by K D Grace
‘I need a favour.’ Paulo sat down on the bed next to him.
‘Tell me.’ Angelo pulled himself up and sat with his legs crossed while Paulo told him what had happened upstairs.
‘That’s bullshit.’ He said when Paulo finished. ‘I don’t know Jim. But I know Coraline. She’s usually more intuitive than that.’
Paulo released a heavy breath. ‘There’s a lot at stake, like she says.’
‘And you want me to do a little snooping?’
Paulo held his gaze. ‘You know I wouldn’t ask –’
‘If we both didn’t have a warm spot for our lovely Liza? Yes, I know. And you don’t have to ask where she’s concerned. But in the meantime, there’s something you need to do that’ll give you peace of mind, hell, give us both peace of mind really.’
Paulo raised an eyebrow.
‘Ask her.’ Angelo swung his legs over the edge of the bed to sit next to him. ‘Ask Liza about Carl. Ask her to tell you what happened.’ He held Paulo’s gaze. ‘Often a helluva lot of trouble and energy could have been saved if people would just ask.’ His lips curled into a tight smile. ‘In the meantime I’ll do some research of my own. Jim’s a paper-pusher and a Martelli cheerleader. He’s not an expert when it comes to finding the dirt. If he were, I’m pretty sure he’d find the dirt at Carl Blain’s door and not Liza’s.’ He gave Paulo a sharp slap on the back. ‘Go home and get some sleep, bro. You look like hell, and I know it’s not because you were poorly slept with. Get some shut-eye, calm down, and then tomorrow, take the woman out for lunch, or even breakfast, and ask her.’ Angelo stood long enough for a good, hard stretch, raising muscular arms toward the ceiling, then he dropped them with a shake and sprawled back onto the bed. ‘Turn out the light when you leave,’ he said as Paulo stood to go. ‘A man needs his beauty sleep, you know.’
At the steps, Paulo reached for the light switch and turned back to thank Angelo. But he had rolled onto his side with his back to Paulo, and though he looked to be already asleep, Paulo knew he was ruminating on what he’d just heard.
‘Thanks, bro,’ Paulo said softly, then he turned off the light and climbed the travertine steps into the moonlight.
Chapter Twenty
‘You’re going to need a boost midday to keep you going after the night you’ve had.’ Vera’s smile was wicked as she met Jim’s gaze through the mirror in front of which she stood worrying a tiny purple thong up over her exquisite ass. Jim met her eyes briefly, but he couldn’t keep his gaze off the brazen points of her nipples that crowned the stippled pinch of generous areolae on bare and way more than adequate breasts. Watching her reflection in the mirror, as he was, he’d been enjoying the shimmy and dance of her spectacular frontage as she put on her make-up. While he ogled her delicious front through the mirror, he also got a great view of the pillow-puffed heart shape of her bottom, with the occasional glimpse of her pink pussy when she bent forward toward the mirror to finesse her make-up. Had it been just twenty, maybe thirty minutes since he’d had his cock buried in the lovely little slit with her sitting on top of him whimpering and mewling and tugging at her bouncing tits? And that was just the last time. She was waiting in his flat when he got back from The Mount last night. He’d given her a key. After all, everyone knew that they were doing the nasty. He was amazed at how easily he’d been able to pump out another load this morning after the way she had ridden him and sucked him, and now here he was with his cock at a half-mast pressing against his Armani again.
‘Afraid I’ll have to settle for coffee and lots of it,’ he said.
‘I was thinking a nice blow job, you know, with me under your desk sucking and cupping.’ Her giggle was throaty and thick. ‘Who would know?’
He grunted. ‘Liza Calendar would know. That’s who.’
‘So what? You get a lunch break. It’s none of her business what you do on it.’
‘I just don’t like the idea that she can smell when I’ve had sex. It creeps me out. I mean it’s amazing, don’t get me wrong, but some things you just don’t want the employees to know, even if they are on special dispensation.’
She glanced over her shoulder, then she went back to work on her mascara. ‘Is she really that good?’
