Uncorked (24 page)

“Have them over here. Meet them
in the clubroom.”

“You don’t think that’s a little
too close to home?”

“I prefer it to alternative. I
have no control over the elements out there.”

“Okay. I’ll have Jade arrange to
have them meet me at this address. I won’t even let her know that’s where we
live.”

“Sounds good to me. I’m more
comfortable with that than you heading out.”

When Chella returned
upstairs from her meeting Monday
afternoon, Mitch looked at her and smiled.

“Not that I’m complaining, but
what’s with the big smile?” she asked.

“Detective Carter called while
you were in your meeting. Aaron has been arrested.”

“Really?” she asked, wrapping her
arms around his neck.

“It’s all over the news. He was
found trying to cross the border into Mexico.”

“Is he in jail?”

“Yes. He’s being held in a
maximum-security detention center until the trial. It’s over, Sweetheart.”

“So we can go to work now? And go
for drives and walks again?”

“Yep.”

“You have no idea how relieved I
am.”

“Oh, yes I do. Slip into
something sexy. I’m dying to get out of this place and take you to dinner.”

A couple of
weeks later, after her weekly
meeting with her promotions managers, Chella decided to take the rest of the
day off to go shopping. She wanted to do something special for Mitch, to thank
him for his understanding while she was working on the promotion and his immense
support over the past few months.

After a long search, she settled
on a silver pocket compass from Tiffany’s and had his initials engraved on it.
She stopped at a pastry shop and picked up drinks and an array of goodies for a
picnic she wanted to surprise Mitch with at his office. 

She had never been inside the
building before, aside from the night Aaron vandalized the entrance. When the
receptionist greeted her by name, Chella was surprised she knew who she was and
immediately allowed her to go to his office on the second floor. The office was
professionally decorated with sleek, contemporary lines in slate blues and a
few rust-colored accents.

An older woman in her mid-fifties
greeted Chella at the top of the steps, introducing herself as Greta, Mitch’s
secretary. Chella had frequently spoken to her on the phone, but they had never
met in person.

Chella let Greta know she wanted
to surprise Mitch with lunch. Chella knocked on his office door, which was
slightly ajar, and heard him on the phone. In true Mitch fashion, his chair was
turned away from the door, toward the beautiful harbor view outside. He
motioned with his hand to come in.

She entered the office and locked
the door behind her.

His office was huge, decorated in
the same color scheme as the outside. She sat on a couch in the lounge area and
waited to see how long it would take him to realize she was there. Looking
around, she understood why his staff recognized her. On the bookshelves were
framed pictures of Emily, Liz and her. She caught a glimpse of another one of
her on his desk and another with him and Chella together.

She suddenly got the urge to come
on her boyfriend. He sounded so in control as he spoke over the phone. A total
turn on.

“You and I both know,” he
continued, his voice deep and commanding, “that property is worth at least half
a million more than what you’re trying to settle for. The only reason I’m even
entertaining this conversation when I have another offer on the table is
because we’re friends. Tell your client he has until nine a.m. tomorrow to
accept those terms. Otherwise, no deal.”

She walked over to him and spun
his chair around.

His brows rose. A huge smile
transformed his face. Holding out his hand, he pulled her toward him, and she
sat on his lap.

Mitch listened for
a few more moments, trying to
focus on the call instead of Chella planting kisses on his neck or Chella
loosening his tie or Chella massaging his now-stiff shaft. He cleared his
throat, struggling to find his business voice.

“I understand everything you’re
telling me Larry, but with all due respect, that’s not my problem,” he replied
coolly, twiddling a lock of Chella’s hair around his thumb. “I’ve tried to be
accommodating to both you and your client. Those are my terms. I have other
options.”

Fuck, Chella you smell good!

His free hand roamed over her ass
as he continued, “Look, I can’t talk about this anymore. Someone very important
just walked into my office. Those are my terms, and if you can’t meet them, we
don’t have a deal. You have until nine o’clock tomorrow morning. Got to go.”

With that, he hung up the call
then quickly made another. “Greta, please hold all my calls. Thanks.”

Mitch disconnected the line, but
the phone never made it to its cradle. He pulled Chella into a deep kiss,
devouring her as he eagerly slid her dress over her head. She sat on his desk
wearing stiletto heels, black lingerie and pantyhose.

He stood between her thighs.

“Well, this is a pleasant
surprise,” he said, as she released his pants button and zipper and they fell
to the floor. He kicked them away as she assisted him in getting rid of his
jacket, shirt and cufflinks.

“I’m glad you’re happy to see me.
I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, Baby. God,
you’re beautiful.”

He kissed her again, pushing her
panties aside as he glided his fingers across her clit. Her panties were
quickly soaked, and he wanted her.

Pushing away his underwear, he
used the tip of his enlarged penis to massage her swollen clit. They both
watched as he entered her repeatedly. Gliding in and out of her, he pulled her
into his arms, consuming her mouth, then he plastered her body against the
wall. He slipped her leg over his hip enabling him to reach deeper inside her
as he pleasured her vertically.

Moments later, they made it
across to the couch. She straddled him, riding him and watching every time he
penetrated her. Her moaning got louder.

Mitch whispered, “Shhh.”

She giggled when she remembered
that they were in his office.

