She had never come as hard, or for as long, as she had with him. With him she knew no boundaries, no edges, and no limits. With him she discovered another side to herself, to her wants, and her desires, and it surprised her.
“Did you think we’d end up like this?” She asked him, referring to their first casual meeting by the pool when he thought she’d dropped her towel.
“Did you?” he asked. They sat across the table from one another in her kitchen. She wore his shirt, loosely buttoned to hide her nakedness, and he strutted around in his boxers.
“No chance. At first I wondered if it might have been Caprice or Talia who caught your eye.”
A line appeared between his brows. “Never them.”
“Can I ask you something?” She was reminded of the towel that Caprice had found.
“Shoot.”
“Was that a ploy? The towel?”
He watched her and then his eyes sparkled as he smiled. “I didn’t know how to approach you. So I tried a desperate tactic.”
She smiled at the memory.
He lifted his head, startled. “It was always you. But I had no idea if you were available, or even interested in me back then. I mean, why would you be? You seemed to be having a pretty good time with your friends.”
“And now?”
“And now I still wonder if you’re available, even though you’re interested.”
She tilted her head at him, unsure. “I’m not seeing anyone, you know that.”
He shook his head. “Leo has a soft spot for you.”
She blinked quickly. “You say that, based on —what? Five minutes of seeing us together?”
“It’s a hunch.”
“I don’t think he likes me in that way.” She retorted.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“I am sure.”
“Ever consider that you might have it wrong?” His tone startled her a little and her smile faded until he reached over and held her hand. “Let’s not fall out over a silly little disagreement.”
“Let’s not,” she murmured.
“You’re right. I’m reading too much into his reaction when he walked in on us yesterday. I didn’t realize you had taken him on as a business partner. I thought you’d employed an assistant to help you out.”
“I needed a cash investment.”
“Why didn’t you get a loan from the bank or ask your parents to invest?”
She shook her head. “I don’t like the idea of having to borrow so much. And as for my parents...”
Where do I begin, she wondered? “It’s not easy to go back with my tail between my legs, asking for money when I had made the choice to step away from their business.”
Riley walked over to her and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. He started to slowly massage the soft flesh along her shoulders. This was so unlike the evenings she was used to. Forgetting all else, she closed her eyes and felt her breathing slow down. His fingers kneaded and pressed, teasing out her knots and troubles as well as the stresses and strains of life.
“And now?” he asked.
And now? Her eyelids flew open.
“You said you stepped away from their business, but it shouldn’t prevent you from asking for their help. Unless they’ve disowned you or something.”
“They haven’t disowned me,” she said quickly. “It’s not like that at all. I’m too proud to ask them to lend me money. I know they could easily. But it doesn’t feel right to me.”
“And taking Leo on was the next best thing?” His thumbs pressed into the soft flesh above her shoulder blades and she moaned out in pain.
“Does that hurt?” he asked, reducing the pressure.
“Like a sharp blade.”
“I can feel the knot. Do you want me to work on it, coax it out?”
“Go on,” she said, not looking forward to the pain.
“It’ll hurt a little,” he warned her, then leaned in close to her ear. “But I promise to make up for it afterwards.” His breath tickled her skin and her breasts peaked to attention.
“How did you find him?”
“Who?” she asked, wincing as he worked the knot.
“Leo.”
“He’s a friend of my brother’s.”
“Aaah.”
“Aarrgh”, she cried out in pain.
“Sorry,” he said, and eased down on the pressure again. “You have a lot of tension there,” he said, but worked the knot gently this time, rubbing her flesh between his fingers with the slightest amount of pressure.
“We’ve known one another for years. He’s a bit like you.”
“What do you mean?” Riley’s fingers stopped working her flesh.
“As in he too has lots of business ideas. He has lots going on. He’s an entrepreneur, you could say.”
“That’s not like me at all.” He said. “I have a comfortable income and I’m keeping my eyes open for one idea to implement. If I don’t find anything, it’s not the end of the world. I’ll still earn from my swing trading.”
She hadn’t meant that they did identical jobs, just that they were both looking out for business ideas. But she kept quiet. It wasn’t until now, until this conversation that it dawned on her how alike they both were yet the very idea that they had something in common seemed to annoy Riley.
“You don’t see him as competition, do you?” she said, twisting her body so that she could see his face.
“Competition?” he asked, positioning himself between her legs. “I don’t think so,” he murmured, casting his hungry eyes over her as he slowly began to unbutton the few mismatched buttons she’d done up.
“Because it’s nothing like that…” her words trailed off as he slipped his hand to her breast, squeezing her nipple between his finger and thumb.
“I know that,” he said, the tone of his voice lowering. “I’ve got you—and he hasn’t.” He bent down and drew small kisses along her neck and chest before taking her breast into his mouth.
A hungry moan escaped her lips as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
14
“Do you think you could go and see him?” Andrea asked a few days later. Dino Massari, the main contact at d’Este, had called to tell her that the cribs were now ready if she wanted to have a look.
