Tough Sell (Tough Love Book 1) Page 8

  He found her at the coat check just as she was slipping into an ivory fleece coat. He stepped up behind her and held the jacket for her.

  “I don’t need your help,” she said as she yanked her arm, and the coat, free.

  “Yeah but I need yours, lady,” he said. Ed followed her out to the street. “Let me get you a taxi home at least.” She stood at the curb with her back to him and tapped her foot, back straight, arms folded and said nothing, so he hailed a cab. She stood there until he opened the door for her to get in. When she sat, the little skirt rode up her thighs. He couldn’t help it, he was trying to see if there would be a blue flash of her panties as she swung her leg in.

  “Eyes up here, buddy,” she snarled and slid over as he pushed in beside her. He waited as she gave her address to the driver. “Don’t even think about showing up at my apartment after this,” she said.

  “Look, I apologize.” He couldn’t let whatever this was, this fight, cause him to lose her help. He needed to be charming, as if that ever happened. He searched for something to say.

  “I’m attracted to you, OK?” He prayed the damn cabbie wasn’t laughing at him. He kept his eyes on the back of the seat in front of him. When had he been this rattled by a woman before? He sure couldn’t recall it, but he had to get them both moving in the same direction and maybe the truth was the best policy here. “Let’s just get that out of the way. I like the way you sound, the way you dress, the fact that you obviously are interested in some of the same things I am, based on that file you have on my company. I was really glad you were in that meeting with me today, because you were the only friendly person in that whole office. So all of that just hits me where I live, OK?” He stopped and turned to look at her and the look on her face hit him like a blow to the gut. Had he thought she was stunning? Gorgeous even? What he saw now was something else, something more personal, more vulnerable than beauty.

  Now she looked … open. Oval eyes with wide pupils, framed by thick lashes looked up at him in shock. Soft, plump lips parted slightly before she gently bit her lower lip. She dropped her eyes to his mouth and that was it, he couldn’t resist. He turned to her and brushed her honey blond hair behind her ear, holding his breath and waiting for the rebuke. Instead, she closed her eyes and he didn’t wait again.

  The kiss was soft at first, he mouthed at her lower lip, licked at her with his tongue, tasted the sweetness of the alcohol she’d been drinking and then she opened to him, reached her hands behind his neck and pulled him down, into the kiss that seemed to ignite as she did so. He petted her from her ribs to her hip, sliding his hand over that leather skirt that had gotten him into such trouble. He rejoiced when he left that behind and felt the warm smoothness of her stocking covered thigh. She moaned and pulled her mouth away but he followed her back, kissing and sucking at the soft skin of her warm neck, feeling her thigh muscle clenching as he ate at her. The sweet responses she gave up went right to the core of him, his dick hard and hot against the zipper of his jeans. She tipped her head back, making her neck long and open for him, her hands in his hair, clutching him to her. He sucked and nipped, then lapped at the tender spot, loving the little mewl that brought from her. She stilled, her thigh suddenly tense and unmoving and he wondered if he could make her come just from this. The thought almost had him exploding in his pants and he had to release her to stop himself. They separated, both staring at each other in amazement, her eyes managing to be both lust dazzled and stunned. She was beyond beautiful, she was … his.

  The thought jolted him. His? He had never considered he might meet a woman that could be his. With his past, that had seemed impossible. His lust subsided, just enough for him to pull it together. He reached down and threaded his fingers through hers and brought them to his mouth. For a moment, he just pressed his face to them with his eyes closed. When he released her hand, she surprised him again by sliding her fingers over his thigh. His cock jerked but he shut his eyes briefly and kept himself in check. When he opened his eyes and looked at her, she was smiling and the cab was stopped.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Yes?” he asked cautiously. She wasn’t inviting him up to continue this, was she?

  “Yes, I’ll try to help you.”

  “You’ll try to help me?” She couldn’t mean she’d help him with his hard-on. “With the campaign?”

  She beamed at him and his throat tightened. He suddenly understood something new about Gunnar, about Bill.

