Roses are Red (4 page)

All too quickly, Rhett was striding across the room and opening the door to his father.

“Rhett, why was the door locked…?” Robert Hunter walked into the room and faltered when he caught sight of Lucy, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise
. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you were busy,” he said, his face an inscrutable mask. “Good morning, Ms Whiticker.”

Lucy smiled in greeting and desperately tried to look nonchalant.

“Lucy and I were just going over some things,” Rhett said smoothly. “I didn’t want to be disturbed. You know how Annie has a habit of running in and out at the drop of a hat.” Rhett looked at Lucy. “Annie is my personal assistant,” he explained.

Lucy needed to get out of Rhett’s office—and fast. “Well, I’ll leave you two to it,” she said brightly and made her way to the door.

When she finally reached the safety of the staff kitchen, she blew out a deep breath and collapsed onto a chair. She should be mortified, but she had to admit that Rhett had her feeling like a lovesick teenager. She was concerned that Robert was suspicious, and she was determined to resist Rhett Hunter in the office from that point forwards. She couldn’t risk this job or her reputation by being caught in flagrante with one of the firm’s partners.

The next time Lucy looked at her watch she was surprised to see that it was six p.m. The day had flown by and she was happy with her progress. She’d confirmed the schedule and the budget and had the contractors ready to go. Just as she was shoving folders and samples into her briefcase, her mobile phone buzzed, indicating an incoming text message. It was from Rhett.

Dinner @ my house @ seven thirty.

His address details followed.

She looked at the message with indecision for a few moments. He hadn’t asked so much as demanded her presence. What if she had had other plans?

She knew that she should be careful, but what harm could come of it? They were both adults, it was after hours, outside the office. Besides, it felt really good to be admired and wanted again, particularly by a man like Rhett.

Chapter Five

Lucy had just enough time to head home to shower and change. She dressed in soft denim jeans, a white blouse that she rolled up at the sleeves and comfortable ballet flats.

She arrived at Rhett’s at seven thirty and chewed her lip nervously while she waited for him to answer her call. She wasn’t surprised to find that he lived in a high-rise, inner city penthouse apartment. In fact, she couldn’t imagine that he would live anywhere else.

Lucy took a moment to admire the décor. The entrance foyer was opulent and tastefully furnished and smacked of city centre executive living.

The private elevator that Rhett had sent down to her arrived with a ping. She stepped inside and was whisked up numerous floors until it stopped at his suite. When Lucy walked out, Rhett’s door was open in obvious invitation. Just as she reached the threshold, he pulled her inside. He banded one arm about her waist while he cupped her arse with the other and pulled her hard against him.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted her. His breath was hot at her ear and, incredibly, his cock was already rock hard and straining against her abdomen.

A warm glow engulfed her and she melted against him. He was so unbelievably sexual. He left her with her senses reeling, while her better judgement stayed at the door.

“Do you know how desperate I have been for you today?” He ground his hips against her then he licked a slick trail around the shell of her ear. “I have thought about nothing else but burying myself in you balls-deep.”

She groaned low in her throat as his erotic words sent sharp bolts of desire shooting straight to her core. His words alone had her so horny and wet that she needed him instantly. She wanted to give him back what he had given her that morning.

She locked her mouth on his desperately and sucked on his bottom lip as he picked her up and kicked the door closed.

He walked them farther into the room, deepening their kiss.

Lucy pulled away, panting, then dropped to her knees and reached for his belt. Frantically she unbuckled it, then after undoing the buttons of his jeans, she yanked them and his boxers down. His long, thick cock sprang free and bobbed heavily in front of her face. Her mouth watered and she licked her lips at the prospect of tasting him.

He groaned and entwined his fingers in her hair. She reached for his erection and, grasping him at the shaft, she pumped up and down slowly. Pre-cum glistened on the tip, signalling his arousal and tantalising her with his musky scent. She dipped her face towards him, looking up from beneath her lashes, and licked the pearly drop of moisture from the slit.

