Chapter Twelve
The quiet, mellow morning was one of the most enjoyable that Ian had ever spent in this big, often lonely house. He typically spent so much time traveling on business, attending meetings or social events that he wasn’t actually here all that much.
But he could certainly make a strong case for spending a great deal more time at home provided that Tessa kept him company as she was right now.
They had cooked breakfast together, assembling eggs, potatoes, and bacon, and then finishing off the meal with tea and the scones Mrs. Sargent had bought from his favorite local bakery. It had been a quiet, companionable meal, the two of them gazing out the kitchen windows as the storm continued to bring heavy rain and winds outside. Tessa had been delighted to discover that there was a secluded courtyard just outside of the kitchen’s sliding glass doors, and was even more pleased when he’d promised her they could have breakfast out there another time when the weather allowed.
After cleaning up the dishes, they spent a couple of hours in his home office. Ian worked on preparing notes for yet another trip he was taking week after next, while Tessa happily curled up on the sofa with a short stack of books he’d helped her select from his library.
He glanced up at one point and smiled fondly as he watched her unobserved. She was wearing the gray yoga pants and pink thermal sweater he’d bought for her, her bare feet tucked beneath her. She was avidly looking through a thick, glossy book with photographs of Tuscany, wrapping a lock of her hair around her fingers. She was enchanting, enthralling, and he thought he could happily stare at her for hours on end.
She looked up then, as if feeling his gaze upon her, and returned his smile a little shyly. “Hi. Taking a break?”
Ian pushed aside the reports he’d been reviewing. “Calling it quits for the day, actually. I don’t want to spend even one more minute of this weekend with you doing work. But speaking of work, we ought to get that issue resolved while we’re able to think rationally.”
“Okay.” She set aside her book as he took a seat next to her on the leather sofa.
Ian picked up her hand, idly brushing his thumb over her knuckles. “You know I’ve broken all of my rules for you,” he began half-teasingly. “In all the years – decades, actually – that I’ve worked for my family’s company I have never dated or even flirted with a female employee.”
Tessa gave him an impish smile. “And I’m guessing it wasn’t for lack of opportunity. An awful lot of opportunities.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t believe all the gossip you hear, darling. I’ve worked hard to develop a reputation as a cold, unapproachable bastard over the years. It’s done a lot to keep most of the overly optimistic females at bay.”
She snuggled up against him, her hand creeping under his gray cashmere pullover to rub his lower back. “There’s nothing the least bit cold about you,” she whispered, her breath tickling his ear. “You’re actually really, really hot.”
Growling, he yanked her onto his lap. “And you’re making me burn for you, my sweet. Careful about playing with fire, hmm?” He brushed a kiss on her cheek. “Now, before you make me forget my damned name again, let’s talk about the office. More specifically, how you and I are going to have to conduct ourselves while we’re there. At least for the short term.”
Tessa frowned. “Short term? I’m not sure I like the sound of that. Are you planning to have me transferred somewhere?”
“No. That’s not one of the options I’ve considered. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves just a bit.” He brushed her hair behind her ear. “I’ve told you more than once that I don’t want to overwhelm you, Tessa. Nor do I want to control or manipulate you – ever. That’s not the sort of relationship I want to have with you.”
She nodded. “I know you don’t. And that means a lot to me, Ian. It would be so easy for me to just allow you to take me over, to depend on you for everything. But I don’t think I’d like myself very much if I let that happen.”
“Well, it’s nothing you have to worry about because I won’t let that happen, either. You’re a bright, capable young woman and I fully intend to help you realize that. Now, as I was saying, I’ve broken all of my hard and fast rules for you – getting involved with an employee. In particular, an employee who works directly for me. We cannot let anyone else find out, Tessa. The repercussions for both of us would be – unpleasant.”
“I know,” she agreed readily. “I’m good at keeping secrets, Ian. I’m also very closed mouthed about my personal life, even if the rest of the team is pretty much an open book about theirs. Especially Kevin.”
