Various States of Undress: Virginia (21 page)

“In private, yeah. But can you imagine what would happen if a photo of me wearing that were plastered on the side of a New York City bus?”

“Grown men would weep with delight?”

“Grown men in the communications office at the White House would weep with horror.” She tried to sound stern, but a blush of pleasure crept into her cheeks as she stared at Dex's handsome face lit by the lamp on her bedside table. So handsome that even after they'd been together too many times to count, she still got a little shiver just looking at him. “Thanks for the compliment, though.”

“You're welcome.” He eased away from the headboard and, crawling over the catalogs, loomed over her, his palms pressed into the quilt on either side of her shoulders, sinking her into the mattress. “Sweetheart, it doesn't matter if you wear a bikini or a ski parka or . . .” His gaze swept over her tissue-thin tank top and wash-faded pajama bottoms. He swallowed. “Or that. You're so beautiful to me.” He looked into her eyes for a long time, and then he sighed. It wasn't a good kind of sigh, either.

Virginia saw the tightness of his jaw. It had been there on and off all day, despite his teasing. “What's wrong, Dex?”

“I . . . need to tell you something and . . . I should have told you a while ago, actually.”

Virginia's eyes went wide. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Dex rolled to the side and took her hand, pulling her up to sit beside him on the edge of the bed. “You're aware that my main purpose in turning Lilah's around is so that I can become CEO.”

She curled her fingers around his. “I know.”

“It's not going to be that simple. My grandfather is—he wants me to have some training first.” Dex rubbed his forehead. “Actually, let me start over. This sounds insane, but I may not even get the job, no matter what happens at Lilah's. Ariel and I are competing for it. But before either of us can become CEO, the person Granddad chooses to groom for the position has to head up Cameron's international expansion. If that's me, and it appears that it will be, I'll be going overseas.”

Virginia looked down at their clasped hands. Aside from physical intimacy, and the unspoken promises they'd made with their bodies, they'd made no commitments to each other. The future had been a happy light on the horizon, nothing more. They hadn't discussed it at all, and she'd been so focused on him—and proving herself with his store—that she hadn't wanted to think about it. Now it was a real thing, and it didn't look all that happy. She found herself nodding numbly. “Where overseas?”

“London.” He glanced at her, his expression cautious. “And Granddad wants me over there right after Lilah's launch, barring any disasters with the reopening, of course.”

He was going to leave her. Virginia let the reality sink in and took a deep breath, willing herself to think rationally. He wasn't going to
leave
leave her, right? But once he was gone, she'd be at loose ends, missing him every second. She knew that immediately. And after Lilah's opened, what was she going to do with herself?

“For how . . . how long, Dex?”

“I don't know,” he muttered. “Months. A year. Maybe longer. It probably seems ridiculous to have to jump through that hoop, but that's where I'm finding myself. My family isn't normal, Virginia. I don't like talking about it, but I wasn't even raised by my parents. Both of them had moved to Europe—my mom to France and my dad to Italy—by the time I was four years old. They hate each other but love the family money. I used to see them at Christmas most of the time, and occasionally birthdays. Sometimes they were even
my
birthdays.” He shook his head. “Ariel and I only had each other, but that didn't last long since we were packed off to different boarding schools when we were still little.”

Virginia was almost afraid to ask, but she laid a hand on his arm. “How old were you?”

“Six.” Dex swallowed. “The only steady relatives I had were my grandparents. Well—my grandmother. She was the light of my life, but when I was seventeen—a week before high school graduation—she died. After that, my grandfather, who'd merely tolerated me up until then, became the biggest asshole in the world. He didn't
push
me to succeed—he bullied me into it. He did the same thing to my sister, and when we both proved to be fairly intelligent, he pitted us against each other. His time on this earth is running out, and he knows it. There are days when I want to say ‘Fuck you, Granddad' and just walk away from the entire thing, but I want to prove to
myself
that I can win. That I can be CEO on my own terms.”

Virginia sat by him silently, not knowing what to say. In the depths of her heart, she ached for him. He deserved warmth. He deserved love. She wanted to tell him that, despite his horrible upbringing, he had already won—he was decent, kind, and caring. But before she could say anything, he gathered her into his arms.

