Now, Please (7 page)

I climbed in the passenger side. There was no way I’d find my way back in the dark. “Guys like you don’t often think about things like that,” I said, as Hunter drove.

He reached across the space between us and gently took my hand. His fingers threaded through mine. “Are you sure you’re okay with my father’s comment?”

He was holding my hand!

I closed my eyes as the electricity jumped through the contact. I wanted more. I wanted all.

“I was acting, Hunter,” I said in a breathy voice. “I don’t care about anything he said, and I certainly don’t care what your dad thinks. He’s too impressed with himself to be worth my time. But I knew it was a dick thing to say, so I thought I’d make sure Bruce noticed it.”

Hunter parked and turned to me. The yellow light from the lamp next to us made his features appear as if they were carved in stone by some great master. His hand came up and rested on my chin lightly. His thumb traced my lower lip. I could barely see his eyes in the dim light, staring at my mouth.

“He did. I did,” Hunter whispered, bending closer. His lips barely glanced off mine, sending shooting sparks through my body.

I closed my eyes, feeling his breath mingle with mine. Feeling it quicken as he kissed the very edge of my mouth. “I can’t ignore how you affect me, Livy,” he said quietly. “I want to kiss you so bad it hurts.”

“Then kiss me, Hunter. Please.”

He pulled my head closer and leaned his forehead against mine. “I…can’t. I can’t do this.”

“Why?”

His hands came to the side of my face. I felt him trembling as his nose slid beside mine, bringing our lips closer again. We breathed the same air, hot and fast, wanting each other. So close.

He exhaled and backed away, regret dragging down his features. “Because I’m screwed up, Olivia.” Sorrow infused his tone. “Because I’m badly screwed up, and I’d just drag you down with me. Some people can get over issues in their past. Some people can heal. I’m not one of them.”

“What happened to you?”

He turned from me and exited the golf cart. “I was taken for a fool, and it scared me from wanting the things that others want. Come on.”

Tingling deep in my core, I followed him without comment. We wound through the corridor until we reached my room. He waited for me to unlock the door before opening it for me. He glanced at the connecting door, which was still closed.

When he looked back at me, fire fueled his gaze. “I want to fuck you, Olivia. But won’t if you’d rather not.”

His velvety voice licked up my center and stole my breath. I nodded dumbly, my sex still swollen from the golf cart and now pounding furiously.

“Come to me when you’re ready.”

T
he door closed
with a loud click that made me flinch. I turned to my suitcase, since I hadn’t put anything in the closet, and pawed through the various sexy items I’d brought. Black silk and lace slid through my fingers. I pulled it out and laid it on the bed before pulling out a garter as well.

The material whispered as it fell over my skin. The end stopped on my upper thigh, revealing the garter. Lace dipped low on my neckline, showing right up to my nipples before the silk took over. I slipped into red high heels before opening the inner door.

Hunter sat on his couch without a shirt. His perfectly cut upper body drew my gaze and made my mouth water. I entered his room before making a decision on location. I walked straight to the bed and pulled back the covers. I crawled to the center on all fours before I remembered his conversation earlier. He didn’t spend the night. He didn’t cuddle.

I didn’t want to be kicked out. I’d rather him leave when I was already asleep. No harm, no foul.

Kind of.

I backed out as he stood. As I moved back to my room, he met my eyes. I didn’t bother saying a word, just walked through the door. A flash of regret crossed his face. He knew what I was doing, and why.

I didn’t let it affect me. I needed his body against mine. I needed him inside me. If I had to go to bed alone, I’d do nothing but think of him. I didn’t care how deeply I was in—I was beyond being able to deny myself.

I lay down on my bed and flared out my hair, settling into a sexy pose as he entered. All he wore were silk boxers, having removed the rest of his clothes before stepping into my space. He approached the bed like an animal sensing prey. His eyes burned as they devoured my body.

He moved onto the bed until his side was pressed up against me. His hand ran over my stomach, feeling the material, before moving up, over the swell of my breast.

“You’re so beautiful.” His lips trailed along my jaw. He reached between my thighs, nudging them wider before moving the material away from my bare sex.

His breath grew heavy as his fingers trailed up my wet slit before circling the top lazily. One finger dipped into my body.

My breath hitched and my body arched. I spread my legs wider. Another finger joined the first as he lightly sucked on the fevered skin of my neck. His fingers plunged, making me grab for him.

His mouth moved down my chest. He pulled lace to the side, revealing my breast before sucking in a constricted nipple. I gave a strangled moan as his fingers moved more rapidly. Pleasure unfurled and moved through my body. I arched again, running my fingers through his hair.

