by Mari Carr
Caitlyn couldn’t land. Couldn’t find her way back. Not even when her climax had passed. She was vaguely aware of Lucas coming, of him guiding her to a quilt he’d laid on the floor by the tree, of him tossing the condom, grabbing a blanket and laying down next to her.
She had no sense of time, no clue how long she lay there lost in the blissful fog.
When she managed to rouse herself, she glanced down and noticed Callie had made her way over to them. At some point, she’d curled up in front of Caitlyn and was now purring loudly.
She reached down to pet the sweet kitten, her actions capturing Lucas’s attention.
“You okay?”
Caitlyn nodded. “I am. Now. I sort of disappeared there, didn’t I?”
Lucas kissed her shoulder. “I keep losing myself in you too. It’s not a normal feeling for me, but I’m not going to fight it. It feels good.”
“It feels incredible.” She sighed, her body still felt boneless. Any movement at all felt like it would require more strength than she had.
“Spend New Year’s Eve with me.”
Lucas missed the mark if he’d intended his invitation to be a request. Of course, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Lucas didn’t ask. It was one of the things about him that annoyed the fuck out of her as much as it charmed her right out of her pants.
“Okay,” she said, not bothering to chastise him. She wanted to be with him.
“We’ll spend it on my yacht.”
She snuggled closer, enjoying the warmth of his body. The sleep that had eluded her earlier was definitely finding her now. “That sounds lovely.”
“We’ll get naked and watch the fireworks over the harbor, drink too much champagne, eat too much caviar. It’ll be great.”
She yawned as she nodded. “It sounds perfect.”
It did. It really did.
Chapter Nine
Lucas walked into the penthouse, tossed his keys on the side table and sighed. It had been a long fucking day. Callie was there to greet him, rubbing against his legs. Bending down, he picked her up, stroking her head as she purred loudly.
“Caitlyn?” he called out.
Silence greeted him. Which meant she was working late. Again.
The penthouse sleepovers had begun shortly after New Year’s with an overnight bag she refilled after work every day, but as the days passed, more and more of her things started to make their way here to stay. Now, just three weeks after the start of a brand new year, her toothbrush, makeup and hair supplies had a permanent space in the bathroom. He’d cleared out a drawer in his dresser and made room in his closet for some of her clothes. She had “her side” of the bed and he had his.
Neither of them had really discussed any of it. It had all happened naturally because no conversation had been necessary. He wanted her in his apartment and she wanted to be there. They hadn’t mentioned the possibility of her moving in permanently, though Lucas had been thinking lately they should. The problem with broaching the subject was they had also appeared to decide—by some tacit agreement—not to discuss the future.
How could they? Whiting Properties was still pursuing the pub.
Lucas had been granted a brief reprieve when his father was called to L.A. a couple weeks earlier. His father’s brother had passed away and, after attending the funeral, Lucas had returned home to run the business, while his dad remained in California to sort out the estate. For the last two weeks, he’d been working overtime, trying to find ways to stall the project while exploring another option for the pub. One he prayed the family would go for.
His cell rang and he dug it out of his jacket pocket, hoping it was Caitlyn. He felt foolish for missing her. After all, he’d taken her out for lunch earlier that day. Somewhere along the line, they’d established a Wednesday lunch date, and Lucas always looked forward to it.
He grimaced when he saw his dad’s name on the screen. His father had expected to return to work this afternoon after a morning flight, but a storm postponed his takeoff. Lucas had been happy to have one more day away from the man.
“Hello, Dad. Back in Baltimore?”
As always, his father felt no need to waste time with niceties. “I’m at the office. What the fuck is going on with this Collins deal? Astrid tells me our offer hasn’t been accepted and you’ve made no move toward increasing the pressure.”
Astrid, his father’s personal assistant, was no fan of Lucas. Lucas sometimes wondered if Astrid’s aspirations with the company had taken a dangerous turn. It was clear the woman fancied herself much more important than her position implied, and he’d heard some rumors about a possible affair between the woman and his dad.
Lucas had played out the stereotypical “younger secretary marries older boss” scenario way too many times in the last year. Astrid was the last person on the planet he wanted to run Whiting Properties with if his father lost his mind somewhere down the line and decided to leave his half to her.
“I’ve been reevaluating the offer. I think there’s another avenue we should explore in terms of the buyout, one that could prove to be much more profitable for us.”
“There was nothing wrong with the original plan.”
“I think you should hear me out before you decide—”
“Who is this woman you’ve been seeing?”
Lucas frowned. “Excuse me?”
“Astrid said you’ve been taking long lunches and that someone in the office saw you out with a brunette last week. I called Royce and he confirmed there’s a woman living with you.”
Lucas’s temper spiked. “You called the doorman of my building?”
“If I want information, by God, I’ll get it. No mere doorman is going to say no to me. Who is she?”
Lucas hadn’t purposely set out to hide his affair with Caitlyn. However, he was in uncharted territory here. He’d never dated a woman long enough to fool around with introducing her to his parents. It wasn’t like either his mom or dad gave a shit who he slept with. In all likelihood, his mom would lose interest when she realized Caitlyn wasn’t rich, and his dad would warn that if it got too serious, their lawyers should start drawing up a pre-nup.
