The confines of the car put them so close together that he could feel each inhalation of air she took as she breathed. Staring at her pink lips, Nick wondered idly if his breath was now filling her lungs, filling her body with life, and he had the urge to fill her with something more real. He didn’t want to be satisfied with the fact that their appearance impressed vendors and visiting executives in the office. He wanted them to be together, physically.
Nick knew on a basic level that he was trying to hide from the fact that his safe haven, Colette, Inc., had turned into a battleground, but it was more than that. He leaned closer to Lila, not stopping until he could taste the air she was breathing, her lips softening under his, her hand on his arm clutching helplessly at his sleeve.
He knew that he was in for a world of hurt if he pursued her this way. But the world had gone crazy, and the carefully sheltered life he’d built for himself was crumbling. The only thing that looked solid was Lila Maxwell.
Lila moaned deep in her throat and opened her mouth under his. All thoughts of keeping things light and simple vanished. His blood roared in his ears, and his body screamed for more. Her mouth was soft, warm, wet…welcoming on this cold October day.
She clung to him as if the moment had taken her by surprise, too. Her tongue responded shyly to his. It had been forever since a woman hadn’t thrust her own tongue into his mouth before he’d even wanted her there.
Nick pulled her closer, groaning when the gearshift ground into his hip. He pulled away. “Damn.”
Lila stared at him as if she’d never seen him before. Her lips were swollen and her face was flushed. Tendrils of her perfectly styled hair surrounded her heart-shaped face. She was mussed and he wanted her more so.
He wanted that glorious hair spread on his navy pillowcase, those rosy lips swollen from his spent passion. He wanted his sweat and hers drying on their bodies. But he knew he couldn’t put the car in Reverse and take them both to his home where they could spend the day in his king-size bed.
“Damn.”
“You already said that.”
“Some things need repeating.”
Her hands trembled as she tucked the escaped strands back into place. “What happened here, Nick?”
“I want you, Lila.”
“Because of work?” she asked, not looking at him. Instead, she pulled her compact from her purse and repaired her lipstick.
Her armor was back and the dewy woman who’d been next to him just a minute before was gone. In her place was his ultra-efficient secretary. And he resented that. He couldn’t pull out a mirror and makeup and smooth away signs of passion as easily as she had. “Because of you.”
She gulped. “I’m not ready for this. I still think of you as my boss.”
“Well, start thinking of me as your man.”
He opened his door and got out. The air was cold but didn’t cool the heat flowing through him. He wasn’t going to be able to focus on anything in the office except that his wide cherrywood desk was big enough to support the weight of one slender blonde.
Lila met him on the sidewalk and brushed past him. He stopped her with a firm hand on her arm.
“What’s the hurry?”
“I don’t want anyone to see us coming in together.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. At least five people saw me pick you up this morning. And even more saw us pull into the parking lot.”
“True. But I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression.”
“Are you really that concerned with what others think?”
She nodded.
“Don’t be. They aren’t worth your time.”
“You only say that because it’s always the woman who comes out sounding like she’s easy.”
“Trust me, Lila, the last thing you are is easy.”
“I know that, but other women…”
“If anyone says anything to you, tell me and I’ll silence them.”
She smiled. “Like Hannibal?”
“No. Like Dirty Harry.”
“Death?”
“Intimidation.”
“You’re not as scary as you think you are.”
“Neither are you.”
“I’m not trying to scare you,” she said and walked quickly inside the building.
But you are, he thought. Because a part of him was afraid she’d mean more to him than any of the brief affairs he’d had since Amelia’s death two years ago, and that wasn’t in the cards.
Two
The buzz around the office was that Colette, Inc. had a new board member who was planning on making some changes at the top. Lila returned from a quick clerical meeting led by Suzy, the Administrative Assistant in Human Resources, not feeling as upbeat about her job as she had a day ago.
She stowed her purse and tried to concentrate on her work, but the presentation she was creating couldn’t hold her attention.
Dammit!
“Can you come into my office and take a memo?” Nick asked. Anger seethed around him in a cloud. He looked dark and menacing, not like the man who’d been keeping her at arm’s length all day.
Lila saved the file she’d been working on and nodded. She tried not to glance at him as he hovered near her desk. The spicy scent of his cologne surrounded her and she breathed deeply to inhale his scent into her bones.
Bracing his big hands on her desk, he leaned over. His deep-blue eyes usually held boundless energy, but today anger simmered in their depths. She felt it radiating off him in waves. Concerned, she started to rub his hand, to offer him the most basic of human comfort, but then pulled back.
She watched as his eyes left hers to stare at her small hand now only a few inches from his right one on the desk. He’d spent the entire afternoon with the board of directors and, if his body language was correct, then the rumor that Colette was the object of a hostile takeover was true.
Colette, Inc. had proven a safe place for her to build her career and save the money she needed to buy her dream house. The rumored takeover reminded her how much she hated change.
