A Heart For Business draft 2 (4 page)

Carter told her everything the doctor had said as they rode down the elevator.  When they reached the bottom floor and walked out into the beautiful city, he said “So, now that I’m a free man, I’m going to take you out on a true date. I feel terrible that you’ve wasted away an entire week of your vacation sitting inside my boring apartment, babysitting me. It’s a great day to be outside and that’s what we’re going to do!”

Carter’s enthusiasm was contagious and Vanessa couldn’t refuse him.  “Well, I guess I really haven’t seen as much of New York as I wanted to.”

“Of course you haven’t! Most New Yorkers never do.” Carter said, guiding her around the corner.

“I’m not a New Yorker. I’m just visiting for a month to decide if I want to move here.”

“You told me lived next door. I knew you were on vacation from your job, but I thought you lived and worked here?” Carter grew suddenly pale and Vanessa pulled him to a nearby bench and made him sit down.

Carter was in shock.  He never would have let himself develop feelings for someone who was just visiting from out of town. He felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest and he wanted to throw up. “What do you mean you’re just visiting for a month?”

“Exactly what I said.” Vanessa said gently as she sat beside him and held his hand. “I told you on the first day we met that I was considering a position of CEO and that I had a month to decide. The company making the offer agreed to put me up in this condo.  If I take the job this will be my permanent home for as long as I want it, but if I don’t then I’ll go back home to Chicago.  I’m sorry; I thought you knew all this.”

Carter realized that he had no one to blame but himself for his misconception.  He had just assumed she was a New Yorker, but she had never lied to him about it.  Still, he couldn’t stop his feelings for her. He had come to care for her this past week, and he thought that she felt the same way about him. So what if it was just for a month?

“Well, if we only have three weeks left, we’d better make the most of it. Let’s go!”

Carter stood up with a grin and all the color had returned to his tan skin and his blue eyes were sparkling even brighter than ever. 

“Okay, I’m ready if you are.” Vanessa smiled, and once again Carter felt like she lit up the sky.  He clasped her hand in his, liking the way her soft skin felt in his, and the way the rich darkness of her flesh set off the pastel colors of her sexy shorts outfit.  She was like a delicious desert that he wanted to gobble from head to toe.

He ended up taking her to Central Park, where they walked along the path, admiring the beauty trees and flowering bushes. The air was filled with magnificent scents of the flowers in bloom and the park came alive with the songs of hundreds of birds.  As they walked along the shade dappled path, Carter and Vanessa forgot all their worries and concerns, and felt like the world was made just for them.

Chapter Five

The next two weeks flew by, with Vanessa and Carter spending every moment they could together, touring New York, holding hands and kissing, or just staying home in one of their apartments and spending quiet evenings together talking late into the night. It was a magical time in both their lives that neither one of them wanted to end.

They talked about nearly everything under the sun, except for work. It was a sore subject for both of them, with Carter being unable to return yet and Vanessa needing to go back soon. Instead, they stuck to safer subjects that were in no way related to their eventual separation. 

Vanessa talked about her childhood, and how she had a huge falling out with her family after she went away to college and they accused her of being too good for them. Carter talked about his overbearing mother and his workaholic father, and how his entire life was predestined according the plans they had made for him. They had both had entirely different upbringings, as different as two people could be, and yet strangely similar in the isolation and loneliness. It made them feel closer to each other, like kindred spirits who longed for understanding and had finally found it.

As much as they both tried to avoid the subject of careers, it began to weigh heavily on both their minds as the deadline for Vanessa’s decision of accepting the CEO position grew closer and so did Carters next doctor’s appointment.

“I think you should take the job.” Carter said clear out of blue one day as they sat together on his couch.  They’d been pretending to watch a movie on television, but neither one of them was really able to concentrate on it, with their minds both preoccupied with the same worry. Carter was just the first to say it aloud. 

