Four
Aidan had never seen his senior vice president in a bathing suit before, let alone something like the teasingly skimpy scraps of material she was wearing now. Hard to believe, but the real Ellie was even better than the sexy dream images that had been invading his mind the whole time he was away.
Okay, he thought. Yeah. He could definitely do this.
Ellie’s eyes were still closed as she wiped water off her face and smoothed her hair back.
Aidan couldn’t speak, could only gawk like some teenager at her awe-inspiring breasts. They were barely covered by the jungle-print scraps of material, but they were high and round and perfect for him. Perfect for his hands. Perfect for his mouth.
Her stomach was smooth and touchable, her hips round and shapely and delicious, and her legs…had he already mentioned touchable? What about delicious?
“Ellie?”
Her eyes popped open and she let out a squeal. “Aidan?”
He kind of wished he hadn’t said anything as she slung one arm across her breasts. With her other hand, she tried to cover the enchanting apex of her thighs.
“What’re you doing here?” she cried. “Oh, no! This is… Oh, just…let me get dressed!”
“Not necessary,” he insisted, but she was already running up the steps to her front door. “It’s just a bathing suit. I’ve seen them before.”
“Not on me!” She fumbled with her keys and dropped them. “It’s unprofessional.”
True, Aidan thought. He had to give her that one. Seeing her like this wiped away every image he had of her prim, proper business attire.
“Ellie, stop worrying about it. It’s the weekend. You’re not at work.”
She continued to protest. But suddenly his ears were no longer capable of hearing as she bent over to retrieve her keys, giving him a stunning view of her world-class derriere.
Oh, dear lord. He could die a happy man now.
“You weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow,” she said. “I’m…surprised, that’s all. Let me take this off. I mean, change into something more suitable.”
“Ellie.” He snatched the keys from her hand, jammed the proper one into the lock and pushed the door open for her. “We live and work on an island. A tropical island. A resort. Everyone wears bathing suits around here—” Though not as well as she did, he added silently. “Quit making such a big deal about this. I don’t care.”
“I know,” she muttered, “but I’m not used to you seeing me—to me being dressed like—to have you show up at my house and—” She blew out a breath and took another one. “Never mind. Well. You’re home early.”
“Yeah,” he said, gazing down at her. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she whispered.
She was so close, he could almost taste her. Lust had him reaching to pull her closer. As her breasts skimmed his chest, she gulped and pushed away.
“I’m all wet,” she said, her voice raspy.
“Again, let me say I don’t care,” he said.
“I do.”
Her voice gave her away and he knew she was affected by the moment. But apparently she was going to fight it. She brushed past him and stepped inside, then waved him in after her.
“You wait here,” she said. “I’ll just be a minute.”
Aidan acceded to her wishes even though he wanted to follow her right into her bedroom and have his way with her, but that would be pushing it. Right?
Frowning, he watched her scurry from the room; then, alone, he took a moment to look around. He’d never been inside Ellie’s cottage before, he realized. Restless, he wandered the room, picking out the touches that Ellie had added to make it her own.
Aidan and Logan had chosen the California Craftsman style for these two-bedroom residential cottages. Inside, the designers had added Caribbean flair to the traditional sturdiness with pale painted walls, blond wood floors, ceiling fans, lots of windows and vivid island fabrics on the furniture. Those details gave the rooms more charm and lightness than what was usually found in corporate housing.
But this cottage carried the stamp of Ellie’s personality. There were surprising bits and pieces of her personal style everywhere he looked. Colorful pillows were scattered across the couch and chairs. A set of watercolor paintings showed striped umbrellas on the beach and children playing at water’s edge. A whimsical bowl of papier-mâché fruit was the centerpiece on the small dining room table. And on every shelf there were framed photographs of friends or relatives, plus knickknacks, seashells, a small bowl of dried leaves and twigs. And books. Lots of books.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” she said, rushing back into the room.
“It’s not a job interview, Ellie.”
“No, of course not.” She wore pale linen pants and a thin, sleeveless red blouse. Her hair was still wet but combed and tucked behind her ears. Her feet were bare. She looked almost as delectable right now as she had in her bikini a few minutes ago.
Why hadn’t he noticed how sexy and beautiful she was the minute he’d hired her? He’d worked with her for four years and the thought had never crossed his mind until recently. Maybe he needed more than an eye exam. Maybe the doctors should take a look at his brain.
She straightened a magazine on the end table. “So, have you been back long? Would you like something to drink? Did you have a nice weekend with your family?”