“You could fly over to London as much as you wanted, sweetheart. I . . . wish . . .” He sighed and looked at her. “I wish I didn't want to go,” he said in a thick voice.

She blinked at him. “You wish you didn't want to be CEO?”

“Yes. Sometimes. But I've been working for it for so long, I don't know anything else.”

Virginia watched emotions flicker over his face, and she realized that when it came right down to it, he was as confused as she was about the future. There were no answers today, and though she realized the logical thing to do at this point would be to take a step back from him, she didn't want to. She wanted what she wanted—and that was him. Tightening her arms around him, she laid her head on his chest. “Promise me something.”

“Sure.”

“Let's each trust ourselves that we're smart enough to figure everything out.”

Dex held her in silence for a moment. “You're right. That's the best we can do, isn't it?”

“Yes. Do you promise to trust yourself?”

“I promise.”

“Me too.” She lifted her head, and though she had sadness inside, she also felt overwhelming tenderness for him. And honestly? She could never seem to stop flirting with him, especially when anxiety loomed. Right now seemed like a perfect time. “Do you care to seal the deal?”

Dex rewarded her with a lopsided grin.

She looked up into his remarkable green eyes and then at the dimples bracketing his smile. She looked at his throat and his strong shoulders. She looked at his bare chest, so wide and firm, shadowed in the dim room. And then she met his gaze again and sighed. “I used to think that you had no clue about how much you mesmerize me, but now I'm not so sure.”

“Yeah?” He chuckled. “Good to know.” When she smacked his chest with the back of her hand, he chuckled again and then slid his fingers underneath the strap of her top. He eased it down her shoulder. “So . . .”

Giggling, she rolled the other way and stood up. “So . . . despite what I just said, your mojo is not working right now. Because we need to work. And then you need to leave.”

“Why? Are you sure you're not angry about what I said?”

“No. It's because it's three in the morning and we're both tired. If it were up to me, I'd chain you to the bed,” she said. “But not tonight.” She hummed the opening notes of “Hail to the Chief.” When Dex's jaw dropped open, she nodded. “Uh, yeah. My dad will be here in the morning.”

He stood up and reached for his pants. “I'm out of here.”

As she dissolved into giggles, Virginia grabbed the pants out of his hands and threw them back on the floor. “Muscles and Silent will let me know he's on his way, and it's not like he's going to show up in the middle of the night.” She walked to her desk and sat down cross-legged in the chair, spinning it around to face him. “Calm down.”

“If you say so.” He frowned. “But why is it that your agents get nicknames and I don't? In fact, everyone gets nicknames from you.”

Virginia looked at him fondly. The truth was, she couldn't come up with a nickname for him. He was just Dex. Yesterday in the dressing room when she'd been a sobbing mess and clinging to him, the words “one and only” had popped into her head, but that wasn't a nickname. She had wished, though, for the very first time, that he would become hers—permanently. Her one and only. It had been a scary thought, and she'd pushed it away. And after what he'd just confessed to her, she couldn't bring herself to share it now, even though he gazed at her expectantly.

“I can barely think when you're around, much less come up with a nickname for you.” She lifted her strap back onto her shoulder.

“How about when I'm not around?” he asked as he stepped into the pants and zipped them up. Then he walked across the room and perched on the edge of her desk.

“I still think about you,” she answered. That much, at least, was true.

“Mmm. Okay, sweetheart. So how about we finish arguing about Lilah's so I can take you back to bed before you kick me out of your apartment?” He licked the edge of his bottom lip.

She stared at his tongue and patted blindly behind her on the surface of the desk. “I have a folder right here.”

With a chuckle, Dex leaned over her and picked up the folder, but when he flipped it open, he shook his head and frowned. “No. We can't offer butt floss in the swimwear section. That's—just no.”

“What are you talking about? I'm not ordering thongs!” Virginia grabbed the folder out of his hands. The first page was a printout with a sticky note on top, and it was full of loopy handwriting. “Have to have these,” Virginia read. “Oh. No, no. Stacey threw this in here. Take it with a grain of salt.”

