Rose Blood (8 page)

They stopped outside his bedroom door and he smiled at her wickedly.

“I’m just going to put something around your eyes, so you don’t peek too soon. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure, go ahead.” She loved playful things… and this sounded interesting!

He opened a tall chest of drawers which stood next to his room and got out a silky looking scarf.

“Come here then” She obviously liked a bit of fun and he was up for that too… he tied it around her head. “How does that feel?”

“Nice actually” Rather exciting in fact as it smelled rather delicious, of him she presumed…

He took her hand and led her blindfolded into the bedroom.

“I’m going to take it off in a minute, but first stand very still. This is a very short pre kiss before we get to the sample… ready?”

“Sort of a sample of a sample then?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what it is, just a tiny taster”

His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her closely to him. She could feel the heat of him against her. She waited for the first touch and there it was, light as a feather he brushed her lips with his. And again, and again… but what was that now? She could feel his teeth gently biting her lower lip and his hot breath mingling with hers… A surge of pure desire shot through her body. A gasp escaped from her, she couldn’t stop it. And this was just the pre-kiss? She was in trouble here…

“Nice pre kiss Rose? I’m taking the scarf off now and you can have your peek.” He untied it and dropped it on the floor.

She stood and looked at him in a pre kissed daze. Her eyes finally wandered around his bedroom.

He had a pure white room. She was surprised.

“It’s not very playboyish in here, is it?”

“What did you expect, black satin sheets and red velvet drapes?”

“Kinda did I’m afraid… ”

“Rose you don’t know me at all … Seen enough?”

“Not much to see is there. It’s all white, white, white… I’m getting snowblind looking at it all!”

“I have blue cushions…”

“So you do! I’m so snowblind I didn’t see them straight away. It’s actually quite lovely Marcus. Quite unexpected but I really like it.”

“So… ready for the sample then, now that you’ve had your peek, and rather a long one in fact…”

“Mmmm… alright then… I’m ready. Bring it on Mr super kisser”

He moved them further into the room, almost next to the bed.

“Oh yeah? … don’t even think about it…”  That seemed to amuse him as he smiled at her.

“What I’m thinking is none of your damn business Rose…”

She watched his much too handsome face as it descended towards hers. This was crazy, what on earth was she doing in Marcus DeVere’s bedroom, having samples on his first invite? What’s more, she’d be the envy of the entire female population of the world if they only but knew…!

As his lips touched hers she felt tremors run down her body. He pulled her tightly to him and began an all out assault on her mouth, her tongue and her brain. She tried extremely hard not to but ended up kissing him back with quite a lot of enthusiasm. Her arms wound themselves tightly around his neck and her eyes fluttered open and closed as her mind wandered off in a purely sensual state of being. His hands were in her hair and moving down around the softness of her neck, his soft and gentle fingertips started exploring behind her acutely sensitive ears… then his lips ran over her face, up and down her neck and around her ears, licking, sucking, grazing her with his teeth… she was so full of lust for him it hurt… her legs were feeling odd, weak, wobbly…

She broke away from him remembering Harry… That was quite, quite enough! She didn’t want this to go any further and fixed Harry’s face in her mind.… She felt so incredibly guilty about him as she had enjoyed her time here much too much.

“Marcus… this is going way beyond a sample now … and you’ve just created a new category of kiss too”

“Rose come here …” He pulled her down on the bed to sit next to him.

“No Marcus, please don’t…”

“Hey, stop panicking … I promise you I’m not going to try it on … But I’d really like it if you’d kiss me back now.”

“Marcus, I just did!”

“No, that was me kissing you mostly.”

“This isn’t part of the deal”

“No, I know. But I thought you might want to. Just a goodnight kiss Rose, then Jeff will run you home… you to me, sound good?”

He lay down on the bed and turned on his side towards her giving her one of his looks… He was far too good looking and charming and he knew it, she couldn’t resist him for a second…

“Don’t I get even a small peck on the cheek?”

