by Maggie Marr
They were the problem indeed.
“How do we fix this problem?” he asked. “I thought that perhaps after last night—”
“We’d have this out of our system.” Prim finished his sentence.
“Exactly.”
“I believed that too,” Prim said. “People tend to want what’s forbidden to them.”
His fingers stroked down her neck and stopped at the edge of her blouse. Her sex clenched with the memory of that hand, those fingertips, all over her body.
“I don’t suppose you’d consider leaving now?”
Prim’s eyes narrowed. “Not a chance.”
“So we have three months in close proximity,” Tristan said. “The idea of you with another man, with me unable to touch you but having to be with you …” He closed his eyes and pain whispered across his face. “Well, you saw last night how poorly I behaved when I thought you’d slept with Roger.”
The tiniest hint of pleasure slid through Prim that Tristan felt jealous of Roger, that she had that kind of power over Tristan and his moods. “What do you suggest?” Prim asked. “We have to work together and we haven’t assuaged these desires.”
“I suggest a limited partnership,” Tristan said. “An exclusive limited partnership for the remainder of your time with Metro. You and me, together, only with each other, until your contract is complete.”
Her heart beat fast in her chest. Exclusive partnership. Tristan wanted an exclusive partnership? The sex was enticing: Tristan, his body, his hands, the fact that this agreement was limited. The best sex she’d ever experienced for another eleven weeks. Wouldn’t she be finished with him by then? Tired of him? She couldn’t fall for Tristan. He was myopic, a bit selfish, and cocky—she couldn’t forget cocky. In eleven weeks she could find all kinds of things wrong with him. By then the heat of sex would have worn thin while the little annoyances that came about in any relationship—not that they were having a relationship—those little annoyances that one discovered with any lover would have grown into insurmountable obstacles.
“I see doubt in your eyes,” Tristan said.
“I don’t do exclusive. Or, well, I haven’t in a very long time.”
“When you were engaged?”
Prim’s heart hammered. She didn’t speak of that time in her life, right after she finished college and did a year at Oxford, but before she went to B-school in Boston. The event her mum had desperately wanted and the engagement that had made Prim feel as though her entire life was about to end. Prim’s chest tightened and the overwhelming sensation of being tied up and unable to move burst through her body.
“You looked me up,” Tristan said. “I had to look you up as well.” He stepped closer. His breath smelled of mint. His cock was hard beneath his thousand-dollar suit and pressed against her hip. “I could barely stand to leave you this morning,” he whispered. His lips were next to her ear. “I kept thinking about how I wanted to wake you, how I should wake you, how I will wake you tomorrow and for the next three months.”
Heat throbbed through her. He was offering her a way to solve all the problems this wild attraction caused. This agreement was temporary and solved several very big issues. She would remain with Metro Media during the transition as she’d promised Ryan, she would try to convince Tristan not to sell off Metro Media piece by piece, and once their passions were spent, there would be no worry that this arrangement would lead to any continuing desire.
“I think a limited partnership is exactly what we need,” Prim said, “but there are mandatory deal points.”
“Deal points?” Tristan’s eyebrow lifted. He fought to keep the smile from his face.
“One deal point is privacy,” Prim said. “An affair won’t damage your reputation within the business community, but it could damage mine.”
“Fair enough.”
“Number two: no restriction on behaviors. I can eat with who I want, see who I want, do what I want, with the exception of”—Prim focused her eyes on him with the word on her lips—“sex.” She tamped down her satisfaction when lust flickered in his eyes. “Neither of us will engage in any sexual behavior with another person during the three months.”
“Done.”
“And the nonrestriction?”
“If you mean last night, I’ve never behaved so poorly before.” His fingers brushed her hair back over her shoulder. “I did apologize and I’m still sorry. I will trust you and your judgment when it comes to members of the opposite sex in regards to meetings, meals, and business.”
She tilted her head and studied his face. He seemed sorry for his behavior.
“Is that it?” Tristan asked.
“One more thing. You answer any question I ask truthfully and when I ask it.”
Tristan’s mouth dropped open for a second and his gaze flitted away from hers. “Seriously?”
Prim nodded. “Seriously.”
“Complete honesty?”
“For eleven weeks.”
“No wonder Metro has done so well. That last deal point is a hard bargain to strike. You could ruin me with a requirement like that.”
“I won’t take advantage of it. I won’t ask you for confidential information about other businesses you’re involved in. I’ll only ask you about things that involve us.”
Tristan grasped Prim’s arms in his hands. “There’s an ‘us’ now?”
“If we come to terms, there is for eleven weeks.”
“You’ll do the same?” Tristan asked. “Be completely honest?”
Prim tilted her head and straightened her spine. “I’ve not asked you for anything that I’m unwilling to give in return.”
“Okay,” Tristan said. “I have one final deal point.”
“And that is?”
“We stay together every night during the length of our agreement. Whether it be your home or mine.”
