Page 78 of Naughty or Nice

Her lips curve upwards, her eyes dance. ‘So you’re saving her from a scene?’

‘Something like that.’

Heat streaks my cheeks and I’m not sure whether it’s an alien sheepishness that does it or the lust still raging inside me, but the rap at the door is well-timed.

She smooth

s her dress out—it already looks perfect—and calls, ‘Come in.’

‘Here we go—two coffees and some festive treats.’ Her PA places a tray on the desk and turns to leave. ‘You know where I am if you need anything else.’

Her smile encompasses us both before she leaves, and I get the sneaking suspicion she knows exactly what was going down seconds before.

‘She’s a smart one.’

‘If you mean she’s got us pegged, then I’d say you’re right.’

She returns to her desk and lifts a mug, places it on a mat before the visitor’s chair, a mince pie following suit.

‘Why don’t we get business out of the way before we...er...?’

‘Get carried away again?’

I’m grinning at her, high on her response to me, on what it means for us and the future. Everything is within reach. Everything that matters at least. Her suggestive smile across the desk tells me so.

* * *

I feel like I’m rushing to the end of our talk just to get back to where we were when Lucas first arrived.

I’ve told him I want to work with him. I’ve told him I’ve rejected the other offers. I’ve also made sure he understands it wasn’t a simple choice to make—that he did have tough competition despite his claims and his report. Rosalie at Janus Industries, in the main. I liked her, and her offer was almost comparable—almost.

And there had been a moment’s hesitation when I’d acknowledged to myself that going into business with her would be simpler...that the complication of loving and working with Lucas did go against him. But ultimately I fell in love with the way his business operates too.

‘So we’re agreed?’ he says.

‘I think so.’

I rise out of my seat and he follows suit, his eyes fixed on me. My pulse starts to race and I press my palms into the skirt of my dress, moisten my lips.

‘So we’re done with work?’

I nod. I want to race to him, but I force my pace to slow, my fingers trailing along the desk-edge as I approach him.

He turns to face me, his gaze flitting between my mouth and my eyes, dark, hungry. I reach out and wrap my fingers through the tail end of his tie, wrap and wrap until I’m almost to the knot, and then I pull him down to me.

Yes. No interruptions...no nothing now. This is all about us.

Our lips meet, soft, savouring, sampling. It’s blissfully sweet. A moment’s reacquaintance before all hell breaks loose with the sweet invasion of his tongue. My insides soar and his hands turn rough, pulling me against him as my grip over his tie tightens.

‘I’ve missed you,’ he says against my lips, his hands raking up and down over me.

‘I’ve missed you too.’

He groans at my words, his fingers hooking under the hem of my dress, his palms on my skin, hot and urgent as he forces my dress up. It’s at my hips when he lifts me, swinging me onto the desk, his mouth not once releasing me, his tongue delving deeper, driving me to fever pitch.

I wrap my legs around him, breaking our kiss long enough to take hold of his zipper, to ease it down. He’s so hard as I draw him out, and my body contracts on a ripple of lustful heat.

‘What the actual fuck?’