Hold Me Until Midnight

by Christina Phillips

“Uh-huh.” Her voice sounded strangled. Maybe she should just finish this conversation outside. Except she wasn’t sure her legs would support her. “And why is that?”

  Maybe he’d lost the check. It was the only reason she could think of why there would be a problem. The deposit had gone through but he’d told her he wouldn’t cash the balance until after the job was done.

  The job had well and truly been done.

  “I don’t want to discuss it over the phone. Can you come to the office?”

  His words swam through her mind, not making much sense. “What, now?”

  “Yeah, if that’s not a problem.”

  It was no problem at all ditching her friends to go and see him. The question was, why should she?

  He’s hot.

  “Scarlett?” He said her name in a way that conjured up naked bodies, tangled sheets, and mind-blowing orgasms. Who was she trying to kid? She could keep it platonic. She wasn’t a sex crazed nympho who was going to jump his bones the second he opened the door to her.

  “Sure. No problem.”

  “Great.” Was that a note of relief in his voice or was it just her rampant imagination? “How long will you be?”

  She calculated the distance in her head. It was just gone two, so the traffic wouldn’t be too bad. “About twenty minutes.”

  …

  Jackson prowled the reception area and reminded himself for the third time that the only reason he’d called Scarlett to the office was so he could return the check to her in person. It had nothing to do with the fact that he kept thinking about her, at all kinds of odd moments during the day.

  It was one night. It was over. This would be the last time he’d need to see her.

  Which was why he’d called her in the middle of the day, to avoid temptation. Just because he’d waited until he was alone in the office was beside the point. He had no intention of allowing his brothers to ever see Scarlett, although he wasn’t exactly certain why. Normally, he wouldn’t care.

  Then again, he’d never slept with a client before. Refunding her fee wouldn’t wipe out that fact, but at least he wouldn’t feel like she’d paid him for more than being a bodyguard.

  “Fuck.” He raked his hand through his hair but it didn’t ease the throb in his head.

  Once this was done there would be no further need to contact Scarlett Ashford again. His sense of having been bought would vanish and his ego could recover.

  He was still smirking over the state of his fragile ego when the door buzzed.

  Keep it professional. Sure, he could do that. He opened the door…and his principles went to hell.

  Scarlett wore a short, plum colored dress with matching heels. They weren’t as spiky as the ones she’d worn for the wedding but they still managed to give him dirty thoughts. Her hair was sleek and the elusive hint of her perfume had the power to knock his common sense flying. She looked elegant and untouchable.

  He had the urge to slide his hand up her skirt…

  Stop. This is business.

  “Jackson.” She smiled at him but there was a definite reserve in her tone. He reeled in the suicidal desire to pull her into his office and bend her over his desk.

  “Come in.” He stepped back and resisted the temptation to kiss her in greeting. He didn’t want her getting the wrong idea, and if he touched her, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to let her go.

  She took a deep breath and glanced around the empty reception area. “So you said there was a problem?”

  He shut the door and mentally slammed his forehead against the reinforced metal. Had he really forgotten just how irresistible Scarlett was?

  “Not really a problem.” He swung around and jammed his hands in his pockets to keep them away from her. “Come on into the office.”

  She clutched her purse against her thigh and walked ahead of him. Every step she took caused her dress to caress the curve of her ass. Her legs were bare and all he could think about was the way she’d wrapped them around him the last time they’d had sex.

  He pulled his hands from his pockets. It was too damn uncomfortable to walk straight otherwise. He could only hope she hadn’t noticed his erection. It hardly gave the right impression.

  “No Ella today?” Scarlett turned to face him as he followed her into the office and kicked the door shut behind him.

  “She has the afternoon off.” Shit, did that sound as though he’d planned this encounter with Scarlett? If so, she didn’t seem pissed by the possibility of being alone with him. “You didn’t have any problem taking time off work to come here?”

  He had no idea what she did, or whether she even worked at all.

