Naughty (26 page)

When they reached the bedroom, he laid her down on the comforter, took off her clothes, buried his head between her legs, and munched her out. Naomi pushed his head down farther, so that his tongue was directly on her pleasure point. He responded by sucking and licking her clit.

“Oh, baaabby, yes!” she cried out in ecstasy.

After Jacob ate his wife out, he made love to her like never before. His renewed appetite for her was a direct result of the guilt he was feeling from screwing a hooker. In his mind, making love to his wife canceled out his nasty indiscretion, and now he felt vindicated, as if the London affair had never happened.

After their lovefest, Jacob held her close, and Naomi totally forgot about confronting him about cheating.

Good dick could make a woman forget about nearly anything, and that was exactly what Jacob was counting on.

JACOB AND
Mira were wrapping up their meeting, and it was business as usual, except Mira had a burning question. She had been dying to ask Jacob what had happened in London, but Nina had also been in the meeting. As soon as she left, Mira whispered, “Well, was she all that or what?”

Jacob blushed. “Yeah, she was all that and a firecracker. But I tore up the number,” he said, stacking the numerous FACEZ folders.

“Why’d you do that?”

Jacob turned toward the door, making sure it was closed, and said, “Between you and me, I’ve fucked around occasionally, but never with an escort. Don’t get me wrong, it was a night I won’t soon forget, but . . .” His words trailed off, as if he were deep in thought.

“But what?” Mira asked, inching closer to him so that she could hear better.

“When does it end? At first, I started messing around with women at bars when I was out of town, but then that got old. Now
I’m flying to another country and hiring drug-addicted prostitutes,” he said, thinking about how the redhead needed to pop some X before having sex. “If I don’t put a stop to this now, I’m afraid the bar will keep getting raised, and at some point, I’m bound to get busted. My family is too high of a price to pay for my pleasure. Besides, Naomi and I used to have a healthy sex life and I plan to get that back on track.” Having the experience with the hooker, and being outside of himself for that moment, made Jacob realize that lust was a dangerous emotion. If he didn’t snap back to reality and understand that just because a woman bore a child it didn’t mean that her vagina was now sacred and untouchable, then he would lose his wife and the family he cherished. And after the heated sex he and Naomi had the night before, he was convinced that he could erase the picture of her giving birth from his mind once and for all.

“Good for you.” She smiled. “Most men would order from the take-out menu, as well as eat at home.”

“As appetizing as the take-out menu is, I now prefer a home-cooked meal. Besides, I’ve scheduled a session with a sex therapist to make sure my libido stays focused on my wife,” Jacob said, like a man with a renewed sense of purpose.

The conference phone rang, interrupting their conversation.

“Mr. Reed, Nigel Charles is calling for Ms. Rhone,” said Jacob’s assistant through the speakers.

“Do you mind? I’ve been expecting his call for the past week. I’m anxious to hear the outcome of his latest report. Put him through,” Mira instructed.

“Hey there, Nigel, tell me something good.”

He was silent for a few seconds, and then said solemnly, “In that case I have nothing to say.”

“So, you’re telling me the lab didn’t yield the results from the shea pods that we were looking for?” She leaned back in her chair. “Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

“Basically,” he said matter-of-factly. “I thought we could
salvage the formulas that we had already worked on for the new line, but we’re going to have to start over from square one.”

“That’s exactly what we were trying to avoid.” She exhaled loudly. “If we start over, the product won’t be on the shelves until next year at the earliest and by that time BOD E.’s children’s line will be off and running. And I don’t plan on playing catch-up. What happened to salvaging the initial formula? At our last meeting, you told me we were looking at a week, two tops. What happened to that time frame?”

“What I told you was that I wouldn’t know what we were dealing with until I reanalyzed the formula. And now that I have the lab results back, I can say unequivocally that we have to scrap the old formula and start over.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I wish I were, but the truth of the matter is, in our haste to rush to market, we overlooked one crucial element.”

“And what might that be? You said the line tested well in the lab; now please tell me, Nigel, what crucial element did
you
overlook?” she asked, in measured tones.