“Alright then Marcus….to thank you for my lovely evening and all the business contacts you introduced me to, I think that might deserve one more kiss…” Just one more and she would go. Yes, a nice special one in fact… not a peck on the cheek though… he would certainly remember this one…

He lay with his hands behind his head watching her. She kicked off her shoes and knelt next to him on the bed, her arms either side of his chest. She bent down and started her thank you and goodnight kiss. Her lips touched his and he remained completely still beneath her. She kissed him very gently and softly, teasing him a little with the tip of her tongue… her mind was full of him again… she deepened the kiss a little more and lay down across him, still no movement or reaction… he seemed to be very controlled… she tested him out with her own rather lovely super kisser techniques. Aha! There was something going on at last… heavy breathing had started in fact, she ground her mouth down hard on his and polished him off with a superb tongue full of her whilst she ran her fingers around his neck and ears…

There, that should do it!

She made to get up, the kiss over.

Marcus took hold of her and rolled her over on her back.

“No … don’t go now … kiss me like that again…”

Why she didn’t stop it there and then she’ll never know. She didn’t seem to have any resistance to him or any conscience about what she was doing either… His hand moved around the back of her head, fingers in her hair pulling her face hard against his and they were both kissing each other again, and it was much too passionate to her mind. It went on for quite a while… He was lying on top of her, his very obvious hardness between them. They wrapped their legs around each other in a sensual dance of delight. His breathing was heavy and fast matching hers… his fingers were slipping under one of the wide satin straps of her dress… she wanted him like crazy and gave herself up willingly to whatever was to follow…  how could she possibly want two different men so very much, it just wasn’t right… She was in love with Harry for God’s sake… But that thought didn’t stop her.

“Marcus, this seems to be going full on right now.”

He was kissing her neck with a lot of enthusiasm.

“No, it isn’t…” his mouth watered with her delicious scent and the taste of her… he licked her neck again for the final time.

“Kinda seems that way to me and I’ve got used to the idea.”

“It’s just a heated kiss Rose. We’re going to stop right now.”

“We are? Well that’s a surprise!”

“Not for me… I am quite the gentleman actually… heated kissing is all we are doing tonight Rose.” His thoughts weren’t at all gentlemanly in fact and his desire to taste her was all too strong. But she wasn’t quite ready for him yet. He wanted it all, everything she had to offer… he would wait… not for much longer though… He wasn’t that much of a saint.

He broke away and stood up running his fingers through his hair and straightening himself up. The lust he felt was brimming over. His mouth was swimming with the exquisite taste of her. He needed to calm down and fast.  His tongue pushed against his teeth for a second and he fought back the reaction to it digging his nails into his palms. For a few seconds more he stared at the vision of female beauty lying before him on his snow white bed, in her black dress, surrounded by her long dark hair. Her face was a little flushed and she looked confused, more than a little rejection was evident in her lovely eyes.

He felt the hunger rushing through him in waves, blinding him with its intensity… he had an overpowering need and desire for her.

“Jeff will take you home now.”

He turned and left the room to get his phone from his jacket and call Jeff. She needed to go right now.

That was all much too close for comfort. But she needed to be far more desperate for him first. He’d let this evening sit in her mind for a while first…

He’d wait for 3% day… whatever that may bring.

He had just put her on his full list – right at the very top…

Chapter 14

Rose walked into the office lift the following day in an odd and confused mood. Her love life had morphed from non existent to rather more than she could handle and far too complicated in the last few days. She was in love with one man and in lust with another it would seem. The fund must come first, she told herself sternly. No matter what else happened and how events changed in her personal life, that must remain constant.

She was still coming to terms with the rather strange end to her evening. Marcus had simply disappeared from the room with scarcely a word said. His driver had arrived a few minutes later and had escorted her to the car and she had been driven home. It had been odd, downright peculiar in fact. One minute heat and passion, the next, gone…

She initially thought it was perhaps something she had done or said, but thinking the events over and over, she could see no particular fault of hers.

Had Marcus simply changed his mind?

