Seven Day Seduction (11 page)
“Hi, Louise.”
She turned and smiled at Marianne. Jude’s PA
was helping herself to a candy bar, and she nodded at Louise’s
screen as she pressed the numbers.
“You work very fast. Almost done?”
Louise nodded. “Yep. It was an easy
project.”
Marianne laughed. “Don’t let Jude hear you
say that. He paid quite a bit of money for it.”
“I’ve done a thorough job,” Louise said
slowly. “He won’t be disappointed.”
Marianne collected her candy bar and took
the seat at the desk next to Louise’s. “Jude is hardly ever
disappointed,” she said. “He never puts himself in a position where
he can be.”
“What do you mean?”
The older woman shook her head, and paused,
almost like she was thinking something through. Whatever it was she
seemed to make a decision, because she spoke quickly, her voice
low. “We all care about him deeply. That’s why everyone has been so
welcoming to you. We all saw how he looked at you. Everyone knew
what was going to happen.”
“Marianne,” Louise breathed, not wanting to
have this conversation, not at all. The office was quiet, most of
the engineers having headed to the warehouse to watch a
demonstration, but still. Jude was in his office, she could
practically feel him behind the walls, and she did not want to be
caught gossiping with one of his staff.
Oh, she knew he wouldn’t be angry. Likely
he’d sigh and tell Marianne to find something useful to do, but
their relationship was private, fledgling. It needed to be
carefully nurtured and Louise had every intention of doing just
that.
“It’s not my place to say these things,”
Marianne continued, oblivious to Louise’s turbulent thoughts. “I
know that, and Jude will kill me if he finds out. But, Louise, I’m
only going to say this once. Don’t hurt him.”
Louise started. “How could I?”
Marianne ripped the candy wrapper open. “You
know how. He’s a very passionate man, and I’ve never seen him act
the way he does around anyone else. God knows there have been
enough women chasing him.” She shook her head. “But he’s never been
like this before.”
“I can’t talk about this with you,” Louise
said quickly.
“I know.” Marianne took a bite of her candy
bar. “And like I said, I know it’s not my place, but I’m not so old
I don’t remember how these things go. Probably you’re worrying
about how fast things are moving. About the fact that your life has
changed so quickly.”
Louise opened her mouth and then closed it
again. Marianne was more perceptive than she’d given her credit
for.
“Don’t be,” she said around a mouthful of
candy. “Sometimes there is no stopping something like this, and
more to the point why the heck would you want to?”
***
“Jude it’s done.”
Jude looked up from his laptop and shot
Louise a smile. She looked so fucking pretty. Dressed in another of
those mind blowing skirts, teamed with a tiny little top,
everything about her screamed sex. Her hair was loose, at his
request, and he grinned some more, as he followed the path of those
locks along her shoulders and down her breasts.
He couldn’t wait to bury his head in them
again.
“What’s done, princess?” he asked.
She smiled and pointed to his laptop. “The
project, the work. I finished.”
“Christ, you work fast.”
“It’s why you hired me.”
He nodded, happiness thrumming through him.
He felt like everything was exactly how it should be. Work. The
projects. Louise. Everything was in place. He pulled up SharePoint,
opened the document, and skimmed the analysis report.
“Give me an hour or so to look it over. I’ll
ask Ginny to also,” he said. “I’m sure it’s all good.”
“I can do any additional analysis you want,”
Louise said. “You still have me for a day after all.”
“This is probably fine. You’re very
talented.”
She grinned. “Why, thank you.”
“
Go home,” he suggested,
unbelievably tempted to kiss that grin off her face and replace it
with a smile of pleasure.
The grin faded. “Home? Why?”
“The project is done,” Jude said. “You might
as well go get some rest. You’ve worked very hard this week. You
probably have to check in with PSO as well? I’ll email them and let
them know your contract is complete as soon as I check
everything.”
“But…” she frowned and shot him a look Jude
couldn’t quite work out.
“But what?” he asked, unable to understand
why she looked so stricken all of a sudden. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly. “I’ll get out
of your way.”
She turned towards the door, her honey hair
flicking as she did so. Jude frowned, not quite sure what was going
on. “Stop right there, Louise.”
She halted, her hand on the doorknob. “You
just told me to leave. Make your mind up.”
“You can leave when you tell me what the
hell’s going through your mind.”
She glared. The action was so out of place
compared to the looks she’d given him the night before that Jude
scowled in surprise.
“What exactly do you want to know?” she
asked.
“Why you’re acting all weird.”
“Weird? How about you tell me, Jude? Tell me
what could possibly be wrong?”
He shrugged. “From my perspective not much.
You make me happy, Louise. Very happy. It’s all I can do not to
have you up against that door.”
“Then…” Her eyes widened and she tucked her
hair behind her ear. “Why are you sending me home?”
