Chapter 16
Casey
Over the Atlantic…
Maybe Kat was right, because the spell Joanna had worked on Nate still seemed to be going strong.
He was quiet most of the flight, chatting only briefly with me, and with a few of his employees who were sharing the plane.
He also slept across most of the Atlantic, and so did I.
But we were both awake now and he was more subdued than usual, bordering on sullen.
I certainly didn’t expect him to be a barrel of monkeys, or to be flirtatious with me in front of everyone, but I knew that he wasn’t himself, and that he hadn’t quite yet emerged from his Joanna funk.
He’d been nose-down in his laptop for the last hour as the sun rose across the Atlantic.
His frown was like a cut in my skin. It burned, and I wanted the cure.
I wanted to seal off the pain, and feel good again.
That was wholly selfish, I knew, but there it was.
More so, my heart lurched toward him, and I desperately wanted to ease his mind, to be the one to take him away from this sadness his ex-wife had draped over him.
I could be that person, right? I knew this man, and I knew him even better now that we’d been spending these nights together.
I could be his guide and lead him up and over this mountain of gloom.
There was one surefire way.
I took out my own laptop and opened my email.
A note popped up. Crap. Ethan at Victoria Hotels had emailed me the other week and I’d meant to respond, but then was sidetracked, so I’d flagged the note as important.
With it blaring in my face now, I skimmed the contents: Idea for partnership…
would love to discuss…proposal attached.
I banged out a quick reply simply so I wouldn’t have to keep reminding myself: Promise to look at this in detail shortly! Thanks for thinking of us. More soon.
Then I started a new email. My fingers hovered over the keypad as I screwed up the corner of my lips, trying to figure out where to start. Something dirty. But something funny too. That was a hard combo for Nate to resist.
from: Casey
subject: Dirty Jokes
Knock, knock…
Crossing my legs, I peered at him over the screen of my laptop, waiting for the moment when he opened his email.
He sat across from me, the oak table between us, his COO a few seats over, and a pair of his VPs still sound asleep in their chairs a couple rows near the back.
In the meantime, I clicked open a browser window to look up the open hours for a popular London attraction.
A minute later, he raised his eyes briefly at me. A new email landed in my inbox.
from: Nate
subject: I’ll bite.
Who’s there?
I reined in a grin as I tapped out a reply. Admittedly, knock-knock jokes were not the pinnacle of sophisticated humor. But I had an arsenal of them now, thanks to Mahsa, so why not call on the low-hanging fruit of a knock-knock joke to entertain the man I cared so deeply for?
from: Casey
subject: I approve of your biting.
Gladiator.
from: Nate
subject: Show me the spot where I bit your collarbone yesterday afternoon.
Gladiator who?
A hint of heat bloomed across my cheeks from his subject line command.
I shot him a look that was both flirty and dirty as I subtly tugged at the scoop neck of my soft purple shirt, revealing the spot where he’d bitten down hard during a quickie at my house that involved me in handcuffs, and him putting me under arrest. He raised an eyebrow approvingly, then I returned to my screen.
from: Casey
subject: You like marking me?
He’s gladiator before they screwed.
Nate laughed softly, then looked up. Good one, he mouthed. There’s more where that came from, I said, letting him read my lips too.
from: Nate
subject: Yes, I fucking love marking you.
And more of you coming. There will be more of that very soon.
from: Casey
subject: The other way around
Or maybe more of you coming…very soon.
from: Nate
subject: Tell me more of your plans
It’s getting hard to concentrate in here…
from: Casey
subject: I will tell you and show you
Want to know what I’m thinking of?
from: Nate
subject: Let me guess
What I plan on doing to you tonight?
from: Casey
subject: Wrong guess
Sooner than that. What I plan to do to you this morning.
from: Nate
subject: TELL ME NOW
NEED TO KNOW
from: Casey
subject: Picture this
It involves my lips and your cock.
from: Nate
subject: Image is burned on my brain
That’s a favorite combination of mine. You have been remiss in sucking my dick, incidentally.
from: Casey
subject: Forgive me
I plan to rectify that. Soon.
from: Nate
subject: I will forgive if you suck good and hard
Do you?
from: Casey
subject: Is there any other way?
Yes. Because you only gave me that one taste our first night together, and I want more. I want to feel you lose control for me. Let go for me. I want to taste you sliding down my throat.
from: Nate
subject: No
Can. Not. Think. Straight. Now. All. Blood. Diverted. South. Of. The. Border.
from: Casey
subject: Staring at your hard-on right now, you sexy man
I want your hands in my hair, and I want you deep in my mouth.
from: Nate
subject: You fucking temptress
You are playing with fire, my sweetness. When I get you alone in the room, the things I will do to you will drive you wild with pleasure.
from: Casey
subject: Tempting you is what I like
The things I will do to you.
I snapped my laptop shut, and flashed him a satisfied grin. I had plans for him when we landed. Big plans. A rush of excitement tore through my body. It felt foreign at first, then quite familiar. It was a feeling I hadn’t embraced in a few weeks, but it was one I had loved—being in control in bed.
Even though what I’d planned for him wasn’t going to take place in a bed at all.