Ian grimaced when he noticed the way she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Yes, I’ve had the great misfortune of overhearing some of that young man’s – er, exploits. I can just imagine some of the tawdry tales he’s offended you with.”
“It’s okay,” she assured him. “He’s an airhead and – well, kind of a slut – but at least he’s always been kind to me. Not like A - ”
“Alicia,” he finished. “No great surprise there. That one’s a nasty, stuck-up little witch. Unfortunately, her parents attend many of the same events that I do, and she’s invited along occasionally. I’m not pleased that she knows quite so much about my social life.”
“She’s pretty fixated on you,” Tessa told him quietly. “She’s even talked about quitting her job so that you’d be free to date her.”
Ian made a small sound of distaste. “It certainly wouldn’t bother me in the least if she quit, but there’s nothing she could do that would entice me to ask her out. Ever. Alicia is definitely not my type, so put that thought out of your head right now.”
“Okay,” she agreed happily.
“I appreciate that you’ve always been the epitome of discretion at the office, Tessa. You’re going to have to take even more precautions to make sure no one suspects we’re involved. If someone asks what you did on the weekend, for example, or if you’re dating someone, you’ll have to find a way to diffuse the situation.” He hesitated. “I hate to outright ask you to lie, but if it becomes necessary - ”
“I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect both of us,” she insisted. “And I’ve become pretty good at avoiding personal questions. Fortunately, the others love to talk about themselves so much that they seldom ask about me.”
Ian was beginning to feel a little less worried about what could easily develop into an awkward situation. “All right. I’ll count on you to keep everything under wraps and simply avoid discussing your personal life as much as possible. The far more difficult part, I fear, is going to be for the two of us to act as though nothing has changed.”
“I know.” She began to twirl a lock of her hair through her fingers again. “While we’re at the office, you’re back to being Mr. Gregson. And we really don’t see much of each other during the day anyway. Especially since you travel so much.”
“And that’s another huge problem.” He picked up her hand, forcing her to release the lock of hair. “I’ve always missed you when I was away, but at least in the past it helped having some distance between us. Out of sight, out of mind, that sort of thing. But now that we’ve been together it won’t be nearly so easy to stop thinking of you. It will be damned near impossible, in fact.” He brought their clasped hands to his lips, his voice solemn. “I want you with me all the time, Tessa. Here in San Francisco, living with me permanently, but also traveling with me wherever I need to go.”
She made a small sound of surprise and gazed at him wide-eyed. “But how would that be possible? I mean, there’s no way to keep that a secret. Plus, I have to work. I couldn’t just take time off whenever you had to travel.”
“You’d have to quit your job, Tessa,” he told her gently. “And if we’re going to continue this relationship – something I’m going to do my damndest to make sure happens – then you’ll need to do that sooner than later. I don’t want to pressure you, it has to ultimately be your decision, but we could be together freely if you left the company.”
She gazed down at their clasped hands quietly, her expression almost brooding. “I wouldn’t be able to work at all if you want me to travel with you. You’d be – I’d have to be dependent on you to - ”
“Support you. Yes, I’m aware. And that is certainly not a problem, love. I’m more than willing and capable of doing exactly that.”
Tessa shook her head. “Ian – as much as I appreciate that, I can’t do it. I can’t just be your – your girlfriend or whatever the correct term is for that sort of arrangement.”
He smiled wryly. “The very old-fashioned term you’re thinking of is a mistress. And that’s not at all what I’m proposing, darling. My thought was to have you travel with me and provide any administrative support I needed. As you know, Andrew rarely travels with me, only a few times a year. The rest of the time I depend on the office staff at whatever hotel I’m visiting to provide assistance. But if you were along I wouldn’t need to do that.”
She instantly brightened at his suggestion. “So I would unofficially be your traveling PA, something like that. Just not officially an employee of the company.”
