Seduce (3 page)
~~ MICHAEL ~~
With the door closed
behind me as I entered my office, I loosened my tie, feeling hot, bothered and aroused. Christ, I’d been seconds away from slamming my mouth down on Lily’s. When I’d stepped close to her, I’d gone rock hard and wanted nothing more than to lock my door and wrap her in my arms. To lift her skirt and see how wet she was for me, and then fuck her senseless. I would bet my left nut she was wet and just as aroused as I was.
God
. I took in some much needed air and walked to my desk, then sat down before Lily came in and saw the hard-on I was trying to hide.
I leaned
back in my chair, then turned to look out of the window and wondered what the hell I was doing. She lived with her boyfriend, and she was also my assistant, who seemed damn competent. I didn’t want to lose her. I was certain I’d have to get used to having a cold shower, because I was keeping my zipper fastened, no matter how much I wanted Lily’s hands in there.
Hell!
Why her? I
’d never reacted to Viv, like I did Lily. Oh, I lusted after Viv and made the mistake of thinking it was love. Not a mistake I intended to make again. But what was it about Lily that made me rock hard the minute she looked at me, and ready to orgasm the minute she touched me? I had a feeling she was going to drive me totally insane.
Lily. I
really wished I didn’t have to tell her about the meeting at eleven. Not something I wanted to do, but I didn’t want her being caught off guard, seeing her so-called boyfriend in there. I was actually glad he would be at the meeting, so I could see the competition.
Shit, I was not in competition.
Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that.
There was a
hesitant knock at my door. “Come in, Lily.” She opened the door and walked in, looking nervous and delicious. I hoped to hell my cock behaved while I stood and walked towards the sofa. “Let’s sit here while we discuss the meeting at eleven.”
“Okay. Where should I
leave these letters for you?” she asked.
“Just leave them on the corner
of the desk.” I took a seat in the chair to the side of the sofa and hoped it would put her more at ease by not crowding her.
I watched
her walk across the floor and saw her gulp, then watched as a flush appeared across her cheek bones. She settled on the sofa, close, but not too close.
Hell, I couldn’t even remember what I wanted to discuss with her
. I leaned forward and pulled myself together. “The meeting is with Oakfield Architectural Design.” Her eyes met mine. “They’re one of three companies chosen to bid on a new development that McKenzie Holdings is building just outside of town…. Is this going to be a problem?” I watched her closely and she appeared more nervous than before. “David is going to be in the meeting.” There, I’d said it.
She
looked anywhere, but at me. “Lily.” She looked back to me. “Please talk to me.”
“I
…He…He doesn’t know I’ve started work here. I never told him about the interview, about being offered the position, or that I was due to start work here today, or anywhere else, for that matter. I guess I just wanted something for me. He can be rather vocal, and I was really looking forward to working here, so I decided to keep quiet rather than have him lecture me.” She ended on a shrug.
“How do you want to ha
ndle this?” She nervously moved the hair falling around her neck in disarray, behind her ear. “I need you at the meeting Lily. If I could spare you, I would.” I just about managed to prevent myself from basically falling at her feet. God, if one of my brothers were here right now, they’d be falling over laughing at me for becoming an idiot over a woman I’d only just met.
“Don’t worry
, Michael. Uh, is it okay to call you Michael, or do you prefer Mr McKenzie?”
I grin
ned at her. “Michael, when we’re alone, but you should probably use Mr. McKenzie in the presence of others.”
“Okay. We’re all adults
, and David is always the professional, so hopefully he won’t get pissed at me, well, until tonight anyway,” she said trying to laugh it off.
Why the hell would her so-
called boyfriend be pissed that she had a job? A job which paid well. He was an idiot.
“Lily, if he makes you nervous at the meeting,
I’ll be right there, all right?” She nodded. “Now Oakfield, up to now, are actually in the lead with the bidding. I will tell you that I prefer one of the other companies, but my brothers are rather impressed with Oakfield. The meeting today is to look over some sketches that we asked all three companies to provide. I’ll look them over and listen to what they have to say, but no decision will be made until I’ve had a meeting with my brothers. I’ll want you to take notes, but don’t write everything down. I’ll let you know when I want something noted, okay?”
“Yeah, that sounds easy enough.
” She smiled, which made me loose my train of thought. “Is everything okay?” she asked, fidgeting, because I’d been staring at her.
“Do
I make you nervous, Lily?” I couldn’t believe I’d just asked her that. My mouth needed to reattach itself to my brain. I held my hand out. “Forget I asked you that, it was out of line. Come on, let’s go and get this over with.” Hell, I was out of line earlier as well, when I had her pinned to the door. She would be in her right mind to scream sexual harassment, but she’d felt too damn good against me.
We stoo
d and I took hold of her elbow, then felt a shiver run through her. “Lily.” She looked at me and I briefly saw what my closeness did to her.
She
hesitantly pulled away from me and started towards the door. “I’ll just grab a notebook and some pens,” she said over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her.
Fuck
. I was an adult and just acted like an adolescent boy with his first crush, the same way my cock had been reacting. I really needed to get a grip.
Chapter 7
~~ LILY ~~
I sat rather heavily
in the chair at my desk, not sure my legs would hold me up any longer. I wasn’t even sure how I managed to walk out of Michael’s office. I’d never been so close to begging a man to take me as I just was. My panties were wet and I was still aroused to high heaven. The reaction to my boss was so not good, but no matter who he was, I was still in a relationship with David, even if he had been acting like a first class jerk. But I couldn’t ignore the strong attraction I had to Michael, even if I wanted to.
