Authors: Kate St. James
She tightened her grip on her briefcase, steeling herself against the attraction sweeping through her.
Don’t turn. Don’t look at him. Don’t acknowledge him in any way.
With everything inside her, she wished the earth would open up and swallow her whole. Whisk her off to that burning place she deserved, where she’d gladly toil for her sins.
Except a sexy devil with a pitchfork no doubt resided there, a black Z emblazoned on his chest, raring to tempt her all over again.
“Your buddy Renfrew isn’t far behind us. My father and L.G. will be along any second. Do you really want them to witness me chasing you down this hallway? Because I will, babe. I have nothing to lose. You, on the other hand, do. L.G. doesn’t tolerate rudeness.”
“Then what’s your excuse?” Damn it, she’d acknowledged him.
“I don’t work for the man.”
She continued walking. He was right. She hated being bested by this disreputable playboy who’d encouraged her to compromise herself in the tub and referred to her boss as
L.G.
It sounded like he was calling Lawrence pond scum.
But Zach Halliday
had
bested her—in a big way. While Tess didn’t like gossip, she had ears, and sometimes she couldn’t help overhearing the secretaries’ conversations. The scuttlebutt around the break room was that Graham Halliday’s freeloading youngest son could read a woman in less than two minutes and have her on her back in four.
Well, Zach had already had an hour to read her—and that was just today during the meeting, never mind their encounter in Danver’s.
He’d certainly had her on her back in the tub, begging for him to screw her.
Mindful of his reference to Lawrence, she slowed down.
“That’s better.” He fell into step beside her.
In her peripheral vision, she caught him smirking. He wouldn’t act so pleased with himself after she tore a strip off him in private.
“Not another word until we’re alone,” she whispered.
“I can’t wait.”
His low voice unleashed memories of drenched towels and hot, slick skin. Her pulse kicked into high gear.
“I mean it,
Jack
.”
“Bossiness has its appeal. Break out the whips, and I’m yours.”
Break out the pitchfork, and I’ll stick you with it.
“Quiet,” she whispered harshly. If he thought she’d still have dinner with him Saturday night, he had another think coming. No more studmuffins for her, Chloe’s badgering be damned. Her tiptoe on the wild side ended today. She’d embrace Plan A—her career came first. Her body would have to scrape by on fantasies. And a trip to a discreet love shop.
She’d stock up on self-reliance.
She pasted on a smile for the benefit of the secretaries. “Certainly, Mr. Halliday,” she said over-loudly. “I’m happy to go over the projections with you. My office is this way.”
“You’re inventive.”
She could
feel
him grinning. “We aim to please.”
“I remember,” he said so softly his voice feathered up her spine.
They reached her office. Nearby, Sammi rose from her desk. Behind Zach, Phil bore down on them. Graham and Lawrence followed, Virginia and Ethan in tow.
Tess’s head swam. Even the proverbial walls felt like they were closing in on her. For the first time since meeting Zach in the conference room, she looked directly at him.
“I’m sure you think this is all very funny, but please don’t make the situation any worse for me than it already is,” she whispered. “Ask to have copies of the projections sent to your office. You can study them there.”
“You brought up the projections, Tess. Open the door. I only want to talk.”
“I only want you to disappear,” she said, aware of how bitchy she sounded.
“By any chance, are you trying to turn me off?”
“That depends. Am I succeeding?”
“No.”
She would soon enough!
“I have this Mary Poppins fantasy,” he murmured as she opened the door. “You have her tone of voice down pat. And the things we could do with an umbrella.”
“Stuff it.”
“Actually, that’s not what I had in mind.”
If he continued with his depraved fantasy, he wouldn’t have a choice, because she did have an umbrella in her office.
“Miss Sheridan?” Sammi asked behind them.
Stiffening, Tess turned. “Yes?” How much had the secretary heard? Tess never allowed her emotions to get the better of her at work. However, when it came to dealing with Zach Halliday, it appeared all bets were off.
Literally.
Because there was no way, no how, no smidgen of a chance she could pursue Chloe’s dare now.
“Is there anything I can get you or Mr. Halliday? Coffee, tea, mineral water?”
Sammi’s gaze fixed on Zach’s face, and Tess released a breath. The secretary hadn’t overheard anything. She was awestruck.
“Thank you, Sammi, but refreshments aren’t nec—”
“I’d love something,” Zach cut in.
