She could ask for love, for him to love her in return as much as she loved him. She’d thought she was besotted with the man when she was seventeen, but this was different. Becoming lovers had increased her feelings for Ethan tenfold, and Kayla was struggling with her love for him and her desire for self-preservation. She didn’t want to get hurt.
She had to remember how they’d gotten here. Ethan had been willing to do anything and everything to get his hands on her father’s company. Marrying and bedding her was an added benefit, she must never forget that. She must always endeavor to keep her feelings in check, because if Ethan found out, he could use them against her.
Chapter 10
“Welcome back, Kay,” Shane said from the doorway of Kayla’s office the following morning.
It had felt strange to Kayla to come back to Adams Cosmetics after the week-long whirlwind that was their honeymoon. It seemed like a lifetime.
She’d been even more unsettled when she’d woken up that morning and found Ethan already gone. Once they’d returned to his estate last night, they’d had a late supper and then Ethan had been eager to get her on her back as if to christen their bed.
Ethan had left a note that an emergency had come up overseas that he’d postponed for weeks but needed to address immediately at the office, but it still irked her. Kayla supposed she’d expected that they would spend a leisurely morning in bed making love and have breakfast together before going their separate ways at the office, kind of like in Bora Bora, but that had been far from the case.
“Shane.” Kayla rose from her desk and rushed over into his arms. “It’s good to see you.” She kissed his cheek.
Shane stepped back to look at his sister. “You look really good, Kay. Very tan and very relaxed. I take it you had a good honeymoon?” He winked at her.
Kayla blushed. “I am not going to comment on my sex life with my little brother of all people,” she said, and turned to walk toward the couch so they could catch up.
Shane followed behind her and joined her as she sat on the leather sofa. “You don’t have to.” He smiled knowingly. “We’re both adults and this was a man you’d had a serious crush on for years. I know what happened.”
Kayla rolled her eyes upward and ignored the statement. “Catch me up on AC.” She shortened the name of the family business. “What’s new? What have I missed?”
“Graham International sent some executives over to evaluate our processes.”
“Is that right?” Kayla asked. She’d known they would come to see the lay of the land, but they’d done it while she’d been on her honeymoon? Was that Ethan’s way of avoiding ruffling her feathers?
“And…” Shane smile grew even larger. “I have finalized the new fragrance.”
“Shane!” Kayla patted his knee. “That’s wonderful news and is by far the best wedding present I could get. In light of this merger, this couldn’t come at a better time.”
“I couldn’t agree more. It’s time to talk strategy.”
“Is Courtney in?” Kayla asked, reaching for the phone.
“Now you know our little sister is off gallivanting in some part of the world, but she’s due back in a couple of days.”
“Well, we need to discuss our advertising campaign for this fragrance,” Kayla stated, rushing over her desk. Before all the wedding shenanigans, they’d started some preliminary sketches. She looked at her calendar on her computer and threw out several dates to Shane.
“Any of those sound good to me,” Shane said, rising from the couch.
“Let’s shoot for tomorrow, then,” Kayla said. “That’ll give me a chance to get through all my phone calls and emails and then we’ll get down to business.”
“Welcome back in the saddle, kid!” Shane squeezed her shoulder. “We missed you!”
“And I’ve missed you,” Kayla said, giving him a quick smile. She hadn’t realized just how much until now.
Kayla waved to Piper when she saw her walk into the bistro café where they were meeting for dinner that evening.
“My gosh!” Piper exclaimed. “The bride has returned.” She leaned across the table to give Kayla a quick hug. “And boy, does it look like you had a real good time.”
Kayla laughed. “Piper, how are you, darling?”
“To hell with me,” Piper said. “I want to know about you and that fine specimen of husband and why in the hell you’re here with me on your second night back in town rather than in bed with your hubby.”
“Wow!” Kayla’s mouth formed into an O. “That’s a lot to ask.”
“I’m dying for the details. So leave nothing out.”
