Mrs R (Mrs R & Mr V #1) (39 page)

Luc held out his hand for Joe to shake.
Joe looked him up and down then reluctantly shook his hand briskly; he didn’t
return Luc’s friendly grin.

“And what do you do Mr…?”

“Vincent, Luc Vincent. Not much at
the moment; just waiting for my results. I’ve been offered a position in the
City if I get a first in my Economics degree.”

“Good luck with that then.” Joe
effectively dismissed Luc when he turned to Rachel. “Shall we?” he asked her
placing a large palm in the small of her back gently nudged her towards the
door. “Jess, Lucy; nice to have met you…again.”

“Bye Joe” they cooed
simultaneously sighing as he led their mother out the door. Luc couldn’t help
himself and called out, “Bye Mrs R – be good.” Joe shot him a menacing
look, but to his credit Luc just grinned and half waved as Rachel tugged on
Joe’s arm. “C’mon Joe, let’s go.”

The Range Rover was nowhere in
sight but Joe’s ride tonight was a slick sporty number. “Is that a Ferrari?”
she asked hoping to impress her date with her vast knowledge of performance
cars. Joe stopped dead in his tracks and to her absolute shock burst out
laughing. It was truly a sight to behold and Rachel took her time in
appreciating this side of Joe. “Not quite sweetheart, but I like that you
thought I would drive a Ferrari. It’s a Bugatti Veyron.”

“Oh well, never mind. I’ve always
wanted to go in a Ferrari.”

Joe chuckled and shook his head.
“Rachel, you’re killing me.” She looked at him like he’d lost the plot but
maybe it was an American thing.

Twenty minutes later they pulled
up outside a trendy Italian restaurant that Rachel had never heard of but
looked very inviting. Joe came round to help her out the very low car –
not an easy feat in killer heels and tight jeans and she took his hand gratefully.
He eased her out with no effort. “You look beautiful, Rachel.”

“Thanks Joe, you don’t look so bad
yourself. I like ‘casual Joe’.” And indeed the man looked fine in a pair of
well worn jeans; loafers, and a black shirt and jacket. A chunky expensive
looking watch hung at his wrist and his hair was pushed back exposing every
inch of his handsome face.

Joe took her hand –
something he was fond of doing Rachel noted, and they entered the dimly lit
restaurant. The maître d greeted Joe warmly and Rachel wondered how he’d had
the time to become acquainted, since he’d only been in London a few weeks.

“Tony’s family owns another
restaurant in Manhattan,” Joe offered. Rachel faltered momentarily taken back
that Joe could read her thoughts so easily. Splaying his hand across the small
of her back, Joe urged her forward to a semi circular booth in the back
affording them privacy and a quiet place to chat. The heat from his hand warmed
her skin through her blouse leaving her mildly flustered and as Rachel slid in
one side and Joe the other a thrill shot through her as he scooted up close
resting his thigh warmly against hers. It could have been unintentional but
Rachel suspected it was a calculated Joe Mason smooth move. Still she wasn’t
complaining; his strong leg felt nice touching hers and he was near enough for
her to inhale his heady scent. She made a mental note to ask him what
aftershave he wore, and then giggled to herself, as he clearly didn’t shave
much.

“Something amusing?” Joe queried
cocking an eyebrow at her.

“Your facial hair actually.” Joe’s
hand reflexively rose to his beard. He stroked it a few times with a puzzled
expression on his face.

“Its just there’s rather a lot of
it. Don’t you like to shave?”

“Of course I shave.”

“Oh, ok.” Rachel stared at his
face intently. “Where?”

Picking up her hand he touched her
fingers to his face trailing over the smooth skin of his throat and upper
cheeks. “Here….and here.” Such a small gesture but it set off a sequence of
reactions in Rachel. First she forgot to breathe, and then her stomach flipped;
followed by a distinct heat at the apex of her thighs. Good lord, she was in
serious trouble if that’s all it took to turn her to goo.

Tony appeared to inform them of
his recommendations for the evening for both food and drinks and they ordered
their meal. A few pleasantries were exchanged between the two men as the
sommelier arrived with their wine and then they were alone again. However, the
brief interlude broke the spell of intimacy and an awkward silence threatened
to ruin the mood.

 
“Is something bothering you Rachel?” Joe
enquired.

“No, no. This is nice.” Rachel
twisted her napkin in her lap.

“Nice? I hope it’s more than
nice.”

“Well, to be honest Joe, I’m
really dying to know about Genesis. Can you just tell me already?” She sighed
hoping she hadn’t spoilt the atmosphere irrevocably.

“Ok - I did say we would discuss
Genesis. Based on your outstanding performance yesterday…in the courtroom not
the gym, I’m happy to give you a year with an option to extend based on the
success of the project.”

“Oh Joe!” Rachel gushed, forgiving
his reference to having had his penis in her mouth, “thank you so much; I’m
thrilled and excited and very grateful. We have so much to discuss and plan.”

The big man held his hand up to
her palm forward effectively cutting her off mid gush. “Right, but not tonight;
have Angela set up a meeting on Monday and we can go over it then.” Joe had
obviously made up his mind then.

“Charming.” Rachel muttered
feeling somewhat deflated and a little silly about being overly enthusiastic. A
frown took residence on her forehead and her napkin suffered fervent
manipulation under her fidgety fingers. Joe placed a hand over her busy ones
effectively stilling her and claiming her attention.

“Please can we start over? It
seems whatever comes out of my mouth annoys you and seriously sweetheart, you
need to give me a break here – I thought this was the result you were
aiming for.”

