“Hi, sorry to interrupt you.” He held out his hand, and I expected to shake it, but then I saw that he had drinks in his hand and was offering one to me.
I took the drink, and smiled politely. I noticed that the guy also handed his other drink to Izzi, which she took with a smile but didn’t drink from.
Made sense. As a woman she would probably be wary of drinks from men she didn’t know and as a newbie here she probably wasn’t sure what the protocol was for these meet and greets.
I took a sip. Good drink, props to the bartender.
“But I just had to stop by and introduce myself,” the man went on. “I’m Kevin, Kevin Brewster, I wanted to…”
Kevin started making small talk, but that particular kind of small talk that was a mixture of friendliness and subtle pitching, letting me know about his business and how educated he was both on my product and on the state of the market. It was typical and I’d long gotten used to it. I was able to tune it out and be polite at the same time—with the help of a few more drinks.
Izzi listened attentively and seemed to be following my lead, picking up on my cues, being polite as well and smiling, without giving away too much information or letting herself be drawn into the conversation beyond surface level.
It was excellent. I hadn’t expected her to be so good at this so quickly. I supposed that I should have, seeing what a good job she’d been doing on everything else and how she was so ready to hit the ground running at our business. But she was still young, so I suppose I’d… underestimated her in that way.
We finally shook Kevin off our backs and were able to stop by the bar to get some water. “You want to be sure to keep drinking water,” I warned Izzi as we sipped. “These functions are just as much business as anything else at the conference. You don’t want to make the mistake of drinking too much and ruining a professional relationship.”
“You must’ve seen a lot of crazy things over the years,” Izzi said, smiling.
She really had a lovely smile. It lit up her entire face and made her eyes glow.
“Eh, a few things. Mostly people sleeping with each other or someone gossiping about a colleague. Rumors spread quickly. If you talk shit about someone at one of these things, when everyone else is also tipsy, you can bet it’s going to spread like wildfire and get back to the person. It’s best just to try and keep yourself relatively sober. Or at least not let yourself get so drunk that you stop being able to make decisions.”
Izzi nodded, sipping at her water and listening attentively. My phone buzzed—a video call from Angelica.
I smiled. “It’s Angelica.”
“Oh! Answer it, she’s probably going to bed.” Izzi took my drink from me and I answered the call, turning so that Angelica would only see Izzi and the bar but not the rest of the assembled people. I didn’t want Angelica to see all these people milling around behind me, that would just be rude.
“Hey!” I smiled as I answered the call. “How’s it going?”
Angelica shrugged. “Fine.”
“Just fine?”
“I mean. Penny and I got manicures.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“I guess so.” Angelica shrugged again, apparently determined to be ornery about the whole thing. “When do you come home?”
“In a couple of days,” I reminded her, keeping my tone patient. She’d always had fun with Penny before, and I wondered if she was being ornery about this because she just wanted to make a point about her not getting her way, or automatically disagreeing with me on whatever decision I made.
But I couldn’t be sure, so I just tried to seem patient and understanding.
“Penny cares about you a lot,” I reminded her. “I’m sure you two will have a good time. Just try and be openminded, okay? I know you wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings.”
Angelica sighed. “Sure, Dad.”
“Okay. I love you and I hope you have sweet dreams!”
“Love you too. Goodnight.”
Well, at least she was still saying she loved me. That was a bonus. I half-expected her to just start rolling her eyes at me whenever I said that. As if I needed another reason to be heartbroken over her behavior.
I expected Angelica to hang up, but instead Penny took the phone. “Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good, good, we’re doing the mixer,” I said, smiling.
Penny’s gaze moved over my shoulder, where Izzi was chatting with another woman and still sipping her water. “You’re getting a drink sat a bar with Izzi? I might be mistaken but that sounds like the opposite of keeping a distance to me.”
“Then I guess you’ve forgotten how conference mixers work,” I snapped, and I hung up on her.
Jesus fucking Christ. What kind of bullshit was this? Yes, okay, so maybe part of why I was so riled was that Penny was right and I knew it. I was still very into Izzi, I still wanted to fuck her into next Sunday, but—but that didn’t give Penny the right to say those hurtful things.
First of all, she knew me. I wasn’t the kind of guy who chased tail. I didn’t make a habit of sleeping with younger women or with coworkers. She never would’ve said this if I’d brought Eliza with me as we’d originally intended, and I didn’t appreciate her lack of faith in me when I’d given her no reason to have that faith shaken. She was right, but not because I had confided in her or acted inappropriately towards Izzi, and that made all the difference. She had no reason to worry and the fact that she was saying shit like that anyway—and such snide shit, what the fuck was that—
Second of all, I’d never seen Penny behave like this before. She wasn’t someone who made trite or rude things about others. Or if she had, I hadn’t noticed it before. Had she done this, and I’d just brushed it off or not noticed? It made me wonder.
And third of all, Penny was a businesswoman herself. She knew that conferences often had mixers like this to socialize and discuss business. It was a part of the deal. If I’d refused to let Izzi join it would’ve been unfair and hurtful to her, not only personally but professionally. And Izzi was new. I couldn’t throw her to the wolves. She would need a mentor and I was going to provide that for her. It would be unfair of me not to, and Penny had to know that.
