Caramel Kisses (2 page)
Authors: TJ Michaels
But this morning was different. No “across the room” interlude or long distance gazes. Today he’d been within a foot of
Mizz
Cannes. He’d expected the attraction he’d felt for her to dance around in his gut at being so close, but what he hadn’t expected was the need to take care of and protect her. Nor had he foreseen the insane sexual craving that made the blood boil down through his arteries.
She’d been a picture of concern and vulnerability with a slight edge of “pissed off”.
Beautifully steaming mad.
And god, he wanted her.
After the proceedings,
Sydni
grumbled the entire time she’d been in his car going home, but Drew didn’t give a rat’s rear end. Today, one of his prayers had been answered—he’d gotten a foot in the door with
Sydni
Cannes. And he was determined to get his whole body through then stick to her like glue.
* * * * *
Fresh out of a shower and the funk of the inhabitants of the county jail washed away from her skin,
Sydni
eased into the kitchen.
Charli
shooed her toward a high pub chair at the kitchen counter and
Sydni
moaned with delight. Her sister had created a decadent homemade breakfast of mascarpone-filled crepes with fresh strawberries and honey poured liberally on top.
“
Mmm
, this is so perfectly good it almost makes up for the blunder of the century. I’m so sleepy I don’t know what to do. And before you ask, hell no, I did
not
get any sleep in jail.
Too busy watching everybody else watching me.”
She licked a bit of strawberry juice from her spoon and laid it down on the breakfast tray just long enough to fuss. “That is the last time I go out with you, woman,”
Sydni
grumbled around a mouthful of the best crepes she’d ever had.
“It’s not my fault the heel broke off your shoe on the corner of the worst street in the Fillmore district,”
Charli
defended. “Nobody in their right mind would associate you with those hookers on the corner. First, you’re too classy by half, and second, when the police started rounding ‘
em
up, you would think they’d have paid closer attention to who they were grabbing off the street.”
“Well, it’s your fault for talking me into going to that raunchy club in the first place. You could have at least warned me that some local celebrities were going to be at the place,”
Sydni
said with no small amount of
snark
. “I would have avoided it like the plague. All those skanky women showing all their asses just hoping to get the attention of some celebrity-
fied
pimp.”
“But
Syd
, it’s not my…”
“Whoa, it is in fact
all your
fault. It is
all your
fault I broke my shoe trying to run to the car in the rain. It is
all your
fault you left me standing on the corner while you went to get the car. And it is definitely all your fault that the cops picked that exact moment to raid the ‘ho stroll.”
Charli
laughed like a loon regardless of
Sydni’s
fierce scowl. “I don’t care what the issue
is,
it’s your fault,
Charli
.
If it rains, your fault.
My laptop
dies,
your fault. I gain ten pounds while taking a purge, your fault. Get it?”
“Okay!
Fine.”
Charli
cracked up. “But you can’t deny you had a good time. Well, until you got arrested.”
“Speaking of getting arrested, how did you pull off finding that lawyer on the fly? When he dropped me off, I was relieved he simply opened my car door for me, waved at you like your best girlfriend and got the hell out of here.
God, how embarrassing to be saved by a co-worker.
Hell, to be saved by anyone. Anyway, he seemed familiar as if I’d seen him somewhere other than the office, but I can’t place him.”
“We went to law school together. Have been good friends ever since. When I saw them carting you away, he was the first person I thought of to call. God,
Syd
, I completely forgot that he was working at your place now. He’s only been there, what, a couple of months?”
Sydni
shrugged. No point in worrying about it now. “Well, girlfriend, he’s quite a catch,”
Sydni
said around a swig of orange juice. “He said you two weren’t going out, but if he’s single, you should. You two would make a cute couple. You
know,
your cocoa to his vanilla? Go on, girl.”
“We’re not dating.
Just friends.
Besides, I’m not his type.”
“What? Is he gay or something? Maybe you can convert him, girl.”