‘She’s that good and then some. At first I thought she was a fake, you know? I mean how can anyone have that good a sense of smell? But she’s the real deal.’ He moved to Vera’s side and fumbled with his tie. ‘I just wish I trusted her a little more.’
‘Oh?’ Her mouth was shaped like a lion about to roar as she did her bottom lashes.
‘It’s nothing. It’s just, well some of her associations are a bit questionable, that’s all.’ And he’d already said too much. Christ, what was it about Vera that made him so talkative? He was usually very tight-lipped.
‘Associates, like who?’ She said, going back to her make-up.
For a second he watched the dance and sway of her breasts. She must have sensed him watching, but maybe it was just her way. She put the mascara back in her bag and stood admiring her efforts, absently cupping the breast closest to him and stroking the nipple with her thumb. ‘Anyone I know?’
‘Do you know Carl Blain?’ Fuck, how had that slipped out?
She’d gone to pinching and tugging while still staring in the mirror at her reflection. ‘I’ve heard of him, yes. Some big businessman in the States, right?’
‘Apparently she’s dating him.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘The woman gets around.’ Now both hands were cupping and tugging and she looked into the mirror as though her thoughts were on something else entirely. She was horny again. He doubted she’d heard a word he said, and his cock was responding nicely to her caresses in spite of the hard workout she’d already given it. He moved closer, slapped one hand away, and went to work on the nearest breast with his lips. His cock was now in full press-up position, urging him on.
She moaned and slipped her hand, which now had nothing else to do, into the front of her thong and the jerk and shift of her wrist and forearm muscles told him she had found the sweet spot. ‘So, are you going to take me to the research facility today? I really do want to see where it all happens. I mean I have a degree in chemistry, you know. I would love to see the process in action.’
‘Yeah, why not?’ He unzipped his fly and moved in behind her. She pulled the back of her thong out of the way and pressed her bottom toward him, opening her legs, as he parted her slippery pussy lips with his fingers and slid in with a tight grunt. ‘I’m going there anyway this afternoon. How about I give you a tour? There’s a really,’ he thrust hard, ‘really nice broom closet on the second floor that no one uses.’
‘Mmmm. For me, the broom closet is always the highlight of a tour, Mr Dryer. It sounds perfect.’
And, he thought, as he slid a hand over her mons to tweak her clit, it was far enough away from where Liza Calendar would be working that she wouldn’t smell them. He’d take Vera there after they saw the actual facility. God, he just hoped Paulo took their little conversation at The Mount’s villa to heart. He knew he was fucking the woman, but there was way too much at stake for him to think with his cock, or even worse with his heart. And the evidence didn’t look good at all. Thinking that Liza might be working for Carl Blain nearly caused him to lose his erection, but then Vera’s pussy clamped down on his cock and focused his attention very firmly on the business at hand.
Honestly, Liza. I just can’t end it this way. I owe you so much, not the least of which is an apology for my stupidity, for my total moronic stupidity! But a message on my voicemail is just not something I can settle for. Please call me back. At least meet me and let’s talk this out like two adults. Please.
Liza ground her teeth at yet another fucking message from Carl. Why the hell was he to think he had the right to feel wounded by her? It was what it was, and frankly she didn’t give a damn who he porked. She just wanted him to leave her alone, especially now when things were just getting truly interesting. Damn it, she
supposed she would just have to bite the bullet and have a messy conversation with him to get it all over with. She’d really thought the phone call she made would have finished it.
‘Morning,’ Paulo said, sliding onto the stool next to her. Fuck, he looked good in the white research coat, and his scent, dear God, his scent was heavenly.
‘Morning,’ she replied with a little sniff. ‘You’re not going to believe all the lovely scents we got last night. Plus we’ve got several zip-locks from private erotic sessions some of The Mount’s members sent in. It’ll be good to compare how sex smells when no one’s observing. I’d also like to get out in the city tonight and pick up on some scents in a group situation. I think if we’ve got … Paulo? What’s wrong?’
‘You all right?’ he asked. She could see his pulse beating against his throat.
