Seduced by the CEO (16 page)

Kristin stood from the kitchen table and followed her
son to the driveway. Inside the back of the truck was a buck the size of a
large boulder. “Wow. What are you going to do with it?”

Hayden shrugged. Charles chuckled. “He should mount its
head on his bedroom wall.”

Kristin scrunched her nose. “We’re not taking that
home.”

Charles laughed. “You sound like my wife.”

Micah stepped outside, coming up behind her. “That’ll
look good in your home office.”

She laughed. “No way in hell.”

“It’s my first kill, Mom. I can’t leave it.” Hayden
gave her the puppy dog eyes. “Please.”

“Yeah, Mom,” Micah said, wrapping his arms around her.
He pressed his lips against her ear. “Please, please, please, please.”

She stared at her son who still reminded her of the
little boy she’d raised. “It’s not going in my study.”

Hayden pumped his fist in the air. “You are the best,
Mom.”

Micah rested his chin on her shoulder and then looked
over at Hayden. “I’ll take you to have it mounted. We should probably be back
by the time the party starts.”

“Please take me with you.” Charles frowned. “I hate birthday
parties.”

Micah smiled. “You can’t get out of it. Mom’s been
working all day on the details. Plus, it’s
your
birthday.”

He stood and kissed the top of Kristin’s head. She
watched as the men exchanged keys and then Hayden and Micah climbed inside the
truck. She walked up beside it and rested her arms on the door, peering in.

“For some reason I think it’s dangerous to send you
two out alone. God only knows what kind of trouble you’ll get into.”

Hayden chuckled. “You’ll bail us out of jail, right?”

She shook her head. “Don’t count on it.”

Micah started the truck. “Stay away from my brother.
He has the hots for you.”

“What?” She felt her eyes widen. Micah grinned. “He
does not.”

“All I’m saying is, you need to stay out of trouble
too.” Micah put the truck in gear and Kristin stepped back. “We’ll be back
later.”

She watched them drive off, crossing her arms over her
chest. She sighed, liking the idea of them becoming friends. Too much. But
neither did she want to come between that. She headed back into the house and
continued to help Eleanor with the cooking.

****

“Something smells delicious.” Gabe entered the
kitchen, heading to the refrigerator.

“It’s your great aunt’s recipe. Your mother said it
was your father’s favorite.”

“Homemade potato soup.” He grinned and grabbed a
bottle of water. “That’s Micah’s favorite, too.”

“I didn’t know that.” Kristin smiled.

“Let’s see. What deep, dark, embarrassing secrets can
I spill before he gets back?” He twisted the top on the bottle. “His favorite
book is Romeo and Juliet. He was the only one in his class who read it, and he
not only read it, but he could quote some of it.”

Kristin chuckled. “Wow.”

“Yeah. He even starred in the play for drama class.”
Gabe leaned against the cabinet and sipped from his water bottle. “He put on
tights and a dumb ass looking outfit just to kiss the hot chick starring as
Juliet. But she caught the flu going around school and he ended up making out
with Daisy Letterman opening night. Said it was the worst ten seconds of his
life.”

Kristin arched her eyebrows. Gabe shrugged.

Kristin stirred the soup. “Did you ever meet Molly?”

Gabe stiffened. “Uh, yeah. Why? He told you about
her?”

She nodded.

Gabe crossed his arms over his chest. “Molly is a sore
subject with him. I’m not sure if he loved her but he was smitten. She had a
little too much control in their relationship, so much that she started
cheating on him. From what I gathered, it wasn’t just every now and then. It
was every time he left her alone.”

She cut the heat back on the stove. “Does he confide
in you a lot?”

“Yeah. I mean, we’ve been partners in crime since I
was born. He’s two years older than me.”

Kristin set the spoon aside and faced him. “He won’t
talk to me. Not about anything serious.”

“He told you about Molly. That’s serious. He usually
hates it when you even mention her name.”

She didn’t know how to convey her frustration without
bluntly telling him but she didn’t know him well enough for that. “Yeah, I
guess.”

Gabe stared at her for a moment. “Maybe he needs to
know how you feel.”

“I told him. That’s how he opened up about Molly.”

“And you want more?”

“Well, yeah. He knows all about me and I can’t tell
you that much about him. It’s frustrating.”

He leaned against the counter. “Tell him.”

“I can’t. The last time I did, he got mad. He’s going
to Japan with another woman for at least a week. I don’t know. If I make him
mad, maybe he’ll call it off. She practically dry humped him in the hallway at
work and I got jealous. I never get jealous and watching it just hit a nerve.”

