CEO'd By Him Complete Series Box Set

by Nella Tyler

  “How do you figure? I’d already done that before you gave me your valuable advice.”

  “Because you were still on the fence about going to get Summer. But now you’re not.”

  “I’m not?”

  “Nope, you’re practically on a plane to Oregon.”

  “New York.” Kobe had been silent up until then. We both turned to look at him. He went ahead and took his shot while we waited. When he stood up and saw us looking at him he said, “What?”

  Lance rolled his eyes. “Man, you have got to stop smoking that shit. What the hell do you mean by New York?”

  “Oh! Summer’s in New York. She went to meet with that lawyer. Phoebe said she’s going through their old house this week and packing and selling things. I guess they just sealed it up and left it. She won’t be back in Oregon until Sunday.”

  Lance looked at me. “Today is Wednesday.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’m serious, man. A long weekend in New York might be just what the doctor ordered for both you and the love of your life.”

  Four hours later, I was on a plane. I had no idea what I would say or do when I got there, but I knew Lance was right. Summer was the one thing missing in my life and I wouldn’t ever be happy if I didn’t at least try to get her back.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  SUMMER

  I stood outside the house with the beach and the ocean at my back and looked up at it from the end of the walkway. It looked so much smaller to me now than it used to. It had definitely seen better days. Grandpa wasn’t ever really one for worrying about what things looked like. It was the same original blue it had been painted back in the seventies when he’d first bought it. It was peeling in places in big chunks and the smooth white primer paint underneath it was showing through. At least a fourth of the brown shingles on the roof were missing and the white window frames were cracked and peeling. The grass was nearly as tall as me in places and was mixed with weeds that twisted and choked it in places and left big empty patches of sand. The big shade tree where I used to swing still stood. I walked through the little broken gate and pushed through the deep grass until I got to it. The swing was still attached where Grandpa had hung it. He’d made it out of old rope and a piece of one of his old surfboard that he’d sawed in half. I reached up and touched the rope with tears in my eyes. I had been just about six years old when he hung it there. I remember thinking he was the coolest guy ever. He could surf, he could make swings, and sometimes, he would tell me wild stories that were probably wildly inappropriate for a little girl, but I loved them. I thought of him as bigger than life, and I’d been so alone and scared when he died, I never really grieved that loss. I wiped the tears away and headed for the house.

  The porch that I used to sit on early in the morning wrapped up in a blanket while I watched Grandpa surf was tilting to one side. The first step up to it was cracked and rotted. I stepped over it and onto the next one. Once I was standing up on the porch, I turned to look out at the ocean. I could feel the cool breeze and taste the salty air, and I could almost see him out there “conquering the ocean,” as he used to put it. I wondered for not the first time how different my life would have been if he had lived.

  I used the key the lawyer gave me to let myself inside. He told me that no one had been here in years. Grandpa left everything to me and because of that, there had been a lot of confusion about what to do with his assets. I slid the key into the lock that was rusted from years of exposure to the wet, salty air. It took some doing, but I finally got the door open. As soon as I stepped over the threshold, my nose and eyes were assaulted by the thick, dusty air. It was hard to breathe. A sliver of light was coming through the dirty curtain on the west side of the house and I could see particles of dust dancing in the air. I advanced further in and looked around. Someone had covered the furniture with dust covers, but long enough ago that they themselves were coated with dust. It lay over every surface in a pristine layer unsullied by foot or fingerprints anywhere.

  I felt overwhelmed. I had no idea where to begin. I trudged through the dust and made my way to Grandpa’s room. I stood there on the threshold and as the tears rolled down my cheeks, a smile crossed my face. One entire wall of the bedroom was covered by the surfboards he’d stacked there years ago. Each time he retired one, he’d leave it there. The only one he ever used for anything else had been the one that made my swing out front. They used to fascinate me. We didn’t have pictures or decorations on the walls like other families. So when I tired of looking at the plain white of the rest of the house, I’d go into Grandpa’s room and stare at the colorful boards. I walked over now and ran my hand across a yellow and orange one. I remember this one used to remind me of the sun and when it was too cold or raining or snowing outside, I’d pretend it was the sun and I’d sit next to it and have a little picnic on the floor of his bedroom. When Grandpa was home, he’d sometimes join me and as usual, regale me with stories of his youth.

