Mick led Stevie up the staircase she had admired coming in. She ran her hand up the banister and sighed at how smooth her fingers glided along. "This staircase might be my favorite part of the house."
"You've only seen the first floor."
"How many floors are there?"
"Three and the basement."
"Is it finished?"
"Of course."
"Let me guess, man cave?"
"Bingo."
"Is that why you are showing me last so I don't turn tail and run."
"You catch on easy. I figure after you see how amazing the rest of the house is you will over look the naked ladies I have dancing on the bar."
If she had been drinking she would have spit it out. "You're a real funny man you know."
"I've been told that before."
"Uh huh."
By the time he showed her the second floor and was leading her to the third, they had found their rhythm again, letting the dinner conversation fade away.
The third floor had vaulted ceilings and was used for two rooms. His master bedroom and his office. The office took up a third of the floor and had a balcony overlooking the side gardens. He had a huge desk that looked similar to every office he had, a few papers thrown about, things tacked to boards but mostly organized. "I don't see how you keep track of what is where, and what you need and ah...I can't imagine. My sister and you would really get along in this department."
"Most of what I need is accessed on computers and all mine link up with a password."
"Ah, but still." She looked around and saw the small conference type table and another area with a couple chairs in front of a TV. There was a small kitchen, but held all appliances and a small two piece bathroom off of it. "This is like a loft, just missing the bed."
"Allow me to show you the bed my dear," he said taking her hand and pulling her across the hall. "Wow." Was all she could mange when he pulled her into his bedroom. It was double the size of his office, the bed was lake size and up three steps on a platform. There was a cozy couch and chair area in front of another large screened TV. A small desk tucked into a corner. "Yet another desk."
"I run a lot of companies, keeps me busy," Mick said stuffing his hands into his pockets and almost feeling foolish for having his work spaces everywhere.
"Work-aholic," she said, flashing a grin at him.
"Yeah look whose talking."
"Exactly, if I am saying it you know it's true." They both laughed as she found her way into his master bath and stopped dead in her tracks. "Wholly shit, look at that tub." She turned to him and smacked his arm before saying, "And we have shared my tub, are you insane, we should have been taking baths here." She went over, ran a hand around the rim and just smiled at him.
"Should I run a bath?"
"No, no of course not." He could see her there, he could see coming home from work and finding her in that tub, joining her, oh he could see it too clearly.
"Look at this shower, you could fit fifteen people in here."
"Wanna try?"
"Only if all the rest are men," she said, leaving him staring after her as she wandered back out into his bedroom, found the terrace doors and swung them open. Stepping out onto the balcony, she looked over his backyard and could see he had gardens and fountains. It would be pretty would they bloomed. "I bet it's gorgeous in the spring."
"It is, we'll have dinner out there when they bloom." He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her into him.
"That would be nice." She leaned into him, and he rested his chin on her head.
She breathed in deep and just took it all in. She never thought she would be standing on his terrace, looking out at the beautiful night, just relaxed and with him. Her heart ached and she breathed in the knowledge that this was temporary. How could it be anything but temporary, the project would come to an end, she would go back home and he would travel onto the next job.
Their worlds just didn't work together. Once this was over, it would have to end.
"What are you thinking?" Mick asked, feeling her tense.
"Just how perfect this is."
"What else?" He turned her toward him ran his hands up to her shoulders. "I could practically hear you thinking. I can see the troubled look in your eyes."
Stevie started to pull back but he held her in place. "It's nothing." He raised an eyebrow at her and had her going on, "It's just that I am so happy we broke through the pretense of us not being more, I was thinking I can't believe I am standing in his house with his arms around me."
Mick kissed her then, it was slow and drugging, but she needed more this time. She wanted to feel the heat between them, wanted to forget the thoughts of their relationship coming to an end. She wanted to forget everything but him. She upped the intensity of the kiss and he responded.
He dragged her back into the room never taking his lips from hers. She tore at his clothes and had him naked in record time. "Little greedy are we?" Mick asked on a chuckle. She stripped off her own clothes and pushed him onto the bed and then straddled him.
"I want you Mick, I need you." Before she could take it up another level he had her flipped over arms pinned. "We'll get to that, in time," he said, racking his teeth down her throat."
As he moved his teeth to her nipple a groan ripped out of her and had her bucking up into him. His lips become more frantic hands more argent leaving hers free to roam him. Stevie used her desire to flip him back over and used her teeth on his ear, neck, and chest. He ran his hand down her body between her legs, and found her hot, wet, and ready. Her head lolled back as he cupped her, as he thrust a finger into her. "I need you, now, oh now," she said, moving away from his hand posing herself over him and then pushing down, taking him all at once, causing them both to cry out in pleasure.
