Captivating the CEO

by Sara Daniel

  “Are you all right?” He rose.

  “Fine.” She wanted to pretend to be fine for a half hour. Besides settling her outstanding debts, she wanted to enjoy her final moments before she checked into the hospital and destroyed the normalcy she tried so hard to maintain.

  Using his standing form as a beacon, she stumbled around the desk. Her bag fell. Instead of stopping on the floor, it continued down a long black tunnel, making retrieving the massage oil impossible.

  “You’re not fine.” His arms surrounded her.

  Maybe she fell. His strong arms caught her, lowering her onto the desk chair. The voice on the telephone speaker yammered away, but focusing on her, he ignored it, worry etched across his face.

  “Sit here and rest for a minute.”

  She tried to nod, but her head swirled with the motion, and she laid her cheek on the cool desktop.

  Brushing the papers away, he cleared a space.

  “Mr. Vanderhayden, the Downing people need an immediate decision. What should I reply to them?” the person on the speaker asked.

  Colin flicked off the phone, ending the call without answering, never glancing away from her. “What’s going on?”

  Another tentative lift of her head revealed a relatively steady room. “You paid for a massage on Friday, but I didn’t give one. I need to fix that.”

  Frustration flickered across his face. “I don’t care about a massage. What’s going on with you?”

  “I’m just tired, a little lightheaded.” Deciding not to insult his intelligence, she cut short her blow-it-off spiel. Heart failure didn’t deserve a casual dismissal, although God knew she came up with some convincing attempts. “Can I have a glass of water?”

  “Of course.” As expected, he jumped at the chance to do something constructive to help, rushing through the paneled doorway to his private quarters.

  She dug into her purse and opened her pill bottle, settling one capsule beneath her tongue. She’d be damned if she went to the hospital a day early, even if that was where she belonged.

  Returning with a bottle of water, Colin twisted the cap off and held the container out to her.

  She washed the pill down and let the cool liquid restore blood flow to her brain. “Thanks. Much better. Now, let’s get on with the massage.”

  Concern remained etched on his face, and he shook his head. “Are you a diabetic? Is your blood sugar too low? I have hard candy in my desk.” He yanked open a drawer, revealing a stash of packaged health food. “How about an energy bar? Is that a good or bad thing for you to have?”

  “I’m not a diabetic.” She waved away the offered food and candy.

  “Are you prone to passing out? Don’t let a general practitioner brush aside your concerns. You should get tested by a neurologist.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “At the very least, you need to rest.”

  “No.” Weeks of forced rest loomed before her. “You paid for a massage when I initiated sex instead. That’s not the kind of service I provide. I need to give you the massage.”

  Covering her hand with his, he squeezed gently. “Of course I only paid for a massage. Relax. I never meant to insult you, or question your professionalism.”

  “So, let me give you what you paid for, please. It’s important to me.” If she owed him, she wouldn’t be able to pay him back for weeks, possibly forever.

  His determined expression relented. “Okay. But keeping sitting until you’re sure you’re not going to pass out again. Don’t rush. Take as much time as you need to get ready.”

  Instead of relocating his phone or computer and continuing to work while she occupied his desk, he brushed his palms over her shoulders then up her neck to caress her scalp. For the first time, he prioritized her over his work.

  But she didn’t have the luxury of health and time to offer him a part of her life. Taking tiny sips from the water bottle, she savored his fingers sliding through her hair.

  “You’re a good man, Colin.” Someday, he’d make another woman very happy. As grateful as she tried to be to have him now, greed and jealousy of that future woman trumped.

  For years people had told her how lucky she was—to be alive, to have such a skilled medical team and the necessary medical advances, to land on the good side of the statistical chances. At some point, luck always ran out. After using more than her share for far too long, she would not break Colin’s heart when it happened.

  Chapter Five

  After they exchanged places on the chair, Colin tried to enjoy Willow’s massage and not stiffen at her touch. Knowing him well enough to narrow in on his trigger points, she kneaded every muscle. But his workload hadn’t set off his tension.

  Guilt and worry plagued him. Considering the evidence of a potentially serious problem, he shouldn’t have caved under her determination. Maybe she’s coming down with the flu. That would explain her unsteadiness and heavy breathing. At least the heat of his bare flesh had begun to warm her icy fingertips.

  “All right. Done.” She gave his shoulders a final squeeze, lingering but not for as long as he wanted her to.

  Despite his worry about overtaxing her, watching her walk out the door proved an unpalatable alternative. He stood and faced her. “If I order some sandwiches, will you stay a little longer?”

  Dark circles under her eyes gave away her exhaustion, and her lips were a frightening shade of bluish purple, but after a slight hesitation, she nodded. Her lipstick preference might not jive with his, but his attraction extended deeper than the color of her lips.

  “Why don’t you rest on the couch until they arrive?”

  Instead of protesting, she leaned into him. “I’d like that.”

  He slipped an arm around her waist, protective instincts he never knew existed rearing up, urging him to take care of her. Despite insisting she didn’t have a problem, she no longer gave off the self-assured vibe he’d come to associate with her from their first meeting.

