by Katie Dowe
He gave her a fulminating stare. “I want to continue seeing you, but not with you working for me.”
“Okay, fine, Peter, you win. I will stop working for you at the end of the year, but I refuse to stay at my apartment and let you take care of my financial needs. I will accept the job on the commercial airline.”
“Then I won’t get to see you when I need to,” he told her tightly.
She stared at him in exasperation. “Then we have a problem.” She made to move away from him but he held onto her.
“We are not finished.”
“I think we are.”
He pulled her over and on top of him. “I want you,” he said tightly. “I have these feelings for you and I have never felt this way before. I am trying to sort out this thing the best way I know how.”
“Then let us go out like a normal couple and build on the relationship,” she suggested.
“As soon as we are seen together, there are going to be speculations about us. The press will be all over our affairs and I cannot have that. I am a private person.”
“How private can you be? You are a billionaire who owns one of the largest airlines in the world! People are going to find out about us, Peter, and I am not the kind of person to hide in an apartment waiting for a man.”
“Then marry me,” he said abruptly, his hands tightening on her arms.
Chapter 8
Leah stared at him in shock! “You don’t know what you are saying,” she muttered.
“You are right.” He put her off him and rolled off the bed. Leah admired his tight firm buttocks and the muscles bunching in his legs. He was a magnificent man and the way he made her feel had her shivering all the time. She was half in love with him already! He turned back to face her and she had to avert her eyes from his semi hard penis. “When I am near you I cannot think.” He plunged his fingers through his hair and the look of frustration on his hard handsome face almost had her smiling! She climbed out of bed and approached him. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at her naked body. She went on her toes and wrapped her hands around his neck.
“I feel the same way,” she whispered softly. “I want us to get to know each other before we make that kind of commitment. I want you to stop fighting the way you feel, Peter. I know we are worlds apart, but I already consider you to be my man, I am just waiting for you to get caught up.”
“Your man?” His voice had a sinister ring to it as he gripped her around the waist. He could feel his body weakening. This was too much! He just had her, how could he so aroused again? He had a business to run and he had important meetings waiting for him at the office. He had never not gone to work before, but here he was holed up in his apartment with a woman he just met a few months ago and even worse one who works for him! He wanted to put her away from him and tell her that he no longer wanted to see her but he could not do so! He needed her so much that he felt it coming out of his pores!
“My man,” she repeated with an impish smile as she ran her tongue through the deep cleft in his strong chin. “I want you to become more than that eventually, but I don’t want you to think that we have to get married because you want to get regular sex from me. I am here and I am not going anywhere. You are going to work out what you feel about me, Peter, but I am right here.”
He stared down at her for a moment and felt the softness of her curves against the hardness of his body. He did not want to let her go! Even the thought of it made him panic!
“How am I going to keep my hands off you when we are in the air?” he asked her in a bewildered tone.
“You don’t have to,” she said with a grin. “You can pretend to be the pilot and I am the naughty stewardess who gives in to your demands.”
He frowned down at her heavily and Leah laughed as she wrapped her hands around his neck. “We are going to have to work on your sense of humor, my love.”
His heart jerked at the endearment and for the first time in his life he felt his heart warming. “My sense of humor is quite fine,” he told her gruffly.
******
Peter strode into the conference room with light steps and a small smile on his face. “Gentlemen, sorry I am late. I was unavoidably detained.” He took his seat at the head of the large oblong table. “Shall we continue?”
The men stared at the usual sober man in surprise. “Ah – I - we were discussing the merit of adding some more destinations to the commercial flights.” Murray Livingston, an elderly board member who had been a part of the board since Peter’s father was alive, spoke up. “We already have the flights going in and out of New York on a regular basis and we have covered the rest of the states including Hawaii, but we have noticed that that there is a gap where Boston is.” He hesitated. “The pilots are wary of going that route as that was where we had the trouble with the hijackers a few years ago.”
“And that was a few years ago. We need to move past that,” Peter pointed out. He had to force himself to concentrate on the matter at hand. They had left his apartment together and he had watched her drive away from him. His driver had been out there waiting for him, but he had stood there watching her drive away. He had the urge to call and ask if she had gotten to her place okay but had resisted. She was coming over again later and he had everything planned!
They continued to discuss some other matters before he dismissed the meeting. He sat back in the chair and closed his eyes briefly as he remembered her delectable body beneath his. He had been quite adventurous with her and rough; he shuddered as he remembered how out of control he had been! His phone rang just then and he reached for it thinking it was her but felt the acute sense of disappointment when he saw that it was Candace. Ever since the debacle at dinner a week or more ago, he had not called her.
“Darling, I want us to have dinner later. I need to talk to you about the other night. I have not been able to sleep in thinking about what happened between us. I was thinking we could go to one of Kelly’s new restaurants where we could have the privacy we need to talk things over.” Her voice was sultry and persuasive.