Prim swallowed. Her chest tightened. Her skin tingled. She wanted to stay with Tristan, but her insides churned with the thought of being required to be with him every night for the next eleven weeks.
“That’s a deal-breaker for me,” Tristan said when she didn’t respond immediately.
“Fine,” Prim said.
He examined her face, his eyes taking their time as they trailed over her skin. A shiver rushed through her with his examination.
“Then I believe we have a deal,” he said.
Their lips were so close. He would press those lips that she desperately wanted onto hers.
“Excellent,” Tristan said. He dropped his hand from her body and stepped away from her, then walked to his desk. “I’ll have a car here for you tonight. Is my house okay?”
The cool air that surrounded her with the absence of his touch startled her. Prim nodded. She pulled at the lapels of her suit jacket and brushed her hand down the back of her neck before flipping her mane of hair over her collar. She turned on her heel and walked toward the door. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She had seventy-seven days to get Tristan Rhodes out of her system for good.
Chapter Nine
“You’re doing what?” Meg gasped.
Prim exited the building with her cell phone pressed to her ear. She needed to get out of her office, needed fresh air. She needed to get this tight feeling out of her chest.
“We’ve decided to be together exclusively for the next three months.”
“How is that going to work?” Meg asked.
“Hopefully better than how it’s going now,” Prim said. “Look, it’s a nightmare. He almost blew a deal last night because he was jealous.”
“Tristan Rhodes almost blew a deal? Because of you?”
“You sound surprised,” Prim said. “You know some men find me earth-shatteringly hot.”
“Of course you’re hot and talented and every single thing that any man could ever possibly hope for. I didn’t mean it like that. The way I meant it was ‘Wow, you got to Tristan Rhodes.’ Because aside from Cole, he’s one of the most serious and professi
onal CEOs I’ve ever met.”
“Right, and I’m one of the most serious and diligent executives, and right now us working together is the worst.”
“Because of the attraction.”
“Exactly, because of the attraction. I thought, I think we both thought, that if we indulged just one more time—”
“You were together again!”
“Last night,” Prim said. She pressed her fingers to her forehead. Now, in the light of day, last night did seem like a really bad decision. She opened the door to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. The sharp scent of freshly ground coffee beans greeted her.
“And?”
“And sleeping with him a second time did not diminish the attraction. Okay? It made the entire thing worse. I mean, I want him in this weird all-consuming way.”
“It doesn’t help that you haven’t dated anyone in eighteen months.”
“My point exactly. I don’t do relationships. This overwhelming attraction to Tristan is chemical because of my very long dry spell.” She smiled at Dori, the brunette who took Prim’s or Prim’s assistant, Alyssa’s, coffee order nearly every day.
“So the solution is three months of constant sex?”
“Not constant,” Prim said. She mouthed “the usual” to Dori. “If we take away the restriction, the taboo of it all, then that will reduce some of the heat.” Prim ducked her head and lowered her voice. “The pheromones will play out and the passion will be spent. Plus, after eleven weeks with Tristan Rhodes? Surely I’ll annoy the hell out of him and he’ll annoy the hell out of me and we can go our separate ways.”
“Uh-huh,” Meg said. “Seems logical.”
“Completely sound.”
“Businesslike.”
“Right.” Prim handed Dori a ten and took the change.
“Makes sense.”
“Definitely.” Prim walked toward the end of the counter and waited for the coffee.
“It will never work.”
Prim stopped. “What?”
“I’m telling you it won’t work.”
“Meg!” Prim said. “Stop it. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Okay,” Meg said.
“Seriously, this is simply an attraction based on a long dry spell and chemicals and taboos and pheromones and two high-functioning individuals who want what they can’t have.”
“Right,” Meg said.
“This is the perfect solution. I stop being obsessed with Tristan and instead I spend my time proving to him that he must keep Metro Media a whole company.”
“All while sleeping in his bed?”
Prim’s stomach sickened. When Meg said it like that, Prim didn’t like the sound of the agreement she’d made.
“The agreement is meant to be finite, discreet, and private.”
“Sounds like a great deal for him.”
“He offered to release me from my contract and pay out my full bonus.”
“And you said no?”
Prim took the coffee cup and slid a sleeve around it. “I can’t protect Metro if I’m not there. I’m not going to abandon everyone I’ve worked with, everyone who has depended on me, simply because I can’t keep my own sexual urges in check.” Prim sipped her coffee. “There was a problem. I found a solution.”
“Fuck-buddies is a solution?”
Prim cringed. “No. We made an agreement like adults, and we’ll behave appropriately at work.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Meg said. “I know all about appropriate behavior at work, or have you forgotten where I fell in love with my husband?”
“That took three years.”
“No,” Meg said. “The attraction was immediate; it took three years for me to get out of my own way.”
“I’m not in love, nor do I intend to be.”
“Intentions don’t always make it where love is concerned,” Meg said. “But okay, if you think you two can make this agreement work.”
