Dangerous Pleasures (22 page)

“How did you get so wise?” Annie asked, ruffling his dark hair. “But I’m doing it all for you, Nathaniel. For the girls, for Wills. So Amy can have something new now and again when she sees it, and not just when it goes on sale, if it’s even still there and in her size. So the twins can get those microscopes they have wanted so desperately for Christmas this year. So Wills can have the Disney Channel, and we can go out to dinner and a movie together instead of pinching our pennies so hard all the time. I got tired of having to think every time I opened my wallet. Every time I had to say no. I don’t want to be brave anymore.” But she didn’t have to be now.

The village was decorated for Christmas now, and as was the custom the shop windows followed a single theme. This year’s theme was “An Egret Pointe Christmas, Circa 1840.” Annie took several groups of women from the Spa into the village to see the windows.

“Why, they’re every bit as good as Fifth Avenue,” at least one woman per trip was bound to remark.

Annie was staying later now at the Spa, but with Nanny Violet at home supervising the children, she didn’t worry. Her life was suddenly perfect. After Christmas her parents disappeared to Arizona for the rest of the winter. Her father’s golf fixation would be broken up with their January cruise.

Lizzie called her, excited, right after the first of the year to announce that she had snagged the Channel Corporation as a client for her firm. “My God, Annie, you have no idea how diverse they are,” Lizzie exclaimed. “And Mr. Nicholas runs it all. He’s got his finger on everything. He’s amazing! A little unnerving with those coal black eyes of his, but a brilliant guy nonetheless. The senior partners were going to put one of themselves in charge, but Mr. Nicholas said no. He said I was the one who sold him on the firm, and so I was to be his personal lawyer, his main contact. There were a couple of noses out of joint, I have to tell you.”

“That’s wonderful!” Annie congratulated her sister.

“Downside here, however: I won’t be able to get out to Egret Pointe this winter. Mr. Nicholas wants me to travel to all the corporate divisions, meet his people in charge so I’m familiar with everything. It’s really a good idea, and you know how I hate being unprepared, so I’m going to do it. Will you be all right with Mom and Dad away?”

“I’m fine,” Annie assured her. “I’ve got my wonderful Nanny Violet, remember?”
And I’ve got my job,
Annie thought to herself.
I’ve never been happier.

There was new stock coming into the shop for the Valentine holiday. Annie was up on the rolling ladder putting away scented loofahs one afternoon when she lost her balance and fell into the waiting arms of her PA. She gave a small shriek of surprise as his arms closed about her.

“Gotcha!” Devyn said, smiling at her.

“I don’t know what happened,” Annie said. God, it felt good to be in his arms.

He set her down, her back to the shelves. His lean body was pressing into her soft curves. His mouth found hers, and he kissed her hard, his tongue plunging between her lips, fencing with hers. “Ummm, you taste good,” he told her.

“Devyn, I don’t think—” Annie began, her heart beating rapidly.

“No, don’t think,” he said softly against her mouth. A hand slid up beneath her skirt as he nuzzled her neck. “Don’t think at all, Annie.” His fingers stroked the soft inside of her thighs. His hand cupped her mons.

This was wrong, she thought, but her body was rapidly responding to his touch.

Pinning her against the shelving of the stockroom with his hard body, he slipped his other hand beneath her turtleneck and reached around to unlatch her bra. Then he began to fondle her round breasts.

“Devyn!”
she murmured. His hand felt so good there.

“Yes, Annie?” he answered her.

“This is…oh…very inappropriate behavior,” she finally managed to get out.

“I’m going to fuck you,” he murmured against her mouth. “Fuck you hard and fuck you deep, Annie, just like I’ve wanted to do since the first day I laid eyes on you.”

“I don’t think—” she attempted to protest.

“I told you, Annie, don’t think.” He removed his hand from her breast and unzipped his fly. “One day when I do that, I’m going to have you go down on your knees and suck me off, but not today. Just watching your cute little ass up on that ladder has made me as hard as a rock. Wanna see?” He stepped back just slightly.

She didn’t want to look, but she did. To her surprise he was just as big as his fantasy counterpart. “What do you want me to say?” she asked him. “Oh, wow!”

He laughed softly. “Save the wows for later,” he told her. The hand beneath her skirt ripped her panties off, tossing them aside. His hands slipped quickly beneath her butt, and before she could catch her breath, he had her impaled on his cock.

