All She Wants

by Larkin Rose

  Just like when she was a child, adoring being with her mother, being a sponge when she talked out loud about her plans, Tessa planned to take everything she’d ever learned, over all of her thirty-nine years of life, and shove it into conquering this contest. She had every intention of wiping the floor with the other teams. There was no one who could outplan her. No one who could outwedding her. And damn sure, no one who could outdo her.

  Her mother had already taught her how to outthink even herself. How to one-up herself. And then one-up herself again. Until a simple plan blossomed and flourished.

  She’d been taught by the best. Trained to be an overachiever. She damn well would win this contest. Or die trying.

  “I’m so nervous,” Sally whispered from beside her.

  Tessa wanted to scold her. To tell her to get a grip. This was war, after all. But she didn’t want to act like a complete bitch before they were given their first clients.

  Instead, she patted her leg and gave her best smile. “We got this, girl. Together, we’re going to be unbeatable.”

  “Damn, skippy,” Seth chimed in. “We’re going to take them all by storm. They won’t know what the hell hit ’em.”

  “No shit. We have the perfect crew,” Hunter added. “Wedding and event planners, catering, decorating, photography…we have all bases covered. We’ve got this licked.”

  He extended his arm out, formed a fist, then motioned for everyone to join.

  “Team Tessa,” Seth quietly cheered amongst the loud chatter of the other groups around them.

  Tessa liked their fighting spirit and enthusiasm. With that kind of encouragement, together they would help keep each other on point. And from Sally’s hyper personality, that could come in use.

  She hoped.

  They all bumped fists as the door opened. A woman about Tessa’s height with cropped brown hair that fell around her face in soft waves stepped inside the room. Her smile was genuine as she looked around at their faces, excitement visible in her bright eyes.

  Everyone silenced and Tessa could feel a wave of anxiety spread around the crews. She drew in a quiet breath to settle her nerves and pressed a little deeper in her chair.

  That new life was about to kick off. That new career was just around the bend. These people, these opponents, were nothing more than rocks on her path. She needed only to kick them out of her way one punt at a time.

  And she would. Come hell or high water, she was going to reach that dream. She was already one step deep and nothing could block her way now.

  The woman made her way to the head of the room where a table had been set up. She laid a stack of files on top and turned to face everyone.

  The door opened again and another woman stepped inside.

  Tessa felt the breath catch in her throat. Her insides clamped down tight as the memories flooded.

  Raw images of their sweaty sex filtered through her mind as Marci followed the woman to the table wearing loose faded jeans and a pullover sweater. Hours upon hours, they’d spent grinding against each other, quenching their thirsty needs.

  Tessa couldn’t move as Marci leaned against the table, her gaze on no one in particular.

  How was this possible? The very woman she hadn’t been able to rip from her mind was right here, in the flesh, and not just a hot memory in her mind.

  This was bad. This was very, very bad. Her beginning could be over before it ever began. Damn her need for sex. Dammit.

  The shorter woman greeted the room. “Hello, everyone. I’m Wendy. I hate the word boss, but that’s what I am. I’ll be your boss through this incredible adventure.”

  Marci looked over the group until one face stopped her cold in her tracks.

  The woman from the bar. The woman who had writhed beneath her for hours. The very woman she couldn’t pluck from her brain. Her nameless beauty.

  Marci expelled a sigh as heat gathered between her legs and Wendy glanced over at her.

  “This is Marci Jones. She will be the stand-in liaison for all of my group leaders due to an emergency. Once you have your plan of action put together for your clients, you will report to her. She will square away all of your reservations and appointments, right down to setting up time slots for the ski slopes. If there are personal problems, don’t take them to her. She can’t help you with those. She is basically your secretary and nothing more. All she will do is point you to my office at the resort down the hill. So save yourself the time and bring all personal matters to my door.”

  Marci struggled to tear her sights off of the woman, off of that shocked expression, and finally she turned to Wendy and gave a firm nod.

  Wendy gave her a puzzled look before turning her attention back to the group. “To start things off, I would love for each of you to give us your name and tell us where you’re from and what talents you will share with your squads.”

  Marci glanced back at the woman. Finally, she would know her name. Why that was so important, she had no damn clue. Especially after she’d convinced herself that she didn’t need that name. That she didn’t want that name. But dammit, she did.

  Right now, she shouldn’t dare need that name. She should cry mercy to her best friend and excuse herself from this entire contest. Wendy wouldn’t be happy to know her one-night stand was sitting in this room, among these contestants, fighting for a chance to work at this resort. There had to be some kind of conflict of interest.

  Instead, she watched the contestants, one by one, give their name, where they were from, and if they had been chosen to be the team leaders, pretending to care anything about them. Some faces Marci recognized from the files. But not the woman who was firmly watching Marci. That face she would have never forgotten.

  Finally, her mystery woman stood. She never took her eyes off Marci as she lifted her chin.

  Marci gripped the edge of the table.

  That name. She needed that name.

  “I’m Tessa Dalton, from Peoria, Arizona.”

