Five Exotic Fantasies: Love in Reverse, Book 3 (33 page)

Felix nibbled her earlobe and she gasped, stifling it hurriedly. He gave a silent chuckle, one arm around her waist holding her tightly as he increased the depth of his thrusts. His other hand came up to hold her breast, and he squeezed her nipple, prompting her to arch her back and bite her lip to avoid crying out with pleasure.

“…and the third earl of Buckingham had already been married once, but his second wife was Lady Elizabeth Darnley,” the guide droned on.

Coco’s muscles tingled with anticipation, and she had to stop herself exclaiming. Oh dear God, she was going to come, with all those people just feet away. She looked up at Felix and shook her head with alarm, but his eyes were like fire and his thrusts were deepening, and she realised he wasn’t far from coming himself. He looked so sexy, his dark hair ruffled where she’d tightened her fingers in it, and excitement shot through her again at the thought of what they were doing, at the thought of those people turning around and seeing them having sex, seeing Felix fucking her.

He covered her mouth with his and then with one hand caught hold of the collar of her blouse and yanked it down her back. She squealed, her cry muffled by his mouth, aware there would be no hiding now—if anyone came upon them she was quite obviously topless, her nipples engorged with the blood that was speeding around her body. Felix dropped his head and sucked one nipple to a tight peak, then the other, and she clenched inside, unable to do anything but give in to his ministrations.

Her orgasm swept over her, and again he covered her mouth with his. She gave a muffled moan as she came, her muscles squeezing him, burning exquisitely. He held her tightly as he continued to thrust hard, finding his own pleasure and swelling inside her as his climax took hold. They stilled, locked in blissful satisfaction, frozen in mutual gratification. Their fingers clasped, their breaths exchanged and their bodies pulsed and tightened into and around and inside one another.

And then finally, eventually, they relaxed, breathing heavily and looking into one another’s eyes.

“I think there’s a fantail in the trees,” someone said on the other side. “I can hear it fluttering around.”

“There’s a lot of wildlife here,” said the guide, moving along the path. “If you look closely you’ll see squirrels and possums and all kinds of birds…” His voice faded away.

Felix’s lips curved. Coco gave him a mock glare.

“That was wicked,” she murmured as he withdrew and disposed of the condom.

He buttoned up his pants and she pulled her blouse on and did it up. Then he put his arms around her and pulled her close again.

He kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was fun.”

He hugged her. “I’m crazy about you. You know that, right?”

Yeah
, she thought,
I know that. And I’m crazy about you too.

Oh dear.

Chapter Forty

Felix thumbed listlessly through the pages of transcription that Coco had typed up from her shorthand notes, detailing the interviews of the secretaries he’d carried out over the past few days. Along with this he had his own notes from the interviews with the partners, plus sheaves of scribbles he’d made as he worked his way through the case in the spider diagrams he used to brainstorm.

He tried to concentrate, but struggled to get his brain to work.

The truth was that he was nervous.

He’d spent all morning reading the notes and making more on his iPad, checking a few details with Rob and trying to come to some sort of decision on the case, but he still had one more interview to carry out—the one he’d been putting off all week, and the one that he wanted to do even less now.

He looked at his watch. Miss Stark was coming to his office at two p.m. after her lunch break. He’d asked her whether she wanted anyone in with her apart from him and Rob, but she’d declined in the cool, calm, collected way she had, looking at him over the top of her glasses with no sign of the passion she’d exhibited the night before.

He put down his iPad and stood to look out of the window. He had to stop thinking about Coco and focus on Miss Stark. She was obviously able to separate her two personalities with ease, so he should be able to as well.

But it was difficult, because that morning when he’d walked into her office, even though she’d scraped back her hair and buttoned her shirt up to her chin, he saw in his mind’s eye the moment he’d tugged her blouse down her back to expose her breasts, and the way she’d responded not by yelling blue murder and pushing him away, but by opening up to him and encouraging him to thrust harder. How could he forget Coco, even though she’d clothed that persona in the cold, shrewd façade of Miss Stark? The two were one and the same, and although she might not accept that, he could no longer separate them, and he loved them both.

He rested his forehead on the cool glass and closed his eyes.

What the fuck was he going to do? How could he have got himself into this situation? He’d been in the office precisely a week. How on earth had he fallen for her so quickly?

He thought of Lindsey, wondering whether the usual guilt would sweep away his feelings for Coco. But he’d already noticed that Lindsey had not featured in his thoughts much over the past week. And even that hadn’t made him feel guilty, like he usually felt whenever he realised he hadn’t thought about her for a length of time.

He looked down at the dark blue sea of the harbour, but he didn’t really see the waves. He was done mourning. The realisation took his breath away. It had taken nearly seven years, and he’d never forget Lindsey or cease to miss her, but for the first time he felt he was ready to move on. Even in the short time he’d known her, Coco had filled the hollow within him that had been left when Lindsey’s death ripped out his heart.

He’d been lucky enough to meet another woman of his dreams, and yet on Monday he was due to return to Auckland and never see her again.

What was he going to do about it?

“Felix?”

He turned to see Coco standing in front of his desk. She’d caught her bottom lip between her teeth and her hands twisted the pen she was holding. In spite of her calm appearance, she was nervous too, which didn’t help his agitation. If it wasn’t for Rob, he could have completed the interview informally, but Rob had been present at the interviews for all the secretaries and had arranged the time for Coco to visit himself, so it would look weird if he suddenly declared he didn’t need to see her.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.”

They studied each other for a moment. She looked stunning, chic and elegant in a dark grey jacket and skirt with a pink blouse that reflected the blush in her cheeks. He was
not
going to think about ripping that blouse off.

