Scandalous (10 page)

There were only two real possibilities, as she saw it, and the outcome of either would change their dynamic.

Although she did not want to entertain the possibility that Red would sell to Dominic, the logical part of her brain had to admit that it was, in fact, a very real possibility. Could Cristal stay on if Dominic was her boss? Probably, but she wouldn’t like it. The one (very tiny) upside would be that she would then have a valid ethical objection to raise about the two of them having a relationship.

Then again, if Red made the
right
choice and sold to her...well, who knew what Dominic would do? He had always liked to win. Not only that, he did not seem to do well with authority. It was very likely that Dominic wouldn’t want to work under her.

She smirked. No pun intended.

The double entendre had an unexpected effect, however, and suddenly a flash of Dominic lying beneath her as she rode her way to sweet ecstasy had her knees going weak and a flush racing up her body. She still ached in all the right places, and if she closed her eyes...God, she could practically feel him inside of her.

She let herself indulge in the flash of memory for only a moment before making her way down the short hall to Red’s office. He never got in before ten, so she knew that she would find it unoccupied.

She walked over to the desk and dropped her offer down on top of the large pile of paperwork that was overflowing on his desk. Organization was not one of Red’s strong suits, to say the least, but in all of the years she had worked for him, she had never known him to misplace a single thing. It seemed he found order in chaos.

That was
definitely
not Cristal’s style. She needed her world to be in order. She needed structure. She almost couldn’t function otherwise. She admitted that she may be borderline OCD. But there were worse things, she supposed.

Dominic had not slept at all the night before…not that he was complaining. Last night had been the most incredible night of his life. There was something there between them, something real, not just physical. And even if Cristal wanted to, Dominic was not going to let her hide from it or deny it.

He knew that nothing that had happened equated to happily-ever-after. He smiled. No, nothing could ever be that simple with Cristal Hart. But that was fine. Anything worth having was worth working for, and he had no problem putting in work.

His morning had been a little nuts. He had checked in at the construction site, on time,
and gone directly to see the foreman. He asked if it would be possible to take his lunch early because he had an errand he needed to run.

The foreman had mumbled something under his breath and raised his hand to shoo Dominic away. Alrighty then. Dominic had no idea what he had said, but especially since this job was going to be coming to an end soon either way, he figured it was safe to just go ahead and assume it had been his seal of approval.

Even though this was not his “real” job, Dominic didn’t just blow off his responsibilities. If someone was counting on him to do something he damn sure got it done. But, by the same token, getting the proposal over to Red before he got into the office at his usual ten am start time was critical.

So, with that in mind, he hopped in his truck and made the twenty minute drive from Glendale, where the construction site was located, to downtown LA. As he pulled into the back parking lot, he noticed that Cristal’s car was parked there.

He smiled to himself and shook his head. He shouldn’t have underestimated her. He thought that after last night she would have been passed out until well after noon. Clearly that wasn't the case.

Well, he thought to himself, if last night hadn’t worn her out sufficiently, then he would just have to put in more work next time. That was definitely a challenge he was more than eager to take on.

Since last night he had been filled with…purpose. He liked that feeling. He had had it back in the Marines, every time he had been assigned a new mission. It was like his body would begin firing on all cylinders. It would come alive.

When he had first started working in private security, some variation of that fire would ignite in him from time to time. But with each new case, the fire dimmed. It had been rekindled when he began working for Red. These cases were more interesting, each a little different from the last. Then, when he had been promoted four years ago to the Head of the Private Security division, he thought that
that
is what would keep his blood boiling. It hadn’t.

But last night with Cristal, he realized what he had been missing. Not the sex, although that had been mind-blowing.

He loved holding her in his arms as she fell asleep. He loved the little sounds that she made while she slumbered soundly, cheek pressed against his chest. He loved getting up and seeing her hair sprawled out on his pillow, her legs and arms tangled in the sheets from their marathon lovemaking. He loved softly kissing her on the cheek before he left for the day. He loved knowing that she would be waiting for him when he got home that night.

He loved her.

That realization stopped him short. When had that happened? Dominic had always thought that he was immune to love. And, true, he had known for quite a while that Cristal was different. That she was special. But, holy shit...when had he fallen in
love
with her?

This new emotional development sent him spiraling off balance. He needed a little time to process this.

But that time was not going to come right now, because right now he needed to drop off this proposal and then get back to the construction site so he didn’t get fired his first week on the job...even though it might still be his
only
week on the job, even if he didn’t get fired. Dominic was a man who respected responsibilities.

--- ~ ---

Turning down the short hallway to Red’s office he saw the door was open and knew that Cristal was already inside. Cristal. The woman he loved. Damn, that was going to take some getting used to!

Stepping through the doorway, he saw her looking over Red’s desk. He knew she was probably dying to get her hands on it and put everything in its place. He could practically see smoke coming out of her ears, her wheels were turning so fast.

But God, did she look beautiful standing behind that desk. Her fingers spread out on the desktop as she leaned over it. He had the most overwhelming urge to bend her over that desk and take her, right then, right there.

Yeah, probably not the best move, he tried to reason with the lust that was raging through him. It hadn’t even been six hours since he had been inside of her and his body was aching for her like she was a drug and he was an addict.

That was not a good thing. She was not the kind of girl that did commitment. Normally that would be a huge plus in Dominic’s book, but right now he would give just about anything for this magnificent creature to be truly
his
.

