by Tawny Weber
Her pulse stuttered as she thought of all the possible ways for this situation to explode all over her life; she focused on the door and the escape it provided.
“Sneaking off again,” Alex murmured, catching up with her just as her hand grasped the lever.
Control. All she had to do was maintain control for the next few minutes, then she could fall apart long enough to figure her way out of this mess.
Her mom’s lecture on propriety ringing through her head, she pulled on her coolest persona and slanted him a chilly look.
“How is it sneaking to walk away in front of you and a roomful of people? Or is it that you’re used to being the first to leave that’s got you all uptight?”
“There’s nothing uptight about me,” he pointed out, looking stung at her insight. He put his hand over hers on the door, effectively trapping her. Heat sparked between them at the touch, her body going warm and wet. Pavlovian reaction, she told herself. Anything learned could be unlearned. “Or did you mean upright?”
Dru rolled her eyes at the lame joke before she could stop herself.
“Cute.”
“Thanks,” he said with a grin that transported her back to salty surf and hot sands. Then he leaned closer, his minty breath sending tendrils of loose hair fluttering around her face. “But unless you want your coworkers to know just how upright you make me, we might want to take this somewhere private.”
Rock or hard place? Unable to help herself, she dropped her gaze to check his assertion. Yep, he was definitely hard and upright.
“All for you,” he murmured, seeing where her eyes had gone.
“Lucky me.”
And wasn’t she an idiot for letting that excite her. It wasn’t as if it would last. He was only turned on by the memory of all that beach sex. If this was the first time they’d met, he wouldn’t look at her twice.
“We’re starting to attract attention, princess.”
She winced at the nickname, but turned to smile and say goodbye to her team.
“Don’t call me that,” she whispered, tugging her hand free then opening the door.
“It’s better than the other names that come to mind. After all, it’s not like I had any idea who you really were, is it?”
“Unlike you, I didn’t pretend to be something I wasn’t,” she retorted as they cleared the door.
He started to protest, but she interrupted, “Surfer boy.”
Alex clamped his mouth shut.
Her triumphant little smile made him laugh and shake his head. “I never pretended to be anything other than who I am,” he told her.
“Of course not. It’s an easy jump from a footloose surfer boy who waxes philosophical while waxing his…board to a renowned physicist with a rock-star reputation. I can’t understand how I missed the obvious.”
“Lab or waves, I’m the same guy,” he claimed.
“Right,” Dru gibed as she flicked her finger over his sedate blue tie. Silk, she realized after she’d touched it. Figured.
The two guys at the end of the hall stopped their conversation and stared, then one whispered something to the other and gestured their way.
Panic tried to snake its way up Dru’s spine. This was exactly what she’d been worried about. Next thing she knew, people would be saying the reason she’d been given the leadership position was that she’d slept with the rock star.
Wouldn’t her momma be proud then?
“The same guy?” she countered as she hurried around the corner as if she was being chased by the ghost of good-sex-gone-wrong. Alex kept pace easily at her side. “You? Mr. Wolf Award? What was that little thing you were dissing back on the beach? Success? Wasn’t that what you’d deemed not worth stressing about?”
“I’m honored you cared enough to remember my words,” he said softly as he pressed one hand flat against the small of her back to lead her down the hall. Even though he didn’t know exactly where they were going. Wanting so badly to lean into his hand, Dru forced herself to step aside, away from the temptingly welcome warmth of his touch.
“Remember?” she rejoined as soon as she stepped through the door of her office. “That kind of irony jumps up to slap a girl in the face, don’t you think?”
Dru realized she’d made a huge tactical mistake as soon as he entered, closing the door behind him. The office, always sizable before, was suddenly much too small. Almost claustrophobic. Or maybe it was Alex and his huge…presence, sucking up all the air in the room.
