Teasing The Boss (8 page)

Simon leaned back a bit, too, and took a sip of his drink. “Between DuFord and Bar, I thought you’d be a relationship expert.”

She snorted. “Please. Bar never happened and Mark was…I don’t know what the hell Mark was. He was great, you know? Handsome. Charming. Sweet. Good for business,” she added, pointing her glass toward Simon; she knew he’d understand. He gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement as he took another sip. “But it wasn’t right. I don’t think either of us was really feeling it. I was working all the time and he wanted to go on all these trips. I think we were on two different paths.” She let out a sigh, and for a few moments, the only sound was the waves as they crashed on the soft, sandy beach. “What about you? Do you leave a long trail of broken hearts everywhere you go?” She looked to him. The moonlight made his pale skin seem to glow and his eyes seem even darker.

He shrugged. “Women and me have never been on the same page. I was too geeky in school, and by the time I grew out of it, I was too busy.”

She smirked. “Are you a forty-year-old virgin then?”

He gave her chair a playful kick. “I never said that. I’ve just never been in anything that I’d call serious.”

“I knew it,” she muttered. “A trail of broken hearts.” He opened his mouth to protest, but she stopped him. “The true heartbreakers are the ones who don’t even know they’re doing it.”

“Is that right?”

She nodded. “Those poor women,” she whispered. As she gazed out over the ocean, she mustered up the courage to ask the one question she’d been avoiding. “What’s the deal with you and Mark?”

The silence stretched between them, and she glanced back to him. But he didn’t look angry at the question. More pensive than anything else.

“If I tell you, this has to be between us. No one else can know.”

She sat up a bit straighter. Somehow she’d expected something like Mark had stolen his girlfriend or something. “Our secret. I promise.”

“DuFord is a really smart guy. He can sniff out money like a bloodhound and knows exactly what to say and when.”

Grace thought back to the parties she’d gone to with Mark, and she couldn’t disagree. She’d seen him talk business with complete strangers numerous times, and on each occasion, he was smooth, calm, and collected. She’d always admired that about him.

“But if you want the truth, he’s not the best investor.”

She frowned. “What are you talking about? Everyone I’ve talked to who’s worked with him raves about his instinct.”

Simon nodded. “Oh, he’s good at making money. He takes on high-risk projects that have a hard to impossible time getting funding from the
normal
channels.”

Grace leaned forward. “You’re saying he invests illegally? That’s impossible.”

“He invests offshore and makes twenty percent on every dollar. He gives the client ten and keeps the rest as his fee, which he tells his clients is about one percent. “

“But he’d get caught eventually. He couldn’t have been doing that all these years without the government noticing.”

“As far as I know, he’s only gotten caught once.”

Grace raised her brows. “And…”

“And he erased any hint that he had anything to do with it. His signature wasn’t on any of the documents and the funds never touched an account that he handled. It was his client’s word against his.”

“So what happened to the client?”

Simon looked away from her and to the ocean. “He was facing years of jail time and lost all his money. The guy killed himself.”

She covered her mouth with her palm. “You’re serious?”

His lips tightened and he nodded. “Dead serious, Grace. The guy’s dirty and he needs to be stopped. He’s been playing the same game for years now, and no matter how often I’ve tried to tip off any type of authority, DuFord somehow manages to cover his tracks. I almost was able to catch him in the act of transferring money to the Middle East, but the backer pulled out at the last minute.”

“You have money. Why can’t you be the backer?” He tilted his head, and it clicked. “Because if it went wrong, you’d be on the line,” she said, answering her own question.

He leaned forward and brought his face only inches from hers. “So do you believe me now when I tell you he needs to go down?”

Memories of her time with Mark flashed through her mind, but now they were cast in a sinister, dark glow. Could she really believe that friendly guy she’d known for years was some sort of monster?

“Yes,” she whispered. Monsters came in all forms, and she could tell this was important to Simon. He wouldn’t waive his entire fee if he didn’t truly believe Mark was one of the bad ones. “So how can we stop him if he’s been so squeaky clean in the past?”