“Fuck, Lucy,” he rumbled low in his throat. Thrusting his hips towards her, he gripped her hair tighter to angle her head towards his cock.

She gave him what he wanted and wrapped her mouth around his thick erection, sheathing her teeth with her lips, then taking him so deep that he brushed the back of her throat. She grasped him behind his thighs, digging her fingers in hard as she bobbed her head up and down, making him slick with her saliva and easing his glide between her lips.

She gazed up at him while she worked his cock and marvelled at his tight abs and the way they strained and rippled beneath his shirt with his thrusting movements. God, he was beautiful, and seeing him so taut with obvious desire, knowing that she was making him feel that way, had her pussy aching and wet with her own need.

“Yes,” he hissed through clenched teeth. The tendons of his neck corded and bulged with his fight to maintain control and draw out his pleasure.

Lucy whimpered and pulled his cock deeper into her mouth until, what seemed impossible to her, her lips met his abdomen. She fought her automatic gag reflex, desperate to maintain the contact. She swallowed around his tip, her throat contracting around and massaging his engorged member.

He emitted a low, feral growl. “Fuck me! That is fucking mind-blowing!”

He shuddered, clasped her shoulders and jerked her closer. Sensing that his release was near, she hollowed her cheeks and sucked hard.

“I’m going to come, baby. I’ve been on the edge all day,” he said urgently.

But she didn’t pull away, needing to taste him. She grasped his thighs and tugged his hips towards her, telling him silently to let go.

He cried out, stiffened then thrust hard, once. She felt him shoot his creamy load and relished the sensation of the long, hot pulses of his ejaculate down her throat.

He let out a long, shuddering breath and slumped back into the chair behind him.

She sat back on her haunches and stared up at him, licking her lips provocatively.

“Come here, baby.” He leant down and grasped her around the waist. “I want to taste myself on you,” he murmured against her lips, slipping his tongue in her mouth and delving deeply.

She felt her lower abdomen tighten and clench at his blatant eroticism. God, she couldn’t get enough of this man. He was so brutally sexual that he literally took her breath away.

He broke their kiss. “I want you naked, Lucy. Strip. Now.”

She stood on shaking legs and kicked off her ballet flats, shimmied out of her jeans then shrugged off her blouse so that she was clad only in her lacy, champagne-coloured, underwear.

He growled in appreciation and cupped her between her thighs. “Someone’s very wet and in need of some release.”

She moaned and rocked her hips forward.

“Now take off that sexy bra and panties.”

She quickly did as he had asked so that she was standing naked before him. He spun her around then settled her on his lap, her back to his chest.

A mirror opposite them reflected her image, perched provocatively across Rhett’s lap. Had he orchestrated their position so perfectly? As if hearing her thoughts, he dropped his head to her ear. “I want you to watch.”

He grasped her behind her knees, widened his thighs and draped her legs over his so that she was totally open and exposed.

She shivered in anticipation and watched in the mirror as her nipples pebbled and strained. She could see how wet she was, her pussy lips glistening and dripping with moisture. There was something totally erotic about being bare and exposed before him when he remained totally dressed. It shifted the power and gave Rhett the dominant edge.

He splayed his palm across her throat and swept her head to the side so that he could nibble and suck on her neck. She moaned deep in her throat and wriggled her backside against his groin, desperate for relief.

She gripped the armrests and pressed into his lap. He snaked his other hand across her lower abdomen and up to her right breast where he palmed her nipple before tweaking it painfully.

Fuck, she could go off just like this, just watching and waiting. The anticipation was so intense that she thought one touch from him could have her shooting into orbit.

She watched him run his right hand along her side, across her abdomen then down to nestle it between her thighs. Her eyes met his in the mirror as he inserted a finger into her slick channel.

She gasped and arched her body at the contact. His erection, hot and hard, throbbed at the small of her back.

“So wet,” he murmured, inserting another finger, then pushing his two fingers in and out of her in long, drawn-out strokes.

He sucked her earlobe into his mouth he bit down, sending a jolt of pleasurable pain to her core to mingle inexorably with the sensation of his pumping digits.