She was still nervous. He had to admit he liked it. It was good to know he wasn’t the only one affected by that sizzling moment or two they had shared on the front porch. But as tight and uncomfortable as his body was feeling right at the moment, Aidan had to smile. Surely Ellie was the only woman in the world who would expect a man to indulge in small talk so soon after—
After what?
Nothing had happened, really. Nothing like what he wanted to happen anyway.
“Aidan?” She was watching him. “Did you hear me?”
Over the roaring in his blood? Just barely. But he answered her questions anyway.
“I did. I’ve been home an hour. No, thank you, I don’t want a drink. And yes, seeing the family was great,” he answered in order of the questions she asked. Casually leaning one shoulder against the heavy bookshelf, he said, “Look, I know I’m home a day early, but I couldn’t wait to see you. You know why I’m here, right? I’m hoping you have an answer for me. Do you, Ellie?”
“Um, yes. About that.” She fiddled with one of her shirt buttons fretfully, causing him to fixate on her breasts even more than before. She seemed to realize what she was doing because she dropped her hands abruptly and gazed up at him. “I would prefer to discuss it tomorrow in the office.”
“You want to discuss it in the office,” he repeated slowly as he gave her a cool, assessing look. “Because it’s…business?”
“Well, no, but yes.” She frowned, annoyed at herself. After taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she continued. “Yes, Aidan. It is business. Anything that involves relations between you and me will have an effect on our business dealings. And after all, we’ll be signing both a contract and a partnership agreement. Our lives and our jobs are about to become inextricably intertwined, wouldn’t you agree?”
Damn, Aidan thought. Even when she got all prim and proper on him, he wanted her. Badly. Now that he’d given himself permission to want her, he couldn’t seem to stop.
“Now, you made me a proposition,” she continued, “and I would like to negotiate the terms. In that regard, I went ahead and made a list of conditions along with some facts and figures I’d like to go over with you. Tomorrow. In the office.”
She’d made a list. Why was he not surprised? But he was impressed and gave her high marks for presenting her case so eloquently. So why did he just want to grab her and kiss her? He would, he vowed. And soon. But right now, it was obvious that Ellie needed to exert some control over the situation, so he was happy to allow it. For now. “Let me first get one thing straight, Ellie. The bottom line is, your answer is yes. You’ve decided to go ahead with my plan.”
“Well, yes. But my conditions—”
“Are on a list,” he drawled. “At the office.”
“Yes,” she said primly. “That’s right.”
He spied her tablet computer, the one she carried with her at all times, on the side table next to her purse and briefcase. “Do you have a copy of the list on your tablet?”
“Yes, but it’s not as effective at making a presentation as my—”
“Let’s see it.”
“But—”
“Ellie.” He pushed away from the bookshelf and approached her. “I don’t mind sitting through your presentation tomorrow, pie charts, Venn diagrams and all. But I’d like the main issues settled right here, right now.”
She scowled, but appeared ready to concede. A good thing since he considered it a very reasonable request.
“Fine.” She grabbed her tablet, started it up, then scrolled through several pages to get to her list.
“Wait, let me see that.” He turned the tablet so he could view the screen and laughed. “Roman numerals? Bullet points? This isn’t a list, it’s a business presentation. That’s why you wanted to go over it at the office. You created a slide show for me.”
Her eyes narrowed and her voice went cold and tight. “I happen to think better with bullet points.” She folded her arms tightly across her chest. “Stop laughing.”
But she was biting back a smile, so Aidan knew she wasn’t too deeply offended. He was just glad she didn’t have any clue how badly his body parts were throbbing at the sight of her lush breasts straining against the thin material of her blouse. She might change her attitude.
He ripped his gaze away from her and stared at the screen. She had divided her list into several main topics: Pre-pregnancy and pregnancy. Post-pregnancy. Baby care and support issues.
Okay, she got points for taking an organized approach to life, but talk about a buzzkill. Time to take back control of this situation. “Send me the pertinent points and I’ll have the lawyers draft the agreement we talked about.”
“I’ll do that,” she said. “But that’s all about the future. I would like to go over the current issues that concern you and me.”
“You and me?” he said, wondering why he’d thought this would be easy. A woman with a sharp, intelligent brain could be a dangerous thing, he reminded himself. “What about you and me? You already said you agreed to my idea.”
“Oh, I do agree,” she rushed to say. “I thought it all through and I’m very happy to go ahead with the plan. I’m certain that your sperm will be suitable.”
“Suitable? Damn, Ellie.” He chuckled as he pulled her close to him, but she stopped him again.
“Please, Aidan. You’re distracting me and I’d really like you to watch my slide presentation first. It only runs ten minutes and I went to a lot of trouble to make sure everything was covered. I think it’ll help clarify our duties and responsibilities to each other.”
