Chapter 7

Ryan

I paced the hotel lobby thinking what a disaster the day before had been. Not only had she found one violation but two. She’d rambled on for an hour about human-induced contaminations due to the improper wastewater disposal from our cooling process during the coking process. Both were human errors which made it easy to fix, but both were rookie mistakes that had me on the phone all night assuring they’d make it right.

She’d threatened to shut down operations immediately, but I’d convinced her to let me get my men on it overnight.

I’d walked her back to the room where I’d stayed until she went to bed, and then I moved down to the lobby, daring anyone to mess with me. “Jesus, Keith don’t tell me how to cool pipe, I know all about the process, just tell me you can deal with the wastewater issue in the next twelve hours.”

I hadn’t even heard her come up behind me and I was ready to snap a staffers headed off when she tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around causing her to start. “You’ve been here all night. Come back to the room. You’re not going to bother me.”

“Hold on, Kieth!” I yelled into the phone. I glanced around noticing the two staffers at the check in desk were watching with wide eyes as they whispered to one another. “They sent you to get me, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, I got a call begging me to come down and get my crazy husband out of the lobby, or they’re going to call the police.” She waved at the staffers and took my hand. “I understand you’re upset about the findings today, but you being thrown in jail for disorderly conduct in a public place won’t do either of us any favors.” She walked me to the elevator, and I finished my call on the way up.

I hung up as we got back to the room and she threw open the door and headed back to the bed where she stripped off her robe revealing her little shorts and tank top which matched. He breasts pushed against the soft pink cotton and my eyes trailed down to her tight ass which was in perfect proportion. Too soon she was under the covers and meeting my stare with narrowed eyes.

“Sorry, I was expecting to be along. This is what I sleep in at home.” She pulled the covers up high to her neck, and I shook my head.

“Make no apologies. I mean, I usually sleep nude, so—

“Not on your life!” She held a finger in my direction as I belted a laugh. The look on her face had been priceless. Her cheeks were warm with blush, and her face paled a bit like the very idea of seeing a man naked was too much. I wondered if she ever had. Surely with her age, but then again, how old was she?

“I was only kidding. I’ve got bed clothes. I never sleep naked when I travel.” I walked to the couch taking a seat, but she rose up on her elbow. “You should share the bed. You paid for the room, and besides, there are more than enough pillows to build a nice big wall between us.” She shifted around and put a line of pillows in the middle of the king size bed.

I went into the bathroom and when I returned dressed in my sleeping pants and nothing more she gave me a wide-eyed stare. Her eyes lingered downward, and when I smiled at her, she flipped over and faced the opposite direction.

She was so beautiful without any makeup and her auburn red hair down against her creamy skin and framing her perfect breasts.

As I laid there beside her with the wall between us, I dreamed of knocking it down, of pushing my way over and nudging them aside to get at her. What I wouldn’t give for just one taste, to hold her close in my embrace and press myself against her so she could feel just how much I wanted her.

As it turned out, the barrier remained in place, and we woke the next morning unscathed.

She was flushed from sleep, and her eyes seemed much softer—younger. And with her hair a mess it was hard to believe that she was such a hard ass.

I took my time getting ready to go down to the plant knowing that every moment counted on the other end. After thirty minutes in the bathroom where I claimed to be taking care of business, she’d threatened to go down without me. When I came out, she stood there with her hands on her hips.

“You can’t stall this forever, though it was a valiant effort.” She gave a little chuckle, and I played innocent. It was nice to hear her laugh for a change and the sound sent my blood pumping and my palms to sweating. I dragged my feet on the way out, and she turned to me with a sigh. “Hurry up.”

“Yes, Dear.”

She spun around and gave me a glare as we waited for the elevator. “I cannot believe those fools thought that I was your wife. Could you imagine?”

She shook her head as we stepped inside and as I caught another glimpse of her tight ass, this time wearing a pair of curve-hugging jeans, the idea didn’t sound so bad to me.

As it turned out I had panicked for nothing. The rest of the plant was in tip top shape, and the end of the factory that had been a mess was well on its way back to perfect performance with a new strategy in play for the wastewater. The water was easily reused, but there had been a certain amount of runoff that was happening due to faulty equipment. I’d ordered it to be brought up to date within the week, but the foreman said it might take a few.

Luckily Megan agreed that if the surrounding soil and air samples were within the right thresholds, she’d give me the extended time. I’d made arrangements with my team, and she’d spent the rest of the time taking samples with them while I’d called ahead to Ohio. I needed to give them a head’s up, but the foreman there assured me things were top notch. I’d hold him to it, and let him know that his job depended on it. I didn’t need someone making promises and then failing because they didn’t feel like inspecting. Before I got off the phone with him, his attitude had changed. I might tolerate Megan’s temper and determination, but that was only because she turned me on.

When we got back to the hotel that night, prepared to stay until morning, she’d asked me about dinner. I’d skipped out the night before but had ordered her up room service for her and then retreated to the lobby, but since we’d only had a light brunch in between me stressing out over things, my appetite was roaring. “Is that your stomach growling?”

I unlocked the door to the room and opened it for her. “Considering you’ve burned up all my calories by stressing me out, yes, that’s my stomach in full pleading mode.”

“You poor thing, do you want to just order something up from the restaurant again?” She pulled off her earring and slipped them into her bag and then she struggled with the clasp of her necklace. “Dammit.”

“Here, let me.” I stepped forward, brushing her hair aside and working her clasp. The clawless end of the chain slipped from my hand causing the pendant to slip off the chain and bounce to the floor. We both reached down at the same time colliding. She fell against me, and I caught her, pulling her close for a moment until she got righted.

“I’ll get it.” I reached down and picked up the pendant, and as I placed it in her hands, her eyes met mine with a new light in them.

“Would you let me take you down to dinner?” I had asked the question before thinking and just when I thought she was going to say no, she smiled.

“I’d like that.” It was as if she was finally seeing me, and not the billionaire brat she’d first accused me of being.