Take Me (Lessons in Seduction #2)

by Sophie Holloway

  Mike blinked. “Hey, now, I was just—”

  “It’s unprofessional to talk about any of our employees that way,” Jack said, cutting him off. “Not to mention crass and classless. And I won’t stand for it. If I catch you so much as looking sideways at one of the interns again, there will be consequences. Consequences you won’t enjoy. Do we understand each other, Mike?”

  Mike looked at the ground, sufficiently admonished. The other execs had already drifted away, clearly happy to let Mike take his medicine alone. As Mike hurried off—making some vague noises about following upon the Clement deal—Jack heard a voice over the usual office chatter.

  “Jack?”

  This time when he turned, Eva was standing behind him.

  He blinked, then blinked again just to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. What was she doing here? And why was she…

  He looked closer. She was trembling, holding her shoes in her hands. One toe was bleeding, and her hair was loose, wild strands matted to her temples with sweat.

  He launched into action, closing the distance between them and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  She shook her head. “No. Not okay.”

  Jack hugged her closer, his chest tightening as he noticed the trails of dried tears on her cheeks. “Come with me,” he whispered. “We can talk in my office.”

  As he led her across the room, heads peeked out of the cubicles and whispers of speculation rustled louder than the paper in the copying machine, but he didn’t care. Eva was his only concern.

  He barely had a chance to close the door before she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you at work.”

  “You’re always welcome here. Always. This is your company, too.” He ran a hand gently down her arm to squeeze her hand. “Right now I’m more concerned about you than any interruption. What happened?”

  “It was crazy, Jack.” She planted her backside on the edge of his desk. “I didn’t know what else to do. I rode the subway around and around because I was afraid if I went back to work, he would be waiting for me.”

  Jack’s eyes narrowed. “He? He who?”

  “I don’t know. Some guy. He followed me. He chased me. I don’t know who he is, but…” She hugged herself tighter. “I think he wanted to hurt me. The look on his face was terrifying.”

  Jack’s jaw tightened. He went to her and wrapped his arms around her. Her heart was beating so fast he could feel the frantic patter in his own chest. “It’s okay. Shh. You’re safe now. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears. “Do you think it’s the same man who broke into my place? And if so, what do you think he wants?”

  Jack handed her his handkerchief and strode around his desk. “I don’t know, but we’re ending this. Right now. I’m not going to let you be scared like this again.” He picked up his phone and thumbed through it until he found the number for the security company. He brought it to his ear and waited for someone to pick up, all while watching Eva. She sat perfectly still, staring at her knees. Shell-shocked.

  “Hello,” he said when the receptionist answered. “I have a meeting with Max tomorrow. I was wondering if we could move that up to this afternoon? I’ll pay whatever he wants. It’s important.”

  The receptionist checked Max’s schedule and arranged the appointment change. When Jack ended the call, Eva said, “Who’s that?”

  “It’s a security firm. They come highly recommended by some people I know.”

  She was leaning forward, her hair covering her face. He came back around to her and tucked the silky strands behind her ear. “We’re going to figure it out, okay? This ends now.”

  She nodded. “It’s just ridiculous, you know? Why me?”

  He could think of a million reasons why. The most obvious reason was the one that Eva seemed oblivious to—she was every man’s fantasy.

  Even frightened and dirty, perched at the edge of his desk with her shoulders slumped, she was maddeningly alluring, with the outline of her full tits pressing against her sheer blouse, and her long legs visible under her short skirt. Knowing she was completely nude underneath was almost too much to take. He stood in front of her and ran his hands from her shoulders, down her bare arms, unable to keep from touching her.

  He wanted to be supportive and protective, but he also wanted to take her right there, to push inside her and assure her with his body that she was safe in his arms.

  “Well, that’s what we’re going to figure out,” he said.

  “Thanks.” She scooted back on his desk and placed her hands in her lap. Then she crossed her legs, granting him what he was pretty sure was an unintentional flash of her bare pussy. He swallowed hard, doing his best to control the erection beginning to tent the front of his pants.

