by ZN Willett
“Quinn, is there more to this story?”
I looked into his curious eyes. “No. Now could you please leave? I’m tired of arguing with you and I need to get ready for dinner.”
He stared at me for a bit too long before I got up, pointed to the door, and walked into my bedroom. I heard his footsteps across the foyer as the door opened then closed behind him.
In the past, I had sat through some excruciating and boring dinner meetings, but this one made them seem like Mardi Gras in comparison. Christopher had to take care of several things going on at the home office, and he spent most of the dinner excusing himself from the table to take calls. This left me alone with the old perverted Board member, who would not take no for an answer. That was, until I stabbed him with my fork when he reached under the table to touch my leg. Needless to say, dinner was cut short.
When Christopher asked me what had happened as we paid the bill, I told him I took care of it. As we exited the restaurant, I heard Christopher say a few private words to the asshole. As I analyzed the man’s facial expressions, I could see Christopher’s words had hit a nerve and he quickly walked to his waiting car.
Christopher and I headed back to our hotel and I was ready for a drink. When Christopher said, “Follow me,” as he headed straight for the bar, normally, I would have said no, however, it had been a long night.
“It’s your lucky day, Colby.”
He smirked at me as we walked into the hotel’s lounge. I ordered a sake martini—strong. It went down smoothly, and I felt the effects right away. The tension in my shoulders eased up as the warm liquid worked its magic.
Christopher stared at me while I drank my martini. He could watch me all he wanted. I didn’t care at that point. His darkened green eyes sparked a piece of me deep down inside that I didn’t want to ignite. That thought alone caused me not to order a second drink.
“Everything turned out well today,” he said.
“What was going on at home?” I asked.
He took a sip of his drink and stretched his arm along the dark leather booth. “They needed my opinion on something. It was nothing to be concerned with.”
“Ah huh, then why did you skip out on us so frequently at dinner?”
“I wasn’t skipping out. If it weren’t for those calls distracting me, I would have punched that asshole in the face.”
My mouth fell open—shocked—but my damn body was turned on. “Why?”
“He was disrespectful toward you. If I’d had my way, I would have ruined my favorite pair of Italian loafers shoving my foot up his ass.”
More stunned, I gawked at him before bursting out in laughter.
“There is nothing humorous about that, Quinn.” He scowled.
“Oh, there is,” I said in between gasps. “Of all the people who would mention being disrespectful to a woman . . . I would have never thought that would come out of your mouth.”
He narrowed his eyes, which caused me to laugh even harder.
“Laugh away; although, what I do is not disrespectful. It’s a man staking claim to what will be his.”
All laughter stopped. “What did you just say?” I asked.
“You will soon realize what your body has craved ever since that night when you released yourself all over my wet fingers.”
“You are that sure of yourself?”
Christopher held up his hands. “I’m one hundred percent sure you want to feel the pleasure that only these can give to you. To push you over your limit and take you to a place you have never imagined.”
I cocked a brow. “All that from one hand?”
“No, Quinn, from two hands.” He smirked.
I shook my head. “Don’t you get tired of hearing yourself talk?”
“No, and you love the sound of my voice.”
“See, even if you weren’t Christopher Colby, that mouth of yours would stop you from ever getting more of me.”
He chuckled. “We both know that’s not true. The way your eyes glaze over when I tell you exactly what I’m going to do to you—”
“You’re imagining it.”
“Am I? Then your relationship with your boyfriend is going smoothly?”
“I am not discussing Guy.”
Even though Guy had asked me to take our friendship further, I wasn’t going to admit to Christopher we weren’t dating.
He slid closer to me. “You know . . . sex is a very good communication tool that can build strong relationships.”
I chuckled. “Are you Dr. Phil now? I am not talking to you about my relationships.”
“I assumed you had an open relationship since you were about to allow a total stranger to sleep with you.”
“I would have never slept with you!”
He laughed to himself.
I shook my head pissed off he had gotten under my skin again. “Why do I bother?” I asked softly.
“Because deep down inside you know the inevitable is going to happen.”
His green demon-like eyes glowed as I stared into them for a moment. They darkened when I leaned in closer. “You may be right . . . but it’s not happening tonight.”
I took the last sip of my drink, and walked out.
Why did he get to me so much? I asked myself as I stepped into the elevator.
You know why, Quinn.
Christopher Colby . . . ugh! He made me so angry and confused. I hated him and his—.
Without warning, I found myself pressed up against the elevator wall. All of the air pushed out of my body as Christopher’s eyes bore down into mine. “We’re not done!” He snarled.
Suddenly, his mouth attacked mine. His lips seared firmly into my closed ones as his tongue tried to gain entrance. I rotated my head to the side and breathed out. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Tell me that you don’t want this?” He panted in my ear.
I said nothing; hating myself for allowing him to make me feel this way again.
