Читать книгу Brides, Babies And Billionaires - Мишель Смарт, Rebecca Winters - Страница 109
ОглавлениеShe gave a small moan of surrender, and in the next moment he was lifting her as if she weighed nothing, the hard evidence of his arousal pressing against her sex, sending jolts of need through her body.
She wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him tighter against her. His mouth was hungry and demanding, and she was equally voracious—meeting the questing probe of his tongue with her own, nipping at his lips. Through the cloud of need that gripped her, Sally became aware that she was no longer pressed against the door and Kirk was carrying her in the direction of her bedroom.
He lowered her to her bed and bent over her.
“I want to see you. All of you,” he murmured even as he peppered small kisses along her jaw and down the column of her throat.
She was at a loss for words. One minute they’d been saying goodbye and the next, here they were, tugging each other’s clothing off as if they couldn’t bear to wait another second before they were skin to skin again. Right now, the only thing that mattered was losing herself in his touch, in the sensations that rippled through her body with his every caress.
“Your skin—it’s as soft as I remember,” he said reverently, stroking her underneath her top.
“You remember touching my skin?” she asked on a breathless laugh.
“Among other things.”
“Tell me about those things,” she implored him.
And he did, in clear and graphic detail. Following up every word with a stroke of his tongue on her heated flesh, with the heat of his mouth through her bra as he teased her tightly drawn nipples into aching buds of need, and with the tangle of his fingers as they stroked and coaxed the slick flesh at her core. Her first orgasm rocketed through her body, taking her completely by surprise, but he took his time over coaxing her body to her second.
She continued to shiver in aftershocks of delight beneath the onslaught of his mouth as he traced her every curve. And when his head settled between her thighs, she nearly lifted off the bed as he gently drew the swollen, sensitive bud of her clitoris against his tongue. Her second climax left her weak and trembling against the sheets, and when he shifted slightly to slide on a condom, she laughed.
“Locking the stable door after the horse has bolted?” she teased, reaching for him as he hovered over her again.
“You could say that. Maybe it’s just taking longer for the news to sink in than I thought it would.”
Whatever she’d been about to say in reply fled her mind as he nudged his blunt tip against her entrance and slid deep within her. She rocked against him, meeting his movements—at first slow and languid and then speeding up as demand rose within them both again. This time, when she came, he tipped over the edge with her, and she held his powerful body as paroxysms of pleasure rocked them both.
Minutes later, exhausted, she slipped into sleep, unaware of the man who now cradled her sweetly in his arms.
* * *
Kirk lay there waiting for his heart rate to resemble something close to normal. If he didn’t take care, he’d be the one needing a bed in the cardiac care unit. The dark humor sobered him up immediately. This was Orson Harrison’s daughter he was sleeping with. And while the man was recovering nicely from his heart attack, he still wasn’t back at full strength. He still needed Kirk to carry the load of the company for him. Finding out about the baby had thrown Kirk for a loop, but he couldn’t allow it to make him forget all his other responsibilities.
He allowed his fingertips to trace small circles on Sally’s back as he listened to her deep gentle breathing. Somehow he had to disentangle himself from her warm, languid body and get dressed and get out of here. Put some distance between them so he could clear his head and do the job he was here to do.
While it was still possible that Sally was the leak that was passing information on to HTT’s biggest competitor, he no longer wanted to believe that it could be her. Not the mother of his child. Not the daughter of the man he held in higher regard than any other man he’d ever known.
This pregnancy was a messy complication, but they’d work through it. Sally shifted against him, and Kirk found himself curving naturally to her. This wasn’t the action of a man about to leave the woman lying next to him, he warned himself, and yet, try as he might, he couldn’t find the impetus he needed to pull away. Perhaps just this once, he told himself, letting sleep tug him into its hold. It wasn’t the cleverest thing in the world to remain in her bed, but for now it felt like the right thing.
* * *
It was still dark when he woke. Dawn wasn’t far away. Beside him, Sally slept deeply, and he gently extricated himself from their intertwined limbs. His body protested, an early-morning erection telling him that leaving the bed was the last thing he should be thinking about. But he needed to get home to change before getting into the office for an early meeting. And he needed to examine his growing feelings for the woman still slumbering in the mussed-up sheets. He quickly and quietly dressed in his shirt and trousers and, carrying his jacket and shoes in one hand, he made to leave the room.
Something made him look back and take one more look at Sally as she lay there, the sheet halfway down and exposing her back and the curve of a perfectly formed breast. It took all his self-restraint not to drop his things where he stood and move to take her back in his arms.