“You don’t even know what the offer is!” Vanessa objected, standing up and pacing to the far side of the room to vent her anger.  If there was one thing that rattled her it was being bossed around about her own career by a man.  Her ex-boyfriend Trevor Mills had always tried to tell her what kind of hours she should work, or where, or for whom. She wasn’t about to let Carter do the same thing, even if he was encouraging her to do exactly what she wanted.

“It doesn’t matter what the offer is.  I just think you should take it.  You’ll be happier here in New York than you ever would be if you went back to Chicago.” Carter came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her in what he hoped would be a comforting gesture.  In a startling move, Vanessa used her martial arts training to step back into his instep and perform a foot sweep that caused him to fall to the ground.

Lying flat on his back, Carter looked up at her with a stunned expression that quickly turned into one of admiration.  Smiling down at him, Vanessa straddled him and sat on his chest to pin him down.  She said with a glare that was half mocking, but half serious too, “Don’t mess with me.  I call my own shots.  Give me one reason you think I’d be happier here?”

“Because I love you and you love me too,” came Carter’s unexpected reply. Vanessa’s eyes flew open wide as the power of his words pierced her and she gasped aloud. 

Suddenly, Carter grabbed her by the hair, pulling her strongly to him, and kissed her passionately on the lips.  She fought him for the briefest of moments, as the shock of his words swirled in her mind, but all the rest of the world disappeared as she melted into the pleasure of his kiss, and they rolled on the floor embracing each other. 

“How did you know that I love you?” Vanessa asked, as their rolling stopped with Carter on top, and her lying breathless beneath him. She’d only known him for three short weeks, and she was amazed at the depth of her feelings for him, but now that he’d said them aloud there was no denying them.  She loved him with all her heart and had for some time now.  Perhaps even since that first day when he had been so obnoxious she wanted to choke him, but so vulnerable she couldn’t resist taking care of him.

“I didn’t.” Carter confessed, blushing slightly. “I just knew that I loved you. The idea that you could feel the same way for me was just a wild hope that I’d been harboring. I never dreamed it could really be true.”

“Well, you were right. I do love you.”  She circled her arms around his neck and they kissed again, long and deep.

When they parted for air, Carter smiled down at her; “Good, because I never want to be without you.  I love you Vanessa. I hope you’ll take the job and stay here with me.”

Vanessa nodded yes and they kissed again.  For the first time in her life, Vanessa didn’t have to choose between her career and having a relationship.  Maybe she could actually have it all. 

She giggled and craned her neck, encouraging Carter to kiss her earlobe as they made out on the plush carpeted floor. Slowly, he nibbled his way down the slope of her neck to the hollow of her throat.  Now that they knew how deeply they loved each other, there was nothing stopping them from finally making love like they’d been fantasizing about since the day they met.

“You’re so beautiful and your skin is so soft.” Carter whispered between kisses, hesitating as he came to cleavage of her blouse. He wanted to continue kissing every part of her, but they had never done more than kiss before now and he didn’t want to scare her off.  This wasn’t some one-night-stand with some bimbo he picked up at a bar. He truly cared for Vanessa and he didn’t want to do anything that would harm or scare her.  When they made love for the first time, it would be a mutual act between equals that would proceed a lifetime of togetherness.  He’d never loved a woman enough to feel that way about sex, but with Vanessa, he did.

“Don’t stop now,” Vanessa said gently, her voice like an angels. She slowly unfastened the buttons of her silk blouse, revealing her ample breasts perfectly framed in a pink lace bra that complimented the complexion of her rich, dark skin. Carter stared in admiration as Vanessa stripped away her bra and tossed it on the floor next to the blouse, revealing her naked breasts in all their glory.

They were the most beautiful Carter had ever seen, firm and full and round, with hard dark nipples protruding from the center. He took them into his hands and worshiped them with his mouth, covering every inch of them with slow kisses, licking her nipples with flicks of tongue, and finally taking them into his hot mouth and suckling them with all the passion and lust he felt in his heart.

Vanessa threw back her head, arched her back, encouraging him to suckle harder.  When he did, she ran her long fingernails through his hair and pressed his head more firmly against her chest, lavishing in the rapturous attention he was pouring upon her. Her breathing increased into rapid panting and a sticky wetness started to seep onto her panties. 

