“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“People change a lot in a decade,” she said gently. “She may not be the girl you remember. And even if she was, you’ve changed. Do you really think you’re… compatible?”
“Only one way to find out,” Ren said easily, feeling trapped. Jian and Meili were looking on like spectators at the Indy 500, witnessing a particularly horrific car pile-up. “Please tell me you didn’t pull a meeting together just to talk to me about my social life.”
His father locked gazes with his, scowling. Ren didn’t back down. Finally, his father let out a long exhalation.
“No. We talked with some of the CEOs and COOs, and we’re going to be making some changes. The Electronics Division is in a downward spiral and needs to be fixed as soon as possible.”
Ren grimaced. “Working on it.”
“Well, you’ll have help.” His father turned to Jian. “From now on, you’re going to be helping Ren.”
“I already help Ren. Over in internal security.”
“You’re moving to operations,” his father clarified.
Jian’s eyes widened. “I don’t generally work in operations,” he said carefully. “I mean, computer security and auditing are a subset of operations, I suppose, but…”
“You’re going to work directly with your brother. He isn’t getting the information he needs, and he’ll need a right-hand man that is actively getting the information disseminated.”
“What, am I his assistant?” Jian spluttered.
His father’s cool gaze made him quiet down.
“Meili,” their mother said, “the sales for the Electronics Division have been terrible. We think you’ll best be able to help there.”
Ren saw the aghast look on his sister’s face before she quickly masked it. “The sales are terrible because the sales software is still broken,” she said, obviously trying to hide her panic. “And because the inventory software doesn’t work well either, we aren’t shipping on time or in sufficient quantities to our current customers.”
“So, you know the issues at hand,” her mother said. “You’ll be able to work around them and show the sales team how they should be handling the challenges.”
Ren could practically see his sister’s crumbling disappointment. She wasn’t going to be hitting those target numbers this year, either.
“Ren,” his father finally said, “you’re going to get the factory at Zhuhai straightened out, you’re going to get the software issues dealt with, and we’re all going to have the Electronics Division running like it should be before the end of the year. End of discussion.”
Ren nodded curtly. He saw why this was happening on his father’s floor, and not at some chichi brunch. This was a family meeting, yes, but it was business. All three kids were now going into battle, having been given their marching orders.
“We’ll let you get back to your day,” their mother said, smiling like a genial hostess. “I’m sure you’ve got maneuvering you need to do. Meili, your supervisor’s been notified, and you’ll move over next week, all right? And Jian, Peter will have an office waiting for you.”
Knowing he’d been dismissed, Ren got up and went to the elevator, flanked by his siblings. When they got into the elevator, Jian exploded.
“What the hell was that?”
“It was like a contract hit,” Meili said, covering her face with her hand. “Electronics Division? I am going to make no money this year. This sucks!”
“They want me to be your sidekick?” Jian was practically shaking. “Could somebody tell me what that’s supposed to accomplish?”
Ren let them vent, then held up a hand when they got to his floor. “Listen, it’ll be okay,” he said, holding the door. “This is the squeaky wheel. We’re the maintenance crew, that’s all.”
“Maintenance, my ass,” Jian said.
Ren sent him a tired smile. “We’ll get through it. We always do, don’t we?”
They grumbled at him. He let the door go.
He trudged back to his office. The thing was, his parents didn’t give much thought to what their kids needed or wanted. It was the good of the company, always. To them, there weren’t really boundaries, or privacy, or life separate from Chu Enterprises. It was one big, seamless entity.
God, he wanted to see Rachel. He wanted something, someone, of his own.
He looked at the work on his computer. More emails, he thought. More headaches. More fires to put out. And no doubt more people would be “popping by” his office, or Peter would try and set up yet another pointless meeting.
“Stephen,” he said, grabbing his coat and slipping his laptop into his bag, “I’m going to work from home this afternoon.”
“You are?” Stephen sounded vaguely scandalized. “Um… okay.”
Damned straight okay, Ren thought rebelliously. Then he walked out the door… and shut off his phone.
#
“So, what kind of wild shenanigans do you have planned for this evening?” Rachel asked, as she climbed into Ren’s car. “Night at the races? Breaking and entering? A vicious game of Scrabble?”
“Monopoly’s always been more my speed,” Ren said. “But no, I thought we’d go traditional with a twist tonight. It might be a touch over your budget, but I think we can manage.”
“Ren…” she said warningly, but she caught the dimple as he smiled, not turning from his view of the road.
“Just a touch, seriously. But it’ll be worth it.”
He looked a little tired, she noticed. She wondered if she should say anything.
“How was girls’ night?”
“It was fun,” she said. “Women need other women to hang out with. I’m lucky I’m still in touch with my friends from high school. And we made some new friends, too. Hanging out with them grounds me.” She shook her head. “Guys don’t have that.”
“I think guys expect that from the women they’re with,” Ren mused.
“Or they have that from their families,” she said.
She saw the smile slip from Ren’s face. Aha. Family trouble. Recent, she wondered? Or just in general?
