by A C Warneke
Pausing, he took a deep breath to get the fury under control; the last thing he needed was to turn into a wolf in the middle of the locker room and slaughter an idiot. Damn it; he hadn’t been this out of control since he was a boy barreling through puberty. How the hell did Lexi get so much power over him in such a short time that he was willing to become a savage to protect her?
The oblivious fool with a death wish chuckled to himself, “The other day, she came in wearing some sort of school girl uniform; I swear, I had some x-rated fantasies for a week.”
Hearing this other guy, even if this other guy was slime, admitting his own lascivious thoughts regarding Lexi strengthened his resolve. He couldn’t get any more involved with her; he didn’t need to be all twisted up inside. Tying his tie, he closed the locker, turning his back on the asshole. With a grim expression, he left the locker room behind, grateful for the encounter with the lecherous ass since it managed to reinforce his decision to keep Lexi at a safe distance. Say, Antarctica.
He just wasn’t sure who he was trying to keep safe.
*****
Mrs. Reynolds kept throwing friendly smiles her way, but Lexi was not in any state of mind to chat; her thoughts were warring between desire and annoyance. She leaned against the outer door to Duncan’s office, arms crossed beneath her breasts, lust and indignation fortifying her resolve. She could control her lust long enough to yell at Duncan and then he better be ready to pay because after that performance in the locker room…. She had to fan herself to keep from burning up.
He finally appeared looking even more powerful – even more warrior-like – then he looked in the locker room. The dark suit only emphasized his incredible build; unless that was just Lexi remembering what he looked like underneath all of those clothes. A rush of heat tore through her body at the thought and she had to consciously remember to not groan out loud. God, he was just so damn sexy.
His spine was rigid, almost to the point of breaking, as he stopped at his secretary’s desk, not looking at her, and asked for his messages. Lexi wondered what would happen if she ran her fingers along his back, if he would arch into it like a cat or if he would claw at her. She wasn’t going to risk touching him; if she touched him, she’d be the one liable to arch like a cat.
“Miss Darling,” his voice interrupted her thoughts and she straightened. He held out his hand for her to precede him into his office, careful not to touch her as she passed, his expression grim and reserved. She wanted to see him lose control so she added a little swing to her step as she walked past him.
Yeah, that worked until the door closed and she was alone in the office with this paragon of masculine virility, this warrior, and she realized that more often than not fire burned and consumed everything in its path. Sucking in a deep lungful of breath, she watched as he made his way around his desk and sat down in his chair, looking every inch the powerful warlord who could determine whether or not she lived or died. Whether he would choose her to be in his harem.
The image of her in a slave girl’s costume awaiting her master’s pleasure detonated in her brain and she could almost feel the flimsy material that hid nothing from his silver perusal. She would kneel before him, looking up at him with kohl-lined eyes, as she reverently pull his thick cock from his silky harem pants, holding his gaze as she took him into her mouth and….
“Ahem,” he cleared his throat, dragging her thoughts away from wearing a slave girl costume and pleasuring her lord. Shaking her head, she looked at him and saw that he was once again the impassive businessman. Good, that was good; keep things strictly professional between them. “You had a problem with my decision to cut your words?”
Straightening the lines of her jacket, lifting her chin with indignation, she stared down at him, trying not to imagine him in his harem pants. “I just got them increased and now they are even lower then when I started. I thought you said you would at least give my column a chance before you axed it and you’re doing everything in your power to guarantee its demise.”
Haughtily, he raised that arrogant eyebrow and folded his hands beneath his chin as he coolly studied her. “I am giving your column a chance and if you can’t write an effective column with the words I’ve given you then perhaps you don’t belong at this magazine.”
“From the very beginning you have been the one who has tried to get rid of me,” she shot back, her heart beating frantically in her chest as she watched him just sit there looking so damn impervious, so goddamn sexy and wanting him even while fighting with him. She wanted him to get angry; she wanted to see beneath the calm, collected exterior to the warlord beneath. “If you're that determined to keep your rules then fuck it; I give up. Keep your damn rules; I'll find someone who chases me. And what is your problem with my column?"
“Your column does not belong with this magazine,” he said simply. “It’s simply gossip.”
“Have you even read anything I’ve written?” she demanded to know, already knowing his answer. If he had read it, he would know it wasn’t a gossip column; it was an adventure column with interesting conversations from the people taking the adventures with her. “Of course not; you think that just because I take a different approach to showing lavish lifestyles that they do not count. But that’s like saying having sex in a garden is not suitable because it’s sex in a garden. Well, I’ll have you know that sometimes the thought of making love in the great outdoors holds far greater appeal to me than the same old, boring bed routine.”
Oh, God, why was she talking about having sex at all? Didn't she just say she was giving up on him? And why was he just sitting there not responding while her body was getting primed for earth-shattering sex? So, of course, she had no choice but to push him further, to break through that iron control.
“You are just trying to get me to quit and I understand your reasons,” her words were filled with passion as she paced back and forth in front of his desk, unable to look at him as she got everything off her chest. “I know that you want me – almost as much as I want you – but you don’t want to want me. Fine, you’re probably right; the attraction between us is so intense, so overwhelming, that if we did finally succumb to the madness it would probably be a huge let down.