When she’d packed up and moved to Youngsville it was with the intention of staying here forever. First, Nick had started acting like she was the most scrumptious woman he’d seen in years, and now her job was threatened.
It wasn’t so much her role in Colette she worried about losing. It was her apartment. The homey place at Amber Court had given her the grounding she needed to find her own feet, to shape her own image away from her mother. And suddenly that looked as if it might be taken away.
“What’s up?”
“I’d rather not discuss it out here.”
Her stomach clenched, and she felt much the same as she had on that day in high school when the guy she’d been waiting for three years to be asked out by had told her that he’d only done so because she was considered easy.
“I’ll be right in.”
Nick straightened and then deliberately brushed his fingertip over the back of her knuckles. Her breath caught as electric tingles pulsed through her body. She’d spent so many hours at her desk wondering if she’d just imagined his attraction to her, but now she knew it wasn’t a fantasy.
For a tense moment they stared at each other. Lila’s breasts felt full and her lips were suddenly dry. She licked them. Nick tracked the movement and started to lean closer to her.
Down the hall an office door closed loudly. Nick stood and walked into his office without another word.
“Oh, my God!” Lila said. She had to transfer out of this office before she completely lost all of her common sense. She fingered the brooch Rose had given her before she left for work. It was beautiful, and Lila had found herself taking it off to look at it several times today. In fact, it seemed to glow a little more brightly whenever she touched it. Rose had said it had always brought her luck. Lila had the feeling she needed more help than this brooch could bring her.
She signed out of the local area network, or the LAN, and removed her laptop from its docking station. Nick’s office ov
erlooked Lake Michigan. Tonight, the view was dark and menacing. Being a Florida girl she didn’t care for all the cold weather, but the changing leaves had been beautiful. After a year and a half here, she still hadn’t acclimated herself to the Indiana weather.
Lila set her laptop on the corner of Nick’s desk. He was hunched over his own computer, probably checking e-mail, she thought. Tension radiated from him, and she wanted to touch him, to massage those broad shoulders until he leaned back in his big executive chair and smiled at her.
Of course, he never really smiled at her. Sometimes when they’d completed a really tough project, he’d give her one of his half-smiles, and she’d feel a deep longing inside to make him really happy. But she never did. Sleeping with the boss was the one thing she’d never do. Except this morning things between them had changed. Her dreams were slowly becoming reality. The actions she’d always longed to take were now presenting themselves to her.
“Ready, Lila?”
She swallowed and blocked her train of thought. “Almost.”
She powered on her computer. “Should we close the blinds?”
“Why, afraid someone might see us alone together in here?” There was a biting edge to his words.
“Not afraid exactly.” She’d never been afraid of any man since most of them turned and ran when life got tough. She knew she was strong and could take all they had to give. But she always tried to keep a part of herself secret. And Nick was harder to hide from than anyone else.
“Trust me, Lila. Everyone knows your reputation. Anyone who might see us will know we are only working.”
Stung, she busied herself at the computer, pulling up the company memo template and readying herself to do her job. His words shouldn’t have hurt, she thought. After all, their relationship was that of boss and secretary. But the words did hurt.
“I’m ready, Nick.”
“Lila…”
She glanced up, hoping he’d attribute the tears in her eyes to the late hour.
“Never mind.”
They’d been carefully treading around one another since that night two short weeks ago when Jayne had interrupted a moment that had almost gone too far. She’d wanted so badly to taste his lips on hers. To feel that rock-hard body that he worked at keeping in shape pressed against her own. To experience for once in her lonely little life the touch of real passion.
“The memo should go to all staff in the Marketing Division.”
“Just our team or domestic, too?”
“Domestic, too. I’m handling this announcement.”
“Promotion?” she asked hopefully.
“I wish it were.”
“Subject?”
“Grey Enterprises,” he said, pacing across the room and stopping in front of the Zen rock garden that he adjusted every day or so.
Uh-oh, she thought. Nick’s deep-blue eyes reflected the frustration and anger in his tone.
“Dammit,” he said under his breath.
“Nick?”
“Have you heard the rumors of a takeover, Lila?”
“Yes, but I’m sure they are unfounded.”
“They aren’t.”
Shock rumbled through her, and for a minute she saw herself back in that duplex she’d grown up in. The government-subsidized housing that had been her world until she’d gone to trade school and accepted this job. She saw herself back in that world she’d struggled so hard to get out of. She saw her dreams slowly dying and vowed that she’d do whatever it took to prevent that from happening.
“What the hell should I say to the staff? Don’t worry, we’re not going to let you lose your job?”
“I don’t know. Is that true?”
“Hell, I wish I knew.”
Lila’s hands started to shake and she realized that this wasn’t just change happening around her. This was the sky falling in. This was—
“Don’t worry, Lila. Clerical staff is hardly ever let go. VPs on the other hand…”
“No one’s going to fire you, Nick.”
“Lila, sometimes you are naive.”
She wanted to argue, but knew that to a suave sophisticated man like Nick Camden, she must seem a little small-townish. “But the board loves you.”