Jude frowned, confusion, along with the
feeling that he was missing something important, chasing through
him. “You need to rest,” he said softly. “I know you were worn out
from yesterday. I want you to go get some sleep. Be all rejuvenated
for tonight.”
“Tonight?”
He nodded. “I made dinner reservations.”
“For you and me?”
“Who else would they be for?”
“I thought for a minute…” She shook her
head.
“Thought what,” he prompted.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Louise…”
“
Fine.” She threw her hands
up. “I thought you meant go home because we were done.”
“What?” Jude roared, is eyes widening. “Are
you even serious? Louise what the hell is wrong with you?”
She shrugged. “End of the project, end of
us.”
“You think this is over?” he asked, aghast.
“That this was some sort of seven day fling?”
“I don’t know,” Louise whispered. “You
haven’t exactly been clear in your intentions.”
He followed her over to the door and crowded
against her. Christ, how could one woman be so much trouble? So
exasperating? How could she even begin to think that there was any
chance of him letting her go?
“I told you I want you.”
“To get in my panties,” she sighed.
“Yes,” Jude agreed. “But it has always been
about more than that. Do you really think I would have chased you
so hard for a quick fling? Split up your relationship for nothing
more than sex? Christ, what sort of man do you take me for?”
“Then what?” she demanded. “Why did you do
it?”
How could she not know? How could anyone,
least of all her, not realize how he felt for her? It was written
all over his face, Jude knew it was. It colored his decisions,
reflected in his actions. He was drowning in her, had been since
day one.
“Louise,” he said slowly, making sure she
understood every single fucking word. “You are mine. Do you get
that? Mine. What that means I don’t know. There are words I want to
say to you, but it seems like it’s too soon, like you’re not
ready.”
“Words?” she whispered.
Jude nodded. “Do you want to hear them?”
“I don’t know…I…” She shook her head. “I
don’t know what I want, Jude.”
***
Only she did, but Louise was too nervous to
say. Her heart was racing, her stomach flipping, and she felt like
she was standing on the edge of a precipice. One step in the wrong
direction and…
Jude shot her a smile. It held so much.
Understanding. Desire. And something else, something that made her
shiver. He took her hand and squeezed it with his large one.
“
You want me,” he said, and
his words held no arrogance, they were simply a statement of
fact.
“Yes,” she agreed, taking her courage in
both hands. “Jude, I do.”
The smile widened. “As I want you. Never
doubt that, Louise, never doubt how much I desire you, need you,
yearn for you.”
“I thought for a moment.” She shook her
head. “I worried at the beginning that you only wanted me for one
thing, and when you told me to go home...”
“You thought I meant because we were
over?”
She nodded and answered honestly. “It
hurt.”
He pulled her into his arms. She rested her
head against his wide chest, feeling his heart race beneath her
ear. How to describe how it felt being cradled by him? Like she was
precious, delicate, cherished.
Louise couldn’t bear the thought of losing
those embraces. She was too far gone to imagine it.
“I would never hurt you,”
he said, kissing her forehead and rubbing his hands along her back.
“The idea is abhorrent to me. I want to make you happy. I
need
to make you
happy.”
“Then this is…” she swallowed carefully and
took a deep breath. “This is just the beginning?”
“There are going to be many days ahead,”
Jude said. “Many.”
“More than seven?”
He laughed, the sound rumbled between them,
and made Louise’s heart squeeze. “Try your whole life, princess,
and then some.”
“Then say the words,” she whispered. “It’s
not too soon. How could it ever been too soon between us?”
“I’m falling for you,” he said steadily.
“Falling hard.”
“Me too,” she admitted, her heart soaring.
“After just a week…it makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense. Say it back.”
Louise nodded and opened herself wide
up—feeling like it was the exact right thing to do. “I’m falling
for you too, Jude,” she said. “I have been since the very beginning
of your seven day seduction.”
“But I only needed five,” he laughed. “In
the end.”
“That you did.” She leaned on to her tiptoes
and placed a swift kiss against his lips. “That you did.”
The End
Coming
Soon
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a kid Emma
wanted to be an astronaut, or maybe Captain Janeway. Because she
didn't really think her career choices through very well she ended
up in an everyday geek job, crunching numbers and sighing over
syntax. It seemed a long way from the stars
, and in an effort to escape Emma decided to get
serious about her other passion. Writing.
Several years later and
Emma has yet to walk on the moon or sit in the Captain's chair, but
she is still writing. She scribbles stories in all sorts of genres,
contemporary, paranormal, post-apocalyptic, historical, sci-fi...if
she hasn't tried it yet she will before long. The only common theme
is the romance. A hopeless romantic everything Emma writes has a
love story in there somewhere.
She lives on
the west coast of England with her very Greek husband and teenage
kiddos. Apart from all things geek reading is her main hobby, and
she likes nothing better than getting home from a hard day at work
and curling up with a book, though sometimes she gets home and
writes one instead.