what was that about?”
“You didn’t like it?” She looked down at his crotch, and she could see the bulge in his black pants. “It felt like you did. The way you liked what happened between us last night.”
He ignored her question. “I don’t know what you think happened last night.”
“What do you think happened?”
“A mistake. One you’d better forget.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Maria,” he warned her, his voice dark and holding an amount of malice under all of the frustration. But despite the meanness in his voice, he took a step toward her, closing the distance between them. “You’d better be careful not to provoke me.”
She squared her shoulders and pushed closer to him. The movement brought her nipples against his chest. They ached; her whole body wanted, needed him. She looked up into his eyes and wet her lips. His eyes followed the movement of her tongue. “Maybe I want to provoke you,” she whispered, putting her hand on his groin, and satisfied, she found him still hard. “It seems as if you might like it.”
With a growl, he was on her. His hands cupped her cheeks and he pulled her lips to his. He kissed her again. It wasn’t timid or slow. There was nothing shy or tentative about the touch of his lips on hers. Alex’s mouth was hard and demanding, and he tasted rich, like bourbon, cigars, but those flavors were no more potent than the pure taste of Alex. She curled her fingers around the back of his head and threaded her hands in his hair, holding him in place. He pushed her to the wall and pressed his hips against her so that she could again feel his arousal against her stomach, as if she’d had any question of his desires. She wanted him. Wanted to feel his weight on top of her, feel him inside her. And she knew he wanted her, too.
Maria lifted her leg so that her inner thigh brushed against the outside of his. And he gripped her and pressed into her again. A moan passed from her mouth to his, and it turned into a surprised gasp when he dropped her leg and broke away from her. Stepping back, he put more than a foot of empty space between them.
“Jesus, I’m sorry.” His voice was a rough whisper as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“I’m not.”
“I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s not like I wasn’t a willing participant.”
“I’ve got to get out of here. Go back to the table, Maria,” he ordered her through heavy breaths. “Your brother is waiting for you.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Fuck, I’ve got to stay away from you,” he said, low, quiet, as if he were talking to himself.
“That’s going to be hard, seeing as how I’ll be working for you next week.”
“You won’t be working for me,” he assured her. “You’re Brett’s assistant. Not mine.”
“Alex, don’t be ridiculous—”
He pointed a finger at her. “Don’t, Maria.” His whisper was fierce. “This can’t be anything more. I’ve already crossed too many goddamn lines here with you. Just forget it ever happened.”
“How can I forget it?” she said, pressing against him. “Alex, I’ve wanted you for so long, and now that I know how good it feels to kiss you, and touch you...” She ran her palm against his cock again. “How long and hard you are. It just makes me want more.” She squeezed him through the silky material of his expensively tailored pants, and as he closed his eyes, his groan made her feel powerful. She stepped even closer. “Don’t you want me, too?” she whispered against his throat, her lips skimming his stubble. The scratch electrified her, and she felt the jolt all the way to her core.
He hesitated—she could see the tightening of his jaw, the clenching of his fists, and she knew that he was trying to fight it. But from the way he exhaled through his flared nostrils, she knew that he was at war. And that between his common sense and libido, she knew which side was winning. He nodded, and triumph surged throughout her. “I do want you.” He shoved her hand away. “But this can’t happen,” he said before he turned away from her and walked back into the dining room.
ALEX WAS IRRITABLE before he even entered The BH, the office tower built and owned by The Brotherhood, the home and headquarters of Collins/Fischer and the rest of their enterprises, including, of course, Di Terrestres, which encompassed the entire bottom floor. Before he even set a foot out of the elevator and onto the floor of Collins/Fischer, he felt like staying inside and riding back down to the front lobby. A week had passed since Brett went ahead and hired Maria, and even though she had yet to start working there, he’d been a ball of tension since that evening.
He hadn’t seen Maria since he’d followed her from the table at Thalia, but he didn’t need to. Everywhere he went, he smelled her, could taste her on the air, as if she’d been permanently etched on his skin or tied to him, following him everywhere he went. It would be her first day at the office and even though their workloads would keep them busy and she would be assisting Brett, Alana and him on all of the work related to Hedo, he didn’t know how he would manage to focus on anything knowing that she was in the building.
Alex looked up from the panel of buttons, still contemplating pushing the one marked with an L, and stared out the parted door at the clean titanium Collins/Fischer logo that faced him. “Goddammit,” he muttered to himself. That was his name on the company’s logo. He owned the fucking building. He’d worked his ass off to get where he was. He’d fought every adversary, every odd that had been stacked against him, and he’d persevered. If he couldn’t handle having one woman in his vicinity, then he might as well quit his job and go back to where he’d come from, become his father. Instead, he took a deep breath, scrubbed his hand over his face and exited the elevator, stepping into the hallway.
Collins/Fischer, a normally loud and bustling company, was quiet. Of course it was; it was barely 7:00 a.m. And while Alex and Brett liked to get an early start, they didn’t expect their staff to get in that early, and most waited until nine. Early morning was their quiet time to arrange their projects and coordinate their schedules for the day and upcoming week.
Alex yawned, and on the way to his office, it occurred to him that he’d forgotten to restock the coffee in his office. The fine Panamanian beans he’d been so pleased with had not lasted the week with the long hours he’d been putting in. He’d have to order more. Like, twenty pounds more. But until then, the communal office coffee would have to do. He veered into the lunch room to his left instead of heading straight to his office.
He was stopped in his tracks, however, when he smelled the hints of a familiar spicy perfume, and he knew he wasn’t alone in the room. His breath caught in his throat when Maria turned to face him, gorgeous in a crisp white blouse, and a high-waisted gray pencil skirt that hit just above her knees. The look was completed with her thick black hair tied back into a bun and cherry-red high heels. Her outfit might have been modest in cut, but it somehow seemed to show off her delicious curves rather than hide them. She looked like the star of every fantasy a man could have about a woman in an office setting.
Her red lips spread in a grin. “Hi, Alex. Or should I say boss?” she asked with a throaty purr that made him sweat through his suit.
Maria was going to be the death of him.
If Rafael didn’t kill him first.
Alex nodded and walked past her to the espresso machine without returning her greeting. He busied himself preparing his own coffee, but he could feel her watching him. “What are you doing here?” he asked, not looking at her, trying to ignore his every response to her.
“I work here, remember?”
How