by Mia Caldwell
She knew he’d meant the gift sincerely and was making sure he saw that it was getting good use, and brought it to all their meetings. He was sitting on the couch, his coat off, his sleeves rolled up, with a drink in his hand. They’d already put in a long day meeting with people who might play a role in building the business center if Julio got the contract. She’d badgered others to submit written reports, and now she had those in her briefcase. She’d dressed carefully in a silk blouse that flattered her breasts, a short skirt, and heels.
Julio looked up, seeing her and showing her a sad face that betrayed just a hint of curiosity.
Seeing him that way made her heart skip a beat. She knew he was still mooning about that bitch of an economist. Even after all this time he wouldn’t let go of the stupid idea that somehow they’d be together again. She set her jaw. It was time to kill that once and for all.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “You look awfully businesslike for so late in what has been a long day.”
“Businesslike?”
He grinned. “Sexy, but still businesslike.”
She savored the flattery. Looking sexy had been her intention. Julio always acted the gentleman with women he worked with. Willa assumed that was why he hadn’t bedded Elaine. She often worked long hours with him herself, and while he might flirt, he generally maintained a professional relationship. The after-hours nature of her visit caught him off guard. Normally if they worked late it was because he was engrossed in some project.
“I know we are supposed to be done for the day… All those damn meetings take their toll. We still have a lot of work that needs doing. I got some more proposals from potential subcontractors. I’ve tossed out the ones that didn’t offer any new ideas, and just sent their standard rate sheets and other garbage, but that left a few that made an effort, and I thought we might go over them.”
“It’s odd that they are the minority,” he said. “You’d think there wasn’t a recession and there was plenty of work to go around. This is a juicy project.”
“At any rate, I saw the look on your face at the end of the last meeting, and rather than letting you sit around feeling sad, I thought we might as well go through some of them.” She sat beside him, letting her leg brush against his and putting the briefcase on the coffee table.
As she opened the case, Julio glanced at the folders and sighed, then held up his glass. “You get things started while I finish my drink.”
“Of course.” She brought out a folder and opened it on the coffee table. “These are from the usual vendors, your preferred list, for their ideas on the landscaping, some exterior touches… most important, though, is the hybrid power-cogeneration system. The European Union should give you big environmental points for that.”
Julio sipped his drink and picked up some of the pages. “You’d think so,” he said. He finished the drink and let himself become absorbed in the proposed power system, reading the textual analysis but referring to the tables and graphs. “Yes, yes.” Then he began going back and forth through the pages. He pointed at several tables with a pen he took from his pocket, circling some numbers. “Paper,” he said, and she tore a page from her notebook and handed it to him.
He scribbled furiously, doing math, writing in the margins of the pages of the report. This was the Julio she wanted to see, the dynamic man who had the insights and energy to steamroller any other proposals. He had an amazing way of making a comprehensive analysis, and his instincts for choosing the right combination of things seemed unerring. The committee in Milan wanted something exceptional for their business center, and that required an exceptional man. A man like Julio Torres.
Willa watched him work, pleased that she could harness his genius, and delighted that she’d managed to sidetrack that American harpy. Now Willa was ready to step up her game. Being Julio’s good right hand gave her a great deal of power, but she wanted more.
Julio shook his head and tossed the folder down. “This won’t do.”
She looked at the folder. “No?”
“It’s crap. They are selling the right buzzwords, but it isn’t promising or even new technology. We can do better.” She watched him juggling possibilities in his head. “Remember that Finnish company we worked with last year?”
“On the military project?”
“Right. Contact them and ask them for their proposal. No, never mind. See that the contact information is on my desk in the morning and I’ll call them myself. I’ll be able to explain some of the engineering details so there are no missteps. They were working on something new that might be applicable. If it is, we can offer Milan something that will be cutting edge for a few years to come. We can’t avoid obsolescence, but we can extend the lifespan of the center out there until they can recoup the investment.”
The light had come back into his eyes. He picked up another folder, and she heard the excitement that crept into his voice as he reviewed, amended, and discarded the various proposals while Willa sat taking notes. He was in his element.
“Excellent,” she said when he’d finished with the last folder. She leaned forward and began collecting them, putting them in the briefcase along with her notepad. “That’s plenty for this evening.”
He glanced at his watch. “It’s still early. And now I’m wound up. Would you have a drink with me, Willa?”
Before she answered, she carefully closed up her briefcase, taking a moment. It never paid to seem too eager. Then she sat back on the couch, putting the briefcase on the floor, then crossing her legs and letting her short skirt ride up her thighs. She watched his eyes, saw that he was looking at her legs with interest. “I’d love one.”
She watched him go to the wet bar, and his manner, the atmosphere in the room, told her she had an opportunity that might not come again soon. She sensed a vulnerability in him, a need to unburden himself. He came back with two drinks and sat beside her. When he handed her the drink, she put her hand around his and looked into his eyes. She had trouble reading the thoughts behind those eyes, so she did the next best thing—she willed him to see her thoughts. She let herself imagine him making love to her, and let her eyes cloud over with desire as she wetted her lips with her tongue, making it seem casual, unconscious, and sexy.
