An Innocent Halloween (Holiday Heat Book 1)

by Katy Kaylee

  I had a feeling that I’d offended her by suggesting that her boss had feelings for her. Honestly, my own attraction to Claire aside, I thought that it was only fair that I warn her. Women were taken advantage of by their male bosses all the time. Men in the workplace could be awful. I wanted her to be prepared. Especially since she was younger and it seemed to me that she hadn’t had a ton of experience in the social aspects of life.

  Well, if she wasn’t going to heed my warning, that wasn’t my problem, as frustrating as it might be and as… well, as worried as I might be. It was her choice to trust her boss or not, not mine.

  Still, this meeting with Claire could, hopefully, smooth things over. I didn’t want things to be awkward between us. I didn’t want Claire to feel like she had to cut every interaction between us short. I wanted her to be able to relax around me, no matter what else happened.

  I went down to her office, fighting the urge to stop into the bathroom and double-check my appearance. I took care to dress smart and look nice even if I was just going to the hospital. I wanted Tabitha to see that I cared about how I presented myself to her. I wanted her to feel like I cared and took time to look good for her. Kids needed to feel like their parents cared about them and put time and effort in for them.

  So yeah, I looked nice. I looked fine. There was no need for me to be double-checking my reflection in the mirror real quick like I was some kind of high school kid about to go and see his prom date. What was wrong with me? I was never nervous around women. I was the suave one. Even if I’d been in sweats and a ratty old t-shirt I would’ve been able to pick up any woman I wanted.

  Claire, though… she gave me the impression that nothing but the absolute best would get her to turn her head, to actually do anything with a guy.

  When I got to her office, the door was slightly ajar. I knocked anyway, just to be safe.

  “Come in,” she called softly.

  Her voice was so soft whenever she was talking to anyone besides me. I wanted to get her to talk to me softly like that, instead of with that hard, icy edge, just businesslike enough that I couldn’t call her out on it but definitely far from friendly.

  As I entered, I noticed what a tidy and well-organized office this was. There were diplomas and other academic awards neatly arranged on a set of shelves and hanging on the wall behind the desk. The desk itself had a very orderly filing system, a picture of an older woman who looked a lot like Claire—her mother perhaps—and a paperweight.

  The whole thing was very tidy. Too tidy, if you asked me. There was no real sense of Claire’s personality in here. Now, this wasn’t her home, sure, but if you spent all of your time in a place then you wanted to give it little bits of yourself, didn’t you? Especially if it was a job that you were so passionate about, a job that you really made your career. Hell, even if you were stuck in a cubicle at a job you did just to pay the bills and not out of love, surely you wanted to spice things up a bit so that you didn’t have to just be surrounded by drab walls all day.

  Take my office, for instance. My office was probably the place I spent the most time aside from the boardroom. My office had some paintings in it that I’d picked out specifically. It had knickknacks on the bookshelves, and I had various pictures on my desk, not just the one. People who came into my office got a sense of who I was, they got a taste of my personality. Sure, Claire couldn’t do all the things with her office that I had. I could pick out what paint I wanted my office walls to be because, well, I owned the damn place. I was the CEO. But she could still do something to make it her own.

  If you asked me, this was the biggest indicator yet for how buttoned-up Claire was. It was like her job and her patients was all that she had. A job was all well and good. And I was glad that she cared so much about the kids in her care. But she needed more than that in her life. Everyone did.

  I wanted so badly to be the person who undid those buttons. The person who helped her to relax and cut loose, let her hair down. I wanted to see her laugh and smile, to see her actually act like she was getting some enjoyment out of her life.

  I wanted her naked, writhing underneath me with abandon. No more of that tight-laced attitude about her. Just her whimpers and moans as she thrust up into my fingers, or my cock, or even both, her voice gone high-pitched and desperate as she begged me to let her come.

  My body flushed with heat and I could feel my cock getting a little stiff just imagining it. God, it was so tempting to just walk over and kiss her. I could see it in my mind’s eye, bending her over the desk, spanking that sweet ass, fucking her until she screamed.

  Claire looked singularly impressed to see me standing there, but like she was also trying to be professional. “Mr. Conner, please, close the door and take a seat.” Her voice was back in that hard-edged mode the way it got when she was talking to me.

  I closed the door behind me and took the seat across the desk from her. Claire was wearing her usual doctor’s attire. What I wouldn’t give to see her in something more casual.

  “How’s Tabitha?” she asked. Her face and voice softened a little as she spoke about her.

  “Good, just put her down for a nap. We’ve been picking out Halloween costumes.”

  Claire gave a small smile and I felt like I’d won a battle. “She’s a lively kid. And she seems to be responding well to the treatment.”

  “I can hear the ‘but’ lurking in your tone, Dr. Montague.” I made large, risky business deals for a living. I knew when someone was holding back some bad news.

  Claire sighed. “I just… don’t want you to be too optimistic. Not that I think Tabitha’s chances are bad or anything. But people in these situations often get worse before they get better. I want you to be prepared that we’ll start to see what looks like a turn for the worse over the next few weeks. That thing will be… very difficult, for both of you. It’s hard to only be able to stand there and watch, I know, and I want you to be… ready for it. As best you can.”

