by Tawny Weber
“You’ll get to eat all you want later,” she promised. When he started to protest, she made a tut-tutting noise and shook her head. “Ladies first, remember.”
He told himself it was manners that stifled his protest, but they both knew it was the fact that she took his hands and pulled him forward so his dick was level with her breasts.
Visions and ideas flashed through his head, each one more erotic than the last. But before he could act on any, Belle shook her head again and dropped to her knees so he was now level with her mouth. She lifted the bowl and with a wink she blew him a kiss and poured.
Mitch groaned at the sensation of cold ice cream and warm caramel sauce sliding over his straining head. Then Belle added her hot mouth to the mix. His hips bucked, and unable to help himself, Mitch tunneled his fingers through her hair and held on as she blew him and his control all to hell.
His orgasm hit hard, fast and intense, and Mitch growled with pleasure when Belle didn’t stop sucking, licking or nibbling away at her dessert. Everything went black, his knees almost buckling as he gave over to the pleasure pumping out of his body.
It took him a solid minute to regain his senses. When he came back to earth, he realized Belle had stopped sucking and had laid her head against his belly and was giving him a hug, her arms wrapped around his thighs.
He smoothed a caress down the back of her tousled hair, causing Belle to pull back and grin up at him.
“Now, that was a tasty dessert,” she purred. “Shall we follow it up with a relaxing bath and wash off the stray peaches?”
“What about mine?” he asked, wanting nothing more than to taste her juices mixed with hot caramel.
“Help yourself,” Belle said with a wink.
Mitch noted a peach stuck to her shoulder and grinned. He scooped it up with one finger and popped it into his mouth, then proceeded to enjoy the clean, smooth pleasure of peaches, Brazilian style.
Ten minutes later Mitch sighed with pleasure as he held her back against his chest and sipped champagne in the huge spa tub.
“So what do you think of this particular theme?” she asked, her face still flushed from her climax.
“It’s perfect. Traditional yet just kinky enough to appeal to the average guest,” he assured her. “Like everything else you’ve come up with, it’s perfect.”
“Wait till you see the setup for the kinkier guests. You know the ones—seen it all, done it all.” He felt her laugh as her shoulders shifted against his chest. “The leather goods, floor-to-ceiling poles and edgier sex toys arrived this afternoon.”
“I can’t wait to try them out,” he assured her before taking a drink. The explosion of bubbles, alcohol and peaches filled his taste buds and Mitch sighed. Damn, life was good.
“Hmm, I think that means I deserve a reward,” she mused. Wicked humor lit her green eyes, but before she could take charge of their lovemaking again, Mitch set down the champagne flute and grabbed her hips.
A quick move and he had her pressed against the opposite side of the tub, her breasts just above water level and her butt up in the air.
His fingers went to work on her nipples as Mitch sucked and licked the trail of water up her spine until he reached the back of her neck.
His body holding her in place, he slipped into the glorious wet pleasure of her body from behind. Belle’s moan was breathy, lost in her soft pants of delight.
The steamy heat, the slickness of the water added another level of decadence to their lovemaking. Mitch took his time, building her pleasure with long, even strokes countered by tiny flicks of his fingers over her wet, turgid nipples.
When Belle couldn’t handle it anymore, her pants becoming whimpers and her body pressing tighter against him, he pulled out, turned her in one swift move and pulled her right back down on his throbbing dick. The move, so hard and fast, sent him over the edge and his explosion of pleasure brought her right along. His mouth took hers as they came together. Belle’s gasping cry of his name added an emotional edge to his orgasm.
He scooped her slippery slick body out of the frothy bubbles and, still kissing her, carried Belle into the other room. Uncaring that they soaked the sheets, he dropped to the bed, pulling her with him. He couldn’t release his hold on her, not even to grab a towel, to pull up the blankets. He didn’t want to let go of Belle.
Ever.
