Lured In (Dark Paradise, #1) (11 page)

“Why would my dad and stepdad agree to merge with your company without knowing you or anything about your company? Do you have something on them that made them agree to this?” I asked calmly yet fearfully.

“No, Abi. I have nothing on them. They wanted what you wanted, and what you wanted wasn’t going to happen for another year or so.”

“What I wanted?”

“Yes. The expansion…increasing the diversity of services for our patients under one roof within our group practice.”

“Our expansion was well underway. Thank you very much. We now have Ob-Gyn, hematology/oncology, sports medicine, chiropractic, dental, pharmacy, and mental health.”

“And what about DME, radiation oncology, radiology, pain management, the surgery center, elective surgery, spa treatments, and the other services? You still had to refer out for these services.”

I felt a bit furious. As if sensing my hostility, he caressed my wrists, stroking them softly, which calmed me down.

“It’s only been about nine months since we started the expansion, and you know the channels we have to go through to get the licenses and clearances from the state for some of those services. I think I did very well restructuring Capitol Health in nine months. I got ten million from the bank, spent seventy percent restructuring, and turned that into thirty-two point seven million. And the last three—”

He cut me off and kissed me, and as much as I tried not to kiss him back, it was hopeless. I returned the same level of passion to him. He cradled my face and continued our conversation. “All of the services you refer out Health Choice already had, Abi. Except for the surgery center, your brilliant idea of plastic/elective surgery, facial and spa treatments, and the medical-based health club with water aerobics for people who can’t do traditional aerobics due to arthritis and other pain issues. And we can obtain licenses and clearance for those services far more quickly than you can.”

“I know that, Zach. I read the report of the services your company offers. I just didn’t know that this was the reason my dad and stepdad chose to deal business on a whim.”

“They did it for you, Abi. All they thought about was how less stressed you would be if all of the services were in place sooner. Let me say that turning seven million dollars into thirty-two million dollars in nine months is very impressive and the reason I made you president.”

“Well, thank you, Mr. McConnallay,” I smiled and blushed, as he was the first and only one to acknowledge that. “What about Lauren?”

“What about her?” He shrugged his shoulders.

“I hope she got promoted as well. She can be a bit jealous at times.”

“No, Abi. She was not promoted—she will continue as practice manager.”

“The report mentioned the vice president position was vacant. Can we consider her for that position? I honestly believe she would do a wonderful job with it.”

“You’re the president, Ms. Winterfield. You can do whatever you want, of course with my final approval.”

“I would like it very much if she were promoted to that position, effective Monday, September 10, 2012,” I said with a smile.

“We will interview her on Monday and make an offer. What are you thinking in terms of salary and benefits?”

“A hundred and eighty thousand with an executive benefits package: four weeks paid vacation, quarterly bonuses, full expenses to attend administrative workshops and seminars and to maintain licenses and certifications renewals, and professional organization membership fees.”

“OK. I’ll have Matt draw up the contract, and we’ll make the offer on Monday. OK?” He kissed me.

He pulled me atop of him so that I straddled his legs. We locked lips, and he pulled of my robe. My nipples had become erect, and he wasted no time going to work on them with his hands, mouth, and teeth. He licked the right breast and nipple first, and the areola crinkled in response. He pulled at it with his teeth, never releasing it from his grip, and sucked it hungrily. He did the same to the left breast and nipple. I made love to his neck as he had done to mine so many times. I returned the hungry, sucking pleasure to his nipples. With a fistful of my hair, he passionately yanked my head backward, exposing my neck. He licked the base of my left neck and trailed upward. He bit into my neck, releasing some intense pleasure down below. He bit my neck again and pinched both my nipples simultaneously. He sucked, kissed, and licked every inch of my neck from left to right.

I stood up from his lap to get the champagne that I had set aside earlier.

“Damn, baby,” Zach said, pointing to the wet spot I’d left on his cargo shorts.

“I can’t help it. That is what you do to my body every time I get close to you. Evidence of burning desire.” He blushed, but I decided to play nice and not call him out on it.

Grabbing the bottle of champagne and two flute glasses, I pranced naked back to the sofa. He popped the cork and filled our glasses, placing the open bottle on the table beside the sofa. We drank some of the bubbly, and he pulled me back to straddle him before leaning in for a kiss. We both jumped in surprise when the ringing of Zach’s phone broke through the heady moment.

“What is it,
Stan?
” he answered, frustrated by the interruption. “OK. And who did you select?”

While Zach was deep in conversation, I began to rise from his lap to give him privacy, but he looked at me with drawn eyebrows, shook his head, and held me down by my waist.

I drank more champagne and whispered in his free ear, “Don’t move.”

He glanced at me, equal parts confused and intrigued. I removed his grip from my waist, put his right hand behind his head, and unbuttoned his cargo shorts. I engulfed his erection with my mouth and sucked as if my life depended upon it, maintaining eye contact the entire time. I enjoyed watching him stumble and stammer over his words, trying not to moan. I deep-throated him, and he grunted. I did it again, and he gripped hold of the sofa and silently mouthed, “
Fuuuck
,” so that Stan couldn’t hear him. We maintained eye contact every suck of the way, and when he was ready to blow his load, he ended the call with Stan abruptly. No good-byes, no nothing, just a desperate press of the end button. He gripped my hair as he had done earlier, but right before he could release, I stopped. I winked my eye, put his wet erection back in his shorts, zipped him back up, and got up from my knees.

Revenge is so amazing
.

I grabbed my cell phone from the table and called Carmen, while Zach sat there looking at me with the same expression I’d had when he’d left me stranded on the outskirts of Orgasmville.

“Hi, Carmen,” I said, staring at Zach with an impish grin.

