The Job Offer

chapter 11


Ben and Anne arrived late for dinner in the inn’s dining room that evening. They were supposed to meet everyone in the lounge at seven then head into the dining room a half hour later, but when they finally managed to drag themselves from bed and into a shared shower, it was already five minutes before seven o'clock. Anne didn't mind too much, however, because the shower proved to be a sensual experience with Ben running his soapy hands over every inch of her body and stirring her desire again. Then it was her turn to wash him. If it wasn't for the fact that they already made love twice and needed some food, they would have stayed in the shower longer. After their shower, they dried themselves with towels and she took the room’s complimentary hair drier to her hair and used Ben’s comb to try to bring some semblance of order to her mess of curls. Once she had her hair in order, it finally dawned on her. She did not have any clothing other than her wet swimsuit.

"I can't call mom, now," she told Ben as she stood in front of the bed wrapped in a towel. Ben was dressing himself in a pair of black trousers and a black polo shirt looking far too sexy for his own good.

"Leave your suit and tee shirt here to dry and you can borrow my sweats to run to your parents and change. Where are your shorts and shoes?" Ben crossed to the dresser and pulled out his sweatpants from that morning and a sweatshirt with a screen print of the U of W Huskies logo on front.

"Probably still on the patio table where I left them when I started swimming." While his back was turned, she put the sweats on over her naked body. Despite all he had done to and with her body that afternoon, she still felt a little self conscious with him seeing her naked. The sweats were loose on her, and she pulled the drawstring of the pants tight to prevent them from sliding down indecently. "What will you do while I'm changing?"

"I'll go down to the lounge and make excuses. Don't worry, I'll make something up. When I'm there, I'll see if Chelsea and her parents are in the dining room then I'll call up to let you know if the coast is clear. If it is, then you can head over to your parents' and change. Bring some clothing back for tomorrow, too." He sat on the edge of the bed in front of her, and leaned over to tie his shoelaces as he laid out his plan. She smiled down at his head.

"You're really getting into this subterfuge, aren't you? What's next; secret codes?"

"I suppose we should have one, shouldn't we? How about if the coast if clear, I say 'the red hen is roosting' or some such nonsense." He sat back up and watched her with a boyish smile she could not help but respond too. He used to smile the same way at her when she would lead him, Lily, and Carla out on adventures when they were younger. "Or, I could say 'It's a clear night and promises clean sailing', or better yet 'There will be a red sky tonight...'"

"Sailors delight. And if the way isn't clear, you say, "there will be a red sky at morn...'"

"Sailors be warned," he finished using their old code system to sneak out and explore the island as kids. Then he reached out and took her hand to pull her forward until she stood between his legs. Putting his hands on her hips under the shirt, he looked up to her face. She rested her hands on his shoulders and smiled down at him. He gave her a naughty grin and slid one hand down and pulled the ties of the pants loose. She gasped in surprise and at the sudden longing that entered her. He slid his hands under the fabric and pushed the waistband down until it rested low on her hips and the front rested at the top of her curls. Glancing up, he smiled devilishly at her. "You know, the spy always gets the girl in the end."

"I've seen all of the Bond movies." Heat flooded her body, and her core began to ache at his look. When he placed an open mouth kiss on her low belly just above her curls, she moved her hands into his head, feeling the silky texture of his hair with her fingers. Then he slid his hands down until his thumbs met at the juncture of her thighs before sliding into her cleft and separating her folds. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the pleasurable sensations of his mouth and fingers on her again. "We are going to be late, Ben," she said absently as she spread her legs wider to let his thumbs find more of her. She had to grip him tighter with her hands to hold herself up.

"Hmm. What's a few more minutes?" was his response against her belly. A moan escaped her as his thumbs found her nub and began to tease it. She became wet and his thumbs slide through the moisture. She felt him smile against her belly as he felt her response to his touch. "You're body is wonderful, Anne. So beautiful. So responsive. I want to feel you come again." She looked down at him, and he glanced up to give her a wicked smile.

"You can come again, so soon?" Her voice was breathless.

"No, but you can."

He suddenly moved his hands to the waistband of the sweatpants and pushed them down to the floor until the pants were pooled around her ankles. Then he moved the elastic over her ankles so that he could get them all of the way off. With her standing before him with only his sweatshirt on, he changed positions with her until she sat on the end of the bed, and he was standing between her legs. She felt another wave of moisture flood her core when she knew what he had planned.

He pushed her gently backward until she was lying down then picked up her leg. She closed her eyes when he put his mouth to her instep. She had no idea that an instep could be so sensitive. She opened her eyes again to watch him. Then he kissed his way up her inner leg until she was moaning from the pleasure of his lips on her skin. When he knelt before her, she was already melting in anticipation and spread her legs. Then he reached her inner thigh and moved his mouth as far as he could go before spreading her thighs with his hands on each of her legs. She closed her eyes and gripped the blanket under her, holding her breath as pushed her legs wider to give him total access to what she offered. When he moved his thumbs to her to hold her folds open while his tongue glided through her opening. Her breath released in a gasp of surrender to be followed quickly with a moan.

