Hot to Touch

by Valentine, Layla

  When I looked up in the middle of doing that, Ian was glaring at me again, if anything looking even angrier. I frowned back at him, confused.

  And then a thought dawned that sent a chill through me: was he spying on me?

  No, I dismissed the idea quickly. He doesn’t have the nerve.

  But I still wondered what his fury—and his “congratulations”—were about as I drove home that night.

  Chapter 9

  Naomi

  Friday couldn’t come soon enough. I took the longest one-hour flight of my entire life, and then called Ace as soon as I got off the plane in Aspen. My apprehension was already turning into something else at the thought of seeing him soon: I felt as giddy as a teen on her first date.

  We hadn’t had the chance to get together since last time. At first, I hadn’t even been able to bring myself to call him beyond a friendly confirmation that yes, I had gotten home safe. I had been too afraid of catching feelings after such an amazing night. Even now, two months later and with the news I had for him a cold weight inside of me, I remembered that night very, very fondly.

  Maybe the condom split or spilled the first time. We had gotten pretty crazy at the end.

  I could still hear Ace’s animal groans in my ear as he had fucked me hard enough to shake the bed. Even now, waiting in the airport lobby for him to pick up his cellphone as it rang for the second time, the memory of him pounding against me as I came made my knees wobble.

  We had made a baby together that night. Healthy, the doc had said: a little daughter.

  I hoped he would take the news well.

  I also hoped he would fuck me again, even after hearing it.

  I was in the middle of a soft self-conscious laugh at myself when Ace picked up. “Hey! Did you make it in, sweetheart?”

  “Yeah. I’m at the airport now, where are you?” I felt heat run all through me, and looked around a little nervously, worried that my gushiness was showing too much in public.

  “Stuck up on the mountain. We’ve been putting out grass fires again and half my guys have a summer cold.” He sounded exasperated.

  My heart sank. Messes like this had been the story of his life for the last two months, ever since Colorado had started going through a mini-drought and the fire danger had shot up. That, as much as my lack of nerve and the mess at work, had kept us apart.

  “I’m two more hours up here,” Ace went on, “can I meet you somewhere?”

  “The fire station’s near the resort, right? I have to drop by there sometime this weekend anyway, check on my project.” I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice.

  “Okay, well, sorry I can’t pick you up.” He sounded genuinely regretful. “I promise I’ll make it up to you tonight.”

  Something in that last sentence made me squeeze my knees together hard and struggle to breathe for a moment.

  “Oh really?”

  He chuckled in a way that made it worse. “Don’t make any plans for tomorrow morning.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  How am I going to make it another two hours and change? I wondered.

  The answer, of course, was to put on my businesswoman hat and make sure that the fiasco with the cable car wasn’t the last impression that Archimedes Gears—or more importantly, I—had made.

  I still hadn’t mentioned the Hawaii job to anyone else at the company. The client had asked for me specifically; they hadn’t gone through the reception system but had instead called me directly, having taken my name and number from the resort proprietors after I had asked them to please call me directly with any problems or concerns.

  Ian, of course, had done no follow-up with the resort. I wondered what kind of impression he had made, getting lost in the main lodge while the lot of them had been waiting for us up on the mountain, then panicking and becoming useless the moment that something had gone wrong. I hoped that the story of his nearly pissing his pants and hiding in the bathroom had made it to every corner of the Aspen business world.

  Not to mention his lack of grace when rescued, and lack of interest in fixing the business relationship.

  Him as a CEO. The man’s a wrecking ball in his current position alone.

  The more I thought about it, the more I didn’t want him getting his greedy little hands on the Hawaii project. I knew that not only would he screw up the deal—he would screw up my nice, mild, tropical winter away from him and the board.

  So maybe what I was doing was a little underhanded. But I already understood the implications of their contacting me directly. They wanted to deal with me. Not Archimedes Gears.

  Once I had freshened up and taken a car over to the resort, I sat in the same coffee shop where I had met Ace, sipping the same drink, and thinking of him way too much as I did a little googling of Archimedes Gears, making a brief sweep of my usual sites.

  Stock was holding steady, with neither growth nor significant losses over the last six months. We were the sandwich bread of corporations: a predictable staple of the local engineering market.

  There was no significant news or scandal involving us online. The board member who visited prostitutes was divorcing his wife—probably trading her in for a younger model again. The only notice regarding the cable car project was a postage-stamp-sized mention in a few industry magazines—and of course, a whole page in the local paper.

  I checked that article and immediately smirked in amusement and settled in to read, sipping my iced mocha.

  Of course, the focus was on Ace, and his daring rescue of two embarrassed Archimedes Gears execs who were performing a final test on their new cable car system before turning over the proverbial keys.

  “According to veteran firefighter Ace Larsen, it’s a good thing they did, or he would have been forced to rescue over a dozen riders instead of just two. The daring rescue, which took an hour and a half to pull off, involved using safety harnesses similar to those used in water rescues in order to bridge the gap between the old and new gondolas.

