A full hour must have passed before Caroline heard the television downstairs turn off. There were footsteps and voices as Mike and her mother went to their bedroom. Their door shut and moments later the house was silent. Caroline found herself holding her breath, listening for every creek that could be a footstep. As she lay in the silence however, she found herself beginning to drift off to sleep. No longer having the energy to hold out hope that she wasn’t the only one in this twisted mess of a relationship.
Caroline was awakened by a whispering voice.
“Shh, it’s just me.” Damien was standing beside her bed in the darkness, completely naked. Caroline rubbed her eyes sleepily as she tried to make out his silhouette.
“Hmm?” She groaned.
“Let me in, it’s cold out here!” She pulled back the covers and Damien slid in to bed beside her. Lying next to her, he slid his arm over her warm belly and rested his head in the crook of her neck.
“I thought you weren’t going to come.” Caroline whispered. Damien pulled her closer to him and she could feel the hardness of his body.
“Why would you think that?” He asked in a hushed voice. Caroline shrugged in the darkness, too embarrassed to tell him what she had really thought. “I just had to wait for them to go to sleep, the last thing we want is them coming up to investigate a noise they hear and finding us here, like this.” His hand slid up her belly and caressed her breast. Caroline felt her body begin to relax under his touch.
“That could be hard to explain…” She murmured as she leaned in to him completely. Damien laughed quietly.
“Just a little bit.” The two lay in silence, their warm naked bodies comforting each other in the silent darkness.
“I thought we said no more?” Caroline whispered hesitantly. She heard Damien sigh heavily.
“I know.” He squeezed her breast gently in his hand. “It’s just so hard.” Caroline giggled childishly and Damien nudged her gently. “You know what I mean. It’s hard knowing that you’re over here and I’m over there and we’re both thinking about it.” Caroline could feel his length growing against her leg. The thought of him being inside her once more made her ache like she had never ached before.
“And we’ve already done it once…” She added. Damien nodded in the darkness as his length grew more solid.
“So what’s once more?” Damien said as he teased her nipple between his finger and thumb.
“Do you think they’ll hear us?” Caroline whispered as she reached down and brushed her fingers against his throbbing shaft.
“No, their bedroom is on the other side of the house, it was just the living room I was worried about.” Damien reached up and pulled her face towards him. “Why, are you worried that you’ll be too loud?” He leaned in and took her mouth with his. His thick lips sucking gently on her bottom lip.
“I…” Caroline was breathless.
“Oh?” Damien teased. He slid his hand down over her flat naked belly, slipping his fingers through her soft pubic hair until he found her opening. “Do you think you can be quiet?” He whispered as he dipped his finger tip inside her softly. Caroline nodded in the darkness, her lips pressed together in silence.
“Mmm hmm. I can do anything you ask me to do.” She whispered. Damien leaned in and pressed his mouth against her ear.
“We will just have to see about that, won’t we?”
THE END
Step Boss
Chapter One
Ashton Parker Jr. had spent his entire life trying to impress his father with his work ethic. Ashton Parker Sr. however, had been much more interested in his new wife’s daughter. Elise seemed to be the key to his new wife’s affections and in an attempt to keep his new wife happy, Ashton Sr. dedicated what free time he had to the twenty year old beauty rather than his own son. His affections for Elise did not go unrewarded. The more Ashton Sr. took care of her, the better her mother treated him.
Ashton Parker Jr. was not as amenable to the new additions to his family as his father clearly was. He saw Sarah Anne, his father’s new wife, as little more than just another gold-digger after his father’s money. As for Elise, she simply presented another obstacle to his father’s attention and affections. Ashton Jr. felt he already had enough problems gaining those without having to deal with these recent additions on top of them.
Sarah Anne Forde, hadn’t particularly been looking for a sixty year old husband. After all she was only forty two herself, but Ashton Parker Sr. had lured her in with promises of a better life. For Sarah Anne Forde anything was a better life than what she had now. She wasn’t about to pass up the chance to marry a man with an eight-figure bank account.
So it was there that their relationship began - sixty year old with too much money who was desperate to make a beautiful woman happy and a forty two year old who was desperate to leave her dead end job at a greasy spoon diner. The two fought regularly, yet their desire for each other was obvious. Ashton Sr. had saved Sarah Anne from a life of servitude and she, in return, had saved him from a lifetime of being chased by gold-diggers. Unlike Ashton Jr.’s view of her, she considered herself different from those other gold-diggers in that she genuinely did care for her husband. Her affection toward him had certainly grown when she realized he had accepted her daughter as his own. Unfortunately for Ashton Jr., Elise was given far more attention than he.
Even as an only child to Ashton Sr. and his now deceased mother, Penelope, Ashton Jr. was never the apple of his father’s eye. It never mattered what the curly haired, blue-eyed boy did. His father never batted an eye. This nonchalant attitude towards him from his father was what spurred Ashton Jr. on, eventually thrusting him to success with his self-founded company, AJ Brokerage International. Ashton Jr. had been positive that with the massive success of his own company his father would finally recognize his potential. Sadly, he had been wrong. Ashton Sr. had given his son just enough praise to avoid chastisement from his new wife.