“Unfortunately, I have no idea.”

Grace’s brow furrowed. “What? I thought you had a plan for everything. And if that failed, you’d have a backup plan.” She thought about it for a moment. “Scratch that. I thought your plans don’t fail.”

He scoffed and took another sip. “I’m glad you have so much faith in me.”

She scooched her chair closer. The screeching of the metal on concrete broke the calm of the night, and she cringed. “Damn it,” she muttered as she set the chair back and set a hand on his leg. “Simon. You’re one of the most brilliant men in the city. Everywhere you go, people throw themselves at you, trying to get even a second of your time. You have to have some sort of plan.”

His eyes fell to where her fingers rested on his knee and she fought the urge to pull away. Now it would be too obvious if she jerked back to her safety zone. Besides, her touching him was all part of the act.

Except there was no one watching now. Why had she moved so close? She’d wanted to give him comfort. Support. And who the hell was she to tell Simon West that he was awesome? Now she was one of the thousands stroking his ego.

“I have a plan to get a plan, if it makes you feel better.” He leaned forward the tiniest bit.

“What’s that?” she breathed, ever aware how close he was to her now.

A big hand reached out and caught a stray strand of hair that rested against her face. She held her breath as he got even closer, not sure whether she wanted to lean forward or away.

“I ran into DuFord when I was walking Princess today,” Simon said softly, still moving her hair between his fingers. “When I told him we were together, he got interested and invited us to some sort of barbeque. If you can keep him distracted, I should have enough time to dig through some of the files in his office. No guarantee I’ll find anything, but it’s a start.”

Grace let out a sigh and started to pull away. Simon’s hand shot out and his fingers wrapped around her bare arm. She glanced to where his skin touched hers; their arms now formed a strange circle with her hand on his knee and his on her arm.

“Don’t go,” he whispered.

“I don’t know about this, Simon. There are too many chances for things to get messy.”

“Messy with DuFord? Or messy with us?” He leaned closer; his thumb ran back and forth along her skin. The touch seemed to set off a domino effect within her, like an electric shock raced through her and signaled her heart to beat faster and for heat to pool low in her belly.

Struggling to keep her breathing at a normal pace, she said, “There is no us.”

“Why not?” he breathed.

She let her eyes drift closed as she focused on all the reasons she didn’t want to be with him. And came up empty. She lifted her lids and looked him in the eye. “I don’t even like you.”

He scooched closer until his knees brushed hers and her breath caught. “I think you do. At least a little. And I like you. What’s stopping you? You’re a grown, beautiful woman who knows what she wants. I sure as hell know what I want. Why can’t we share the big bedroom?”

“Simon, I—”

His mouth covered hers in one swift motion. She was completely ready to push him away and explain in explicit detail how wrong his actions were when his lips moved over hers. Warm and soft, his kiss was the exact opposite of everything she’d come to expect from him. His free hand came up to cup the back of her head and angled her face just right for his tongue to tease the seam of her lips.

Grace moaned at the unexpected playfulness of his kiss. The cool, calm, and collected consultant king was a fun kisser. Right when she thought she had Simon figured out, he’d throw another curveball that would push her off her feet.

Even as the confusion swept through her, the heat within her grew to a steady burn. He deepened the kiss even more, and she felt the logical part of her brain slip away. Her fingers curled in the soft fabric of his sweater and pulled him in closer; one hand moved up to run along the short strands of hair on his neck.

He let out a primitive growl, and in one sudden movement, he wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her into his lap. She squeaked at the unexpected action, but he never released her mouth.

He settled her over his lap, her legs straddling his, and she could feel the hard evidence that she wasn’t the only one excited by the kiss. Emboldened by his reaction, she rubbed against his erection. The friction sent shivers of pleasure through her.

He growled once again. His lips finally left hers to trail kisses down her neck. He nipped and licked his way to her collarbone; his hands slipped under the hem of the sparkly tank to run along her back. He was everywhere: rubbed in exactly the right spot between her legs. His hands sent sparks of pleasure up and down her spine. His lips kissed the tops of her breasts as he pushed deeper and deeper into her shirt.

