For His Eyes Only Page 6

Which he hoped would be a lot.

  He left the denim pooled around one of her ankles and returned to his position between her knees, tracing the satin panties and preparing to pull them aside. He smiled at the look of intense anticipation on her face.

  His left hip vibrated.

  He glanced down at his pager, which continued to pulse and buzz. He turned his attention back to Jacey, but her eyelids flew open.

  “What’s that noise?”

  Damn it. “Kim’s calling me from the office. Don’t worry about it.”

  She turned his wrist and saw the time. “You’re on your lunch hour.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  With a shake of her head, she pulled him up and whispered against his neck. “Finish what you started. Do it quick. It’s okay.”

  Air rushed from his lungs. They’d been interrupted at the audition on the brink of making love, and each time they were together, he never knew if it would be the last time he saw her. He wasn’t about to leave her with a quickie.

  But before he could say that, she kept talking. “I want you inside me more than anything. Definitely more than an hour of cuddling afterwards. You know that. Do it.”

  Her eyes reflected the same panic he’d seen before she’d left the hotel room last weekend, and the source of her hurry dawned on him. It wasn’t the hour of cuddling she wanted to avoid. She figured if they kept their relationship to quickie sex, the way they had before he’d found out her name, she could keep him from getting any closer to her—and her financial problems.

  That wasn’t going to work. He already cared too much about her to ignore her troubles. And he wouldn’t give a damn if she lived in a cardboard box on the side of the road—he was going to spend some quality time with her. Right now.

  “Are you rushing me out of here?” he asked.

  A deep pink colored her cheeks. “Um—I—”

  He chuckled. “Don’t answer that. I’m teasing. I have one more thing to do here, and then if you want me to go, say the word.”

  He had his finger around the satin before he finished his sentence. She stared at him, too breathless to object, which was the point.

  Settling between her knees again, he dragged the fabric out of his way and skimmed his mouth over her silken flesh. She inhaled a noisy breath that encouraged him to continue. He kissed her more deeply, moving his tongue inside her and then drawing her swollen clit between his lips until her legs shook and she begged him to stop.

  “Should I go to work now?” he whispered.

  She shouted something that sounded like a curse. Her nails scratched his back, and she pulled him up and forward. “Go to work on me.”

  It was his turn to curse. He loosened his tie and ripped it off, so hot for her he’d begun to sweat. He brought her to the edge of the counter and removed her panties, merging their bodies at last.

  While they made love, he began to understand Jacey’s concerns about the two of them growing closer. Her turbulent life worried him, but he was preparing to take over a hugely successful company. He didn’t have time to play the part of anyone’s caretaker, and she wouldn’t tolerate it even if he did. He’d do well to focus on the solution to both of their problems—her victory in the modeling competition. If he got too involved with her, he’d muck up his father’s plan, and his career and her future would suffer as a result.

  When he helped her back into her clothes, she smiled and rubbed his shoulders, then kissed him softly.

  “Get to work, Mr. Almost-CEO.”

  He cringed. If she only knew what he had to do to rid himself of the almost.

  Chapter Five

  Jacey’s eyes darted around the shop while she processed a credit card payment for the last of what had been a long line of customers. Quickly, she presented the gentleman with his receipt for a black lace garter belt.

  “Thank you for shopping at Insomnia. Enjoy your purchase.”

  The man smiled and nodded, and as he walked away she hoped he actually would enjoy his purchase. He’d been one of the rare ones, the well-dressed guys who visited on occasion to surprise their wives with unexpected romance on a special birthday or anniversary.

  Most of her customers weren’t like that. She hadn’t had the luck of being placed at the Ocean Drive location, which boasted sales to movie stars, record producers and all kinds of people who wouldn’t have the least bit of interest in a saleswoman. No, unfortunately, she worked at a mall in the city where average folks dropped by to giggle, buy things they were way too young to be wearing, or gawk at the ridiculously low-cut shirts Insomnia required the female employees to wear.

