by Jess Dee
“And last of all,” she said as she led him into the cramped room with the sink and counter, “this will be the kitchen. We’ll add a kettle and microwave, and we’ll fill the shelves with plates and cutlery and the fridge with drinks and snacks. The kids can help themselves anytime. We’ll put the fridge in that corner—” She turned to point and lost her train of thought.
The room was small with the two of them squeezed into it. They stood so close they almost touched. Adam made no pretense of looking where she pointed. He’d pinned his gaze on her mouth, his eyes hot and hungry. His lips parted, and he swallowed hard as she stared back at him. The hunger in his expression took her breath away.
Lack of oxygen almost choked her. Lord, what this man did to her with only a look. If he’d reach out and touch her now, she’d surrender herself to him in a heartbeat. Here in the kitchen, in the middle of the hospital, she’d kick the door shut, claw his clothes off, tear her own away, and let him fuck her.
“Lexi.” His voice was gruff.
“Adam,” she whispered back.
He kept staring at her mouth.
Her eyelids grew heavy and fluttered closed. She hung there, suspended in the tiny room, waiting. The sound of their breathing drowned the noises outside. She floated toward him, her body pulled by an invisible magnet. Her lips parted slightly. It was a matter of time before his mouth touched hers, his tongue sought hers. Her heart raced, and goose flesh skittered up her spine. Blood pooled—
“I’ve seen enough here. Let’s get on with it.”
Lexi blinked in shock.
Flecks of ice glinted in his eyes.
She gaped at him, mortified. Talk about misreading a situation.
Unable to take the mockery on his face a second longer, she pushed past him and called over her shoulder, “If you’ll come with me, I have a list of issues to discuss in my office.”
The quicker they got there, the quicker they could get this meeting over and done with. She practically raced through the lounge and into the hospital corridor. If the floor opened up and swallowed her now, she’d face her fate happily. Of course, that wouldn’t happen. Nothing ever happened the way she wanted it to with Adam around.
Once in her office, she closed the door and invited him to sit down. He declined, electing rather to lean against the wall, one foot crossed over the other. She stood behind her desk and briefly consulted her folder. Not that she needed reminders about today’s agenda. It gave her somewhere to look other than his face.
She refused to let him see how much his rejection threw her.
She shoved aside any thoughts about preliminary discussions, loath to prolong her time with him. Instead, she launched straight into the facts. “We’ve accomplished a fair amount since last I met with Matt. In summary, I’ve hired a program manager. She’s a social worker with a medical background. The furniture is due to arrive the week after next, and the promotional material has been distributed to the wards and the reception area. We’ve set up a media interview for Wednesday, three weeks from now.” She paused to take a deep breath. “Matt will be attending that.”
The words tumbled out of her mouth; she couldn’t talk fast enough. If she could finish this meeting, she could get him the hell out of her office. Then she would afford herself the luxury of curling into a tiny ball on the floor and squirming in embarrassment. And anger.
“The doors open officially the following Monday, after the staff establish a formal agenda and program. Abbey Perkins, the new manager, will run a five-day training program for all staff members and volunteers involved. That will take place in two weeks’ time. We already have three children enrolled in the program, siblings of patients currently in hospital. The ward staff has been primed with information, and referrals have started trickling in from them. We’ve taken out advertisements in women’s and health magazines, as well as a couple of online medical publications and social media. Slowly, the word is circulating.”
She finally looked at him, ensuring she wore a vacant expression on her face.
She’d be damned if she let him see how bent out of shape she was. “That is it in a nutshell. Any questions?”
Adam pushed himself off the wall and took seven—she counted each one of them—very slow, very calculated steps in her direction. His face was unreadable, hypnotic, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away. He walked past her desk. Unsure of his intentions, she swallowed a tiny gasp as he stopped a mere heartbeat away from her.
The hunger was back in his expression, as it had been in the kitchen. Only this time, she refused to fall for it. Once bitten…
She took a step back, creating space between them. Wrong move. Her butt touched the desktop, and she was trapped, caught between a slab of wood and a wall of muscle.
He stepped closer and inhaled slowly. When he exhaled, his breath mingled with hers, sending a wave of longing shimmering through her.
She wanted to punch him in the nose.
His aftershave tickled her senses, and she made a concerted effort to hold herself down and not reach over and bury her face in his chest and gasp in his masculine scent.
Desire overrode her aggravation. Need pulsed through her, so powerful it rendered her muscles useless. She stood paralyzed, aching for his touch.
Her lids grew heavy. She fought every impulse to close them, fought the temptation to tilt her head slightly backward and offer him her mouth as she had in the kitchen.
“Look, Adam—”
He swooped in and kissed her.
His lips enveloped hers, and his tongue took possession of her mouth. It delved inside, hot and wet and demanding. And sweet. Oh, so sweet. Waves of pleasure spiraled through her. Her toes curled and her stomach quivered, and she almost wept at the relief she found in his arms as they wrapped around her, pulling her against him.
Almost—but not quite. Still smarting from his earlier rejection, she held herself still, refusing to respond.
