The Red Eye (The Red Eye Erotic Romance Series Book 2)

by Phillips, Avery

  I slipped one strap of my bra down my shoulder, looking over my back as I undressed at snail’s pace to watch his response, before doing the same on the other side. Unclasping my bra, I leaned forward to slip it off. My breasts dangled down in invitation. I put one hand to cover my breasts while the other caught my bra. Turning around, I waved it over my head in a lazy circle a few times before throwing it directly into Rick’s face.

  He laughed, as I put my hands in the top of my panty elastic. Pulling at it, I teased him with the possibility of taking it off before turning around. Leaning forward so that he got a great view of my ass, I whipped my panties off in one smooth motion.

  Completely naked, I turned and started dancing toward Rick, using my panties as a prop as I moved. His cock seemed to grow even bigger as I moved toward him, and I tossed my panties into a corner of the room before crawling onto the bed, moving up him until my breasts were dangling in his face.

  Why not, I thought. Why not play with a playmate from my past? I deserved a little unreserved excitement, and I knew Rick was more than willing to make it a memorable time.

  “Suck on my breasts,” I commanded, and Rick was happy to oblige. I moaned as he took my nipple into his mouth, playing with my other breast with his thumb. I chuckled in dazed pleasure, lolling my head back. I pushed him off in fickle amusement. “Jeez, Rick. Will you just fuck me already?”

  Rick rolled me onto my back in a show of masculinity, thrusting into me. I arched my back to meet him. I’d forgotten just how good he felt inside me. Sad, but true—the way he fucked me was one of the reasons why I hadn’t left him sooner.

  The way he moved hit just the right spot, and I couldn’t hold in my cries as he pushed into me at a medium pace—not too fast so that the party would last, not too slow so that I wouldn’t get bored. “You learned some new tricks?” He clutched my hips and sweetened the stroke with a swirl of his pelvis that skated against every wall. I let out a gratified groan. “Yes, definitely some new tricks.” He chuckled, fucking me harder. He waited until I was just about to come.

  “I’m not done with you yet.” He pulled out, still fully erect, and turned me onto my front so that I was on all fours.

  “Oh God, yes!” He knew just what I needed, and as he pounded into me from behind, I could feel myself coming again. This time he came with me, both of us crying out before falling back onto the bed together, spooning as if we actually cared about each other. I smiled in sleepy wonder.

  “I knew you’d come back to me, Rebecca.” Rick whispering in my ear was the last thing I was aware of before I fell fast asleep.

  Nine

  “I am never going to drink again.” I woke up with the worst headache of my life. Attempting to sit up so I could go to the rest room, I was forced to lie straight back down again as nausea washed over me.

  “Yeah, until the next time.”

  I moved my head vaguely in Rick’s direction and squinted at him, trying not to antagonize my headache.

  “Shut up.” There was no venom behind my words. Truth be told, it was good to wake up next to him. He could have gone back to his own room, having gotten exactly what he wanted. The fact that he’d stuck around meant a lot.

  “Do you want me to get you anything?”

  “Anything that will get rid of the pain in my headache.”

  “Coming right up.” Rick rolled over and dialed the number for reception. I could hear him placing an order for room service, and I was grateful that he was here to take care of it, because I was not in the state to function properly.

  “Oh no.” The nausea was back, and I had to force back the pain as I made a dash for the rest room. Rick followed me, still naked from last night. He gently rubbed my back as I lost the contents of my stomach, holding my hair back to protect it from backsplash.

  “Come on, you.” He helped me stand up and guided me back to bed. “There’s no way you’re in any shape to go to work today. I’ll call and cancel the meetings.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “Yes, I can.”

  “But we’re meeting with Joe Clark. We can’t put that off. Any other time and I’d agree with you, but not today, not with so much at stake. If that meeting doesn’t go ahead, the whole thing could fall apart and then we’re back to the courtrooms, which is the one thing we were sent out here to avoid. I’ll dose myself up aspirin, whatever it takes to get through the day.”

