by Stacy Eaton
I huffed out a sigh and got back to work. With any luck, Ali would stay in her office until I was finished.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ali
I was having an out-of-body experience. That was the only way to explain it. I couldn’t feel my body, but my mind was going a hundred miles a minute as I stepped into my office.
Disappointed? Oh, holy hell! How could anyone be disappointed in a kiss like that? The man made me want to climb right up him like he was a telephone pole and hold on as the waves of lust crashed over me. My face tingled, my hands vibrated, and my girlie parts were panting in need.
There was not a man alive that had ever made my body feel like this. I was ready to tear right out of my office and attack him, but I didn’t. He still thought that I was with Blake. Maybe after tomorrow, after he watched the show and saw that I had broken it off with him, then he wouldn’t hold back.
Man, I did not want him to hold back.
I brushed a hand over my forehead and then sank into my chair. I forced my mind away from Harvey and onto the paperwork sitting on my desk. From time to time, I would hear him moving about and wondered if I should go out and help him.
Yeah, that was a big fat no. I had a feeling that if Harvey needed my help, he would rather die than ask for it. I yawned and glanced at my watch to see it was after three. I stood and stretched and figured that enough time had passed that I should check on him.
He was whistling softly to himself as he messed with a tablet, and I saw him smile slightly as I approached. “I was just about to get you. I’m sorry it took so long.” He lifted his face and looked at me. “You look exhausted.”
“I’m okay. I can sleep in. How are things coming?”
“I’m just about done. I was just checking all the camera views.” He pushed the tablet toward me, and I looked at all the little squares. Only three had any movement, and those were ones that overlapped with where we were standing.
I turned to see where the camera was. “Where the heck is it?”
He chuckled, stepped around me, and pointed to a screw on the stainless steel. I looked at him. “You’re kidding? That screw is the camera?”
“Yep, the lens is painted with a special paint that is see-through for the lens, but people on this side only see the head of the screw.”
“That is crazy. Where are the rest of them?”
Harvey walked me around the kitchen, pointing them all out. Then he took me to the fridge and freezer to show me those. There were no cameras inside the units, so we had to hope that whatever was done, was out here in the open somewhere.
“Wow, this is kind of amazing. I’ll be able to see everything.”
“Yes, but I suggest here at work, you only view the four main cameras. Otherwise, someone else might see all the other views.”
I looked up at the ceiling. “Where is the fourth camera?”
“In the employee locker room.”
“Oh!” I turned to him. “How will I know if something happens?”
“Well, we can watch it from time to time, but if you think that something might have happened, you let me know, and we can check the video. Just try to give us an approximate time so we can narrow it down. We will start recording tomorrow morning when Mike makes the system live. We will keep the footage until we don’t need it anymore.”
“Okay, so I guess I have to wait for someone else to get sick. Then I can pull the order and find the times on it.”
“Yeah, that would work.”
“I hate that someone else is going to need to get sick.”
“Yeah, that does suck.”
“It’s killing my reputation. Ever since I started in this industry, I have had a spotless kitchen, and now I have a bunch of complaints on my name.”
“I bet that’s hard.”
“It’s horrible.” I sighed. “Okay, what else do you need to do?”
“Just clean up and get someone to pick me up.”
“I can take you home.”
“Um…” He hesitated, and I put my hand up.
“I can take you home and behave myself. I promise.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. You load your stuff by the back door, and I’ll go make sure everything is off and locked out front, then we can go.”
“Alright, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” I hustled out front to turn off the coffee maker and a few lights and then came back to the kitchen to start turning the lights off. Harvey had his tools and two bins by the back door already. I collected my bag from the office and turned off the rest of the lights.
I helped him load his stuff into the back of my SUV and then climbed behind the wheel. The minute he closed the door, I started to freak. Holy crap, we were inside my vehicle together. There was no place to run here.
I gripped the steering wheel tightly and turned the key. “What direction?”
He gave me directions, and we were mostly quiet on the ride to his place. He only lived about fifteen minutes away, and when I pulled into his driveway, I was surprised to see the two-story house. Not sure why I pictured him living in a townhouse or apartment, but I had.
I turned the car off and went to get out, but he put his hand on my arm. “I can get it.”
I laughed as I opened my door. “I am quite capable of helping you.”
I heard him sigh as I closed the door and rounded the back of my SUV. After I lifted the hatch, I gathered one of the bins, and he took it from my hands.
“What are you doing?”
“Just set them here on the driveway, and I will carry them in.”
I stared at him, then glanced at the door. “Is there a reason you don’t want me to go into your house?” Did he have someone at home?
“No,” he said quickly.
I pulled out the other bin and turned from him. “Then I am helping you carry them inside your house.”
“Ali, stop.”
I spun around. “Is there something that you don’t want me to see inside? Maybe you’ve been playing me; maybe you are involved with someone.”
He laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No,” I said briskly.
