One Night with the CEO (15 page)

F
our days. She’d stayed with him for four days.

Not a single kiss. Not a single touch. Nothing. He’d been okay with it then—he knew how to control his horniness for the sake of her health—but if he’d had to walk into his bedroom one more night, the sweet scent of her filling his nostrils as soon as he crossed the threshold, he would have jerked off in the bathroom like he was back in middle school.
No magazines required.

Mark grimaced at the trajectory of his thoughts. Great. Now she’d turned him into a man with no self-control. Disgusted with himself, he turned to his computer with the intention of reading the dozens of e-mails that had come in this morning alone. A few minutes later, Karen slipped through the door unannounced. Her bouncy hair and sweet smile brightened his office and lifted his spirits.

“Hey, there,” she said with a smile. “Don’t be mad at Nicole. I asked her if I could surprise you.”

He closed out of his e-mail account and gave her a wide smile. “This is a nice surprise.”

She came closer to his desk and licked her lips. “So I…uh…I wanted to thank you, for taking care of me.”

Only then did he notice she held a paper bag in her hands. “What do you have in there?”

Her grin lit up her entire face. “Lunch. Courtesy of DC Empanadas in Union Market. I bring you an assortment of fried, yummy goodness.”

A man could only hold back for so long. They had unfinished business after all. “That’s very kind of you, but you’re all the yummy goodness I need.”

Her brown eyes went smoky. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She walked toward him and set the bag and her purse on the far corner of his desk. No matter how innocent she’d intended her visit to be, it was clear they now needed privacy. He reached for the remote to lock his office door while she rounded his desk. She hiked her dress up and gave him a tantalizing peek at her thighs before she faced him and sat on his lap. In the process of adjusting herself, she grazed his cock with her hand, and it stiffened at the contact.

His gaze flew to her face, where a mischievous smile revealed she hadn’t grazed his dick by accident. “Someone’s in a teasing mood, I see.”

She placed a hand on her chest, widened her eyes, and feigned innocence. “Whatever do you mean?”

In answer, he slipped the spaghetti straps off her shoulders and tugged the top half of her dress to her waist. Her bra, a lacy number with scalloped edges that ended well below the tops of her breasts, resembled a frothy pink treat. The sheer cups revealed the outline of her brown nipples. The thought of sucking on them made him hard. Real fucking hard.

Unable to restrain himself, he buried his face in the space between her breasts, and then placed openmouthed kisses along the cups of her bra. She undulated on his thighs and pressed her breasts closer to his mouth. “God, I’ve wanted this so much.”

“Believe me, you’re not the only one,” he said between soft kisses.

She reached for the clasp of her bra.

“Leave your hands on my shoulders, please. I’m not ready for that yet.”

She groaned. “This will come back to bite you in the butt, you know.”

“Is that what you’re into these days?”

She dropped her head into the crook of his neck and nipped at him.

He used his tongue to lave her nipples through the bra. A soft “oh” escaped her lips. He studied her face, captivated by the way her mouth fell open, soft and wet. “Tell me what you want, sweetheart.”

She opened her eyes and her gaze landed everywhere but on him.

“Listen to me, Karen. The sound of your voice turns me on. Everything about you turns me inside out. Tell me what you want. I guarantee you, whatever you say will be perfect.”

She brushed a tendril of hair away from her face and nodded. “I…Mark…I need your cock in me. I just want to feel you pump inside me over and over. Right now.”

His dick swelled at her words. This would happen just as she wanted it to. He lifted her off him and set her on his desk; she spread her legs for him and tugged him close. Then her hands dropped to his waist, where she worked quickly to undo his belt and pull down his slacks. She reached into her purse and produced a condom like she’d pulled a rabbit out of a hat.

Her roaming hands stilled. “Tada, indeed. Were you planning all along to give me more than an empanada?”

“Nope. I carry them everywhere I go. Always prepared. That’s my motto.”

“Well, I’m so fucking glad you had one.”

She dropped her head against his shoulder. “So am I.”

He didn’t care for any more conversation. Not this time. After sheathing himself, he removed her shoes and reached for her panties. Finding none, he groaned. “You went commando?”

“I’d like to think of it as going G.I. Jane.”

He leaned forward and smiled into her neck. His hands wrapped around her ass and he pulled her to the edge of the desk. Then he centered himself at her entrance and pushed inside. “You’re so fucking tight.”

