Never Forgotten: Second Chances (15 page)

She ached for him. Even with the lithe body of Carla writhing on the bed behind him, she wanted him to take her.

Instead, he turned and walked to where Carla's bare ass danced to its music. He stroked her ass with one hand, and she turned so that Megan would see how his touch took Sal's fingers precariously close to the dark lips of her pussy. She watched transfixed as Sal inserted a finger in the woman, twisting and twisted it and then took it out put it in his mouth, smiling as he tasted her. Carla put her face on the bed and put a hand between her legs, her finger splaying her pussy open, and Megan saw the pink flesh inside. Sal saw it too and took his huge cock in hand and brought it to her cunt and moved up onto the bed as the tip slip inside her. He rested one hand on the small of her back, and she began to move again, rotating her ass in a large circle. Sal slapped her buttock, a loud stinging blow that turned the flesh pink. Then he held her hips and looked over at Megan. She met his eyes. He smiled and pushed his hips forward, burying his cock in Carla, who cried out.

Megan still couldn't move. It wasn't just the restraints. Something else, some other force held her there watching, unable to even turn her head from the sight of her Sal, who also wasn't her Sal, plundering the cunt of the olive-skinned Carla.

"You seem distressed." These were Riley's first concerned words, uttered the moment he opened the door to his apartment for her and saw her face, telling her that the turmoil of feelings churning through her showed far too clearly for comfort. Looking at Riley made the morass of emotion worse. Seeing Sal again had pushed Riley right out of her head.

She kissed him, but it was perfunctory. Knowing he wouldn't miss that made her feel bad. She swept into the living room. "I'm not sure distressed is the right word. Confused seems better. Maybe even troubled."

"Can I help? Does it have to do with your meeting?"

"Riley, the new investor is someone I know. Or knew."

Her voice trembled, and he seemed to catch the importance of that statement. "So you know this Carla Finelli?"

"No." She tried to think how to tell the man she was sleeping with, the man who had asked her to marry him that he'd just hooked her up with an old lover. The lover. The one she'd never forgotten. There was no good way to do it. "You were right that she isn't the principle. He was there too. And the man behind the company is my old boyfriend, Sal."

She watched him sort through things she'd told him, trying to place the name. "The one who disappeared?" She nodded. "And now, after ten years he's suddenly back?"

"That's the short version of the story." He sat next to her, giving her space, and she began telling him, letting the words pour out. The news clearly worried him. "That's quite a story. And he's disfigured?"

"He has scars from burns and a quite different face from the one I knew. It was partially reconstructed."

Now Riley's intense look told her he was trying to determine how she felt about it all. So was she. "It was an intensely emotional meeting, Riley."

"I can imagine. At least I get a picture. Who knows if it's accurate? I have no reference point."

"No one does. The whole thing is incredibly awkward and painful. He wants to invest because he thinks he owes me something. He doesn't care about the program or the company."

"Maybe he wants to buy you back. Ingratiate himself."

The jealousy showed through that time. "That isn't kind. But then you don't know him."

"I know. He's noble and wonderful. Or was ten years ago."

She heard a hint of sarcasm that upset her. "His motives might be suspect, but he means it, Riley. And he has Carla. You've seen her. She is a smart, sexy woman. If Sal is playing games, he's being foolish. He isn't the type to risk losing a woman like that over a nostalgic fantasy."

"Never underestimate the power of fantasy. Fantasies don't have to deal with the realities that someone you love does things that upset you or that life has unpleasant surprises."

She laughed. "Like having the old boyfriend of a girl you've proposed to show up suddenly as the white knight for your company?"

He snapped his fingers. "Now there's a perfect example." He took her hand. "So what does this mean?"

"Mean?"

"This changes things on so many levels; it's hard to know where to start. You've had a lost love return—one you've never forgotten. There's a monumental amount of emotional baggage in that alone. He wants to invest in your company, which tells me he wants to be part of your life."

