Dylan’s eyes dropped to her chest. “If it’s any consolation, I’m pretty impressed now.”
Sadie blushed and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
“Please. We both know my chest is never going to set the world on fire.”
The moment she’d said it, she knew how it sounded: like a plea for reassurance.
“You said something before. About a time in the locker room…?” he asked.
Her relief that he’d chosen to ignore her moment of weakness faded. She so didn’t want to explain about playing voyeur all those years ago.
“Forget it,” she said lightly, waving a hand dismissively. “It wasn’t anything important.”
Dylan raised an eyebrow.
“Not knowing this stuff has caused enough problems for both of us, don’t you think?” he said.
He wasn’t going to let it go. She sighed, prepared to be embarrassed all over again.
“One day after gym class, I heard you singing in the boys’ change room. I—I snuck in. You were in the shower.”
One of Dylan’s eyebrows shot up and a slow grin spread across his mouth.
“Dear me. Little Sadie Post. Who would have thought?”
Sadie finished the rest in a rush. “I saw how cut up you were about failing the Lit test we’d just taken. Before that, I always thought you didn’t care about school.”
He nodded slowly. “So you decided to help out,” he guessed, filling in the blanks.
“Yeah. Stupid, huh?”
He eyed her steadily. “Misguided, maybe.”
She shrugged, feeling an odd lightness in her chest. It was all on the table between them. No more misunderstandings, no more anger or blame. A clean slate.
“So, how much did you see?”
Her head shot up and she saw that he was eyeing her speculatively now.
“What?”
“In the shower. How much did you see?”
She smiled faintly, remembering the perfection of his teenager’s body.
“Everything.”
“I guess you were a lot naughtier than I ever imagined.”
She felt his eyes drop to her chest and didn’t need to check to know that her nipples were doing their usual “look at us” thing for him.
“So what did you think? About what you saw?” he asked.
She realized he’d taken a step toward her. The sensible thing would be to take a step backward, let him know that she wasn’t interested.
She didn’t.
“It was the first, uh, penis I’d seen. I didn’t know what to think.”
He took another step. Excitement licked along her nerve endings.
“What about later? Did you think about it later?”
His eyes were hooded, intent. Her gaze dropped to his mouth. She remembered how it had felt on her skin, so hot and wet.
“Yes. In my bedroom at night.”
He stopped an arm’s length away.
“Did you ever touch yourself and think about me?” he asked, his tone smoky and low.
She couldn’t look away. Didn’t want to.
“Yes. I used to pretend it was you, your hand…” she whispered.
She could see a pulse jumping in his neck.
“I think it’s time we made some new memories,” he said.
She caught her breath as he reached out and wrapped his hands around her rib cage. She could feel his thumbs nudging the underside of her breasts, and her body ached with need. He studied her chest intently.
“I think you’ve got some serious rethinking to do about these breasts of yours,” he said. Before she could do anything to stop him, he’d grabbed the hem of her tank top and whipped it up.
“Hey!” she protested, but he tugged it over her shoulders and threw it to one side.
Instinctively she crossed her arms modestly over her chest, but he reached out and gently pulled them away. Then, his eyes locked with hers, he slowly slid his hands up her torso and onto her breasts.
She groaned, her knees almost buckling with pleasure. His hands were big and warm and just right.
“Definitely,” he said, agreeing with her mindless expression of need. He began kneading her breasts gently, his thumbs rasping back and forth over her already-tightened nipples.
“You have great breasts, Sadie,” he said, his gaze still intent on the body part in question. “Very responsive. And your nipples…Did I ever tell you that coral-pink is my favorite color?”
He began plucking at her breasts, and she had to squeeze her knees together to stop from slithering to the floor in a liquid mess.
“The thing is, they don’t only look great, they taste great, too,” he said. She let her head sag back as he ducked his head to suck a nipple into his wet, hot mouth. Every flick of his tongue sent shafts of pleasure rocketing through her body. Damp heat pooled between her thighs, and she reached for his shoulders for support.
