MARK WAS RIGHT WHENhe said the blow job I gave him in his kitchen changed everything. It didn’t hit me how much things would change when I kissed him goodbye at his front door. I didn’t give it much thought when I drifted off to sleep with a goofy smile on my face. I had taken a conference call from the resort management team in Tokyo on our ride to work, so I didn’t realize how true his words were until I was alone with him the next morning in my office.
His eyes met mine and I saw the same spark of recognition and want that I felt. It was instantaneous, intense, and like nothing I had felt before – not even when we were teens or the first time I had sex. This was a whole other level of awareness and it left me feeling dizzy and disoriented.
“Shut the door and come over here.” My voice sounded deep and husky, like something you’d expect to hear on a sex line.
Mark hesitated and that same brief look of wariness from last night crossed his features. I wanted to ask him what he was wary of, but the look faded so quickly that I began to think I was imagining things. He shut the door and walked to my desk, but stopped several feet away. The crooked grin he gave me told me he knew it was driving me crazy.
“Come closer, Mark.” I crooked my finger at him and gave him my most lecherous smile.
“No, Mitch. This is worktime, not playtime.”
“I’ll be good,” I promised, but we both knew I was lying through my teeth. The only “good” thing I wanted right then was a fuck, but I’d settle for a kiss. “Just one little kiss before I settle in for the day.” I wasn’t begging or cajoling, I was telling him what I wanted. Needed, if I was being honest.
The crooked smile I loved so much appeared on his face and took my breath away. He walked over to where I sat on the edge of my desk and placed his hands on my neck. I loved the weight of them against my skin and the way his thumbs caressed my pulse points made my heart beat even faster. Mark could feel the results of his nearness beneath my skin and his smile grew wider. I was caught up in his green eyes that shone like polished gems.
“We’ve never been able to do ‘just one little kiss’ and you know it.” Mark lowered his lips closer to mine.
I did know it, but for him I would keep my word. I knew how serious he took his job and I respected him for it. If I wanted to show Mark that I wanted us to have a real relationship, then I’d need to show him I was serious too. I wanted to prove to him that we could be lovers and still work together and to accomplish that we would need to set some boundaries. I thought it would look best if I brought it up.
“Trust me.” I implored him with my eyes to believe in me – in us.
Mark pressed his lips to mine and I fought the urge to try and slide my tongue between his lips. It wasn’t an easy battle to win as evidenced by the resigned sigh that slipped between my lips once he pulled out of our kiss. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at him. He was smiling down at me and there was a sweet tenderness in his eyes that I’d been missing since we reconnected.
“That will have to last me until this evening.” The way Mark kept staring at my lips made it really hard for me to keep my end of the bargain. Was he thinking about our kisses last night and wanted more or was he recalling the way my mouth stretched to accommodate the girth of his dick? “Mark, if you keep staring at my lips like that I’ll start to get the wrong idea.”
His eyes snapped back up and met mine. His face flushed pink all over and I knew that he had indeed been remembering the way that my mouth felt on his cock. That line of thinking would get us both in trouble, because Mark would be unhappy that he gave in and had sex on the clock, and I had a million and one things to accomplish that morning.
“Uh, yes,” Mark said, retreating out of arm’s reach. “I’ll just go to my office until it’s time to leave for your meetings.”
I wanted to pull him back to me, but I didn’t. I watched him close himself inside his office away from temptation. At least, I hoped that’s what I was to him. I wanted to tempt him beyond reason to be with me, stay with me. I wanted him to want this as badly as I did, but Mark was harder to read than me. He had always been harder to read.
I released a frustrated sigh and sat down at my desk to get some work done before my day full of meetings got underway. I knew people thought that I delegated most, if not all, of the project planning and development, but the truth was that I loved that part of the business the most. Sure, I liked getting out to our hotels around the world and visiting with the staff there, but creating and designing new resorts was my passion. I think my passion was the reason why our resorts had grown more successful since I’d taken over the helm, even during economic downturns. It was the reason our board had become besotted with me, and my stepmother’s hatred of me increased. She thought I’d fail, but she completely underestimated me.
