“No thanks to you,” she retorted. Shivering, she turned to head for the grassy bank. He held her fast, gripping her gently but firmly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Since you’re wet now, why don’t you stay in? Let me show you behind the waterfall.” He reached behind her and flicked open the clasp of her sodden cotton bra. He had it off before she had time to blink, and while she thought about the expertise he’d shown with the move and jealousy reared its head, her bra started to float away on the current.
“My bra!” Alice splashed through the water after it but he held her fast.
“Good riddance. It’s not sexy enough for your beautiful breasts. I’ll buy you a new one.”
The money-conscious Alice was taken aback, horrified at discarding a perfectly good item of clothing. “But I can’t afford—”
“Is money all you think about?”
The sharp note in his voice brought a frown. The angry James had returned.
“No. I think about you and sex a lot,” she retorted.
As quick as the delete key removed words from a computer screen, his bad mood seemed to fade. A grin crawled across his face, highlighting his gorgeous blue eyes and spiky eyelashes.
“You won’t miss these then.”
Once again, he took her by surprise, ripping her panties with an ease that shocked the heck out of her. They floated away on the current too. Alice stared after them hoping with a kind of morbid fascination that the kids of Sloan didn’t choose this particular day to fish.
“Come on.” He tugged her hand and led her toward the waterfall. “Take a deep breath and duck under the screen of water.” He disappeared from sight.
Alice puffed out her cheeks with oxygen and followed his instructions. She came up with a gasp, her hair hanging in wet strands, obscuring her vision. After wiping it away, she spied him on a small rock ledge. The water rushed over their heads.
“Cool, huh? Luke and I discovered this when we were boys.” The glee in his voice reminded Alice of a kid.
Shivering with the chilled water, she slid up on the ledge beside him. “It’s cool, all right. I’m freezing.” She spoke a little louder than normal but didn’t have any difficulty hearing him.
“Come here.” He patted the spot beside him. “I’ll warm you up.”
“We can’t test condoms here. It’s dangerous.”
“Don’t you think about anything but those damned condom tests?” The sharp edge of his tone made Alice stare. What had she said now? Wasn’t that what they were here for? She didn’t understand his recent mood swings. And they said women acted moody.
After a calming breath, she said, “I thought we were on a time line.”
Chapter Eleven
“We are. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the sex. Savor it instead of bonking ourselves stupid until we’re tired and sore.” James sighed suddenly. “Hell, you’re right. We’d better get the latest samples tested and the results back to Rodney.” He jumped off the ledge, disappeared behind the rushing water and left her staring after him in confusion.
Scowling, she jumped into the water to follow. Yep, definitely unpredictable. She’d obviously done something to offend him. In the past, she would have backed away, but she liked James. Really liked him.
She held her breath and bobbed under the screen of tumbling spray. Gasping at the icy cold despite the sun overhead, she waded to the riverbank where James waited. She strode from the water, about to demand he tell her what she’d done when the play of his muscles distracted her.
“You’re beautiful,” she whispered. And it was true. His dark hair lay flat against his head while his face glowed with good health and a golden tan from the sunshine. Dark stubble shaded his jaw, giving him a rakish air. A droplet of water escaped the attention of his towel and traveled slowly down his chest, across his belly toward his lean hip. Alice had the sudden desire to duplicate the travel path of the water and stepped closer, almost as the idea formed. Grasping his shoulders, she leaned over and licked across his collarbone, dragging the tip of her tongue leisurely over his skin. He tasted clean and fresh, his flesh cool to the touch after the swim. She glanced up through lowered lashes to gauge his reaction. He stood still as if waiting for her next move. A test. Alice froze, her heart thundering. She felt way over her head, on the verge of traveling into uncharted territory, especially since he seemed so moody.
“Go on,” he said when she hesitated.
Alice shivered again, but this time it had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with the sensual heat coiling in her pussy. With a deep breath, she licked down toward a masculine nipple. She licked the flat disc before teasing it with the tip of her tongue. He growled deep in his chest, his hands coming up to tangle in her hair so Alice figured she was doing something right. Continuing by instinct, she scraped her teeth across his nipple and bit lightly. A groan slipped from him. Alice explored lower, stroking his skin with her hands. She licked and laved with her tongue. Her hands fluttered the length of his erection.
His hands tightened in her hair. “Take my cock in your mouth.”
Alice hesitated, tipping her head back to stare at him.
“I’d like to feel your mouth on me.” His gaze held steady and contained a hint of challenge. It was on the tip of her tongue to mention their tests. But she held back. Mention of the tests seemed to make him angry. “Alice?”
She wanted that too. Holding his gaze, she knelt in front of him. She grasped his muscular legs for balance, taking his shaft in her hands and licked across the bulbous head before a quick glance up to check his expression. Encouraged when she saw nothing but pleasure etched on his face and desire glowing in his blue eyes, she explored further. She licked across the tiny slit at the end, tasting him before growing adventurous and taking him fully into her mouth. Alice sucked and ran her tongue over the flared head of his cock. Her reward was a groan, and his hands laced in her hair while their gazes held.
