Page 68 of The Christmas Trap

“It’s a real concern.”

“Okay.” He straightens his face. “But I don’t think we have anything to worry about there.”

“Why is that?”

“Because—” An intense look comes into his eyes. “The chemistry between us is off the charts, and I’m so fucking aware of you all the time we’re together. And when we’re not together, I can’t stop thinking of you. The only thing stopping me from leaning over this desk and kissing the hell out of you is that it might frighten you off.”

“It won’t.” I gasp. Oh, no! I said that out aloud And now, I can’t take it back. And I’m not going to blush that I said that. I won’t.

“It. Won’t?” He seems to digest that for a second.

The next, he reaches for his phone. His fingers fly across the screen. He must pull up an app, for the walls turn opaque. All four walls of his office. So, no one can see inside.

“Neat trick.” I manage to keep my voice casual.

“You ain’t seen anything yet.” He rises to his feet, rounds his desk and holds out his hand.

Automatically, and probably because my brain is too overwhelmed, I place my palm in his. His skin is rough with calluses on the fingers that drag at mine. Little pinpricks of pleasure whisper over my nerve endings. He pulls me up to my feet.

He’s going to kiss me.

He’s going to kiss me.

Heiskissing me.

My hot boss iskissing me.

He has his arm around my waist and is holding me close tohis big, broad, manly chest. The chest I’ve peeked glances at because I’d have to be blind not to notice how he fills out his jacket. How his sculpted torso is outlined against that white shirt, the bricked layers of his pecs threatening to pop the buttons.

The powerful thighs which I brush up against, which leave me with a sense of coiled muscles and unleashed energy, like the turbocharged vibrations which swell from a rocket about to blast off into space. Then the sensation of his lips on mine takes over.

Softness.

How could his mouth be this soft when the rest of him is like leaning into a brick wall? He holds me with such care. Like I’m the most precious thing in this world. Like I’m a jewel, and he’s the velvet casing which encloses me.

The protectiveness in his stance as he cradles my head with a big hand at the back of my head, the other grasping my waist like we’re one of those entwined figures in a music box… And the song playing in my head is, surely, brought on by how tenderly his mouth brushes over mine.

Once.

Twice. Then his grasp on my head slides to the back of my neck. A shiver squeezes my spine. The possessiveness is unmistakable. As is how he squeezes the curve of my hip. He pulls me into the cradle of his thighs.

My knees grow weak. I sway forward, and he tightens his hold on the nape of my neck. A full body shudder rolls over me. My stomach seems to bottom out.

It’s as if I’ve boarded a roller coaster and am being pulled up that first incline, knowing what’s coming up, knowing it’s going to swoop down, and being unable to stop that rush of adrenaline and excitement which fills me.

He flattens his fingers so I can feel each individual fingerprint like a brand through the fabric of my dress. Then he bites down on my lower lip. I feel it all the way to my toes.

I gasp, and he licks into my mouth, the touch of his tongue against mine an explosion of emotions. Taste. Dark and complex.Sensations like sparks left in the wake of a shooting star. A sweetness which is so unexpected, it’s mind-blowing.

I rise up on my tiptoes. When I part my lips, he slants his face, slashes his lips over mine, and then the kiss is everything I thought it would be from the meeting of our lips. Hard, insistent, demanding, and so very hot.

The kiss seems to go on and on, and at the same time, it’s so short because suddenly…I’m free.

I sway and am aware that he’s stepped back. The cool fluidity of the air, instead of the solidness of his body, is a shock. My world has tilted, my points of reference changed. My expectations from a kiss dramatically elevated. I know I’ll never be satisfied by meeting my lips with anyone else’s.

My heart feels like it’s in free fall, my emotions swooping over mountains and dipping down into the valley between them like an eagle riding the air currents. I stare at him, lips imprinted with the shape of his.

Heat sears my cheeks.