by Jess Dee
Dedication
Kitty Kelly, this one’s for you. Because you asked for it, and because without you, the book would not exist.
And as always—thank you, Jennifer. This time, you deserve an extra special thank you. If these edits didn’t defeat you, nothing will!
Chapter One
“You want to know what I think?”
Ben Cowley jerked his head up at the unexpected voice. He’d been so immersed in figures, he’d had no idea anyone was in his office. Hell, he’d had no idea anyone was left in the building. At this time of night he’d assumed everyone else had gone home.
“I always want to know what you think.” He flashed the woman standing in the doorway his biggest smile, knowing his flirting was shameless.
“I think you need to get laid. And you need to get laid soon.”
The smile vanished. “Pardon?”
“You’re a mess, Ben. You have been since you transferred to the Sydney office.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw, but he tried not to show any other emotion—even though his stomach clenched in a nasty knot. Ben raised an eyebrow in question. “Is there a reason we’re having this conversation?”
She gave him a somber nod. “You’ve changed. You’re not the same person you were when we first met. It’s almost as if you’ve lost your enthusiasm, lost your drive. People are starting to talk—”
“People?”
“Well, me,” she admitted sheepishly. “And maybe not quite talk. It’s more like I’m getting worried about you.”
Ben looked wryly at her. She cut an imposing figure. Tall—made even taller by the four-inch heels she always wore—slim and dressed to kill in her high-powered business suit. Melissa Sparks was a no-nonsense, one-hundred-percent goal-oriented investment banker. Much like Ben was.
She took her work seriously, clocking up even longer hours than Ben used to. She was known to be top of her field, and working with her—learning from her—made Ben a better banker.
But damn, when the woman smiled, light filled the office. Lately Ben had made it his life’s purpose to get her to smile, and he wasn’t above using any means possible, which included shameless flirting at any opportunity.
Flirting with Melissa was safe. She’d been careful to delineate the boundaries of their relationship from day one, when he’d still lived in Newcastle. They were colleagues, end of story. If Ben had a business-related issue or problem, he could always rely on her to help him solve it. Ben had spent enough time in the Sydney office over the eighteen months prior to moving there to have developed a deep respect for her business acumen.
“It’s not like you to worry, Melissa.”
She wrinkled her nose as she regarded him. “Look, may I be frank?”
Ben snorted. “You haven’t been so far?”
She ignored his sarcasm. “You need a woman. Someone to look after you, to worry about you, to send meals into work so when you forget to buy lunch like you always do, you don’t starve. Someone who’ll care for your emotional side so you can focus on business. You need someone tender and loving in your life. Someone like Sienna.”
Ben gave her a hard stare. “Sienna and I are over. You know that.”
“Of course I know that,” she said. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here talking about this. Thing is, you’ve changed. You’re not the same man you were before you moved here.”
Ben gritted his teeth, trying not to respond. Melissa was correct. He was different. There was very little left of the Ben who’d had his heart so thoroughly destroyed.
“You’re…harder. Angrier. And more tense than I’ve ever seen you.” As she spoke, Melissa did something Ben hadn’t seen her do in the more than two years he’d known her. She rummaged her fingers through her hair, loosening the severe ponytail she wore most every day. She must have removed several clips and an elastic, because when she dropped her hands, a mane of hair tumbled over her shoulders and fell halfway down her back in a wild mess of russet tresses.
He forced himself not to gape. Sure, he knew Melissa had long hair. Even when it was tied up, she couldn’t hide its length. What he’d never dreamed was how long it was, or how thick. Or how much it transformed her face when it hung loose, softening her features. With hair flowing down around her neck and shoulders, her hazel eyes looked more relaxed—more sensuous, even, and her small, pointy nose looked not quite so pointy. Not pointy at all. As for her lips…
Well, hell.
Her lips were luscious, pouty and downright kissable. Ben had to take another look, wondering if she’d applied a subtle shade of gloss or lipstick before she’d walked into his office.
“Harder, angrier and more tense?” he repeated, forcing himself to focus on Melissa’s words and not on her unexpected beauty.
“Do you disagree?”
Ben frowned. It was impossible to disagree. Since Sienna had left him he’d been forced to steel himself against his own heart. Forced to build walls around his emotions so he wouldn’t have to think about the bone-deep agony that had almost crushed him after their relationship ended. Those walls had helped him ignore the humiliation of losing Sienna to another man. They’d also helped him ignore the ways he’d changed and the fact that he didn’t particularly like those changes.
But the measures he’d taken to protect himself had been private ones. He’d never intended for others to see the changes and the heartbreak he’d undergone. Apparently, Melissa hadn’t missed a damn thing. “Is that really how you see me?”
Sympathy softened her gaze. “I never used to. You were always the happiest person I knew. Content with your career and happy at home. You laughed all the time. Now you only seem to laugh when you remember it’s necessary.”
“Well, hell.” Ben ran a weary hand over his face.
“My thoughts exactly. Which brings me back to what I said when I first stepped into your office. You need to get laid.”
“You don’t mince words, do you?”
“If I minced words, I wouldn’t be earning the kind of money I am.”