  Marci felt her breath catch in her throat. The name from the file. The name that had stirred those pain-filled memories to the surface. The very file her trembling fingers hadn’t allowed her to open.

  “I run a wedding venue, True Beginnings, with my sister. I’ll be a team leader.” Tessa smiled at Wendy then turned those pretty eyes on Marci, the smile smoothing into a serious expression. “I look forward to working under you.”

  A few people in the room giggled at her choice of words, including Wendy, who leaned into Marci and whispered, “Well, someone needs to do it.”

  Marci shifted. Tessa. Even her name was sexy. But not nearly as sexy as those serious eyes were, still tagged on Marci, reminding her that they’d looked up at her, down at her, directly at her, all while Marci worked another orgasm from her body.

  Her insides trembled and she forced herself to look away.

  This was going to be disastrous. Telling Wendy that she would have to bail was going to be completely disastrous. She could feel it all the way down to her soul.

  Tessa had been too mysterious. Too closed. Something was amiss. What, why, she didn’t know. But she felt it nonetheless.

  An hour later, after all instructions had been given out, as well as their tablets that would link them to their client’s video, the room had been emptied of contestants on their way to see the designated cabins where they would be living for the next eight weeks, Marci could finally breathe.

  Wendy turned a hard stare on her. “Care to share what that sexual tension was all about? Did my best friend just have a moment of lust? Not that I could blame you. She was smoking hot and those green eyes were sinful.”

  Marci almost hated to admit that she’d had more than a moment fucking Tessa. “Wendy, you might need to find a replacement for me. I think I screwed up.”

  “I will roll your butch ass down this mountain if you say replacement one more time.” Wendy dared her with a cocked eyebrow. “Explain how you think you screwed up. Quickly. Before I let my imagination run wild and
think horrible things and kick you down the mountain anyway.”

  “Me. Her.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with fantasizing. I’m sure I might do the same thing when I close my eyes tonight.”

  “No, Wendy. Me. Her! This weekend.”

  Wendy snorted. “Stop playing. You wish you had fucked up with that sexy piece of ass.”

  When Marci didn’t break eye contact, Wendy angled her head. “You’re shitting me.”

  Marci shook her head. “No. Not shitting. She was at the bar this weekend.”

  Wendy propped a hand on her hip. “Okay, so what does that have to do with replacing you?”

  “Do I have to spell out conflict of interest?”

  Wendy broke into laughter then tried to compose herself when Marci didn’t share in the amusement. “Look here, glorified secretary. Who do you think would give a shit if she was fucking the secretary? The one and only person involved in this contest who can’t do a damn thing to help her climb any rungs on a ladder. No one. That’s who.”

  Marci was shocked at Wendy’s response, assuming she was going to get a tongue-lashing and then be forced to make endless phone calls until she found her own replacement.

  “It’s not very ethical to have slept with someone from one of the teams. Don’t you agree?”

  “Ethical? Maybe not. But again, who cares? You hold no water in this game and I made that clear to everyone in the room. I promise by the end of this contest, you won’t be the only one to have fucked someone else from the crews. Hell, you probably won’t be the only person to have fucked her.”

  The insinuation made something tighten in Marci’s gut. She looked away and took a deep breath to loosen its grip.

  “But she didn’t know that I was unimportant until today.”

  “And. What are you implying?”

  “I’m just curious. If she knew who I was, thought she could earn some brownie points, that would explain why she sought me out at the bar.” Marci felt the ridiculous punch of her words but couldn’t shake the possibility that they were true.

  “La-di-da look how you think your shit don’t stink!” Wendy chuckled. “Are you being dead serious right now?”

  Marci crossed her arms and looked away. Why was the notion so hard to believe? “Yes. I am.”

  “Tell me, how in the hell could she have known that you, just forty-eight hours ago, got yanked into this contest? She was likely in flight when you were agreeing to fill in.” She threw her hands up. “No. Do not answer that. Dear Lord, Ashley did you in, didn’t she? Now you’re making up shit so you can recede into the darkness. I’m not sure you’re ever going to recover.”

  “Don’t go there, Wendy.”

  “Well, someone has to. You can’t even get out of your own head long enough to enjoy a little thing called fucking.”

  Marci smiled. “I did not say I didn’t enjoy it. Never said that.”

  God, how she’d enjoyed it. How she wanted to do it again. Very soon. But the fact remained that there was a possibility that Tessa had tried to use her. How, she wasn’t certain. But people were evil. People thought they could be sneaky and get away with it. It could have happened. It likely happened right under her nose while she was too busy trying to pull another orgasm from that undulating body.

  As much fun as it had been, it sucked for Tessa that her attempt was short-lived and a glorious waste of time. Good for Marci, however. She got a free fuck out of it. Hours of fucking, as a matter of fact.

  “I’m seriously getting worried about you, Marci. This isn’t healthy. Sooner or later, that guard has to come back down or you can bet your sweet ass you’ll be adopting orphaned animals from these woods and giving them all first, middle, and last names.”

  Wendy was right. She could feel it. Even her gut told her she was being ridiculous and childish and too guarded. If only she could shake that slim possibility. If only she could shake that untrusting bone in her body.