She gave a little moan of despair when he lifted his head. His eyes were glazed and very dark as he looked into hers. Her body felt heavy with desire, and she could feel her pulse echoing thickly in the heat between her thighs. As though he knew exactly what she needed, Dylan’s hands slid down her torso to the stud on her cutoffs. She held her breath as he popped the stud free and unzipped her fly. She bit her lip as he slid his hands into the loosened denim and smoothed them around her hips and down inside her panties to clasp her bare bottom.
She closed her eyes and began to pant, her knees seriously rubbery now.
There was the hint of laughter in Dylan’s voice as she flopped toward him.
“Stay with me, baby,” he said as he caressed her bottom briefly before pushing his hands down. Her cutoffs and panties went with them, and before she knew it she was stepping out of them, leaving her naked before him.
His gaze raked her from head to toe and she was almost frightened by the animal need she saw in his face before he reached out and wrapped his arms around her. The next moment she was being lifted, and she felt cool laminate beneath her bare butt as he placed her high on the dining counter.
“Dylan…” she said, the cold change startling her out of the sensual haze she’d fallen into.
“Shh,” he said, and she shivered with anticipation as he pushed her knees apart and slid his hands up her thighs. “Last time…last time was too fast, Sadie,” he said. “This time, we’re going to take it slow.”
She felt the rasp of his stubble on the tender skin of her inner thigh, and watched as his dark head moved closer. The first touch of his tongue on her clitoris made her tremble with need.
“Yesssss,” she groaned. She felt Dylan grin against her thigh.
Then he was laving her with such skillful intensity that she could do nothing but collapse back onto the table and writhe with pleasure. His tongue was by turns firm and rough, then delicate and butterfly light as he teased her. She clutched at the edge of the counter and panted for breath, gasping when he slid one finger, then two inside her. Instinctively she tightened herself around him, and he slid his free hand beneath her bottom to hold her in place and lift her more firmly against him.
His tongue was everything. So hot. So deliciously rough, but at the same time so needfully, delicately smooth. His fingers taunted her further as he traced her inner lips, sliding inside her again and again as she became increasingly frantic with desire.
She was sobbing her need by the time all the tension inside her dissolved and she came, a pulsating wave of release. She bucked her hips, pressing herself into his embrace, his name on her lips.
For a long moment she could do nothing but breathe. The thump of her own heart sounded loud in her ears. Then she registered Dylan’s kisses on her inner thighs, her belly, as he worked his way back up her body. The tug of his mouth on her breast made her moan, half in protest, half in surprise. Even after the most thorough, complete orgasm of her life, she was still ready for more from this man.
When he lifted her this time, she wrapped her legs around him a
nd plunged her tongue deep into his mouth. He walked them toward the low-slung couch that occupied one wall of the kitchen zone, his muscles bulging beneath her hands as he lowered her down onto it.
She gave a whimper of dismay as he left her for a moment, but she swiftly saw he was only undressing, ripping his T-shirt off and tugging his jeans down impatiently. His erection sprang free from his boxers, and she watched with greedy eyes as he rolled a condom on.
Then he was lying on top of her, and she was wrapping her thighs around him as he slid inside her with one smooth, powerful thrust.
It was so good. He filled her utterly, and when he began to move inside her, every nerve ending vibrated with pleasure. Clutching his hard male butt, she urged him closer still, tilting her hips to encourage the deepest penetration possible. He grunted his satisfaction, his hips flexing as he drove into her. Sadie sought his mouth with hers and their tongues mated in time with their bodies, each kiss deeper than the last. The crisp curls on his chest rasped against her highly sensitized nipples, and she felt herself climbing toward release again.
“Yes,” Dylan whispered in her ear. “For me, Sadie. One more time for me.”