  Scarlett sat on the chair and crossed her legs. “I was only having lunch with the girls. Just a monthly thing we do.”

  He should have guessed. Women like Scarlett Ashford didn’t do anything as common as have a regular job. They did lunch and raised funds for charities.

  Not that he had anything against those who supported charities. God knows they were needed. But he and his brothers had once relied on charity handouts to survive, and the whole thing just kind of burned.

  He parked his ass on the edge of his desk and stretched out his legs. There was barely an inch between his foot and Scarlett’s peek-a-boo shoe that showed off her plum-colored toenails.

  “No more trouble from Edward?” Why was he making conversation with her? He should just give her the check and see her off the premises.

  Soon.

  Scarlett smiled and her gaze caught his. “Haven’t heard a peep from him since the wedding. Guess my plan worked.”

  “Glad to have been of assistance.”

  The tip of her tongue peeked between her lips. She appeared to be considering her reply. He tried not to focus on her mouth because that brought up all sorts of memories he was trying so hard to forget. Easier said than done.

  “Although…” Scarlett paused, and he finally managed to look her in the eye again. “There is one area in which I feel you didn’t quite deliver.”

  Shock punched through him. Of all the things he might have imagined Scarlett to say, that had definitely not been on his short list.

  “I didn’t deliver?” What the fuck was she talking about? As if to mock the way he was trying to obliterate the memories from the weekend, he recalled her breathy gasps and the way her body had quivered when she came.

  His dick stirred. Hell. That’s what this was. Pure hell. He should’ve stuffed the check in the mail and left it at that.

  “You promised I would scream. And I didn’t.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I did not just say that.

  The comical disbelief on Jackson’s face confirmed that she had.

  Scarlett resisted the urge to cover her face with her hands. What was it about Jackson that caused her to lose her normal inhibitions? When it came to him, her common sense went AWOL.

  From the second he opened the door, all her good intentions to keep everything safely platonic had gone up in smoke. He might not have touched her, but the heat in his eyes and the tension radiating from him said it all.

  It was too late to back down now. She had to brazen it out, or risk looking like a complete loser.

  “No, you didn’t.” He leaned forward and grasped the arms of her chair. “I need to fix that.”

  Her heart thudded against her ribs. He wasn’t laughing at her.

  All she had to do was remain calm and act as though she was used to making such statements. Except her mind had gone blank and all she could think of was ripping Jackson’s shirt off and licking his hard, toned body from the tip of his crooked nose to the ends of his toes.

  Words were overrated. She reached out and circled the nearest shirt button. Even through the cotton the heat of his body warmed her and it caused all sorts of havoc between her thighs.

  He didn’t move toward her but his biceps tensed and his breathing became uneven. It was all the encouragement she needed to tug his button free.

  “T
hought you were going to rip my shirt off me the next time.” His voice was smoky and sent curls of need spiraling through her blood.

  “Do you want me to?”

  His gaze seared her from the inside out. “Seems we’re all about keeping our promises here, Scarlett.”

  Until she met Jackson, sex had been neat and tidy. She wasn’t sure she ever wanted to go back to that kind of sex.

  She trailed the tip of her finger from the base of his throat to where she’d opened his shirt. A sprinkling of hair dusted his pecs and tickled her finger.

  “I always keep my promises.”

  His predatory smile sent a shiver of anticipation over her bare skin. He leaned in closer, his jaw scraping along hers, and whispered in her ear, “Prove it.”

  That wasn’t a command. That was a dare.

  She gripped his shirt. He teased her earlobe with the tip of his tongue. It was mindlessly distracting. She took a deep breath and yanked the material apart.

  There was a satisfying ripping sound as buttons scattered. Their gazes clashed, and the air in her lungs evaporated.

  “My turn.”

  …

  Scarlett shuddered and her grip on his shirt tightened. Did she think he’d rip this dress as he had the last one? There was a time and place for that sort of thing, and this wasn’t it.

