What the heck was she doing?
Rob stared at her wordlessly. And the magnitude of what she wanted to do weighed down on her.
He was her boss. She needed this job. The last thing she needed right now was to get involved with him. Love always complicated things. It made her vulnerable and exposed her heart to a world of potential hurt. Her life was already messed up badly enough. She didn’t need to complicate things more.
She resisted the urge to touch her lips. “We should make it an early evening.”
She hadn’t meant to sound so abrupt. And judging from the look on Rob’s face, she’d surprised him, too.
She cleared her throat. “I think we both need to get a good night’s sleep. Our meeting is at eight o’clock in the morning. I’ll meet you in the lobby at seven-thirty. Okay?”
* * *
Somewhere in the haze between longing and lust, Rob found what was left of his shredded senses. He gazed into Pepper’s eyes, trying to understand what she was saying.
At first, all he could comprehend was that her sweet lips were only a breath away. But then he remembered something about meetings or meeting in the lobby...right...at seven-thirty in the morning.
He stood there breathless for a moment and closed his eyes, trying to gather himself. Damn, he needed to get out of there before they did something they’d both regret in the morning.
“Come on, I’ll walk you back to your room,” he finally said.
But Pepper wavered. The expression on her face was at odds with the words that had stopped their kiss. Was that disappointment he saw behind her Mona Lisa mask? He couldn’t quite read her.
Boundaries should be a no-brainer in a boss-employee relationship. But right now the only place he wanted to be her boss was in the bedroom.
He took her by the hand and led her back into the suite. But then she reached for him and he stepped forward her to meet her halfway, taking her into his arms again.
“What do you want to do?” he whispered.
She answered him by sliding her arms around his neck, and kissing him. It was a deep, openmouthed kiss that had her fisting her hands into his shirt, pulling their bodies closer.
That was all he needed to know.
Together, they would cross the line from coworkers to lovers.
* * *
She knew she didn’t want him to stop, so she kissed him and he kissed her back. She leaned into him as if her next breath depended on his.
He tasted like blackberries and cinnamon from the gum he’d been chewing earlier that day, and something exotic—that indefinable flavor that was uniquely his. Something, she suddenly realized, she’d been desperately hungering for—no, she’d been ravenous for it. For that hint of the familiar with a taste of the forbidden.
He slipped his hands between them. His fingers lingered on her stomach, slipped underneath her blouse and worked their way up to her breasts. She melted at the feel of his touch.
He slid his hands around her back and pulled her tight against him. She felt the hardness of him and was swept away in the rush of sexual fantasy.
He kissed her neck. Her head lolled to the side in approving bliss, as spirals of desire and fiery need unfurled in her belly.
“I’ve wanted this since that first day I saw you,” he whispered. Nuzzling her neck, he kissed it and worked his way around to her lips. There, he kissed her with a slow and burning passion that held promises of what was to come next.
* * *
He’d never felt such overwhelming longing in his entire life. He wanted to show her how much he’d ached for her, how much he’d craved this moment. He wanted to show her with his lips and hands and body why they would be so right together.
Right there in the living room of the suite, he touched her, and in response his own body swelled and hardened. He loved the feel of her curves, so strong, yet so pliable to his touch. When he moved his hands to her hips, cupping her bottom and pulling her closer, she arched against him, firing his rigid desire.
He raised his hands to her breasts, cupping them through her white linen blouse, savoring their full curves before teasing her hard nipples. She gasped and seemed to lose herself in his touch.
The thought of making love to her caused a hungry shudder to rack his whole body. But that was nothing compared to the feel of her hand on the front of his trousers. She teased his erection through the layers of his trousers and boxers. The sensation was almost more than he could bear. Suddenly, he needed her naked so that he could bury himself inside of her.
He led her into the bedroom, eased her down, kissing her throat, her jaw, her cheeks, and tenderly biting down on her earlobe.
It felt like the first time again. He wanted to savor the moment. Slowing down, he undid each button on her blouse. In one swift, gentle motion, he lifted her so that he could remove it. Slowly, he unhooked the front clasp of her bra. He freed her breasts and lowered his head, suckling until she cried out in pleasure.
The sexy sound almost undid him.
She must have sensed as much, because she unbuttoned his trousers and slid down the zipper. He moved so that she could push his pants and boxers down. They dropped to the floor, freeing him.
She lay beneath him, looking like the most beautiful woman in the world. Had he been crazy to think he could resist her?
Then, as they lay together naked, despite the need driving him to the brink of madness, he slowed down, one more time, savoring the way her beautiful body looked and reveling in how much he wanted her.
Body to body.
Skin to skin.
Hands exploring.
Souls merging.