Gabe smiled. “You sound like you really care about
him.”

Kristin sighed. “I do.”

He stood and grabbed his water. “Tell him. That’s all
I can say. He’ll listen. Maybe he’ll express the same.”

“We’re back!” Micah called from the front of the house.
Charles had settled in front of the TV pulling the birthday card to get out of
doing chores. “Danny says hello, Dad. And he wished you a happy birthday.”

Kristin reached for the spoon and stirred the soup to
make herself look busy. Micah and Hayden entered the kitchen, stopping short
when they saw Gabe standing next to her.

“Are you hitting on my girlfriend?”

Kristin shook her head. “Nope. He’s telling me deep,
dark secrets about you.”

“Oh great. Am I about to be an only child?” Micah came
up behind her and kissed her cheek. “What did he say?”

“I told her about Romeo and Juliet.”

Micah groaned. “I’m going to kick your ass after
dinner.”

“What about Romeo and Juliet?” Hayden asked.

Micah stepped away to wash his hands. “Nothing. It was
a dumbass play that I got the lead role in.”

“That’s not the way Gabe recalled it.” Kristin turned,
leaning against the stove, and smiled. “He recalled you being excited to get
the role of Romeo. In fact, you wanted to kiss the hot girl.”

Micah paused. “Wendy Harper. Damn, she had a C cup and
full pouty lips. She always wore this strawberry lip gloss that made every guy—”

“Okay. I don’t want to know what her lip gloss made
horny teenagers do.” Kristin folded her arms over her chest.

Micah reached for a dishtowel and dried his hands.
“Like you don’t know what lip gloss does to horny
men.
”

“My son is in the room.”

Micah grinned.

“Please, Mom. I’m not that innocent.”

Kristin shook her head. “I’m ending this
conversation.”

Micah crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.
She hugged him, taking comfort in his warmth.

“Come on, Hayden. They’re going to start making out
and nobody wants to see that.” Gabe and Hayden left the kitchen.

“You smell like a deer.” Kristin slipped her hands
underneath his shirt.

He bent to kiss her. “Sorry. I need a shower.”

“You have some time before the party starts.”

His eyes sparkled with mischievousness. “You could
join me.”

“I said you have some time. Not a lot of time.” She
pulled away from him. “Go take your shower.”

Micah kissed her cheek. “I’ll be back in a few.”

Chapter
Fifteen

Micah liked meeting with all his family friends. He
hadn’t been home since Molly’s death. It had been way too long. Kristin fit in
well. Everyone loved both her and Hayden, not that he doubted they would.

“You’re awful quiet.” Kristin brought him a beer.

“Yeah,” he said, wrapping his arm around her. “I’m
ready for bed.”

Kristin laid her cheek against his chest. “We could
fake an illness.”

“I like that idea, but Mom goes into nurse mode when
someone is sick. Not a good thing if you want to be alone.” He drank from his
beer and rubbed her back. She felt perfect in his arms.

“Micah, I need to talk to you.”

That was one sentence he hated to hear. He glanced
down. “What about?”

“Us.” She reached for his hand and led him out back to
the quiet deck. He noticed how every time she wanted him to open up, she
struggled with conversation. “Micah, I talked to your brother this afternoon
and he told me you like potato soup. I’ve known you for four years and outside
of business and the bedroom, I know nothing about you.”

He linked her fingers with his, smiling. “What do you
want to know?”

“I don’t know. The little stuff.”

He set his beer aside. “I’ll answer twenty questions
tonight.”

She grinned. “Anything?”

He knew he was probably going to regret his answer.
“Anything but the topic of Molly.”

Her shoulders slumped slightly. “Okay. I’ll take that.
How did you lose your virginity?”

He laughed. He hadn’t been expecting that question.
“My girlfriend at the time seduced me. We drove to the pier and laid on the
hood of my dad’s Camaro. We were listening to the radio and out of nowhere she
said the song that played on the radio made her think of stripping. And she
did. The rest is history.”

He lifted his beer and took a sip. “What about you?”

She shrugged. “I met Rick at a high school party my
friend dragged me to. He told me I was pretty. It was the first time a guy had ever
noticed me, and he was popular, so that was a plus. I enjoyed his attention. We
talked for a while before he told me that he wanted to talk to me in a quieter
place. I thought he meant outside, but we went upstairs instead.”

“Is that when you got pregnant?”