  She sighed, content and trusting against him, and when he eased her slight frame down on the couch and tucked a pillow under her head, her eyes slid closed.

  “Colin.”

  Stroking her pale cheek, he waited for her to continue speaking, but she succumbed to slumber. She’d once mentioned she liked to pack her weekends with fun. Perhaps too much fun caused her to shut down. At least she’d come to him so he could keep an eye on her.

  After placing the food order, he carried his laptop, papers, and chair into the room with Willow to watch her while he worked. He took a short break to accept the sandwich delivery, and later in the evening he ran on the treadmill while reading through a report, before returning to her side. Around midnight, she stirred and opened her eyes. Glancing around the dim room in confusion, she found him and smiled.

  Something inside his chest cracked. He attempted to return the sunny expression, but tenderness, protectiveness, and other more terrifying emotions slammed through him. A part of his life for only a few weeks, she lit up and filled every empty corner, without his consent.

  “The sandwiches arrived a few hours ago. I didn’t order anything warm, so I put them in the fridge until you were hungry.”

  Her gaze shifted to the clock above the treadmill. “It’s so late! I hope you ate without me. Otherwise, you must be starving.”

  He closed his laptop. “Oddly enough, I’ve become partial to your company while I eat.”

  “That is odd,” she teased, her color and fragility vastly improved from earlier. “And not a good habit to get into.”

  The warning note in her voice gave him pause. Why wouldn’t she approve of him enjoying her company? Her multiple efforts to convince him he should were the reasons she’d won him over.

  After a couple of minutes sitting upright, she stood, appearing steady. “I’m going to check out your private restroom, and then I’ll go on a sandwich hunt for us.”

  Not waiting for her to get out the food, he complemented the paper-wrapped carryout with champagne flut
es of Perrier by the time she returned.

  “I approve. Very classy.” Her smile gave him more satisfaction than any business profitability margin.

  She sank onto the couch and curled her stockinged feet under her. When he sat next to her, she lounged against his bare chest. Pressing his lips to the top of her head, he closed his eyes and savored the idyllic moment.

  “So did you snap a picture of me drooling or snoring to use as social media blackmail?” She lifted her head enough to show off the returning sparkle in both her eyes and her personality.

  Relief colored his laughter. “You’ll have to be on your best behavior and hope nothing shows up.”

  “Who wants to be on their best behavior? How boring would that be?” She stroked the stubble on his jaw then trailed her lips along the same path.

  Setting the sandwiches aside, he pulled her across his lap. She’d initiated every encounter with him, and he needed to prove their relationship went both ways.

  He intended to ask her to join him in the evenings—three times a week, at least. In addition, with a lot of rearranging, he planned to get out of the office once every week or two on a real date, without bringing too much work along with him.

  Hopefully, his unprecedented commitment would impress her. But, he didn’t want to talk. His affection and longing could be better expressed without words.

  Burying his face in her straight, shoulder-length brown hair, he ran his hands over the high neck of her shirt and over her chest, stroking her breasts through the fabric. “Do you ever consider giving a guy a break and showing a little skin?”

  Laughing, she kissed his knuckles. “Nope. You have to work for every inch with me. But don’t worry. I know if you try hard enough, you can do it.”

  He teased her lips with the tip of his tongue. “That sounds like a challenge.”

  “Only if you’re up for it.”

  “I’m up for anything with you.” He slid his fingers under the tunic shirt at her thighs.

  “Be careful with those promises. Anything might include more than you can imagine.”

  As he cuddled and embraced her, he planned the future places where he wanted to take her and explore with her. They scattered from his mind the moment his fingers brushed her bare skin above her waistband. His world narrowed on the here and now with her. Laying her back on the couch, he lifted her shirt enough to press his lips to her navel, teasing her breasts through her bra.

  “Lower,” she ordered. “I want to take you inside me.”

  “I’ll get there.”

  “Not fast enough.”

  Someday, he’d give her a lesson in the benefits of future gratification, but right then he saw no benefit in waiting and frustrating them both. Peeling her leggings down, he caressed each inch of skin he uncovered. Then he shimmied up to retrieve her panties, reveling in her satin smoothness.

  His face between her thighs, he kissed her sensitive flesh, smiling as she squirmed and grasped the top of his head, leading him to the heat emanating from her core. As soon as he slid his lips across her sex, she sighed with pleasure and her hands fell to her sides. Her complete surrender undid him more than any practiced seduction.

  Sinking into her sweetness, he focused on bringing her to the exquisite heights of orgasm. He licked and sucked and stroked until each heartbeat of her pleasure became the only one that mattered.

  “Colin.” She shuddered around him. “Come with me. Please. I want us to be together.”

  “We are,” he swore. Always. Tearing off his pants, he sheathed himself in a condom and came to her. Determined not to crush her, he conveyed his passion with gentle, measured strokes.

  While taking everything he offered, she wrapped her legs around him as if he were the one who might break and needed to be protected.

  “Oh, Willow, your body does amazing things to me. You do amazing things to me.”

  “It’s because you’re amazing.” Her eyes sparkled in the dim light.

  “Don’t cry.” Shifting onto his side, he held her facing him, keeping his arms around her and their bodies joined.

