by Alina Jacobs
"What is Anke playing at?" I hissed to Willow. I had grumpily shown Anke to her desk (formerly my desk) and helped her get situated. As soon as I was able, I escaped downstairs and dragged Willow into the women's restroom.
"I can't believe she's here. Surely it's not for a good reason," Willow said. "Are you going to tell Mace?"
"I can't!" I said, wringing my hands. If ever there was a time for hysterics and handwringing, it would be now. "I'd have to tell him everything. He's so stressed about his crazy family. Between his evil stepmother and a cult in the desert, it sounds like he has more on his plate than I do. I don't want to add to his problems." I slumped against the wall, and Willow petted my hair.
"Anke won't last here that long," Willow assured me. "It's too much work to be an assistant. I bet she misses some appointments and fades off into the distance."
"Or not," I said as my phone rang, displaying Anke's name.
"Darling, I need some help with the printer, then I'll let you get back to work," she said. Her voice with that lilting Slavic accent emitted from the phone.
"Why can't you call IT?" I growled at her when I walked into the office. Mace wasn't there, which was good because Anke and I were about to have it out.
She was sitting neatly at my desk, her legs crossed.
"I just wanted to have a little girls' chat," she said.
"Yeah? Well, so do I," I said, rolling up my sleeves.
"Darling, don't. We're not fighting over men," Anke said, rolling her eyes. "Besides I know you have your claws in him."
"I do not 'have my claws in him,'" I said, making air quotes.
"Please." Anke snorted. "You convinced him to let you move into his house. You smelled like sex when I walked in."
I resisted the urge to sniff myself. What did that even mean, smell like sex?
Anke smirked. "Don't tell me you're not thinking at least a little bit that he's going to ride up on his Bugatti and save you."
"No," I said, irritable. "I am not. One, Mace doesn't like motorcycles. He says they're unsafe. Two, I would never use someone like that."
"Josie, darling, trust your friend Anke. I'm not after your Mace. I promise on the grave of my mother," Anke said, holding up a hand. "I'm here to help you. Besides, there are plenty of Svenssons in the sea. You've got yours, and I have mine."
I relaxed slightly. Mace's brothers were smart—a lot smarter than me or any of Anke's other marks. They wouldn't let themselves get swept up in her lies. Hunter, Garrett, or even Archer would chew her up and spit her out. And I couldn't wait to see it happen.
"You just go right ahead," I said sweetly. "I wish you the best of luck." Maybe going after one of Mace's brothers would keep her distracted. I was going to give Anke just enough candy floss to hang herself.
My mood buoyed, I hurried back downstairs. Anke or no, I had a marketing project to finish. I felt even better when a text came in from Mace.
Mace: Great news. Payslee isn't taking Henry. He's technically our foster kid now
Josie: We should celebrate
Mace: With lollipops
Josie: Blow pops
I felt giddy and a little horny thinking about our celebration that evening. I tried to focus on meeting my daily goals. The website design was looking great, but we needed to work on the wording. We'd also had a draft returned from the videographer. I made detailed notes and sent if off. It was after dinner when I was finally done.
The lights were low in the house when I walked in. I assumed the kids had all gone to bed.
I didn't see Mace. I really wanted to surprise him. I walked into the guest bathroom and turned on the water. The place was stocked with all sorts of delicious-smelling oils. There was a mirror tray displaying several crystal jars of perfumes and creams. I knew from my snooping that it also had an impressive array of bath bombs.
I threw one in the tub and watched as the whorls of pink and blush spiraled in the steaming water.
I slipped in after setting my phone up on a towel. If Mace thought the lollipop picture was intense, this was going to make a banana split in his pants. I leaned forward in the water, my ass up in the air to better display the wet flesh between my legs. I was already hot and wet for him. Just thinking about him fucking me from the angle I posed at made my nipples hard despite the heat of the water.
I captioned the photo with, I'm ready for my main course, and sent it off. I lay back in the water, and not even a minute later, the door opened, and Mace stood there, shirt half undone.
"Did you run all the way over here?" I purred.
"I didn't know you were back," he said, slowly removing the rest of his clothes.
"Really?" I asked, rolling over to strike the same pose, hoping he would get the hint and stick his cock in my candy jar. "Is there someone else who sends you pictures like that?" I cooed.
"Hardly." His voice was low, and it echoed around the marble-clad bathroom. Almost as if he couldn't help himself, Mace crossed to me in two strides, grabbed my hips, and pressed his mouth against the flesh as dark pink as the water.
"You taste like cotton candy," he said against me. I moaned, wiggling slightly against him.
"I wish you had just fucked me in your office," I breathed.
"I will next time," he said as he licked me.
"I wanted you to fuck me," I moaned.
"And I wanted to stick my face in your pussy. Seems like neither of us got what we wanted today, and now that I have you all to myself, I'm going to enjoy making up for it."
Mace licked and nipped me, his tongue stroking from my clit to my opening. He sucked on my clit as he put two fingers inside me.
"You're so tight," he said, his fingers slowly stroking inside me.
"I'm ready for you," I whimpered. "Please fuck me."