  “Yes.” She opened her cab door, turned back to him still smiling. “I warn you, it probably won’t work and you’ll have to agree to help me.” Her pretty face turned serious. “You’ll help, won’t you? You’ll work on this with me this weekend?” He was speechless, he had almost come in his jeans in the back of a cab, he’d found a woman who seemed to actually like him at his worst, she had a smile like the sun and now she wanted to know if he would spend time with her this weekend. And hello, her underwear matched her damn shoes.

  “What?” he croaked. Her eyes fluttered back and forth as she looked into his. Something she saw there must have pleased her, because she smiled again, but this time in a sultry way, her mouth a subtle curve.

  She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Call me in the morning,” she whispered and got out.

  “Pay the driver please,” she said. And then she was gone.

  Chapter 5

  Her plastic Jesus hit Dorothy in the head, again. The escalating thumping rhythm from Allie’s room explained it all. She had to find another place for the brown cross. She’d had one hanging over her bed since, well, since she came to live with her adopted family, so she didn’t really want to change now, but the thing fell on her at least once a week.

  “Sweet Jesus,” she said to the statuette. “Why must they lay together so robustly?” Dorothy smirked. “And so often!” The statue remained silent, so she put it on her bedside table, feeling her head spin a little as she got up. Her stomach lurched, letting her know she’d had far too much to drink last night. Was she late for work? Did it even matter? She wouldn’t have a job soon.

  No, the clock by her bed told her she still had an hour to get ready. Allie and the wrecking ball were back to their normal time. Yesterday, it must have been a busy catering night. Dorothy pulled on her terry robe, hit the bathroom and padded down the hall to the kitchen to get a giant cup of coffee. Then she peered out the living room window to check out the weather, blustery today, and turned to head back down the hall. The thumping was over and Allie’s door was open. The couple were in the kitchen with water glasses in hand, both grinning from ear to ear. Dorothy waved as she passed but kept her eyes averted. Allie’s enthusiastic coo stopped her.

  “Oh. My. God.” Her friend was beside her, reaching up, pulling Dorothy’s hair away from her neck.

  Dorothy slapped Allie’s hand away. “Do either of you need the bathroom before I get in?”

  Derrick pushed past her and disappeared into the john.

  “Whoa, Dottie.” Allie was grinning like a loon. “You got some with Mr. Hot Superman?”

  “What are you talking about, Al?” Dorothy struggled to contain the little smirk she felt growing. She hardly knew Ed Walker and she wasn’t going to make something out of nothing … again.

  “That hickey! That’s what I’m talking about. It’s the size of a tennis ball.”

  “What?” Dorothy groaned. This was unreal. He’d marked her? She thought back to the cab ride, his big, warm hand sliding up her thigh, the incredible way he tongued and sucked at her neck. Her neck was so sensitive, for an incredible moment she’d almost orgasmed just from that. Well that and all the sweet words of praise he’d given her. After all the rejection she’d had, his free and honest compliments had been like a balm, and then that kiss … she closed her eyes and groaned again.

  “Wow, that good, huh?” Allie leaned against the hallway wall eyeing Dorothy appraisingly. “I don’t think I’ve seen that face on you since you moved in here. You better be careful
with this one.”

  A little suspicion dawned in Dorothy’s mind. She took a closer look at her friend. Yes, Allie looked very smug this morning. For a woman whose hair was a big fluffy knot of messed up, she looked very sure of herself. As she watched, Allie stopped holding Dorothy’s gaze and started to look for something to do. She picked up a fry pan from the drainer and started to shove it in the cupboard.

  “Hey, did you talk me into all that drunken stupid last night because you knew I thought he was hot?”

  Allie’s answer was muffled. She had her head halfway into the low cabinet.

  “Answer me!”

  Allie stood up and shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it? You’re all girly-happy and you’re taking the job.”

  “You bitch,” she said. Getting uptight kinda hurt her head. “I’ll get you later, when I can think again.”

  “You’re welcome,” Allie said.