He shook his head and went around me, pausing at the door to unlock it with a keypad that made little beeping noises. He pushed the door open and reached in to turn on a light. As soon as it was on, he set his bin down and told me to put mine next to it as he rushed past me and back to my SUV.
I set the bin down and stepped farther into his house. I was extremely interested in finding out more about the man who fascinated me and made my heart thud erratically.
I heard him groan from behind me. “Thanks, Ali. I got everything now. I appreciate the ride home.”
I turned slowly. “You really don’t want me in your house, do you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
He growled and let his head fall back on his shoulders for a second before he brushed a hand over his beard. The sound that it made gave me goosebumps.
“Ali, can you please just leave? It’s late.”
I started to walk toward him. “I’ll leave after you tell me why you don’t want me here.”
“It’s not that I don’t want you here, Ali; it’s that I’m having a hard time holding myself back.”
Maybe I was naïve, or overly tired, but I asked without thinking, “Holding back from what?”
“From picking you up and carrying you to my room and making you scream my name.”
“Oh,” I breathed, and his nose flared momentarily.
“So, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to leave, please.”
I stared at the door. I should go. I should say good night and walk right out that door, but what fun would that be? Not when I was craving the touch of this man.
I turned back to him. “No.” Then I walked away from him and toward the stairs.
“Ali, what the hell are you doing?”
“I’m making it easy for you. I
’m going up to your room.”
“Oh, the hell you are.” Suddenly, I was in the air, and he was spinning me and putting me over his shoulder. He turned and was heading back to the door.
“This is your chance, Harvey, our chance. Don’t let it go. Don’t you want to know if it will be as incredible as we think it will be?” I was starting to panic. He was going to drop my ass outside on the doorstep, and that would be the end of it.
He stood in the threshold of the door, his hand on the doorknob, and I could feel his heavy breathing under my stomach as his shoulders rose and fell. He could easily plop me on my ass and slam the door in my face, but I trusted that he wouldn’t.
“Close the door, Harvey,” I said softly as I pushed myself up his back. I felt him shift and then heard the click of the door. “Put me down, Harvey.”
His hands came to my waist, and he lifted me slightly, and then my body was sliding down his, precisely as it had during our last dance. Before my feet could hit the floor, I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he slammed his eyes closed and hissed. I felt his arousal nestled between my legs and pressed my hips closer. His hands cupped my buttocks, and he finally looked at me.
“Last chance to leave, Ali.”
I tightened the hold around his waist. “I’m not leaving until you have me screaming your name.”
I barely got the words out of my mouth before his lips crashed over mine. His arms banded around my body, and I suddenly felt the wall behind me as he pushed against me. Just as I got used to the feel of him, he shifted, and we were moving.
I pulled my mouth away from his and began coating his jaw and neck with kisses, biting under his ear as he started up the steps. I had never been carried up the steps so quickly, and we were barely at the top when he was pulling my hair, removing my mouth from his neck. He directed my mouth back to his, as I saw us pass through a doorway with my partially opened eyes.
A few seconds later, we were falling, and I bounced slightly on his chest as we hit the mattress. He barely paused as he twisted me so that I was under him. Hadn’t I already known that he would do that? Hadn’t I once thought that he would protect me if I ever fell? What other man would have thought of protecting my body from his weight as we tumbled to the bed? No one that I knew.
Our hands were everywhere, and I arched as he lifted my shirt. It was only then that I thought about how sweaty and dirty I was, but I didn’t think that he was going to care.
He pulled back only long enough to remove my shirt, and then he yanked his over his head. His green eyes were dark and intense as he stared down at me, and I shivered. The only light was coming from the hallway, but I didn’t need to see. I needed to feel.
I moaned as he slipped down my body, crushing my right breast with his mouth over my bra, before pulling back the cup and latching on to the nipple again. I held him there, needing him as I squeezed my legs around his waist.
He let that one go, rolling us to the center of the bed on our sides so that he could unlatch the back. He started to shift me to my back again, but I pushed him to his instead, and rolled on top of him, pressing my groin down against his throbbing length.
He lifted his head, tasting one breast then the other, burying his face between them as he licked his way around. He picked me up off his hips, tossing me to the side and making me giggle. A moment later, I saw the smile as his mouth returned to mine, and his hands pulled at the waistband of my leggings.
I wiggled out of them, loving the feel of his rough cargo pants against my sensitive flesh. He pulled me to the edge of the bed as he went to his knees between my legs. He was masterful, making me climb swiftly to the point of explosion, and then he paused. “Don’t forget to scream it, baby.”
My hands went to the back of his head and pulled him forward again; a few seconds later, I did what he asked. I screamed his name as I wriggled over the mattress. My only thought was that he wouldn’t kick me out now that I had.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Harvey
It was rough sitting next to her in the car, but when we arrived at my house and she wanted to help me bring things in, well, I wasn’t sure I wanted that. Okay, so I wanted it—and a whole lot more, but I didn’t think it was wise.
She walked away with a bin in her hands, and I stared at the subtle swish of her hips. This woman was trouble; I could feel it—and damn—did I want her kind of trouble.
