by Gina Gordon
He took a moment. He needed a damn moment. Watching this woman let go, the tremble he set off in her body, was powerful. And his need for her was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. This encounter took on a dreamlike quality. Everything around him was hazy. The only thing in focus was Sterling and her soft body, ready and willing to give over to him. And he was going to take it.
“Jack?” She eyed him with confusion. He released her hair and backed away, giving her space to comply with his demand. She placed the shoes on her feet.
He made his move. His lips brushed against hers, soft, plump, perfect for grabbing between his teeth. He loved her full lips. Their breaths mingled, and he reached to cup the back of her neck. He tangled his fist in her hair, the long, dark strands wrapping around his fingers like silk.
Their lips pressed together. At first lightly. But when he pressed their bodies closer, tighter, she melted into him, her hips jutting forward, bracing herself against him. He rolled his tongue over her lips and she opened for him.
His left hand held her hair at the nape of her neck. His other hand gripped her hip, then traveled lower to cup her tight, perfect bottom. He deepened the kiss, and before he knew it he was devouring her, inhaling the scent of her, the feel of her.
But it wasn’t enough. Releasing his grip, he stepped back and undressed her, beginning with the first button of her blouse, working his way down until it hung wide open, her white lacy bra a welcome sight. When his finger caressed the line of the fabric, her breath caught.
Her chest rose and fell heavily under his touch and when he raised his eyes to meet hers, he knew she was lost in the moment. She had surrendered to pleasure.
She grabbed the sides of her blouse and ripped it off, letting it fall to the floor. Unable to stand it, he grabbed the top of the bra cups and yanked it down, her wonderful breasts spilling out over the top. He squeezed and kneaded, then his mouth closed over one of her stiff peaks. He tugged with his teeth, and she arched into him.
She grabbed the back of his head, pushing his mouth against her body before her hands traveled down, along his spine. Jack straightened as she slid along his skin to his ass. She squeezed. He ached to be inside her. She moaned when he pressed his erection into her stomach.
He slowed the kiss, his breath ragged, his heart pounding. God he’d missed this, the intensity that came with being intimate with a woman. But he’d never been intimate, not really. It’d always been sex. Just sex. Although this, this feeling in the pit of his stomach, was unexpected. She opened her eyes, slowly, focusing on him through heavy lids. Her cheeks flushed pink, her pouty lips swollen from his kisses. She was ready for him.
He was done with seduction. He was ready for the main event. “I need to be inside you.”
Relief took over her face. She leaned forward and captured his lips, her hands cupping his jaw, kissing with intense ferocity. She ripped her mouth away from his. “I need you, too.”
He lifted the hem of her skirt and rubbed her through her panties—she was fiery and wet against his hand. There was still too much fabric between them. Panties and skirt dropped to the floor in that order, leaving her completely exposed.
When he had the condom in place, he grasped her bottom and lifted, pushing her against the shelves that housed the hundreds of shoes. Her legs wrapped around his hips, and her arms swung out to catch the shelves.
“What happened to slow and steady?” she asked, her lips nipping at his.
“Next time.” There was no time for slow and steady. He needed her, right now, at this moment.
His cock rubbed against her center and she reached down to guide him. They both groaned as he plunged inside.
He watched the gentle slide of his cock as it disappeared inside her core with every thrust. She felt so good. Too good. Lifting his head, he watched her, eyes shut tight, bottom lip caught between her teeth. He needed to make this good for her, but when the pointy heels dug into his ass, something broke inside him.
“Sterling?” Christ. He was about ready to explode.
Her fingers took his chin and she pulled his head toward her. He focused on her eyes. “Lean back,” she panted.
He took a small step away from the shelf, and her hand moved down to rub her clit. She was so beautiful, so freaking sexy, totally blowing his mind. He shook his head, trying to stop the rush of his pleasure from spilling out before she reached her climax, but also to shake away the thoughts that she put inside him. Thoughts no woman had ever inspired. He feared it wasn’t just his lack of stamina that she noticed in his stare.
She bit her nails into his skin. “Jack,” she cried out. “Oh, wow.”
Her legs tightened around him and he thrust harder, the bite of the heel exactly what he wanted. Finally, the rhythm of her orgasm pulsed around him and months of sexual tension poured out of him. She had given him everything that he wanted. That he wanted. Shit! He’d been so hungry for her that he couldn’t slow down long enough to give her what she wanted. What she needed.
When their breathing had calmed, he set her down. She wobbled and he held her close, until she kicked off the heels.
“I’m sorry, Sterling,” he whispered against her shoulder.
She giggled. “You’re apologizing?”
“I just took from you. You said you gave and gave and I just turned out to be as bad as the people who use you.” He stepped away.
She made no move to cover her naked body. It glistened with a light sheen of sweat. “Believe me, I am very pleased right now. And I think I’m the one who used you.”
He gave her his best are you kidding me? look. He had to make it up to her. She’d told him she was on a mission to find herself. And before he had to leave here and take care of his own business, why not help her indulge that self? They had four weeks before he was due back in Chicago to relieve his GM… What did they have to lose?