“Duties and responsibilities?” Aidan shook his head. Leave it to Ellie to explain sex using bullet points.
“Yes,” she said. “That’s the key to understanding our roles in this project, don’t you think?”
“Our project?” he said.
“Well, yes. That’s how I like to see it. We’re collaborating toward achieving a tangible goal and we have guidelines and milestones to meet.” She shifted to his side and held up her tablet so they could both get a look at the screen. “If you’ll allow me to go through my slide presentation, all will be explained.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders in a sincere gesture. “I admire and respect you, Ellie, but I’m not going to sit through a long slide presentation that explains how to have sex.”
“Oh, but this isn’t about the how. It’s more about the why and the when and the…well, if I can proceed?”
“Fine,” he said, gritting his teeth. First time for everything, he told himself. And if it meant having her in his bed, he would force himself to listen. “Let her rip.”
“Thank you. Now it’s—”
“But I think you’re stalling,” he said, turning to her. “Believe me, I know my duties and responsibilities. I know how to deliver my extremely healthy sperm the old-fashioned way. And I think we’re both in agreement on what we want, right? So I’d say we’re ready to get started.” He brushed his knuckles slowly down her arm.
She swallowed carefully. “Ready. Oh, yes. Um.” She shook her hair back and seemed to regroup. Gripping the tablet again, she said brightly, “That’s all covered in item six. Let’s just go over the others.”
Before he could argue further, she slid her finger across the surface to reveal the first slide. Aidan’s eyes were inexorably drawn to the screen. Damned if she hadn’t come up with a full-bore bullet point agenda covering his duties and responsibilities, right down to his diet preferences and clothing choices. Some experts thought that the correct choices in both areas were essential toward making his sperm more motile.
The woman’s responsibilities were just as eye-opening. There were estrogen hormone levels to be tested and she would have to monitor her temperature. And then there was something called the luteal phase, which caused a little chill to run up his spine. The very word sounded vaguely sinister.
It was all strangely mesmerizing, like a traffic accident on a California freeway. Gruesome and shocking, but he couldn’t look away.
The last page was a month-by-month production schedule. Ellie gave him a moment to review it, then said, “I don’t have my calendar with me, but luckily, I’ve already memorized the days.”
“Luckily,” he muttered, then decided he’d waited long enough. She continued to speak as he leaned in and kissed her neck.
She gasped, then moaned. He moved his lips to her earlobe, then down to her shoulder. After a long moment, she tried to continue. “I’m s-scheduled to start ovulating in the next five to seven d-days, so if you can arrange your schedule, we should have s-sex beginning Friday night and…and…oh, my…continuing through the following Wednesday night, with S-Sunday and Monday being the most optimum days.”
He took the tablet and set it down on the table. He’d seen enough. More than enough. Talk about information overload. His eyes were bleeding.
He appreciated that Ellie was ultra-organized, but it was time to lighten things up, even if it meant throwing a wrench or two into her well-ordered plans.
“Only at night?” he wondered, as he urged her closer and ran his hands slowly along her spine, down to her supple bottom. “What about the mornings?”
“Mornings?” she said on a soft sigh. “What do you mean?”
“Some would argue it’s the best time of the day for what you have in mind.”
“Oh, but—”
“Or lunchtime,” he said, leaning back to stare into her eyes. “Sex in the office might be fun, Ellie. We can use my conference table.”
“Now you’re teasing me.”
“You think so?” he said. Her expression was so vulnerable, so earnest, that he wanted to ease her into bed—or onto the dining room table—right here and now. In fact, that was a damn good idea.
“Aidan, I don’t think you’re listening. This is important.”
“I’m listening,” he assured her as he slipped his arm around her shoulders and walked her over to the couch, where he urged her to sit down with him. “But for now, let’s skip to the bottom line. I’ll help you get pregnant and I’ll help provide for your child. You’ll have a partnership with Sutherland Corp. and stay here on Alleria. We’ll have contracts drawn up that specify all the points you’ve talked about.”
“Well, yes, but there’s more to discuss.”
“The thing is, Ellie, I don’t think we should be too rigid about this. After all, we don’t want to put too much pressure on you.”
“Pressure?” she said, then frowned. “Do you think I’m being rigid? Be honest.”
“Of course not,” he said, absently skimming his thumb along the soft skin of her arm. “It’s smart to cover all the bases.”
“Thanks. I think so, too, and I’m glad you agree.”
“Good. But as long as we’re covering bases, I think waiting until Friday is problematic. It would be better to get started right away.”
She considered that little bombshell. “But it won’t be any use if the timing isn’t right.”
