“Sheesh! You’d think they would have given my name,” Chelsea grumbled as she read the blurb in People Magazine.
“JC.”
“Good thing there’s a picture. I think I’ve forgotten what you look like,” Kristin mused.
“Hey, baby! I know Chelsea gave me the third degree because they didn’t give her name,” JC told her laughingly. Then his voice grew soft. “At least, you have a picture.”
“When are you coming home, Josh?”
“I’m recording right now, but I’ll get away to see you real soon, baby. I need you.”
“Need me how, Josh?” she asked, bewildered. “How can you need me and never come home?”
“I’ll get there, Krissie.”
“Make it soon – please.”
JC heard the tears. “Oh, yeah, soon.”
Snafus in opening the Orlando-Titusville office frustrated Kristin, keeping her from home more than she liked. The only good thing to come from it was JC had stepped in, assisting her by taking Chelsea to Los Angeles on weekends Kristin didn’t make it home. Her daughter truly loved the man/boy her mother had married – and it seemed the feeling was mutual. The easy camaraderie between the two made Kristin feel like an outsider. Chelsea saw JC much more often that his wife did!
Diane, the receptionist at the new office of Breton and de Carlo buzzed Kristin’s temporary office. “Mrs. De Carlo, there is a man out here claiming to be your husband.”
Kristin felt her pulse jump. JC? Here? “Claiming?” she asked cautiously. “Long dark hair? Killer cheekbones? Big blue eyes?”
She thought she heard JC’s chuckle when Diane replied, “Yes.”
“That probably is my husband.”
This causal, rumpled man and the well-groomed corporate exec? “Oh…” The woman sounded confused.
“It’s Kristin de Carlo-Chasez.” Kristin heard her husband inform Diane.
With a sigh, Kristin said, “Send him in.”
JC entered the office, wondering at his reception. It had been nearly a month since they had seen each other. Through Chelsea, he knew Kristin was lonely and irritable and horny. Well, the girl had hinted at sexual frustration as a cause for her mother’s sharp demeanor. And the daughter had an uncanny knowledge of her mother’s inner workings. So, he had flown from Los Angeles to New York City to Orlando in a few days time in hopes of spending time with Kristin before he had to return to California.
Kristin rose from her chair and stationed herself on the front edge of her desk. As she perched there she pulled her skirt primly over her knees. Seeing JC brought every female hormone she possessed to red alert! She had meant to chastise him, but the words failed her. “Hello, Josh. This is a surprise.”
“Pleasant surprise?” JC stood directly in front of her, wanting to snatch her up and not knowing how she would react.
“I guess that depends on you, Chasez.” She managed a cool, even tone with effort. Her insides were already quaking.
“I miss you so damn much, Kris.” He cupped her face with both hands, dragging the pad of his thumb over her full lower lip. “Boss lady…”
Kristin leaned back to hit the intercom on her phone. “Diane, please, hold all calls until my husband leaves.”
“Yes, Mrs. de Carlo.”
“Chasez,” JC muttered. “Kristin de Carlo-Chasez.”
Switching the phone off, she turned back to him. “She’s never seen proof of a husband before,” she pointed out.
“I got your proof right here, baby.” His mouth claimed hers hungrily. At first, she resisted, then melted against him with her arms tightly around his neck. He took his time relearning the shape of her lips, the texture of her tongue, the taste of her as she opened for him. When he lifted his head to gaze in her eyes, they were both panting a little.
“Lock the door,” she commanded huskily.
“Wha?…” Surely she didn’t mean to…
Her dark eyes were hot and desperate. “Please.”
He stepped away to do her bidding, then moved between her knees. He shoved her skirt up to accommodate his legs. Smoothing his hands over the lacy tops of her stockings, he caressed slender thighs, eliciting a little moan from her. “Oh, yeah…soft…like satin…” His mouth crashed down over hers once more.
Kristin buried her hands in the dark waves of his hair as his lips made a foray across her jaw, to her neck, to her ear.
“Boss lady…” he whispered, his hot breath making her shiver.
“Oh, Josh, please…” she whimpered helplessly.
Hard, long fingers unbuttoned her proper white blouse. He was pleased to note her lacy bra had a front closure that popped open easily. Then his palms were filled with the sweet weigh of her breasts. He squeezed them gently, teasing their rosy peaks with his thumbs.
She fairly tore open his shirt in effort to reacquaint her hands with the feel of his lean, warm body.
“Krissie…”
“I need you, Josh,” she whispered, her lips placing damp kisses on his bared chest as her fingers feverishly to open his jeans.