She jerked on his lap. “Please, Rhett,” she begged, her voice barely a whisper.

“Tell me what you want, Lucy,” he demanded huskily. He was watching his thrusting fingers in the mirror. Her arousal coated them, making his strokes glide slickly and easily.

“I want you inside me—now.”

He dug into the pocket of his jeans. “Lift that sweet arse of yours.”

Using the armrests, Lucy braced herself and raised her hips. She could see him between her legs as he unzipped, reached into his jeans and liberated his pulsating cock. Withdrawing a foil packet, he tore it open and rolled a condom down his thick length.

She was almost salivating when he grasped her around the waist with both hands and lifted her until she was hovering above him. Then quickly, and with force, he pulled her down until she sheathed his penis completely.

He filled her to capacity and she groaned. This position felt deeper and his hardness swelled to fill her lower belly.

“Oh fuck,” he moaned in her ear. His breathing was ragged and disjointed. “You feel so fucking good.”

She braced her hands on the armrests and lifted her backside, then slid back down his length slowly. They were both watching their connection in the mirror—the sight of her lifting and then sinking onto his engorged cock was mesmerising. It looked so unbelievably erotic.

Rhett’s hands tightened on her hips and his fingers dug into her flesh almost painfully while he manoeuvred her body up and down his shaft. He brought one hand up to her right breast and tweaked the nipple. His breath was ragged and heavy in her ear, making her nipples harden further. “Doesn’t it look hot, baby? Watching me take you like this?”

“Oh yes.” She pumped her hips harder, her gaze locked on the erotic image before her. The internal pressure built and her insides started to tighten and spasm in readiness.

She met his eyes, smouldering with arousal and turning his emerald orbs the darkest green.

“I can tell that you’re close,” he whispered. “I feel it.”

He pressed his thumb against her clit then circled the bundle of nerves, making her muscles quiver.

“Yes!” she cried. With one hard drive of his cock, he had her catapulting into an explosive orgasm. She held her breath as the waves of pleasure rocked through her, sending her body limp and boneless. She hovered, weightless for a moment, in that wonderful plane of blissful ecstasy.

A second later, he followed, grasping her hips tightly and thrusting hard into her then shouting his own release.

Chapter Six

Lucy thought about the previous evening spent with Rhett and she did an internal happy dance. She’d had a wonderful evening. Apart from the amazing sex, they had shared a lovely meal that Rhett had ordered from a local Japanese restaurant. Lucy had been pleased to learn that she had many things in common with Rhett. They liked similar authors and films, enjoyed working out and shared a love of the ocean and the beach. It had been easy and enjoyable conversation, as though they had known each other for years.

There was just one issue that had her anxious and doubting that the relationship could go any further. She worried about their age difference. Seventeen years was significant. Which was a fact that left an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She reasoned that they were both adults, and if men could do the relationship thing with such broad age gaps, then why couldn’t women? She understood the distinction, however. Society seemed to accept relationships between an older man and a younger woman a lot more readily than they did an older woman with a younger man. The term ‘cougar’ bounced, unwelcome, through her mind. Not that anyone else’s opinion should matter, but the sad fact was that people were judgemental and such beliefs could, and would, complicate matters.

She sighed and slipped out of bed to run a shower. Once under the warm spray, she decided to push all her doubts and anxieties to the back of her mind. She would just run with things and see how everything panned out. After all, she and Rhett were not considering marriage. Theirs was just a sexual relationship between two consenting adults. No promises, no strings attached.

* * * *

Rhett was two hours into an expected three-hour meeting. He should have been concentrating on the issues being discussed, but his mind kept wandering to Lucy and the previous evening they’d spent together. He realised suddenly that he really liked her. Initially it had been the sexual vibe that had attracted him. She had an innate sexuality in the way she moved and spoke and how she held herself. Add to that her beauty and poise and her toned, sensual body, and it was easy to understand his initial attraction. What hot-blooded male wouldn’t be affected by her? Now, as he sat pondering their time together, he knew that it had moved beyond physical attraction—at least for him.