The Merger (16 page)

What was that he heard as he skimmed his lips over her collarbone? Her
moan
, yes, her moan.

No. He sucked air back into his body and realized his phone buzzed in his pocket.

He rested his head in the crook of her neck as they both caught their breath.

“It’s my timer. I have a meeting.”

She groaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him tighter to her.

“Tell me you’re not angry for me doing this again,” she said on a
pant
. “Tell me it wasn’t a mistake.”

He
chuckled,
but it only groaned out as he gasped for breath. “Not a mistake. Not mad.” He sucked in a few more breaths. “Thank God you did this.”

She rested her head on his shoulder and he breathed her in.

“I have to go.” He pulled
back
but kept his hands on her hips. “Don’t leave and run back to Oregon or anywhere else.” He sucked in another breath. “Have dinner with me. Promise me you’ll have dinner with me.”

She nodded.

“Okay.” He let his hands drop. “I have to head out to the site later. Are you headed there now?”

She nodded again and he knew she
was having
a hard time catching her breath too.

He leaned in one more time and brushed a soft, needy kiss over her lips.

Spencer walked back to his desk, picked up his files, and gave her one more look. She was beautiful standing there with her cheeks flushed and her lips swollen from his kisses.

His body buzzed thinking of what could happen next and hoping he wouldn’t have to wait too long to find out.

Spencer watched Julie walk back to the boardroom, drink down the now cold coffee, then sit down at the big table and simply catch her breath.

If they were lucky, Amber wouldn’t happen back by for at least another ten minutes and maybe Julie would be able to function again.

He, on the other hand, needed to get upstairs to the boardroom in his father’s office and discuss the production schedule on the new hotel they were working on. Ed was heading it, but Spencer had been working with the cement contractor. Either way, he needed to get his heart rate slowed before he walked into that room.

Spencer walked out of his office and toward the stairwell. At least if he climbed the two floors up to his father’s office, it would explain his extra intake of
oxygen
because he couldn’t will his body to calm.

She’d given into him. No, that wasn’t correct at all. If that were the
case,
she’d have continued kissing him yesterday. This was all her. She’d come after him—pushed him up against the door.

It was crazy to want this—to want her—but Spencer simply couldn’t help it. He’d seen her work. He’d been studying her for months. Of course, never had he thought it was
desire
that had him knowing how she sat when she was casual or how tense she got when she was in an argument. He intimately knew the shades of brown her eyes became and now he knew how they clouded when filled with passion. If she wanted to be taken
seriously,
she wore her hair in that low bun at the base of her neck. And her hair skimmed her shoulders if she was at ease and enjoying herself as she had in the bar with his family.

Even a week ago he could have picked her laugh out in a crowd or even her scent.

“Glad you could join us,” Ed made the first jab as Spencer hurried through the door.

“Sorry.”

His father pointed to the vacant seat next to the job foreman and the concrete foreman. “I think you know everyone.”

Spencer gave them each a nod, but for the life of him he couldn’t call them by name. In fact, he’d be surprised if he could answer his own name if someone asked.

Work certainly wasn’t on his mind. The adorable recently divorced—probably on the rebound—blonde two offices below them had him all worked up. And damn if he wasn’t enjoying it immensely.

~*~

As quickly as she could, Julie had
high-tailed
it out of the Riverside building and to her little desk at Hart Estates. The trailer had been locked and she had to ask Tiffany for the key. That had been something she’d wanted to avoid. But Tiffany hadn’t said anything. Perhaps she and Spencer weren’t as good friends as Julie had thought. He hadn’t called or texted her right away to say he’d made out with the bitch lawyer.

Okay, she thought as she put her bag and purse in the bottom desk drawer, that wasn’t fair. He’d apologized for that and in truth she was a bitch when she was in Oregon running mergers. She didn’t have to be that person anymore.

On her desk were four more folders, which meant four more lots had been sold. She’d have to go in and look at the display to see where these homes would be. After walking through the future model home with design schemes in her mind, she wanted to see what other people would choose down the line. This certainly would be an insightful trip into the minds of other people.

When the door to the trailer opened, Julie looked up expecting to see Chuck walk through the door and curse as it shut behind him. Instead, Tiffany walked in, dressed to the nines again in another pair of shoes that Julie would die for. She had to stand nearly six foot tall in those shoes and that mass of red hair swung hypnotically. Julie was mesmerized.

“Brought you some coffee,” she said handing her
a mug
and then sitting on the edge of Julies desk with her long slender legs crossed at the knees.

It was no wonder Spencer had wanted this woman. She was stunning and Julie desperately wanted to hate her—but she didn’t.

“Sold four more lots.” Tiffany raised her cup in cheers. “Mama is getting a new pair of shoes.”

“You must have quite a selection. I love those you’re wearing too.”

“Oh, these old things?” She looked down at her foot and moved it from side to side. “Spence bought them for me for Christmas years ago. Of
course,
I had to drag him to the store, try them on, and beg him to do it. But he did.”

Julie forced the smile. Okay, maybe she did hate her a little.

“Do you have plans for lunch?” Tiffany continued.

“I have a sandwich I brought.”

Tiffany shook her head and
the red
aura swung again. “No. You and I are going to lunch.”

“I don’t have funds for lunches out.”

“I do.” She grinned and sipped her coffee. “My treat. Save your sandwich.”

“Thanks.”

