Through narrowed eyes, he watched her. She cautiously straddled his hips, darting worried frowns in his direction. Her expression betrayed her unease and told him she flailed out of her depth so he decided to help her. “That’s it. Move up a little. Take my cock and guide it to your entrance. Wait. You are aroused enough to take me, right?” James combed a finger through the triangle of hair between her thighs. His finger glided with little difficulty, her cream smoothing the way. “You’ll do,” he said, his voice rough around the edges. “Okay. Yep, that’s it. Guide me in so I don’t hurt you then when you’re ready, sink down and take me inside. Yeah, that’s it. Just like that.” God, it felt incredible as he pierced her flesh and tunneled deeper. Tight muscles clutched his shaft, massaging his rigid length.
“Is that right?”
“Yeah. How does the condom feel inside you?”
“Goood.” She dragged the sound out so he knew it wasn’t a lie. Alice pushed down farther until fully seated. Her vagina pulsed, gripping him in velvet sensation. “Um, there’s a lumpy bit and it’s right… Oh my god,” she muttered.
He grinned inwardly. Rodney had lined up the massager correctly. It had obviously hit in the region of her clitoris. “Move up and down, Alice. Have you ridden a horse before?”
She bit her bottom lip, her face delicately flushed. At the back of his mind, he noted the color had spread down her neck to her chest. Her nipples pouted, swollen with arousal. “Yes, I’ve ridden horses before.”
“Move up and down on my dick like you’d rise to the trot.”
Alice’s eyes widened and a small grin burst forth. “I’ll never think about horse riding the same way again.” She obeyed his instructions, rising before sinking down. “Ooh, that feels fantastic.”
She wasn’t wrong. It felt bloody good on his end as well. Time to activate the vibrator feature. He reached down to tug at the tag pull, noting the time on his watch. He was sure he remembered length of vibration time as one of the questions on Rodney’s list.
The tag pull changed the sensations rippling through his body. Made them more intense and powerful.
Alice swayed above him, moving in her own rhythm, her eyes screwed shut.
“Open your eyes.” James wanted to see everything. The swirl of gold colors in her brandy eyes, the moment her climax hit and she shattered. Yeah, he wanted everything and that accounted for his earlier anger. He couldn’t have it all.
Alice rose and unhurriedly went back down, taking him deep. The vibration was like a series of small pulses that rippled the length of his cock. While it didn’t feel as though the vibrations would push him into orgasm, the sensation intensified the powerful currents rampaging through his body. “Howzit feel?”
“The tiny pulses feel amazing but it’s that little lump thing I hit every time I go down that makes me hot.”
“Go faster.” An order, but he thought this slow pace might kill him.
“I’ll forget to take mental notes if I go faster.”
Ah, yeah. Good point. They were meant to take notes for Rodney so he could finesse the product into a top money-spinner. Too bad. They’d just have to repeat the experiment. They had another seven condoms to test. James gripped her hips and set up a faster rhythm. His gaze caressed her breasts, and once he was sure she’d keep up the pace he’d set, he released her hips to cup her breasts. He took one nipple into his mouth and rolled it across his tongue. Alice moaned at the back of her throat, a sexy cry that sent an answering surge through his body. She rose and fell, rocking their bodies together, burying him deep in her wet core. On the downward stroke, Alice hit her clit against the lump. Her startled gasp of pleasure gave it away. A ripple sped through her pussy, triggering a return spasm in him. James gripped her hips again and pumped with rapid strokes. Her vaginal muscles clung, squeezing him tight. She gasped and her body convulsed with the force of her release. James followed seconds later, the exquisite clamp of her pussy wringing him out.
Long moments later, she fell forward, her breasts squashed against his sweaty chest. James didn’t complain. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and drew her against him. The Vibration continued to pulse, setting off aftershocks in Alice.
“Enough,” she murmured. “Any more vibration and I won’t be able to sit for a week.”
