by Kadie Scott
What a lame response.
Night, Cassie.
Night, Drew.
She plunked her phone down on her bedside table and blew out a long breath filled with unfulfilled need. It didn’t help the ache go away. How was she supposed to work next to him tomorrow after making out with him in the back of a taxi, getting caught by her mom, followed by sort-of-sexting? What would she say? What would he do?
…
Drew was nowhere to be seen as Cassie crept into the office the next morning, doing her best impersonation of a midget ninja in a skirt. Then again, she was early and appeared to be the first one in. She just couldn’t stroll casually in with him watching her as though nothing had happened. Despite repeatedly telling herself she was a grown-ass woman, the fluttering in her stomach seemed to be breeding.
She’d dressed up a bit, for her at least. Some deep-seated need to feel sexy in his eyes had her digging in the back of closet for some of the clothes her mother insisted on giving her as gifts. Thinking of how he’d knocked her glasses sideways yesterday in the cab, she’d worn her contacts. She’d opted for a green dress in a soft, clingy fabric with a sexy V neckline, nipped in waist, and skirt that swished against her bare legs. Vulnerable didn’t begin to describe how she felt in this get up. Better be worth it.
Cassie turned into her cubicle and paused. There on her desk sat a potted plant with gorgeous tiny white flowers and a heavenly smell that reminded her of something.
“It’s jasmine,” a deeply masculine voice feathered over her.
Cassie spun around with a gasp to find Drew standing behind her, his ninja impersonation light years better than hers. At the expression in his eyes—naked desire combined with hot possession—as he trailed his gaze down her body, she lost every word she’d ever learned.
After a moment, his lips hitched up. “Do you like it?”
Like what, now?
He waved behind her. “I got it because it smells like you.”
Oh, the plant. “Shampoo.” Cassie mentally smacked herself. He got her a thoughtful plant and all she could say was shampoo?
Drew reached out and ran his fingers over a strand of her hair, which was still down. “I know.” His voice dropped, getting all growly, and holy hell, all the build up from yesterday poured into her, bringing her body to delicious, throbbing life. Had someone sucked all the air out of the office?
“My mom has always grown flowers all over the back yard. Jasmine was everywhere. In the spring, the entire house would smell of it. I’ve always loved that scent.”
Cassie’s lips twitched. “The way I smell reminds you of your mother?”
He gave her a dark look. “No. The way you smell makes me think of hot summer nights and your gorgeous hair.”
“Oh… I like it,” she said, her voice coming out equally husky. At least she’d managed more than two syllables. Amazing, given how her throat just closed up.
“I like this.” He trailed that same finger down the neckline of her dress, brushing the soft flesh of the top of her breast with a barely there caress that sizzled the few remaining coherent thoughts she had. His gaze followed his touch with the same single-minded focus he devoted to his work. Only now she was the focus.
The dress was worth every vulnerable second in it.
He swallowed. “I’d like to take it off you.”
…
Cassie stared up at him with wide, desire-laden eyes—somehow bigger and bluer without her glasses—and opened her mouth. But only a choked squeak emerged. And a weird satisfaction that he’d been able to make her speechless thrummed through him.
Drew had not meant to come on to her the second she showed up in the office, or share the part about the flowers in his mother’s yard. He was trying to be romantic with the plant. He’d even called his mom last night for advice on what to get.
But after a long, sleepless night with thoughts of her bombarding him, the second Cassie walked into the office in that dress…
He was screwed.
Every ounce of blood in his body rushed south, and he couldn’t seem to stop touching her. She quivered beneath his fingertips, her breath coming out in short pants, and watched him. What he wanted to do was bend her over her desk, lift up her skirt, and…
Fuck. He was not going to get through this day if she kept looking at him like she wanted to taste every inch of him.
He lifted his hand away, intending to retreat to a safe distance—which might mean moving clear across the country. He’d heard Idaho was pretty.
Then a regret-filled sigh escaped her lips.
“Fuck it,” he muttered. He cupped the back of her head, brought her flush up again his body, and slanted his lips across hers in a kiss that declared, in no uncertain terms, that she was his.
Cassie melted into him, whimpering as he nipped her lower lip. The sound both drove him higher and dropped him back to reality with a painful thud. They were in the office, where coworkers were likely to start arriving any second. And he was losing his ever-loving mind.
Drew reluctantly pulled back and smiled as she stood for a moment, eyes closed, face tipped up to him like a flower to the sun. It struck him that he’d like to be her sun—the guy that drew her closer with the force of gravity, who lit her up, who heated her to the core.
Slowly Cassie’s eyes fluttered open, the turquoise color dark with her need. She licked her lips, eliciting a groan from him. At the low rumble of sound, her eyes widened, and then she smiled. “Maybe we shouldn’t work together today,” she murmured.
He forced himself to take a step back, a step away from her warmth and her sweet scent. Steering clear of each other was probably a good idea, given that all he could picture now was sitting in Cassie’s cube with her on his lap, everyone around them unaware as he touched her. Everywhere.
Damn. When did he become the rule breaker? Maybe he always had been, and she brought it out in him? “Given that you just made my floppy a hard drive, I think you might be right.”
