Ulterior Designs (House of Evans Book 1) (10 page)

“No, there was no need for it,” she answered and grinned with pride.

“Well, I’m honored to have been your first,” he said as he flashed his crooked, dimpled grin.

Before she could stop herself, she leaned forward to press her mouth onto his. To her horror, he quickly withdrew, stepping back and almost causing her to fall flat on her face. She clumsily stumbled forward, but Logan caught her before she toppled over on her heels.

“Jesus, Chloe, pull it together,” his voice echoed off the walls of the nearly empty room as he steadied her.

Her cheeks burned with humiliation at the look of mortification on his face. She jerked out of his arms, infuriated with herself for having misread his intentions so appallingly. He reached out for her again, but she made a beeline down the stairs and toward the door as nonchalantly as possible considering how thoroughly she had embarrassed herself.

He was quick on her heels and when they reached the door, his voice resonated with something that sounded a lot like pity, making her cringe.

“
Minou
, stop,” he whispered as he moved behind her.

Becoming more enraged with herself and her immaturity with each passing second, she paused in the threshold of the door, but refused to look at him.

“What about lunch?” he finally asked, ghosting his fingertips down her spine.

“I’m feeling better already. I can pick up lunch on my way home. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

C
hloe left with her tail tucked between her legs, and Logan felt responsible for having sent her the wrong message. Once again, he kicked himself for having given into his physical attraction to her. He wasn’t interested in someone to have and to hold—he simply wanted a temporary partner with whom he could enjoy various kinky activities. It was his own damned fault for having accepted her invitation and then allowing her to get him so aroused that he had nearly pillaged her booty.

When the front door closed, he let out an exasperated sigh. Back in his bedroom, he picked up his paddle and replayed what had just happened. The image of her heart-shaped ass with his initials emblazoned on her cheeks put a smile on his face. He would just have to mend things with her and set the record straight as to what he wanted, and more to the point, what he
didn’t
want.

He was still amazed at how professional she had remained when he presented his design ideas to her, even if she had seemed mildly dazed. He wondered, too, if she would come through for him and give him everything he envisioned his home to be.

****

Later in the afternoon, he decided to make an appearance at work and get caught up on some overdue paperwork. After retrieving a cup of coffee from the break room, he rounded the corner to hear Chloe’s familiar voice coming from an adjacent office. He peered in to see her handing a blueprint to McDaniels, the man whom he considered his nemesis and a douchebag extraordinaire. On more than one occasion, the man had tried to steal the limelight from him and acquire already-in-progress projects.

Worse yet, McDaniels was at the root of his breakup with Jess.

Chloe was still wearing the same tight-fitting skirt she had lifted over her hips only hours before, and he could just make out the outline of her garter belt beneath it. True-to-form, his erection began to build when he wondered if there was any trace of his initials left on her ass.

Neither she nor McDaniels could see him standing outside the door as their conversation began.

“So, dear, how long have you worked here?”

McDaniels' voiced oozed sexual impropriety and immediately put Logan on high alert. Still fresh on his mind was the encounter he’d had with that asshole at the company Christmas party two years before—the very night everything went to hell with Jess. The night had ended in a shoving match followed by McDaniels having his ass handed to him in the form of a busted lip. The fact that they'd both had too much to drink hadn't helped matters. They were damned lucky they hadn’t been fired over that fiasco, especially considering they had both disregarded company policy by hooking up with an intern.
What a fucking disaster.

He held back the impulse to barge in so he could hear Chloe's response, but instead he only heard silence. Moving closer, he could see her standing her ground, as she placed the file on McDaniels' desk when he didn’t take it from her hands.

“Too long, in my opinion,” she retorted as she turned to leave.

She left with such speed that it caught Logan by surprise, and when she came barreling around the corner, she bumped into him, sending his hot coffee all over the front of his expensive suit jacket and down the crotch of his pants.

“Mr. Evans! I didn’t see you there,” she gasped as she attempted to quickly wipe off the hot coffee.