His last thought before sleep wound its way through his sexual haze was that he couldn’t wait to introduce Belle to his grandma. Six years ago, he’d used the excuse of their rushed wedding as his reason for not bringing her into his family circle. The truth was, he’d been afraid of losing her.
This time, he knew it’d work out.
This time was forever.
10
“KNOCK IT OFF, REECE,” Mitch snapped the next afternoon. His glare should have slain the man in his tracks, but his damned cousin was made of tougher stuff. “I don’t want to hear this crap. It’s bullshit, you’re wasting my time.”
“Cuz, I know you don’t want to hear bad about your ladyfriend, but you have to face facts. Someone is screwing you over and everything is pointing in her direction.”
“Belle isn’t behind the sabotage. It was happening long before she signed on. There’s no reason to suspect her.” He slammed his fist on his desk. Mitch’s vision blurred as fury filled his brain. “What’s your problem with her, Reece? Are you holding on to a grudge on my behalf? Do you hate blondes? Is Belle just too much for you? What exactly is the problem here?”
The fury did a slow burn as his cousin just sat there calmly, staring in silence. The contrast of his own anger and Reece’s composure only added fuel to Mitch’s frustration.
Then, stretching his jaw to either side, Reece pulled off his cowboy hat and contemplated the curve of the brim before setting it back on his head. Preparing for battle. Mitch recognized the move and steeled himself to win. Because there was no way in hell he was backing down.
“Look, I know you’re into the gal and I’m not saying I have a personal issue with her.” At Mitch’s glare, Reece shrugged and admitted, “Well, other than the whole screwing-you-over-and-leaving-you-standing-there-with-your-dick-in-your-hand thing, I don’t have a personal issue with her.”
Mitch thought about defending his dick-holding practices as his business, but realized it’d be a waste of time. Family defended family, end of story.
“But you have to be realistic. Your resort is seeing problems and this gal has a history of problems. She also knows the hotel business inside out. She’s the daughter of a guy who thinks you screwed him royally. And, well, bottom line, she’s female.”
Mitch squinted. “Care to justify that last one?”
“She’s a woman. Women do the strangest things. Who knows, she might have spent the past half-dozen years stewing over whatever it was that pissed her off enough to leave you at the altar and is just now implementing her revenge.”
The flames of his fury were doused as if they’d been hit by a deluge of water. Mitch just shook his head in pity. “You still reeling from your divorce, cuz?”
“Nah, I’m over the hangover now.” Reece shot him a grin that Mitch had seen turn women from disinterested divas into panting groupies. Mitch was probably the only person who knew that grin was hiding a pained heart. Not broken, but bruised. Even Reece would be surprised at the news.
“Shawna aside, since she was in a class by herself, I just don’t get what goes through their pretty little heads sometimes,” Reece continued with a shrug.
Mitch didn’t comment. There wasn’t much to say since he’d never cared two damns about what went on in a woman’s head until Belle had showed up—this time, he forced himself to acknowledge. Their first round, his only interest had been in proving himself, in snagging the biggest prize in the game.
“You said you wanted me to investigate.” Reece’s grin fell away as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. The look he speared Mitch with was all business. “That means man up
and listen to the results of that investigation, regardless of what your dick wants to hear.”
Mitch set his jaw and with a jerk of his head indicated his cousin offer up those results.
Reece stared for another few seconds, then lifted a file folder from the seat next to him. He held it up for Mitch to see, then without opening it tossed it on the desk.
“You’ve had a series of emails coming out of the resort. Not unusual,” he said before Mitch could scoff, “except that each one is going to the same IP address and each one is deleted from your server. A few a week, sometimes more, never less.”
Mitch frowned and laid his palm on the file.
“Interviewing the staff and repair crew involved in each incidence, I think it’s clear the problems the resort’s faced in the past month have all been deliberate. The lost linens, the destruction of property, even the gophers.”
Mitch pulled his head back in shock. How the hell did someone come up with that many gophers?
“The gophers, by the way,” Reece continued, pointing a finger at the file folder under Mitch’s hand, “were actually shipped direct to the resort. Ballsy move, that.”