“Drew? Gay? Not even close!” Then she laughed like a sailor who’d been told the raunchiest joke on the high seas. But then
came
that sideways look
Charli
flashed whenever she was up to something.
Sydni
nibbled on her bottom lip and eyed her sister closely. Hmm, what was that about?
“I swear I’m not up to anything!”
Charli
threw up her hands and blurted the words before
Sydni
could even ask, which meant she was most
definitely
up to something.
“You’d better not be. The last thing you want is my sore size nines planted up your backside.”
“Yes, ma’am,”
Charli
demurred with a big bright smile. “As for Drew, he graduated top of his class and passed the bar on the first go. You remember
,
he was at the grand opening party for my boutique.”
“No, I don’t remember. As for lawyer related topics, I still can’t get over the fact you went to law school, passed the bar exam, then decided to become a fashion designer, er, tailor.”
“Yeah, but I’m a highfalutin tailor,”
Charli
sassed.
After clearing the dishes, a bit of sisterly hugging and laughing over
Sydni’s
stint in the
hooskow
, and the thankfully dismissed charges, the two ladies kissed, made up and set plans to get together for a family dinner the following weekend.
Before driving away,
Sydni’s
only sister planted another big wet smack on her cheek and said, “I’m glad everything worked out,
Syd
. You’ve taken care of me forever. You deserve to be happy. You’re the best sister a girl could have and I love you.”
Sydni
held back the tears gathering behind her eyes at the tenderness pouring out of her sibling. She felt cherished, special…even if nobody loved her but
Charli
.
With a sigh, she watched
Charli
put her little black sports car in reverse and back out of the driveway.
Sydni
thought about dragging herself up to bed. An image flashed into her brain of herself
laying
in the big king-sized number with her body wrapped around an oversized pillow. Going to bed lost its appeal, especially when one side of it was always empty and cold.
But
Sydni
was a realist. She’d been so devoted to taking care of
Charli
she’d already missed the “family and kids” boat. At her age, most women were settled into their families by now while all she had was work. Hell, her biological clock had stopped ticking so long ago she was sure the thing had suffered battery corrosion. And there was no expectation for a damn thing to change now.
Oh well,
may
as well get back to work
. Sigh.
Chapter Two
A mousy male voice whispered into the darkness.
“
Sydni
Cannes suspects something.”
After a moment of silence, Alex urged her lover to turn over and settle on his hands and knees. She licked a scorching path up his spine, peppering him with a combination of open mouthed kisses and blunt questions. He was quite delicious, if somewhat boring.
“How do you know?” A bite to the supple flesh of his left ass cheek elicited a gasp from the recipient of her sharp nips.
“S-she called me to her office and…oh god,” the pawn gasped. The cock Alex boldly explored throbbed wildly beneath her fingers.
“Continue,” she whispered sharply, tugging on his full sac.
“I went to her office. The invoices associated with the purchase order for the Sony shipping contract didn’t…
aahhh
!
Didn’t add up.
Please. Please…”
A wild sigh ensued, followed by thrashing hips that sought fulfillment of the need Alex carefully cultivated.
“Tell me the rest.
Now.”
It came out a cold command.
But not cold enough to douse the flames of the rock-hard rod in her hand.
“I-I told her that the rest of the invoices were probably waiting to be s-sent.
That it could be as s-simple as an accounting technicality.”
“Did she buy it?”
“Oh god, yes!”
Pant. Gasp.
“Yes, she bought it.”
“Good boy.” One hand petted the sensitive balls underneath the pawn’s weeping penis, carefully slipping a single finger into the pawn’s puckered hole. The other hand remained wrapped around his cock, pumping roughly. Down around the base,
then
up to sweep over the sensitive
glans
. Alex’s mouth followed it, greedily taking him to the very back of her throat just as the finger in his ass tickled his prostate. The pawn spun into oblivion, the intensity of his orgasm expressed in a screech as he came so hard he didn’t notice she’d neither kissed, nor swallowed.
