Highlander's Need: Winter Solestice (Against All Odds Series 4)

by Veronica Wilson

  “Yesss,” Cynthia slurred the word out, lost in her own little world of ecstasy. Taken by the moment himself, the Hood started pounding harder and faster, firmly holding her by her breasts. The entirety of her body shaking, Cynthia could feel the tingling that had expanded through her not so long ago ignite. She was on fire, and it felt so good.

  Then, the fire turned into an explosion. Searing white and all-consuming, the climax wrapped itself around and over her consciousness, deleting everything in the process.

  Cynthia Greene was no more, and neither was the Hood. They were now one, united by their passion for each other.

  Epilogue

  Please accept this humble payment for your contribution to the war effort.

  Cynthia sat at her reading desk, going through the various papers that lay piled up on it. Most of them were checks, addressed to her or Johnny, as the Hood still insisted to be called.

  He is essentially one big child, she reminded herself while still looking at the paper. An ingenious, sex god of a child who made us rich, that is.

  It took a whole lot of persuasion, some of which crossed into a more unconventional territory, but Cynthia Greene had managed to persuade Johnny (he would still laugh out loud whenever anyone called him by his assumed name) to sell his inventions. He had flat-out refused to do it for a long time, but her feminine charms won out in the end.

  “If we don’t have to scrounge for rat and lizard meat every day, or check the perimeter hourly, then we would have more time for each other.” That was the punch line that had finally managed to change his mind on the matter. The military asked surprisingly few questions, taking what he had to offer with open arms and giving back privilege after privilege. Money, accommodations—anything they asked for, they got. And the contract ensured that the arrangement would stand for as long as Johnny’s weapons remained in use.

  Which, at the rate the war is going, will likely be a very long time.

  Still, progress had been made. Cats were no longer the danger they used to be, and there was no more need to level entire cities where a good old frontal assault would do—a frontal assault made with Johnny’s instruments of war.

  Their private life had become as good as it could possibly be. There was no more need for Cynthia to expose herself to the dangers of any wasteland. Even Johnny had let go of a piece of his well-hidden bitterness, having found comfort in her arms.

  And if their private life was good, their love life was even better. With no time lost on unimportant matters like their own safety, the pair engaged in acts of wild sex whenever the opportunity presented itself. Which was pretty much all the time.

  Johnny’s alien libido and fortitude were so formidable that he was always up to the task, regardless of the place or circumstance. From time to time she would ask herself just how the invaders had managed to form such a perfect human disguise, yet keep a significant part of their physical superiority. Only once did she dare ask him about it, but his response was a tease like always.

  “Whatever gave you the idea that my entire race shares my own degree of sexual prowess, my dear?” he said, the ego simply radiating from that grin of his.

  That grin I don’t want to live without… the grin I can’t live without.

  Interrupting that train of thought, the door to the room opened. Johnny came in, his face deprived of the smile she had just mused over. This did not happen often, and when it did, it always signified trouble.

  Something is very wrong.

  “Is anything the matter, honey?” She rose from her desk, pressing the papers with the palm of her hand so the draft doesn’t scatter them.

  “Your people—I mean, the army men from up high—they want me to help them on something big.” He passed by her, stopping in front of the window.

  “Isn’t that a good thing?” She approached, surprised by his attitude. No matter how pressured he felt, Johnny would never retreat from her like that. This was something new, something they hadn’t touched on yet.

  “Nothing is a good thing!” He turned to face her, the anger visible in his stare.

  “Aren’t the two of us a good thing?” Cynthia tried smiling a little bit to soften him up. It worked for a little bit, his frown diminishing in intensity somewhat.

  “You do not understand.”

  “Then make me understand, love. Let me know what troubles you and I will help you.” She paused for a little bit. “Johnny.”

  He couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. Cynthia had no idea what made the moniker so funny to him, but at least she could make some use of it.

  “Do you know why I was exiled, my beloved Cynthia?” he asked, the smile wiped from his face again.

  “Conspiring against your superior, or that’s what you told me anyway,” Cynthia answered, raising an eyebrow.

  “And I’ve told you the truth. However, as always, there are the more explicit details.” He paused for a moment again. “The exact reason for our conspiring was less than palatable. We grew tired of our commander giving privileges to his consort. From our point of view, the fleet was no longer being directed by him, but by her. She kept steering his actions to suit her own interests. Understand?”

  “For the most part, yes. What I don’t understand is why that would be as important as you make it out to be.”

  “It’s important because she was from Earth. Understand? All our consorts were from Earth. The commander had made a glorified concubine into our superior, only due to the fact that she was his.” The anger in Johnny’s eyes was readily visible. “Ancient tenets of our great race, cut into ribbons for no reason whatsoever! All to satisfy a woman who, for all we knew, might even have been a spy, saboteur, or something worse!”

  So that’s why the women went missing. Johnny had refused to divulge such information to her before, calling it a breach of the so-called sacred tenets. I guess the tenets aren’t as sacred to him as they used to be.

  “Out of sheer, unbridled hubris, our commander chose his consort over us, the greatest of his soldiers, and we wouldn’t have any of it! We decided to remove him from his position, in any way possible. When our attempt failed, we were stripped of our… privileges, and banished here to die.” His lips tightened after he finished the final statement. His gaze refused to meet her own, instead staring out the window.

  “Revenge was my goal at first,” he continued. “I wanted to shoot them all out of the sky. Melt the hapless armada into nothing, all by its own tech. Now that I am close to actually getting that chance, I find it difficult to go through with it.”

  He turned toward her now, his eyes gleaming with trace amounts of moisture. “First, I betrayed my lord. Then, I planned to kill everyone I’ve ever known for no reason other than revenge. Now, I get to conspire with the enemy of my birth race. Am I that much of a slime-ball, my beloved Cynthia?”

  After a short pause she propelled herself toward him, embracing his lean waist with both of her arms. He squirmed around for a little bit, but she wouldn’t let go.

  “You are no longer an alien invader, my love,” she spoke, gripping him as hard as she could. “Now you are my husband—the love of my life.” He stopped moving around, his expression slightly mellowed out. “The two of us, we have our own rules, our own tenets, and you didn’t betray a single one of them.”

  He didn’t speak, merely staring into her eyes instead. For a little while he stood rigidly like that, as if she was embracing a broom. Then Johnny’s arms moved, wrapping gently around her waist, taking special care not to break her grip.

  “Cynthia, my beloved,” he whispered in her ear. “I would never think of betraying you.”

  In response, she joined her mouth with his, ending the debate with a passionate kiss.

  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 s
eemed 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 rolled 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 agai
n, 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?”