  Today, she’d attracted a gawker. He was beginning to scare her, which was the reason she’d rushed Mr. Nice Customer out. She wanted to go on break, somewhere far, far away. And she wanted to stay there until the weirdo was gone.

  He looked about forty and pretended to browse the display of push-up bras he’d been standing next to for ten minutes. His constant staring made her spine crawl. And now they were the only two people in the store.

  Her supervisor, a man who was a condescending ass despite the fact that they were the same age, would pitch a fit if she left the desk unattended. She stalked to the back of the shop to find her coworker, a purple-haired high school sophomore who had an infuriating habit of leaving her alone at the register. She found the girl in a dressing room, clutching a lace bustier to her middle and pouting her lips at the full-length mirror.

  “Hey, Tyra Banks. Can you help me with the customers sometime this year?”

  The girl, Nina Something-or-other, jumped at Jacey’s voice. She grinned sheepishly and hid the garment behind her back. “Yeah, sure. I was just checking out the new collection. It’s so gorgeous.”

  Jacey rolled her eyes and headed back to the counter. She’d be doing a similarly annoying act on stage in a few days. Was it really worth it?

  Of course it was. She wouldn’t be up there flaunting her boobs with hopes of being printed out and pasted to a teenage boy’s ceiling. She’d be earning the means to go to school and finally change the course of her life. That was worth anything.

  “Whatever,” she said, still watching the creepy guy with his hands inside the rack of bras. A snake tattoo curled around his neck.

  Nina followed her, the bustier in her hand. “I think my boyfriend is getting this for my birthday,” she gushed.

  “Great. Let me hang it up so it’s available when he comes in to buy it.” Jacey snatched the garment from her along with a stack of discarded clothing from a hook on the wall, and she did her best to look engrossed in placing the hangers back on their appropriate racks. Creepy Guy had chosen a silver vinyl costume bra, and with Nina at the register, she could sneak away for her break when he went to pay for it.

  Except he didn’t head for the register. With the bra in his hand and a sneer on his face, he approached her. The hair at the nape of her neck stood on end. She glanced toward the desk, but Nina was on the phone, her back turned.

  “Can I help you?” Jacey forced a smile as she returned the last item to its proper place.

  “You bet you can.”

  She sighed, then turned to the guy and crossed her arms, reciting the answer she always gave these kinds of people. “Flattered, but not available. If you’ll take your purchase to the front desk, Nina will ring it up for you.”

  He chuckled, holding the bra dangerously close to her shirt. “Actually, I’d like to see what it looks like before I buy it. You know, I don’t want to spend all that money just to be disappointed.”

  “Well, there it is. You can clearly see what it looks like. If your girlfriend doesn’t like it, you can return it for—”

  She gasped when he stepped closer and pinned her against a large display of teddies adorned with fur. They were far from the front entrance where mall shoppers passed by, and no one would be able to see her petite frame pressed between all that fluff.

  His breath stank of last week’s lunch. She nearly gagged. “
I don’t wanna see it on my girlfriend. I wanna see it on you.”

  She swallowed, trying to decide whether to scream or kick him in the balls, but her mind was too panicked to focus. “Sir, I’m not allowed to try on the merchandise. Company policy.”

  “I don’t see your manager anywhere around here.”

  He was right. Her manager had gone to lunch, and Nina had disappeared once again. No other customers were in sight.

  Shit.

  His stench swirled around her head like a thick fog. He moved even closer, and she shut her eyes as the bra scraped against her chest. He continued to whisper sickening innuendos, but she could no longer make out the words because her brain was flooded with visions of a similar moment that had taken place years ago. She’d been thirteen, and one of her mother’s paying customers had followed her into the bathroom.

  While she’d been pressed against the closed door, he had groped his fill. He’d gone so far as to put his hand on her mouth and reach for his pants, when her mom’s voice had called his name. He’d left, but not before dragging his cold, sticky, ash-tasting lips over hers.

