The CEO Buys in (Wager of Hearts #1) (20 page)

“Update your resumé and send it to me tonight,” Judith said. “I’ll e-mail you the address and reporting info for Tallman and Hicks.”

“Right. I’ll do that.”

Judith said good-bye, and Chloe slumped in her chair, letting the cell phone drop into her lap. She didn’t want to work on her resumé tonight; she wanted to sit in front of the television set, letting Grandmillie comment on how bad the shows were while Chloe daydreamed about Nathan.

Nathan! Did
he
know she wasn’t going to be at Trainor Electronics tomorrow? No, he would have called her if he did. HR wouldn’t bother the CEO on a Sunday with personnel issues; they would make sure he had whatever he needed without him ever having to think about it.

She stared down at her cell phone. She was afraid to call him, afraid her absence from outside his office wouldn’t matter to him. Even more afraid that his interest would fade when she wasn’t right there in front of him, working through his e-mails.

No, there was still the wedding next weekend. She would have at least six more days of his attention.

She picked up the phone and hit his speed dial.

He answered on the first ring. “Chloe, I’m on the terrace, staring across the Hudson River, wondering where in that glow of lights you are.”

The tension drained from her body. He’d care that she wasn’t going to be there tomorrow. “Slightly south and three counties in.”

“How’s Grandmillie?”

She sucked in a breath as his words touched that fresh bruise on her heart. “She’s doing fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

Even though he couldn’t see her, Chloe shook her head. “She had a little health issue last week that she just shared with me, but it’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll have Ben take a look at her. It will give him someone else to badger, so he’ll leave me alone.”

The temptation to have the highly qualified Cavill give Grandmillie a thorough checkup nearly overwhelmed her, but it was a favor she couldn’t accept. Nor would her grandmother want her to. “Thank you, but it’s not necessary. She saw her own doctor.”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

He was using his strategy of retreating to fight another day, but she was too weary to tell him she wouldn’t change her mind. “That’s why I called. I won’t be there tomorrow. Everyone at Trainor Electronics is healthy again.”

He swore, making Chloe’s sore heart flip with delight. “Where will you be working?”

“Tallman and Hicks Accounting in Midtown.”

“We’ll meet for lunch. At my apartment. I’ll send Oskar for you.”

She laughed. “You’d have to come in the car with Oskar. Remember, I only get half an hour for lunch.”

He muttered another curse. She loved his frustration. “Isn’t that against some labor law?” he asked.

“Not for a temp. We’re just hired guns.”

“I’ll be there in the Rolls when you get off work. We’ll drive to New Jersey together.”

She knew she should say no. She needed to keep him separate from her real world. But the thought of not seeing him tomorrow made all her good sense evaporate like dew under an August sun. “Okay. I’ll send you Tallman’s address.”

His voice came through the phone in a low, sexy rumble. “I hope the rush-hour traffic is horrific.”

Nathan usually enjoyed the quiet of early morning on the executive floor when he was the only one in. Today it felt empty.

He paced over to the wall of windows and stared outward without seeing the skyscrapers spiking up into the sky. He wanted Chloe here.

He’d checked and there were currently four open positions—with generous salaries—listed on the internal job roster that she could fill perfectly. In one stroke, he could ease her financial problems and satisfy his own need.

He was well aware that it would be more appropriate to find her a job at another corporation, something he could do easily, but he had to know she was in this building somewhere.

They would have to be discreet. That might be the most difficult part for him, since he had an almost constant desire to see her. But he would not tarnish her reputation.

He looked at his watch for the third time since he’d started work. Another hour before Roberta got into the HR office.

Chloe had never been so grateful for a mindless temporary assignment. As she copied and collated sheet after sheet of numbers and legal jargon, she veered among worrying about how to keep Grandmillie from signing herself into Crestmont Village, redrawing her image of her father, and having her knees go weak in anticipation of what she and Nathan might do in the back of the Rolls. It was an exhausting roil of emotions.

Her cell phone vibrated in her trousers pocket, indicating a text message had come in. She finished putting together a packet of papers before she pulled her phone out. It was from Nathan.

Call me when you break for lunch.