So why was she making these fucking snide comments for?
I didn’t regret hanging up on her, even if it was childish of me. I wasn’t going to tolerate comments like that. Not even from a friend.
When I turned around, Izzi had finished her drink and seemed to be wrapping up her conversation with the other woman. “I’m heading up to bed.”
Izzi looked at me with surprise. “Oh, okay then, I’ll head up too.”
“You really don’t have to,” I protested. Just because I was suddenly feeling tired because of Penny didn’t mean that it had to cut into Izzi’s fun.
“No, I’m good. I don’t really feel comfortable doing this without you.” Izzi smiled at me, and she didn’t seem to be lying in any way.
I could understand. Garrett and I had been fish out of water when we’d first started, just doing our best while we tried not to cling to each other too obviously, scared of fucking up.
I offered Izzi my arm, because damn it, I was a gentleman, and after she took it, we made the rounds to say goodnight to everyone and I was able to lead us up to our hotel rooms.
Fuck, it was hard not to think about how this would go if she wasn’t my coworker. If she wasn’t my best friend’s daughter. Taking her up to the hotel room, her arm in mine. Kissing her in the elevator—nothing too much while anyone could walk in on us, but lightly brushing her hair back away from her neck, letting my fingertips trail along her skin, then setting a light kiss to the slope of her shoulder where it met her neck…
The elevator dinged softly, and I was jolted out of my horrible daydreams. Fuck. I couldn’t be thinking about her like this, I couldn’t.
But it was so hard to remember why when Izzi continued to smile at me and press herself close to me. From this ang
le, I could just look down and see some tasteful nudity from her form-fitting blazer, the side of her breasts just enough to tease and tantalize without revealing anything too much or crossing the line away from classy into inappropriate.
It was another reminder that Izzi was an adult now who could dress like that, and I had no fucking clue what to do with myself or my desire for her. I wanted to bury my face between her breasts, I wanted to rip her blazer off and set my teeth and tongue to her…
I felt almost dizzy with need and I had to put that down to the drinks I’d had. Not enough to make me properly drunk but enough to make it harder to resist the temptation, harder to resist how much I wanted her.
We got to our rooms and I slid my arm away from Izzi. Was it just my imagination or did she seem reluctant to pull away? It had to be my imagination. Izzi wouldn’t want to sleep with a man twice her age. The alcohol was just getting to me.
“Goodnight,” I told her. “You did really well today, but the real test will be tomorrow. You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Izzi replied. “But I have you to guide me.”
She looked up at me through her lashes, and she couldn’t have been intentionally flirting, but heat spread through me. Oh, the things I’d love to guide her in.
“Of course,” I said quickly. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow, then. I’d like to meet beforehand so that we can discuss plans and what we’ll be doing.”
“Sounds good.”
I pulled away and headed for my room next to hers, pulling out my keycard. Behind me I could hear Izzi fumbling with her own keycard, and then the beeping sound as the card reader repeatedly rejected her card.
“Damn it,” Izzi muttered.
I turned around and went back to help her. “Here, let me…”
“I’m sorry, I’m a little tipsy—not much but I guess it’s messing with my stupid reflexes…”
“No, really, it’s not a problem.” I slid the key in and then out as the green light lit up.
I smiled at her. “There you go, all good to go.”
We were right next to each other—no, more than that. She was pressed up against me, her cheeks flushed, her lips slightly parted, looking so tempting that I—I had no fucking clue what came over me but the next thing I knew I was leaning down and kissing her.
I dropped the card, letting it flutter to the floor as I took her jaw in my hands, holding her delicately as I pressed my lips to hers. I wanted it to be soft, I wanted it to be good. I wasn’t going to be some asshole and kiss her too quickly, sloppily. I wanted this to be the kind of tender kiss that she thought of later with a dreamy smile.
I pulled back, the both of us inhaling sharply, and I was fully ready to pull away but then—then Izzi got onto her toes and kissed me again, and then again, and then I kissed her again, these soft pecks that did nothing to slake the desire in me and only had it climbing higher and higher—
With a groan, I kissed her more deeply, pressing her against the door. Izzi whimpered and her arms came around my neck. God, she tasted so good, kissed so well, I wanted to tear her to pieces and then put her back together again, I wanted to devour her and have her shaking with pleasure.
With a gasp, Izzi fell backwards and I stumbled forward—oh fuck. She’d opened the door while it was still green and unlocked.
We parted and Izzi stared at me, her cheeks bright pink, her chest heaving. She looked delectable and I wanted so badly to taste her, get my mouth on every part of her.
But I’d already gone way too far. I’d crossed the line that we both knew had to be there, and I had possibly ruined my relationship with Izzi forever.
“Come in,” Izzi said softly. She toyed with the button on her blazer, looking up at me through her lashes, and I realized that it had been deliberate earlier. She was definitely being deliberate now. There was no way I could mistake what she was suggesting.