He rolled her off him and after a thorough check for rips or tears in the condom, disposed of it before tugging Alice back into his arms.
Outside, darkness had fallen and a faint sliver of moonlight pierced the filmy curtains. She sighed and relaxed against him in the boneless manner of one who’d fallen asleep. James yawned but his mind remained too busy for sleep. Her preoccupation with her inheritance bothered him. He liked her. They were compatible in bed and out, but their differences regarding money…
He couldn’t get past greediness for wealth.
* * * * *
Alice woke slowly, the chatter of birds outside the window informing her daylight had arrived. She stretched, the pull of sore muscles a reminder of the previous night’s activities. Turning her head, she saw James. His eyes were closed, his jaw dark with morning stubble. As she watched, his blue eyes opened.
“Morning, James.” His cock dug into her hip and suddenly her mind was on sex and condoms. It dwelled there a lot these days, but then the prod of an erection against a hipbone would do that.
“How do you feel?” He cupped her jaw in a gentle gesture and rubbed the back of his hand across her jaw. “Up to another condom test?”
In truth, she felt a bit sore, but the idea of more of the same rapture she’d experienced last night was too tempting. “Should I pick a number?”
“Why not?” he said with a lazy chuckle.
Alice picked number two. She plucked the condom out of the bag and handed it to him.
He rolled it on with a competent move. This version was a pale pink and although it had the vibration apparatus, it differed with a rash of raised dots all over the condom. She supposed the final products would be in theme and either gold, silver or bronze but this sample looked like a condom with measles especially with the reddish pink spots.
“Feel?” Alice asked, reaching for the clipboard. She spotted the pen on the floor and rolled off the bed to pick it up. After crawling back into bed, she arched a brow. “Well?”
“The latex on this one is different. It feels much thicker. Maybe too thick. It might cause sensitivity loss.” He leaned toward her and kissed her neck, nibbling across her collarbone. Alice tilted her head to give him better access. “It will be interesting to see how you find the latex when it’s inside you.”
Alice quivered. His hands wandered her rib cage then rose to cup and lift both breasts. Squashing them together, he took both nipples deep into his mouth and sucked. Her heart lurched painfully, the tug to her feminine parts immediate. She hadn’t realized a man’s mouth would feel so intimate, so right.
James let one nipple pop from his mouth. Her freed nipple shone in the early morning light. Still sucking strongly, he made a brief foray with his free hand and probed her delicate nether lips. She widened her legs to give him better access, letting her eyelids drop to half-mast to concentrate on his soft, butterfly stroke across her nub. The hard ridge of his cock prodded her lower belly while he continued his delicious assault. The beginnings of climax shimmered through her.
“I need you inside me,” she whispered. “Please.”
“What about the taste test?”
“Oh okay.” She pulled away and shoved him to the bed.
“I do like a pushy, demonstrative woman,” he drawled, laughter deepening his dimple.
Alice decided to explore, perhaps a little teasing first. Since she liked her nipples suckled, perhaps he would enjoy the same attentions. Alice teased him with tiny kisses, tantalizingly brief. She scraped her fingernails across the flat discs and watched his reaction with interest. His muscular chest was smooth and sculpted and tempted her to bite.
“I do like a well-built man,” s
he murmured. “It’s very sexy.”
“You find me sexy?”
“Oh yeah.” She kissed a trail of kisses from his chest, across his ribs to his groin. With her hand, she guided the swollen hardness of his arousal to her mouth. Her tongue darted out and she licked the underside of his penis.
“Do that again,” he said. “Please.”
She repeated the move and he shuddered. “This one tastes more minty,” she said, “but I have to agree on the feel of the latex. There are too many raised dots. It’s like kissing the bristles of a harsh brush.”
James snorted. “Good simile.”
“Do you want me on top again?”
“Not this time. Hard and fast. Let’s put this baby through its paces.” He grabbed her and flipped her on her back before she could utter a word. Seconds later, he impaled her with one seamless thrust. Reaching between them, he pulled the vibration tab.