He lifted my nightie and then kissed down my stomach, circling my navel with his tongue. His big body moved between my legs, sinking until I felt his hot mouth on my core. I cried out, arching up.

His fingers worked faster as his tongue swirled, firing shocks of intense desire through me. Pleasure wound through my body, tightened me up. I shivered and gyrated my hips up wildly. My muscles flexed. My breathing turned ragged. “Oh… Oh G…
Oh—
”

An orgasm rocked through me. I convulsed in ecstasy, squeezing my eyes shut as my body shuddered within the waves of pleasure.

“Good gracious,” I said in a breathy voice as all my muscles began to relax.

Hunter moved up quickly, not giving me long to revel. He pushed his briefs down and then off. His fingers wrapped around the base of his cock and moved his tip from the bottom to the top of my wetness. He positioned at my opening before laying his body fully on mine. He licked and bit up my neck as he pushed forward.

“Ooooh.” I sighed as he filled me. My eyes fluttered as I stretched around him, so deliciously full.

Pleasure started battering me almost immediately. I scratched up his back and squeezed his middle with my thighs. His thick length moved within me. My hips swung up to him, taking him deep. With panting breath, I pushed his face up until his lips hovered just above mine. I could feel the heat of his breath and the roll of his body.

My hands trailed down his broad back to his butt. I gripped harder, pulling him into me as my hips pushed up to meet him.

“Yes, Olivia,” he growled, pounding into me. He hit off me with a wet smack, the sounds of sex filling the room.

“Mmmm,
harder
,”
I said, closing my eyes.

His body rocked into me with more force. So deep. So filling.

I hugged him close as he labored. “Yes, Hunter,” I said, rocking up.

“Livy…” His voice coated me with longing. With both passion and pleasure, but also with a feeling deeper than I’d heard in his voice before. More substantial.

I opened my eyes to see him looking down on me, his eyes liquid brown in the dim light. His gaze settled on my lips as fear covered his face, but still he bent toward me, barely glancing his lips off mine. “Livy…” His emotion showed in his eyes, in his deep, passionate thrusts, making it impossible for me to speak.

I rose, trying to capture his kiss. Trying to cross the barrier that terrified him. Wanting to protect him with love and support.

He hugged me tightly as his movements got smaller, but infinitely more potent. His lips glanced off mine again but still didn’t connect. His tongue came out and licked my bottom lip.

I moaned, everything so tight. The movements so intense. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak.

With his next powerful thrust, I shattered. A swell of pleasure pulled me under. I clutched Hunter, squeezing him close as I cried out my release. He shook a moment later, groaning.

The sound of our labored breath filled the room. One by one, my muscles relaxed, and then melted. I closed my eyes, content with his weight and warmth on top of me. With his body still inside me.

He shifted and kissed my cheek tenderly. He moved to the side, turning me to face away from him before curling up behind. His arms still hugged me close. My back pressed into his hard chest.

I slipped my hand into his and settled more firmly into the pillow. I knew he’d wait until I fell asleep, and that my back would be cold when I woke in the morning. But I did not regret these times with him. Not for one moment. He kept saying he couldn’t love, but each time we were together was more intense. More passionate. He gave in just that little bit more. I just needed to be patient.

T
he phone
in my room rang. I paused with my brush caught in my hair and dashed over. “Hello?”

“Olivia, this is Bruce.”

“Oh hey.” I yanked on the brush, wincing as my head yanked with it.

“I was thinking about heading to the lagoon in a while, if you’d still like to join me?”

“Yeah, sure. You know, there’s a spot closer to the hotel that has better Wi-Fi, if you’d rather go there?”

“Great. Where?”

I explained the location to Bruce, a place Hunter had found and texted me about an hour before. Bruce confirmed we’d meet in half an hour before hanging up.

I yanked at my brush again, trying to dislodge it. My hair was a rat’s nest from all the rolling around I’d done with Hunter last night.

My heart warmed at the thought.

He’d lain with me until I’d fallen asleep, as I’d expected. What I hadn’t expected was waking up in the small hours of the morning as he slipped his arm out from under me before quietly making his way back to his own room. I wasn’t sure if it was another compromise, that he’d loaned his body heat and comfort to reduce the sting of his father from earlier, or if he’d stayed for his own benefit.

One explanation made more sense than the other, but hope was a dangerous thing. I chose not to think about it much. It was safer that way.

I threw on a sweater and took to my hair again, working the tangles out one by one, another lesson in patience. That done, I slipped into my sneakers and grabbed my computer. Hunter said I was to devote as much time to Bruce as needed. He was my sole focus. If Bruce wanted to blow off work and stick our toes in the lagoon while drinking margaritas, my job was to say, “Absolutely.” As Bruce was a really cool guy, I wouldn’t be at all put out if he did!