  The realtor told me they’d left boxes for me around back. I went out through the kitchen, almost tripping on a piece of cracked linoleum. I found the boxes outside the back door and also found another treasure – my first beachcomber. It was one of the things I missed the most after Grandpa died and they took me away. I’d even thought about coming back to get it when I first took off, but I knew this would be the first place they’d look for me. My emotions were overwhelming me once more and I decided that maybe some therapy on the water was what I needed. Maybe after catching a cold wave or two, my head would be clear enough that I could get something accomplished.

  I found a pair of shorts and a bikini top in my old room that still fit me and then I took the least weathered board from Grandpa’s collection and headed for the water. The wind was blowing and churning up the waves as I paddled out to the break.

  The water was icy cold, but it felt good to be numb. I lie on the board and let the motion of the water slowly calm me as I waited for the approaching wave. I watched it curl up, and as the wind took it, I watched it begin to gain speed. As the momentum built, so did its size. I popped up onto the balls of my feet and felt that amazing surge of adrenaline as it got closer. I felt it roll underneath me and I stood up. I put my arms out for balance and turned my face up to the sun and for a few seconds as I rode the wave, I felt like Grandpa was with me. As I rode it back down to the surface of the water, I was smiling and for the first time in a while, my soul felt happy. It was that deep, peaceful kind of happy that only comes from knowing that you’re loved. Grandpa loved me and for the first time in six years, I could feel his presence inside of me.

  *******

  After I came out of the water and took a warm shower, I finally got to work. I put the boxes together and started filling them with things from my old room. I’d taken one suitcase with me the night that social services took me away. The rest of my clothes and shoes were still in the dresser and closet. I wasn’t a snazzy dresser in those days, not that I am now, either. Most of it was t-shirts and shorts and the occasional sundress, but I was hoping I could find a youth home or some other charitable organization to give them to.

  When I finished my old room, I moved to the bathroom and then to the kitchen, I was saving Grandpa’s room for last. I knew that it was going to provoke a lot of emotions and take a lot of emotional energy. After I finished the kitchen, I decided I needed food, a bath, and maybe a good night’s sleep before I was ready for that. I taped up the last box in the kitchen and picked up the keys to the house and the rental car off the coffee table where I’d dropped them earlier.

  When I stepped outside, I saw a taxi coming up the small road that led to the beach. I didn’t think much of it. The beach wasn’t private, after all. I turned to lock the door and when I turned back, the taxi had stopped and the back door opened. The long, jean-clad leg was what I saw first, but even before I saw his face, something in me instinctively knew that it was Drake. He stood up and I stood there and stared at him like I was seeing a
ghost. He leaned in and paid the cabbie and then turned back in my direction.

  “Hi, Summer.”

  “Drake. What are you doing here?”

  He came towards me and I started to shake. When he got close to the porch, I could smell the scent of his cologne on the breeze, and I shook harder. “Are you cold?”

  “No.” The tremor was even in my voice. “What are you doing here, Drake?”

  “I came to see you. Now that I do, I can say it was well worth the three thousand miles.”

  I was covered in dust. My hair was still wet from surfing and hung in wild waves around my face and down my back. I was wearing a pair of shorts and a Scooby Doo t-shirt that I bought when I was fourteen years old. “You’re insane.”

  He laughed. “I seem to recall another time you called me that. Do you remember?”

  “The day you asked me to the gala.” I shivered again.

  “Are you sure you’re not cold?”

  “I’m sure. I am hungry, though. I was going to go back to the hotel in town and shower and get something to eat. Are you hungry?”