Annie gasped. “You’ve had practice at this,” she murmured as her legs instinctively wrapped themselves about his torso.

“Shut up,” he told her, and he kissed her again even as he began to fuck her.

Oh, God, he felt good inside of her. Annie threw her head back between two wide shelves, and his mouth raced down her straining throat. He was going to make her come, and come fast, the devil. “Do it! Do it!” she heard herself moaning to him.

He fucked her harder and deeper until her head was spinning with the pure pleasure that he was giving her. It was wrong!
Why is it wrong?
the voice in her head demanded to know.
I’m married! You’re a widow! He’s younger than I am. He’s hot!

“Come on, Annie,” he crooned to her. “Give it to me, baby. Come for me!”

And she did, in strong spasms that rocked her to her core. But he was still hard inside her. “What’s the matter?” she whispered to him.

He laughed low. “You’re going to have two, Annie.” And he began again to fuck her with slow, deep strokes of his hard cock. “Didn’t your husband ever give you two in a row?” He nipped at her neck, and then began to lick it.

Could she come again this quickly outside of the Channel? Annie wondered. “Someone could come in,” she protested weakly.

“The door is closed,” he said, “and we’ll hear if they do.” He never broke his rhythm as he talked. “We’re going to be doing this a lot from now on. I’ve been waiting for you to get the picture, but you haven’t. Got it now, Annie?”

“You’ve got an ego as big as all outdoors,” she answered him.

“To match my big dick,” he replied. “God, you feel good! I want you in bed, where I can enjoy every inch of you.” He began to move at a faster pace.

“Well, turnabout is fair play,” Annie said mischievously, “and I’m certainly enjoying every inch of you, even if this is inappropriate behavior.”

“Tell me to fuck you,” he whispered in her ear.

“Why?” she teased him.

“Because I want to hear you say it,” he answered her.

She could have played with him for a few minutes more, but every moment they spent like this increased the danger of being caught. And she wasn’t about to lose her job over a casual screw in the storage room. “Fuck me, Devyn,” she purred to him. “Fuck me hard and deep. Make me come again.”
What am I saying?
Annie wondered as he complied with her request. She had never in her life been this bold and bad. Not even close. But suddenly it felt right, and she wanted it. And then he found her G-spot. Annie screamed softly, and within moments she was climaxing again, but this time he came with her, groaning as his hot cum spurted into her tingling, spasming vagina.

When it was over he let her down. “God, that was good!” he said, and, pulling her close, he kissed her hard. “Mad at me?” he asked almost sheepishly.

“Next time wear a condom,” she told him.

“I’m clean,” he assured her. “They test us after every guest has gone just to be certain. What about you?”

“I haven’t had sex since Nat died,” Annie admitted, “and we were monogamous with each other.”

“Then we won’t need condoms,” he said.

“No condom, no nooner,” Annie said firmly. Bending over, she picked up her panties. They were virtually destroyed.
Note to self: Keep change of underwear here.
“And next time, caveman, don’t rip my clothes. I’m going to have a damned cold ass by the time I get home tonight.”

“I could give you a little spanking and warm it up,” he offered.

“You are just full of yourself, aren’t you?” Annie told him.

“Tell me you wanted what happened as much as I did,” he said.

Annie sighed. “Yes, I did, but I would never have taken the initiative,” she admitted. “You’re way younger than I am. We work together. There are so many reasons why this should not have happened, Devyn.”
Not to mention the fact that I’m screwing you in a fantasy.

“Forget the age thing. It doesn’t matter to me. You’ve got the ass and tits of a twenty-five-year-old. I can’t wait to get you in bed, see you naked, lick your body from head to toes. I want to eat you, and have you eat me. I can’t get to sleep at night thinking about all the things I want to do to you, for you, Annie.”

“I don’t know how we’re going to make that happen,” Annie told him practically.

“You’ve got a nanny,” he said. “Can’t you take a weekend somewhere with me?”

“Nanny Violet gets the weekends off. She’s gone on Saturday morning when I get up, and she returns Sunday evening at six p.m. precisely,” Annie said, turning her back to him. “Hook me up again.”