With a bounce in my step, I pushed through the door of the building, headed to my trusty sidekick, the golf cart. As I turned the corner, I bumped into a tall, robust man.

“Oh, sorry,” I muttered, stepping to the side to clear the way.

“Not at all.” Rodge smiled down at me, a look that had probably knocked women out when he was younger.

“Excuse me,” I said, skirting by him.

“You’re going to meet Bruce, I take it?” Rodge stepped with me, shadowing me to the empty space where my golf cart should’ve been.

I glanced around, seeing not just the absence of my golf cart, but of
all
the golf carts.

“They must’ve cleaned up. Here, I’ll walk you,” Rodge said, holding his hand out to the right.

I started walking left. “No thanks.”

“Hunter is putting a lot of faith in you,” Rodge said as he followed me.

“I can make it on my own, Rodge. I don’t need an escort.”

“No, it doesn’t seem you do.” His voice dropped an octave, taking on a rougher tone I hadn’t heard him use before. “You’ve done just fine moving in on my man. What you need is a roadblock.”

Invisible ants crawled up my spine. That sounded like a threat.

I started walking a little faster, glancing down at my map.

“I’ve worked very hard on Donnelley, Olivia. Very hard. And in one night—
one
night—you unraveled everything I’ve meticulously put together. It’s disappointing.”

“Hunter’s a smart man. He knows your tricks, and he’s combating them with a more effective method.”

“You think you know Hunter, do you?” He chuckled, a dark, grating sound. “No one knows my son like I do. He’ll cut out the throats of those closest to him to get what he wants. You think he’s letting you learn a new hobby right now? He’s not. He’s using you to get this mark. After that, he’ll return to just using you for sex. Not that I blame him. I’ll bet you’re a wild little thing…”

I clutched my computer bag a little tighter. “He was completely honest about the situation with Bruce. You’re not telling me anything I don’t know.”

“I see. You like being used, do you? It turns you on. Then maybe you should try the man who created the boy…” Rodge put a firm hand on my shoulder.

Small arms of fear wrapped around my middle. I shrugged him off, fighting panic.

He won’t do anything. He’s trying to scare you, Olivia. He’s trying to get under your skin.

It was working.

“I’m not going to lose this deal to a sniveling little boy, Olivia,” Rodge continued in that rough, low voice, walking so close to me that his side brushed mine. “I can make it worth your while. Name your price.”

“I’m not for sale.”

“Aren’t you? Then you let my son treat you like a prostitute for free?”

I recalled Hunter’s continued warnings that he wouldn’t love me. That I shouldn’t care for him, because he wouldn’t return the affection. Part of me wondered if what Rodge implied was at least partially true. And I hated myself for even considering it.

“I’ll let you think that over,” Rodge said, slowing.

His presence drifted away as I walked around a bend. Practically running, I looked around to make sure I was alone, and then staggered into a cluster of trees. Leaning against the bark, I took deep, sob-choked breaths, trying to calm down. Working to erase that smooth, taunting voice from my head.

I knew what I was doing with Hunter. I knew why I’d given him a chance, and it wasn’t trading skin for money. It
was
different. He’d broken his protocol for me—he hadn’t made me sign that contract in the end. That had to count for something.

So why did I feel so gross?

I wiped away the angry, self-despising tears and composed myself. Rodge was good at getting under people’s skin. I couldn’t let him win by doing it to me.

I put on a blasé mask and walked into the area housing the man-made lagoon that looked just like the one I had sat beside yesterday. Bruce was sitting at a table near the water with an array of papers spread out in front of him.

“Hey, I was just—” Bruce cut off as his eyes scanned my face. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged off my bag and turned my face down. Obviously the mask wasn’t a great one.

“If Hunter gave you grief about doing this, we can schedule—”

“No, no.” I waved him away as I pulled out my computer. “Hunter’s fine. I just ran into Rodge. He’s…less than thrilled I’m taking face time away from his favorite client.”

I laughed, playing it off like a joke as I brought out my phone. “This is a nice place.”

Bruce glanced around before returning his gaze to my face. Concern had his brow furrowing, but he didn’t push. Instead, he nodded and said, “Yeah. I thought you’d picked it out. Women are always drawn to pretty things. Or so my wife says, at any rate.”

I smiled, letting his unassuming company clear away the dark places Rodge had brought out in me. “Pretty and shiny. Remember that when you need to get her a present.”

“Oh yeah. After twenty-five years of marriage, I’ve learned that lesson.”

He grabbed a piece of paper from the table and flung it in my direction. “That’s what I was thinking.”