“I’m all yours, baby,” he assured her. “It’s all yours.” He stepped back to shove his pants and shorts down to release his hardened manhood.
“All of it?” she taunted, stroking his hot length in a pleasing grip.
“Every damn inch.”
Leaning back with her palms flat on her desk, her breasts jutted out, begging for attention. “Then give it to me,” she commanded saucily.
How provocative could one woman be? JC bent his head to pay homage to each breast, licking and suckling each nipple as she mewled. His hands grasped her skirt, yanking it up even higher. His fingers sought and found the now damp center of her silk underpants, teasing her with their play.
“Joshua…please…”
“You ready for me, baby?”
“Yesss!”
Holding the silk panel to one side, JC entered her in a slow glide. One thrust seated him deep within her, then he simply held himself still.
“You’re so big…hot and hard…It feels sooo good.”
“I could stay this way all day. Just feeling your tight, sweet walls around me.”
“I have a meeting at three, so let’s not take that long,” she told him teasingly.
Still, he didn’t move, just gazed down at her. He could see she was getting impatient, yet he remained motionless, letting her feel him throb within her. It wasn’t until she was squirming and arching up that he pulled back and then slid back in.
“That’s torture,” she informed him breathlessly.
“My guess is tantric sex is out with you,” he mused. Kristin never was a patient lover.
“Joshua!” She was wiggling and moving her hips demandingly.
“All right, boss lady,” he chuckled. “I’ll put my back into it.”
JC thrust in and out, slow, steady, deep. He lifted her to him on his downward lunge.
“Oh, darling…” she purred, stroking his back.
“I’ve missed you, Krissie.”
“I’ve been here,” she reminded him softly. It felt wonderful to be joined at last. She wanted to weep with the perfection of the moment. Her husband…Her mate…Her body began to tense, preparing for what only he could give her. “Joshua…” she whimpered helplessly.
“Let me feel you come for me, Krissie. Come for me, baby,” he ground out as he quickened his pace. As he plunged into his mouth returned to suckle her breasts, nursing eagerly.
“Josh…Ahh! Oh, Josh, I—“ Kristin broke apart, splintering as pleasure crashed over her in repeated waves.
“Kris!” One more thrust and he followed her into the tidal wave of bliss.
They held each other as the tremors receded. After a long moment, he eased back. She gave a whimpering protest, bereft of him within her.
He brushed his lips over hers in a tender salute. “I know…I know, baby,” he soothed. “I don’t want to leave heaven either.”
Kristin reached up to put her arms around his neck.
He held her, pressing her close. Body to body, heart to heart. “I love you, Kris.”
“I wish I didn’t love you so much…It wouldn’t hurt so bad when we’re apart.”
“It’ll settle down soon – or I’ll just plain stop. It’s eating me up alive.”
“I need more of you, Josh. Not just the sex…”
“I know. I know.”
Reluctantly, she released him and began fixing her clothes and he followed suit.
“I am staying in Orlando for a few days,” he told her as she rose to smooth down her skirt. “What time can I expect you tonight?”
“Expect me?”
“At the house.”
“I’m not at the house.”
He was startled. “Why the hell not?”
“It’s your house—“
“We’re married for God’s sake. It’s our house.”
Her chin went up a prideful notch. “I wasn’t feeling very married when I arrived in Orlando. I’ve been staying at the Westin Grand Bohemian.”
“Love that hotel,” he remarked dryly. “But, baby, move into the house, okay? Bottom line and all.”
She shook her head. “I see no reason to move. I told Kyle if this wasn’t settled by next weekend, she was going to have to come out here.”
“So I have Chelsea this weekend?”
Kristin nodded. “You’ve been wonderful about this. I know babysitting—“
“Stop right there. One: I hardly call having Chelsea’s company ‘babysitting’. Two: we’re family. Three: I love you and I love Chelsea.”
“Thank you, Josh.”
“Thank you, Kris. For not letting the way I’ve been acting come between us.”
“I’ve been trying very hard to see your side. I don’t really understand why you are away so much…but I want to make ‘us’ work.”
“Me, too, baby.”
She went around her desk and retrieved her handbag from a drawer. Extracting a key card, she offered it to him. “Don’t suppose you’d like to share a bed at the Westin tonight.”
JC readily accepted the plastic card. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot. Tonight and tomorrow night. I came to Orlando to be with my wife.”
“I appreciate it.”
He leaned over the desk to kiss her softly. “My pleasure.”
“About seven?”
“I’ll be there with bells on.”
Kristin laughed. “I’d prefer you have nothing on.”
“Naked sex slave, boss lady?” He grinned. “Works for me!”