She smiled around his cock, enjoying this power over him. She sucked again and hollowed her cheeks until another groan rumbled deep in his chest.
“Damn, that feels great.”
Alice gripped his thighs and played the seductress, licking and sucking, hoping to drive him to lose control. He rocked, thrusting deeper into her mouth before he pulled from her without warning.
“What’s wrong?” she demanded, confusion roiling through her. She didn’t pretend to understand him. Originally she’d suspected the bad boy was all about lovin’ and leavin’ women, good times and no responsibility. Alice realized she’d made assumptions and assigned a label.
“You’d better grab a condom.”
Resignation swiftly followed disappointment. Condoms. She was sick of testing the stupid things. Since they’d started with the condom tests, things had started to go wrong between them. He’d changed, behaving differently. Not with everyone, only with her.
Reconciled to more tests, she reached for her bag. “Any particular number?”
“How about number one?” He sat and sprawled out on the blanket, casual and at ease with his nakedness. “We should have probably gone through the samples in number order. It would have made it easier.”
Alice nodded and shuffled through the bags in lieu of staring at his sun-kissed body. Number one wasn’t there. With a frown, she went through the numbered bags again. She grabbed the clipboard from her straw basket and flipped through the pages.
“What’s wrong?”
She glanced over at him. His eyes were closed while he reclined at ease, waiting for her to find the condom.
“It’s not in my bag. I’ve checked our copies of the results. This is the third batch of condoms Rodney has given us.”
He sat up, his scrutiny intense. “Would one of the other board members have received it in their test lots?”
Alice shook her head. “Rodney delivered the box of samples to me. We checked them together before I divided them between us and the members of the
board who are helping out with tests.”
“What did you do with the samples after that?”
His sharp tone and rapid-fired questions started to annoy her. She wanted the company to succeed. Her future security depended on it. Surely he didn’t think she had something to do with the problems the company faced? “I locked them in my office and rang the board members concerned. Everyone except Richard Morgan came in to pick up their test samples, and I handed them over in person. I locked Richard’s samples away until he picks them up, probably this afternoon.”
James nodded. “What about our samples?”
“I put them in my handbag until I met you for lunch.”
“Did anyone come into your office this morning?”
“Rodney. The board members who are helping with the tests—they came to pick up their condoms. I had a meeting with a sales rep from one of the latex companies this morning. Rita showed him in for me.”
“What about the other sales rep from Plastiques Incorporated?”
“I talked to him via phone. He couldn’t fit in a visit this week.”
“Did you leave anyone alone in your office?”
Alice narrowed her gaze at his sharp tone. “No, I didn’t.”
“I’m not accusing you.”
“It sounded like it.”
He grunted and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Grab one of the other samples and come here. Please,” he added when she glared at him.
“Aren’t we going to go to investigate? Isn’t that more important?”
“As soon as we get back to the office,” he said. “Half an hour or so won’t make much of a difference in the scheme of things.”
Alice scowled, not feeling like sex in the slightest. He’d practically blamed her when she had more to lose than anyone.
James moved closer and tugged her tense body against his side. “I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind.” Such as feeling more for Alice than he wanted to. They were so different and had such opposing points of view when it came to money. James had fought with his family all his adult life about money—he didn’t want it to drift over to his social life. “I’m not blaming you. So much is at stake. Although Rodney has worked on the design for months and we’re doing the final product tests, release on the market is still a few months away. At the moment we’re existing day to day. If someone has stolen that sample…” He trailed off. “You’re right. I won’t be able to concentrate until I know if there has been an error or something more sinister is afoot. We can do the rest of the tests tonight.” He stood and tugged Alice to her feet. “Get dressed and we’ll go back to the office now.”
“But I don’t have any underwear.” She chewed on her bottom lip in consternation. Accusation shaded her voice when she glanced in the direction of the stream.
James grinned, the change of subject lightening his mood. Good riddance to them. “Too bad. You’ll have to make do.” He made a mental note to purchase replacements, something sexy and enticing, and he knew just the woman to help him with that chore. While James dressed, he watched Alice don her clothes. Although he knew she worried about her size, he thought she was perfect.
“Are you sure this doesn’t look indecent?”
He restrained his amusement. Her wet hair had dripped on her blouse, making it cling to her full breasts. Bedraggled and breathless from hurrying to dress, she looked so sexy he found it difficult to breathe. Hell, he had it bad. Only a few months to go…
They started their walk back to the office, retracing the path back to the road.
Halfway along River road, a small white car slowed before it passed them. The two female occupants stared before the driver sped up and drove off.
Great. Just bloody great. His mother and sister seemed to have an inbuilt antenna where he was concerned. No doubt he’d hear about his Lothario tendencies and his bad reputation next time they met.
Back in the office, he waited for Alice to check the paperwork.
“Ben has numbers one, two and three. Harriet has numbers four and five. Joseph has three, four and five. Katarina has one and two. And we were meant to have one of each.”
