ProvokeMe (21 page)

Taking a shower made the most sense but she didn’t have
fresh clothes to wear.
She indulged herself by pulling on the T-shirt she found
stacked at the top of his laundry basket.
It smelled faintly of his deodorant
and his soap.
Just his alpine scent had her nipples rising as the cotton slid
over her head and down her body.
She’d bet he’d worn the shirt a handful of
times.

Like his smiles, his casual wear didn’t get a lot of use.

She found him in his office.
He’d pulled on black pajama
pants and her heartbeat spiked at the sight of his bare, muscled back.
A
gooseneck lamp shot a triangle of light over the paper in front of him but his
head was turned toward the window facing the hanging feeder where birds were
beginning to sing.

A bird-feeder?
Spencer?
She glanced from the little hanging
tube illuminated by the motion sensor above it back to him.
His chin rested on
his hand and his lashes made a shadow over his cheek.

Wonder of all wonders, Superman’s apprentice had fallen
asleep.

Kelly rubbed her palm over the ache in her chest.
She
couldn’t decide if she was annoyed he wouldn’t take care of himself or hurt
that he’d rather doze at his desk than by her side.
Gusting out a sigh, she
marched forward and nudged his shoulder.
When that didn’t stir him, she nudged
a little harder.

His forearm hit the desk an instant before his gaze latched
onto hers.
His eyes were dusky with fatigue, his mouth soft and irresistible.

She had to touch.
To claim in some paltry way.
She scooped a
hand through his hair.
The loose blond waves, still damp from his shower,
trickled through her fingers.

“You have girl hair,” she murmured, and he let out a choked
laugh as he shifted closer.
“It’s so fine and silky, not the least bit coarse.”

To her utter shock, he rested his head between her breasts,
his breath coming fast as his hands slid up the backs of her thighs.
“Why
aren’t you yelling at me for leaving you alone in bed when I said I’d stay?”

She bit her lip but the words tumbled out just the same.
“Because I know you can’t keep still.
It’s not because of me,” she said, hoping
to God it was true.

“Do you really believe that?” he asked quietly.

Closing her eyes didn’t block out the feeling of his lips
capturing her nipple through his shirt.
His teeth scraped gently while his
fingers traced the swell of her ass.
If she didn’t know better, she’d think he
was learning her body as dispassionately as a sculptor, examining hollows,
exploring curves.

“I had a dream,” she whispered.

Surely she wasn’t going to tell him.
Why not throw herself
at his feet and wail for him to care about her, for God’s sake?

He didn’t ask.
He wouldn’t.
But she told him anyway.
Because
if she didn’t, if she kept pretending she felt nothing, he’d turn her into
another version of himself.

“We went out to a restaurant.
There were linens on the
tables, candles burning.
The place was mostly empty, so we had the waitstaff to
ourselves.
But you sent them away.
You only wanted to be with me.” Even as she
said the words aloud she knew she was spinning a tale.
The Spencer she’d
dreamed of didn’t exist.
“The food was wonderful.
Grilled chicken and shrimp on
skewers, roasted vegetables with the most delicious sauce.
Not a damn salad in
sight.
And the music…” Now she laughed, the sound as broken as a sob.
“All dance
beats.
No harps or pianos.”

“Did I eat you for dessert?”

She didn’t know what she’d expected him to say.
“Oh how
romantic”?
That wasn’t Spencer.
She knew it, and the disappointment still
sliced through her like a blade.

“I don’t know.” She forced herself to shrug.
“I woke up.”

“Do you want that?
Us to go out?
Out
out, not to
Kink.
On a date.” The corner of his mouth lifted.
“To somewhere other than The
Daily Bread?”

His voice had caught, stumbling a bit on the word
date
.
As much as her heart stumbled.
“If I said yes?”

“We could run into someone.”

“We didn’t run into anyone at the deli.
But yeah, I guess we
could.
We could also run into them at Kink, since everyone in town seems to
hang out there.”

“I never went there that much, for that reason.
But now I
can’t seem to stay away.” He cupped her hip.
“I’ll be damned if you go there
without me.”

Possessiveness he had down.
But she needed more than that.
“I go there because of you.
Because of us.
These past couple nights were an
aberration.
I’m a one-man woman, Spencer.”

His throat jerked as he swallowed.
“I don’t know how to
proceed here.
We work together.”

“There’s no rule people can’t fraternize at the store.
And
if there is, you might want to tell Marcia and Tony, since I half expect to
find them doing it on the front counter anytime now.”

He winced.
“There’s no rule.
But there was a situation.
With
me.
Years ago.”

“Yeah, and you keep dancing around it.
You freaked out about
my jokes the other night but you won’t tell me what happened so I can—”

“So you can what?”

“Why won’t you just tell me?”

“Because it doesn’t affect us.
She’s the past.
But yeah, I’m
wary.
I have every reason to be.”

She tried—and failed—to ignore the rush of jealousy at the
faceless woman who’d been with him first.
“What if I said I want to know?
That
I deserve to know why you’re holding back on me?”

He clenched his jaw.
“Then I’d say we have a problem.”

