Calculated Risk (16 page)

Stevie quickly handed him a glass of
champagne. “Too much?”

He cooled his tongue. “Perfect,” came
his laughing pronouncement.

She sighed and pulled the tray closer.
“How was Rob last night?”

“Fine.” He nodded, feeding her a prawn.
“He had a good weekend with Jack and some new kid named Tommie who
has a three-D camera that is ‘like totally total,’” he
mimicked.

Stevie took a sip of champagne. “I have
a late meeting with a record company, so I won’t be seeing him
today. I think that will help.”

“Don’t worry,” his fingers sifted among
the thick copper-gold waves that were brushed back from a barely
discernible widow’s peak. “Everything will get straightened out,
and then you’ll be in our home and we’ll be husband and
wife.”

She smiled at him. “I’d love nothing
better, but not at the expense of losing your son.”

“What about if we –“

Her champagne glass formed a seal
against lips. “Oh, no! No more of your brilliant plans.” Stevie’s
tone was emphatic. “I only end up more deeply involved than when we
started. And I cannot take any more health food or video games or,
heaven help me, high-school basketball.” Her eyes grew gentle.
“Quintin, let’s just give it a rest. I’ll make sure I’m not around
when Rob comes to work. Maybe out of site will be out of his
mind.”

He confiscated her glass and set it
next to his on the floor. “All right,” he conceded to her request,
“we’ll try it your way and see what happens.” His arms slid around
her waist, his flesh prickling in excitement as he came into close
contact with her silken wet skin. “As for out of sight and out of
mind –“ his voice was deep and urgent “—even when you’re out of my
sight, you are always on my mind and in my heart.”

“It’s the same for me,” she breathed,
letting her pelvis burrow a feminine message against him. Her teeth
sank a gentle love bite into the sensitive skin of his neck; her
tongue made a tantalizing foray into his ear.

Quintin could feel the heat rising
through his body. His hands slithered over the rounded contours of
her hips, fingers drawing intricate patterns on her satiny stomach.
“I love you.” His mouth played with her lips, kissing and nibbling
their sweetness.

With a little sigh, Stevie locked her
arms around his waist, her hands pressing into his well-muscled
buttocks. Suddenly, she felt highly erotic. “You know…” she
whispered into his ear “—as nasty as you were in the restaurant, as
you walked away, I thought there’s a man whose ass could sell
millions of jeans.”

“Really.” His hand slid between her
legs, his palm cupping her feminine mound as his thick hard finger
slid deep inside. “Well…I hate to tell you how many times I’ve had
to bite the inside of my cheek to get rid of the hard-on watching
your ass gives me…and those little lacey panties of yours…I hope
you have three hundred and sixty-five of them.” He could feel her
muscles contracting as he moved his finger in and out, making her
ready.

“Oh…my! You are…I ..am…” she moaned
heavily, leaning closer into him…”I really wish you’d replace that
wonderful fingers with your --”

“My pleasure.” His thigh pushed her
legs farther apart. He inched in just his tip, slowly, letting the
swirling water moisten his thrusting shaft. When he heard her cry
out, he stopped. “Are you okay…I would never hurt you…”

“I’m fine..wonderful...” her lips
sought his, her kiss deep as her muscles reacted and clenched him
tightly. She felt dizzy with pleasure and breathless as her body
quaked with orgasm after orgasm.

He felt her teeth sink into his
shoulder, and slowed down a bit. His thrusts were longer and
deeper. “I was worried about shrinkage…”

She giggled. “I don’t think that’s a
worry you have to entertain.” Suddenly, she felt herself and her
body grow very serious. Her spasms pulled at him, he moved faster
and faster until they both cried out their release.

It was nearly midnight when her phone
rang. Instinctively Stevie knew it was Quintin. “Hi.”

“Hmmm…I didn’t realize you had ESP,”
came his rueful quip. “What are you doing?”

“Reading
Variety
in bed, with your bathrobe
wrapped around me and pretending it’s you.”

“I envy that robe.” His words sounded
more like a groan. “I just wanted to call and kiss you goodnight.”
Quintin announced sounding quite fierce. “It’s just getting too
damn hard not to be with you every night.”

