Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) (48 page)

“Christ. Maybe I should have asked for it honey coated. How do I fix that? I’m sure you know a way one, right?”

Pete nodded. She liked Mr. Mackey. He was a straight up sort of guy and he didn’t pull any punches either.

“Yes, I do. When a person signs onto his computer with his badge, they’re on the clock and in the department they’re working, same to sign off again. The program is inexpensive and easy to install. I can do that for you in less than two hours. The badges that you use already have the program installed. I just need to turn it on and set up the computer mainframe to recognize it. The other issue you have is your accounting department.”

“Accounting? I thought we’d worked those out when you were here before. You mean there are things going on now, or something we missed?”

“The program is fine. It’s your entire department. Were you aware that most of the time used in that department is online shopping, Internet usage not pertaining to work, Facebook, eBay and other sites that are costing you major downtime? About sixty-four percent of the day, as a matter of fact. If you take that service off their system grid, you can lower the percentage of people in that department alone by fifty-six percent with a payroll savings of four hundred thousand per year. Less people will also mean less mistakes and less access to your bank accounts. That will also make the department’s productivity rise up to nearly ninety-six percent.”

“Can’t I just tell them not to use those sites unless they’re on their breaks?” Mackey asked.

“You can ask until you’re blue in the face, but the truth is, no one thinks they’re using the Internet all that much. If you asked most of them, they would probably tell you they’re only on it for a few minutes, when in actuality, they’ve been on it nearly their entire shift. No, I would remove the temptation.”

Shelia was frantically writing notes, trying to keep up with her, so Pete reached into her backpack and handed her a copy of what she had found. She leaned back in her chair and waited.

“You found this all out in two days? Christ, I wonder what you could find if you were here for a month. I shudder to think how much more I’m losing daily in my other departments. I take it you have that program with you now and that you have a general idea who should be let go in the accounting department?” Mackey stood up and began pacing the room.

Pete bristled. Damn it, she had not asked to come here. He had asked her to find his mistakes. She’d had enough of people for awhile. As soon as she left here, she decided, she was becoming a hermit.

“Mr. Mackey, if you don’t like what I’ve just told you, fine. No harm done, I’ll just move on. I gave you the information you asked for. I don’t give a rat’s ass if you use it or trash it. Everything you need is right there in your daughter’s file. If you’ll both excuse me, I have another job.” She had gathered up her pack and was nearly to the door when he stopped her.

“Wait, Miss Bartholomew, Pete. I’m a businessman and I have a business that you’ve just told me is losing money, not by my hand, but by employee theft. I didn’t mean to imply what you are telling me is your fault. On the contrary. It’s just that in the past two hours, you have torn apart my whole payroll system and told me I’m losing half a million a year paying my accounting department for shopping online. That’s a lot to handle. I guess I needed it a little more honey coated than I thought. Please, Miss Bartholomew, come have a seat.”

She came back into the office and continued to break apart each department one by one. The money he was losing and the profit he would make by following her suggestions was staggering. When he followed her plan and there really was no doubt he was going to follow everything to the letter, she thought, he would see a net profit of three million in the first year and a twenty-eight percent increase each year following that, she told him.

On Friday morning, Pete received her consulting check from the Mackey Corp. The amount on the check was well over what they had agreed upon. When she asked to see him about it, Shelia took her into her new office and explained that they had discussed her plans and what the company’s profit and loss statement would look like once her suggestions were implemented, and the board had decided to pay her salary and a percentage of the profits they would net thanks to her.

“They were only being fair since you had found the money in the first place. We would have had to have paid a consulting firm had we brought them in. And Daddy is sure that they would not have found near the amount of mistakes that you did. Take the money, Miss Pete. You earned every penny of it.”

Overwhelmed and slightly dazed, Pete left the offices.