“Because you’re so fucking big.”

“And you love it.”

“I do. I
really
,
really
do.”

He pushed farther inside, wincing when her nails dug into his back. He grabbed on to her waist and pushed harder, each stroke deeper than the last. Her sounds of pleasure coached him, urging him through her moans and heavy breathing to help her reach an explosive orgasm. He wanted that for her—badly. Just as badly as he wanted it for himself.

With each thrust of her hips, her moans grew louder. Still cognizant of where they were, he covered her lips with his, taking her sounds into his mouth as though they were his own. His balls grew heavy and tight, the climax so close. He placed two fingers on her clit and rubbed her. She whimpered, and then her body shook from the force of her orgasm, her hand slapping his desk repeatedly as the wave of pleasure hit her. He didn’t take long to join her. Two strokes in, his release slammed into him, and he found himself unsteady on his feet as he rode it out.

He snapped his eyes shut and shook his head. She rested against him, breathing fast and heavy.

“That was incredible,” he said as he threw the condom in the trash. “If that’s what I can expect when you visit me for lunch, feel free to show up every day.”

Like an electric shock, the words he’d uttered sank into his psyche and zapped him of his coordination. He fumbled with the zipper of his slacks.
Fuck.
Now he’d gone and done the unthinkable: He’d let his mind trick him into thinking their short-term arrangement had blossomed into something more.

She rose, her movements slow and unsure. Her gaze never leaving his, she slipped her arms through the spaghetti straps and smoothed the skirt of her dress. “Your empanadas are probably cold.”

He rolled up his sleeves. “I’ll live. Thanks for bringing them.”

Her soft smile reminded him of the shy woman he’d spent time with in Puerto Rico.

“Just remember,” she said. “I came to bring you lunch.” Pointing between them, she continued, “You’re the one who turned it into this.”

“So noted.”

She puffed out a breath and grabbed her purse. “Okay. I’m off to finish buying books for my first semester.”

The urge to
do something
made him call out her name. “Karen, before you go, I need to talk to you about something.”

She turned to face him and regarded him with wariness in her eyes. “What’s up?”

“It’s Gracie and Ethan. They’ve been pressing me to go on dates, and I’m running out of excuses for why I’m never available. And well, the more I think about this…us, I think it would be a good idea if I contacted the woman they have in mind. It’ll get them off my back, for one thing. For another thing, you’re starting medical school soon, so…”

His voice trailed off, and she finished the sentence for him. “So you should get started on your plans to find Mrs. Lansing, right?”

“Well, that’s skipping a few steps, but that’s the basic idea. I just wanted you to know. Like you said before, just so there’s no confusion. I didn’t want you to think I was being dishonest about my intentions.”

“Oh no, Mark. I’d never accuse you of dishonesty. You’ve been painfully honest every step of the way.”

He nodded, ignoring the way she’d stressed the word
painfully.
“Okay.”

She massaged her temples. “So are we done, or do you still want to see me?”

“It’s up to you.”

She licked the front of her teeth and stared out his office window. “I think as long as we both know what’s going on here, there’s no reason to stop…” Her brow furrowed, likely because she was searching for the right words.

He didn’t know how to define what they were doing, either, but he knew he didn’t want to stop. Not yet. “I agree with you. Just so we’re all clear.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” he echoed.

She dropped her chin. “One thing, though.”

“Anything.”

“Well, I just don’t feel comfortable with the idea that you’d be having sex with her, too. So if you—”

“Karen, there’s no way I’d do that. You can be one hundred percent sure of that.”

“All right. Well, if things change, just tell me. I can be mature about this.”

“Okay.”

“Tomorrow night then?”

“Sure. That works.”

She strode toward him, appearing mussed and thoroughly sated. Her gaze bore into his before she kissed his lips. “Thanks for a lovely time.”

She’d said it like a woman thanking a man on their first date. Like she didn’t know him well, and didn’t care to. It didn’t matter, he reasoned. He’d eke out whatever pleasure he could get from their remaining time together and move on. And although it would hurt him to let her go, he knew it was the right thing to do.

T
he first day of med school was only a week away.