Then she rode him fast and hard, they both raced to touch, to kiss, to feel, to be intertwined in each other. She let out a cry, chest arching out, head thrown back as she took him as deep as she could and found release. Her release had his fingers digging into her hips, bucking up twice before he fell over the edge with her.
She fell in a heap on top of him. Hair sprawled out over his chest. He ran his hands up and down her back. He would swear she was purring. Stevie took in a few more deep breaths before rolling off of him and bouncing up. "Oh my gosh that was, perfect. God I feel so good."
She looked over at him and smiled. "I'll give you a minute to find your balance."
"Stuff it Long."
"Oh Brown how you charm me." He grunted and reached out and pulled her back to him.
"This wasn't how I planned our first time in my bed."
"Hey I'm not complaining," she said, grinning up at him.
"As you are the one who took it up a notch I wouldn't think so."
"Hey I seem to recall you matching my pace pretty darn well."
"Sink or swim baby, sink or swim."
"I feel like ice cream, have any?"
A little while later they were at his kitchen island eating a bowl of ice cream, she in a pair of sleeping shorts and tank top, and he back in his jeans and a new t-shirt. Stevie was telling him how her inspiration came about.
"I've been working on the idea in my head for weeks, but today as I was lying in bed it struck me just what you needed."
"Oh? I think you have that covered pretty well."
"Huh?"
"What I need in bed," he said with a wicked grin.
"Mick stop. We are discussing work. There for you are my boss again."
"In that case I order you to take off that shirt."
"Mick."
"Mr. Brown to you."
She glared at him then focused on eating her ice cream.
"Oh come on, tell me about your inspiration."
"Are you going to treat me like a professional?"
"You are sitting in my kitchen, in my shirt, eating my ice cream, after just sleeping with me in my bed."
She held her look for all of two seconds before she started laughing, "Okay, you have a point, but Mick this is really important, you are going to love it. I hope."
"Okay show me the drawings."
"Just show you the drawings," she said in a mock voice.
"What?"
"I had a whole story planned here."
"Oh, well get on with it. I want to see brilliant inspiration."
As the ice cream melted in the forgotten bowls, Mick and Stevie stood over the island discussing her blue prints, and her sketches. She was pointing out her favorite parts to him as he was looking at all the details she had laid out.
"You came up with all this today?"
"I have been fooling around with ideas for weeks. But yes I finalized it and drew most of it today." She couldn't look at him, was too nervous. "Do you see how the waterfall would start from the ceiling? It would be one of those glass ones, lets in light but you couldn't see through, it would divide the bedroom from the sitting area. My idea was that it would flow down into a double fireplace, one you could see from both rooms.
"Water and fire on one wall." He murmured thinking it over.
"I know what you are thinking but it would work, trust me I've asked my crew, well our crew. They can get into the details of how for you, most of that went over my head."
He studied the lines, the angles. She had captured his style, his taste, better than he had ever been able to in any other owner's suite.
"The outer wall would be all windows. From one side of the room to the next, top to bottom. You would have an amazing view, might as well be able to see it from anywhere right"
"Windows are already in, as the building has already been built," he said, glancing up at her.
"Yes I know, but it can be changed."
"Do you know the cost of that?" he asked just seeing the number sky rocket in his head.
"No I don't, but Mick trust me on this it would be worth it."
"Worth it for a room I won't have to use often."
"You could rent it out, as well."
"The damn point of an owner's suit is to have it available any time for you, or your guest."
"Yes I understand that, but when you know you're not going to need it, it could be rented out as the best room in the place. You would get back your lousy charge of upgrading the windows, pretty quick." Stevie shot back at him.
"It's not just a damn upgrade Stevie, the building has been built, and all but the walls in the owner's suite have been put up. It's the same reason you couldn't flip the damn bath room in the basic rooms, plumbing had already been put in."
"Well this is why you should have had a designer from the get go," she said, shooting daggers at him. "Which by the way if you had, the bath on the master suite could have been put in a better location."
"I co-designed the main layout of this building..."
She cut him off before he could finish "Exactly. It was the wrong choice. You need somebody else's eye and..."
"I had somebody else's eye..."
"Who Jim's?" She shot at him as she started to pace his kitchen.
"Yeah as a matter of fact it was Jim, the contractor."
"Next time, be smarter and hire me before you even start the blue prints."
"God you're frustrating. Do you know how many hotels I have built, how many luxury hotels that is? Do you think I . . ."
"Do you know how much better they would be with the changes I want to make?"
"Damn it Stevie," he said, rubbing his eyes.
Stevie let out a sigh and came back over to the island. "Okay you are right to not want to spend the money on the windows, but Mick it would be worth it, so just think about it."
