My breakfast bar is the perfect height for this activity- I’m right in front of Colby’s chest. He has easy access to every part of me that he needs.
He bends and starts at my ankle, kissing and sucking and licking his way upward. When he gets to my thigh, he pays special attention, suckling very intently. Chills run up my body and fire shoots into BB. Because BB is a shameless hussy, she wants this even more than I do. And then he drags his tongue deliberately and teasingly over her.
My legs straighten out like boards as my heart starts to race.
He licks his way to my belly button, by-passing it and concentrating instead on my breasts. He sucks every bit of salt off of each one, tantalizing me by licking, sucking and nipping at my nipples. I am literally arching against him before he is done, but he holds me down.
“You’ll spill your tequila,” he whispers into my ear. His breath is hot against my skin.
I grip the side of the breakfast bar. I seriously do have amazing fortitude. Otherwise, I’d have abandoned this activity, leaped off this granite slap and straddled this man-boy on my kitchen floor.
But as it is, I remain still.
With a lime wedge between my teeth.
Colby makes his way down to my belly-button and as he does, his right hand finds BB. He laps at the tequila while his hand makes lazy circles around BB… and then he slides a finger into her.
I almost come off of the table.
Amazing fortitude, I chant.
Amazing fucking fortitude.
Colby drinks every drop of tequila and then slides over me back up to my mouth. His dark eyes meet mine and I am dying to feel his lips on my own… his full, luscious lips.
Finally, finally, his lips touch mine as he takes the lime wedge without using his hands. He sucks on it and then spits it to the side. I know that my housekeeper is going to want a raise tomorrow. But I don’t care tonight.
Tonight, I pull Colby’s face to mine and I inhale his kiss. I kiss him so hard and so long that I can’t see straight. I can’t think straight. I am no longer bound by logic or reason or rules. I don’t care what his name is right now, Colby or Shade or even Cat in the Freaking Hat. I only want him inside of me.
He slides me off of the bar and lays me on the floor.
There is a brief rustle of foil and then I get my wish.
Chapter Fourteen
(Or: It’s all fun and games until you wake up naked)
We wake up in the light of day in my bed. I don’t remember making it to the bedroom at any point and quite possibly, Colby carried me here.
I lean up on my elbow and study him. He’s sleeping and he looks so young while he’s asleep.
Because he is young, my mind reminds me devilishly. He’s almost young enough to be your kid.
No, he’s not! The other half of my brain argues. Not even close.
Great.
I sigh. Now I’m arguing with myself. I’m pretty sure that’s a sign of insanity. All I need to do now is start rocking in my seat and begin mumbling and Sophie can get me committed.
Sophie!
I glance at the clock and sigh a breath of relief. It’s only 10:00 am. She won’t be home for a few hours.
“Good morning,” Colby says, stretching beside me.
I look over at him again. He’s adorably cute when he just wakes up. His hair is tousled and his eyes are glassy with sleep.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “Did I wake you?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. I’ve been awake. I was just lying here with my eyes closed listening to you snore.”
“I don’t snore!” I protest with a giggle. “I don’t.”
“Oh, you do,” he insists, leaning over to kiss me. “But it’s cute.”
His kiss is soft and gentle. And scary.
We shouldn’t be kissing or naked right now in the light of day. Or in bed together naked. And kissing. He’s Colby and I’m Allison. He’s way younger than me. And this isn’t cool.
I draw back.
“Is everything alright?” his eyebrows knit together. I shake my head.
“I don’t know. We shouldn’t have done that. You’re Colby right now. And I’m Allison. And this isn’t something we should be doing.”
Colby is still for a moment, then sits up. I have to ignore the way his abs flex when he moves if I want to continue any kind of cognitive thought.
“You’re right,” he agrees. “We got carried away. It happens. It tends to happen a lot when body shots are involved,” he adds wryly. He turns to me.
