Mandisa reached for his hand, stroking the strong digits of it with her thumb. “Is this about what happened with your father earlier?” She wasn’t certain how the two could be related, but she knew more than most the stupid things a person could get into when motivated byanger.
“Partly, but not in the way you think. When I saw you in that lab I was elated to watch you in your element. Seeing you move around my facility, imagining you there permanently, working with me to create something magical in the cosmetics world—it all just felt so real. It was right. Then later when my father attempted to horn in on your time. I gotpossessive.”
“But why? He’s your dad, not a contender for myaffections.”
She watched Slade nod, seeming to agree with her statement. “I know that, but I just didn’t want to share you with anyone else. Especially not when I have so precious little time left before I have to let you go.” A look of discomfort that fell over him, the uneasiness slightly etching the lines of his face. “I realized I don’t want to let you go. I want to keep you, keep us. I want to make certain no one has the privilege of touching you exceptme.”
“ButSlade—”
“Mandisa, I know all the reasons it doesn’t make any sense. But I also know when we’re together, nothing—and I do mean nothing—feels as good as this. Give it achance.”
She closed her eyes, needing to break away from the power of his cerulean gaze. Everything the man said was one-hundred-percent correct. None of what he was asking made any sense. They didn’t know each other well, they were here for more than pleasure, and there was so much to lose if things wentsouth.
If things went wrong, both their businesses could be negatively impacted, his less so than hers, but still, there was so muchrisk.
She opened her eyes again, prepared to let him down, prepared to do the sensible thing. She was familiar with sensibility. She was a scientist. She didn’t deal in dreams and whims. Yet when her gaze met his again, Mandisa couldn’t think of the myriad of logical reasons she should back away from this man and his offer. She forgot all the practical points she was going to make to counter his very emotionalproposal.
All she could remember was the way it felt to have her body pressed against his. A perfect mixture of safety, desire, and freedom she’d never experienced before. Not even when she was in her lab doing what she loved had she ever felt so at peace as she did resting in hisarms.
“Slade, we don’t…” She couldn’t continue. Whatever lie she was about to speak into the atmosphere died as soon as she heard her own voice. His gaze locked with hers, and everything inside her begged her to capitulate, to give him what they bothwanted.
She sat up on her knees and crawled slowly to him, stopping when she was straddling his legs, seating herself in his lap. His eyes were so bright with expectation, tinged with just the slightest bit ofvulnerability.
The look he gave her crushed her, decimated the scientific detachment she wanted so desperately to use as a barrier to him and his ability to infect her rationalism with his optimism. Logic told her to walk away, to run. But looking at this sexy man bare himself to her wrecked her, made her want to latch onto the thin thread of hope he wasoffering.
“Why can’t I say no to you? Why can’t I do what I know is the right thing when it comes to your ridiculousrequests?”
Slade didn’t answer Mandisa. He must have known she was speaking more to herself than him. He brought their foreheads together until they touched gently while he smoothed a tender hand over the top of her head, resting his fingers at hernape.
“Slade, you have to promise me this won’t affect our wager. That this won’t impact whatever business deal comes out of this bet. I have employees who depend onme.”
“And I don’t?” His answer was a little raw, either from annoyance or their physicalcloseness.
“Yes, this could negatively impact you too, but I have more to lose than you. I can’t screw this up simply because you fuck mesenseless.”
A cocky grin spread across his face, making her heart beat just the slightest bit faster. He slid a lone finger down into her cleavage, slipping one button after the other open as he continued his downwardtrail.
“I do fuck you senseless, don’tI?”
He reached inside her shirt and underneath the underwire of her bra, pulling one globe and then the next free of the satin material. He rolled one pert nipple into a perfect peak between his thumb and pointer finger, drawing an involuntary moan fromher.
She couldn’t deny his taunt. He did fuck her senseless, made her do all sorts of ridiculous shit like agreeing to spend three weeks with him when three days had been enough to turn her world upsidedown.
Slade moved to the opposite nipple, bringing it to the same pointed perfection, making her moan even louder. Mandisa reared back, her body instinctively bucking against him, searching for the right amount of friction to soothe the growing ache between herlegs.
He let his hands stray from her tender breasts and move down her sides, to her waist. He unbuttoned her jeans, sliding his hand beyond her navel, past her mound, and into the wet crease between her pussylips.
“I need you out of these jeans,darlin’.”
She kicked off her boots, and they worked in conjunction to free her from the prison of the denim material. He motioned for her to return to her perch above his lap and slid his fingers between her drippingfolds.
One fingernail scrape against her clit and electric waves sparked from her core and traveled throughout the rest of her body. She pushed her hips toward his thick fingers, seeking the pressure she needed to chase the orgasm already building insideher.
He teased her, rubbing gentle circles around her clit, denying her the speed and force she needed to complete her climax. She moaned again, biting her lip to try to quiet thesound.
“There’s no one out here but the two of us,” he whispered closely in her ear. “No one can hear you, no one can see you. Let go, baby.” He bit her earlobe, immediately licking the tender flesh to sooth it. “Let me have all those wonderful sounds you’re gonna make while you fuck yourself on myfingers.”
He slid his fingers farther down, sinking into the depths of her cunt first with one then two fingers, making her cry out in delight as he twisted and stretched them inside her. His middle and ring fingers inside her while his thumb rubbed against her clit had her slick walls trembling, tightening around his digits, milking them for every bit of pleasure they could giveher.
