Vanilla On Top(50)

Tony moves slightly, his arm searching for me. His eyes flutter open as a small frown mars his forehead.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” I say, placing the camera back on the dresser.

“Time to start the day?” he asks on a yawn. I nod and my mouth grows dry when he stretches, the sheet slipping down to reveal his lower abdomen and the dark V of hair that points lower. As I stare, the material below his waist starts to stir. I can’t believe he’s rising again so soon. The man must be pure testosterone. “Although, if you keep looking at me like that I’ll be tempted to stay in bed all day.” His accompanying smile implies he’s not adverse to the notion.

My heart beats faster as I fight the urge to lick my lips. “I wish I could. I’ve got that meeting at nine.”

He nods and rises, unconcerned with his nude state. The moment he stands my eyes drop to his growing arousal. His increasing interest triggers my own and I turn, rushing for the shower. I’ll never be on time if I give in to my baser needs every time I look at him.

“I’ll be quick,” I say while turning on the water. “You can have a shower next if you’d like.” Once the water feels right I step in, eager to be away from temptation. Maybe I should turn the water to cold to flush out the sexual thoughts of climbing back into bed with my new lover.

I pile up my hair and clip it, since today isn’t a day to wash it, and then reach for the soap. In the next instant the curtain whips open from the back of the tub.

“Mind if I join you?” A protest dies on my lips when I see the look on his face. Pure animal desire darkens his expression. “Hand me the scrubby.” His cock juts out at full attention. “I’ll do your back.”



The vibrant feelings after our morning shower interlude sustain me all the way to Mr. Sayers’s office.

My boss’s boss stares at me across his desk and asks calmly, “How do you think Mr. Carmine knew about you running Harvey’s job for him?”

A huge knot forms in my throat and I feel a sweat breaking out on my forehead. “They did go to lunch together.”

He nods. “Was it one of Harvey’s regular five Martini lunches?”

“I can’t say for sure, since I wasn’t there, but he did act like it might have been when he returned to the office.”

“Perhaps Apollo made the leap based on meeting him and seeing the man at his worst?”

My hands wring together on my lap. “It has been increasingly difficult to keep Harvey up to speed on current facts regarding recent transfers. He could have misspoken and placed doubt in their minds.”

“Let’s cut right to the chase, Heather.” I nod, desperately trying not to flinch. “We’re in a bind. None of the board was aware you’d taken over Harvey’s duties. I thought you’d stepped up and handled a bit more since his wife died, but not to the extent you obviously have. You’ve done an excellent job, especially in light of not having all the info you’d need to plan effectively.”

I know he’s referring to our recent shortage of cash. If I had been aware of our company’s recent contract losses and employee issues, I could have moved investments around to free up more money…and ridden Harvey harder about meeting the credit line requirements.

“Thank you, sir. I’m just sorry it wasn’t enough to save the company when we really needed it.”

Mr. Sayers sits forward a little on his chair. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” My eyebrows creep up in surprise. “We want you to see if it’s possible to orchestrate things in the next few days to free up funds.”

“Sir?”

He looks out the window, determination in his steely gaze. “I didn’t build this company for twenty years to have it taken from me. I want to fight this buyout, as do the other board members. But we need your help.”

“Mine? How?” If he’s asking me to do what I think, how can I keep it from Tony? How would that affect his job with his company?

Mr. Sayers’s attention snaps back to me. “All five of us are willing to invest our personal assets to support payroll and company overhead while you liquidate and move monies around.” My eyes widen at the risk and I open my mouth to protest. He raises a hand to stall me. “We all realize the dangers. But I’ve been looking over the portfolio you’ve built and I think we can manage it. That and I’ll be putting in a personal call to the bank handling our credit line and see if we can’t get an exception on the deadline we missed.” He smiles, a sad crooked smile full of hope and strength. “It’s not over yet. What do you say?”