She went to the bank that was holding the account open for the house being built by the Becca Foundation, the account set up to pay for Becca’s Place and put half of the check, one million dollars of it, into the account. She then took out her list of people she helped out and she and the bank assistant put money into over sixty accounts, enough for some of these people to live on for a couple of months more without losing their houses, cars, or both, and with enough left over to pay the utilities and buy food within that time frame as well.

Most of the people she helped had no idea that a single person was helping them. It was just as well. Pete would have been thoroughly embarrassed to have them know. The bank assistant could lose her job if anyone got upset about Pete putting money into their accounts, but so far, no one had complained. The assistant manager had told her that she must notify each person who was helped and not to ever mention the donor’s name. Everyone was happy about that arrangement, especially Pete.

CHAPTER TEN

“Miss Pete, it is I, Dunc. I was wondering if you could call me at the mansion as soon as you are free? I have a problem with one of the computers.”

Pete listened to the message again and then re-read the handful of phone messages from the same phone number, and a few with a name she did not know. She didn’t want to go back there. She didn’t even want to call the number. She went to the payphone in the hall and waited for one of the other residents to get off then made the dreaded call.

“It’s Pete, Dunc, what can I do for you?” It was nearly seven o’clock on Friday night, and she knew that the vampires would be awake soon if they were not already.

“Oh, miss, I was wondering if you could please come by and look at my kitchen computer? It will not…well, it will not do what I want it to. I have rebated it several times and I have unplugged it as well, but I’m having no luck.”

“You rebooted it, Dunc, not rebated it, but I’ll be over in about an hour. Is there anything else? I mean, I have a lot of messages here from someone named Dominic Marshall.”

“Master Dominic stays here, miss. He is the man who brought you here when the babies were born. I do not know why he has been calling. Would you like me to ask him to stop?”

“No. No, I guess...he can call if he wants. Doesn’t mean I’ll return his call. Is he there now?” So that was his name.

She had thought of the kiss a lot over the past week. Her heartbeat would speed up at the thought of how he had claimed her mouth, devoured her really. His body pressing hard against hers made her nipples hard just to think about it. Then she would remember how he had pushed her away from him and she would be embarrassed all over again.

“No, miss, he has not been here for a couple of days now.”

Pete wondered, not for the first time, how much the household knew about them and their tempestuous relationship. She had beaten up three large men when she had left the last time. She knew that if they had wanted to, any of them could have kept her there, but they had not wanted to hurt her and they would have too. Of this she had no doubt.

She and Duncan made arrangements for her to be there in an hour and hung up. She had gotten all her tools back from Toby and gathered them up to take with her. She was just putting them into her saddle bags when she felt the first touch.

They had found her. It would only be a matter of time now before they showed up, very little time before they tried to stake their claim again. She knew as soon as she had helped the babies they would come. Her family, they were coming for her. She went back into her little room and made sure there was nothing there she could not live without. She could not come back, not now, not without endangering the other people living there too. She found Booger and gave him her part of the rent for the next two months and left.

Pete showed up at the outer gate forty-five minutes later. She drove through and up the drive just as Dominic appeared in the kitchen. When she walked in the door and saw him, she nearly turned around and left. But he stepped toward her and stopped when she stiffened.

“I was wondering if I may talk with you after you fix Duncan’s computer? Please?” he asked. He did not come any closer to her to, which she was both happy and upset about.

“All right, I suppose so. But you’ll not touch me again. I don’t even want you to come close to me. Understand?”

He agreed that he only wanted to talk. So she sat at the kitchen desk top and worked through what Duncan had done. To her surprise, it took her nearly two hours to muddle through the problem. It should have taken less time, but her mind kept drifting to the man in the other room. It was not until she pulled it away from the wall to check the connection that she noticed he had switched around the input cables. She switched them back and sat back while the machine rebooted. She looked at the man hovering about the kitchen with her.

“You know,” Pete said, not looking at Duncan. “Once I agreed to talk to him, you could have told me what you had done to get me here. It would have saved everyone a few hours of waiting for me to find it.”