Chapter Twelve

Kelly let out a long breath.
She could make an issue out of
this, demand to know every detail of his past, and that still wouldn’t change
his behavior.
If she turned into a shrill harpy, all she’d do was drive him
farther away.

“Yeah, people may talk,” she said, stroking his hair in a
vain attempt to settle them both.
“People are probably talking already.
Marcia
knows I’m hot for you.”

“How does she know that?”

“Other than my tongue falling out of my mouth every time you
walk by my register?” She rolled her eyes as he puffed out his chest.
“Then
there’s my PDA.
Who knows how many people have heard about my list?
Bottom line,
we can worry about everyone else or we can do what’s right for us.
I’d like to
go out with you,” she said softly.
“If you’re not interested, that’s fine.
But
I’m putting it out there.
I don’t only want you for sex, this past week aside.”

“Crush my illusions, why don’t you?” His husky voice rippled
over her spine as he gained his feet and slid his body against hers.
His slight
height advantage tweaked her in all the right places, as did his casual display
of strength as he picked her up and set her on his desk.

He smoothed her hair away from her forehead, his gaze hot on
hers while he licked her lips open.
Going for her tongue would’ve been the easy
route.
Instead he plucked at her lower lip.
Nibbling, teasing.
When he sucked
it into his mouth, she moaned and wrapped her legs around his waist, hooking
her ankles around his ass as she pressed closer, wanting every inch of his skin
flush against hers.
His deliciously defined chest was just the beginning.
She
broke away long enough to rip the T-shirt she wore over her head, eager to be
naked in his arms.
Again.

Bare, finally bare, she molded their bodies together and
attacked his mouth.
With feral kisses, they consumed each other.
Still eating
at her lips, he drove two fingers between her legs, bypassing her clit
completely.
Normally she wasn’t ready for immediate penetration.
But thanks to
the nearly permanent state of arousal she’d been in since she’d seen him naked
in the steam room, her juice snuck out between his knuckles as he finger-fucked
her.

His thumb brushed the distended bundle of nerves, one
careless flick.
That was all it took.
She came hard, her back arching, her
thighs squeezing around his wrist in time with the rhythmic contractions of her
pussy.

She came down as fast as she’d gone up, only to hear him
cursing as he fought to remove his pants.
She saw the gleam of moisture
dampening the dark red head of his cock, his thick length barely fitting in his
fist as he circled her opening.
Her cunt clutched at him, her body silently
begging as he prodded her entrance.

“Tell me you’re on the Pill,” he said hoarsely.

Even if she hadn’t been, just then she might’ve lied.
Anything to get him inside her.
The command in his voice, the lust in his
entrancing dark eyes—God, she would’ve gleefully followed him into hell if he’d
only asked.

“I am,” she said, never more grateful it was true.

He slid his tongue between her parted lips as he plunged.
He
didn’t bother with slow kisses or leisurely thrusts.
This was full-out fucking,
their bodies joining and separating with a wildness that sent the desk
clattering against the wall.
She dug her heels dug into his spine to bring him
in deeper while her mouth savaged his.
Getting more of him inside her—his
tongue, his cock, his very breath—was the goal, and she went after it with
single-minded purpose.

He shoved her up and down his dick with a ferocity that
fueled her desire.
The more he lost control, the further she dared him to go.

Take me.
All of me.

Moans filled the room, coasting over the redolent scent of
sex.
He tore his lips free to unleash his punishing kisses on her needy
breasts.
She clutched at his hair, his shoulders, his back.
Any part she could
touch.
She cried out when the next orgasm speared through her, blasting along
her frayed nerve endings and leaving them smoking.
Her hips pumped madly
against his, her nails slicing at his arms as he pushed into her again and
again.

“Fill me up,” she gasped.
And she didn’t mean with his cock,
because if she got any fuller she’d need medical attention.

He never responded well to direction and now was no
exception.
He continued to stroke into her, the sweetest invasion she’d ever
known.
Only when her pussy started to undulate once more did she feel the
subtle expansion in his length and the pulse of pressure that warned he was
about to come.
A jagged exhale followed by the closest thing to an actual shout
she’d heard from him rent the air, and then he was driving deeper, burying
himself as far as he could go as she wrapped her arms around him and held on.

She’d heard of women saying a man emptied himself inside
her, but she’d never actually felt or seen it.
Not like this.
When Spencer
finally pulled back, his features looked drawn, as if every ounce of his energy
had drained right through his balls and out through his cock.
She wanted to
laugh at the absolutely
wasted
look on his face, but the desolation in
his eyes curbed the urge.

“Let’s play hooky,” she said, framing his cheeks in her
hands.
She was afraid to let go even for a second.
“We’ll stay in bed all day.
Spencer, please.”

She knew he’d say no.
He always did.
Was that why she
couldn’t get enough?
Because he never gave her anything substantial to hang on
to?

“I can’t.” Already he was closing off, his eyes shuttering.
“But you can.
You need your sleep.”

