Midnight Special: Coming on Strong

by Tawny Weber

  “It’s not Mitch,” she declared. “Why would he ruin his own venture? There just isn’t anything in it for him. His board of directors is made up entirely of family. It’s a family-held corporation, even.”

  “So?”

  “So, nothing means more to him than family. This guy has a total Brady Bunch mind-set.”

  “Are you sure you’re not just trying to rationalize the fact that you’re not done playing in his pants?” Sierra asked.

  Pulling a face, Belle dropped to the couch and huffed out a breath. “Do you really think sex is that important that I’d risk everything for it?”

  “You did before.”

  Belle frowned. It wasn’t sex, she wanted to say. It was Mitch. Just Mitch. Sex with him was her only excuse to intimacy, she realized. And didn’t that make her a pitiful love-struck idiot?

  “Look, I need your input then. How’d you like to see the resort firsthand?” she asked after tucking her notes into her portfolio. “Come out, get a feel for the place, see Mitch in person and give me your opinion on what’s what.”

  “You want me to come out there? Why? What’d you do?”

  Belle rolled her eyes and made a huffing sound of irritation. “I didn’t do anything. At least, nothing I need you to come fix. You have doubts about Mitch, I want your feedback. And I thought you’d enjoy getting the lay of the land, so to speak, before we kick into high gear next week preparing for the first event.”

  “Well, I’m grateful you don’t want me to come fix your sex life,” Sierra said with a laugh. “And you’ve already got a solid lay, so to speak, so I doubt you need me there.”

  “An upside-down head needs twice the help,” Belle pointed out.

  “Two heads are better than one,” Sierra corrected with a sigh.

  That she was desperate for Sierra to pinch-hit for her in the security meeting wasn’t going to fly as a reason, even if it was pure truth. She was totally freaked to face Reece alone. Even worse, she was terrified he’d ruin what she’d found with Mitch.

  But she wasn’t telling Sierra that.

  “I’d love to have your take on who’s tanking the resort, and maybe while you’re here you can see if there’s anything I could add for the first party, the one for Mitch’s family and board, next week,” Belle claimed instead. “I’m just a little nervous about pulling this off given that someone is trying to screw things up. It’d help to have a second set of eyes.”

  It was a flimsy ploy and she knew it. Belle orchestrated events for thousands on her own and never needed hand-holding. She cringed, waiting for her partner to call her on it and trying to figure out how to get out of dealing with Reece. Pretend to be sick? Really get sick? Family emergency and run home? She had to do something, anything. She so did not want to deal with the hot cowboy. Not when she knew he was just waiting to get her alone and confront her about the past.

  “Okay, I can be there tomorrow morning,” Sierra agreed after a long silence.

  Belle kept her squeal of triumph to herself. “You can?”

  “Sure. You want my help, I’ll come give it. Why the shock? We’re partners. That’s what we do, help each other and tell each other crap.”

  Interesting theory, since Belle knew damned well Sierra was keeping crap from her. But confronting her friend was pointless, so Belle kept that a silent observation.

  “Great.” Never one to ruin a miracle by asking too many questions, Belle rushed on, “Since you’ll be here anyway, you can take the meeting with the head of security and go over all the details, okay?”

  “I should have known there was a catch.” Sierra laughed. “Fine, I’ll take the meeting.”

  Noting a movement out of the corner of her eye, Belle glanced out the window at the golf course. Mitch and Reece strode across the green expanse. Although both wore jeans and work shirts, the two men couldn’t look more different. Yet they seemed to be solid friends in addition to having that family connection that was so important to Mitch.

  Family. Since it was just her and her dad, Belle didn’t quite get the whole clan feeling Mitch seemed to embrace. But she definitely knew how important it was to take care of her loved ones. Worrying over her father was proof of that.

  Belle gave herself a second to appreciate Mitch’s gorgeous ass, encased lovingly in denim, before she glanced at his leggy cowboy cousin. A sneaky plan formed in her head.

