Compromising Positions

by Jenna Bayley-Burke

  She’d turned off the television, the reflection of the lights on the water barely lighting the room. The curls, ribbons and lace make her appear even younger. Joining her on the bed, he handed her the credit card he’d retrieved from his wallet.

  She narrowed her eyes as she flipped the card between her fingers. “What is this for?”

  “You’ll need a dress.”

  She held out the card. “I don’t want your money. And I’m not trying to guilt you into anything.”

  He didn’t take it. “I know. I hate these things. I don’t want to go. I’ve never asked anyone to come with me. I didn’t want to subject you to it.”

  “If you don’t want to go, don’t.”

  If only it were that simple. “It’s a work thing, and he’s my father. It would look strange if I don’t make an appearance. And if I suddenly show up with someone, people will talk. Tessa turned it into a benefit for the school district athletics programs. There’ll be cameras and reporters and after Colin’s column… I honestly thought about asking you to come, but didn’t think you’d want to risk it.”

  “Risk what?”

  “Daphne finding out.”

  Her mouth formed a perfect O as he rose, gathering the briefcase from her lap and stacking it on the chair in the corner. He slipped the card into the pocket of her coat. Circling back to the bed, he stood before her. “If you want to go, buy a dress. If not, then don’t.” He ran a finger down her face. She turned, placing her cheek in the palm of his hand. “Isn’t there something better we could be doing?”

  ———

  Sophie took a deep breath and wondered how David managed to talk about everything from money to family politics blissfully naked. She was having trouble keeping her mind off the fact that he’d taken off her panties. What she wouldn’t give to be that comfortable in her own skin. She gazed up into his eyes while he gently stroked her face. If she could only put her feelings for him into words. Then again, maybe not. Maybe it was better he couldn’t read her mind. Not until she could read his.

  “What do you like best about me?”

  He answered quickly, without blinking. “Your hands.”

  She was sitting on his bed in thigh-high leather boots and a lace baby doll that left nothing to the imagination. As if he was thinking about her hands.

  “Come on, you can be honest. I asked. It’s not a trap.”

  “Your hands. They are my little secret. Hands so tiny and fragile looking, but amazingly strong and powerful.” He laced his fingers through hers. “Hands wonderful to touch, and amazing to be touched with.”

  She cupped him gently with her hands. She wanted to learn everything she could about his body. Not only to pleasure him, but to help herself feel more at ease and less self-conscious.

  “You could show me.”

  His eyes never left hers. “The way I remember it, you don’t need to learn anything.”

  She smiled. “You could show me what you like, the rhythm, the pressure.”

  “I like it better when you do it.”

  “You’re not playing fair.”

  “No, I’m not playing show and tell.”

  She felt him warming and hardening again beneath her hand. Her voice came out low and throaty. “Are you thinking of what you want me to do? Tell me.”

  “Surprise me.”

  She began to slowly stroke his growing member. “Maybe I should stop if you don’t like it enough to tell me.” She tried to pull her hand away, but his held it in place. He stared into her eyes as he lengthened her stroke. He showed her how to twist her hand gently at the top before coming back down. He released his hold on her and himself, and resumed watching her.

  She took him first in one hand, then the other. Her hands worked together, one finishing and the other beginning as she stroked the length of him. His breath snagged in his throat as he grabbed her wrists, freeing himself from her sweet torture. Pulling her arms overhead he pushed her onto her back and reached for the condom.

  “Let me,” she asked sweetly, her greedy fingers contrasting her sweet tone. If he needed it to feel safe with her, she’d let him have it. And besides, she was curious to learn if it felt different.

  He took the packet back. “I think I’ve had about as much of your hands as I can take.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Something had shifted the moment they had made love. She’d thought it had only been her, that it was the way you felt after your first time. But now she wasn’t so sure it hadn’t happened for him too. He seemed happier, lighter than before.

  It was her turn to be the reluctant one now. Which made her feel extremely guilty for all the pressure she’d put on him. It was obvious he wasn’t hiding the relationship from his family, but she was keeping it from hers. Sophie vowed to tell Craig and Daphne as soon as the baby was born. If there was still anything to tell.

  Her fingers danced across the racks as she flipped through the dresses. Only three hours until she was supposed to meet him, and she still had no idea what she was wearing. The invitation said black tie but what did that mean for her exactly? Short, long, black, white? Not white. She wanted to catch his eye, to really make him see she could be as sexy and sophisticated as any woman there.

  “Is there something I can help you find?” a sunny voice said from behind her. Sophie usually shooed the sales clerks away, but today she could use all the help she could get.

  Turning, she smiled, recognizing the familiar face from one of her classes.

  “Cindy? I didn’t know you worked here.”

  “Here there and everywhere. The discount keeps Ramon from getting too angry about my shopping habit. Class was great last night, but I have to ask you,” Cindy lowered her voice and stepped closer. “Does The Top really work?”

  Sophie felt her cheeks go up in flames as she nodded. “Just go slow.”

  Cindy’s cheeks pinked. “David mentioned that about ten times.” They both fell into nervous laughter. “What can I help you find?”

