Scandalous Lovers

by Diana Ballew

  “How about a walk around Shilshole Bay?” Joe asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

  “Good idea. After all the delicious food, I need some exercise.”

  They stopped at a red light, and his gaze swept her from head to toe. “Not as far as I’m concerned.”

  Heat filled her. Without conscious thought she leaned toward him. Their lips touched for a brief moment before a horn honked. Joe swore and hit the accelerator, as the light had changed to green.

  The car was filled with charged silence. Joe drove as if he were one with his car and parked near the Shilshole Bay Marina. Without a word, he exited the vehicle and walked around the front of the car. Opening the door, he offered his hand.

  Victoria slipped her hand into his, and a zing of excitement raced up her spine. But all he did was smile and lock the car. They began walking hand in hand. “I don’t think I’ve been here before,” she said, realizing she hadn’t gotten out to explore Seattle since she moved here three years ago.

  “Then you’re in for a treat.”

  The day had turned out to be beautiful. Victoria enjoyed feeling the sun’s warmth on her face and how crystal clear the sky was. She was even more amazed they could see the Olympic Mountains; she hadn’t realized they were so close. She drank in the beautiful snow-capped mountains.

  “How long have you lived in the Seattle area?” she asked as Joe guided her away from a roller-blading couple.

  “About three years.”

  “Where did you live before?” She was curious about him.

  “Boston.”

  “And—”

  He pulled her to a stop and pressed his fingers against her lips. “I’m thirty-four, never married, my parents are still alive and living in Boston, and I’m an only child.”

  Her cheeks grew warm. “I didn’t mean to pry,” she mumbled against his fingers.

  “Shhh.” He cupped her chin. “I thought it’d be easier to get the basics out of the way.” He dropped a soft kiss on her lips, but to her regret, it was over way too soon.

  She decided to reciprocate because the darn man was so charming and she was comfortable around him. “I grew up in a small town in Illinois. My dad still lives there, and my mom lives in Florida.” She wasn’t about to mention the passel of half-brothers and half-sisters she had. Her parents were not known for their staying power in marriage.

  “How long have you been in Seattle?” he asked as they resumed their walk.

  “Not long, about three years. I moved here to help take care of my grandmother.”

  "The grandmother who died?"

  "Yes." Vicki swallowed the lump in her throat. "I was able to spend almost two years with her before she passed."

  "I'm sorry." His fingers laced with hers and squeezed.

  "Thanks. Grandma was pragmatic to the end, saying she was ready and couldn't wait to be with Grandpa again so they could have some nookie."

  Joe’s rich laugher made her grin. "Interesting woman, your grandmother."

  "Yes, she was. She would have liked you; you're nothing like D--" She broke off and looked away. She didn't want to spoil her time with Joe by mentioning Derek. Besides, today would probably be the only date she and Joe had, based on Derek's past actions. Derek had a way of making any man she dated suddenly lose interest in her. With a shake of her head, she dispelled all thoughts of her ex. "So, tell me." She pasted a bright smile on her face. "Why did you come to Seattle?"

  Joe raised an eyebrow at the questions, but all she did was keep the smile plastered on her face. After a second or two he answered. "I have a home here, and TechTronics made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

  Vicki breathed a sigh of relief as they continued to talk as they strolled. She couldn’t remember a more pleasant time in her life. At one point, they'd stopped for a drink. She could have sworn she caught a glimpse of a man who looked like Derek not too far from them. Unease slid through her, and she couldn't help but to keep her gaze on the crowd of people.

  "Something wrong?" Joe looked around with a frown.

  In a blink, the man was gone. "Nothing, just my imagination." And that's all it was, her imagination. She was sure of it.

  As they walked back to the car, they came upon a little girl who had fallen off her bike. Victoria’s heart melted as Joe knelt beside the child, talking to her in a soft voice and making sure she was okay before helping her up and back onto her bicycle. The little girl sang Joe's praises when her mother ran up to them.

