The Inheritance, page 23
Phyla’s release was explosive. Her pulsing center tightened around Ash’s fingers with such intensity that grey specks dotted her vision. Every fiber of her being was charged with a sexual fervor that carried her away, stealing her thoughts with the force of its passion. She screamed, crying out and letting go with such abandon that her back arched into Ash’s fingers, desperately wanting more, knowing she needed more.
Ash pushed her fingers in deep and hard then. She followed Phyla’s body as it pushed forward into her mouth over and over until Phyla came a second time with as many if not more sensations filling her and flowing out around Ash’s fingers until, at last, her body felt overcharged, and she couldn’t take any more stimulation from those fingers and the glorious sucking of Ash’s lips and tongue.
Weakly pushing Ash’s head away with one final moan, she collapsed in a sweaty heap on her desk, pulling in deep gulps of air as she tried to slow her wildly beating heart.
Ash rose, leaned her hips in between Phyla’s legs, and propped herself up on her elbows, waiting for her to catch her breath. When Phyla finally opened her eyes, Ash covered her mouth with her own, allowing her to taste the slightly tangy flavor of her own essence, so very different from Ash’s sweet taste. After a while, Ash raised up slightly again and smiled down at Phyla’s flushed face. Her voice was soft when she said, “That was truly amazing. You are truly amazing.”
Phyla didn’t even try to keep the smile from blossoming on her face. “That was so much more than anything I’ve ever felt before.” Tears filled her eyes, riding on an overwhelming tide of unexpected emotions.
Ash kissed them away with such tenderness that more fell to take their place.
Phyla hesitantly slipped her hand between Ash’s legs and felt the slickness there.
Ash shook her head and kissed her. “Not…” she groaned when Phyla’s finger teased her clit, and then forced out the words between clenched teeth, “…not tonight.” Reaching down, she gently removed Phyla’s hand and kissed her fingers. “As much as I want you inside of me right now, Phyla McGuire, we’ll save that for another time. Yes?”
Phyla smiled again and whispered, “You’re the boss.”
Ash once more covered Phyla’s lips with her own. Eventually, she pulled back and smiled, “Yes, I am, you beautiful, amazing, sexy woman.”
Twenty
Phyla paced her deck, more unsettled than she’d ever been in her life. The moon was full, lighting up the various terra cotta, life-sized figures placed strategically around her park-like backyard. Three a.m. had come and gone, and she was still mortified by what had happened in her office. With Ash. On her desk.
What had possessed her, Phyla McGuire, to submit to every whim and command Ash had given her? She wasn’t some sex-starved ingénue looking for someone to dominate her. She paused when her traitorous body responded to that thought with a delighted tingling in all the right places.
No. She was a powerful executive who couldn’t afford to let even a whisper of what had happened leak to the hundreds of men and women who would jump on the chance to humiliate her, to drag her name through the mud as the one who begged, literally begged another woman to fuck her.
She looked at the glass in her hand. Each successive drink was disappearing faster than the last. She tossed back the last of her fourth screwdriver and strode angrily to the pitcher full of the vodka and orange juice she’d mixed earlier, more vodka than orange juice, thank you very much.
What had she been thinking? She barely knew Ash. She poured more into her glass, walked into the open expanse of perfectly manicured lawn, and continued pacing.
What she did know about her wasn’t comforting. She knew she openly had sex at that club where no one was ashamed of anything they did there. Hell, she was probably there now, regaling all her friends about how she’d eaten out the great and powerful Phyla McGuire and had her begging for more.
Well, that just wouldn’t do. She knew what she had to do tomorrow, or if she was being technical, later this morning, and she downed the entire contents of her final glass in one long swallow. She made one more round to the trees and back, and by the time she reached the deck again, the alcohol was finally beginning to slow the tumultuous thoughts plaguing her from the moment she’d left the M building. She continued into the mansion and made her way upstairs to bed.
When Ash walked into the office the following morning, Phyla strode to the door and pushed it shut behind her. She rounded on Ash with such intense anger in her eyes that Ash stepped back, wondering what the hell was going on. Keeping her voice low enough not to carry through the doors, there was still enough raw anger in her words to worry Ash. “How many people did you tell about your little conquest last night? Did you regale all your friends in your buddy’s little club about how you made the great and mighty Phyla McGuire beg for what she wanted?”
Ash’s eyes got round, and she shook her head to try to clear it. All she could think to say was, “What?”
“Don’t play the innocent with me, Ash. I’ve been in this game too long not to know a setup when I see one.”
“A…?”
Ash was truly lost now, and her confused expression made Phyla question herself. No. Phyla McGuire didn’t get where she was today by second-guessing her instincts. She stepped closer to Ash and leaned in. “Well?”
There was a strong odor of alcohol washing off Phyla, and Ash took another step back. “You’ve been drinking.”
“Answer the question.”