“Is everything OK? How’d it go with Zach?”

“Everything’s fine. I was just calling to see if you guys wanted some spaghetti.”

“Sure. We’re at Matt’s.”

I took my eyes off Zach and fell back onto the sofa. That was a great sign that she’d kept her end of our agreement.

“Spill everything when you get here,” Carmen said to me.

“I promise I wi—” My sentence was interrupted by peals of my own laughter as Zach wrestled with me on the sofa and grabbed the phone from me.

“No. No, Zach. No fair. Take it like a man,” I said jokingly.

“Hey, Carmen. Abi’s a bit…um…in trouble right now. We’ll be there soon.”

Zach ended the call, put the phone back on the table, and stared at me impishly with a grin of his own. He came closer to me as I lay on the sofa, and we began kissing.

“Aah, Ms. Winterfield, I underestimated you. And what great a revenge it was. I would have never imagined that you would make love to me with your mouth while I talked business on the phone. Do you know how painful that was for me? Holding back all of my passion and pleasure just so Stan couldn’t hear how you make me feel. Were you really going to leave me longing for release?”

“Why not? You left me the same way,” I replied with a smile, licking my lips.

“Indeed I did. So can I call it even and take you right here?”

Zach started kissing my throat and running his left hand over my right breast. He pinched my left nipple between his right index and middle finger and tugged it outward. I sighed deeply as he sucked my left nipple slowly, gently. He turned and repeated the same to the right breast and nipple.

He looked ardently at me with pure desire in his eyes and began to kiss my neck, whispering lovely sweet nothings in my ear.

“No, Zach. I have to go to Matt’s. We can finish this later.”

“No. Now, baby. I need you now,” he said in low tones as he removed his erection from his pants.

“When I come back. I promise I won’t be long.”

He rammed his bare erection inside me while promising that he wouldn’t be long either. He thrust inside of me and I screamed, “Get off of me! Get the fuck off of me!”

Tears immediately came pouring from my eyes. He saw that I was in distress and jumped off of me. I curled into a fetal position with my back to him.

“Oh, God. Not again. Please, God, not again.” I must’ve said this over and over before Zach finally came out of his stupor.

“Abigail?” he called out, but I didn’t answer.

He called out my name again, and still I didn’t answer. He gently touched my left arm, and I started screaming again. “Don’t touch me. Don’t fucking touch me.”

“It’s me, Abigail. It’s, Zach. Abi, look at me. Look at me, please, Abi.” He quietly and patiently waited behind me. I never turned to look at him, so he slowly walked to the back of the sofa so that I could see him.

“Abi? Look at me, please. Abi, it’s me, Zach.”

I looked up at him and saw fear in his eyes, and I realized what had happened. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Zach, holding both hands up in front of him, came around the sofa and sat beside me. He grabbed my robe from the floor where he had dropped it earlier.

“Abi, I’m going to drape this over you. OK?” he said in a soft and calm voice. “Abi, I am sorry. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, at all. I thought…I…um. I thought we were…um. I thought it was OK to…um.” His voice belied his confusion. He didn’t know what to say or how to say it. “I should’ve listened when you said no. And I am so very sorry. My intentions were not to hurt, harm, or scare you. You have to believe me, Abi. I will never, ever hurt you.”

“It wasn’t you. It’s me. Please leave,” I managed to say. I was outright embarrassed that my past had come to surface in a moment of innocent intimacy.

“I’m not leaving you here like this. No fucking way, Abi. I’ll sit here until you are better. Besides, it was my fault. I should’ve waited like you asked. I honestly thought it was OK to push forward. You have to believe me, Abi.”

I looked at him, closed my eyes, and started crying again. He reached out to console me but stopped halfway from reaching me in fear that he would set me off again.

“Abi, I am going to lie behind you and wrap my arms around you. Is that OK with you?” he asked serenely. I didn’t respond. He slowly eased over to me, lay down behind me, put his right arm under my head, and gently wrapped his left around me. We lay silently together for what seemed like eternity.

“Abi, can I get something for you? Do you want something to drink? Water? Tea? Anything?”

“Carmen,” I answered with a shy whisper.

He got up from the sofa and grabbed my phone from the table.

“Seven one five one,” I called out, low in tone.

“What’s that?”

“The security code to my phone. Seven one five one.”

Zach used the code to enter my phone and found Carmen’s phone number.

Carmen was completely surprised to hear Zach’s voice from my cell requesting her to come right away. Carmen promised Zach that she would gut him like a fish if he had done anything to hurt or upset me.

I continued to lie on the sofa with my robe draped over me. At some point Zach went up to my bedroom and found some clothes for me to put on before Carmen arrived. He helped me into my bra and panty set, blue jeans, and white T-shirt. He put his shirt back on as well. He stared intensely at me while he helped me dress, and I kept looking away from him. His eyes revealed nothing, and that scared me, as I knew that he would never want anything to do with me after my meltdown. I lay back down on the sofa, but to my surprise, he lay behind me, consoling me once more. About a half hour later, my landline rang, alerting me that a guest was waiting in the lobby. Zach picked up the phone, confirmed that it was Carmen, and pressed the code to allow her to enter.

“How did you know the code?”

“That’s not important right now,” he replied. He moved to the door to wait for Carmen.

Carmen knocked on the door a few minutes later, and Zach let her in. She barged in with Matt and looked straight at Zach, pointing her finger at him.

“McConnallay, if you harmed my sister, I will have your family jewels auctioned off to charity.”

She came over to the sofa, sat beside me, and wrapped her arms around me. Zach and Matt stayed in the doorway to whisper. I grew afraid that Zach was telling Matt about my freak-out. Carmen looked at me, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out onto the terrace, shutting the door behind us.