A small lamp in the corner was the only thing illuminating the hotel room as Alec and I broke a new record on how fast we could undress each other. His slacks and the black boots he often wore under them laid in a pile on the floor beside his shirt and jacket. Not far from those were my heels and dress.

We tumbled onto the queen mattress in a rush of moans and gasps. His hands slid up and down my sides, grabbing my hips and squeezing soft, yet firmly. A pleasured sigh left my lips at the feeling of his teeth grazing over my neck. He bit down gently, sending a wave of desire through my body to my core. I desperately wanted him. He was effortlessly driving my senses crazy.

Alec's lips trailed a mix of sweet and spicy kisses over my jawline, nipping every so often as he made his way to my earlobe, biting softly, and then setting my hormones on fire with slow, lingering presses of his lips to my neck and down my chest. My body moved whether I wanted it to or not. My back involuntarily arched when his mouth reached one of my nipples while one of his hands slid between my thighs. His tongue and fingertips teased me mercilessly until I was a writhing, begging mess of gasps and moans.

Alec continued to kiss his way down my body, making my desire burn wilder with every unexpected flick of his tongue. I hadn't been that turned on since we'd sneaked off to his car after a local entrepreneurial event a few weeks back.

He inched his way down slower than I wanted him to, knowing it would put me right on the edge of losing my mind. The room temperature suddenly felt twenty degrees hotter as I panted at the feeling of him expertly dragging my black lacy panties down with his teeth.

He tugged the thin material over my thighs to my knees, pausing to replace his mouth with his fingers. He yanked my underwear the rest of the way over my legs and tossed them aside with the rest of our clothing. I took the opportunity to sit up, sliding my fingers in the waistband of his very revealing boxers. His breathing became more shallow while I placed fiery kisses to his neck, shoulder, and the top of his chest. I pulled back, gazing seductively into those stunning blue eyes. Alec watched me intently as I dragged his boxers down equally as slowly as he'd pulled my panties off. He bit his lip, anxious for me to hurry up.

"Don't do that." My voice came out quieter than I meant for it to.

He cocked an eyebrow, kicking his boxers to the side. "Why's that, Bree?"

My arms snaked around his neck, bringing our faces closer together. My eyes traveled from his to his mouth and back up. "Because it makes me want to bite your lip," I whispered, our lips almost touching.

He smirked. He was proud of the effect he had over me. "Do it then."

And I did. Our lips meshed together in a heated kiss and quickly escalated to another steamy make out session. Our teeth and tongues grazed over each other's lips in a passionate, lecherous wave of need. I ran my fingers through the back of his hair, tugging softly at the ends when I captured his lower lip between my teeth. I bit down gently, yet firmly enough to let him know I was in charge at the moment. He groaned against my lips, pressing his forehead to mine while his hands found their way to my thighs. He began to ignite my nerves, his hand slipping between my legs, his middle finger lightly running back and forth over my most sensitive spot, only increasing how wet I was for him. I felt like fireworks were shooting through my body, setting every nerve ending on fire as I began to pant again.

My dominance was short-lived. Alec pushed me back on the bed and my legs instinctively parted, wrapping around his waist to keep him there, unable to pull away. He pinned my wrists above my head, his lips teasing my neck a few more times before I felt him start to enter me. I was beyond ready for him. Aroused was an understatement. He had no trouble at all thrusting inside me.

I desperately wanted to touch him, whimpering in protest at his hand holding my arms in place. After a couple minutes he got the memo, releasing me from his strong grasp and resting his forearms on either side of my head while he continued a quick, steady pace, pushing into me, sending wave after wave of pleasure through my body.

I raised my arms, one hand gripping his bicep for support and the other playing with the back of his sweat-soaked hair. Low groans left his mouth, his thrusts becoming uneven. I knew he was getting close to the edge, as was I. I gasped when he began to thrust harder and faster, the pleasure only building with every move of our bodies. The way his bicep flexed beneath my fingers with each motion only increased the lightening coursing through my veins at the sight and feeling of the flawless man on top of me.

My legs around his waist and my hand on his arm tightened their grasps. He placed feverish kisses on my neck, occasionally biting at my earlobe until he gave his final few thrusts. Moans of pleasure erupted from both of us as his body collapsed on top of mine. Our breathing came in gasps and deep sighs. I temporarily thought I wouldn't be able to get my breathing under control.

Alec rolled onto his back beside me. As usual, we stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes while we attempted to regain composure. No words were said but we both were in sexual heaven.