His hands slid around to cup her breasts. “Umm, so nice,” he whispered, giving her nipples a little pinch. Then he fastened her bra for her. “I’ll think of something. In the meantime, we always have the storage room.”

Annie smoothed her skirt and tucked her turtleneck in. “We could have been caught,” she said. “One of us has to be the grown-up.”

“I liked the danger in that,” Devyn replied. “But I think I have an idea. We could use one of the unoccupied rooms for a little tryst. Or my cubicle. You could
work
late one evening, couldn’t you? The nanny’s there twenty-four/seven during the week.”

“Gracious, what an eager little boy you are,” Annie said softly. “Wants to see his presents before he should. You’re the one who needs to be spanked, Devyn.” She turned around so that the tips of her breasts were just touching his chest. “Want me to spank you, little boy?” It was as if she were possessed, Annie considered as she flirted with him. Why was she behaving so suggestively? So…so…wantonly? What was the matter with her, for heaven’s sake?

“Well, well.” He chuckled. “Underneath that prim-and-proper widow with kids is a bad girl. What fun we are going to have together, Annie Miller.”

The shop’s bell tinkled, and a voice called, “Anyone here?”

Without another word Annie exited the storage room. “Sorry, I’ve been putting away stock,” she said to the spa guest who had entered. “How can I help you?”

It snowed in late February, and Annie contacted a local farmer so she could rent his old-fashioned sleigh and horses. The spa guests were offered sleigh rides through the snowy countryside. A portable ice rink was set up over the outdoor pool. Both two-blade and single-blade skates were available. A sauna hut was erected so guests could steam, then run out into the snow briefly, then back to the sauna. The Spa was booked to capacity.

One afternoon Nora Buckley called Annie to her office. “Sit,” she said, indicating a couch in front of her fireplace. She handed Annie a cup of Apple Spice tea, and held out a plate of chocolate biscotti. “Hardly spa fare, I’ll admit,” she remarked with a smile.

“But yummy,” Annie answered, taking one.

“I want you to train someone to run the shop,” Nora said without any preamble.

“Aren’t you satisfied with my work?” Annie said, surprised by the request.

“Extremely so, but your talents are being wasted there,” Nora replied. “I want you, and Mr. Nicholas wants you, to become the Spa’s assistant manager. You’ve actually been doing much of what an assistant manager would do since the first of the year. And we’ve never hired one before. With the success of the Spa we need one.”

“I don’t know anything about managing a spa,” Annie protested.

“You didn’t really know anything about stocking and managing a shop, but you learned, didn’t you? The gift shop has turned a profit since the moment it opened, Annie. That’s highly unusual, you know.”

“We’ve got a built-in clientele,” Annie said. “Women with money to spend, and I’ve stocked only quality merchandise. It isn’t exactly rocket science.”

Nora laughed. “No, it isn’t. But you’ve shown great ingenuity and imagination, Annie. You’re intelligent, and you’re personable. You know how to work with people. I heard how you defused that publishing CEO when the teddy she wanted from Lacy Nothings was sold out before she could purchase it. J. P. Woods is a highly volatile woman.”

“I had met her casually when I spent my week here,” Annie explained. “I just told her I would special-order the teddy and send it to her home. Then I told her to please not tell anyone I was doing it because I would have to take it from my spring stock, as we were only allowed to have a dozen garments each season. She loved feeling extra-special, and that I was going out of my way for her.”

“That’s just what I mean, Annie. You know how to compromise,” Nora responded.

“I’m raising five kids,” Annie said wryly. “You want to learn compromise? Have five kids. Best tutorial I’ve ever had.”

“You can hire locally.” Nora picked up the original thread of their conversation. “The ad will appear in the local paper tomorrow, and I’ve given the shop’s direct line as the contact number.”

“What happens to Devyn?” Annie asked.

“Do you want to keep him as your personal assistant?” Nora inquired casually.

“Yes, I think so,” Annie said. “We work well together.”

“Tell him he’ll have to wear the Spa blazer then,” Nora said. “You can wear your own clothes if you prefer.”

“I’ll stick with my uniform for now,” Annie said. Besides, she didn’t have any clothes that would be suitable.

“One other thing,” Nora told her. “You’ll be getting a hefty salary increase as the Spa’s assistant manager. How does one hundred twenty thousand a year sound? And, of course, you’ll keep all your benefits.”