  She bit on her lip, and suddenly blurted, “I’m sorry, Jack. About this morning. I shouldn’t have pushed you into something you obviously didn’t want to do. That wasn’t part of our agreement.”

  He had to laugh at that. How could she be so damn oblivious sometimes? “Is that really what you thought?” He shook his head. “I wanted to. Damn, I wanted to. I was honestly worried about hurting you. I was afraid you would be sore from last night.”

  “Oh.” A small smile appeared on her lips. “Well, I was. But I also—I don’t know, I can’t explain it. It’s like this switch has flipped inside me, and I can’t control it.” She gazed up at him through her lashes. “I want you. Constantly. I can’t help it. All I can think about is…you know what. Is that normal?”

  A blush had bloomed on her cheeks. Goddamn, she was so fucking beautiful, and Jack had never heard sweeter words in his life. He shifted in front of her, but there was no longer any controlling the erection swelling behind his fly.

  He let his hands smooth up her thighs to the hem of her skirt, playing with the fabric there. “You’re thinking about it now?”

  She hesitated before nodding almost imperceptibly.

  Fuck. She’d been chased through the city, and here she was, sweaty and bleeding and scared as hell. She could’ve been seriously hurt, and yet she still wanted him to take her.

  Feeling a flash of pride at being the man to have muddled her priorities so thoroughly, he straightened, drawing so close that he could feel her short, rapid breaths against his face. He wrapped his hands around her waist and nudged her back across the surface of the desk.

  “Wait right there. Don’t move.” He checked the door and locked it, ignoring the flash of conscience that streaked through him.

  Hell, this was what they made locks for, right? He wasn’t about to deny Eva right now, not when she was looking at him like his dick was all she needed to make everything all right again.

  He turned to her, his breath catching at her beauty. She’d taken to wearing her hair down these past couple of days, and hell, she had some sexy hair. He instinctively put a hand out to stroke it, and his fingers grazed her jaw. She leaned into his touch.

  His pulse skittered as she looked up at him, tongue sweeping out across her bottom lip.

  He ran a finger up her arm, toward the neckline of her blouse. The top buttons were undone. His finger hung on the opening before unfastening the next one. Now it was loose enough that he could tug it from her shoulder, exposing her hardened nipple.

  “What, exactly, are you thinking about?” he asked, as he leaned over her and flicked the hard pebble with his tongue. “This?”

  She inhaled sharply. “Yes.”

  He cupped her breast, bringing it to his mouth. He showered his attention on it while unclasping the rest of the buttons on her blouse, and then found the other and squeezed them together. Her head fell back, allowing him to sweep his tongue up the column of her throat, pressing those gorgeous bare tits against his chest.

  “And what else?” he asked.

  His hands played at her thighs now, pushing her pencil skirt up so that she could open her legs. She wiggled her ba
ckside on the desk, letting his hot hands thrust the fabric up, over her bottom. She moaned as his hands cupped her bare ass, massaging the full flesh there.

  “Everything. Anything you want to do to me,” she groaned in a rough, heady voice that was nothing like sweet Eva’s.

  He didn’t have to tell her what to do. She’d already spread her legs wide, baring her pussy to him. His hands were instantly drawn to that place. He found her clit as she worked against him, her hips rising off the desk as she squeezed him between her thighs. She pressed her swollen pussy against his growing erection.

  No doubt about it. She was a woman possessed, hell-bent on coming. Here. Now. With or without his help.

  When he lowered his lips to hers, she responded greedily, her tongue exploring his mouth, kissing him hungrily. When she stopped, he was out of breath.

  She moved on, running her tongue over the cleft in his chin, then down his throat. Her hands slid up his chest and reached under his jacket, prodding it from his shoulders. “I want you,” she said. “Please.”

  He groaned aloud. He’d never had office sex before, but Eva had been driving him to do all sorts of things that he’d never done. Just a week ago, he’d jacked off behind his grand office desk, imagining the taste of her. Unbelievably, that fantasy had paled compared to the real thing.