Joe was right; Rachel hadn’t given
him the time of day since he’d arrived at Gyles Bishop. Maybe it was the
unfortunate series of events leading up to meeting him officially or his
infuriating arrogance, but despite being fiercely attracted to him, she’d also
been rude, losing her temper; hitting him; leading him on. Then last night
she’d switched everything around and come on to him big time. Joe had willingly
gone along with it and made his intentions clear; and yet today she was sending
mixed signals again. Rachel felt bad for confusing him and extremely disappointed
in her immature behaviour.

“Joe, I’m sorry. I can give you
the short version of how I’m trying to get back into work mode after a career
break; desperate not to let anyone down. Or I can tell you about how losing
your husband unexpectedly fucks up your entire existence until you find
something worth living for. That for me was Genesis. It gave me a purpose and I
genuinely believe we have a responsibility among all the millions of pounds of
profit to give back a little bit. The idea was initiated by Nate sure, but I
own it now and I can’t give it up Joe.”

Rachel took a breath under the
heated scrutiny of her boss, and continued.

“Then you came along; literally
larger than life; gorgeous and distracting. Nate’s replacement. Imagine the
conflicting emotions, Joe. I wasn’t really cross with you, just a victim to
circumstance, but I have behaved badly; it’s not me at all; I’m just a tad
overwhelmed. It’s a lot to take in.”

Rachel was obviously distressed at
having to explain herself and talk about barely healed wounds and Joe was mad
at himself for being such a prick. He hadn’t intended to come across as the big
bad wolf. That wasn’t the side of him he wanted her to know – it was time
to rectify matters.

He leaned forward smiling. “You
think I’m gorgeous?”

“Seriously?” Rachel gasped at him
totally exasperated. “That’s what you took from the whole gut wrenching and
honest story of my life? I prove my point!” Rolling her eyes at him, Rachel
shook her head in disbelief.

Joe chuckled and slung an arm
around her dragging her close. “No sweetheart, that’s not all I took. This is
what I’m taking right here.”

Rachel braced herself as Joe
dipped his head to hers, but instead of replicating his prior full on attack on
her mouth; he brushed her lips with his in a gesture so sweet and gentle it
made her heart squeeze in her chest. His tongue flicked out to wet her lips and
coax her mouth open. Rachel sagged against his chest surrendering to his
sensual caress and she moaned quietly into his mouth. He played with her this
way for many long glorious minutes until a discreet cough announced the arrival
of their food.

The meal was delicious. Course
after course of appetisers and entrees were delivered to their table; far too
much for them to eat all of it but it was too tempting not to at least have a
taste of everything. Rachel enjoyed her food even in her heightened state of
arousal. Everything was extra tasty and indulgent and she relished every
mouthful. She was lucky she didn’t have to diet too much to maintain her
figure, and of course her visits to the gym contributed to keeping her trim.
Joe found it was a lot more fun to be with someone who actually enjoyed their
meal rather than flick a piece of dry lettuce around their plate while he was
eating, plus watching and listening to Rachel eat was turning him on. All those
little noises of appreciation and the way she licked her lips after each
mouthful had his dick applauding in his jeans.

The conversation flowed and any
uneasiness was soon forgotten. They entertained one another with stories of
their children and the problems that come with being the parents of adults. The
discussion turned to favourites and they discovered an opposing taste in music
but a shared love of many of the same films. Joe wasn’t especially cultured
which surprised Rachel considering his background but he told her he found art
pretentious and didn’t care at all for the theatre, opera or ballet. The more
she found out about the real Joe Mason, the more she was charmed by him.
Relaxed Joe was a joy compared with Arrogant Joe, Moody Joe and Menacing Joe,
although Menacing Joe could actually be quite sexy as she’d found out yesterday
evening in the gym. She sighed as she began to mentally replay their time in
the steam room and shower.

“Rachel. Rachel!” Her thoughts
were interrupted by Flesh & Blood Joe calling her name.

“Hmm?” She was chewing on her
bottom lip absent mindedly, her head still a million miles away.

“Stop doing that.”

“What?”

“That thing with your mouth
– it’s making me hard.”

“Ha!” Rachel exclaimed. “You can’t
say things like that. Oh my god Joe – you have no shame!”

“Me? You are the one with the
‘fuck me’ expression on your face.”

“And there you are again – I
thought you’d gone all adorable on me.” Rachel swatted one of his rock hard
biceps.

“You think I’m adorable?”

Rachel rolled her eyes and tutted
at him. She picked up her wine glass swirling the ruby red liquid around the
goblet before taking a long swallow topped off by a leisurely lick of her lips.
She knew she was teasing him but the effect of the alcohol had given her a nice
buzz and she was feeling brave and predictably horny.

“Rachel…” Joe eased her name out
slowly in a low warning tone as he placed a hand on her thigh under the table
causing her to jerk slightly with the contact. His hand was warm as he made
circling movements up and down her leg. He leaned in close to her ear, his face
in her hair as he inhaled deeply and whispered, “I really wish you were wearing
a skirt right now Rachel. I’d run my hands all the way underneath it up to your
panties; slip my fingers into your wet cunt and make you come right here.”

“Knickers” she croaked.

“I beg your pardon?”

“British girls wear knickers not
panties.”

“What the fucking ever…” Joe
growled back at her, “as long as I can get them off you sweetheart; call them
what you like.”

A flush crept up Rachel’s body filling
her with tingles of heat at his crude words. She could feel her juices dampen
her thong in response to his whispered promise or threat or whatever; the
details were irrelevant to the way she was feeling. A pulse beat fiercely in
her neck and Joe licked her there causing her clit to throb. Her breasts ached
and her nipples tightened with pleasure. The man was going to make her explode;
she was beginning to feel both overwhelmed and desperate at the same time.