  Derrick gave up the bathroom to Dorothy and she ducked inside before she decided to tackle her friend. A cat fight would make Derrick’s day but that was about it. She peered at her neck in the mirror. It was a turtle neck or bust today. On impulse, she texted Ed and pressed send.

  You marked me

  In the next instant, she regretted it. Why had she done that? He was her client. The idea was so hot though, she’d got wet just typing it. But hadn’t she learned anything from ol’ Flynn, Mr. Two-Dates-and-Done? Dorothy was not the kind of woman who inspired devotion in men. Rather, she inspired them to move on and find someone else.

  And that wasn’t limited to boyfriends it seemed. She wasn’t wanted at work either. Even her own dad had been happy to have her move on so he could replace her. Deflated, she put down the phone and hopped in the shower. All that negative self-talk. It had to stop. She was alive. The entire rest of her family was dead and she was the only one that got to survive. Well, this time, she might fail Ed, she might fail at this campaign, but she wasn’t going to fail her family, she wasn’t going to fail herself. She was going to do her level best on this project, she was going to act like she was a person worth loving, and if the world rejected her? Fine. It wouldn’t be because she gave up.

  You marked me

  Ed stared at the phone in his hand. The text had come in while he was still asleep. It had to be from Dorothy. Images of her curved calves, that damn blue bra, and the memory of the feel of her silk covered thigh in his hand flooded him. He wondered again if he could have made her come in that cab just by sucking on her neck. Not without coming himself, that was for sure. He felt himself break out in a grin. That had been so hot.

  You marked me

  Christ that was beautiful. He reached down and gripped his dick, still sporting his morning wood, fisting slowly, bringing himself to the edge, just as he’d been last night. She’d mewled, for fuck’s sake. She’d pulled his face into her neck like he’d been eating her pussy. He imagined yanking her by the legs, sliding her down on the cab seat, the cabbie keeping eyes forward, pretending not to know. God. He’d almost come in a taxi. Hell, yeah. His fist stroked up hard, he felt his balls draw up.

  Not yet. There was still more to his fantasy. He yanked her lower on the seat, pictured himself sliding that leather skirt up. Her stockings would be thigh-highs, absolutely. There, at the top of those pale thighs, was the flash of blue he’d been dying to see. Blue lace, he was sure that’s what her panties had been. He clamped down on the base of his dick, holding his hand still. They would have been soaked last night, he was positive about that too. Sopping, fucking, wet for him, because of him. In his mind, Dorothy murmured yes, yes, please as her head rolled side to side in agitation. Hell, if he was going to imagine this, he might as well do it up.

  “Take out your tits,” his imaginary self growled and her eyes went wide, pupils so fucking large. God, she was as turned on as she could be. “Open your blouse, let me see you pull them out of that sexy fucking bra.” Her hands went to her chest, fumbling with the buttons. He reached up and gave the shirt a yank and the buttons flew onto the dirty floor of the cab. Outside the window, the lights of the city flew by.

  “There,” he ordered, unable to tear his gaze from the lace cups and the hard nipples beneath. Would they be long or fat? Brown or pink? “Now do it.” She complied, lifting her breasts and his heart almost stopped. He couldn’t get enough of them, beautiful, round, topped with stunning long, brown nipples poking straight up at him. He stared as her tits jiggled with every pothole the cab hit. He stroked his cock firmly, swirling the pre-come that was practically streaming down the side of his dick. He was so fucking hard. In his mind, he put a knee on the seat between her legs and opened his fly. Dorothy slid her silky legs up, past his shoulders, her blue shoes high in the air. He watched that sexy, sultry smile cross her face. She was enjoying this as much has he was.

  Looking him right in the eyes, she lifted her pretty fingers, bracketing her thrusting nipples with her polished finger nails, an elegant finger and thumb on each side of her long brown pokies. And then, she pinched them, very, very hard. His fingers were between her legs and he felt her labia, so swollen and puffy. Jesus, he had wanted to eat her, but he was out of time. He wrenched those blue panties to the side, thrust his fingers into all that wetness, unable to open her fast enough, following with the thick, purple head of his cock. He rammed his iron hard dick into her slurping wet pussy, batting her hands away, pulling and twisting a long brown nipple, then shoving his thumb between the two of them, rubbing her clit in hard fast circles like there was no tomorrow.