“No.” She leaned back against the railing of the deck.
“I got pregnant on Valentine’s Day, a few months later. I trusted him to bring
a condom and he told me he did. When we got to our hotel room, he suddenly
realized he had forgotten it, but he promised he’d be safe and pull out.” She
paused. “I was young and dumb. I didn’t know anything about anything.”

“Do you regret it?”

She smiled. “No. I mean, at the time, yes. I thought
my father was going to kill Rick. He wouldn’t talk to me for nearly six months
until I had morning sickness really bad and he had to drive me to the hospital
when I got dehydrated. But seeing Hayden enter the world, I can’t say I regret
it. I should have waited, no doubt, but I don’t regret having him.”

Micah drank his beer in silence.

“Why won’t you talk about Molly?”

He shook his head.

“Did you love her?”

Micah took another drink to prevent himself from
answering.

“Why can’t you open up to me, Micah? I know you trust
me. I think you meant it when you said you love me, even if it was just an
accidental slip. Why can’t you trust me enough to know you? To love you?”

He swallowed. “I wish I knew the answer to that.”

“I think you do know the answer.” She pushed off the
railing. “I’ve been hurt, too.”

He grabbed her hand before she could leave. “She was
pregnant. I don’t understand how I’m expected to get over that.”

“Did you want to be a father?”

“No.” He shook his head. “That’s not the point.”

“What is the point then?”

“I planned to change my fucking world to fit her into
my life, to fit this unborn child into my life. The car accident that took her
life happened when she was on her way to the clinic to abort it. It pisses me
off.”

She looked at him with pity which wasn’t what he
wanted. “I wish I had the right words for you. I didn’t know her and I can’t
fathom her reasons. I’m sorry she put you through that.”

“Your ex seems like a golden boy compared to her.”

Kristin chuckled. “Let’s not go that far.”

He pulled her into his arms and rested his cheek
against the top of her head. “Thank you for coming here with me.”

“Micah, your family is wonderful. I’m glad I got to
meet them.” She tilted her head back to kiss his chin. “You’re pretty wonderful
yourself.”

He kissed her. Kristin felt right in his arms. He
often found himself thinking about her when she was away, and it damn near
killed him to work down the hall from her. He wanted to be with her all the
time.

“Come to the barn with me.”

She shook her head. “No. It’s your father’s birthday.
You need to spend it with him.”

He kissed her. “Please.”

“No.” She pushed him away lightly. “Let’s go inside
and mingle with the guests.”

“Then we can go upstairs?”

She chuckled. “Yes. But only after the last guest is
gone.”

****

Kristin crashed in bed, face first, ready to call it a
night. Micah was right beside her, though he took the time to undress.

“I think I’m going to need a rain check on sex,”
Kristin mumbled.

“You and me both.” He yawned. “Scoot over.”

She rolled to the far side of the bed. Micah tossed
his shirt toward his bag and undid his jeans. His body was lean and hard,
tempting her senses to come alive and forget the rain check.

“We have to get up early tomorrow.” He hooked his fingers
in his boxer-briefs and shoved them to the ground. “I don’t know if I’m going
to make it.”

She watched as he pushed the sheets back and climbed
in beside her. “You’ll be okay. We can sleep on the plane.”

He yawned. “How about we sleep now?”

She smiled and sat up. Her bag wasn’t too far from the
bed, but it seemed it took the last bit of energy she had to reach for it. She
dug inside to find a tank top and shorts to change into.

“Why don’t you sleep naked?”

She laughed. “I would say that comes from being a
parent. You never know when your kid will wake up needing you in the middle of
the night.”

“You like being a mother, don’t you?”

She pulled her clothes off and changed into the
selected sleep outfit. “I do.”

“Do you want more kids?”

She smiled and crawled in bed beside him. “I don’t
know. I never really thought about it.”

Micah pulled her against him and tucked the covers
around her body. He kissed her forehead. “It kinda looked like you did, when
you saw Rick’s baby.”

She brushed her hand along his abdomen. “He was right
when he said I wanted Hayden to be a girl. I didn’t know anything about boys at
the time, and I was convinced if I had a girl, things would be okay. I cried
when they told me it was a boy.”

“You’re an amazing woman.”

“Why do you say that?”

He rolled her to her back and propped himself up
beside her. “Why wouldn’t I say that?”

She smiled. “You never let me finish asking you my
twenty questions.”

He sighed and laid his head on her shoulder. “Fine.”

“Tell me your fantasies.”

“That’s not a question.”

“Fine. Is there anything you haven’t done, sexually?”