“Exactly.” He smiled to note how pleased – and relieved – she seemed at the idea. “And you can expect to work quite hard during those times. I work long hours, attend far too many meetings, go to incredibly boring dinners. But if you were along to help me – not to mention grace me with your beautiful company – it would make everything a great deal more pleasant.”
“That sounds – reasonable,” she agreed. “I mean, I wouldn’t be earning a salary but I also wouldn’t feel like a – a kept woman, or something like that, so long as I could be doing real work.”
“I think it’s an excellent plan. In addition, I’d like for you to continue doing all of my spreadsheets, whether we’re traveling or not. I frankly don’t trust any of the others to do them correctly, even Andrew.” He gave her a conspiratorial smile. “But don’t you dare tell him that, he’d be quite offended. And truth be told, he can be very intimidating.”
Tessa laughed. “Not you, too? All of us try to walk on eggshells around him, not wanting to annoy him. Though poor Shelby seems to receive the brunt of his displeasure.”
“So, it’s settled, then? When you feel the time is right – after we’ve come to know each other a bit better and you’re more comfortable with the idea – you’ll give notice?”
She nodded. “Yes. I just need some time, as you said. And I want you to detail for me exactly the sort of things I’d be expected to do as your traveling PA. I want to make sure I’m really doing something valuable, not just fetching you tea and sorting out your papers.”
He grinned. “Not to worry, love. I’ll find many ways to keep you busy all day long.” He bent his head and nuzzled her throat. “All night, too.”
Ian gave her a quick kiss, then set her down on the sofa before standing and offering her a hand up. “It’s still pouring outside, I’m afraid, so we’re stuck here. How does a workout in the gym sound?”
Tessa was more than agreeable and joined him a few minutes later in his small but well equipped home fitness room. Ian usually worked out at the exclusive private club he belonged to, one that boasted two Olympic-sized pools, an expansive weight and cardio room, handball, squash and tennis courts, and a boxing room where he could keep his skills sharpened. But his home gym more than filled his needs on those occasions when he didn’t have time to get to his club, or when the inclement weather made it preferable to stay at home.
During his condensed shopping spree at Neiman Marcus yesterday, he’d thrown in a set of workout attire for Tessa almost as an afterthought. But as she walked inside his gym, he silently congratulated himself on his hurried choices.
She wore an exercise bra of dark blue piped in black, with a wide black zipper down the front. The Lycra fabric clung to her breasts lovingly, and sweat popped out on his brow even before he’d begun his workout. The coordinating shorts were even tinier that the ones she’d been wearing that day at the office gym, when that bastard Jason had dared to put his slimy hands on her. The dark blue cotton shorts bared a great deal of her long, shapely legs and cupped the luscious curves of her rounded ass enticingly.
He was thankful that no other admiring eyes were around to see her dressed like this – or, more accurately, barely dressed. Ian made a mental note to buy her some other workout gear that wasn’t nearly as skimpy. He shuddered to imagine the reaction she’d receive walking into his club looking like this – all endlessly long legs, ripe tits, and glowing skin.
Over the next hour he tried – really tried – to focus on his own workout – lifting weights; doing several sets of crunches on the slant board while hefting a medicine ball; using the pull-up bar before dropping to the floor for as many push-ups as he could endure. But he found it impossible to stop sneaking glances at Tessa every five – or two – minutes, and then having to stifle a groan at the tempting sight she made. As she jogged on the treadmill, her breasts jiggled slightly, the exercise bra not quite as supportive as it ought to be. When she took her turn on the slant board, the waistband of her shorts dipped a couple of inches to reveal her navel. And as she bent over at the waist to stretch her hamstrings – flexible enough that her palms were flat on the floor – the hem of the tiny shorts crept up to bare part of her ass cheeks.
What made these frequent, furtive peeks at her even more alluring was the realization that she wasn’t even trying to seem enticing, and that she didn’t appear to even be aware of his gaze upon her.