  “I can always eat,” he said with another one of his amazing smiles. It doesn’t matter how much time has passed since I’d seen him or how angry I was with him, I still wanted to walk over and shove my tongue down his throat. I’m not sure what that says about me.

  We got into the rental car and as I drove us to the hotel, I said, “How did you know where to find me?”

  “Kobe,” he said.

  “Never tell Phoebe any of your secrets.”

  He laughed. “I won’t. But you want to know one?”

  “Maybe?”

  “I’m glad you told her yours. I missed you, Summer.”

  “Did you?” I wasn’t being flirty or facetious. I honestly didn’t believe that he had missed me. He’d been so angry with me that day I went to see him and it was obvious that he wasn’t hurting in the sex department. I wasn’t sure he ever wanted to see me again.

  I pulled the car up in front of the hotel and before the valet opened the doors, he said, “I did, Summer…like an amputated limb.” He was looking at me with those ice blue eyes and telling me that he missed me, and I wanted to kick that damned valet in the balls when he opened the door and interrupted him. I got out, and we walked into the lobby together. I saw Drake look around and when his eyes fell on the little piano bar he said, “I’ll get a drink and wait for you-”

  “No.”

  “You don’t want me to wait for you?”

  “No.” With a still shaky hand, I reached out for his. He gave it to me, and I looked up into his gorgeous face and said, “I don’t want you to wait for me. I want you to come with me. I want…you.”

  He smiled and right there in that fancy lobby surrounded by fancy people he took my disheveled self into his arms and he kissed the breath out of me, and then he picked me up and carried me to the elevator. It was an eighties movie, Officer and a Gentleman moment. I reached over as the doors slid shut and pushed the number for my floor and then I kissed him again. I never wanted to stop.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  DRAKE

  I could feel Summer’s slim body shaking all over as I held her and we kissed in the elevator. I knew how she felt, I was shaking just the same, only inside. When the elevator opened on the tenth floor, I carried her out and down the hall to her room. She handed me the keycard, and I slid it in the door and pushed the door in with my foot. Once we were inside, I kicked it closed and put her down on her feet. She smiled and everything inside of me melted. It was like hot, thick lava was trying to force itself through my veins and my heart was beating so hard that I felt like it would explode.

  “I’m a mess. I want you so bad, but not like this.”

  I was hoping for an invitation into the bath, but I decided I wasn’t going to push my luck. “It’s okay. Go do what you need to do. I’m not going anywhere.” She nodded and turned away before she turned back and slipped her arms up around my neck. She pulled me down so our mouths met and she gave me another long, hot kiss that I felt in every part of my body, most especially the parts down south. She was panting when she let go of me and smiled again, and I watched her go into the bathroom. Feeling weak in my knees, I went over and sat down on the bed. I could hear the water running through the door she’d left cracked. I lay back across the bed and wondered what had taken me so long. I could kick myself for wasting all of these months.

  I closed my eyes and relived the kiss in the elevator. Nothing is better than that first kiss after time away. Well, almost nothing. When I get her out here and into this bed, there will really be nothing better than that. I let myself imagine for a second that I hadn’t listened to Lance and Kobe and I’d gone home with the Summer imitation from the bar. I shuddered, revolted by the very fact that I’d considered it.

  While I lay there, I suddenly got a whiff of something that smelled like lavender and I heard the bath shut off. My cock throbbed at the sound. That meant that Summer was naked and submerged in water…only steps away. The question was, what the fuck was I still doing in here? I stood up and stripped off everything except my shorts. I went over to the partially open door and peeked in. I could see her face above the water with her eyes closed and that pretty blonde hair splayed out against the white marble. Bubbles covered her body up to her neck and I imagined what was underneath those bubbles. My cock ached as I pushed the door open slowly and quietly.

  I went to the end of the tub where her little feet were sticking out of the water and I reached down and ran my finger along the top of one of them. She opened her eyes with a startled look, but that was quickly replaced by a smile. I slid my hand down under the water and got it wet before I slid it very slowly from the top of her foot, along the outside of her leg until I got to her knee. Her green eyes were blazing with lust as she watched me. I changed legs and started at the knee on that one and slid my hand down to her foot. I massaged the balls of her feet gently, and she closed her eyes again and let out a little whimper.