Work, he told himself. Think of work. He wanted to be in full possession of all his faculties by the time he and Sally crossed paths in the office today. As he left her building and walked toward his car, he saw a town car creep into the visitor parking area. He recognized the man at the wheel as the bodyguard he’d met last night. It made him think. One of Sally’s security team could just as likely be the leak he needed to find and eradicate from HTT. He knew how easy it was to conduct a business call in the back of a car without considering the ears of the person driving.
Benton got out of the vehicle and looked across to where Kirk was parked. The man’s eyes narrowed as he identified him. Taking the bull by the horns, Kirk walked toward him. He didn’t want gossip about his relationship with Sally, such as it was, getting back to the office until she was ready for it to be made public.
“Good morning,” he said to the bodyguard, extending a hand.
Benton’s grasp was firm. Perhaps a little too firm, Kirk judged with an ironic lift of his brow.
“Morning, sir.”
“I trust that Ms. Harrison’s best interests are always at the forefront of your mind, Mr. Benton.”
“Always, sir.”
“Then I hope I can rely on you to keep the fact you saw me here this morning to yourself?”
The man hesitated a moment. “That depends, sir.”
“On?”
“On whether or not you are in her best interests...sir.”
Kirk nodded. “Fair comment. I will never do anything to hurt Ms. Harrison. You can rest assured on that score.”
“Then we don’t have anything to worry about, do we, sir?”
“No, we don’t. Have a good day, Mr. Benton.”
“Just Benton will do, sir.”
Kirk nodded again and returned to his car. Somehow he didn’t think that a bodyguard who took his duty to Sally so seriously could be a mole, but he’d have to check. Both Benton and whoever else ferried her about.
He looked up to Sally’s apartment windows and saw the bedroom light come on. He needed to get going.
* * *
That evening, after work, Benton drew the car to a halt outside the front portico of her father’s house. Sally thanked him and made her way to the door, where the housekeeper stood with a welcoming smile on her face.
“Good evening, Ms. Harrison. Mr. Harrison is in the library waiting for you.”
“How is he today, Jennifer?”
“He’s almost his old self, but we’ve had to remove all the saltshakers from the house.”
Sally gave a rueful laugh. No matter what his cardiologist told him, her father still railed against his new dietary restrictions. “I’m so glad you have his best interests at heart. I don’t know what we’d do without you all.”
“It’s our honor to work for Mr. Harrison. We’re just glad he’s recovering so well.”
“Aren’t we all?” Sally said with a heartfelt sigh.
She made her way to the library, where her father sat before an open fire nursing his one approved glass of red wine a day. He put down his drink when he saw her and rose to give her a welcoming hug. There was nothing quite like it in the world, Sally thought as she allowed her father’s scents and strength to seep into her. And it still terrified her that she’d come so close to losing him.
“Hi, Dad. I hear you’re giving the staff grief about your food again?” she said as they let each other go.
“Just keeping them on their toes,” he said with a gruff laugh. “Can I pour you a glass of wine? This is a very nice pinot noir—you should try it.”
“I—no, not today, thanks, Dad. I’ll just stick with mineral water.”
At some point she was going to have to tell her father why she wasn’t drinking alcohol. She wasn’t looking forward to the revelation, but she certainly wanted him to hear it from her before he had the chance to find out through anyone else. Especially after her fainting spell at work yesterday. Gosh, was it only yesterday? It already seemed a whole lot longer ago.
Her cheeks fired as she remembered exactly what had chased so much of yesterday’s activity from her mind.
“Too hot in here?” her father asked, handing her a glass of water.
“No, no. It’s fine. Lovely, in fact,” she answered, flustered.
“Then what is it? What’s bothering you?”
That was the trouble with being close to your parent, she admitted. They knew you too well and saw too much.
“A few things,” she hedged.
“Is it work? I hear that Kirk has ruffled a few feathers. Glad to hear he’s given your sustainability initiative the green light. It’s about time we did more than just talk in circles about that.”
He’d heard that already? Sally gave an internal groan. What else had he heard?
Knowing her father was expecting a reply, she managed to say, “Well, I always expected some pushback. You didn’t seem so eager to embrace the idea, yourself.”
“Couldn’t be seen to be championing my own daughter, now could I. Had to make you work for what you wanted. I’ve always thought, if you’re passionate enough about something, you’ll make it work.” Orson took a sip of his wine and put the glass back down beside him. “Now, tell me what you think about Kirk.”