Kayla laughed. “Well, we’re having dinner tonight because said husband is working on a large deal and won’t be home until later and told me to eat without him.”
“And?”
“I presume you want to know about the honeymoon?”
“Uh, yeah…” Piper’s green eyes grew large.
The waitress came over and interrupted them. “Wine?” she asked, looking at Piper. Since Kayla knew Piper’s favorite she’d taken the liberty of ordering a bottle of her favorite red.
“Absolutely,” Piper said, holding up her glass.
Once the waitress had filled her glass and gone, Kayla leaned in. “We went to Bora Bora.”
“As in Tahiti?”
Kayla nodded.
“Oh, my!” Piper leaned back with her glass of wine and took a generous sip. “The man certainly knows how to romance.”
“Even more.” Kayla leaned forward. “We had a private two-story villa on the lagoon with a deck and boat-docking station. Piper, it was insane!” She tried not to raise her voice. “And the sex, well…it lived up to every fantasy I’d ever had and then some.”
“Girl, stop!”
“I am not joking. Ethan was…no, make that is an amazing lover. I think I had forgotten that part of myself, but Ethan awakened my sexuality.”
“Good for you.” Piper chuckled and sipped on her wine. “You probably needed it.”
“Piper!” Kayla blushed.
“And so now…does this mean your marriage is real now?”
Kayla stared back at her best friend, unable to answer. It caused Piper to place her wineglass on the table and stare at her questioningly. “It’s real for one of you, isn’t it?”
Kayla nodded reluctantly. Maybe if she didn’t verbalize it, it wouldn’t be true.
“Oh, Kayla.” Piper’s head hung low for a minute. Then she popped up. “So Ethan feels nothing for you?”
“He desires me,” Kayla answered. “Other than that, I don’t know.”
“Kayla, you just spent twenty-four hours, seven days a week with the man and you don’t know how he feels about you?”
Kayla blinked back tears, fighting to keep them at bay. She shook her head. “I mean he cares for me. Respects me, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I’m asking if he loves you,” Piper replied.
The four-letter word Kayla was afraid to think about, much less say out loud. She shook her head furiously and Piper leaned over and patted her hand.
“It’s okay. Maybe in time he will.”
Kayla swallowed hard. “That’s very optimistic of you Piper, but I’m a realist. I know why Ethan married me, and love wasn’t one of those reasons.” She finally said the word aloud. He’d already made a preemptive move by sending his troops to evaluate her company without her. What was next?
“I pray that isn’t true, Kayla. Otherwise you’re in for a world of hurt.”
Ethan was disappointed when he arrived home and found Kayla asleep. He’d hoped she might have waited up for him, but he guessed that it was pretty hard to ask, seeing that it was well after midnight. He’d tried to handle the overseas problem as expeditiously as possible, but he’d encountered one hurdle after another. He hadn’t wanted to begin their life together stateside like this. He’d wanted to help Kayla get acclimated to her new life and instead he’d missed their first morning a
nd night together. Kayla must be furious with him and probably assuming that it was back to business, but that was far from the case.
Their time in Bora Bora had meant a great deal to him, and he was becoming more attached to her than he had ever thought possible. He’d felt a connection between them when they were younger. The way Kayla looked at him with such adoration, it had been impossible to ignore. And he had to admit, he’d been flattered to be the object of her affection, but as she’d blossomed into a young woman he’d begun to desire her. It was then that he’d thrown himself into work and other women to exorcise her from his mind. It hadn’t worked, and now he was facing an unfamiliar emotion. Could it be love?
He certainly didn’t know how to love someone, at least not someone like Kayla. She would demand all of his heart and he wasn’t sure he could give it. Sure, he’d loved his mother dearly, but that was as close to love as he’d ever gotten. Carter Graham hadn’t wanted love. He wanted money, power and respect, and so Ethan had gone on the path of getting those things so that Carter would respect him, but Carter never offered up any praise. He was definitely nothing like Byron Adams, which was why it pained him that he was at odds with Kayla’s father. Ethan respected Byron a great deal and hoped he would one day realize he wasn’t Carter Graham incarnate.