“I’m sure I do not know what you are talking about, Miss Pete. But having someone stew in their own juices has never hurt anyone. And if I were a young lady such as you, I would not take any poop from him either,” Duncan said with a snort.

Pete laughed and didn’t even bother correcting him. She really liked Dunc and would certainly miss the odd little man. She waited until the computer finished its set up then went to find Dominic.

He was in the half room, so called because it was halfway between the living room and the dining room. When either of the two rooms needed extra space, the pocket doors could be slid into place, making the rooms appear to be one.

She walked in and stood near the doors. She was not sure what she was supposed to call him, or how to address him, so she did neither.

“You wanted to speak to me?”

“Yes, thank you for allowing me this time. I wanted to apologize to you for my behavior the other night. I...I don’t have an excuse for the way I acted.” He stayed seated. She looked around the large room and saw that they were alone.

“Are you telling me you’re sorry for the way you acted or that you kissed me then pushed me away?” Leave it to me, she thought, to get to the heart of the matter. “Or is it because you kissed me at all? You know, it doesn’t really matter. Thanks. I’ll be going now.” But she couldn’t make herself walk away.

~~~

Dominic stared at her. She was really quite beautiful and he suddenly realized that he had never seen what color her eyes were. Sara had said they were unique, but he wanted to, no, he needed to see them for himself.

“Why do you wear sunglasses all the time?”

His question threw her off, he could tell. And he was just a little bit glad about it. She had thrown him off at least daily since the first time he saw her.

“They put people off. The color, I mean, it puts people off. They don’t know what to do when they see them, so I wear the glasses to hide them. Plus, the light makes my eyes sore a little and sunlight can give me a migraine if I’m not too careful. Most people believe me to be weird anyway. This is just another thing for them to speculate on. You didn’t answer me.”

“No, I didn’t. I’m not sure I want you to know my answer just yet. May I see them? I just realized that I have never seen your eyes.” Dominic wanted to go to her, but he waited, waited for her to indicate that she would not bolt if he did. He wanted to touch her, feel her skin next to his again, but he didn’t, for her.

She shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “What do I care? I warned you about them.” He walked slowly across the room to her, and when he was less than a foot from her, he started to reach up and remove the glasses from her face. He looked down at her then and silently asked for permission to remove them. Instead of answering, she reached up and pulled them off, closing her eyes against the sudden brightness of the room as she did so.

When she opened them, Dominic slowly reached out and cupped both cheeks in his large hands and tilted her head at a better angle to the light. He studied her intently, moving her head this way and that to watch the light reflect off of the brilliant silver color. He looked down at her then, really looked at her face when her saw her tongue slip out from between her lips and lick them moist. And if that wasn’t enough to make him groan, she worried her full lower lip with her teeth. He watched the whole process with great fascination.

“Are you satisfied?”

Her whispered innocent question brought an immediate response from his already hardened cock. He could tell her in a word just how unsatisfied he was at the moment, but could not make his throat work around the sudden dryness of this mouth. He wanted her with every fiber of his being. And he was suddenly very glad he was holding her. He was sure that if he wasn’t, she would leave him.

“Pete...Pete, tell me your name. Your real name, I mean. Mine is Dominic Patrick Marshall. I’m originally from England, old England.”

“Why?” Her voice was husky and smooth. She licked her lips again. Her own body was responding to his closeness and he could smell her arousal. He watched her eyes become a darker shade of silver, more brilliant in their color as the moments passed and he touched her.

“Tell me, please. I need to know.”

His answer was not very good, but as he had said it, he leaned forward and kissed the side of her mouth. A light kiss, small tastes of her as it were.

“It’s...it’s Piccadilly. Piccadilly Fresno. I want you to step back away from me. You...you’re making me nervous. You have to...you need to...please, Dominic, I…”

“Yes, Piccadilly, I need it too. I very much need it too.” His mouth brushed hers once more then he deepened it to a kiss.

