DEAD SEXY (10 page)

Blake took his time. He undressed her slowly, exploring every inch of her body. He stroked her velvety skin, ran his tongue into the hollows behind her ears and kissed her neck. He kissed and caressed her, stroked her and coaxed her into a state of erotic wanting that left her panting and breathless.

He took his clothes off and she looked up at him, at the hard lines of his body, the breadth of his shoulders and chest, the nip that his waist took and the placket of V-shaped muscle that led to his lower belly and cock. He came to her softly, his fingers guiding his dick to her waiting opening and he slid forward just an inch, letting her rise up to meet him when she was ready, and she was ready.

Her slickness engulfed him, they both cried out and his tongue streaked across her nipples. Jenna’s legs wrapped around his waist and her heels banged against the upper part of his ass cheeks as he flexed and pumped in and out of her.

The scent of their lovemaking grew stronger and Jenna closed her eyes, letting him make love to her, letting him take her away from everything except the feeling of his body moving on top of hers, his cock filling her, his breath against her cheek and his fingers curling into her shoulders as he groaned and began to move faster as a climax claimed them both and left them lying in a golden pool of warmth and light.

She ran her fingers up and down his back, relishing the feel of his muscles and his skin below her fingertips. Their breath slowly became less harsh and rapid and he moved out of her, leaving a trail of his milky fluids running from her pink inner folds and into the covers. He curled around her in a protective gesture and she sighed, put her face against his strong chest and listened to the reassuring thudding of his heart.

His fingers traced her jaw and he lifted her chin to kiss her softly and sweetly. Jenna wondered how it was possible for him to make love to her with such fury but still make her feel so cherished and safe. It was a rare gift and she knew it, and she did not want to lose it…or him.

He fell asleep, his breathing tapering off into a gentle snore and she lay awake, staring at the ceiling and wondering what she should do about her job. She had the file, and she could explain her part in the whole mess and she might even be okay, but is that what she wanted?

Of course it is
, she scolded herself.
This is all just a reaction to my secretary turning out to be some kind of psycho kingpin thief with…
she closed her eyes. The whole thing was beyond surreal, it felt like some terribly bad dream or B rated movie. How could this happen in real life? Yet it had, and she still had no answers even though she knew all of the reasons. Denise had been wronged, but had that justified what she had done? No, not at all.

She had been wronged by her parents but the truth, painful as it was, was clear. She had known better. She could have, should have, done any number of things. She should have turned her father in, or walked out and refused to help him cook that mess—she had known exactly what it did to people, the street they lived on was filled with addicts after all.

She had not been a defenseless child by the time that arrest came along, and she could have walked, others had at that age and while her odds were not good—nobody’s were in that kind of life, she might have saved herself some misery.

Or maybe not. Maybe this time destiny had a hold in it all. Maybe she was right where she was supposed to be and the only road to get there had led her straight through a prison for youngsters. It was part of who she was, like it or not, and she could not hide it anymore.

If Denise had taught her anything it was that holding onto the past was akin to drinking poison—and eventually poison killed.

Blake went with her to her apartment. In the cold light of the day it looked even more spare and dour. He was sure she had paid some decorator a good deal of money to furnish the place but as far as he was concerned she had gotten ripped off.

Everything was done in ultra-modern furnishings that would not hide a speck of dust and he winced just thinking about what Freddy would do to the pretty but highly impractical leather sofa. The rug was even taupe in color, how did she stand to be so careful all the time and not spill things or…?

Her bedroom was a mess. He frankly stared and then he began to laugh. Jenna glared at him. “I know, I never seem to get around to putting the laundry away before the next batch comes in and my cleaning lady has given up doing anything with this room, but she does clean the office and bathroom still.”

“I am just glad to know you are not the kind of girl who walks on tiptoe just to make sure she does not mess up her rugs.”

Her face flamed. “I do that in the living room. I hate that fucking carpet, the furniture too in all fairness but I wanted to make sure it was a perfect in case I ever had to entertain someone from the company.”

He looked devilishly good in the light pouring through her windows, too good. She looked around at the mess and then at him, “I could be late for work once. I think being almost murdered by my secretary and her crew constitutes unusual circumstances, don’t you?”

