Terms of Surrender (6 page)

Nick lost what little composure he had when she slid her hands up to his nape, fingers caressing his scalp, the innocent yet erotic contact making his breath come out in harsh gasps against her mouth, his hard cock pressed painfully against the fly of his pants.

He pulled back to stare at her, the expression in her emerald eyes plainly emitting her hunger and need, plainly mirroring his. His dick throbbed with expectancy.

"This isn't right, Nick," she said.

25

Gracie C. McKeever

He wouldn't let her retreat now, not after discovering her nature, that they were compatible. He wondered how in the world this woman had been working under his nose all this time without his knowing what she was.

You were too busy arguing with her, letting her get under your skin to notice anything
except her great tits and her outstanding round ass.

He'd been blinded by her dynamite packaging, hadn't been able to get past the physical to her inner workings until recently. He'd let her sidetrack him. Like she was trying to do now.

"You and I both know this is going to happen, right or wrong," Nick murmured.

She surprised him yet again when she nodded, the need and hunger in her eyes now clouded by confusion and turmoil.

Nick splayed one hand across her stomach, felt the muscles tense against his fingers before he slid his hand up and tweaked one nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

He stared at her face, willed Slany to return his gaze as he gently pulled and rolled her nipple through her blouse and bra before sliding his hand inside to cup one warm, plump breast.

She leaned into his palm, and his balls tightened when she slowly licked her lips.

"If you keep doing that, I'm going to fuck you right here, right now."

She shivered and closed her eyes at his words, and he wondered if hard, tough Slany Breeze liked dirty talk during sex, wondered if she liked to be tied up or spanked, determined to find out each as soon as humanly possible.

He slid his free hand into the waistband of her pants, and the heat and moisture from her pussy rose up to greet him before his hand got anywhere near her slit.

Fingers poised, Nick waited only a second for her signal, a blink or exhalation that told him to move ahead, before Slany slowly pumped her hips forward against his hand.

He growled deep in his throat, moved his other hand from her stomach to collar the back of her neck and draw her face near. He leaned in, gently nipping an earlobe before sliding his tongue up to slowly trace the shell of her ear.

She shuddered, and he slid one finger into her warm, wet canal, drove it as deep as he could, brushing sensitive nerve endings in his path before he felt her vagina tighten around his finger.

Slany whimpered and caught the biceps of his arm in both hands. She pressed his hard flesh in a stranglehold, as if her life depended on keeping his arm—more importantly his hand—

in place.

"Easy, baby. I won't do anything you don't want me to."

"Sure you won’t…”

He laughed softly against her neck, not surprised by her sarcastic tone. He popped up his head to look at her, didn't move his hand from her pants, too at-home and cozy feeling her inner muscles clamp around his finger. Slowly, he slid in another and teased her clitoris with his thumb, rhythmically rolling it back and forth. "Are you worried?"

"You've got your fingers in my snatch!" she bit out.

26

Terms of Surrender

"You don't want them there?"

"How can you expect me to answer that and make any sense when we're…when you're…?" Slany averted her eyes and bit her bottom lip, refused to look at him.

"I don't expect you to do anything except enjoy what I do to you." Nick slid his hand from her throat to her chin and tipped up her head. "Look at me, Slany."

"Please…I can't do this…"

"You don't have to do or worry about anything. I will."

Her eyes flew to his at that, as if he had hit a nerve. She looked eager and incredulous, like a child who had finally been granted a treat too long denied by her parents. "And what's in it for you, Nick?"

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for her rebellion, despite knowing how much she wanted this, how much she was enjoying what he was doing. Despite this knowledge, he didn't want to risk scaring her off. "As far as our sexual relationship, you have to do what I say, when I say it, no questions asked."

"You must be cra—"

He rhythmically twisted his fingers inside her, flicked her engorged flesh with his thumb.

She was already wet, easing his plunges, but when he touched the sensitive kernel at the apex of her vagina, her juices seeped past his fingers and into the crotch of her panties, soaking them.

