His emotions were no longer my problem. I had learned that much.
“I can’t believe you stayed.” He cocked his head, studying me intently. I stared right back. I thought I detected a hint of astonishment in his eyes, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared.
“Am I not supposed to be here?” If he was about to try to fire me because I’d been screwing the boss, then I wasn’t going to go down easy. “I like it here. I’m staying. With or without you.”
“No, no. Of course you’re supposed to be here. I just . . . I’m surprised.” In my peripheral vision I could see that we were beginning to attract nearly as much attention as we had the other day. I shifted uncomfortably at the realization.
I truly did like my job. If we weren’t together, then these little visits from Zach were going to have to stop.
Otherwise, my life at work was going to become a living hell. I would forever be the woman who had had an affair with the CEO, and nothing else.
“Miss Reid. Can we talk?” I felt myself wavering at the entreaty in Zach’s voice, but I steeled myself against it. “Let’s go for breakfast.”
“I think everything was said last night, Zach.” I kept my words to a whisper, aware that the entire department was trying to eavesdrop. “Please. Leave me alone.”
My words seemed to trigger something in him. Before my eyes he transformed, dominant Zach coming to the fore. Even through all of my anguish, I felt heat rush to parts that I shouldn’t have been thinking of.
Cut it out! I lectured myself to no avail. I was so deeply attuned to this man that it was going to take me years to get over him.
He looked down at me intently, and I understood that in that moment I had all the power. I sputtered, unable to come up with the right words.
“Unless you use your safe word, I am going to continue.” He fixed me with the look that told me if I argued, I would be punished later.
I felt my world, and my self-control, spinning out of my grasp.
“Now I must insist. Come with me.” I opened my mouth to say no, and he countered. “I don’t want to scoop you over my shoulder and carry you away, but I will if I have to, so you might as well come.”
He turned and walked away, and I saw that his steps weren’t as sure as they normally were.
The uncharacteristic uncertainty boxed me into a corner, and I had no choice but to do as he said. Fuming, I followed him into the conference room, where I grabbed the remote and began to randomly hit buttons, trying to frost over the windows.
Instead I made a projection screen drop down out of the ceiling, and turned the lights out.
Zach calmly took the remote from my hand as I exclaimed with frustration, the sound echoing off the walls of the closed room. Pressing the correct buttons—of course—he turned on the lights, frosted over the windows, and sent the screen back into the ceiling.
“Please hold still and listen.” His tone told me that he expected to be listened to, but there was a nervousness to the way he held himself before me. To put my own stamp on his instructions, I planted my feet shoulder width apart and stood with arms akimbo.
As I faced him, I realized anew just how angry I was. I loved this man—really, truly loved him, a feeling that was worlds apart from what I thought I had felt for my ex. I was so hurt, and so angered, at his treatment of it.
“I know I’ve handled this poorly.” His voice was somber, a break from the commanding tones that usually sounded when he spoke. It had the desired effect, I thought, because he halted my inner tirade in midstride.
“Just . . . listen for a moment, all right?” Running his hand through his hair, showing me his agitation, he began to pace. It was something that I had never seen the cool, calm and in control Zach do before. Ever.
“I am sexually dominant. You know this. You are sexually submissive. You may not want to admit it, but you know that that’s true, too.” My heart gave a giant throb, remembering the state of nirvana that his dominant nature had brought me to the night before.
“I don’t know what that has to do with anything, Zach—” I started to protest, but he held up a hand, palm out, and silenced me with one look.
“With you—God, Devon, with you I don’t have to control everything. It’s the first time in years that I’ve been able to breathe.” His eyes sought for and caught my own, and I inhaled sharply when I saw the raw honesty reflected there.
“You could have fooled me.” I raised my eyebrows at him. I was sure that he believed what he was saying, but part of it didn’t ring true for me. “You seem to be quite in control when it comes to me.”
The barest hint of a grin curled Zach’s lips, and he looked so damn sexy that my stomach clenched.
“Needing control and enjoying it are two separate things.” The faint smirk faded, and he moved forward, catching my stiff fingers in his own. “The second you walked out the door last night, I wanted you back. I didn’t expect this to go so far, and I don’t know if I’m any good for you in the long run, but I don’t know if I can live without you, either.”
His words took the wind right out of my sails. I stared at him, mouth agape, my brain furiously trying to comprehend what he had just said.
“I—I don’t understand.” My voice shook. I wasn’t sure that my heart could hold to another of Zach’s come here–go away changes in mood.
But . . . oh, how I wanted him. Wanted him forever.
“What’s changed?” Though I was still wary, I felt my heart thaw, just a fraction, when he released my hands, then curled his fingers around to the back of my waist. The possessive gesture, his fingers at the small of my back, made need unfurl inside of me like a flower reaching up for the sun.
“Up until the moment you walked out the door last night, I was convinced that I had to be strong enough for both of us, that it wasn’t right to inflict my demons on your life.” I huffed in frustration—this was what I had been running from when I landed in San Francisco, a life that followed the expectations of others. “But when I told you my story . . . you didn’t flinch. You didn’t turn away. You weren’t disgusted with me.”