She put her hand on his face and stared into his eyes. Then she kissed him and let herself feel the desire that he always summoned up. It was strong, but he was right. Sal, a strange version of the memory that was always in the back of her mind, was changing and growing stronger. Where that led, she couldn't say.

Riley seemed lost in thought. Reasonably, she decided. It all affected him as well. After a bit, he turned to her. "I wasn't going to tell you this until tomorrow, but Striker called and gave us a new ultimatum."

"What?"

"It seems that Craig sold him an option on his shares. He promised to sell them at a certain price if we don't get financing by Monday."

"That little shit. I wonder what he's playing at?"

"Striker said that if you don't agree to sell, then Friday he withdraws his offer. He'll use his majority position to break up the company, and all you'll get is pennies on the dollar and be out on your ear. Of course, he'll sell the program to his company for its book value."

"Which is about zero."

"But now you have Sal's offer."

"Complicated by the fact that he'd be doing it out of a sense of duty."

"And I have another option for you to consider."

"Which is?"

"What if I invested in the company?"

"Where is that coming from?"

"From heaven? It would solve the problem. You'd have the money."

"And of course, then you wouldn't worry about me feeling cornered by the situation, feeling the need to take Sal's money and reopening that door to my past."

He gave her a smile. "I'll admit that possibility influenced my generous offer."

"It's a shitty reason to invest. And Sal hasn't even suggested any sort of getting back together. He's offered to give me his proxy and then leave, go back to Italy, so we don't have to see each other."

The idea cheered Riley. "Okay, but even so, I'd be more comfortable if he went back to Italy. My reasoning isn't the worst investment strategy by a long shot. Even if it's stupid, it has the virtue of being romantic. I told you I wanted to start enjoying my money. The look on Striker's face when he's foiled could be priceless."

"Like my financial adviser has suggested, I'll need to consider that option. But what if I decided to walk away from it all? Maybe go off with a handsome guy on a vacation?"

He shrugged. "If you accept, that boyfriend wouldn't be able to afford the open-ended vacation, I'm afraid, being heavily invested in tech stocks. But if you sold out to Striker we could do that. If you wanted to."

She smiled. "I don't know, Riley. There is something unreal in all this and so much has happened so fast that I can't get my head around it, much less understand my true feelings."

"Would you like a drink? It might wash away the taste of old boyfriend."

"No. That isn't what I need."

"So what do you need, besides time to think?"

She began undoing the buttons of her silk blouse. The electricity of her favorite material had never felt more sensual to her, and she opened her blouse, letting him see her bare breasts. He touched them, one hand covering each, and she reached for his fly and unzipped him. "I need you to fuck me, Riley."

As she put her hand inside his pants in search of his cock, wanting to arouse him, he interrupted her, sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her into the bedroom where he dropped her on the bed. He crawled over her, roughly hiking her dress up to her waist, grabbing her panties by the crotch and tearing them from her so hard that the fabric dug into her flesh. His mouth attacked her neck as he spread her legs apart. He was mightily aroused, and when he tipped her legs back and moved on top of her, when rammed his rigid cock into her she cried out like she was being taken for the first time. She'd never felt more filled with a man, and she wallowed in it, wanting the sensations of his hard cock pounding in her to drive away all other thoughts, and for that moment, it did. But such oblivion couldn't go on forever. She came, crying out nonsense and then tried to focus on her lover who still thrust deep into her. When he came, she felt tremors of fright—almost immediately the paralyzing confusion and conflicting emotions welled up again.

* * * *

The way things had developed, Megan began to wonder how she'd ever been able to think her life had ever been complicated before. Not that long ago she had been dealing with the relatively simple idea that she needed to find extra investment to save her company. As complex a thing as that had turned out to be, it was nothing compared to the way she found herself now questioning what she actually wanted. Sal had come back, damaged but back. That both amazed and frightened her because she struggled to come to grips with her feelings about him. And she hadn't even managed to sort out her feelings about Riley when that came up.