  As she stood there, Victoria realized it would be very easy to fall in love with Joe Bradshaw. Oh, Lord, she couldn't fall in love, not until she had her head on straight and Derek permanently out of her life.

  Chapter 4

  Sitting at her desk Monday morning, Victoria rubbed her temples. A headache had lodged there and refused to leave. Arousal still throbbed through her body, and it hadn’t given her a moment’s peace since her encounter with Joe over the weekend. But Joe wasn't the cause of her headache—Derek was. Saturday he'd left more messages on her machine, and on Sunday there were more, warning her that she belonged to him and any man in her life wouldn't last long. None of them ever had before.

  She forced thoughts of Derek away. She didn’t want to think about him now. Instead, she focused her mind on Joe. True to his word, he hadn't pushed. He had left her at her door with a chaste kiss. He'd called on Sunday, which left her wanting more of his company.

  She’d had to replace the batteries in her vibrator twice over the weekend. She was beginning to feel her resolve weakening, and she didn’t like it one bit.

  Victoria still didn’t understand what had happened on Friday night. She hadn’t done drugs or been drunk beforehand. She’d been tired and vulnerable, but those feelings didn’t explain abandoning her normal principles to have elevator sex with a man she didn’t know. Then to go out with him on Saturday …

  She rubbed her forehead. Was being without sex all of the last year a bad idea? Maybe if she’d fooled around a little, Joe wouldn’t have affected her as much. But deep down inside, she knew it wasn’t true. He had an ability to read her, to see the woman she hid beneath the conservative suits and cool attitude. He dug deeper when other men only skimmed the surface. It unnerved her and yet excited her.

  She remembered the twinkle in his eyes when he’d teased her, his husky chuckle and the utterly masculine groan when she’d taken his cock in her mouth. Stop it! She shifted in her chair, trying to relieve the throbbing between her legs. She opened the next email.

  A gasp left her lips. It was a picture of her and Joe at the café where they'd had a drink on Saturday. The words “You're mine” danced before her eyes. Without thinking, she reached for the phone, but her fingers never got past the first few digits. What could the police do? Maybe she should talk with the IT guys. No. She didn't want to involve anyone in the company. She dropped the receiver back into place.

  This was her problem. She wouldn't bring anyone else into the mess of her life. She pressed her knuckles against her eyelids, trying to regain her focus, but her insides quaked.

  A knock on her door captured her attention as the door opened and her assistant, Lisa, stepped into the room. "Monthly meeting in five minutes."

  "Thanks. I forgot all about it." With a couple clicks of her mouse, the email was moved to a special file, and she stood. "Anything I need to worry about?"

  "No." Lisa smiled, holding out a folder. "All routine."

  "Good." Victoria took the folder and headed up to the eighteenth-floor conference room. She had forgotten about the monthly department meeting, not that there was much for her to report. She'd just turned in the marketing report to the president on Friday.

  She strode into the room and stopped in her tracks. Joe stood by the coffee carafe talking with Will from shipping. Damn, the man looked all sexy, his hair tussled as if he'd just woken up.

  He glanced up. A wide smile graced his lips, and she lost her breath, feeling the impact of his grin all the way to her
toes. Victoria found her composure and marched into the room.

  After setting her folder down on the table, she made her way over to the refreshment table. Joe was still standing there.

  "Good morning, Victoria."

  "Mr. Bradshaw." She reached for a cup.

  "Joe, remember." His breath caressed her skin.

  Her hand trembled as she filled the cup with coffee. "You're too close," she whispered.

  "Not close enough."

  She opened her mouth to retort when Jessica Neimier sashayed into the room and straight over to them. "Good morning, Joe." Her dark red nails against Joe's tan forearm caused Victoria to tense.

  What the hell was wrong with her? Joe didn't belong to her. They'd had sex, yes. They'd technically gone on a date Saturday, yes. But sex and one date wasn't a relationship.

  Just then the president strolled into the room. "Good morning, everyone. Shall we get started?"