Irritation washed through me.
“Of course I wasn’t disgusted with you. Why on earth would I be?” Exasperated, I shoved at his chest, staring up at him like he had grown a second head when he threw his head back and started to laugh.
“Zach, are you feeling all right? I know you couldn’t have gotten much sleep last night.” I moved restlessly in his arms, trying to free myself, but he only drew me closer, nuzzling his face into my hair.
“You don’t even see it, do you? Most people would have been turned away by my never-ending issues. But you see only the good. You’re a gift.” His lips grazed over the tender skin that covered the pulse in my neck, and my knees went weak.
“Zach, I can’t do this again. I need all of you, or nothing at all.” He let me push him away this time, and I stepped back until I was out of his aura, where I could breathe.
When I looked back up, he had the bracelet in one hand, and a small box in another. I felt my blood begin to fizz through my veins in decadent anticipation, even as my mind rapidly ran through a list of every bad thing that could possibly happen in the next five minutes, trying to prepare me.
“You are the first woman that I have met since losing Marie who is worth the risk.”
I began to tremble when he took my hand in his and fastened the bracelet on my wrist again. The circlet of star sapphires winked up at me, warm and stunningly beautiful.
“I would rather take whatever I can have with you and risk the notion that I might lose you someday, than never have you at all.” Once the bracelet had been secured on my wrist, Zach held out the other small box. I felt as though I was trying to push through a heavy fog in the air as I closed my fingers around it.
Chills shimmied up and down my spine as I opened the box
and found a ring inside. A solitary star sapphire winked out of its white gold setting at me, making me promises that I couldn’t quite believe.
“What—what is this, Zach?” I stared up at him, wide-eyed. This couldn’t possibly be happening. I was dreaming; I had to be dreaming.
“It’s whatever you want it to be, Devon.” A small, choked sound escaped my throat as Zach took the ring from the box, and slipped it on my finger—my left ring finger. Feeling a little bit wild, I began to tremble.
His hand, stroking the tender skin on the inside of my wrist, brought me back down to earth.
“I mean it. I will do whatever makes you happiest. Devon, you’ve taught me that I can be dominant and still take risks with someone. I want to be with you, whatever that means for us. I will marry you tomorrow if you’ll have me. Or we could get engaged. Or it can be a token from someone who loves you.” His voice shook over the one word that I had been so longing to hear. “I’ll even accept that it’s a friendship ring, so long as that friendship comes with undying devotion . . . and sexual benefits.”
I barked out a laugh, reaching out to bury my fingers into the fabric of his suit jacket.
“Say it again.” Light began to fill me, and I still felt as though I were dreaming.
“Say what?” He shot me a sexy grin, all innocence and light now that he saw my response clearly in my eyes. “Sexual benefits?”
“Don’t tease me! Say it!” Zach extinguished all traces of humor. Taking both of my hands in his own, he looked down into my eyes, and I saw what I needed to know before he said it.
“I love you.” My heart stuttered in my chest. “I love you, Devon, and this ring can mean anything you want it to, anything at all, as long as it includes love.”
“I love you, too.” I closed my eyes for a long moment as I let the bone-deep bliss wash over me. I had no idea how we had arrived at this point—the last two months had been a wild ride.
But now my life was on track, and I had everything that I could possibly want.
“How about this? The ring means that I am yours. It means that you are mine.” I found myself crushed against Zach’s chest, my lips devoured the instant I was done speaking. Heat poured through me as he pinned me to the long, hard length of his body.
One hand slid up to palm my breast through my blouse. I gasped as my nipple pebbled beneath his touch.
“You look amazing today.” Releasing my lips only long enough to whisper in my ear, Zach closed his teeth over my pulse, marking me, before he returned to kissing me senseless. “You need to wear color more often. I’ll buy you some.”
“What are you doing, Zach?” I moaned into his mouth as he released my breast, clasped me around the waist, and lifted me up. My legs twined tightly around his waist, my heated core blazing against the firmness of his erection.
“I’m going to take you on the conference room table, Devon.” He placed my bottom against the edge of the table, my legs still entwined around him, and busied himself with undoing the buttons on the front of my blouse.
I blinked with surprise, even as I arched into his touch.
“Here?” Reaching for the waistband of his slacks, I slipped my hand inside and ran my thumb over the hot velvet of his erection. “Now?”
“Here,” he confirmed as he groaned and thrust into my hand. Not bothering with the clasp of my bra, he simply pulled the wire and lace down beneath my breasts, pushing them up to him like an offering. “Now. And you’re going to let me. You know why?”
“Why?” I arched my back, giving him better access to my erect nipples. Nerves skittered along my skin, knowing that all of my coworkers were just on the other side of the conference room door. The nerves added to the potency of my arousal, and I knew that I would have a hard time being quiet.
Zach slid his hand down the front of my pants, into my panties, and found my clit. As he began to stroke with sure movements, he slid another finger inside of my liquid heat, grinning at the way I responded, pushing myself against him, all reservation gone.