Naturally. Anything to keep her off-balance.
“Coffee,” he continued. “Black, no sugar.”
“Yes, of course, we both would like coffee. Thank you, Sammi.” Tess’s face felt carved from granite.
No sooner had the secretary left than Phil Renfrew caught up with them. “What’s going on?”
Zach tagged him a cursory glance. “Teresa’s reviewing the projections with me.”
The rest of the group minus Virginia descended. The older woman had stopped three meters back to speak to a paralegal.
“Did I hear you right, Zach?” Graham asked. “You’re looking at the projections?”
“Yes, I have some questions.”
“That’s wonderful.” Graham clapped his son on the back. However, Ethan cast his brother a doubtful glance.
“I can help,” Phil offered.
Lawrence shook his head. “Teresa can handle Zachary’s concerns. I have another case I’d like to pass by you.”
“Yes, sir.” Phil shot Tess a gleeful grin before departing with the others.
She rolled her eyes. Normally, Phil’s antics irked her. But right now her mind was elsewhere—namely on Zach Halliday and Danver’s Pub and bathtubs—and she needed to get it back.
She followed Zach into her office and set her briefcase on the carpet. Sammi arrived with the coffee mugs and placed them on the desk. Zach pushed his hands into the pockets of his tan Dockers.
“Hold my calls,” Tess instructed her moon-eyed secretary.
Sammi left, closing the door.
Zach rocked back on his heels. “Alone at last.”
His deep voice whipped a fresh surge of arousal through her. Another time, another place—
“What do you want?”
He laughed. “Don’t get all high and mighty with me, Tess S. You’re the last person I expected to see when I entered that conference room, believe me.”
If Zach Halliday thought logic could appease her, he was mistaken. “You lied to me.”
“I lied?”
“About your name. Jack Halloran? What is that, your bar-hopping alias?”
He couldn’t even affect the grace to appear insulted. “Um, yeah, believe every word you’ve ever heard about me,
Teresa
. I’m a lazy, skirt-chasing sex machine. Compelling women to hit on me in bars and talk dirty on the phone is my pastime.”
At least he possessed a decent vocabulary. She strode to the front of her desk. “I didn’t know who you were then. If I had, considering our business meeting today, do you honestly believe I would have done that?”
“Which part? The bar or the phone call?”
“Both!” She shot a glance to the closed office door.
He strolled toward her. “I don’t know, Tess, because I don’t know you. I’d like to, though. We still on for Saturday night?”
“Be serious.” She backed against the desk.
“I am.”
“So am I. We can’t. I can’t. You’re a client.”
“Naw. Technically speaking, my father’s the client. For now. I only came to the meeting because he asked me to. You might say he compelled me to. Runs in the family.” He grinned.
Sure, laugh it up.
Damn him and his sexy, charismatic smile. Zach Halliday wasn’t the one who’d made a colossal error in judgment. Fake name aside, he hadn’t tried to pass himself off as an entirely different person.
No, the man standing mere millimeters away, looking tickled and self-assured and far too yummy, was essentially the same hunk of burnin’ love she’d approached in Danver’s.
“It doesn’t matter.” She needed him to understand. “I don’t go up to strange men in bars. I don’t have phone sex.”
His brown eyes gleamed. “You could have fooled me.”
That was precisely what she had done—fooled him
and
herself. She wasn’t cut out for wild affairs. The fantasy appealed to her need for spontaneity, but the reality bit the big one. The artifice required to survive today’s meeting alone had wound her so tightly she felt ready to snap.
“I’m sorry if I led you on,” she mumbled.
“Don’t be.”
“I know my limitations. I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not.” Although, at this moment, if she could change that most exasperating detail about herself, she would. Zach’s intense gaze kept her nipples at attention, and his sensual voice moistened her sheer panties. She’d come like a banshee over the phone with the guy. Imagine the erotic delights in store if she actually slept with him.
His gaze focused on her mouth. “I have another fantasy, you know, about having sex on a desktop. Hot, messy and raunchy. Strange, now that I think about it, I realize I’ve never tried it.”
Her breathing quickened. What was the accursed man saying? That he wanted to try it
now
?
“We’re in an interesting position here, Tess,” he said as mildly as if he hadn’t unleashed yet another tangle of arousing images in her mind. “L.G. is your boss, and, given your behavior during the meeting, I take it you want to impress him. I could help you out there.”