Grace moved faster against him and all at once the sensations built into a nuclear explosion within her. Her head fell back; she let out a primitive sound somewhere between a moan and scream as the climax ripped through her.

As her quaking body calmed, Simon moved his hands out from under her shirt and pulled her close. Her shaking muscles couldn’t work on their own, and she let him pull her into him and happily rested her weight against him.

He stroked her hair and she tucked her face into his neck, happy she could use his body as a shield. That was…bad. And amazing. But the fact that it was amazing was bad. Very bad. She never should’ve gotten herself in this mess!

“Are you okay?” His breath came in quick pants.

A part of her was satisfied that she wasn’t the only one thrown off-kilter by what just happened. But it wasn’t as if he was throwing her down and ripping her clothes off. If it weren’t for his erection and deep breaths, she’d think he was some sort of robot.

A robot she’d never be able to look in the eye again. What would happen when they got back to the cottage? After what happened, he’d probably want sex. After the orgasm he’d given her, how could he not expect a little bit in return?

“Grace. Are you okay?” he asked again.

She blinked a few times and snuggled in closer. “Huh? Um, I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He continued to stroke her hair. And damn if that didn’t feel amazing too.

“Worry about what?” She tried to sound as cool as possible even as she was still quivering on top of him.

“I know you didn’t expect that.”

She pushed away and pulled herself closer to his knees so his cock didn’t press against her anymore. “Did you?” She knew he’d wanted to be with her. Had he decided to give her the orgasm of her life without so much as taking off her shirt in order to prove it? This was Simon West. He never did a thing without thinking of fifteen different outcomes.

“I expected something,” he said. “But not that.”

The door to the balcony pushed open and some boisterous partiers spilled onto the balcony. Grace jumped off Simon’s lap as if he were poison and looked toward the ocean, too embarrassed to face anyone at the moment.

“Hey, this is a private party,” yelled Simon. The screeching of the chair let Grace know he stood to deliver the message.

A few women laughed at his message, and she knew everyone knew exactly what she and Simon had been doing. “Sorry, dude,” said a male voice. “The door was unlocked.”

“You have to talk to Jason if you want to come out here,” said Simon.

A chorus of
sorry
s echoed as the footsteps retreated until the silence settled back in.

“Who’s Jason?” She wrapped her arms around herself. Damn, it was cold without having Simon wrapped around her.

“He owns this place. I asked if we could have the balcony to ourselves for a bit and he said no problem. They have to have it closed if there’s no bouncer on duty to make sure patrons don’t decide to go sand diving.”

Grace glanced down and grimaced at the thirty-foot drop down. “I knew it. You planned this.”

“You knew I wanted you.” He stood beside her.

“No,” she breathed, refusing to look at him. “You’re playing me.”

She shuddered as his fingers brushed the side of her face and pulled her hair over one of her shoulders to leave one side of her neck bare and exposed.

“Is me playing you really so bad?” he asked softly from behind her. He moved in close enough so that his heat seemed to reach out and envelop her without any touch needed. Even so, she had to fight the urge to lean into his strength and get lost in the same sensual tornado he’d just swept her away in.

For the first time, it occurred to her that she might not be able to escape Simon West with her sanity intact.

Grace pulled away from him and Simon finally admitted defeat. At least temporary defeat. He probably could convince her to give him another chance if there wasn’t still the fifteen-minute drive back to the cottage to factor in. By then, any lingering pleasure would’ve worn off and he’d be starting from ground zero again.

Shit. The night wasn’t supposed to go like this. To be honest, he’d never expected to do anything more than kiss her, but somehow everything had gotten out of control.

He shouldn’t even be pressuring her for more. It was too likely to push her further away, yet somehow he found himself getting sucked into her. She’d laughed with Andre and bounced around on the dance floor in her ridiculous shirt that practically blinded him when she turned just so to face the lights. But every once in a while, she’d given him a subtle glance that told him she knew exactly how ludicrous he found her and dared him to say something.