“You ready?”
Shit
. I hadn’t even heard him walk out of his office. I quickly stood and collected my notebook and pens from my desk, then joined him. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
We walked
side by side down the corridor, which I presumed led to the conference room. I could smell him – all man and cologne. There was nothing sexier.
As we rounded the corner
, Michael opened the door for me. I started to walk through and stopped dead at the sight of David, sitting in the conference room. His expression changed from confusion to fury. Michael walked into me and just about stopped me from falling flat on my face.
He had
an arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me tight against his body. He didn’t let me go. I turned my head to look behind me and clashed with Michael’s eyes. Our faces were inches apart, my heart pounded and all I wanted to do was lean that little bit closer and taste him, but instead, I came back to my senses. “Let me go,” I whispered.
He briefly tig
htened his arm around me, then very slowly unwrapped himself and ushered me further into the room. David was sitting with two of his colleagues, John and Peter. He looked…. speechless. “Hello David. John. Peter.”
Michael took hold of my elbow and pushed
me into the chair to his right. David still seemed at a loss for words.
“I hope the fact that Lily is now my assistant, won
’t cause problems. I know Lily had nothing to do with your bid, so it certainly shouldn’t cause a conflict of interest,” Michael told them.
I watched David glare
at me, which was starting to piss me off. I lost my job, so why shouldn’t I have found another one? Okay, perhaps I should have told him about it, but I really didn’t want a lecture, which is what I would have gotten.
“How long have you been here
, Lily?”
I knew that tone of voice
. He was pissed. “I started here this morning.”
His eyes narrow
ed. “So.... while we were being intimate this morning, you didn’t think to tell me?”
B
astard.
“Enough.”
I jumped when Michael banged the table with his fist. He looked just as pissed as David. “Do you have a bid to make or not?” Michael demanded.
Peter
cleared his throat at the little confrontation and started waffling on and on. All the time, David was sitting glaring at me, giving his input for his company’s proposal here and there. He was an ass. Why was I only just seeing that now? How the hell can anyone who gave a damn about someone blurt something ‘intimate’ out?
Michael sensed
my unease and slipped his hand under the table, then caressed my hand before he entwined his fingers with mine. I held tight and caressed along his thumb. It was so wrong, but it felt so good. It was soothing, but my blood still sizzled.
If
holding hands with Michael made me feel hot and bothered, what would it feel like to be held by him, skin to skin? He squeezed my hand and released me, then he ran the back of his hand along my thigh and hip before he brought his hand back above the table. The trail his hand left had my sex quivering with need.
He look
ed at me, his gaze scorching. “Can you make a note of that?” He smiled, knowing what he’d done to me.
With a shake to my hand
, I started to put pen to paper, but couldn’t remember what was said. My mind had been on Michael and not on the meeting. He realized my predicament, so he repeated what he wanted noted.
We didn’t touch for the rest of the meeting
, which carried on just fine, and David seemed to have stopped being a jerk. I still couldn’t believe he announced to everyone that we had sex this morning, something I really would have preferred Michael not knowing. Admittedly, I should have corrected him and pointed out that David was the one being intimate, while I’d just laid there and accepted him.
John
passed Michael the copies of the documents and drawings he was keeping for his meeting with his brothers, so I stood and hoped for a quick escape. I glanced towards Michael and realized he had too much to carry back to his office.
“It’s okay
, Lily. You head back if you want. I can come back and retrieve the rest,” he said.
I
couldn’t do that. I really just wanted to stay close to him. It had felt good having him touch me during the meeting and I wanted his hands on me again.
“It’s okay. I’ll stay and help.
” He frowned over my shoulder. I turned around and saw David standing there.
“Lily, can I have a word please, before I leave?”
I sensed the tension between Michael and David. I turned to Michael. “I’ll only be a minute.” He looked worried, which made me hesitate, then I turned back to David. “Let’s go over there.” I walked off and left him to follow.
“What the hell are you doing here
, Lily?” He was still furious with me.
“I needed a
job. I applied and got it. It’s a good company to work for and you should be happy that I’ve found another job so quickly. It pays more as well.”
“Well
, I’m not happy. Why can’t you just let me work, while you take care of the apartment or something?”
What the
hell!
“I can’t live on fresh air, David.” I was astonished. He wasn’t even pissed because I’d kept the job a secret, but because I wasn’t jobless and free to look after the apartment
or something
.
“I wo
uld give you housekeeping.” He was still pissed.
W
ell I was too. “I’m too old to get ‘pocket money’ and what the hell was that in there about this morning?” I asked as I poked him in the chest with my finger.
“McKenzie was looking at you, so I wanted him to know who you woke up with this morning.”
“You’re an ass. Considering he knows I live with you, I guess he already knew I would have woken up with you this morning. That really was uncalled for.”
“Lily. We need to get back to the office.”
Michael called. Thank God. I really didn’t want to be anywhere near David.
“Okay. I’m done here.”
I started to walk back to the table to collect my belongings and some of the papers for Michael, when David took hold of my arm.
“I’ll see you at home
, Lily. Don’t forget we’re meeting Daniel and Val tonight,” he said, loud enough for the whole room to hear.
Michael looked
about ready to lose it. I pulled my arm away. “Whatever.”
I followed Michael out of the conference room.