by Sindee Lynn
“Well good morning Sasha. You're late,” he said coming around the desk to greet her.
She shifted uncomfortably at his steady gaze.
“I was waiting outside. Carla wasn’t there so I wasn’t sure if I should come on in or not.”
He motioned for her to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. To her surprise instead of returning to his place behind the desk he took the chair beside her.
“My door is always open for you. I want you to know that.”
Intense blue eyes stared at her. Not wanting him to see how uncomfortable he was making her she lowered her gaze.
“I’m sure you feel that way about all of your employees.”
A small laugh sounded beside her but she refused to look. She knew what his smile could do to her insides.
“If it makes you feel better to think that then go right ahead.”
Not sure of how to respond she remained quiet. Dylan made her feel and think about things she had no right to think about. Especially now since all evidence proved he was obviously planning on hooking up with Cat if he hadn't already.
“What did you want to see me about Mr. Matthews,” she asked hoping her voice didn’t sound as breathless to him as it did to her.
“I thought we had already discussed this Mr. Matthews business and decided you would call me Dylan, Sasha,” he said moving his chair a little closer to hers.
The temperature in the room increased by a hundred degrees with each inch closer he got. The scent of his cologne drifted in her direction. She breathed deep against her will. A deep sigh of pleasure lodged itself at the back of her throat. How could the mere smell of a man get her so excited?
“Mr. Matthews what we agreed was that there was going to be nothing but business between us.”
“No I distinctly recall advising you of something very different. I think you and I could have something special together. Can’t you feel it?”
Her gaze was drawn to the hand now covering hers. She stared at the difference in their coloring. Instead of it looking completely out of place as she’d hoped, it looked good against her skin and God knows it felt heavenly. Such a simple touch was causing so much havoc with her senses. Had any man’s touch ever affected her like this before? If the feel of his hand on hers did this to her she wondered how many pieces she would explode into if he touched the rest of her. Wait. This was all wrong. She should be thinking of a way to escape his touch not how she could get him to touch her in more places.
“Dylan if you didn’t have anything business related you wanted to discuss I think I should be getting back to my office. I have some work to get done before the end of the day,” Sasha said but made no move to get up from her chair nor did she move his hand from hers.
The hand over hers began caressing up and down her arm and her stomach tightened in response. The slow movement was causing heat to spiral through her body and pool in the pit of her stomach. Dear God. Was this a test of some kind? She prayed for the strength to make it through.
“I understand if you have work to do,” he said his hand slowly moving up her arm to caress her shoulder. “I seem to have fallen a little behind lately myself. You see I can’t get a certain pint size woman off my mind long enough to concentrate on anything other than how to get her in my bed. Do you have any ideas that may help?”
In his bed? Her mind went black before a very clear image of them together in her bed came to mind. Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest.
“No? Well I had a few thoughts of my own. Perhaps you can help me test them out. Just to see if they would be effective or if I should go back to the drawing board.”
He rose smoothly from his chair and moved behind her. Sasha held her breath not knowing what he was going to do but she didn’t have the courage to turn around and look. When his hands began working the tension from the taut muscles in her shoulders a low moan escaped before she could stop it. Oh god she was in deep now. She should have left when she realized he hadn't wanted to discuss anything business related, but she hadn't. She’d stayed knowing things could possibly turn in this direction. Had she wanted them to? Had she wanted another chance at what she’d turned down a month ago? No her brain screamed, but her body merely grunted under the pleasure of his touch. Her head rolled back on her shoulders and her eyes drifted closed. It felt so good and she was so tense and tired from fighting with herself. A deep sigh escaped when she felt his warm breath close to her ear moments before warm lips surrounded her lobe and drew it into his hot depth. A shiver ran up her spine as he gently tugged on the small gold hoop secured there. She knew she needed to stop this, but her willpower seemed to have taken a vacation. She tried to call upon some feeling of being harassed but she found she liked Dylan’s form of harassment. The more he drew on her ear lobe, the tighter the knot in the pit of her stomach. Her breasts grew heavy with need. Her nipples hardened into painful peaks against the soft material of her bra. It was as if he had heard the call of her body when his hands wandered down her front to caress her breasts. Pleasure shot through her. There was no way she could hold back the groan that came from her. Moisture flooded her panties. The more he pulled and tugged on her nipples the greater the throbbing between her legs became.
“Dylan,” Sasha moaned.
“Yes,” he said his lips grazing against her slender neck.
“I don’t …”
She paused when he nipped the delicate skin before smoothing over the mark with his tongue.
“You were saying sweetheart?” he questioned gently against her ear.
