His Challenging Lover (8 page)

She smiled, feeling pretty sexy at that moment. “I really don’t want to be a goddess of business,” she laughed. She realized where this was going, what her head was thinking and she pulled back. Taking her foot out of his hand, she shook her head. “I’d better get home,” she told him and slipped off his desk. “It’s been a pretty long and horrible day. I have a feeling Tilly is about to quit on you too.”

Xander leaned back against his desk, watching with appreciation as she bent down low to pick up her other shoe and slip it onto her foot. “Don’t worry about Tilly,” he said as she bent to pick up the other two missiles she’d fired at his head earlier tonight. “I bought her a box of chocolates as an apology.”

Autumn was crushed. The shoes and the chocolates. He had a lot to apologize for, she thought warily. “Well, I’d better get out of here.”

She turned around and walked to his door. But she stopped and turned around. “I’m sorry for throwing my shoes at you,” she said.

Xander laughed softly. “Please feel free to throw any clothing you’d like to take off,” he said. Then he got to enjoy the blush that burst into her cheeks before she turned away again and walked down the hallway.

Ash watched Autumn walk down the hallway and he instantly knew something was wrong. He watched her face, noted the dark circles under her eyes and his eyes narrowed. And then it hit him. When he realized what was wrong, his temper almost exploded.

Storming down the hallway, he didn’t even bother to knock before he walked into Xander’s office. He did hesitate, ensuring that his brother wasn’t with a client before he demanded. “What did you do to her?”

Xander turned around, sliding the book back onto the bookshelf that he’d been reading. “Do to who?” he asked, not sure what his brother was talking about. He was exhausted from lack of sleep, frustrated because he couldn’t figure out how to get Autumn back into his bed and everything he did seemed to backfire on him. So he definitely wasn’t in the mood to deal with his youngest brother right at the moment.

“Autumn!” Ash growled, his hands fisted at his sides.

Xander’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? What’s wrong with her?” he demanded, his body ready to head down the hallway to make sure she was okay.

“That’s what I’m asking you!” Ash countered, taking a step forward. “What did you do to her? How did you upset her this time?”

“Why do you think she’s upset?”

Ash didn’t have time to answer before Axel burst into Xander’s office, pushing Ash out of the way in order to confront Xander. “What did you do to her?”

Xander looked from one to the other of his younger brothers, completely befuddled. “What the hell are you two talking about?” He was starting to get angry himself now. He didn’t like the idea of Autumn being upset, but more to the point, he didn’t like anyone else caring as much about his woman being upset.

“Autumn!” Axel almost yelled. “She’s upset about something and you have to be the reason. You’ve been driving her crazy with all your ridiculous demands and now you’ve broken her!”

Xander’s heart just about stopped with those words. “Tell me what you know!” he growled.

Again, no one could answer because Ryker walked in at that moment. He wasn’t as abrasive as his two youngest brothers, but the concern was written all over his features. “Xander, do you know anything about why Autumn is so upset?” he asked, his eyebrows drawn low over his eyes, a strong indicator of how upset he really was. Ryker didn’t yell. One had to look into his eyes to know what was going on. He held everything very controlled and close to himself.

Xander threw up his hands with exasperation. “What are you guys all talking about? I spoke to her last night and she was perfectly fine!” Well, at the end she was fine, he thought silently. He wouldn’t tell them about her crying. That was between the two of them and he wasn’t about to discuss it with his nosy brothers.

“She’s obviously upset about something,” Ryker said, stepping to the side.

Xander glared at the wall of brothers, wishing, not for the first time, that he’d had only sisters. “If someone doesn’t explain this to me, we’re going to experience a whole lot more than just words and accusations!” he threatened to all three of them in general. It might be three against one, but he was protecting his woman now and that made him stronger.

“She’s wearing flats!” Ash spat out as if shoes without heels were illegal and offensive.

Xander looked at the other two, both of which were nodding their heads in agreement. “She’s wearing flats?” he asked, not sure what they meant.

“Yes!” Axel yelled. “So what did you do to her?”

Xander was worried now. What they were saying didn’t make any sense at all. “Get out of my way,” he growled, trying to push past the three of them.

Axel crossed his arms over his huge chest, glaring intently at his brother. “You’re not going near her if you’re going to hurt her feelings again.”