The pulsation started immediately, strong and intense, kindling a fire in her. He kissed her, feasting on her mouth while maintaining an even pace with his strokes. The combined vibration and the friction of the raised dots dragged against sensitive skin. James continued to thrust and angled his strokes so the tiny knot on the condom struck her clitoris. Hot pleasure spilled through Alice and the vibration within her womb intensified it, making her cry out. James thrust hard, moving her up the bed. Then he stiffened and she felt the flex of his cock deep inside. He held her for an instant longer before he pulled away.
James pulled out of her and disposed of the condom. He flopped back onto the mattress at her side, turning his head to glance at her. “What did you think of number two?”
“Ah, the vibration felt more intense with this model. I didn’t like the dots. They felt weird.”
“Yeah, I thought it had reduced sensation because of the thick latex. Mark that one down for redesign and improvement.”
Alice reached for the clipboard. That made one maybe and one dud in need of improvement. She’d seen the budgets yesterday and they hadn’t reassured her much. If they didn’t get the Vibration model out on the market soon, she wouldn’t have an inheritance. The thought brought horror. She remembered the dark years of her childhood when her father had declared bankruptcy, and she never, ever wanted to go through a situation like that again.
Chapter Nine
James drove to work with Alice, dropping her off at the bed and breakfast so she could change clothes before heading to Fancy Free. Deep in thought, James wandered into his office. Loud chatter from the boardroom made him put off his mail and messages in favor of investigation.
He halted in the doorway. The entire board was present, and it looked as though one of them had shouted morning tea.
“I thought we weren’t meeting until later in the day.”
“Ah, James.” Harriet paused in her knitting. “You’re here in time for the banana cake.”
“I checked the security angle,” Richard said. “The references and backgrounds for all the recent employees have checked out. Maybe our problems are related to the cult.”
“Get to the good stuff,” Katarina muttered, cutting her hand through the air. “How did the tests go?”
As one, they peered at him, anticipation and curiosity on their faces, the silence in the boardroom very telling. They expected to hear the sordid details.
Nonplussed, he went for evasion. “I’m not the kiss and tell kind of guy. What’s up with the security?” No way would they get intimate details. It was personal, dammit.
“Stuff and nonsense,” Katarina counteracted, a gleam in her pale blue eyes. “We have a right to know about the condom tests since we’re on the board. We own a slice of this company and we need full disclosure to make informed decisions.”
Damn, why couldn’t she take up knitting or crochet to keep her busy like Harriet? Then maybe she wouldn’t pick on him quite as much. “Why don’t you knit a scarf for your granddaughter?”
“Stop the prevarication,” Joseph said. “How did the tests go?”
They’d tested some of the condoms, with number five the best model to date. They’d made love and the vibrations had lasted longer than they had. It had been bloody good. James shook himself from memories. They might work well together but their personal philosophies were miles apart. He wouldn’t lower himself and sacrifice his principles for a woman who chased the almighty dollar. This couldn’t be anything other than a fling. Aware the oldies wanted details he spoke in technicalities. “The vibrating feature is different. I don’t know if you’d want to use it every time—”
“Did Alice enjoy it? Will I like it?” Harriet asked.
“Why don’t some of you test them?” James hoped to disconcert the oldies. “I know you won’t be security risks.” Only yesterday, they’d quoted their age as a reason for him to test the Vibration with Alice. He’d see how they liked it when the tables were turned.
Richard Morgan stretched. “That’s actually a good idea,” he said. “Should I get Rodney to come up with some more samples?”
Everyone shifted their attention to Richard.
Ben spoke for them all. “Just who do you intend to test the Vibration with? The rest of us are married but you’re a bachelor.”
Richard spluttered while James grinned, glad he’d managed to deflect attention from himself.
