by TJ Michaels
“But Syd, it’s not my…”
“Whoa, it is in fact all your fault. It is all your fault I broke my shoe trying to run to the car in the rain. It is all your fault you left me standing on the corner while you went to get the car. And it is definitely all your fault that the cops picked that exact moment to raid the ‘ho stroll.” Charli laughed like a loon regardless of Sydni’s fierce scowl. “I don’t care what the issue is, it’s your fault, Charli. If it rains, your fault. My laptop dies, your fault. I gain ten pounds while taking a purge, your fault. Get it?”
“Okay! Fine.” Charli cracked up. “But you can’t deny you had a good time. Well, until you got arrested.”
“Speaking of getting arrested, how did you pull off finding that lawyer on the fly? When he dropped me off, I was relieved he simply opened my car door for me, waved at you like your best girlfriend and got the hell out of here. God, how embarrassing to be saved by a co-worker. Hell, to be saved by anyone. Anyway, he seemed familiar as if I’d seen him somewhere other than the office, but I can’t place him.”
“We went to law school together. Have been good friends ever since. When I saw them carting you away, he was the first person I thought of to call. God, Syd, I completely forgot that he was working at your place now. He’s only been there, what, a couple of months?”
Sydni shrugged. No point in worrying about it now. “Well, girlfriend, he’s quite a catch,” Sydni said around a swig of orange juice. “He said you two weren’t going out, but if he’s single, you should. You two would make a cute couple. You know, your cocoa to his vanilla? Go on, girl.”
“We’re not dating. Just friends. Besides, I’m not his type.”
“What? Is he gay or something? Maybe you can convert him, girl.”
“Drew? Gay? Not even close!” Then she laughed like a sailor who’d been told the raunchiest joke on the high seas. But then came that sideways look Charli flashed whenever she was up to something. Sydni nibbled on her bottom lip and eyed her sister closely. Hmm, what was that about?
“I swear I’m not up to anything!” Charli threw up her hands and blurted the words before Sydni could even ask, which meant she was most definitely up to something.
“You’d better not be. The last thing you want is my sore size nines planted up your backside.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Charli demurred with a big bright smile. “As for Drew, he graduated top of his class and passed the bar on the first go. You remember, he was at the grand opening party for my boutique.”
“No, I don’t remember. As for lawyer related topics, I still can’t get over the fact you went to law school, passed the bar exam, then decided to become a fashion designer, er, tailor.”
“Yeah, but I’m a highfalutin tailor,” Charli sassed.
After clearing the dishes, a bit of sisterly hugging and laughing over Sydni’s stint in the hooskow, and the thankfully dismissed charges, the two ladies kissed, made up and set plans to get together for a family dinner the following weekend.
Before driving away, Sydni’s only sister planted another big wet smack on her cheek and said, “I’m glad everything worked out, Syd. You’ve taken care of me forever. You deserve to be happy. You’re the best sister a girl could have and I love you.”
Sydni held back the tears gathering behind her eyes at the tenderness pouring out of her sibling. She felt cherished, special…even if nobody loved her but Charli.
With a sigh, she watched Charli put her little black sports car in reverse and back out of the driveway.
Sydni thought about dragging herself up to bed. An image flashed into her brain of herself laying in the big king-sized number with her body wrapped around an oversized pillow. Going to bed lost its appeal, especially when one side of it was always empty and cold.
But Sydni was a realist. She’d been so devoted to taking care of Charli she’d already missed the “family and kids” boat. At her age, most women were settled into their families by now while all she had was work. Hell, her biological clock had stopped ticking so long ago she was sure the thing had suffered battery corrosion. And there was no expectation for a damn thing to change now.
Oh well, may as well get back to work. Sigh.
Chapter Two
A mousy male voice whispered into the darkness.
“Sydni Cannes suspects something.”
After a moment of silence, Alex urged her lover to turn over and settle on his hands and knees. She licked a scorching path up his spine, peppering him with a combination of open mouthed kisses and blunt questions. He was quite delicious, if somewhat boring.
