by Jess Dee
Chapter Four
Five minutes before her appointment on Wednesday afternoon, Lexi stepped into an elevator in the Riley Building. She checked her appearance in the mirror, straightened her collar and smoothed down an invisible wrinkle on her blouse.
She was about to meet AJ Riley. After six weeks of waiting and restless impatience, she would finally get to talk to him and—she hoped—finally get the desperately needed money so she could put it to good use.
Tucked in her briefcase were pages of useful stats, books and articles and a detailed proposal of her project. Riley should know she wasn’t starting up the program on an emotional whim. She’d done extensive research and had enough facts and figures to more than justify the cost of the set-up.
She needed to blow Mr. Riley away. By the time she left his office, he had to be just as convinced of the merits of the project as she was.
Lexi stood alone in the lift as it glided to the top floor of probably the highest building in the city. She shivered. Since the conference, she hadn’t been able to view elevators in the same way. They were no longer just a means of getting from one floor to the next. Now they were tiny, intimate rooms where delicious acts of seduction took place.
For the gazillionth time in three days, she relived that night in her head. She felt his hands on her breasts and his mouth between her legs. By the time the doors slid open, she was flushed and her panties were more than a little damp.
Walking into Riley’s office with glazed eyes and a major nipple stand probably wouldn’t be the best way to make a professional first impression.
She fanned her face, collected her thoughts and focused on the task ahead. Her stomach trembled from a sudden case of nerves. If she couldn’t convince Riley of the brilliance of the sibling program, she wouldn’t get the money from him.
Dear God, she needed his donation. If Riley didn’t come through, she might not be able to start the project.
His secretary’s office left her with no doubt that Riley had spent a small fortune on furniture and art. Beautiful paintings hung on the walls. On one side of the room, a glass and cherrywood coffee table framed an expensive-looking Persian rug, and navy leather couches trimmed its edges.
On the other side, a capable-looking woman of forty-plus sat behind a matching cherrywood desk. Genevieve, Riley’s secretary. The only person with whom Lexi had had any contact from Riley Corporation.
“May I help you?” she asked.
“Lexi Tanner. I’m here to see AJ Riley.”
“His four o’clock.” Genevieve nodded and motioned Lexi to the leather couches.
“Please take a seat, I’ll let him know you’ve arrived.”
Lexi sat, watching as the woman knocked on, and then disappeared behind, a huge oak door. Anticipation hummed in her veins. This was it. Almost seven weeks of waiting were up.
What would Riley be like?
Domineering and to the point? Kind and gentle? Unfocused and occupied with other matters? Would he smooth down his moustache while he listened? Remove his glasses when he spoke?
Would he even be interested in what she had to say?
“Miss Tanner?” She hadn’t noticed Genevieve return. “Mr. Riley will see you now.”
She showed Lexi into his office and shut the door behind her.
A panoramic view through two enormous corner windows almost bowled Lexi over.
It was uninterrupted across the city, over the bridge and onto the North Shore. From where she stood, she could see the ferries gliding past the Opera House and into Circular Quay.
Riley sat at his desk in a high-backed, black leather chair, facing the window. If not for the phone cord stretching from desk to chair, she wouldn’t have known he was in the office at all. He spoke to someone—or listened, rather, as Lexi didn’t hear him say anything.
She took a minute to look around his office.
His desk was made from the same wood that had been used in his secretary’s office.
It dominated the room. Leather-bound volumes of books filled a matching bookshelf.
Another expensive-looking rug covered the floor, and more beautiful paintings framed the walls. She recognized each of them as originals and it came as a surprise to find she and Riley shared a similar taste in art. The difference? She had to make do with prints.
The office was neat and ordered. From the sleek Mac on his desk to the glass-doored wall unit across the room, everything appeared spick-and-span. It also shouted out control freak. There was not a paper to be seen, not a pen lying around. Everything had its place and, quite obviously, everything was in its place.
Not particularly wanting to stand around like an idiot, she took a seat in a matching chair on the opposite side of his desk. Lexi didn’t consider herself short yet the chair engulfed her. Was that a business strategy he used? Making people feel small in his office?
Ridiculous. His chair was the same size as hers. Now that she concentrated, she realized the seat did not hide Riley completely. She could see the top of his head. Her first glimpse of the man.
He was tall—he had to be if his head was sticking out—and maybe not as old as she’d originally thought. She’d expected his hair to be a silvery grey. Quite the contrary, it was dark as sin and looked thick and luxurious—much like her stranger’s had been.
She idly wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through it. Would it have the same silky texture as his had?
Don’t even go there. She was here to ask him for money. Thinking about stroking his hair hardly seemed appropriate.
The proposal. She’d take it out and be prepared to launch into discussion as soon as he put down the phone. As she retrieved it from her bag, something about the air in his office gave her pause for thought, and she stopped and inhaled deeply.
A familiar scent teased her nose. It had since she’d first stepped inside. She recognized it, although she wasn’t sure where from. The subtle, masculine fragrance permeated her senses and tugged at her mind and at her chest, enticing her to recall a memory that was just out of reach. Her body stirred, responding to the sultry scent. So much for suppressing the nipple stand.
