Before long they were tearing at each other’s clothes, desperate for skin-on-skin contact. When they were finally naked Nate rolled on top again, pushing his hands into her hair to hold her still for yet more deep, searching kisses before turning her head to the side so he could lick, bite and suck his way down her neck to her collarbone.
She arched her back, drinking in the unique scent that was Nate. Val had never been a huge fan of cologne, but he wore just enough to intrigue and yet not overwhelm her senses. Underneath that was a hint of sweat and pure man. Why did the man’s smell turn her on so much? It was weird.
Nate worked his wicked lips over the pulse point in her neck. “You taste so good,” he murmured. Val grabbed his short hair and tugged him down to her breast. “Oh yeah, baby, show me what you want,” he got out before taking her nipple into his mouth and suckling hard. She gasped, biting her lip, and Nate looked up at her. “Let me hear you. Let me hear your reactions. So sexy…”
He moved to her other breast, as his hand rose to pull and tweak the nipple he’d just abandoned. “I need you, Nate, please,” she begged, both never wanting his exquisite torture to end and needing to feel him inside her as soon as possible.
“All in good time, my sweet.” Val groaned and he covered the sound with a kiss. “I want to make you feel so good, honey.”
“You will.”
He smiled, caressing her cheek. “We’ve got time. Let’s not rush this.”
Val considered throwing her first temper tantrum since she’d been about six years old, but decided instead to make him suffer as much as she was. She pushed at the hard wall of his chest and he rolled onto his back. Following him, she straddled his hips, giving him a cat-ate-the-canary smile that widened his eyes.
*****
Nate stared at Val’s naked body poised over his and was sure he’d died and gone to heaven. Then she sank down a little more, her hot center resting on his groin, and he couldn’t help the decidedly unmanly sound that worked its way out of his chest. He wanted her more with every passing minute and, though he’d vowed to go slow, what he really wanted to do was push himself inside her so far neither kept their wits about them.
Her breasts were front and center, and he used both hands to squeeze and knead them gently. Val threw her head back when he lightly pinched her nipples, and he truly wasn’t sure how long he could hold on without losing whatever shred of his sanity remained. He moved a hand down to her core. Oh yeah, she was more than ready for him.
Nate looked at the goddess of a woman on top of him and his heart tightened.
This is only sex. I’m going back home soon. It wouldn’t be fair to her to stay involved.
No matter what he told himself, though, he couldn’t shake the feeling it was already more than just sex, and with each whisper, each touch, each moan, she was pulling him further and further in. Reaching for the nightstand, he blindly groped for the condom he’d left there when he’d shucked his pants moments before. She took it from him and he held his breath as her small, delicate hands circled him before rolling the latex down. Val rose up and then impaled herself on his raging, throbbing erection and both of them let out guttural cries.
He let her get used to his size, panting as he fought for control. Val began to move slowly, sinuously on him and he closed his eyes as sensation racked his body. She was so tight, so hot around him.
“Open your eyes,” she whispered and, when he did, she leaned down to place a gentle kiss to his lips. This didn’t feel like just sex. It felt like making love. At first they’d been wild for each other, but as soon as he’d slipped inside her everything had changed. He didn’t want to roll her over onto her back so he could pump into her hard and fast; he wanted to feel every decadent slide in and out for as long as possible and then to watch her as she came. What did that mean?
He didn’t have the headspace to consider the weighty question as she tightened down on him and his mouth opened on a wordless moan. She smiled just a little and kept moving, her hands planted on his chest as she took him inside her again and again. Nate wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer and took his hand off her sexily-rounded hip, bringing it to the juncture of her legs and finding her clit, nestled in her folds. Val gasped.
“That’s it, honey. I’m not going over until you do.”
“I-I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Feel me, Val. Feel me inside you, feel my fingers working you.”
“Oh, God,” she cried, as he sped up his ministrations on her core. Then, with a toss of her head, she came. He forced his eyes to remain open as she contracted around him before letting himself go over the edge. Blinding pleasure stole through him and he was powerless to stop the roar that burst forth from him. She collapsed on top of him and he let her stay there, kissing her hair for a moment before shifting her and taking care of the condom.
He got back into bed and reached for her, fitting her back against his front. “Don’t leave this time.”
“I won’t.”
*****
As Val shifted to lie on her back, trying to catch her breath, she stole a glance at him. Everything was changing, as if the very soil was shifting underneath her without her knowing. Every fiber of her being felt different, and she had no idea what to make of it. She’d told Nate she wouldn’t leave, but there was some force driving her out of the room. At the same time he was so warm, and she took comfort in just lying there with him. Soon his breathing evened out but, even as exhaustion blanketed her like a heavy cloak, she couldn’t fall asleep.
The next morning, she left early to return to her own home to shower and change. This time she kissed Nate good-bye before rushing out of the room. Both she and Nate were due at a meeting and she arrived just in time to throw her stuff into her office and hightail it up to the executive suite. When she got there she immediately knew something was wrong. It was too quiet and the people milling around looked nervous.
