He sat up straight. “To what do I owe this forwardness?”
“My extreme affection for you,” she replied.
“And business manners are out the window?”
“Business manners?” she questioned him. “Humph. Let’s see, you strip me down to nothing in the office and screw me. That’s not a breach in office decorum?”
“You were wearing a corset,” he reminded her, she’d put him in a good mood the minute he saw her.
Jocelyn ran her hands down his chest. “Well Reg, this is a special occasion that warrants this
attention. I don’t want you to forget me.”
“Why would I forget you when I have your beautiful face and exasperating mind roaming about my office every day?”
“That’s the point, darling,” she said. “All this togetherness is coming to an end.”
“Oh, the contract’s up?”
“The boss isn’t paying anymore,” she reminded him.
“I was advised by my ‘business consultant’ that I didn’t need you anymore,” he said, with a pleasant smirk swiveling about in his chair.
“Your consultant is a wise woman, a little daft when it comes to personal matters, but she’s a whiz in business,” she smirked back.
“I thought you still had a couple weeks of work left?”
“Rick and Warren can take care of it. But the big bucks powerhouse has to move on. I’m flying to London on Monday for three weeks.”
His face was expressionless. Where it had bordered on jovial, there was now nothing there. Jocelyn drew her hand through his hair pushing it off his face. “You’re working too hard, why don’t you come with me?”
“That’s as much a laugh as your going with me to Germany.”
“But I did go.”
“So you did.”
“Besides, how will I know how to behave if I don’t have you around?” she asked.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” There was a chill in his voice she didn’t like. Ever since she announced her leaving, the all too familiar wall that hid Reggie’s softer nature was resurrecting itself piece by piece.
“My, I expected something more than this,” she replied. “I can’t tell what you’re feeling.”
“Maybe because I’m not feeling anything in particular.”
“You’re not going to miss me?” She scrutinized his expression, looking for some small clue pointing to his thoughts. He hadn’t answered her. “Are you upset about something?”
“Not in the slightest. The company is running smoother than ever, thanks to you.”
“I was hoping we could get to something more personal.”
“Yes, I’ll probably miss you, at least by the third day. But you’ll be back, won’t you?”
“I’ll be coming home. But to you? That would depend on the welcome I get,” she said, feeling very much annoyed. “You know, it seems for once you could drop this cool reserve and be a little more emotional.”
“That wouldn’t be like me, Jocelyn,” he said.
“No, I suppose not.”
She frowned and turned to walk out of the office.
“You want to go out Saturday night?” he asked before she could get to the door.”
She looked back.
“No. I like to get lots of sleep before a trip like this, and I have to get up at the crack of dawn Monday morning.” Her chill was as obvious as his.
It was two days later, Saturday in the early evening. The sky was in that odd stage between daylight and night, where there is no specific color, but a blend of many that made the interior of Jocelyn’s apartment glow almost iridescent. She’d been working on some paperwork for her trip, her dining room table amass with papers.
The knock on the door was brisk and efficient.
Who would be landing at her home now? she wondered. She had plans to burrow into her cave for the night and let the sumptuous cocoon comfort her.
Answering the knock, her heart jumped, then raced, then began to turn angry when she saw Reggie at the door.
“Was I too brusque with you the other day?”
“When?”
“In the office.”
“You’re always brusque.”
“If you don’t want to invite me in, I’ll leave.”
“No, no, please come in. I’m just lazily getting ready for this trip.” She walked into her living room, Reggie following. Reaching the far wall she gazed outside to the approaching evening, feeling ever so lonely. “So is this suppose to be a apology?” she asked. She was having a horrible time being haughty with him, but he deserved it.
“It could be, an acknowledgment at least.”
“Oh?” she waited for more.
“You’re leaving for three weeks is irritating. Not having control of you is just as irritating.”
Jocelyn looked at him seeing all the multitude of things that she’d seen in the man for weeks carrying her away again. She was like a child with a school girl crush, resurrecting her emotions for him over and over again with just the smallest encouragement. This was big time encouragement, Reggie coming to her.
He walked toward her, to run his hand along her face, and trace a line along her jaw with a single finger. A distinctive feeling ignited between her thighs that she felt all the way to her crotch.
The first kiss was gentle. In fact, all of Reggie’s kisses were gentle, simple, coming out of the cool of his demeanor, not the heat that laid on flashing stokes to flame her sex with fire. He was a very patient lover when he chose to be. It was a moment to try her patience when she was ready to have him fling her to the bed or floor or anywhere and screw her.
This time, it was all silent, wordless. Even the pleasured gasps of mounting arousal were muted. Everything was measured in simple touches.
He left her standing while his hands explored her. She touched him lightly, but didn’t explore in return, being content to receive. When his hand lifted the bottom of her T-shirt to find her breasts, it was two tender fingers that found her nipple and gently pinched it. He was standing so close to her, she could feel his hard-on jerk inside his pants, as his fingers teased the tiny bud a little harder each time he squeezed. She was tempted to move against him, but she remained immobile.
There was no wild raging river of sensation crashing through her as there had been so many times before. Infinitesimal things moved her, like his breath with the faint aroma of coffee lingering, and the distinct scent of his cologne, which she’d come to associate with sexual passion. The hand not on her breast, went to her bottom and brought her groin into his, so she could feel more intimately than ever the brewing heat inside his pants. Locked so closely together, there was still some distance between them. In the physical sense it was small, but emotionally there was still an immense wide canyon. The sheer cliffs of that canyon were too dangerous for them to explore. Though moments like this one shortened that distance and made the danger much less ominous.
