by Lexy Timms
“Heather, talk to me,” he insisted. “You were letting me have it a mere five minutes ago. Don’t go all quiet on me now.”
“Why didn’t you get in touch with me for all these years?” she asked.
“I...” He hesitated. Turned her question over in his mind. It never occurred to him that Heather might have been more hurt about how things had ended between them than she’d let on. Their breakup had seemed amicable, but maybe she had still expected his friendship. “It never felt like the right time.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“First came college, and I got so busy focusing on that. Then came the chaos after college,” he said.
Her head jerked back in surprise. “Chaos? What happened?”
During his years in college, he had invested in Dover. Laid the groundwork for the little startup to become one of the most important tech companies on earth. The consequences for his initial decision had almost ruined his life. Almost destroyed him. But there was no use dragging Heather into his personal life now. Demons weren’t meant to be shared, no matter how she insisted.
“I was dealing with expanding the company,” he finally said. “And at that age I didn’t have nearly as much clout and wealth as I do now. The early years of Dover were tough going.”
“Of course.” She sighed heavily. “This is what I was afraid of. That’s why I kept the truth from you and let you believe I was someone else. The truth has been out for only a short time, and yet I’m already taking things too personally. I’m sorry for lashing out.”
“Don’t worry about it. Tensions are pretty high. And you were right, I should have tried harder to engage Mattis,” he admitted. “It’s just...”
“Just what?” She turned to look at him again, the agitation on her face vanishing.
“It’s just that, all day I’ve been thinking about you,” he said. “About us.”
“Us.” The way she said that one word made his pulse race like crazy.
“I have no right to think in those terms,” he said firmly. “No right to want anything with you.”
“Simon, do you only want me because you can’t have me?” she asked.
It was a bold question. One that knocked the wind out of him. That couldn’t be the reason he was so drawn to her. He knew that she was probably still pining for her ex, but that wasn’t the reason he desired her.
“I want you because you’re such a mystery to me,” he admitted. “Every time I think I’ve figured you out, you surprise me. You excite me. You always have.”
She laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been described that way by a man. Certainly not by Gary.”
“Gary is a fool,” he said forcefully. “Any man who would let you go is a fool.”
“You let me go once,” she reminded him.
He set his hand on the railing and slid it over to hers. Then, he covered her small hand with his, needing to touch her skin. Needing to know that she was real. Because if he had ever conjured up a woman who would haunt his dreams, he couldn’t have created anyone more perfect for that than Heather.
“I was a fool, and now I’m paying the price for it,” he said. “You still want your ex-husband. And that’s all I could think about today. That’s why I was so distracted. So uninterested in talking to Mattis. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I can’t stand your ex-husband.”
“You’re jealous.”
“I am.” Coming clean like this was the hardest thing he had done in years. Jealousy was the kind of primal emotion that was totally foreign to him. Revealing that much to her put so much control in her hands. Heather had the ability to ruin him. Upend his life. Destroy his career. And, worst of all, she had the ability to smash his heart into a million pieces. Knowing she still wanted her husband was ripping him apart.
But she had the right to know at least this. Because he was her boss and she the subordinate. He would grant her as much power as humanly possible so that she could be safe. Protected.
“Tonight is our last night here,” she breathed. “Which means, the chance for us to...be together again is over.”
Her cheeks turned so pink that he could see her blush, even in the waning light.
“Over?” He wanted to reach out and stroke her cheek. But that was too risky out here. No matter how high off the ground they were, the place was still crawling with tech reporters. Tech might be their beat but everyone liked a good scandal, and this would make one hell of a scandal.
He pulled his hand away from her, the absence of her touch leaving him cold. As he headed back inside he said, “Come inside. We shouldn’t talk like this out here.”
“Does it have to be over?” he asked her.
Placing her hand on his arm she gazed up at him, her hazel eyes on fire. “No. It doesn’t. At least, not until we get back to Seattle.”
“One more night?” he asked. “If you don’t want to, I completely understand. You have every right to turn me down.”
“I don’t want to turn you down,” she said. “I want you, Simon. Right now. We’ll never have a chance like this again. Let this be the last time we do this. Let this be our goodbye to each other.”
The fierce, determined look in her eyes actually left him speechless. It was insane to be this enthralled by a woman, but here he was. Totally under her spell again.
“Do you want to get on the bed for me?” he asked.
Her full pink lips curved into a saucy smile. “Yes.”
Before he could react she raced across the room, kicked off her shoes, and fell down onto the bed. She let out a breathless laugh. There was something so happy and carefree about her now. As if a small part of her from their time together as high school sweethearts remained.
He sauntered over to her and sank down to his knees in front of the bed. “May I?”
From his vantage point, he saw her hazel eyes widen.
“Simon, what are you doing?” she asked with a scandalized gasp.
“Have I ever tasted you?” he asked, his voice rough with lust. “I know we made love in high school, but did I ever do this?”
“I...I don’t think so,” she said. “I’d remember if you did.”