And then they were kissing each other deeply again, tongues thrusting, hungrily devouring each other. When he was sure she was ready, he buried himself inside her. That was when he knew without a doubt that this was where he wanted to be, where he needed to be. Always.
* * *
“Somebody made the news,” Kate said.
She quirked a brow at him and slid a copy of the National Tattler onto his desk. “Working hard there, buddy?”
Rob stared at the grainy, black-and-white tabloid photo and the headline Fallen Heiress’s Resort Love Nest. It was them, or was it? The quality of the photo was terrible. But he knew in his heart of hearts it was them as they kissed on the hotel balcony in Orlando. Good God, who had taken their picture? He hadn’t even seen anyone with a camera. Not that he’d been looking.
He wondered if Pepper had seen the story. Probably not, since she hadn’t called him.
The only consolation was that even though it was a front-page story, it was small. The barely legible photo and cryptic headline were below the fold of the weekly tabloid and would probably be hidden on the newsstand display racks or tucked away underneath where people wouldn’t see it.
While they’d made the news, they weren’t the main attraction. The general population wouldn’t care. It was those who were close to him that he was concerned about—Pepper, Kate and Cody.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“I don’t tell you everything and really, this is nobody’s business. We don’t owe anyone an explanation.”
Mainly because he didn’t quite know how to explain this. He and Pepper were still in that no-man’s-land of not knowing exactly what was between them. Not that he should have to defend himself.
“We are consenting adults,” he said. “I don’t quiz you about your love life.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “But there are bound to be questions and rumors. So, you might want to think up something a little smarter sounding because people are going to ask.”
She sighed. “Look, I’m not upset. It just caught me off guard. I wish I didn’t have to find out like this that you two have been seeing each other. I wish yo
u’d trusted me enough to confide in me, because really I think you two would make the perfect couple.”
“We didn’t plan this. The Orlando trip wasn’t a romantic getaway. It was business. Things...happened.”
Kate’s eyes got big.
His conscience nudged him. “It wasn’t our first kiss.”
“Really?” He couldn’t read her expression, and that worried him.
“No. Pepper and I have had a strange kind of magnetic attraction since the night we met.”
“And when was that? I thought you’d not met her before the interview?”
“I never said that.” He told her about the night after they’d met on the flight back from New York. “But when I hired her we both agreed we would keep the relationship platonic. Obviously, that’s easier said than done. She and I are still trying to figure this out. So, what were we supposed to say to others? Please don’t hold this against her, okay?”
Kate’s face softened. “Of course I won’t, as long as you promise me something?”
He nodded. “What?”
“I want you to be true to yourself for once. For so many years you’ve been looking out for everyone else. Maybe this time is your time. Think about it.”
Chapter Thirteen
Nothing like a tabloid story to put the pressure on an undefined relationship. Especially on the eve of her mother’s return to Texas. Her mother was such a stickler for all that was proper and in good taste. If her mother had seen the photo, Pepper knew she would be hearing about how it was bad form to be caught in a romantic romp so soon after her father’s passing.
After all, one must observe Victorian mourning customs. Pepper flinched at her own impertinence. Was this how things would be now that her mother was coming back?
Not necessarily. But it was important that she set the tone. Somehow, she had to be respectful of her mother’s position, while not sacrificing herself. Now that she knew where she stood with Rob, she wanted to nurture that relationship. Somehow she would have to make her mother understand that just because she was moving on with her life she was not being disrespectful of her father.
More than anything, she needed to gently make her mother understand that things were different now. That they were in survival mode and no longer had the luxury of playing to society.
The time she’d spent with Rob was a sanctuary in the storm of uncertainty. While the purest part of her longed to lose herself in him, in the new direction their relationship had turned, she couldn’t ignore the niggling voice that warned her to be practical. Not to the tune of Victorian mourning customs, but to be careful. Jobs like this didn’t come along every day. She needed to take extra care to remain professional and so indispensable to the Macintyre Family Foundation that if things didn’t last with Rob she wouldn’t find herself back at square one.
Not that she was forecasting gloom and doom. She wanted him more than was good for her. After all, she only need to take one look at her mother to see the moral of the tale of a woman who invested everything she had in a relationship.
Look where Marjory Merriweather was today.
To that end, Pepper needed to do a little damage control. She had been mortified when Rob had called the morning after they’d gotten home from Orlando and broke the news about the story. She hadn’t even seen the paper. A news clipping service that Macintyre Enterprises employed to gather stories about the company had sent it to him, Rob had said.
“My take is unless someone within the organization read the tabloids and chose to make an issue of it, it won’t be a problem.”
“And will it become a problem if someone does raise a stink?”
Robert’s answer was short and succinct: “I’m the one who signs the checks. If they don’t like it they can work for someone else.”
