Beyond 10 Nights (Forbidden Desires Series) Page 17
Taking the liquid soap, she washed her body, keenly aware of him watching her every move. His scrutiny made her flush deeply and her hands faltered several times as they ran over her.
Alex barely touched her as he moved out of the stream and maneuvered around her but her reaction made him smile. Her body tensed, revealing just how attuned she was to him, yet still she didn’t ask him for what she wanted. He was sure it was because she was too embarrassed to do so.
Standing outside the shower he watched as she lathered her long hair. The sight of her, naked and wet, made his cock stand at attention and he smiled as her eyes widened at his growth.
“You’re a hard person to understand, Alex,” she sighed as she closed her eyes and allowed the heated stream to wash the suds from her hair.
“Very hard at the moment,” he said with a chuckle as she opened her eyes again.
“Would you like to make love?” she asked a little nervously, wondering why he didn’t just make a move to take her since it was beyond obvious that he wanted her.
“I would love to push you up against this shower stall and enjoy your body, yes,” he answered, still making no move to touch her.
“Then do it,” she whispered softly, her body aching for him.
“Is that what you want, Leah?” He wanted there to be no question in her mind about who was making the decision.
“I think I might scream if you don’t do it now, Alex.” Reaching out a hand she pulled him back into the shower and against her, enjoying the hardness of him against her softness.
Chuckling, Alex allowed his hand to trail down between her thighs to stroke her silken petals gently. “Never let it be said I made a lady scream in frustration.”
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she moaned softly as his long fingers inched in and out of her drenched core. “Take me now!” she demanded softly as the pleasure became almost unbearable.
“At your command.” He lifted her leg and hooked it around his hip as he slowly filled her, inch by glorious inch.
The feel of him stretching and filling her was an overwhelming pleasure and she cried out softly. His movements were slow and unhurried, and silently she screamed, urging him to move faster. “More!” she demanded, pushing toward him with each thrust he made, wanting to feel him all the way inside her.
With a speed that took her breath away he withdrew from her and pulled her from the shower stall, in moments he had her bent over the toilet as he drove home, burying himself to the hilt within her with a single powerful thrust. She hadn’t seen that side of him before, and her hands gripped the back of the porcelain, holding on for dear life as he rode her savagely.
The change in him was what she wanted, she knew it, and her body responded to it, flooding almost immediately as he took her roughly, even as she ached from taking him in so quickly.
He hadn’t meant to be so forceful, but passion had taken the reins from him and it was only with an effort that he managed to pull out before he came inside her. The soft groan of pain that escaped her lips as he pulled his massive length from her clenching folds made him feel a little guilty.
Leading her back into the shower he washed the evidence of their passion from her body and his, shaking his head. “I’m sorry I was so forceful, I didn’t mean to hurt you.” That was the last thing he intended. Having cleaned them he shut off the water and then got out to grab a towel for her.
“You didn’t hurt me,” Leah assured him as she stepped out and walked into the towel he was holding out. “It was incredible,” she said, enjoying the way he dried her off; when he was done she took the towel from him so she could return the favor. She was going to be sore, there was no doubt about that, but it was a soreness she could learn to enjoy feeling she thought with a grin.
“It might cause a few heads to turn and tongues to wag if my new intern shows up to work bowlegged,” Alex remarked as they left the bathroom.
Leah laughed at that, though it did worry her a little. She pushed the concern from her mind however, deciding that if the people at work wanted to talk that was their business, not hers. Feeling more comfortable about being naked around Alex, if not a hundred percent relaxed about it, she left the room, making her way to her own bedroom so she could get dressed.
As she crossed the suite she marveled again at how relaxed and comfortable she felt with Alex. Outside of the strange human pony thing, he was one of the nicest guys she’d ever met, she thought to herself. He certainly didn’t leave her constantly wondering what side of his personality was going to appear like Rhett had.
They drove in to work together, as they had the previous week, and Leah quickly settled back into the graphics department with her co-workers. She loved being there, the people treated her far more like a colleague than an intern, which both surprised and pleased her, and she loved the way they included her in every aspect of the campaign they were working on.
The fact that they were willing to listen to the ideas of someone who had almost no experience in advertising was a thrill to her, and she had to work hard not to let it go to her head.
She enjoyed her work, and the people she was working with, so much that she didn’t even realize it was time for her lunch break until her cell phone rang. Still laughing at something that had just been said she quickly turned serious when she heard Rhett’s voice.
“It sounds as though things are going well with your new job.” Rhett had argued with himself about calling Leah while she was at work, but his need to talk to her had won out against his better judgment.
“I’m really enjoying it here.” As much as she had enjoyed her time with Alex over the past few days, the very sound of Rhett’s voice made her heart beat fast and she longed to see him.
“I’m glad, sweetheart, I just wanted to call and apologize for the way our date ended.” He had given her time to cool down, he thought, and now he just wanted her forgiveness.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ve moved on.” Her heart ached as she said the words and she moved away from her colleagues so they wouldn’t see the sadness on her face and ask questions.
