Seduction on the CEO's Terms (13 page)

Nick walked over to pour himself a drink. He offered Joe another, but he shook his head. “Really? It only took you over a year to figure it out.”

“I'm slow on the uptake, but I finish with flying colors,” Joe said.

Nick chuckled and took a swallow of whiskey. “I couldn't have said it better myself.”

“I said it for you, so you couldn't gloat.”

“Oh, don't worry. I'm gloating and a bit envious. Ali's pretty spectacular.”

“I agree. She's not like most women.”

Nick smirked and shook his head, and Joe didn't know why that look annoyed him so much. “What?”

“Don't be naive, Joe. One thing I know is women. They all want the same thing—money, power, status and lucky for us, we're in the position to give them that.”

“Cynical, Nick.”

“Realistic. But hey, I'm glad you're coming out of the cave Sheila trapped you in. I hope it works out for you.”

Nick finished his drink, slapped him on the back in a show of real affection and left.

Twenty minutes later, Joe knocked briskly on Ali's front door, anticipating the night ahead. He tucked his hands in his pockets and when she opened the door, Joe's mouth fell open. “Wow.”

Ali stood before him, and the first thing he noticed was her auburn hair flowing down her shoulders in a mass of curls. Her hair looked untamed and amazingly free. Glancing from her hair to a face that positively beamed, he peered into jade-green eyes that looked twice their size and weren't hidden behind eyeglasses. Her smile brought his focus to her lips colored to a dark pink hue. Full, lush and so kissable, Joe held his willpower in check, determined to give Ali the romantic night he'd planned.

But as his gaze dipped lower, Joe's intake of breath was loud enough to bring on another smile from Ali. Her sexy black dress clung to her body like a second skin—and how that crisscrossing material kept her beautiful cleavage from spilling out could possibly be the eighth wonder of the world.

Her dress stopped short of her knees. Three-inch black high-heeled sandals supported tanned, gorgeous legs that went on forever.

“You like?” she asked, whirling around in a slow circle.

Joe caught a glimpse of her soft shoulders and lower back and all the skin exposed by her dress before she turned to face him.

“You look beyond beautiful, Ali.”

“And you look sexy, Joe. I like the tux.” She tugged on his arm and enticed him inside.

“No,” he said, stopping short and grabbing her hand. Immediate heat radiated between them. He'd have her out of that dress in two seconds flat if he gave in to what he was feeling.

“No?” Ali asked, her lips forming a pout.

“C'mon, sweetheart. If I come inside, we'll never make dinner. Go get your things. I'll wait for you out here.”

Joe stepped outside and waited, telling himself he'd done the right thing. With the way Ali looked tonight, all glittery and beaming, he wouldn't have had a chance if he'd strayed inside her condo with the bedroom only steps away.

Hell, forget the bedroom. He might not have made it that far.

Joe drew in a steady breath, allowing the crisp Napa air to cool his jets.
You promised her a great evening, so stick to the plan, Joe.

When Ali joined him, holding a small purse and wearing a little black shawl around her shoulders, Joe put his hand to her back and escorted her to the limo.

“I know,” he said before she could ask. “I debated, but I conserved water today, recycled cans and planted a vegetable garden.”

“With your bare hands?” she asked, looking at him like he could save the world.

“No. The gardener did it, but it was my idea.”

Ali laughed lightly, and the sound of her joy made him grin from ear to ear.

“Okay, so you get credit for the idea,” she said.

“Is that cheating?”

“Not in my book. It's called clever maneuvering, Joe. To be honest, I'd expect Nick to dream something like that up.”

“Hey, at least we'll make up for the limo ride tomorrow when we take our bike ride.”

“True,” Ali said, and the chauffeur opened the door for them. Ali slipped inside and Joe followed, aware of every movement she made in her dress.

Heat climbed up his neck, and he grew hard instantly.

“What's the matter, Joe?”