Although she’d managed to wade through half of Netter’s
Atlas of Human Anatomy
, the only anatomy that captured her attention came in the form of a strapping, two-hundred-pound man who paced his living room. She’d come to learn that he sorted out work matters on the move, unable to sit in a chair for very long.

Wearing one of his dress shirts and nothing else, Karen swiveled the counter stool and positioned herself to admire him. After a few seconds, he froze and whipped his head up in her direction. He planted himself in the middle of the room with his arms crossed over his bare chest. His jeans, unbuttoned and zipped halfway, hung low on his hips. The patch of hair below his waist teased her, because she knew what she’d find at the end of that happy trail, and she also knew she only had a limited time in which to enjoy it.

She’d lost focus for another reason, too. Mark had been unavailable two nights this week. Nothing about that fact struck her as out of the ordinary, but when she’d asked him about his plans, he’d sidestepped her question. She needed to know—no matter how hard it would be to stomach his response. “So did you meet with that woman Gracie and Ethan set you up with?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

Shit. Why did that hurt so fucking much?
Maybe she couldn’t do this.
“What’s her name?”

He tilted his head in her direction. “You really want to know?”

She shrugged. “Sure, why not? I’m not a psycho, Mark. I’m not going to boil a rabbit in her house or anything. It’s cool.”

He sat on the stool next to her, his gaze fixed on the digital clock in his kitchen. “Her name’s Sharon Castellano.” He grabbed a sheaf of papers on the kitchen counter and straightened them. “This is weird, Karen. Suffice it to say we had a decent time. Hard to say where it’ll lead.”

“Fair enough. Just asking. Didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“Let’s forget about it, okay?”

“It’s forgotten.”

That night they went to bed with space between them, a marked change from their usual spooning positions.

It was for the best, wasn’t it? Soon they wouldn’t share any space at all.

No matter how hard she tried, Karen couldn’t stop picturing Mark on his date with Sharon Castellano. To make matters worse, Gracie had invited her to a home design center, to get her opinion on a slab of granite for the kitchen island in Gracie and Ethan’s new home. Boredom and jealousy made for a very unpleasant mix. If Karen was lucky, a runaway slab of granite would slam into her head and knock her unconscious.

Her first mistake had been to ask Mark about the date. While she pretended to be unconcerned about it, last night’s seemingly offhand inquiry had occupied her thoughts ever since. He’d said the date was decent, but what else
could
he say? She was open to discussing his attempts at dating, but she suspected that if any of those dates went well, Mark wouldn’t flaunt that fact in her face. She should have feigned disinterest and left the subject alone.

Gracie sprinted to the next slab of granite. “
Oooh.
This one’s beautiful. What do you think?”

Karen stared at the slab and shrugged. “It’s nice?”

Gracie lifted her head toward the ceiling of the showroom. “Why did I ask you to come with me again?”

“Because no one else is crazy enough to do this with you?”

Gracie turned her attention to the slab once more. “Right. Thanks for the reminder.”

Karen figured this was as good a time as any to do some sleuthing. “So how are things going on the matchmaking front? For Mark, I mean.”

Distracted by her careful inspection of her favorite slab so far, Gracie didn’t bother to meet Karen’s gaze when she responded. “We’ve gotten nowhere, no thanks to Mark. The man’s so busy, we can’t get him to call the lady.”

“You have someone specific in mind?”

“Yeah. A former co-worker of mine. Sharon Castellano. But Mark keeps making excuses. And now she’s away on vacation in Australia, so they’re probably not going to connect for a few weeks. Before she left, though, she said she hoped she’d hear from him soon.”

“Oh, he hasn’t even contacted her?”

“He couldn’t have. She’s been off the grid at a business retreat.” Gracie looked up at her then. “Why all the questions?”

Karen forced herself not to stutter. “Oh, just wondering. I’m thinking I might know someone who’d be perfect for him.”

Gracie’s eyes widened with interest. “Yeah?”

“Maybe. Let me think about it some more. If he’s not enthused about doing this, I wouldn’t want to get the woman’s hopes up for nothing.”

“Exactly. So far Mark hasn’t been enthusiastic at all. It’s like he’s stalling or something, which is strange given that he was the one to come to Ethan about this. It’s all very confusing. I’ve been meaning to confront him about it, but I think Ethan’s the best person to do that.”

Karen disagreed.
She
was the best person to confront Mark about it, and she intended to do just that.