by Nina Lane
She ran a hand over the book spines, her touch graceful and reverent. She had pretty hands—tapered fingers, delicate wrists, short, unpolished nails. An image of her hand sliding lightly across his bare chest flashed in Tyler’s mind with unexpected force. His body reacted with a surge of lust.
He stepped away, turning to study a stack of old maps. It’d been…what, almost two months since he’d gotten laid? And then it had been with Savannah, who’d gotten into the unfortunate habit of asking him for money after one of their routine fucks.
Just a little for a mani/pedi? I ran out of my allowance this week, and I really need a new bikini for the party on Saturday.
Like a tool, he’d handed over the cash every time. He had an even harder time saying no to a half-naked damsel in distress, especially one who’d just milked his cock dry.
After the shit hit the fan—or more accurately, the speedboat hit the channel marker—and Savannah had blamed him for everything, he’d put a swift end to those transactions. He wanted a woman in his bed again, but not one like her.
Kate Darling was nothing like Savannah. She stood on tiptoe to reach a book on a higher shelf, the movement lifting her skirt slightly to display her legs. How could any guy not notice those incredible legs?
She glanced over and caught him staring. Their gazes met. Heat charged the air suddenly. A flush rose to her cheeks.
Tyler set down a map and approached her. “He’s a damn fool.”
Her slender throat worked with a swallow. “Who?”
“Norwood. Or he’s thick as a plank for not realizing you want to go out with him.”
Kate tucked a stray lock of thick, brown hair behind her ear. “Well, we all have our strengths. The dating game is not one of mine.”
“Too bad.” She had a pretty mouth too—bow-shaped, with a full lower lip and a little notch in her upper lip. He suddenly wanted to put his tongue there and taste her. “I happen to be a pro at the dating game.”
“I’ll bet you are, Mr. Expert on Victorian Girls’ Schools.”
Tyler leaned one hand on the bookshelf. Behind her heavy-framed glasses, Kate had light brown eyes, the same color as her hair, and fringed with thick, sooty lashes. Her nose was small and pert, dusted with freckles like cinnamon, and she had the pale skin of a woman who spent most, if not all, of her time indoors. Not to mention she smelled like heaven.
Aside from her glasses and ancient-secretary clothes, Kate was an attractive young woman with a nice, curvy body and a kissable mouth. If she fixed up her exterior package and worked on her flirting skills, a dude like Miles Norwood would find it hard not to notice her.
Hell. Tyler was finding it hard not to notice her, even in her current guise. And he was accustomed to women who knew how to show off their assets.
“I need you, Kate Darling,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“You know I’m useless here.” He waved a hand at the books, not taking his gaze from hers. “I could work here for a month and not get anything done. Even if I tried, I’d screw it up. And I’d probably damage a lot of the stuff, too. I’d hate to see Sugar Rush’s history lost forever just because of bad cataloging or whatever. It’s such a shame that our heritage has come to this.”
He waved his hand again and expelled a faint sigh for good measure.
“Your brother told me he’s put out a call for applications for a new corporate librarian,” Kate said. “As soon as one is hired, I’m sure he or she will put everything to rights.”
“But in the meantime, I’m the one stuck here.” Tyler hesitated for a second, questioning the wisdom of actually touching a mouse like her, but he took the chance and brushed his fingers across her wrist. He’d have preferred touching her bare arm, but her wrist was the only exposed patch of skin from her neck to below her knees. “And if I don’t get something done, I’m screwed.”
“I’m sure losing access to your trust fund won’t screw you,” Kate replied, her voice a bit dry though she didn’t move away or take her eyes from his.
How did she know about his trust fund? He wouldn’t have expected Luke to divulge stupid family business to his secretary. And he didn’t like that Kate knew how dependent he was on his trust fund.