“Nothing that can't be fixed in a few hours from now. Just keep to the far side of the seat and don't look at me that way.”

“Okay,” Ali said with a sweet smile that somehow appeared wickedly sinful.

Joe groaned and kept his focus out the window the entire way to the restaurant.

 

Joe's blatantly sexy gaze was on Ali as they ate dinner atop a hill in a gorgeous mansion transformed into a topnotch restaurant, called quite simply The Mansion. Ali's mother and one of her right-then husbands had dragged her to many classy country clubs as a child, but no place she'd ever been to could compare to this.

Darkly textured stone walls and romantically lit tables were surrounded by old-world elegance in a tall room with sweeping sheer drapes that opened to the magnificence of
the valley below. Crystal chandeliers, plush carpets and waiters dressed in tuxedos made an impressive picture. Soft music played by a five-piece orchestra added to the ambience.

The menu, a leather-bound book of choices, had given her a heart attack as she imagined what each entrée would cost. Joe was a rich man, but this extravagance was totally out of character for him. Yet, he looked good in the surroundings, blending in with the decor and not intimidated at all by the elegance. Thankfully, he'd ordered for both of them and picked a fine wine to go with the meal.

Joe gave her his full attention during dinner, entertaining her with the history of The Mansion and telling stories of his youth, growing up in Napa.

After the meal, Joe stood and reached for her hand. “Dance with me.”

Ali rose, and he led her onto the dance floor.

“Is this your first-date way to impress a woman?” she asked as they stepped onto the wooden flooring.

“I don't know.” He took her into his arms, bringing her up close. “Am I impressing you?”

“Oh, yeah, Joe. You're impressing the heck out of me.”

He chuckled and drew her even closer.

Ali wound her arms around his neck. “You might even get lucky tonight, boss.” She nibbled on his throat.

“Ali,” Joe warned in a low tone, his sharp inhalation very telling.

“What, Joe?”

“They make a great chocolate soufflé here. I want us to last at least through dessert.”

“Then maybe you shouldn't have asked me to dance,” she whispered.

“I had to,” he said. “In case you hadn't noticed, you turned a lot of heads when you walked in.”

How could she have noticed? She only had eyes for Joe. “Oh, so you're staking your claim?”

Joe grinned. “Something like that. And you looked so beautiful in candlelight that I had to touch you.”

Ali rested her head on his chest, and he tightened his hold on her. “You're saying all the right things.”

“Am I passing the first-date test?”

“With flying colors.”

Joe chuckled, and when she peered up at him in question, he simply shook his head, smiling.

“Did I say something funny?”

“Not at all. You just repeated something I'd said to Nick earlier.”

Ali let that comment go and didn't question him further. Being held in his arms as the violinist played a sweetly romantic tune was heaven on earth.

They moved slowly, erotically. Ali's hips brushed Joe's, her body flowing into his with intimate little touches—a sort of public foreplay that had her mind whirling.

Joe kissed her forehead, caressed her back and ran his hands through her hair, his body rock hard.

Show him who you are.
Rena's advice came through loud and clear, and Ali wouldn't stop now.

“You think we could get the soufflé to go?” she asked urgently in a breathless tone that was true to her nature. “I want to feed it to you myself privately.”

Joe stopped dancing and stared at her. He blinked several times and grinned. With a hot gleam in his eyes, he dragged her off the dance floor. “Let's go.”

T
hey made out in the back of the limo, unable to keep their hands off each other. Ali climbed onto his lap, and Joe's control nearly snapped. He ran his hand underneath her dress and stroked her thigh, skimming the soft flesh. Ali's moan of pleasure had his erection pulsing.

Ali seemed different tonight, but Joe wasn't questioning it. He was as hungry for her as she was for him. They stumbled up to her apartment, Ali tugging at his tie, loosening it. She opened the door, and they fumbled their way in.