His kiss demanded a response from her and he got it. There was no timid response from her this time or between them. With his hands still on her cheeks, he pressed her mouth open for his and tasted her. He captured her groan as it rumbled from deep and moved across his tongue like a taste, a taste like ambrosia. Dominic shifted her body to his left and used his right hand to cup her ass, tightening her hard against him. Lifting her feet up off of the floor, Dominic felt her pour over him.

Never had he felt this way about sex or a woman. No, he realized, not sex. This had moved beyond just sex. This was a claiming; he needed to claim her. Shifting her again, he ran his hands along her thighs and helped her wrap those incredible legs around him. He was not going to take her here for as much as he wanted to. He needed to make love to her in his lair, in his bed.

Dominic, with Pete wrapped around him, moved to the panel in the far wall that would take them to the lower levels and opened it. The trip took them longer because neither could stop touching, kissing exposed flesh, marveling at new tastes. He’d had to try several times to get his door to open because he kept losing his concentration on an otherwise easy task.

Finally, the door sprang open, and he pulled her close again and moved into the room. With a swift kick, the door slammed and locked behind them. He wanted to slow down; he wanted to rip her clothes off and take her while standing there. He wanted to taste her slowly, savor her body. He also wanted to sink his cock deep inside of her, fuck her until neither of them could stand. His body ached, his need was incredible.

“Piccadilly, I need you, baby. Tell me. Tell me that you need me as well. I want to hear you say it, tell me.”

He cupped her breast through the shirt she had on and knew that she was bare beneath it. His already heated blood felt as though lava was racing along his veins, through him. He felt her arch into his palm, the nipple hard against his thumb. He bent down and took it into his mouth, nipping at it through the material, soaking it through.

When her approval of a hissed yes spilled from her mouth, Dominic felt as though he could take on the world. She pulled him closer to her breast by grabbing a handful of his hair and holding him there. Her hips began to move against his groin and his cock, making it difficult for him to think.

Dominic could smell her now. Her arousal was hot and heavy, making him crazy with need. He reached between them and yanked his shirt in half, buttons from the front flying all over the room. Hers was next. The thin material of her t-shirt didn’t stand a chance against this primal need to be with her. This time, when he suckled at her breast, he tasted her skin, the heady taste that was unique to her.

He moved up her neck and along her jaw, nipping still and sucking on her hot skin. Her body was as on fire as his. He pulled her lower body from his and heard her whimper. He knew how she felt, but it would be worth the moment of separation as he pulled the snap open to her pants and slid the zipper down. She soon got the idea and began working the belt loose to get to his button as well. By the time he had managed to get his hands down the back of her pants and cupped her bare ass again, she had his pants undone and was stroking his cock through his briefs. The bed even at three feet away was too far. They would never make it, he thought with a grin. And if she kept touching him as she was now, he was not going to last much longer anyway.

Dropping to his knees before her, he stripped her off the rest of her clothing. Standing before him was the most magnificent sight he had ever had the pleasure of gazing upon.

He looked up at her and saw that her eyes had turned and were now glowing. His own eyes had turned as well. He could see her through the red haze of his heightened state of need. Running his hands up her legs to her thighs, he never stopped looking at her face as she spoke to him.

“We need to stop. I don’t think this is a very good idea. I don’t…I don’t think I like you very much. And we…this is going way beyond us just talking.”

“No, I don’t think so. I’m going to taste you, love you with my mouth until you scream my name over and over.” He flicked his finger up the seam of her nether lips. “Here, here is where I’m going to taste you.” He could feel her heat. See the wetness gathering in the curls there. Slowly, he inserted his finger into her, stretching her, widening and separating his fingers as he pumped them in and out of her, into her heat and wetness. When she started to close her eyes, he stopped her.

“Pete, honey, watch me. Watch me as I stretch you for me. I’m going to bury my cock deep inside of you, feel you wrap around me. I’m going to ready your body for me. Then I’m going to fuck you, make you mine. Watch me.”