He laughed. “You make me sound like a man-whore.”

“Not a whore, but definitely someone who knows what he
likes.”

Micah lifted his head. “You know, when I granted you
twenty questions, I thought I would get stuff like ‘what’s your favorite color?
’.
I didn’t realize you wanted answers to dirty questions.”

He slipped his hand underneath her shirt. “Anything I
haven’t done sexually? I haven’t been with a guy. Don’t plan to either.”

Kristin laughed. “I think it’s clear to everyone that
you like women.”

His thumb brushed her nipple. “What about you? You
haven’t done much. What do you want to do sexually?”

A ménage scene with Micah and his brother popped into
her mind out of nowhere. He’d told her Gabe liked hardcore. She wasn’t even
sure exactly what that meant. Her mind drifted to the room in the barn, and how
Micah had used a vibrator and a plug on her. Her orgasm had been so intense, so
overwhelming. She swallowed hard and focused on reality. Both men were hot, and
she wondered what it would be like to have them both at once.

“I don’t know.”

He slid his hand down her stomach and beneath her
shorts. “I can’t give it to you if you don’t tell me.”

Kristin spread her legs as his talented fingers
slipped inside her folds. God, she couldn’t tell him. Micah wouldn’t be that
understanding.

“I don’t know.”

“Yes you do.” He rubbed her clit with his thumb.

She tried to focus on sleep, feigning exhaustion.
“Micah, I’m tired. We need to get up early and
it’s
past midnight.”

He leaned in to press kisses along her neck. His cock
pressed against her side. “Why are you embarrassed?”

“I’m not.” She glanced to the side. “It’s
twelve-thirty.”

He pushed up to stare down at her. “We’re not going to
sleep.”

“Micah.” She stopped when she met his eyes.

“Tell me.”

“You’ll get mad.”

He frowned. “Sex with you could hardly make me mad.”

She sighed. “I entertained the idea of a ménage.”

To her surprise, he grinned. The last thing she
expected was for him to be okay with the idea. She’d been jealous as hell with
Southern Barbie nearly humping his leg in the hallway. He surely would be mad
at her actually wanting to have sex with someone else.

“You have anyone in mind?”

Kristin tried to avoid his eyes. “We should get some
sleep.”

“Oh, no.” He tilted her chin so that she met his eyes.
“We’re talking about this.”

“You don’t like to talk.”

“Sex is something I’m more than willing to talk about
with you.”

She sighed. Why had she even brought it up? “It’s not
something I ever dreamed of in reality.”

“Why not? It could be fun.” She stared at him,
dumbfounded. “What? I’ve been a part of ménages before, Kristin. Many, in fact.
I am surprised you are interested in it though.”

She sat up, pushing him back to his side of the bed.
“Why does that surprise you?”

“You’ve been celibate for six years. You want to go
from no cock to two cocks.”

She narrowed her eyes. “So? That doesn’t mean I didn’t
want to have sex. Life comes before pleasure.”

He propped his hands behind his head. “Why are you
getting defensive?”

“Because you don’t get it.” She sighed in defeat. He
probably never would. She grabbed her pillow and stood.

“Don’t get what? Where are you going?”

“I’m sleeping on the couch downstairs.”

He sat up. “Why? What the hell are you pissed off at
me about now?”

She didn’t respond. Kristin made it to the stairs
before he caught up with her. Fortunately, he didn’t try to drag her back to
the bedroom. He followed her downstairs and stood to the side while she made
her bed on the couch. He stepped in and grabbed the afghan on the back to cover
her.

“If you’re not going to talk to me, we’re going to sit
in silence together until you do.” He moved to the recliner and she heard the
sound of the springs releasing the footrest.

She stared into the dark and tried to force herself to
sleep. It didn’t happen. Her mind roamed to thoughts of Micah and what she
really felt for him.

“I’m never going to be good enough for you, am I?”

He blew out a breath. “What makes you ask me that?”

“Because you’re still in love with Molly. You can’t be
with another until you’re over her.”

“How the fuck does that have anything to do with what
we were talking about?”

She ignored his question. “You’re giving me mixed
signals. One moment, I think I mean something to you, then the next, you’re
cutting me down.”

“When did I cut you down?” The click of the footrest
filled the room.

“It’s not fair.” She turned toward the back of the
couch and closed her eyes. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

The light flipped on and Micah stood in front of her,
hands on his hips. “Sit up.”

He didn’t wait for her to move. Micah bent down and
scooped her into his arms, then turned to sit on the couch with her in his lap.