Fair Game (33 page)

All the laughter died as her orgasm rose. Her body tensed beneath him, her breath heightened, turning into gasps, then finally she shuddered, crying out.

He entered her before she came down, and she met him with the full force of her orgasm. He thrust, she pounded back, his balls slapping against her pussy.

“You love this, don’t you?”

“Yes.” She gasped, slamming back against him.

“You can’t live without my hard cock inside you?” He couldn’t live without being inside her.

“No.” A moan threaded through her voice.

“You want it.” She fit him so tightly,
he
had to have it.

“Yes.” Her breath hitched, her body tensing around him, dragging him deeper.

“You need me.” He held on to her hips and plunged.

“God, yes.” In the door’s reflection, she bit her lip, writhed against him.

“I’m all yours, baby.”

“Yes, please, yes, please,” she chanted, her rhythm perfect, matched to his.

The orgasm built deep in his gut, his balls, his cock. When she shouted “Oh God, I’m coming,” he let loose inside her.

 

 

 

JOSIE woke to the floor hard beneath her despite the carpeting. His arm cushioned her head, and his body kept her warm. Still, he’d thrown a blanket over them, though she couldn’t remember him leaving her long enough for that or to get rid of the condom.

Tilting her head, she could see straight out the sliding glass door. The lights of the Palace of Fine Arts flickered across the pond. The night carried the light shush of cars on the road and voices from far away, laughter, a horn. Kyle’s breath was steady in her ear. She had no idea what time it was, only that the dawn hadn’t yet arrived, the sky inky black except for the stars and the twinkling lights of the palace.

You need me.
She’d answered yes.
I’m all yours, baby.
His words had made her come.

And now? She could have stayed in his arms until morning, except that she had to pee.

God, it was all too much. She had to get back to her hotel. The sooner the better. She had to accept that her emotions were all tangled up with his and find a way to exorcise them.

It was inevitable that he’d wake up. “Christ, this carpet is hard.”

“Never fallen asleep after fucking a woman in front of the window before, huh?” She tried to make it a joke, but a thread of jealousy ran through her. How many women had he brought home? The thought made her shudder with too many unwanted emotions.

He stroked a finger down her arm. “I’m usually not an exhibitionist in my own neighborhood.”

“Luckily no one saw you or the police would already have been here.”

“Or our video will be on YouTube in the morning.”

She laughed, but he hadn’t answered her unspoken question. She wasn’t about to ask again. “Where’s your bathroom?”

He pointed to the left and the dark recesses of the remainder of his home. “First door down the hall.”

She grabbed her clothes, found her shoes, and made her way through the dim light. A city, she realized, was never completely dark. In the bathroom, she took care of nature, then climbed into her skirt and top.

He was naked in the hall when she came out. “Let’s go to bed.” His voice was flat.

With the only light falling through the bedroom door, she couldn’t even see his eyes or read his expression.

“You need to take me back to the hotel.”

“In the morning.” He put a hand to her elbow and tried to herd her into the bedroom.

“Now.”

He stood, silent, tall, naked, warm, enticing.

You need me.
Maybe she did. But she didn’t want to. “If I have to, I’ll call a cab.”

“You didn’t bring a purse.”

This time she glared at him. “Then lend me twenty bucks.” The more he tried to control her, the harder she’d fight.

“You agreed to spend the night.”

She bit down on her inner lip harder than she intended. Dammit, he was pissing her off. “I said I’d come home with you so you could
fuck
me.” She gave the word extra emphasis. “I never said I’d spend the night.”

“That’s not how I remember it.”

“All right, I’m done playing your game.” She narrowed her eyes and didn’t give a damn whether he could see it or not. “If I have to walk, I will.”

“Why are you such a hard-ass?” He puffed out an exasperated breath. “It’s one fucking night.”

It was more than she could give without—

What? If any other man had done this, she’d have spent the night, let him drive her home in the morning, then told him bye-bye-and-go-fuck-yourself in no uncertain terms.