After an hour, both of them were sweaty and fatigued. Ian took a long swig from a bottle of water before handing it to Tessa.
“Had enough for today?” he asked.
She nodded, swallowing a gulp of water. “I’m good. This is so awesome that you have your very own gym. You must work out here a lot.”
“I try to get in a workout at least five days a week, but I don’t actually use this room very often. The club I belong to is much larger and I like to use their pool and other facilities.”
She ran her palm up his arm under the sleeve of his workout shirt. “Is that where you box?” she asked in a husky voice, her big eyes seeming bluer than usual.
Ian stifled a groan as Tessa stepped closer, her breasts brushing up against his chest. “Yes, that’s the place.”
She gave his bicep a squeeze while her other hand slid up his chest. “Would you let me – that is, could I watch you sometime? Go through your workout? I’ve love to do that.”
“Of course you may,” he replied, pleased at her interest. “But we might need to wait on that a bit, love. Several of my executives belong to the same club and work out there frequently, so I’d have a bit of a tough time smuggling you in.”
Tessa rubbed her cheek against his throat. “Hmm, extra motivation for me to leave the company that much sooner, I suppose.”
His hands gripped her hips, pulling her close against him, and letting her feel his rapidly hardening erection. “When it’s time, I’ll get you a membership there so we can work out together. They have classes you might like, too – kickboxing, spinning, yoga.”
Tessa ground her pelvis invitingly against his cock, severely testing his already fragile self-control. “I love yoga,” she told him, sliding her arms up his chest to clasp around his neck. “Julia has brought me to her studio as a guest a couple of times and her teacher is amazing.”
Ian grit his teeth as she pushed her breasts into his chest. “I – ah, didn’t realize you saw Julia outside of the office.”
“Is that all right?” she asked anxiously. “I mean, she’s always been so nice to me and I don’t have many friends so - ”
“Hush.” He kissed her softly. “Of course it’s all right. I’d much rather see you going out with Julia than with one of the girls from the office. She’s far more grounded and sensible than any of them, not to mention engaged to Nathan.”
Tessa regarded him curiously. “What does that have to do with it?”
His hand splayed over the band of bare skin between her exercise bra and shorts. “She’s already spoken for, darling, which means she won’t be talking you into trolling singles bars looking for men.”
She tunneled her hands up beneath his shirt, exploring the muscles of his back. “And why would I want to do something like that anyway?”
He hissed as one of her hands slipped beneath the waistband of his athletic shorts, not stopping until it reached his buttocks. “So that you could find someone closer to your age, perhaps.” He shrugged, feigning a nonchalance he damned sure didn’t feel. “A hot, gorgeous girl like yourself would only have to walk inside a bar or a club, and you’d be swarmed with interested young men.”
Tessa swiftly slid her palms to either side of his face, gazing at him with fire in her blue eyes. “If I was in a room surrounded by a thousand different men, you’re still the only one I’d want – the only one I’d see. I don’t care about the age difference, Ian. My God, you’ve got the most beautiful body of any man alive. Why would I ever want anyone else?”
Her passionately spoken words not only touched him profoundly, but aroused him fiercely. “I’m a damned lucky bastard,” he muttered. “Though I’ll have my work cut out for me keeping up with you, my sweet. Extra workouts, more vitamins, increasing my intake of red meat. I’ll need to do all of that and more in order to have enough energy to keep you satisfied.”
He yelped as she very unexpectedly gave him a smack on the ass.
“You’re making me feel like some sort of sex fiend,” she pouted prettily. “I can’t help it if you turn me on.”
“Are you turned on now, Tessa?” he breathed in her ear. “Tell me, love, are you wet?”
She groaned as he cupped her buttocks and ground himself against her cleft. “God, yes!”
His tongue traced around the dainty shell of her ear. “And are your nipples hard?”
The little laugh she gave was positively wicked, and he was rather shocked at how quickly she’d shed her inhibitions. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?” she challenged in a naughty voice.
