The Alexandra Series (63 page)

“You are a wonder,” Reggie replied, sarcastically.

She smirked, happily. “There’s a change of plans,” she informed him. “Alex and Will aren’t going.”

“Really?” He showed his first sign of interest.

“Yes. Will got that assignment in Alaska. Alex says he’s off, for ‘god knows how long.’ Of course, she’s pissed.”

“Would do her good to have to step back for a change.”

“That’s a horrible thing to say after she planned this whole trip.”

“I like being nasty with Alex, you should know that by now.”

“And nasty with me too?” Jocelyn wondered aloud.

“Only when it eventually makes you smile.” He said it with his typical dead-pan cool, which had the effect of making his lovely redheaded wife squirm in her seat.

“So we get to go alone, a second honeymoon.”

“We just had our first six months ago,” he reminded her.

“So what’s wrong with a second?”

“I’m rarely sentimental.”

“I can tell,” she replied. She was too happy to be daunted by Reggie’s indifferent façade. She was getting used to him, knowing what was underneath often went unexpressed until he poured out his affections on her in his own astonishing style. She couldn’t ask for anything, he gave when he was ready.

“So, we’ll have a vacation, and make passionate love for seven days, and you can concoct all kinds of despicable things for me, and we won’t get sentimental at all.”

“It sounds like the perfect vacation, but…”

“But what?” she interrupted, hearing something in his tone she didn’t like. “Don’t tell me you’re reconsidering?”

“I never said that.”

“But I can see it coming. Am I wrong?”

“I was going to suggest that we cut it short. Three days tops, Joce.” He tried a little affection in his delivery, though it sounded like the decision was final. “Perhaps if Alex and Will aren’t going we could postpone it altogether.”

Jocelyn sighed deeply. “You know, I had this premonition weeks ago when Alex’s wild ideas were blooming. I had a feeling these plans would never materialize.”

“You’re psychic too?”

“Just a very wise woman.”

“That’s obviously why I married you. You take disappointment well.”

“Oh, I don’t plan to be disappointed.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll think of something. I’m not going to be the most efficient business woman in the city, organizing my crises around my vacation plans, to throw a free week out the door.”

Reggie looked as if he wanted more of an explanation, but he wouldn’t ask.

Jocelyn stood up.

“When do you suppose you’ll finally be free of all these tethers?” she asked.

“About midnight.”

“I thought you’d be done by three.”

“Since we’re postponing our vacation…” he started.

“But midnight? That’s not good enough. I may wait for my vacation, but I’m not going to wait for everything.”

Sauntering around the desk, she pushed Reggie’s chair about, and then knelt between his knees. A noncommittal response was all he’d give, even when she unzipped his pants and withdrew his prick. But as she sucked his organ, his body responded. Her lips were too sweet to ignore and the feel of her warm mouth quickly changed his mood. Moments later standing up, he pulled Jocelyn to her feet and flung her over the edge of the desk on to the pile of papers. Her firm ass cheeks gave him a second wave of pleasure as he held them tightly in his grasp. She hadn’t even worn pantyhose, just a cream colored lace garter belt to hold the delicate silk stockings.

“I like it when you’re shaved here,” he said as he caressed her smooth labia. “Should shave more often.” He pressed himself against her, his cock moving through the opening of her cunt to the moist pulsing treasure beyond. With his arms going around her, it was easy to undo the two buttons holding her jacket together. Fondling her breasts was as simple as reaching beyond the lace teddy underneath. Just like every other time they made love, he swept her into his control, and for that instant, she was free of the burdens that often weighted her down. The two were off on a fantastical excursion that lifted them from anything disordered and irritating in their lives.

He rocked her hard, the penetration going deeply within her so there was enough pain to make her moan and wince. But the bliss was descending, the orgasm tripping through her as she gave him his. Reggie grunted behind her as he came; and then withdrawing from her afterwards, he held her a few moments longer, his hands still relishing the feel of her soft skin. At last he pulled away and left her collapsed against his desk.

Jocelyn was still sighing when she heard the zipper going up on his pants. His leather chair creaked as he sat down, and she was still thrust bottom’s up over the desk recuperating.

He smacked her ass sharply and she jerked up.

“You ass! Have you no shame?” she snapped. “I do like a little time to recover.”

“I’m fully recovered,” he replied, pulling her off his desk.

She stood between his legs, looking down at his face, letting her hand run through his immaculate blond hair. He reached a hand up under her skirt. “Little wet down here,” he said.

“It’ll dry,” she replied.

Reggie liked her being free enough not to care about the sticky dampness between her legs.

“So you’ll be home at midnight?” she asked.

“Maybe sooner,” he replied.

She stared at the pile of papers on his desk and shook her head. “You know, darling, you really should hire a good consulting firm to clean up this mess,” she said. “I know a very good one.”

“I can’t afford your professional services, Jocelyn. Even you told me that,” he reminded his wife. Their relationship had begun when he’d hired her firm to help reorganize his company. She never let him forget the fact that she had been responsible for turning around his sagging sales.

“Well then, maybe next time we plan a vacation, you can afford me and I’ll take care of this,” she said, mocking him gently for the harrowing disarray.

He looked up at her steely eyed and rigidly cold. “You know there are prices to pay, my darling, for your condescending attitude, big ones. When you least expect it.”

Jocelyn grinned as she moved away from him, restoring her skirt to its decent place. “That’s what I was hoping,” she replied, the rosy blush on her cheeks making her face look gloriously sexy. She walked to the door with a decided sway to her bottom.

“You swish that sassy ass of yours in front of my eyes one more time, you’ll be paying the prices soon,” he remarked.