“I…think I’ve forgotten the question?” This entire confrontation had taken Ash so off guard that her head was spinning. What had gotten into Phyla to make her drink so much after she’d gotten home that her body was still producing that sickly sweet odor of a tried and true alcoholic? Phyla wasn’t an alcoholic. Ash had been around her enough to know that much, at least. That being said, she’d had enough army buddies who drank to excess nearly every night to recognize the sweat odor, no matter how faint it might be. “Phyla, why don’t you come sit down, and we can talk? I think you’re still a little…inebriated?” That was the nicest way she could think to describe how drunk Phyla must have been in the early morning hours to still smell the way she did at eight in the morning.
Phyla cut off that line of questioning with a sharp wave of her hand. “Just answer the question. How many people have you told?”
Her angry glare, which Ash normally found so erotic, wasn’t even a bit enticing this time. There was more than simply anger there. There was real fear lurking behind those dark, hooded eyes, and Ash wondered where the hell that had come from. “Not only haven’t I told anyone. I never tell anyone about my private encounters with women. That’s never something you’ll have to worry about.”
There should have been some relief behind those eyes. A calming of some of the fear lurking there, but Phyla seemed to go cold with her fury. “Never something I’ll need to worry about? You will never mention what happened last night again, and you will never try to seduce me again, either. I don’t know what your end game is, but whatever it is, it will stop. Now.”
Ash’s mouth dropped open, and her brows lowered. She closed her mouth, still staring at Phyla as though she’d grown horns. Not knowing what to say, she pointed to the door. “I’m just gonna go out for a while to try to figure out what just happened.”
Phyla growled, “You do that.” She watched Ash scratch her head when she opened the door and walked out. There, she’d done what needed doing, and now she could get back to the rest of her day.
Only, she couldn’t. Ash didn’t return in time for their ten o’clock meeting with one of her design teams for a major overhaul on a new project Harcourt had set into motion before he died. All through the meeting, Phyla alternately stewed and worried. Stewed about how pitiful she’d been with Ash the night before and worried that Ash would never do it again. At the time, it had been exhilarating and, she had to admit, the best orgasm she’d ever had in her life. It was only after Ash had left the office last night that doubts and worries began creeping in, and once the alcohol began flowing, her overactive imagination went into overdrive.
“Ms. McGuire?”
Phyla checked back in and realized her well-tuned multi-tasking skills hadn’t kicked in. Under normal circumstances, she would have been listening with one ear while solving the problems of the world in her head. This time, she had absolutely no idea what had been said, who had said it, and suddenly realized she wasn’t familiar with well over half of the people sitting around the conference table staring at her, wondering whether the presentation they’d spent the last two weeks polishing for her and Ash had fallen flat.
She was nothing if not quick, however, and she nodded imperiously as though deep in thought. “I like most of what I’ve seen so far, Jason. She flipped through the hard copy of the presentation that mirrored what she’d just been presented on the sixty-five-inch monitor they’d wheeled into her office.
She glanced at the calendar on her phone, saw that her next meeting wasn’t until lunch, and flipped the presentation back to the first page. Before she could tell them to begin again, all eyes focused on something to her right. She was seated at the head of the table and stiffened when she turned to see Ash striding over. She hadn’t bothered to lower the blinds since Ash hadn’t shown up for the meeting, and, despite her earlier anger, when Ash took a stutter-step, Phyla rose and stepped to the control button, which she decisively pushed. She returned to her seat and addressed the people at the table. “Perhaps I’ll be able to see the presentation better without that sunlight pouring in.” The relieved look on Ash’s face warmed her to the core, dammit all.
Ash, who’d stopped in the middle of the room, continued forward. “Sorry, I’m late. Something important came up. For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m Ash Redux.”
Chairs scraped back at the announcement, and all of the men around the conference table rose and, out of habit, buttoned at least one button on their suit coats. The women all sized her up as well, and Phyla knew from experience that all of the men and probably one or two of the women were calculating their chances of seducing one of the wealthiest women in the world. She had to tamp down the surge of jealousy that rose when the vice president of marketing, Sally Debord, made eye contact with Ash that lasted a little longer than it should have.
And then Ash had the temerity to smile at the woman with those amber eyes. This was a professional setting, dammit. Didn’t Ash understand that? There was no making eyes at people who worked for you. Phyla told herself that was the only reason that look made a snake rise up in her gut and want to bite Sally’s perfectly coiffed head off. Unless.
Phyla narrowed her eyes, and as she returned to her seat, she studied the blonde woman carefully. Could she and Ash already know each other from the Code One Club?
Ash was her usual, genial self as she walked up to each of the seven people around the table, shook their hands, and took a moment to speak quietly to each one. When she finished, she moved to the seat at the other end of the table and sat. “I apologize again, but is there any way you could go through your presentation one more time?”
Jason Mulvaney, Senior Vice President in charge of the project, sat as well. The others followed suit. “Of course. Sally?”
Sally strode forward and stood to the right of the screen with a controller in her hand. Her blonde curls framed a cherubic face, making Phyla wonder how long she’d taken to apply her makeup with such model-like precision. Sally looked directly at Ash first and began the presentation again. She stuttered mid-sentence when she turned her gaze to Phyla, whose cold eyes bored a hole right through her. Recovering quickly, she turned back to Ash and picked up as though there hadn’t been any interruption. Halfway through, she gave the controller to a man who introduced himself as Brad, Vice President in Charge of Acquisitions. He took over, gave his part of the presentation, and brought it to a close.