It took a moment for her to get her thoughts together and even then they were filled with the blue eyed devil playing havoc with her senses and her body. What had she been saying? She had to wonder about the importance of it when his hands returned to her breasts. He rolled her engorged nipples between his fingers. Even through the material of her blouse it felt like heaven. The thought brushed her mind of what it would feel like if they were bare before him. She might not survive it.
“Oh god Sasha I want you so much,” he breathed against her. “Can’t you feel it? This thing that’s between us.”
She wanted to scream at him that she felt it. But… her mind was struggling to regain control.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” she said clawing her way to the surface through the fog of desire he was wrapping her within.
“Do you always think about everything?” he asked moving around her, making sure to brush his hardened body against her.
Opening her eyes to see what he was about to do next she found herself getting lost in his gaze. When he reached down to help her stand electricity shot up her arm to her breasts. Her already hardened nipples throbbed painfully.
“Did you feel that?”
He lifted their joined hands for her to see. All Sasha could do was nod. She didn’t trust her voice not to betray how she was feeling and how close to the edge she was. If he led her to that big couch against the wall she didn’t know if she would have the will power to stop him or if she even wanted to. Her breath held in her throat as he began to walk, pulling her along where their hands were joined. When they stopped she glanced up. Confusion and disappointment filled her. They were not in front of the couch which sat on the other side of the room but in front of the closed door to his office.
“Do you still think there’s nothing between us?” he asked placing his fingers beneath her chin to bring her gaze to meet the storm brewing in his blue depths.
What could she say? She had been ready to allow him to do god knows what to her. Feeling embarrassed over what could have happened she pulled away from his gentle touch and lowered her head.
Dylan’s arms enclosed her in their strong embrace. He refused to budge as she struggled against him. When her nipples began to throb caused from the friction of her movements, she stood still as stone. She almost moved again though when she became aware of the growing bulge against her stomach. He was huge. Images of what
it would be like to have him laying atop her filled her head. If he was as big as she thought would he fit. Her body yelled at her to find out. Now. It was almost her undoing when Dylan’s fingers began thrusting through her hair. When had it come down. She had put it up as normal into a tight bun at the back of her neck. He must have done that when he was…. Sasha stopped those thoughts dead in their tracks. Any thought of what had happened was likely to have her dragging his ass to the couch instead.
“It’s okay. I don’t understand what’s going on between us either or why it’s happening. All I know is that it is and I don’t want to fight it,” he said and kissed her temple with such sweetness.
She closed her eyes against the tenderness. It felt so good to be held in his arms. Then memories of Friday night came back to haunt her and his tenderness towards another caused her to come crashing down out of the clouds she’d been flying in just moments ago. She pushed herself out of his arms and was reaching for the door when it unexpectedly swung open. Sasha made an awkward lunge to get out of the way to avoid being hit. Her attempts brought her hard against Dylan’s massive chest. He closed his arms around her small frame to keep her from falling. Her already sensitive breasts rubbed roughly against him as she tried to right herself in his arms. The heat from his body combined with the scent of his cologne threatened to take her back where she’d been just moments ago. On the precipice of surrendering. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into brilliant blue eyes filled with desire that had never truly disappeared. Surely his gaze was a reflection of her own. Heat spread from her chest which was pressed tightly against his to the lower half of her body, which was throbbing to the fast paced beating of her heart.
“Pardon me. I didn’t see you there,” Carla said, stepping further into the office, her eyes widening in apparent surprise at the sight of Sasha in Dylan’s arms.
Sasha realizing how things must have looked quickly stepped away from Dylan as if suddenly burned by the touch of his skin against hers.
“It was my fault. I was just leaving,” she said and walked through the door not looking back.
She headed down the hall to the elevator. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. It was exactly what she’d wanted to avoid. A scandal at work was sure to happen. Even if it had been innocent and Carla’s coming through the door had been the cause of it. Sasha was sure when the rumor mill got hold of the incident it would have turned into her being on top of him on his desk or something else just as preposterous. As thoughts of the potential fall out continued to plague her, she couldn't help but recall other aspects. Like how her breasts had felt as they’d been pressed against his rock hard body. How his hands had cupped their heavy weight as he’d nibbled on her neck. She looked at her hands as she punched the button for her floor and noticed the slight tremble. She couldn't deny the desire still running through her veins. Stepping off the elevator onto her floor, Sasha let out a huge sigh of frustration. This is why she tried to always live within the rules she’d set up. To keep her out of situations like this. Maybe she should have given Dylan a copy of those rules so he would know how impossible anything between them was. Closing her office door behind her, she didn’t think it would matter. She got the distinct impression Dylan Matthews played by his own set of rules.
Chapter 9
Sasha leaned heavily against her closed front door and breathed a huge sigh of relief. She kicked her shoes off and undid the buttons of her suit jacket. It was good to be home. It had been a long stressful week at work thus far and she still had one more day to go.