Not five minutes after seeing the pawn to the elevator, Alexandra headed to the shower. She flipped the water on, adjusted it to the desired temperature.
And brooded.
After all,
Sydni
Cannes wasn’t a high six-figure Executive Vice President for nothing. The woman’s division had closed more multi-million dollar deals than any other in the entire company, ever. She alone was responsible for getting goods manufactured in Japan into the hands of consumers a full six months before the competition. Sharp didn’t begin to describe Cannes. And that was exactly what would get Alex’s ass in a sling if she didn’t find a way to advance her plans. Shit.
Sydni
Cannes was a whiz at negotiating contracts. But negotiating wasn’t the issue here. The Sony deal had been
won,
closed and was currently being expedited. So why was Cannes digging into this particular one? Usually once a deal was closed, only the project manager responsible for executing the details bothered to revisit the actual documents signed by all parties. Alex knew she had to move faster, or get caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
Her first thought was to discredit Cannes.
But how?
The woman was untouchable, her position in the company solid, and her reputation as spotless as newly fallen snow. Hell, last Alex heard, Cannes had been seen at the lake south of town, walking on water.
Sigh. Snatching her cell up off the tiled counter Alex hit the speed dial, leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. Her stomach danced from one side of her belly to the other. Strange how she craved and dreaded talking to the man whose smooth sexy voice floated through the earpiece.
“What?” Viktor asked flatly.
“I have the info we need. Are you coming over?”
“Depends on whether it’ll be worth my while.”
“It’ll definitely be worth your while in more ways than one. I promise.” No answer. Not even a hint of interest.
Time to up the stakes just a little bit.
She knew the bastard liked to make her beg for it.
Damn,
and she loved groveling for him.
“How ‘bout a trade, lover?
My info on
Sydni
Cannes…”
“In exchange for a good, hard fuck?”
Alex’s breath caught in her throat for a sec as she let the raunchy words and heated—finally—tone of Viktor’s words wash over her. “Oh yes. I think that’ll do.”
“In that case I’ll see you in half an hour.”
Her belly fluttered in anticipation of the pleasure promised by the hard-edged, deep, masculine voice.
Mmm
, hard, deep…exactly what she wanted.
“Use your key. I’ll await you in bed,” Alex purred, then snapped the phone shut. She jumped into the shower and washed up at record speed, paying special attention to freshly shaving her oh-so-ready pussy.
* * * * *
After a hard day at the office bled into an even harder evening at home,
Sydni
switched off her laptop and wrinkled her nose in confusion. The numbers for the new shipping contract she’d landed still didn’t line up. Something was off but she was no closer to nailing it down right now than she’d been when she’d discovered the issue a couple of days ago.
Perched in the middle of a sea of cushions and covers all over her big comfy bed, the sexily dim lighting of the fireplace had her mind drifting elsewhere…mainly to a topic she’d been thinking too much of lately—sex.
And lots of it.
It had been a whole week since her little run-in with the law yet any thought of that event instantly conjured the ruggedly handsome Mr. Drew
Caruth
.
Sydni
just couldn’t stop thinking about him. In fact her fantasies of late featured sun laden black sand beaches, hunky real-life lawyers and all kinds of naughty possibilities that sent her temperature soaring.
She jumped when the phone rang.
“Hello?” she grumped, hopping out of her personal haven of silken sheets and ran down to the kitchen.
“Is this Ms.
Sydni
Cannes?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“This is Earl Matheson from KWQQ, your radio station for smooth jazz.”
“Uh, okay. How can I help you, Earl?”
Tilting the handset so she could hold it on her shoulder and still snatch the
Häagen-Dazs
Butter Pecan ice cream out of the freezer.
Grabbing a spoon, she headed back upstairs. Treating herself for landing the big Sony account was overdue. She deserved this damn ice cream, and no one was going to interrupt her long overdue indulgence. Not to mention Earl was spoiling a perfectly good evening of masturbating in between TV shows.