“Don’t you want to take a look, too?” Leo questioned. “We should both go.” He was working at the startup company today but because of Ava’s continued interest in the cribs, she had called Leo anyway as soon as she heard from d’Este.
Even though it would only be a day trip, there was no point both of them going because someone had to stay behind and open the warehouse. In the past, due to need, she’d had to close the warehouse whenever she had to go away for business. Now that there were two of them, she wanted to ensure that the warehouse always remained opened during the weekdays.
She’d prefer if Leo went. She trusted his judgement.
“I’ll catch you later?” Riley distracted her with a kiss on her cheek and waved as he walked out.
“Who’s that?” Leo asked, his voice thick with suspicion.
“Riley.”
“Is he still here?”
“We had a new delivery this morning and Riley helped me unload it.”
“I could have helped you when I was in next.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it, if he happened to be here and helped?” Her voice was tight.
“I thought he was passing through.”
“He’s only here for a few days,” she said, in his defence. Though Riley hadn’t discussed anything about the length of his stay. It suited her fine since she preferred not to dwell on it.
“Is this why you want me to visit d’Este tomorrow by myself?”
She laughed at the absurdity of his suggestion because he’d hit the nail on the head. Partly. “Is that what you think?” she asked, trying and failing to hide the real reason behind her decision. “This whole saga has dragged on for a few weeks. I haven’t found ano
ther good alternative yet. And now that the cribs are ready, and especially because Ava keeps asking me about them, I think it’s time we had a proper look at his product line.”
Leo made a throaty noise as though he was considering her idea. “I was going to come in tomorrow.”
“Then come in. I’m not stopping you. D’Este can wait until next week.”
If it’s that much of a problem for you, I’ll go.
In the silent gap between them she could almost sense his desire to make a comment and knew he was holding back. She was tempted to ask him outright what his problem was. It made her wonder whether Riley might be right in his assumption. Maybe Leo did have a soft spot for her. She bit down on her teeth, reluctant to even examine the possibility and wonder if there was any truth to it or not.
“I’ll go.” He said. “Email me the details and I’ll call him this afternoon.”
“Thank you. And I will.” She hung up, feeling relaxed again.
It wasn’t a problem, Leo being here but the job needed to be done. Besides, if Riley was only here for a short time then she wanted to spend as much of that with him as she could. He’d been with her for almost a week and it had been wonderful. It felt as though she’d been with him for far longer. Their time together was intense, and the evenings and nights, when he was hers, they made love, ate, slept, talked, and spent the whole time together. She considered it bliss—and hadn’t stopped to think how quickly it had come about.
They had become inseparable. Some days he’d go to the town center and find an internet coffee shop or a place with Wi-Fi. Taking care of his portfolio, he told her and she left it at that. He could have worked at her apartment but he told her that he wanted to explore the surrounding area too, otherwise what was the point of him having a nomadic lifestyle, as he called it, if all he did was stay confined to the same four walls? On one of the days he returned to his hotel room and worked there all day just to change the variety in his surroundings. He told her that working alone and from home left him starved for company sometimes. He much rather preferred to be out and about sitting in a crowded coffee shop just to feel that he belonged, even if he didn’t speak to anyone.
She didn’t ask him to come to the warehouse much either. Not only would she not be able to concentrate, she didn’t think that having Leo and Riley in the same place would work well.
As time wore on, she had started to unravel the real man beneath his persona. Some days she’d find him happy and upbeat and other times, he’d be quiet, unwilling to talk. It would take him a while to slowly unwind. When she asked him what was wrong, he would simply say that the markets were volatile.
Today, she met him at his hotel where he’d gone to get another change of clothes and watched him unpack his backpack.
“How did we get to this so fast?” she said, without thinking. She often thought about this, their being together, but today, feeling as comfortable as ever with him, the words gushed out.
“This?” he asked, blue eyes twinkling as he pulled out his dirty clothes.
Unable to read his expression, she dreaded what he might say next. There didn’t need to be a label for it. Whatever it was. Perhaps that was the difference between men and women—women needed to compartmentalize things. Men could happily go through life taking each day as it came. A gift, no less. She tried to take it back.
“I’ve never moved so fast before,” she confessed, stopping herself just in time before she used the ‘relationship’ word.
He put down his bag and came over to where she sat on the bed. “What do you want this to be?” he asked, quietly, while she tried to figure why her question had angered him.
“I’m taking it one day at a time, Riley. I want this for as long as you’re here. Sorry…”
“Sorry for what?” his eyes softened.
“Sorry if you don’t want me to talk about it or if you think I’m making too much of it. We’ve only known each other for a short time. I’m enjoying every second of it and I hate to think of when you’ll leave.”
“You make it harder for me to leave.” He placed a tender kiss along her neck.
Then don’t go, she wanted to say, getting wrapped up all over again in the sensual feel of his hands along her arms.