Alec turned his head to look at me. I could feel his cool breath against my cheek and rolled onto my side, locking eyes with him. Sometimes I thought it was a shame we were just friends with benefits. He was probably the sweetest guy I knew - when he wanted to be, that is. He had a sarcastic sense of humor that I couldn't get enough of. Not to mention he was jaw dropping-ly gorgeous and incredible in bed. Sometimes I wondered how different things might have been if we'd decided to take the relationship route instead of the spicy, sexy friendship one. I shrugged off the thought, knowing he'd probably never even consider it. It wasn't worth mentioning and I was probably wasting my time letting it cross my mind.

Alec had never been the relationship type. He'd had two stable girlfriends his entire life and even those romances had only lasted about three months each. Alec just didn't like being held down to someone. That's why I was surprised when he suggested we be friends with benefits. I was shocked he could stick with one friend with benefits at a time.

"You alright?" he asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

I nodded, brushing away his question and quickly falling into a dreamless sleep.

When Monday morning rolled around, I was exhausted and in dire need of a caffeine IV. My lunch hour was being pushed to two o'clock due to Sean Ashworth deciding I needed to deliver my presentation at noon while he was taking his lunch break, because obviously his time was more important than mine in his mind, and therefore did not require his secretary asking me if noon was a good time for me or not. How respectful and professional of him, I sarcastically thought.

Ten minutes before noon I shuffled into the boardroom at Corbin and Hilliard with a projector for my slideshow and two poster boards I'd had the local print shop make for me out of some ideas I'd provided them on a couple 8x11's. Though I refused to admit it to anyone, I was nervous and anxious, not only to hear what Sean had to say but also to get it over with. I'd never liked making presentations. I wasn't good with audiences.

My coworker, Renee, set up the video chat and the discomfort in my stomach increased when Sean's balding head and wispy eyebrows popped on the screen.

"Good mor-" I started to greet him nicely but was immediately silenced.

"Alright. Let's get on with it," he ordered as he stuffed his mouth with what looked like shrimp cocktail.

"Can this guy get any ruder?" Renee whispered where Sean couldn't hear.

I nodded, knowing full well it wouldn't be the last time he insulted me during our meeting.

I adjusted the computer where Sean could see the poster boards beside me. When Margaret had called initially, she'd informed Corbin and Hilliard that part of what Sean was looking for were flyer and poster-type advertisements that Rutherford Laurence could have displayed in Times Square, outside Wrigley Field, along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and various other popular tourist attractions, as well as in hospitals and other high foot-traffic locations.

The first poster board had a picture of Renee with her two-month old son, Henry, sitting on her lap in the grass at a park. They were both smiling and looked happy and healthy with two bottles of water and an open picnic basket containing fruit and sandwiches made with whole wheat bread. Usually Corbin and Hilliard hired actors and models to do these types of photos but I thought Renee and Henry were the perfect mother and son, one hundred percent photogenic. It seemed to fit perfectly. Also on the board were the logos of some companies that were cosponsoring the campaign, along with Rutherford Laurence's logo and the campaign tagline, healthier is happier.

The second poster board had a picture of an elderly couple we'd hired holding hands and smiling as they walked along the beach. Both posters listed Rutherford's number, website and other things you'd normally see on an ad like that. For being thrown together without a lot of planning, I thought they'd both turned out pretty good.

Sean kept a frown on his face the entire time I showed them to him and explained why I'd designed them the way I had. I was sure he was going to tell me he hated both of them. His looked very uninterested. Actually, he looked constipated.

I paused, giving him the opportunity to divulge his opinion but he said nothing. I decided to go ahead with my slideshow, which was basically a still version of a commercial idea. With it being October, the holidays were right around the corner and Sean wanted to take full advantage of every chance to put a Healthier Is Happier commercial on during the major networks' shows that millions of people watch every year. My slideshow consisted of pictures I'd taken of models we'd hired running, dancing, and sitting around a patio table with friends, drinking water. There was a shot of a mom cooking dinner that had a lot of vegetables in it, and so on. Throughout the slideshow was information about the Healthier Is Happier campaign, keeping Rutherford Laurence's logo in the bottom right corner until the end when it appeared in the center of the screen.

Sean's expression hadn't changed, nor had his disgusting idea of how many shrimp were appropriate to shove in his mouth at the same time.

After a long pause and no opinion from him, I finally spoke up. "Well, that's what we have so far and-"

"Trash the commercial proposal." Sean pointed a shrimp tail at me. "And those boards need some serious graphic design updating. I'll have Margaret call you with my notes and you'll have a week to give me a new commercial and better artwork. Then maybe we'll talk."

The video feed disappeared and I flopped back in the chair with a groan. "Are you kidding me?" I looked to Renee who was equally peeved.

I knew what I was getting into when I decided to build a career in the advertising world, but nothing could've prepared me for how badly I would want to rip the remainder of Sean Ashworth's hair out and throw his toupee down a garbage disposal.

Can we grab lunch? I texted Alec. I'm pissed and starving.

His reply came faster than I expected. That's not a good combination. Sure.