But Adam only kissed her deeper, hotter, until her knees trembled and she couldn’t resist another second. Her mouth relaxed and her lips responded, and she accepted his searching tongue, feasting on it. Flesh burning and breasts tingling, need rolled over her hard and fast.
She curved herself into him, flattening her breasts against the solid mass of muscle that was his chest, fitting her hips around his groin so his erection pressed into her belly. He kissed her, until finally, breathless, he tugged his lips away and rested his forehead on hers.
“Christ,” he said. “I’ve waited a long time to do that.”
“Adam…”
“Come away with me, Lexi. Tonight. I have a place in the Blue Mountains. It’s wild and it’s beautiful, and I’d like to share it with you.”
She pulled away from him, confusion and frustration winning out over desire. One minute he rejected her cold, the next he scalded her with his kisses. Now he wanted her to go away with him?
She was getting whiplash, for sure.
“One weekend, Lexi. All I ask of you is this one weekend.”
She shook her head, dizzy from the staggering effects of his kiss and the emotions whirling about in her stomach. “I don’t get you.” She pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes and pushed down hard, as if the action would somehow clear her jumbled thoughts. “I don’t understand what’s going on inside that head of yours. Five minutes ago I embarrassed myself stupid waiting for you to kiss me, and you weren’t interested. Now you want me to spend a weekend with you?”
“You think I wasn’t interested?” He snorted and clasped her hand in his, pulling it away from her face. “You think I haven’t wanted to touch you since I walked into those rooms and saw you standing there?” He moved her hand down and placed it on his groin. “Christ. I look at you and I get an erection.”
She molded her hand around the shape of his hard shaft, hungry for his kiss again. He felt so good, so real. She ran her fingers over his rigid outline, and he growled.
“The first time I saw you, I want
ed to kiss you.” He drew in a ragged breath and traced first one heaving breast and then the other. “I ached for you. I wanted to touch your skin and taste your lips and bury myself in your body.” His eyes were hooded, and his voice was low and deep and soft, so soft that if someone stood behind her, they wouldn’t hear. “I thought spending the night with you would take care of it. That I wouldn’t need you anymore.” He settled his lips against the tender spot below her ear then nibbled his way up her lobe. “I was wrong.”
She should move, should push his hand away. They were in her office. Anyone could walk in.
She had neither the strength nor the inclination to do so. Instead, she remained where she was, pinned down by his mouth, helpless to fight him. She squirmed as another wave of longing washed over her.
“I can’t sleep for needing you. I want to see you naked, hear you scream my name. I want you so hot from my touch that you burn inside. Like I do. Night after excruciating night.”
Oh God, did any man have a right to talk like this? She was at work, for heaven’s sake.
Pull yourself together. Push him away.
She would, she vowed, as soon as she found the energy.
Keeping his lips close to her ear, he breathed, “Come away with me, Lexi. Let me make love to you tonight. Let me hold you and touch you.”
If her body answered, if she responded on gut instinct alone, she’d accept. She’d wind her arms around his neck and let the man carry her out of her office and straight to his car.
If.
Somewhere, a small part of her brain still functioned normally, and it focused on one sentence. All I ask of you is this one weekend.
She couldn’t do it. She knew she was nuts. A weekend away with Adam—a weekend of wild, uninhibited sex with the world’s most gorgeous man? What more could a woman ask for?
A chance, that’s what. A chance to get to know him. A chance to give whatever sparked between them time to ignite—and not just in bed.
Adam intrigued her; she couldn’t keep away. She wanted—no, she needed—to find out everything about him. His past, his present, what made him into the man he was and what he’d been through that caused him such pain. And why, why, her attraction to him was so powerful that no matter how many times or how savagely he pushed her away, she kept coming back for more?
A weekend of carefree sex would hardly give her that chance. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go. It was time to acknowledge that when it came to relationships, Lexi wanted the world. She wanted what Sarah had. She wanted what Daniel had. A weekend away wasn’t going to cut it. Not by a long shot. Nothing less than a whole lot of honest-to-goodness, real-life time spent in each other’s company would do.
He offered forty-eight hours.
Using every ounce of available energy, she dropped her arm and pulled back from the hand that trailed an exquisite path over the upper curves of her breasts. “I’m sorry, Adam.” She shook her head. “I can’t.”
Chapter Eleven
Adam shifted from fifth to fourth gear and then down again to third. The BMW purred as it decreased speed, hugging the curves of the twisting mountain road. With the roof down, the wind whipped through the car, pure and fresh and tinged with the pungent scent of eucalyptus.
He glanced at her, flashed his traffic-stopping smile. “I’m pleased you came.”
“So am I.” She wrinkled her nose.
“I didn’t think you would.”
“I wasn’t going to.” Approximately thirty seconds after refusing his invitation, she’d realized her mistake. She’d wanted a chance? Well, what did she think his invitation offered? Yeah, it may only be for forty-eight hours, but what had she expected? A marriage proposal? Two days alone together was a great start.
“What made you change your mind?”
She shot him a wicked look. “What do you think?”
The traffic stopper returned. “I have a confession.”