He tried to think of what to say, but his mind emptied. There was too much to say, that was the problem. The day before, they’d walked from the gardens down the long path back to town, arms around one another, talking all the way, but they’d carefully avoided the topic they really needed to discuss—how they felt about each other, and what they were going to do. He needed time alone to sit and think about things, but he had to get this case sorted first because it was muddying the waters, and his lawyer’s instinct told him there was something swimming in the depths that he wasn’t aware of yet, that would illuminate the case when it eventually surfaced.

He wondered whether to mention the night before, tell her again that he’d enjoyed himself, but at that moment Rob appeared behind her, so he kept his words to himself.

“Right, all ready?” Rob gestured to the chairs and Felix picked up his pad and joined them as they sat.

“Thanks for coming,” he said to Coco, trying not to think about the double meaning behind the words.
She’s Miss Stark. Concentrate, for God’s sake. This is serious.

Coco just nodded and pushed her glasses farther up her nose, although she continued to look at him over the top of them. Her green eyes appraised him, and he had to tear his gaze away from their mesmerising stare.

He looked down at his pad and took a moment to gather his wits. It was time to don his professional hat.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sure you can expect the type of questions I’ll be asking you, Miss Stark, as you’ve been present during the interviews of all the other secretaries. I apologise for having to put you through the process as well, but as Sasha’s direct superior, your input is obviously required and valued.”

“Of course.” They were the epitome of politeness and professionalism. Her expression had gone carefully blank and she’d stopped fidgeting. He had no idea what she was thinking.

He scrolled down his pad. “I refer you back to the night in question, Monday, the fifth of December. Sasha claims the incident occurred at around six o’clock. Were you still in the building at that time?”

She nodded. “My hours are nine until five thirty, but I’m often here earlier in the morning and later in the evening. That evening I was reorganising the secretarial roster for the week because we’d had two girls ring in sick and another on holiday.”

“Were you there when Peter Dell entered the work room and asked for a secretary to help with his case?”

She nodded again. “Yes. I’d just printed a draft spreadsheet and I was waiting by the printer to pick it up.”

“So you saw Dell enter the office?”

“Yes.”

“What did he say? Can you remember?”

She hesitated. “Not his exact words…” She met his gaze and then looked at her hands.

She didn’t want to tell the truth. Interesting. “A summary then,” he suggested.

“He asked the three or four girls who were still there whether any of them would mind staying a little longer to help him out.” She didn’t look up.

He glanced at Rob, who raised his eyebrows. So Sasha
had
lied. And at the time, Coco hadn’t corrected her. And even more interesting, she appeared to be disappointed that Dell hadn’t asked Sasha directly. What did that mean? She wanted Dell to be guilty? Why?

His brain working furiously, Felix kept outwardly calm and tapped a few words on the pad before continuing. “Did any of the other girls volunteer?”

“No. Only Sasha.”

“What happened then?”

“He started explaining what he wanted her to do. I only listened with half an ear—I didn’t think it was important, you see. This kind of thing happens a lot.”

“So it wasn’t unusual for a partner to request someone work late?”

“Not at all.”

“And it wasn’t unusual for Sasha to volunteer?”

Again she hesitated. “Actually, it did cross my mind that it was odd. In my experience, there are two sorts of secretaries. Those who are in at twenty to nine, making coffee so they’re sitting behind their desk at nine, ready to start work, and who often stay twenty or thirty minutes past five to finish off a document. And then there are those girls who come in at a minute to nine and leave at a minute past five—and that’s if they work overtime. Sasha has always been the second sort.”

“So it registered as strange for her to volunteer to stay late?”

“Yes. I suppose so.” Again the blank, almost resentful stare. She wanted to defend Sasha. But she couldn’t bring herself to lie.

He shifted uncomfortably, not liking where this was going. “So what happened then?”

“I took my printed spreadsheet back into my office.”

He nodded and jotted a few things down. “Okay. So did you speak to Sasha after she finished the document?”

“Yes. She put her head around the door and told me she was going to drop it into Peter’s office before she left. I packed up and walked out of the office. His door was closed, but I didn’t think anything of it. I assumed she’d left and he was working on his case. I left the building and went home.”

Felix sat back in his seat tiredly. He was no closer to deciding whether Peter was at fault, and now he had a headache. “Can you remember what Sasha’s behaviour was like the next day?”

Coco shrugged. “She didn’t seem much different at first. She was always fairly quiet and kept herself to herself. She sat at her desk with her earphones in and concentrated on her work. It wasn’t until about halfway through the day that I got a phone call from the head of HR who said she’d just been into his office and filed a complaint against Peter.”

“How did you feel about that?”

She stared at him. He could see his question had thrown her. “How did I
feel
about it?”

“Yes.”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

Her defensiveness told him how she felt, and he knew his initial instinct that there was something she wasn’t telling him about Dell was right. Had she had an affair with Dell? Jealousy surged through him, hot and fierce, shocking him with its intensity. “I’m curious,” he said, meeting her gaze, challenging her.

She continued to stare at him, then eventually lowered her eyes. The human equivalent of a dog rolling over and showing its underbelly. “I was glad,” she said. She raised her eyes again and they were cool and defensive. “Happy now?”

Chapter Forty-One

Coco saw the frown crease Felix’s brow and cursed herself for her honesty. Why couldn’t she just lie and say she didn’t feel anything at all? But she’d always been a terrible liar, and part of the problem was that deep inside she wanted to confess what had happened all those years ago, for Sasha’s sake—because she could see Felix struggled to believe the young secretary—and for her own. She wanted Peter punished for what he’d done to her.