“Anyway, it was fun.”
“Did you talk about me?” Now he looked at her quickly, wiggling his eyebrows.
If you only knew…
“What happens at girls’ night,” she said sanctimoniously, “stays at girls’ night.”
He chuckled softly.
After a little bit, they arrived at their destination: one of those movie theaters that was more like a restaurant. You could watch the movie from a couch, and they served pizza.
“Oh my God,” Rachel breathed. “I’ve always meant to go to one of these, but I never have. How’d you know?”
“You told me you wanted to go to one of these places back in high school. I’m surprised you still haven’t been, actually. I was afraid you were totally a regular here.”
She nudged him, and he put his arm around her shoulders as they walked up to the building. He got their tickets. She let out a small squeal when she saw what they were playing.
“The Mummy, with Brendan Fraser?” She gave him a quick squeeze. “I can’t believe it! I love that movie!”
“I know,” Ren said, sounding amused. “That’s why I took you here.”
She blinked. He really did remember, she thought. That had always been her downfall. He did these thoughtful little gestures, things that other boys – and men – just didn’t seem to notice or care about. He put her first.
I want to trust you…
The restaurant/theater, such as it was, had couches strewn everywhere, with small round tables in front of them. It wasn’t very crowded. There were some college-aged kids who had taken over a corner by the front and were splitting a large pizza with everything. A few other couples had taken couches around the center. Ren nudged her towards the back, and they placed their order.
“Movie’ll start in a few minutes,” the waitress said.
Rachel sat with her back against the couch. Ren casuall
y put his arm around her shoulders. “How was your day?” he asked.
She told him about her car and its starter problem, how Hailey had driven her to work (because nobody drives Hailey’s car but Hailey, for a variety of reasons), and how one of their acts, an up-and-coming comedian, was driving her nuts with his demands. “And how about you?” she asked. “How was your day?”
She saw it again, the tension in his expression. “Frustrating,” he said. And left it there.
She frowned. “You know, if you want to have a relationship, you’re going to have to actually open up a bit,” she pointed out. “If I’m in, I’m in. That means bad stuff, not just you spoon-feeding me good news and then bottling up any negative emotions. That’s a recipe for disaster.”
“I know,” he said.
“Then spill.” She looked at him expectantly.
“My parents…” He let out an irritated sigh. “They expect a lot from me. I’m okay with that. They’ve stuck me in the worst division in the corporation, one that’s having a lot of problems, and they’re expecting me to pull off miracles to get everything resolved.”
“That’s why you go in at ten o’clock at night,” she said. “That’s why you went back to your home office the other night, after I went to bed.”
“Well, part of that was to get my mind off the fact that you were just feet away from me, and probably naked,” he admitted, and she giggled. “But yeah. There’s been a ton of work. One of our factories is in China, so it opens after we close. But I could work a twenty-hour day if I didn’t need sleep… and I think, sometimes, that my parents would have me do that if they thought I could without losing my sanity.”
Rachel bit her lip. That sounded awful.
“You probably know what that’s like,” he said. “You’re kind of working two jobs, with school and your job at the casino. You know it can be stressful.”
“Yeah, but there’s a light at the end of my tunnel,” she pointed out. “I graduate in June. How long can you keep this up?”
“I’m hoping once the problems get resolved, I’ll be able to work more normal hours.”
She wondered if he realized he sounded doubtful.
Their burgers arrived, and they looked good. Rachel felt her stomach growl.
“Are you always hungry? Don’t you eat?”
Rachel bit into her burger. It was as delicious as it appeared. “Shut up,” she said around a mouthful. He laughed, then tucked into his own burger as the movie started.
She had a blast. She’d always loved this movie, in all its cheesy goodness. Brendan Fraser was a hottie, and Rachel Weisz was both adorable and badass. “I… am… a librarian!” Rachel murmured along with Evie on the screen.
Ren hugged her to him. She couldn’t help herself. She leaned over, kissing him. “Thank you,” she breathed.
He kissed her back, gently.
She kissed him again.
He stroked her back.
The kiss grew a little more… insistent.
She closed her eyes, pressed a little harder against him.
Suddenly, they heard a low whistle. She jerked back, only to see the college-aged crew looking back at them. A few were giving thumbs up.
She felt like her cheeks were on fire. She looked up at Ren, who was grinning at her. Oops, he mouthed.
She buried her head against his cheek for a minute. The kiss had been nice – an appetizer.
Unfortunately, it had also called up memories of the last time she’d been at his house. Those kisses had been more than nice. They had been downright incendiary.
Not to mention the skin-on-skin connection.
Oh, and his tongue.
She tried to stay focused on the movie. Her body was already running down memory lane by this point, reminding her of the night before – and of all the other times they’d been together. That night after Homecoming, when he’d gone down on her in the car for the first time. Or when he’d let her tie him up and blindfold him when his parents had been out of town, and his brother and sister had been gone. Memory after memory washed over her, making her pussy throb. She squirmed.
“You okay?” Ren breathed in her ear. The sensation of his lips so close to the sensitive skin made her quiver, and all she could do was nod.