“Irony?” he asked quietly, his tone unlike any she’d heard from him before. But of course it was, she told herself. Famous rock-star scientists were obviously a lot more contained, a lot less romantic, when they had to wear a shirt and slacks instead of a sexy bathing suit.
She ground her teeth together to keep from screaming. At him, at the situation, at fate. It was all so unfair.
“You lied to me,” she growled, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “You let me, no, you made me think you were some laid-back, philosophical surfer boy with no ambition bigger than catching the next sunrise wave.”
As if in slow motion, Alex’s smirky little smile dropped away. He straightened, those broad shoulders that she’d held through many a sexual ride tense.
“Lied, Drucilla?”
“Dru,” she corrected. God, right after having her coworkers and team realizing she’d screwed this guy six ways from Sunday, the last thing she needed was anyone being reminded of her full name. In Los Cabos, it’d seemed romantic. Fairytale sweet, even. Here? It was just embarrassing.
He arched a brow, a sardonic look in those once-dreamy brown eyes. Dru’s spine stiffened even more—if that was possible—as she accepted that while he was the same man she’d spent the week with, Alex Maddow was no use-’em-and-lose-’em fling.
Dammit. How many disappointments was she supposed to suck up in one day?
“Look, Dru, I don’t stress over success. I do what I do, I’m good at it, and whether it leads to success or not doesn’t worry me.”
It was all she could do not to scream. Here he was, her quintessential fantasy, threatening her reputation with his very presence. He’d accomplished her ultimate career goals, and now he was rubbing his success in her face by telling her how easy it had been. And if that wasn’t enough, the hottest, sexiest man she’d ever met was completely off-limits and out of her reach.
She wished, just for a tiny second, that she were a violent woman. Then she could either toss him against the door and have her way with him, or smack him for awakening all these churned-up, impossible needs.
Apparently her conflicting wishes were clear in her eyes. Alex gave her a narrow-lidded look and leaned back against her office door. The reflection of her name on the glass behind his head reminded her exactly where she was and what really mattered.
Work, the project, success. Proving herself at the lab so she could secure her position and continue taking care of her mom. Of herself. Of her future. She didn’t even have to try to douse her anger. It drained on its own.
“Well, that’s lovely for you,” she said with a dismissive shrug. “I’m sure your success will bring many benefits to our project. Trifecta appreciates your participation.”
He stared.
Five seconds. She let her smile grow chillier.
Fifteen seconds. Her cheeks were starting to ache, but she kept the smile intact.
Thirty seconds. She didn’t drop her eyes, but she did let the smile go. She had to, it was hurting her cheekbones.
At the one-minute mark, she’d had enough. She arched one brow and leaned her hip on her desk, crossing her arms under her breasts and cocking her head in question.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ve got work to do,” she told him. Dru was perfectly aware that she was being a bitch, but she couldn’t help it.
She’d get a grip. Eventually. After all, a girl needed a few minutes, a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and some privacy when she was hit in the face with something like this.
She wanted her private ice-cream minutes, dammit.
“Participation?” he mused.
It wasn’t the smooth, innocuous words that sent a warning up her spine. It was the wickedly dangerous look in his eyes. Time to fast-forward to the ice-cream portion of her day. Shoulders stiff, she straightened from her desk and stepped forward to gesture to the door.
She hesitated, then defrosted for just a second. “Look, obviously this was a shock for both of us.” The tight anger at the edges of his eyes loosened a bit. “We have to work together and we’re both professionals. We want this project to succeed. So we’ll make the best of it. The past is just that, gone, and I’m sure we both want to forget all about it, right?”
She was proud of herself. Her words were reasonable. Her tone just shy of teacher to student. Very sensible and calm.
Before she could wrench away her arm patting herself on the back, though, his expression shifted. Oh, sure, the anger was gone. But he got this predatory look, as if he was calculating the amount of time it’d take to get her out of her lab coat.
“Alex—”
She didn’t have a clue what she was going to say. It didn’t matter, though. He moved so fast, grabbing her arms and spinning her so she was trapped between the door and the looming length of his hard, muscular body.