  “No one can really be ready for watching their kid go through something like this.”

  “No, you’re right. But we can try.” Claire gave me a small, bittersweet smile. I wondered briefly how many parents she’d had to give this talk to, or an even worse talk.

  “Don’t worry, Dr. Montague, I’m prepared.” Even as I said those words, I told myself that it would be fine. That it wouldn’t happen with Tabitha—that she wouldn’t take a bad turn. She was doing so well already and she was a trooper. Always cheerful, always ready to go. Tabitha was a strong kid. She’d pull through just fine. I was sure that Claire and all the other doctors in the hospital would be shocked at how well Tabitha took everything. After all, she’d been surprising me since the day I’d taken her in.

  Claire nodded, brushing her hair behind her ear. I swallowed, my throat dry. She had such thick, rich hair, the kind I could so easily get a handful of and tug on, and I wanted to bury my nose in it, get the smell through my body. I wanted to brush my mouth along behind her ear, see if it made her shiver, kiss just below it and see if it made her arch against me.

  God, she was so distracting. My head was in a whirl around her, like I’d been intoxicated, and all she’d done was tuck her damn hair out of her face. I was a mess. It was like that the whole goddamn meeting. I listened attentively as I could, but Claire kept glancing at me up through her lashes, biting her lip, playing with her hair—sometimes her fingers would trail down her throat and I could feel my pants getting too tight, my heartrate spiking, my hands clenching around my knees to keep myself from touching her.

  It was like I’d been set on fire. I couldn’t tell if it was because I couldn’t have her, couldn’t flirt with her like I could most other women, and it was the forbidden aspect of it that made her so attractive to me, or if it was just that I hadn’t been with anyone since adopting Tabitha and taking care of her, or if it was just who Claire was, her natural energy… or some combination of all three.

  Whatever it was, I wanted her, I wanted to find ou
t if this attraction went deeper, if it could lead to the powerful, beautiful experience that I could imagine in my head. I could see it so clearly, and I wanted it so badly, I could hardly concentrate.

  Claire wrapped things up and stood. “Well, if you don’t have any questions…”

  Her tone implied that she was hoping I wouldn’t so that I could get out of her office as quickly as possible. I stood as well, but I wasn’t about to go.

  I had to know for certain if I had a chance with her or not. If the heat that I felt was just myself alone, or if she was feeling it too and just trying to resist.

  Claire went to go get the door for me, but I stepped in the way so that she wouldn’t open it. “Have you given any thought to what I said before?”

  Claire stared at me for a moment in confusion. Or what seemed to be genuine confusion. I think she honestly had no idea what I meant, which was rather adorable. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “I meant about your boss,” I told her. “How he’s into you.”

  Claire pressed her lips together, like she was trying to suppress an expression and keep her face as neutral as possible. “I don’t think that’s any of your business, and for the record, I don’t think that you’re right. Besides, what does it matter to you who’s interested in dating me?”

  Oh, God, I couldn’t resist a chuckle at that. “Have you really not figured it out? A brilliant woman like yourself? I thought I’d made myself clear.”

  I dared to take a small step closer. Claire had the entirety of her office space behind her but she didn’t back down, choosing instead to stand her ground and stare up into my eyes. She had this look on her face that seemed to be daring me to continue my sentence, to keep talking, like she wanted to see what I was made of.

  “You’re obviously not into your boss,” I pointed out. “Your body language with him says it all but leaving that aside… your confusion over his behavior, your refusal to believe that he likes you—that seals it. If you like someone and think they don’t like you back, only to find out that they do, you’re nervous, you blush, you stammer. You just seemed upset and put out. That tells me that you’re not into him, which makes sense. You’re too much alike. Oh, sure, I think he’s a little better with the adults than you are but come on. You’re both two sides of the same coin. He’s straight-laced, by the book. Nothing wrong with that, of course. I’m sure there’s a wild girl or two out there that would love to have that balanced by a steady, dependable person like him.

  “But you… you need someone who can make you lose control. Make you let go of all of your rules and regulations. Someone who can show you real pleasure. Give you the passion and ecstasy that you deserve.”

  My gaze tracked hers as I spoke, seeing how her mouth fell open and heat entered her eyes, her cheeks flushing. I dared to lower my voice even more, to step just that tiny bit closer.

  “You deserve to be shown the wild side,” I murmured. We were so close that I could feel the warmth of her, and I longed to reach out and touch her, to pull her into me. “To know what it’s like to have someone kissing their way over every inch of your body, to drive you to such heights of desire that you can’t even think anymore, you can only feel, and you can’t hold it in, you have to beg and moan for it, so desperate for that ecstasy that’s just out of reach, that only one person can give you…”

  Claire’s breathing was heavier, her chest heaving, and her eyes were wide and dark, her face flushed. A small whimper escaped her as I ducked my head down just the slightest bit, as if I was going to kiss her, before I retreated.

  Oh, fuck yes, she wanted me too. She wanted me the way that I wanted her. I wondered if she’d been touching herself to thoughts of me the way that I’d been touching myself to thoughts of her, if she’d been dreaming of me as well.