  He slid the spaghetti straps over her shoulders and along her arms before hooking a finger into the front of her dress and tugging it down. A strapless plum-colored bra cupped her breasts, the lace barely covering her nipples.

  He hadn’t asked her here today for this, but no way was he going to pass up the kind of challenge she’d issued.

  He sank to his knees and she wrapped her legs around his thighs, tugging him closer. He wanted her naked, but this was so fucking sexy.

  “Should you lock the door?” She forked her fingers through his hair, pulling his head back.

  “No one’s coming back today.” Alex would be hours at his club and Cooper was away for the week on a job. “You can scream as loud as you want, babe.”

  She slid her hands underneath his shirt to grasp his shoulders. “Maybe I’ll make you scream instead.”

  “Nothing could make me scream.” He traced the edge of her bra where it cradled her flesh. “You can try and make me roar, though.”

  “I hope these walls are soundproofed.”

  He cradled her hips and sucked her nipple into his mouth. Even through the material of her bra she tasted as good as he remembered. He moved upward, trailing kisses across her breasts and collarbone until he reached her throat. She sighed and tilted her head. The primitive urge to suck that tender skin and brand her neck thundered through him.

  So fucking tempting.

  He gently nipped her throat, not enough to leave a mark, and she gasped and arched toward him. Her nails dug in his shoulders, and when she opened her eyes, he smiled.

  “The walls aren’t soundproofed.”

  She dragged her nails down his chest. Damned if she wasn’t marking him. “I don’t care.”

  Neither did he. With one swift movement he stood, bringing her with him. Her dress fell to her hips, the spaghetti straps draped over her wrists.

  He moved in for the kiss. And heard the outer door to the office slam shut.

  Scarlett jerked back as though she’d been electrocuted. Disbelief pounded through him in furious tandem with the lust that scorched his reason.

  What the hell was Alex doing back? It wouldn’t be Ella. Once she pledged her time to one of her animal causes it’d take the apocalypse to make her change her plans.

  “Shit.” He shoved his shirt back into his pants but there was nothing he could do about the state of his missing buttons. Scarlett was hastily straightening her dress. But instead of looking pissed or, worse, upset, she appeared as though she fought back the urge to giggle.

  Despite his frustration, he gave a reluctant grin. It could have been worse. He could’ve had Scarlett over his desk when Alex walked in.

  “Stay here.” His voice was low and he couldn’t resist a fleeting kiss on her lips as he went to the door. “I’ll get rid of him.”

  Scarlett pressed her lips together. Yeah, she was definitely trying not to laugh. He winked at her, before opening the door and entering the reception area, where Alex was going through Ella’s desk.

  Jackson pulled his door closed and then folded his arms. At least that hid most of the damage to his shirt.

  Alex ignored him and crouched down to look under Ella’s desk. What the fuck was he doing?

  “You lost something?”

  Alex stood and slung Jackson a scowl. “Ella forgot her purse.”

  Jackson frowned. He’d obviously missed something. “She did what?”

  “She got to the rally and realized she’d left her purse here. She called me and asked me to pick it up for her.”

  “Right.” Ella had remembered to take her cell and car keys, but somehow hadn’t taken her purse with her. He watched his brother finally pull open the bottom drawer of her desk, from which he then extracted Ella’s monster-sized purse. “And you’re going to the rally to give it to her?”

  Alex placed Ella’s purse on her desk and eyed it as though it might bite. “Yeah. You know what she’s like. Half her life is in her purse. She’s lost without it.”

  It wasn’t worth responding to that. Couldn’t Alex see she had planned this? His older brother was no fool when it came to women. Except when it came to Ella.

  Jackson would never be so clueless if a woman gave him that many signs. No—he’d be out the door in a nanosecond.

  He heard his door open and swung round to see Scarlett stroll into reception. No one would guess just minutes ago she’d been half undressed and clawing his chest.

