Double Dare(132)

And it was those words that turned the tide. I didn’t know what I thought about Stone’s abrupt departure, the lack of notice, the fact he’d left me high and dry. But now my alpha male was back, and he was telling me that he loved me, that he’d done it all for me, no less. And there was truth in his words. I was a bad liar, and it made sense to cut things off cleanly until we got into safer waters. So I was tempted, definitely, but there was one last question.

“Why do you keep saying this was all for me?” I asked, curious, my eyes quizzical. “You had just as much on the table as well, I mean you were going to lose your job. You lost your job,” I corrected.

And the big man laughed at that, sitting back a little before pulling me onto his lap, my curves pressed against his big form.

“Honey, the last person I was worried about was me,” he said, nipping at my ear gently as his hands ran up and down my thighs. Oh god, it felt so good, his touch warm, his fingers gentle, stroking along my sensitive flesh. Without meaning to I whined and twisted in his lap, my mouth instinctively turning towards him, begging for a kiss.

And the big man went for it, taking my lips authoritatively, his mouth firm, commanding, licking at the seam between mine before breaking our contact and coming up for air, his chest heaving, nostrils flaring.

“Fuck baby, I can’t believe you do that to me,” he growled, hauling me closer. “Do you feel that? Do you feel how hard my dick is just after one kiss?”

And I giggled because his rod was so huge and stiff pressing against my ass that it was like a steel bar against my curvy flesh. And I had every intention of helping him relieve that pressure, vent some of the steam, but first, I wanted an answer.

“Stone,” I said gently, looking up into his eyes, “what about you? Why weren’t you afraid for yourself?”

“Because I had nothing to be afraid of,” he growled, pulling me close again. “Honey, have you heard of Phillips Packaging? You know the Fortune 500 company?”

And I nodded slowly.

“Sure but what does that have to do with us? I mean … are you related to them?” I asked, jumping back all of a sudden.

He nodded slowly, his face serious.

“I’m not just related, I’m the heir apparent,” he said wryly. “You’re looking at the CEO of Phillips.”

My jaw dropped. Suddenly the incredible luxury surrounding us made sense. There was no way he could afford this on a teacher’s income, even if he had years of salary saved.

“That’s where you got all this, isn’t it?” I asked, my chin trembling as I gestured to the house, the pool, the car parked out front. “You’re a rich man. Even that apartment in NYC,” I said slowly. “The company was paying for it, weren’t they?”

And the big man tapped me on the nose with his index finger, eyes dancing.

“No, not exactly,” he said. “The company didn’t pay for the apartment, nor do they pay for this house,” he said, his eyes sweeping across the luxurious surroundings. “My trust fund bought these things and it’s time I began contributing to the family business after living off its largesse for so long.”

But still, there was something missing.

“But what about being a teacher?” I asked slowly, shaking my head. “I thought you loved your chosen profession. Plus, you really knew your stuff, Stone, you were great in front of a classroom, truly talented.”

And the big man leaned in to give me a swift kiss before straightening again, eyes gleaming.

“Thanks baby, I appreciate it. Yeah, teaching is something that I always wanted to do,” he said contemplatively. “Educate kids, work with my brain. And I had a good run, but I’d been thinking of leaving the profession for a couple years, believe it or not,” he said wryly. “My grandfather’s sick and can’t man the helm for much longer, plus a bunch of my relatives are nitwits and couldn’t possibly sail this ship. So it’s me,” he said with a shrug. “My dad’s gonna be the chairman and I’ll be the CEO, we’ll work in tandem until my dad retires and then it’ll be all me.”

I gaped a little.

“You-you’re going to be running Phillips Packaging?” I asked, disbelief in my eyes. “But what do you know about the business?”

And the big man tapped me on the nose lightly.

“You know little girl, you can be so amazing and yet so insulting at once,” he said dryly. “Sure, you know me as your biology teacher, but what do you think I’ve been doing since I was nine years old?” he asked. “That’s right, I’ve been working at the Phillips factory since I was a kid, child labor laws be damned. My family didn’t hesitate to put me to work, figured it help me learn the business early.”