Red Hot Rose Boxed Set (25 page)

I held up my hand to stop him.
 
“So, why didn’t he do it?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you why,” came a deep voice from behind me.

I saw Jason’s eyes go wide just before he leapt to his feet.
 
“Mr. Blackstone!
 
You’re here!”

“Of course I’m here.
 
What’s going on with the computer?
 
Something Samuel did, I take it.”

“Yes, sir.
 
He tried to wipe the drive clean.”

Alex sighed.
 
“I came in here over the weekend and caught him at that desk.
 
I told him to get the hell out and took the door key from him when he left.”

“Well, you got to him in the knick of time.
 
One more keystroke, and it would have been lights out for your mailing lists, financial records, everything.”

“Don’t we have backups?” I asked, not believing for a second that they’d be that stupid.

“We
did
have backups,” said Jason, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

“Talk to me Jase,” said Alex.
 
“The short version.”

“I was just working on that when she … Ms. DuPont called me in.
 
Looks like he messed with the backups too.
 
I couldn’t figure out what had happened at first, but now it’s clear.
 
Samuel was busy in his last days here.”

The muscle in Alex’s
 
jaw jumped.
 
“Thanks, Jason.
 
Can you fix this?”

“You bet.
 
Just give me the rest of the day, and I’ll
 
have everything backed up and back on track.”

Alex nodded sharply.
 
“Great.
 
I’ll leave you to it.”

Alex’s words were a clear invitation for Jason to leave, and he didn’t need to be told twice.
 
He practically ran out of the room in his haste to leave.

“Want to go to lunch?” he asked me, changing his expression to one not so murderous.

“I can’t. We have a lunch meeting today.
 
You’re buying everyone pizza or sandwiches.”

“Great.
 
I love pizza.”

I shook my head.
 
“Sorry, but not today.
 
I need to get into their heads, and if they know you’re listening, they’ll hold back.
 
Maybe tomorrow.”

He laughed.
 
“I think I’ve hired a shark to head my team.”

I shrugged unapologetically.
 
“If you wanted a goldfish, you should have kept Samuel.
 
I’m not going to apologize for helping you win.”

Passion flared in his eyes, and my body responded immediately.
 
I almost took a step towards him, but I forced myself to remain in place, calm, collected, and cold as ice.
 
This is business.
 
I have to do this right, or I’ll lose everyone’s respect and it’ll be all over.

“You’re coming to my place for dinner,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow.
 
“What if I’m busy?”

“Change your plans,” he said quietly, and left the office without a backward glance.

I watched him work the room, stopping to talk to everyone, shaking hands, touching shoulders in friendship.
 
He clearly respected these people and what they were doing for him.
 
And their responses told her a lot about how they felt.
 
He was obviously admired by everyone in the room.

I calmed my racing heart and revved up libido by chanting to myself.
 
Be strong.
 
Do your job.
 
You can have Alex to yourself later.
 
And it was thoughts of that later that energized me through the rest of the day.
 
The meeting was a huge success, and after two hours of passionate discussion, the team had a solid set of milestones and a clear pathway to reach each of them.
 
They were still working hard when I got up to go at seven that night.

“Ready to call it a night?” I called out.

Jason and Melissa were the last to leave with me.
 
“So what do you think of your team?” asked Melissa.

“You guys are amazing.
 
You know exactly how to do what we need to do.
 
The talent here is better than I expected.
 
Way better.
 
And the dedication is what’s going to take us all the way through.
 
It’s going to be exhausting, but I truly believe we can pull this off.”

“Us too,” Melissa said.
 
She held out her hand.
 
“Thanks, by the way.”

“For?” I asked, taking her hand in mine.

“For taking on a job that might have looked like a hopeless case.
 
I think you can do this.
 
I think he has a chance of winning with you here.”

I grinned huge.
 
“Thanks for saying so.
 
I hope I don’t let you down.”

“You won’t.”
 
She pulled her hand back.
 
“Come on, Jason.
 
You owe me a beer.”

“See ya,” he said to me, before following Melissa over to her car.

“Bye,” I called out, getting onto my scooter.
 
Jessica had offered to have me use her car, but in the end I’d decided to just be who I was and ride to work like I did everywhere else.
 
As I was lifting my helmet up to put it on, my phone beeped.
 
A text from Alex was on the screen.
 
Come to my place.
 
I have dinner all ready
.

I was tempted to type out a raincheck request, but then decided to just go over.
 
I wanted to share the news of the day with him and get his reaction to my new plans going forward, anyway.
 
Might as well finish my work over there
.

Twenty minutes later I was pulling into his driveway.
 
He met me at the door, taking my backpack and helmet from me.
 
I left my shoes at the entrance and padded behind him to the dining room.

I thought we were going to stop there to eat, but he just kept walking, through that room, the kitchen, and out onto a back porch.
 
My heart melted a little at the small table he’d set up out there, complete with candles and champagne.

“You went to a lot of trouble,” I said, sinking into the comfortable chair he pulled out for me.

“You had a big day.
 
I thought we’d celebrate.”

I took a big breath and let it all out slowly, forcing the stress and anxiety to dissipate into the air.
 
Alex stepped behind me and massaged my shoulders.
 
I was going to tell him it wasn’t necessary but quickly changed my mind.

“Your muscles are really tight.”

I felt a spasm of a response between my legs.
 
He’d called me tight there too once.

His hands slid down to my upper arms where he massaged the muscles there.
 

