The Money Talks

by Cherry Kay

  “I don’t care why you didn’t wear them. When you go out you need to wear underwear,” Mark said, his voice low as he stared at her with such intensity all she could do was shiver and then nod. Mark wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her with him as he stood up, she wrapped her legs around his waist and he walked with her into his bedroom. Mark dropped Ari on the bed and she bounced on the mattress, her expression surprised. Mark took off his shoes, pants, and boxers before he bent down to kiss Ari and push his hands into her hair, he gripped her hair in his hand and turned her head to the side so he could kiss and suck on the spot that drove her crazy the most.

  “Mark… Mark, please,” Ari moaned before arching up, her body begging to be touched. Mark undid her bra with his free hand and then flicked it to the ground. All she had on were her strappy silver heels with red bottoms. That’s exactly how Mark wanted her, especially as he would have her legs resting on his shoulders soon.

  Mark’s lips slid from her neck to her breasts where he sucked her nipples into his mouth one at a time, hard and fast. Ari cried out and her fingers went to his hair as he let go of hers and gripped her waist to push her further back onto the bed. He climbed over her and then lowered his head to her belly button, teasing the sensitive skin there. Ari’s hands pulled at his hair and clawed at his shoulders, as she was overwrought with sensation.

  Mark would make sure no one could compare to him when it came to making Ari feel as good as he could. Ari’s legs rested over Mark’s shoulders as his mouth slid even lower and finally licked into Ari’s sensitive folds as he sucked on her flesh and tasted her heat. Mark slid two fingers into her and worked them in tandem with his tongue, causing Ari’s fingers to tighten on him, marking him with her passion.

  Ari’s back bowed with the force of the orgasm that ripped through her and Mark tasted her climax on his tongue, loving the almost sweet taste of her. Mark didn’t wait for her to come down from her orgasm; instead he slid her down to meet his rigid cock as he slid into her with one smooth stroke.

  Ari cried out and Mark groaned at the feel of her as she spasmed and squeezed around him, her orgasm drawn out at his entry. Mark lifted her feet to his shoulders and slid deep into her, his pace starting hard and fast as he rocked into her. Ari screamed his name as she was swept up into another orgasm and Mark shouted at the pleasure of her gripping his cock so tight and milking him towards his own orgasm.

  Mark didn’t let up; he drove into her deep, touching the very heart of her over and over again. Ari lost it yet again, tears falling from the corner of her eyes as a third orgasm swept through her. Mark could feel that his own release would devastate him as his balls drew up tight, everything south of his waist incredibly sensitive. Mark called out Ari’s name as his climax exploded from him, his back bowing as he was wrecked by the orgasm.

  Mark couldn’t hold himself up and he let Ari’s legs fall to the sides as he collapsed on top of her.

  After the haze of passion subsided, Mark slid out of Ari and lifted himself off of her. He took her shoes off and then got up from the bed to go and get a washcloth for her. After cleaning her up he climbed into bed and pulled her against his chest. Ari was awake, her eyes dazed, but content and she said nothing while she settled against him.

  “You ruined me, Mark,” Ari whispered so low after a long stretch of comfortable silence that Mark almost didn’t hear her. He looked down at her face and found she had drifted off to sleep. Ari had no idea how much she had ruined him.

  Chapter6

  Clarissa

  Ari woke up in stages, her deliciously sated body not wanting to leave its comfortable slumber. Hell, Ari didn’t want to get up face what she had to do today. It was for her own sanity that she had to break things off with Mark. What they had wasn’t healthy or logical and frankly it didn’t make any sense at all.

  Also, she had to get up for practical reasons; her sisters would be worried about her as she pretty much disappeared at the club with an angry-looking Mark. Ari felt his finger tracing the slope of her nose and the line of her jaw and she opened her eyes almost reluctantly. Mark was smiling at her with his head propped up with his hand as he lay down facing her in bed.

  “I knew you were awake, you get this little wrinkle in between your eyebrows when you think about something,” Mark said before leaning forward and kissing that place in between Ari’s eyebrows. Ari’s heart broke a little then, but she refused to cry. “What were you thinking about?” Ari bit her lip and weighed the merits of breaking things off then and there or maybe just waiting until Sunday when he left. She could have two whole days with him and delay the depression that was almost guaranteed to come when he was gone.