After a brief moment he put both drinks on the coffee table, then turned towards her. His eyes didn’t betray him, but she saw the welcome signs of lust in his face, a slight flush of his cheeks. Those subtle signs were her cue. She’d waited and planned for this since the day she started to work for him. Years of earning his trust, making him comfortable with her, and now she was ready to do whatever it took to cement their relationship.
And she told him that, clearly, with her eyes.
# # #
Julio was a careful man, but Willa had seen him being passionate. Now she needed to unleash that passion and direct it at her. She reached her hand up to his face and touched his cheek lovingly while she read his face. She could be as careful and patient as necessary. It was important not to overplay her hand; she couldn’t risk him rejecting her. That was the only danger in her strategy.
What she saw in his face now told her that he was vulnerable; she had aroused him almost to the point where there was no turning back, not for Julio, not for any man. Desire took men to a tipping point where reason stopped working. To coax him past it, she held still, watching his eyes, keeping hers soft, compliant, hungry. She wanted him to make the next move, to make a commitment.
He did, and when he touched her, putting his hands on her shoulders, she opened her mouth, inviting his kiss. When he bent down and kissed her, more with desire than passion, she was elated. That was exactly what she wanted. Getting a man to love you could be useful; making him desire you was far better. Love could be unpredictable; desire was far more reliable. Now she was directing the thwarted desire he felt for Lissa towards her, to accomplish her ends.
To ensure that he was unable to stop, she let her hand trail over his leg and touched the bulge of his
cock, moving deliberately so that he’d know it was no accident. His breathing told her how badly he needed her, needed a warm woman at least, right then. And she was happy to let him have her; she wanted to be the woman he turned to.
He showered her neck with warm, wet kisses as his fingers undid her silk blouse. She seldom wore a bra, and fortunately hadn’t this time, and his fingers caressed the soft skin of her breasts, teased her nipples hard. She arched her back and ran her fingers through his hair, encouraging him.
When he slipped the blouse off her and turned his attention to removing her skirt and panties, she writhed and gasped at his touch, happy that he was taking the initiative of undressing her. This kind of man would want to strip his woman naked, be in charge.
For her part, she focused on him, responding to his every touch with sounds and starts of her body. The slightest caress or brush of his hand deserved acknowledgement. When she was naked on his couch, his hands continued casually mapping her body, tracing the soft mounds of her breasts and teasing her nipples erect, then ran down over her belly. They covered the curve of her hips and ass and then her thighs. She gave a slight jump when he pressed his strong fingers into her moist cunt.
She moaned and spread her legs wide for him, wanting to welcome his exploration. She lay on her back on the couch with him sitting beside her. She writhed as he explored her, then showed him her hungry eyes again as she rose and moved to undo his pants, wetting her lips with her tongue. She rubbed her breasts against his leg as she brought out his hard cock and ran her own fingers over it, enjoying knowing that it was hard from wanting her. Then she moved more into his lap and took him in her mouth, wanting to set him on fire, to let him know that her desire was physical and powerful.
She sucked him and rolled her eyes up so that she could watch his face, measure his passion. It wasn’t enough to excite him. She wanted to overwhelm him, to make him equate her with physical desire. For now that was important. He was big and hard, more than she could accommodate in her mouth. He pushed her back and she released him.
He needed her.
He lifted her and carried her to the bed, chuckling darkly as she fell back against the pillows, her eyes flashing with lust, trained on his face. Her fingers met behind her head as she lifted her neck and opened her legs to him. Calling to him, a silent, sexy song, it was the most god damn incredible thing he’d ever seen. Julio’s cock bounced in anticipation, but he couldn’t go in yet, if he did he wouldn’t be able to stop fucking her until he came.
As he stroked himself, making her weight, the sweet torture of anticipation sending a wave of electricity between them, his lids narrowed as he savored the look in her eyes, as she waited.
“Julio, fuck me.”
So, he did.
# # #
Afterward, as they lay together on the bed, Willa planned her next moves. Sex with Julio had been better than she’d expected, not that it mattered. She found sex an enjoyable exercise and a useful tool. Emotionally, beyond the passion of the moment, it meant little to her. It mystified her that other people attached so much significance to the act. It was incomprehensible that after fucking one particular person they expected to find the world had changed.
Julio was obviously that way. She’d seen the change in him when he’d returned from Switzerland. That had been the warning sign, the cautionary note that had her reach out to Tina and ensure that she nipped this relationship in the bud. But that left a void, and now she had filled it. She would be there for him, satisfying his sexual hungers. She’d begun the shift in their relationship, but as long as his thoughts turned to Lissa, the woman was a danger that needed to be dealt with.
She had to be careful about how Julio found out about Lissa’s pregnancy. For now, she’d held that back from him. There was no risk to her. If he found out, she’d already established that she hadn’t known why Lissa was in the hospital.