  The guy in the store emitted a similar odor, one of smoke and dirty sweat and possible gingivitis. She started to hyperventilate. “Please, I can’t—”

  She couldn’t finish her objection, because his hand grabbed the back of her pants. Her palm struck his face before she could stop it, before she could even blink.

  She could breathe again, but only for a moment.

  He stumbled backward, stunned, and she saw an angry cloud form in his eyes that told her he might return the assault. She squeezed between his body and the racks and ran for the sales desk, intending to grab her purse and tell Nina she was sick and going home for the day. She prayed the guy wouldn’t follow her, and when she turned back toward the exit, she ran right into her manager.

  “Larry, thank God you’re back, I—”

  “What the hell was that?”

  She blinked, his accusatory tone stinging almost as much as her hand. She looked from Larry’s glare to Creepy Guy’s smug smile. Her red handprint lingered on his face.

  “I can definitely explain. He—”

  “Asked you for an opinion regarding what color would look best on his wife, and you slugged him?”

  “What? No, I—”

  “This is a place of business, Ms. Cass, not a haven for feminist indignation. If you can’t handle the sensual nature of this company, I suggest you leave.”

  So much for asking her boss for help.

  “Did you hear me? You’re fired. Get out. Nina, see that this gentleman gets a credit on his account.”

  Jacey’s mouth opened. Nina looked at her wide-eyed. She’d stepped out of the back room in time to witness the end of the scene with Creepy Guy, but she just shrugged. They both knew Larry wouldn’t believe either of them when his sympathies already lay with the Oscar-worthy performance of the customer.

  You’re fired. The words congealed in her ears like month-old milk. She stumbled through the shop and out of the mall, blind to the people, shopping bags and garbage cans she ran over in her haste.

  She had no job. No income.

  The thought haunted her as she ran for her car and tried to steady her breathing, tried to will away the nausea making its way up her throat. She still had the contest. In three weeks, Insomnia would announce the winner.

  Three weeks. Even if she found another job today, she wouldn’t get her first paycheck by then. She had scraped together most of her last one to pay her landlord a couple of weeks’ rent, and she’d used the rest of it to spring for the lingerie she’d worn to the audition. Could she survive three weeks without any money at all? And that was assuming she won the contest. She couldn’t entertain the possibility that she would fail.

  Her head fell back on the driver’s seat. The air conditioner blew hard against her pasty, hot skin, but she couldn’t rid herself of the feeling that she was suffocating. Alex’s business card stuck out of her open purse and she reached for it, gripping it like a child’s comfort toy. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to feel his arms envelop her, his touch protect her and his kiss erase her problems from existence.

  But she didn’t even have a phone. She spotted a pay phone near the mall’s entrance but quickly nixed the idea of calling him. What would she say? Alex, I need you to fuck me until I forget about this hell I call life. Yeah, that would go over really well.

  Besides, booty calls and male saviors weren’t her forte. She needed a better plan—she needed Insomnia’s prize money.

  She headed home. The first round of competition was only two days away. It would end with her image imprinted in the voters’ minds, no matter what she had to do to make that happen.

  ***

  Kim closed the door to William’s office, turning the lock until it quietly latched into place. She stared at her hand on the doorknob and released a slow breath.

  “You wanted to see me?” she asked.

  Butterflies danced in her stomach. She could feel him watching her, and her back began to sweat from the heat of his gaze. With a quick tug at her blouse, she turned to face him.

  He sat behind his desk, reclining in his big leather chair with his arms crossed behind his head. A smile played on his lips. He looked at her in a manner quite inappropriate for the workplace, and she briefly wondered if she did, in fact, still have clothes on. But she returned his hungry stare, her mind swimming with rumors she’d heard about what happened in the boss’s office after hours…and her body hoping she would be the latest recipient of his affections.

