Who Knew

An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

www.ellorascave.com

Who Knew

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Who Knew Copyright © 2009 Amarinda Jones

Edited by Helen Woodall

Cover art by Syneca

Electronic book Publication June 2009

The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

Who Knew

Amarinda Jones

Dedication

Dedicated to the power of e-mail and the soft, sexy words that only a lover can read and understand.

Chapter One

“You.”
Bridie’s
fingertips stroked the bristly skin of James’ face as her other hand ran down the smooth, muscular skin of his back to the firm flesh of his ass. They were skin to skin. The heat of his flesh burned into her like a branding iron.
He is the one
. Never had
Bridie
imagined he would come along
.

“Yeah, me.”
James raised his hips and slid his cock out from her pussy as his mouth ran along the side of her jaw and down her neck.

Bridie
didn’t even try to hide the shiver that ran through her body at his touch. She gripped her thighs around his waist to draw him back inside her body. The stiff cock against her inner thigh teased the tender flesh and made her long to have it deep and hard within her once more. It seemed like forever she had waited for this moment with James and she didn’t want to waste another moment empty. “Who knew?”

“I did.”

“Smarty pants.”

“I have no pants on, but then, neither do you.”

Bridie
slapped his ass. “I know that and I need you to come back inside me now.” She squirmed against him, using the wet heat of her body to entice him inside.

James shook his head in mock disappointment. “You’re as pushy in person as you are on e-mail.” He reached for both her hands, linking his fingers with hers as he raised them above her head. “This will be done my way or not at all.” James rubbed the tip of his cock over
Bridie’s
clit as his tongue flicked the pink flesh of one taut nipple.

Okay, his way was pretty damn good,
Bridie
conceded as she sighed and arched against him. “But I want cock now. You can’t give it to me one minute then take it away the next.” There was just so much temptation a woman could bear. She raised her hips so her pussy ground against his cock. “I know you want me.”

“Oh yes, I do.” James laughed. “Are you feeling empty?”

“I am hot and wet and if you do not fuck me now I swear I will scream my head off.” The desire to be filled once more with James was so overwhelming she was trembling with need.

James’ gaze met with hers. “I guarantee you’ll be screaming but not in frustration.”

“You talk big.”
I love this pushy, arrogant man.

“I am big.” James pushed the head of his cock back inside her.

“
Ahhh
,”
Bridie
moaned as she pushed forward for more. “Please love me, James.”

“I have from the first angry word you spoke to me.”

“So?”

“What?”

His smile lit up her heart. “What part of, “I want cock now” don’t you understand?”

James
thrust back inside her in one plunging stoke
. “Better?”

“Oh yes.”
I love hot male.

* * * * *

What is wrong with you people?

James Harper looked at the e-mail on his screen. “So much for corporate etiquette in sending e-mails,” he muttered to himself as he typed a response.
I beg your pardon?

Who is this?

James Harper.

Well, James Harper, your office is sending us the wrong data and it’s pissing me off
.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement.
And you are?

Bridie
Clare from the Brisbane office.

Ah yes, the she-devil who has started sending us daily e-mails pointing out our inadequacies.

That would be me. You lot have been doing this job long enough to have got it right by now.

And you are perfect.

Damn straight. Now get someone to re-e-mail me the correct data now.

“What the hell? James stared at the screen in amusement.
“
Bridie
?
Short for Bridget?”

His assistant David shook his head. “It’s actually short for Bride of Frankenstein. She’s a pushy bitch, that one.”

James opened the spreadsheet she had sent back to them. He glanced quickly at the data. “Yeah but she’s right. Our figures are wrong.”

“Don’t tell her that.”

“Why?” James smiled. Was David scared of her? He liked scary women. They hid so many interesting things under flimsy layers of defense.

“Because we’ll never hear the end of it.”

James fixed the data and resent it. He mentioned nothing about being wrong. “I’m not going to make it easier for her.” James Harper loved a challenge.

Ms. Clare, please find attached reworked graphs and figures.

“About frigging time,”
Bridie
mumbled under her breath, though to be honest she was kind of surprised at the speed of his response. Normally no one in the Sydney office moved that fast.
Thank you, Mr. Harper.
Bridie
tapped the keys quickly. “If he wants to be formal, I can be formal,” she muttered to herself. She had a killer headache, her favorite chocolate had run out of stock in the office candy machine and the café next door where she bought her bucket-o-coffee each day was closed “due to personal reasons”. “What a crap day.”
Bridie
banged away on the keyboard.
Please ensure it does not happen again.

Or what?

Or I’ll…
Bridie
stopped typing. “Hmm, they never usually answer back.” What would she do exactly? It was different when people were scared of you, for you never had to justify yourself. And, basically
Bridie
could do nothing much if they messed it up again because she wasn’t in charge of them. She relied on them for data but they did not answer to her.
Bridie
had just made them believe they did. She liked things done the right way.
Her way.
If it’s correct I’ll leave you in peace.

Had a bad night?

What?

Broke up with your boyfriend?

Excuse me?

Knicker
elastic too tight?

“What?”
Bridie
sat bolt upright at her desk. Who was this guy? She had heard someone new was going to shake up the Sydney office but she’d assumed he would be just another business suit barking out half-assed orders to inefficient staff on his way out to lunch at the golf club.

What’s your favorite color?

Why?

I want to know?

What has that got to do with work?

Humor me.

Black.
Bridie
shook her head in wonder. “Why am I even responding to this guy?”