She glanced at the clock on the wall of the conference room where she was working, the papers spread across the vast mahogany tabletop in neat piles. The executive assistant she was working for had told her to take lunch whenever she wanted, so she could start it right now.

She plunked down in one of the huge leather chairs and shoved it away from the table, swiveling toward the windows as she called Nathan.

He answered halfway through the ring. “I needed to hear your voice.”

“That’s the best hello I’ve ever gotten.” Chloe felt her worries lighten.

“I didn’t manage my expectations well.” His voice held an edge of self-mockery.

“In what way?”

“I spent all day yesterday imagining you in my office today. When you weren’t here, I had a problem with it.”

The powerful and brilliant Nathan Trainor missed her. How could she not feel thrilled by that? “At least you have weighty executive decisions to distract you. I’m only using about a quarter of my brain to collate a bunch of audit reports.”

“I’m interested in hearing what you’re using the other three-quarters for.”

Chloe felt heat bloom in her cheeks. “That’s for you to find out when you pick me up this afternoon.”

There was a pause before he said with a rasp in his voice, “Advance planning is always wise. I look forward to combining your ideas with mine, because I suspect the effect will be explosive.”

His words danced along her nerve endings, making her squirm on the leather cushion. Before she could respond, he said, “You only have a half hour for lunch, so go eat.”

“Because I’ll need my strength?” It came out sounding as though she couldn’t quite catch her breath.

“Be ready the moment you get in the car. I will be.”

He ended the call, leaving her hot and aching in private places. She closed her eyes and imagined him touching her where she ached the most, which only made it worse. She hauled herself out of the chair, sending her cell phone thudding onto the beige carpeting.

When it rang, she jumped and then scooped it up, hoping Nathan wanted to continue their phone foreplay.

It was Judith. “Sweetie, I’ve got a last-minute interview for you. Are you free today after work?”

Chloe straightened in the chair. “Not really. How about tomorrow?”

“The cutoff for the hiring decision is today.”

Her stomach clenched. “How good is the position?”

Judith quoted a nice salary and decent benefits at a medium-sized but growing corporation. “And the position has significant upside.”

“There has to be a catch.”

“This is your last chance to interview for it,” Judith said. “Seriously, I found out about this by sheer luck. Their HR director called me to check one candidate’s employment record because I placed him in a job before this. They wanted to make sure he wasn’t violating his employment contract.”

“Was he? That would eliminate some of my competition.” Chloe was stalling as she struggled with the inevitable. She was going to have to tell Nathan she couldn’t meet him after work.

“No. He cleared his commitment by forty-three days.”

“Darn.” Chloe sighed inwardly as she worked hard to inject gratitude and enthusiasm into her voice. “I’ll rearrange my schedule so I can take the interview. Thanks so much for giving me such a great opportunity.”

She glanced down at her outfit of a slim navy skirt, high-heeled black pumps, and a peach silk blouse. She’d dressed up more than usual because she was meeting Nathan, so her clothing would work for an interview.

“It’s pure self-interest,” Judith said. “You’ll make me a nice finder’s fee when you get the job. I’ll text you the address and contact information. Knock ’em dead!”

Chloe hung up and sagged in the chair. She was a little nervous about calling Nathan. A man like him was used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it. He might understand her decision to take the interview, but he wouldn’t be happy about it. She wasn’t happy about it either.

She had to think long-term, though. This thing with Nathan would burn out sooner rather than later, while the job was a more permanent proposition.

She hit his speed-dial button and waited, her grip so tight the edges of the phone cut into her fingers.

“Chloe.” His voice was warm with pleasure. “Have you eaten lunch already?”

“No. I got another call. I have an unexpected job interview right after work. It’s for a great permanent position, so I couldn’t turn it down. I’m sorry.”

There was a long moment of silence and she held her breath. Then his voice came through, sounding calm and matter-of-fact. “Not a problem. I can use the extra time to finish the work from last week. Call me as soon as you’re done.”

“I, um, thank you for understanding.”

“Delay will make our encounter all the more . . . satisfying.”

The pause before his last word was loaded with the promise of mind-bending sex. Chloe felt the build of desire begin again. “You’re a more patient man than I thought.”

“Only when the end result is worth waiting for.”

Focusing on the interview was going to take every ounce of mental discipline she possessed.

