Page 69 of Boss

He pushed up from the table, and walked out. Kassidy was left speechless by his abrupt departure. He was always so smug and confident. What he was now, looked to her to be shaken from his core out. She picked up the bottle of wine and poured her glass to the rim. The lights flickered again, but came back on. She drank the bitter merlot and stared at the lights. She too was shaken.

34.

Kassidy tried to stand. Without realizing it, she had drunk the entire bottle of wine. And she had done so alone. She didn’t know where Tarek had gone off to. She didn’t care.

It took longer than a minute for the room to stop spinning. Kassidy closed her eyes and paced herself. The heavy feel to her consciousness was new. Is this what alcohol did? Make you numb all over. No wonder she never found any appeal in drinking. Once again, she tried to move. She wanted to turn up the television and get a glass of water. When she stepped away from the table her head cleared, but the lights blinked out.

Kassidy screamed.

Total and complete darkness engulfed her. Her hand shot up to her mouth and her eyes stretched. It took a moment but many shadows began to take shape. She could see the main obstacles in the kitchen, but not them all. And the only response to her screaming was the howling wind. The storm had taken on a renewed frenzy. She could hear it force the tree branches to crash and claw at the windows. Why she barely heard it before the lights went out, she didn’t know. But now she had, and she was terrified.

“Tarek?” she said. She glanced back to the open kitchen walkway. It seemed darker outside than inside. Where had he gone off to? “Shit!”

Kassidy extended her hands out in front of her like a blind woman, and began to walk out of the kitchen.

“Tarek? Tarek where are you?” she repeated in a terrified voice.

35.

Alek Marshall was a born again liar, manipulator, womanizer, and corporate snake. But to Tarek Marshall, as a boy, he was his hero. The father he’d always tried to please. In a frenzied state, Tarek emptied the office his father once kept at the ranch. He went through files and folders, checked documents on and about old deals he had made. He groaned when he found nothing but company ledgers that dated back to before he was adopted. Something in his memory sparked. And he needed confirmation of all that he knew. When he found nothing he sulked.

It was then he decided to drink. He plucked a bottle of tequila from the office cabinet and put the small bottle of hot sauce and salt into his pocket. And then there was darkness. The lights blinked off. It was so sudden that he was blinded.

He heard her scream. Maybe he hadn’t heard a scream. He felt numb all over from the drinking. And then she screamed again.

“Tarek! Tarek?” Kassidy said.

Her voice was faint but he heard her. Maybe she’d hurt herself and needed help? He tossed back several big swallows of his tequila and left his father’s office with bottle in hand. He heard her say his name once more. It came from the direction of the kitchen where he left her. He didn’t need light. Not here. Many nights he’d roamed the empty halls of the ranch in the dark. But for a stranger, he could understand how one could be overwhelmed. The hall was long and L-shaped. When he turned the corner she ran directly into him. He swept his arm around her waist and held her up as she let go a startled cry.

“Tarek?”

“Why are you screaming?” he answered.

“I... ok, uhm, the electricity is out,” she panted and tried to push her way out of his embrace. “I was... in the dark.”

He took her hand and walked her back through the kitchen. He set the bottle down on the kitchen island. And then his focus was on her. “You’re afraid of the dark?” he asked in her ear. She was close to him. Close enough for him to once again smell the soap on her skin. He brushed his jaw against hers.

“No,” she said and clung to him instead of pushing away. What happened to the resistance he met at first?

“I’m afraid of the dark,” he said, and buried his face against the side of her neck.

“What are you doing?” she asked and pushed at his arms. He felt arousal stir in his groin. She was so soft. Her body against his was an undeniable treat. And he hadn't forgotten what being between her thighs felt like. He brushed his nose up the column of her neck to the tiny diamond stud piercing her ear. She pushed at his shoulders to be released. She leaned back and her face was now beneath his.

“What are you doing?” she asked again. He smiled and his mouth grazed hers. It wasn’t something he could help. And it wasn’t something he would stop.

Kassidy panicked. She didn't want to go there again with him. The wine made her desires surface and like an addict she wanted another hit. She sucked in a deep breath strength.

“Just a kiss,” he said before his tongue swept in and flicked up and over the roof of her mouth.

“No,” she tried to turn her face away. He forced her face back.

“I want a kiss.” He pulled her up against him and kissed her again, ravished her mouth. He lifted her and sat her on the counter. She found the inner strength to break the spell. She bit his lip and when he winced and drew away she shoved him hard. He blinked. Tarek eyes registered a kind of darkness that made her feel less like a captive and more like his woman. He did however, step back. Kassidy dropped down off the counter.

“Don’t ever do that again without my permission.”

“I’m remember the last time I tried it without your permission,” he said. She glanced back and he had a knife in his hand. “You sure you don’t want to play the game anymore?” Tarek chuckled. As if he would challenge her refusal. She stepped back even further.

“It’s not funny. Go to hell.”

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