A hell of a lot. Sterling was his employee now and he’d just majorly broken the don’t-sleep-with-your-employee code. She was a good girl and he’d just corrupted and pushed until she’d caved. There he went, putting his own selfish needs before everyone else’s. But she’d admitted she needed to have some fun. Maybe there was a way to maintain a business relationship and have fun, too?
A proposition solidified in his mind. “You’re going to be here on weekends, right?”
She nodded and lifted her bra cups back into place. Disappointment shot through him as her delicious skin was hidden from his view, piece by piece.
“What do you say we indulge Exciting Sterling on Saturday nights?”
She gave him a curious stare. “I’m listening.”
“I have four weeks until I need to take off again. For the next four Saturdays, you belong to me.”
Shock and excitement registered on her face. “Belong…to you?”
“All week you can be Boring Sterling. On the weekends we’re going to indulge your fantasies. But I have one stipulation.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “What about my stipulations?”
Of course she had stipulations. She was probably formulating a list in her mind at this very moment.
“Me first.”
“Okay.”
“If you accept, you have to leave everything at the door. Forget what you’ve been told, all the preconceived notions of who Sterling is, and just enjoy.”
She hesitated for only a moment before she said, “What about the job? You just hired me. I only wanted a one-time thing and I—”
“Let’s make it a four-week thing and I promise you, we’ll work by day, and play by night. The two shall never overlap.”
Her lip curled up and she bit down. She wasn’t buying his brand of bullshit. She was too smart for that, but he smiled when she stepped forward and poked her finger at his chest. “Sex is not payment.”
He nodded. Money was not his number one concern. There was so much they could do. So many places they could go. He had the world at his fingertips and he wanted nothing more than t
o show her the best time of her life.
“And this is strictly a fact-finding mission. I’m not looking for love and I’m not looking to appease another man’s needs.”
He held his hands up in defense. “No strings attached. Come on, Sterling. Do we have a deal?” His stomach danced in anticipation of her answer.
She chewed on her thumbnail, cocking her head. “And what exactly would this fun entail? Would we be—”
He placed his finger against her lips. Silly woman. Always thinking. He was going to have to fix that. “If I told you what we’ll be doing it wouldn’t be a surprise. And where’s the fun in that?”
“I need to have fun,” she said. It wasn’t a question. She was trying to convince herself. “You can make that happen.” Nervousness rippled off her body.
“I’m going to help you let go.” He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “And do you know where the most difficult place to let go is, Sterling Andrews?”
She shook her head, her eyes widening.
“The bedroom.” He grinned. “I have a feeling that’s where you’re going to need the most tutelage.”
There was nothing wrong with a little sex, fun, and no strings to reward a long day’s work. And he planned on working Sterling hard—in and out of the bedroom.
Chapter Seven
Sterling walked into the fluorescent-lit building with a lump in her throat. When she’d spoken to Rose Jennings—her mortgage specialist at the bank—yesterday, she got the impression things weren’t going to run as smoothly as she’d anticipated. Something in Rose’s voice set off a warning bell. Not to mention the fact that Rose had been hounding her to visit the branch to talk about renewal terms.
Sterling couldn’t figure out what the problem was. She’d paid half of the arrears. It depleted her emergency fund and only confirmed the reason she had an emergency fund in the first place. And it wasn’t because of her own stupidity.
She’d also changed the automatic payment information to her personal account. With Sterling in charge again, there was no way for her parents to fall behind, and their deal to keep them in a comfortable lifestyle until her sisters graduated from high school would remain intact.
But when she sat on the client side of Rose’s desk staring back at the brunette’s handsome face, she knew an easy meeting was not in the cards.
“Thanks for coming in,” Rose said as she quickly scribbled something on the paper in front of her.
“Of course.”
“Sterling…” Rose sat back in her chair and closed the blue folder on the desk. “The mortgage is coming up for renewal in a couple of months.”
She was aware of that. She’d actually planned on refinancing, trying her best to lower the payments.
“Now,” Rose continued, “missing a couple of payments isn’t going to be a problem.”
If that wasn’t the problem, then what was?
“I’ve been going over your financial status.”
The lump in Sterling’s throat grew ten times larger.
“With the economic downturn, banks have really tightened their criteria for approving mortgages. Only a couple of months ago, your situation would have been approved, but today…” Rose lowered her eyes to the desk. “There’s just no way you’re going to be approved to refinance this house.”
“What? How is that possible?” She had impeccable credit. She never once missed a payment on anything, even a magazine subscription. And even though she’d had to tighten the purse strings over the last five years in regard to her own personal spending, she never had more than five hundred dollars on her credit card at one time.
“I’ve been going over the numbers. Your debt percentage is just too high. If you had someone else in your household working, a husband for example, there would be no problem. I’m going to have to go to bat for you as it is, and…” She tapped her pen on her desktop. “I’m going to do everything I can, pull all of the strings I’ve got, but I’m not confident.”
“So you’re telling me that being five hundred dollars in debt is quashing my chance at renewing this mortgage?”