  “I have to call my sisters, they’ll be worried about me,” Ari said lamely and Mark nodded, understanding and a bit of relief crossing his features. Ari got out of bed, stretched, and then first went into the bathroom before she left the room in one of Mark’s t-shirts and went to get coffee started and call Lisa first, then Sandy.

  “So, she’s alive after all,” Lisa said sarcastically after answering Ari’s call.

  “Yes, I’m alive… I’m at Mark’s hotel,” Ari said, her voice low as she could hear Mark's voice in the other room. He was most likely taking business calls already.

  “Well, I figured that’s where you’d be. We all saw him kiss you last night and then haul you out of there as if you were surrounded by demons!”

  Ari laughed as she leaned against the countertop in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee pot to brew.

  “He was… angry,” Ari said, unable to explain everything in full to Lisa.

  “He seemed pretty intense, and oh my goodness, he really is as gorgeous up close as he is on TV and in GQ and Forbes.” Ari laughed again, rolling her eyes. “He’s still leaving though…? He didn’t find you to tell you that he’d make things work?” Lisa asked and Ari sighed.

  “Yeah… and no,” Ari replied and Lisa fell silent.

  “That idiot, how he’s made himself so successful, I’ll never know. You know what you have to do, right Ari? It’s bad enough that you let him take you home with him.”

  Ari wanted to whine and throw a fit at the unfairness of it all. She wanted to bang Mark’s head against a wall until he came to his senses, but she couldn’t do that. The only sane thing to do was walk away and Lisa was right, she had to do it now.

  “Yeah, I know what I have to do. Can you tell Sandy I’m not dead in a ditch somewhere?” Lisa promised to call Sandy for Ari and then they ended the call. Ari almost screamed when she turned around and found Mark directly behind her; he was reaching into a cabinet for the coffee mugs.

  “Sorry, I didn’t want to make any noise while you were on the phone. Sorry for scaring you.” Mark smiled, though something was different. It didn’t reach his eyes and, more importantly, he wouldn’t make eye contact with Ari.

  “It’s all right, you’re just lucky I didn’t have hot coffee in my hands or anything like that.” Mark smirked, the smile leaving his face just as quickly as it appeared. Something was off; he couldn’t have deduced anything from Ari’s phone call even if he heard most of it.

  “I got a call from James Ivory just now, he’s the founder and owner of the Ivory Towers hotel and resort chain…” Ari wondered why Mark was telling her this, especially as Mark was studiously pouring coffee for both himself and Ari.

  “I’ve heard of him, isn’t his company in the Fortune 500, like yours?” Ari asked him and Mark nodded.

  “I don’t know if you’ve heard the rumors, but we were talking about a merger sometime in the near future; he wants to keep his business in the family, so the only way we would merge is if… is if I marry his daughter, Roselyn.” As soon as Mark said her name, Ari remembered that phone conversation she overheard. That was the real reason he couldn’t have anything with Ari when he went back to New York.

  His business came first and he would marry this Roselyn person to grow his empire, as if he didn’t already have enough
. Ari took the cup of coffee he held out to her and she brought the lip of the cup to her lips, but was unable to drink any of the coffee. She put the mug back down and looked out over the water.

  “You never told me you were… getting married. That you planned on getting married soon,” Ari said.

  “I didn’t really know if it would be soon, not until he called me just now, saying that he wants to move forward if I was serious about marrying his daughter.”

  Ari felt it, the next crack in her chest that was her heart breaking. It wasn’t as if she had no idea this was going to happen. She knew nothing lasting could work out between them. Plus, let's face it… Ari wasn’t even Mark’s type. He wouldn’t settle down with someone like Ari. This Roselyn woman, whoever she was, would be the better fit for him.

  “I see…” was all Ari said and she ran her fingers through her hair absently while her eyes were glued to the ocean outside. The waves were choppy today, the water looked restless and almost volatile; there must be an advisory for currents out. Ari wondered if the ocean knew what was happening, if the ocean knew what Ari was feeling in that moment.