Nathan hung up the phone and let loose a string of profanity. It wasn’t the postponement of his sexual gratification that had him cursing like a Marine. It was the damned job interview. He had hoped to handle the offer of the position at Trainor Electronics subtly so no one—and especially Chloe—suspected that he had set it in motion. This new development would force him to cut corners for the sake of speed. He would also have to make sure the offer from his company was so much better than the other one that she would have a hard time turning it down.

He swiveled around to his computer and began to type a private message to Roberta.

There was no point in being the CEO if you couldn’t use your power for a friend.

“We’ll be in touch.” The interviewer stood and shook Chloe’s hand.

Chloe gave him her best professional smile. “It was a pleasure talking with you.” She walked out the door and straight to the ladies’ room.

The adrenaline surging through her was making her jittery, but the interview had gone well. The HR fellow hadn’t commented on the fact that the last three companies she’d worked for had folded, so maybe he hadn’t noticed the Russell jinx. However, she had found the catch: the job was dull and unchallenging, and the upside that Judith had mentioned didn’t sound much better. However, she couldn’t overlook the salary and benefits at this point, so she had given the meeting her best.

Yet part of her mind had been on Nathan the entire time.

“He’s just a man,” she told herself in the mirror. “And a temporary one. You have to focus on Grandmillie and your future.”

She wished she could splash cold water on her face to snap herself out of the spell Nathan exerted on her, but she didn’t want to ruin her makeup. She took three deep breaths and felt more in control.

Sitting down on a chrome stool in front of a vanity mirror, she fired off a text to Judith, telling her she felt she would be in the running for the job. Her friend responded with a thumbs-up and the promise to let Chloe know as soon as she heard something further.

She brought up a text box under Nathan’s cell number and stared at the blinking cursor. Nothing clever came to mind, so she went with the facts. “Interview completed. Will be at the front entrance in ten minutes.”

“Already there,” was the near-instant response.

She shouldn’t be flattered. After all, he could sit in his Rolls and use his laptop or his cell phone, but the thought of the workaholic Nathan Trainor
waiting
for her was as heady an aphrodisiac as any oysters.

She’d been debating all day whether she had the nerve to do it, but this made her decision. She put her cell phone in her big handbag and went into one of the stalls. She’d worn thigh-high stockings for the occasion, and now she hiked up her skirt and tugged her panties down so she could step out of them. Balling up the white lace, she tucked them in her purse before exiting the bathroom.

As she walked down the corridor, she had the sense that everyone she passed could tell she had no underwear on. It was ridiculous, because her hem stopped a very proper quarter inch above her knees. Yet she felt exposed and turned on at the same time.

Stepping into the elevator with four other people, she flashed back to vivid images of making love at Nathan’s apartment in the same kind of enclosed space. She could feel the heat building low in her body. As the door opened on the ground floor, she took a firm grip on the strap of her handbag and stepped out into the lobby as though she wasn’t about to go up in flames.

Her composure cracked when she turned and saw the Rolls parked directly in front of the glass doors. Nathan wasn’t working on his laptop or making calls on his cell phone. He was leaning against the big car dressed in one of his perfectly tailored dark suits, his arms folded across his chest, his long legs crossed at the ankles, as he scanned the stream of people leaving the building.

She stopped as a shiver of nerves slithered up her spine. Whatever was going on between them was intensifying faster than she was prepared for.

Shifting her bag to her other shoulder, she started forward again, knowing she was walking toward something no longer under her control.

The autumn wind sent a chill through her as she stepped out of the revolving door. Nathan straightened away from the car and met her in the middle of the sidewalk, sliding his hand under her blazer to the small of her back. He bent his head to murmur beside her ear, “To avoid shocking innocent bystanders, I’m not going to touch you any more than this until we’re in the car.”

“You have more self-control than I do.” She thought she might come just from the heat of his palm radiating through the thin fabric of her blouse. His breath rasped noticeably, and she felt a smug smile curl her lips.

He marched her to the Rolls, swinging open the door and offering his hand to her. She appreciated the steely support of his arm as she climbed into the dark interior, always conscious that an awkward position could reveal more to the public than she wanted to share. Sliding across the seams of the leather seat pushed her arousal up another notch.