“But it’s not the end of the world, Alli. It was a slip. No big deal. It was fun. We’re friends. And last night, we were friends with benefits. Don’t freak out, okay?”
Don’t freak out. What a young thing to say. I am reminded for the fourteenth time today already how young he is. I nod.
“Okay.”
Colby swings his leg over the side of the bed and stands up. I can’t help but look. I’ve got amazing fortitude, but I’m not a freaking nun. And then I wish I hadn’t looked. He’s standing there in the sunlight in all of his twenty-two (or twenty three?) year old perfection and I immediately want him to come back to bed. But I swallow hard and suppress that thought.
Get thee back to hell, Satan, where you belong! I silently chastise my thoughts.
“Since I’m here now, though, do you want to take a shower with me?” Colby asks impishly. He turns and I see the full profile of his body now, semi-erect member and all. Mother Nature at her finest. I decide that she very probably is a woman, after all. She made men like Colby as gifts to the female species.
I nod, against the will of my logical thoughts. “Yes.”
He hauls me to my feet and drags me to my shower.
Apparently, Satan didn’t get himself back into hell, like I demanded. He controlled my thoughts in the shower instead, because Colby and I have sex in every conceivable position known to man in there... along with a few more that Satan invented on the fly.
When the mirrors are all fogged and we are completely spent and finished, we stumble out into the cold air.
“Well,” I sigh wryly. “I won’t need to go to Yoga this week.”
Colby laughs and towels off.
“I like you, Alli. For real. And not just because you pay me to.”
My heart stops. I think. His expression right now is so sweet, but this isn’t what I want. I can’t ‘date’ a twenty-something. I can’t have a real relationship of any kind with him…not even a friends-with-benefits arrangement. I look at him and he immediately sees it on my face and he backpedals.
“I didn’t mean… I meant…” He is stammering now and it’s the first time that I have seen him in any way other than cool and collected. For once, he seems like the twenty-two (or twenty-three!) year old that he actually is.
“It’s okay,” I say, interrupting him. “I don’t know where you were going with that, but it’s fine. I’m just not ready for a relationship yet. You’re amazing and awesome and I like you, too, though.”
“That’s what I meant to say,” he says and I can’t tell by his face if that is the truth or not. “I only meant to say that I like you. That you’re awesome and I consider you my friend.”
I smile, warm rushing through me.
“I consider you my friend, too. This is one idea that Sara had that was actually a good one.”
“So I was Sara’s idea?” Colby asks with a grin as he pulls on his clothes.
I nod. “Who else’s?”
He laughs. “Good point. That friend of yours is something else.”
“That she is,” I agree. “She gets me into all kinds of trouble. But this particular trouble… well, I like it. But I like it how it is now. I don’t want it to change.”
Meaning, I’m not going to date a twenty-something kid. Even if he is sexy as hell and taught me how to bring a man to his knees in five minutes flat.
He smiles at me. “Message received, Alli Cat. We can be friends, though. And you’re still my client, righ
t?”
I nod. “Of course.”
Because I want to lick your body too much to cancel that, I add silently.
“Good,” he says. “Now, I’m gonna get going. Do you want me to get you a coffee or something before I go?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m getting up.”
He bends and kisses my forehead. “Last night was fun. Call and set up an appointment for next weekend, okay?” I nod again.
And then he’s gone.
And I’m alone in my room.
I throw on my robe and pad down to the kitchen to make some coffee. I eye the damage. There is salt sprinkled on the floor, my clothes are in the middle of the room and everything is cleared off the breakfast bar.
I smile at the memory of last night.
Well, no one can say that I’m not daring and fun.
I sigh and start to clean up the carnage.
********
“You did what??” Sara is astonished and practically speechless, which is something that I feel compelled to mark on my calendar. “You spent the night with him in your house?”
I nod. “Yup. And he was Colby, not Shade. I’ve clearly blurred some sort of invisible boundary. But I cleared it up with him. It was a temporary slip. Things will go back to normal now.”