“I bet it’s the mystery woman,” Joseph said. “Ted Edwards reckoned you had a woman. Said he couldn’t get you to talk either.”
“And here we thought you were a confirmed bachelor.” Ben’s left eye closed in a sly wink.
“I’ll get Rodney to bring up samples and questionnaires,” James said, deciding to rescue Richard from persecution. He strode from the boardroom, down the short, carpeted passage to his office. Rita sat at her desk, fine-tuning the budgets they’d prepared for the bank.
He paused by her chair, noting the mess of computer printouts. “How’s it look?”
“It looks pretty good to me, especially after Alice studied the budgets. She’s a whiz with money. I think the bank manager will like what he sees. How’d the tests go?”
There was no mistaking the undertone of humor. James ignored it just as he discounted the tidbit about Alice and money. He did not want to know.
“We were pleased with one of the models. The other wasn’t so impressive. Did you know the oldies want to run tests?”
Rita’s brows rose to a well-defined arch. “Keeps the security problem under wraps. I wish Alicia were here. We had a bet about how long it would take them to get curious. She wins.”
“I wish they’d spoken up yesterday.” Then he wouldn’t be craving another go-round with Alice.
“Problems?”
“Alice and I don’t have much in common.” Hell, they stood at opposite ends of the spectrum.
“You don’t need anything in common to have great sex,” Rita countered.
She spoke the truth so he nodded. But if they hadn’t slept together, he wouldn’t know how generous she was in bed, how she loved new experiences. James suppressed a shiver. They still had a few variations to trial.
“Are you going to let the board members help with the tests?”
“What do you think? Can they do it?”
“They have a hell of a lot more experience than you do, young man. And a vested interest.”
James grinned, trying not to let his mind drift down that path. It was like imagining his parents and sex in the same sentence. That thought wiped the smirk clean off his face. His mother… Ugh!
“Do you want to check the budgets one last time before I drop them off at the bank?”
He darted a look through the door at the pile of mail on his desk. It balanced delicately, threatening to topple at the slightest touch. He needed to scan the urgent stuff then grab Alice and do more tests since they were on a time line. His lips twisted in irony. No matter how pissed he felt about her attitude to money, he still wanted her physically. There was a double standard there somewhere. “No, the sales forecast
figures looked okay to me and you said Alice had checked them. It was just the repairs and maintenance and a few of the other running costs that needed a tweak.”
Rita frowned. The crease between her brows brought a worried expression to her face. “I hope the bank goes for this. We’re up to our overdraft limits already this month. The cost of latex has gone through the roof and we had that breakdown on the production line.”
“Roger will approve it. He knows the company is solid. We’re just going through a slight downswing. We’ll turn it around.” James reached for the phone and contacted Rodney about more supplies to test.
After a brief chat with their inventor, James returned to the boardroom. “Rodney will be up soon. Who wants to test the Vibration?”
Each of the board members raised their hands. A pregnant silence ruled as he inspected their individual expressions. Looks of innocence shone in every single one. “You didn’t think to mention your willingness to test condoms yesterday?” His question hovered a shade away from testy. He wasn’t sure whether he should shout or subject them to icy silence. Bloody hell. The oldies acted worse than a pack of teenagers. If only Alicia were here to manage them. Lord, he missed that woman. She’d had a way of cutting through the crap.
“Right,” he muttered, after glaring at them. “Telling me you wanted to help with the tests would have spoiled your fun. I’ll expect full results by the end of the week. Remember you are to swear your partners to secrecy. If we have any leaks about the Vibration and the competition gets wind of our new product, we’re in trouble. It’s imperative to get our product on the market first. If we don’t, we’ll lose everything. Do you understand?”
“Of course we do,” Joseph snapped. “We’re old not stupid.”
“That’s right.” Ben rubbed his hands together. “I’m looking forward to helping with the tests.”
James scowled at his feet. No, they weren’t stupid. They were wily and cunning and yanked his strings as if he were a damn puppet.
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