He stifled a groan, the desire to put his mouth between her legs making him so hard it almost hurt. “Can I taste you, Heather?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “Yes, Simon.”
If they were going to share one last night together, he wasn’t going to take anymore from her. He was going to give. Pleasure her. Tonight wasn’t about him. All he wanted to do was give Heather the same pleasure she had given him last night. And take nothing return. He had already taken things too far with her. Tonight was his way of giving her the pleasure she deserved.
He let his hands slide up her supple thighs. Enjoyed the sensation of her soft skin beneath his fingertips. Already, her body was quivering. She moaned softly.
When his fingers finally reached the lacy fabric of her panties, he cupped her gently. Heather let out a cry as she arched her back.
She was already wet. He could feel her slick essence even through the fabric of her underwear. The urge to taste her overwhelmed him.
He slipped his hands into the waistband of her panties and tugged. As she lifted her hips to help him pull her panties off, he stared into her eyes. Watched her as he lifted the hem of her skirt, revealing the bare flesh of her sex.
“I’ll never be able to get over how beautiful you are,” he ground out as his eyes drank her in. Heather spread her legs in response, and the sight of her so exposed nearly melted his brain.
This time he didn’t stop the groan that tore from his lips. Couldn’t stop it even if he tried. His hands wandered up and down her thighs and he started to kiss the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh. Slowly, he kissed his way down until he was so close to her sex he could practically taste it.
Simon’s gaze darted up to hers. “Can I?”
“Yes,” she said.
He lowered his mouth to her wetness and swirled his
tongue onto her slick, wet, heat. Her hoarse, ragged moan made him want to take his time. Coax a climax out of her slowly.
When he tasted her, he realized there was no way they had done this before. He would have remembered the sweet taste of her. Remembered how her body shivered as he tormented her with his tongue.
She whimpered, her thighs tightening around his head.
He stroked his tongue into her, increasing the torturously slow pace until he was licking her furiously.
When she moaned his name, he tore his mouth away from her sex and planted a kiss on her quivering inner thigh. “Are you okay?” he asked against the soft flesh thigh. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No.” She reached desperately for him. “Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”
Simon planted another kiss on her thigh, flashed her a wicked smile, and lowered his mouth onto her again.
It didn’t take long to have her panting as he tasted her, enjoying the sounds she made as he pleasured her.
A desperate cry let him know that he had her close to the edge, and when she fisted the sheets he knew that she had climaxed.
He pulled away from her, stroking her thighs with his hands. “Did you come?”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly. “Couldn’t you tell?”
“I just wanted to hear you say it.” He smiled at her and kissed her thigh again.
She laughed. “Damn, you’re so much cockier than you let on.”
“That’s how you know I don’t suffer from false humility.” He got to his feet and lay down on the bed beside her.
Heather was still breathing hard in the wake of her orgasm, so he reached for her hand and held it to his chest. Right above his rapidly beating heart.
“Where did you learn to do that?” She let out another breathless laugh.
“Can’t give away all my secrets.” He turned his head to gaze at her.
Her face was flushed, red from the throes of her passion. Locks of her hair had escaped the bun, and it looked so sexy all tousled and messy like that. Is that what she would look like once she went back to Gary? Happy and sated and satisfied?
His jaw clenched. The thought of another man’s hands all over her filled him with a blinding rage he didn’t know he could possess. All these dangerous emotions that she stirred in him unnerved him. Made him realize just how out of control he was when he gave in to his baser urges with her.
This had to end. Without another word to her he climbed out of bed. He didn’t want her to see the turmoil that raged inside him, so he smiled at her.
Eyes lighting up, she returned his smile.
“Just give me a sec,” he said to her, and then he stepped into the adjacent bathroom, closing the door behind him.
When he got a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror, he averted his gaze. Seeing the look on his face after pleasuring her was the first and last thing he wanted to do. Because giving her pleasure had felt so damn good in the moment. Even now it felt good, and she hadn’t put a hand on him.
He turned on the tap, ready to splash some cold water on his face to wake himself up and get back to reality. This was the last time they could indulge in something illicit like this. Their affair was a chapter he planned on closing. Now and forever.
Chapter 16
“So this is goodbye.” She was standing on her front porch, gazing up at him.
He cleared his throat, internally hating the fact that this moment of truth had arrived. “Yes. This is goodbye.” Simon turned from her, ready to head back to his car and drive off.
The drive back to Seattle from the conference had been tortuously silent and awkward. There was no point in rehashing their affair now that it was ending.
Her hand touched his arm, stopping him. “You mean forever?”
When he turned back to look at her, he made sure to keep his face expressionless. He was too jaded a man to show her that letting her go was actually the last thing he wanted to do.
“Of course not,” he replied, keeping his tone light. “You’ll be back to work on Monday. Enjoy your weekend.”
“Simon, what we did—”
“That’s forgotten,” he reminded her sharply. “It’s time to put it behind us.”