Fuck. I wanted her. And she wanted me. She was looking at me like she was about to drop to her knees, and I felt like my brain was short-circuiting from how fucking much I wanted to take her up on the promise in her eyes.
But having her warm, soft body away from me was like getting doused in cold water. Now that I was no longer kissing her, I was aware of what a fucking horrible idea it was. Fuck.
I shook my head. “Goodnight, Izzi,” I said quickly. I picked up her keycard where she’d dropped it and set it down inside the door, and then closed it after her.
And went to take a cold shower. Jesus fucking Christ.
10
Izzi
My body still trembled when I thought about the kiss last night.
To everyone else, I was just casually eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant as I went over the paperwork for the day. But in my mind, I was back right outside my hotel room door, being kissed slowly, deeply, within an inch of my life.
God, John was as good of a kisser as I’d hoped for, as I’d dreamed about. I was going to be thinking about that kiss for years to come—that is, if I didn’t get anything more.
And oh God, was I determined to get more.
I wanted to have all of him. Even more than before. That kiss had done nothing to slake the thirst burning inside of me. I wanted him to fuck me even more than before. The feel of his body against mine, how firm and strong he was, with his lips and then his tongue slowly heating me up and making me melt. I’d wanted nothing more than to take him back into my room and have him in every way that I could possibly imagine.
But he’d said no. He’d told me goodnight.
I had to figure out a way to get him to kiss me again. And more. I needed to find out how to get his guard down again. Last night I’d been a little tipsy, but not enough to impair my judgment or make me unable to make decisions. So, what about John? I wanted him but not while he was tipsy. That must’ve been how he’d been able to drop his guard, but I didn’t want him only able to kiss me and be with me while he was on alcohol. I wanted him when he was sober. I wanted him to want me all the time, to want me so much that he would have me any way he could have me, that he would want me not just as a drunk one-night stand but as his partner, his lover, his spouse.
As if my thoughts had summoned him, John walked towards me, pulling up a chair.
“Coffee?” I asked, passing him the pot.
“Thanks.” John looked completely professional and put together in a handsome light gray suit with a blue shirt underneath. Delicious. I wanted to rip it off him.
John sipped his coffee for a moment in silence and I studied the papers in front of me. I wanted to do well at this convention, not just with John but professionally as well. I hadn’t gotten this job just to get into his pants. I sincerely wanted to help my father’s company step completely into the 21st century and I wanted to make sure it succeeded.
“We need to talk about last night,” John said when he was about halfway through his coffee.
My heart jumped. I was so nervous. Was he going to shut me down? Or say we should do it again?
Looking at his face, I didn’t hold out much hope for the latter. My heart sank.
“We need to be professional,” John told me. “I haven’t slept with a coworker yet and I don’t plan to change that habit. It can open up a messy situation. It’s better not to sleep with them at all. We’ve already been accused of favoritism once when it comes to you and I can’t allow for that to happen again. And while I’m not your direct supervisor, I own the company. The accusations of coercion and making you do it because you felt you couldn’t say no… I don’t want either of us to be in that mess. Ever.”
I could sense from his warm tone that he was worried, and it relaxed me a little. I didn’t want him to be angry with me. I had to do this carefully and if I crossed a line too soon, or too many lines, he’d be irritated and wouldn’t want me around anymore. I had to walk a balance between convincing him how great we could be together and respecting his boundaries.
“And if that wasn’t bad enough…” John s
ighed. “Your father and I are best friends. He’s been there for me through everything and I like to think I’ve been there for him. He and your mother were my support system after Laura died. I can’t ever thank them enough for including me on family outings. They helped me feel like a person again.
“He would never want me to do anything with you and frankly I don’t blame him. I understand how he feels. I’m a father too. It would be a betrayal of our friendship to do something with his daughter. So, nothing like this will happen again.”
John’s voice got firm and he turned to look me in the eye. I recognized his tone—it was the same one he used when he was at work and making an employee understand that his word was law. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be able to argue with him over this right now. At least not directly.
“Understand?” John asked. “This is for the good of both of us.”
“I understand,” I replied. Because I did. He had perfectly valid reasons for being unsure about this, for not wanting to take that risk. All of the things he’d said were right.
I just had to figure out how to show him that I was worth more than those concerns. That I was worth the risk.
But in the meantime, I needed to show that I really was professional. I didn’t want him thinking that I’d only come on this thing to seduce him. I was also here because I cared about this job and this company and damn it, I was going to make sure he knew that.
“You wanted to go over the plan for the day?” I said, pushing my notes towards him. “I have some thoughts that I wanted to go over with you.”
John seemed pleased to talk about work, and he praised my thoughts about how we should approach the day. I could tell he was glad that I had taken this all in stride and was taking the initiative on work.
Inside, though, my mind was racing. I had to figure out how to create a scenario where we could be casual and relaxed again and he could see the potential for us.
Hmm.
All through the convention, I tried to think of something. We had adjoining suites but there was no way I could just waltz into his room without an excuse. And I’d need a pretty damn good one. John wasn’t an idiot. And I didn’t want to seem like I was disrespecting his wishes.
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