  Six years ago she’d thought Sierra and Reece looked great together. Both tall, dark and gorgeous, they’d been striking at the pre-wedding festivities. If Reece had Sierra to distract him, it would keep him off Belle’s back while she tried to figure out who was behind the dirty deeds at Mitch’s resort.

  It had nothing to do with the fact that Belle was so far gone over Mitch that she wanted everyone to experience the wonders of coupledom. Or if it did, she forced herself to admit, it was only because good sex was something her best friend deserved.

  “Great,” she told Sierra. “You’re so much better at those details than I am and this security guy is hot. You’ll have fun.”

  She figured Sierra was due for a hot, wild fling and Reece Carter was the perfect man to show her friend a sexy time. Belle couldn’t wait to watch the sparks fly.

  * * *

  SPARKS, HELL. IT WAS like watching an inferno. Belle gaped as Sierra and Reece did everything but get naked and duke it out on the boardroom table.

  “The resort has enough staff to handle the opening,” Reece said in his long, slow drawl. “We don’t need to bring in outside help and deal with more of those damned confidentiality agreements and clearances. Besides, how many people does it really take to serve a plate of mini hot dogs and tacos?”

  “Don’t worry about those mini hot dogs, cowboy,” Sierra said with a wicked smile. “Nobody’s going to hold yours against you. Besides, we figure the guests will have a little more refined taste. That means gourmet food, circulated while it’s hot and fresh. And then there’s the resort’s theme—”

  “Waste of time and money,” he muttered, scrawling something over his notes. “People don’t need silly games to have a good time.”

  Belle started to defend the themes and Mitch shifted his chair, leaning forward at the same time to comment. But before either could utter a word, Sierra gave a deep, patently fake sigh and shook her head.

  With a pitying look, she tossed her long, dark hair over her shoulder and made a tut-tutting noise. “Are you afraid of games in sex, cowboy? Or is it the idea of other people coloring outside the lines that bothers you?”

  “I’m all for a good time,” he said with a look that made it clear to everyone in the room just how good a time he’d like to show Sierra. “It’s when the good time veers out of easy and into complicated that I see it as a problem. Nobody should have to work for fun. Games just mess it all up.”

  Belle had the feeling she was missing half the conversation. The best half, if Sierra’s breathless little laugh was anything to go by.

  “As long as nobody’s trying to slap handcuffs or nipple clips on you, what do you care?” Sierra asked. Then she gave him a taunting look. “Or are you afraid to play?”

  “Sweetheart, I wrote the book on how to play. And,” he said slowly, leaning across the table with a wicked grin, “how to win. You want a peek at a few pages, you just let me know.”

  “I’m trying to cut back on my fiction,” Sierra told him with a wink.

  Belle glanced at Mitch. He was staring, jaw slack, at the battle of verbal foreplay.

  “So,” Belle said bravely, breaking in to what should have been a simple security discussion, “I can see the two of you have this in hand so I’m going to take Mitch and do a walk-through of the weekend plans.”

  They ignored her.

  Belle offered Mitch a helpless shrug. With one last look at the warring pair, now standing and facing off on either side of the table, she grabbed Mitch’s hand and pulled him from the conference room.

  As the door thudded shut behind them, Mitch started
to ask a question. Before he could do more than mutter “oh, my God,” they noticed Diana standing at the fax machine, her eyes huge.

  “Guess you heard that,” Belle said with a wince.

  “Is everything okay?” the assistant asked quietly. “I needed your signature on some orders, Mitch, but it was so loud in there I figured I should wait.”

  “Security is a touchy issue,” Mitch quipped as he strode over to take the file and pen from her.

  Belle laughed and sat on the edge of Diana’s desk to wait. She tried to think of something to say that would calm the other woman, who was visibly agitated, but all she could come up with were dirty jokes. Trying to get control of herself, she glanced away. Her gaze dropped to the computer monitor, where bubbles bounced across the screen.

  Across the bottom of the open Word files was one with a stylized header. Belle noted how pretty the gold MC lettering was as the purple bubble shifted to turquoise. MC? Mitch’s logo wasn’t that girly, was it?