  The man was stunningly handsome. It was easy to see where Alex had gotten his good looks. William was fifty-something, Kim knew, but a stranger would never guess. He still had a head full of dark hair, a solid, lean build and deep brown eyes that an unsuspecting woman could drown in. No wonder the tabloids had posted his face all over Miami when he had finalized his divorce. Gossipmongers couldn’t wait to name the next Luckiest Woman Alive.

  “Yes, I did.” His calm, low voice contrasted the sharp-tongued demands he made to the staff every day.

  She swallowed. Everything about William’s demeanor confirmed her suspicions that this meeting wasn’t business-related, and she dared to believe it would be a culmination of the innuendos that had bounced between them over the last couple of days. She’d been attracted to him for years—of course, she expected the same was true of all the women in the office. His physical appeal, power and confidence made for a potent aphrodisiac.

  The desire she’d once felt for Alex paled in comparison.

  William motioned for her to come closer. “Have a seat.”

  Her legs shook with every step. She perched on the edge of an armchair, smoothing her skirt and crossing her legs so the material inched up her thighs.

  “What can I do for you?” She flashed him her most professional smile, though that was the last sentiment she wanted to hear in his answer.

  He sat up straight and rested his clasped hands on the desk. “It seems we have something in common, and I’d like to explore that in more detail.”

  She squirmed in her chair, aroused by his blatant admission of their mutual attraction and aching to explore anything he wanted. She blinked a couple of times and emitted a modest giggle, like a demure secretary should. If William had a fetish for role play, she was game.

  “And what, exactly, do we have in common?”

  “A desire to take down Miss Jacey Cass.”

  Her jaw dropped. She uncrossed her legs.

  Jacey Cass? What in hell did she have to do with getting laid by the gorgeous company president?

  “I—I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “Mmm. That surprises me, because on the phone you seemed rather excited to out her relationship with my son.”

  Kim froze in her seat, shocked by his calm accusation. Had it been that obvious? He wasn’t supposed to know she was getting personal satisfaction from doing a simple task he’d asked her to do
. She fumbled for an explanation.

  “You wanted to know if Alex had his eye on any of the contestants. You wanted evidence if he did, and I was just—”

  “Tell me what you have against her, and I’ll do the same for you.”

  His eyes still burned into hers. She hesitated, then looked down at her lap before meeting his gaze again. Images of Katelyn’s lifeless body flashed through her mind.

  “My sister was killed by a drunk driver. Some blonde bimbo on her way home from a frat party.”

  “And a certain young lady reminds you of this blonde bimbo.”

  “Yes. People like that should be locked up. Big boobs and a pretty face don’t count as contributions to society. I’m sorry if that’s inappropriate.”

  He chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, we’re working toward the same goal. I think if we work together, we can get it done more quickly.”

  “I don’t think I understand. What exactly is your goal?”

  He stood, slipped off his jacket and draped it over the back of his chair. “I don’t suppose you recall the incident a while back, when you walked into my office and caught me doing things some might consider…unprofessional.” A slow laugh rumbled in his throat.

  Panic washed over her. She’d never forget the day she opened his door and caught him getting friendly with one of the models—one of the youngest models, a girl still in high school. But that had been a couple of years ago. He wouldn’t fire her for that…at least, she hoped he wouldn’t. Her salary was paying off Katelyn’s debts so her sister’s young, grief-stricken widower wouldn’t have to worry about them.

  “I never told a soul,” she said. “I promised you I wouldn’t. That hasn’t changed.”

  He waved his hand. “You didn’t have to. Seems the Board has figured it out on their own.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Yes, well, I’ve been careless recently. In any case, they’re itching to get me out of here and get Alex in before a scandal hits the press.”

  “Well, um…that seems logical, I suppose.”

  “No.” The palm of his hand came down hard on the surface of his desk. “It’s not logical. It’s blackmail. And I’m not about to give up my company that easily.”