  The rescued individuals were identified as Archimedes Gears’ CEO Naomi Richards, daughter of the late company founder, and her assistant, Ian—”

  I choked slightly on my mocha and stifled a laugh. Assistant? He would absolutely lose his mind if he realized he’d been publicized that way.

  Which meant, of course, that I was going to have to leave a copy on the printer as soon as I got back to the office.

  The article didn’t paint a very pretty picture of the gondola failing. However, I noticed that they mentioned my spending the rest of the afternoon there, returning twice, and sending over the engineers quickly to fix the issue. Now, two months into its regular use, I wondered if they had any follow-up issues or questions.

  I wasn’t finding anything too embarrassing that might have prompted the thought process behind Hawaii’s park guys calling me directly. Which made me think that the resort owners had told them something that had prompted their decision. Had they noticed who had handled all of the rush work to make this mess right?

  Still, if they did, they didn’t listen to everything I advised them.

  One thing I noticed as I looked over the latest engineer’s report on the power system was that no upgrade to the electrical system had taken place. They had simply taken down the old cable system as planned, and trusted that the reduced electrical load would be covered by the old system. I winced as I read this, wondering if I would risk our future work relationship by pressing the issue.

  Probably I needed to keep quiet. I already had to find out what had happened with the Hawaiians, and I knew that was asking a bit much on its own. If they wanted to be on the hook for a lawsuit because of an electrical failure or maybe a fire, I would bring my evidence to whoever ended up suing them. One warning should be enough.

  They ran a little late: two tall, balding men with salt-and-pepper hair and firm handshakes, their eyes black behind identical sets of round glasses. One looked about a decade older than the other, but other than that, they
could have been twins. The Orloff brothers, owners of the resort.

  I had expected their corporate representatives, and stood in surprise when they approached, nearly dropping my mocha. The older one—Karl?—showed most of his teeth in his brief grin; high-end implants had given him the perfect smile of a movie star.

  “Oh hello! Come up the mountain with us, we want to show you what we’ve done with your cable device.”

  He had lived in the mountains for fifty years, yet still spoke in a deep, rolling accent. His brother simply nodded along, smiling mildly and not offering his hand.

  “Of course, sir. I’m sorry for my shock. I was actually expecting one of your staff.” I tucked my phone into my pocket and set my drink reluctantly on the table.

  “Bring it, bring it,” Orloff gestured, voice magnanimous. “No use wasting good coffee. So, Miss Richards. You made CEO. We were glad to hear it, even with the bumpy road two months ago. I had lunch with your father a few times,” he said as he squired me up to the gondola dock, his brother trailing after us.

  I wondered if he was just shy, or if his brother simply liked dominating the conversation.

  The mention of my father made the smile freeze on my face. “Oh?”

  We stepped into the gondola, which had been emptied for us. It looked to be in good working order, with no further changes beyond the cosmetic. The stabilizers were working well enough that I couldn’t even feel the shift in my cup of mocha as we started up the mountain.

  “Yes, yes, a very old-fashioned man. Good in some ways. Not so great in others.” His eyes twinkled as he settled into a seat across from mine, his brother perching next to him and watching me.

  “That’s a good way of putting it,” I said diplomatically, which made him chuckle.

  “You’re very polite. I know he must have given you a hard time coming up in the company. He didn’t want any women in leadership, not even his own daughter. Isn’t that right?”

  I blinked several times and bought time by taking a drink. “Um.” This whole situation was a bit surreal. I had come expecting to go over the technical specs with some high-level resort functionary, and instead I was fielding questions about my father from the resort’s eccentric—and apparently nosy—owners.

  What have I gotten myself into?

  “But you, you came up in spite of all of that. I know half the guys on that board, too, and my brother Felix here, he knows all of them.” He looked over to Felix, who smiled faintly and nodded. “They must still give you hell.”

  It slowly dawned on me what this was about. They weren’t asking about my personal relationship with my father. They were asking about the corporate culture at Archimedes Gears.

  It floored me.

  I looked back at them and knew instantly not to pull any punches. “I find myself working against the culture at Archimedes Gears in order to move the company forward. That’s just between us, if you don’t mind.”

  The two of them nodded, and Felix folded his arms thoughtfully.

  “Is the resistance you experience related to the reasons your gondola project failed initially?” he asked, the very first thing that had come from his mouth. His voice was low and sandy, as if he was getting over a cold.

  I hesitated. But the truth was, I didn’t want my reputation to sink when Archimedes Gears finally did. I wanted to be well away. And despite its lack of coverage in the press, the matter of the broken-down gondola, and its making the news, was a big screw-up indeed.

  The older Orloff smiled at me warmly. “As you may have discovered from the nature of our referrals—has the gentleman from Hawaii contacted you?”

  I nodded, astonished, and he smiled wider and breezed on.

  “Good. Anyway, we are no longer interested in any business with Archimedes Gears that does not deal directly with you at all times. In fact, should you leave Archimedes Gears, we wish to retain your services.”

  “Once you get back from Hawaii, that is.” Felix smirked slightly.

  They were being remarkably generous—but a moment later, things got serious.