He slid his hand between their bodies to find her clitoris, and she arched with pleasure as he thumbed it rhythmically. He shifted his weight higher, bringing the shaft of his erection into firmer contact with her mound, and she cried out as she rushed into climax yet again. As though her pleasure fed his, his body went stiff with tension, and she felt the muscles of his back convulse as he shuddered into her.
“Sadie,” he groaned into her hair. “Sadie.”
For long minutes they remained locked together, their breathing slowly returning to normal, heart rates gradually calming. After a while, she began to register the prickle of the couch upholstery beneath her, and the weight of Dylan’s hipbone pressing against hers. But she didn’t want him to move. They’d have to acknowledge what had happened then. For now, it was enough that she’d just had the most amazing sensual experience of her life.
Her conscience didn’t give her much respite, however. There were too many things to consider. Not the least of which was that they were at work—again—and that Claudia might take it upon herself to pop in to check on their progress at any time. Dylan must have registered the sudden tightness in her body, because he pushed himself up on his elbows to look down at her.
“Too heavy?” he asked.
“Claudia said she might come back,” she said.
A grin split his face. She marveled for a moment at how handsome he was with his dark eyes dancing with merriment.
“I’d like to see her face if she caught us like this,” he said.
“I wouldn’t.” She wriggled her hips, and Dylan obligingly rolled off her. Immediately, perversely, she missed his heavy weight.
Scooping up her clothes, she padded barefoot and naked toward the washroom. Dylan followed her, and she turned in surprise when he put a foot in the door to prevent her from locking the unisex shower cubicle behind her.
“Haven’t you ever heard of conserving water?” he asked innocently.
She wasn’t about to protest. She was too busy mapping the perfect contours of his body. This was the first time she’d had the chance to truly appreciate seeing him fully naked—her locker room excursion all those years ago not included—and she feasted on him hungrily.
His shoulders were broad and leanly muscled, his chest firm, his pectorals nicely defined and dusted with curly, dark hair. The mat of dark hair held sway till it reached his belly, where it tapered down to a steadily diminishing arrow that directed attention to his crowning glory—a heavy, thick penis that was even now stirring under her avaricious inspection. Strong thighs and well-shaped calves completed the picture. All in all, every woman’s fantasy.
There was no way she was going to say no to sharing the shower with him.
“I think I’d better tell that I only had one condom on me,” Dylan warned as she reached out to smooth a hand over his shoulder.
“I know. And Claudia might be coming back,” she murmured distractedly.
They settled for hands and lots of slippery soap, each pushing the other to the edge and over in the steamy warmth of the shower. Her skin pink with hot water and desire, Sadie stepped out into the dressing area first, toweling herself sparingly with the one towel on hand so that Dylan wouldn’t be left with a wet rag to dry himself with. Sliding into her panties, shorts and tank top, she felt as though she was climbing back into her rational self at the same time.
What had just happened was…incredible. Mind-blowing. Amazing. But it also raised more questions than it answered. Even though the bone-deep ambivalence she’d felt about her attraction to Dylan had dissolved thanks to their mutual disclosures, she wasn’t stupid enough to think that she and Dylan suddenly had a green light to get it on.
For starters, he was her subordinate, and she owed Claudia her loyalty and full support. Second, Sadie wasn’t exactly in a place to start a relationship right now. If all had gone according to plan, she’d be Mrs. Greg Sinclair right now, a married woman. She hadn’t even begun to deal with the fallout from what Greg had done to her, and she knew that emotionally she was a disaster area.
Last, Dylan didn’t exactly strike her as Mr. Monogamy. In fact, she suspected he was probably a seasoned pro at love-’em-and-leave-’em flings. A man didn’t get that good in the bedroom without lots of practice. She was already dangerously attracted to him. She’d be a fool to play with fire.
By the time Dylan had dried himself off and emerged from the shower room, Sadie had her game face back on. The quiet reserve in Dylan’s face told her that he’d been thinking about the consequences of their actions, too. She didn’t bother beating around the bush.
“This can’t happen again,” she said.