Cassie choked on a surprised laugh as Drew scrubbed a hand over his face. Why had that even come out of his mouth? “Sorry. I have no idea why I said that.”
She shook her head. “If you start in on the innuendo, I might have to leave the office early.”
Drew blinked as the implications struck. “Wait. That really does it for you? Nerdy sex jokes?”
A pink flush crept into her cheeks. “Maybe.”
“I figured you thought they were funny, but not…”
Her lush lips tipped in a smile that inspired more X-rated thoughts. “Hot?” She ran her hand down his chest in a way that had every muscle underneath tensing. “I guess I find the combination of funny and nerdy kinda hot. Especially when you say it. It gives me ideas.”
Drew wanted to punch a fist in the air. He didn’t have to be Max, or some super-suave special agent. He didn’t need a book to tell him what to say next. She was turned on by his stupid one-liners of all things.
“If that’s the case, I’d be happy to talk to you in binary all day long.”
Her eyes went a darker shade of blue-green. “Oh my,” she murmured in a sultry voice that went straight to his dick.
Oh my was right.
“You guys are getting an early start.”
Drew sucked in a breath as he turned to find Marnie dropping her purse and bag in her cube. She wasn’t even looking their way. Thank God she didn’t seem to find how close they were standing odd.
“Yup,” Cassie answered beside him. She gave him a gentle shove out of her cube, before turning to her desk.
Drew made himself sit down and turn on his computer, then proceeded to stare at the screen without really seeing it for a full five minutes.
How was he going to get through the rest of the day?
…
Pure torture. If the government wanted a new way to work people over, getting them sexually revved up then making them work eight hours would be a surprisingly effective technique.
Now she
sat in her cube, debating what to do about leaving. Should she say something to Drew? Tell him she was heading home? She’d waited through an unbearable eight hours at work, and now with several others packing up for the day, they’d finally reached a point where leaving wouldn’t appear odd.
Before she could decide what move to make, her phone buzzed on her desk. Breath punched out of her as she read Drew’s message
Please come home with me?
Should I? she silently debated.
I dare you, came his next text.
“You cannot be trusted,” she muttered through a big, goofy grin.
“I heard that,” Drew called over.
She grinned, for once not at all embarrassed that he had. “Good,” she called back.
Another text came through. Meet me downstairs. We can grab a cab. The subway is too crowded.
His eagerness to be alone with her had her blood singing.
Ten minutes later, she sat beside him in the cab in silence. For once, she had no idea what to say. She’d sort of expected him to pull her into his arms the second they climbed inside the vehicle, like last time, but he hadn’t. Maybe he was waiting to go slow and do the whole wine and dine thing first? What would he do if she told him she’d rather skip right to dessert?
Beside her, Drew choked, then laughed.
Oh, heavens to Megatron, she’d said that out loud. Before she could try to explain or take it back, he turned in his seat and took her face in his hands. There it was. The panty-melting, heart-pounding heat from this morning.
“I only have one thing to say to that.”
But he didn’t continue, instead staring at her as if memorizing her face.
“What?” she finally begged for the answer.
He laughed—a carefree sound that had her heart singing in response. “Actually I don’t have anything to say.” Drew closed the distance between their mouths. Unlike their previous kisses, this one was long and languorous. He took his time, letting their tongues slide along each other in sinful sweeps. Lips clinging with each pass. Breath mingling.
For someone who came across as awkward with women, he sure knew how to kiss.
Drew smiled against her lips. “Thanks.”
Sweet baby in a manger, he’d snarled her thoughts up again. Any filter she had, which was admittedly worthless, was completely gone now.
“We’re here,” the cabbie informed them in an expressionless voice.
Cassie sucked in a breath, as Drew helped her sit up and rearranged the now gaping top of her dress. When had he done that? He quickly ran his credit card through the scanner to pay, then helped her out.
Holding her hand, he walked her up the steps leading to his building—old-fashioned stone and brick, five stories, and understated. It suited Drew. She felt feminine with his larger hand engulfing hers, and sexy as hell as he hardly took his gaze away from her to unlock his first-floor apartment.
Two steps in the door, she barely had time to register the combination of the stripped-back red brick exterior walls and the more modern clean lines of the interior in whites with dark wood accents, or how the place smelled like Drew, fresh laundry and aftershave, before she heard the thump of the door closing, followed by the click of the lock. Then Drew’s hands were on her, spinning her around and pushing her up against the wall.
Chapter Ten
Cassie smiled sweetly at him, even as her eyes darkened with lust. “You have a thing about pinning me to walls,” Cassie murmured before she nibbled her way up his jaw.
“Damn right I do,” Drew growled.
He dragged his hands up her bare thighs and under her skirt where he cupped her luscious ass. Lifting her up, she did exactly what he wanted, wrapping those slender legs around him so he could press his hard length right where it made her gasp.
Cassie threw her head back. “Oh my God. That feels so…”
He shifted his hips and thrust once against her, eliciting a groan.
“…amazing. What’s it going to feel like without clothes?”
Drew gazed into startled turquoise eyes and grinned. “You didn’t mean to say that, did you?”