He pulled out of her and she wanted to yell, wanted to kick
something.
Wanted to kick
him
.
Why did he make this so damn hard?
Why
was she fighting so much for something she’d never have?

Kelly jumped off the desk when he reached for his pants.
“If
you’re going, I’m going,” she said instead of the pleas quivering on her
tongue.
“I’m grabbing a shower,” she added, hurrying toward the door before he
could see her eyes.

She wasn’t crying.
Not even close.
But she knew what she
felt would be right there, burning for anyone to see.
Unlike him, she didn’t
know how to keep her feelings locked away.
They kept bursting out of her,
demanding to be heard.
And she didn’t know how much longer she’d be able to
keep them from ruining everything.

“Kelly.
Wait.”

She turned, gripping the doorframe.
The rawness of his voice
made her ache but she didn’t go to him.

“Take your shower.
Then come back to bed.” The tired smile
he gave her made her heart rejoice.
“We have another hour.
Maybe we can both
get a little more sleep.”

She wanted to skip the shower and hurtle into his arms.
Every little morsel he tossed her way made her so utterly grateful, as if he’d
just presented her with a bow-wrapped sports car.
A smile, a touch, her name on
his lips—she craved it all.

“Okay,” she whispered over the lump in her throat.

This time there was a tear, just one that snuck by her
defenses before she shored them up again.
She hurried away before he could see
it, ashamed she could be so easily broken.

Even so, she knew she’d take the risk of the fall over
walking away.
Anything was better than that.

* * * * *

Spencer was at his desk by seven a.m.
He’d dropped Kelly off
at the club to get her car early enough for her to get to the store on time,
which left him up freakishly early.
But he hadn’t headed to work right away.

First he’d gone to the gym and driven himself through a
punishing routine on the machines.
Even when his muscles screamed, he hadn’t
stopped.
If he hadn’t been such a textbook case of a man severely in over his
head, he might’ve laughed at his own actions.

Rather than laugh, he worked.

He wandered out to check the floor around ten.
Kelly was
back in the romance section, organizing and rearranging.
The woman was a
perfectionist in the extreme.
She shot him one of her teasing smiles as he
walked through and there wasn’t a force on earth strong enough to keep him from
stopping to see her.

“Keeping busy?” he asked, lifting his voice loud enough for
anyone who passed by to hear.

“Always.” She inclined her chin.
“What, do you have some
other menial task for me to take care of?
Maybe a back hall to sweep?”

Taken aback, he belatedly noted the glow of humor in her
whiskey eyes.
She was keeping up their public persona.
Fight, fight, fight.
Except now he got to enjoy making up too.

“I didn’t realize you had a problem with anything I asked
you to do, Ms.
Crossman.”

“You didn’t?
Where have you been these past three years?”
She made a tsking sound in her throat and turned away, offering him a prime
view of her ass in her tight little jeans as she bent to shelve books.
She even
wriggled it, the wench.

His cock jumped as if she’d switched a lever.
“Actually
there is something I’d like to discuss with you.” He kept his tone cool and
businesslike while his blood pumped like lava in his veins.

“So discuss.
I’m listening.” She glanced over her shoulder
and rimmed her lips with her tongue.
“Mostly.”

“In my office.”
On my desk, while I’m fucking you
senseless.

“What time is good for me to come…by?”

He fought a grin and spoke conspiratorially as he leaned
close.
“Don’t you mean for you to come?”

“We’ll both come.
Promise.” She turned around, wedging him
up against the shelf for a brief, hot moment before she glided away.
“Sorry,
sticky tongue.
When should I stop by?”

“About noon.
I should be ready for you then.”

Her gaze dropped pointedly to the bulge in his pants.
“Looks
like you’re ready for me now.” She smiled.
“At your command, sir,” she added
with a saucy wink.

Suppressing a groan, he turned away.
What was he supposed to
be doing again?
Work.
Right.
Yeah.

Spencer managed to make it around the perimeter of the
store, even held a few semi-coherent conversations with his staff.
His erection
dissipated once she was out of his sight but the memory of her silky pussy
wrapped around his cock that morning was permanently engraved on his brain.

He was in deep and sinking deeper all the time.

He’d never enjoyed flirting with someone as much before.
Kelly’s mind was so fucking sexy.
Her sarcastic retorts fired him up almost as
much as seeing her naked.

Well, not quite, but a lot.

Reluctantly he returned to his office and the work waiting
for him.
When his stomach started to growl, he glanced up, startled to see it
was past noon.
He’d been flying through reports and spreadsheets most of the
day.
Finally he was making some damn progress.
In two days he’d be on a plane
to Virginia, just as planned.

He would not mess up this expansion.
Everything would happen
on time, on budget.
No matter what it cost.

As for Kelly, he’d have to figure out a way to let her know
what was happening without spilling everything.
He hated lying to her.
He also
couldn’t stand the idea of letting her go.
Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

A soft knock drew his attention as his head pounded with the
realization of what he’d just thought.
Dear God.
“Come in,” he muttered.

The door opened and a feminine hand waved a brown paper
lunch sack.
“Hungry?”

For you.

“Get in here,” he said.