I would do anything for this man.
I would do everything for him.
He possessed me, body and soul.
“You’ll let me because I love you.”
Zachariah St. Brenton was rarely wrong.
Now that you’ve enjoyed Devon and Zach’s
passionate romance, don’t miss out on
Elijah and Samantha in
BREATHE
Available now from Signet Eclipse.
Keep reading for a special preview. . . .
The sculpture stood on a small marble table in the center of the spacious resort lobby. A perfect, slender column of emerald green glass rose in a straight line nearly three feet high before overflowing into streams of glass that sparkled like crystals. Some were as thin as a pinkie finger, looking delicate enough to snap off at the slightest breath, and some of the tendrils were as thick as a pillar candle. All varied in tones from the merest whisper of mint to the green of a dense forest.
This piece had been the manifestation of a desire that had been haunting Samantha Collins’s dreams lately. Dreams that she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with.
It had been a long time since she’d had sex, true enough, and her stress levels had been through the roof lately. But these needs that had been tugging at her had been growing stronger . . .
She’d half hoped that putting these urges into her sculpture would exorcise them.
It hadn’t.
“Wine, señorita?” An impeccably dressed waiter in a black suit made an appearance at Samantha’s elbow. On his hand he balanced a tray of crimson wine in sparkling glasses.
“Thanks.” Gratefully she accepted a glass. The flavors hit her tongue as she sipped eagerly, and she recognized it was much finer than any of the wines she was accustomed to drinking.
“Quilceda Creek Cabernet, 2005.” The waiter beamed as if he had produced the wine himself.
Samantha pasted a smile onto her face and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. Very nice.”
Samantha liked wine, but the ones she tended to purchase came in a box or, if she was feeling fancy, in a bottle with a screw cap. She’d never heard of Quilceda Creek, though it tasted nice enough.
“Ten-dollar bottle, hundred-dollar bottle, the end result’s the same,” she spoke quietly to herself before lifting her glass in a silent toast. As she sipped, she looked down at her sculpture, still hit by a sense of disbelief that it had been chosen for exhibition.
Indulgencia was a luxurious resort located in the tourist-saturated town of Cabo San Lucas. It was infamous both for its wealthy patrons and for Devorar, the small BDSM club that catered to the varied sexual predilections of its clientele.
Once a year Indulgencia held an art exhibit with an erotic theme. The owner of the resort, some wealthy tycoon from the States, flew in artwork from around the world to showcase for the event, and when Samantha had submitted her piece, she hadn’t been hopeful about her chances.
Though the twists of glass had been created with one of her most erotic dreams in mind, the result was a million miles away from the human-sized copper penis, which was the next sculpture over in the exhibit.
Samantha hadn’t been sure that the wealthy mogul, who’d organized the show and selected all of the pieces himself, would see what she did, even though it was the most erotic sculpture she’d ever produced. She had put all the sexual frustration she had been feeling in the last few months into the work.
Being at this show wasn’t helping that frustration. Not at all.
“Lovely piece, isn’t it?” The voice came from just behind her shoulder, startling her. Samantha whirled around to face the speaker, her wine sloshing in her glass.
When she saw him, she nearly swallowed her tongue.
The man was tall, at least six feet, and though he wore expensiv
e-looking black slacks and a dress shirt, she could see enough of his physique to appreciate the muscular body beneath the clothing. Combined with his dark blue eyes, flaxen hair, and sexy-as-hell smile, his sudden appearance made it seem as if all of Samantha’s heated dreams had just come to life.
That sexy dream man cocked an eyebrow at her, and she belatedly realized that he’d asked her a question.
“Do you like this particular sculpture?” he repeated helpfully.
“It’s . . . oh, yes, it’s very nice.” She wasn’t about to tell anyone here that she was the artist. She wasn’t ready for anyone to ask what had inspired it, especially this man, who discomforted her with his focused attention.
Deliberately she shrugged, and tried to catch one thin strap of her sundress as it slid down her shoulder. She tugged it back up and caught the man’s eyes following the movement. “It’s such a pretty, saturated color.”
She almost bit her tongue as she said it. She knew, of course, the painstaking effort that had gone into creating the gradation of color in the sculpture, the hours she had spent gathering the molten material on her blowpipe, rolling it into finely ground glass of different shades, then setting the colors in by sweating over the smaller of her two glass furnaces—but she wanted to take care not to tip her hand that she was more than a casual admirer of the artwork.
She assumed the man would simply nod in agreement. Instead, he reached out and ran one slender finger over a curling tendril of glass, much as she had done. The care and attention of his touch over the smooth surface made Samantha think of those dreams she’d been having lately, the ones that had produced a constant ache.
In fact, last night’s had featured a man running his hands over her body exactly the same way this man was doing to the sculpture. The memory made her shiver.
“Would you like to know what I see?” His blue eyes pinned her with their intensity, and Samantha lifted her glass to her lips to give herself something to do with her hands.
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