“We have nothing to talk about, Candace. I am sorry if I gave you the impression that this could work between us.”
“Darling, you are giving up too easy!” she exclaimed. “I know I brought up marriage, but if you want, we could take things slow.”
“I am seeing someone else.” The words left his mouth before he could stop them and he closed his eyes briefly. “I am sorry, Candace, but it would never have worked between us. I have some calls to return so I have to go.”
He hung up quickly and with a sense of relief that it was all out in the open!
******
“Did you know about this?” Candace demanded as she walked into the living room where Virginia was sipping tea still in her robe. It was a quarter past ten and she had attended a function last night that had ran late. The girl had called in a harried tone and told her that she needed to see her.
“Would you like some tea?” Virginia asked her coolly as she took a seat opposite her. She nodded to the maid to pour and waited until the girl had left the room. “I am sure Peter just told you that to put you off. What did you do to make him want to do that?”
“Me?” Candace stared at the woman in surprise. “We had dinner a week ago and I thought everything was fine. He even kissed me, somewhat roughly but a kiss nonetheless. I just spoke to him about us getting married.”
“Ah.” Virginia shook her head. “You don’t push at my son, darling. He is the one who has to make the offer.”
“Can’t you talk to him?
“And say what?” Virginia leaned back and crossed her long slim legs. “Tell him that if he does not marry you I am going to lock him in his room? I told you that Peter has a mind of his own and is very much like his father. I pushed you at him and it was up to you to make the right moves and you blew it.”
“So, this is it?” Candace asked furiously.
“Of course not, darling!” Virginia waved a languid hand already bor
ed with the theatrics. “You persist. Tell him that you want to go to New York again, you have a pressing need to do so. If I know my son he will not say no and make sure you align yourself to him.”
“That’s actually a great idea!” Candace’s green eyes brightened. “I have to go to do some Christmas shopping so it’s not a complete lie. When is he going?”
“I understand from that secretary of his that he is taking a trip on Thursday, that’s the day after tomorrow.”
“I will be on that plane with him.”
*****
Peter ran the sponge down her body slowly as she leaned back against him. He had hurried home from the office so that he could get to his apartment soon after she got there. He had ordered in for them and had come in to find her sitting at the counter drinking a cup of hot chocolate. “You need a tree.” That was the first thing she had said to him as soon as he came into the kitchen.
“What?” he had asked her with a slight frown as he looked at her wearing one of his shirts. She had apparently come over and changed, putting on one of his shirts that he wore to the office.
“A Christmas tree,” she said with an impish smile. “I was planning on getting one for my apartment, but now that I will be spending a lot of time here, I figured I should get one for here. I already set one up for my dad.”
“I don’t believe in Christmas,” he had told her abruptly.
“And we cannot have that,” she had told him softly. She had an idea that his family life had been far from perfect, but she did not pry wanting to wait until he told her what she needed to hear. “I believe in Christmas, the spirit of it, not the Santa Claus or anything like that. I love the atmosphere of the season and the excitement of it and so does my dad.”
“So you are going to get a tree?” He had walked further into the room and in front of her.
“Hmm.” She had become busy unbuttoning his shirt and taking it off. “I want you to come with me.”
“I could order a tree, but I am not going to a Christmas tree lot. We have to be discreet, remember?”
“Oh, yes,” she had sighed and then brightened. “Order the tree and I will go out and get the decorations.”
Now as they sat there in his oversized bath soaking in the fragrant water he could almost see them building a home together. She made him wish that he was normal and had had a happy childhood where he had been hugged and cheered on as a child. She made him want to believe in love and happiness between two people.
“Candace is traveling with us tomorrow,” he told her abruptly as he passed the sponge over her puckered nipples.
Leah stiffened and turned her head up to look at him. “Why?”
He shrugged uncomfortably. He had wanted to tell her no when she had called and asked him, but he felt like an eel telling her that it was over so he had said yes. “She asked and I told her she could. Look, I am not used to this – I am not used to explaining myself to anyone or having anything like this. I am accustomed to making my decisions for myself.”
“And now that’s changed,” she reminded him. “That’s fine. But if she keeps touching you the way she did before, I am not going to be responsible for my actions.”
He felt a shiver at her words and a kind of snug feeling of satisfaction that she was jealous. “What does that mean?”
“It means, my darling man, that if she touches you, I am going to draw blood.”
“You are going to behave,” he told her huskily as he bent his head to take her lips with his. All arguments were curtailed as she turned around to straddle him and returned to the kiss. She could feel his erection rising beneath her and she reached between them to put him inside her.
“Peter,” she whispered achingly as he pushed into her.
His fingers gripped her hips and navigated her movements as he pushed into her forcefully, his body shuddering with need!