  Perhaps this was one lesson they could both use.

  As much as he liked the sound of her begging him, he put a finger on her lips, urging quiet. “These walls are like paper, Miss Fiorini,” he scolded her, his other hand in her wetness. “The first rule of office sex is to stay quiet.”

  Her fingers fumbled at his belt, unfastening it. She tore at the fly, urging it down. Her breath rushed out as she studied his erection pushing against the fabric of his boxer briefs. “You shouldn’t wear these. They only get in the way,” she mimicked, hooking a thumb in the waistband.

  Who the hell was this woman? He had to wrestle back control before she owned him completely. He growled, vising her jaw in his hand. He dragged her face to just inches from his and claimed her wicked tongue.

  She forced his briefs down to his thighs. His cock sprang free.

  She leaned back on her elbows and widened her legs further. He grabbed a hold of her thighs and thrust inside her, determined to quell that need inside both of them.

  She heaved a loud gasp and arched her back off the desk, her belly tightening and her nipples poking hard to the sky. “More,” she whispered, writhing under him.

  She placed her feet on the edge of the desk and rose to meet him as he pulled out and took her again. She closed her eyes, shaking violently, tits swaying, as every thrust pushed her farther across the desk. He wrapped his strong arms around her thighs, pulling her toward him, meeting her cunt again and again as the sound of flesh slapping flesh grew louder.

  She came while he was deep inside her, shaking against him, her mouth opening to groan his name. He clamped his hand over her lips, stifling her sounds and holding in his own as he followed her there, his orgasm barreling down his spine as he released himself in her.

  Breathing hard, she lay sprawled on the desk, bared and spent. Never had his office been quite so intoxicating.

  He stood up and retrieved a cloth from the washroom, then gently wiped her clean. “You okay?”

  Her knees wobbled as he helped her to stand. She said, in a voice as fluttery as the rest of her body, “My whole body has turned to Jell-O.”

  He held her as she sagged again him, and stroked her hair, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. He wasn’t the nurturing, let-me-clean-you-up-and-then-we’ll-cuddle, boyfriend type.

  Hell, no. She was his student, and he was her sex teacher. That was all.

  It’s just because it’s Eva. She’s like family, he told himself. No matter what.

  But he was straddling a line, and it felt like every time he fucked Eva, he came closer and closer to the edge, to the point of no return.

  Return from what? He didn’t know. He didn’t care. All he knew was that it was uncharted territory, and how could he be the teacher if he’d never been there himself?

  He would have to be more careful from now on, to make sure they both played it safe.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jack

  After Jack finished a few final items at the office, they took a cab to midtown, just as a heavy rain began to fall over the city. When the taxi pulled curbside, they shared an umbrella. Eva snuggled in close to him, seeking shelter from the rain.

  The buttons on her blouse were open, giving him a perfect view of her cleavage. He inhaled the heady mixture of her apple shampoo, rain, and sex, while trying his best to forget the past hour.

  She wasn’t making it easy. In ten years at that office, he’d never had an experience like that. He doubted he’d ever be able to look at those four dull walls the same way. He was hard, ready for another round.

  Down boy. She’ll be in your bed tonight. Just wait.

  The office for Max Coby, Private Investigator, was small and unpretentious, sandwiched between a travel agency and a pet supply start-up. They stepped into a small dark waiting room. Eva fluffed her wet hair as she crossed the space to the receptionist’s desk, then peered behind the glass. “No one here,” she said.

  Jack set his raincoat on a hook and looked for himself. “Hello?”

  “Oh, hey there. I’ve been expecting you.” A low voice came from nowhere, speaking a mile-a-minute. “I’m just finishing up a few things. Always have a few things to finish it seems.”

  A door opened, and a man with silver hair wearing a gray sweat suit came out. “You’re Jack?” he asked.