When Joe wanted to take her straight to the bedroom, Ali shook her head and led him to the kitchen. “Dessert, remember?”

Joe protested with a groan and wished they hadn't taken the chocolate soufflé to go.

“I promise you that you won't be sorry.” She removed
his jacket and then his tie and offered him a seat at her kitchen table.

When he glanced at her puzzled, she gave a little shove. “Sit.”

Joe sat.

She came around from the back, her exotic scent invading his senses, and with nimble hands she unbuttoned his shirt. She stroked his chest, running her hands up and down. He loved when she touched him. She rarely took the initiative, which confirmed that something was up with her tonight.

He pulled her down to kiss her, and when he tried to do more, she backed away. “Hold that thought. I'll be right back.”

Joe waited just a minute before Ali shut down the lights in the room. She came back with one vanilla scented pillar candle glowing and the chocolate delicacy on a plate with one fork. She set the candle down on the table along with the plate.

Next, Ali stood before him and slipped out of her dress. The material pooled at her feet. She stepped out of it, and Joe looked at the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen. The strain in his pants was now an ache.

Ali wore a tiny bra that barely contained her ample breasts, the nipples a faint hint through the lacy material. A little black stretch of fabric covered the vee between her legs and enticed him beyond belief. Ali had never undressed before him. She'd never been so bold. “If you're trying to kill me, you're succeeding.”

Ali smiled, a sensual curving of her lips. “That comes later, baby. First I'm going to feed you.”

Ali straddled his legs and took up the dessert plate. She forked into the chocolate concoction and lifted it to his lips. “Open your mouth, Joe.”

Her breasts were at eye level and so beautiful. “My mouth has better things to—”

Ali set the fork into his mouth. The chocolate oozed inside and melted into his mouth.

“How is it?”

Joe glanced at the picture she made straddling him nearly naked. “Amazing.”

“Now my turn,” Ali said, forking a piece and opening her mouth wide. She inserted the fork in and Joe's throat constricted. She chewed briefly then swallowed, licking her lips. “Delicious.”

Then she leaned over to kiss him, and he didn't miss the opportunity to drive his tongue into her mouth. She tasted sweet and sexy, and he took his time with her.

“I think we can do better,” she said. She set the fork down and dipped her fingers into the soufflé. She pressed the cake into his mouth then brushed a soft kiss to his lips. He chewed quickly and lifted her messy fingers to his tongue, licking off the chocolate, one finger at a time. The heady maneuver broke him out in a sweat.

“Ali,” he groaned. “I can't take much more of this.”

She plopped a piece of chocolate cake into her mouth and swallowed. “You have a little on your mouth,” she said. She leaned in and swirled her tongue onto his upper lip until he burned with dire need.

Joe's willpower shut down.

He pulled out the chair and grabbed her around the waist. “Wrap your legs around me,” he ordered. And once she did, Joe bounded up from the chair, Ali's legs tight around his waist.

He knew his way to the bedroom and made quick work of lowering her down on her bed.

But Ali didn't stay down. She rose up on her knees. “Let me undress you.”

Joe surrendered immediately. Ali lowered the sleeves of his shirt and pulled it off. Her hands found his chest again, and her touch made his straining erection throb harder.

She caressed him for a few seconds there before sliding her hands down lower to unfasten his belt. She pulled it free, then brought her tongue to his navel and laved it, moistening his skin thoroughly. Joe kicked off his shoes and slipped his feet out of his socks, waiting. Anticipating. Her next move didn't disappoint. Ali unzipped his pants, lowered them down along with his briefs and then glanced at his manhood. “Impressive,” she said with a sexy grin.

Joe didn't need any more encouragement. He was almost at his limit.