“Forget it?” he muttered. His hands slid down her arms to bracket her wrists, right there at her hips, so he was leaning over her. She wasn’t a short woman and wasn’t used to men…looming. That’s why the nerves were knotting together in her stomach, she told herself.
“Alex—”
“Forget how you look naked in the moonlight?” he asked, his words low and warm. Warm enough to heat up those knots in her stomach and make her feel all melty inside. “Forget the taste of you on my tongue? The sound of your cries as passion takes you crashing over the edge?”
Her throat as dry as sand, Dru swallowed and shook her head. “It was lovely but—”
“Lovely?” Alex goggled for a second, then he threw his head back and laughed. Despite her irritation, Dru’s lips twitched at the sound. He had such a great laugh—infectious, light and free.
Like him, she realized.
And not like her. She was none of those things, which he’d see for himself now. Why that hurt so much, she couldn’t say.
“Fine, lovely, nice, peachy keen,” she amended, rolling her eyes. “But it’s over.”
“Because you say so?”
“That would be reason enough,” she retorted, wishing he’d back up a little. It was hard to think straight when the heat of his body was wrapping around her like a teasingly sexy hug. “Other reasons would be that vacation flings end when the vacation ends. Or that this kind of thing is wildly inappropriate given our situation. Or maybe that you lied to me.”
“Bullshit,” he growled. Apparently her argument was too much for his fragile thread of control, because she saw it snap as she looked into his dark eyes. Saw him make a decision.
Dru barely managed to shake her head in protest before his fingers tunneled into her hair. His mouth sprang the trap. Protests evaporated at the familiar taste of him, his tongue sweeping along hers, demanding she respond.
Her brain shut off. Her last thought was that this why Alex was so dangerous to her. He could make her stop thinking with just the touch of his lips. And without her brains, what was she?
In trouble. That’s what.
His fingers smoothed her hair while his other hand swept down her body, moving her lab coat aside, and then trailing back up her waist to cup her breast.
Dru couldn’t stop the moan of pleasure as he squeezed a familiar, exciting rhythm. She wished desperately that she was wearing something more feminine. There was nothing sexy, or accessible, about her button-down cotton shirt or boring bra.
But he made her feel sexy anyway. His fingers skimmed along the top of her bra through her shirt, then slid, somehow, beneath the edge of her bra, using the friction of the shirt’s fabric to tease the aching, needy tip of her breast.
She pressed closer, her hips swirling in a slow, welcoming dance against the hard evidence of his desire. With a purr of approval, she ran her hands over his narrow hips to cup his butt and pull him tighter, closer.
The kiss exploded. Tongues dueled now. His fingers speared through her hair, wrapping around the back of her head to tilt her mouth to the exact position he desired. His other hand made quick work of the buttons at her chest, shoving that fabric and her practical bra aside so he could rub his fingers over her hardening nipple.
Dru wrapped one leg around his thigh for better pressure, rubbing her throbbing core against him and wishing they could get rid of all the layers of material between them.
She needed to feel him. Needed his hands, his mouth on her body, quenching this building fire. The only thought in her head was more. More heat, more intensity, more Alex. The man was pure sexual magic.
Dru heard a pounding from far off. As if her heart was beating so loudly, she could actually hear it echoing off the walls.
She easily ignored it and rode the wave of passion.
It wasn’t until she felt the thuds against the back of her head that she realized someone was knocking on her office door.
The door she was currently getting hot, wet and wicked against.
“Stop,” she gasped in a husky whisper, pulling away from Alex’s questing mouth. She turned her head to the side to avoid him when he tried to recapture her lips.
Holy shit, what was she doing? As if the pounding had flipped a switch, her brain reengaged. Dru unwrapped her leg from Alex’s thigh and released his ass to push against his chest, trying to get free.
