Acquired Asset

by ZN Willett

  “It was an easy transition?”

  “It was a challenge, however after the dust cleared I believe all parties are now on the same page. I believe if you want something badly enough, you fight for it. Don’t you agree, Quinn?” I looked at him and smiled. He turned to the men behind him. “Gentleman, thank you for your services. I believe Quinn may have some other questions. Would you like to continue this conversation one on one?”

  “Immediately.”

  The car ride was more difficult than normal, and there were a few times I thought we wouldn’t make it back to my hotel. I couldn’t make it. Seeing Christopher again, and especially Christopher in sunglasses . . . well . . . something about that turned me on even more than I already was. The way his eyes looked through them . . . I don’t know, but he looked hot! I was pleased when the driver finally pulled up to the hotel.

  “We could always go to my place, Quinn.”

  “I know . . . but I have a surprise.”

  Christopher unwrapped his arm from around my waist as the elevator door opened. “Mmm, I like surprises.” He moaned, as I stumbled out of the elevator hurriedly.

  I opened the door and saw that the staff had everything ready. The sound of Jazz serenaded us as we entered. The lights were turned down and electric candles flickered throughout the suite when we stepped into the living area. “Champagne?” I offered.

  Christopher stood behind me, kissing along my neck, as I poured two glasses handing one to him. “This is a nice surprise.”

  “I wanted to do something special.”

  “I feel very special.” He placed the glass down. “Very.”

  Christopher pulled me to him and placed his lips on mine. He unhurriedly explored every inch of my mouth with his tongue. Our lips stayed attached as I guided him to the bedroom. When he took a breath, I stepped back and started to undress.

  Our eyes stayed locked and one by one, another button opened. I glided my blouse off, and proceeded to the very last button as I shimmied out of my pants. Christopher stepped back and took a seat on the edge of the bed. His darkened eyes perused down my body. He had taken his time before they came back to mine.

  I turned, giving him time to take it all in. I pivoted my head toward him, not wanting to miss his expression and admiration of my gift. I made sure he had ample time before asking. “Do you like it?”

  His eyes blazed. “Take it off.”

  Christopher’s tone startled me, but spoke volumes to my dripping sex. I circled my arms around my back and unsnapped the blue lace demi bra I had found in Africa. I angled my back toward him, bending over, as I took off the blue thong.

  “My turn.” Was all he said, when I turned around and faced him. He stood up and I began to unbutton his dress shirt. Feeling the fine hair on his chest, I dragged the shirt down his arms and threw it to the side.

  I dropped down and proceeded to unbuckle his pants. Christopher hissed out as my nails scraped down his hardness as I slid them down his thighs. I looked up as he gawked, waiting, which wasn’t going to be long.

  I wrapped my hand around him. We stared into each other’s eyes as my hand began to tighten. I opened my mouth and tasted what I had desired for too long. We both hummed at the contact, I heard Christopher moan, as my tongue lavished in the taste and feel of him. My body exploded inside watching his reaction to what I was giving him. Every sound coming from his mouth touched me deep inside, and when I took him all in, the pride I felt when he called out my name was . . . well indescribable.

  Before I could complete my task, Christopher stumbled back and lifted me by my arms and quickly placed me onto the bed. I crawled back as he kicked off his pants, and watched his burning eyes as he crawled up in-between my legs. His hand gently glided up and down my calf; while he watched the goose bumps follow along the path of his hand. His fingers danced their way up my inner thigh, as his breath tickled in their path. The warmth of his mouth ignited the inferno already burning at my core. A guttural scream erupted when his mouth engulfed my sex. Instantly, I grabbed hold of his hair, and scream after scream poured out along with numerous incoherent words.

  When he shifted, bringing himself toward me. Together we entered a place of euphoria. The reflection in Christopher’s eyes spoke to the fear in mine. This was different. Everything inside of me was trying to reason coherent thoughts, although with each touch, my mind went into overloaded with the fact that nothing about this could be reasoned away. What I was feeling at that moment could only be explained by my heart.

  His fingers ran through my hair as his lips caressed over my eyelids. No words were spoken while we lay in each other’s arms, sated. I didn’t want the night to end, however it was inevitable. The thought of leaving him again weighed heavily on me. When Christopher released his hold and started to get up, I grabbed his arm.

  “I know.” Was all he said, before he kissed my hand and walked into the bathroom to shower.

  I decided to work from the New York office for a few days before heading back to California. Dad and I had a few things to go over, and I wanted to see how Evan and Reagan were getting along. They were both at the annual finance retreat. I penciled in an hour to go over their progress, but needed a day to sort out their dynamic.

  Reagan, Evan, and myself, met in the boardroom; and from the time I walked in, to the time that they left, my head was swimming. The sexual tension was palpable, and Evan seemed to have succumbed to Reagan’s charms. It was obvious that he was giving it a hell of a fight, though the moment they looked at each other; it was evident that something more was going on. I made a note to ask Christopher what had happened between the two before Evan’s transfer to California.

  As I collected my things, I heard the door shut. The huge grin that spread along my face in anticipation of it being Christopher was soon slapped off the moment I heard, “Hello, Ms. Cordell.”