  Before she could ask, he handed Diana back the papers and pen. “Stay out of the boardroom,” he instructed his assistant as Belle joined him at the door. “If you hear furniture breaking, call the cops.”

  “But only furniture,” Belle cautioned. “Groans, yells or screams should be ignored.”

  They were halfway down the hall before Mitch glanced at her in question. “Groans?”

  “Oh, please, they’re so going to be doing it up against the wall before the day is over.”

  She’d taken another two steps before she realized he’d stopped cold.

  “Doing it?” he asked blankly.

  “It. The vertical vibration. The dirty deed. Riding the wild stallion. Bumping uglies.” He still stared. Belle laughed and grabbed his hand to get him moving again. “Jeez, Mitch. What’d you think that was in there?”

  “I thought it was hate at first sight,” he muttered.

  “With all that sexual innuendo? Hardly.” They stopped at the front desk and Belle offered her thanks and a smile to Larry, who handed her a large picnic basket. Mitch took it from her and gestured for her to precede him out the door.

  She waited until they were in the golf cart on their way to the woods to continue sharing her theory. “Heck, the sexual sparks and tension were so heavy back there I was getting turned on just being in the room.”

  “Are you sure that was them and not me?” he asked, glancing over as he steered the machine toward the trees. “I’d like to think you get hot and horny just being in the same room.”

  “You’d like to think that, hmm?” Belle laughed and patted his thigh before getting out of the now-stopped cart. “I admit, you do have a way of turning my thoughts to sexual escapades, whether you’re in the room or not.”

  She reached for the basket, but he beat her to it. With a wink and a quick kiss, he gestured for her to step back and let him set up their lunch like the gentleman he was.

  Belle settled against a tree trunk and looked out over the clearing, her entire being filled with a sense of peace and happiness she’d never felt before. She didn’t know if it was the result of a week of incredible sex, her feelings for Mitch or the utter beauty of the woods. Whatever it was, she felt great.

  She was curious, though.

  “Is your family going to have a problem with the sex angle?” she asked, watching him spread the thick red blanket over the lawn, then place the picnic basket on the corner before kicking off his shoes.

  He laughed and held out his arm. Belle slipped off her sandals and settled on the blanket, where Mitch immediately grabbed her and rolled so she lay flat on top of him. He bunched the blanket up as a pillow and settled his hands on her waist with a sigh of contented pleasure.

  “Believe me, my family has no issues with sex. From my youngest cousin to my gram, they’re all pretty open-minded. Remember that list of sex-theme ideas I gave you? Those were straight from my family. Including this picnic, which was decidedly the tamest.”

  “Yeah,” she said, her attention more focused on tracing his lips with her fingernail and reveling at the sweetness of the moment than their discussion. “There were some good ideas there. I tend to think a little bigger, and Sierra a little kinkier, so those were a nice balance.”

  “Kinkier? We left kinkier with my cousin?”

  Delighted, Belle met his gaze and grinned. She was so in love, she realized. And even though it could be the biggest mistake of her life, right at this moment, she didn’t care. She wanted to jump up, scream from the treetops how incredible Mitch was. Equal parts happiness and terror made her light-headed. Okay, she realized as the ringing in her ears turned to a buzz, maybe the terror had an edge over the happiness.

  There were so many reasons why this was insane. Why falling for Mitch was a horribly bad idea. Their history alone made believing they had a shot at happy-ever-after a total fairy tale.

  But for right now, just this moment in time, she didn’t care. She was giving happiness free rein and wringing every drop of joy from this interlude. And since joy translated so easily to sexual energy between them, she wiggled her hips a little. Mitch’s body reacted instantly.

  She melted at the humor in his cinnamon-sweet eyes and leaned closer. “That’s okay. I’ve got bigger here with me,” she said, referring back to his concern over his cousin being left with a kinky Sierra.

  The humor left and Mitch’s gaze went dark with desire. One hand slipped from Belle’s waist down to cup her butt and press her tighter to him. The other combed through her hair.