For sure his favorite tie had been ruined, but he found himself amused with her clumsiness, as well as annoyed with his budding jealousy. She continued to rub at his shirt with her bare hands which only made him laugh at her lame attempts at cleaning him up. What did she think she was going to accomplish, anyway?

“Please stop doing that,
Minou
,” he gently chastised her, inadvertently using her nickname.

She promptly stopped and dragged him by the hand to the break room where she mixed a concoction of salt and ice, and began to rub his shirt, tie and lapels in small circles while dabbing it with a dry paper towel. To his amazement, the stain slowly faded.

While she worked diligently to remove the stains, he took the opportunity to look her over more closely. Even in close proximity she was flawless. The small beauty mark above her mouth made him suddenly feel the strange urge to lean in and kiss it, which was ironic considering he had snubbed her for doing the very same thing only a few hours earlier.

As he leaned down, she abruptly straightened up with a worried look on her face. “I think I’ve got most of the stain out. If you stand under the hand dryer in the restroom, it should dry quickly.”

He was relieved that Chloe hadn’t noticed his feeble attempt at displaying affection. Hell, he had already given her the wrong impression about what he wanted, and the last thing he needed was to lead her on any further.

When her eyes moved down his body to his pants, a stupid grin spread across his face. He hoped she liked what she saw.

“Hold on, I missed a spot,” she knelt in front of him and began rubbing vigorously.

He rolled his eyes at himself for his own arrogance in assuming she was checking out his package. However, the friction of her motions urged his still semi-rigid shaft into a full-blown erection. When she came face-to-face with his hard-on, she ceased all movement. Looking down at the astonished expression on her face, another fit of laughter burst out of him. Was she so naïve not to realize what she had been doing? He was only human after all, and for fuck’s sake, she was gorgeous.

Her eyes shot up to his and her mouth parted in surprise at the sound of his enjoyment.

Just then, two individuals from accounting walked into the room. Their conversation came to a screeching halt as they stared at the awkward scene in front of them.

Chloe instantly stood. “I was just cleaning him… I mean, I… he has a spot that needs attention. What I mean is…”

“You’re only making things worse,” Logan chuckled.

She swiftly shot him a look that could kill. “I have work to do,” she muttered and excused herself as she pushed past the two gentlemen who both stood smiling stupidly at her.

*

Chloe hadn’t expected to see Logan so soon after embarrassing herself, and she had managed to embarrass herself yet again.

"Arrogant, paddle-wielding-piece-of-perfection," she mumbled, as she made her way back down to the dungeon known as the file room.

It was a slow day, and there wasn’t much for her to do except wait around for requests. She was pleased to find that her manager had the day off as the unexpected downtime would give her the opportunity to do some pricing of furnishing ideas she had planned for Logan's place.

Before tackling that project, she dug out the check that Logan had given her. Staring at it, a slow smile crept onto her face. She had just been hired to decorate the home of one of the area's leading architects. When the realization slowly sunk in that there was no need for her to keep the file room job anymore, she promptly began writing a letter of resignation.

She had no sooner typed the first line when the word
Minou
popped into her head. Putting aside her half-finished notice of resignation, she looked up the definition online. After several botched attempts at the spelling, she found what she was looking for.

In French,
Minou
translated to pussy. Had she not found out almost immediately that was the slang term, she might have been offended. A bit more investigating revealed its true definition to be
kitten.
She sat a moment absorbing what she had read. Logan had a nickname for her, and it was sexy as hell to imagine him thinking of her in such an endearing way. It also made her wonder how Logan knew French and if he spoke it fluently.

Seated at a secluded desk in the back of the file room, she finished typing out her two-week notice. Unexpectedly, a hot hand covered her eyes from behind while an arm wrapped itself possessively around her upper chest, holding her firmly and rooting her to the chair.

Panic gripped her and she tried to free herself, but Logan’s voice halted her movements.

“I fear you may have ruined my favorite tie,
mon petit Minou
.”