  “Mrs. Colby.”

  “I heard you were in the office. How was your trip?”

  “Productive.”

  “Good. I’m looking forward to hearing your report. Did Reagan tell you the progress they have achieved while you were away?”

  “They were just filling me in. I won’t be celebrating until after the third quarter earnings. We have a while before seeing how the bottom line is affected.”

  She stepped around and took a seat next to me. “We haven’t had a chance to speak about your relationship with my son.”

  I placed my things down, and sat next to her. “I’m all ears, I’m sure you have a lot to say in the matter.”

  “Please, dear. It’s not that you decided not to heed my advice and continue to see Christopher—as I originally expected. My concern is what happens when Thomas becomes CEO? How will your relationship with Christopher end? Hmm?”

  “Hmm.” I chuckled. “Well, Thomas would have to be voted in as CEO. But, you may want to ask your son how he will feel when my father takes over this company once and for all.” I stood up. “If that is all . . . as always, it’s been a pleasure.”

  “You do know I will never allow my company to be taken away from me.”

  I turned. “We don’t always have a choice do we, Mrs. Colby?”

  “Yes! Harder, Colby.”

  Christopher grabbed hold of my hair as he pulled my head back against him. “More, Quinn?”

  “Yes.” I panted out.

  After I had left the boardroom, I stopped by Christopher’s office. Before I could get a word out, he pushed my chest forward against the wall. He lifted my skirt with one hand while he slid my panties to the side with the other; before he proceeded to slam me up the wall of his office.

  “Millicent is going to be a problem,” I said walking into Dad’s office.

  “More so than normal?”

  “Something has changed.”

  The little drop by she made in the boardroom the other day had been turning in my head. It wasn’t what she had said per say, but what she hadn’t said that made me wonder what she was up to. I had found
out that she had attended more board meetings than was normal for her. She had set up a few lunch meetings with key board members as well.

  We all had eyes inside the organization.

  “Could it be because you are dating her son?” Dad asked.

  I sat down across from his desk as he walked around. “You know that’s not it. How’s the campaigning going?”

  “Still split down the middle. Porter has been lobbying strongly for Thomas.”

  “I heard. You do have some loyal members, Dad.”

  “That’s not going to be enough. One vote swayed in his direction and it’s a done deal.”

  “Then we need to make sure that vote is in our favor.”

  He sat down, looking out the window and sighed. “Quinn, the odds aren’t in our favor.”

  “You can’t stop fighting now—”

  “I’m not. Your Mother and I built this company as our legacy to you, and your children, and so on. To see all of our hard work handed over to the Colbys . . . I’m not going to hand it over without a fight. However, I’m not blind to the fact that the Colbys feel the same way; except they will do whatever it takes to land that seat.”

  “Even if that includes bloodshed.” I thought out loud.

  “Exactly.” He stood and sat on the edge of his desk in front of me. “Have you and Christopher thought about how this will affect your . . . whatever it is?”

  “We both can maintain professionalism. However, I’m not going to sit here and say that both of us will be fine if the odds are tilted in the other person’s favor.”

  He pondered a bit. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, or who to have a relationship with; but, when the dust clears from all of this, someone could get hurt. I just don’t want that someone to be you.”

  “I can handle it.”

  “I know you can, honey. But at what cost?”

  “Christopher, if you’re a baseball guy, you need to come and check out my league. We use alternates, and if you’re going to be down here more often, come by and see us.”

  The basketball game was almost over, and the coach had called a time out. Lissa and I had gotten the guys beers, and I was surprised at how accepting my friends were toward Christopher.

  Justin seemed to really like him. That was interesting, because he had mentioned that Guy had bugged him about me. He wanted to set up a meeting. I had dodged his calls, and Justin thought I should have given him a chance to apologize. They were all there for me when my dad was in the hospital, and Justin felt I should at least hear the guy out. I told him I would think about it, if he dropped the subject. However, he hadn’t mentioned it once since Christopher had been in town.

  “I’m a little rusty with the bat Justin, but I may take you up on the offer.” Christopher smiled.

  “Most of the guys are, you’ll be in good company. We spend most of the time drinking versus hitting the ball.”

  I laughed, as I sat down between them. “Then why play?”

  “Quinn, did you not hear me when I said baseball and drinking?”

  “Forget it, Quinn. It’s obviously a guy thing.” Lissa shook her head before screaming at a call the ref had made.

  “That was a great game; we need to do this again,” Justin said, as we walked out.

  Christopher looked back at him. “Next time we’ll use the box.”

  “Wait, you have a box?” Christopher nodded. “Quinn, where have you been keeping this dude?”

  “Clearly away from your ass.”

  Justin leaned into Christopher. “Next time, we need to make it a bro’s night.”

  “That’s fine babe, and then expect your ass to watch the girls while Quinn and I have a ‘girl’s night.’”

  Justin shook his head. “Can you see your future, man? Always taking the fun away.”

  “Keep talking and that’s not the only thing that will be taken away.”

  Christopher draped his arm over my shoulder. “I’ll be happy to watch the girls,” he said, as he leaned in and kissed me.