Sara eyes me doubtfully. We are in the middle of the park again for lunch and so she has to keep her voice down or she will scare the little old folks who come here to feed the ducks.
“I don’t know about that,” she says. “I think it’s one of those situations where once you cross that line nothing will ever be the same. I mean, you’ve had sex with Colby now. Before, you just had sex with Shade. This is huge, Alli. Maybe you should just consider dating him.”
I stare at her.
But not before those images flash through my head. Me and Colby, dating. Going to the movies. Having dinner. Having people mistake him for my son. No, thank you.
So I tell her that.
“People would think he’s my son,” I say firmly. “And while I like the arrangement that we have, I’m not going to date him. Not gonna happen, Sara.”
She clamps her mouth shut. “We’ll see, Miss Tightly Wound. We’ll see.”
“No, we won’t,” I tell her. “Not this time. But speaking of seeing... Look at my face and tell me what you see.”
I lean over my turkey club and shove my face into hers. She’s startled for a second, but then she peers into mine, her eyes staring into my own.
“What exactly am I looking for?” she asks as she examines me.
“My crow’s feet,” I answer. “How bad are they? Rick the Dick was at my house this weekend and among other things, he mentioned that I have horrible crow’s feet. Do I?”
She turns my face to and fro in the light.
“They’re there,” she announces. “But they’re not horrible. Rick is a dick. Obviously. You’re thirty-five. You’re going to have laugh lines. We laugh a lot. It’s unavoidable.”
Sara picks her sandwich back up and chomps on it, unconcerned.
“Is it?” I answer thoughtfully, staring into space. “Have you ever tried Botox?”
Sara almost chokes and I whomp her on her back. I briefly remember the Brazilian wax incident and whomp a little harder than necessary. Then I smile evilly. Whomping her thin little back is surprisingly satisfying.
“Are you serious?” she chokes out, wiping her mouth on a napkin as she shoves my hand away. “You’re not getting Botox. You know what that is, right? It’s the bacteria that causes botulism. It’s a freaking toxin.”
“Oh, I know,” I tell her. “And I’m not getting Botox. We are.”
She chokes again.
“No. If you think that… no.” She stares at me as firmly as she can, looking down her skinny nose at me. Her short, spiky red hair looks like even it has risen up in mutiny against me, as well. I smile.
“Oh, yes,” I tell her. “I dated a gigolo, had sex with the gigolo, bought a sex toy and had a Brazilian wax. All at your behest. And I have to admit, those were good ideas. You’re going to have to concede that sometimes I have good ideas too. I’m pretty sure that this is one of those times.”
She is stammering now. Utterly speechless. I’m definitely going to have to mark this on the calendar.
“But… but… botulism is a bacteria. Injected into my face! That’s different than…”
“Different than a stranger’s penis injected into my vagina?” I ask innocently. Sara all but sputters.
“No, but you liked it!”
“Of course I liked it!” I stare at her like she’s grown two heads. “That penis is attached to a perfect twenty-something body. And I’m sure that you will like the Botox, as well. You’ve got crow’s feet too, you know. I’ve never wanted to say anything before. But you might as well know. We could both use an age-eraser. And that’s exactly what Botox is. And supposedly, it doesn’t even hurt.”
“You’re the devil,” Sara announces as she cleans up her lunch trash.
“Irrelevant,” I answer sweetly, throwing her words from the other day back at her. “And you’re a devil, too. That’s why we love each other so much. I’ll make the appointment.”
“I can’t do it tonight,” she snaps. “I have Spinning.”
“That’s fine,” I say soothingly. “I’m sure they have openings for tomorrow night.”
Sara flounces off, but not before glaring at me a couple of times for good measure. She turns and flips me off with both hands when she’s halfway to her car. Both hands—because she means business. I laugh and the elderly lady sitting next to us gasps.
I lean over. “I’m sorry about that, m’am.”
But I’m really not. It feels good to get one over on Sara for once in my life. It’s been a long time coming. She’s usually the one pulling this kind of shit.
