by Mel Blue
Fourth.
“Say it.”
Her nails dug into his shoulders and she brought her mouth down onto his. She kissed him with abandon, wild and raw. She used her teeth, tongue, and took him deeper, dragged him with her. He kept pounding into her. His heart felt like it would explode out of his chest. His balls tightened. He was going to come before she broke. And then it would be over. There’d be nothing.
Fuck. Fuck. He tried to stop, but he was too close to the edge. She filled his mouth with her taste, her moans. He filled her with each harsh thrust. She surrounded him.
He tore is mouth from hers. “Say it.”
She made a pained noise and her breath was ragged. “Luke.”
Her body tightened like a drum. She gripped him in one long vicious hold. He lost his breath.
“Luke,” she cried and kissed him again.
Blood roared in his ears, he groaned into her mouth, and his hips jerked. Warmth spread from his balls up his spine, and his dick went hard as stone. Tighter. She spasmed, shuddered, and whispered his name again.
Fifth.
Wet. She was so fucking wet. His hips surged forward once more and he came hard enough so that the air in his lungs hissed out.
Seraphina had said his name.
Part bliss and agony dropped like lead into his gut. She’d said his name and still, tomorrow they were done. He should have started to loosen his hold on her waist, but he couldn’t. Not yet. Just…not yet.
She pulled back from the kiss. Her lashes were wet again.
“Stay—”
She pressed her finger to his lips and shook her head. He closed his eyes, expecting her to get up and leave his room for the last time. Instead she placed her head and arms on his chest and lay there. Soon after, he could feel the languid way she melted into him. And after that her breathing slowed until he knew she’d fallen asleep. He took the comfort she’d offered and fell asleep with her in his arms.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Her desk was a mess. Seraphina pressed the palms of her hands up to her eyes. The night before, she’d managed four hours of sleep before sneaking out of Luke’s hotel room. It made her a coward to leave him while he slept, but she’d felt hollowed out after their sex. She’d broken her condition. If he only suspected who she was from the first night, after hearing her voice he had no doubts.
Her office door creaked open. She held her breath; her heart stuttered in her chest. Henri. Relief slowed her heart rate. She wasn’t ready to face Luke. What could she say? What life she did have was here, and the man who stood in front of her didn’t make exceptions.
Henri took stock of her now. If only he knew. “What did Luke do?”
Fear spurted in her heart. He made her want things she shouldn’t. More importantly, he made her feel warm and like her old self. The woman who hadn’t lost a friend and then a family because of grief. Her mind wanted to linger on the subtle shift within her, but there stood Henri, expecting an answer.
Since the top of her desk looked ransacked. She started stacking papers into a neat pile. “I’m sorry. I can’t find the last New Year’s fiscal record so you can do a comparison.”
Henri strode forward and placed a long wooden box on her desk. “I’ll ask you again, what did Luke do?”
She continued to avoid his gaze, because the truth would probably show in her eyes. “He’s L—Mr. Moreland. So, nothing out of the ordinary.”
He made a “huh” sound that twisted her gut. “Several staff members saw him escorting you out of the hotel yesterday. When you came back inside, you looked pale.”
His voice had gone low. She raised her chin, blew out a breath and met his stare. He didn’t look pissed, but troubled. She laid a hand over the paperwork. “He required privacy and I obliged. We talked about his replacement.”
He pointed to the box. “He ordered you this yesterday. Ms. Ivie brought it to me. I’ve held onto it, not sure if I should give it to you.”
“Is she the one who saw us?” What else had the woman seen?
“Yes.”
She glanced at the box. “What is it?”
“I’m trying to figure out if it’s ‘I’m-sorry-for-being-a-dick,’ or something else.”
She plucked the box from the desk and then flicked up the small gold latch. She gasped. Saying Luke gave her a pen didn’t quite cut it. The nib had elaborate gold-engraving. Cherry blossoms decorated the long cylinder. A ruby red cap had a solid gold lever. Expensive. Had to be.
Her throat tightened. He’d seen her office and must have noticed she didn’t have a favorite pen. Such an insignificant detail. She’d used disposables after she lost, or someone picked up, the one her best friend Alexis had given her. It was stupid to get teary-eyed, but he’d noticed. If something like that didn’t escape his keen eye, he had to have known who she was the moment he’d opened his playroom’s door.
She sniffed, closed the box, and put it back on her desk. “I don’t know why he gave that me.” Her voice sounded thick with emotion. She cleared her throat. “I’ll send him a thank-you note unless you want me to return it to him.”
“That pen is worth about five thousand dollars. You should keep it.”
Her palms dampened. “Money doesn’t mean a thing to a man who has a lot of it.”
“But it meant something for him to send it to you. I know my friend.”
She chanced another glance at him and felt stripped of her usual professionalism. Holding back the lie, because she couldn’t tell another one, Seraphina just sat silently.
Henri’s chin notched up. “I’ll have a talk with him.”
“You don’t—”
“Find me those fiscal papers. Then I want you downstairs to make sure all the guests check out. We have to prep for closedown.”