  Victoria nodded at Joe before taking her seat. To her surprise, Joe sat down next to her. This wasn't unusual, but today his body heat called to her. Fighting the impulse to wrap herself in his arms, she opened her folder, picked up a pen, and began taking notes.

  Joe kept an eye on Vicki as the meeting started. While there wasn't a hair out of place, something was off. She was tense. Who was he kidding? She was like a damn statue sitting next to him.

  Was she worried he'd do something on the job? Even if he did, it would be away from prying eyes. What he had with Vicki was his business and no one else's. He'd hoped after their time together on Saturday and then his talking to her on Sunday, she'd be more relaxed around him.

  Apparently not ... but wait, a hand touched his thigh. A grin started until the fingers moved on his right leg. Vicki was on his left. He turned and glared at Jessica. Damn woman. One friggin' drink and she thought they were some sort of item.

  He slid his hand beneath the table and covered her hand with his. Jessica shifted beside him, and he lifted her hand off of his thigh and put it on her own before removing his hand.

  Jessica made a noise, but Joe ignored her and turned to Vicki, who glared at him before turning her attention back to the president.

  "The ElectroTech conference is coming up. I will be sending two of you to the conference, but I'm still in the process of deciding who the two will be. With that said, is there anything else?" No one said anything. "Good. See you all in a month."

  Joe pushed back his chair at the same time Vicki did, rising with her. "Lunch?" he whispered.

  She started to shake her head. "Victoria, " Mr. Reynolds, the president, called her name. "I have a couple of questions about your marketing report, and Joe, why don't you stay, too? I have some information for you."

  The rest of the room filed out. Vicki crossed her arms over her stomach. She didn't have anything to worry about, so why was she so defensive? Joe slipped his hand to the small of her back to guide her to the front of the room, and she jumped.

  "Easy, you're good," he whispered.

  "You can't know that." She straightened her spine and moved away from his touch.

  Joe frowned. What was going on? He followed her to the front of the room and took a seat next to her.

  "Thanks for staying," Reynolds said. "Victoria, I looked over your marketing plan, and I wanted to tell you I'm very impressed."

  Her shoulders slumped. Had she'd been worried about her job? That didn't seem right. Joe talked with Michael on a regular basis. Heck, Michael was the one who had encouraged him to work closer with Vicki in some of the marketing aspects of the company.

  "Thank you, Mr. Reynolds."

  Michael waved away her words. "I wanted you to know how much I appreciated your working this up on short notice on Friday."

  So that's why she had been in the building so late. He'd never asked, only thanked his lucky stars they'd been thrown together.

  "It wasn't a problem, sir."

  The sir stirred Joe's dominant side. Why? Was Vicki into kink? He'd have to ask her, but not on the job.

  "I don't like making my employees stay late on Friday night, so I wanted to thank you personally." Vicki nodded, and Michael turned to Joe. "Joe, I wanted to talk to you about the Winnex project."

  "You don't need me," Vicki said, rising.

  Joe rose to his feet, keeping his gaze on Vicki as she strode from the conference room.

  "When I said work with Victoria, I didn't mean you had to get up close and personal," Michael said.

  With a laugh, Joe turned back to his friend. "I'll keep it off company time."

  "Joe, sexual harassment is a big thing nowadays."

  "I promise, Michael, if she says 'no' or 'leave me alone,' I will."

  "I believe you." Michael stared at him. "Out of all the people I know, you're the only one I would trust to keep his word. Now, about Winnex."

  Two hours later, Joe walked to Vicki's department. "Hi, Lisa, is Victoria in her office?"

  "Yes, Mr. Bradshaw." She stood.

  "I'll let myself in." He waved her back into her chair as he crossed the door to Vicki's office. He knocked before turning the knob.

  She glanced up from the computer with a frown on her face. Joe shut the door and sauntered over to her desk.

  "What can I do for you, Mr. Bradshaw?"

  Now it was his turn to frown. "Joe." He moved around her desk and leaned against the side of it.

  She wrinkled her nose at him. "I'm very busy." She returned her attention to her computer screen.