Ali cupped him with her hands, and Joe managed to hold on, enjoying every minute of Ali's foreplay. She stroked him gently, her soft hands on his silken flesh. He braced his hands on her shoulders, needing to touch her as she pleasured him. Her hand slid over him in ways that he'd only dreamt about, and he grabbed handfuls of her hair in both hands gently encouraging her to go on. But this was Ali, he kept saying to himself, and he wondered why tonight was different.
She
was different. She didn't hold back in any way. She drove him absolutely wild. The picture she made on the bed was a visual he'd not soon forget.

Then, she took him into her mouth. “Oh, yes,” he muttered through gritted teeth. Ali held his hips and worked magic on him with her perfect mouth. Her tongue caressed his shaft and flames erupted. He held her hair tight as she moved on him. Little moans of pleasure erupted from her throat, and Joe's whole body gave in to her, allowing her to have her way. He enjoyed every ounce of her sensual assault, whispering his praise in full surrender.

It wasn't long before he reached his limit. He stopped
Ali, pulled her away and climbed onto the bed, taking her with him. “Hang on to your hat, sweetheart.”

He entered her in one fully satisfying deep thrust. She was ready for him, and he could always count on that. He moved quickly, fiercely, his memory of what she'd just done to him, making short work of filling her with his powerful need. They climaxed together, the quick joining just chapter one of a very long night ahead.

Joe dozed after that, with a big smile on his face. He heard Ali rise and the shower go on. He pictured her in there, soaping up, scenting her body with some delicious fragrance, and he thought about joining her. But before those thoughts came to fruition, Ali walked into the room bare naked, wet hair flowing down her back and her face scrubbed clean looking natural and pure. Droplets of water glistened all over her body, her breasts full and ripe, nipples erect. Water clung to the tips, and Joe itched to lick those drops off her.

He lifted from the bed to do just that, but Ali stopped him with a gentle hand. “Lay back, Joe. Tonight I'm the boss.”

Joe's eyes went wide. “Sounds good.”

“Oh, it
is
good.”

Joe imagined the most erotic things a woman and a man could do in a bedroom, and his heart began pumping like an oil rig striking a full-on gusher. And in the next hours, most of those erotic imaginings became staggering and stunning memories.

Joe leaned back with amazed joy as Ali straddled him one more time, riding him up and down, her hair dry now and flowing in wild curls past her shoulders, her beautiful body arching, her breasts tipped toward the ceiling, her face glowing and ready to fracture with the shattering of her next powerful orgasm.

They'd had several through the night, each one different and amazing.

Joe held her, stroked her breasts, flicking the tips, and watched Ali with half-lidded eyes, take him places he'd never gone before with a woman. Not like this. Not this potent and heady and downright sexy.

Ali unleashed her passion and rode him with frenzy. She pleaded and moaned with ahs of sheer breathless delight. Oh God, he'd never seen anything so humanly beautiful.

Joe knew this was it—their last time tonight. There wasn't anything more they could possibly do to each other. They were spent and sated, and so when Ali climbed high, Joe met her there and they shattered together, in unison crying out each other's names.

Ali stayed atop him a minute, looking at him with eyes that were unreadable. Then she climbed off, breaking their connection and lay beside him. Immediately, he wound her in his arms and held her. “That was the best sex of my life, Ali. I'm the luckiest man alive.”

With that, Ali burst into tears.

 

Ali bounded out of bed, her heart broken. Unstoppable tears streamed down her face. She couldn't do this anymore. She hated lying to Joe, and the guilt ate at her each day.

She shoved her arms into her silk robe and walked over to the window, her body wracked with anguish. She hugged her middle tight.

“Ali, Ali, what is it?” Joe came up behind her. He put his arms onto her shoulders. “What have I done to upset you?”

Ali whipped around to face him, wiping her tears with the back of her hands. “Nothing, Joe. You haven't done a thing. It's me. I'm the guilty one here.”

Ali moved away from Joe, breaking off all contact. She
put the middle of the room between them. She hated seeing the look of puzzlement on Joe's face. “It's just that I can't do this to you anymore.”

