“I love you both so much,” Rachel sighed, feeling the weight of the morning lift.
Bree drew in a deep breath and turned back to Rachel. “You can’t throw this chance away because one bad boyfriend did something mean to you a long time ago.”
She was right. The rational part of Rachel’s brain knew both of her friends were right. The night with Ben was just a one-night stand. They weren’t dating, and there certainly hadn’t been any plans made to see each other again.
She groaned and dropped her head into her hands, realizing how badly she’d overreacted, and what an ass she’d made of herself that morning.
Rachel looked up when she felt Bree’s hand on her arm.
“Promise me you won’t cancel the interview,” Bree said, her big, dark eyes full of gentle concern.
“I promise,” she sighed. “But I might need a good, stiff drink before I go in.”
Chapter Five
At almost the exact moment Rachel was scheduled to meet with the board of the Homewood Cardiac Health and Wellness Center, the door opened and Dr. Marks himself invited her into his office. With his slight build, thinning gray-blond hair and pale-blue eyes, he couldn’t have been more the opposite of his stepson Ben’s tall, dark and stunning. He had an easy, winsome way about him that helped put her at ease the instant he shook her hand.
The other three board members and Ben were seated at a round table off to one side of the large office. Everyone stood as she entered. She put off looking directly at Ben for as long as she could, sure seeing him would make her lose her nerve and run screaming from the room.
But the sight of him dressed in shirt, vest and tie over jeans made her want to run to him instead of away. The dress shirt and suit vest were impeccably tailored to fit his long frame in a way that hinted strongly to the gorgeous body beneath, and his gray eyes were picking up some of the blue from his cobalt tie.
She was slammed with the memory of being up on her elbows and knees with him fucking her from behind, the lewd slap of his pelvis against her ass and the heavy swing of his balls against her clit driving her moaning and gasping toward orgasm.
Color rose quickly to her face. Heat pooled where it had no damn business pooling at the beginning of a job interview and she found herself grateful for both the padding in her bra and the wide lapel of her suit jacket as her nipples pulled up tight.
Ben’s expression changed almost imperceptibly as if he’d read her thoughts. His entire face relaxed into the barest of smiles and his eyes positively glittered.
And then she was being introduced around the table. She shook hands with Dr. Elizabeth Andrews, head of physical therapy, and Drs. Paul and Tom Zimmerman, another cardiologist and dietary PhD respectively.
“I understand you and Ben know each other from college,” Dr. Marks said, catching Rachel off guard when he got around to introducing his stepson.
She blinked and automatically put her hand in Ben’s when he held it out to her.
“Yes.” She drew out the word, stalling for time as she prayed her brain kicked into gear. “He tutored me in chemistry my freshman year of premed.”
“I’m afraid I wasn’t a very good teacher, though,” Ben said easily, giving her hand the slightest of reassuring squeezes before he released her.
“Well, my ineptitude with chemistry had nothing to do with my tutor.” She tore her eyes away from his and forced herself to look at Dr. Marks. “But I’m hoping you won’t hold that against me,” she said, and everyone chuckled.
With the tension broken, she relaxed enough she thought she did fairly well, especially near the end of the interview when the questions became tough. No, she didn’t have any extensive experience with therapeutic massage, unless they counted the times she’d helped a cruise passenger who’d pulled a muscle playing shuffleboard or slept funny and woke up with a stiff neck.
She had, however, taken numerous classes on her months-long breaks between jobs and was up to date and certified in several therapeutic techniques. When she was asked, she had the confidence to say yes, between her years of experience and the information she’d learned through those classes, she felt fully qualified for the job.
Ben pulled his phone out of his pocket, then excused himself as the end of the interview turned into each of the board members sharing stories about cruises they’d taken to different tropical locations. She tried not to think about why he wouldn’t stick around to say goodbye—she’d been the one who’d gotten all uppity about the interview, hadn’t she?—and focused on the people she was quickly starting to hope would be her bosses in the near future.
The interview went over by a solid ten minutes. She gave the woman waiting outside Dr. Marks’ office an apologetic smile as she stepped out of the room and headed toward the exit. No sooner had she turned the corner leading to the main lobby when Ben popped out of an office along the corridor.
“I thought you were never going to get out of there,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist and swinging her in the opposite direction. “Want to see the PT wing?” he asked, ushering her in what she assumed was the direction of the wing.
Up close, the barely there smell of the fine cologne he was wearing made her head feel wonderfully loopy.
“Sure,” she breathed. Between the wide span of his hand on her side, the sudden close proximity of his body and that amazing scent, she was powerless to protest.
“I’m relieved you didn’t cancel,” he told her, dropping his arm and his voice. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“I think it went well,” she said, suddenly unsteady on her low, narrow interview heels. “I was surprised you told them we know each other.”
“Only that we went to school together for a minute.” He pointed to the left and they turned down a partially dark and apparently deserted hallway. “I left out the part about how we spent an entire night fucking like animals this past weekend.”
He said it so easily, so casually, yet her physical reaction was anything but casual.