My relationship with my father had improved over the years, but I wouldn’t say we were great friends. It took me a long time to earn his trust back after I stole the car to find Mark. Estelle was ready to send me to jail, but my dad refused. I think a part of him admired my rebel spirit, but he also knew there was no place for it in his life. I had already decided to become what he needed me to be on my long drive home, but it took time and effort – not words – to convince him.
Estelle fought him tooth and nail when he decided to retire and recommended me as CEO to the board. It was the proudest day of my life. I had finally won his approval and I worked hard every day not to let him down. It took me almost two decades to realize that my dad was not a demonstrative man. When I first came to live with him, I thought his aloofness was directed just at me. I was too wrapped up in my insecurities to realize it was just the way he was. Maxwell Heston was not a hugger, he was not the kind of guy to give pep talks and feel-good speeches. An awkward pat on the back was probably the only affectionate gesture he’d ever given me. I had learned to expect it from him, even if it disappointed me.
Maybe doting fathers only existed in sitcoms because I had never seen one in the wild. I never had any male figures growing up. My mom was kicked out of her house the minute her parents discovered she was pregnant with me. When they were notified of her passing, they refused to accept custody of me. There was no one in the world who wanted me during the loneliest time in my life, but that all changed when I met Howard and Dorey. Then I met Mark and my world once again changed forever, but for the good.
I wouldn’t let my mind wander down that path or I’d never get my work done. Instead, I gathered materials and shoved them into my briefcase. By the time I was finished, Mark was standing in the hallway. I was unable to decipher the look in his eyes, but if I had to take a guess I’d have said it was resistance. He was resisting the idea of us and I just couldn’t have that – not when I’d made some headway with him.
I didn’t understand why he was so against the idea of us, but there was so much about him that I didn’t know. I wanted to learn everything about Mark. I was willing to put myself out there and be an open book for him, but I just didn’t get the impression that he was remotely receptive to a heart-to-heart talk.
“Everything okay?” I asked as I walked to him. I resisted the urge to lean toward him to breathe in his cologne or press my lips to his neck like I was dying to do. It would ruin any progress I had made with Mark. That little kiss from that morning was a one-off and I knew it.
“Fine.” The smile he gave me said he wasn’t fine, but I wasn’t going to challenge him.
My first meeting for the day was with the president of the bank I wanted to finance my resort in Costa Rica. Stanley Muesellman wasn’t an old-school banker and had no problem thinking outside the box. I knew my proposal was solid, as were my finances. My team had put together projected earnings based on profits competing resorts made, but they weren’t offering all the amenities that came with a Heston’s Resort.
The ride to the bank was done in complete silence. Not being able to touch Mark in the slightest way nearly killed me. Our eyes met when he turned his head and it appeared that his resistance had faded a bit. I discreetly slid my hand over until my pinky finger touched his hand on the seat beside him. I rubbed my finger over his briefly and brought my hand back over to my lap.
Just that simple little touch both grounded me and lit a fire inside of me. It reminded me that Mark was still there beside me and he hadn’t left me yet. It encouraged me to press on until I made him mine in every way. I might be willing to concede him leaving my employment, but not as some mercenary who traveled all over the world subjecting himself to untold dangers. Just the thought of him in trouble tied my stomach in knots. I refused to accept that he wouldn’t be in my life at all. Surely, fate wouldn’t have brought him into my life, practically depositing him in my lap, just to rip him back out again.
I needed to tread carefully because a man like Mark wouldn’t waste a second of his time listening to me making demands on him. I would have to be more cunning than my normally blunt self was used to, but it would be worth it. I needed Mark to want me as badly as I wanted him so that he chose not to leave me for strangers in foreign places he didn’t know and didn’t care about. I wanted to be everything to him. It was that exact thought that caused my heart to pound wildly in my chest because I realized how true it was.
“You okay?” Mark’s voice penetrated my thoughts.
“Hmmm?”