Well, that was good to know...for now. She hoped he would never have reason to take that stance with her in the future. Just to be sure—
“Where does that leave us?” she asked. He’d answered the question with silence. She wasn’t comfortable with that answer. “Rob, I happen to love my job. I don’t want this—whatever it is that’s going on between us—to change things. But I also don’t want to be a liability. You need to decide if I’m worth it.”
Oh, gosh, did I really said that?
But it was the million-dollar question. The fact remained that she did draw a certain interest from the press—even if it was B-roll, below-the-fold gossip. To some degree, her life had always played out in the public eye. Rob, on the other hand, was a very private person.
“Of course you’re worth it. I don’t want to lose you, but even more than that, I want you to be comfortable in your position here.”
“So, what does that mean?” she asked.
“It means that we have to keep our eyes open for the damn paparazzi.”
She laughed and decided to take it as a positive. She needed to bolster herself as much as possible before facing Kate. Rob had told her that Kate understood, but her feelings had been hurt finding out the way she did. “Just talk to her. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
One of the best ways she knew to bolster herself was by giving herself a good dose of chocolate. She pulled out a piece of the mass-produced chocolate from the secret stash she kept in her pantry.
She was out of the good stuff that Maya had sent home with her. Being on a budget, she’d gone with the next best alternative. While nothing compared to Maya’s chocolate, this stuff did the trick in a pinch.
She unwrapped the red foil paper, smoothed it flat and read the inspirational quote inside: Today, have no limits.
These little gems usually made her smile, but today’s went against the grain. It should’ve been more to the tune of Today is a day to set boundaries with the media.
Pepper balled up the wrapper and sent it sailing toward the garbage can with a flick of the wrist. It landed with a soft plunk.
So much for that.
She decided that she would face Kate the same way she’d faced all the other challenges that had landed on her doorstep lately: head-on.
They were scheduled to meet on the set of the taping of Catering to Dallas for the presentation of the Taste of Celebration check.
But first, Pepper had texted Kate asking: Coffee before the shoot?
Kate had replied: Yes, please! :)
So, that was a good sign. They agreed to meet at the French Bakery in downtown Celebration. It was within walking distance from the Celebrations, Inc., kitchen.
With Kate’s positive reception, her mind shifted to other possibly more volatile topics—showing up on the set of Catering to Dallas.
After the debacle that she’d faced on her first day back on the set, she’d gotten the producers to guarantee in writing that her father, Harris Merriweather, would not be mentioned in any way.
Pepper had offered to stay away to ensure that focus would not be diverted from the presentation of the check, but her girlfriends and Lindsay and Carlos, the producers of the show, had insisted that she be there.
Lindsay and Carlos had been out of town on Pepper’s first day back on the show, and they had been none too thrilled when they’d heard what had happened and that Pepper had left.
When Pepper learned of the opportunity for great promotion for the Foundation and the Taste of Celebration festival, she felt as though she were contemplating walking into enemy camp. It was such a relief when she learned that Lindsay and Carlos truly cared.
Never burn bridges, she thought as she walked into the French Bakery. Nerves kicked back up when saw Kate sitting at a corner table waving at her.
Here we go. Everything is going to be fine. Shoulders back. Chin up. Everything will be fine.
Kate had the good grace to bring it up before Pepper’s bottom touched the seat.
; “So, you and my brother, huh? I approve. Although I’m not sure I’m a big fan of the tabloids.”
Kate sipped her coffee.
“You and me both. I’m not going to lie, Kate. I can’t promise you the press will stop. At least not immediately. I’m not purposely seeking attention, but to some extent it’s a reality. I’m...sorry. I’m just so sorry that had to happen.
“I keep thinking things have finally settled down, and then something ugly pops up and reminds me that my life may never be the same again. But thank you for being so nice about it. I know things like that can’t be good for business.”
Kate shrugged. “You know what they say. There’s no such thing as bad publicity. You know how to handle yourself—well, most of the time.” She laughed. “Come on, we’ve only got a few minutes before we need to leave. Grab a cup of coffee and fill me in. Is it serious between you and my brother?”
* * *
Marjory Merriweather did not take the red eye. Her flight landed at one o’clock in the afternoon, which meant that Pepper had to take a long lunch break to pick up her mother at the airport and deposit her at home.
After much debate, she decided that it would be best to ease her mother into her new reality. What better way than having her meet her curbside at baggage claim.
While it meant that Marjory wouldn’t have to trek all the way out into the parking lot, it also meant that she, who was used to having people wait on her hand and foot, would have to handle her own baggage.
Wrangling her own bags out to Pepper’s car—rather than having an attendant help her to the hired car—would be enough of a culture shock. Or perhaps it was better viewed as a compromise. Pepper would’ve gone in to help, but she couldn’t leave the car unattended.
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