Cristal sat down in the chair, still unaware of his presence.

“Don’t make yourself too comfortable, this place isn’t yours just yet.”

Her eyes flew up and locked on his and her body tensed, but then immediately relaxed. She was good at covering up any responses she had, emotional or physical.

He smiled to himself. Most of the time anyway.

“True,” she grinned, acting as if she had known he was there all along, “But it’s only a matter of time.”

Dominic stepped up to the desk and dropped his proposal on it.

“What’s the first thing you would do if Red sold to you?” He asked, genuinely curious in what direction she saw the business heading in the future.

A sly smile crossed her face as she stood so that he was not looking down at her, “Well, in here? I would definitely get everything copied onto digital files. I can’t believe Red still doesn’t own a computer.”

“Then?” Dominic knew she wasn’t actually going tell him, he just liked hearing her talk.

“Ha! That’s for me to know and you to find out,” she said confidently. Still, he knew she was at least a little scared that Red was going to sell to him instead of her.

“Well I, for one, am glad that Red doesn’t have a computer,” He said lightly as he stepped behind the desk. Cristal turned so that her back was to the desk and her hands were resting on the edges.

“Really? And why is that?” She asked, her composure completely unruffled aside from the rapid beating of her heart which he could see in the rabbit-like throbbing of the pulse at her neck.

Dominic closed the space between them and rested his hands on either side of the desk, trapping her between his arms. Both of their breathing was now growing ragged as he leaned his head in close to hers.

“If Red had a computer...” he whispered seductively, enjoying the sensation of her increasingly hot and shallow puffs of breath on his neck and ear, “...then we wouldn’t both be here dropping of our proposals.”

Cristal’s eyes grew glossy with lust and she exhaled, “Oh.”

She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips and he felt his balls tighten.

“And,” Dominic continued in that same slow and smoky tone, “If we weren’t here dropping off our proposals, then I wouldn’t be able to do this.”

He crushed his mouth to hers. Immediately, she opened to him, her tongue searching for his like a life preserver. He brought his hands up and cupped her face. She moaned and her hands clung to his back. Her nails dug into his flesh, even through his cotton shirt.

He dropped one hand lower and cupped her breast in his palm. God, he loved how the weight of her breast felt so substantial in his hand, and how her hardened nipple felt rubbing against the skin of his palm.

Her legs wrapped around him and she hooked her ankles at the small of his back, pulling his rock hard length tightly against her center. He broke away from her mouth and began kissing, nipping, licking and sucking his way down her neck.

--- ~ ---

Dominic heard the sound of someone clearing their throat, although the significance of the noise had just begun to register when Cristal pulled away from him, while simultaneously pushing him away.

He looked up and saw Raiza leaning against the door frame a huge smile on her face.

“Not that I wasn’t thoroughly enjoying the show but don’t ya’ll have a love nest you can do the nasty in?” Raiza’s tone of voice made it clear how much she was enjoying that fact that she had almost caught them in the act.

Cristal was straightening her shirt before turning towards her friend. “Ha, ha. We were just delivering our proposals.”

“Hmmm, I haven’t ‘delivered my proposal’ in waay too long. Just watching you two got me all hot and bothered,” She stood, grinning, making a big show of fanning herself and then placing the back of her hand to her forehead and swooning dramatically.

“Raiza!” Cristal hissed.

Raiza's face straightened up almost entirely. The only remnant of the teasing was a small amused glint that still lingered in her eye. She said, “Seriously, girl, I just wanted to let you know that Ethan and Ty just pulled up. So, you’re gonna have company in about two minutes.”

Cristal’s eyes shot up to Dominic’s. He knew she wanted him to take off before the guys saw them. She had been very clear after their first night together: under NO circumstances did she want ANYONE knowing about it.

That was fine. He didn't want to push things forward too fast, to do anything that would make her skitter away from him. Besides, Ethan and Ty were both Dominic’s direct reports on his private security team, and he wanted to get updated on the jobs they were working.

“I’ll go check in with them on my way out. See you tonight,” as he leaned down and kissed Cristal he felt her body stiffen.

Oh, well, he thought. She was going to need to get used to that. There was something there between them that couldn't be denied, and he wasn’t ever going to be somebody’s dirty little secret.

“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” Raiza shook her head as he grabbed his keys off the desk, “You two are scandalous!”

“Don’t you have work to do?” he asked as he walked toward where she was standing in the doorway.

“I could ask you the same thing, D,” she smiled as he passed her, heading out to talk to the guys before he returned to the construction site.

“Good lawd, you two are HAWWTT!” Raiza trilled as she shut the door to her office and Cristal sat down at the empty desk beside Raiza’s, “Honestly. You should film yourselves. I think even you would be surprised at what you saw.”

“That’s not going to happen. Seriously? You of all people should not be advocating making digital recordings of sex. You know they always come back to bite you in the ass,” Cristal said ruefully. Raiza's job very often entailed uncovering the dirty deeds of their clients' unfaithful spouses, which were – more often than you would think – captured on digital media and uploaded somewhere. And another big part of her job was investigating
those who posted unauthorized sex tapes of their clients to various websites. Yes, if anyone should be familiar with the possible heartache that lay at the end of the road which began with filming yourself having sex...that person should be Raiza!