Seven Day Seduction (5 page)

“Why not?”

“You’re my boss. It is completely
inappropriate.”

He sighed. “This isn’t the eighteenth
century, Louise. You have a cast iron contract here, nothing that
happens between us will change that. Doesn’t matter if we fuck
today, tomorrow, end of the week, it won’t affect anything.”

Her briefcase hit the edge of one of the
desks. She didn’t seem to notice, and Jude grinned, loving the fact
that she was as absorbed in him as he was in her.

“We are not going to…to…do that!”

“Of course we are,” he stated. “It’s just a
matter of time.”

“I have to go. Consider my contract null and
void.”

Jude raised an eyebrow, and crossed his arms
over his chest. Her mouth dropped open slightly. He could see her
throat working.

“
You’re walking out of the
job I’ve hired you for?” he asked slowly.

“I…I am!” She straightened, pushing her
shoulders back. Jude wished she hadn’t, the action only thrust her
perfect breasts forward, making him want to groan. “I’m not going
to stay here to be…sexually harassed.”

“Sexually harassed?” Jude frowned and shook
his head, wondering for one nasty moment if he’d read the situation
all wrong. Had he been reading signs where there were none? Wanting
to believe that she wanted him simply because he wanted her?

Jude uncrossed his arms, and walked forward.
He halted a mere couple of inches in front of her. Louise gasped,
shaking her head quickly. Her eyes huge in her pretty face, full of
something Jude recognized very well. And she was trembling. He
could practically see her skin moving.

Jude lifted his hand and ran the back of it
across her cheek, where the skin seemed to quiver. Her eyelids
fluttered and she exhaled sharply…but she did not move, and she did
not push him aside.

He looked down, taking in every single inch
of her, his dick throbbing painfully at the sight. The moment his
eyes rested on her chest it throbbed even more. The shirt she wore
might have covered her up, the waistcoat adding another layer of
protection, but it was summer, and clearly Louise had dressed for
it. Both bits of clothing were made of thin cotton, and there was
absolutely no disguising her reaction to him.

Her nipples were hard. Jude
could see them poking through the fabric…
fuck
.

“
Sexually harassed,” he
repeated. “Are you even fucking serious?”

“Don’t,” she whispered.

“It’s called a come on,” he said softly,
running a finger along her jaw. “This, Louise, is me trying to pick
you up. To let you know that I’m interested in you. That I want to
get to know you better.”

“To get in my panties you mean,” she
said.

He laughed, he couldn’t help it. “That does
feature heavily in my agenda, I won’t lie to you. God, I want
you.”

Louise brushed his hand
aside, and stepped away from him so that one of the office chairs
was between them. “It will not, it
cannot
, happen. No getting to know me
better. No picking me up. I’m engaged. Off the market.”

“You think that gives you any protection?
Your engagement.”

“Protection?” she lifted her free hand and
ran it across her hair, almost like she was trying to make sure her
armor was in place, because Jude realized, that’s what it was. The
tight bun, the buttoned up shirt, all armor to keep men like him at
bay. He was so looking forward to cracking it wide open.

“I don’t need protection,” she said shakily.
“For one thing I’m your employee, that should be more than enough
for you to behave yourself. I’m assuming you don’t make these sort
of remarks to Ginny or the other girls.”

“Of course I don’t,” Jude replied. “Those
people are like family to me. But you, Louise, you’re a contractor.
Freelance. It’s not the same thing at all.”

“It is to me.”

He nodded. “So you’re running scared. I can
understand that. This is a tricky position for you to be in.”

“There’s nothing tricky—”

“Of course there is. You’re engaged to some
guy who clearly does not do it for you.”

“You—”

“Otherwise you wouldn’t look at me the way
you do.”

“And how do I look at you?” she demanded.
“How?”

“Like you’re hungry,” Jude said. “And
Louise, I am more than willing to feed you.”