“The shea pods that we shipped in from Ghana are incompatible with the base formula. Their acidity level is too high for the children’s line.”

“And why is this fact just coming to light? Those pods should have been analyzed and approved months ago!” she yelled into the speaker sitting on the conference-room table.

“The junior chemist that we hired last quarter mistakenly tested the pods for the adult line, which, when combined with that formula, yielded positive results,” he explained.

“Now I’m confused.” She shook her head back and forth in frustration. “How could you give an assistant that type of responsibility?”

“I was traveling and as per
your
request,
you
wanted to get a jump-start on the new line, so I delegated.”

“Nigel, this is totally unacceptable!” She pounded the desk. “Who is this new chemist anyway? I don’t remember approving a new hire,” she said, refusing to take any of the blame for the snafu.

“His name is Henry Bishop and you not only interviewed him, you raved over his credentials,” he reminded her.

She waved her hand in midair. “That’s neither here nor there. From this point on, I want you to personally oversee this project and not delegate, not even the smallest detail to anyone. Is that understood?”

“Understood.”

“So what’s this blunder going to cost in terms of time?”

“Mira, I know your plan was to beat BOD E. to market, but the most we can hope for at this point is to meet them at market. In other words, our product debut will probably coincide with their new line.”

“There’s time left on the clock and with any luck we’ll still beat them to market,” she responded optimistically, refusing to concede to the competition.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Nigel said with certainty.

“Why are you being so negative? Don’t you want to beat BOD E. to market, or do you still have a sense of loyalty to Rob Sherr?”

“Rob Sherr?”

“Yeah, your old boss at BOD E. I’m sure you remember that asshole.” Mira despised Rob. She had suspected him of trying to infiltrate FACEZ with spies to steal their trade secrets, but she never could find concrete proof. “If you’re harboring some type of secret devotion to him, you can hit the road and hightail it back to that second-rate company!” she shouted, without mincing words.

“I’m hurt that you could even think that,” he said in a low register, barely audible through the speaker. “Have I ever given you any reason to doubt my loyalty?”

“No, but—”

“No buts,” he cut her off. “Mira, either you trust me or you don’t.”

“I’m sorry. Nigel, I didn’t mean to offend you,” she said, harnessing her anger. “I’m just upset that’s all. GG had faith in you and so do I.”

“Does that mean I have total autonomy over the new line?” he asked, knowing full well the answer.

“You know the control freak that I am. I could never relinquish total control.” She chuckled, lightening the mood. “Take care of this R & D issue and I’ll try to be patient and not hound you every day.”

“Just every other day,” he joked.

“Ha, ha. Very funny,” she said without cracking a smile. “Just keep me in the loop and I won’t have to bug you.”

“Consider it done. I should have an updated report on your desk within the next week.”

“Thanks, Nigel,” she said, depressing the end call button. “This entire process is taking far too long.” She exhaled. “Though he’s a gifted chemist, I’m beginning to doubt Nigel’s abilities,” she said, telling Jacob her true feelings. “We should be in the final phase of development instead of reinventing the wheel. The thought of BOD E. beating us to market, with their inferior line, makes me want to rupture a vessel.” She rubbed her temples. “For years, FACEZ has been the forerunner in the cosmetics industry with BOD E. a distant second. Now for the first time in decades, they’re in a position to take the lead, and I just can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen!”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Nigel will come through for you,” Jacob said, trying to comfort her. “Sounds like you could use a drink.”

“You’re right.” She suddenly looked exhausted.

“Why don’t you call Tyler? I’m sure she could use a night out as well. Every time I come home, she’s up in her room working. That girl never seems to get out.”

“That’s a good idea,” Mira said, pushing the buttons on the speakerphone.

“Hello?” answered a female voice.

“Naomi?”

“Yes.”

“This is Mira. How are you?”

“Hey there, Mira, I’m fine, and you?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Well, I certainly hope you’re not calling to cancel the book club meeting. I’m really looking forward to it,” she said in a cheery voice.