“Ben, I told you on Sunday morning we—”
“In here,” he said, cutting her off by taking her hand and pulling her into a room.
Sunlight poured through the wall of windows. The room was completely bare and still in need of some major renovation. Canvas tarps lay on the unfinished floors and a pile of painting supplies stood in the center.
The door closed with a click behind them and suddenly she was in his arms, her hands pressed over the fine silk of his vest and her body touching his from chest to knee. He held her tight to him, one arm around her waist and the other buried in her hair, angling her head so he could take her mouth in a long, deep kiss.
Her knees buckled when his tongue dove into her mouth. Pure, electric charges crackled and snapped through every one of her nerve endings as he groaned deeply and pulled her even closer. Her hands slid slowly over his chest and shoulders until they were buried in his thick black hair.
“Christ, Rachel,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. “Seeing you naked the other night took my breath away, but you in a suit is…pornographic.”
She shivered despite the temperature rising in her body. “Ben.”
“I know.” He lifted his head. His eyes were dark, pupils dilated wide. “It’s completely inappropriate to drag you off and molest you when I should be sitting in on the next interview, but I couldn’t help myself.”
“Yes, inappropriate is a good word,” she agreed, finding it thrilling when he pulled back slightly to look her over top to toe again anyway.
She loved the height difference between them now that she was out of her Saturday night heels—loved the way he made her feel delicate when he held her in his arms.
And she loved the way he was looking at her at that moment.
“Listen, about Sunday morning,” he started.
“No.” She shook her head, stopping him. “I’m sorry I overreacted.”
He stopped her with a quick, soft kiss. “Let me take you out
to lunch today.”
“I don’t know,” she hedged.
“I didn’t handle it very well either.” His hand slid around to span the small of her back. “I have to sit in on the end of this last interview and then I’m free the rest of the day. We can spend it catching up if you’re free.”
She was free. Did any woman ever tell him no, she wondered, now positively drunk on his smell and the look in his eyes.
“Okay to lunch, but we really need to talk about what happens if I get hired.”
He kissed her again and her head reeled with it. She pulled him back as he reached for the door and did her best to remove the traces of her berry-colored lipstick from his mouth, suppressing a giggle when he looked sheepish about it. He took her hand and kissed the backs of her fingers, then immediately dropped it when he opened the door.
Over his shoulder he said, “As I was saying, it doesn’t look like much now, but we have big plans for the massage rooms.”
Rachel opened her mouth to ask what the hell he was talking about, then heard the unmistakable sound of high heels clicking in the hallway.
“You are here.” The voice was rich and distinctly female.
Ben tucked his hands into his pockets and gave Rachel a sideways glance as they stepped out of the room.
“I thought you were sitting in on interviews with your dad today, but the receptionist said she saw you heading down here a few minutes ago. What’s going on with you?” the woman asked as she approached them.
She was gorgeous—tall, elegant in a beautifully tailored red suit and moving in her three-inch heels as if she was wearing comfortable running shoes. Her black hair was pulled back into a stylish knot, and when her gray eyes shifted from Ben to her, Rachel realized she was also Ben’s mother.
“This is Rachel Marsh,” Ben said easily. “Rachel, my mother, Dr. Lindsay Marks.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Dr. Marks said, giving Rachel a warm smile as they shook hands. “The two of you know each other?” she asked Ben.
“We went to school together years ago.” The small, private smile he gave Rachel caused another little thrill to zip through her. “I tutored her in chemistry one semester.”
“Really?” His mother looked pleasantly surprised. “And how did that go?” she asked Rachel.
Rachel looked at Ben, but he just raised his eyebrows expectantly.
“Not well at all, I’m afraid,” she answered. “Not that it was Ben’s fault. I was a terrible premed student.”
“Well, while my son was a terrific student in his own right, he wasn’t a very good teacher if I remember correctly.”
Ben cleared his throat. “You were looking for me?” he asked his mother.
“Yes.” She turned to him. “Dr. Li called me earlier. He’s been trying to reach you about sitting in on a consult he has later this afternoon, but you weren’t answering.”
Ben pulled his phone out of his pocket, muttered a curse and turned it on.
Realization dawned. He hadn’t left the end of her interview to take a phone call. His phone hadn’t even been on. He’d left specifically to talk to her once she left the room.
“I told him I was on my way here to meet your dad for lunch, and that I’d ask if you were interested when I saw you,” his mother added.
Rachel could see by the way Ben perked up that he was interested.
“I’ll call him as soon as I get the chance,” he assured her.
“Good.” Dr. Marks turned to Rachel. “It was good to meet you.”
“Thank you. You too,” Rachel said, smiling despite the disappointment over the lunch and the time with Ben she was going to miss.
“I’m sorry,” Ben turned to her when his mother was out of earshot again. “Dr. Li has been an amazing mentor to me over the years. If he thinks I should be part of this, it must be something I don’t have a lot of experience with yet.”
“Of course you should go,” Rachel reassured him. His excitement was palpable.
