Boardroom Seduction Read online

  Kacey raced into her room, stripped off her good slacks, her silk blouse and her midheel sandals. She laid out a pair of capris and a T-shirt on the bed—perfect for her walk on the beach. Moving past the mirror, she paused, taking in her semi-nude reflection. In her thong and bra, she was wearing little more than one of her swimsuits. Turning to the left, then the right, she checked out her profile, the thought of modeling swimsuit samples for Leon rushing to mind. He would be looking at her with even more skin exposed, and the thought of his eyes sliding up and down her figure sparked a prickly sensation that brought on a spasm of delight.

  She swept trembling fingers over her abdomen, imagining Leon’s palms roaming the flat of her stomach, the curve of her waist, inching ever closer to the Brazilian waxed V that bridged her thighs. She drew in a long breath and sighed, imagining how it would feel to be caressed by his hand as he probed parts of her anatomy that had been long untouched. She wanted his large, but tender hands, unhooking her bra and cupping her breasts. She yearned for his full sensuous lips sucking on nipples that were already jumping to attention. She wanted to taste his maleness on her tongue.

  At that moment, her only one desire was for Leon Archer to possess her completely and turn her fantasies into reality. But would that ever happen?

  There’s only one way to find out, she decided. Test him.

  They walked along the shoreline that bordered Leon’s property, where the waves on his private beach lapped at their bare feet and tickled their toes. Kacey collected a pocket full of pretty shells and twisted pieces of smooth driftwood, while Leon collected mental images of Kacey in the sunlight. He marveled at the way the sun created highlights of gold in her thick brown curls. How the wind pressed her T-shirt into the valley between her lovely molded breasts. How the sprinkling of sand on her arms and legs left a sparkly sheen that made her glow in the sunlight.

  Without a doubt, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever known and he had no plans of ever letting her escape the paradise he’d been hoping to share with the right woman one day. It had to be Kacey, he was sure of it. Of all the women he’d spent time with, she was the only one who possessed the qualities he was searching for. She was smart, creative, hungry for success and not ashamed to admit it. She was fun to be with, eager to try new things and made his heart go into a crazy dance whenever she hooked him with her sultry brown eyes. She was interested in the process of textile manufacturing, and understood the demands of his profession. And even though they came from very different worlds, they meshed emotionally like grains of sand on the beach.

  Today, he’d noticed how impressed she’d been with the history of his hometown, and suspected that she respected small town life much more now than when she’d first arrived. Getting away from the big city had been a good thing for her and a coup for him. Now, all he had to do was find a way to make her stay.

  “We’d better turn around and head back to the house,” Leon told Kacey when they came to a deep curve in the beach where the sand gave way to a rocky shoreline.

  “Right. It is getting late,” Kacey remarked turning around to start back. They walked in silence, holding hands while splashing through the shallow water that lazily caressed their ankles. When they arrived at Leon’s house, they mounted the steps leading up to the deck.

  “Want something to drink?” he asked Kacey, who had moved to the rail and was looking out over the water.

  “Sure. Anything cold,” she told Leon, who went inside and returned with a glass of cool lemonade.

  “This has been so much fun, Leon. Really. Thanks for everything. I’m beginning to feel more at home in Rockport now.” A murmured chuckle slipped out, adding lightness to the sincerity of her remark. “But I think it’s time to call an end to our day of playing hooky, don’t you?”

  Leon tilted his head to one side. He detected a reluctant tone in Kacey’s words, and was sure she really didn’t want to go back to the motel. What was she going to do for the rest of the evening, anyway? Sit in her room and stare at a TV screen? He doubted that she wanted to do that, and he sure didn’t want her to leave.

  “Our day together doesn’t have to end right now,” Leon ventured, taking her hand in his. “This has been a much-needed break for me, too. I forgot about work altogether for the first time in months. Kacey, I loved showing you around. Thanks for letting me spend the day with you.” He eased along the deck rail, stopping when his thigh touched hers. “No, thank you,” she murmured. “You didn’t have to do this. With the power failure and the plant shut down, I know you have other things that are more important on your mind than playing tourist guide for me.”