  When Stella said that no one would mess with Max Coby, Jack had envisioned someone big, tough, and intimidating. The man in front of him was small, wiry, and grandfatherly.

  He shook Jack’s hand with a firmer grip than expected and turned to Eva. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eva. Come on back.”

  He led them to an office that was positively overflowing with paper—on the walls, the chairs…every surface. As he slid behind his desk, nearly getting lost in the sea of paperwork, Jack turned to inspect the photos on his wall. It was crowded with pictures of Max with famous people, and articles about Max’s heroism. Apparently, Max had been NYPD during 9-11.

  “You were at the Towers?” Jack asked, scanning the article. A younger version of the man was there with Mayor Giuliani, receiving an award.

  “Oh, yeah. Yeah,” he said, waving it off humbly. “Had to retire right after that due to the ol’ lungs. That’s what brought me here. Been doing this for twelve years.”

  Eva sat down on the chair that was offered to her and studied the pictures on his desk of smiling, pig-tailed kids and a golden retriever. She smiled. “Grandkids?”

  He looked at the pictures and laughed. “Great grandkids. I’ve got two of them. They keep me young.” He laced his hands in front of him, getting down to business.

  Jack opened his mouth, prepared to give him the run-down, when Max said, “I’ll get straight to the point. This is an interesting case. I usually leave the office by noon so I can have lunch with my wife in Jersey and get in a round of golf. I don’t often consent to staying any later than that, but let me tell you…this is interesting.”

  Jack crossed his arms, doubtful. “How so?”

  Eva piped up. “I’m sorry, I thought we were here for a consultation. I didn’t realize you’d already been told the facts surrounding the case.”

  “Well, my dear. I don’t like to go into any meeting blind, so I did a little research, and I consulted some of the officers handling the break-in investigation.” He lifted a manila folder from the top of his pile and opened it. “I understand that the two of you are heavily invested in the Fiorini Group?”

  Eva looked at Jack. They both nodded.

  “Well, the thing that concerns me the most about the break-in is that it wasn’t done by a petty thief, that’s for certain.” He patted a heavy stack of papers in th
e file. “There are no signs of breaking and entering, so they’re pretty sure the intruder used a key to enter the apartment.”

  “A key?” Eva shook her head. “But they couldn’t have. I’m the only one who has a key to my apartment. I’m sure of it.”

  Jack rubbed at his five o’clock shadow. “Are you? No ex-boyfriends who might want to—”

  “No,” she said certainly, arching a brow in Jack’s direction. “I’ve never given a boyfriend the key to my place.”

  Max said, “The building owners have a key as well, I’m sure.”

  “Well, of course,” Eva said, forehead wrinkling. “So what are you saying?”

  Jack sighed. “He’s saying someone could have gotten access to their key somehow and made a copy. So it could be anyone.”

  “Not necessarily.” Max lifted a hand. “They’ve been reviewing the tapes provided by the security company, and this is where it gets really interesting. That is some heavy duty security system you have, Miss.” He gave Eva a grandfatherly smile. “But the intruder bypassed it easily because he had the code.”

  Eva’s jaw dropped. “What? But that’s not possible.” She held up her finger. “It’s a fingerprint scanner. And last I checked, I have all my fingers.”

  “And the intruder set off the alarm,” Jack pointed out.

  Max nodded. “I’ll get to that. But code, fingerprint, it doesn’t matter to these people. Likely, they picked up a print of yours somewhere, recreated it from ballistics gel, and mounted it onto a latex glove. There isn’t a security system out there that hackers can’t infiltrate with the right tools and know-how.”

  Eva stared at Max in horror before shifting her gaze to Jack. “But the alarm…”

  “He set off the alarm as he was leaving,” Max said. “On purpose, after he’d wandered all over your apartment, poking his nose in every nook and cranny. This guy wanted you to know that he’d been there. He wanted to scare you.”

  “Well…” Eva folded her hands in her lap. When she spoke again, her voice was faraway. “Yes. You’re right. That is interesting.”