“
We’ll
be heading to B.C. soon. I don’t sit at my desk and give orders. I get involved with every project.” Marci picked up her fork and speared another bite of shrimp. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“Not at all. I like that you’re a hands-on boss.”
They’d talked over dinner about Marshall Media, the Seattle area, his former job. With that simple comment from Keefe, Marci forgot about business and thought about pleasure. His words caused an image to pop into her head, one of her hands caressing his body. She imagined tunneling her fingers into that thick mane of hair, running them over his shoulders, down his chest. She’d wrap them around his hard cock as she took it in her mouth…
“Shall I take over the negotiations with Mr. Wilson, or would you prefer to do them?”
Keefe’s question shattered her fantasy. Warmth crept into Marci’s cheeks. She silently thanked the low lighting in the restaurant so he wouldn’t see her blush. “I want you to take over, but keep me informed. If he’s agreeable to a meeting, I’ll make plane and lodging arrangements for us.”
“I’ll contact him Monday and introduce myself.”
Marci liked that he was ready to jump right in and go to work. She’d always relied on her instincts. They’d never failed her. Those instincts told her Keefe would do his job, and do it very well. “He didn’t say it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if another studio has approached him and that’s why he’s hesitating to sign with us.”
“I’ll find out Monday.”
Aaron arrived to take away their empty plates. Marci bit her bottom lip when he asked if they wanted to see the dessert tray. She loved their strawberry cheesecake, but had eaten every bite of her dinner and doubted if she had room for dessert.
“You don’t have to count calories,” Keefe said. “We’re here to enjoy ourselves.”
“I’m not worried about the calories. I don’t know if I can eat anything else.”
“We could split one.”
That would work. If she ordered a whole slice for herself, she’d eat every bite and be miserable. “Do you like cheesecake?”
“I do.”
“I love their strawberry cheesecake. It isn’t plain cheesecake with strawberries on top, but strawberry flavored. Absolutely delicious.”
“Then that’s what we’ll have. Do you want coffee with it?”
“Yes, please.”
“You heard the lady,” Keefe said to the waiter.
“Yes sir,” Aaron said with a smile. “Strawberry cheesecake and coffee coming right up.”
Keefe leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. “I think you’re the only woman I’ve ever known who said she isn’t worried about calories.”
Marci laughed. “I don’t worry about them when it comes to my favorite dessert. After all this food tonight, I may never fit in this dress again.”
“You fit in it perfectly.” His gaze dipped to her breasts a moment. “You’re a very lovely woman, Marci.”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
The space between them seemed to crackle with electricity. Anything to do with business disappeared with his compliment. They were no longer employer and employee, but a woman and man.
Marci felt the fluttering low in her belly…that delicious buildup of desire. Keefe’s eyes flared with heat, as if he could sense her body’s reaction to him.
Aaron’s arrival with their dessert and coffee broke the spell. She focused on the waiter’s hand while he poured her coffee. She didn’t look at Keefe, but knew he watched her.
As soon as Aaron left, Marci picked up her dessert fork and scooped up a bite of cheesecake. Keefe’s fork came into her line of vision as he, too, cut off a piece of the creamy dessert.
“I agree with you,” he said.
She braved a look at his face. “About what?”
“You can’t worry about calories when something is this good.”
His joke dissolved the tension between them. Marci relaxed and smiled at him. “That’s why it’s a special treat. If I ate it every day, the way I’d love to, I wouldn’t be able to fit through the front door.”
Keefe forked up another bite. “There are a lot of ways to work off calories.”
Just like that, the electricity crackled again. It had been an innocent sentence, yet it sent images through Marci’s head of all the ways she and Keefe could work off calories…in bed, bent over a desk, on the loveseat in her office.
Determined to steer the conversation back to something neutral, Marci straightened in her chair. “We have a full workout area at Marshall Media. Any employee can use it at any time. I’ll probably use it tomorrow to work off this cheesecake.”
“You don’t have to worry about working off anything.” His gaze dipped to her breasts again. “You have an incredible body.”
So much for a neutral conversation
. She looked into Keefe’s eyes and clearly saw heat flare again. “Keefe—“
“Why don’t you date employees?”
That question she could answer without hesitation. “Because it isn’t professional.”
“You’ve never dated an employee?”
Now Marci hesitated. She didn’t want to lie to Keefe, but also didn’t want to talk about Ben. “I have, in the past.”
Keefe forked up another bite of cheesecake. “What happened?”
She watched his tongue lap up the creamy confection from the tines of his fork and slide it into his mouth. She would swear she could feel the caress of his tongue between her thighs.
She wished that caress was real. It had been so long since a man had licked her pussy, she almost forgot how it felt.
Marci cleared her throat. “Things didn’t work out.”
“Just because one relationship with an employee didn’t work out doesn’t mean another would be bad.”
“I know that. But I feel very strongly that as president, I have to maintain a professional image for my employees.”
“You’re a woman first, Marci, then a president.”
Sometimes that was hard for her to remember. “I’m also older than a lot of my male employees.”