  “Not true,” he told her in a voice that was raw and sincere. “The power company didn’t want anyone on the premises while they were working, and my employees got a day off with pay. Win-win for them, and for us, too…right?”

  With an incline of her head, Kacey silently agreed.

  “I’m not sure if you’re feeling the same vibes that are hitting me,” Leon stammered, “but, well…Dammit, Kacey. I…I’m very attracted to you.”

  Kacey watched him closely, aware of how difficult it had been for him to utter those words. Her heart was thudding hard and fast. He’d just told her what she wanted to hear, and now that he had, she was frozen with indecision, knowing he was waiting for her reply. Their time together today had created an amazing sense of closeness. He wanted her. He had feelings for her. But was he being honest with her? Did she dare confess what was really in her heart?

  “Leon,” she started. “I hear you…I do. And I don’t know what’s going on, either. But one thing is certain—you sure are making me nervous.”

  He shook his head and gave her a quick brush of a kiss on her cheek. “Don’t be nervous,” he comforted, tracing his thumb along her jaw. “We’re adults. We can talk about our feelings in a rational way, can’t we?”

  “I guess so, but I’m still nervous about how fast things are moving. I can’t deny that I’m attracted to you, too, but my gut tells me to slow down. After all, I won’t be here that long.”

  “All the more reason to take advantage of me now,” he joked. “That way you won’t return to New York, wondering…what if?”

  Kacey slapped playfully at Leon’s arm, knowing he was telling the truth. She would forever regret not exploring her attraction to Leon if she let this opportunity pass. “I can’t help worrying,” Kacey confessed. “This has been a perfect day. A wonderful afternoon. All that history I’ve learned. Touring the area. A fantastic lunch. Our walk on the beach. It’s all so surreal. I don’t usually do things like this at home. And never on a weekday. I hate to see it end.”

  “I told you, it doesn’t have to end.” Ever, if you want it that way, he wished he could add. Leaning over, he kissed her firmly on the lips, pressing home his point as he pressed his mouth to hers.

  With a silent moan of relief, Kacey opened her mouth and accepted his tongue, loving the way he flicked it gently back and forth, teasing her entire body with his feathery touch. “I know,” Kacey confessed, when the kiss ended. Licking her glossy lips, she toyed with a wind-tangled curl hanging over one eye, keenly aware of what he wanted…to go inside and explore their attraction more deeply, to shift their attraction to a more intimate level. She knew how impulsive and dangerous it would be to go that far with Leon, but it was exactly what she wanted, too.

  When he tugged on her hand, she hesitated, eyeing him with caution as a whirl of thoughts tumbled through her mind: It’s time for me to stop fooling myself. Sex with Jamal is not all that I need. A friend with benefits can’t satisfy me forever. I want to feel excited, to fall completely into the experience and lose myself in this gorgeous man.

  Kacey was tired of the empty feeling that came over her after she and Jamal got off and then got dressed. She wanted more. She needed to put her whole heart and soul into a sexual encounter that would allow her to let go and explore the unknown side of her pent-up desires.

  “If you wan
t me to take you back to the motel, I will,” Leon offered.

  Kacey’s insides were churning like choppy waves in a storm, but she wasn’t in the least bit worried about drowning. Her soul ached for Leon’s touch, which she knew would keep her afloat and steady the ride.

  It’s now or never, girl, she told herself, teetering on the edge of the most important personal decision she had been forced to make in years, knowing she was prepared to take the plunge.

  “I can stay,” she whispered, smoldering eyes now leveled on Leon. “I think I can stay a while longer.”

  “Good,” he replied, slipping an arm around her waist as they headed into the house.

  Heart pounding, legs weak with anticipation, Kacey followed Leon through the open patio doors, across his gleaming kitchen and into the dim haven of his seductively themed bedroom. While the paper tigers and lions and giraffes watched in silence from the walls, Kacey and Leon embraced. Their lips locked and held as soon as they reached the foot of his king-size bed. Their arms remained entwined in a natural grip that held them together like two lost hunters who’d finally found each other in the jungle of love. Tumbling onto the wildly colorful animal print spread, Kacey sank into the heat of the moment, determined to quench her thirst for Leon, which had been growing steadily stronger all day.