Ash surprised Phyla by asking some very astute, hard-hitting questions. When no one had immediate answers, she told them to do their research and get back to her. Ash had done her homework, it seemed, and had made an excellent impression on everyone, including Sally, apparently, who nodded her understanding when Ash clarified what she wanted from her. Was that blush on Sally’s cheeks from embarrassment that she hadn’t thought of researching the information in question, or had it appeared for other reasons?
Phyla followed up the questions with some of her own, ones she wouldn’t expect Ash to know were necessary for this magnitude of work. She particularly homed in on the hapless Sally, who furiously took notes as Phyla tore apart her presentation. Phyla’s bad mood had carried over, it seemed, because when she’d finished, she silently seethed as Ash apparently felt the need to smooth things over with the woman.
“That’s a lot of work for you, Sally, but overall, I liked what I saw of the presentation. I’ll look forward to hearing what you’ve come up with at our next meeting.”
The stiff atmosphere permeating the meeting after Phyla had finished tearing into Sally relaxed somewhat. Did Ash not think Phyla knew the proper way to run a meeting? How dare she undermine her like that? When everyone left, she leveled a cool look on her. “What do you think you were doing, undermining me with that woman?”
“What?” Unlike earlier in the morning when Ash had been stunned by Phyla’s attack, anger flashed in her eyes this time. “I didn’t think eviscerating that woman was the proper way to handle telling her to fix certain issues with the project.”
“I want her off the team. She’s obviously incapable of—”
“No.” Ash walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a soda.
Phyla remained standing next to her desk. “No? Have you forgotten which one of us is in charge here?”
To Phyla’s shock, Ash called out, “Daphne.”
When Daphne appeared at the door, Ash pointed at her. “Shut the door, please.”
To Daphne’s credit and the saving of her job, she looked to Phyla for confirmation before doing as Ash ordered.
Phyla nodded once and watched the door as Daphne quietly pulled it shut behind her. Phyla slowly returned her attention to Ash, who’d moved to the sofa and was relaxing into the cushions while sipping from the open can. “Can’t you at least pour it into a glass like a civilized person?”
Ash just cocked her head and continued to stare at Phyla as though she didn’t recognize her. No surprise there since Phyla didn’t recognize her feelings either. Jealous? Where had that come from? Not listening through an entire presentation the first time it was given? “And Sally goes.”
“No.” When Phyla merely narrowed her eyes and glared, Ash continued, “You’re angry for some inexplicable reason, and you’re taking it out on a woman who’s new to her position and who was clearly worried about giving us a professional presentation.”
“And how would you know she’s new? It seemed the two of you recognized each other. Did she submit to you, too?”
Ash uncrossed her legs and sat forward, “Damn, Phyla. What the fuck is the matter with you today? Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I’ve never met her before. What I did do that you apparently didn’t was visit the company’s HR department and pull up the files on everyone involved with the project. Did you ask Jason how his wife is doing after her cancer scare last year? He took extended leave to care for her. No? Well, I did, and she’s in remission, and he’s committed one hundred percent to seeing that this project is a success.”
Ash got up and moved to the center of the room. “Did you know Brad broke his back falling off his roof three months ago? No? I did, and when I shook his hand, I asked him if sitting through a second presentation would put him in pain.” She squinted at Phyla, “And I’m willing to bet you could care less whether his back hurt as long as he did his job, right? Well, I don’t need to attend this next lunch meeting with you since it’s entirely about your business and your people. In fact, I have other places to be this afternoon, so I’ll meet you at that investor meeting tonight.”
She turned to go, then pivoted around and pointed a finger at Phyla. “Sally stays.” With that parting shot, she turned and left the office.
Twenty-One
“Okay, we’ve talked for the last half hour about all kinds of inconsequential things. Now, tell me what’s going through that impossibly stubborn head of yours. What’s bothering you, Ash?”
Ash was sitting in Doc’s office on her sofa, sipping a soda and still reeling from her interaction with Phyla earlier in the day. She didn’t think any of her thoughts were written on her forehead, so she tried one of her typically unsuccessful attempts at redirecting Doc’s laser-like focus. “There’s just a lot going on at work. I mean, to begin with, that word alone should give you pause. Me at work? Doesn’t that sound just a little bit strange to you?”
Doc sat with her hands folded in her lap. Her legs were stretched out with her feet crossed at the ankles. Her elbows rested comfortably on the chair’s arms, and she looked like she could have been in a Norman Rockwell painting. She was in her rocker today, a thickly padded chair with a rounded back that was similar to any other antique piece of furniture except that it sat perched on top of a spring-loaded device that allowed her to minutely rock back and forth like she was doing right now.
When Doc didn’t respond, Ash tried again, “Well, um, this morning, Phyla and I met with a team from one of my companies that’s continuing with a project Harcourt started. It’s a good team. I feel weird being the one leading the whole thing. Well, really, Phyla’s leading it, but I’m learning as I go.” She glanced up at Doc. “She asked some really great questions I never even thought to ask.”
The slow rocking continued. Ash knew she was toast and gave in, “It’s not something I can talk about.”