She smiled up at him from her notes, suddenly feeling a different kind of nerves, but she ploughed ahead. ‘Never better. A little sore, but I had fun getting that way. You?’
When he didn’t answer, she laid her pen down and found herself drowning deliciously in his creamy coffee gaze. ‘What? What’s going on?’
‘You’re all right with The Mount then, and what goes on there?’ A blush flashed over his cheekbones. ‘I mean I guess you must be after, you know, with Angelo and me and all.’
‘Paulo,’ she laid a hand, gloved in latex, on the sleeve of his coat, ‘are you all right with what happened last night, because I wouldn’t have … I wouldn’t have done what I did if I’d thought you weren’t.’
He nodded briskly, all businesslike again, and pulled her notepad to him for a peek. ‘I’m all right with it. Really I am. Angelo’s a pain in the ass but he’s also a good friend.’ The blush was back. ‘More than a friend at one time, but I guess you could probably tell that,’ he said, avoiding her gaze.
She picked up the pen and worried it between her fingers. ‘Thought that might be the case, yes. That doesn’t bother me either, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
‘It’s not that, I mean I don’t mind that you know Angelo and I have a history. It’s just, well, I’m amazed by the whole experience, actually. I mean things haven’t been good between Angelo and me for a while, and Angelo, well Angelo’s a law unto himself. He’s unpredictable at the best of times, but I’ve never seen him like he was with you. Me, he figured he could have, and I’d be OK with it. But then, I hadn’t expected how he … the way he actually …’
‘The way he deferred to you when it came to having sex with me. I know. I got that, and it surprised me, I have to admit. So what’s the problem then?’
‘I’m just …’
‘You’re just what?’
‘Well, I’m sorry I didn’t get to go home with you. Seems like we never quite manage any serious alone time.’
‘Paulo, I can smell you, remember? And you smell like swamp mud.’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t mean you smell like swamp mud, but the fact that something’s bothering you smells like swamp mud. Are you angry at me for what happened? Did I do something wrong? What’s eating you? I can’t sit here and work next to you with you smelling like that and me not knowing why.’
His laugh was self-conscious, like he’d been caught masturbating in the men’s room. ‘God, a conversation with you has interesting twists and turns, Liza Calendar.’
‘Talk to me and I won’t have to tie you to the post and sniff you up.’
He laughed again and shifted to face her, raising his eyes almost shyly. ‘That’s a proposition I could be totally tempted by. If you’re threatening, you’re going to have to do better than that.’
‘Then tell me before I get nasty.’
‘Are you sleeping with Carl Blain?’ he blurted out, and she dropped the pen on the floor with a clatter that sounded like a car crash in the silence.
She smelled the adrenaline surge of her anger like burnt coffee. ‘No, I’m not sleeping with Carl Blain. If I were sleeping with Carl Blain I wouldn’t be sleeping with you. I’ve never slept with Carl Blain. I had a couple of dates with him. Oh, I know what a few of the gossip columns said, but I don’t know where they got their ideas, and really, it was something that just could have never worked.’
‘Why?’ His gaze was now locked on her like a pit bull, and though he didn’t seem angry, it was clear she wasn’t going to get away without full disclosure. ‘Why would it have not worked?’
‘He makes me sneeze.’
The burst of laughter made his eyes sparkle and then water. ‘He makes you sneeze?’
‘I know, right? I mean I tried taking allergy pills, and they suppressed my sense of smell so I could date him, but he wanted more, and well, in the end I had to trust my nose, I mean who wants to have sex with someone who makes them sneeze, and who wants to have sex with someone who sneezes all over them?’
He wiped tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. ‘You’re amazing, Liza Calendar. The man makes you sneeze.’ He was suddenly serious again, and he swallowed hard. ‘But you were with him the night before you flew to Rome.’
She felt heat rush to her face. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I went to his apartment, yes. And yes, I knew that he wanted sex. I was early.’ She hmphed out a laugh. ‘Looking back, I guess I just wanted to get it over with. When I got there he was … already occupied, and from the smell of his flat, he was frequently occupied with a variety of partners.’