“I never meant to hurt you.” Heather bit her lip, sadness flashing in her eyes. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For not reporting this,” she said. “I don’t think we’d be able to get past this if someone else knew.”
“No need to thank me,” he said. “You were right. I’m a private guy, and keeping it quiet is the best way to handle this.”
“So, this is over then,” she said.
This wasn’t the time to get caught up in sentiment. He pulled his arm away from her and sauntered over to his car. “Heather, it never truly began.”
MONDAY MORNING TRAFFIC was torture. Being stuck behind the wheel of his car, alone to contemplate his thoughts of Heather, wasn’t the way he wanted to start the week. Simon would rather not think about his assistant. He usually spent his weekends working, but he’d been so distracted thinking about her that almost nothing had gotten done.
His cell phone rang, and he glanced over at it. Heather.
Simon put the phone on speaker. “Yes?”
“Simon?” she answered breathlessly, the sound of her voice filling the car. Just hearing the husky tone of her voice was driving him crazy. “It’s me—”
“I know perfectly well who it is,” he said, cutting her off. No point in telling her how unmistakably sexy her voice was. “What is it?”
“We have a bit of a situation down here,” she replied.
He frowned. “What’s the problem?”
“Some of the products have more bugs than the engineers expected,” she explained. “It’s in the beta process right now, of course, but it’s not looking good.”
He cursed under his breath. Damn it. If the roll out of the new products got pushed back, it would be a massive blow to Dover. The good press they had generated recently would go down the drain and the company’s reputation would be shot to hell.
His temples started to throb. Stress always had a way of creeping up on him. “Okay. Right. Thanks for telling me.” If he let on that the news worried him, that would just affect her and make things at work even more tense. Tension had a way of lowering productivity. Right now, everyone at Dover needed to be at their best. Even if he didn’t have a solution for the problem at the moment, he had to project confidence.
“What do I do?” she asked.
“Get the chief engineers down into a conference room and tell them to sit tight until I get there,” he ordered. “And have Linda sit in on this. We need to be able to spin this for the media if it turns out to be disastrous.”
Simon reached over to his phone and hung up before she got the chance to answer. He had given her an order. Heather was a professional and she’d get things done. Keeping her on the phone was only going to get a whole bunch of inappropriate thoughts racing through his head.
Finally, the traffic cleared, and he made it to Dover headquarters with time to spare. When he found Heather, she led him into the conference room where Linda and dozens of chief engineers had gathered. There was a nervous buzz in the room as the engineers spoke in hushed, worried tones. They all turned to him when he stepped into the conference room.
He gave Heather a curt nod and shrugged out of his jacket, ready to get to work. “What’s the situation like?”
All at once, the engineers started talking, drowning each other out.
“One at a time,” he said loudly over the din.
He didn’t have to tell them twice. The minute he spoke, they all quieted down.
One of the engineers raised his hand and Simon nodded at him in acknowledgement. If they had any hope of solving the product issues before the launch, they had to do this in an orderly manner. He didn’t have time for sloppiness.
“Some of the bugs have completely blindsided us,” the engineer sai
d, his voice strained with an edge of panic. “Some of the newer coders—”
“Let’s get to work solving the problem.” Simon draped his jacket over an empty chair and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I don’t care who you all want to blame, or whose fault it is. Ultimately the buck stops with me, so it’s my fault.”
No one responded. Their eyes darted around. Good. That meant they were confused. If they thought they could come in here and toss around excuses, they were mistaken.
He gave the room a stern look. “Come on, people. We don’t have time to waste.” His tone made them all jump. “Tell me the problem and then we’ll work on a solution. Blaming the newbies isn’t going to solve this.”
For the rest of the morning, they spent time putting their heads together to come up with a viable solution. By the time a few hours ticked by, they had come up with something. Simon wasn’t sure if it would fix their problem, but as the engineers left the conference room he was at least satisfied that there might be a way out of the mess they were in.
Now, all he had to do was make some calls to board members and investors to keep them from panicking.
“Simon.” Heather closed her laptop.
He leaned back in the leather chair he had been sitting in all morning and looked at Heather. She had diligently typed up notes of the meeting, so if he forgot something he knew she’d be right there to remind him. The same way she recognized Santo Mattis at the conference. He hadn’t recognized the man, but Heather had.
And she had only been on the job for a few weeks. Already she was making his life easier. At least, his professional life anyway. His personal life was a train wreck that he had to fix. And fast.
He crossed his arms, making sure he looked as stern and professional as possible now that they were alone together. “Yes?”
“I can start calling some of the investors for you,” she said. “But maybe it’s best we leave it until after lunch. If you get a break and have something to eat, you’ll be fresh enough to talk to them.”
The concern in her tone made his body tense. She was being caring and considerate. Thinking about his well-being. And he wasn’t sure if it was because of what had taken place in their personal lives or if it was just the concern of a professional and seasoned assistant. They couldn’t afford for him to have to wonder what her motives were.