Why couldn’t she do that with Kyle? Because he was her boss? No, that answer was too easy.

“You’re afraid you’re going to like my bed too much and keep coming back over and over.”

“Dammit, do not put words in my mouth.” Even if they were the right ones, correct to a T.

He eyed her. “You want me to say it first?”

“
God
no.” She didn’t even want to
think
what “saying it first” could mean. He was between her and the outside door. She’d have to touch him to get by.

“I want you in my bed,” he murmured, taking a step closer. “Tonight. Tomorrow night. A lot of nights.” He smelled so damn good. “I don’t want to play any more games either.”

She pushed up against the wall. “You’re my boss. We don’t spend the night together. We don’t even acknowledge each other at work.”

He didn’t take back the distance she’d won. “We can be more. If you want.”

She could hear him breathe, feel the tenseness of his body even two feet away. He wanted. She couldn’t give. “There’s too much inequity in our relationship.”

For a moment, she was sure he’d push it.

Instead, he stepped back, turned and headed back to the living room. During the day, with noise all around, you couldn’t hear a person dress, but in the quiet of the night, even a city night, she made out the rustle of his clothing. Then a light came on, streaming down the hall to land just short of her shoes.

She was still standing in the same spot in the hallway when he filled the entry. “Here’s your card key.”

She’d forgotten he had it. “Thanks.”

“Ready?” He jangled his keys when she didn’t move.

She didn’t know what she was. He’d simply deflated her. Maybe she’d wanted a knockdown, drag-out. Maybe she’d needed a little more convincing.

Maybe she simply wasn’t worth fighting for.

 

 

 

IT was dark, but the sunrise wasn’t far off. Kyle sat on his deck, his feet propped on the railing, a steaming mug of coffee in his hands.

He couldn’t quite accept that she’d walked out. Or rather, that she’d forced him to drive her back to the hotel in the middle of the night when his bed was soft and close by.

Perhaps some women were more like men, and sex was just sex, but he could have sworn the intimacy was there between them. Or it truly might be the job that bothered her. He’d fucked up by working for Castle, at least as far as she was concerned. Water under the bridge though. He couldn’t quit on Connor now.

He’d made his bed. Now he had to figure out how to get her to lie in it with him.

 

 

MONDAY was another day. The morning Program Management meeting was at nine, at ten it was training considerations with Harvey Toffer, then the executive staff meeting at two. Once Kyle got the routines down, he wouldn’t attend the departmental meetings; he’d simply set up one with his own staff to obtain the necessary updates and resolve any issues.

He did, however, have one issue that wouldn’t wait. Andrew Ronson didn’t answer his phone. Kyle left him a message. “See me, ASAP.” He left neither his name nor his extension. The man would know what it was about.

A flicker of movement in the doorway caught his attention. Andrew.

“That was fast,” Kyle said, genially. “I only just left you the message.”

Andrew didn’t utter a word nor twitch a facial muscle. He looked like death, dark circles beneath his eyes, slightly red-rimmed lids, bloodless lips.

“Have a seat,” Kyle invited

Andrew closed the door. Instead of sitting, he slid a paper across the desk.

Kyle read.
Subject: Resignation.

“Sit,” he said again, pointing this time.

As if his bones had gone soft, Andrew collapsed into the chair. “My wife doesn’t know. My family doesn’t know. It would kill them all, and I’d lose everything. My wife would make sure I never saw my kids again.” He lifted his shoulders, let them drop, and stared at the top of Kyle’s desk.

Kyle kept his voice even. “This wasn’t what I’d intended. Blackmailing you into resigning isn’t my style.” Besides, there was always the possibility Andrew could get vindictive and, with nothing to lose, start bandying it about that Kyle had been at the club also. It wouldn’t make or break his career, but it would be embarrassing.

Andrew swallowed, twice, as if it were painful. “What did you intend?”

“A little cooperation, like I asked you for last week.”

“You mean all I have to do is stop giving Josie a bad time, and you’ll keep what you saw to yourself?”