Dex still frowned. “Virginia,” he said hesitantly, “About Stacey. She—”

“Stacey's a train wreck sometimes. I know.” Virginia sighed. “But she's so excited for me, and she did introduce me to a lot of people. Showroom staff, distributors, people who supply fixtures, even. And then she snagged that amazing venue for our prelaunch party. You'll love Flash—it's not like Renegade's, I promise. It has a relaxed, cool vibe.”

“Okay.” Dex folded his arms. “Think she'll be sober at that party?”

Virginia shrugged. The truth was, she was loyal to Stacey because Stacey was loyal to her, and, though she was fully aware that part of Stacey's devotion to her was due to the First Daughter thing, Virginia was grateful to have a friend who wasn't afraid to be herself. So many other women walked on eggshells around her. Stacey had never done that. “I'll handle her, no matter what.”

“I trust you.” Dex picked up another folder. “What about the remodeling of Lilah's main floor? Are you still wanting to have crazy designs painted all over the ceiling and walls?”

“No. I've toned that down. And it won't take long to complete because I'm not changing anything structural—look.” Virginia unfolded her legs and stood up. She reached over his arm and flicked through several pages, finally pulling out a sheet with a color rendering of the first floor. The ceiling was painted a pale sky blue and dotted with silver stars. The chandeliers were gleaming with bright gold paint, and, above the tall cabinets, there were modern art murals on the walls. “I think the interior designer did a great job. What do you think?” She held her breath.

Dex stared at it, the corners of his lips lifting. “Fantastic. It's fun and unique, but it still looks . . . vintage, somehow.”

“Oh, good.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “That's exactly what I intended. At first, I was going to have track lighting put up, pillars removed, and—” She broke off with a laugh. “Then I realized that would be a travesty. Lilah's isn't sleek and chic. It's quirky. And there's not a damned thing wrong with adding flirty to quirky.”

“Not at all. I think that's a sexy combination,” Dex said. He closed the folder, tossed it on the desk, and gathered her into his arms. “Very sexy.” He looked down at her, his eyes lidded. “And it will be very successful. The sales figures Ruston texted to me from the preview sale are fantastic. You outdid yourself, Virginia.”

She grinned. “Thanks. So where are you taking me to celebrate?”

“I can think of a quiet, romantic restaurant. Is there anything else we need to discuss?”

She traced his bottom lip with a fingertip. “The ceiling in menswear. Orange?”

“No. Men would run like hell from that.” Dex pulled one of her straps down and bent to kiss her bare shoulder.

“How about a deep red?” She sucked in a breath as he removed the other strap.

“Yes. Like a boudoir or something? I like it.” His thumbs hooked into the straps, pulled them down her arms, and then slipped them off. “Anything else?”

“Yeah. This.” She pressed her tongue against his throat and reached for the waistband of his pants. As she licked a path toward his ear, she unhooked the clasp of his pants, and seconds later they dropped to the floor. “And this,” she whispered in his ear as she closed her hand around his hard length, stroking slowly. With her other hand, she tugged at her own pants until they, too, landed on the floor.

She stepped out of them, backed Dex onto the bed, and straddled him, bending down to kiss his neck again, brushing her breasts across his face. She felt his hands skim under her top, lifting it up, and then his mouth was on her breasts, hot and wet. Fire surged through her belly, pooling and smoldering lower and lower.

“I can't wait, Dex.” Her breath left her mouth in little explosions of air as she stretched toward the bedside table for a condom, barely able to concentrate long enough to open it. When she sat up, she rolled it onto him and, bracing herself on his shoulders, sank down onto his large cock, still gasping.

“Oh, Virginia,” he said with groan, rolling his hips underneath her, lodging himself deeper. Her eyes fluttered closed and she moved against him, her knees pressed into the slick pages of the catalogs still scattered onto the bed. He felt so big inside of her, so perfect, so—ohhh. His hands closed over her breasts again and he kneaded her nipples. She lost control then, rocking against him, her orgasm building so quickly that she didn't even have time to kiss him. Her head fell back with a silent cry as she came, waves and waves of pleasure spiraling through her. She reached back to grab Dex's knees, holding on as he pumped against her, prolonging her pleasure until he went rigid underneath her. “Virginia,” he repeated, his voice a hoarse cry.