“Jesus, Tessa.” He didn’t have to look down to realize his erection was already tenting his shorts. His gaze fell instead on the lush mounds of her breasts straining behind the snug fitting exercise bra. Her nipples were definitely hard, poking against the slick fabric, begging to be touched.
His fingers toyed with the pull tab of the bra’s zipper. “I admit to having an ulterior motive in mind when I picked this particular item out.”
Her breathing had grown choppy. “What – what kind of motive?”
Ian began to lower the zipper very slowly. “This kind.”
Tessa was trembling as he finished unzipping the bra, her breasts bursting free to tumble into his waiting palms. She let out one of those erotic, drawn-out moans as he squeezed her breasts then tugged at her nipples.
“Oh, oh, that’s so good!” she cried. “Please don’t stop.”
“God, darling, you make me crazy with those little sounds you make,” he groaned, bending his head to take one of her nipples in his mouth. He circled the hard tip with his tongue before sucking the entire areola into his mouth.
He was so focused on lavishing attention on her breasts that he wasn’t aware of her hand slipping down between their tightly fused bodies. At least not until she began to tentatively palm his throbbing cock, a light touch that nonetheless almost had him exploding on the spot.
“Tessa.” This time he was the one who moaned, long and low.
“Let me.”
He was helpless to resist her as she pushed his shorts down past his hips, freeing his pulsing erection.
“Fuck.” The harsh curse hissed out from between his tightly clenched teeth as her warm, smooth hand closed around his cock. He sensed her uncertainty, the hesitant way she tried to please him, and he placed his shaking hand over hers.
“Like this. Long, slow strokes. God, yes, just like that. Easy, love. Christ, what you do to me.”
She picked up the rhythm quickly, her hand stroking his cock until he was groaning, thrusting eagerly in sync with her motions. Then she startled him again by sinking to her knees, the tip of his penis mere inches from her full, lush mouth.
“Is this how you pictured me?” she breathed seductively. “How you’ve wanted me?”
His hands gripped her shoulders tightly as she continued to stroke his erection. He made a raw, dangerous sound deep in his throat as he gazed down and saw what a decadent, carnal picture she presented – tendrils of blonde hair escaping her ponytail to curl about her flushed cheeks; her blue eyes huge and round as they stared up at him wantonly; her lips full and trembling, eager to suck him off and give him untold pleasure. She still wore the unzipped exercise bra, her ripe tits fully bared to his gaze, the nipples hard and pointed. She looked like sex incarnate, the most tempting, irresistible beauty he could ever imagine, and she was his – all his – to do with as he pleased.
“This is exactly how I pictured you,” he murmured hoarsely. “Except you’re even more beautiful, more tempting.”
“Tell me how to please you, what you like.”
Ian honestly didn’t think he could do it – instruct Tessa in the finer points of giving him a blow job – at least not without coming hard within the first few seconds. But somehow he managed to do just that, telling her what he liked, praising her efforts, groaning when she learned all too quickly how to bring him to the very edge. At his guttural, brusque instructions, she ran her tongue up and down the length of his penis before closing her lips over just the tip and sucking hard. Her tongue circled the broad, plush head of his cock, licking up the thick beads of pre-cum, before taking as much of him as she could inside her mouth. His hands fisted in her hair, pulling it free of the ponytail, as she sucked him eagerly, as though she’d been doing this forever instead of mere minutes.
Ian’s legs were shaking, and he was dimly aware of being more aroused then he’d ever come close to being in his entire thirty-nine years. At the last minute, when he was perilously close to losing it and coming hard down her throat, he jerked himself out of her mouth and took a step back.
“Together,” he uttered rawly. “We’ll come together.”
They quickly stripped off their remaining articles of clothing before he lifted her in his arms and carried her over to the closest wall, slamming her up against it. Tessa barely had time to wrap her legs around his waist before he plunged inside of her with one savage thrust.