Goosebumps broke out all over my body.

He leaned down and spoke on my ear.
 
“If you’re not really hungry right now, we could go for a swim.”

“That sounds like a great idea, actually.”
 
I surprised myself with my response.
 
“I don’t have a suit though.”

He stepped over to the side and held his hand out for me.
 
“You don’t need a suit.”

The promise in his voice kept my goosebumps going when they should have disappeared.
 
Maybe I’d entertained the notion of continuing with the no-touching program before, but not now.
 
I needed to feel his hands on me, or at least see his body again.
 
I was addicted.

I followed him out of the screened-in porch to the pool area that was completely surrounded by high walls and fifteen-foot high, sculpted shrubs.
 
It was dark enough now that I felt comfortable taking my clothes off and not worrying about anyone seeing me.

He stopped at the edge of the shallow end and took my hand, drawing me to him.
 
“I missed you today.”

“You did?” I whispered, smelling him now, getting aroused just by his nearness.

“Yes.
 
A lot.
 
I couldn’t stop thinking about you.
 
Imagining what it would be like to do this …” He leaned down and simply kissed my neck.

I thought he was going to pull away when he leaned down again.

“…And this …”
 
He made a trail of kisses, starting at my neck and going down the V of my open shirt collar.
 
His hands came up and slowly unbuttoned my blouse, one button at a time, with a kiss pressed to each bit of skin he exposed to the air.
 
The warm breeze brushed along the places he had dampened with his lips and made me shiver more.

“Are you cold?” he whispered against my neck.

“No,” I breathed.
 
My head was leaned back now, accepting the licking and sucking he was using to slowly drive me mad.

My hands drew down his arms and then to his waist.
 
I pulled his shirt out of his pants and ran my hand along the edge of his belt, stopping when I got to the buckle.

He took one of my breasts in his hand and squeezed, pinching my nipple between two fingers.
 
It send a shock of pleasure down to my hot folds, causing me to gasp.

“You like that?” he whispered.

I nodded, now intent on getting my hands into his pants.
 
I wanted to feel his heavy, silky hard rod.
 
He stepped away to pull his shirt off over his head, tossing it to the side.
 
The starlight gave me the perfect view of his amazing torso.
 
I pulled him back to me by his waistband and made short work of taking his pants down.
 
They fell to the ground at his ankles, but he didn’t move to take them off, too occupied with my hands on him.

I stood in front of him, stroking his hard length slowly, languidly.
 
The meaty head swelled and bulged out towards my stomach, and all I could do was picture it going inside me.
 
But tonight I wanted to thank him for everything he’d given me, both in bed and out.

I kissed his chest, grazing my teeth across his nipples before sucking on them hard.
 
He hissed in a breath and put his hands in my hair, pulling it gently as he clenched his hands a little.
 
My hands continued to stroke him as my lips moved lower, kissing and licking a trail down his abs.
 
When I reached the trail of hair at the top of his pelvis, I got down on my knees, using his shirt to cushion them.

His breath was coming more ragged now, and he was looking down at me with an almost tortured expression on his face.
 
“What are you doing?” he nearly growled.

“What do you think I’m doing?” I asked, before flicking my tongue out and licking the head of his cock.

It bounced up in reaction, and Alex moaned.
 
“Oh, god.
 
You’re making me crazy, Rose, you know that?”

I took his shaft in hand and guided it towards my lips.
 
“Turn about is fair play,” I said, before taking the head into my mouth.
 
I licked the salty pre-cum that had oozed out, reveling in the maleness of it and the knowledge that I had made that happen.
 
I moved my hand in a slow rhythm, pulling his cock deeper and deeper into my mouth with each smooth stroke.

As his breath got more labored, I stopped.
 
I moved down his shaft with my tongue toward his balls, enjoying his musky scent much more than I would have thought possible.
 
Now I knew why he had wanted to put his face in between my legs that morning.

As soon as my tongue touched his sensitive sack he jerked.
 
“Rose!” he whispered loudly.

“Mmmmm?” I moaned, licking his balls some more.

His body strained towards me, forcing his cock to slide forward in my hand as I took one of his testicles, now slippery with my saliva, gently into my mouth.
 
His hips were pulsing forward as he moaned.
 
I lathered his other testicle with my tongue and sucked on it gently, too.

“Oh, god, Rose.
 
Oh fuck …”
 
His hands fisted in my hair, and I got wet just knowing how close to the edge I was bringing him.
 
I left his balls to concentrate on his cock some more and knew he wasn’t far from coming.

I stood, running my still mostly clothed body up his until I was facing his chest again.
 
I sucked on one of his nipples and pinched the other before stopping completely and looking up into his tortured expression.

“What are you doing to me, Rose?”

“What do you want me to do to you, Alexander?”

He gritted his teeth together several times, making the muscle in his cheek bounce in and out.
 
He finally spoke at the same time he began removing my clothes.

“I want you …”
 
He took off my blouse.
 
“… To take off these clothes …”
 
He unzipped my pants and pushed them down.
 
“… And get in the pool with me.”

I frowned.
 
“In the pool?
 
To swim?” I asked, confused.
 
Here I thought I’d gotten him all excited and all he wanted to do was swim?

“No,” he said, removing the last stitch of clothing from both of us, leaving us standing totally naked at the side of the pool.

He grabbed he in his arm and walked to steps backwards.
 
“I want you to get in the pool with me so we can
fuck
.”