Stepping into Doug’s old office with more than a little trepidation, she called out softly to the administrative assistant, Rose, as if she was speaking to a wounded animal or small child. “Hello?”
The woman spun to face her. “Oh, it’s you.”
“We were supposed to have a meeting before we met with the board, correct? Or did that get canceled when they fired Doug?”
“I’m not sure how Richard wants to handle it,” she answered, referring to the man the board had named interim CEO. Rose tunneled her hand through her short hair and blew out a loud breath. “Is Nate on his way?”
“I would assume so.” She bit her lip, considering. Should she ask Rose if something was wrong? Wait for Nate? Let someone tell them in their own time? Finally she couldn’t stand the suspense. “Is everything all right?”
“No.” Rose’s eyes rolled heavenward, as her head tipped back. “Dear God, no. And I’m not sure I have the stomach for all this, truthfully.”
Val crossed the room, laying her hand gently on the older woman’s arm. “Rose? Talk to me. What happened?” Rose’s face was gray and a fine tremor was working its way through her body. “Sit down.”
Rose fell into a chair at Doug’s old conference table. “The NIH just called.”
Oh, that’s not good.
Outwardly she remained calm. “What did they say?”
“They’re auditing us. The entire hospital, from top to bottom. They’ll be looking not only at every single active grant they’ve issued us, but also our accounting practices, record-keeping procedures, and a bunch more stuff I don’t even want to contemplate.” She looked up at Val, her gaze bleak. “Is it too early to start drinking?”
Val laughed, but the sound was more hysterical than anything else.
We’re screwed. We are so screwed. CCC ran a tight ship as far as she knew, but an audit like this would inevitably turn up something bad. There were hundreds of researchers; a hundred-fifty thousand patients walked through the door every year. No way could all that be handled perfectly.
Val clen
ched her stomach. “Now I see what you mean. Do you have any booze?”
“I wish,” Rose answered. “But I should probably keep my head on straight anyway. The board is going to flip out, and if I’m feeling no pain I won’t be good for much. Of course, I don’t have a clue how Richard will calm them down. This is bad. Really, really bad. If NIH pulls their funding we might as well shutter the place.”
Val sat next to the shaking woman, worried she might be working herself into a heart attack or something else equally as awful. “Don’t talk like that. Sure, we’d have to cut services and we wouldn’t have nearly as much money available for research, but we’d survive.” She took a breath. “Wouldn’t we?”
Rose threw up her hands, jumping out of her chair. “Who knows?”
Just then, there was a knock on the door and Nate stuck his head in. His smile faded as soon as he stepped into the room. “What’s going on?” Val remained silent, figuring it was Rose’s news to relate. Nate shot Val a curious look, but said nothing. He sat next to Val and then looked at Rose. “This looks like something I’ll want to sit to hear.”
“The NIH—that’s National Institutes of Health, where we get a lot of our funding—” Rose began, and a flash of annoyance stole over Nate’s face before he was able to school his features. Perhaps Rose didn’t realize how much time Nate had spent in the trenches helping Val and that he would obviously know not only what NIH was but also how crucial their funding was to the hospital. Rose continued. “They’ve decided to audit the hospital.”
“Like a financial audit?”
Val spoke up. “No, like a ‘we’ll look at whatever we want because we’re the NIH’ audit.”
“Well, shit.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Rose mumbled.
Val decided she needed to take charge immediately. Clearly Rose was panicking, and Val was sure she wasn’t the only one. Pulling her notebook closer, she opened it and said, “Let’s make a plan. We can’t let things get any further out of our control. The bleeding has to stop.”
“I agree with Val,” Nate put in. “You need a cohesive plan we can implement immediately.” She glanced over and he gave her a small smile. His support would go a long way toward getting things moving, since people seemed to trust him, most likely because of his supreme confidence and unflappable demeanor.
“Fine, whatever you need,” Rose answered, sinking back into the chair.
“First, we’ll need to issue a press release. There’s no way in hell we can keep an NIH audit out of the press.” Val said. “We’ll put it out right at close of business today. That way it’ll be too late to make the evening news and, if we’re lucky, the papers won’t realize what a big deal this is until we have some time to come up with plausible answers to the inevitable questions.”
Nate was nodding as she was speaking and Val briefly reflected about how nice it was to have him on her side rather than arguing with her at every turn.
Rose nodded. “Okay. I assume you’ll take care of that?”
“Not a problem,” Val assured her. “From a PR perspective we can only try to mitigate the damage. In light of what’s happened, no one is going to believe this is a routine audit. We should be honest about why the NIH is coming, reiterate that we don’t have anything to hide and will fully cooperate with the audit.”
“Good, good.” Rose glanced at the clock. “The board will be coming in soon. Can I leave this in your capable hands? I have a feeling Richard is going to need a Valium and a parachute for when he tries to jump out the window. Ten floors is a long way down.”
Val nodded, grateful the woman seemed to be calming down. “Of course. Can you make our excuses to the board? If they need me I’ll be in my office.”
Nate and Val left Doug’s former office. As they got into the elevator, Nate said, “What do you need from me?”