  “I’m floored by all of this,” I said warmly, but behind it, I knew this was the opening offer in a negotiation. One I didn’t have a choice in if I bit. “What can I do in return for all your generous help?”

  The older brother’s smile vanished. Felix’s hardened slightly.

  Karl spoke. “We would like to understand the whole process which led to the temporary failure of the installed project upon which we are now riding. I know that you personally supervised all needed repairs and upgrades to the immediate cable system, resulting in a delivery as promised that was a week late, but fully operational.” His accent mixed with the words, giving him the faint, slightly menacing elegance of a Bond villain. “But I do not know who is to blame for the problem.”

  I took a deep breath. Ian deserves this, I knew. But I still hesitated, knowing that if I did this, it was my first step out the doors of Archimedes Gears.

  Finally, I nodded, and smiled, keeping my manner perfectly professional. And I told them. Every damn detail.

  I was still in shock when the brothers saw me off half an hour later. For years, nobody had noticed all the personal sacrifices I had made to deliver on behalf of my company. Not my father, the higher-ups, or the board. It had taken Ian’s near-sabotage of this project to get the attention of someone who did.

  Of course, though I knew they were helping me tremendously by helping me find big-ticket breakaway clients, I could also read all the subtext in our startling conversation. They had wanted to know who to blame for this mess, and who was allowing that person to remain employed. And now they knew about Ian, and the board, and all the sabotages and meddling, and most of all, why.

  And they agreed with me that Ian would be the ruin of Archimedes Gears, should they succeed in pushing me out. But that meanwhile, no matter what I decided, they looked forward to working with me directly in the future.

  My ears rang slightly with my shock as I made my way back to the coffee house, still holding the old cup in my hands despite its having been emptied twenty minutes ago. I knew the Orloffs had not been so generous in exchange for a little information out of the kindness of their hearts. They were either planning legal action against Ian, planning to file a complaint with the board, or something else.

  And they had also strongly encouraged me, in their own kind, enticing way, to abandon ship before whatever they were planning hit Ian—and Archimedes Gears—broadside.

  Oh, boy.

  This was a lot to take in. I had never really thought seriously about continuing my career after leaving Archimedes Gears. I had always thought I would just give it all up and enjoy a very early retirement. But maybe that’s why I clung to the place—I don’t want to give up. I just want to work well away from Ian and all the rest of them.

  I saw a familiar tall figure stuffed into one of the coffee shop’s tiny chairs, and quickened my pace, a smile blooming on my face in spite of my mild exhaustion.

  “Ace!” I called out.

  He looked over his shoulder and flashed a grin that lit up my world a little. “Oh hey, there you are!”

  He got up and came to me, and I crossed the distance as fast as I dared in my business pumps. And before I quite knew what was happening, I was in his arms.

  I felt his warmth run all through me, and his huge, hard body pressing against me, and suddenly I was all weak in the knees again. He was in a T-shirt and jeans, hair a little damp from a fresh shower, and he smelled like sandalwood soap and clean sweat.

  I hugged him back, putting my arms around him as far as I could, and felt him growing hard through his jeans as he nearly lifted me off my feet.

  “Holy shit, I missed you,” he gasped as he set me down, not at all embarrassed to be hugging me in public. “Want to get out of here?”

  Now twice as dizzy, I nodded mutely.

  Chapter 10

  Ace

  I had waited two long months for the chance to get
with Naomi again, and once we were back together, neither one of us wanted to waste any time. I could tell from the way she trembled against me when I hugged her, the impatience when she kissed me back as I started my truck. It wasn’t just me.

  I didn’t think so. I had heard her disappointment over the phone when I had been forced to cover a shift unexpectedly. And though she looked a little frazzled now, her eyes were brilliant, and I could hear the little hitches in her breath between sentences as we talked.

  That night we had spent together had been the best sex of my life. She had me crazy, barely remembering the damn condom, too eager to get inside her to even climb on the bed fully, finally losing control of my strength—and instead of the intensity scaring her off, she had gotten off hard enough to start screaming too.

  She was hot, smart, successful, rich, addictive in bed, and amazingly, she liked me. I had spent too much time in the last two months wondering if I was stupid for catching feelings, but…it was done. I’d been numb after Miguel’s death, and somehow, thinking about the possibilities with Naomi had brought me out of it. Now she was back, she wanted more, she wanted this to be a regular thing, or at least she was headed that way.

  And I was happy as hell, driving with a blue-steel boner while I listened to her tell me breathlessly about the single weirdest business meeting of her entire life.

  “Hah, the Orloffs. Those two own a quarter of Aspen. Hungarians. Came over after the war. They’re eccentric as hell, and yeah, they don’t miss much. I think that Ian fucker’s due for a reckoning.”

  “What do you think they’ll do?”

  Her hand was on my thigh, her warmth burning through the denim, making me ache for her even more. I didn’t know if she even realized she was touching me right now. But she couldn’t stop. And I couldn’t stop either.

  I was going to fuck her absolutely silly this weekend, and spoil her out of bed while we were recovering. And next time, she’d be too eager to get back here to let work get in the way…or I would be there, in easy reach.