The button of her shirt was still unfastened between her breasts. He flicked it shut with a twist of his fingers. Kate drew in a sharp breath. He slid the back of his hand against her breast. Her nipple hardened visibly from the light contact, sending a jolt of heat through him. She was far more responsive than he’d have expected. He wondered about the shape of her breasts, the color of her nipples, the taste of her fine-grained skin…
Kate curled her hand around his wrist. “What…what are you doing?”
“Sorry.” His heart was hammering, a totally disproportionate reaction considering he’d barely touched her.
He stepped back and tried to regain the upper hand. “So…Norwood, huh?”
“What about him?”
“Your clothes aside, there’s something else you can do to get his attention.”
Kate eyed him with faint suspicion. “What?”
He reached behind her head to find the pins capturing her dark hair in that doughnut-shaped knot. With a few twists of his fingers, he pulled out the pins and dropped them to the floor.
Oh yeah.
Kate gasped, a breathy little noise that propelled straight to his dick. Her hair flooded around her shoulders in thick, lush waves, spilling the scent of strawberries into the air. Tyler stepped back, his heart crashing against his ribs with a combination of pleasure and outright awe.
With all that wavy hair as a frame, her face looked softer and even more lovely, like a painting. Her lips parted with surprise, and he was seized with the urge to kiss that notch on her upper lip. What did she taste like? Berries, cinnamon, spice—
“Why did you do that?” Irritably, she reached back to try and pull her hair up again.
“Let a guy see your hair down,” Tyler advised. “And he’ll be at your feet.”
“Well, I don’t have much choice now, do I?” she replied, giving up the futile effort of fixing her hair.
Tyler curled his fingers into his palm to restrain himself from tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear, then running his hand through the glossy strands. He’d love to see all that brown silk spilling over his pillow.
The library, dammit.
“Kate.” He lowered his head so they were almost eye-level. “You’re crazy efficient. Smart. Organized. Educated. How about you give me a hand down here? With your help, we could get the job done in no time and I could be out of everyone’s hair in a couple of weeks. Please?” he added as an afterthought.
Her expression was inscrutable, but her eyes lit with wary interest. She was intrigued by the offer—the chaos of the books and papers was both a challenge and a nirvana to an organizer like her.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” Her voice was still breathless, her expression a combination of growing need and caution.
He leaned in closer. The sugar scent of her filled his head, tripping through his blood. Christ. He’d criticized her clothes, but he still couldn’t stop thinking about how her body had felt against his. And in that brown suit with her white shirt, glossy hair, and cinnamon freckles, she was like a yummy little pastry he wanted to gobble right up.
Against his better judgment, he lifted a hand to the side of her face, rubbing his thumb over her smooth-as-silk cheek.
“I meant it, Darling,” he murmured, his pulse still beating unusually fast. “I need you.”
“I think you…you need a lot of girls.” Her gaze drifted to his mouth.
“Not like you.” He stroked his thumb back and forth on her cheek. The way she was softening under his touch infused his blood with heat. His head flooded with images of her lying on his bed, all warm, willing, and eager… His cock hardened.
“I’m…I can’t do this alone.” He swallowed, his voice coming out husky.
“
I’m sure you can find someone else to help you,” Kate whispered.
“Not like you.”
He slipped his hand to the side of her neck, feeling her pulse throbbing against his palm. Jesus, he wanted to strip her suit off, to see that heavy-duty slip hugging her curves all snug and tight, and then he wanted to peel it off her and find her bare skin, her generous cleavage, her hard nipples… He shifted, trying not to wince as his dick pushed insistently against his jeans.
She darted her tongue out to lick her lips. He stared at her mouth, the urge to taste her seizing him. He slid one arm around her waist, flattening his palm against her lower back and pulling her closer.
Kate caught her breath, a little gasping noise. He tensed, expecting her to resist, but instead she curled her hands into the front of his T-shirt. He tightened his hand against the side of her neck. Heat flared through him, swift and hard like the revving of an engine.