Nathan settled on the seat beside her, his weight tilting her against his side as he pulled the car door closed. With a heavy, expensive thunk, they were shut away from the cold wind, the blare of horns, and the seething crowd. The opaque privacy screen between them and the driver was already raised—enclosing them in a warm, intimate cocoon of burnished leather, plush carpeting, and windows tinted nearly black.

“Chloe,” Nathan said as the car began to move, and then his hands were in her hair and he was tilting her mouth to his, devouring her as though she were a gourmet feast and he hadn’t eaten in weeks. He kissed her jaw, her temples, her eyebrows, her throat, and her eyelids.

She slid her hands under his suit jacket so she could feel the power of his muscles and the pulse of his heart against her palms. Then his hands were on her waist and he lifted her onto his lap, facing him. Her straight skirt rode halfway up her thighs as she straddled him, her knees resting on the seat. She didn’t dare sit down because she was so wet he might feel it through the expensive fabric of his trousers.

He raised no objections to her position as he shoved her blazer down and off before his fingers went to the buttons of her blouse. She reached beneath his arms to work his tie loose from its neat knot and rip it out of his shirt collar with a hiss of silk on cotton. He slid his fingers under her bra straps, the first touch of his skin against her bare shoulders making her suck in her breath with a hiss. Then he yanked the straps down along with her blouse so her breasts were bared. Suddenly, she was aware of the people walking just a few feet from the car. Even through the darkened glass, she could see their indistinct faces.

She started to bring her arms up to cover herself, but his hands were already at her breasts, massaging them and pressing against her peaked nipples.

“They can’t see in.” He’d noticed her moment of self-consciousness. “From outside, the windows are a solid black.” He pinched one nipple gently between his thumb and forefinger, sending a streak of electric pleasure directly to the yearning spot between her legs.

She grabbed his shoulders just in time to keep herself from arching so far back that she fell off the seat.

“It’s a safety precaution to prevent kidnapping attempts,” he said, doing the same to her other nipple, making her dig her fingers hard into his nearly unyielding muscles as she bowed back again. “If they can’t tell who’s inside the car, and how many, they’re less likely to attack. The glass and the privacy screen are bulletproof too.”

He stopped talking and took her now-sensitized nipple into the heat and wet of his mouth, using the slight roughness of his tongue to make her whimper with need. When he released it, the longing low in her belly intensified, and she needed pressure against it. Forgetting all about how she might stain his custom-made suit, she bent her knees and ground against the deliciously solid surface of his thigh.

His head was level with her own, and she let go of his shoulders to thread her fingers into the thick waves of his hair before she brought her mouth to his to feel that clever tongue against hers. While they explored each other’s mouths, his thumbs circled her nipples and she rotated her hips against his thigh in the same wild rhythm.

He dropped his hands to skim up the outside of her thighs, pushing the fabric of her skirt upward until his fingers hit bare skin where her panties should have been. He pulled away from their kiss and shoved her skirt up to her waist. As he looked down between them, his eyes went incandescent. “You got into my car without panties.” Sliding one finger inside the slickness of her, he smiled—a feral, tooth-baring expression of pure arousal. “And you’re ready.”

Pushing a button on the overhead control panel, he lifted her off his lap onto the cushion next to him. The seat facing them slid forward and unfolded to make a wider surface. “We’ll be more comfortable there,” he said.

Her knees were shaky from kneeling over his lap, so she put her palms on the edge of the opposite seat and crawled onto it.

“Stay like that.” His voice came from behind her.

She realized her skirt was still up around her waist, so she was completely exposed to him. For a moment she felt uneasy, but then she heard the quiet hiss of a zipper and the tearing sound of foil. The thought of him entering her from behind made her eyelids close as she sucked in a deep breath.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“I want you,” she said, sinking down onto her elbows to show him how much. It was a breathtakingly vulnerable position, and she waited with nervous anticipation to feel what he would do.

For a long moment, nothing happened and she started to shift. “Please,” he said, “let me just look at you. Once I touch you, I won’t last long.”

And then his hands were stroking along the curve of her buttocks, his fingers slipping inside her, his thumb pressing on the center of all sensation. She bowed her back downward, her cheek against the leather seat, and moaned as the exquisite shock of his touch reverberated through her, driving her to the edge of orgasm.