Ethan bent down to kiss Kayla on the forehead as she slept. He would love to have her wake up to him making love to her body, but he would let her rest. There was always tomorrow.
When Kayla woke up the next morning, she was not alone, nor was Ethan asleep, because she could feel the thickness of his erection against her stomach. He was already looking down at her, his eyes ablaze with desire. “Good morning,” she whispered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Good morning, wife,” Ethan murmured. “I apologize for not giving you a proper send-off yesterday before you went to work.”
“I understand…business sometimes takes a priority,” Kayla responded groggily.
“Hmm…well, allow me to rectify that,” Ethan said, and seconds later, his head was dipping underneath the covers.
He removed her panties so quickly, Kayla didn’t have a moment to react as she was barely awake. Ethan kissed her belly, the soft flesh on her thighs and then he blew on the springy curls at her thighs. Kayla held her breath waiting in delicious anticipation of what was sure to come. So when Ethan spread her legs wide and began to tongue her with feverish delight, she cried out.
“Ohmigod!” Kayla moaned aloud. He used his tongue to make figure eights while he used his fingers to further exacerbate the tiny nub of her womanhood and bring her to a heightened sexual peak. Ethan grabbed her buttocks and brought her even closer to his hot, waiting tongue.
An orgasmic cry escaped her lips when he shifted to find her G-spot and worry it relentlessly with his tongue. A tidal wave swept her out to sea and she collapsed on the pillow when the second orgasm washed over her.
Ethan pulled back the covers, lifted his head and asked, “Am I forgiven for yesterday?”
Kayla was thinking about said orgasm as the advertising meeting was underway. She knew she should focus on the task at hand because it was critical to Adams Cosmetics getting back on track. It was just hard to do when her husband had just given her the best oral sex she’d had in her life.
Their head of advertising was talking about a concept that Courtney, who’d yet to make it back from Europe, would handle when Ethan came bursting through the door. Everyone suddenly jumped up as if their hands had been caught in the cookie jar.
“No need to rise, everyone, and I apologize for just barging in,” Ethan said smoothly. “But I wasn’t aware there was a meeting today.” He turned to glare at Kayla and she could feel all eyes in the room on her.
“Would you mind excusing my wife and me while we speak? We’ll reconvene in fifteen minutes.”
Clearly, everyone knew who Ethan was and scurried out of the room, but Shane stayed behind to protect his sister from Ethan’s wrath. He didn’t like the way Ethan was glaring at her.
“We weren’t trying to exclude you,” Shane began, but Ethan held up his hand.
“I would like to speak with Kayla alone, please,” Ethan said again, never taking his eyes off his wife.
Shane looked at Kayla, giving her a silent promise that he would stay if she needed him, but Kayla shook her head, so Shane headed to the exit.
Once the door closed, Ethan tore into Kayla. “How could you not tell me about this meeting?” he asked with a raised voice. “Especially after this morning?”
“Why should I?” Kayla’s voice matched his. “I still run this company, or did that change when your cronies began raiding my company during our honeymoon? Matter of fact, how did you know about this meeting? Did you install some spies, too, while you were at it?”
“One, they are not cronies, they are members of my Acquisitions team and assess all my acquisitions to see what is or is not viable. Second, they didn’t raid anything. Adams Cosmetics is exactly how you left it, at least for now.”
Kayla was livid and she noted he didn’t deny adding spies. “Oh, I see—you’re going to dismantle us, ‘your acquisition.’” She made quotation marks with her fingers.
“Damn it, Kayla.” Ethan loosened his tie. “Why must you jump to the worst possible conclusion? I’m not dismantling AC, but there are going to have to be changes to keep this company solvent. And one of them is Shane’s fragrance. It’s vital to relaunching Adams Cosmetics, and at the very least I should have been included in this meeting.”