"I told you," he said, his breath hot against me, "I wanted to lick your pussy today. There's a method."
I moaned as he grasped my hips, his tongue licking me into a frenzy. His mouth drew out the pleasure when I came, my legs trembling. He set me back down in the tub and removed the rest of his clothes while he watched me. My nipples rose slightly in and out of the pink water with every breath.
"I hope you're not already done," he said, an eyebrow half raised. His boxer briefs fell to the floor, and he stood before me, his abs glistening from the water that had splashed up from the bath. I felt a twinge between my legs.
"See anything you like?" he asked.
"I like every single piece of candy you're selling. It's like a French bakery display; I could just eat you up."
Mace pressed his mouth against mine before I could keep comparing him to various sweets. His mouth came down to suck on my nipples. He took one then the other in his mouth as one hand grasped my hip. The other slid down my wet skin, and I moaned as he stroked me.
"You're not going to join me?" I gasped, my head lolling to the side, my back arched.
"Yes," he said, "but first things first."
He pulled me out of the tub and leaned me over it, my feet planted on the floor, pink water dripping on the white bath mat.
"I can't believe," he said, kissing my neck as his cock pressed against me, "that I was jealous of a piece of candy." He opened a condom packet.
"You should be jealous of the blow pop in that picture," I said as his cock twitched against me. "Because when I was done taking the picture of it so close to my pussy, I put that blow pop in my mouth and sucked and sucked, letting my tongue roll all over that thick, hard piece of candy."
I squeaked the last word out as he entered me.
"I'm going to show you there are better things in life than candy," he growled in my ear.
I moaned as he fucked me. Any thoughts of a good comeback literally fucked off. I held onto the edge of the large marble tub, crying out every time Mace thrust into me.
"Your cock feels so good," I moaned.
"Better than a blow pop?" he asked, nipping my shoulder.
"So much better," I whimpered, pushing ba
ck against him. His large hands gripped my hips, and he pounded into me.
"Fuck me harder, Mace!" I begged, my cries echoing around the marble-clad room.
One of his hands came around to tease my clit. I bucked against his hand then back against his cock. I spread my legs wider for him, needing him to fill me. His fingers rubbed my clit in time to his thrusts.
My stomach tightened, and I came with a scream. Mace came a few moments later. He kissed me hard and rolled us both into the tub.
I straddled him, licking the pink droplets off his face.
"I can't believe you managed to even take those pictures at those angles," Mace said, pulling me down for a kiss. The bathtub water was still warm, and I relaxed against him.
"I am a marketing genius," I said, drawing a pink heart on his chest. "It's my specialty."
He kissed me again, and I felt his cock hard against me.
"I'm surprised your chocolate's not too melty," I said.
"The only thing you melt is my heart, Josie," Mace said with a crooked smile.
In that moment I realized that I loved being with him. Mace melted my chocolate heart. That was why I needed to do something about Anke. I knew she could ruin everything.
46
Mace
It was jarring to walk into my office and see Anke sitting at what I thought of as Josie's desk.
"Are you finding everything okay?" I asked her.
"Perfectly charming!" she said in that slight lilting Slavic accent. "I've confirmed the hotel reservation for the conference and made dinner reservations with people Tara mentioned you may want to catch up with over a drink."
"Thanks," I told her and shut the door. As I sat down at my desk, Adrian came in.
"What?" I barked at my brother.
"Josie said she left some notes up here," he stammered and peered into the adjacent office. Anke looked at us and waggled her fingers at Adrian.
"Well go get them," I said tersely. I watched him slide the door open and scuttle inside.
"What can I help you with, darling?" Anke asked sweetly. Adrian blushed up to his forehead. He grabbed a stack of papers and fled.
But then he came up again right before lunch and again that afternoon under the guise of Josie forgetting something.
"Why don't you just take all of her stuff down with you?" I snapped at Adrian. "You're interrupting my meeting."
"It's just Liam," he said.
"Ah, yes, just Liam," my brother said dramatically. "I'm only the person who's investing almost a billion dollars into Harrogate."
"Sorry," Adrian said and scurried out.
"Teenagers," Liam scoffed. Then he smirked at me. "Adrian's got the hots for your newest assistant."
"I think Anke might be a lot for Adrian to handle," I said with a laugh. "Hopefully she goes easy on him."
"She'll chew him up and spit him out, I bet!" Liam said cheerfully. "Speaking of people sleeping with their assistants," Liam said casually.
I glared at him. "Vicious rumors."
"Dude, Remy said she's moved into the house."
"She's not dangerous."
"Hey, no judgement! Tu casa, si casa!"
"That's not even right," I said, crossing my arms. "Did you just make that up?"
"I'm behind on my Dora the Explorer," Liam said, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on my desk. I pushed them off.
"Greg wants us to nail down the factory," Liam said. "You know he didn't like the idea of the factory out here to begin with. He's thinking of nixing the whole thing, pulling the investment money."
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. "We'll figure something out."
"You better do it soon," Liam warned. "You know how Greg gets." He stood up and grabbed his bag. "I'm off to look at some other property in the next county over."
"That's not going to work," I said. "It's too far away."
