Whoa.Fiona had to steady herself by leaning against the desk, taking care not to knock off a pile of papers. How could anyone who seemed so imposing and rigid become so gorgeous with only a smile? And how could the mere heat in his gaze cause her heart to blip like that?
“You know,” she said in an effort to mask her reaction, “you should smile more often. It makes you seem almost human.” She turned away before her reaction became obvious and busied herself by straightening a stack of handwritten purchase requisitions that were scattered on the desk.
As she nonchalantly reached for a pen, she felt his presence close in behind her. Fiona jolted and nearly knocked the phone off its stand as he spoke, purring into her ear, his breath wafting warmly over her bare neck. “Aren’t you wondering why Ireallycame by?”
“To tell me about the H.?” she replied lightly, moving away so that he couldn’t hear the thundering of her heart. She couldn’t, for the life of her, think of another name that began with an H.
“No.”
That simple word hung there—deep, husky, radiating layers and layers of meaning—and caused a shiver to work its way along her arm, raising goose bumps in its path. If nothing else, he was patient, for it was Fiona who finally turned to face him after an impossibly long silence.
“For what then?” But she didn’t need to ask the question, for the narrowing of his silvery eyes and the tautness of his fine mouth spoke volumes.
“Surely you don’t expect to simply ignore a kiss like that without wondering what more there could be.” Despite the arrogance in his voice, the heat in his eyes was very real.
Though her mouth went dry and her knees trembled weakly, Fiona lifted her brows and quirked her lips into an insolent smile. “Kiss? I don’t remember any—”
Suddenly she was in his arms and the rest of her words were smothered by his very skillful, very adamant mouth. With a sigh of capitulation—for she had wondered if it had, indeed, been as good as she remembered—Fiona arched against his solid body, sliding her hands up into the thick waves of his hair.
As lips fit to lips—tasting, caressing, slip-sliding—his hands formed to her body, smoothing down the length of her back to cup her rear, pulling her up and to him so that she was in no doubt of his definite interest. A sharp pang of desire low in her groin bloomed into tingling, sparkling heat, and she pressed back into Gideon, sliding her hands to his shoulders, savoring the taste of him.
A soft groan rose in his throat and sighed against her lips as they became insistent, almost rough. Then, drawing in a ragged breath, he pulled away just enough to sweep her onto the desk. The phone crashed to the floor, scattering papers and the cup filled with pens, but Fiona didn’t care. She didn’t care about anything except touching Gideon—smelling his spicy, male smell, hearing the rasp of his breath, feasting on him—becoming enraptured.
He stood between her knees and she tilted her head, allowing his mouth to trail along her bare neck as she pulled the jacket from his shoulders. He shrugged it to the floor and her hands became free to mold over the hard planes of his chest.
Finally, he broke the kiss. Gently and delicately, he caressed her upper, then her lower, lip with his, gave her one last full-mouthed buss, and pulled away. Her hands were still planted on either side of the placket of buttons on his shirt, and she felt the rapid beat of his heart and steady warmth beneath her fingers while his chest rose and fell with heavy breathing.
“That kiss,” he murmured with a sensual smile.
Fiona became more lightheaded. “Ah,” was all she could manage.
Dark hair shadowed his forehead and the planes of his cheekbones stood out in relief, as though he’d sucked in his breath. His eyes were dark and fierce, but the words that came out of his full mouth were surprisingly gentle. “All indications are that you see at least some value in finding out what could lie beyond a mere kiss.”
She dropped her hands from his shirt. Although she was still trembling with the aftershock of their embrace, she knew she must be honest.
“I don’t go in for casual sex, Gideon.” She gave a short laugh, almost in derision. “I don’t go in for sex much at all, in fact.” Which was why, she thought in shock, it was so shocking that a simple kiss had turned her into a shuddering mass of skin and bones. She gave an easy shrug.
The surprise that washed over his face was quickly masked behind that stony, lawyer-like countenance. “The evidence speaks otherwise.”
Fiona struggled for a moment, but her innate honesty won out. “What I mean is, I don’t very often find someone I choose to have sex with. It…complicates…things.”
“It doesn’t have to. Complicate things.” He slipped a finger under one of her loose, wild curls and flipped it behind her ear, allowing the tip of his thumb to trace along her jaw line, leaving her skin jumping in its wake.
“Hmm.” She cocked her head and looked up at him, aware that the sound of her thundering heart was deafening only to her, and considered.
Her mother never let sex complicate things in her life. She’d been a free spirit and had no qualms about sleeping with anyone, anytime, anywhere: male or female. A child of the ’Sixties, Claudia lived a carefree life, even to this day—currently in Costa Rica. She had instilled in her children a love for fun and mysticism and all things natural, but not a moving sense of responsibility nor a taste for authority.
Fiona was, ironically, the precise opposite of Claudia when it came to sex. While she lived for the moment in most areas of her life, intimacy and relationships were the one area she didn’t.
Because it scared the shit out of her.
Fiona’s hands curled tightly in her lap, pressing six rings into her fingers, and her throat was dry and tight. The ridge of the desk on which she sat bit into her upper calves as her fingers curled around the same sharp edge, clenching the wood to keep them from touching him again. She did want him…there was no doubt about that…but—
The glow of a light flickered at the back of the shop, freezing her mind.
With a muffled shriek, she launched herself off the desk into Gideon’s arms. “The lamp! It’s the lamp!”
“What?” His arms slid around her, but then she pulled just as quickly away. Bewildered, he peered down at her as Fiona tried to steady her breathing.