Slany gasped and jerked against him, burying her face in his chest. "Please…"

"Please stop?"

She shook her head.

"Please don't stop?"

She shook her head again, and Nick grinned as he put a finger under her chin to tip up her head again. "You have to be clear. Tell me what you want, and I'll do it."

She sneered. "In return for my total subservience."

"Don't make it sound so undesirable. You know it's what you want."

She pushed her hands against his chest, tried to pull away, but he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and held her in place, pressing his erection against her belly.

"Feel that."

She silently glared at him.

"I want you, Slany. I can't deny it. But you have to submit to me sexually. Those are the terms." His heart pounded, anticipating her response. He wasn't sure what he'd do if she said no, just knew he'd figure something out to make her say yes.

"Let me go, Nick," she whispered.

At least she hadn't said no.

27

Gracie C. McKeever

Encouraged, Nick released her, slowly removing his fingers from her pussy as he watched her face, then gently pinched her clitoris one last time and flicked it with his thumb for good measure. "What about my other wager? Are we on?"

"What?"

"Loser takes the winner out to dinner?" He saw her dazed look as he raised his hand to his mouth and thoroughly licked each finger in turn, relishing her scent and taste, her reaction.

Slany swallowed hard, sputtering as she stumbled a step away from him.

Nick watched her struggle, knew pride wouldn't let her completely back down from him.

His groin tightened with excitement. God, he was going to love initiating Slany, making her admit she loved being dominated as much as he would love dominating her.

She proffered a hand, grimly smiled as he put his still-moist hand in hers. "You're on."

Cameron Thorpe burst into the office just as they shook on it.

28

Terms of Surrender

"Nice to see things working out between some people around here!"

Slany leaped away from Nick. She had to force herself not to gape at
DMT's
founder, CEO, and still one of the agency's active directors as he stood on the threshold of Nick's office looking supremely aggravated.

Had he heard or seen any of what had gone on between her and Nick? Was this why he looked ready to spit bullets?

Slany felt heat raise to her cheeks at the mere idea that senior-age, white-haired Thorpe might have caught her and Nick in the act of… Christ, the man's hand had been in her pants!

How on earth could they have explained that? It wasn't like he'd been trying to get a speck of dirt out of her eye, after all.

Nick coolly arched a brow. "What brings you to our neck of the woods, Cameron?"

Slany watched him, still flustered from their encounter, couldn't believe how calmly Nick now approached Thorpe, tolerantly smiling as he put an amiable hand on the older man's shoulder and walked him to one of the chairs before his large desk.

Could Thorpe smell her scent on Nick? she wondered, her eyes glued to the shoulder Nick had just grasped.

Slany peered at their boss's slightly craggy features. She didn't notice him wrinkling his nose as he settled his long thin frame into Nick's cozy guest chair, so she guessed he hadn't smelled anything suspect. She and Nick were in the clear for now.

She took the matching chair beside Thorpe as Nick poised one thigh on the edge of his desk and braced the other foot against the plush carpeted floor, looking immensely confident and self-assured as he faced them.

Looking at him, one would never have guessed he'd almost been interrupted with his hand in a co-worker's panties at his place of business. Slany could barely believe it herself, and she was the co-worker in question.

29

Gracie C. McKeever

"Delaney's missing in action," Thorpe opened.

Nick glanced at the watch on his left wrist. "Kate didn't show up for the photo shoot?"

Thorpe shook his head. "And she hasn't called."

"That's not like her." Nick frowned, lightly fingering the tiny gold hoop in his left ear.

Slany wondered just how he would know what was and wasn't like Kate Delaney, then instantly berated herself for her peevish thoughts and asked, "Did you call her office?"

Thorpe nodded. "And her home, as soon as she was a half-hour late. She has some nonsensical message on her machine about an extended leave of absence."

"Extended leave? That's weird," Nick said.

Slany glanced at him, saw the worried look creasing his lush brows.

Was there more going on here than just the concern of a colleague for another colleague?