Prim threw her hand up in the air. “I hate it when you’re like this.”
“I’m agreeing with you.”
“No,” Prim said. “You’re doing that patronizing agreeing-with-me thing. You use it on Cole, you use it on me, I’m certain you use it on your staff. It’s that thing where you believe that you’re right but you won’t argue with the person you’re disagreeing with, you simply wait until they figure out that you were right all along.”
“Aren’t I always right?”
Prim sighed. “As far as I’ve ever known.”
“Where are you?”
“The Coffee Bean in the lobby of your building.”
“I’ll be right down,” Meg said. “You have a situation that we need to discuss.”
*
“Mr. Rhodes, Miss Baxter has returned.” Philippe stood just inside Tristan’s office door.
Tristan looked away from one of the four flat screens he’d just had mounted to his office wall. “Will you have her meet me at my elevator?”
He flipped from CNN to MSNBC. Watched the ticker across the bottom for a moment and then stood. Would whoever bought Metro take the company public? Or would he get more profit if he sold off the different divisions? He pulled at his cuffs. A week before, he’d been so certain of Metro’s fate, but now that certainty had evaporated. He’d started to enjoy seeing recognizable faces in the hallways. The employees were all so damned efficient and pleasant. They smiled when they came to work. None of the other companies he’d purchased had had such happy employees. Metro’s staff all seemed so pleased to be part of the company.
Their love for Metro was Prim’s doing. She was great at business. A leader who could also close deals. If only he wasn’t so damned attracted to her. He’d already agreed to more with regards to Prim than he should have. Monogamy he could do. He could even respect the need for privacy. The nonrestriction of behavior? Of course. Although, never before had he wanted to beat the life from a man who glanced with an appreciative eye at a woman like he did with Prim. He needed to get his head straight. Prim was causing him to entertain all kinds of fantasies, and not all of them were sexual. The idea of asking Prim to stay and run Metro had even flitted through his mind. That scenario was an impossibility.
He walked from his office. Prim waited just outside the door beside his private elevator. The warm scent of cinnamon from some damned body wash or shampoo she used greeted him. Her scent drove him to distraction. She tipped her chin up and slid her gaze toward him.
“You had Philippe track me down?” Prim said.
“I want you in this meeting.”
“Want or need?” A smug look settled on her gorgeous features. He wanted to wrap his arm around her waist, pull her close, and kiss that look on her face. He couldn’t. His assistant, her assistant, and a host of other employees were all down the hall from this spot. The elevator door opened and he followed Prim onto the elevator. The door closed.
“I need you in the meeting.” He stepped toward her and again that nearly insufferable heat burst through him. Her mouth parted, drawing attention to those gorgeous lips that he’d watch surround his cock. He twitched with memory. Heat flooded his belly and he took a step closer. Prim did not back away from his nearness. He reached out and pulled the stop button.
“We have a communication problem,” Tristan said. “One of your parameters was the requirement of honesty. So, Miss Baxter, where were you?”
Her breath grew short. Was she wet? Because he was most definitely hard. He slipped his hand along her thigh and pulled up her skirt. The soft fabric hitched over her hip. Her gaze remained locked to his, but she’d yet to answer his question. He placed his fingertips over the tiny swatch of lace that she called panties.
“You’re wet for me,” he said.
There were no security cameras on his own private elevator. He didn’t want his staff knowing his entry and exit times.
Through the fabric of his pants, she pressed her hand to his cock. “And you’re hard.”
With a twitch of her eyebrow, she
conveyed her desire for him. He slipped his hand under her panties and his fingertip pressed her clit, which was slick with want.
Prim gasped. Her eyes widened.
“You didn’t answer me.” His voice was thick with lust. Perhaps he needed to remind her of the power his fingers had over her physical response, that she could not ignore his touch, that he could bend her to his will simply by using his fingertip.
He pressed against her swollen nub with more insistence and her hips twitched. Her lips parted the tiniest bit more and he saw a flash in her eyes. His finger slid down the front between her cleft, between the lips of her pussy and deep into her. Again her hips hitched forward.
“You should answer me,” he said.
His thumb stroked over her clit. Finally she moved, her knees nearly buckled, and a long gasp hissed over her lips.
“So this is what it’s to be like?” She grasped him through the fabric of his pants.
“I certainly hope so,” he said.
His fingers pulsed in and out of her and Prim’s breath grew shorter.
“Tell me what I want to know.” He wrapped his free hand into her long black hair.
And pulled.
Her head tilted back and her chin jutted forward. He pressed his lips to that long, lovely neck.
“I was with …”
His lips reached the pulse point on her neck. She closed her eyes.
“Tell me,” he said. He pulled his hand back from pressing on her clit, from giving her the pleasure that she’d rolled her hips into. She was so near release.
“No, no … don’t stop.” Her eyes opened and her hungry gaze landed on him. She wanted more of his touch. More from him. She had surrendered to him.
“Where were you?”