She barely registered that the movie had stopped, but it was over. “You have a good time?” Ren asked.
She ignored the grins on the faces of the college kids, and instead turned to him. “I had a great time,” she said. Now let’s go back to your place.
He must’ve been feeling it, too, because he leaned down to kiss her, hard. “I’ll be honest,” he said. “I wasn’t really paying attention. I’m just glad I was with you. Being with you makes me feel better.”
Gah! Right in the feels, again!
She closed her eyes. Here she was, being a total horndog, and he was being sentimental. She kissed him back. Then they walked to the car.
“I suppose I ought to take you home,” he said, but the words sounded open ended.
“I totally feel like seeing The Mummy Returns now,” she said. “It’s not as good as the first one, but it’s still sweet. And I love the romance between Rick and Evie.”
Ren’s eyes flashed for a second. “Want to see it at my place?”
Her various body parts immediately chimed in their assent. Damn, that sounds like a fine idea!
She cleared her throat. “It’s going to be late if I go over to the city with you now,” she said.
“True.” He sounded disappointed.
“So… maybe I should grab a few things from home,” she ventured. Then waited for him to put it together.
He stood straighter. Then he held her, turning her to look at him. “If you stay with me tonight, we’re going to have sex.”
She let out a surprised peal of laughter. “I know. I don’t really want to watch the sequel that badly,” she admitted.
“If we have sex again, I don’t want to pretend like it didn’t happen.” He looked pained. “I get that you’re scared, and that you want to take it slow. I even get if you want to keep the sex separate from… whatever it is that we may or may not be starting. But pretending it didn’t happen is shitty, okay? You wouldn’t put up with it if I did it to you, and I wouldn’t expect you to.”
She felt a pang. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Ren.”
He nodded. “Apology accepted.”
She waited. “So where does that leave us?”
He kissed her, hard, body pressing her against his car. When she came up for air, they were both breathing hard.
“Now,” he said, “we go to your house, really fast, and then back to mine.”
Rachel felt every nerve ending tingling. That was probably stupid, but right now, it felt really, really good.
Chapter 8
Ren felt both nervous and excited as he brought Rachel back to his place again. There had been a little awkwardness as she’d packed up a small bag to take to his place. Cressida had been there, and he’d met her boyfriend, Noah, who seemed friendly enough. He thought he’d heard Cressida whisper to Rachel “are you sure about this?” and Rachel hadn’t quite nodded. She’d shrugged, then given her sister a hug.
He wanted her to be sure about it. About them. He knew it was too early.
That said, he hoped they were making progress.
As soon as he got her through the door, he wanted to body press her against a wall and take her mouth, kissing her hard. But he didn’t. He took her coat, hanging it up on a hook, and hung up his own.
“It’s early yet,” he said, glancing at a clock. It was only ten. “Do you want to see if I can find The Mummy Returns? I’ll bet I could get it on demand or streaming somewhere…”
“You don’t have to entertain me,” she said, and she seemed a little nervous, too. She stroked his cheek, then rubbed her hand down the front of his chest. “Besides, we both know I’m not here to watch a movie.”
His heart beat double time. “I didn’t want to just
jump on you as soon as we walked inside,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have minded.” Her smile was both sexy and sweet.
With that, the gloves were off. He reached for her, and she reached right back. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against him as his mouth moved over hers, tasting her, testing her. She sighed against him, pressing her breasts against his chest, her pelvis rolling lightly against his quickly hardening erection.
He probably should’ve been going more slowly, he thought absently. Then the overwhelming sensation of Rachel in his arms hit him, and he became incapable of coherent thought entirely. His hands roamed over her back, her hips, that glorious ass of hers. She let out a low groan as he squeezed, pulling her against him. She bit his lower lip, a sharp nip, and he retaliated by sucking her lip, then teasing the sensitive inner flesh with his tongue. Their tongues twined from there. She was gripping his shoulders tightly.
“Bedroom,” she gasped, pulling away from him. “Now.”
He smirked against her, then picked her up. She let out a small squeak, then wrapped her legs around his waist. He carried her over to his bedroom. He could feel the heat from her, through their layers of clothes. He wanted nothing but skin between them.
He tossed her onto the bed playfully, and she bounced with a yelp and a responding laugh. “You look like you want to eat me up,” she said, her eyes glowing.
He growled like a wolf, and she squealed. Then he reached for her skirt. “Maybe I do want to eat you up.” With a deft motion, he unzipped the side zipper, tugging the garment free until she was just in a set of lavender panties. He tugged them off, leaving just her, neatly trimmed and already damp.
He didn’t wait to take any of the rest of her clothes off. He simply dove between her thighs, startling her. He loved the scent of her: arousal and femininity, and a perfume that was pure Rachel. He took a deep breath, then nuzzled her, licking at her thighs in slow circles that had her panting. He stroked her folds with his fingers.
The phone rang.
“What the hell?” He’d turned his phone off. He frowned, looking around. Where the hell was that sound coming from?
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