“Stop,” she repeated, trying to stifle the panic. God, was she insane? “We’re done with this kind of thing.”
“It’s not over until the flame’s extinguished,” he said, his words quiet, his tone threatening her sanity as he finally stepped back to release her.
Dru’s chin lifted and she narrowed her eyes. Anger at feeling cornered calming her nerves.
Before she could snap at him, though, the door pushed open to bounce against her butt.
Frustrated and flustered, she hurried over to her desk while trying to tidy her hair. All she could think was how the hell she was supposed to explain what they were doing. And why she was all flushed and unprofessional looking.
Then she saw who was in the doorway and relaxed. Not much, but enough that the air could reach her lungs again.
“Oh.” Nikki’s gaze zipped from Dru to Alex, one brow arched in speculation. “Sorry if I interrupted. I thought your door was sticking again, Dru.”
“It’s unstuck now,” Dru said as hot color poured over her cheeks. Since Nikki had most likely seen their images against the glass door, her friend probably had a solid idea what’d done the sticking. Quickly slipping her buttons closed, Dru moved around Alex without meeting his or Nikki’s eyes.
“Well,” Nikki drew out, giving Alex a friendly look. “I guess I don’t have to ask if you’re finding your way around the labs. I can see Dru’s tending to your…comfort?”
“Hardly,” Dru muttered under her breath. “Alex was just leaving.”
They both stared at her as if she was crazy. Nikki’s look clearly said Yeah, right, while Alex’s was more along the lines of a whole lot of frustrated swearwords. Dru didn’t care. She needed to think, she needed her ice cream and she needed her space.
Bottom line, she needed him gone.
Alex started to say something, but then he got a better look at the stubborn expression on her face. He wasn’t the rock-star brainiac for nothing, apparently, because after a second, he shrugged and nodded.
“We can finish this tomorrow,” he promised.
The hell they could. They’d finished it last week and she wouldn’t forget that again. But she let it go, instead moving to push the door open wider so he could leave.
“We have an 8:00 a.m. meeting with Dr. Shelby regarding funding a
nd support. I’ll see you there.”
“At least I know where to find you,” he said, the clipped words letting her know he was going to hold a grudge over her Los Cabos departure choices.
A part of her silently mocked that if she’d known how pointless sneaking off would be, she’d have stayed for one more day of mind-bending sex.
But that was also the part of her that’d wanted to wrap him up and bring him home to keep forever and ever. So she ignored it.
“Oh, and by the way, you can reach me at the Hilton,” he informed her with a long look as he stepped into the doorway. “Just in case you want to continue this…discussion.”
“I won’t.”
With a smile that called her a liar, he strode out the door, pulling it shut behind him.
Dru’s shoulders sagged in relief.
“Care to tell me what I just walked in on?” Nikki invited with a big smile. The dancing humor in her dark eyes made it clear she already knew, and was both amused and fascinated at the idea of Dru acting so out of character.
“That was an oops,” Dru muttered.
“Oops?” Nikki’s snort of laughter earned her an angry glare. “Is that the scientific term?”
“Psychiatric term is more like it.”
“Crazy?”
“That’s a good way to put it.” Not knowing what else to do with all the pent-up sexual frustration and nervous energy, Dru started pacing.
“Well…” Nikki drew the word out. “I guess I don’t have to ask if my suspicions were right. Obviously Dr. Maddow sidelines as a sexy fling.”
“Only by virtue of subterfuge.” Dru stormed from one end of her office to the other, turning to stomp the return five steps in quick succession.
“He lied his way into your bed?”
Her angry steps halted, Dru shoved a hand through her loosened hair and tried to figure out how to answer. She wanted to say he had. She wanted to believe he had. It’d feel so much better to believe that.
But, like Alex, she wasn’t a liar.
Dru dropped into her chair and gave an angry jerk of her shoulder.
“We didn’t make it to the bed the first time,” she muttered.