Then there was her future, her career. She recalled the vision she'd begun this company with. Despite what she told Craig, she had pictured herself taking the tech industry by storm. Just as she'd dreamed of building an empire with Sal, she wanted to use Craig's skills and leverage them. Now she wasn't certain.

She found herself with a proposal from Riley—two of them actually, and both were beautiful and tangible, and they clashed with the offer from the most passionate love she'd ever known. Sal was back, every bit as tangible as Riley, but he'd given her no idea of his feelings, what he truly wanted. He had Carla in his life and certainly had to know that Megan wasn't the awestruck young girl he had known. He had offered her help, but not mentioned love. He had talked of concern, not passion. Yet… she knew something was there. Or was that just a memory of something?

She didn't like tormenting herself, speculating about things she couldn't find the answers to. Making choices without information was risky, but in business she'd learned to do that, to trust her gut. Unfortunately, her gut was tied in knots, and all it was telling her was that it too was in pain. That wasn't useful. No matter how she considered things, she found they broke down the same. She wanted to save the company. Sal offered the money to do that, and if she took that option, she'd have to explain Sal and what he meant to Riley and what would that would mean to him? What would it mean to Sal to find out that Riley was her lover and wanted to marry her?

And something she'd sensed in the meeting with Sal and Carla, something unsaid, nagged at her. She couldn't quite nail it down; it was too ephemeral to begin to understand. But she knew someone who might help her figure it out.

Her hand shook as she picked up the phone and called Carla's number. "I've been expecting your call."

"And dreading it?"

Carla laughed. "Sal said you were clever. I hoped he was wrong. But he isn't wrong about people very often."

"It's nice to know he's kept that skill. Can we meet? I have questions."

"I'd be shocked if you didn't. I doubt I'll have much in the way of answers for you, but I have a few facts and lots of opinions I'm willing to share. Yes, I think you and I need to talk privately."

"Perfect. Can you meet me at my apartment? It wouldn't be fair to have him sitting around wondering what we are talking about when I suspect we'll be talking about him."

She heard a soft chuckle. "If you hadn't called to arrange this, I would've called you. I want to know, have to know where we all stand as much as you. That's going to require a bit of work and honest analysis from us both."

"The sooner, the better."

"I'm free right now."

Her blood raced as Megan gave her the address. When she hung up, she called Becky in. "Cancel any appointments I have for the rest of the day. If Riley Carson calls, tell him I'm doing some follow-up work and that I'll call him later, as soon as I finish."

"Craig wanted to see you. He said he could explain, but he didn't say about what."

She laughed. "I know what he wants to explain. Tell him I said it doesn't matter. I'll see him tomorrow."

She got up and stared at her briefcase, picturing the documents... the spreadsheets, cost analysis, projections, marketing plans, and proposals that filled it, and cluttered her brain as well. She should take it with her. That's why she had it. That was also the reason she couldn't bear to touch it. It was filled with numbers and logic and plans that go awry. She was in no mood for any of those things. Somehow they seemed to be interfering with understanding her own heart.

"You forgot your briefcase," Becky called as she started out.

"No. No, I didn't forget anything." She turned and looked back at Becky. "And that's the real problem, Becky—I've never forgotten. Not my briefcase much less anything truly important. And sometimes I think I'd be better if I were better at forgetting."

Under other circumstances, she might have found the bewildered look on Becky's face amusing.

* * * *

Tension tightened Carla's face as they talked. Her eyes flashed contrary signals, and the pieces began to fall into place. It was a lot to take in at once, but Megan focused narrowly, training her mind on the simplest thread of the story. As she did, a picture emerged that made her feel pangs of sadness for Carla. "Coming here was your idea." There was no answer. "You were the one who had me tracked down; you convinced him to see me. Why?"

The woman nodded. "He was afraid to see you but he needed to. He needed to have you see him, and that frightened him."

The idea of Sal afraid of anything made her tremble. It spoke of power she hardly could imagine. "You love him."