I was trying to do the right thing here, trying to be a gentleman, but she just had to push. Her green eyes were bright as she stared at me and told me she wasn’t leaving. I wanted to carry her to the door, set her down safely outside, and then step back and bolt every lock on my door, but I didn’t.
I caved.
I lost myself in that first kiss. I was consumed by the feel of her body against mine. The fire that raged inside of me wasn’t going out anytime soon. I carried her up the stairs, needing something from her—needing everything from her.
I stripped her of her clothing, barely taking the time to remove my shirt before I was lapping at her sensitive flesh. Her hands cupped the back of my head, urging me on, her legs squeezing the sides of my face at times, and then as she broke apart, the awe-inspiring sound of her screaming my name.
“Harvey! Oh, god, Harvey, please!”
She wriggled against me, and I could tell she was torn between wanting more and needing distance to calm herself. I kissed the inside of her thigh, licked down to her knee, nipped at the skin there, and she giggled. Her giggle went straight to my chest, and I closed my eyes and just absorbed it. I memorized the sound of it, and then the guilt crashed down on me, and I sighed as I rested my forehead on her leg.
I should not have done this. Ali wasn’t mine. Yes, she had wanted it too, had pushed for this, but was she the kind of woman that I wanted if she’d cheat on another guy? No, absolutely not.
My god, I had been part of it. I had given in to my desire for her, as hard as my cock throbbed, as much as I wanted to be balls deep in her, I couldn’t do it. This was wrong, so damn wrong.
I lifted my head, took one last look at her beautiful body, and then I was on my feet, and I was grabbing my shirt. I tossed her shirt to the bed and pulled mine on as a look of shock crossed her features.
“What are you doing?” Her voice was husky, and I cringed. No, I was not going to back down on this. I didn’t condone cheating. I had already broken that vow with her temptation, but I would not go any further.
“You need to go, Ali.”
“Harvey, what are you talking about? We are not done.”
“Yes, we are.” I walked out of the room without looking back. I did everything that I could to keep my mind and body healthy. What I had just done was not good for my heart or my soul. I had allowed temptation to cloud my judgment. Damn it! I went straight to the stairs and down to the first floor. There I popped into the powder room off the living room and washed my face and hands and stared at myself in the mirror. What an ass you are!
As I was coming out of the bathroom, I heard the floor upstairs creaking. I went into the kitchen and pulled a beer out of the fridge, jerking the cap off and then guzzling over half of it the first time I tipped it up.
I set the bottle down hard on the counter and placed both palms on either side of it, hanging my head. I was hyper-vigilant on the sounds upstairs, and when I heard her on the stairs, I braced myself. She was going to be pissed, but whatever. She could be angry with me all she wanted. I wasn’t the one that had just cheated on someone.
I stood in the archway between the kitchen and living room and braced one arm on the wall as she reached the first floor. She turned to look at me, but what I saw there almost took me to my knees. It wasn’t anger; it was sadness and confusion and hurt. We stayed where we were, neither of us moving or speaking.
A tear eased from her eye and started to blaze a path down her cheek, and I almost stepped forward. I had hurt her. That wasn’t my intention. God, I was such an asshole. Before I could do or say anythin
g, she jerked her head to the side, swiped at the wetness, and then walked to the door. She paused at the door as if waiting for me to do or say something, but I remained where I was. I could not be with someone who would cheat on another person, no matter how good or bad a relationship was.
She started to glance back, but stopped herself, and instead let her gaze fall to the bins. I saw her lips purse, saw her nod just the slightest bit, and then she jerked the door open and walked out. She didn’t even close the door, just walked through it and kept going.
I didn’t move from my spot until I heard her engine turn over, and headlights flashed into the room, making a wavey pattern through the entryway as she pulled out of the driveway and drove away. I listened to the sound of her engine fade, and only when I could hear nothing but the night did I move toward the door.
I closed it and turned the lights off, going up the stairs to my room. I stared at the messy bed and turned away from it, going into the bathroom and straight to the shower. I tried not to think about her, tried not to recall her scent or her taste, or the sound of her voice as she said my name. I didn’t want to relive every minute of her time in my house, but I did. Over and over again—and I came twice in the process.
When I finished my shower, I returned to my bedroom, grabbed my pillow, and turned the lights out. I went into the guest room two doors down and curled up on the bed.
I had wanted that woman beyond reason. Unfortunately, my reasoning had come back to me, and at the moment, I wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad about that. I hated that I had hurt her, but what else was I supposed to do. If she could cheat on Blake, she could cheat on me, and that was not okay. I closed my eyes, shut down my mind, and drifted off to sleep.
I woke to the pounding on the front door and glanced at my watch. Shit, it was ten. I rolled off the bed and stretched my back. There was a reason this bed was in here and not in my bedroom. It sucked! I glanced around as I went, unsure where my cellphone was, and as I got to the first floor, I saw it on the side table.