‘Bastard,’ Paulo hissed.
She smiled. ‘Doesn’t matter. Frankly it was like a get out of jail free card. I was just going to sneak away and send him a text saying so long. But then I started sneezing. He and the chick he was porking saw me. I sneezed all the way out the door and halfway to the Airport Hilton, where I spent my very exciting last night in New York City reading a romance novel I downloaded on my Kindle. So no. I’m not seeing Carl Blain and no, I’ve never fucked the man, and how the hell did you know about Blain?’ But before he could reply she remembered. ‘It was Jim, wasn’t it? Carl was calling when I tripped and dropped my BlackBerry at Ostia. Jim must have seen the caller ID. I thought he acted strange afterward.’
Paulo bristled again and the air smelled of hot metal. ‘Why was he calling?’
‘For the life of me, I don’t know. I left a message saying no harm no foul. I mean I can’t blame the man for fucking someone else when I kept putting him off. I’ll probably have to bite the bullet and talk to him to finally get it all behind me, but I’m not thinking about that now, so can we get back to work? We have so many lovely scents here to work with and, in my head, I can already picture most of these fragrances and what’ll set them apart and make them send the message we want.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Did you sleep at all last night or did you just come right on over here?’
‘When you couldn’t go home with me to distract me with your lovely scent, I arranged to ride with the driver Coraline was sending over to the facility with the bagged clothing.’ She shrugged. ‘I worked until I got too muzzy-headed, then I caught a couple of winks on the sofa in the lounge. After that I made coffee and raided the vending machine and voila! We’re so close, Paulo, and it’s all so exciting to have such an olfactory orgy. I’m getting way more from my Roman holiday than I expected.’
Chapter Twenty-one
Carl’s laughter was hot on Vera’s neck. ‘Seriously?’ He pulled her up tight against him until she could feel the hard press of his erection through her linen skirt. Then he slid a hand inside her panties. ‘It’s her sense of smell they’re after? The woman was on allergy meds the whole time I knew her.’
Vera elbowed him away. ‘Look I know it sounds ridiculous, but after all the money Martelli has already spent on research, Coraline wouldn’t be handing the new line over to Liza Calendar all tied up with a pretty red bow if she didn’t think the woman could perform.’ She elbowed him again as he grabbed her breast. ‘I’m on my way to the research facility, Carl, and if I smell like you, she may know.’
‘That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,’ he said.
‘No it’s not,’ she shoved him away again, and he cursed out loud. ‘I’ve got a lot at stake here too, you know. I don’t know why Jim Dryer has connected you with Liza, but your name has been raised and that can’t be good.’
He sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her with hooded eyes. ‘Look it’s no secret that I dated the woman, and if they suspect her of working with me, well, I can’t see that as anything but good really. I mean think about it. Dryer is sleeping with you. He’s now confiding in you. Coraline Martelli has even let you fill in for he prissy little PA. You’re a trusted employee at Martelli. Sowing a few seeds of mistrust in Liza Calendar’s direction can only serve us well.’ He unzipped his fly, released his cock, and began to stroke. ‘And I think I might have an idea of how we can just encourage those seeds to grow into a nice crop of distrust when the time’s right.’ He nodded down to his erection. ‘Let me think about it while you take care of this for me. Oh for fuck sake! You can brush your teeth before you leave.’ He offered her a wicked smile. ‘You always were a tidy eater.’
Later, feeling much more relaxed, Carl watched as Vera touched up her make-up, and let herself out of the hotel room, then he began to pace. It had been his plan all along to get Liza Calendar to pull a few strings and open a few doors into Martelli for him. But he figured, like most career women, she harbored secret hopes of finding a rich, affluent husband to father her children and raise her status and her income. He really figured he was just the ticket for Liza Calendar, and once she had stars in her eyes, she would get any information from Martelli he needed. But the way the tables had turned, she was going to be even more useful to him, and it would give him the perfect opportunity to get back at her for thinking she could just walk away from him like he was a nobody. Oh, yes. This was going to be lots of fun.