His gaze lowered to her suit jacket. Slowly, he raised a hand and brushed the linen…dangerously close to one breast. Her pulse jumped.
“But first let’s talk about what you can do for me,” he murmured.
Chapter Five
Her blue eyes widened. “Do for you?” Her hand swept out and knocked over a ceramic holder on her desk. Pens and pencils scattered on the organized surface, some rolling onto the carpet. “You’re blackmailing me?”
Zach laughed. “Blackmail wasn’t my intention, Tess, but thanks for the great idea. Yeah, you do what I want, or I tell L.G. about our phone call.” He shook his head. “Don’t think so, babe. I like the man, but my sex life is none of his concern.”
“Then what is this spiel about what I can do for you, after those hot looks during the meeting? And why touch my chest? And don’t call me babe.” Her hand jerked, bumping a mug this time. Black coffee arced onto an appointment book. She grabbed a tissue box. “Now look what you made me do!”
Zach collected pens and pencils while she sopped up the coffee with fistfuls of tissues. “I didn’t touch your chest, I touched your shoulder. For good reason. You’re shedding, babe.”
“What?” Leaving the soggy tissues, she whipped behind the desk. An object crunched beneath her sexy high heels.
Her gaze flew downward. “My favorite pen!” She flung back the swivel chair. It careened toward the wall.
Zach grabbed the piece of furniture. When he turned, Miss Strawberry’s delectable ass protruded out from under her desk. Her hips wiggled as her skirt rode up her thighs, revealing lightly freckled skin—and a flash of see-through panties.
Suddenly packing wood, Zach dropped to his knees. “Need help?”
“The cap came off!” She didn’t glance back. “It’s my eighteen-karat-gold fountain pen! My sisters gave it to me when I got this job. It cost four hundred dollars!”
“For a pen?”
“If I ruined it, I’ll kill you!”
“Me?” He wedged under the desk, onto his side. Behind her, he swept a hand beneath her skirt and onto her thigh for support—and, all right, to satisfy his insatiable, horn-dog curiosity.
“Oh.” Still looking ahead, she froze. Her hot skin burned his palm. He waited a full two seconds…but she didn’t object.
He slid his hand between her legs and glided his fingers over her damp panties.
“You’re wet.” He groaned. Sweet heaven.
Ah, fuck me now.
She was amazing.
“What did you expect?” Her long hair pooled on the carpet, and her breath caught. “After our phone call…after you surprised me…”
“By coming to the meeting?” He cupped her mound, and the warmth of her arousal seeped into his hand.
Yes.
With the base of his thumb, he massaged the silky fabric stretched over her hot entrance.
Her eyes shut. As she nodded, her teeth sank into her lower lip. Her ass lifted, and he rubbed her plump clit through the slippery panties.
“Is this good for you?” he whispered.
Her eyes remained closed. “You know damn well it is.”
She moaned, and he massaged faster. His shoulder ground into the carpet and his cock stiffened in his pants to the point of explosion, but he didn’t give a shit. If she came for him now, all hot and messy-haired under her desk when anyone could waltz in and catch them, he’d know he’d suffered a massive heart attack and soared straight to heaven.
“Tess.” He rubbed, and she gasped.
“Shh. Don’t say anything. Just…keep doing that.”
“My pleasure.” He quickened his rhythm on her hardening clit, and her beautiful features tightened, eyelids clamped, cheeks rosy, fingers gripping the pen cap on the carpet.
She panted, closer and closer. The desk phone rang.
Her eyes popped open. She swore. “You have to get off me, Zach!”
“I’m not on you.”
“This isn’t a time for semantics!” She scrambled out from under the desk, her hand grazing the erection tenting his pants. Standing up, she grabbed the phone. “Sammi, I thought I said to hold my calls.”
In her rush to escape, she’d dropped the pen cap. Zach located it and the fountain pen body. Easing out of their hideaway, he returned to stand in front of her desk.
Voice contrite, she murmured into the phone, “In that case, put him through. I’m sorry for snapping at you, Sammi.”
Avoiding his gaze, Tess smoothed her hair. Zach examined the fountain pen. A second later, she spoke into the phone again. “Yes, Mr. Greenburg. Um, Lawrence. Yes, sir, I’ll tell him. You can count on me, sir. Thank you.” Hands shaking, she hung up.