“But think about it, Ellie,” he said. “You’re going to be nervous all the way from now until next Friday night, and that’s never a good thing. It’ll take a lot of pressure off you if we started practicing right away.” Damn, that was a good one, Aidan thought to himself. “That way, next week when the timing is critical, we’ll know what we’re doing. We’ll be ahead of the game.”
She stared up at him. “Something tells me you already know what you’re doing.”
“I do,” he said helpfully. “But I’m not the one we’re concerned about. You are. And there’s something else you might not have considered.”
Frowning, she said, “What’s that?”
“You probably ought to decide what kind of sex you’d like to have the first time. Plenty of experts say that that’s the key to assuring that the entire…project goes well.”
Her eyes narrowed with doubt. “Why does that matter?”
“It goes a long way toward dispelling the nervousness factor,” he explained.
She bit her lip. “I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of experience in differentiating the types.”
“I do.” He turned on the couch to face her so he could see her reactions. “I’ll name off a few and you can decide where you’d like to start. There’s funny sex, of course. Lots of laughs, no pressure, very relaxing. And there’s romantic sex. You know, a little champagne, roses, soft jazz in the background.”
“Oh, I like that,” she whispered.
“Yeah, that’s a crowd pleaser,” he said, warming up to his subject. “And then you’ve got your naughty sex.”
She swallowed carefully. “I’m not sure about that one.”
“We’ll try it out so you can be sure though, right?”
“Um…”
“There are plenty of other choices, too,” he continued nonchalantly. “And once you’ve decided on a type, there are additional factors to consider. Like style, for instance. Do you want it slow and easy? Fast and hot? Break the glass sex? Swing from the ceiling sex?”
Slowly but surely, the color of her cheeks had turned a deep rose. So he’d managed to excite her a little. He hoped so, hoped she was as turned on by this conversation as he was.
He had to discreetly adjust himself as she licked her lips. “Some of those sound complicated. And dangerous.”
“I’ll make sure we’re perfectly safe.” He took her hand in his. “Look, why don’t you let me be in charge of those decisions. At least in the beginning.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “I would appreciate that.”
“And we’ll start Tuesday night.”
“But that’s the day after tomorrow.”
“Right,” he said. “My place. Eight o’clock.”
Alarmed, she stared at him. “But that’s too soon.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, smoothing a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “In fact, I think we should get a few preliminaries out of the way right now. After all, practice makes perfect.”
And with that, he covered her mouth with his in a kiss that she met with such need and all-consuming heat, he wondered if he would survive until Tuesday.
*
Aidan was right about one thing, Ellie thought on Tuesday, as she struggled to pay attention to her notes on a new contract. She was going to be nervous until the deed was done. Maybe it really was better that they’d decided to start having sex right away. She would hate to feel so jangled up in knots for another full week.
So, yeah, she thought. Good thing she was having sex tonight. With Aidan. At eight o’clock. Tonight. Oh, mercy.
She had almost thought they’d get the whole thing started the other night when he’d come to her house. The way he had looked at her after her shower had almost turned the cool water on her skin to steam. And the way he’d described all those different types of sex? She knew he’d been goading her, but it had worked. And then he’d kissed her. She’d been so wound up, it was a wonder she hadn’t jumped him right then and there, on her couch. In bright daylight.
Naughty sex? She exhaled heavily. She’d heard about naughty sex but had never experienced anything close to it. The two measly sexual encounters she’d had in the past could easily be placed at the farthest opposite end of the spectrum from naughty.
The first time had been a fumbling, blind-leading-the-blind failure. The second time wasn’t much better. They were both with Teddy, her history study partner in college.
He had seemed like a nice guy in class, so she’d agreed to go out with him a few times. Their dates were pleasant so, even after his bumbling sexual attempts, she would’ve continued seeing him if she hadn’t overheard him bragging to his friends a few days later. Teddy was so sure she would soon be drowning in the afterglow of his awesome lovemaking that he would be able to induce her to do all his homework from then on.
Seriously? Men could be very weird.
On the other hand, Ellie had no doubt that Aidan was an expert in all things naughty. She pictured his tanned hands sliding up her thighs to explore her deepest depths while his clever mouth rained kisses down her neck, along her breasts, across her stomach and farther down her body….
The contract notes were forgotten as she shoved her chair back from her desk and stood. And breathed. It wouldn’t do to faint in her office in the middle of the afternoon. But gosh, she was anxious to get this over with. But, she amended, please don’t have it be over too fast. He would make it last for a while, wouldn’t he? Aidan would do what he could to make it pleasurable for her. Wouldn’t he?
