, fighting an inner battle that he knew he was sure to lose. It was bad enough Olivia D’Angelo had gotten under his skin and wouldn’t leave. She’s also invaded his heart in a very short time. Maybe it was like craving a forbidden food. If you ate too much of it the craving went away.
Okay. If that was the case, he’d get ready to overeat.
He locked the offices up tight and headed out to his car. He thought of calling to make sure she was home but then wasn’t sure what she’d say if she answered. He’d just have to take his chances.
It was raining by the time he got to her house, not heavily but just enough to dampen him as he ran from his car to the front porch. Punching the doorbell, he tried to brush off the raindrops while he waited for her to answer. When nothing happened he pushed the bell again, and once more, impatient to see her. Say his piece.
The porch light came on and the heavy oak door opened just the length of the security chain.
“Alex?” Her voice was filled with surprise. “Is that you?”
“It’s me.” He ran a hand over his damp hair. “Open up the damn door, okay?”
She hesitated, then released the chain and swung the door wide open.
“What on earth are you doing here?” She peered out at the night. “And in the rain, of all things. Couldn’t you just have called?”
“No. I need to do this in person.”
She closed the door and set the chain again then looked at him with a questioning expression on his face. “So what’s the deal?”
He hadn’t meant to do this in a damp suit with raindrops dripping from his hair but the weather just hadn’t cooperated. He probably looked like a drowned rat while she looked bedtime gorgeous in a pink robe with no makeup on her face and her hair falling softly to her shoulders.
“You said just sex, right?” he demanded.
“What?” She rubbed her face. “What are you talking about?”
“You said no emotional involvement. I heard you.” His cock was reminding him that it was ready to go to work. “Just sex. So, okay. I’m here for the sex.”
He moved toward her, cupped her cheeks with his palms and took her mouth in a scorching kiss. His tongue plunged and retreated, licking the inside of her delicious lips, gliding across her small tongue, drinking in her taste. Her fingers clasped around his wrists as if to pull his hands away but then they loosened and simply clung to him. She answered his kiss with heat of her own.
Alex lifted his head only when he needed to breathe but he didn’t move his hands from her. Instead he brushed light kisses on her cheeks, her eyelids, her forehead.
“Bedroom,” he told her in a raspy voice. He needed to be inside her now. Now!
“Um, Alex?”
“Yeah?” He licked the softness of her lips.
“Hold on a second. What if I have someone here?”
That shocked some sense into him, freezing every muscle in his body. For some reason that hadn’t occurred to him. “Is there? Tell me right now.”
“No, there isn’t.” She lifted his hands form her face and moved back a step. “But there could have been. What’s with the caveman act all of a sudden?”
He drew in a breath, an attempt to get himself under some kind of control.
“I want you. I’ve hardly been able to think about anything except our night together since the last time we saw each other. So if we can’t have a relationship, I’ll take the sex. Where’s the bedroom?”
He saw the struggle in her eyes, in the expression on her face. She could certainly tell him she’d changed her mind and to get the hell out. But from her response to his kiss he didn’t think she’d do that. He waited for the length of a long heartbeat before he saw the expression on her face soften.
“At the end of the hall,” she told him.
He lifted her in his arms and strode down the hallway, through the open doorway, and deposited her on her feet beside the bed. His mouth sought hers again and drew on it skillfully as he tore off his jacket and shirt, undid his belt and the zipper on his slacks, and toed off his shoes and socks. He was urgent in his need, hungry to feel her under him again, to feel her hot pussy clenching around his shaft.
He broke the kiss only to divest himself of his slacks and shorts. Stopping for a moment to drink in the sight of her, he opened her robe and pushed it from her shoulders. Beneath it was a thin, very sheer short gown that concealed nothing. No tank top and sleep shorts for her. Thank god.
She shivered slightly as he palmed her breasts and brushed her nipples with his thumbs, moving over peaks that were already stiff and hard. Holy mother, she was so soft and warm. Just touching her skin sent a sizzle of fire burning through him. He pressed a kiss at the hollow of her throat, felt the accelerated beat of her pulse against the delicate skin. He licked it gently and her hands came up to clutch his shoulders.
He wanted to taste every wonderful inch of her again, but right now he couldn’t wait. He tore himself away from her long enough to grab his pants, reach into his pocket and pull out the handful of condoms he’d hastily stuffed in there.