She let out the breath she was holding again and cried out in pleasure at the soft grazing of his tongue. When his mouth moved to suck on her nub, and she felt his thumbs move into her opening, she pushed herself against him. The combination of his tongue and thumbs stretching her and rubbing against her silky sides drove her wild. The pleasure built again until it overcame her. She felt the climax come in waves that took her under and wrapped her in total bliss. Minutes later when her body calmed down, Ben raised his head and looked at her giving her a satisfied male expression that Anne could only think reminded her of a hunter who had gotten his prey. Then he removed his thumbs and rubbed them through the moisture teasing her nub until she could feel the pleasure begin to build again. She finally had to beg him to stop; the sweet torture was too much.

Grinning, he gave her belly another kiss then stood up, staring down into her eyes. He leaned over, kissed her lips, and rubbed his tongue against hers so that she could taste herself on him. He pulled back when she felt herself drowning again and gave her a satisfied male smile. Then he stood back up and helped her to pull the sweatpants back on. She did not think she could stand, but he helped her up. Her core continued to throb with her desire for him, and her breasts ached, highly sensitive to the material of his shirt that rubbed against her nipples.

In a daze, she looked over at the bedside clock and saw that it was seven forty and that they were already late. Alarmed, she instantly started moving, pulled from the lethargies of her desire.

"Oh, no! Go, go, go," she said as she pushed him toward the door and out into the sitting room. "I'll wait here until you call me, but hurry up."

"I forgot how bossy you were," he said cheekily as he picked up the room key card, his cell phone, and wallet. She walked him to the door and he kissed her hard before grinning at her and leaving.

A few minutes later the room phone rang and she ran to pick it up. Smiling, she picked up the spare room key card Ben had made for her and went out onto the balcony. It would be a red sky that night.


* * * * *


Anne let herself into her parents’ house and went straight to her room. Looking through her clothing, she found a blush pink colored sleeveless sheath dress that hugged her figure and ended at mid thigh and her silver sandals from the night before. Dressing first in a white lace thong and barely there lace demi-bra, she stood in front of her bedroom mirror and looked at herself. She looked like a woman who was well pleasured. Her eyes were too bright and her lips were swollen from Ben’s kisses. Oh, my God, she thought, and had to sit down on the bed. She could still feel him. When she came to Seattle, she had just been expecting to interview for the job then come and enjoy herself at her parents' inn. She never expected that she would be involved in a vacation romance with Ben Carlson of all people.

But she was, and it felt right somehow.

Maybe that was why she responded to him as she did, she thought. She had always liked him when they were younger, and now that they were older, she found that she liked him even more. There were even times last night when she watched him talk through dinner, and then again today when they were kayaking, that she thought it would be so easy to fall in love with him. Her heart did little flips when she was with him. Then there was the attraction thing that, at times, felt like much more. He made her blood heat up with just a look or a touch of his hands.

Was she confusing attraction for love? She just did not have enough experience with men to know what she was feeling. The first man she was with was her fiancé with whom she thought she loved. After their miserable first time together, she overheard him tell a friend of his that she was a cold fish, but he had agreed to take her father's money to marry her with the promise of more to follow once the deed was done. Feeling betrayed, angry, and ashamed, she confronted him about it and learned the truth of her engagement. It was just a setup created by her father who wanted to control her and, more importantly, her inheritance.

The experience shattered her confidence with men, and it was years before she would even go out with another man for more than a few dates. Once things began to progress and the men wanted a physical relationship, she always backed away, afraid that her father had somehow found a way to control her from the other side of the country. She knew she was being ridiculous, but she could not help it, and she eventually sought help from a therapist a few years ago. Then just before her company closed, she began dating another scientist with the company. She allowed the relationship to progress once to the sexual stage, but never felt anything close to burning desire for the man. Her interest was lukewarm, at best. When the company closed a few days later, the relationship ended because neither of them wanted to put in any more effort into it with now needing to find jobs.

That brought her here. If she got the job with Stanford Enterprise or someplace else local, would Ben still want to see her? She knew that she wanted to still see him, but they had agreed to end the relationship once the wedding was over. Maybe that was why everything she felt was so much more intense? Maybe it was just an illusion created by the circumstance? She knew it would be over soon, so their time together was sweeter, their passion more powerful. She groaned. She was over thinking it again. Her just trying to make sense of her crazy emotions was making her head spin.

The clock chimed the time, and she jumped up to pull on the dress. She needed to get going. Running into the bathroom, she pulled her unruly hair back in a loose clip that allowed soft tendrils to fall around her face, brushed some mascara on her lashes, and applied some lipstick. Then running back into her bedroom, she slipped on earrings and her sandals, grabbed clean underwear, a shirt and jeans, Ben's sweats, and picked up her cell phone.