Mitch pulled the folder toward him but didn’t open it.
“From what I’ve gathered, the person behind it is a woman.”
Mitch glared, but waited for the justification he knew was coming.
“I say that because all of the destruction was smallish, things easily broken by someone of a slight stature.” He went on to list the items to support his supposition. While he listened, Mitch flipped open the file folder and scanned the reports of property damage. With each one, his anger and frustration mounted.
“You really think all that is definitive evidence it’s a woman behind the problems?” Mitch asked, his tone dismissive. He had small guys on the crew and in his management team. He was sure it could have been any of them.
“Nah, that’s all circumstantial.” Reece leaned out of his chair and across the desk to flip the pages in Mitch’s hand to a manifest. “That the gophers were delivered to and signed for by a woman is definitive.”
Mitch stared at the loopy and decidedly feminine scrawl on the delivery manifest. Two dozen gophers, signed for by Janie Doe. He hated that his brain was scrambling to remember Belle’s signature. He glanced at the date on the invoice. The same as the date of her first visit to talk him into hiring her. Mitch felt sick, but told himself it wasn’t her. His gut knew it wasn’t, but there weren’t many women at the resort yet, especially not ones with enough authority to commandeer a direct delivery without being questioned.
“This doesn’t point to Belle,” he stated unequivocally, tossing the folder down. The pages fanned over his desk but he and Reece both ignored them.
“Her old man is in trouble—financially sinking and the cause is pretty much your fault,” Reece said, his voice quiet with resignation. Mitch knew his cousin figured he’d just delivered the death knell to Mitch’s relationship and felt rotten about it. “That deal the two of you cooked up, then you bailed on when your princess ran off has him tied up financially, and with real estate tanking, he’s screwed with no way out.”
“That sucks.” And it did. Hugely. Mitch hadn’t heard a whisper about it, but he wasn’t surprised. Franklin Forsham was good at keeping things hush-hush. Regret washed over Mitch in a heavy wave. He’d been an asshole to leave Franklin in a lurch like that. Sure, he’d been humiliated and feeling justified in slapping out at anyone named Forsham, but the bottom line was it’d been bad business. He considered the current real estate climate, the tightened zoning laws in California and the probable debt Franklin had incurred holding the property all this time and winced.
“That totally sucks,” he repeated. “But how does that make Belle the culprit in Lakeside’s sabotage? In the first place, the problems started before she got here. Second and more significantly, she’s under contract with me. The success of her business hinges on the success of my resort.”
“Maybe. Or maybe she’s more interested in her daddy’s business right now.” Reece grimaced, then pulled some more papers from that damned file. “I was chatting with Kiki, the gal who runs the spa here.” In other words, flirting and looking for a good time. “Turns out Belle made her a very interesting proposition.”
Mitch’s mouth watered as he remembered the Brazilian treat he’d enjoyed the night before. “So?” he asked.
“It seems she’s trying to lure Kiki away from your resort.” Mitch’s smile dropped away as Reece continued. “She’s offering her gigs at her daddy’s hotels. Same deal you have, but a few extra perks.”
“That doesn’t put her behind my resort issues.”
“True,” Reece agreed. Then he handed Mitch the papers he’d been holding. “Copies of the emails sent through the resort server from Belle to her partner.”
Mitch started to point out how wrong it was to invade her emails when the words caught his eye.
The plan is in motion. Daddy will be thrilled.
Check timing of all of this. Can’t let the cat out of the closet or Mitch will know.
Cat out of the closet. It was totally Belle-esque. His stomach fisted at the idea of her screwing him over with such calculation.
She’d walked out on him once without giving him the benefit of the doubt, not caring that she left him looking like an idiot. She was clever enough and resourceful enough to pull off revenge at this level and confident enough not to bat one long, mink eyelash.
But despite all the proof Reece was pitching, regardless of how many papers he stuffed in that file pointing the finger at Belle, Mitch wasn’t going for it.