Come on.

Red.

Favorite flower?

Why?

Just tell me. It will relax you.

How?
Was he a mind reader?
Bridie
hadn’t been relaxed since the seventh grade. Some people didn’t do relaxation well. She was as tense as a bowstring.

You ask a lot of questions.

It’s my job.
It wasn’t. It was her nature to be suspicious.

Will it kill you to tell me your favorite flower?

Daisies.

Really?

Why?

Old fashioned and sweet.

Bridie
knew where this was going. She could be an absolute bitch at work when people pissed her off as the Sydney office did. They dragged the work day out with their inefficiency.
And nothing like me, I suppose you’re going to say?

I don’t know you. You tell me about yourself.

Nope.
Bridie
had heard enough. James Harper was a charming man and the last person she wanted to play with. Men like that were players and she hated games where she wasn’t sure of the rules. Two minutes later as she was focusing on a column of figures, the phone rang. “Divisional Management, this is
Bridie
.”

“This is James.”

“Holy crap.”
The man had a voice that sounded like sin and sex. It washed over her mind and seeped into her skin.

“I’m not sure crap is holy.”

Bridie
slapped her forehead. “I said that out loud.”
Bugger, I said that too.

“Yes.
So what’s going on,
Bridie
?”

The way her name sounded on his tongue made her thighs sweat and her heart beat madly. “Your office sucks.” Yes, that was better. Channel the office shrew within.

“Probably,” James conceded without offence. “But we’re working on it.”

“Work faster.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Some men just had the ability to make the simplest things sound sexy.
“That it?”
Bridie
barked at him. She was annoyed at herself for going all gooey over a voice.
He’s probably cross-eyed with a wart on his nose
.

“Yeah, I just wanted to hear your voice.” The call ended.

Bridie
leaned over and turned on her small desk fan.
“Oh my.”

* * * * *

“Good morning,
Bridie
.”

“James.” She would have liked to say she was not hoping it was him calling but that was a lie.
Bridie
wanted to hear that voice one more time to make sure it was real.

“You remembered me.”

Your voice was in my head all night. It was so hard to sleep.
Bridie
cleared her throat.
Get a grip, woman
. “What can I help you with?” he was a professional as was she. This was work and it was boring.
Remember that.

“Are you married?”

“What?”
Bridie
almost fell off her chair.

“It’s a simple question.”

“Are you?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“Do I sound married?”

What woman was silly enough not to live with that voice? It made her wet just listening.
Bridie
closed her legs together firmly. The office was no place for an orgasm. There had to be a policy on that somewhere. “No… I don’t know… Why was it important?”
And why do I sound so rattled?
No man had ever gotten to her like this. In fact she had sworn off men after her last disastrous venture there twelve months ago.

“I just wanted to know if you had someone in your life.”

Oh
lordy
. The way he said it made her wish it was him.
Bridie
shook herself. “I don’t believe in romance.”
Oh crap why did I say that?
The minute it was out of her mouth she regretted it. She never told anyone that.

“Everyone believes in romance.”

“I’m in Divisional Management. We’re not romantic here.”

“What are you then,
Bridie
?”

Mostly lonely
.
“I’m busy.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.

The called ended so suddenly that
Bridie
felt a wild rush of disappointment shoot through her. There were a hundred things jumping into her brain that she should have said.
Or not.
“Get a grip. He’s just a guy on the make.”

Ten minutes later, James e-mailed her.
I was thinking…

Bridie
had been too. She had been clicking on the send-receive like a mad woman hoping he would post.
Good to know someone in your department does.

About you.

Uh-huh.

Do want to know why?

Of course she did.
Nope.

Liar.

You need someone to love.

And you need to send your petty cash receipt forms in.

Or?

There was no “or”. How could there be an “or”? No one from the Sydney office ever acted like this.
Listen up, James. I don’t know what sort of game you are playing here but I’m not like other women.

How so?

I mean, I am but I’m not after a man.

Me either.

I never for one second thought you were gay.

Why not?

Your voice.

You like my voice?

“Oh jeez, why did I say that? I should have a stupid stamp on my desk instead of a date stamp.” The phone rang.
Bridie
knew it would be James. Her heart pounded and her hands shook.
I should not answer this.

“
Bridie
, are you there?” James knew it was complete madness but he felt a strange rush of feeling just talking to
Bridie
. She was different from any woman he had ever known.
Pithy, smart and amusing.
He could hear her breathing over the line. At least
Bridie
had not disconnected the call. “Okay, just listen then. I’m single, thirty-
eight,
I have my own house, teeth and car. I rarely belch, I can cook and not all women hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Excellent.” Against every rational reason he could think of, James wanted to meet
Bridie
Clare.
I have to get up to the Brisbane office
. The feeling was so strong that the urgency of it gripped him. He had never believed in soul mates or
love
at first anything, but the mad rush of feeling he was feeling demanded a response.

“I mean—”

“So tell me everything about yourself.” James wanted to know everything.

“Why?”

“Because,
Bridie
, I believe I am falling in love with you.”

She snorted in disbelief. “You’re mad.”

“Maybe,” James conceded, but it was a good madness that he wanted to indulge in. “Tell me, have you ever felt this instant a connection with anyone?” James knew by her sudden silence he was not alone.

“You live miles away.”

Barrier one by the lady.
“They have planes now. The Wright brothers invented them.”

“You scare me.”

Barrier two, honesty.
James liked that. “Why?”