“You make it harder for me to think about what to do next.” He murmured, lifting his head up and kissing her hungrily. She adjusted herself on his small bed, loving the feel of him on top of her. She’d become used to him, as though he was a long-time lover. The ease of their friendship, being so comfortable around one another, being so intimate and involved—not only on a physical level but emotionally too—it was the best and the worst type of addiction and its headiness was something Andrea had never known before. For that very reason, she felt compelled to want to hold onto it for as long as she could.
His searing kiss had her gasping for air and left her wet with want. When he pulled away, she clung to him harder. “Where do you think you’re going?” she asked.
“Let me finish unpacking, then I’ll take care of you.”
“Take care of me now, and I’ll help you unpack.”
He laughed and ran his fingers from the base of her neck to her belly button. “You don’t have to help me. I just realized that I don’t have many clean clothes left. I should have given some to housekeeping. The last place I stayed in didn’t have much in the way of housekeeping.”
She grimaced. “That must be a pain. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
“What?” he asked, nuzzling his lips against her breastbone.
“That unless you have a nice hotel, it must be difficult to get everything washed and ironed.”
“The bigger hotels make it easier. This place has Wi-Fi but not much else,” he complained. “At least I get to stay on top of my business.” She wondered what had happened to his quest for inspiration and looking out for new business ideas.
“How’s your search for business ideas going?”
He looked at her, puzzled.
“You were looking for ideas and inspiration to start a small business, remember? You said you wanted to give up trading.”
“Slow,” he replied, undoing the buttons to her shirt. She wriggled under him happily, knowing what was to come.
“I thought you were in a hurry to find something?”
“I like to take my time,” he said, peppering wet kisses over her neck. She arched her back as heat licked her skin and blood rushed to her erogenous zones.
“Don’t you miss your family and friends back home?” she asked, becoming intoxicated by his touch. She hadn’t thought the question through before it slipped out of her mouth. Usually, she sensed he didn’t like to talk too much about himself. Now he stopped and looked at her. “We keep in touch. The internet is a wonderful thing.”
She looked at him quietly.
He nuzzled her nose with his. “What I want at this moment is to be inside you, I can’t think of anything else. Normal thought flies out of the window when I’m with you. Why so many questions, Andrea?”
“I want to know more about you...before you leave…”
“Who said anything about leaving?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “I thought you said—”
“We have time.”
“We do?”
He slipped his hand into her bra and cupped her breast. “Traveling around lost its appeal when I met you. I can’t think of any place else I want to visit at the moment.”
“Really?”
“I’ll stay here a few more weeks than I had anticipated.”
She lifted her head and kissed him as happiness melted with lust and the combination drove her to temporary insanity. “Why don’t you stay with me for the time that you’re here? There’s no point in paying for this place when you’re hardly ever here.”
“I was going to stay here tonight.”
“Why?” she asked, suddenly fearful. He’d spent the whole time with her. Why was he talking about staying at the hotel tonight?
“Do you need your space or—,”
He kissed her, silencing her immediately.
“I don’t want to be away from you. But that is too much to ask—expecting to stay with you the whole time I’m here.”
She arched her back as her body hungered for the feel of his naked body on hers. “It’s not too much to ask. I want you to stay with me. But only if you want to. Do you?” He didn’t answer her straightaway, and before she knew it he’d slipped his tongue into her mouth.
She took that for a ‘yes’.
15
So this was what being in love felt like.
Andrea felt as though she walked on air most days. She often left Riley in bed when she left in the mornings and during the day he wandered into the town center.
He hadn’t yet expressed any interest in attending any of the business fairs or franchise opportunities for which she had gathered information. Some of these events were further away in the bigger cities but she concluded that if she could at least get some information, then he could select the ones that interested him.
But so far, he’d shown no inclination to attend any event, nor had he spoken of them again. The magazines she’d bought for him, in English, went unread as far as she could tell.
Privately, she attributed it to him being fairly well-off to such an extent that earning a living was not a huge driving factor for him. And because she often heard him on his phone and saw him checking things on his laptop she concluded that he obviously did well enough to earn a decent enough income on the side. On a few occasions he’d become gloomy and despondent, though it never lasted for long.
What lasted for hours was their lovemaking—and there were mornings when she considered it a crime to get out of bed and leave him. Only the memories of the night just gone kept her going.
He’d moved in a few weeks ago and she felt more settled, more secure and happier than she had in a long time. She ached to tell Ava, but her conversations lately had been mainly with Ava’s sister, Rona.
Leo’s visit to d’Este had confirmed that the cribs were of top quality and they had placed an order of fifty—all to be delivered from the factory direct to Denver and to be handled by d’Este. She’d also been impressed by Leo’s negotiation of the pricing and was secretly pleased that he’d negotiated a price better than the one she had had in mind. At some stage Andrea knew she would have to visit the company herself to ensure they had the shipping side handled properly. But for now, she put that visit on hold.
Hearts on Fire: Romance Multi-Author Box Set Anthology Page 81