by Angelo, Judy
He obliged. He spent the next few minutes worshiping her breasts, cupping the mini-globes in his big hands, catching the nipples between his teeth and nibbling till she sucked in her breath and reached up to tug at his shirt.
Sloane needed no further encouragement. In quick time his clothes were gone and he was pulling Melanie’s jeans down her legs. Both naked now, he climbed back into the bed but this time he lay on his back and pulled her on top of him. “Ride me,” he whispered. “Tonight, you’re in control.”
For a moment she looked nervous but when he made no move to help she bit her lip then straddled his hips and planted her hands in the middle of his chest. She positioned herself over him then slowly, gingerly, she began to descend.
He could see the uncertainty on her face, the fear that this would hurt. Immediately, he reached up and began to tickle her nipples and her nostrils flared as the thrill ran through her. Then she drew in her breath and sank down on his rigid shaft.
Melanie learned to ride Sloane that night, to take full control as she set the pace for their lovemaking. And when he could hold it no more and shot his seed deep inside her she rode faster, bucking wildly, and then she screamed her orgasm out loud as her vagina walls convulsed around him.
She collapsed on top of him and he let her lie there, panting, struggling to catch her breath. Gradually her breathing slowed and when he began to stroke her back she settled more comfortably on his chest with a groan of satisfaction.
“Was it good for you?” he asked, his hand never ceasing from its caress. “Not sore?”
“It was perfect,” she said on a sigh. “I can’t believe I never tried that before.”
He chuckled, pleased that she was contented, and slid over to his side so she could nestle into him and drift off to sleep. And as Melanie slept, Sloane stroked her arm and stared, unseeing, up at the ceiling. He may have put some of her fears to rest but he had some fears of his own…
…chief of which was what the hell would Zena be coming with next?
CHAPTER TWELVE
Oh, great. Just what she needed. She was already in a bad mood after seeing Sloane’s ex the evening before and now she’d gotten up, ready to face the work day, only to realize that her friend had arrived. Yes, the same unwelcome guest who showed up every single month without fail.
But this month she’d thought things would be different. She was a married woman now, one who’d been actively trying to get pregnant. Melanie did a quick rewind in her mind. She’d been married to Sloane a month now and they’d made love at least a dozen times. Where the heck was her baby? After so many tries, shouldn’t she be good and pregnant by now?
Apparently, her body hadn’t gotten the memo. It was chugging along as per usual, totally forgetting the plan to pause along the way so she could start a family. Darn!
Now she would have to make extra effort in the coming months. Not that Sloane would mind, but it wasn’t like she had lots of time to play with. She was already thirty-four and she wanted to have her baby before she hit the ripe and troublesome age of thirty-five.
Still fuming twenty minutes later she slammed out of the house and into her car and made her way to the office. And as if her day hadn’t started off badly enough, it decided to get worse. Ken Ferguson and his team were waiting for her.
She glared at her financial controller. “You could at least have waited till I settled down before camping out in my office.”
Ken shook his head. “This is serious, Melanie. It can’t wait.”
“Okay,” she said with a sigh. She knew she wouldn’t like what was coming. “Give me ten minutes.” She glanced over at the two men and the woman who had accompanied Ken. “Meet me in conference room C. I’ll be there shortly.”
She watched them gather up their papers and laptop computers and as they exited her office she drew in a long and steadying breath. She needed these few minutes alone to focus.
As CEO she’d taken her father’s multimillion dollar company to a billion-dollar enterprise and although there’d been some obstacles along the way she’d overcome them all eventually. Lady Luck had been on her side all these years but now it looked like the lovely lady was planning on throwing her overboard. Her latest acquisition had been a disaster, she realized, but how bad was it, really? She tightened her lips. From the look on the faces of the finance team things must be really bad.
And to think she’d bought the new company specifically for the purpose of revitalizing her existing one. The fact was, Parker Broadcasting had not achieved growth forecast in the past two years and needed an infusion of new technology, new ideas. And then her COO told her about Rapid Films. New technology to the rescue. Or so she’d thought. Instead, she’d added another woe to her already long list.
She picked up the phone. “Tamara, can you arrange for coffee for conference room C, please?” With what she was about to face, Melanie had a feeling she’d need that plus a shot of gin.
With a grimace she grabbed her laptop and headed for conference room C.
***
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Not the most polite greeting but Sloane didn’t give a damn. Zena had bullied both his receptionist and his personal assistant into letting her through to his private office and, not wanting her to create a scene – which, if she was like the Zena he used to know, she would very likely do – he’d allowed it.
But now she was here, behind the closed door of his office, and there was no longer any reason to feign courtesy. “And what kind of stunt was that you pulled on Sunday, showing up at Patrick’s house without warning? You knew I was there, didn’t you?”
“Of course, darling,” Zena said in her best film star voice. “I called Marc and he told me I’d find you at Patrick’s.”