Were Nick and Kate an item? And what if they were? It wasn't as if
she
had any claims on the man—far from it.

Nick glanced at her as if he knew where her mind was going. He held her gaze for several seconds before turning back to Thorpe. "Have we exhausted all our contractors?"

How could one man embody such capable masculinity? How could one man be so sinful and sexy one minute, and so cool and professional the next?

Slany admired it, but wasn't sure she liked Nick's ability to turn his emotions off and on at will. Didn't like the idea that he wasn't as shaken as she was by the intimacy they'd shared.

"Dunlop started making calls as soon as it looked like Delaney wasn't going to show up.

No one's available," Thorpe responded.

"What about Parish? How's he holding up?" she asked.

"You know Parish. He doesn't let anything get to him. Sometimes, I wonder if he's even human under that immutable sphinx-like expression."

Slany knew what Thorpe meant.

Despite his movie idol looks, and unlike many of the other production artists and programmers who enjoyed quirky cubicles and sported MP3s or i-Pods as they worked, Jake Parish barely made a blip on anyone's radar screen, so quiet and unobtrusive in the halls and offices of
DMT
as to seem a non-entity. His work ethic, however, was outstanding and made him an invaluable asset, while his talent and ability to handle long hours and a heavy workload made him one of the more favored programmers at
DMT
with whom to work.

"Is Parish set up?"

Thorpe nodded. "He's been set up and ready to work on the layout for the last hour."

"I don't understand what could have kept Kate away," Nick muttered.

"I don't either, but the zero hour is fast approaching. Basically, we are what you young folks would euphemistically call ‘screwed.’"

"Not at all. We'll just get a replacement."

30

Terms of Surrender

"I told you, I've exhausted all our sources."

How the man had started the company with so defeatist and negative an attitude was beyond Slany, but she guessed he was allowed a lapse or two at his age. This made her wonder, not for the first time, why he didn't just retire and let one of the other directors run things.

"I'll make some calls," she said.

Thorpe brightened. "You think you can get someone?"

Slany stood, felt Nick's and Thorpe's eyes on her as she smoothed the front of her navy slacks with both palms. "Give me fifteen minutes, and I'll see what I can do."

"Time is in short supply on this, Slany."

"I know, and I'll get right on it." She headed for the door, paused with a hand over the knob. "What happened to Knowles, by the way? Isn't the soft drink shoot his baby?"

Thorpe rolled his eyes like a ten-year-old exasperated with a long-time-no-see aunt who liked getting mushy with her nephew whenever she got the chance. "Ashton is a useless twit who doesn't know his ass from his big toe."

Slany covered her mouth with a free hand to smother a laugh.

Nick chuckled. "Better not let Dunlop hear you talking like that about his son-in-law."

"I've said it to Dunlop more than once. He knows exactly how I feel on the matter. Hell, even when Ashton's here, he's not. The bastard just barely got back from that conference in Bermuda."

Slany knew very well how Thorpe felt about Ashton's "business trip". More like a paid vacation on company time. No secret that he and his wife had lived it up for three days.

"If I didn't know Delaney better, I'd say she and Knowles were probably off somewhere,"

Thorpe said.

Nick quickly shook his head, and Slany looked at him through lowered lashes, glued to the door now and unable to move.

He'd noticeably stiffened at Thorpe's allusion to Knowles and Kate being together.

Jealous?

She'd only been at the company a year, but she'd had a chance to see Nick interact with all sorts of female staffers and independent contractors around the office. She could attest to his popularity among the women and his god-like ranking among the men, even the other creative directors at
DMT
.

The opportunities for Nick to play around on the job were endless, willing prospects ranging from the other directors' secretaries, to Kimber, the lone female out of
DMT's
three mail clerks, to a couple of the female graphic artists and web designers.

However, Slany had yet to see him take advantage of the hungry female stares. Neither had she heard anything untoward in the coffee and ladies rooms, at the water cooler, or among the envious mailroom clerks and production artists—the major sources of gossip at the agency—