The news of the children had given her a moment of concern. Julio was a conventionally honorable man. If Lissa was carrying his child, he might feel an urge to be noble, to run to her side and claim his heir. There was, however, another way to play those same cards. Willa might use the information as a way of creating a wedge that she could drive between them and permanently sever the tenuous connection, the memory of love, between them, at least from Julio’s point of view, and that was all she cared about. That would require perfect timing, and she’d been waiting for… She hadn’t been sure what she was waiting for, but this morning, lying naked in Julio’s bed, she felt that she now had the lever she’d needed to make sure that when the avalanche of emotions happened, she could direct its flow.
It all came back to sex. They’d made love, and that cemented the relationship. She intended to play that cool, not be clingy or act like she was a schoolgirl. Willa Gruber was not a romantic heroine, but a strong woman, and she would let him know that she was there for him, that he could have her when he wanted her, make him feel that he satisfied her sexually, but that nothing else had changed.
That was a lie, of course. Much had changed. She was a step closer to her goal. She had aroused his passion, let him come inside her. No matter how you looked at relationships, those things altered the way people saw each other—she’d staked a claim on him that was real despite her never uttering adoring phrases or saying “I love you.”
As she lay beside him, running her hands over his muscular chest, she sensed a bit of remorse in him. Perhaps he regretted that he’d have to acknowledge her personal claim, but that would pass. It might even be him recalling that other woman. She’d do whatever it took to supplant those memories. It angered her that after fucking her, he could still feel something for the American woman, that he’d recall her after their night together. It was time to drag out the biggest guns in her arsenal, but she needed to pace herself, not make it seem like she’d been holding things back from him.
She thought about seducing him, distracting him, making him think she needed him, but he sat up and looked at her. “We better get moving. We have a full day ahead of us,” he said.
“Yes, of course,” she said. It would be a mistake to let her professionalism slip now. She needed to reassure him that having Willa as his lover didn’t mean losing Willa as his assistant. Keeping him focused on her while worming her way further into his business and personal lives was the challenge.
She called room service and ordered a large breakfast of eggs Benedict, juice, and coffee. When they finished, he went to shower. Willa slipped on one of his tee shirts and went to the couch. Her briefcase was still on the coffee table, and she got out her laptop and flipped it on. She found the email from the investigator and copied it into a new email, editing out the parts about the rehab rumor. The investigator had been thorough and mentioned that Tina Peters was the source of it. Julio didn’t need to know that, just as he didn’t need to know that the information about Lissa’s pregnancy came in the same email. She created a new one with just the information the man had gotten from the hospital and sent it down to the hotel’s business office. Then she picked up the house phone and called the concierge.
“This is Mr. Torres’s assistant. I just sent a file to your server. Please print it out and bring it to his suite immediately.”
When Julio came out of the shower, she went into the bathroom to take hers, enjoying the steamy warmth and his smells enveloping her. Things were moving along well, and she stood under the hot water and let herself speculate over the way he’d take the news. His reaction would determine her course of action. Letting him know meant she was walking a bit of a tightrope, and that made her feel more aroused than the night with Julio.
# # #
Seeing the smile on Tina’s face was a big tip-off. It was a smug, superior, self-satisfied look that broadcast all manner of sinister intentions. The fact that she made no attempt to hide the look told Lissa that something nasty was afoot.
Lissa had already made up her mind to confront her, to sit her down and talk through what she su
spected and what she knew. Then Tina’s reaction would tell her what she needed to do. She’d just discovered that Tina had broken off with several of her small clients. Keeping her on, where she interacted with clients and had access to privileged information, was certainly a bad idea. Rather than letting things fester and giving Tina a chance to do more damage, she wanted to take matters in hand.
“Can you come into my office?” she asked.
Tina grinned at her. “Sure. As a matter of fact, I wanted to have a talk myself.”
When she’d shut the door and they were sitting, facing each other, Tina was the first to speak. “I’m giving notice.”
That wasn’t the start to the conversation Lissa had expected. “Really?”
She nodded. “It’s really getting impossible to continue the way we are. You and I have different ways of working, perhaps even different goals.”
“But it’s my company.”
“Yes it is. The thing is that while you were in the hospital, I got a taste of what’s possible when I get to do things my own way. Going back to being your number two isn’t going to work for me.”
“I noticed that. You certainly didn’t even attempt to do things the way I asked you to do them.”
She waved her hand. “I kept the business going. Okay, I dumped some of the smaller clients without telling you. But we never should have taken them on in the first place—they aren’t doing anything that will be noticed, and the cash flow they generate means they are hardly worth the effort.”
“That might be a reasonable analysis if it were your company and not mine. I asked you to work along with those clients because I believe in them. It’s a matter of growing the company. As they get big, the returns will be worth what we’ve invested.”
Tina waved her hand in dismissal. “That assumes they keep us on and don’t go over to a competitor. Hell, Lissa, they weren’t even interesting people. But our disagreement is exactly the problem—just the tip of the iceberg. You run a stodgy, functional business, with no élan, no class. You emphasize the grunt work and not the creative aspect.”