James nodded. “I’ll ring them to confirm they have the correct numbers. Where did the balloons come from?”
“I don’t know. Someone delivered them to the office earlier. I don’t know how they got up there. They were in the corner of the room.”
James’ eyes narrowed. He grabbed a chair and stood on it so he could reach one of the colorful helium balloons floating on the ceiling. “This one is covered with clowns. And this one has dogs on it.”
“Yes.”
He stared at her in a thoughtful manner before he gathered up the rest of the balloons and clambered down. “You said you saw a clown and a dog driving a van.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t like it. It’s probably time to let the police know.” A twinge of unease rippled down his backbone. He didn’t like the sound of this, and it was easy to see the gifts made her uncomfortable. Why hadn’t she mentioned them earlier?
Alice grimaced. “That’s part of the reason I was late for our lunch date. I stopped to have a word with Richard and Luke.”
“So that’s why Luke escorted you.” Relief hit James. Until then he hadn’t realized jealousy had played such a big part in his reaction. It made him look at her with new eyes. Sure, they were compatible in bed, but they had nothing in common apart from their interest in Fancy Free. They were too different for him to consider anything more than a quick fling.
“Luke said I shouldn’t go anywhere alone, just to be on the safe side. I’ll go and check with Rodney about the samples,” she said, “although we both checked the numbers together. I don’t see how we could have both made a mistake.”
“Wait.” He grasped her forearm to halt her departure. “Has anything else happened that I should know about?” He gestured at the balloons he’d rescued and tied to the chair.
“A couple of things.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded. “Such as what?”
“Some business cards, a jack-in-a-box to the bed and breakfast. More balloons.”
James didn’t like the sound of it, even though taken on their own they seemed harmless. “Be careful. Don’t go anywhere on your own.”
“I won’t,” she promised. “I won’t leave the premises.”
He gave a clipped nod. “Straight there and back.”
Half an hour later, she returned and he finished his last phone call. “No, they all have the right model numbers.” He grinned suddenly. “Good results, by the sound of it. They’re having a lot of fun doing the tests.”
“That’s good news about the tests.” She frowned. “Rodney is as sure as I am about the correct condom numbers. I’ve checked my handbag again just in case I missed it but the sample isn’t there.”
“It’s not in the office. I checked in case it had dropped out.”
Alice sighed, and he had to admit, it didn’t look good. “That leaves Rita and the latex salesman.”
“I can’t believe either of them had anything to do with it.” James bound to his feet. “Rita has been here since the start. We’ve dealt with the same salesmen for ages as well. Burt Williams, our normal guy, right?” At Alice’s nod, he added, “Besides, you said he wasn’t alone.”
“He wasn’t.” Her voice was sharp and her nose lifted in an imperious manner. “I didn’t do it either.”
“I never said you did. But we’ll have to tighten security even more. We can’t afford to take risks.”
“I’ll take care of it,” she snapped. “I’ll liaise with Richard.”
A taut silence hummed between them before James gave a curt nod. “I intend to work on the new campaign and do some cold calling to try to shift some Fancy Free products. I’ll see you tonight.”
“At your place? Around six?”
“Yeah. Make sure you grab a cab or call me. Don’t walk.”
“I won’t. Believe me, I don’t
want to come face-to-face with the clown or the dog again. I want to go back to the bed and breakfast to change and chase up the bank about the overdraft. I can’t believe the bank manager is being so pedantic. There must be some way out of this mess.”
James left Alice to carry on with her day and headed back to his office, troubled by the missing condom. After dropping into his swivel chair, he pulled a pad out of the drawer on his right. He studied the list of names—every one of Fancy Free’s staff along with the board members. It was obvious someone didn’t want the company to succeed. But not Alice. He knew that automatically. Besides, she’d made it clear she wanted her inheritance, and in all fairness, she pulled her weight, working hard to make sure the company succeeded. He crossed off Alice’s name. He crossed off several other names since they had nothing to do with production or had entry to the offices. That left about ten names—all friends and known to him for years. He grunted. It was obvious the company harbored a viper in their bosom, one they’d have to weed out before the company failed.
And the problems Alice had with the clown and dog harassing her. He wondered if this was something to do with Fancy Free or completely unconnected. James made a mental note to talk to Richard and Luke to see what they thought.
Knowing there was nothing else he could do at the moment, he started on his cold calls. Not his favorite task but a necessary one if they wanted to boost sales.
Three hours later, he reached the end of his list. He picked up the orders he’d taken, deciding to deliver them to dispatch in person. After letting Rita know he had finished for the day, he strode from the offices and turned toward the warehouse that housed both production and dispatch. He waved to Rodney, who as usual seemed in a world of his own and didn’t register his presence. The man obsessed about his work, living and breathing condoms and sexual aids.
James didn’t really think their inventor was responsible for their problems either and mentally crossed the man off his list. He pushed open the door to dispatch and entered.
“Hi, Tim. I have some orders for you to send out to new customers.”
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