At the sound of his wife’s voice through the speaker, Jacob perked up and listened closely. Judging from her upbeat tone, he surmised that Naomi was still swooning from their heated lovemaking.

“No, no, the meeting is still on. Actually I was calling to speak to Tyler. Is she in?” Mira asked.

“Hold on. She’s right here.”

“Hello?”

“Hi, Tyler, this is Mira.”

“Oh, hi!” She seemed thrilled to hear from Mira.

“I’m calling to see if you want to meet for a drink?” she asked.

“I would love to, but I can’t tonight. I have a deadline looming, and don’t want to fall behind.”

“Well, I wasn’t necessarily talking about tonight,” Mira lied. She didn’t want to seem desperate. “Maybe one day next week.”

“That sounds great.” Tyler couldn’t wait to meet with Mira one-on-one. They really didn’t have a chance to talk at the book club.

“Okay, I’ll give you a call then,” Mira said, and hung up.

“What did I tell you?” Jacob said. “She’s always working.”

“Not a problem. I totally understand,” Mira said, and rose to leave.

Once she was gone, Jacob gathered the file folders, but couldn’t get Naomi’s chipper voice out of his mind. He had banked that their lovemaking would make her forget about his impromptu London trip, and after hearing her voice he was certain that it had, or at least he hoped so.

KENNEDY HAD
only spoken to Nigel once since their fiasco of a lunch, and during that call, he had rushed her off the phone, saying that he was heading into a meeting, and that he would call her back later that night, which he didn’t. She tried not to take it personally, since she knew how busy he was trying to develop the formula for a new skin care line. They hadn’t talked about it in detail, but she had overheard enough of his phone calls to surmise that he was up to his neck with deadlines. She wanted to erase her schizophrenic behavior at lunch, so she called and invited him over to her place to make up. Kennedy didn’t like that he had walked away that day upset with her, and she wanted desperately to make amends. She didn’t want to lose him, and realized that it was time she gave him the prize inside her Cracker Jack box. Nigel accepted, but told her that it would have to be an early evening, since he was still under a strict deadline.

Kennedy spent the better part of the afternoon at the market shopping for dinner. She’d planned to make broiled lamb chops,
potatoes au gratin, broccoli rabe, and for dessert a triple-layer German chocolate cake with freshly grated coconut—her grandmother’s recipe. She wanted tonight to be perfect, so she took the extra time to bake.

After setting the table, Kennedy went into the bathroom to pamper herself for an evening of decadent indulgence. If she was lucky, dessert wouldn’t be the only thing that Nigel would be feasting on. In the shower, she slathered on a foaming body wash and shaved in between hidden crevices, getting rid of all unwanted hairs, so
dessert
would be follicle-free. She grabbed a fluffy terry-cloth towel off the rack, once she stepped out of the shower, and patted herself dry. Her skin felt as smooth as a newborn’s as she rubbed on a rich fragrant lotion, and then layered it with the matching perfume, spritzed in all the right places—behind the ears, the back of the calves, and in between the thighs.

What to wear?
she thought, standing in the doorway of her closet. She didn’t want to wear anything too formal, nor did she want to come to the door looking like a stripper in a G-string and boa. She definitely wanted to indicate to him that tonight was
the
night. She didn’t want to give mixed signals, especially after the lunch debacle.

“Ah, this is perfect,” Kennedy said aloud, taking a black silk wrap dress off the hanger. Normally, she wore the dress with a one-piece bodysuit, but tonight, for obvious reasons, she decided to go commando—sans underwear—for easy access. Kennedy slipped on the dress, tied it around her waist, and walked over to the full-length mirror. “Perfect,” she commented, admiring the sexy imprint of her ripe nipples underneath the thin silk fabric. “They look good enough to eat.” She giggled, slipped on a pair of five-inch CFM pumps, and strutted out of the bedroom, ready to bag her man.

The doorbell rang the minute she took the lamb chops out of the oven. Before going to the door, she quickly took an ice cube out of the freezer, reached inside the dress, and rubbed the cold
cube across her bare nipples, creating the ultimate tweak. Kennedy threw the ice in the sink and sauntered to the door.