A Win-Win Proposition (Case Brothers 2)

Her words inflamed his already overstimulated body. “Don’t rush me. I intend to get reacquainted with every inch of you before that happens.”

“I can’t wait that long.” She rotated her hips, bringing his erection into better contact with her core.

Even through the layers that separated them, he could feel how she burned for him. That knowledge pushed him over the edge. In seconds he’d shed the rest of his clothes and come back to find her naked and waiting for him.

Driving into her tight sheath, he groaned as she closed around him, drawing him deeper inside. He buried his face in her neck. Her fingernails sank into his back as they moved together, as connected in soul as they were joined in body.

He struggled to hold off his climax, but her impassioned cries and urgent movements slashed the tethers binding his willpower. Reaching between their bodies, he touched her, setting off the chain reaction of her orgasm. With a final thrust he let out a triumphant cry.

“That wasn’t the homecoming I pictured,” he muttered, rolling over so her limp body draped across his chest like an erotic daydream.

She nuzzled his neck. “Really? It’s all I thought about.”

Her round backside called to his hand. He followed the curve with his fingers, measuring the perfect rise from the small of her back to her thigh. Every inch of her fascinated him. Contentment settled over him as he stroked her hip with his thumb.

She raised her head and braced her forearm against his chest. Her voice may have been light and airy a second ago, but she wore a serious expression now.

“Something on your mind?” he prompted as the silence stretched.

“I’m just going to come right out and say this.”

But still she struggled with whatever she needed to tell him. Making love to her had pacified his earlier impatience. He kept silent and let her work out whatever was bothering her.

“I think it would be better if we got dressed first.”

She shimmied off his body, her long hair falling forward to conceal her expression as she retrieved her clothes and slid into jeans and shirt. Jerky movements and her lack of playfulness warned him something serious was up with her. He ignored the agitation that flared in his gut. The month-long separation had been harder on him than expected. Now that she was within his grasp once more he wanted nothing disagreeable to distract him from the pleasure of watching her.

She tossed his boxers at him. As he slipped them over his hips, the words erupted from her.

“Tomorrow I’m starting as the new director of communications.”

If the situation were reversed, and Sebastian had kept something this big from her, Missy would have stormed hard enough to level a house.

But Missy never knew him to thunder and rage like a summer squall. No, Sebastian had a calm, icy way of being furious that was ten times worse.

“When did this happen?” There was enough frost in his voice to ruin an entire orange crop.

“Your father mentioned the idea to me in Las Vegas.” She searched his rigid expression, assessing just how angry he was. “Then Max called me a few days ago and I said yes.”

“I see.”

What did he see? That she was perfect for the job? That discussing a job with his father and brother made her feel disloyal and low? That she loved him so much she’d rather spend every day thirty feet down the hall than never see him again?

“Are you okay with it?”

“We can’t keep seeing each other if you work for Case Consolidated Holdings.”

“I considered that.” Was it wrong of her to choose something sensible like a fabulous job instead of a risky venture like dating Sebastian for as long as he wanted her? The old her, the impulsive girl who’d made a brief appearance in Las Vegas, would have chosen an uncertain future with Sebastian. Unfortunately, she’d spent more than a decade making decisions with her head, not her heart. “But we’d already agreed that once we left Las Vegas it was over between us.”

“That’s what you wanted. I had something different in mind.”

She refused to feel guilty for disappointing him. It was ridiculous to think she could keep his interest long-term. “I’m perfect for this job.”

“Then if the job is what you want, you should take it.”

Throat too tight for words to escape, Missy nodded. Sebastian’s impassive acceptance of her decision left her stomach in knots. But what had she expected? An impassioned plea for her to choose him over her career? Eventually he’d be glad she’d given him the perfect out.

Wrung out and miserable, she let Sebastian take on the bulk of the conversational duties as he drove her home. He asked her about her family and updated her on what had happened with the business since she’d been gone. By unspoken consent, they avoided discussing the elephants crowded in the backseat: her new job, how everyone at the office would react to her promotion and what had happened between them an hour earlier.