She earned good money. Ben would know, since he earned a similar income. Less than her, though, because for the last year or so, he’d cut back his hours. “So, you think it’s that simple? I get laid, and I lose the edge.” He grinned humorlessly. “A little sex and I’ll be the same happy Ben I used to be.”
He’d tried that. Often. It hadn’t made him happy.
“No, I think it’s far more complex than that, and perceiving sex as a cure-all for a broken heart is an inadequate method of getting over her. But it would be a start. A step in the right direction. Tell me, Ben. Have you slept with anyone besides Sienna in the last year?”
Ben’s spine stiffened. “Be careful, Melissa. You’re crossing a line you have no place crossing.”
Even though she had no business asking, Ben couldn’t help but wonder why the question worried him. Was it too personal an area of his life for a colleague to probe into? Or was he being overly defensive, because for the last few months he’d found himself having sex altogether too often? In altogether too…unusual circumstances?
“I know I am.” She busied herself opening the two buttons of her jacket, slipping it off and slinging it over her shoulder.
For the second time in one evening, Ben had to force himself not to gape. Melissa never removed her jacket. Not even on the hottest, most humid summer days.
The shirt she had on was just as professional as the suit she wore, a sensible, button-up white blouse. It showed no cleavage but could not hide the swell of her breasts. The woman had hidden a handful more than Ben would have guessed.
Not that he’d given much thought to Melissa’s breasts before. Her businesslike attitude and the jackets she wore covered her womanly bits too well for his mind
to ever wander off in that direction. But the way she’d positioned her arm now, with her hand resting on her shoulder holding the jacket and her elbow sticking out, her breast was pushed forward, catching Ben’s attention.
He drew his gaze away. “If you know that, why are you even asking?”
“Because I miss the Ben you used to be. I want him back. Working with you was always more fun when you were happy.”
They’d worked together often over the last two-odd years. Even when he’d lived in Newcastle, Ben had spent long hours in the Sydney head office, most of the time with Melissa, finalizing deals and working out investments and bonds.
Ben couldn’t help but be struck by Melissa’s honesty. He liked that she’d thought of him as fun once. He’d always seen himself as focused and determined. Too much of both perhaps.
“You were also far more productive and creative back then,” Melissa said. “Did you know you’ve signed twenty-five percent fewer deals in the first six months of this year than you did in the same time last year?”
“Perhaps that’s because I cut back my hours by twenty-five percent this year.” For Sienna’s sake. She’d left him because he’d worked too hard and spent too much time at the office, so he’d attempted to rectify the problem. Not that it had helped.
“It’s not only that.” Melissa shook her head, sending those wild tresses tumbling all over the place. “Your heart’s just not in your work anymore. I’m not seeing that desire to succeed, that drive to be the best. It used to be so much a part of you.”
Never mind work, the sad truth was his heart wasn’t anywhere anymore. It wasn’t in his job—although the work still stimulated him to no end—and it wasn’t safe in Sienna’s hands. It was lost. And that loss hurt him. A lot. More than he was willing to confess.
Ben sighed. “Look, Melissa, I’m sorry. I’m not pulling my weight around here, and you’re suffering for it.” She had to be. If Ben slacked off, more responsibility fell on Melissa’s shoulders. “That’s not fair of me. I promise to change from now on. No more shirking duties for Ben Cowley. As of tomorrow I’m back on my game. Ready to take on the world and win.”
“You don’t need to do this alone, you know?”
“Course I do. I was the one who slacked off, I’ll be the one to correct my mistakes.”
“We’re a team, Ben. We work together. If a problem arises, we solve it together. We have for the last two years. There’s no reason we can’t approach this situation in exactly the same way.”
Typical Melissa. Always ready to lend a colleague a helping hand, to help others in need. But Ben’s need wasn’t work-related this time, so asking for her help didn’t feel right. “Sure there is. Business is business. It involves both of us. This is personal. It’s my issue. Not yours.”
Melissa folded her arms under her breasts, letting her jacket hang down from her hand and trail past her waist to her legs. “When it affects your work, it’s my issue too.”
Her stance pulled Ben’s attention away from her face once again. His gaze snagged on her breasts—which rested prettily above her arms—before trailing down to her legs. She had good legs. Slim calves and feminine ankles that looked fine in heels. The midleg length of her skirt revealed a shapely pair of knees.
Nice. Very nice.
She should show off her body more often. From what he’d seen of it tonight, it was a body worth showing off. Funny how he’d never noticed that before. But then he’d never taken the time to think of Melissa out of a work context before.
Why not?
She was smart, goal-oriented, a hard worker, always available to the staff who reported to her. He’d heard nothing but praise from their colleagues, and felt nothing but respect himself. In fact, she reminded him of himself. Not the well-respected part, but the goal-oriented, driven bit. She was so like him at work, the two of them would probably get along famously if they ever tried to be friends.
Why had they never tried to be friends? Apart from a little office flirting, Ben had never even considered the idea.
“So you have a solution to my hardness, anger and tension?”
Melissa nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “Actually, I do.”