Besides, announcing that he was dating the granddaughter of Patrick Collins would only spell disaster for Lucas’s plans to salvage a very bad situation.
“Her name is Caitlyn,” Lucas replied vaguely as he walked to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water and grinned when he caught sight of the chicken Caitlyn had marinating. The king of takeout, Lucas had gotten spoiled by Caitlyn’s home-cooked meals.
“You’ve never let a woman interfere with your work before, Lucas. It’s time to fuck her out of your system and get your head back in the game.”
Lucas wondered how his dad would reply if he made the same suggestion about Astrid. He decided to take the high road. “My work ethic is fine.”
“I’m having lunch with Roderick tomorrow. Meet me in my office first thing in the morning to brief me on where we stand. You said the family lives above the pub, right? It would take very little effort to get that block rezoned to business only. It’s an election year, after all.”
Roderick Barnes was the chairperson of the city council, and the man was very susceptible to his father’s strong-arm tactics when it came to having favors repaid.
“Why would we do that? One version of our plan has us renting out the apartments above the businesses. We’d be cutting off our nose to spite our face.”
“I forgot about that.” His dad fell silent for a moment, and Lucas imagined he could almost hear the wheels spinning in the old man’s cruel mind. “Besides, I don’t want to call in a favor with him too soon. I might need his help getting some of the permits through. I’ll call Tom at the IRS. He can initiate an audit of the pub. Bound to be something there. We’ll run them through the ringer.”
“We don’t need to do that.”
“Are you saying they’ll sell?”
Lucas didn’t reply. Since he’d beg
un dating Caitlyn, he hadn’t broached the subject of buying the pub again. Not with her and not with her family.
“I’ll take your silence as a no. It’s time to start playing hardball, Lucas. We’ve invested a lot of money and time into this acquisition. Failure isn’t an option. We stand to lose millions of dollars. If you don’t have the balls to do what needs to be done, I will. But believe me, either way, it will happen.”
“Give me another week.”
“For what?”
“One week, Dad.”
“You’re losing your touch. Whitings strike hard and fast. Remember that. Mercy is for suckers and poor people.”
And with those moving words of wisdom, his dad disconnected the call.
Lucas’s jaw tightened and his temper flared hot. He walked to the bedroom, stripping off his clothes along the way. Donning a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, he headed for his personal gym, intent on taking his anger out on the heavy bag.
Pulling on his boxing gloves, he spent the next forty minutes punishing the bag—and himself. He would have continued, but something caught his eye, a movement by the doorway, and he faltered mid-punch.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” Caitlyn said with an amused, tired grin. “What did that poor bag ever do to you?”
Lucas tugged off the gloves and tossed them on a mat nearby. As he approached her, he saw that she didn’t merely look tired, she was exhausted.
He smoothed his finger under her eye. “Dark circles.”
“Rough week.”
“No headway in your case?” Caitlyn had confided in him on New Year’s Eve about her fight to keep her Pop Pop’s friend, Moose, in the apartment where he’d lived for the past eighteen years.
She shook her head. “The lease is solid. None of those loopholes you suggested I look for.”
“Damn.”
The crooked landlord was trying to bilk the older tenants, nickeling and diming them with increased rents. The worst part was, he wasn’t maintaining the upkeep of the apartments, and Caitlyn was afraid some of them had become dangerous for the senior citizens.
Lucas had offered some advice in regards to the lease agreements, suggested certain loopholes he’d used to his advantage before. He didn’t mention, of course, that he’d employed those loopholes against the tenants, rather than for them.
He’d been touched that she had trusted his opinion enough to seek it.
She shrugged. “I’ll figure something out.”
He could see how much this case was getting to her. At first he thought it was because it involved someone she knew, and she didn’t want to let her grandfather down. But the more he got to know Caitlyn, the more he realized this was how she approached her job. She was all-in, willing to work her ass off to help those in need.
He ran the back of his hand along her cheek. “I don’t like seeing you like this.”
“You could always distract me.”
Lucas grinned, his cock twitching. If she kept flashing that sexy smile at him, it wouldn’t take him long to pitch a tent in his loose-fitting cotton shorts. “What did you have in mind?”
“Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you’re all hot and sweaty like this?”
They’d already initiated the gym—most specifically the weight bench—a week or so ago. Lucas had tied her wrists and ankles to the weight bar above her head and fucked her. Hard. While it was tempting to go in for a repeat, he preferred something different tonight.
Lucas chuckled. “I stink. You can’t find that attractive. Come on. My muscles ache. How would you feel about a long soak in the tub? I have a surprise for you.”
Her eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. “A surprise?”
Lucas grasped her hand and led her to the master bath. He turned on the taps, adjusting the heat level.
Once the tub began filling, he twisted toward her, delighted to discover Caitlyn was already undressing. Weeks together hadn’t dimmed the attraction or their constant need to touch, to connect on a physical level. Whatever hesitance or resistance Caitlyn had suffered from at the beginning of their relationship had completely vanished, and she approached their time together like she did her career.