***

Louise could not believe the words coming
out of Jude’s mouth, she really couldn’t. This sort of thing did
not happen to her! Men did not try and pick her up. Or if they did
they certainly didn’t look like him.

The things he was saying.

She gripped the back of the office chair
with her free hand, trying desperately to grab at some sort of
composure. It was a losing battle. Louise was horribly flustered,
her stomach flipping over and over, and she could feel her breasts
in a way that didn’t seem right.

They were heavy, hot…almost itchy. It made
no sense! She couldn’t deal with the situation at all, it was too
much.

“I’m leaving,” she said again. “This is so
inappropriate.”

Jude narrowed his eyes. “If you leave you
breach contract.”

“PSO will send someone else to do your
analysis,” Louise said with far more confidence than she actually
felt. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how much trouble she’d be
in if she screwed this contract up. And yet how could she stay?
Jude was confusing her, making her feel things she did not want to
feel.

William, she told herself, think of William.
But he was pushed so far into the back of her mind it was like he
had ceased to exist. Louise simply couldn’t put him in the same
mind space as Jude. The two did not fit into the same
picture…and…she, well, she hated herself for even thinking it, but
Louise knew that William did not stand up to Jude.

He was sweet, caring, understanding, but he
held none of the Jude’s force, none of the masculinity that was
screaming at her.

“I don’t want anyone else,”
Jude said, his voice low. “I want you. I chose your company
because
of you, you’re
the best.”

“Others have my skill sets,” Louise
said.

“I’m fairly fucking certain they don’t.”

Her heart thumped, her breasts continued to
ache. Louise was so confused that if Jude walked around the chair,
and took her into his arms, she was not entirely sure that she’d be
able to stop him. Worse, part of her would even welcome him…

“
Goodbye, Jude,” she
gasped.

“Do you know how much a breach of contract
will cost you?”

Too much for their struggling firm. It would
be enough to send them under. “You’re trying to blackmail me,” she
whispered.

“Nope. No blackmail. You simply stay the
rest of the week, and you finish the job.”

“And you’ll leave me be?” Louise asked. “No
more inappropriate remarks, no talk of us…”

Jude laughed, crossing his arms over his
chest again. The action outlined his brawny arms, that washboard
stomach. Louise wanted to run her hands over that area, to see what
it would feel like. Dear lord…

You’re a bad person, Louise, a horrible
person to be thinking this way about another man.

“Nope,” he said, interrupting her frantic
thoughts. “I am going to try everything I can to have you flat on
your back before this week is over.”

The image of him doing just that stuck in
her mind, and though it may have been the biggest cliché ever,
Louise actually felt her knees weaken. “That will never
happen.”

“You can promise?”

“I can give you a cast iron guarantee.”

“Because of the fiancé?”

“And because you do not interest me in that
way.”

“Such a little liar,” he said, smiling. “But
fine, let’s play the game that way. Make me chase you. It’ll only
make me want you more.”

“I don’t want you to chase me,” Louise
whispered.

“Then put your money where your luscious
mouth is, Louise. If I don’t interest you, there’s nothing for you
to worry about.” He shrugged. “You can tell me no, and then tell me
no again. I’m not going to fucking force myself on you.”

“But—”

“If you feel nothing for me resisting will
be a piece of cake, so why the need to walk?”

There was a trap here somewhere, Louise
could feel it closing around her, and yet she could not see a way
out. The thought of walking out on the job, of what the
consequences of that might be were too depressing to consider.

And she
was
engaged. She was taken. Surely to
God she would be able to resist Jude? He was just a man after all.
A man she had met less than two days ago. Surely all the months
she’d spent with William, all the support and caring would outweigh
the desperate attraction she felt for Jude?

It would wouldn’t it? It had to.

“Fine,” she said after a moment. “But you
need to stop. Your suggestive comments make me uncomfortable.”

“Your pencil skirt makes me
uncomfortable.”