He grabbed hold of my chin and turned my face toward his. “Open up.”
Christopher’s body pressed harder into mine and his other hand began to glide up my side. I flattened my palms and pushed his shoulders as he leaned farther into them. He had me pinned to the wall, as our heartbeats pounded in unison.
Desire reflected in Christopher’s eyes, which caused my sex to convulse in a chain of spasms as he reclaimed my mouth. When my lips parted, the warm sensation from his took over. Christopher’s tongue laid claim, plundering and twisting, while he took what he wanted, as I gave in.
Christopher swiveled and curled his tongue against mine, creating a new dance while pulling me in deeper to the beat of our pounding hearts.
He was intoxicating, and I mindlessly fell into the long, drug-induced kiss, until we both took a breath and the coolness of the air touched my burning lips.
When he asked, “Where do you want to come?” all senses were gone. I pulled away and hit the elevator “stop” button. When I swung around to face my demon, the red in his eyes had returned, and the fire that surrounded him seared my skin.
I pounced.
Christopher’s back slammed into the wall, as my hands grabbed his silken strands and I laid claim to his swollen lips. I forced entrance and took what I had been longing for far too long.
He grabbed my ass, as he pressed my sex firmly on his erection. I slid my body up and down his, dry humping him until I felt him stir and grow firmer. He moaned out in pleasure as we both gasped for air, and he breathed out my name.
A war was raging inside between my body and mind, and both sides were fighting for control.
“Is this what you wanted, Colby?” My body asked, as I sucked his lobe into my mouth.
“Yes!” He snarled out, as one hand released my cheek and palmed my breast.
My mind struck back. “Good, let’s get this over.”
Christopher’s body eased up, as he pulled away from me, and huffed out. “What the hell?”
No! I was so close, and the th
robbing between my legs had increased. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
He glared at me angrily. “This is not what I wanted from you!”
Taken aback, I scowled at him for a moment before laughing. “Are you joking? You’ve been trying to get into my pants ever since we met, and now you don’t want to?” Then I had a thought that had never crossed my mind. “I swear, if you’re trying to do this to humiliate me it won’t work! I will destroy you for ever trying to—”
“We both know you want this Quinn. Acting as if it’s something you have to do is comical!”
“I told you I didn’t want anything more from you, nevertheless you kept pushing me! Why don’t we have sex and then we can move the hell on!”
He chuckled to himself while taking a step closer, and spoke with an eerily calm voice. “You’re still trying to tell yourself that what happened that night was a mistake.”
“It was. I felt nothing!” I seethed.
He moved closer. “You’re lying to yourself,” he said softly.
My heart started to race again.
“I don’t make mistakes, Quinn.” He emphasized his words with a grin. “The moment I saw you . . .” He paused.
“What? You knew I wasn’t just a whore you were going to service before your client did? How dumb do you think I am? Why would I want anything other than a cheap screw from you? If you were interested in something more, you don’t flaunt other women in their face and you sure as hell don’t make out with them in front of said love interest—sorry—I meant whore interest! Like I said before, even if you weren’t a damn Colby, I, for sure, would have never taken this,” as I pointed between Christopher and myself, “any further.”
“And here I thought it was all about the bad blood between my family and yourself—”
“You need to include yourself in that statement. Your family includes you!”
Christopher narrowed his eyes. “Be honest with yourself. Is it truthfully only about what happened during the takeover with your father, or was it seeing me with someone else that made this personal?”
I snickered to myself. “Get over yourself, Colby. Your trying to take over my company made this personal. I could care less about what whore you have on your arm.”
“However, that’s what we all do isn’t it?” he asked as he tilted his head.
I inhaled deeply, and exhaled out. “We never went after—”
“Let me stop you there. You may not have been financially able to go after my company; although, you did ‘acquire’ many others along the way.” Christopher made quotation marks with his hands as he said, “acquire.”
Our eyes locked and I knew very well what he was insinuating. “I know what you’re trying to prove Christopher; however we bought those hotels in an ethical way.”
“You so-called bought them when they were desperate and in need of help. You could have helped them, though what you chose to offer was a ‘way out.’ Call it what you want. Even though your acquisitions weren’t hostile takeovers, you did in fact take-them-over.”
“Don’t you dare compare what you tried to do to how we bought out other companies!”
“Tomato, tomahto, it’s all the same.” He leaned in. “Face it. We aren’t that different. Cut from the same cloth; and we both know if you could have taken us over, you would have. Yet, I admire that.”
“I am nothing like you,” I hissed.
He leaned in farther, pinning my back to the wall, as his face hovered over mine. “You can keep telling that to yourself sweetheart, but we both know under that beautiful exterior, there is a hungry beast inside that would stop at nothing to get what she wants.”