“And you’ve got to figure out how to fix this!” Ash told him.

Ryker was in the process of nodding while Xander was considering which one to punch out first. He was frantic to get to Autumn and find out what they were talking about. But a moment before he was going to take a swing, a soft, feminine voice interrupted and broke through his haze of fury.

“What’s going on in here?” Autumn asked, stepping around Ryker, Ash and Axel. She looked up at Xander, trying to get an answer. But she felt the blush stain her cheeks when all four men looked down at her feet.

Xander was the first to recover. He looked at her shoes, saw the cheetah print flats that went perfectly with her chocolate brown pants and burst out laughing. Autumn smiled at his amusement, shaking her head as she looked up at the other three Thorpe brothers.

“Can anyone explain this to me?” she asked while Xander leaned over his desk, bracing himself as his laughter took over his common sense and manners.

Ryker stepped forward and touched her forearm gently. “Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes concerned.

Autumn looked at Xander, still laughing and rolled her eyes. “I had a hard day yesterday, but by the end of it, things were back into perspective.”

Ash and Axel relaxed somewhat, but they still looked like they wouldn’t mind punching their brother.

“Six o’clock at the gym,” Ash told Xander, smacking him on the back before leaving.

“I’ll be there too,” Axel said and walked out, not bothering to even acknowledge his older brother.

Ryker shook his head, glanced down at Autumn’s flat shoes once more, then walked out. “I’ll be there too,” he told Xander.

Autumn watched three of her four bosses walk out of Xander’s office, not sure what was going on. “Would you mind telling me what just happened here?” she asked, speaking over the still-laughing Xander.

When he continued to laugh, she huffed and started to walk out of his office, determined to get things done instead of stand here awkwardly. But he stopped her by grabbing her wrist and pulling her back. He was still laughing, but at least he was somewhat in control now.

She took a deep breath and waited, feeling tiny and silly in her flats, especially next to Xander. He was so darn tall!

“Why are you wearing flats?” he asked, still chuckling. “Is it because of our conversation last night?”

She shifted uncomfortably. “Yes. I didn’t want you to think I was trying to lure you into my web.”

He lifted a hand to touch her cheek in a feather-like caress. “And what if I want to be lured into your web?”

Her mouth fell open and her body softened. She glanced down at his mouth, then back to his eyes. “You can’t do this here,” she whispered.

“Where can I do it?”

She was just about to respond when Tilly interrupted them. “Mr. Thorpe, your…” she stopped when she saw the way the two of them were standing. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she gasped and tried to back out of the office. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Autumn looked behind her and pulled out of Xander’s grip. “You’re not interrupting anything,” she said and quickly walked out of Xander’s office. She didn’t bother to look back at him, cursing herself for falling under that famous spell of his. She couldn’t believe how close she’d been to telling him to come over to her house and fall into her web. Thank goodness for Tilly’s interruption. She’d been about to make a complete fool of herself.

The next few days, she worked harder than normal. She stayed late so she wouldn’t run into Xander leaving with any of his latest lady loves and she came in early. The thought of running into him on the way into the office, perhaps seeing him with a grin on his face which she would automatically think was because he “got lucky” the previous night, would hurt too much to bear. So she assiduously avoided seeing the man, even in the hallways. She knew his routine and worked hard to avoid him.

She was successful until their normal Friday morning staff meeting. Her luck wore out but she was braced for it. The other three Thorpe brothers came in and took their seats but Xander rushed in right before the meeting was to start. Unfortunately, that meant he was sitting right next to her. On the up side, it allowed her to avoid looking at him. Even when he spoke, she could pretend to be writing something. On the down side, she thought she could actually feel the heat of his body even from one chair away. That was impossible, she told herself, feeling ridiculous for even thinking it. But she wasn’t aware of her body moving towards that source of incredible heat. Her legs crossed and uncrossed until half of her body was practically facing his.

When the meeting finally adjourned, Autumn looked around, surprised that everyone was getting up and moving out the door. Had she missed the entire meeting? She looked down at her note pad, wondering what she’d written. But the page was basically blank. There were a few doodles, but she’d written nothing else.

Normally, these meetings caused her to take several pages of notes, but not today.

“I’ll be there in just a moment,” she heard Xander say and her whole body froze.