She groaned. “Six more days and then we part
ways.”

“Six more days and we’ll just be getting
started.”

“Not going to happen.”

“We’ll see about that, my little siren, we
will see.”

Day Three

Jude steered clear of Louise for the whole
of the next day. He spent his time in the warehouse with a crew of
engineers, working on a new project. It was better that way, after
the conversation between them yesterday he felt like they both
needed a little time to deal with the fall out.

Or maybe it was better to
say that
he
needed
time.

It was gone seven when he left the
warehouse, and made his way towards the office. Louise’s car was
parked in one of the staff spots, the ones that had a clear run of
path to save their shoes getting muddy. Hers was one of only three
cars, the third being his. He couldn’t help but notice
that—compared to his, and to Marc’s—Louise’s car looked like it was
on its last legs. And with that thought he immediately began to
wonder how much she was likely to make from the contract he’d
negotiated with PSO. From his perspective he was paying a fair
whack, but how much of it was Louise likely to see?

Not enough if her car was anything to go
by.

That thought bothered him.

He pushed open the door to the office space,
but instead of going straight through to the open plan area Jude
took a key card out of his pocket and swiped a door to the left. It
opened up into a staircase, and from there he made his way to the
mezzanine level of the building. Despite the fact he’d originally
set it up as his own secret area—a place to escape when he needed
time to think—his staff knew all about it now, he had few secrets
from them. In fact, he’d given them all cards to get up there
themselves. The women tended to steer clear, insisting the area was
too stuffy, but the men had installed an Xbox and a Wii.

Someone had left one of the consoles on Jude
noticed. It was paused in the middle of a game, and he had to step
over several cables. From there he walked straight over to the
windows that ran the entire length of the level. To anyone in the
office below they would see reflective surfaces and not much else,
no one could see him looking down on them.

But he could see them, and he spotted Louise
right away.

She was still at her desk, busy typing away
on a spreadsheet. She had her own laptop, but she’d hooked it up to
one of his monitors so that she had dual screens. Her gaze flipped
from screen to screen, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

Jude hardened instantly.

What was it about her, he wondered? Why was
she affecting him in a way that no one ever had? Did it even
matter? He’d made his position clear, laid down the gauntlet, and
the next step was to push his claim.

In Jude’s mind it came down to two things,
the first being that he had to get rid of the fiancé. It hadn’t
taken a whole lot of thought in the end. Jude had looked the man up
on LinkedIn, William—what sort of name was that?—identified his
skill sets, then called a friend with a company down in Texas. Half
hour later and the friend promised to offer William an
interview.

Jude didn’t doubt that Louise’s fiancé would
secure a position, as much as Jude might hate the very thought of
him, he had an impressive resume, and good analysts were always
hard to find. If Jude had to call in a favor to ensure the benefits
package was too good to pass up? Well, all was fair in love and
war.

From there it was simply a question of
ensuring that Louise did not decamp to Texas with him. He had to
tempt her enough that she would stay behind, on her own, exactly as
he wanted her.

Two things. Two factors.

And Jude was more than
aware that he was fighting dirty, but then he’d never promised
Louise he
would
play fair, had he? He was too far gone for that.

She was going to be his, no matter what it
cost.

***

Louise could feel Jude close by. It was like
an awareness, like she’d become weirdly attuned to his presence. It
scared her, made her feel like even more of a bitch than she
already was. Because how else could she label her behavior?

Spending her time thinking about Jude.
Waking up in the middle of the night, her breasts aching all over
again. It was inexcusable and she was not feeling good about
herself at the moment.

William had called her last night, and again
first thing this morning. He’d apologize that he’d avoided her,
that he hadn’t managed to win his pitch, that he’d been so
withdrawn. They’d spoken for fifteen minutes, and he’d enthused
about a new position he’d secured an interview for, said he had a
good feeling about it. Louise had smiled, said all the right
things, but in truth she’d felt awful.