Christopher swept his nose over my face and inhaled; I almost lost it. I hated what he did to me and I fought to keep from grabbing him closer and dry humping him raw right there on the floor of the elevator. When the demon breathed out, the most intoxicating spell came over me.
Christopher pulled back and looked into my eyes. “You can’t blame me for going after what I want.”
He pulled away and hit the elevator button, starting it up again. We both stood there, looking at each other, but saying nothing until the door opened on Christopher’s floor.
As he stepped out, and before the door closed, he turned to me. “Eventually we are going to want the same thing.”
“The Divisions will be divided by regions. The East will take Canada, the North, the Caribbean and Europe. The West will take the South, Asia, Africa, and South America.”
“I was promised Europe, Dad!”
Christopher and I were headed back to New York, and Joseph was filling us in on the Board’s decisions regarding the operation of the two headquarters.
“The Board feels that you would be a greater asset to the other markets Quinn, and Christopher has experience in the European sector.”
“I worked my ass off setting up the contracts for the European expansion, and now the Board wants me to hand them over to Christopher? Why was this decision made without our input?”
“You both gave your assessment of the expansion and we reviewed them in the meeting,” Dad said.
“If this decision was being made, we should have been there to answer any questions or explain any concerns!” I stated.
“They felt confident that both you and Christopher would be on board with this decision.”
“You mean they gave Christopher the grand prize and left me with the booby prize.”
“Christopher, can you excuse us? I would like to speak to my daughter privately. Pick up the phone, Quinn.”
Christopher stood up and walked toward the front of the plane, disappearing behind the drawn curtain.
“Why would you agree to this, Dad?”
“The Board felt that Christopher had more experience. He’s older and—”
“I may be one of the youngest COOs in the industry, but before we merged I ran a ten billion dollar company! How dare they use the excuse of my age! It’s as bad as them insinuating that they made the decision because I am a woman.”
He didn’t respond, and that was not like my father.
“Damn it! Are you kidding me?”
“Watch your language.”
“Are you saying that the Board chose Christopher because they wanted a man for the position? That’s why they’re giving Christopher Europe?”
The operations territory that the Board awarded to Christopher was our largest one. Most of our hotels were in this market. We are going to gradually expand into Asia, starting with the Tokyo Seven, however Christopher would be the COO over seventy-five percent of our hotels and resorts.
“Quinn, I know you will do great things with the West.”
“You should have warned me.”
“You know the Colbys have a significant hold on the Board members, and the few that have stayed loyal to us agreed that Christopher was the right fit. Until they make the decision of who will be CEO, I will be treading lightly. The bottom line, we are now a combined entity and we have to look at the big picture. I know that you would have done an incredible job, however they felt Christopher was the right fit.”
“I need to go.”
“Are you going to be alright?” he asked.
“What choice do I have?”
I hung up the phone. My dad was protecting his ass, even if he didn’t want to admit it. The Board decided to grant two COOs after the merger, yet they only wanted one Chief Executive Officer. That was understandable, although it also meant either Thomas or my father would be stepping down to President. Joseph had worked too hard to be second in command, and I knew Thomas would pull out all the stops to reign over the newly created empire. The decision was supposed to be voted and decided on last month, however it had been an even split. Another vote will occur early next year, but for now the two men’s campaigns were both in full swing.
I needed a drink after that call and headed straight to the bar. When I opened the curtain, I found Christopher holding up a martini glass. “I
s this a peace-offering before I kick your ass?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know they would go in that direction.”
“Right. All those calls you were on last night . . . spare me the bull.”
I sat down, and Christopher sat across from me. “Quinn, last night I was discussing other business.”
“I may be young, but I’ve been in the game for a long time. The Board has always had issues with a woman running the operation; your coming on board only gave them an excuse to act on their sexist prejudices.”
“Are you about to sing the woes that it’s a man’s world? You are tougher than that.”
“Whatever. It still may be a man’s world, though it’s only because we women allow you men to think that.”
He laughed and raised the glass in his hand. “You must know my mother?”
“I know of her, however we haven’t had the pleasure, why?”
“She’s a very intelligent woman. You may want to get to know her.”
I took a long sip. “Well, the next time I attend a social soirée or a polo match, I’ll be sure to make Millicent’s acquaintance.”
“That reminds me, you and your father are invited to a party at the house this weekend.”
“That is nice of her but please send my regrets that I won’t be attending.”
“All of the Board is invited, and it may be a great opportunity for them to see what kind of a player you are.”
“What are you getting at?”
“This would be a great place to rally your case.”
“If you don’t want the East, why didn’t you speak up?”
His brow arched. “I’m not saying that I didn’t want it. I would be a fool to hand it over to you; and for the record, I think they made the right decision.”
I growled out. “You are a royal ass! You thought dangling this idea in my face would be a bit of entertainment for you to watch?”
“No. I want the territory awarded to the best person. Not to the best man.”