“What do you mean, you’ve moved on?” He had no idea what she was talking about, and the tone of her voice suggested he wasn’t going to like it.
“I knew you wanted to end things, and I've moved on with someone else.” He had no idea what a lie she had just given him, tears trickled down her face as she fought to keep what she was feeling from her voice.
“What the fuck do you mean you’ve found someone else?” This wasn’t happening, she had not just found some other man to take his place; he wouldn’t allow it. “WE’RE FUCKING ENGAGED!” He screamed into the phone, not giving a damn about the looks he was receiving from the people in the boardroom with him.
“Why are you yelling at me? You said we weren’t right for each other.” She couldn’t stand the way he was acting, and she couldn’t believe he had brought up their so-called engagement. Fresh tears ran down her cheeks as she sobbed uncontrollably.
Struggling to get his temper under control and lower his voice Rhett shook his head in disbelief. “I didn’t say I was leaving you, Leah.”
“It sure sounded like it to me,” Leah snapped. “I’m with someone else now so you can forget about the engagement; you can have your life back.
“Who the fuck have you been fucking? I’ll fucking kill them.” The thought of her with another man made him lose what little control he had over his anger.
“Sir!”
The voice distracted Rhett from his call momentarily and reminded him that he wasn’t alone. “This meeting is adjourned,” he snarled, dismissing the group of people gawking at him.
“You can’t adjourn me, Rhett Hammond!” Leah declared, not able to believe he would say such a thing to her. “You told me it was over, and just because you have issues with me moving on doesn’t mean you can threaten Alex!” She was angry herself, and no longer cared if her co-workers heard her or wondered what was going on; who the hell did
he think he was, trying to order her around like she was an employee of his.
“I wasn’t talking to you about… what the fuck did you just say?” He was beyond calming down as her words sunk in. “You’re fucking Alex?!” He couldn’t believe his friend would betray him in such a fashion. When he got home, after he kicked Alex’s ass, he would make sure Leah knew what he had really meant; that he hadn’t been breaking up with her, he had simply been trying to do what was best for her.
“I’m hanging up now, Rhett, you wanted this relationship over, and it is, so please stop with the theatrics.” Ending the call she dashed into the first empty office she found, where she slumped to the floor, tears streaming down her face as she fought the hysterics that threatened to erupt from her.
That was how Alex found her, twenty minutes later, after being called by Mrs. Parker. When he saw her on the floor, staring unseeingly ahead, her cheeks stained with dried tears, he knew that something horrible had happened. For her sake though, he knew it was best that she didn’t break down completely at work; whatever her co-workers had already seen had been enough for them to get Mrs. Parker to contact him, he didn’t want things to get worse for her.
“Leah, I need you to let it got for now, honey,” he soothed her quietly; both relieved and unhappy that she was crying. His relief came from the knowledge that the tears would help her get past whatever had happened; at the same time he was unhappy that something had happened to reduce her to that state.
When she was calm enough she told him about the phone call from Rhett, and everything he had said to her; for the first time in his life Alex wanted to beat the crap out of someone. The desire caught him by surprise, yet at the same time it felt very right. In his opinion, what Rhett was doing to Leah was abusive, in the emotional sense at the very least, and he knew that could be worse than any physical abuse.
His friend needed serious help, that much was clear, and he resolved to make sure he got it, whether he wanted it or not. He wasn’t about to let Rhett continue to torment Leah, regardless of how the situation developed between the two of them.
12
FLYING BLIND
Rhett wanted to get in his jet and fly home immediately but couldn’t. It wasn’t business that kept him on the island; he was prepared to forget all about that, despite his desire to get work started on the resort he had bought, in order to return and deal with the situation between him and Leah.
It wasn’t even the tropical storm that was brewing out to sea that stopped him from leaving. The problem he encountered when he called the airfield to arrange his departure was that routine maintenance had uncovered a fault with one of the circuits on his jet. A replacement circuit had been ordered, and was on the way from the mainland, but it wasn’t due to arrive for at least a couple of hours, and by the time it arrived the storm would be too close for them to leave.
Hearing the news, Rhett ground his teeth in frustration, it seemed as if everything was against him, the plane, the weather, everything. He couldn’t even manage to get through to Leah to try and sort the situation out over the phone; each time he tried to call her it went straight to voicemail, leaving him to assume she had turned the phone off.
Things had not gone how he’d planned them, not that he’d really planned them all that carefully, he thought as he returned to his suite and poured himself a glass of wine. He couldn’t begin to imagine how she had come to the conclusion that he was calling things off between them; and for her to immediately leap into bed with Alex, he simply couldn't believe she had done that.
The very thought of her with Alex had him raging again. Whatever friendship they had once had was gone, he thought angrily, trying not to let his anger overcome him, as it had on the phone with her. Somehow he would fix the situation between them, it didn’t matter how fucked up it was, he would fix it and show her how much he loved her, if it was the last thing he did he would do it.
Once he explained to her that he had only been trying to give her a little space while he got his shit together she would understand; he was sure of it. The mental battle did little to calm his ire and he found himself pacing the suite, searching for some way to relieve the nervous energy building up inside him. Every time his pacing took him back to the kitchen area he refilled his wine glass.