  “There is another option, you know.” Rick picked at the bedding, clearly taking his time in choosing his words carefully. “You could stay here and get better and let me deal with the meeting.”

  “I don’t know.” I wasn’t really comfortable with Rick taking lead two days in a row. Ultimately, I was in charge and the buck stopped with me. Rick could be a brilliant lawyer but he could also be an unstable maverick, and if he decided that he wanted to cause me problems, this was the time to do it. I wouldn’t put it past him to deliberately sabotage my efforts. And no matter what was going on with me and Devon, I couldn’t see myself being able to explain that we’d lost the case because I was hung over.

  “You don’t trust me.”

  I looked at him and shrugged. Rick always could read me like a book.

  “Rebecca, do you really think so little of me that you think that I’d mess this up on purpose?”

  “Let’s just say that going on experience, I wouldn’t put it past you.”

  Rick reached over and took my hand. “Rebecca, I know I messed up in the past, but I promise, I would never do anything to ruin your career. I know how hard you’ve worked to get here and I’m so, so proud of everything you’ve done.” He paused. “Besides, it’s my career on the line, too. If you really think that I’d stab you in the back like that, you must at least recognize that I’d never shoot myself in the foot while I did it.”

  “Jeez, Rick. Talk about mixing your metaphors!”

  “That’s more like it.” Rick gently moved my head so I was facing him. “I love to see you smile. You don’t smile nearly enough. I’d like to change that, if you’d let me.”

  I was saved from having a deep conversation that I wasn’t ready for by a knock at the door.

  “Room service!”

  “Just a minute.” Rick quickly pulled on his pants and threw on his shirt without bothering to do up the buttons. “Cover yourself up with the duvet,” he advised. “I’ll take care of this.”

  The waiter rolled in a food trolley with some covered-up plates. Rick directed him to the other side of the room, tipping him when he got there. “I’ll serve, thanks.”

  The waiter left the room, too professional to make it obvious if he was trying to catch a glimpse of my breasts as he went.

  “Do you want to eat in bed?”

  I nodded, grateful for Rick taking care of everything, as I sat up, using the pillows to support myself.

  A few moments later, he brought over a tray full of bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, and hash browns, with orange juice on the side. “There you go. Hope I got everything.”

  “You remembered!”

  “Of course I did. You were always such a health freak, apart from when you had a hangover. You swore blind that this was the one thing that could help chase away a headache.”

  “You know what would make this better?” I picked up the juice and almost drained the glass in one swallow. “A double vodka in the OJ.”

  Rick grinned, a wicked glint in his eye. “Well, I don’t think you’ve emptied out the minibar. That could be arranged…”

  I sighed. “I better not. Not with the meeting coming up.”

  “I told you, Rebecca. Don’t worry about that. I can handle it.”

  It showed just how much things had changed between us that I found myself agreeing to let Rick handle negotiations by himself. Breakfast might have helped settle my stomach, but my head was still pounding and I wasn’t going to be any good to anyone until I’d had some more rest.

  “Let’s go over everything before you leave. I w
ant to make sure that you know every detail of the proposal inside and out, so no matter what Clark throws at us, you’ve got a counterargument. If there’s any hint that you can’t deal with this by yourself, then I’m coming with you and I don’t care how bad I feel.”

  “Deal. Let me go and fetch my notes from my room and we can go over them together. You really don’t have to worry, though—I’ve got this.”

  He took the empty tray from my lap and placed it back on the trolley, before coming back to the bed. He leaned forward and kissed me lightly. “We’re good together, Rebecca. We make a great team, both inside the office and out. I’m glad that you can see that.”