  “It’s funny actually… I was going to talk to you just now about us. It doesn’t make sense really and it’s better we end things now, rather than drag this out until you leave,” Ari said, her voice oddly strong and clear, betraying none of the emotion she felt inside.

  “You were going to tell me just like that?” Mark asked, his voice hoarse. Ari looked at him then and found his eyebrows furrowed and his golden eyes hurt as he looked at her.

  “Yes, I—I just can’t do it anymore Mark, not when you’re leaving. Now you’re leaving to go get married… to your business,” Ari said plainly and Mark winced at her words. “This time we spent together was wonderful, I won’t deny that. It’s come to an end though, it has to,” Ari said and Mark nodded, his eyes sullen as his gaze slipped from her face and to the floor, his shoulders slumping and all.

  “You’re right. I was selfish to hold on to you like this and—I have to start thinking about my future now,” he said, practically proving the point of his selfishness. He had to start thinking about his future now, with some other woman in another state and ultimately the future of his business. Ari sighed, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe he was going to marry someone for something as shallow as personal gain. His business was thriving all on its own, what was his insane drive for more fueled by? Ari couldn’t fathom it, and frankly, she didn’t want to. She just wanted to be rid of Mark and move on from their little dalliance.

  “Well, I’m just… going to get dressed, then,” Ari said lamely and she hurried into his room to quickly change. The faster she made it away from him, the sooner she could cry and then move on from him. Ari walked out of the bedroom and grabbed her clutch from the couch and her phone from the kitchen counter, where Mark was still standing in boxers and nothing else, his hands on his hips as he stared out at the view he loved so much.

  “Let me call a car for you Ari,” Mark said and Ari stopped walking toward the door. She turned halfway towards him and then sighed. She supposed it would be better than taking a cab home, the ultimate walk of shame.

  Mark used the hotel’s phone and within five minutes they called back to inform Mark that a car was waiting downstairs. Ari left without another word to Mark and made it safely inside the black town car without shedding a tear. She even made it all the way to her living room until the tears started up.

  Ari sniffled and walked into the bathroom to take a long, hot bath. She thought about staying in all day, but it was Friday and she had to go into me tonight to make sure things ran smoothly. Maybe she could just call in the other manager and have him help Brooklyn tonight, though, because as she played absently with the bubbles in the bath, the water turning tepid, she didn’t feel any better and she was sure that the tears would start up again.

  It was nearly two o’clock, four hours after she got home, that Brooklyn called Ari’s cell. Ari drained the tub, being forced to get out so she could answer the phone.

  “Hey girl, what you up to?” Brooklyn asked his tone carefully light as if he realized Ari could be heartbroken when he called.

  “Do you think Jack would hate me if we called him in to work tonight?” Ari asked Brooklyn instead of answering his question. Brooklyn paused before answering, clearly trying to figure out what that meant about Ari’s state of mind.

  “No, he actually mentioned that he was looking for a little overtime, he’s planning a trip to… never mind, I’ll call Jack in, he’ll be happy to work tonight. Why though? Are you staying home?” Brooklyn asked and Ari sighed.

  “Yeah. I think I just need to be home and maybe have some ice cream, watch Thirteen Going on Thirty so I can witness someone’s happy ending, even if it is a fictional character,” Ari said glumly.

  “Oh, baby girl, you ended things with Mark then, huh?” Brooklyn asked, his voice dripping with concern.

  Ari didn’t particularly want anyone feeling sorry for her at the moment, it only made her feel worse about herself and the entire stupid situation.

  “Yeah, we ended things. He’s getting married,” Ari told Brooklyn and he gasped in shock.

  “What?”

  Ari nodded and then remembered that she was on the phone.

  “Yeah, he has someone in New York he is going to marry, so that his company and her father’s can merge.” Brooklyn was stunned into silence. Ari stood up from sitting at the lip of the tub. She walked through her bedroom and out to the kitchen to get some water going in the kettle for some of her favorite mint tea.

  “That’s… fucked up. That’s really messed up Ari,” Brooklyn finally replied and Ari shrugged.