After his father’s failure to recognize his success, Ashton Jr. avoided contact with his ‘family’ as much as possible. Instead, he buried himself in his work and gained a reputation for being the man who got things done.
A voice crackled over the intercom. “Mr. Parker?” She said.
“Yes?” He replied.
“I have a phone call for you on line two.”
Lizzy, Ashton Jr.’s secretary, had been working for him for three years and had learned the importance of being brief and to the point. Today, however, she neglected to do so.
“Well? Who is it?” Ashton snapped.
“She says that she’s your sister, sir.” Lizzy said.
Ashton sighed heavily. “Patch her through,” he said as he picked up the phone. He had no idea what his stepsister could possibly want from him but he was fairly sure it would involve him having to do something for her.
“Hello?” came Elise’s voice from the other end of the phone.
“Elise, what do you want?” he said brusquely.
“Daddy told me to call you. I’ve been having a little bit of trouble, you see…” Her voice trailed off.
Ashton’s jaw clenched. It irked him to hear her call Ashton Sr. ‘daddy’ with such endearment. She always said it so sugary sweet. He had the inkling Elise did genuinely care for his father but the way she demonstrated it was over the top. “What kind of trouble?” he asked. He couldn’t help wondering why his father had sent her to him rather than helping her himself.
“Well, I lost my job,” she responded pointedly.
“Why?” Ashton asked. He didn’t have time for her to beat around the bush. He was already beginning to get markedly frustrated.
“Umm…it’s complicated,” Elise replied. She didn’t offer any explanation of what she meant by ‘complicated’.
“What does my father expect me to do about it?” he asked, patience wearing thin.
“Well, I was…we were hoping that you might be able to give me a job?” she posed the statement as a question. Ashton r
olled his eyes in annoyance. Just because he owned a company did not mean that he could, or would, hire someone simply because they were family.
“Elise, do you have any experience in investments?” he asked. He knew full well that she didn’t given her previous employment history consisted only of waitressing and boutique retail work.
“Umm…no?” she said, her voice quivering slightly.
“Then I’m not sure what I can do to help,” h told her. He could hear Elise’s breathing begin to pick up and soon he was regaled with her sobbing hiccups.
“I…I…I just hoped that…you know…because we’re family…” Ashton was sick of her sobbing in to his ear so he gave in.
“Come down to my office tomorrow lunch time.” He said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
As abruptly as her tears had started, they stopped. “Thank you, Ashton,” she said. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”
As he hung up the phone, Ashton’s nostrils flared with each exhale. He hated being used for favors. Even more than that, Ashton Parker Jr. hated being used by his own father. Though Ashton Sr. was close to Elise, Ashton Jr. knew his main objective was to gain approval from Sarah Anne. He had no idea what he was going to do with Elise. Hell, he didn’t even know that she had any usable skill other than the usual minimum wage work that she was used to. He sure as hell wasn’t looking for a waitress. He hated his father for making him feel so obligated. If his father adored Elise as much as he pretended to, why didn’t he help her? She was only working out of habit and commitment. There was more than enough money from his father to support her financially.
He scoffed. He hated himself for giving in to this ridiculous favor. Every time there was the faintest hope he could please his father, he convinced himself to do it. There was always a little voice in his head saying this was the chance that he had been waiting for.
Chapter Two
When Ashton arrived at the office the following morning he found Elise already waiting for him in the lobby. He almost didn’t recognize her. She wasn’t dressed in her usual BOHO chic style, rather, she was dressed from head to toe in what he recognized to be an Armani business suit. He swallowed and pushed aside his annoyance knowing his father must have bought it for her.
She squealed when she saw him and ran over to him with open arms. “Ashton!” He sidestepped her hug and gave her a disapproving look before nodding his head slightly.
“Elise,” he said coldly.
“Do you like my suit?” she asked, tugging on the form-fitting jacket. She was quite talented at ignoring the cold treatment from him. Every time they saw each other she acted overjoyed, though never quite as much as today.
“It’s very nice,” he said as he began walking toward the elevators. Elise followed him, taking two steps for every one of his.
“Daddy bought it for me for my first day on the job!” she exclaimed. She stood beside him as he waited for the elevator to come. He glared at her. There was the sugary sweet ‘daddy’ falling from her lips. There was her ability to rely on him even though his own son could not.
“You don’t have a job yet, Elise.”
“Oh. Right,” Elise said. There was an awkward silence. A few minutes later, however, the silence obviously became too much for her and she started talking again. “Do you think you might have something I can do?” she asked.
Ashton turned to look at her. After taking a deep breath he said, “Elise, if I’m being honest I don’t know that you have any skills that I can utilize.”
Elise pressed together her ruby lips. “I am pretty good in sales.”
Ashton stared at her. “But again, Elise, do you know anything about investments?”
Elise shook her head. “Does that mean that I don’t have a job?”
The elevator doors opened and Ashton stepped inside. “Follow me and we will see.”
She scurried after him. Elise managed to stay silent as the elevator took them up to the top floor. Ashton was relieved not to have to hear the word ‘daddy’ one more time. But that relief would only last until the end of the elevator ride.