“What are you doing tonight?” he asked, stepping back into her space once they were alone again. “Can I pick you up and take you out for a drink later?”
She had an early interview with a spa in the city in the morning. “Yes.”
“I really have no idea how long this is going to take.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, touched the display a couple of times. “Can I call you when I’m finished?”
“Yes,” she repeated, feeling unexpectedly elated, “but you still owe me lunch.”
He programmed her number in when she gave it to him and dropped the phone back into his pocket.
“Yes I do.” His expression went darkly erotic and he slipped the fingers of one hand around the back of her neck. She had to press her palms to his chest to keep from falling into him as he took another deep, dreamy pull of a kiss from her mouth. “I’ll make it up to you soon,” he murmured.
And then he was away from her, his hand on the small of her back as he walked her to her car. He held the door as she slid into the driver’s seat, gave her a reluctant look before he closed it and stood with his hands in his pockets until she drove away.
Rachel ventured a glance in her rearview mirror as she stopped at the end of the driveway and waited for traffic to clear. Her stomach fluttered dangerously when she found him standing in the same spot, still watching her. And when he raised his hand and waved, her heart skipped several beats.
Chapter Six
“Where’s your roommate?” Rachel asked, her fingers working the buttons on his shirt before he had the door closed behind them.
He’d gotten out of Dr. Li’s office so late he’d been surprised that she’d answered when he called. They’d gone out to one of the corner bars in her neighborhood, but he hadn’t really had the stomach or the patience for the beer he’d ordered.
The consult and following discussion with Dr. Li had been exhilarating, and Rachel was distractingly hot in the jeans and loose, gauzy top she was wearing. She’d barely made it through her own drink when she suggested they go somewhere else.
“Gone ‘til morning,” he answered, letting go of her long enough to shrug out of his shirt. He reached for the button on her jeans and popped it open while she pulled her top off over her head. “Gotta love the roommate being on night shift.”
And then she was clinging to him again, her fingers dug into his hair, the silky skin of her curvy body against his, her hard nipples pressing into his chest through the soft satin of her bra. The taste of whiskey still on her tongue and the heady smell of her was intoxicating. He got an arm under her bottom and lifted her off her feet.
“Nice place you got here,” she said, biting gently on his earlobe and nearly making him lose his footing.
He crushed her body to the wall in the hallway. “You’re not even looking at my place,” he said, shifting so his cock ground against her through their jeans.
He could feel her heat through the layers of their clothes. She started to laugh and he took her mouth hard enough her head hit the wall with a light but solid thump.
She dug her nails into his back. “Busted,” she panted when he grazed his teeth along her jaw. “Oh, fuck Ben. Just take me here.”
She unwrapped her legs from his waist to stand and gave him a little backward shove. She pulled open the fly on his jeans, then dropped to her knees as she pushed them and his underwear to the floor. He gasped as his cock fell free.
“Better yet,” she said, giving him a mischievous smile as she looked up and took him in hand.
Jesus, he wouldn’t last two seconds if she put her mouth on him right now.
He gripped her wrists and reluctantly pulled her to standing.
“You first,” he said. She let out a laughing whoop of surprise when he bent and threw her over his shoulder.
He had to dodge her shoes as she toed them off along the way. In the short time it took him to kick his bedroom door shut and swing her off his shoulder and onto the bed she’d managed to lose her bra as well.
“Aren’t you an eager girl?” He laughed, pulling her jeans off.
Her face was flush, her exotic green eyes dark with desire. “I haven’t been able to think about anything else but getting naked with you again since Saturday night.”
The urge to fall on her, bury himself deep and fuck them both mindless was overwhelming, but not nearly as strong as the need to savor the moments with her while he still had them.
“Oh, yeah?” He knelt on the bed between her ankles. “When do you think about it the most? In the shower? In bed, alone at night?” He arched an eyebrow at her. “You do go to bed alone at night, right?”
She licked her lips and his cock twitched in response. “I think about you at the most inappropriate times,” she whispered as though she was letting him in on a secret.
He slipped a hand under her knee and kissed the soft skin on the inside. “When?”
She sighed and spread her arms wide.
“All the time. Yes, in the shower,” she gasped when he licked along the crease at the back of her knee. “I was being shown a massage room during an interview the other day and my thoughts wandered off into the most delicious fantasy of you and I. Locked in that room together. Both of us naked.”
He sank his teeth into the inside of her thigh.
“It was just you, me and a full bottle of massage oil.”
He moved his mouth an inch higher up her thigh and sucked hard enough to leave a mark. Her hips rolled and she laughed softly, then groaned when he used the thumb of his other hand to seek out her clit. The smell of her arousal was making his thoughts go pleasantly foggy. He moved higher yet, wanting to put his mouth on her, to hear her moaning his name the way she did when she came.
She sat up, grabbed him under his arms and tried to pull him up. “Don’t.”
There was something that looked a lot like panic in her eyes.
His eyebrows went up. “Why not?”
She shook her head. “You don’t need to…to do…that.”
He braced himself on his arms, his hands on either side of her hips.
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