With a smile at odds with the subject, he settled back in his chair and finally identified the feeling he’d been struggling with since he’d walked into this office and seen his past waiting for him. He was in love with Belle. He had been six years ago, although he’d called it ambition. He was now, although he’d been trying to tell himself it was lust.
Love. Mitch shifted his gaze out the window to stare at the expanse of trees and gopher-infested lawn. Who knew it would feel so confusing?
But confusing or not, he loved her. Which meant, bottom line, he trusted her.
She might only be in this for the sex. She might still run away at any time, Mitch realized as his heart sank a little. He swallowed the bitter taste of fear at the possibility and told himself he’d deal with it later. The truth was, he wasn’t blind to Belle’s issues. But he knew screwing him at the same time she was screwing him over wasn’t one of them.
“You’re meeting with Belle tomorrow to talk security for the grand opening,” he told Reece. “If you need to ask questions to make you feel like you’re doing your job, go ahead. She’s clean. But keep digging because the real culprit needs to be stopped before they do any more damage to my resort.”
“You’re gone, cuz.” Reece shook his head in a pitying, you’re-so-stupid kind of way.
“Totally gone,” Mitch acknowledged, shoving aside the doubts. “And I’m loving every minute of it.”
* * *
“I’VE GOT IT, THE ANSWER to our problem,” Belle claimed in her daily phone call to Sierra. She tucked the cell between her chin and shoulder as she sliced a peach. They were now officially her favorite fruit.
“A blow-up doll with remote-control hands?” Sierra shot back.
Belle rolled her eyes at the phone. “Hardly. If we’re using remote control I plan on operating something much more interesting than hands.”
“Right. So what’s our problem and then what’s the answer?”
Sierra was usually so on top of things, but she’d been distracted during their last few phone calls, forgetting to send papers and contracts, just sort of disconnected from everything as far as Belle could tell.
Taking her snack to the table, Belle frowned in frustration. Questions were pointless. Sierra answered them all with annoying assurances that everything was just fine.
“Kiki’s in,” Belle e
xplained. “She’s really excited to take her spa to the next level and sees aligning with Forsham Hotels as the way to do it. Besides all the info I already sent you, I just found out she’s courting a contract with one of the big-name beauty suppliers for an exclusive label.”
“Do you think that’s enough to help your dad?”
“I hope so. She’ll pay top dollar for the square footage, but she’ll also bring in a huge clientele. Between the label and her own promotion, they’re going to skyrocket.” Belle considered. “I have to convince Daddy, but if it works, he’ll be able to switch all his on-site boutiques and stores. Rather than entities he runs and assumes the business expenses for, he can let his tenant take on the employee, inventory and liability risks. He’ll cut his own expenses by at least an eighth.”
Belle nibbled on her peach as they went on to brainstorm a few more ideas and kick around ways to pitch the proposal to her father. Finally deciding Belle would do it over Sunday brunch the next weekend, they wound up the topic.
“What about Lakeside?” Sierra asked. “Have you talked to Mitch about borrowing Kiki?”
“No,” she said slowly. “I just didn’t think it was a good idea until we’d worked out all the particulars.”
“In other words, you don’t want to rock the nookie boat until you’re sure your dad’s on board.”
Belle was glad her shamed flush couldn’t be seen over the phone.
“Kiki doesn’t have an exclusivity contract,” she defended.
“Doesn’t mean Mitch expects her to be stolen away by his bed buddy.”
“She’s not being stolen. After she set things up here, she planned on leaving a manager in charge anyway. Besides,” Belle justified, “it’s good insurance for her. If someone really is playing some game here and the resort is going to suffer, she needs a safety net.”
“Speaking of which, what’d you find out?” Sierra asked.
Glad to change the subject, Belle thought of the list she’d copied from Diana’s office the day before. Someone was deliberately trying to ruin the resort. Was it Mitch? Despite the note, she couldn’t believe it.