I learned about it in one of our CEO seminars. The sight of her uncomfortable in my presence set off every protective instinct and pushed me to my feet. “What do you mean?”
The swaying stopped, and she turned to face me. “I think people in the office are talking about us. I have no evidence, but I’ve been on the butt end of gossip often enough to know what it feels like. People stop talking when I walk into a room. They look atme differently. If someone saw us at the gala and is spreading rumors, I’ll be ruined. And so will you.” Her eyes went all soft and misty, and the sight of it broke me.
I ran my knuckles along the edge of her jaw before forcing my hands down. “I would never expect you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. We were careful, and I haven’t heard any rumors.” I tried to smile, but the slow ache of loss building in my body prevented more than a tiny lift of my lips. “And I would be the first to know.” I took a step back to give us both space. “I respect your wishes, Harper. If you do not wish to see us anymore, I would never insist on it.”
She swayed toward me before snapping backward another step.
So her head and her body were at war. I could use that, but I wanted willing women in my bed, not a woman I’d had to convince.
“I respect you as a woman, as our employee, and as my best friend’s daughter. I’ll treat you with respect no matter what decision you make. That was the promise we made to you that first night, and nothing has changed.” I walked backward to the door. “Is there anything else?”
She shook her head. Either words failed her because I’d given in, or she couldn’t trust herself to speak. Either way, I’d said what I needed to say. As always, the final decision rested in her power.
I opened the office door to absolute silence. Bethany’s empty desk next to the elevator announced the official end of the workday. Harper must have waited until the last minute to come up and talk to me. Why had she chosen me over Dante and Julian? My relationship with her father, maybe.
I almost wished she’d gone to one of them. Then I wouldn’t have to be the one to bring the bad news to tonight’s meeting. “Would you like me to walk you to your car? It’s after hours and everyone has gone home.”
“No.” She tugged on her jacket—a motion I’d come to recognize as a self-conscious gesture—and stopped beside me. “Thank you, but if anyone happens to be lingering, I would rather they didn’t see us together. It would only make things worse. You’ve never walked anyone to their car. I don’t want to be the first.”
“I suppose this is good night then.” And goodbye.
Her hair fell around her face in soft waves when she raised her head to meet my gaze. “Good night, Alex.”
The nickname hung between us, thick with memory and desire. I reached out without thinking and brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. My knuckles grazed her skin, and heat sparked across my hand and spread up my arm.
Her breath hitched, and she froze, her eyes going wide. A blink later, she gripped my wrist, pinning my hand in place against her cheek. I didn’t remember resting my palm there, but she refused to let me pull away.
“I don’t want to stop.”
Her admission was all I needed to back her against the door and lower my lips to hers. She met the brush of my lips with a gasp and tightened her hold on my wrist. Her lips parted for me, and I swept my tongue into her mouth. Heat spiraled between us thick and fast.
I’d never felt anything like it except with her. Before Harper, sex was nice. It was a pleasant release from the rigors of work and gave me a chance to escape the world.
With Harper, it became more. More intense. More pleasurable. I cared more about her and making her happy than I did about anything else. I would have let her walk away, but now that she’d told the truth about what she wanted, I was all in.
The door swung against the wall with a bang, and I backed her into it, pressing us closer with every passing second. I slid my hand down her neck and rested it against her thrumming pulse.
“Alex.” The hoarse sound of my name shot straight to my heart, and then to my cock.
I settled my knee between her legs, and she ground her hips over my thigh. “I want you, Harper. Right here in my office.”
“Me too. I want you too.” She ran her hands down my chest, her nails curved so they dented my suit.
“I want to feel those nails on my skin. Mark me as yours. Because I sure as fuck am going to claim you as mine.” I hauled her toward me and kicked the door shut, walking her backward to the desk. I stopped long enough to swipe every fucking thing off the desk with one arm before I lifted her onto it and unbuttoned her blouse.
She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it aside as I pushed the shirt open and down off her shoulders to reveal the soft lace of a white bra. I kissed along the line of lace and cupped her breasts. “I need your pants off. Now.”
She wiggled and shimmied her hips, working the pants down to her ankles. I yanked them the rest of the way off, taking her heels off in the process.
“Lay back.” I guided her backward and lifted one leg to rest over my elbow. The sight of her eager and waiting for me never ceased to amaze me. I locked down my control and slid a finger along the edge of her panties. “Are you wet for me?”
“Yes.” Her eyes fluttered closed, her hands opening and closing until she found the edges of the desk and grabbed hold.
I rubbed my knuckle over her clit and hummed. “So wet and ready. I could give you my cock right now and you’d take every inch of it. You’d cry out my name as you come and squeeze my cock with that tight pussy. And I would keep going.” I eased a finger inside her and pressed my thumb to her clit the way she liked. Her moan matched the rise and fall of her hips as she rode my hand. “Such a needy little cunt.”
A surprised laugh parted her lips. “I never thought I’d enjoy hearing language like that, but the more you talk, the hotter it is.”
I added another finger and pumped faster. “I never understood why people need to label it as talking dirty. There’s nothing dirty about sex. Nothing foul about saying I like to fuck your pretty cunt. There is nothing dirty or wrong about this.” I added a third finger and grinned when her spine arched. Her other leg hooked around my waist.