  “It is what it is, it’s his decision. People still do get married for money nowadays.”

  Brooklyn went off in a rage, cursing Mark with every negative word he could think of. It did make Ari smile and even giggle a little, though her mirth was short lived.

  “That man doesn’t need to merge, he doesn’t need any more money. Him, his children, and his children’s children are fucking set. Fuck him. Whatever. I’m gonna call Jack and then I’m calling Sandy and Lisa, you don’t need to be alone right now,” Brooklyn said

  “It’s okay, I do need to be alone Brooklyn, and I just want to watch my movie, eat ice cream and cry.” Ari pouted and Brooklyn argued that he wouldn’t allow it. After telling Ari that there would be no further discussion, Brooklyn ended the call and Ari drank her tea while pouting until her sisters knocked on her door.

  Ari fixed her robe and then took a deep breath before answering her door. Lisa and Sandy walked in with a huge pizza, garlic knots, and a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream, which was Ari’s favorite.

  “All right, we’re doing this one time and one time only, let the wallowing begin!” Sandy said as she put everything down on the kitchen counter. Lisa simply hugged Ari before she closed the front door and they joined Sandy in the kitchen.

  “I’m not wallowing… all I was gonna do was have ice cream and watch a movie…” Ari said lamely. Her sisters saw right through her and went about putting the ice cream in the freezer and getting plates for the pizza.

  “Yeah, okay sure. So tears and thinking about him wasn’t going to be part of the equation?” Sandy asked Ari with a hand on her hip.

  “It’s okay to say Mark’s name Sandy. Ari needs to hear it so she can move on that much sooner,” Lisa told Sandy in her therapist voice, as if Ari wasn’t standing right next to Lisa.

  “Can you guys please, just… I don’t know, act normal?” Ari asked, exasperated already. Lisa patted Ari’s back in an attempt to comfort her, but she found it to be a bit patronizing. Ari left the kitchen and went to her room to change into some sweat pants and a t-shirt. After which she reluctantly went back into the living room and saw that Sandy already had Netflix up on the TV and Thirteen Going on Thirty was paused at the opening credits. Lisa was splitting up garlic knots onto the three plates that were s
et out with giant slices of New York Style cheese pizza on it.

  “Come on, we’re just about set up,” Sandy told Ari and Sandy sat Ari down on the couch. Ari grabbed a sofa pillow and pulled her legs up underneath it. Lisa handed everyone their plates and sat down on one side of Ari, while Sandy sat down on the other side.

  “So feel free to cry anytime, we also have tons of tissues,” Sandy told Ari and she sighed, but nodded. She couldn’t deny that she might need them pretty soon.Mark

  Mark had decided to return to New York early. After the necessary changes with the hotel had been made, the builders and architect said things were moving smoothly, so Mark felt that he was no longer needed until the hotel was finished.

  That and the call from Ivory had been sobering. He very seriously wanted to move forward with the process of merging. After the rumor had been leaked, by none other than Roselyn herself, of course, both stocks in Ivory Towers and Robinson Resorts shot up in the market. It was a calculating move by Rose, but she’s great at being manipulative. After she had seen the picture of Mark and Ari at the groundbreaking ceremony, she must have felt threatened by Ari.

  Truthfully, any woman would feel threatened by Ari, she was gorgeous and exotic, successful, smart, vibrant, the list went on. Now Mark was sitting on the plane and dreading the dinner he set up with Rose. Their third date and she wanted to cook for him. At her place. It was obvious she wanted some better attention from Mark. He was just in no state to even kiss Rose on the cheek; he didn’t think he would get through the date at all. Anyway, he had to if he wanted this merger, Ivory saw that picture of him and Ari and was now keeping an eye on how Mark treated Rose, if she wasn’t happy, Mark could kiss his hopes for the future of his company goodbye.

  Mark downed the last bit of rum in his tumbler and reclined in his seat. Well, no one said he had to be completely sober when he dealt with Rose. He had only two drinks anyway, so he was only sporting a light buzz. The plane would be landing in about half an hour so he could even have another drink if he wanted.