“Why don’t you have some eager guy waiting for you to get home in the evenings? Not that I mind, you understand. I definitely don’t want any competition.”
She shrugged, not exactly sure how to answer him. Honestly, she supposed. “I guess I get home from work too late most nights. I don’t meet many men that are willing to put up with my schedule.”
He looked at her closely. “There’s more to it, isn’t there?” He moved closer, drawn to her and he was glad when she didn’t move away from him this time.
“I’m pretty private.”
“I know that. Why is that?” he asked, moving even closer. There was that perfume again. It was so alluring, so soft and feminine. He knew he’d smelled it before, just couldn’t place it. “You’re young enough that you should be beating the men away. And you’re amazingly beautiful.”
Sierra took in a deep, shaky breath. “I don’t…”
She didn’t have a chance to reply. Drake didn’t want to hear her excuses or denials of her beauty. And he was suddenly aware that her heart was racing and her breathing was erratic, sure signs that she was thinking along the exact same lines as he was.
When Drake’s lips finally touched hers, Sierra was shocked at the intensity. Her knees wanted to give out on her, but the rest of her muscles decided that this was exactly what they wanted. And she found herself plastered against him, not because his hands were pulling her closer but because she wanted, needed, to get as close to him as possible. His mouth was demanding and she opened to him, eager for his kiss, his taste and his touch. She wanted him so badly and she was shaking with the intensity of her need.
When he pulled back slightly, looking down at her with a startled expression, she almost pulled back. “I don’t…” she started to say, but she couldn’t finish the sentence. Her hand reached up and pulled his head back down to hers, her mind going off in directions that wouldn’t allow retreat.
She felt his hands on her waist, sliding up and caressing her softly, but not gently. His hands moved higher, slipping under her pink sweater and skimming along her skin, making her back arch so she was pressing herself more firmly against his touch.
When she felt his hands on her breasts, she couldn’t stop the whimper of need that coursed through her. But she could beg him silently to do it again and when his thumb flicked against her nipple, she cried out, pulling away from him and looking up into his heated eyes with surprise.
“I can’t do this,” she whispered.
“You can,” he contradicted and proved it by kissing her again, moving his hand against her breast and showing her how good it could feel. “Touch me, Sierra,” he groaned as his fingers found the clasp of her bra and released it.
Sierra was frantically trying to unbutton the top buttons of his dress shirt, pushing his tie out of the way in her desperate need to touch his skin. She’d just gotten the first one undone when she heard a sound to her right.
“Oh!” a strange voice gasped.
Sierra looked over to her right, her eyes wide with both the need to touch him as well as the fear of someone in the firm discovering what they’d just been doing. And what they might be about to do.
She pulled her hands back, hearing his groan of frustration. Sierra knew exactly how he felt, but her need was dissipating quickly, replaced by the ever-present fear of this man. Both of what she wanted him to do to her as well as what he could do to her if he ever found out who she was.
Moments ago, she wouldn’t have cared about her past or his. She would have reveled in the glorious feel of his hands touching her skin and begged for more of the same.
But with the interruption, reality returned. And that reality was painful and depressing.
“I have to go,” she said abruptly, pulling her hands away from him and moving away, carefully stepping out of his arms and adjusting her clothing. Now that he wasn’t touching her any longer, she could hear the steady hum of the vacuum cleaner as the janitorial staff worked their way through the offices. This was the second time that they’d saved her, sort of.
As she hurried down the hallway to grab her purse, she wondered how grateful she really was of their interruption. She might have wanted them to wait just a little longer.
“What’s wrong?” Drake’s voice asked from behind her and she spun around, her mouth open in surprise. She hadn’t heard him follow her, but she should have anticipated that. He might be a great kisser and the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on, but he was also a gentleman. With resignation, she knew that he wouldn’t allow her to walk out of the building alone.
“Nothing,” she finally replied.
“Why is your face all flushed?” he asked softly, those incredibly intelligent eyes not missing anything.
“I need to hurry home,” she said, not answering his question since it would give him so much more information than she wanted him to know about her and her current mental and physical state. Her control over her need was barely there and anything, even a gentle touch from him, might break that tenuous control.
He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I know. I’ll walk you out.”
Sierra walked silently by his side, her whole body thrumming with the need for him to just take her into his arms, praying he might ignore her resistance and kiss her again. One simple kiss would bring them right back to where they’d been only ten minutes ago. One kiss would push all her fears out of her mind and she could….yes, she admitted that she wanted to make love with this man.
Impossible, she reprimanded herself. She couldn’t do that to either of them.
At her car, she quickly pressed the lock release and slid into the driver’s side. Before she could say anything else, she glanced up at him and forced herself to smile. “I’ll see you at work next week,” she stated clearly, telling him firmly that she wouldn’t see him over the weekend. No, she’d maintain the mentally safe distance of the entire city of Denver in order to avoid him, get her mind back in control and her libido in check.
“Good night, Sierra,” he said softly, not responding to her comment about next week in any way.
Sierra drove away, watching him through her rear view mirror as he stood in the parking lot watching her until she turned the corner.
She then focused all of her energy on driving home.
Chapter 4