  "You have to eat lunch." He took in the way she'd piled her hair up on her head, the stiff way she held her shoulders, and how her gaze darted from her computer screen to him and back.

  "I'll have a sandwich at my desk."

  "No." He leaned over and captured one of her hands.

  Her head snapped up, and her fiery gaze locked onto him. Yes, there was Vicki. "Mr. Bradshaw."

  "Each time you call me Mister, I'm going to kiss you. That's twice since I've been in your office."

  Her mouth dropped open, and he took advantage of her surprise to stand, push her chair back, and pull her out of it.

  "M ... ummm, Joe."

  "You're learning." He cradled her close. The scent of honey tickled his nose.

  "Joe, we can't." She squirmed in his embrace.

  "It's just lunch, Vicki, nothing more."

  "But." Her gaze dropped from his.

  This wasn't like her. Something was off. "What are you afraid of?"

  "We work together, so this is inappropriate."

  Joe tilted his head and stared at her. "How? People in this company go out to lunch all the time."

  "But they haven't had sex with the other person."

  "Who says?" Is that what she was worried about?

  "It doesn't matter. I need to get some work done." She squirmed in his hold, but didn't try to get away.

  "It's just lunch, nothing special. I want to know you better."

  "Do you think you can keep your hands to yourself?"

  Joe laughed. "If I have to, but are you saying you don't enjoy my touch?"

  "No." Her cheeks turned pink, and then she grinned. "That's not the point."

  "It's half the battle." He breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn't telling him no or to go away. "I promise I'll be a good boy."

  Her grin turned into full laughter. "You were never a good boy." He relaxed his hold, and she slipped from his embrace. "Okay, but to lunch only."

  "Fantastic." His heart lightened.

  "So, why lunch?" she asked after they were seated at the restaurant.

  Joe set his menu down and stared at her. "Why can't we have a simple meal together?"

  "Because ... " Her voice trailed off and she glanced around the restaurant. "We had sex." Her voice was quiet.

  "Yes, and we went out on Saturday, so I don't see the issue." Joe sat back in his chair, keeping his gaze on Vicki. He wanted to know what was going on in her head.

  "We work together."

  "You've m
entioned that. Spit it out. What's bugging you, Vicki?"

  "Favoritism."

  He tilted his head. "What could there be? You're marketing, and I'm part of advance creation."

  "Implied favoritism." She fiddled with her menu as the waiter arrived. They gave their orders and the waiter left.

  "Nothing about our relationship has anything to do with your job or mine. I'm not your boss, and I have no say in your job." Technically it was true; a case could be made, but there was no direct reporting between him and Vicki.

  "I know, but others may not." She fiddled with her silverware.

  "What aren't you telling me?" There was something--she was too nervous for something minor.

  "I ... " She swallowed. "You know I came to TechTronics more than a year ago."

  "Yes, you arrived not long before I did."

  "I was in a relationship with someone at my last job."

  "And?"

  "It cost me my job."

  Joe swore. He slid his hand across the table and covered her fingers. "That won't happen."

  "You can't promise that." The sadness in her eyes tugged at his heart. "I wasn't dating my direct supervisor then, either, but because of the friendship between my supervisor and the guy I was dating, I was fired when the relationship ended."

  "That's bullshit. You should sue." Outrage filled him. Yes, he understood sexual harassment laws, but they had been consenting adults, and no one should get fired just because a relationship went sour.

  Vicki shook her head. "It was easier to leave." It had been her decision, one she was glad she made. "I don't want to leave TechTronics. I've finally found a job I love."

  "What can I do to reassure you?" He wasn't going to give up on her.

  "Keep this out of the office." Her gaze grew a bit brighter. "I wouldn't mind going out to dinner, but no more lunches. I want us to be as professional as possible in the office."

  She wasn't going to call it off. His heart lightened. "I can do that." The waiter appeared with their food. "Let's eat and then discuss where we're going to dinner."

  Vicki laughed. "Give you an inch and you take ten miles."