“Am I or am I not still running this company?” Kayla jumped to her feet as she yelled at Ethan.
“You are, with stipulations,” Ethan said through clenched teeth. He hadn’t wanted to get into this just yet, but clearly he didn’t have much choice.
“Now…we get to the heart of the matter.”
“As head of Graham International, all major decisions need to be run by me first.” Ethan turned to his wife. “This fragrance—” he pointed to the mockup “—is one of them.”
Kayla rolled her eyes. “So I’m just a figurehead.” Bitterness was laced in her voice. “To the public I’m the CEO, but yet I’m not really, because you’ve cut off my feet. Is that what this morning was about? You were trying to get me all ready. To hell with you, Ethan!”
Kayla stormed out of the conference room and past several onlookers. Once she got to her office, she slammed the door and locked it. She slumped against the door and her head fell to her hands she cried. What had she gotten herself into?
Ethan continued the meeting with the advertising executives without Kayla. He would give her time to calm down and then go back to speak with her. This was the first true test of the marriage. He’d known it would come eventually, but didn’t think it would be so soon.
When the meeting was over he walked to Kayla’s office. Ethan knew she was angry with him, and it was about to get a whole lot worse once she heard his ideas for the fragrance advertising campaign.
“Is she in there?” he asked Myra.
“Yes, but the door is locked, as Kayla doesn’t want to be disturbed when she’s trying to help an employee.”
“Is this something that Kayla does frequently?” Ethan inquired.
Myra nodded. “If anyone in the company needs help, they know they can always go to Ms. Adams and she will try and find a solution to whatever problem they may have.”
So that’s what Kayla meant by saying her employees were like family. Ethan was impressed at Kayla’s generosity. Ethan doubted he’d ever inquired about an employee’s life outside of work, other than the niceties. “I appreciate the info, Myra, but I need to speak with her. So if you can give me the key, please. And it is Mrs. Graham now.”
“Of course.” Myra was clearly flustered at her error and colored. “I apologize, Mr. Graham I’m just getting used to the name change.”
“No problem, Myra. The key, please.”
Reluctantly, Myra opened a drawer, pulled out a key and he
ld it out to Ethan.
When Kayla looked up and saw Ethan standing in her doorway, she was furious. She was in a delicate meeting with one of the cafeteria cooks and had asked not to be disturbed.
Kayla pressed down her intercom. “Myra, I asked to be left alone. Phyllis, I am so sorry, we will finish this discussion on your next break, okay?” She apologized to the cook and rose from her desk to pat her hand as she escorted her to the door. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Don’t be angry with Myra,” Ethan said once the elderly woman had left. “I strong-armed her to give me the key.”
“Figures.” Kayla returned to her desk.
“I am not leaving until we talk about what happened today,” Ethan said, coming to stand in front of her.
“You’ll be waiting a long time,” Kayla said. She picked up her phone to make a call, but Ethan grabbed the receiver out of her hand and slammed it down.
“I will not be dismissed by my wife,” he returned testily.
“Oh, did I hit a nerve?” Kayla looked up at him. She knew she had. During their honeymoon, Ethan had mentioned how he’d hated when his father had ignored him. He would throw a tantrum, desperate for his attention, but Carter would merely call the nanny or his mother and have him removed.
“Well, imagine how I feel.” She touched her chest. “You called me out and embarrassed me in front of my staff. And from what my spies tell me, you went ahead with the meeting without me.”
Ethan breathed in deep and willed himself to calm down. He’d never known a woman who could get under his skin quite like Kayla could. He’d had no intention of losing his cool, but she’d riled him up by ignoring him. He hated that feeling because it reminded him of the way his father used to ignore him as a child.
“I’m sorry,” he said finally. “I should not have done that, but I was taken aback to find you’d called a meeting this important without me. I went ahead with it because time is of the essence. Adams Cosmetics is hemorrhaging money and I’ve got to put a tourniquet on it. Shane’s fragrance and potential line of fragrances has real promise and has to be handled right.”
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