I’m in a fabulous mood as I return to my office and enlist Taylor’s help in researching the best plastic surgeon in town with Botox. She’s got an appointment for Sara and I within the hour.
“What are you smiling about?” Alex asks as he breezes into my office.
I turn away from my computer and smile at my new boss. There’s no way I’m going to tell him that I’m laughing because I just emailed Sara the time of our Botox appointment for tomorrow night. I can practically hear her screaming from here and that gives me great joy. I might be somewhat sadistic and I can’t have my new boss knowing that.
“Nothing in particular,” I tell him. “I’m just in a good mood, I guess.”
“On a Monday?” Alex raises one handsome eyebrow. Yes, even his eyebrows are sexy. I smile.
“I guess so. I know. I must be an alien or something.”
“I think you must surely be an alien.”
Alex smiles again and once again, I have the strangest feeling that I know him. But once again, I know that I don’t. I would remember such a sexy face. And body. Of that, I am certain. I absently wonder how many hours a week he spends in the gym.
“I’ve got our meeting nailed down with the supplier,” he tells me, bringing my thoughts back to the present. “Can you be ready to leave by Thursday evening? The meeting is Friday morning in San Diego. We’ll do the meeting and then fly back that evening.”
I glance at my calendar. I can surely have Sophie stay Thursday night with Rick. And if not, Sara will take her.
“Of course,” I tell him. “That’ll be fine. I’ll be ready.”
“Great,” he answers. “I’ll have Libby email the details to Taylor. And I’ve brought you the background info on their company so that you’re up to speed.” He hands me the file.
“Perfect,” I smile.
I expect him to leave, but he doesn’t. He lingers, chatting about little things…this and that. I find myself watching him. The way he moves, the easy way he speaks.
Alex is definitely handsome in a very grown up way. Refined and gorgeous. He’s obviously grown comfortable in his skin and he wears it well. His suits are expen
sive and tailored, his shoes are perfectly polished. His smile is…well, intoxicating. I know it sounds corny to say, but it’s true. And he’s smiling at me right now.
“So, what do you think? Is it doable?”
Doable? Hell yes, he’s doable. But wait.
Uh-oh. He asked me for something and I have no idea what.
“Um, sure,” I answer.
Please Lord, don’t let me be agreeing to something horrible, I silently pray.
Although, I’m not sure God will be that inclined to help since I only don’t know what Alex said because I had been pondering how sexy he is.
Alex grins, the warmth spreading to his deep blue eyes.
“Perfect! I’ll have Libby take care of the intern paperwork and I’ll tell my son he can start when we return from our trip. Thank you, Alli. I appreciate this.”
I freeze. Intern?
Craaaaaaap. Why wasn’t I paying attention? I don’t have time for an intern. But I can hardly say no now.
Instead, I smile. “Of course. It’s not a problem. We can surely find something for him to do.”
Alex unfolds from the chair and grins one more time, then he’s gone.
I drop my head to my desk.
I’m such an idiot.
I reluctantly pick my head up so that I can e-mail Taylor the good news. She’s in charge of another intern. And not just any intern, but the son of our senior VP. She’s going to kill me.
I hear her shriek when she reads it, so I run to my door and lock it so that she can’t commit any form of physical violence upon me. I’m too young to die.
********
“I’m going to kill you,” Sara tells me. And from the look on her face as we walk up to the plastic surgeon’s office, she might mean it. I take a step away from her to be on the safe side.
“It’s going to be fine,” I assure her.
Although to be honest, I’m not feeling that confident. I’d always said that I’d never get plastic surgery of any sort. And even though an injection of botulism to the face isn’t exactly surgery, it isn’t exactly making me feel all warm and fuzzy, either.
“People do this all the time,” I continue, as we check in and sit in the posh waiting room. A water wall flows to our left and my feet are resting on a teak floor. “And this guy must be really good. Check out this waiting room! They even have chocolate.”