Quickly, she stripped off her slacks and underwear and lay back onto his sofa. She whispered, “I want you to make love to me. Now!”

Carter heard the urgency of lust in her voice and felt it in his own groin, but he wanted to draw this out and make sure she received as much pleasure as possible. It had been a long time since he’d had sex with another woman, but even longer still since he’d made love to one and he wanted to do it right.

He started with her feet, massaging and kissing them while she sighed contentedly beneath his touch. Then he worked his way up her long and supple legs, kissing and massaging his way over her calves, up her sinewy thighs, to the beautiful triangle of her sex. There he worked his craft, expertly using his tongue along the delicate folds of her clitoris and labia until he found that perfect spot and developed a rhythm that had her positively moaning and gasping for more.

“I want you inside me, now!” Vanessa screamed out and Carter shoved his first two fingers in and out of her dripping wet pussy in time with the rhythm of his tongue.  The sensation of being penetrated pushed her over the edge and Vanessa fell into the pleasurable depths of an orgasm, screaming loudly with rapture as Carter delighted in being the one to make her feel that way.

“That’s not what I mean,” Vanessa said to him, teasingly when at last she could speak again. She grabbed Carter by the shirt and stripped him of his clothes, revealing his muscular body and golden skin. The bruises from his accident had all faded away, although the bandages around his ribcage remained.  For a brief moment she felt guilty for having used her foot sweep to knock him to the ground, but clearly the move hadn’t hurt him. His body was strong from the hours of exercise and physical therapy he performed every day. She noticed too that nature had blessed him with a very aesthetically pleasing physique and ran her hands admiringly over his muscles.  When at last she stripped of his pants and underwear, she was delighted to see his manhood was fully engorged. She took the shaft into her hands and began to stroke him, saying “This is the part of you I want inside me.”

Carter moaned with pleasure at the feel of her cool, soft hands upon his hot, hard member.  “Okay, if you really want me inside you, let’s do it.”

Now it was Vanessa’s turn to tease him. Instead of putting his cock inside her pussy, like she knew he expected, she took him into her mouth and made love to him orally.

It was the most incredible blow job Carter had ever felt. Vanessa used her lips, tongue, fingers, hands, and throat in a magical combination that made his fearful he would climax too soon. As incredible as it felt, he had to force himself to withdraw from her mouth. Sweating and moaning, he said, “You’re getting me too hot.”

“Good!” Vanessa giggled, and pushed him back onto the couch, so he was lying flat against it on his back.  She mounted him there, straddling his hips and sliding herself atop of his rock hard cock, enveloping him with her tight, dripping wet folds.

“Oh my God, you feel so good!” Carter groaned with delirious pleasure as Vanessa stroked atop of him, slowly riding the length of his shaft, then gradually quickening in pace.

With his left hand, Carter stroked and caressed her buttocks, and with his right, massaged her breasts, gently squeezing the nipples to heighten her pleasure.

“I’m going to come again!” Vanessa cried out, as she thrust harder and faster atop him, her body gyrating fiercely now with passion.

“Me too!” Carter groaned, unable to hold himself back any longer. When he felt her internal muscles rippling with the spasms of her climax, he completely lost control and orgasmed with her, exploding with a pleasure so intense he feared he might pass out from it.

When at last their orgasms subsided, Vanessa collapsed against his chest and lay there, cuddling against his muscular body while he stroked her hair and their pulses slowed. 

“That was incredible. I love you so much.” Vanessa sighed contentedly.

“I love you too.” Carter sighed in return. Stay with me like this forever. Now that I’ve found you, I don’t ever want to let you go.”

“You won’t have to. I’m accepting the job and moving to New York.”

“Don’t just move to New York, live here with me,” Carter said. It was completely impulsive, and yet he knew it was completely right.

Vanessa did too. Hugging him tightly, she answered yes with a kiss.

Chapter Six