She stared sightlessly ahead, lost in thought, trying to place the memory. A sense of longing filled her. Her longtime companion, loneliness, returned, as strong as it had been in Melbourne the morning after. The scent filled her nose, familiar and alluring, making that emptiness seem a million times worse.
“What about the Lewin Deal?” Riley asked into the phone, yanking Lexi’s attention back to the office.
His voice was low, deep and throaty, and the second he spoke she knew she’d heard it before. She also knew she’d never expected to hear it again. The air in the office seemed to thin and Lexi found breathing difficult.
Inhale.
Her lungs constricted and oxygen couldn’t fill them fast enough. The blood drained from her face, her stomach dropped into her knees and she gripped the arms of the chair so tight her knuckles went into spasm.
Oh. Dear. God.
“Fine, make it Tuesday.” Fine. Let’s do it.
Miniscule bumps shivered up her neck. It wasn’t possible.
“Good. See you then.” He swiveled his chair around and hung up.
Bizarrely, her first thought upon seeing his face was that AJ Riley didn’t have a moustache after all. Or glasses, for that matter.
Unmistakable ice-blue eyes appraised her. “Miss Tanner, I presume?” His tone was mocking and cold, not warm and honeyed like she remembered. His mouth was set in grim lines, harsh and unforgiving, not full and swollen from her kisses. His eyes were distant and condescending, not heated and hungry like before.
“You!” The word ripped through her throat. Disbelief echoed in her ears.
Her nameless lover was AJ Riley?
“You were expecting someone else?” He scoffed.
Shock rendered her speechless. She’d slept with AJ Riley. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts to track him down, she’d unwitt
ingly slept with him.
“You seem surprised,” he commented dispassionately.
She gaped at him. Surprised? Flabbergasted, more like it. Gobsmacked, astounded and dumbfounded to boot. Not to mention thrown so far off balance the entire office block spun.
She hadn’t just slept with the man—she’d fucked him senseless. Now what the hell was she supposed to do? She was never meant to see him again. The pure anonymity of their encounter had led her to do things with him she’d never have done under ordinary circumstances. She’d masturbated in front of him—touched herself, fucked herself.
Shamelessly begged him to fuck her.
Now she sat across from him in his office, about to beg again. Only this time it was for money. Nausea rose in her stomach. She did the math and, for once, one and one did not make two. It added up to her looking like a whore.
Spots danced before her eyes and she prayed she wouldn’t pass out. She’d embarrassed herself in front of him enough already.
“Do you plan on saying anything, Miss Tanner, or should I attempt to infer from your body language your reasons for being here?”
Cold. He was so cold. So distant. Not to mention rude. The man she’d made love with hadn’t been like this. How could she blame him? If she thought she looked like a whore, she could only imagine what he thought. Trying in vain to pull her thoughts together, she straightened her back and considered what to say.
Something else bothered her, something other than her complete and utter humiliation.
“I believe,” he prompted her, “you are here to ask for a donation?”
She tried to focus on his words. What bothered her? It was there, trapped somewhere in her subconscious. If she could just access it…
Think, Tanner.
“Would you care to tell me a little about your…needs?”
There was no mistaking the innuendo in his question. He knew all about her…needs.
His tone made it obvious he wasn’t the least bit interested in her cause, in the real reason she was here. It was aloof and expressionless. It didn’t sound at all like it had in her hotel room. Then it had been warm and sensual. When he’d whispered his carnal wishes in her ear, it had been low and roughened by desire. When he’d lost himself in the throws of a wild orgasm and called out her name, it had been hoarse and hot and completely unrestrained. When…
Oh, Jesus. That was it.
He’d called out her name. She’d thought he hadn’t known her identity…but he’d screamed her name. “Lexi”.
Red-hot fury pulsed through her. Maybe she used it as a weapon to hide her embarrassment. Maybe she was just pissed off about being misled. Whatever the reason, she was livid. All the warm, content feelings she’d had about their night together rocketed out the window. How could he? How the fuck could he have done that?
She surged to her feet, her movement so fast and fierce she knocked the chair over. It landed with a resounding crash on the carpeted floor. Much the way she wished her fist could smash into his nose.
“You bastard,” she spat at him. “You cold, callous bastard.” She knew her cheeks flamed. She flamed, so angry she could barely see straight.
“You knew all along, didn’t you?” She kicked the chair out of the way—no mean feat, considering its size—and banged her fists on the desk. Pens scattered from his ever-so-pristine penholder and clattered down on the polished cherrywood. She fervently hoped one had gouged a sizeable mark out of his immaculate desk.
“You knew exactly who I was, right from that first moment in the lobby, didn’t you?”
He assessed her with cold eyes. “Of course I did. Do you think I’d sleep with someone I don’t know?”
She gaped at him. “You knew who I was and you never had the decency to tell me?
You slept with me without so much as hinting at your familiarity?”
The corner of his mouth turned up. She’d never describe the expression as pleasant.
“And I suppose you didn’t know who I was?” He tossed out the idea with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Impossible. You made this appointment weeks ago. You knew exactly who I was. Didn’t you, Lexi?”