What could she say? Well, she could confess. What did a job matter if she had nothing else? She’d lose her home again, but she felt like herself, and that was a lot better than any four walls. “Henri, wait. Sit down.”
“Henri?” He ran a hand down his tie and settled into the guest chair.
She frowned, because it looked…mussed. “Yes, Henri. Your tie is sloppy.”
He blushed. “You were about to tell me about the sex you’ve been having with Luke.”
“What?” She reeled back.
He folded his hands over his stomach and leaned back in the chair. He was daring her to lie to his face, and she couldn’t. “I have no excuse,” she said. “I understand why you’re going to fire me.”
“That rule is in place because I’m not fond of the idea of paying my employees to have sex with patrons.” His voice held no warmth, no give. “If you are on my time then I am paying you. What you do during that time, I’m paying for.”
Her heart sank lower, because he was right. “I—”
A knock at the door drew their gaze away from each other. The oak creaked. Luke strode through. He’d tied his hair back, donned a suit and looked like an heir to a wine dynasty. She’d only seen him in a suit one other time; it was no less breathtaking now. He left the shirt open at the top and she could see his taut, tanned skin underneath.
A frisson filled the air when he looked at her. He hadn’t bothered to shave and the scruff along his jaw still couldn’t hide he was clenching his teeth. “Henri, a word.”
He didn’t look at his friend when he bit out the order, but held her gaze. Henri looked between the two of them and stood. “Finish up your work and meet me in my office when you’re done,” he said. “I want those fiscal papers.”
He motioned for Luke to follow him out. The door closed soundly at their departure. She was supposed to focus on work? And Luke hadn’t said a word to her. This was why she hadn’t given in to temptation the first year or the second. Her home, her job was on the line and all she could worry about was the fact that Luke hadn’t said a word to her.
Her temples started to throb. She yanked the pins out from her bun until they littered her desk. The tightness on her skull less
ened, but a shot of tequila could do the trick. If she survived this day, she’d down a whole bottle. Until then she pushed from her desk and headed out of her office—her office for now.
Giselle lurked right outside her door. Her eyes widened and she stammered. Seraphina said, “Walk and talk. I need to get downstairs.”
“You know your hair is down?”
“My head’s killing me, Giselle. Unless you have some ibuprofen in your pockets it’s going to stay down. What do you need?”
She still looked wary, but she nodded. “Ms. Ivie is my problem.”
The first chance she got, she’d choke the perky little cheerleader. “What has she done now?”
“She’s been gossiping.” Giselle picked up her pace, but lowered her voice. “About you.”
“Has she?” She turned down the corridor and guests flooded out of their rooms. Most had a nice sex glow. She wished she could have one. Could have had one if she’d stayed in Luke’s bed. No. She’d left and fucked up something that could have been wonderful.
The way he’d looked at her. Her stomach fluttered and pitched. She ran her hand over the sensation.
“Ms. Gibson?”
She’d forgotten about the girl walking alongside her. “Henri has already talked to me. There’s nothing you need to worry about. But, we both are still concerned about your timeliness.”
Giselle huffed and took a step in front of her. Her ebony skin stretched over her face in a grimace. Concern darkened her brown irises. “She’s said you and Luke were…intimate. She saw you guys sneak into the garden.”
That brought her up short. “We did go into the garden, but we definitely weren’t fucking. Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to see these guests out.”
The woman’s mouth dropped open. Was it wrong that when Seraphina walked past her she had to hold in a chuckle? Oh, yeah. She felt like the old her. She’d missed that woman.
And that woman wouldn’t leave the conversation at that. She stopped and faced the young woman. “Thank you, Giselle. I know you’re worried about me, but I’ll be fine.”
“You just said fucking.” That’s all that seemed to get through.
“I say shit too from time to time.” She stepped forward and whispered, “But don’t tell Henri.”
The woman laughed. “Promise.”
She nodded. “Now get to work. If I get another complaint about someone’s food being cold, you’re out in the cold. There’s only so many times I can come to your defense before Henri’s had enough.”
Giselle laughed again. “Yes, ma’am.”
She took in the hotel, this part was the old home, and sighed. “Dammit.”
She was going to miss this place. But she’d made her bed and once she finished dealing with the details downstairs, she planned to lie in it. With Luke.
***
“I should punch you in your goddamn face.” Henri continued to pace outside the balcony, having refused to take the seat Luke offered.
His friend didn’t give him time for a rebuttal. “Do you know what position you put me in?”
This would go on for a while if he didn’t stop it. He propped his feet on the other chair. “Three words: You owe me.”
Henri scoffed. “That was college.”
Luke didn’t hold grudges, but he held favors. He hated to exert the current one, but it had to be done for Seraphina. “You still owe me.”
“This isn’t like you.”
When he’d awoken to an empty bed, yeah, he didn’t feel like himself. He felt like someone had scooped out all his emotions and left an abyss. Two days wouldn’t be enough. Two months, two years…he wanted more and if he couldn’t have that, he’d make sure Seraphina didn’t lose everything again. “You can’t fire her. I’ll never come back to the hotel, but you can’t fire her.”