The blood was roaring in his ears so loudly that he could barely hear the little gasps she made as he pounded her against the wall, holding her up as though she weighed nothing. He was crazy with lust, so consumed with the driving need to possess her, that any sort of rational thought was impossible. As if from a great distance, he heard her give a high-pitched cry and then her tight, slick pussy was clenching around him like a fist as she reached her climax. The shout he gave as he came mere seconds later was more like a bellow, echoing around the room.
Tessa was shaking in his arms as he gently eased her to her feet, wrapping her in a fierce embrace.
“God, please tell me I didn’t hurt you,” he begged. “I didn’t mean to lose control that way, to be so rough with you.”
She shook her head as her arms banded about his waist. “You didn’t hurt me. And I like that you were a little rough, that I can make you lose control a bit.”
“Did you now?” he asked, amused. “I think if I let you, darling, you could turn me into a wild animal. Once again, I’m not certain I could even spell my name right now.”
She shivered in his arms. “I’m cold. Can we get into a hot shower, please?”
He grabbed two towels from a shelf in a corner of the room and wrapped one about her shoulders. “Of course, love. But what if we make it a hot bath instead? That way,” he murmured wickedly against her ear, “we can check off one more item from your list of firsts.”
***
Tessa seemed quiet and pensive the rest of the afternoon and evening, as though something was troubling her. But Ian tactfully didn’t push or pry, sensing that she was having an inner struggle with some matter.
He’d taken her again during their bath, but it had been a far cry from the frantic coupling they’d shared in the gym. He’d taken his time with her in the huge sunken tub, petting and soothing her with soft kisses and exquisitely gentle caresses. Their lovemaking had been slow and tender, but she had still been so wrung out afterwards that he’d had to physically lift her out of the tub and dry her off, as though she were a small child. Tessa had been sleepy, clearly not used to the multiple demands he’d made on her body in less than twenty four hours, and he’d laid her down carefully in his bed. She’d been asleep within minutes and he had watched her for almost half an hour before forcing himself to leave the room.
The fierce storm had finally ebbed, and he’d taken her out to dinner, this restaurant far more casual than Le Mistral. It was a charming Italian café not too far from his house, and the owners knew him well. Ian chatted with them briefly in Italian, and introduced them to Tessa.
Over a shared Caesar salad, platters of steaming, fresh pasta, and a bottle of red wine, he’d studied her with some concern. Even her appetite was off tonight, as she ate only sparingly and drank more water than wine. She looked beautiful, of course, wearing one of the outfits he’d bought her – skinny black jeans, a dark blue sweater that skimmed over her lush breasts, and black high-heeled ankle boots. Her cheeks were still flushed becomingly from her nap, not to mention all the sex they’d been having, and she was damned near irresistible. The restaurant was crowded, and Ian’s perceptive gaze didn’t miss even one of the very interested male glances that fell Tessa’s way. At one point he reached across the table and took her hand in his, sending out a silent message to anyone looking that this one belonged to him.
He longed to ask her what was wrong, if there was something he could do for her, but continued to keep quiet. Instead, he only made occasional small talk over dinner, giving her the space she so obviously needed, and tried to tamper down his unsettled feelings. He was more than half afraid that Tessa was having second thoughts about all of this – about him, them – that she was realizing he was in fact too old for her or that she wasn’t ready for another relationship so soon after being divorced. She was likely agonizing over how to tell him, especially given the fact that he was her employer and she didn’t want –
“Ian.”
He glanced up at her softly spoken word. She was worrying her bottom lip to keep it from trembling, and he saw the sheen of tears in her eyes. He took a swig of wine, needing the fortification. “What is it, love?”
She slid her hand over his, giving it a squeeze. “I want to tell you everything. About my mother. And my marriage. And, well, about me. I’m ready.”
He felt an overwhelming sense of relief at the exact time a wave of empathy washed through him. He squeezed her hand back reassuringly. “All right, darling. Let’s go home and you can tell me whatever you like.”