His fingers slid out of her and he took hold of her hips, lifting and angling them higher. She waited for a breathless moment, anticipating what was coming next, and then he was inside her, the sides of his suit jacket brushing against her thighs as he moved deep and hard.

One thrust was all it took to set off the convulsive explosion of her climax. She arched again as muscles clenched and released, sending delirious pleasure spinning through her. She turned her mouth into the leather to muffle the sounds wrenching themselves from her throat.

He’d gone still, letting her feel him filling her so she could savor her own finish. She could feel the effort it cost him by the bruising grip of his fingers on her hips. As the ripples of afterglow slowly diminished, he moved again, taking a long, slow stroke out and in, then holding himself there again as he let out a low, carnal “Ahh.” Now she could feel his muscles quivering as he fought to delay his own satisfaction.

His control broke and he began to move in a fast, primitive rhythm that made her pant as it built another coil of tension inside her. He seated himself deep within her and shouted her name as he pumped out his release, his hold on her nearly punishing.

She ground back against him, trying to reach the second orgasm he’d pushed her to. He slid his hand around and between her legs, flicking exactly the right spot to send her screaming over the edge.

She collapsed onto the seat, her bones melted by the double explosion. She heard a rustle of clothing and then he rolled her so he was lying beside her on the extended seat, his breath whistling past her ear, his arm wrapped around her waist to press her back against his chest. He crooked his knee behind hers so their thighs nested together.

She was shaken by how vulnerable she’d made herself to him without a qualm. This was dangerous territory because it involved more than just her body. She had given him her trust.

“Hello,” he said, his voice rumbling near her ear.

She couldn’t help smiling. “Aren’t we beyond that?”

“We’re back to that. Your missing panties robbed me of coherent speech.”

“You have very eloquent hands . . . and other body parts.”

“I’m trying to decide if I want to know if you took them off before or after the interview.”

Chloe was enjoying her unexpected role of femme fatale. “I—”

“Don’t tell me,” he broke in. “I can enjoy the fantasy without wanting to kill the fellow who interviewed you.”

“How do you know it wasn’t a woman?”

“Now that’s an interesting thought.” His tone was rich with innuendo.

“You too with the lesbian fantasies?” Chloe lightly smacked his arm.

He retaliated by nipping her earlobe, which sent a little arrow of heat zinging down between her legs. “They’re only fantasies, darling. I don’t share, even with other women.”

The heat blossomed at the raw possessiveness of his statement. And the
darling
.

His grip on her tightened. “How did the interview go?”

The question jolted her out of the delicious haze of sensual satisfaction she’d been drifting in. She became aware that she was lying on a car seat half-nude in broad daylight, wrapped in the arms of a fully clothed man whom she’d known for less than a week. “It went pretty well. I’m the last candidate they’re talking to, so the decision should be made quickly.”

She must have made a subtle shift away from him because Nathan’s hold on her waist became like steel.

“What kind of position is it?”

She repeated what Judith and her interviewer had told her. As she talked, she realized how dismal the position sounded; all it promised was a good salary and benefits and a way to avoid working for Larry Clarke. She’d accept the job if it was offered to her, but she would be bored. “I’d rather talk about what’s going on with the Prometheus project. Have you been back to help them?”

Now Nathan shifted. “I checked in on the team this afternoon between meetings.”

She heard the longing in his voice. “And you wanted to blow off the meetings and stay to work on it.”

“There was some temptation.”

After his reaction to her going commando, Chloe felt brave. “Send one of your dozens of executive VPs to the meetings. That’s why you have them.”

“The meetings are my responsibility.” His response was clipped.

“So is Prometheus.”

“I have to let my R and D staff do their jobs.”

“Why do you act as though working on Prometheus is some kind of guilty pleasure you should deny yourself? You would be doing your staff a favor by working on it.”

The silence was filled with the muffled hum of the Rolls’s engine and the occasional thump as they hit a pothole even the car’s weight and suspension couldn’t compensate for. Then he skimmed his hand up from her waist to cup her breast. “Speaking of pleasure,” he said, “we should have time for at least one more.”