Dylan shrugged a shoulder. “We’ve obviously got some serious chemistry going on, Sadie. Sometimes you can’t fight nature.”
“Yeah, well, we’re going to have to.” She pushed a hand through her heavy, damp hair, lifting her arms to begin plaiting it away from her face. “Whether we like it or not, I’m your boss. The last thing I should be doing is…what we’ve been doing,” she finished in a rush. “We need to keep things strictly professional.”
“I thought we’d already tried that. Even when we hated each other’s guts, it didn’t work so well.”
Sadie flinched at his casual reference to hating her.
“I didn’t mean—you know why I felt how I felt,” Dylan said, frowning.
“Which is another reason for us not to get involved. There’s too much history, too much bad old stuff. And I’m not looking for a relationship right now,” Sadie added boldly.
Dylan looked startled. “Nobody said anything about marriage and kids.”
She managed to not blush. Barely.
“I’ve just come out of a serious relationship. I’m really not interested in anything, casual or otherwise,” she said stiffly.
Dylan narrowed his gaze and looked as though he wanted to argue, but finally he shrugged. “Waste of some damn fine chemistry,” he said lightly.
“We’ll live,” Sadie said drily.
Scooping up her notes and marked-up scripts, she headed for the door.
“I’ll be in my office,” she said.
“Sure.”
She felt his eyes on her the entire way, but it wasn’t until she’d shut her office door that she admitted to herself that she was disappointed by his easy capitulation.
You’re not interested, remember? she told herself. Perhaps if she repeated it a thousand times, she’d believe it.
7
IT WAS THREE in the morning by the time Sadie left work, and she was so exhausted she almost didn’t register the large bouquet of flowers leaning against the door to her condo when she got home. A mixture of irises and lilies, they smelled fantastic and she blinked at them stupidly for a few beats.
Who would have sent her flowers? The awful suspici
on that they were from Greg was confirmed when she let herself in and managed to find the small card taped to the wrapping on the bouquet.
Sadie, the note said. To let you know I am thinking of you. Love, Greg.
Only a handful of words, but enough to release a tidal wave of anger inside her. Tiredness gone, she stormed around the house, dragging cupboards open and riffling through drawers until she’d amassed a pile containing everything that Greg had ever left behind in her condo: an old sweatshirt, a couple of pairs of boxers, a set of cuff links, a thriller novel, some vitamin C tablets, his favorite brand of toothpaste and his toothbrush, a six-pack of beer and some chili pickles from the fridge. Shoveling it all into a garbage bag, she dropped the bouquet on top and made the trip to the basement to toss it all.
How dare he. Those three words kept reverberating around her mind as she prepared for sleep. Her eyes were squinty with anger in the bathroom mirror as she brushed her teeth, and she spat out her toothpaste with vengeful vigor.
Thinking of you. What a champ. How damned generous of him to be thinking of her after he’d humiliated her in front of her family and friends.
Climbing into bed and pulling the covers up to her chin, she suddenly remembered what she’d been doing with Dylan just hours ago. A smile curved her lips—a feline, smug, very feminine smile. While Greg had been thinking of her, she’d been thinking of Dylan. For the first time in two weeks, that didn’t seem like such a bad thing.
DYLAN WOKE SLOWLY the next day. His eyes felt dry from long hours in front of the computer, and he peered at the alarm clock warily. He relaxed a little when he saw it was midday—he’d managed to get a reasonable amount of sleep, despite being so wound up when he went to bed the previous evening. Mentally reviewing his options for the day, he tossed up between hitting the gym or going for a surf before he started in on some of his own writing. Then he remembered what had happened between him and Sadie, and a big smile curved his mouth.
Folding his arms behind his head, he grinned at the ceiling, reliving some of the highlights of their liaison. There was no doubt about it, Sadie was a sexy, sexy lady. And now that they both understood what had really happened between them all those years ago, there was no guilt or discomfort attached to the acknowledgment. He could lust after her with impunity. His smile broadening, Dylan realized that he planned to do just that.
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