  “I won’t take up any more of your time, Jackson.” She smiled at him and held out her hand. “Thank you for seeing me.” He glanced at her hand before gingerly unfolding his right arm. Her thumb stroked his as they touched, before she pulled back.

  Alex had an unreadable expression on his face. Jackson silently groaned.

  Still keeping his left arm plastered across his chest in the vain hope Alex wouldn’t notice the state of his shirt, he stepped between them.

  “Ms. Ashford, this is my brother, Alex.” He glared at his brother, daring him to say anything incriminating.

  He caught the amused glance Scarlett shot him at his formal introduction, before she held out her hand to Alex. “Mr. Grayson,” she said. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

  Alex took her hand. “The pleasure is all mine.”

  Scarlett turned to him and offered another spellbinding smile. “Goodbye,” she said, and before it fully hit him that she really was leaving, she walked out the door.

  “Tell me she’s not one of the Ashfords.” There was a dangerous note in Alex’s voice. Jackson spared his brother a glance before returning his attention to the exit. Had she really left? Or was she going to wait outside for him? He’d told her to stay in the office. Why had she come out in any case?

  “Jackson.”

  He turned back to Alex. If Scarlett thought he was going to chase after her, she was wrong. What the fuck had his brother just asked him?

  “Yes, she’s one of those Ashfords.”

  “Let me get this straight.” Alex didn’t raise his voice. He never raised his voice, but Jackson knew he was fucking mad. Tough shit. He wasn’t feeling especially great himself right now. “You didn’t just hit on a client. You hit on a client who happens to belong to the Ashford media empire.”

  Irritation spiked through him. “They won’t publish anything that hints at a scandal involving one of their own, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  “What I’m getting at, Jackson”—Alex emphasized his name, a sure sign he was losing his cool—“is you opened us up to allegations of sex for hire with the sleaziest media corporation in the world.”

  “For fuck’s sake.” Jackson forgot about holding his shirt toget
her and Alex’s condemning glance slid along his chest, which didn’t improve Jackson’s mood at all.

  “So you’ve returned her check?”

  He hadn’t returned her fucking check. Fuck it. “That’s why she was here. So we could conclude our business.”

  “Looks like it.” Once again, Alex skimmed a glance along his gaping shirt. “She’s hot. I get it. But a woman like her isn’t worth the long-term hassle.”

  “Long-term hassle?” Jackson didn’t know why his brother’s remarks were riling him up so badly, but they were. “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t fucking do long-term.”

  But it wasn’t that comment that was pissing him off. It was the dismissive way Alex had said a woman like her.

  Alex didn’t even know Scarlett. She might be a member of the Ashford clan, but she didn’t act like an entitled bitch. If he didn’t know her background he would never have guessed she belonged to one of the most powerful families in the western world.

  “Fine.” Alex lifted Ella’s purse from her desk and shoved it under his arm. “I’m just pointing out the obvious, since it appears to have bypassed you.”

  Jackson gritted his teeth and reined in his temper. If there was one thing the brothers never did, it was interfere in each other’s sex life. Logically he knew Alex was only concerned in case things backfired onto the firm, but screw logic.

  He had unfinished business when it came to Scarlett, and he wasn’t just thinking about the check he needed to return.

  It wasn’t as though there was anything serious between them. By her reaction today she found the whole thing an enjoyable game. When she got tired of slumming, she’d move on.

  Suited him. He gave them a couple of weeks, tops, until the novelty wore off.

  After Alex left the office, a sense of unease gnawed through Jackson.

  Scarlett never gave the impression she was slumming it. It was crazy, but he felt kind of guilty for even thinking that about her. She might live a privileged existence with what he considered shallow concerns but he could hardly hold that against her.

  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Why was he trying to analyze what was going on between him and Scarlett? It was sex, pure and simple. The only reason he was getting caught up in all this psychobabble crap was because Alex had rubbed him up the wrong way.