Ben couldn’t resist flirting, couldn’t resist the urge to bring a smile to her face. He wanted to see what she looked like with her luscious lips curved into a big grin and framed by that mane of beautiful hair. Or maybe he wanted to turn the focus of their conversation away from him. “So let’s see. You think the first step to solving my problem lies in getting laid. I need to have sex.” He nodded once. “And what? You’re offering to be the one I have sex with?”
He grinned at her, waiting for those cheeks to turn the light pink he knew they would. The blush would only last a few seconds. Just until she realized he was teasing. And then maybe, just maybe, she’d be amused by his comment and smile for him.
The blush never came, but the smile did, and it smacked Ben right in the middle of his stomach. “That’s exactly what I’m offering.”
Ben faltered for just a second before he realized she’d turned the tables on him, and she was the one doing the teasing. He smiled too. “Good one, Sparks. For a minute there I thought you were being serious.”
Her smile faltered. “I am, Ben. I’m deadly serious.”
Ben laughed out loud. “You know, you’re right. I have been too uptight lately. I needed something to break the tension. Thank you for giving me something to laugh about.”
Melissa ran a tongue over her upper lip so it glistened even more. She walked over to the chair on the other side of his desk and laid her jacket upon it. “You should know me better than that, Ben. I never joke when it comes to finding solutions to problems. You have a problem, and I have the solution. You need a woman, and it just so happens…I am one.” To prove her point, she slipped open the first three buttons on her blouse, allowing Ben a healthy glimpse of what lay beneath—a tight, white camisole that covered the full curves of her breasts.
Ben’s jaw dropped.
That was all it took for him to get an erection. With a sudden rush of blood, his cock filled and stiffened, leaving him perplexed.
A stiffy?
For Melissa?
Considering friendship was one thing. Being hit for six by an unexpected dose of lust another altogether.
“Now please don’t mistake this for anything it’s not,” Melissa told him. “It’s not as if I’m going to start bringing food into work for you.” She rolled her eyes, mocking herself. “That’s a good thing, by the way. I’m a terrible cook.” Her smile was small, but it still lit up his office. “And I’m not going to get all soppy and lovey-dovey on you either.” She spoke more seriously now. “This is just one solution. Sex. That’s all, nothing more.”
Ben gaped at her. Sex? Melissa Sparks was offering to have sex with him?
She smiled again. This time with a seductive, sexy expression he’d never dreamed he’d see on her face—not directed at him anyway. The smile was just as enchanting as the previous one. “You look surprised.”
“Er, a little surprised, yeah.” Even more surprising was the fact he could form words. Melissa? Seducing him?
Melissa undid the rest of her buttons and pushed the shirt off her shoulders, so she was now clad from the waist up in just the camisole.
Fuck, she looked sexy. Damn sexy. Sexy in a way Melissa had never looked to Ben. Uh—not just sexy. She was prime female flesh. All woman. And she did crazy things to his insides.
She made breathing difficult. Made him wonder if someone had messed with the air conditioning, because the temperature seemed to have jumped about twenty degrees in the last couple of minutes.
Ben was forced to loosen his tie and undo his top button. Anything to get fresh air on his feverish skin.
“Here’s the deal—assuming you agree, because this would involve both of us.” Melissa pulled the cami up and over her shoulders, leaving her breasts covered by nothing more than a satiny white bra.
H
oly shit. She had a pair on her.
So not what he should be concentrating on. He should be remembering that she was a colleague. An excellent investment banker. A woman who’d given him outstanding advice and support over the years.
“You get to fuck me whenever the stress and tension get to be too much. This won’t be a relationship. Well, not a traditional relationship, anyway. This’ll just be a natural extension of our working association. We work, we fuck, we go home. End of story. I’m not interested in deep and meaningfuls.”
Melissa ducked her head as she said that, but Ben still caught a glimpse of some unidentifiable emotion in her eyes. Sadness? Loneliness? Determination? He couldn’t tell.
She released the clasp and zip on her skirt and stepped out of it gracefully. “I am, however, focused on making partner. Which means my romantic life’s suffered because I work ridiculous hours. But, see, I’m just as human as you are.” She blushed, telling him that as focused as she was on making her little speech, her actions still embarrassed her a little.
Shy? Melissa? Well, there was a fascinating new insight into her.
He liked that shyness. A lot. Liked her uncertainty. Melissa never seemed uncertain.
“I have needs,” Melissa said, still with the delightful pink stain on her cheeks. “You have needs. Let’s meet those needs together and not get involved any deeper than that. What do you say?”
Ben wanted to respond. Christ, he wanted to badly, but first off, he wasn’t sure what he’d say, and secondly he couldn’t find his voice. His mouth was suddenly parched.
Garters?
His straight-laced colleague wore thigh-highs and garters under those practical skirts? Garters that matched her bra and knickers and made her legs look a mile long, by the way.
How could he not have known that?
A bead of perspiration slid down his spine.
Don’t go there, Cowley. Don’t make Melissa into another faceless woman you can fuck and walk away from. She deserved more than that.
She arched an eyebrow. The direct look combined with the light flush of her cheeks was most becoming on his colleague. “You’re very quiet.”
