Vanilla On Top(55)

Delight lights her eyes when she sees me. “Tony! What a nice surprise.” Her smile warms and she extends a hand to me. “I’ve missed you.”

Relief pours through me as I step inside and gather her into my arms. Her soft curves mold to my body. I take a deep breath and smell her ginger citrus bodywash. “Me too.” I plant a soft kiss on her neck, then pull back and stare deep into her eyes. “What happened to us seeing each other in private during the merger?”

She blushes and looks away. “I’m sorry. Lots of things have come up that I hadn’t expected. It’s kind of thrown me for a loop.”

I lean in, touching my mouth to hers, reassuring myself that things are okay between us. “Let’s not talk about work, okay?”

Stiffness leaks out of her and she nods. “Sounds good to me.”

While I’d like nothing more than to blurt out my feelings for her and wring a declaration from her, I know the timing isn’t right. Instead, I let my body do the talking as I sweep her into my arms and carry her to the bedroom.

“You’re not too tired for some fun, are you? I know the perfect thing for stress.”

Her dark eyes widen and her mouth forms a surprised O. I lay her down on the covers and proceed to kiss her senseless, determined to show her exactly how I feel.





Chapter Fifteen

Heather

“Let me get this straight,” Carla says between bites. “He comes over for a late night booty call and then what? Did he stay or take off afterwards?”

I grimace at Carla’s poor choice of wording, annoyed dinner at my place has become a question and answer session. Tony’s visit wasn’t that late and our experience wasn’t a “booty call,” as far as I could tell. His physical actions held an almost desperate edge to them, like he was proving something to himself, or to me. I can’t be sure which.

“It wasn’t like that,” I say. She picks at her Chinese food, nodding. “And yes, he stayed the night.”

“Ooooo…now we’re talking!” She shoves her chopsticks into the takeout container and pushes it away. “Guys only spend the night if they really care.”

“Uh-huh,” I respond, not wanting to read too far into Tony’s behavior. I don’t know what he was like with his other girlfriends. “Or they’re tired and don’t want to get up.”

“Puh-lease. A player like Tony doesn’t stay unless he has good reason.”

A lump forms in my throat and I push my own food container away, no longer hungry. “He really is a player, isn’t he?” My eyes tear up. “I tried to convince myself maybe this was something more, but I keep coming back to the fact that he has a history with a lot of women. And I may be nothing more than another in a long line.”

Carla comes around the table to hug me. “Whoa, now.” Her arms close tightly on my shoulders and I hold back from bawling over her kindness. “No tears. This is a ladies night out and we’re going to have fun.” She runs a hand down my hair and smiles. “I think you mean more to him than all the others.”

“Really?” The glimmer of hope in my voice sounds wimpy. “What makes you say that?”

“What’s gotten into you lately? First you’re all bossy and take control with him, then you get a new hairstyle and start dressing sexy…And now, you’re back-tracking to the self-doubting hen you were before you met him.”

I raise my shoulders once and let them drop, not sure where to begin. The work opportunities opening up the past few days have made me rethink everything about myself, and what I want. A position on the board would be beyond anything I’ve ever dreamed of obtaining.

Carla looks me over and bluntly asks, “Are you expecting your period soon? Could that account for this sudden moodiness?”

I laugh. “Hardly. It’s another two weeks off. I’ve had a lot going on at work.”

“Like what?”

I proceed to fill her in on what’s happened, tactfully leaving out the interlude in Tony’s office. Her mouth drops open when I’m done.

“Holy cannoli. No wonder you’re tied in knots. Do you think this merger thing could put an end to you both? What will Tony say when he finds out you’re secretly helping to save your company? Can you even date if you’re both Apollo employees?”

“I don’t know! That’s what’s eating me inside. We’re too new for me to know for sure. He could be mad, he could try and push harder on the buyout…It could get really ugly.” Fear grips my heart when I mentally review her last question. “And holy hell, the thought of a company policy against dating never even occurred to me.”