She was all-in.
At least physically.
If anyone had asked him a month ago, he would have said that was enough for him. But as more time passed, he found himself craving a deeper connection. They’d mastered the art of fucking, building on her willingness to submit. Lucas constantly tested her limits, taking the time to discover what aroused her and what didn’t.
At the same time, she’d come to know exactly how to turn him on too. She’d cracked his code, figured him out, and as such, all she had to do was give him a look or a touch or whisper something bratty in his ear, and the next thing he knew, she was bound to his bed or spread out naked facedown over his lap or straddling him in the back of the limo.
Once Caitlyn was naked, she sat on the end of the tub and drew her hand through the hot water. “A bath is a great idea.”
Her tired voice matched his own weariness.
The phone call from his dad was still hovering in the back of his mind, eating away at his ability to focus. It was his anger that had initiated the boxing, but it was fear that kept him slamming his fists against the bag long after his hands ached and his arms were sore.
He hadn’t told Caitlyn about his attempts to stop the buyout. Primarily because he knew he wouldn’t be successful and he didn’t want to get her hopes up for nothing.
One way or the other, he was going to have to convince her family to sell. He was running out of time.
When Caitlyn discovered Whiting Properties hadn’t given up its intention to buy the pub, she’d leave.
Lucas didn’t doubt that for a minute. And it terrified him.
“Lucas,” she said, drawing him out of his head. He was surprised to find she’d pinned her hair on top of her head and climbed into the water. He was hypnotized by those wisps of long, dark tendrils hanging loose around her shoulders and those crystal-blue eyes. Always those piercing blue eyes.
His own personal water nymph.
He couldn’t lose her.
But he wasn’t certain he could keep her either.
“Are you coming in?”
He shook himself, forcing himself to concentrate. If he wasn’t careful, Caitlyn would see that something was wrong. The queen of questions would emerge, and she wouldn’t leave again until she’d wrung the truth out of him.
“Two seconds.”
He went into the bedroom and stripped off his workout clothes. Then he grabbed the gift box containing her surprise.
When he returned, he dropped the box on a small table near the tub, turned on the jets and stepped in. Caitlyn groaned as the spray pulsated against her back. Lucas sat on the opposite end, facing her, and found his own massaging jet. “Jesus. That feels good.”
They both closed their eyes for a few minutes, letting the hot water and the spray work out the kinks, help them find a way to relax.
Caitlyn recovered first. “We covered my shitty day. So why did yours suck so bad? Thought your dad’s flight was delayed.”
She knew he hadn’t been looking forward to his father’s return, and they’d actually celebrated his brief reprieve at lunch with a quick toast to bad weather.
“It was. But he’s home now. Called me from the office earlier to criticize my work.”
Caitlyn bit her lower lip and nodded slowly. He wondered if she’d break their vow of silence about the pub, if she’d finally ask him where the project stood now.
Part of him hoped she would.
A larger part prayed she wouldn’t.
Rather than risk it, Lucas tugged her beside him, gripped one of her legs and pulled it over his, then ran his fingers along her slit, applying pressure to her clit. He could feel her resisting the touch, for just a moment.
Avoiding the issue wasn’t working for her. Hell, it wasn’t working for him. He was known for confront
ing problems head-on, forcing other people’s hands in order to get answers.
Caitlyn was the same. He’d known it the night he met her.
Kindred spirits. Powerful souls. Stubborn fools.
They all applied.
And they were breaking character in hopes of holding on to something that couldn’t be held. They’d have better luck keeping a wave on the shore.
“Caitlyn,” he said, forcing her name out. It was time to come clean.
She shook her head. “No,” she whispered as she moved toward him. She straddled his lap and kissed him, deeply.
Lucas was always in control, always guiding them. It was the first time she’d initiated a kiss.
He couldn’t tell if her goal was distraction or comfort. He experienced both, so he figured it worked.
Lucas dipped his hand beneath the water, driving two fingers into her pussy. She gasped, her head falling back in delight. Then she dove in as well, wrapping her hand around his dick, stroking it firmly, slowly.
They played with each other for several minutes, working methodically to bring the other to the brink, to the point of no return.
He withdrew his fingers at the same time she lifted her hips and guided his cock to her opening. They moaned in unison as she sank down on him in one swift, deep drop.
Caitlyn started to move, but Lucas gripped her hips, held her still.
“No condom,” he said through gritted teeth. It had taken him a second to figure out why she felt so fucking amazing. Then he realized.
“I don’t need it. Do you?”
She was on the Pill. That was one of the first things that made the move from her apartment to his penthouse.
He shook his head. “No. I don’t.”
Caitlyn smiled, kissing him gently before sliding her soft cheek along his rough one to whisper in his ear. “Come inside me.”
It was an invitation he couldn’t resist. And it fired up a host of feelings he’d never experienced before.
She lifted her hips, rising and falling on him. After a month of rough, intense, fast, hard fucking, there was something surprisingly arousing about taking their time. He cupped the back of her head, drawing her lips to his. As she rocked on him, he worshiped her mouth.