  I moved my hand back over to the first foot and after giving it a little massage, I let my hand run up the inside of her leg this time. I didn’t stop until I got to the top of her thigh. God, her skin was so soft. I wanted to taste her so badly. I moved my hand to the other thigh and moved it in slow, soft circles. She moaned, and one of my fingers moved away from my hand of its own volition and slid across the outer lips of her pussy. She opened her mouth and stretched out her legs, letting out the longest, sexiest moan I’ve ever heard.

  I wanted to let my fingers delve inside, but not yet. I slipped it up until it reached the bottom of her stomach and once again moved it in slow, sensuous circles until I reached her hip, where I did the same. I let it keep moving up across her flat stomach until I reached the underside of her breasts. She was breathing heavy and her chest was rising and falling rapidly. I let my thumb sweep up and slide across her hard nipple. She shivered. I did the same with the other side, feeling that hard nub pucker underneath my touch. Then I gripped them both, one in each hand, and gave them a squeeze. Summer was squirming under the bubbles, and I loved knowing if I put my hand back down on her pussy, I’d be able to feel her thick, hot juices even in the water.

  I played with her breasts and nipples for a while until she was writhing so hard I was afraid she’d cum before I ever touch her pussy. I slid my hand back down along the side of her sexy body. I slid it underneath her and cupped one of her smooth cheeks in my hand and squeezed. Then, I slid it back around to the front and traced my fingers across the top of her pubic bone. She lifted up her hips, trying to get my fingers to touch her pussy. I let the tip of my middle finger skim across the top of her swollen clit. I felt her move her legs open further, and I stroked up and down the outside of her lips and then cupped her entire pussy in the palm of my hand.

  She pushed against my hand again, so I gave her a little more. I let my thumb press hard into her clit and started moving it in circles. While I did that, I let my knuckle
s separate her lips and massaged the sensitive inner parts. She was whimpering and moaning and water was splashing all over because of her squirming. I pressed harder against her clit with my thumb and slid my middle finger into her smooth, hot tunnel. She cried out as her tight walls clamped down around it. I let it slide in and out slowly while continuing to rub her clit the entire time. She’s so fucking sexy.

  I kept fingering her, adding a second finger, too, and leaning down to kiss her. I matched the movements of my tongue with that of the fingers that were fucking her. She moved her hips up and down, riding my hand as she gripped it between her thighs. Her small hands were gripping on the sides of the tub, her head was back against the marble, and her eyes were closed. She opened her pretty lips and let out a sound that was more of a deep groan than a moan as I felt her body go rigid. She panted out my name, and then as her body convulsed, I felt the hot rush of her orgasm coat my fingers and run down the side of my hand.

  I held my fingers in place until her shaking subsided and her body relaxed back down into the water. She opened her eyes and looked at me with raw lust in her eyes and my cock twitched again. “Wow.”

  I smiled and winked. “I’ll see you in the bedroom.”

  She nodded. “Any second now,” she said. “Be naked.” I left her there and went back into the other room. I stripped off my shorts and climbed underneath the comforter and the cool top sheet, waiting for her to join me. I’m not sure I was prepared for the sight of her, though. When she walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a fluffy white towel, my stomach did cartwheels. When she dropped the towel, I swear my cock tried to jump across the room.

  “So fucking gorgeous.”

  She smiled and came over and climbed into the bed next to me. I brushed the wet hair back off of her forehead and touched her face. Every fiber in my body was screaming at me to jump on her, but I wanted to savor this moment. I traced her soft skin with my fingers and then leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. Our tongues tangled up and engaged in a long, seductive dance as we tasted and explored each other. Every time I kissed her or touched her was like the first time all over again. She made me feel alive and like every other fucked up thing in my life was completely irrelevant. It didn’t matter what I had to do to keep her, I was never going to let her go again.