“Okay, I’ve made small talk long enough.” She playfully raised and lowered her eyebrows. “Spill the beans. You and Spence? You must have had one hot morning in his office.”

Julie felt her mouth open, but nothing came out right away. “He called you? He told you?”

Tiffany’s eyes lit and her grin widened. “Didn’t say a word. I read it in your face. You didn’t want to see me this morning. You’re afraid of what I’ll say.”

Julie dropped her shoulders. “How could you possibly know…”

“Aside from the fact that I think you just told me,” she said grinning, “I know Spence and I know the effect he has on people. And he’s taken by you. Oh, he’s got it bad too.”

“By me?”

“You might have pushed all the wrong buttons before, but I think that’s why he was so irritated by you.”

Julie pursed her lips. “This doesn’t sound like a man who would be interested.”

Tiffany laughed. “Don’t you get it? Remember when you were a little girl and a boy would push you or pull your hair?”

“Robby Brickman.”

“Okay, so Robby was mean to you?’

“Horrible.”

“And he liked you?”

“He wrote it on his notebook, in his math
book
and the stall in the boys’ bathroom.”

Tiffany nodded. “Just like that. Only you were the mean one in this situation.”

What a horrible conversation and it was sucking all the glory out of that hot kiss she’d had with
Spence.

“So you’re saying I liked him?”

She shrugged. “I think you were doing your job. I just think he was watching very closely.”

Julie felt her skin heat. “What about the two of you?”

Tiffany
bounced
her foot and admired the shoes Spencer had bought her Christmases ago. “Sex. It’s all sex.”

“Oh,” her voice dropped and the disappointment hung in the air.

“Not recent sex, mind you.”

“Oh,” she said again a little more enthusiastic.

“We were a couple when, let’s see,” she said looking up and giving it some thought. “I think I was eighteen—nineteen, something. I was there for him when they found out about the baby his mom gave away and her ex-fiancé trying to kill her.”

“Spencer mentioned that. Darcy, right?”

“Yep.” She sipped her coffee again. “His brother broke. Couldn’t handle it. Took off for three years or so. Traveled the world. Got a grip on people having
pasts
you can’t control.”

“From what I understand she gave her away to protect her.”

“Right. It still hurt Tyler.
Spence, on the other hand,
fell in love with Darcy. He was excited for her to be part of their family. He was mad at Tyler for a long time for leaving his family. But Tyler’s back and married and everything is perfect again for the Bensons.”

“And you were Spencer’s comfort through all of it,” Julie asked
gauging
their involvement.

“Sure. I thought it was true love… that he’d sweep me off my feet and we’d be married by now.”

Even though they were talking about the man Julie had just had an incredible kissing experience with, and one she’d like to try that sex thing with, she was intrigued.

“So why aren’t you married?”

Tiffany shrugged. “He’s not in love with me.”

“Who wouldn’t be in love with you?”

Tiffany laughed. “I’m not. So it’s hard for men to love me too.”

“I can’t imagine.”

“He’s deeply family rooted. I’m not. I like the flashy things—like his penthouse. Money isn’t an object to him. In fact, he doesn’t care much about it. I give that to his upbringing. That family could have anything and everything. But that isn’t important.”

Julie could see that. Wasn’t that a reason to cherish the man right there?

“We realized we were soul mates, but not in the way a man and wife are. I’ve got his back. And I tell you if you screw him over I’ll mess you up.”

Julie gasped. “I would never…”

“I know. I just want to make it clear.” Tiffany sipped her coffee. “Anyway, now we have sex if neither of us
are
involved. And we plan sex, but it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes pretty blondes who have his mind tied up get in the way.” She bore her
stare
into Julie.

“Me?”

“I think I was supposed to be a distraction. I wasn’t.”

“We kissed,” she blurted it out as if she were telling her dearest friend her deepest secret. “I mean I kissed him in Oregon, the night before they fired me. It was an
impulse
.”

Tiffany smiled. “Those are the best.”

“We kissed last night, but I freaked out.”

“It happens.”

Julie nodded then stood to meet Tiffany eye to eye. “But this morning. Oh,” she moaned feeling a flush move over her. “I just had to…you know…I made my move.”

Tiffany’s grin widened even more. “Lots of tongue? Any grope?”

“What? Oh, no, just…” She could feel it just as she had. “I shouldn’t tell you this.”

Tiffany climbed down off the desk, rested her hands on the top, and leaned in. “Are you kidding me? I want details. Lots and lots of them.”

“It was hot. I think if we were alone in the whole building…”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” She stood erect. “Oh, he’s in love.”

Julie fell back in her chair. “No. No. It’s not that.”

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“I’m talking for Spence.”

“I just got divorced.”

“From a lying, cheating, bastard.”

Julie only
stared
. Then she laughed. The laughter rolled harder and she covered her mouth to keep it in.

“I like him,” she said dropping her hands. “I think that’s why I’m here. I mean there are a million reasons, but that must have driven me here.”

“You’d be crazy to come if you detested him completely.”

“You’re not jealous?”

Tiffany shrugged. “I’ll have good sex again, but not with him. Do you have a brother or a cousin?”

Julie shook her head. “Neither.”

“Okay, well just know that as long as you’re in the picture I’m not. And that’s not just me I’m speaking for. Spence doesn’t screw around. If you’re important to
him,
you’re the only one.”

“I want that.” God didn’t she. Someone who truly believed in the sanctity of being a couple? That’s what she’d always dreamed of.