For someone in the process of owning up to something, he didn’t look particularly guilty. “Am I going to want to hear this?”
“Matt could have made it to the meeting this afternoon.”
“What?”
“I asked him not come.”
“You did?”
“I’m going to Hong Kong on Tuesday for two weeks. I couldn’t leave here without resolving things between us.”
“Is that what I am to you? An unresolved issue?”
He didn’t respond.
“So spending a weekend with me will help you find…an answer to your problem?” She held no false illusions. He’d designed this weekend to work her out of his system. She should be pissed, but how could she be angry when his problem was the fact that she was in his system to begin with?
He slowed and turned off the highway onto a narrow country road. “Until I have you naked and alone, I won’t be able to resolve one damn thing.”
A lick of desire shot through her. She closed her eyes, rested her head on the headrest, and stroked his thigh. The muscles rippled in his leg. “Care to tell me how you intend resolving things?”
His tone dropped a notch. “Sure you want to hear?”
She dragged her hand down to his knee and back up again. “Uh huh.”
He released the gearshift and clasped her hand, effectively stopping her movement. “First off, I’m going to try to not drive us clear off the mountain.” He wound his fingers through hers. “It’s tough concentrating with a raging erection.”
She twisted her head. Sure enough, she could see why his concentration might be compromised. She smiled. “What can you do with a raging erection?”
He turned to look at her with an arched eyebrow. “I can make you very, very happy.”
She leaned back and closed her eyes again. “I’m sure you can. What about after that?”
“I can make you even happier.”
She snorted at the sheer arrogance in his voice. “And then?”
He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “You can make me very happy.”
“That’s it? That’s the best you got?” She knew he would make her very, very happy. Then she’d return the favor. Tenfold. Still, she knew for a fact he could do better.
“Are you challenging me?”
“No, I’m remembering.”
“Remembering what?”
“Me. You. In your office.”
He was silent.
“I’m standing in your office, bent over your desk.” She kept her eyes shut, drawn back by the memory of his description. “My skirt’s bunched up high over my hips, and you’re standing behind me, staring at my ass.”
Adam cleared his throat but didn’t speak.
“Your gaze burns into my buttocks. It makes me shiver. I want you to touch me, tear off my thong.”
She opened an eye and caught the pained expression on his face. “You can’t decide how to get rid of it. With your hands or your teeth? Your indecision drives me mad.” She closed her eyes again and sank deeper into the seat. “I picture you kneeling behind me, taking the lace between your teeth and dragging the panties over my hips and down my legs.”
“Lexi…” Adam’s voice was rough, but it trailed off.
“But instead, you hook your thumb in the thong and tug it off. Again, your gaze burns me. Knowing you watch me so intimately makes me squeeze my thighs together.” Like she did now, in the front seat. “Your erection grows harder. You want to touch me. You’d roll your thumb over my clit, massage it while you slip a finger inside me.”
Lexi had burned when Adam spun the same story for her, and she burned using it to seduce him now. She undid the top button of her blouse.
Adam swore softly.
In his office, he’d used his words as a weapon against her. Now the war was over, she’d turn his fantasy into reality. A pleasurable reality that would obliterate any remaining animosity.
“You don’t use your hands, though. You know another way of making me come.” She gave a soft snarl. “By this time
, I’m wishing you’d do something. Anything.”
Adam’s breath was erratic.
“You push me against the surface of your desk. My breasts are swollen and aching, and I rub them against the smooth wood.” Lexi gulped in air. “I hear your shoes hitting the floor, the shuffle as you remove your pants. Your hands close over my hips, and I almost groan in relief. The tip of your cock brushes against the back of my thigh, grazes my lips. I swear, if it touches my clit, I’ll break.
“When I can’t take it a minute longer, you fill me with one thrust of your hips. Words can’t describe it. I scream, and you pull back and plunge into me again. Your legs are plastered against mine, your hips cradle my ass. You’re so deep inside me, it’s hard to tell where you end and I begin. You thrust again and again. I can’t take it. It’s too good. I’m falling apart…”
She panted—she couldn’t help it. Beside her, Adam drew in a sharp breath.
“You fuck me hard, once, twice, and then you tense, but only for a second. You explode, gasping my name. You want to say more, but you can’t. I collapse on the desk. You collapse on top of me, spent, and I relish your weight, your heat on my back.”
She opened her eyes and looked at Adam. “For now that’s the only place I want to be.”
The car had stopped. At some point, he must have pulled over to the side of the road. His eyes flamed. The ice in them melted away.
“I’ve never fucked someone on the side of the road before.” His voice sounded like gravel. “But I swear, if you say one more word, I’ll haul you out of this car, throw you over the hood, and live out every word of that fantasy.”
She practically purred in her seat.
With a soft sigh, he undid another two buttons and slipped his hand into her blouse. A muscle ticked in his cheek. “The road’s deserted. No one uses it apart from me.”
Her stomach lurched as he stroked an aroused nipple.
“Open your shirt.” It was an order, not a request. “All the way.”
She tackled the buttons until the blouse hung open, revealing her braless breasts.
He swallowed hard. “Your belt. Take it off.”