"Keep an open mind," Liam said, shrugging on his coat. "It led you to great things with Josie."
Unable to help it, I smiled.
"You like her!" Liam said. "You better not screw this up. I want her to do some marketing work for Platinum Provisions. Jack thinks if he gets her and Chloe together in a room to come up with some product ideas, they'll basically start spinning gold."
I didn't like the idea of my brother having designs on Josie's time. I barely saw her as it was. She worked late every night on the marketing campaign.
I missed having her at home, and it wasn't just for her cooking, though the kids certainly missed it. After dinner, I went back to the office to meet up with Josie. She was waiting for me in the lobby.
"Are you too tired for a date night?" I asked after I kissed her.
"You mean a late-night date night?" she asked. "I've had a lot of coffee and chocolate, so I'm down. Where are we going?"
"Somewhere cool." I'd been plotting all afternoon. I drove her across town to the Mast Brothers’ Chocolate factory. Using the code Archer had given me, I unlocked the padlock at the gate.
"Do you own this too?" Josie asked.
"Unfortunately not," I said. "It would be much easier if we did. Then Archer could just have it. He's going to have to convince the owner to sell."
"I hope he's not tearing down these cool old buildings," Josie said as we drove through the silent complex. "Did it belong to the Harrogates?"
“Two of Harrogate’s sons had this chocolate factory. Mast Brothers’ Chocolate doesn't exist anymore, but the building complex still remains," I said as I parked the car and grabbed the picnic basket out of the back. It was a smaller one than the big trunks we had taken to the train park.
"You packed snacks!" Josie said, wrapping her arms around me and kissing me.
"You're working really hard. You deserve a reward," I replied, pressing her close to me.
"If Archer turns this into a conference center, he has to make candy here in a little workshop or something," she said as we walked through the abandoned building.
"That's what they had," I explained, continuing my tour. "We moved here during their last year of operation before they folded. At one point they did have some exhibits." There was a dusty glass wall through which we could see some old candy-making machinery.
"I wonder if there's any candy left?" she mused.
"Please don't eat it," I begged.
Josie laughed, the peals echoing around the large space.
"This," I said, pointing to an animatronic weasel in a top coat, "is Mast the Meerkat."
Josie was silent for a good moment then said, "That's not terrifying."
47
Josie
"This is a huge factory!" I exclaimed, twirling around in the abandoned lobby like I was in Beauty and the Beast.
"This is only one of the buildings," Mace said.
"And Archer is really turning this into a conference center?"
He nodded. "I think he wants to attract those huge international conferences—as big as the medical conference we're going to in a few weeks. Those attract tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of people."
"And the town is going to be okay with that?" I asked. Judging from how the townspeople had reacted to PharmaTech's expansion, I wondered if they would accept this conference center.
"This is a little different because Archer would be restoring historic old buildings," Mace explained as he led me through the abandoned factory. "Those types of adaptive reuse projects are always more popular and well received. The bigger issue will be convincing the owner to sell. I think a lot of people have this idea that the factory is going to come back. They need to move on. The convention center would provide a lot of good jobs for people in this area."
He led me up the stairs to a roof deck and took out a blanket from the hamper, laying it out. We sat out there holding hands and silently admiring the view. I could see across the town to the Svensson PharmaTech buildings glowing on the hill. The tree-lined brick streets were strung out in a grid pattern, cut here and there by the vestiges
of long-removed rail spurs. The train whistle sounded, and I snuggled next to Mace as we watched the train slowly crawl down Main Street.
"It seems like it's going a lot slower than it was when it almost hit me that time," I complained.
"No one else has ever had a problem with the train," he said. I could hear the smile in his voice.
"You don't even have any gates up for train protection," I said as I reached for the picnic basket.
"I have to confess that I didn't make any of that myself," he admitted when I opened the basket. "All of tonight's refreshments are curtesy of Grey Dove Bistro."
"Did you have it brought in?" I asked, mind-boggled that he could just have something delivered from a few hours away just because.
Mace shook his head. "My brother brought it. Chloe sends Liam back with food whenever he comes to Harrogate. We're lucky he didn't eat all of it."
I took out a cookie and inspected it in the faint light from the town.
"It looks like you!" I exclaimed, holding up the frosted cookie. Chloe had decorated it with a cartoon man's face. It had blond hair and was wearing a suit and tie. I took a bite. "Tastes as good as you too!" I joked.
"There's hot chocolate too," he said after he stopped laughing.
"You're speaking my love language," I told him around the cookie.
The hot chocolate was thick, and there wasn't so much sugar that it overwhelmed the rich bitterness. It also had a hint of cognac.
"So good," I said after I took a long sip. I held the thermos up to Mace's lips. "Try it! It's not that sweet. Besides, I think chocolate is supposed to be an aphrodisiac."
"I thought it had antioxidants," he retorted and took a sip.
I kissed him just to taste the chocolate mingled in his mouth. He pulled me back down onto the blanket.
"You know," I whispered, "it's too bad you didn't bring some chocolate sauce. I could think of a few things I'd want to dip in it."
Mace lay back on the blanket, hands behind his head, contemplating me. I reached for him and slowly undid his belt and unzipped his pants.