She was so relieved when the bill finally arrived that she nearly cried. She wasn’t sure she could stand another ten minutes of the tension around the table—a tension everyone other than Clay seemed to feel.
He took the bill and made a production of slipping his credit card in the folder, as if he were a big spender taking the crew out for dinner. Paxton knew he’d have his expense report filled out before he got on the plane tomorrow.
When they finally left the restaurant, she walked in step with Sawyer. She could tell by the set of his jaw that he was still fuming.
“Give me ten minutes,” Paxton whispered. “I’ll meet you in your room.”
They’d booked separate rooms so as not to fuel any kind of rumors. Paxton went into her room and changed out of her favorite travel outfit, a dark brown skirt and matching jacket made of a forgivable fabric that was hard to wrinkle. She pulled on yoga pants and a roomy T-shirt, then waited another five minutes before grabbing her toiletry case and heading three doors down to Sawyer’s room.
She got a text message from him just as she arrived at his door.
Where R U?
When he answered her knock, she held the phone up to him. “Don’t you think you’re old enough to text like an adult? It’s only four additional characters to actually spell out the wordsareandyou.”
“Would you get in here?” Sawyer said, pulling her into the room.
The first thing he did was kiss her as if it had been twenty years since they’d last seen each other instead of twenty minutes. Once she was breathless and losing feeling in her legs, he finally let go of her lips, but he held on to the rest of her.
With his hands still clamped around her upper arms, he pulled away slightly and said, “That Clay guy is terrible.”
“Like stepfather, like stepson,” Paxton said. “Clay is my supervisor John’s stepson.”
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.”
“Yes. We call him Clay the Jackass in the office. Rather fitting, don’t you think?”
“That’s an insult to jackasses around the world.” He took her by the hand and led her to bed, sitting up against the headboard and motioning for her to join him.
Paxton crawled onto the bed and into his lap, turning around and fitting herself against him. She pulled his arms around her, resting them just under her breasts, and leaned her head against his solid chest.
“Now do you see why I’m so determined to get the project in Gauthier done on time? Clay is my number one competition when the next project director position opens up. Don’t be fooled by that passive-aggressive crap you saw at dinner tonight. He hates me, and the feeling is mutual.”
“Why does he hate you?”
“Because I’m a better project manager, and John has no choice but to give me my due. There’s nothing he can do to dispute it.”
“So, if you come in over budget and behind schedule on Gauthier’s system, it’s exactly the kind of thing he can use against you.”
“Correct,” Paxton said.
“Why didn’t you say this from the very beginning?”
She looked over her shoulder. “Maybe because I didn’t want to look petty and spiteful?”
“Nothing wrong with pettiness and spite in my book, especially when it comes to showing up a jerk like that,” Sawyer said. “We’re going to get that revised draft of the ICP done on time, even if I don’t get to sleep for a week.”
A smile drew across her lips as she peered up at him. “You’re willing to lose sleep for me?”
“Damn right. Of course, the reason we won’t get any sleep tonight has nothing to do with your stupid coworker. In fact,” he said as he caught the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, “when it comes to what we’re about to do, I don’t want thoughts of Clay the Jackass in your head at all.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t think that will be a problem.”
She returned the favor of divesting him of his shirt before laying him flat on his back and having her way with him.
It was yet another fantasy fulfilled as she took control of their lovemaking, pinning Sawyer’s hands on either side of his head and climbing on top of him. After getting rid of their pants and underwear, Paxton grabbed the condom he’d set on the bedside table, rolled it over his rock-solid erection, and quickly guided him inside her.
Their twin moans of ecstasy rang throughout the room as she lowered herself onto his lap, taking his full length inside and rocking slowly back and forth. Sawyer lifted up from the bed and caught her nipples in his mouth, first one, then the other. He licked and sucked while she pumped up and down; the rhythm of his mouth increased with every thrust of her hips. Paxton braced her hands over his solid abs, seeking purchase as she dove down and rose up, impaling herself on his hard flesh until she shattered in a swarm of sensations that radiated throughout her body.