“Do what, honey?” he asked, softly, being gentle with her. She was probably confusing the hell out of him.

“I'm not the person you think I am. I'm certainly not the soft-spoken, passive little woman I've been pretending to be since almost the minute you hired me back here. I don't like wearing pencil skirts and business suits and putting my hair up in buns. I don't even
need
glasses. Those are fakes. I always wear contacts.”

Joe slipped into his briefs and put on his glasses at the mention of hers. He shook his head. “What's going on, Ali, really?”

“Really?
Really?
I'm in love with you. I mean, the Real Ali is, but you didn't notice her, with her sassy mouth and trendy clothes and flamboyant nature. The whole time when we worked together in New York, you never looked at me as anything but your employee. If my hair caught on fire, you wouldn't have noticed me. And then you kissed me goodbye at the airport, and I knew there could be something great between us.”

“It was a great kiss, Ali. But I wasn't looking—”

“I know all about it. I know about Sheila what's-her-name and how she broke your heart. I know you didn't want an office romance and boy, you sure as hell stuck to your guns.” Ali softened her voice, “But then you called and asked me to work for you, and I came. I flew across the continent to work for you, Joe.”

“Ali, where is this going?”

She shuddered and her nerves went raw. “I'm trying to tell you. You wouldn't notice the Real Ali, so I made up Fake Ali. I changed my whole personality to get your
attention. You see, what we have now isn't real. Nothing about me is real.”

Joe pointed to the bed. “That's as real as it gets, Ali.”

“Yes, that was real. But all those other times, I held back—afraid to show you who I was.”

A storm brewed in Joe's dark eyes. “I knew it. I sensed that something was wrong. The question is why the hell you thought you had to deceive me.”

Tears pooled in her eyes. “I guess I was desperate to have you any way I could.” Ali took a breath to steady her nerves. There was no going back now. She had to own up to all of it. “Tonight I opened up and showed you the real me. I couldn't go through with it anymore. I feel so bad about this, Joe.”

He remained quiet, as if trying to absorb her confession.

“I don't want you to fall for a woman who is a fraud. That's what I am, a fraud.”

“Noble of you to admit it, Ali.” She didn't miss the sarcasm in his voice.

“I've been acting all this time. And I can't do it anymore. I'm sorry, Joe.”

More tears spilled down her cheeks. She reached for a tissue and hastily wiped them away. “I'm bold and opinionated, and I say what's on my mind. Men notice me. They want me. But not you, Joe. You never wanted the real me.”

“You're blaming me for your deception?”

“No, I'm taking all the blame. It's all my fault.”

Finally what she told him began sinking in. He pushed his glasses back and forth on his nose and then shook his head, casting her a look of disdain. “Then what Sheila told me about you was true.”

“Sheila?” Ali's heart stopped in that instant. “What, how…”

“In San Francisco. She warned me about you. She told me about your mother—her five husbands and all the men in between. She warned me that you were playing me. I didn't take her seriously. But my curiosity got the better of me. I looked Justine Holcomb up. It's amazing what a person can find out on the Internet.”

“You investigated me?” Ali's temper skyrocketed.

“Not you but your mother.”

“And what did you find, Joe?” She put her hands on her hips, defying him to answer, while inside her heart was breaking.

“A lot, Ali. Your mother has quite a reputation for her conquests. She did just about anything she could to get a ring on her finger. Oh, I didn't want to believe it. But you,” he said, his voice thick with accusation, “you're just like her. You manipulated me, Ali. Admit it.”

“You're confusing me with Sheila. She's the one who burned you. And she had the nerve to warn you about
me?
” Ali's shackles rose. The hairs on her arms stood on end.

Joe approached her, his voice firm and filled with disgust. “Sheila isn't the issue here. You are. You knew all along that you were deceiving me, acting out a role to what? String me along?”

“No!”

“Get your hands on my money?”

“No!”

“Blow my mind with sex, so I wouldn't catch on.”