He wouldn’t kiss her. He wanted to…Christ, he ached to kiss her, but he’d channel every ounce of his self-control into not kissing her. As accustomed as he was to women going all pliable under his attention, he’d always been transparent with them. All cards on the table. Dates, sex, friendship, fun. They always knew what he wanted, and it was always what they wanted too.
But Kate…he was trying to get her to do what he wanted. And she was making his head spin with the effort of controlling himself. He should stop this right here, but the scent and feel of her weakened whatever resolve he possessed.
“You should first…um, learn about access points.” Kate spread her fingers out over his chest. “And authority control.”
“Hmm.” He turned them both so her back was up against the wall. “Sounds good.”
She shot him a shy look from beneath her lashes. Her cheeks were pink. Damn, he wanted her more with every passing second. He’d never had a woman like her before—an organizational efficiency expert with a razor-sharp mind and incredibly awkward social abilities whose ugly clothes concealed a lush, heavenly body. She was a thousand contradictions. He suddenly wanted to know all of them.
He grabbed her skirt and tugged it up far enough to edge his knee between her thighs. As he’d expected, her eyes grew wide with shock.
“Tyler…”
“You smell incredible…” He lowered his head to the side of her neck, inhaling her delicious scent. “One whiff of you, and I’m hard as a rock.”
A noise emerged from her throat, a husky whimper that jerked his dick into full stiffness. He groaned, rubbing his jaw against her soft cheek. Before he could think, his fingers were working the buttons of her shirt. Her breasts heaved under her heavy slip.
He considered himself an expert on women’s lingerie, but despite his best efforts he found no way of unhooking her slip from the front. As much as he wanted to touch her naked skin, he didn’t have the patience to get her clothes off. Instead he covered her full breasts with his hands, squeezing and caressing their plump fullness. Goddamned perfect fit. Nipples like berries poking against her bodice. He was ready to come just touching her.
“Oh my God, that feels so good,” Kate whispered, her breath brushing against his neck. “But we really shouldn’t…”
She moved her hands tentatively downward and slipped them under his shirt. When her cool fingers touched his hot skin, he jerked in reaction. She murmured with pleasure as she traced his abs, trailing her fingertips along the waistband of his jeans and then up to his pecs. Fuck if her light, timid exploration wasn’t the most incredible thing he’d felt in ages.
He pushed his knee upward between her legs, tugging her skirt all the way up to her hips. She tensed for an instant. Then she groaned and settled against him, her luscious legs cradling his thigh. Tyler tightened his fingers on her hips. The heat of her pussy burned clear through his jeans and however many layers of underclothes she wore.
“Damn, you’re hot.” He grazed his hand up her stocking-clad thigh. “Come on, Darling. Let me feel you move.”
She curled her fingers into his chest. His heartbeat thundered in his ears. She lifted her head, her eyes dazed and her breath puffing sweetly against his lips. He flexed his hands on her hips, aching to feel her writhing and shuddering against his thigh.
“Tyler,” she whispered.
“Kate,” he whispered back, trailing his lips across her cheek and down to her neck.
She jerked away. He lifted his head. Like a windshield wiper washing off condensation, the heat disappeared from her expression.
“Nice try,” she said dryly.
He stared at her in shock. She smirked, shoving his hands from her hips and slipping away from him. He dragged a hot breath into his lungs, willing his dick to settle down.
“Uh…what…” he stammered.
“I said, nice try.” She pulled her skirt down and fastened her jacket quickly. Though her skin was still flushed pink, a derisive glint replaced the arousal in her eyes. “Trying to seduce me into doing your job.”
Shit.
He dragged a hand through his hair. Guilt stabbed him.
“I wasn’t trying to—” he began futilely.
“Yeah right.” Kate made a scoffing noise and strode to the desk to pack up her briefcase. “I know about guys like you, Tyler. I grew up around plenty of men who thought they could get what they wanted with a smile and a wink. I realized early on how silly it is to fall for such nonsense. Instead I learned the value of good, hard work. Clearly it’s your turn to learn that lesson. However, because both I and the rest of Sugar Rush need the library to operate effectively, I’ll throw you a bone.”