  I held up my hands to stop him. “Whoa, Rick! Just because I slept with you last night doesn’t mean that we’re back together. There was a heck of a lot of alcohol that went into last night. I’m not going to say it was a mistake, but…”

  “The way that you made me feel, there’s no way it was a mistake, and I know that you felt it too.” Rick’s arrogance was back with a vengeance. “I’m surprised we didn’t have someone banging on the door telling us to keep it down, the way you were screaming. I love the way that you completely abandon yourself to the moment. I’ve never met another woman who was half as sensual as you.”

  “Yes, well, good sex alone does not a relationship make. Last night was fun, but it’s not going to happen again.”

  Rick’s expression said we’ll see about that, but he kept his mouth shut as he got his shoes and socks on to go and fetch his notes. Still, he couldn’t resist stealing one last quick kiss before he left me alone.

  I flopped back on the bed. Darn Devon and his ability to move on so quickly. From the photos in the paper, his new girlfriend was perfect, while my love life was in shambles. Give Rick an inch and he’d take a mile—and then some.

  I really shouldn’t have encouraged him, but at the same time, Rick was amazing in bed and my body had always responded to him well, whether I liked it or not. There were plenty of arguments that had ended in the bedroom, and there was nothing quite like an angry fuck to keep the fires of passion burning.

  There was a knock at the door. “Don’t tell me you forgot something, Rick. We haven’t got any time to mess around.” Rick’s room was four floors away. There was no way that he’d had enough time to get up there and back, so whatever he’d come back for, it had better be good. We weren’t meeting Joe Clark until after lunch, but we’d need the morning with Charles to make sure that he was fully prepped for the meeting and wouldn’t lose his temper if Joe gave him attitude.

  I pulled on my robe, barely bothering to tie it shut, since Rick had already seen it all from every angle and there was nothing left to hide. I stalked over to the door and pulled it open. “What is it now?”

  My jaw dropped. I became conscious of just how little I was wearing when Devon was standing in front of me looking suspicious.

  Ten

  “You’re a little underdressed for a business meeting, aren’t you?” Devon pushed past me and strode into the room, taking stock of the mess from the night before, as well as the trolley laid out with the remains of my breakfast for two.

  “Do you want to tell me what’s been going on here?”

  I debated lying outright, but the best way of getting out of sticky situations is always to tell the truth as much as possible. “Rick and I had breakfast together.”

  “With just your robe on?”

  I pulled it tightly closed to cover my breasts, lifting my chin defiantly. “All right. I’ll be honest with you. Rick and I used to be married.”

  “I know.”

  That stopped me dead in my tracks. “What do you mean, you know?”

  “Oh come on, Rebecca. You don’t think I’d hire someone without thoroughly investigating their background, do you? I know you and Rick were married. I also know that it was a long time ago and I’d hoped that the pair of you were professional enough to be able to work together. Maybe I was wrong, and if I was, it makes me wonder what else I was wrong about.”

  “So if you knew that we used to be married, why the games? Why send me away with him?”

  “Because you two are the best lawyers I have. Besides, I was waiting for you to tell me. If you had…” He shrugged. “Maybe I wouldn’t have put you so close together.” He looked me up and down. “However, that still doesn’t explain your clothing—or lack of it.”

  I huffed. “I told you, Rick and I used to be married. There’s nothing here he hasn’t seen before. I had a bit of a rough night last night, so he ordered breakfast in my room so I wouldn’t have to get up. I haven’t dressed because I’m really not feeling that great, but it’s not as though you can see anything through my robe. Anyone but Rick, and I would have dressed, but since we have history, it seemed pointless throwing something on, especially when I’m going back to bed shortly.”

  “Back to bed?” Devon’s look of anger was replaced with one of concern. “Are you feeling all right? Do you have a temperature? Has this been going on for a while?”

  If it was just my boyfriend standing in front of me, I would have told him how badly hung over I was, but Devon was my boss as well, and I didn’t think it a good idea to tell him just how unprofessionally I’d behaved over the past few days.

  I waved him away. “I’m fine. I’ve just got a really bad headache. All I need is to lie down in a darkened room for a few hours and wait for it to pass. Rick’s going to take over the meeting for me and—”

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Speak of the devil. That’ll be him now.”