After ten or fifteen minutes, he wasn’t sure, time had little meaning for him, he gave up on the pacing, and the wine. He needed to be doing something more energetic to relieve his frustration, and to keep him from trying once again to call Leah; failing to get hold of her again would only frustrate him more.
Leaving the glass on the island bar he made for the door so he could go down to the gym and work out for a while. He had just closed the door behind him when he heard the phone ring back in the suite. He swore in annoyance, but immediately opened the door again, hoping, futilely he was sure, that the caller was Leah, returning his many unanswered calls and the messages he had left for her.
“Yes?” he answered the phone with a snap to his voice.
“Sir, it’s Captain Harrow, you wanted me to inform you the moment we had the jet back in operational capacity.”
The news was a welcome relief to Rhett, who felt as though something was finally going right for him. “Make ready to leave the moment I get there,” he instructed.
There was a pause and then the pilot spoke again. “I’m afraid that isn’t possible, Sir,” the very tone of his voice made it clear that he wasn’t happy to be saying no to his employer.
“What do you mean it isn’t possible?” Rhett demanded, doing his best to keep his anger in check, whatever was wrong, he was sure it wasn’t the pilot’s fault, and it would do no good for him to take his frustrations out on the man.
“The storm is almost on us, Sir, all flights off the island have been cancelled; no one is permitted to leave. As I understand it, Sir, no one can leave, by boat or plane.”
Turning Rhett looked across the suite and out the windows that ran the length of it. He hadn’t noticed during his pacing, but the sky had darkened perceptibly, the wind had picked up and was whipping through the trees outside while the windows were peppered with rain.
“Get the plane ready,” Rhett ordered, turning away from the weather. “I’ll be there in half an hour; I want to take off the moment I arrive.”
“We can’t, Sir, I’m very sorry but all flights are grounded, the authorities won’t let us leave.”
“You let me worry about the authorities, I’ll take care of them, you just get the jet ready,” he snapped before slamming the phone down. Immediately he snatched it back up so he could call Manuel, if anyone would know who could give him permission to island it would be his friend; he didn’t care how much it cost, he was leaving. The longer he stayed on the island, the more time Alex had to steal his girl; he wasn’t about to let that happen, even if he had to bribe everyone in authority he could get his hands on.
In the end it took more than thirty minutes for Rhett to make it to the airfield. First he had to track down Manuel so he could find out who to contact to get permission to leave, then he had to pack his things up, which he did as hastily as he could. Finally he had to take care of his bill; that wasn’t too difficult though, being friends with the resort’s owner ensured he was able to deal with the bill in record time.
By the time he made it to the airfield the arrangements had been made, and permission had been given for his jet to leave. Rhett could see his pilot wasn’t happy with the situation; the promise of a hefty bonus stilled his qualms however, as Rhett had been sure it would, and soon enough they were taxiing down the runaway.
The moment he was strapped in Rhett took out his phone and dialed Leah’s number, he wasn’t sure he would get through, given the weather, but he knew he had to try. It seemed to take forever for the call to connect, and he was about to give up when it finally did; impatiently he waited for the message to finish so he could speak.
“Leah, sweetheart, it’s Rhett. I’m really sorry for the wa
y our call went earlier, it’s not how I wanted it to go, I just wanted to hear your voice and know you are okay.
“I’m on my way back; I’m going to make all of this right. I’m going to sort it all out, one way or another. I love you.” Not sure what else to say he ended the call, hating how weak and uncertain he had sounded, it wasn’t him, he knew that, it was the way she made him.
They were only in the air for fifteen minutes before Rhett realized just how bad a decision it had been for him to force the pilot to take off. The storm was still not fully upon them, and Rhett was more than grateful for that given the way the executive jet was being buffeted about by the wind and the rain.
“Mr. Hammond, Sir, I’m very sorry,” Harrow called back from the cockpit, “but we have to turn back, the weather is just too bad.”
“Are you sure we can’t make it through to the mainland?” As bad as the jet was being buffeted he was sure it would get better the further they got from the island, after all, the storm was coming from the other side of the island and they were between it and the mainland.
“No, Sir, I’m sorry but it’s just too much of a risk. We might make it, but with this much wind and rain there’s too much chance of a flameout, if that were to happen we’d have to ditch and with the storm right on our heels…” He trailed off as he fought the controls for a few moments. “Our best bet for safety is to turn back and return to the island, and I can’t even guarantee we can manage that, Sir. We could flameout at any moment.”
As much as he wanted to, Rhett couldn’t deny the wisdom of his pilot’s words; the jet was pitching and yawing almost constantly. “Just get us safely on the ground, I don’t care where you put us,” he called out, not entirely certain it was actually possible for the jet to turn and make it safely back to the island, despite only having left it a short time before.
With visibility outside the jet reduced to almost nil, Harrow was forced to rely on the jet’s instruments to guide them as he turned back toward the island. It soon became clear that it simply wasn’t possible for them to make it back to their departure point, the storm had moved in much faster than anticipated.