She pulled her cell phone out of the holster and typed. “Check your email. There’s a library sciences online curriculum you can start with. I would be happy to answer questions, but the job itself is yours.”
She slipped her phone back into the holster and lifted her head. Their gazes met. A current of heat sizzled between them. He could still feel the shape of her breasts, like they’d been imprinted on his hands.
“Come on, Tyler.” Kate snapped her briefcase shut and narrowed her eyes at him. “Let me see you work.”
With that, she swept out the door, her skirt a straight line around her legs, her hair swishing back and forth like a curtain. The scent of her lingered like the aftermath of sex.
Tyler leaned his shoulder against the bookshelf and shook his head. A sudden laugh broke from his chest. He’d deserved that. And now he liked her even more.
“Well played, Miss Darling,” he murmured, his gaze on the empty space she’d left behind. “But I’m not finished with you yet.”
Chapter
FIVE
Oh my God.
She was so turned on. To the point that she was squeezing her thighs together underneath her desk and hoping no one noticed how flushed she still was.
She’d known Tyler could bring the sexy, but she certainly hadn’t expected to experience his brand of seduction firsthand. Moreover, she really hadn’t expected her body to throb and burn to the point that she’d been ready to come on his strong thigh.
She let out her breath slowly. She’d had to muster every ounce of willpower she possessed to push him away and gather her composure with lightning-quick speed. He could obviously rev her engine, but that didn’t mean she would let herself be manipulated.
Then again, she could have pushed him away much sooner. Like, when he first started flirting with her. But she’d been so curious, so unbearably eager to find out just how far he would go and if he’d actually kiss her. She could imagine Miles kissing her politely, but Tyler? She had no idea. She’d never been kissed by a man like him before.
Disappointment twinged through her. Although she hadn’t had any intention of letting him play her, she had been intensely hoping he would kiss her. A little kiss. Just the warm press of his lips against hers.
Then maybe she would have opened her mouth to let him in, and the kiss might have gotten hot and wet, even a bit messy. Maybe he would have thrust his hands into he
r hair, tilted her head back, devoured her mouth with his while she writhed shamelessly against his thigh and her arousal burned hotter and hotter…
Kate groaned inwardly. She’d never been uncomfortable in her body, but it had always been just sort of…there. Nothing to write home about. Not a magnet for attraction. She liked touching herself, and her sexual experiences had been okay, but she’d never reveled in her body or loved being inside her own skin.
Her mind, on the other hand—that was the source of her confidence and strength. So much so that she didn’t often give her body much thought, aside from taking care of it with healthy food, daily walks, and scrupulous hygiene.
But what would it have felt like to surrender to lust, to have let Tyler pull her skirt up and press his hand between her legs…
With a frustrated sigh, she forced her mind back to the reality of the situation.
Help him with the library, indeed. He meant “you do the work so I don’t have to.”
Her arousal dampened at the reminder that he hadn’t actually wanted her as much as her abilities. Not that she minded being wanted for her skills—after all, they were the reason she was so good at her job—but with all of Tyler’s smooth talk about her “killer body” and legs, it would have been a little bit nice if he’d also been attracted to her physically.
Maybe she was shallow to be wanted for her body rather than her mind or personality. But her past relationships hadn’t exactly been zinging with sexual chemistry, so Kate did want to know what a hot, purely physical encounter would feel like. Especially if it involved a man like Tyler with his granite arms and intoxicating deep voice, and—
Stop it.
She couldn’t let Tyler and his sexiness distract her from her goal of finally asking newly single Miles out on a date. In fact, she needed to come up with a plan so her next attempt wasn’t such a disaster.
Maybe if she learned more about Miles’s ex-girlfriend, she could get some ideas about what he was looking for. She took her phone out of the holster and typed Melanie McGuffin into the search engine.