  Letting Leon slowly undress her felt extraordinarily good, and she had no problem helping him shed his clothes in record time. When their naked bodies touched for the first time, Kacey flinched, electrified by the contact. However, she welcomed the flash of the charge that raced through her body and set her heart afire.

  Involuntary shivers of need, fueled by arousal, undulated in the pit of her stomach and wound their way into her throat. She gulped back the surge of sexual exclamations that claimed her tongue and crowded her voice. The fragile shell of forced satisfaction, on which she’d relied during sex with Jamal, evaporated, leaving Kacey raw and vulnerable. Floating on a golden wave of passion that carried her sweetly into Leon’s arms, she snuggled up against him.

  The hint of stubble on his chin contrasted with the soft feel of his hands as he held her in place and brushed his face along her bare shoulder, nibbling his way onto her right breast. The fire he created as he licked and tugged on her nipple spread hotly through her veins. Kacey curved back her shoulders, giving him complete access to pleasure her intensely, which he did, until she could no longer remain silent and cried out in joy. Revved from the thrill of how her body was responding to Leon’s delicious assault, she spread her legs and accepted the two fingers that he slid inside her tunnel of love, which was dripping wet with love juices as never before.

  Riding his probing touch, she rotated her hips and let him plunge deeper, eagerly preparing for his stiff tool, which had risen up between them. Sleek and tall, it begged for her attention, making Kacey reach down and surround his throbbing erection with a soft caress. Using her thumb, she made tiny circles on the tip, and was pleased to hear Leon’s groans of satisfaction, letting her know she was giving him what he wanted. Increasing her pace, she moved her index finger alongside her thumb, rubbing faster and faster, while devouring him with kisses. Too emotion-filled to think of anything other than the indescribable pleasure of being in Leon’s arms, she sank into him, releasing all the dormant sexuality that she’d harbored for too long. Her desire to experience all that Leon had to give overrode any inhibitions she may have had about surrendering to his advances.

  Leon eased his fingers from her love-slick center and slid them over her pulsing bud, twirling it with a rhythmic touch that took Kacey to the edge. When he stopped and reached into the bedside table for a condom, she tensed, terrified that she was going to lose the sharp edge of desire that he’d created. However, once his protection was in place and he resumed his tender ministrations, she knew he hadn’t spoiled the moment she was searching for.

  With a swift move, Kacey guided Leon’s shaft down between her legs and into her core, struck by the heat of his body as it coursed through her and the size of his member as it filled her up. His hardness jolted her with satisfaction. Clamping her thighs together she savored the feeling of being totally and firmly connected to Leon. With both hands anchored to his broad brown shoulders, she buried her face in his neck and inhaled the sensuous smell of his skin, surrendering totally to fiery sensations that melted her world.

  At first, his languid strokes were easy and tender, as if he were entering a narrow passage leading straight to her heart. Then his pace increased to searing thrusts that flooded her body with a white fire that raged hotter with each move. As he rocked her back and forth, she let her sweetness drain over him, slicking them both as they rose higher and higher toward the mutual climax they both sought. She wished she could ride this wave forever, but knew it had to crash down soon. Hanging onto Leon’s shoulders, Kacey bucked along with him until a strong gust of need shook her like a stray leaf in the wind that was quickly drawn out to sea. The shuddering surrender that claimed Kacey, hit Leon at the same time, leaving Kacey gasping for air and Leon quivering in relief. Both thoroughly satisfied, yet not quite ready to let go.

  Holding on to Kacey filled Leon with the most contented feeling he had ever known. With her head resting on his chest and her arm flung across his stomach, he melted under the weight of her closeness, as well as her trust in him. Tonight, she had trusted him with her heart and her body, leaving him reeling from her decision. He was tempted to pinch himself to prove that he was not dreaming. She’d made love to him with such fiery intensity that he knew he must be doing some thing right.