That was when she noticed that there was a new message on her phone. She looked at the caller ID log saw that it was a Seattle number and that the call came at four o'clock that afternoon. It could only be Stanford Enterprises. Dropping her extra clothing on the bed, she sat down and listened to the message. It was Ms. Tomlinson explaining that Mr. Stanford would not be available for interviews next week, but that he wanted to offer her the position. If she was still interested in joining them at Stanford Enterprises as a Biochemical Research Scientist, please call Ms. Tomlinson as soon as possible.

Anne called the number and was surprised to hear Ms. Tomlinson answer on the third ring. Either the woman was still working, or this was her cell phone number.

"Ms. Tomlinson, this is Dr. Conner returning your call." Anne used her professional voice.

"Dr. Conner! Thank you for calling me back so soon. As I said in my message, Mr. Stanford will be unavailable next week but wants to offer you the position. Are you still interested?"

"Yes, I am, Ms. Tomlinson."

"Excellent. We have an employment contract already made up for the position. It is the standard employment contract with non-disclosure and non-compete clauses, and your beginning wages and benefits are also listed. As we discussed on Monday, the contract is for one year of at-will employment which we consider the trial period. Then after that, if all parties are agreeable, the contract would extend to a permanent status. If you give me a fax number, I can fax the contract to you tomorrow morning."

Anne remembered the inn's regular office fax number and gave it to Ms. Tomlinson. After completing the call and hanging up, Anne jumped up and danced around the room, giving fist pumps in her excitement. Then remembering the time, she grabbed the clothing, the cell phone, and her purse and ran back to the inn, stopping along the way to pick up her shorts, canvas shoes, and book from the patio. She dropped everything off, except her purse, in Ben's room and walked into the dining room just as salads were delivered.

"I ordered for you," Ben told her as she sat down next to him.

"Thanks."

The rest of the evening was full of lots of laughter and silly stories about the bride and groom. They were sitting in a private room off the main dining room and had two tables pushed together to make room for all of them. Tom, Lily's fiancé, sat next to his parents who had arrived sometime during the day, and Anne's parents sat next to her on her other side. The food was excellent and the conversations were easy. Several times she felt Ben's hand at her nape or holding her hand while he talked to someone else at the table. The day would be imprinted on her mind as the perfect day, she thought once as she looked at Ben's smiling face. He winked at her when he saw that she was watching him and went back to talking to his father across the table.

Eventually, Anne needed to use the Ladies' room and excused herself from the table. Lily decided to come with her, and they walked together into the room where they had to wait because all three stalls were taken. With time on their hands, they began to touch up their lipstick. Lily's brown eyes watched Anne in the mirror as she began to play with her bangs. Lily had the same coloring as Ben but shared no family resemblance to him, Anne noted, when her eyes caught Lily's in the mirror. After fixing her hair, Lily turned around and stared at Anne's face.

"You had sex, right?"

"What?" Anne looked at her startled by the question.

"Oh, come on, Anne. That's why you and Ben were late. It certainly explained why he disappeared all of the sudden after the photographer left this afternoon. I won't ask how he was because, well, it's too yucky to think about when we are talking about my brother, but you look like you enjoyed yourself. You two certainly move fast. But then you always got along when we were kids. You know he became interested in marine research because of you and all your little lessons."

"No, I didn't know that." She didn’t know it and wondered why Lily brought it up.

"It's too bad your heading back east after this week. You and Ben are really good together. We can all see it."

"Actually, Lily, I have to tell someone, or I am going to burst. I came to Seattle to interview for a job, and I found out this afternoon that I got it. I'll be moving back at the end of the month."

"That's fabulous, Anne. Congratulations. Does Ben know? Are you going to tell your father? I saw his picture today." They shared a look that was not complimentary to Andrew Conner. "When you move back, you and Ben can...you know." She gave Anne a suggestive grin. "That will be great for both of you."

"Wait a second, Lily. Ben only wants and is expecting a vacation romance. I don't think either of us expected it to go as far as it has. I'm not going to spring it on him that I'm staying and expect him to be there." One of the stalls flushed, and a woman came out and went to the sink. Anne stepped out of the way. They suspended their conversation as the woman washed and left. Another stall flushed, and a second woman stepped out and crossed to wash her hands.

"Anne. He wants it." Lily waited until the second woman left before speaking.

"I wish I could be sure."

"My advice, Anne, is to tell him as soon as possible. Tell him tonight."

"I'll feel him out, but if he isn't warm on the idea of continuing our relationship after this week, I don't want to make things awkward between us for your wedding."

"Don't worry. He'll be receptive."

After that, they each headed to a stall and closed the doors. The third stall flushed and the woman stepped out. She walked to the line of sinks and washed her hands, smiling as she looked in the mirror. Then she flipped back her red hair and fixed her lipstick before going back into the dining room.