One hand slipped inside her pants to find nothing but skin against it. Smooth Jocelyn skin. As his hand grazed her bottom, Reggie remembered the wild array of hues he’d seen on that flesh, how he’d tasted her sweat and the perfume of her musky female spaces. He remembered how he’d watched her move in orgasmic delight.
As he continued the slow erotic tease, Jocelyn realized that this was one place, for all their arguments and struggles for control, where she was content to let him have control, and take her to the realms where he reigned, where his cunning was as impeccable as his visage, and his insight into her body was more exact than even she could imagine.
The kisses on her mouth became more insistent, his tongue began to explore her, his hands moved more vigorously, too. She couldn’t help herself. She began groping him at will, and soon the two were moving inch by inch toward the bedroom, ready to tumble into the messy sheets of her unmade bed. She always made it every morning but this one. Now, it looked like she’d just fucked someone there, but he didn’t seem to notice.
He moved her about the bed, his arms leading her as if they were dancing. One article of clothing after another was cast away, landing on the floor until they were both naked. His pants, her T-shirt, his shirt, her pants, the slips of underwear, until there was nothing at all to separate them but their own reluctance.
Jocelyn would have been happy to have been pressed crotch to crotch, breast to chest, with mouths kissing madly. But he upended her so her cunt was in his face, and his erection was at her mouth. The mutual oral manipulation wedded her to him in a baser way. The intimacy was more demanding in this carnal pose. She explored his body, as he explored hers in every heated place, with tongue and hands and probing fingers. In the wet heat of evening, they felt like one body.
She wanted him inside her, his wide prick capturing her, demanding, determined, prodding hard, seeking a completion for them both.
Explosions ripped through their bodies. And the silence they’d observed all through the act ended with animal cries, one deep, and one of a higher pitch. The finale was being arm in arm, silent once more, allowing themselves to return to a reality hardly as easy as the sphere of pleasure from which they’d just emerged.
It might have been an hour later. They might have dozed during that time. Now Reggie was bending over the lounging Jocelyn, completely dressed.
“I won’t interrupt your need for peace any more. I just wanted to say goodbye properly.” He left her the way they’d begun, with the tiniest of kisses, that could have led her away again into the world of their sexual fortune.
She gazed up at his vanishing form in silence.
“Dammit!” she moaned, throwing a pillow toward her bedroom door when he was gone. She could have run after him, asked him to spend the night, but he was too swift for her. Her consciousness was still scattered about the room, thinking of sex and bliss and sex and bliss. She let him walk out without answering for himself or committing to anything or discussing what was foremost on her mind – their future.
***
All Jocelyn could think about on the way to London was the trip to Germany, and the trip home from Germany, and the dinner with Will and Alex, and the Saturday night before she left…and every other moment she’d spent with the man she loved.
Did it matter that he hadn’t said I love you? Did it matter that this relationship was an emotional rollercoaster ride? Did it matter that she was often out of control and vulnerable to the whims of a man that remained a mystery to her? She liked adventure, and mystery, and high drama. But what would it be like with him if it was forever? Could they live with that kind of intensity? And why was she even considering forever, he’d made no suggestions that he thought of anything beyond the present moment.
And of course, there was that dreadful word, submissive.
Reggie was likely right from the start. She was no sexual submissive. She loved to submit sexually, but there was a big difference. An attitude mostly. She’d seen it in Alexandra Kozak. There was a quality in the woman that required relinquishing everything, which seemed so right for her, even if she still fought it. Submissive was a state of being Jocelyn wasn’t sure she understood. To her, submitting to Reggie meant wild sexual theatre and kinky fun, and the hottest sex she’d ever had. But he’d have a hell of a time if he thought he’d ever ‘train’ her.
And if he was right, if he knew she wasn’t submissive, why the hell was he going into their relationship with such passion?
The plane landed on foreign soil where she’d make her home for three weeks. She hoped before the trip was over that she’d have a few things figured out.
Chapter Nine
“Miss Crandall, is it?” Reggie said, eyeing a young blonde woman seated in front of him. She couldn’t have been more than twenty two, fresh out of college, looking to nab the secretarial assistant opening. How like Alexandra, and a dozen other young things that had paraded through his life. Delicate, creative, industrious, and no doubt submissive. There was that same old thrill charging through his body eyeing such a creature.
“Yes, sir,” Shelby Crandall replied.
She was sitting on the edge of her chair, trying to hide her nervousness, but her hands were already sweating. She’d already been approved by Dwight and this was her final interview. It would be the most difficult for her; but for Reggie it was just a formality.
“I’m not an easy man to work for, Miss Crandall. I’m told I’m rude and cold. In fact, I’ve been recently warned by a high priced efficiency consultant to lighten my autocratic tendencies in running this company. I’m afraid, I only make cursory efforts in that regard, much to my consultant’s disapproval. You’ll have to be willing to put up with my temperament.”
“Funny you should say that. I rather thrive in that kind of temperament,” Shelby Crandall replied, cocking her head sweetly.
“Really?” He’d have to tell Jocelyn that there were people that responded favorably to ‘rude and autocratic bosses,’” he smiled to himself.
“And sir, I would consider working for this company a major step forward in my business career. You’re company is so well respected.”
“It’s a plum of a job,” he agreed. “And it’ll be difficult to get up to speed, but I’ll demand that. I don’t have ‘training’ periods. You’ll be expected to perform from day one.”
“I’ll give it my very best, sir,” she replied.