“You don’t look your age.”
“I appreciate that, but it doesn’t change the facts. I don’t think I could ever become seriously involved with a younger man.”
He stared at her, his eyebrows lowered, his nostrils flared. Marci waited for him to continue the argument. Instead, he picked up his cup and sipped his coffee. “That last bite of cheesecake is yours.”
The look in his eyes told her he’d backed down from saying more, even though he hadn’t wanted to. She scooped up the cheesecake as Aaron arrived with their check. Marci picked up the wallet as soon as the waiter set it on the table.
Keefe frowned. “What are you doing?”
“This is a business dinner. The company is paying for it.”
“I invited…” He stopped. “Okay. Thanks.”
It surprised her that he gave in so quickly. Most men she’d dated were usually so macho about paying the bill. She dug her company credit card from her purse and placed it inside the wallet. Aaron came by their table and picked up the wallet, along with the empty dessert plate.
“Will I meet the rest of your vice presidents Monday at your meeting?” Keefe asked.
Marci nodded. “I have a long agenda this time, so expect the meeting to run two to three hours. We order in lunch if it runs past noon. There will be coffee, tea, pastries, donuts, all the goodies to give you a nice sugar high.”
His lips twitched. “Perfect for a Monday morning.”
Marci opened the wallet Aaron had quietly left on the table again and scrawled her name on the receipt. She picked up her credit card and receipt copy and slipped them back in her purse. She’d enjoyed her time with Keefe, much more than she thought she would.
She hated to see the evening end.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked.
Marci nodded. She waited until Keefe rounded the table and pulled back her chair to stand. Her tummy fluttered again when he placed his hand on the small of her back. How easy it would be to step closer to him, let him slip his arm around her waist. She missed the closeness, the passion a man and woman could share.
Dessert was over, and she was definitely in lust with him.
Keefe collected her coat and held it while she slipped her arms in the sleeves. She started to pull her hair from beneath the collar, but he beat her to it. His fingers brushed her nape as he gathered her hair in both hands and gently pulled it from inside her coat. Goose bumps scattered over her skin.
She turned to face him. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “May I walk you to your car?”
“I’d like that.”
She waited until he’d donned his own jacket before stepping outside. The night was cool and clear, the stars shining brightly over Puget Sound. Marci turned in the direction of the restaurant’s parking lot. Keefe stepped to the outside, placing himself between her and the street. She smiled to herself at the old-fashioned sign of courtesy.
“We aren’t that far from the office,” Keefe said. “If you aren’t in a hurry to get home, we could go by there and I’ll get that book you want me to read.”
“I can give it to you Monday.”
Keefe shrugged. “I don’t have any special plans tomorrow. I could start reading it during the football game commercials.”
It pleased her that he was so eager to get started on the project. “Okay.”
Marci pressed the button on her key fob to unlock the driver’s door. Keefe opened it for her and stood back so she could slide onto the seat. “I parked on the street in the next block.” He motioned with his head. “I’ll meet you at the office.”
Chapter Five
Keefe rounded the corner of Marshall Media and saw Marci standing by the front door. She smiled as he drew closer.
“I almost went in, then remembered you don’t have a key or the alarm code yet. I wouldn’t want you to get arrested for breaking a window before you even start working.”
“I appreciate that.”
She grinned, then unlocked the outer door. Keefe followed her into the entryway, and into the building when she unlocked the inner door. He watched her punch in a five-digit code on the alarm display.
“Will I get keys, code, whatever, from you or Peggy?”
“Peggy. She’ll take care of you first thing Monday morning, before my VP meeting.”
He let her step into the elevator ahead of him. The doors closed, leaving them cocooned together in the small space. Keefe leaned against the wall and watched Marci. She stood straight, her gaze focused above the doors at the small lighted numbers. He saw her fingers clench on her purse. He wondered if that meant she felt the sizzle in the air between them the same as he.
She’d made it clear more than once that she didn’t get involved with her employees. He respected that decision. He’d never believed in pushing a woman to do something she didn’t willingly want to do.
Yet he’d seen the interest in her eyes when she looked at him, heard her quick intake of breath when he’d pulled her hair from her coat.
She might not want to get involved, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel desire.
He certainly felt desire. His cock had been half hard all evening.
The doors opened. She glanced at him before she stepped out on the sixth floor. Recessed nightlights spaced every few feet let Keefe easily see to follow Marci. She unlocked her office door and flipped the light switch.
“It’s in my bookcase,” she said. “Give me a sec to find it.”
“No problem.”
Keefe took off his jacket and draped it on the back of one of the chairs at Marci’s conference table. The large windows drew his attention. He stepped behind her desk and looked out at the lights of Seattle.
“Great view.”
“It’s very soothing.”
He turned his head and watched her peruse the books on her shelves. She’d removed her coat and laid it and her purse on the edge of her desk. Her blonde hair flowed down her back, almost to her waist. He could easily imagine fisting his hands in that long mane, bending her head back and nibbling on her neck. Then he’d make his way down her body until he swiped his tongue across her creamy pussy…