“How do you know?” A bite to the supple flesh of his left ass cheek elicited a gasp from the recipient of her sharp nips.
“S-she called me to her office and…oh god,” the pawn gasped. The cock Alex boldly explored throbbed wildly beneath her fingers.
“Continue,” she whispered sharply, tugging on his full sac.
“I went to her office. The invoices associated with the purchase order for the Sony shipping contract didn’t…aahhh! Didn’t add up. Please. Please…”
A wild sigh ensued, followed by thrashing hips that sought fulfillment of the need Alex carefully cultivated.
“Tell me the rest. Now.” It came out a cold command. But not cold enough to douse the flames of the rock-hard rod in her hand.
“I-I told her that the rest of the invoices were probably waiting to be s-sent. That it could be as s-simple as an accounting technicality.”
“Did she buy it?”
“Oh god, yes!” Pant. Gasp. “Yes, she bought it.”
“Good boy.” One hand petted the sensitive balls underneath the pawn’s weeping penis, carefully slipping a single finger into the pawn’s puckered hole. The other hand remained wrapped around his cock, pumping roughly. Down around the base, then up to sweep over the sensitive glans. Alex’s mouth followed it, greedily taking him to the very back of her throat just as the finger in his ass tickled his prostate. The pawn spun into oblivion, the intensity of his orgasm expressed in a screech as he came so hard he didn’t notice she’d neither kissed, nor swallowed.
Not five minutes after seeing the pawn to the elevator, Alexandra headed to the shower. She flipped the water on, adjusted it to the desired temperature. And brooded.
After all, Sydni Cannes wasn’t a high six-figure Executive Vice President for nothing. The woman’s division had closed more multi-million dollar deals than any other in the entire company, ever. She alone was responsible for getting goods manufactured in Japan into the hands of consumers a full six months before the competition. Sharp didn’t begin to describe Cannes. And that was exactly what would get Alex’s ass in a sling if she didn’t find a way to advance her plans. Shit.
Sydni Cannes was a whiz at negotiating contracts. But negotiating wasn’t the issue here. The Sony deal had been won, closed and was currently being expedited. So why was Cannes digging into this particular one? Usually once a deal was closed, only the project manager responsible for executing the details bothered to revisit the actual documents signed by all parties. Alex knew she had to move faster, or get caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
Her first thought was to discredit Cannes. But how? The woman was untouchable, her position in the company solid, and her reputation as spotless as newly fallen snow. Hell, last Alex heard, Cannes had been seen at the lake south of town, walking on water.
Sigh. Snatching her cell up off the tiled counter Alex hit the speed dial, leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. Her stomach danced from one side of her belly to the other. Strange how she craved and dreaded talking to the man whose smooth sexy voice floated through the earpiece.
“What?” Viktor asked flatly.
“I have the info we need. Are you coming over?”
“Depends on whether it’ll be worth my while.”
“It’ll definitely be worth your while in more ways than one. I promise.” No answer. Not even a hint of interest. Time to up the stakes just a lit
tle bit. She knew the bastard liked to make her beg for it. Damn, and she loved groveling for him. “How ‘bout a trade, lover? My info on Sydni Cannes…”
“In exchange for a good, hard fuck?”
Alex’s breath caught in her throat for a sec as she let the raunchy words and heated—finally—tone of Viktor’s words wash over her. “Oh yes. I think that’ll do.”
“In that case I’ll see you in half an hour.”
Her belly fluttered in anticipation of the pleasure promised by the hard-edged, deep, masculine voice. Mmm, hard, deep…exactly what she wanted.
“Use your key. I’ll await you in bed,” Alex purred, then snapped the phone shut. She jumped into the shower and washed up at record speed, paying special attention to freshly shaving her oh-so-ready pussy.
* * * * *
After a hard day at the office bled into an even harder evening at home, Sydni switched off her laptop and wrinkled her nose in confusion. The numbers for the new shipping contract she’d landed still didn’t line up. Something was off but she was no closer to nailing it down right now than she’d been when she’d discovered the issue a couple of days ago.