“Honestly, can you just keep doing what you’ve been doing?” He’d taken over proofing the donor magazine and with at least with one thing still going her work wasn’t a complete shambles. “I’ll take care of the press release and schedule it for a four forty-five pm broadcast.”
“Sounds good to me. We can circle the wagons later on to make sure we’re covering our bases.” Nate shook his head, chuckling. “I should’ve handed you a Buzzword Bingo card before I started talking. All this corporate-ness is getting to me. I can’t even get the catchphrases right, though.”
Val joined him in a laugh, even though she felt a little guilty laughing about anything when the hospital’s walls were practically collapsing around them. Deep inside she knew she needed to grab these moments of levity and hold on to them. Who knew when there would be more?
Chapter Fourteen
They attempted to bury the news about the audit by issuing four releases at once. Normally, CCC wouldn’t issue more than one a day, and often held releases for a few days in order to maximize exposure for each story, but in this case both she and Nate thought flooding the market, so to speak, was a good idea. The fact it was a Friday was even better. Hopefully Val would have time early the next week to give the other three the attention they deserved, and she felt badly about making those releases “sacrificial lambs”, but didn’t see any other viable option.
Just as Val was preparing to leave for the night, her office phone rang. She looked at the display. Tenth floor, executive suite. With a sigh she sat and answered the call.
It was Richard. “Can you and Nate come up here? We got some information about Dr. Godlowski’s wife I think you should both hear.”
“Sure.” She was curious but decided to wait until they got up to Richard’s office to get more information. As she was signing off with Richard, Nate walked by her office and she called out to him.
Val’s curiosity grew by the minute as they walked over. Once inside Richard’s office they didn’t have to wait long.
Richard handed them a folder, but before they had a chance to look at it he said, “That’s a spare file for you to keep. Here’s what you need to know.” Val leaned forward. “According to the wife, she had no idea Dr. Godlowski had gotten so into online gambling. When the FBI looked at his computer, it appeared he did most of it in the later hours of the day, and Mrs. Godlowski said she normally retires for the night by nine-thirty or ten o’clock. She also said he kept her completely in the dark about the fact he’d rung up debts or had a problem.”
“Which makes sense, really,” Nate remarked. “Why would you tell your wife something like that?”
Val turned to him. “What about honesty? What about ‘for better or for worse’? I’d be more inclined to think, ‘how could he justify keeping information that might affect her very livelihood from her’?”
Nate’s face registered surprise at her outburst. “That’s…not what I meant. I should have been more clear. I meant if he was getting deeper and deeper into debt and was ashamed, like most people would be, it’s not surprising he didn’t clue his wife in on his failure.”
Val’s attention swung back to Richard. “Do the police and the FBI believe her?”
“Yeah, they seem to. They gave her a polygraph test which apparently she aced. I just don’t know how that kind of thing escapes your notice.”
“People see what they want to see,” Nate murmured. If Val hadn’t been sitting right to him she wouldn’t have even heard him, and Richard went on as if he hadn’t heard.
“Anyway, it appears the wife is a dead end. I was hoping she could give us something to go on, but she seems not only tremendously hurt by what he did, but also completely baffled about where he might’ve gone. He’s left her completely in the lurch. Thankfully their children are grown and out of the house, but she doesn’t work and he cleaned out their savings within the past month or so as his addiction grew. They’re a traditional older couple—he did all the finances and she never had a clue.”
Val chewed her lip. “So we’re back to square one.”
“Not necessarily,” Nate argued. “We know a hell of a lot mo
re about the good doctor than when this thing blew up, and maybe the FBI has other leads they’re still pursuing.” He looked to Richard, who nodded.
“They say they do, but I just don’t know what to think.”
“Let’s keep on course and let the authorities do their job while we do ours,” Nate suggested.
Val stood. “That sounds like about all we can do. If you don’t need anything else…”
Richard waved them out and they left, going back to the PR department’s offices. “We can’t get much done here tonight. It’s well after six.” Nate pointed out. “I think we should retire to our respective lodgings, get a good night of sleep, and reconvene in the morning. Maybe somewhere other than here.” He leaned in, nuzzling her ear. “Not that sleeping curled around you like Saran Wrap doesn’t sound awesome, but I know you’re tired.”
Val gave him a weak smile. “I am pretty beat.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her lips and then pulled away. “Go home. Rest. Before I change my mind.”
Being suffused with his warmth while she slept did sound pretty good, but she’d always slept better alone, so she took his advice. After stopping for a quick take-out meal on the way home, she ate it standing at the counter and then went straight to bed. This time sleep came quickly.
*****
Val awoke refreshed and ready to tackle the day. She wasn’t sure where her optimism was coming from, but she had a good feeling about things; like a break in the case was imminent.
She and Nate worked from her house that Saturday, and Val was surprised by how comfortable he seemed there. Of course her little house, even with its small rooms and sloping floors, probably seemed a lot homier than his high-rise apartment. How could it not? But the high-rise life was what he was used to.
Seducing Chase Page 13