She sighed. “I know.”

“Listen, I have a planning board
meeting tomorrow. Will you be home at ten?”

“Yes, but –“ her teeth gnawed her lower
lip “—won’t stopping here keep you too late to see Rob?”

“These meetings are nothing I haven’t
been to before, and my son is too old to be tucked in at night,” he
jumped in on the defensive. “Besides, I need to see you every
day.”

“I’ll be here. Waiting. I love
you.”

“I love you too.”

“Good heavens, what happened?” Stevie
viewed Quintin’s stooped posture with alarm.

“I was surveying the site for that
clinic this afternoon and fell into a small sinkhole that was
disguised as hard snow.” His hand massaged his back. “I must have
pulled a muscle.” A wry grin twisted his lips. “It wasn’t this bad
until I spent two hours sitting at the board meeting in a metal
folding chair.”

“Listen, why don’t you go stretch out
on my bed. I’ve got some liniment that my doctor gave me.” She
nudged him toward her bedroom. “The stuff smells terrible, but it
works like a miracle.”

Quintin shivered as Stevie coated his
back and shoulders with icy salve, but almost immediately, under
the warming influence of her massaging hands, a deep heat radiated
into his muscles. He sighed in relief and nuzzled his face into the
bed pillow. “I don’t know if it’s that awful stuff or if I just
feel better because I’m here with you.”

She leaned close to his ear.
“Compliments will get you everywhere.” Stevie shifted into a more
comfortable cross-legged position next to him. “Then the clinic is
now your project?”

“Yup. We’ll be pouring concrete the
first of March,” he reported. “Hmmm…right there…oh…”

Her capable fingers kneaded the bunched
tendons, and after a few minutes Stevie could feel them begin to
relax and stretch into their normal shape. “Sounds as though you’re
going to be very busy.”

“I hope so,” he concurred. “I have a
great crew that I don’t intend to lose. So I’m putting in a bid on
that new country office building that’s going up downtown.” Quintin
turned his head “How was your day?”

Stevie’s palms pushed into his
shoulders, making ever-widening circles across his broad back.
“Gloria’s got the flu and the temp is well…let’s just say, he
leaves a lot to be desired. More than one phone call gets him
frazzled.”

“Him! Wait a minute.” Quintin came up
on his elbows. “Are you telling me you have a male
secretary.”

“I was lucky to get any type of
replacement.” She pressed him back into the mattress. “It seems all
of Nashville is suffering from the flu, and the agency was swamped
with requests. Chuck’s skills aren’t too bad. He knows his way
around computer programs, he’s a fast typist and takes dictation at
one hundred ten. Or so he keeps telling me.” Stevie blew back a
lock of hair that fell across her eyes. “The problem is he can do
all that in a school environment, but in an office where nine and
ten things go off at once – well…”

“Huh,” Quintin grumbled, “what’s he
look like?”

She smothered a laugh. “I can’t even
remember. Honest.” She pressed a kiss to his earlobe. “I like you a
little jealous.”

He grunted again. “I hope Gloria gets
better fast.”

“That makes two of us,” she breathed.
“Whew.” Stevie’s head reeled back, the menthol and eucalyptus
vapors stinging her eyes. “Boy, do you smell!”

“I guess you’ll just have to shower me
off,” Quintin said happily, sitting up and flexing his shoulders.
His dark eyes held hers. “A nurse’s primary responsibility is to
make sure her patient is in perfect working order.”

One tawny brow made an elegant arch.
“So this is to be a purely medicinal trip under the shower
massager?”

“Purely. I am wounded.”

“Come along then, patient Ward.” Stevie
pulled the green lounge robe over her head and tossed it on the
rocking chair. “I can see my virtue has nothing to fear,” she added
and grinned as she heard his quick intake of breath over her nude
rear view.

Closing the butterfly-etched doors, she
inspected his body with professional disinterest. “Hmmm…I’ll just
aim the massage spray on your back,” Stevie said briskly, and
turned Quintin around, ignoring his blatant erection.