  “We men are supposed to stick together.”

  Christopher turned to Justin. “Quinn holds all the cards to my fun so . . .”

  I turned his head and kissed him. “You had better not forget that.”

  “Now, that was fun,” I breathed out, as Christopher rolled onto his back.

  “Hope you enjoyed the ride.”

  I turned over, propping my head on the bed. “Always, Colby.”

  He pushed the strands of wet hair out of my eyes. “You seemed to be preoccupied.”

  “Umm . . . that’s what usually happens when two people are having sex.”

  He nipped at my nose. “Nice try. What is it?”

  I thought he had forgotten. While we were at dinner, he had mentioned it, and again right before we ended up in my bed.

  I sat up. “I told you before, it’s nothing.” He stared at me until I gave in. “Fine. I was thinking about our parents.”

  “That’s disturbing.”

  “Not while we were having sex, before that. I was thinking about what will happen to us after the votes are cast.”

  “Why would things change?” He sat up.

  “Be realistic.”

  “I am. That has nothing to do with us. The company will continue to run—”

  “Colby, stop the crap.” I got out of bed and threw on my robe. “You know very well that things will change. If my father takes over, you’ll resent me for it and vice versa.”

  “Why the hell would I resent you? Stop making up these damn excuses on why things won’t work out!”

  “This is not an excuse, it’s a fact! We both worked our asses off to keep control of our perspective companies, yet there can only be one CEO. Don’t give me that crap about you not caring either! You did everything you could to take my family’s company away, asshole! Don’t lie there and tell me you don’t want your father to be CEO. After him, he’ll hand it over to you.”

  “That’s what this is about? You’re afraid that it will all go to me, and not you? Stop the bleeding heart case, Quinn. You want the title of queen bee—”

  “No, your mother does!”

  “Since that day you two had a run in, you have let her get under your skin.”

  “Let her? She has crawled under it and laid eggs!”

  “I warned you about my mother and her mind games.”

  I scowled at him. “You did . . . she’s making me . . .”

  “Paranoid.” I glared at him, picked up a pillow, and threw it at him. “You doubt us based on her issues?”

  “I doubt us based on all of the facts.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “So, it’s true? And after these last few months . . .”

  “How is this supposed to work? We have already caused more family feuds than Richard Dawson.”

  Christopher walked over to me, wrapped his arms around my waist and said, “We make this work.”

  “That sounds too easy.”

  He nuzzled behind my ear. “Quinn, I’ve seen you fight for the things you want most. All I want is for you to put that same energy into fighting for us. I can’t fight this alone, baby,” he whispered.

  Closing my eyes, I focused on Christopher’s words. His arms tightened around me as he held me. “You have to promise me that no matter what the final results are, we deal with it together. Total honesty.” I turned to face him. “You have to give it to me straight. I want to know how you feel—if things are bothering you. Because when my dad takes over this company, you’ll need someone to talk to.”

  He cocked a brow. “Ditto.”

  “Mia, I need you to dig deep. Millicent Colby is up to something and I need to know what it is.”

  “I’ll get on it. But wouldn’t Christopher tell you—” She paused the moment she saw my face.

  “Christopher would do anything for Thomas.”

  “You two do have a lot in common.” I glared at her. Knowing that wasn’t a compliment. “I’ll see what I can come up with.” />
  “How was your day?” his golden voice asked through the receiver.

  “Productive, and yours, Colby?”

  “I would say the same. I thought we could go over some reports while I bury myself inside you.”

  My thighs instantly rubbed together. “Mixing work with pleasure sounds good, but you’re thousands of miles away, and teasing is not nice.”

  “You don’t seem to mind it when I tease you.”

  “But you do when my tongue—”

  My door suddenly swung open as Guy barged in.

  “Quinn, I’m sorry. He wouldn’t wait!” Mia said, perturbed.

  I stood. “That’s okay, Mia. Guy, what do you want?”

  I could hear Christopher saying something on the other end of the line.

  “We need to talk. You’re not taking any of my calls, and this is important!” His eyes were begging for a chance.

  “Mia, you can leave us.” I picked back up the phone. “Christopher—”

  “What the hell is he doing there?”

  “I’ll call you back.”

  “Quinn, don’t you dare hang up on me.”

  “Christopher, I’ll call you back.” I hung up glowing at Guy.

  “You have five minutes.” I directed him to sit down as I sat in my chair.

  “You weren’t responding to any of my messages.”

  “For a reason. You thought barging into my office would make me forgive you?”

  “No, however I am willing to try anything at this point. We were friends once. I don’t want to throw that away because of a mistake I made.”

  I scratched a thought on my pad. “You clearly insulted me, telling me the mistakes I was making.”

  “It was wrong of me. I know that. I only said those things out of jealousy.” I looked up surprised by his admittance. “I had made my feelings very plain to you. I thought you felt something too . . . especially that night.”

  “I was hurting.” And desperate. It happened right after Tony dumped me.

  “Yet, you came to me. You allowed me to comfort you. You offered me something that most men would have taken advantage of, but I didn’t Quinn. I care for you”