“I once knew a guy who called out hit by lightning. He had been hit by lightning, though.” His black eyebrow tilted rakishly, “Why would you be late?”

“Because I think I want to seduce you in my shower.”

“Oh, foaming bubbling fun, sounds fascinating.” He came closer and caught her chin. “You could always quit your job and come to work with me. We could even take on separate cases sometimes just to keep from getting sick of each other.”

“I would never get sick of you. But I cannot quit my job.” Oh but she wanted to! How much of a relief would it be to be able to just be herself? To not watch what she said in case someone was listening, to halt the constant work hours and maybe live a little and have some fun, and be around Blake.

“The offer is always open,” his lips touched hers.

“I might take you up on it one day.”

“I cannot wait, and what is more now I cannot wait to see your shower.”

“Good, because I cannot wait to get you into it.” Her fingers tugged at the waistband of his jeans. He followed her into the bathroom, watching as she turned on the taps and then shrugged out of her soiled clothes. He surveyed her lean and elegant body, wondering if he would ever get tired of the sight of her. Hs cock jumped to attention, assuring him that that was highly unlikely and he stripped, then followed her into the steaming shower.

“Just so you know, you are going to be very late,” he murmured wickedly and then he began to kiss her.

* * * *

Window dressing, that is what she was saying. How this vibrant and glorious woman had managed to submerge herself the way she had was beyond him, although he knew exactly why she had done it.

The office was silent. Jenna shifted uncomfortably in the chair and stared first at the file spread open on the blotter of Brad Dunning’s desk and then down at her hands. The money was still accounted for, still there and it could be put back where it belonged but there were larger issues at play here and she knew it.

Jenna licked her dry lips and said, “So there is the file. Yes, I signed and did not read the papers that were given to me. I take full responsibility for that. There is also something else you should know. I changed my name…”

Dunning looked at her and said, “I know that.”

She blinked, “What?”

He sat back, his bulk filling his expensive chair, his neatly manicured hands folded on his chest. “Do you honestly believe that I would take all the security precautions that I take and not run a deep background check on my employees? Especially ones who rise to the rank that you have?”

“You knew? You never said anything.”

His eyes were as cold as ever. “I did not feel like it had any bearing on your work here.”

“I handle immense amounts of money. Obviously I mishandled some.”

He settled back in his chair. “People have pasts Ms. Holt. If I fired every single person who had done something wrong in their lives, especially as youngsters, I would have a staff of five people, and none of them would be particularly interesting.” His lips actually twitched into a semblance of a smile.

“I…I see.” She did not.

Dunning leaned forward, his elbows resting on his desk’s surface and he said, “Let me ask you something Ms. Holt, why did you not just take the money and run? You could have.”

“I worked too hard to get here,” she said simply.

“That is about how I figured it. Go to work.”

The interview was over. She was off the hook and her life could go back to being just what it had been. Only, she was no longer certain she wanted that.

Jenna went to her office and stood there, staring out at the magnificent skyline. It was a view some people would have killed for, and some people had. She had worked for nearly a decade for this, and she had wanted it badly enough to sacrifice everything for it.

She had wanted it, but she did not want it anymore.

She did not want the long hours, the lack of personal life, the stress of working eighteen hour days, she did not want to live in a city she never got to appreciate because she was always on her way to or from work and either too busy or too tired.

She did not want to lose Blake, and the magical thing that they had found. She wanted more out of her life than this job.

Was she losing her mind? She leaned against the windows, placing her fingertips and the tip of her nose on the cool glass, This high up the buildings always swayed slightly, and she closed her eyes, letting her body feel that gentle rocking rhythm.

A long time ago a girl named Kendall had wanted to be so many different things, but then Jenna had sprung up in her place and Jena had wanted one thing—success.

She had found out that the financial world was a good place to make money and a name for herself and she had dived into that, studying economics and math and accounting the way other girls at the juvenile detention center studied the magazines that they got from the ratty library.

But what had she really wanted to do? She could not remember. All those dreams that Kendall had owned had been hidden away so completely that they were forever gone from Jenna’s mind. She stared out at the cityscape, and let herself mourn for the girl she had been and then, she let her go.