Son of a…Sloane clenched his fist. He would have to exchange a few choice words with Marc. But that was for later. Right now he had a witch in his office, one who was certainly up to no good. It was time to get rid of her.
“Just state your business and then go.” Still standing by his desk, he folded his arms across his chest and scowled at her.
“My business, dear Sloane,” she said, her voice suspiciously sweet, “is not so much with you as with your wife.”
Sloane’s jaw almost dropped. He caught himself just in time. “My wife? You don’t even know her.”
“Oh, but I do.” Zena came farther into the office, her movements as seductive as a cat, as she came to stand just a few feet away from Sloane. “Everybody knows Melanie Parker of Parker Broadcasting, heiress to a billion-dollar empire.”
Sloane looked at her askance. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, my dear sweet Sloane, that I have you by the you know what.” She was even closer now, so close that Sloane could see a fleck of gold in her eyes. “You hurt me. You walked out on me when I needed you most, and I never forgot that.”
“I walked out on you?” Sloane stared back at her, incredulous. “You were the one who defiled our relationship by cheating.” The woman was obviously deranged, living in a totally warped reality.
“You could have forgiven me,” she said, her voice rising with her anger. “I was searching, trying to find myself. That was all it was. He meant nothing to me, but you did.”
“Yeah, right.” He regarded her with disgust. “Not even a fool without a brain would believe that.”
“Well, it’s true.” Her nostrils flared and her chest rose and fell with her agitated breathing. “I had to talk to you, to explain, but you refused all my calls. You even had me thrown out of your office building. Well, after that, I was left with no other option but to hate you. It was either that or go mad.”
Sloane stared at her in disbelief. “You left and went to Europe, Zena. You started a new life, a damn successful one at that. Are you telling me that you’ve held on to your hatred of me all these years?”
“Yes,” she spat, “and all these years I’ve wanted to find a way to get my revenge
. Touching you would be too easy. Now you have someone in your life who you loved enough to marry. She’s my target.”
At her words a flash of panic went through him but, just as fast, it turned to anger. Fingers itching to reach out and grab her, he clenched his hands at his sides. “You are literally mad,” he said through gritted teeth. “You’ve been bearing a grudge for ten years for something you did, not me. I asked you to marry me, you fool.”
“Yes, and then you dumped me.”
“For good reason.”
“For something we could have worked out.”
Sloane raised his eyebrows at that and then he shook his head. He’d been one hundred percent right. The woman was off her rocker. How could she have stayed silent all these years, living a grand life as a movie star in Europe, and then, as soon as he got married…
And then it dawned on him. That was what had triggered this. She must have seen the announcement of the engagement and then the photos of the wedding. The paparazzi were everywhere. The tabloids had had a field day with both stories. He wasn’t surprised at all that she’d found out.
The media attention on him must have brought the old grudge to the fore and so she’d come back to torture him. And he wasn’t going to believe that cock-and-bull story about shooting a scene in Montreal. Too much of a coincidence. No, she’d orchestrated the whole thing so that she could come back and create havoc in his life.
“If you so much as harm one hair on-”
“Too late, honey,” Zena smirked. “The deed is already done.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Sloane’s hands shot out. He grasped Zena by the upper arms and dragged her to within inches of his face. He wasn’t in the habit of manhandling women but this was not the time for self control. “What have you done to Melanie?”
Zena did not seem the least bit perturbed. In fact, she curved toward him, almost touching him, coming a whole lot closer than he wanted. “Don’t you worry,” she whispered as she leaned into him. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
With a growl of frustration Sloane pushed her away and walked back around his desk to grab his cell phone. When he looked up Zena was still standing there. “Get out of my face, Zena,” he said, his voice a chilling whisper. “You’ve said enough for today. Now leave.”
The woman threw him a bitter laugh and then she backed away. “Throwing me out again, are you? Well, this time I’ve got you where it hurts.” With that, she whirled around and flung the door open then marched out, leaving it wide open behind her.
And Sloane could only stand there, holding the phone and staring after her.
Now he knew first-hand what the saying meant – ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Melanie was in the middle of her finance meeting when her cell phone rang. Annoyed at the interruption, she frowned then glanced at the screen. Sloane. Immediately, her face cleared.
She put up a hand. “Excuse me a minute, guys,” she said, giving her team an apologetic smile. “I have to take this call.” They all nodded and Melanie slipped out of the conference room and went to stand at the end of the hall where she had a little more privacy.
“Hi, Sloane,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Is everything all right?” It was unusual for him to call her in the middle of the day and the fact that he had, caused her a twinge of worry.
“All’s good,” he said, his voice strangely wary, “but what about you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, feeling slightly confused. “Why?” And then she knew. Her face broke into a smile. “Oh, you. Naughty, naughty. Come on, it’s only eleven o’clock in the morning. Couldn’t you at least wait until the afternoon?”
There was a pause then Sloane let his breath out in a whoosh. “Thank God you’re all right.”