Anyway… if he didn’t have the decency to at least say goodnight, she wasn’t going to bother with him. He was just a fund after all. A big pot of money. End of! Still, she couldn’t get him out of her mind. He had really got her going and swept her off her feet with his playboy charm, his perfect pre kiss and scorching hot samples…

As she left the lift and turned to enter the office she had a rather big surprise. On the top of her desk sat a bunch of pink roses in a beautiful hand tie arrangement with a whipped up massive white bow. She was quite sure Harry hadn’t sent them judging by the look on his face right now. He wouldn’t have anyway… no way would he be this blatant in the office. How had Marcus got these here so fast… it was only 8 in the morning!  Money helped obviously.

As she approached her desk a loud round of cheering and whistling sounded out from her work colleagues. She looked around in disgust. They were making all kinds of obscene gestures.

She gave them the finger up sign with two hands.

“The show’s over you sad bunch of bastards…” She sat down at her desk in front of the flowers. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. She turned her head to Harry who sat still and stony faced staring at his screens next to her.

“Good night, was it?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“Harry, I don’t know what all this is for…” she said gesturing with her head at the roses. Another lie…

“Read the note… that may remind you”

She picked the note out from inside.

“Rose – Thank you for a lovely evening and that sample. Sorry I had to rush off – M.”

“I didn’t sleep with him Harry.” No, she hadn’t, but she had wanted to so much. Guilty feelings consumed her every fibre.

“What was he sampling exactly Rose?”

“Oh that… it was just a goodnight kiss.” She tried to sound casual but wasn’t sure she managed it very well . “And Harry, you know what I have to do eventually. Is this moody sulking going to go on and on for months, because if it is, we’d better end our little fling before it gets even more difficult for us. I can’t even think straight already because of you.”

He put his head in his hands.

“Rose, it’s not a fling for me! I love you and this whole arrangement is killing me.  How can I let you do this, tell me…” his quiet voice caught and a strange sound emerged. He wouldn’t break down in front of her. He would have to get through this little scene somehow.

He swallowed hard and finally coaxed the words he didn’t want to say to come out.

“I think we should hold off until you finish your job with him Rose, I just won’t share you.” He whispered.

“Maybe that’s best Harry. Not just for you, but for me too… it’s too tough on me.” She was speaking the painful truth. She wasn’t a two guy girl. Well she liked to think she wasn’t, but actually she wasn’t sure any more. One man should be quite enough to concentrate on, especially if her job depended on it. Her eyes were misting up badly. She felt so bad for Harry and for herself too… they definitely had something great going between them. What dreadful timing this all was. It was partly her fault starting all this up right now. She felt so sick and almost numbed out with the amount of acute emotional stress that was churning around inside… A tear rolled down her cheek…

He got up and left the room. He needed some fresh air and a chance to think. His eyes were blurring up.

She wiped away the tear and moved the roses to the shelf on top of her desk, blocking out the view of overweight Fridge who had been smirking rather evilly at her from the next group of desks to theirs. God she hated the men in here sometimes… Finally she got started with her day. Mike wasn’t in the office. She was glad she wouldn’t be subject to any inquisition about the extra duties today. She was just about hanging onto herself as it was. She really needed to get on with her work. She had a lot of clients and one really big one to manage. It was a lot of responsibility. She couldn’t sit around lovesick, distraught or moody all day long.

Harry didn’t come back until quite late that morning. She had taken a quick look at his accounts for him whilst he went AWOL. There was nothing that needed doing to them so she left everything as it was. He was icily silent next to her. She couldn’t expect him to be otherwise. The two times she spoke to him she got a one word answer.

At 4pm Harry had left and she sat looking at her final day’s efforts. 0.2% wasn’t as much as she’d have liked. She might need to take a more risky route to get her 3% on Monday. Taking big risks wasn’t her way. She’d seen catastrophe strike many times before through taking too much risk on. She might have to resign herself to losing the challenge, it had been a little steep… if only she’d said 2%… she’d have made it by now. She sent Marcus an email and added a couple of words he couldn’t miss.