Perched in the middle of a sea of cushions and covers all over her big comfy bed, the sexily dim lighting of the fireplace had her mind drifting elsewhere…mainly to a topic she’d been thinking too much of lately—sex. And lots of it.
It had been a whole week since her little run-in with the law yet any thought of that event instantly conjured the ruggedly handsome Mr. Drew Caruth. Sydni just couldn’t stop thinking about him. In fact her fantasies of late featured sun laden black sand beaches, hunky real-life lawyers and all kinds of naughty possibilities that sent her temperature soaring.
She jumped when the phone rang.
“Hello?” she grumped, hopping out of her personal haven of silken sheets and ran down to the kitchen.
“Is this Ms. Sydni Cannes?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“This is Earl Matheson from KWQQ, your radio station for smooth jazz.”
“Uh, okay. How can I help you, Earl?”
Tilting the handset so she could hold it on her shoulder and still snatch the Häagen-Dazs Butter Pecan ice cream out of the freezer. Grabbing a spoon, she headed back upstairs. Treating herself for landing the big Sony account was overdue. She deserved this damn ice cream, and no one was going to interrupt her long overdue indulgence. Not to mention Earl was spoiling a perfectly good evening of masturbating in between TV shows.
“It’s not what you can do for me, but what we want to do for you.”
“Okay, Earl, I’m not trying to be rude but I’m in the middle of something.” Yeah, in the middle of creaming your fingers. “You’ve got thirty seconds to get to the point then I’m going to have to go. Deal?”
“Deal. Let’s cut to it. Your sister, Charli, has entered you in our Set ‘Em Up, Knock ‘Em Down contest.”
“I’m sorry, Earl. I don’t bowl.”
The man laughed, really laughed. Hard. Like she was the biggest idiot in all of creation.
“Okay, Earl, you’re down to about ten seconds here, bud.”
“Your sister has basically set you up on a blind date. You are to meet your mystery man at a place of your choosing tomorrow morning at exactly eleven o’clock. And since your sister knows the person it’s perfectly safe.”
“Two seconds.”
“No problem, Sydni. Let us take down your information on where you want to meet this dream date and we’ll take care of the rest. You can even choose what he has to wear so you’ll recognize him. You two hit it off, we’ll send you to a five-star dining establishment and tell your story on the air. If not, we’ll pay you for your time.”
“And this was my sister’s idea?”
“Yep. Miss Charli Cannes wrote to us when she heard about the contest and her letter as to why you should get the dream date was picked unanimously by our staff. Would you like to hear the letter? We can even get her on the phone if you like.”
“No. I believe you.” Damn woman. Just wait, I’m gonna strangle her, then resurrect her just so I can kill her again.
“What was that, Ms. Cannes?”
“Uh. Nothing.”
“So will you do it?”
“Yes. Okay. What do you need?”
Fine. Anything to get the man off the phone. She’d deal with Charli later. Meddling girl.
After a few minutes spouting off the most outrageous clothing she could think of for her so-called dream date to wear, Sydni hung up the phone and scooted down in the covers.
The ice cream carton settled onto the nightstand with a soft thunk. The spoon clattered against the wood just before Sydni’s eyes slid closed. Her tongue was cool against her lips as it slid from one side of her mouth to the other while her mind conjured the delicious image of…Drew? Again? What the hell?
Why was she thinking about that Drew guy so much? She shouldn’t be filling her mind with pictures of the one man every single female in their whole company wished would push them up against the nearest solid object and fuck them into oblivion. God, the man couldn’t be more than thirty years old. But damn he was a fine specimen of a man. Hell, a simple look her way made her knees knock together. But Drew wasn’t interested in her. Why would he be when there were plenty of other women his age that made it more than clear they were interested. The man could get any piece of pussy he wanted. And learning he was a good friend of Charli’s just added to the list of why he was off limits. Too young. Too damn fine. Sigh. Just the thought of his hands on her made her go red in the face. No, she shouldn’t…but then again, who’d know?