“How could I?” she snarled. “I’d never met you. Until one minute ago, I didn’t even know what AJ Riley looked like.”
“Oh, you knew,” he taunted. “And you took full advantage of our unexpected meeting at the hotel. It was quite perfect, wasn’t it? Seduce me first to butter me up, and then ask for money.”
“You weren’t buttered, you were creamed,” she retorted, remembering the sight of her juices coating his cock and his mouth.
Oh… Crap. Had she just said that out loud?
“And what tasty cream it was,” he said, licking his lips thoughtfully.
For just a moment, she caught a glimpse of the lover he’d been in Melbourne, and not the bastard sitting across the desk. He might as well have kissed her between the legs, with the animalistic way her body reacted to the motion.
He eyed her groin openly. “Care to offer me another sample before we get down to business? It might tempt me to give you the money you so obviously need.”
For the first time ever, Lexi experienced a sudden urge to strangle someone, to put her hands around his throat and choke the last breath out of him. She wasn’t sure what pissed her off more. His malicious insinuations, or the fact that she was seriously turned on by the idea of him going down on her again. The combination of anger and arousal made her so hot, she knew she’d go off like a machine gun the second his mouth touched her. Which it never would.
Wait. She was here to discuss the sibling program, not fantasize about fucking him.
Or killing him, for that matter. As enraged as she was, the kids had to come first. She had to put her thoughts and emotions aside and focus on her objective.
With as much decorum as she could muster, she looked him dead in the eye.
“Contrary to what you might believe, I did not sleep with you for money. Had I known from the start who you were, things would never have…taken the turn they did. As it stands, I have to deal with the repercussions of my impulsivity, and trust me, that is no easy task. If you could see fit to put the night behind us and move on, I would be most grateful.”
He didn’t bat an eyelid. “So why did you sleep with me?”
“Pardon?”
“If you didn’t sleep with me for money, why did you sleep with me?”
Why the fuck did he think she’d slept with him? Because she couldn’t keep her hands off him, that’s bloody why.
“Mr. Riley, please. The night was what it was. Nothing more, nothing less. No hidden agendas, no unspoken needs. I hid nothing from you, because I didn’t know who you were. Now, about the pro—”
“You wouldn’t be the first, you know? To use sex for money.”
Why, of all the arrogant, assholish things to say. Now she didn’t just feel like a whore, she felt like a common whore—just as he’d intended. The rage she’d suppressed minutes ago bubbled menacingly in her stomach. She tried, she really tried, but a woman could gather only so much patience before losing it altogether.
Think of the kids. “About the project, Mr. Riley…”
“Was it worth it? Prostituting yourself like that?”
Acid burned her gut. The siblings. It’s all for them, don’t forget them.
Then, as if he really were just curious, he said, “Do you make it a habit? Sleeping with the people you’re about to request a donation from?”
She blew up. “Fuck you, you arrogant, twisted asshole. Fuck you and the chariot you rode in on.”
“Temper, temper, Miss Tanner.”
Loathing coursed through her. “‘Miss Tanner’?” she hissed. “You were screaming out my name just a few short days ago and now you feel the need for formalities?”
As if unaffected by her outburst, his voice dropped to the husky tone that had driven her wild. “As I recall it, I wasn’t the only one screaming. Lexi.”
Her name c
ame out as a purr and she felt it like a soft caress against her skin.
Unbelievable. The man had her livid as she’d ever been, and she was turned on. Unbloody-believable.
“Yeah,” she agreed, the irrepressible urge to kill him surfacing once again. “I screamed. Does it turn you on? The thought of paying a woman to scream when she fucks you? Do you have other preferences? You know, things women will only do for you for money?”
A small voice in the back of her head reminded her that no matter what else happened, she was still in his office as a representative of the hospital. Hurling profanities at him wasn’t exactly professional behavior.
Oh please. He’d watched her jam her fingers up her vagina. Swearing at him now was hardly going to tarnish her professional image.
“A lot of things turn me on, Lexi. Paying a woman to sleep with me isn’t one of them.”
Darn, did he have to keep repeating her name in that sleep-with-me voice? “And yet you seemed pretty turned on when you thought you were sleeping with me for money.”
He merely lifted an eyebrow. “Or maybe I knew money would never enter the equation.”
“You have a…a…I…oh.” Oh! His words penetrated her fury.
He wasn’t going to sponsor the sibling program. She’d argued the semantics of him paying her to sleep with him, and he’d never had any intention of giving her money in the first place.
Oh. Bugger. All her efforts, all her energies, all the time she’d focused on him.
Wasted. He’d known who she was and what she wanted all along, and he’d never intended to sponsor the project.
The fight drained out of her. Before she’d even had a chance to present her case, she’d lost it. She wouldn’t receive the necessary funding from Riley Corporation. Riley wasn’t interested.
The sibling program was doomed.
The thought of spending another minute in his company suddenly exhausted her. She had to get the hell out of his office. Her humiliation was too great a burden to bear in public. In the space of a few minutes, he’d not only rejected her project—the work that meant more to her than anything else she’d ever attempted—he’d also effectively killed every beautiful memory of their night together.