  “Why don’t we see how much bigger we can get?” he said as he pulled her mouth to his.

  Just before their lips met, Belle whispered, “And when we’re done, I have a whole basket of aphrodisiacs there to prep you for the next round.”

  11

  BELLE TRIED TO STOP her hands from shaking as she carefully lowered herself into Diana’s office chair.

  “It’s not booby-trapped, you know,” Sierra hissed from the door where she was standing lookout. “Just sit down and get to it.”

  Belle rolled her eyes at her partner in crime. Her exasperation was more calming than the deep-breathing exercise she’d been trying since they’d decided to break into Mitch’s assistant’s office.

  Her stomach constricted again.

  No, break in was the wrong term. It was business hours. Broad daylight. Just because Belle had carefully timed her visit to coincide with Mitch’s trip to the airport and had arranged for Diana to pick up a special order that suddenly couldn’t be delivered didn’t mean it was wrong.

  “Get on with it,” Sierra snapped. “We don’t have that much time.”

  Belle glared, but before she could say anything, her lookout did a hurry-up motion with her hand. Figuring finger gestures were next, Belle bit the bullet and, with a cringe, started peeking into file folders.

  “You’re positive she’s the dirty dog who’s screwing Mitch over?” Sierra asked as Belle carefully repositioned the laundry invoices in their file.

  “No,” Belle shot back. “I already told you, I’m not positive. But every bit of evidence I’ve found has been right here in her office. And since I refuse to believe it’s Mitch himself, that leaves her. Now stop bugging me and keep watch.”

  Finished with the folders on the desk and not brave enough to start on drawers, Belle moved the mouse beside Diana’s computer. The floating bubble screen saver cleared and her gaze flew to the bottom of the screen. Of course, there was no incriminating document open today. Clueless but determined, she randomly opened and scanned document files. While she did, she considered the question. At least Sierra had stopped arguing that it might be Mitch. After meeting him again, spending the past few days in his company, she’d been totally won over.

  The same couldn’t be said for her opinion of Reece, Belle had noticed. After that first explosive meeting four days ago, they’d retreated behind a wall of polite iciness. So much for sexual tension. Instead of being engulfed in heat, they’d straight up frozen each oth
er out. When she’d tried asking Sierra about it, her friend had claimed instant irritation as the culprit and stated she was taking the high road and ignoring the idiot.

  Frustration built as the seconds ticked and Belle came up empty-handed. Sierra hissed. Terror slapped Belle and her gaze flew to the door. Instead of a bust, though, Sierra made another hurry-up gesture. Belle opened her mouth to retort but Sierra put her finger to her lip for silence and raised both brows. She was having way too much fun with this covert crap.

  With a curl of her lip, Belle mentally flipped her friend off, then went back to her snooping. Her silent cuss-fest halted when she found the recycling bin and stabbed the mouse button to open it.

  Gobbledygook. Most of the files had recognizable names, but a few were weird combinations of numbers and symbols. All had the current date. Did that mean Diana emptied the recycle bin daily? The extent of Belle’s computer knowledge ended when she hit Send on her email, so she had no clue. She clenched her teeth in a silent scream of frustration. She should have let Sierra check the computer, but if one of them was going to get caught, Belle needed to take responsibility.

  Helpless to do anything else, she started opening random files.

  And found what she was looking for in her third gobbledygook.

  “Holy shit,” she whispered as she read.

  “What?”

  Belle waved Sierra to silence as she right-clicked, trying to find the print command.

  “Belle,” Sierra muttered.

  “I’ll tell you in a second,” she said, brows furrowed as she tried to find the print icon. She hated this new operating system, she had no idea where anything was.

  Aha. She clicked.

  “No.” Sierra’s words had gone from a hiss to full-out panic. “Now—you have to move now.”

  “What?” Panic was a stifling blanket of intense black heat as it poured over Belle. Her gaze flew to the printer, spewing pages, and back to Sierra’s freaked-out face.