  Beneath his sheet, he yanked on his dick, then began pumping in earnest. As he crammed his cock into her and sucked hard on her neck, he could see a red mark blooming there. He imagined her whispering “You marked me …” just before she clutched his head into her neck and wailed like a banshee in the back of the taxi, her pussy clamping down on his dick as she climaxed.

  Beneath the sheet, Edward’s orgasm erupted.

  Chapter 6

  Despite the lowering thoughts she’d had after sending that impulsive text to Ed, Dorothy found herself in a stunningly good mood. She’d arrived at work fifteen minutes early, a total first for her, and dug into the work for Ed’s company enthusiastically. She started with some ideas on how to create a social media buzz on a shoestring, something that she thought would be pretty easy, considering how exciting the products were. By nine o’clock she had a list three pages long, of ideas for every product she knew about. She needed to know if there were any others beyond what was on the website but the idea of calling Ed after sending that text gave her butterflies. Calling herself a coward, she texted him.

  Sorry about that text. That was unprofessional. I need to know about any products that you don’t have on your website.

  She returned to her work and started to brainstorm campaign slogans, jotting them down in different color pencils on a sketch pad, all branching out from the company name. All that last minute cramming for slams had actually generated some fast, productive processes she could call on. She was going to need every last one of them. Her cell phone vibrated and the butterflies returned as she went to check her text. Last night had been incredible but she had to brace herself. It was unlikely that he would be interested in her once his campaign was done. She brushed her finger over the screen.

  I’m emailing you some details on other products now.

  We just purchased the patent on a carbon to plastic process.

  Her heart sank. What an idiot she was. Her phone vibrated in her hand.

  BTW, that text was crazy hot.

  She was grinning like the idiot she was. Her phone rang in her hand, his name appeared on the screen and the butterflies began swooping in her gut.

  “You woke me up this morning.” His voice was different, it was Ed, but there was a lightness in his tone, as if he was smiling. Dorothy realized she had never seen him smile, not fully.

  “I was admiring your handiwork,” she said. “And wondering what the hell I was going to wear to work today.�
� She couldn’t contain her joyful grin. He sounded happy, with her.

  “I’m sorry about that, I really prefer you in something low cut. Seems a shame to cover that luscious neck of yours.” Oh. My. God. That voice was so damn sexy, the nerve endings on her neck buzzed. “You could just let it show you know.” His voice was all gravel now, she clenched her legs together. What the heck could she say to that?

  “Cat got your tongue?” he asked.

  Dorothy cleared her throat. “I, um, could show it to you later.” What the hell was she doing? They needed to work today. “Maybe you could meet me at the library, say four thirty?” His disapproving grunt made her grin. “After all, we have a lot of work to do.”

  He chuckled. “If you only knew all the work I’ve already done after reading that text.” He hesitated a moment and she heard him blow out a long breath, like he was gathering himself together. Did she do that him? “OK, let’s start at the library. Let me feed you dinner when we finish there. It’s the least I can do to repay you for one of my ten best wake-ups ever.” Dorothy felt her face heat. This was crazy sexy and she was so jealous of the other nine mornings.

  “You know that just makes me want to go one better tomorrow, don’t you?” She was flirting and it felt great.

  Ed groaned a little. “I’ll see you at the library at four thirty,” he said and hung up. Yes, she had definitely got to him with that one. Ugh. She didn’t need to be thinking of how to rock that man’s world, she needed to be thinking about how to rock that man’s business. She had a feeling that his campaign was the way into Ed Walker’s world. Not that she was going there.

  From the corner of her eye she saw Kathy coming down the aisle toward her cubicle. Perfect. That was just what she needed to get herself back on track. Kathy stopped and peered into Dorothy’s cubicle, looking around and frowning a little.