Sally felt the burn of embarrassment heat her from the inside out. Ah, yes, Kirk. That would be the man she’d slept with after turning down his proposal, after discovering she was pregnant with his baby. It sounded worse than the plot of a soap opera. She groaned to herself. Her father sat opposite her, clearly awaiting some kind of response from her.
“He seems to be very...focused.”
Orson snorted. “He’s good-looking, isn’t he?”
“Dad!” she remonstrated.
“Focused.” He snorted again. “The man looks as though he stepped off the front cover of GQ magazine, has a Mensa-rated IQ and you tell me he’s focused. You’re attracted to him, aren’t you?”
“Dad, I don’t think...” Sally let her voice trail off.
How did she tell him just how attractive she found Kirk? How he was so irresistible that the first night she saw him, she slept with him? That she’d done the same again last night?
Orson laughed. “I’m sorry, honey, can’t help but tease you a little. You’re so buttoned up these days. You can’t blame your father for giving you a little prod. Besides, you can’t argue the truth, can you?”
Sally chose to ignore his question and turned the conversation in another direction.
“Actually, now that you’re better, could you please explain to me just why you brought him into Harrison IT? We were doing okay. We certainly didn’t need to merge with anyone else, did we?”
And she certainly hadn’t needed to merge with Kirk Tanner, but that hadn’t stopped her from doing it again, that pesky little voice inconveniently reminded her.
Orson picked up his wineglass and swirled the ruby-colored liquid around the bowl, staring at it for a while before putting it back down.
“I guess, in part, you could call it guilt. Kirk’s father, Frank, was my best friend in college. We started in business together. But what I didn’t notice was that the man whose partying seemed harmless in college got in over his head when he partied hard in the real world, too. It got to the point where it took a lot of chemical help for him to get through the day. I didn’t realize he was a drug addict until it was too late. By then he had a wife and son, and he was pretty resistant to help. Eventually he agreed to go to rehab, but he never got there. Instead he loaded up on drugs and took a dive off Deception Bridge.”
He fell silent for a while, obviously lost in the pain of his memories. Eventually he drew in a deep breath and huffed it out again.
“I felt responsible. I should have been able to see the problem sooner, step in earlier, help him more.”
“Dad, not everyone wants to be helped.”
“I know that now, but back then I felt like it was all my fault. I did what I could to assist Sandy and Kirk when they relocated to California, and I set up a college fund for the boy. I’ve kept an eye on him. What he’s done pleases me. I guess, in the grand scheme of things, you could say he’s where he’d have been all along if things had gone differently with his father. Merging with Tanner Enterprises was a logical move—gives us both more strength in an ever more competitive market.”
Even though he’d given her a backstory of sorts, Sally had a feeling he was still holding something back. As it was, she was still hurt he’d had such an influence in Kirk’s life and yet never shared any of that information with her.
“Marilyn called me just before you arrived. She tells me that Kirk took you to the doctor yesterday, that you collapsed or something during your presentation. Honey, you have to stop pushing yourself. You may never get over that public speaking thing, and if so, that’s fine. But, that aside, tell me—you’re all right?”
His pale blue eyes, the mirror of her own, looked concerned. While he might not see fit to include her in his business plans, he was still and always would be her dad, and she knew he loved and cared for her.
“Everything’s fine, Dad. Nothing to worry about.”
He looked at her with a piercing gaze. “What are you not telling me?”
She gave a gentle laugh. “I could ask you the same thing. Like why had I never heard of Kirk before the merger announcement. Don’t you think that’s something you might have shared with me at some stage? You’ve treated him like an absentee son.”
An awful thought occurred to her. Could Kirk be his son? But her father’s perspicacity showed true to form.
“Don’t be silly. You can turn that overactive imagination of yours off right now. There’s no reason for the secrecy other than the fact that his mother wanted no reminders of her late husband or her life in Seattle in any way. While she reluctantly accepted financial help, that was where she drew the line. I had very little direct interaction with her or with Kirk. Your mother and I were friends with Sandy and Frank. We would have supported Sandy here, too, if she’d have let us.”
Sally felt all the tension drain out of her in a sudden rush. Jennifer chose that minute to return to the library.
“Dinner is served in the small dining room, if you’d like to come through now.”
Sally got up and tucked her arm in the crook of her dad’s elbow, and together they walked to dinner.
“Dad, this place really is too big just for you. Have you ever thought of downsizing?”
“Why would I do that, honey? This house was your mother’s pride and joy, and she loved every inch of it. She might not still be with us, but I feel her in every nook and cranny of the house and see her touch in every piece of furniture and art. Besides, I’d like to think that one day you might move back home and build your own family here.”