The seductively spoken words and French expression whispered breathlessly in Chloe’s ear sent her heart pounding in her chest.

“How do you plan on resolving that issue?” he asked as he nuzzled into her hair.

“I’d be more than happy to pay for dry cleaning,” she squeaked out.

“Surely someone as creative as you can come up with something more imaginative than simply paying for dry cleaning,” he intoned, his smooth comeback cascading over her.

What was Logan suggesting—
sex
? Talk about unimaginative. Though she doubted sex with him would be anything but.

“What would
you
suggest?”

“I
don’t
suggest, Chloe. I
never
suggest.”

His statement was said with such decisiveness and control, she fought an inner battle to outwardly appear calm and collected. It was nearly impossible considering she wanted nothing more than to have her clothes ripped off her body and to be thrown down on the desk to be taken hard and deep. This man made her lose all sense of reason, making her feel as though she was truly living out one of the scenes from her steamy novels.

“Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it,” she responded with a sense of pride for having maintained her composure. "Or, would you prefer I offer you a discount for my services?"

“Definitely the first option," his words and soft laugh tickled her ear. "Tomorrow, when I see you again, I’ll tell you exactly what it is I want from you in repayment. And by the way," he continued, as he moved around the desk and seated himself on the corner, "why are you here instead of planning out how you're going to make my home into something spectacular?"

Reaching for the printer, she grabbed the freshly printed page. "My notice of resignation is right here."

He quickly read it. "Two weeks? I refuse to wait that long to have your full attention. Tell them today is your last day. This place doesn't deserve you anyway."

She lifted a brow at him as she asked dryly, "Not to mention the no-fraternization policy?"

"It wouldn't be the first time I ignored that policy," he commented under his breath. "Anyway," he countered, perking up, "you're worth breaking that rule.”

He stood and strode to the door, only to pause and glance over his shoulder at her. “
He has a spot that needs attention
,” he repeated her words, with a light laugh and shake of his head. “That has to be the sexiest damned understatement I’ve ever heard.”

Without saying anything more, he stepped out. As suddenly as he had arrived, he was gone, with only the faint scent of his masculinity and his tantalizing words left to linger and torment her.
To say that from the moment Logan had left she began to crave his touch would be an understatement. Unmoving, she replayed
his words over and over in her mind, waiting
in aroused expectation of their next encounter, while trying
to catch her breath and convince herself that what had just happened was real.

Logan’s cryptic statement about disregarding company policy wasn't the first time he had made an off-hand remark only to give no explanation or clarification. He was proving to be not only more complex than any man she had ever known, but more frustrating. Not that she had known many men or had any to compare him with.

If he had wanted sex, he could’ve taken it from her. Yes,
taken
. Despite what she was taught to do when faced with a man like him, she couldn’t deny that she would’ve given herself over to him if he had asked.
Or demanded.

Even though she liked the idea of taking risks, she had always lived life carefully—trying to date the right men, saving herself until the time was right so as not to appear desperate or easy. And look what it had gotten her: men who neither knew how to get her off, nor cared if they did so. She was alone and hornier than she had ever been. So horny, in fact, she feared she would resort to something reckless if she didn't get some dick soon. She'd be damned if she was going to play it safe this time—not when danger and sex-appeal all wrapped up in a neat package named Logan Evans wanted to get into her panties.

She hadn’t always been that way, and she hated thinking about how many years had been wasted on not giving into her wants and desires. She wasn’t getting any younger and it was about damned time she seized the day and the opportunities being offered. And that’s exactly what Logan was giving her—an
opportunity
to learn from his knowledge and to explore her desires; an
offer
of a chance to discover what kinds of pleasures could be had in that home of his. Maybe she would hate everything about his unusual tastes. Then again, maybe she would love them. She’d never know unless she tried, and, by God, she was going to try.

But first, she had to do her best to remain professional, as impossible as that seemed, and prove herself to be a worthy interior decorator. She absolutely could not let her sexual attraction interfere with the one chance she was being given to kick-start her career.