  “I’m not.” Her voice trembled. She squeezed his ass and glided over his sack.

  Somehow she turned the lightest touch into something monumental. “Oh, yes.”

  While she cupped and fondled him, he rubbed his palm over her ass, and she moaned.

  Her shirt bunched beneath her breasts against his chest, preventing skin-on-skin contact with her upper body. “I meant to take off your shirt,” he said.

  “Too late now. I’m not letting you go to fix it.”

  “I don’t have to let you go.”

  He attempted to shift again to allow her to straddle him, but she resisted, nibbling on his lip instead. “Let’s just lie here chest to chest. I don’t want to lose the connection.”

  His heartbeat matched hers, and he shared her reluctance to break the rhythm. “Okay, but next time I want you completely naked.”

  “Next time.” Her mouth sought his with an edge of desperation, not unlike when she’d made love to him on Friday.

  No longer content to rock against her, he threw one of his hips over hers, angling his body as he thrust. She slid her hand over the curve of his buttocks and circled his testicles. Gasping with pleasure, he glided out then plunged in again. She surrounded him with tight heat on both sides. Again and again, they danced, their movement more frantic, yet in sync. With a cry of ecstasy, she clenched around him, and he poured his desire into her.

  More than transforming that single moment, Willow changed his entire life. Savoring the present, he planned how to address their future together.

  ***

  Willow lay, sated and relaxed, in Colin’s arms. Her living-for-the-moment philosophy had been nothing more than a tactic to cram a full life into a few short years. But for the first time, only that moment mattered, and she didn’t want to rush through it. Holding him to her, she sighed with contentment and closed her eyes.

  The next time she opened them, a blanket covered her in place of Colin’s arms. Squinting against the bright light from the window, she pushed the covering aside, naked from the waist down. The delicious memories of the night they’d shared sent a shiver through her.

  Remembering what today meant, she treasured the memory even more. She picked up her clothes from the floor and padded into the bathroom. A few minutes later she returned, as refreshed as possible in yesterday’s clothes, but sobered by the mirror’s reminder of her blue lips.

  “Hey, you woke up.” Colin smiled at her from the doorway to his office, wearing a white dress shirt with his suit, but no tie, his face clean-shaven and his hair still wet from a recent shower.

  “Call me Sleeping Beauty.” Making an effort to keep her tone breezy, she mirrored his expression. “Or was it Snow White who needed her prince to wake her? I always get those two princesses confused.”

  “My fairy tale book says you’re Princess Willow who saves Prince Works-Too-Much from the drudgery of ruling the castle and makes him leave the office.”

  “You’re leaving the office today?” Surprise shot through her, followed by panic. Of course, she wanted to spend time with him, but why did he decide to drop everything and expect her to accompany him today?

  “Well, for a couple hours. What do you say we go out for breakfast before you go home and I return for my eight-thirty meeting?”

  “Breakfast, of course. I’d love to.” Relief, pleasure, and disappointment coursed through her as she took his arm. He hadn’t decided to blow off an entire day of work to spend with her. A week ago, she wouldn’t have been able to convince him to spend a minute of uninterrupted time outside the office. Expecting and wanting more served no purpose, except to prove her own selfishness. For the foreseeable future, she couldn’t offer him a single thing.

  A few employees trickled in as they left the office together. Strolling amongst the hurried commuters to a local café, they took a booth by the window.

  A waitress came by with
coffee, filling Colin’s cup, while Willow opted for orange juice. They ate and chatted about everyday topics, nothing of importance yet somehow, when shared with each other, each became of the utmost significance. All too soon their plates and cups were empty, the bill paid, and they stood outside the café prepared to go their separate ways.

  Blinking in the bright sunlight, she tried to memorize his face one more time while remaining strong enough to save their goodbye from turning emotional. Explaining her tearfulness would put him through emotional hell over the next few weeks. Her parents, brother, and close friends already went through the process for her, every time, not knowing if this one would be the last, praying it wouldn’t. She cared about Colin too much to demand it of him.

  Drawing up on tiptoes, she brushed her lips over his. “Have a wonderful week at work, Prince.” Her voice came out light and teasing, as she intended. “Don’t forget to come down from your castle tower and enjoy the fresh air again.”

  “Only you can tempt me out.”

  The joke turned on her. Somewhere along the way, her plan to loosen him up fell by the wayside in favor of forging a relationship where she mattered to him. In spite of her intention to convince him to live in the present, she’d epically failed, convincing him she held the key to his future. “I showed you the tip of the proverbial iceberg of all the wonderful things you should be experiencing. You don’t need me to check them out.”

  “My pleasure comes from experiencing them with you.” He kissed her again, sweeping the recesses of her mouth. “We’ll be in touch soon.”

  Live in the moment, Willow. Her own advice had never been so difficult to follow. Tangling her tongue with his, she scraped her fingers through his short hair. “I’ll think about you.” Although not much, she promised him the only thing in her power to offer.

  Then she broke away and headed for the train station, not glancing back, knowing she’d shout the words she really meant: I love you. I need you. Stay with me and hold my hand until the anesthesia takes me under and they wheel me away.