  Outside, Leon could hear the waves washing gently onto the beach and the quiet wind as it rushed through the palm trees surrounding his house. The serene setting lulled him into a realization of what he had been missing. For too long, his love life had been a series of romantic misadventures with women he met while traveling for business. Hooking up with beautiful women in faraway cities had been exciting, sexually fulfilling, yet devoid of any real substance.

  One of the drawbacks of living and working in a small town like Rockport was that he knew everyone, so he had to leave home to find romance, often forming relationships that were short-lived, with little chance of maturing. He could count on one hand the number of women he’d brought home to his beach house in hopes of creating a more lasting bond. None had ever worked out. After a few visits, they usually drifted away, not interested in settling down in his hometown and knowing he would never move away. His family’s business, his future, his parents and his ties to the community held him in place, scaring off women he’d thought he cared about enough to broach the subject of marriage. None had loved him enough to stick with him, so his romances had never worked out. As he shifted his eyes to study Kacey’s beautiful profile, he wondered why he was fantasizing about this city girl, Kacey Parker, being any different.

  Somehow, he had find a way to convince this lovely, sophisticated, creative professional to leave New York and come live with him in his private slice of paradise on the water. He didn’t have much time to make his case, but he was damn sure going to give it his best shot.

  Chapter 14

  Kacey bit her lip in thought as she headed down the corridor toward Bob Truett’s workstation, thankful that the power blip was over and the plant was running smoothly again. Yesterday’s outing with Leon had been a wonderful, unplanned escape, capped off by the most satisfying sex she had ever experienced, but that was all behind her and would never happen again. Or would it? Her mind kept turning back to their second go-round in bed. That one had been even better than the first. More tender, less urgent, but just as deliciously electrifying. Now Kacey contracted the muscles of her vagina as she walked down the hallway, aware that her bud was still throbbing in the aftermath of her gutsy tryst with Leon.

  It had been nearly two o’clock in the morning when he drove her back to her motel, making for an early rise that began with the expected progress call from Ariana. Groggy and impatient to get up and into the sh
ower, Kacey had opted not to tell Ariana about the power failure or the fact that absolutely no progress had been made on the SunKissed production. She didn’t want to get Ariana in a tizzy when there was nothing anyone could do. Today, they’d get back on schedule.

  “Good morning!”

  Kacey stopped in her tracks when Nona rounded a corner at the end of the corridor, stopped and lifted her hand in greeting.

  “Oh, hi, Nona,” Kacey called back, but when she started to walk past the operations manager, Nona blocked Kacey’s path.

  “Enjoy your day off with Leon?” Nona asked, giving Kacey a tight smile.

  Kacey narrowed her eyes, not surprised that Nona knew about their outing. In a place like Rockport, it was clear that nothing was kept private very long. “Yes, we had a wonderful time,” she answered, adding a hint of smugness to her reply.

  “Hmm,” Nona murmured. “Leon really deserved some time off. I’ve been telling him for months that he works too hard. Glad he finally took my advice and got away from the factory for a day.”

  “I’m just happy that he chose to spend his free day showing me around,” Kacey boldly countered.

  “I heard you had quite a lunch at Buddy’s,” Nona continued, arching a brow as she squinted at Kacey.

  “You did?”

  “Oh, yeah. Nothing new escapes people around here. Talking about strangers is actually one of our favorite pastimes. Gives everyone something to do, I guess,” Nona went on. “Buddy’s Barbecue is the place to be seen if you want to make your presence known around Rockport. Everyone knows what you and Leon ate, drank and probably what you talked about, too.”

  But do they know how we ended our day? Kacey wondered, lifting her chin as she tried to decipher Nona’s motivation. The woman was hard to figure out—was she going to be helpful or hurtful to Kacey in the long run? Were her feelings for Leon just overprotective friendship or something else? Kacey wasn’t sure what was going on, but she did know that Nona James was far too interested in Leon’s private life and Kacey didn’t plan to let this woman get under her skin.