There was no going back, but there was no longer a need to hide her past. The person who loved her knew about it and accepted her anyway. She had been living under the shadow of that fear for so many years she had had no idea how dark it was until she had released it and seen the light beyond it.

She was no longer Kendall, but she was no longer wholly Jenna Holt either. She was a new woman, trembling like a chrysalis as she stood on the verge of the biggest decision of her life. A whoop of laughter pealed from her mouth and she turned to her desk, neatly stacked away all of her files and took her few personal possessions: a pretty landscape she had framed and put on her desk in lieu of a photograph of her family, and a pen set she had received as a birthday gift, and put them into her handbag.

Nothing else was hers; it all belonged to the company, to the woman who had let life slide past while she hid out in what she thought was safety and success but had really been nothing more than a prison of its own sort.

She wrote her resignation and took it Dunning. She laid it neatly on his desk and he looked up at her, his cold eyes betraying nothing—she doubted that he had very much left inside to betray at that point anyway. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She was.

“I see. I will have your severance package arranged and the papers couriered over to your home by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thank you.” She stood there, wishing there was more to say to a man she had worked with for nearly a decade. There should have been, but there was not—and that was part of the reason why she was leaving.

“Good luck.”

“You too,” she left, heading down the hallway to the elevators and trying not to look into the offices she passed along the way. She barely knew any of the people in there, except in passing, and that was sad too. She should have reached out more, spoken more, fostered more friendships despite the harsh rules of the company.

She got into the elevator and waited for it to take her to the street. The foyer echoed coldly and the people behind the desk gave her their bland smiles, everything about the place felt foreign and off-kilter, like it was a place she had once known that had changed during an absence on her part.

She had changed, and she knew it. She hit the sidewalk, her face breaking out into a happy grin as she headed for Midtown and Blake’s offices. The tourists bustled around her, the street vendors sang out and she stopped to grab a pretzel with plenty of mustard and an icy soda.

She hummed as her heels clicked along the street and she drew nearer to Blake’s office. The future was uncertain, but for the first time in her life that did not frighten her. She knew what she wanted, and she was willing to let things happen as they would, to let go to cede control to whatever forces surrounded her.

She walked into the building he housed his offices in, checked the directory and took the elevator up. She was met by a reception room that was plain and unassuming and the smell of coffee brewing. A nervous looking women sat on a chair, clutching her handbag tightly and staring off into the distance. Blake stuck his head out the door, spotted Jenna and said, “Hello, can you give me a few minutes?”

She waved the last chunk of her pretzel at him and said, “No problem.”

There was a desk in the reception area but it seemed to be unmanned. She went over and sat in it, not thinking, just wanting a place to set her soda down. The front door of the office opened and a man steamed in, his face red with rage and his entire portly body quivering.

“I want to hire you.”

Jenna blinked up at him, the bite of pretzel still in her mouth. She hastily chewed and swallowed, “I’m sorry…”

“”Do not tell me you cannot take my case on. Get your boss out here right now. I hear he is the best there is and I want to hire him.” His voice carried a thick accent and that accent just got thicker the more agitated he became. “Go on, go get your boss, this is urgent!”

Her boss? Jenna hid a smile, “I am sorry but he is with a client at the moment.”

“Yeah, well, this is more important.”

“I am sure Sir, why don’t you have a seat?”

Loud sobs broke out from behind Blake’s door and Jenna gave the man in front of her a wide smile. “Please, do sit down. Would you like some coffee?”

“You don’t look like a secretary,” he said doubtfully.

“I am not,” she admitted.

“Are you a private dick, too?”

Private dick? Did he mean detective? Laughter rose up, she squelched it before answering, “No, I’m not.”

More sobs sounded from Blake’s office then the door burst open and the woman appeared, clutching her bag with one hand and a file with the other. She ran out, slamming the door behind her and Blake looked at the man standing in front of the desk Jenna sat at.

“Can I help you?”

“I sure hope so. I need real help. Not like my wife is cheating help—she would never have done that—and if she were still here she would tell you he same about me. I need help finding something; it is more precious than I can say.”