And just like that, his extreme focus took over. He’d just switched to work mode.

I laughed, grabbing the piece of paper. Several screen shots of a battle scene were displayed with various combat men pointing guns at each other.

“What?” Bruce asked, looking over the other pages.

“If I wasn’t used to Hunter, your sudden mood shift would be jarring.”

“Oh.” Bruce scoffed. “Yeah, that’s a personality flaw. I take some getting used to.”

I looked over the images and corresponding notes. I glanced at the other sketches littering the table, trying to work out what he was suggesting. “This is some sort of war game, right?”

“I’m torn between snipers and shoot ’em up.”

“You’re not going to pull in a whole lot of females, that’s for sure. This is a male-dominated category.”

Bruce tossed another page at me, this one a pie chart. Market research, I’d bet. “Big money possibilities, though.”

“Yes, without a doubt. If you do this right, you could have a very lucrative hobby.”

“Lots of competition…” Bruce drummed his fingers.

“Lots. Lots and lots.” I laid down the paper. “But what doesn’t? Puzzle games do, arcade—they are big categories for a reason. Trying anything new would need even more marketing.”

“So put out a cash cow now, and try to invent something new when we have some funds built up…” Bruce kept drumming his fingers as he looked at his notes.

“We, huh?” I smiled, looking over a printout of some of his scripts. “I’m a partner now, am I?”

“Yup. Two people working together go way faster than just one. Besides, once I’ve sold my company, I’ll have a way of getting out of boring conversations.”

I gave him a confused look. He grinned. “I’ll have to take your
very
important calls.”

I barked out a laugh. “Got it.” I pushed my computer to the side and glanced at his. “Okay, let’s see what ya got.”

As soon as he started talking about his ideas, and how he was trying to go about them, it was as if I’d known him all my life. We just clicked. Two hours passed that seemed like ten minutes. We worked off each other easily, each job taking less than half the time it would have done alone. I was having so much fun that when his phone beeped, I very nearly hoped he’d just silence it so we could keep going.

“Back to the grindstone,” Bruce said with a sigh, turning off his alarm.

I gave a sound like a whine, probably reminding him of my age. In response, he chuckled as he gathered up his notes.

“Why are you here, if you’re selling your business?” I asked, saving and closing out of my programs. I’d have to go back to the endless stream of emails now, looking at things Hunter wanted me to know that were way above my pay grade.

“Truthfully, I wanted to understand the best way to go about business so that I might be able to handle this hobby without losing control like I did of the other one.”

“Your other business just blew up?”

Bruce packed his computer away. “Almost overnight, yes. I just started hiring people and shoved work at them, trying to keep up with demand. Everything just…got way out of control. Way over my head.”

“I hear that.” I leaned my elbows on the table, watching him get ready to go to his next meeting.

When he was done, he turned straight to me and said, “Tell me the truth—is the Hunter Carlisle I saw last night legit, or is he putting on a persona to gain my business?”

I didn’t even hesitate. “That’s him. A jerk with a ‘please’ problem, but genuine. He’s always taken care of those around him. I told you that when I first met you.”

Bruce’s expression turned incredulous. “I wouldn’t have thought it. I thought he was a hard-ass, excuse my language. Only in it for himself. The arrogant way he goes about explaining himself just rubs me wrong. I thought he’d tear down everything I built to rip out a few gold nuggets to add to his coffers.”

“He might,” I said in all seriousness. “It’s got nothing to do with you, but he’s obsessed with efficiency and productivity—if something isn’t working, he’ll tear it down and rebuild. He’ll make your company shine in the long run, but first he’ll completely reshape it to make it fit in his company. I’ve heard enough stories around the office to know that he is a genius when it comes to that sort of thing. That’s why he has his job. And keeps his job. But yeah, he can be a dick. No two ways about it.”

Bruce barked out laughter. “Your honesty is refreshing. With the way he looked after you last night, I saw a different man than the one I’ve met in the past. Completely different. Made me think a little harder about what he was saying.”

“Preaching to the choir. His driver wanted to punch him in the face a few times. But he’s still there and happy as a clam.”

Bruce tilted his head in that way people did when they resigned themselves to a different way of thinking. “You oughta know.”

“Yep.” I pulled my computer back in front of me.

“I’ll email you all our notes with a list of things we can tackle immediately before we plan the next leg.”

“Please remember that when you find yourself with entire days to fill, I’ll still have a fifty- to sixty-hour-a-week job…”

He shouldered his computer bag. “No promises.”

I opened my first email and groaned immediately. “Hunter, give me a break!”

Bruce’s laugh boomed as he walked away.