  “What do you wear to a black tie benefit?”

  “With David?” Cindy arched an eyebrow.

  David’s comments in class the night before had removed any doubt the students may have had about them being together. No need to hide it from everyone. She nodded.

  “I need something that will make him think how great I will look out of it.”

  ———

  Sophie’s credit card was probably melting inside her wallet, but she didn’t care. She was not going to take another cent from him. She still hadn’t figured out a way to pay him for the SUV—adding to the tab was out of the question.

  Still, she hadn’t held back. Everything touching her body was new. Even the make-up Cindy had one of her friends apply at the store. Sophie stepped back and wondered at her reflection in the mirror. She’d wanted to look less like the wallflower she was, and more like a woman David would be with. She felt like Cinderella before the ball.

  Cindy had piled most of her curls on top of her head, but a few tendrils danced around her neck. Sophie stifled a gasp as she looked down at the dress. The halter neckline pressed her breasts up and out, serving them up on a platter. The bodice cinched her waist before the silk georgette flitted about her legs in jagged asymmetrical layers. The slit on the side was so high she couldn’t wear stockings, and since pantyhose never fit right her legs were bare. Cindy had dared her to wear nothing beneath the dress, but she’d chickened out and bought a small red satin thong that matched the color of the dress perfectly.

  Red was the theme of the night, from her pouty lips to her spike-heeled shoes, to the quick coat of polish they had brushed across her nails before she’d left the store. Both cars he’d bought her were red, so she guessed he liked it. Maybe it was too much. She’d never worn red before.

  Sophie jumped as she heard his familiar pounding at her door. The man did everything at full bore. No polite knocking for David. She slipped on her coat as she made her way to the door, buttoning up quickly befor
e she opened it.

  She reminded herself to breathe as he made his way inside. Sophistication oozed from him. Clothes just didn’t fit regular people that well. His black tuxedo was obviously designer and expertly tailored, his black coat a wool three times as thick as hers. And he smelled so good. Maybe they should just stay in.

  “Ready?” he asked, turning in the entryway.

  She could only nod as he brushed his thumb across her lips, then pulled it back and looked at it.

  “Smudge proof?”

  She grinned as her wits returned to her. “To the average man, but I’m not so sure it would work on you. Feel free to try. I have lots more.”

  David smiled and shook his head. “I hate the taste of lipstick. Vile stuff.” He reached past her, opening the door and ushering her down the stairs.

  “Not to worry. This is completely kissable, and flavored too.” He didn’t respond, just urged her across the parking lot.

  “I don’t even get to see it?” he asked once they were in the car.

  “See what?”

  “The dress I bought.” He maneuvered the car through the streets as smoothly as if they were on water.

  “You didn’t buy it, I did.” She smiled smugly, pulling his credit card from her pocket. “You can have this back.”

  He kept one hand on the steering wheel, the other on the gearshift. “What good is having money if you won’t let me do anything for you?”

  “I told you, I don’t want your money. I don’t want to owe you anything.”

  He took the corner so sharp she had to grab on to the seat to keep from toppling out. “Let me do something nice for you. Something to remember me by.”

  So that’s where this was going. “Don’t leave, and I won’t need memories.”

  He pulled the car effortlessly in front of the hotel and removed the keys for the valet. “I won’t leave you, Sophie. You’ll leave me. Everybody does.”

  He was out of his mind if he thought she would ever be able to walk away. She wanted to argue, but it was all she could do just to keep up with his frantic pace as he dragged her up the staircase and toward the ballroom, obviously forgetting she took almost three steps to his one.

  The tension in his body tried to snake its way into hers, but she wouldn’t let it. He’d told her he didn’t want to come to the party tonight. She guessed because things were tense with his father. It was her job to make sure he enjoyed himself a little, so she stayed calm and hoped to distract him. She got her chance when they paused before entering the ballroom the party was being held in.

  He stood stock still as she placed her coat on top of his on his arm. “Aren’t you going to check them?” she asked sweetly.

  He nodded and retreated back outside while she looked around the ornately decorated room. Green and gold, the company colors. A long bar was at one end of the room, circular tables in the middle and a stage at the other end with a screen running photos. Sophie’s heart melted as the pictures changed. There was David, about three, and his father was pulling him on a sled.

  Sophie felt him return, though he hadn’t touched her. She turned, watching as David threaded a finger beneath his collar, tugging at it as if it were a noose.

  “Doesn’t your shirt fit?” He hadn’t had that problem earlier.

  “It fits fine,” he ground out, his jaw clenched.

  She batted his hand away. “Then leave it alone. You’re ruining the effect.”

  “What effect?”

  “You must know. Women love a man in a tux. That’s why we make them dress up for weddings. You need to get a new shirt.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not the shirt, it’s your dress.”

  Worth every red cent. “You like it?”

  “Every man in this place likes it, a little too much.”

  “Now you know how I feel.” Everywhere they went, women looked at him from the corner of their eyes, sizing him up like a dessert tray. It made her feel possessive and proud. Dear God, please let it have the same effect on him.