Henri stopped pacing. “Why?”
He kept the turmoil out of his voice and laid out the logic. “She’s worked here for three years. She lives here. This is her home.”
He waved his hand, but Luke could see him winding down. “If it mattered to her, she wouldn’t have broken the rules.”
“If it wasn’t her home, she’d have followed them. She felt comfortable enough to have sex here. You know her; you know what that must have taken.”
Henri motioned for him to move his feet and sat down. “If I do this, I’m not doing it because you asked me to. Or that she finally called me by my first name. I’m doing this because no telling what the fuck she was doing with you, she still did her job.”
“If?” Luke laughed. “You’ve already decided.”
Henri took him in. “Do you love her?”
His heart thumped. “I’m heading home. I just needed to make sure she had her job.”
“Now I am going to punch you in your damn face. If you leave this hotel without saying good-bye to her, don’t come back.”
“A moment ago you were going to fire her, but now you’re defending her honor?” Luke shook his head. “You never planned to fire her.”
“I wanted to and then she started to cry when she saw your gift.”
That knowledge warmed him. He smiled. “It’s a nice pen.”
Henri frowned. “Why couldn’t you have done this in front of her?”
After he stopped being pissed, well, less pissed about her leaving in the middle of the night, he’d come to some more conclusions. “Seraphina would have chewed me out for coming to her defense and pulling favors to keep her job.”
His friend laughed. “Chivalry is sometimes another word for a jackass.”
“I am one from time to time.”
Henri sighed. “Don’t be one with her. I don’t know her full story, but she deserves someone who gives a shit about her. So, before you head home, have a talk with her. Something.”
His friend’s words hit him. Talk. He agreed wholeheartedly and started to smile.
***
Seraphina didn’t have to turn around to know Luke had entered her office. The scent of sandalwood brushed across her senses. The lock clicked into place and she turned to him.
“Why’d you leave?” He shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on her desk beside her.
She braced herself against the sturdy mahogany. “The fantasy was over. You knew who I was.”
“I always knew.” He stalked forward and unclasped the cufflinks on his shirt. He threw them on top of his jacket.
She shook her head. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“Did you ever find out what séjour means?” He stopped in front of her.
If she reached forward, she could touch him, taste him. She curled her fingers on the edge of the desk. “No.”
“You guessed right. It’s French. Sojourn. Someone who stays for a short time. For the past three years I’ve come and gone out of your life, but when you showed up at my playroom, I knew you wouldn’t stay.”
Her heart skipped. “It was sex.”
“It is more than that.” His voice whipped out and he took another step.
“I said was.” She grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. “But the problem remains the same. You’re going back to California. I don’t know where I’m going. Those mountains aren’t my home anymore. You don’t know, really know who I am.”
“Tell me about Seraphina then,” he urged. “Tell me everything about her.”
What did she have to lose? Nothing. What could she gain? So much. “I know what it feels like to lose a best friend. On a mountain top, on our way to sign the final escrow for our B&B, I hit a patch of black ice and hit a tree. She died on impact.”
He cupped her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t blame her parents for suing me. They were grieving, but it still hurt like a bitch to see my name on papers saying I was reckless and to blame for the wrongful death of their daughter. My best friend. So I lost everything in one year.” She gripped him tighter. “Everything.”
“So you cut yourself off from everyone.”
S
he remembered their first meeting. He’d given her shit for three hours. Pulling her pigtails. “You wouldn’t let me.”
“I’m not a fan of ’no boundaries’ rules…” He ran his hand down her hair. “And, no matter what you believe, I always saw you. You weren’t invisible to me.”
She dropped her hands, fear clenching her stomach. “Is this good-bye?”
He trailed his hands down to her jacket and peeled it from her shoulders. “I have a fierce need to take you out for dinner.”
She laughed. “You have a food fetish.”
He popped the first button on her blouse. “And then we’ll see the city.”
“And?”
He nipped at her earlobe. “There’s a million things we didn’t get a chance to do.”
She smiled. “I need to pack.”
“You need to undress.”
He nibbled on her neck; cogent thought started to fade, but then a thought managed to get through. “What did you talk to Henri about?”
He sighed and straightened. “You’re going to stay employed because I acted like the entitled man that I am. I didn’t take no for an answer.”
Her head felt dizzy. His breath was feathering over her neck. “Why?”
“This is your home now. There’s no way I was going to let you lose it.”
Oh. Emotions clogged her throat. It didn’t hurt to let him in. “Thank you, Luke.”
He smiled and her heart kicked faster. “Now, I think we have a meeting scheduled. Something about sex on this desk and then dinner afterward, Ms. Gibson.”
She balled her fist into his shirt. “It’s Seraphina.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “Yes, I finally think it is.”
Being Seraphina again would take some getting used to, but she wasn’t about to do it alone. “And then?”
“I buy you another mask. Mardi Gras is right around the corner. I think it’s time you see the real New Orleans.”
“Dinner. A tour. This sounds like a date, Luke.”