Rose gave her a curious look. “Five hundred? Sterling, the situation is much more involved.” She reached for a yellow folder on the edge of her desk. “Between the mortgage itself, your car loan, and all of your credit cards, your—”
“Credit cards? I have the credit card for my business, but I only have one personal credit card and the limit is one thousand dollars.”
Rose opened the file. “You have a MasterCard and two Visas totaling almost fifteen thousand dollars.”
The lump gave way to the bile that rose from her stomach. “Fifteen thousand dollars?” She slumped back, her shoulders dropping to accommodate the heavy load that had just dropped on her. “But I only have one credit card.”
Rose removed some papers and slid them toward her. “Here’s your Visa for nine hundred.” Her finger pointed to the correct figure. It was on the high side after her parents had charged some things for her sisters. “And here is a MasterCard for six thousand, and—”
“But I only have one credit card,” she repeated. She wavered in her chair, her vision blurred, as dizziness took over her body.
Fifteen thousand dollars. There were only two people who would spend that amount of money in such a short period of time…and on Sterling’s dime.
“I’m sorry, Sterling. It’s right here in black and white.” Rose pointed to the paper again. “The MasterCard was activated six months ago, on the same day as a second Visa in your name.”
When she had spoken to the bank on the phone about the irregular activity, they had only mentioned her original credit card. But she now realized she had more than one.
The room spun in too many directions. She’d been screwed again. Just after she’d finished paying off her parents’ debt not even a year ago. And she was here to pay off another one of their mistakes. But this time, they’d gone too far.
“If you didn’t sign up for them, should I be investigating?”
Sterling pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to stop the pounding in her head. “No, no investigation will be necessary.” She gripped the arms of the chair tighter, trying to stop from imagining it was her father’s neck between her fingers. “I’m sure the figures are right.”
“Sterling…we’ve been doing business for quite some time now. I can tell when something isn’t right.”
“Everything’s fine, Rose.” It wasn’t. Everything was so far from fine Sterling didn’t even know how or when things would return to normal.
“Sterling, please. If you didn’t sign up for these cards I’m obligated to investigate.”
It took everything she had to hold back the tears. All her life she’d wished for a normal life, with normal parents who worked and went grocery shopping. Not some washed-up hippies who’d never learned to grow up.
“The cards are mine. I just forgot.” Although anger seethed under the surface, at the end of the day, they were still her parents and bringing legal action against them wasn’t the best thing for her sisters. She’d call the companies and cancel the cards, change the billing address, and implement some kind of password protection.
“If I can pay off the debt, will I still lose the house?”
Even with Jack’s triple-her-fee check coming her way, she’d be short. But she’d do whatever she had to do.
“No, but it would make the process less contentious.”
“And if I can’t pay it off?” Sterling stared into Rose’s sympathetic eyes.
“Then I’m afraid if I can’t get approval for your mortgage, our business will be concluded.”
Tears stung her eyes. Life was spinning out of control and she couldn’t stop it.
“Sterling.” Rose reached across the desk and laid her hands on top. If Sterling hadn’t been so far away she was sure Rose would have grabbed her hands. “A bank just isn’t going to give you a mortgage. If selling isn’t an option, you may need to seek
out other avenues.” She took a business card from the top drawer of her desk. “I have a friend, she’s a mortgage broker. Maybe she can help you secure a loan with a private lender. That may be your only option.”
Sterling took the card. “Thanks, Rose.”
“I’m so sorry.”
She attempted a smile. But she didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on the situation.
“Can I have a copy of that report?” she asked Rose.
She nodded. “I’ll go and make you a copy right now.”
Rose left the room, and the silence hung in the air.
At that moment, Sterling envied all the opportunities Jack Vaughn had at his fingertips. Last night, the sex had been mind-altering. The best she’d ever had. And his proposition had come at the perfect time. But now, this extra debt she had to pay off was more important than some stupid attempt to have some fun.
Life was already too out of control for her to willingly let the reins on her life go. She shouldn’t have given in so easily the other day. She needed the money from the Madewood job. She had to be professional. And she had to stay far away from anything remotely sexual with Jack Vaughn.
…
Jack straightened the knot of his tie in the mirror that hung across the back of the bar. He smoothed down the front of his white oxford shirt and thrust his hands in the pockets of his black slacks.
It was weird to see himself dressed like this. He was used to the white chef’s coat. But Cole needed a bartender after Randy suddenly quit, leaving him high and dry. And if dressing like a penguin was what Jack had to do to help out his family, so be it.
But his brothers shouldn’t get used to it. This was only temporary. He had a business to get back to.
With his bar set up—ice piled high in the tray, lemons and limes cut up and sitting in plastic pitchers, the daily float accounted for and in the register—Jack was ready to take on the night.
Christine, one of the newer waitresses, winked. “Lookin’ good, Jack.”
She walked by with the new hostess on her arm. What was her name? Danielle? Darlene? Did he care? He was not here to become friends. He was not here to date. He was an owner for Christ’s sake and he would act like one. Even if it killed him.