And then she heard what she’d been dreading she might hear. The door closed.

Slowly, as if her neck muscles were refusing to cooperate, she lifted her head, looking up at Xander as he stood leaning against the door.

“What’s going on?” he demanded as he crossed his arms over his massive chest.

Her heart was beating so loudly, she was afraid he might be able to hear it from across the room. “I don’t know what you mean,” she replied and stood up, straightening all of the papers that had been handed out during the meeting. Some had actually been her handouts. How had they been distributed? She didn’t remember any of it.

“Something is obviously wrong,” he said and moved so he was standing over her with the back of her thighs pressing against the edge of the conference room table.

She couldn’t look at him in the eye so she stared at his chest, afraid of what he might see. And afraid of what she might see in his eyes as well. “I don’t know what you mean, Xander. Everything is perfectly fine. Nothing at all is wrong,” she stammered nervously. She was lying through her teeth and he probably knew it, but she was going to brave through it as long as possible. The alternative, being honest with Xander, wasn’t a possibility.

“Then why did you tell the others that we needed an office change?” he asked softly, his indigo blue eyes looking at her features slowly, as if he were savoring the moment alone with her.

She pulled back slightly, her brain not functioning properly with him so close to her. They always kept their distance especially when they were fighting each other. Except for that…well, that one afternoon.

She hadn’t remembered saying anything about an office change so this was all news to her. She’d thought it, especially this week while trying to avoid running into Xander in the hallways.

Trying to keep herself from looking like a complete idiot, she ran with the question as best she could. “What’s wrong with an office change?” she whispered, her soft, brown eyes dropping down to look at his mouth. She didn’t know that her body language had softened and she was instinctively turning towards him, her fingers fluttering by her side because she wanted to reach out and touch him so badly. She wondered what it would be like to be able to touch him whenever she wanted, to stretch up onto her tip toes and kiss him, to ask him to take her into his arms and make love to her.

She sighed and bowed her head slightly, knowing she didn’t have those rights and never would. Xander was every lady’s man, not just hers.

Xander’s entire body reacted to the way she was looking at him. She was always so standoffish, yelling at him whenever he pressed her buttons. Granted, he pressed them as often as he could, loving the way her face turned all soft pink and flushed when she got angry. But she hadn’t snapped at him once today, hadn’t risen to any of his verbal jibes during the staff meeting, and she’d even agreed with him on a few issues he’d brought up.

“Nothing is wrong with an office change, Autumn,” he said, moving slightly closer to her, filling his nostrils with that pretty, feminine scent he remembered from their one time together. Damn, she smelled so good! And she tasted….

Nope, not thinking of that, he told himself firmly. That boat has already sailed. She didn’t want him that way anymore or she wouldn’t have run out of his place while he showered. She’d spoken loud and clear that morning.

But what was she telling him now? She wasn’t moving away from him, he realized.

“Change is good,” she said, barely a whisper this time. She didn’t have the strength to raise her voice above a whisper. Not when Xander was this close. Not when she could feel every particle of heat he was emanating from his incredible body. And she was so cold. She’d been so cold for so very long. It wasn’t right that he had all this heat and she had…none. It felt like her entire body was aching, desperate for Xander’s heat, for him to wrap his arms around her and…yes, to do what he’d done with her that one afternoon.

“We can’t be like this,” she said, trying to move backwards, willing herself to give up this sudden fascination with…all of him.

“We’re in a conference room, discussing business,” he replied, but he shifted his body so no one could see them if the door were to open accidentally.

Autumn sighed with relief when he said that. She looked up and around, realizing that her vision was obstructed by his extremely large chest. Had he actually moved closer? Was he bending his head and…oh please don’t let him kiss her! Oh please don’t let him stop if that was what he planned!

She lifted her head at the same moment his mouth captured hers, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. When he deepened the kiss, she opened her mouth, reveling in the hot waves that washed over her as he put his hands on her waist and lifted her up against him.

The force of that kiss made her mind whirl with need and desire. She’d never kissed a man and felt like this before. She couldn’t get enough of him, rising up on her tip toes so she could feel more of him against her body, press herself closer and know that, for this instant, this moment in time, he was all hers. She had the freedom and the right to touch him and her fingers moved over his neck, his shoulders then back up to tangle in his hair.