Melanie frowned. “Of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be? Sloane, what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll talk to you when you get home tonight. Just be careful today, okay?"
“Okay,” she said, stretching out the word. Sloane was acting really weird. She would have loved to question him further but she had a room full of executives waiting for her. “Uh, Sloane, I’ve got to go. Talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, sounding like he wanted to say something more but then he didn’t.
“Bye,” she said, and hung up. And then she was heading back to her meeting, forgetting all about her conversation with Sloane, caught up once again in the drama that was unfolding in the conference room. On the advice of her chief operating officer she’d made a hasty decision in her effort inject new life into the film division. Instead of shoring up the business, everything had hit the fan. Now she would have to face the consequences.
It was a huge blow to her ego, knowing she had fumbled, but she was the captain of this ship. She would just have to pick up the pieces and sail on. But the thought of having to tell her father made her cringe.
That night when Melanie got home Sloane was waiting for her. As soon as she walked in the door he came over and took her briefcase from her grasp and, brows furrowed, looked into her eyes. “Are you okay?”
Melanie shrugged. “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” Then she frowned. “You’ve been acting really strange today. What gives?” And then it dawned on her. Somehow, Sloane must have known about her disastrous business deal with Rapid Films. How he’d heard, she had no idea, but obviously he was aware, or else why would he keep questioning her, asking how she was?
And then she tightened her lips. If Sloane had found out then that meant she had a leak in the company and that was not good. She couldn’t have corporate secrets getting out like that. If Sloane knew about it then who else out there did, too?
She gave him a pointed look. “Sloane, answer me. Why do you keep asking how I’m doing? What do you know that you’re not telling me?”
His answer was to take her arm and lead her into the living room where he pressed her down onto the sofa. “We need to talk.”
Melanie’s heart sank. No conversation that began with ‘we need to talk’ ever ended well. Her heart thumping, she stared up into his face. So he’d found out that Parker Broadcasting had a division that was in a serious financial crisis. She was sure he was going to blast her about it but else was he going to do? Then a thought struck her, a really frightening idea. Oh God, what if he thought she’d demanded a baby and then married him because one of her companies was in trouble and she wanted him to bail her out? What if he’d called her in here to tell her he wanted a divorce?
She opened her mouth to speak, anxious to explain herself before he started his reprimand, but she never got the chance.
“There’s something you should know,” Sloane said, his face serious, “something that could affect your safety.”
Her safety? Melanie tilted her head, confused. That was the last thing she’d expected Sloane to say. “What do you mean?” she asked, watching his expression change from concern to something like anger then back to worry. Something was definitely not right. “Sloane, what is it?”
He put his fist to his lips, his eyes thoughtful, then he sat down beside her. “Remember that woman we talked about? Zena. My ex.”
“Of course I remember her. What about her?” If Sloane was now going to tell her he suddenly realized he had feelings for his ex, she would kill him.
“She’s up to something. I don’t know what it is, but she said something that made me fear for your safety.”
“My safety?” Melanie gave him a puzzled look. “She doesn’t even know me...well, outside of the time she saw me at Patrick’s, but she acted like I didn’t even exist.”
“I know,” he said, “but she’s very much aware of your existence.” His look grew more serious. “And that you’re my wife.” He drew in a breath then expelled it. “She hates me and is bent on revenge but she wants to hurt me through you. I don’t know what she’s planning but I want you to be careful
. Do you understand?”
Melanie’s eyes widened but she nodded. “Yes. Do you…think we should go to the police?”
Slowly, he shook his head. “I wish we could but right now it’s just my word against hers. She can deny everything I tell them. And the worst part is, I have no idea what angle she plans to come from.” He reached out and took her hand in his. “I’m assigning a bodyguard to you from here on.”
“But I don’t do bodyguards-”
He put a finger to her lips, cutting her off. “It’s non-negotiable. You are not leaving this house without one.”
“Okay, if you say so…”
“I say so. Now come on,” he said, standing up and pulling her with him, “let’s get you some dinner. You must be starving.”
That got her attention. “You cooked.”
He chuckled. “I wish. You know that’s not my thing. But I did order you something from Mango Bay Restaurant.”
Immediately, her mouth began to water and she gave him a huge grin. “Curried goat? Escoveitched fish?”
He laughed as he led her toward the kitchen. “I won’t spoil the surprise.”
And as Melanie followed him down the hallway she released a sigh of relief. It was obvious that Sloane knew nothing about her business disaster with Rapid Films and she planned to keep it that way.
***
To Sloane’s relief, the days passed without any further sign of Zena and no indication – so far – that Melanie was in any danger. Still, he was not taking any chances so, despite her objections, he had the security detail covering her day after day. After a week he began to breath a little easier but he knew that neither he nor Melanie could afford to relax their vigilance. And, in the meanwhile, he would have to find some way to regain contact with Zena and set some sort of trap for her. If he wanted to get the police involved he had to come up with evidence.