“Of course he will, you knucklehead,” she muttered aloud. For heaven’s sake, he was so sexy, so masculine, so sure of himself, it wouldn’t take much effort at all for him to send her zooming straight to heaven.
Besides, none of the women she’d seen him with over the years had ever looked as though they were disappointed in his company. She frowned at that thought. Aidan had been with dozens of women. How was she going to measure up? Her experience was so small it hardly counted. This could be very embarrassing.
“But you’re not in a relationship,” she told herself. “This is business. Strictly business.”
They were only going through with this project so that Ellie could get pregnant. Sending her shivering into ecstasy was not a necessary part of the agenda. Pregnancy was. That was the bottom line. And as a businesswoman, she was all about the bottom line.
But she shivered a little anyway, just thinking about Aidan in bed with her. Touching her. Kissing her. Nibbling her.
“Oh, God.” She sucked in more deep breaths to calm herself down. Then, glancing back at her desk, she shook her head.
Aidan had been wrapped up in conference calls all day, so Ellie had honestly thought she would get a lot of work done today. But no. She was useless. The contract would have to wait another day. She was going to go home and pamper herself and get ready for her big night. In bed. With Aidan.
Rolling her eyes at her own foolishness, she grabbed her purse and left the office.
*
The scene was set for romantic sex.
Aidan glanced around the living room of his penthouse suite and approved of what he saw. He had always been a romantic guy and enjoyed the trappings that went along with it. So he felt confident as he instructed his catering guy where to place the ice bucket and the dessert he’d selected for tonight.
If there was one thing Aidan Sutherland knew how to do, it was set the scene for sex. But this time, he had to admit, he was really enjoying himself, picturing Ellie walking in and seeing all this. Candlelight, champagne on ice, chocolate mousse with whipped cream for dessert, soft, sultry jazz playing low in the background, dozens of roses and star lilies arranged in different vases around the suite.
The doorbell rang and he strolled over to open the door. And couldn’t help but smile. Her hair was lifted up off her neck with a few wavy tendrils curling down. He’d never seen her wear her hair like that, but it suited her and made him glad he’d decided to dwell on romance tonight. She wore sexy, strappy sandals and was dressed in a short, colorful sarong-style skirt that wrapped around her waist and a thin turquoise top that accentuated her breasts.
That’s how Aidan saw it anyhow. Now that he’d seen her in that bikini, he was pretty sure everything she wore from now on would accentuate her breasts.
“You made it,” he said, swinging the door wide to let her in.
She smiled. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
He closed the door behind her. “You looked a little preoccupied in the office today. I wondered if you might be having second thoughts.”
No,” she said with a firm nod. “This is the plan we agreed on and I’m ready to go through with it.”
He pursed his lips in a twisted grin. “There’s no firing squad in here, Ellie. You can relax. In fact, I’ve got just the thing to help us both unwind.” He led her over to the dining area, where he popped open the bottle of champagne and poured them both a glass.
“To…success,” he said, raising his glass to her.
She laughed and clicked her glass against his. “To success.” She took a sip of the bubbly liquid and said, “It’s wonderful.”
He took a sip and observed her over the rim of his glass. “You look beautiful.”
She smiled with pleasure. “Thank you. So do you.”
“Thank you,” he said with a grin. She was normally so competent and sure of herself, but now her gaze flitted around, clearly indicating she was nervous. She finished the champagne quickly and he filled her glass again.
“Well,” she said, after another sip. “Better.” As she continued to glance here and there, it seemed to dawn on her that things were a little different. “Oh, you did something.”
“Yes.” He stood by the table and enjoyed watching her make her discoveries.
“Everything looks so nice. You have candles. Oh, and flowers. So many.” She wandered over to the fireplace mantle where the largest vase of roses had been placed. “They’re so pretty. Did you do all this for me?”
“You seemed to like the idea of a little romance.”
“I do.” Her eyes were shining and her mouth was curved in a smile he wanted to taste. “I really do.”
“I aim to please,” he said easily. “Let’s start over here.” He crossed the room to meet her halfway. Taking hold of her arm, he led her back to the table.
“Here, try some of this.” He took the cover off a silver bowl filled with chocolate mousse and dipped the spoon in. He added a small dollop of whipped cream and raised it to her lips. “Tell me what you think.”
“Oh. Oh.” Her eyes closed as she savored the taste. Her tongue lapped at a bit of chocolate on her lip. Aidan’s stomach muscles twisted in a dark coil of desire and he grew rock hard as he watched her expression turn to one of rapture. “It’s heaven.”
When she opened her eyes, he put the spoon down. “I’m sorry, Ellie, but there’s something we need to take care of right now.”