  David rolled his eyes. “That slit is too damned high. Every time you take a step I can almost see, you know. You are wearing underwear, right?”

  She waved him off. “You know what I told the sales clerk?” Stepping closer she pulled his head down so she could whisper in his ear. “I said I wanted something that would make you think about how great I’ll look out of it.”

  “It’s working.”

  “Took you long enough.”

  ———

  Where was he? David tried to scan the room, but his eyes kept falling back on Sophie and that dress. Every time he let her out of his sight some jerk came up and tried to ogle her. He’d had to kiss her four times already to keep the trolls at bay, not that he was complaining. She’d found lipstick that tasted like pumpkin pie.

  He hadn’t expected her to look quite this way. Not that he should be quite this surprised, but still. She was beautiful when her face was scrubbed clean and her curls ran wild. With her face made up and her hair done and her body presented like that, he couldn’t blame the other men for looking. She was flawless. And those pale blue eyes pulled him right in. If only he could go there.

  But David was here for one reason, and one reason only. To find the old man and get him to explain the game he was playing, with him and SGI. Lance had to show for his own party. Maybe he should check with the desk, see if he and Tessa had a room to get ready in.

  Circling back he found Sophie seated at the bar, people watching. He’d warned her about these things. He sidled up behind her, placing a hand on her hip and leaning in to kiss her temple while staring down the pipsqueak who’d been ogling her for the last three minutes. Thankfully the imp scampered away before he had to open his mouth.

  “You don’t have to keep doing that.” She used the straw of her diet cola to stab at the cherries at the bottom of her glass. There had to be at least six. Is the bartender hitting on her too?

  “I’m not doing anything.” He knew it was a lie, but he needed to focus on the task at hand, not have an argument with Sophie.

  “You’re marking your territory and you know it.” She finally speared a cherry and lifted it out, plopping it in her mouth and tugging the stem off.

  “If he’s not here in ten minutes we’ll bail, I promise. I just need to straighten out a few things with him and he hasn’t been returning my calls.” He watched as Sophie swallowed, then put the cherry stem in her mouth.

  “What are you doing?”

  Her wicked grin made her eyes flash as she pulled the stem back out of her mouth, tied in a knot.

  “Is this what you’ve been doing?” He swallowed hard. Maybe they’d leave in just five more minutes. “No wonder you have men lined up in droves.”

  She leaned closer, resting her hand on his knee and gifting him with an excellent view of her ample cleavage. “And to think, you already know you’re coming home with me.”

  Tilting her chin up, he tasted her. The cherry and the cola and the sweetness that was all his, his Sophie, at least for now.

  “I’m glad you could make it.” David jumped at the sound of his father’s voice. Why had he closed his eyes? He felt like a teenager caught necking in the closet.

  David caught Sophie’s hand, squeezing it, hoping to reassure some of the blush away. “Where the hell have you been?”

  “I should greet my guests.” Lance spun on his heel and stepped away.

  David caught the older man’s arm and angled him away from the crowd. “You will not avoid me for another minute.”

  Lance froze. “Here?”

  “There’s a balcony. Now.” David imagined his father’s smile was as fake as his own as he followed him out the doors and into the cold night. “Talk.”

  Lance dug his hands into the pockets of his tuxedo pants. “About?”

  “No more games, Dad. What are you up to?”

  Steely blue eyes stared though him. “You should know, I changed my will.”

  David felt
his face contort. This was like a bad movie. “To write me out for firing you?”

  Lance’s smile was genuine as he shook his head. “The old one followed the stipulations of the prenup, and things are different after the buy out.”

  “Do what you want with your money. Give it all to her now, for all I care. I want to know what you were thinking jerking me around like a puppet on a string. You created an elaborate scheme to make me think you were embezzling. That’s insane. I should have you committed to a mental hospital.”

  Lance shrugged. “I didn’t see another option. You wouldn’t buy me out, and I knew you wouldn’t slow down until you had majority ownership. I wasn’t sure you had enough capital to do it on your own.”

  “I did. I closed my trust and wired the money you took into Kelly’s trust fund. I’ve removed your access to her account.”

  Lance laughed silently, looking upwards. “To keep it from Tessa. She’s not after the money.”

  David felt the anger flash behind his eyes. “Would you wake up! The woman blackmailed you into marrying her.”

  The idiot was grinning. Never would he become such an ass over a woman. Lance pinned him with his gaze. “I wish you’d just give her a chance.”

  “A chance to sue me too? No thanks.”

  “It was a means to an end. She’s not intimidated by anything. Not the money, not you, not your mother. Tessa knows how special your mother was to me and she doesn’t ask me to put her aside, or you. Even as beastly as you are to her. She just accepts you both as a part of me.

  “I knew you didn’t approve of the relationship, and I’d promised myself never to let another woman come between us. Vicki kept you from coming home all during college, and Gretchen—”

  “Spare me the recap of your poor choice in women.”

  “Tessa wouldn’t stand for me sacrificing our happiness for yours when you are determined to be miserable. Suing me was the only way to get my attention. I’m glad she did.