"I'll think about it. Now tell me what you have in mind for this area over here," Mick said, pointing to the empty space on the blue print.
Stevie bit her lip to try to hold back her grin, but couldn't stop it.
"What?" Mick asked, fearing her answer.
"Well when you put in the new windows you were going to push this wall back and create a balcony."
"A balcony? Are you out of your mind, once again the building has been built."
"It would be perfect Mick, the view, the height. You have to admit if you had it you would use it."
He looked at the plans, thought it would make for a good spot, it would be on the corner of the building giving you two areas to overlook down town. He never liked balconies in his hotel, he feared people falling or jumping off. He had done it in his last two hotels in different towns, but this one he had decide against it, but Stevie's sketch showed him the possibility. Made him think he should have done it for the other suites in the hotel. He hated to admit to her that she was right, he could have used her from the start, so he wouldn't.
"Could it even be done structurally?"
"Jim said yes."
"When did you talk to Jim?"
"Today, I went by his house, brought him flowers, wanted to see how he was doing."
"Wanted to know if he could do the balcony and windows, is more like it."
"And fireplace and waterfall."
Mick laughed, "So could he?"
"Yeah, all of it. Plus my idea in the shower."
"I'm not sure if I can handle any more of your ideas today."
"It's another waterfall"
"In the shower?"
"Yeah the wall separating the shower and the bathroom would be a waterfall, same as the one above the fireplace. It has the glass so no water from the shower is getting into the waterfall or out on the floor."
"Would I be able to see you in the shower?" he asked thoughtfully.
"Well maybe my outline."
"That would be hot."
"Simmer down boss," she said unable to control her grin.
"It's really good Stevie, it really is brilliant inspiration."
"Even though half of it might cost you an arm and a leg?"
"Hey, I'll just take it out of your pay," he said, running his fingers up her arm.
"So you'll do it." She said, bouncing.
"Take it out of your pay?"
"The suite, you'll do the design?"
"I might make a few tweaks, but over all its really good Stevie, it's a suite I would like to stay at when I needed to." He stared as she actually did a dance. "What in the world are you doing?" It was ridiculous but he felt himself getting turned on by her goofy dancing.
"Mick this is everything. Everything I've been working for. I am finally going to have my named linked with MB Enterprises. And and and I just can't get my head wrapped around it."
"You were going to have your name linked for some time now." She stopped dancing crossed to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her body to his.
"I know, but this room, this is me, all me."
"I'd say, you captured me more then you in this room."
"Exactly. That's what my work is, capturing the client."
"You've done a good job capturing me," he said, kissing her.
The kiss was drugging had her swaying into him.
He picked her up carried her up the stairs and had her squealing. "You are going to hurt yourself put me down."
"Nu uh, this time it's my way." He took in a deep breath and picked up his pace as she started to suck on his neck.
When he made it to his bedroom he dropped her on the bed and all but ate her up with his eyes.
"You're so damn beautiful." His voice had gone soft, serious. She felt the nerves from earlier return. He had a way of making her feel like it was her first time.
He ran his hands up her bare legs, pulling off the shorts and panties she was wearing, he then peeled her top off, leaving her naked and on his bed.
She felt like every muscle in her body had grown heavy, she watched as he stripped down, couldn't seem to reach out and help him strip down. He kissed her again, and it was like being drugged.
Her head had gone fuzzy, she couldn't hold on to any thought but him. He used his hands followed by his mouth to explore her body. Her hands lay limply on his shoulders, she couldn't get her bearings. "Mick I . . ." she sighed at his touch, "I can't"
"You can." He took her up then, reaching the peak, but then taking her back down a notch, she was arching and aching for him, but couldn't get that release. "Mick please." She didn't care if she was begging, she needed him.
He brought his mouth back to hers, tasted her sweet soft side, the side she hid even from him so often. He liked seeing her this way, relaxed, open, and his. Mick used his hands and mouth to take her up again, this time letting the orgasm take her. She bucked under him, sighed out his name, and tried to roll over.
"Nu-uh," He used his hands to bring her back under him, he moved over her, kissing her, her hands linking gently around his neck. She had totally given herself over to him, and he couldn't have been more turned on by it.
"Mick, please, I need you, I want you."
"Mine." He moaned it as he dipped into her slowly.
"Always." She wasn't even aware she said it, but it had him aching for her.
Mick kept it slow, he needed this time to be slow, drugging for both of them. He took her up slowly, painfully and had the vicious orgasm ripping out of her. She moaned out his name rocketing into him and he fell off the edge of sanity with her.
This time she didn't bounce up, but curled into him, he pulled her closer and they fell asleep together.