She shook her head. “Sorry.”
In answer, he thrust against her again. “I like that you can’t hold back around me.”
Her eyes widened, pupils dilating. She licked her lips. “Oh.”
Drew grinned again, then proceeded to kiss along the soft line of her jaw to her ear. He flicked the lobe with his tongue, gave it a soft tug with his teeth. At the same time, he angled one of his hands, still cupping her ass cheeks, so that his fingers encountered the damp silk covering the core of her.
Her breath came in soft pants. “Please touch me there.”
“I’m going to. Just let me enjoy the moment. I’ve been fantasizing about this for a while.” He slipped his fingers under the elastic of her panties and brushed them over her, eliciting a shudder from her.
She speared her fingers through his hair and gave him a long hard kiss. “You fantasize about me?”
“I hack you in my dreams.” Another brush of his fingers pulled a sweet moan from her and his dick throbbed. Damn, she was responsive.
Cassie chuckled at his nerdy sex joke, but didn’t stop what she was doing. She traced his mouth with the tip of her tongue, and the rest of his blood surged into his already straining cock.
“I was kind of hoping you did naughty things to me in your dreams,” she whispered against his mouth.
He was wrong. Now every single ounce of blood flowed south, leaving him light headed.
The combination of sassy, sexy, and shy drove him right over the edge. He needed to sink into her warm, wet heat. He needed to make those naughty, sexy as hell thoughts that shocked her so much come true.
“Hold on,” he ordered.
She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck as he levered off the wall and carried her to his bedroom. Leaving the lights off, letting the glow of the sunlight still streaming through the closed blinds illuminate them, he stopped beside the bed and slowly lowered her to her feet.
Now that he had her in here, he wanted to savor, linger, and explore. He wanted to see what other unguarded comments he could manage to tease from her.
“I want to undress you,” she murmured, gaze glued to his chest.
“Anything you want,” he said. “As long as I get to return the favor.”
With tentative hands, she reached out and undid the top button of his shirt. Needing to touch her, he traced the deep V of her dress, enjoying the feel of her soft skin, the flesh of her breasts.
Cassie bit her lip as she continued to unbutton his shirt. She peeled it back, and he shrugged out of the sleeves.
“Holy jiminy Christmas came early,” she muttered. “Where’d all those muscles come from?”
Before he could answer, she flattened her hands on his chest and ran them down over his pecs before tracing every single ridge of the six-pack he worked hard to maintain. Drew expelled a shuddering breath at the look of total, absorbed fascination on her face.
Her tongue snaked out to wet her lips. “I’d like to…” She reached for his belt.
Drew covered her hands with his. She frowned up at him. “But I want to see.”
Who knew adorable and quirky could be so damn sexy?
“I know. But if I let you get me fully naked before I get you out of that dress, we’ll be making love with one of us not naked.”
“Oh,” she breathed, the frown clearing as his full meaning registered.
Before he could stop her, Cassie stepped back and whipped the dress over her head. His mouth went Mojave Desert dry at the sight of her in a lacy black bra paired with plain pink panties.
She bit her lip. “I don’t own any matching lingerie. Sorry.”
Shit. There went the plan to linger and explore. Her vulnerability made him want to show her how much matching didn’t matter a damn. She’d look gorgeous in or out of anything.
Drew had his mou
th on hers before another coherent thought could stop him. Tongues sliding, lips clinging, and breath panting, he never stopped kissing her as he rapidly divested himself of his pants and shoes.
The second his cock sprang free, her hands were on him. “You’re so hot and hard.”
“For you,” he groaned, as her nimble fingers feathered over him in the softest of touches.
“I want you inside me.”
Her habit of speaking every thought in her head was going to kill him in the bedroom. Because her thoughts were explicit and matched his exactly.
He gently pulled her hands away before he tumbled them both to the bed. Again, lingering would have to wait for next time. With quick, sure hands, he stripped her of her bra and panties. Pink-tipped breasts with puckered nipples greeted his lustful gaze.
He leaned forward, bracing his weight on his hands on either side of her, and sucked one pouty nipple into his mouth.
“Oh,” she moaned.
He sucked harder, running his tongue over the tip. Cassie squirmed beneath him, keening noises escaping her throat and driving them both higher.
Drew released her breast with a pop.
“Don’t stop.”
He grinned. “I’m not.”
He moved to her other breast to do the same. By the time he finished, she was writhing beneath him.
He rolled one nipple between his fingers, and smiled at her whimper. “So responsive. What noises will you make when I’m inside you?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered. She opened her eyes and pinned him with her fascinating turquoise eyes that glittered in the dimming light. “Let’s find out.”
Before he could do anything, she bucked, rolling him off her. She followed, ending up straddling him as he lay on the bed. The hot, moist heat of her cupped his straining cock and Drew couldn’t hold back the long, low groan at what that did to him.
“Does that feel good?” she asked, then shifted, rubbing herself along the length of him.
He grabbed her hips to stop her. “If you don’t stop, this rodeo will be over before we leave the chute.”
Her eyes widened and her dimples teased him when she smiled. “Condoms?”