Livy hadn’t moved, just watched him through heavy-lidded eyes.
He lifted her onto the bed, arranging her the way he wanted to, bending her legs at the knees and planting her feet on the bed. Crawling between them he tore open one of the foil packets, yanked the condom out and rolled it on with hands shaking with the intensity of his need for her.
“I need it fast this time, Livy. I have to have you. Next time we’ll take it real slow.”
Alex spread the lips of her cunt and ran a fingertip over the pink flesh. She was soaked. Was that from the kiss or had she been thinking about him? Please god not about some other man. He slid two fingers inside her to assure himself she was ready for him. Positioning the head of his dick at her opening he pushed forward, a little at a time. It took every bit of control not to be a savage and just ram it home.
Livy was moaning now, soft little sounds that ramped up his desire and hunger. He took a moment to lean forward and suck each nipple individually, loving the little whimpers she made when he did so. Then his thumb found her clit and he eased into her even more as he worked the little nub, calling forth her climax, pulling her up to the peak with him.
Then he was all the way inside her. He closed his eyes, every sense heightened at the feel of her tight pussy clenched around him. Her juices bathed him, lubricating her hot, tight channel for him.
“Later we’ll be slower,” he gasped, hips moving as he pumped in and out of her.
He tried not to take her like a rutting bull but his need for her consumed him. He picked up the rhythm, driving into her harder and faster. She was making those wonderful little sounds again that turned him on so. Her hands came up to clutch his shoulders as he thrust harder and fast, still rubbing that hot little nub. Her body tensed beneath him, the first tremors of her orgasm making the walls of her cunt spasm.
Then they hit the peak, Alex dragging her over it with him so they exploded together, bodies shuddering. He came harder than he ever remembered. The tight walls of her cunt were like a giant fist opening and closing around his pulsing cock, until the last drop had been drained from him. Even his balls felt shriveled up. His heart thundered loudly in his ears, or maybe it was Livy’s heartbeat echoing through his body. They were both sweat-slicked and oxygen-deprived but he wanted to stay connected with her until the last possible moment.
He looked into her eyes and for a moment he was sure he could see all the way into her soul. He blinked and the moment was gone. But it only reinforced his conviction that there was something deeper here. Convincing Livy would be the problem.
They were both silent as he slid from her body, disposed of the condom and came back to lie down beside her. Their joining had been hard and fast but i
t had only taken the edge off his appetite for her. He wanted her every way possible and before the night was over he’d have her. He had to appease his hunger for her before it drove him completely nuts.
He curled her against him, his fingers lightly stroking her check and the slender column of her neck.
“You haven’t said a word,” he murmured against her ear.
She gave a tiny little laugh. “How could I? You take my breath away.”
“I’m hoping to take more of it away before the night is over.”
“We both have to go to work tomorrow,” she reminded him.
“Don’t worry.” He traced the shell of her ear with the tip of his tongue. “I’ll make sure you get at least some sleep.”
He trailed light kisses along the column of her neck, feeling a shiver race through her. His fingers caressed her arm, her hip, the upper swell of her thigh. She wriggled slightly against him and his cock began to swell again. Still, he knew he needed more time to recover fully. Time to take care of her, instead.
Lifting her top leg he pulled it across his, sliding his hand beneath it so he could reach her cunt. He remembered from the other night she kept the hair neatly trimmed, so now his fingers followed the feather-soft line down one side of her lips and up the other. He touched the very peak of her clit, dancing lightly over the engorged nub before resuming his stroking of her labia.
Livy wriggled a little more and now those little noises he loved so much were easing from her lips on the breath of a sigh. He loved the feel of her wet flesh, knowing the juices lubricating it flowed because of him. Rubbing back and forth across her clit he nipped the soft flesh where her neck and shoulder joined and put his mouth close to her ear.
“I love fucking you, Olivia D’Angelo.” His voice was guttural and low as he told her in specific erotic terms what he wanted from her. With each word her breathing increased and her body rocked harder against his. “Your body is a feast, your cunt hot and wet, and your nipples like berries. I love to listen to your little moans and sighs, and hear you scream my name when you come. Your cunt feels so good when it grips my cock and milks it. I could leave it in there forever.” His hand moved past her hip and down to cup her buttocks, squeezing the flesh before trailing his fingers through the hot crevice. “And one of these nights you’ll feel it in that sweet little ass of yours and I’ll make you scream the house down when you come.”