“I mean, you’re all show and no play,” she continued, stopping in front of the desk and looking down at him. His expression was stony but that irresistible muscle was pulsing ruthlessly in his jaw so she knew he was listening. “That’s probably why you keep leading me on and then slamming the door in my face when I get too close to breaking through your control. You simply don’t want to live up to my expectations and let me tell you, they are sky high.”
Walking around his desk, she stood directly in front of him, trying to make her point. From up close, she noticed the slight flush along his cheek bones, the sweat beading on his brow, the strain of keeping his expression neutral. It wasn’t exactly what she was looking for, but it was a start. Leaning her butt against the edge of his desk, she looked down at him, “You’re probably a bread and butter lover, aren’t you?”
She saw his jaw tighten and so she pushed on, “Does your lover just lie there on the bed while you move in her just so, making as little disorder as possible?” Reaching forward, she ran her hands through the thick mass of his black hair, mussing it up. It was like running her hands through raw silk: thick and heavy and so luxurious. She wanted to keep her hands threaded through his mane but forced her hands back to her side. “I bet you don’t even take your suit off – there’s just no point in wasting time undressing completely; it wouldn’t be…” She sneered, “Efficient.”
“Lexi,” he growled.
She looked down and her heart leapt in her chest when she saw the hunger in the liquid silver of his eyes. It thrilled her and scared her at the same time. She was so going to get burned and she was relishing the blisters she would get. “I suppose you might remove your tie,” she said thoughtfully, tapping her finger against her chin. “Though having your airway constricted d
oes increase the pleasure and since you’d be in such a rush, leaving the tie on might make more sense; more bang for the buck, one might say.”
“Lexi,” he repeated, his voice dark and sensual. Slowly, he stood up and she noticed that he wasn’t unaffected at all: his pants were straining against his huge erection. As she watched, he pulled the tails of his shirt out and began unbuttoning it, slowly revealing a span of golden skin as it opened. He loosened the tie and lifted it off his head, answering her tie question. Shrugging out of his shirt, he repeated, “Lexi.”
She looked back up, their eyes met and she forgot how to breathe. “What?”
“Shut up,” he murmured, bending his head and capturing her lips in a soul-searing kiss. Automatically, she wrapped her arms around his neck and plastered her body against his, relishing the feel of his hard muscles and heat. She heard a low moan and wasn’t sure if it was coming from her or from him.
His hands undid the three buttons holding her jacket together and when he lifted his head her breath caught in her throat as he ravished her with his silver eyes. His hungry gaze dipped to her breasts, encased in a lacy, blue bra. Pushing the jacket off her arms, letting it fall to the desk, he reached behind her and unclasped her bra. Her breasts spilled into his hands and the heat of his touch burned any remnants of her rational mind away. As he took a rosy nipple into his mouth, she inhaled sharply in acute pleasure, threading her fingers through his hair to hold him in place.
As he manipulated her nipples with his tongue, his fingers, she ran her hands over his broad shoulders, down his muscled chest, across the front of his flat, sculpted stomach. With trembling fingers, she unfastened his pants, releasing his straining erection, only momentarily surprised to discover he wasn’t wearing underwear. Before she could contemplate that fact, she wrapped her hands around his penis, stroking the hot, silken length. This time, she knew that he was the one who growled.
Hearing the zipper of her skirt being unzipped, she felt it slither down her legs to the ground, exposing the matching blue panties. Duncan kissed a path from her sexually sensitized breasts, across her collar bone, along her throat, until he caught her lips once more, groaning into her mouth as his hand slid between her legs. Strong, masculine fingers probed the moist, feminine heat and her body softened, accepting the pleasurable invasion. In savage desperation, he tore the scrap of lace from her body, sucking her tongue into his mouth as she gasped.
Throwing her head back, desperate for air, Lexi moaned as Duncan pressed first one finger and then another into her, making her tremble. She had to hold onto his arms to remain standing since her bones had disappeared with her rational mind. As he watched her face with gleaming metallic eyes, he slowly withdrew his fingers and then thrust them back in several times, priming her already-primed body and drawing out her feminine lubrication. Dragging his fingers along the swollen folds of her sex, he rubbed the moisture around her swollen clitoris, eliciting another moan from her.
He stopped and Lexi frowned until she realized he was grabbing a condom from his back pocket. Smiling sultrily up at him as he slid the condom onto his raging erection, she asked, “Are you always prepared?”
He muttered something about recently stocking up and she almost laughed but then he was kissing her again, his fingers wrapping around her thigh and hoisting her leg up so his cock was poised at the entrance to her body. She sighed into his mouth, “Hurry, Duncan. I want to feel you inside of me.”
Hungrily, his silver eyes gleamed as he watched her expression; gone was the civilized veneer, in its place was the wolf, the Primal Male, desperate to claim his mate. His nostrils flared as he continued watching her face, nudging his cock against her, finding the entrance of her sex. A low growl came from the back of his throat as he pulled her body flush against his and thrust fully into her.