  I crossed over to the door, hoping that Rick would be able to tell from my expression that I needed him to be discreet about last night.

  “Hi, Rebecca.” He sidled up to me, but I stepped backward, out of his reach, jerking my head subtly toward Devon. “What’s up?”

  “Devon’s come up to see how the case is progressing.”

  I led Rick into the middle of the room and the two men looked at each other, as if they were sizing each other up. I was reminded of two rams ready to butt heads. Just like men to turn a perfectly normal meeting into nearly coming to blows. I hid a smile, wondering how to defuse the situation. The atmosphere in the room charged with the tension.

  It likely wasn’t appropriate of me to be with either one of the men, but now, with both of my lovers standing in front of me, I felt like I was doing something entirely too wrong, naked in a robe that barely skimmed the bottom of my buttocks.

  “Look, I’m going to get dressed. I can’t discuss business with you both looking like this. Give me five minutes and I’ll be with you.”

  I grabbed an outfit from my wardrobe, headed into the bathroom, and shut the door behind me. Now that I was alone, I slumped onto the edge of the tub, burying my head in my hands. How had I let my life get so complicated? Seeing Devon again reminded me just how much I felt for him, and when I looked at him next to Rick, there was no comparison. Devon was the man for me.

  And yet… and yet…

  Rick and I had a history that wasn’t so easily ignored. I’d never felt as though I’d had complete closure on our relationship. Maybe now I could finally close the book on that chapter in my life.

  There was a knock on the door. “Rebecca? Are you all right in there?”

  “I’m fine, Devon. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  Truth be told, I wasn’t completely fine. My headache had returned with a vengeance, and I felt as though there was a team of miniature handymen inside my skull, all banging away with their hammers.

  I took a couple of painkillers from my purse and washed them down with a glass of water before quickly throwing on some clothes. I debated putting on some makeup to try and get rid of my washed-out look, but I decided against it. The sooner I could get this briefing over, the sooner I could lay my head down and go to sleep.

  At last I was ready to go out and face the men. Opening the door, I saw them sitting together around a table in the corner of the room.
Devon was laughing at something Rick had just said, and I breathed an inward sigh of relief. If Rick had told him what had happened last night, he’d be in a very different mood, so it looked as though I could count on him keeping his mouth shut, at least for now.

  “Rick was just telling me about his meetings with Charles Daily yesterday. That man sounds like a real piece of work.”

  “Yes, well, Rick was always very good at charming people. He’s got Charles wrapped around his little finger.”

  “Here’s hoping I can do the same for Joe Clark.” Rick’s grin left us with no doubt that he had every confidence he was going to get Joe to sign a new contract with Andrew Clifton.

  “I’m sure you can.”

  I could have vomited at the way Devon and Rick were sucking up to each other, but I restrained the urge to tell them both to get a room. The bromance had come out of nowhere. I rolled my eyes and hit Rick with a sideways glance.

  “Yes, well, time’s ticking on and we were supposed to go over the proposal before the meeting, remember? I need you to treat me as though I’m Charles and take me through every step of the negotiations so I know that you can handle it alone.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Rick began to walk through the proposal, with Devon giving him his full attention, lapping up every word. However, I couldn’t help but be distracted by the fact that Rick was lightly running his hand up and down my thigh, slowly edging my skirt higher and higher with every movement. I couldn’t slap him away without arousing suspicion, and it was all I could do not to moan, as I could feel myself becoming moist. I felt so naughty, so wicked, and… so aroused.

  The details of last night might be a little blurry thanks to the alcohol, but the one thing I did remember clearly was the fact that Rick knew how to make me feel amazing, and my body didn’t care that he’d treated me badly in the past. It just wanted him to make me come over and over. It was frightening to feel so wanton, yet freeing at the same time. It wasn’t as if I could control the desire that came, unbidden, and why should I? Nature knew best.