Swish her ass? Was that all it took? With the thought of the promised consequences in mind, as she left the office, Jocelyn hips moved as provocatively as she knew how, though she wasn’t so sure that her husband even saw it, with the way his attention was drawn back to the work in front of him.

Chapter Three

“Alex, how about California, you and me? A far different vacation than we planned, but why should we spoil our whole week?”

“Reggie can’t go either?” Alex asked, hearing Jocelyn’s proposal take her off guard. “I was just unpacking.”

“Would Will mind?”

“Mind? He isn’t even here. But what’s Reg doing?”

“Staying home, or actually staying at the office. I’m beginning to think he’s glued to the chair. By the looks of things, if I want to see him at all next week, I’ll have to move into the building, maybe pack picnic dinners and bring a cot to sleep on.”

Alex was silent for a while, thinking. Changing plans was never easy for her, though this was likely the very thing Will would want her doing while he was gone.

“We could get pampered,” she finally said. “The spa is supposed to have all sorts of soothing body treatments. The way I was treated this morning, I think my body could use a little soothing.”

“So, we’re going,” Jocelyn said adamantly, making the decision for both of them. “Now all I have to do is tell Reggie.”

“You haven’t told him?”

“No, I got the inspiration on the way home from his office. I figured I’d check with you first.”

“How about cook him a terrific dinner?”

“Naw. That won’t work. You and I have to leave at eight, Reg won’t be home till midnight. I’ll just have tell him over the phone.”

That took more guts than Alex would ever have with Reginald Harold. But then Jocelyn, being his wife, got away with things no other woman would dare try with him.

“So, I’ll re-pack my suitcase,” Alex cheerfully replied. “Call me only if he says no.”

“He won’t say no,” Jocelyn replied confidently. “Just meet me at the airport.

***

Jocelyn and Alexandra were on the plane sitting side by side as the flight took off at eight o’clock that evening. Both of them had smiles on their faces, almost as if they were escaping something, though neither could tell what that something was.

“So what did you tell him?” Alex asked the happy redhead once she settled into her first class seat.

“That I wasn’t going to spoil my week off. I’d never have any peace if the office knew I was home. Thankfully, he appreciates that sort of thing. Some emergency’s got him all riled up, so I don’t suppose I’d see much of him anyway if I stayed home.”

It was odd for Alex to imagine Reggie married, even though Jocelyn was the perfect woman for him. She was so different from the women that used to appeal to him. Jocelyn Killian could be a first class bitch. Alex had seen her brusque style working efficiently in a business setting, though she was always lighthearted and charming when Reggie was around. Then she would move like a fragrant flower, sumptuous and mysterious like Reggie himself, always with the trace of a smile on her lips as if she was delightfully amused by her relationship with the often cold-hearted dominant. She must have discovered that Reggie isn’t as cold-hearted as everyone thinks. She would never be the kind of woman to want anything less than an affectionate lover. And Jocelyn did draw unusual bursts of affection from the man that, on occasion, were even visible in public.

He was a different Reggie with Jocelyn, a man whose company Alex could enjoy when his inherent chill was brushed aside for a gracious sense of style and good humor. Alex had seen glimpses of that man in the past, and was glad that now his bouts of amicability were more frequent. Time and Jocelyn appeared to have mellowed him. That alone was a pleasant thought, much better than the memory of her last excruciating chastisement at his hands.

Jocelyn sat with her head leaning back, eyes closed, her last conversation with Reggie running through her head. Oddly, his objection to her going on the trip had nothing to do with her leaving him. He seemed to understand the need to get out of town.

“You mean to tell me,” he said, when she raised him on the phone, “you’re going to leave me with Helena all week?”

“What’s wrong with that?” she asked.

“You just hired her, Jocelyn.”

“So I did, and she’s charming, don’t you think, a little seductress, I’d say.”

“Charming or not, she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing, Mandy’s on vacation, and I’m supposed to tell a new maid how do to her job? You’ve got to be kidding.” Reggie’s droll delivery amused her.

“She’ll pick it up herself. She’s not stupid.”

“But damn flighty. I hate that.”

“Well take care of her faux pas with a little creativity. Not in short supply of that, are we?”

“What exactly did you have in mind?”

“She starts aggravating you, do what you usually do, spank her. She’ll behave.”

“Spank her?” He chuckled.

“Oh, you can handle her, Reg. I really want to go. I’m so primed for it. And it’s your fault I’m going.” It was as close to pleading as Jocelyn would ever get. And she knew he’d relent, he was just going to make it difficult.

“I suppose you’ll do what you want, won’t you?” he finally said. She could hear the yielding in his voice.

“You’re a love. I wonder if you’ll even miss me?” she mused aloud. Over the phone, she could almost see his cold expression, and then his eyes warming to a softer hue. It was something she didn’t have to see to know that it was there.

“More than you know,” he finally said. There was a trace of sadness that pulled her heart strings, but he’d forget about it quickly. “Maybe time away might be good for both of us,” she suggested. “I’ll call you when we get to our hotel.

She was going to miss him, though there was a method in her madness. With Reggie, ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder,’ so she believed. By the time she got home, he’d be ravenous and attentive, giving her all the time she wanted in his thoughts and arms.

Chapter Four

They canceled their hotel reservations in San Francisco and Santa Rosa, planning to spend the entire week at the spa just outside of Calistoga. All the old world luxury at a premiere hotel, hot springs, long massages, mud baths, sunbathing, the arid warmth of the days, the cooler nights, and hours to relax were a sure cure for the ailments of a city that was too big, too smoggy and too fast for a peaceful state of mind.