The second the thought formed in her head, a pair of gray eyes appeared behind her lids. Drew. A sexy smile lit up his face just for her. And in her fantasy, that face moved closer and closer to her own until he was close enough to kiss, but not quite. Instead, he dipped his head and nudged her chin up so he could inhale the fragrance of her skin. With nothing touching her but the tip of his nose, Drew explored the soft underside of her jaw before nuzzling his way toward the hollow behind her left earlobe.
Talented fingers touched her intimately, gently twisting a nipple before drawing it into his mouth, pulling deeply. Sucking hard, then laving the tip, round and round.
Breathing deeply, Sydni imagined Drew’s scent filling her nostrils. His tongue slid down the side of her neck and left a warm, wet path down to her collar bone. Her hips swiveled in a slow, deliberate circle as one hand closed around a swelling breast and the other slid between dewy labia. She wasn’t even surprised at how wet she was—it was becoming the norm with thoughts of Mr. Caruth, damn it.
And now her clit needed some attention. Reaching into her nightstand drawer, her favorite toy fell comfortably into her hand. Anxious and ready for relief, Sydni ignored the feeling of emptiness in her womb. Spreading her slick and swollen flesh she aimed for her clit and flicked the switch.
“Aw, damn it,” Sydni grumped at herself. The batteries were dead.
A quiet gasp and a sexy masculine moan snapped her attention to the TV she’d forgotten was on. Her favorite vampire was laying some hot, hard, sweaty sex down on a female like he’d never have another chance. Afterward, he loved her so tenderly it brought tears to Sydni’s eyes even as her fingers slid over the planes of her tummy.
“Obviously this date couldn’t have come at a better time. Look at you, alone on a Friday night blubbering over a television show. You need to get laid, woman. Seriously.”
Maybe the date with Mr. Unknown tomorrow morning would lead to a little bump and grind? Sydni snorted at herself, knowing she had every intention of meeting the man just long enough to blow him off.
Chapter Three
She must be nuts. What the hell was she doing here waiting for a total stranger? Sydni hated to admit she’d been so engrossed in her work, she’d completely forgotten about the weird phone call from the DJ at KWQQ until one of their admins had called with a reminder of her “appointment with de
stiny”. God, could you get any more corny? And when the radio chick rattled off what her mystery man would be wearing, at her request of course, all Sydni could do was shake her head knowing she’d been cruel.
She checked her watch with a huff and felt the muscles in her stomach tighten. It was almost time. And though she wanted to have an attitude about the whole set up, Sydni couldn’t manage to get mad at her sister. Sure, Charli had signed her up for the stupid radio station’s blind-date contest, but the woman hadn’t tied her hands and feet to make her come here to meet the man. Well too late now. If there was one thing she wouldn’t do, it was stand someone up. It was simply too rude. But she could get rid of the guy tactfully. And quickly.
So here she sat at a stupid Starbucks instead of sleeping in, waiting for a man dressed in one of those stretchy workout shirts done in ghastly neon green, and a pair of black and white checkered golf pants. She shuddered at the ghastly image in her mind. Well, one thing was certain—any man with enough balls to walk into a busy Starbucks at a major intersection dressed like that must be as hard-up as she was.
Sydni laughed at herself, then ratcheted back to a semi-hilarious giggle when two women at the table next to hers flashed sharp looks. She should have been embarrassed to burst out laughing in the middle of a coffee shop while she sat alone, but after the week she was having, who gave a good goddamn? The only thing on her mind was getting this over with so she could go home, curl up on the couch with her favorite faux fur blankie and get some work done. Perhaps while listening to a rerun of the season opener of her favorite vampire soap opera.
“And pretend not to be lonely. Damn it.” Oops. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
Syndi snuck a peek at the two ladies who’d given her the stink eye seconds before. They were no longer eyeing her. Their attention was on someone across the room. When one of the ladies mouths edged open as if she were on the verge of drooling, Sydni had to see what the hell she was looking at. Was there a life sized piece of sculpted chocolate on display or something?