There was a moment of discomfort, barely there and then just as quickly gone, and then a glorious wholeness as he filled her completely. Lifting her other boneless limb, she wrapped her legs around his waist as her back arched, pressing her all the way onto the length of his erection. It was the most exquisite sensation she had ever felt and she never wanted the feeling to end even as her body begged for more.
Using his hands, his thighs, his body, he set a relentless rhythm, driving her to the point of desperation and her nails dug into his shoulders, drawing blood, fueling the lust-crazed frenzy between them. His teeth skimmed across her throat until he was sucking her throbbing pulse, marking her as she marked him, pumping into her over and over until her body tightened and felt like it was going to snap.
She was barely aware of the cool desk against her burning skin as he set her down and then urged her backwards, his hips pummeling against her thighs as he continued to thrust in and out of her. Straightening, he looked down at her with that primal gaze and an orgasm tore through her body, leaving her breathless as he continued to pump, making her breasts bounce in the same rhythm.
“It’s too much,” she gasped, as he slowed his rhythm and went deeper.
His lips curved into a dark smile, his eyes, his silver eyes, glowed. But he didn’t speak, instead, one of his hands curled around her breast, the other reached between their bodies and rubbed against her swollen clit, making her back arch off the desk as lightning coursed through her body and set her nerves on fire. Making her scream.
His mouth found a nipple and suckled – hard, adding unbearable pleasure to her already tortured body. Her fingers once more twisted in his hair and convulsed erratically; she was desperate for something to hold onto as she shattered into a million pieces.
His hips pummeled her, his penis stroking her insides, closer and closer to release. Her breathes came with increasing gasps and high pitches of air intake, driving him further and further. As her body stiffened, as her inner muscles flexed around him, he came, filling the condom with his seed, filling her ears with a dull roar.
Spent, he collapsed onto her, breathing heavily. Wrapping her arms around his glistening back, she caressed his shuddering muscles, needing to touch him. Little aftershocks were making their way through her body and Lexi sighed happily, “I knew it would be incredible.”
He stiffened slightly but he didn’t move and his voice was rough but without conviction as he rasped, “It shouldn’t have happened.”
“It was inevitable,” she sighed, not wanting to let him go, loving the weight of his body on hers – in hers. Knowing she didn’t want the moment to end, she still let him go, not surprised when he straightened and stepped away from her exhausted body. Removing the condom and then tugging his pants back up, he brushed his hair back into place and regained his control. If it weren’t so depressing, it would have been absolutely mesmerizing, watching her warrior replacing his mask of civility.
“This was a mistake,” he said gruffly, grabbing her bra and suit jacket and tossing them to her. Duncan’s gaze lowered to the glistening curls between her thighs and she felt the desire start to build again. But then he was squeezing his eyes shut and turning away from her. “I apologize, Miss Darling.”
Frowning, she put her bra back on, then her coat and her skirt. Sitting on the edge of his desk, she watched him as he paced back and forth, coming to terms with what they just did. “Don’t you dare apologize, Duncan Tremain; don’t you dare!”
He turned around and faced her and she was taken aback by the desolation in his eyes. “There are things you don’t know about me, Lexi; things that would terrify you.”
Standing, she closed the distance between them and cupped his cheek in her palm, tilting her head back much further since her shoes had been lost somewhere along the way. “We all have secrets, Duncan; don’t think yours are any worse than anyone else’s.”
His hand covered hers and he closed his eyes as he rubbed his cheek against her palm. But when he looked at her, the despair was still there and her heart ached for him. “Lexi, you are a temptation I cannot afford; if I hurt you….”
His big body shuddered and she st
epped even closer to show him that she wasn’t afraid of him, until her breasts pressed against his chest and her other arm was wrapped around his waist. “You could never hurt me.”
In that moment, she loved him with her whole heart and that thought made the air in her lungs coalesce, making it thick and cold and impossible to breathe. It wasn’t love, it was just sex; explosive, brain-melting sex. It couldn’t be love because it would be false; without the allure of the Siren, he wouldn’t love her in return. Of course it wasn’t love.
Abruptly pulling away from him, she began to search for her panties, remembering that in their haste to mate, Duncan tore them off. With her thoughts roiling, she blurted, “It’s just sex.”
His eyes hardened as if her words wounded him but he simply nodded, “Of course.”
“I need to get back to work,” she said. Pasting a smile on her frozen face, she teased, “I don’t want the boss to fire me for sleeping around on the job.”
Gazing at her with the eyes of the damned, he ground out, “This can’t happen again.”
“I can’t make that promise,” she whispered, slipping on her heels and walking over to the door. As her hands wrapped around the doorknob, she paused and without glancing at him murmured, “At least read some of my work, Mr. Tremain, you might be pleasantly surprised.”
*****
He watched as she walked out the door, thoughts and recriminations racing a million miles per hour as his wolf sighed his contentment. At least he had made it past hello, not that she ever said hello. But when she started talking about sex and expectations, he had lost it, attacking her like the savage beast that lurked within him.