“Daddy says I’d be good at just about anything if you gave me the chance,” she said.
Ashton clenched his square jaw as he led her down the long hallway to the double doors of his office. Of course his father would show faith in just about anybody but him. “We’ll see about that.” After he unlocked his office doors, Ashton walked in and sat down behind his desk. Elise followed and sat down across him without being invited. Ashton was certain that she was going to be the cause of his first heart attack at thirty six years old.
Elise twisted a brilliant ginger strand of curled hair around her finger as she watched Ashton intently. “Soooo…what do we do now?”
Ashton looked at her. What the hell was he going to do with an untalented twenty year old? Sure, sex sold, but you couldn’t sex your way into investment, could you? Ashton raised an eyebrow. “Have you ever had phone sex?” he asked bluntly.
Elise frowned. “Why?”
“Answer the question, please.”
She nodded. “Why?” she asked again.
Though he found it mildly curious she wasn’t more affronted by his question, he decided to sidestep that and go on. “I have an idea,” Ashton said as he pulled open one of the drawers in his desk. Pulling out a manila folder, he flipped it open and began looking through sheets of paper. “Sometimes,” he said, “selling investments means seducing your client. Really making love to them with your voice. You understand?”
Elise nodded slowly. “I think so?”
“I have a folder here of potential investors that none of my employees have been able to crack. If you can sell to just one, I will give you a job.” Ashton pulled out a single sheet of paper from the folder and offered it to Elise.
“So all I have to do is ask this Mr. Oyoki to invest in your company or whatever?” she asked.
Ashton nodded. He reached back down into the drawer and pulled out another sheet of paper. “Here, this is the script I give all of my cold callers. Just read what’s on the paper, but remember, do it like you are making love to him.”
Elise took the sheet of paper and looked it over. She shrugged. “Seems easy enough,” she asserted.
Ashton vaguely wondered just how much phone sex she’d had to be so nonchalant about this. He pushed the phone across the desk toward her. “Make the call here so I can listen and correct you where it’s needed,” he ordered.
Elise nodded. She picked up the phone and began to dial the number on Mr. Oyoki’s paper.
“You need to dial 9 first to get an outside line,” Ashton said.
Elise hung up the phone and picked it up again to redial the number correctly. Ashton watched her mouthing the words as she waited for someone to answer the phone.
“Hello, may I please speak with Mr. Oyoki?” Elise asked. She paused, presumably while whoever had answered the phone for Mr. Oyoki went to retrieve him. “Hello, Mr. Oyoki?” she said. “Yes, this is Elise with AJ Brokerage International.”
Ashton watched her carefully. He was drawn in by her breathy voice and her attention to pronouncing every syllable of every word. He watched her smile. He watched the way she curled her hair around her finger repeatedly. She laughed and even took things completely off script.
“Well, Oki, I’m not sure that my boss would like it if I saw you outside of the office. But I might be able to arrange it. You know, I do love a man who knows how to spend his money,” she said and followed up with a girlish laugh. Ashton fought the urge to roll his eyes. Of course she loved a man who knew how to spend his money. His father was case in point.
“Well how about you show me how you spend that money and then we’ll talk?” she offered. “Sure. This afternoon?” she asked. “I think that would be a great start.”
By the time Elise had hung up the phone she had secured an investment from one of the most stubborn investors in the company’s portfolio of leads. Ashton was astounded. He had
never expected Elise to get Mr. Oyoki on the phone, let alone secure an investment.
“You’re hired,” he said, handing her the manila folder full of leads.
Chapter Three
Ashton gazed over at Elise sitting at the small table in the corner of his office. Telling her there was no open space available out on the floor, he set her up in the corner of his own office for the time being. The truth was that he wanted to watch Elise at work. It wasn’t because he didn’t trust her; he more than enjoyed listening to her talk on the phone with investors. He liked the way her voice ever so sweetly convinced the hard ass on the other end of the line to give up millions. He wondered if that was how Sarah Anne had convinced his father to marry her.
“Sorry again about the desk. I’ll have something more professional set up for you by next week,” Ashton said. If he had gone through this trouble to help her in hopes of his father finally appreciating him, he had to do a good job of it. He couldn’t very well make it obvious he was keeping there for his own benefit.
Elise turned around and said, “It’s okay! I don’t mind. I’m just grateful you gave me a chance,” she said. “Not many other people would even give me an interview after they found out about…well, you know.”
Ashton shook his head. He didn’t know because she hadn’t yet told him why she had been fired from her previous job. “I actually don’t know. Why did you get fired?” he asked. He had been somewhat curious before but, not caring all that much about her, he hadn’t tried to find out. Now his curiosity had grown.
He saw Elise’s cheeks beginning to glow red and her eyes shifted down to the carpet. “I probably shouldn’t tell you. You know, now that you’re my boss and all.”
“As your boss,” Ashton said, “I’d really like to know.” That was not entirely truthful. He wanted to know more for his own personal knowledge than as an employer. Her behavior made it all so intriguing.
Married To The Cowboy (Love In Collin's Ranch 3) Page 27