“Oh God, Chella. I’m going to
explode,” He said, occupying her mouth with his once more as he tried to remain
silent himself. He held her close as she pounded her hips into him, the
pressure started to escalate, and when he used his fingers over her, rubbing
her clit, it set her off into convulsions of pure delight. Moments later, he
circled his arms tightly around her, joining her in her sweet release. “God,
you’re amazing,” Mitch said. “I’m so surprised to see you here.”

“I just missed you. I’m sorry.
When I came here it wasn’t my intention to distract you from your work.”

“You are exactly the type of
distraction I needed. What do you have in the basket?”

“I was going to invite you to go
to a picnic.”

“I can wrap up here in ten
minutes. Then we can do whatever you want, but I have to be back here by six
for a meeting.”

“Are you sure you can leave? From
the sound of that conversation you had earlier you might need to stay here to
wrap up that deal.”

“Trust me, I could use the break,
and if they’re serious, they’ll know exactly what to do to close this deal.
I’ve made my position clear,” he replied, as he kissed her again.

“We can have that picnic right
here in your office. That way, I’m not likely to cause you to be late for your
meeting.”

“Fine by me if you don’t mind.”

“Perfect. I just need to tidy up
and get my clothes on first.”

“You mean I don’t get to see you
parading around my office in black lingerie and stilettos all afternoon?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Anytime I need to go to a happy
place, I can picture having you on my desk, against the wall, on my sofa.”

Giggling, she whispered in his
ear, “Pervert.”

She pulled her things together
and said, “Please tell me one of those doors leads to a bathroom.”

“Sorry, Sweetheart, you’ll have
to go down the hall,” he replied, laughing.

“Are you serious?”

“No, I’m kidding. The door to the
right will take you to the bathroom.”

After tidying up, Chella opened
the picnic basket and fixed Mitch a plate.

“It was really great having you.
Pun intended,” Mitch said flashing her a sly smile.

“I wanted to treat you.”

“Why? There’s no occasion to
celebrate.”

“There is. Here, this is for
you.” Chella handed him the beautifully wrapped box.

“What is it?”

“Open it and find out. It’s my
way of saying I appreciate you being so great for the last few months. I know
I’ve been spending crazy hours at work.”

He smiled as he looked in the
box. “Chell, this is beautiful. I love it, thank you.”

He walked around his desk and
pulled her into a warm embrace.

“I’m glad you like it. I had a
hard time choosing something for you.”

“You didn’t have to do this, but
thank you. You have exceptional taste. How did you know my middle name?”

“Don’t you think that’s something
your girlfriend should know?”

“Sure, but I don’t remember
telling you.”

“I went snooping through your
stuff.”

He laughed at her response. “I
guess that would do it.”

“I’m kidding. Emily told me the
first time we visited her.”

“What else did she tell you?”

“Everything. Maybe you should
call her and ask. How is she doing anyway?”

“She’s okay. She asks about you
every time I talk to her. She wants to know when she can see us again.”

“I’m not as busy now as I was a
while back. What do you think?”

“Weekend after next is a long
one. Maybe we could go up on Friday evening and come back Monday morning. We
can take the boat.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll have
enough time to organize anything else that I have pending at work.”

“Great. I look forward to that,”
Mitch replied.

After spending the afternoon
together in his office, Chella called a cab and pulled her things together to
leave. She was about to walk out of his office door when Mitch came over to her
and embraced her once more. His hands roamed over her ass.

“Are you trying to steam up the
windows again?” Chella asked.

Laughing, Mitch replied, “No. I
just don’t want my staff to know what was going on in here.”

“And how would they know that?”

“My return address labels are
plastered on your ass,” He pulled the sticky label off her dress and waved it
in front of her face. “We don’t want the staff knowing that I had you on my
desk now, do we?”

She giggled, pulled the label
from his hand and slipped it into her purse. “No we don’t. I’ll see you at home
later,” she replied, then kissed him lovingly on his lips.

Chella was due
to meet Mitch at the marina in
an hour. She was just about to call a cab to go pick up her stuff at the
penthouse and head there when her phone rang. As she listened to the voice of
Craig on the other end of the line, disappointment rained over her. Something
urgent came up at the office, and they would have to work through the weekend
to sort it out.

She tried calling Mitch at home
and on his cell to no avail. He had already left his office, so he was
obviously already at the marina. She thought of going over to the marina to
inform him, but a bad accident had caused a backlog of traffic. Realizing there
was no way that she would get to him on time; she forgot about it and went to
meet with Craig and the rest of the team. By then it was way past five and Jade
had already left for the day. Chella needed to get in touch with Mitch, but the
other staff members were waiting for her for this urgent meeting.

Mitch had not tried getting in
touch with her, either, and she thought that was strange. She sat in the
meeting, but her mind was on Mitch and their trip. The meeting was interrupted
by a knock on the door. A police officer entered the room.

Chella knew something was
terribly wrong. Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.

The officer asked for Chella
Noon.

She identified herself, and he
requested to speak with her privately.

“Ms. Noon, I’m Officer Kevin
White. Do you know or are you related to Mitch Mariani?”

“Yes. He’s my boyfriend. What’s
wrong?”

He read from a slip of paper in
his hand. “He has you listed as his next of kin. The other person, Ms.
Elizabeth Mariani, is located in Santa Monica?”