Sally felt a clench in her chest. She should tell her dad about the baby, but how to bring it up? There was no way to dress up the fact that this child was the product of an unfortunate accident during a one-night stand. Granted, the man in question was already held in high regard by her father, but didn’t that just complicate matters more?
Her father seated her at the table before taking his own place. Jennifer brought in the first course—smoked salmon fillets on a bed of lettuce and sliced avocado. Sally eyed the plate warily. She didn’t know much yet about how to weather this pregnancy but she’d done a little research on foods she could and couldn’t eat, and she knew that smoked or pickled fish was on the horribly extensive no list.
Orson noticed immediately that Sally only picked at the lettuce and avocado, pushing the salmon to the side of her plate.
“You’re not going to eat that? I thought it was one of your favorites. You’re not on some weird diet, or something, are you?”
She sighed. He was going to have to know sooner or later. “No, Dad. Not a diet. Actually, I have a bit of news for you.”
“What’s that? You’re not going to tell me you’re pregnant, are you?” He said it jokingly, but his face sobered when he saw Sally’s expression.
“Well, that rather takes the wind out of my sails,” she said softly.
“Really? You’re making me a grandpa?” Orson’s face lit up.
It wasn’t the reaction she’d expected. After all, as far as he knew, she wasn’t even in a relationship with anyone, and he’d always made his thoughts on the challenges of sole parenthood quite clear. It was probably another reason why he’d supported Sandy Tanner and Kirk the way he had.
“Apparently,” she admitted ruefully.
“Was that the reason for your fainting spell at work yesterday?”
She nodded.
“So you managed the speaking part okay?”
What was wrong with him? Why wasn’t he demanding to know who the father of his grandchild was? She nodded again.
“That’s great news, honey! And a baby, too.”
He leaned back in his chair and smiled beatifically.
“You’re not bothered by that, Dad?” Sally had to ask because his lack of questions was driving her crazy. She’d expected a full inquisition. Had mentally prepared for one all day, knowing she wouldn’t keep this secret from her father for long.
“Bothered by the baby? No, why should I be?”
“But don’t you want to know—”
Her father leaned toward her and patted her on the hand. “It’s okay, honey, I know where babies come from these days. I expect you got tired of waiting for Mr. Right and decided to go with one of those designer baby outfits. Of course, I’m sorry you didn’t feel as though you could discuss it with me first but—”
Sally had been in the process of taking a drink of water and all but snorted it out her nose.
“Dad!”
“Well, it’s not as if you have a regular guy, is it? I’d hoped you might meet someone special when you were at college, like I did with your mom, but that’s neither here nor there. Looks like you’ll be moving home sooner rather than later, huh?” He rubbed his hands with glee.
“Why would I do that?”
“Well, you don’t have room in that cute little apartment of yours, do you?”
Sally rolled her eyes. What was it with everyone lately that they wanted to make all her decisions for her? First Kirk, now her dad—didn’t anyone think she was capable of looking after herself?
“There’s plenty of time to think about that, Dad. Besides, I can always get a bigger place of my own.”
“But why on earth would you need to when we have all the room in the world here?”
It was about then that Sally noticed another place setting at the table.
“Were you expecting someone else?” she asked.
Just then, the chime of the front door echoed through the house.
“He’s late, but he called ahead and said not to hold dinner.”
“He?”
She didn’t have to wait long to find out who he was. Within about thirty seconds of the door chime sounding, Jennifer showed Kirk into the dining room. Great, just what she needed.
“Good to see you, Kirk!” Orson said effusively, standing to shake Kirk’s hand. “About time there was someone here who can share a celebratory champagne toast with me. I’m going to be a grandpa! Isn’t that great news?”
Kirk looked at Sally, and she suddenly understood the expression “deer caught in the headlights.”
“Dad, you know you shouldn’t have more than your one glass of red wine a day. Doctor’s orders, remember?” she cautioned, desperate to shift focus to something other than her pregnancy, especially since she and Kirk had agreed to keep it quiet for now.
“Just a half a glass isn’t going to kill me. This is cause for celebration, whether you know who the daddy is or not.”
“Know who the father is?” Kirk asked with a pointed look in her direction.
“I know exactly who the father is,” Sally felt compelled to say.
“You do? Is it someone I know?” Orson asked, looking from Sally to Kirk and back again as he began to sense the tension between them.
“It is,” Kirk said firmly and straightened his shoulders. “It’s me. I’m the father.”