  “Fine. If you don’t see it as a conflict, then I’ll forget about it and move on.”

  “Great. And the only conflict I see here is when, where, and how you’re going to do it again. I’d be a repeat offender for that one any day. Career be damned.”

  Marci pushed away from the table. “You’re impossible.”

  Wendy fell in step behind her. “Coming from someone who tagged herself a sexy little thing, who could do it again without even so much as a stink eye from her boss, I’ll take that as a compliment. Thanks.”

  Marci stepped out into the hall.

  Oh, how she’d tagged herself a sexy little thing.

  One who thought she was clever.

  But she wasn’t. Tessa wasn’t clever at all.

  Chapter Five

  Tessa couldn’t tear herself away from the window, away from the beauty beyond the glass. Snow. Mountains. Tall trees. Birds in flight. All with a clear sky with miles of visibility.

  She was in awe of the magical picture surrounding her and couldn’t wait to get out in it. To explore every inch of that forest. To follow the stream she could see trickling from the window. To just inhale all this beauty.

  But first things first. She and her crew needed to watch their first client’s video and get a plan of action in place. This was what she was here for. To cater to clients. To compete for the top points. To win. The exact reason she needed to remove her tongue from this pane of glass and get her ass in motion.

  Outside her bedroom door, she could hear her crew excitedly chatting and moving about this incredible cottage, squealing in immature delight, as Tessa moved to unpack her suitcase. Who could blame them? They were going to be spending eight weeks in this magnificent space if Tessa had any say in the matter. And if luck and the capability to perform hard work was on her side, the view outside the glass could be a permanent picture she got to wake up to every day for the rest of her life.

  Oh, what a dream that would be. What a dream that was.

  She never wanted to leave. Even if she failed, even if she lost, she never wanted to leave. Maybe she could beg Wendy to let her clean toilets. She would if it meant she could stay forever.

  When she finally left her room, most of her crew were already sitting around the dining table with their tablets and a large monitor set up in the middle where she assumed they were going to make headquarters.

  Seth gave an approving whistle as Tessa sat down beside him. “Hey, sexy mama. You ready to lead this brigade?”

  More than anything, Tessa was ready. But she was more ready to see Marci again. To get under her one more time. Maybe more if time allowed.

  She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since she left the conference room, admiring the red flush flickering across Marci’s cheeks. What had she been thinking? Was she happy to see Tessa again? The same way Tessa had been excited to see her again?

  If she had things her way, she was going to spend as much down time panting her name over and over and over.

  “More than ready.” Tessa nodded toward the monitor. “Hit that play button. Let’s see who our first clients are and how we can make them the happiest people alive.”

  Hunter opened a tripod and locked his camera on the top. “I want a picture of us all looking at the monitor. I want to capture great minds working together to kick these other crews in the ass.”

  “Hell yes!” Sally cooed. “I can’t wait to pluck out the losing teams one right after the other.”

  “Team Tessa!” Seth added. “Champions in the making.”

  Three hours later, Tessa flopped on the couch beside Seth and pulled on her boots. She was positive he was her spirit animal. Every idea she offered, he got it, even added ways to branch from them, adding his own glitter to the portrait.

  It was amazing and comforting to see that someone else could see the visions in her mind and was willing to not only match it, but to stem from it.

  And the rest were just as great at contributing with their own ideas that would work well.

  The game
plan was in action. Their clients, the first of the fight, the easiest in the line of challenges according to Wendy, would consist of a group of close friends who asked for nothing more than endless fun on the slopes, great food that didn’t include fine dining, and whatever else her team thought the wild bunch would enjoy. Anything goes, they’d said, as long as it was legal.

  Tessa was flooded with ideas. From skiing, to zip-lining, to beers around a bonfire. But just because these friends were easy, just because they would be simple to please, didn’t mean they wouldn’t get exactly what they were asking for, multiplied. This was her first chance to prove she had what it took to jump over the next hurdle. For her team to prove themselves as well. This was it. This was the warm-up to the finish line and this one, this very first one, would set the standard for all the rest to come.

  And the crew’s ideas had been just as great. All of which Tessa made sure to incorporate to some capacity. That was what teamwork was all about, after all. Sharing ideas. Deciding as a team to keep an idea or toss it. And in the end, almost every idea had been folded into their itinerary, and they were all satisfied that these guys would have the perfect mini vacation. From the second they arrived, all hands would be actively catering to their every whim, making sure their need for fun was met in every capacity. She had no doubt that her crew could handle everything.

  She was excited and actually dreaded having to wait five days before their clients arrived. If not for having to put someone else in charge of handling reservations, she would already be on top of that as well. She wasn’t used to handing over responsibility to someone else and really would much rather have complete control.

  But rules were rules, and if she wanted to play this game to the best of her ability, she would have to follow all of the rules. Including relinquishing control.

  Besides, that rule meant that she had to go to Marci’s cabin. The very reason she was jerking her boots on this very second. She was anxious to see Marci again. To possibly be alone with her. To hopefully get beneath her.