  Desire spread through my chest and down my body. I was starving for her.

  I cupped her face in my hands and Claire bit her lip, her throat working, like she was trying to stifle another whimper before it could escape. “I know there’s a little vixen underneath that white coat,” I purred.

  Claire’s lips parted and she panted like there wasn’t enough air in the room. I took a step forward, one final step, and pressed our bodies together.

  Claire’s hands grabbed my wrists like she was holding on for dear life. Her gaze darted all over my face, like she wasn’t sure where to look, like she was desperately seeking an answer to the way her body was feeling. I was getting a headrush like none I’d ever felt before. The desire to claim her, to fuck her so thoroughly she never wanted anyone else, was so strong that I could taste it.

  “I’m the one who can let that sensuous…” I rolled my hips against hers and Claire shuddered, her eyes falling half-closed. “…tempting woman out to play.”

  My thumbs stroked her cheekbones—I gave her one final moment to pull away, to say no—and then I leaned in and kissed her.

  Claire gave a helpless moan and kissed me back. I swear I could feel sparks flying up my spine. I wrapped my arm around her waist, crushing her to me, and I knew she could feel how hard I already was for her—and growing harder by the second now that I had that luscious mouth of hers against mine. Claire was hesitant in her movements at first, like she hadn’t had much experience with this sort of thing, with kissing, with sex, but then she started to get on board, to kiss me back as voraciously as I was kissing her.

  I turned her, pinning her back against the door, caging her in with my body. Finally, finally I got my fingers in that luscious hair of hers, those thick red locks, tugging until I could get her face craned back, have her at my mercy.

  Claire moaned again, her legs falling open. God, yes, fuck, she was so eager for it, I could easily imagine my hand sliding up underneath her lab coat, getting my fingers inside her soaking wet pussy and getting her nice and wide open for me—I’d fuck her right against this door, until she was clawing at me and having so many orgasms she lost track. I wanted her to beg for my cock, I wanted her to be limp with pleasure, unable to even move from how good she felt.

  I kissed down her exposed neck, nipping a little, and Claire rocked her hips up into me, giving out little gasps and whimpers. She was so deliciously responsive, like it was the first time she was being touched like this, and I couldn’t wait to make her a shivering wreck.

  But first, I wanted to kiss her properly for a little longer. This was no simple wham bam thank you ma’am, oh no. Plenty of other women I’d fuck them against the door, get them to scream and that would be it, but I wanted to take my time with Claire. I wanted her to be so wet she didn’t know what to do with herself, I wanted to ruin every pair of underwear she owned.

  I kissed her again, more deeply than before, my tongue sliding in and stroking against hers. Claire clung to me, letting me take control and it was the most delicious feeling in the world, her surrendering to me like that.

  But then, right as I started to pull back from the kiss—ready to slide my hands underneath her clothes and maybe get my mouth on her breast, start the beautiful process of undressing her—Claire gave a small, high pitched noise of shock and yanked herself away from me.

  She was shaking all over—from realization, shock, or lust, I couldn’t tell. Maybe some combination of all three. Claire touched her fingers to her lips, like she wasn’t even sure that this was real, that it had actually happened. “I…” She shook her head, as if to clear it. “We can’t—fraternizing with patients or their families is strictly forbidden by hospital policy. I could get fired for that.”

  …well, shit. I probably should’ve checked up on that before I had kissed her or tried to flirt with her. Our Los Angeles hospital hadn’t had that kind of policy, in fact I wasn’t sure that most hospitals did, but then most hospitals also weren’t dedicated specifically to children. Maybe this was something they implemented because of all their young patients, and their parents who might be in unusually vulnerable states?

  Who even knew why. The point w
as, we had just broken a major rule and I hadn’t even realized it.

  “From now on, things have to be one hundred percent professional between us,” Claire warned. “Or I’ll have to be asked to be reassigned.”

  And she’d probably have to tell them why she wanted to be reassigned, something I doubted she wanted to do. She’d probably find it terribly embarrassing. Most people would. And I doubted that if anyone found out why that they’d be all that generous about it. When it came to women and their affairs people could be hugely judgmental. It made my blood boil sometimes when I heard the kinds of stories of what women still had to go through in the workplace, like we were still in the goddamn 1950s.

  Before I could say anything, before I could offer up an assurance that I didn’t know about the policy, or a promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone, or ask a question or anything—she was opening the door and ushering me out. “Go!” she hissed, like just the fact that I’d been in her office was enough to get people to gossip.

  I considered responding, finding something to say, anything to try and understand her, understand this situation. She wanted me, on some level, or she wouldn’t have let me kiss her and she certainly wouldn’t have kissed me back. But was it just a moment’s indiscretion, a quick giving in to temptation? Or did she still want me, she just was scared to go against company policy?

  Before I could say anything, or even move, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Shit, that was probably work. I had to take it.

  “I’ll see you later, then,” I said, nodding at Claire. She looked relieved and surprised that I was leaving without a fight. Had she wanted me to respond, to give her reasons why we should do this?

  Now wasn’t the time to worry about it, as much as I wanted to. Pulling my phone out of my pocket showed that this was Tommy.