Warm needs of pulsating water throbbed
against his shoulders and back. Quintin gave a contented sigh when
once again Stevie’s hands provided an additional rubdown with
liquid soap. The fragrant suds dissolved the biting smell of the
healing liniments, making him feel clean and
approachable.

“Perhaps the patient should give the
nurse a massage,” he drawled lazily, shifting positions in the
shower cubicle. Quintin twirled Stevie around and adjusted the
stationary nozzle so the spray hit her back and
shoulders.

“Hmmm…that does feel good,” she agreed,
her palms flat against the oatmeal-tiled wall. Stevie sighed under
the loving assault of masculine hands that slid across her back,
then around to concentrate on her front.

Blinking water from her dark lashes,
she became hypnotized watching his actions. Creamy soap spilled
around calloused fingers that gently wreathed her breasts with
bubbling lather. She moaned softly, feeling light-headed and
intoxicated under his sensual touch

Quintin moved close behind her, his
hands stroking her sleek, soapy skin. Fingertips rubbed her taut
nipples before moving down across her stomach, anxious to slip
inside of her. His lips worshiped her nape with kisses, his tongue
lapping at the dribble of water that slide down her spine. He could
feel her pulsing around his finger as he stroked her clit, the warm
rushing response urged him further as did her voice, begging for
him. He lifted her hips and tilted her forward, so he could slide
deep inside her wet tender core.

Stevie shuddered, loving every stroke.
Her hands splayed against the wet tiles, helping to give her
balance and support as he increased the power of his thrusts until
they both issued a deep guttural gasp. She turned in his arms,
resting against him, feeling at once exhausted and satiated, the
shower now raining a cool spray over their heated flesh.
“Quintin…”

“Hmmm?”

“I get the impression your back is all
better.”

***

“Good afternoon, may I help
you?”

Stevie scrutinized the petite, very
attractive blue-eyed blonde who was standing at the file cabinet.
“I was wondering if I could see Mr. Ward? I’m afraid I don’t have
an appointment.”

“Your name?”

“Stephanie Brandt.”

“One moment, please.” The young woman
crossed to her desk and lifted the telephone, her natural drawl
lilting into the mouthpiece of the receiver. “Excuse me, Quintin,
there’s a Stephanie Brandt here to see you. Quintin? Mr.
Ward?”

The bright blue inner-office door was
pulled open. “Stevie! What a pleasant surprise! Come on in. Terri,
hold my calls.” Quintin’s knee propelled the door shut. His hands
were busy relieving Stevie of her coat and pulling her tight
against him. “What are you doing here?”

Her palms pressed a warm path up his
blue-striped shirt, her fingers tracing the loose knot on his tie.
“I had an appointment canceled and a free hour on my hands before
my next. I remembered I had never been to your office. So here I
am. Glad to see me?” Stevie’s lashes made a coquettish
flutter.

His mouth pressed a silent but
unequivocal answer to hers. “I was going to call you about dinner
tonight,” Quintin said after a long, satisfying kiss. “Thought you
might like a more friendly encounter at LeChalet than our
first.”

“Oh, I’d love it but –“

“—
you have another
engagement.” He finished for her. “Some very old client I
trust?”

“A minister and a gospel
group.”

“Thanks.” Quintin grinned. “I can relax
knowing your virtue is in absolutely no peril.”

“And what about yours?” She tilted her
head. “Your secretary is very attractive.”

“Her husband thinks so.”

Stevie exhaled an exaggerated sigh of
relief. “Are you going to show me around?”

“While Ward Construction does not
appear to be as elegant as Brandt Associates --
Quintin gestured around the office “—modesty precludes my dazzling
you with a disgustingly healthy profit statement.”

Her eyes shifted from his smiling
features to the room. It suited him, Stevie decided. Rough-hewn,
light gray barn-board panels provided vertical interest in contrast
to the three stucco walls; line drawings and black and white
lithographs were handsome decorator touches. Quintin’s desk was a
free-form design in black. The leather sofa and accent chairs were
also black. Underfoot, gray carpeting dappled with black and white
added softness, as did the matching draperies.