Three days had passed since the incident in Dylan’s office and she had heard nothing of it yet. She’d been holding her breath all week long. Every time she walked by people talking she steeled herself against the possibilities they were talking about her. But no one appeared to be looking at her differently. She wasn’t sure what to think of it but she was glad she wasn’t the new talk of the company. That kind of recognition she could do without. She still hadn't decided what to make of Dylan’s actions or her own responses. And how did Cat fit into all of this? It didn’t make any sense. She had never thought she and Cat had the same taste in men. Most of the men she was attracted to Cat openly admitted not to be her type in any way. And vice versa. But this was different. What had changed? As if you don’t know, her rational mind told her.
Not wanting to go down that road or admit the all too obvious answer, she pushed herself away from the door and headed upstairs to change clothes. She glanced back at her shoes and briefcase and decided to retrieve them later. She had just walked into her bedroom when the phone rang. Her hand hesitated. What if it was Cat? Guilt and shame washed over her. She pushed them down as best she could. She had been unconsciously avoiding her all week. It was just that she was so confused and hadn't decided how to handle things yet.
“Yeah right,” she grumbled to herself catching the phone before it could go to the answering machine.
“Hello.”
“Hello Sasha?”
Her world stopped. She wished it had been Cat on the other end.
“I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”
Tell him he did. Tell him you were just on your way out. Say anything to get him off the phone now.
“How did you get my phone number?”
Anything but that, her brain yelled. It had been the first thing to come to mind.
Deep male laughter sounded in her ear.
“I have access to all the personnel records.”
“Oh,” she said feeling silly for asking such an obvious question.
“Are you busy?”
Here’s your chance again, her brain yelled. Get him off the phone now. If you want to talk to a man, call Louis. He is still waiting for us to call him back from last week.
“No, I’m just getting home.”
Oh god it’s hopeless now. Then all went quiet in her head. She breathed a mental sigh of relief.
“Working late again?”
What did he mean by that? Again. How did he know what kind of hours she was keeping? Did he have people watching her?
“Yes if you must know. I was given a new client and I’m working on a tight deadline.”
“I heard. According to Shaunessy you're handling it quite well.”
A frown appeared between her eyebrows.
“Have you been checking up on me?”
Sasha was positive he could hear the accusation in her voice.
Another deep chuckle came across the phone lines.
“I would prefer to think of it as confirming what I already knew.”
“And what exactly would that be?” she asked suspiciously.
“That you would be an asset to Presco,” he replied simply and so matter of fact.
“And when did you figure that out? Monday in your office?”
Instantly she wished the words back in. Had she really wanted to bring up Monday’s incident? There was no denying it had been weighing heavy on her mind for several reasons. She tried to tell herself it was because she’d been walking around on pins and needles uncertain if her reputation at Presco would be over before it had even had an opportunity to grow. But no longer could she ignore the real reason. Her feelings were hurt. Plain and simple. He hadn't bothered to contact her after Monday. No note, no messages. No random calls into his office. Nothing. She’d been bouncing back and forth between feeling hurt and angry for three days now. Not only over his actions but over her own as well. Then her confusion over where Cat could possibly fit into things had only made matters worse.
A deep sigh came across the phone lines.
“No, but since you’ve brought it up, that is what I wanted to talk to you about,” he said.
What was that odd note in his voice?
“What about it?”
Her insides churned. Did he regret his actions? How awkward would that be? Because when she closed her eyes she could still feel his hands cupping her breasts and pinching her nipples. Could still
remember how badly she’d wanted him to strip her bare. How she had wanted his hands on her bare skin. It had plagued her all week as to why he had stopped? Hadn't he known she was too far gone to put up much of a fight? Or was it a different reason entirely. Had he begun thinking of Cat? Her stomach churned for a whole different reason at the possibility. She’d brushed upon it before but had pushed it to the back of her thoughts each time. She didn’t want him to think of anyone but her when they were together. Wait no that’s not right. She didn’t want him to think of her at all. Feeling as confused as ever she fell backwards on the bed. She rubbed two fingers to her aching temple.
“I wanted to apologize for what happened on Monday,” Dylan began.
She sat up. He did regret what had happened. She was surprised at how that little bit of information hurt.
“I had wanted to speak with you about it earlier, but this week has been one straight from the pits of hell. Even now I hate doing this over the phone. But when I stopped by your office I discovered you had already left.”
She was glad she had left when she did. Sasha didn’t think she could have dealt with him explaining to her all the reasons why he regretted his actions on Monday. She knew she shouldn’t care because it was better this way and she knew it. But her feelings had been manifesting since the day she’d first laid eyes on him. No matter what she tried she hadn't been able to successfully exorcise him from her thoughts. He obviously wasn’t having the same problems.