Kyle allowed three extra seconds for the idea to settle in. “Correct.” He’d never intended blackmail. Even for Josie, Kyle wouldn’t compromise his integrity, but he could do a little negotiation on her behalf.

Andrew stared, his vivid eyes going wide. “That’s all?”

“That’s all,” Kyle repeated.

Andrew waited another beat, his hands gripping the armrests. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“You have my word on it.”

“What if something else comes up?”

He had a feeling the man wasn’t questioning his veracity, but was simply terrified. So he spelled it out. “My discovering you in a compromising position was probably a one-time thing, right, Andrew? If you’ve got anything incriminating on your computer, you’ll delete it. You’ll erase your Internet history. If you’re hiding something somewhere,
anywhere
, you’ll get rid of it. So there won’t be a shred of proof to back up anything inflammatory that
someone
, myself included, might accuse you of.” He leaned forward, put his elbows on his desk, and speared the man with his gaze. “If you don’t stop this shit with Josie, I will simply fire you after proper documentation of your behavior at work. However, if everything goes smoothly from here on out, there’ll be nothing negative to go on your file.” He held out his hands, palms up. “See? Your personal life has nothing to do with your work life.” He paused, eyed Andrew with a long, level gaze. “Nothing else is going to come up, is it.” He didn’t leave it as a question.

Andrew hung his head, staring at his pant legs. Finally he lifted his eyes to Kyle’s, met him full on. “I’m resigning anyway. I’ve been dissatisfied with the job for a while. It’s not just Josie getting the manager position. I’m done, ya know? I need to get out of here, start over, clean slate.” He let out another sigh. “I was investigating better opportunities anyway, and I’ve got my wife’s agreement on that.”

Kyle couldn’t be sure whether that was truth or the fact that Kyle knew his secret, especially since it sounded like he needed his wife’s permission, not just her agreement. The threat Kyle’s knowledge posed would forever exist in Andrew’s mind.

“If that’s what you want,” Kyle said, “we’ll give you references as per company policy.” The guy was leaving; Kyle didn’t need to screw him over at this point. He simply wanted accord in his department.

Upon Andrew’s exit, Kyle punched in Josie’s extension. She didn’t answer, so he left a message. She didn’t answer her cell either. What was up with that? Her cell was like another appendage.

He could only think she was paying him back for Friday night. Well, Andrew’s professional demise at Castle just might get him back in her good graces. It was only after the thought lingered that he realized how pathetic it sounded. The woman had him by the short hairs.

 

 

 

THE conclusion from supervisor training? Confront issues head-on and right away. Don’t pussyfoot. Or it’ll all blow up in your face.

Josie could apply that to her relationship with Kyle, too, but she’d decided
not
to confront that head-on. He’d dropped her off at the hotel, kissed her goodnight, then she’d walked through a silent hotel lobby and taken the elevator to her room. She hadn’t heard from him since. She hadn’t called him either, and decided that she’d won the skirmish.

Leaving the restroom, she glanced at her watch. She’d have to see him in half an hour at the morning meeting. That’s when she’d really know who’d won. For now, there was Lydia to deal with. Confront the issue. For Lydia, that was the baby, what she was going to do about it, if she’d need time off, yadda, yadda, any support her boss could give—within reason, of course.

Josie shuddered. She would have preferred confronting Ronson, but due to his long drive from Tracy, he wouldn’t be in until just before nine. Hopefully there’d be no blowouts during the meeting. She really didn’t want to have to deal with any crap in front of Kyle. There was a limit to how much she’d be able to control herself, and if Ronson made her look like a freaking idiot again in front of her boss—her lover—well, she might lose it and ream him a new asshole.

No, she wanted a nice, quiet, even-tempered discussion to work out their differences.
Make the problem joint rather than just the employee’s. Talk about the behavior, not the person.
She kept repeating the training in her mind.

Until she passed Ronson’s cubicle, and there he was cramming family photos, a mug, childish drawings, and other personal items into a box.

“What the—” She cut herself off before the expletive burst out. “Why are you here so early?”