******
Leah kept a smile on her face when they boarded the plane the next morning. Peter’s eyes lingered on her as he made his way up the steps. The wind had picked up speed and the temperature had dropped overnight. She stiffened automatically as Candace came in wearing a stunning suede jacket which looked great against her ash blonde hair which was loose and swung freely down her back. Her makeup was flawless and she was coolly beautiful, making Leah in her simple uniform appear inadequate.
She waited until they had taken their seats before moving towards them. The woman had walked past her without a word, but Leah did not care about that! “Coffee?” she asked them politely noticing that Candace had taken a seat right next to Peter.
“Yes, please.” Peter stared at her for a moment and felt the desire stirring. This was not going to be easy!
“I would like mine strong and with a drop of fresh milk please and orange juice if you have it.” She turned to Peter and touched his arm briefly, effectively dismissing Leah. “Darling, do you remember that trip to Italy last summer when I almost fainted from the heat? That woman you had working for you, she made sure to ply me with enough liquid to sink a ship.” Her tinkling laughter grated on Leah’s nerves as she went to take care of their orders. She grinded her teeth as she prepared what they wanted and within a few minutes she was back with the tray.
“Is there anything else, Mr. Schulz?” she asked with a forced smile on her lips.
“We will call if we need you,” Candace said arrogantly.
“I was not talking to you,.” Leah told her coldly, almost telling her to get away from her man!
“That’s okay, Ms. Grant. There is nothing else right now,” Peter said hastily as he tried to diffuse the situation.
“Peter, darling, she is quite rude-”
“Drop it, Candace. That’s all, Ms. Grant.”
Leah fumed for the entire journey. She sat there and had to endure the tinkling laugh of the wretched woman and watch as she touched him every chance she got. Peter must have been aware of what she was going through because at one point he moved to another seat and told Candace that he had some work to take care of. He looked over at her and nodded slightly before looking back down at his laptop.
Leah felt slightly appeased and almost crowed in triumph at the other woman! But she had to endure seeing Candace fly over to where he was when turbulence hit the plane and the ride became bumpy. It took extreme control on her part not to go and bitch slap the woman as she clung to Peter during the experience.
She stood there rigid and without a smile as they made their way out. “Candace, please wait for me in the vehicle,” Peter told her.
He looked at Reginald. “Please give us a minute.”
The man nodded and made his way down the steps swiftly. Peter pulled her back inside. “I am sorry.”
“For what?” she asked him coldly.
“For all that happened. I know it was not easy for you.”
“She is not coming back when I am on the flight.” She looked up at him with blazing eyes. “I am a professional, Peter, but not when it comes to you. She was touching you constantly!”
“You know I was not encouraging her,” he soothed. “I wanted to kiss you the entire time.”
“Are you trying to appease me?”
“Sort of. Is it working?” he asked her huskily as he looked down at her.
“You have to go. She is waiting.”
“You are not jealous, are you?”
“What do you think?” she asked him.
“I want to kiss you so bad.” He did not wait for her to respond but bent his head and took her lips with his. Leah melted against him as she gave in to the passion that wrapped around them. He put her away from him forcibly, his hands trembling. “I will go out first.” He stared at her for a moment and then turned and walked away.
******
Leah glanced at the watch again. She had made the arrangements over the phone with Edward just last night and had told him what time they would be in New York, but he was running late and she could not get him on the phone. She looked up as she heard som
eone coming in and saw to her relief that it was him. She waved at him and he hurried over.
“I am sorry, my dear.” He clasped both of her hands between his as he took a seat next to her. “I woke up late this morning and never realized that my battery was dead. How are you?”
“I am okay now.” She leaned in to kiss his withered cheek. “How about you?”
“I could not sleep very well last night, but I have nights like that.”
“Are you sure you should be out today?” she asked him anxiously.
“I would not have missed this for the world, my dear,” he reassured her. “Now what have you been up to?”
“I was thinking that instead of staying in this stuffy movie theater, we go somewhere to have a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. I feel as if we are hiding our relationship in here,” she told him teasingly.
He laughed at that. “I was thinking the same thing, my dear. There is a café that I used to go to with my wife. I know the owner personally and I would like to introduce her to you.”
“Let’s go.”
********
“I am sorry I am late,” Leah said breathlessly as she came into the aircraft to see both passengers seated and waiting.
“Where were you?” Peter asked her coldly.
Leah looked at him in surprise at her tone. “I was having coffee with a friend and never realized that the time had gone so much. My phone battery had died as well.”
“Please do not let it happen again. I do not like to be kept waiting.”
“Yes, sir!” she said equally coldly, feeling her hackles rising.
He went over to sit next to Candace and Leah had to endure seeing the two of them cozying up and him practically ignoring her. Leah felt the hurt and pain as she watched them and was determined not to allow him to see how much it was affecting her. She closed her eyes and turned away as Candace linked her hand through his arm and rested her head on his broad shoulder. She had to blink away the tears from her eyes and concentrate fiercely on the magazine she had in front of her.