“We might have a new board member.”
“Grey Enterprises?”
“Yes. Marcus Grey, their CEO, has bought eight percent of the common shares on the market. He is now the fourth-largest stock holder.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Whatever we can to survive. I’ve worked too damn hard to give this up without a fight.”
He still stood with his back to her, searching, it seemed, for answers in his Zen garden. She stood, set her laptop on the chair and crossed to him. All her protective instincts told her to cradle this man in her arms. To comfort him and draw strength from the comfort he could offer her.
She knew it was dangerous, though. Nick held her dreams captive, what would happen if she gave him the keys to her reality?
“What can I do to help you?”
He pivoted on his heel and faced her. His deep-blue gaze brushed over her, and when he spoke his voice was huskier than usual. He moved a few paces closer. She could feel his body heat and started to back away. But something in his eyes challenged her to stay where she was.
“For me personally?” he asked.
For work, she wanted to say, but knew that wasn’t true. Her words caught in her throat and she could only nod.
“Let me hold you.”
She wasn’t sure he’d really spoken. It was just like the dream she’d had the night before, in which he’d asked her to come into his office and then made passionate love to her.
“What?”
“I know all about sexual harassment and this has nothing to do with your job.”
“Just hold me?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
She waited.
“I’m going to kiss you, too.”
She didn’t hesitate to close the gap between them. She knew he was reaching out, as everyone in the office had been today. Just searching for some comfort in this time that had become troubled. But deep in her heart, as he lowered his head, Lila hoped it meant something more. Just a little bit more to him.
Nick knew that he was manipulating the situation, taking advantage of Lila because she was weak and vulnerable right now. But he’d wanted her for a long time. He didn’t look too closely at himself because he didn’t want to admit he had any of those feelings. The last time he’d felt this shaken was when Amelia had been diagnosed with cancer.
He brushed her lips lightly with his. She tasted like a bittersweet fruit and he wanted more. She sighed as his tongue slid past the barrier of her lips and teeth, learning the inside of her mouth.
Her hands clutched at the back of his neck and all semblance of control vanished. His groin hardened almost painfully. He clutched Lila’s hips in his hands and held her closer to his lower body, feeling her move slightly. He thrust against her, sharpening the sensations in him.
He knew that Lila wasn’t like the women he’d dated in the past, other executives from outside firms who were hardened by life and more cynical. No, Lila was different. She baked bread for the office when morale was low. She offered life, he realized, and though he knew he couldn’t have it forever, he wanted a small slice of it for himself. He needed to believe for a few moments that he wasn’t alone in the world.
Nick wanted to be a tender dream lover, but his body was on overdrive and he held on to his control by a string. His hands shook with the need to touch all of her. The low lighting in his office cast the room in a comforting glow. He loosened the buttons on her blouse, and met her clear gaze with his own.
No matter how badly he wanted this, he wasn’t going to push Lila to move too quickly. He didn’t analyze why.
“Okay?” he asked, dipping one finger beneath her collar.
She nodded.
He released another button. Her skin was
smooth and creamy, like the finest satin sheets. He leaned down to drop kisses on the flesh he’d exposed.
She shivered, her fingers tunneling in his hair and holding him close to her. He quickly opened the remaining buttons and stood back. Taking her wrists in his hands he held her arms away from her body. The bodice of her shirt fell open. A scrap of red satin and lace covered her breasts.
It enraged his senses the way nothing else ever had. It wasn’t right that a bra meant for sin should be on her sweet body, but at the same time it was perfect. There was no other undergarment that could do this body justice.
He deftly opened the front closure of her bra. A quick intake of breath was her response. Deliberately, he bent and took the edge of the right cup between his teeth and slowly pulled the fabric away from her skin.
The stubble on his jaw scraped against her skin and she lifted her chest slightly. Her hands weren’t as subtle, directing him to her nipple.
“Please,” she said.
“Hell, yes.”
He nibbled on her hardened flesh before suckling her deep in his mouth. She held him tight to her body and blood engorged his sex, making him so hard and full he thought he’d explode before he moved on.
The slow pace he was trying to set evaporated. He took Lila’s mouth as he planned to take her. Hard, swift but with infinite care, and he lifted her, carrying her to the cherrywood desk. He set her on its surface and slid his hands under her skirt.
He cursed when he found her warm, wet and wanting. Damn. He needed to fill her. To feel that humid heat on him. To revel in the fact that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
His tongue thrust deeper into her mouth. Needing to deeply embed her essence on every one of his senses, he pulled her panty hose down over hips and legs. He wrenched his mouth from hers.
Urging her to lean back on the desk, support her own weight on her elbows, he spread her before him like a sensual feast. Her blouse fell away from her body exposing her flushed breasts with their hardened tips. Her skirt bunched at her waist revealing panties that matched her bra. His pulse jumped higher, and he couldn’t breath until he’d tasted her intimately.
Some Kind 0f Incredible (20 Amber Court Book 2) Page 2
