“Sabrina.”
Her name on his lips sent a shudder of need through her at so primal a sound. Gideon kissed his way down her neck, and she arched her head to allow him better access. She kicked off her shoes and in one forceful tug, he ripped her stockings off, leaving her open and bare to his touch.
Gideon stroked over her slickness and mumbled something against her skin she couldn’t understand. Her fingers fumbled with the belt of his pants, the zipper, all logical thought gone. Sabrina had one thought and one only—to feel Gideon inside her. To finally sate the pent-up need that had burned in her for years.
His hands went to the back of her skirt and eased the material from beneath her. The skirt disappeared, but it didn’t matter because Gideon’s hands had unbuttoned her blouse and cupped her breasts, rolling already-hard nipples between his fingers.
She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him closer. Not close enough. His fingers stroked her, building her pleasure higher and higher.
Then his hands gripped her just beneath her thighs and lifted her hard against him. Sabrina gasped, her mouth hard on his as he stumbled backward. Some dim part of her mind realized they headed for the couch on the long wall to the right of her desk, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but the feel of him against her and the coil of need tightening within her. She felt his cock hard and pulsing between them, and rolled her hips.
Gideon stumbled and fell to his knees with a growl of her name, and before the surge of power she felt from that sound faded, he’d entered her in one hard thrust.
Sabrina arched against him, her pleasure winding tighter and tighter. Gideon knelt before her, his dark eyes nearly black and focused intently on her. Hunger, need, passion flitted over his face, and a deeper emotion Sabrina couldn’t name. Or didn’t want to. His hands, large and warm, spanned her hips, and he thrust harder, faster.
She scrambled for purchase, scrambled to hold onto something other than the thin carpeting of her office floor. Gideon’s eyes held hers so that even if she wanted to look away she couldn’t. Caught by the craving so obvious in his gaze. The look in his eyes burst through her with a warmth that had nothing to do with this heat of the moment, with the spiraling desire she found herself caught in.
He moved relentlessly, his thrusts measured and even, and Sabrina wanted to make him lose control. Wanted to make him feel like she did, completely undone. But his hands held her to him as he knelt before her. Close but not close enough. The fingers of one hand brushed lightly, almost too lightly, over her in a teasing dance that only built her higher.
She looked at him, watched him, and she forgot everything but this moment. The depth of emotion in his eyes stole her breath even as it confused her, made her falter.
Sabrina tried to move, to bring him deeper, to find her release. His movements grew erratic, and something inside her rejoiced that she had this kind of power over him. The power to make him feel as out of control and wild as she did.
“Gideon,” she gasped. Sabrina arched against him and met him thrust for thrust.
Fingers pressed hard into the carpeting then suddenly he moved. Stretched out over her. She grasped his shoulders, held him tight, and wound her legs around his hips, pulling him even deeper into her.
He groaned her name, his mouth a breadth’s from hers.
She broke. The wave finally crashed over her in a thunderous surge of need and desire. Open and exposed to him, Sabrina cried out his name as she climaxed hard around him.
Gideon buried his face against her neck and thrust again twice more as he found his own release. Sabrina held him close as he shuddered in her arms, relishing the weight of his body against hers, the feel of his mouth along her neck.
Chapter Eight
Sabrina opened her eyes. The feel of Gideon beside her, his arm heavy and comforting around her, one leg nestled against her sensitive core, made her want to stay right there for the foreseeable future.
Her body had never felt so heavy. She felt boneless—wasn’t that the cliché? And, oh, since when did she think in clichés? But the very thought of moving just didn’t appeal, and Sabrina closed her eyes again and took a moment to revel in her position. Her body hummed from such pleasure, and even now she wanted the energy to turn over and kiss Gideon.
To taste him, enjoy the saltiness of his skin, the roughness of his stubble against her. To really explore him, to know every inch of his body. She wanted the energy to do all that and then do it all over again. It was something she longed for, had fantasied about. Suddenly, it was her reality.
Breathing deeply, she opened her eyes again and frowned.
They were on the floor.
They were on the floor of her office.
She was on the floor of her office with her boss.
Naked.
What the hell had she just done? Reality hit her like a bucket of ice water.
Panic settled in the cold pit of her stomach. It froze her blood and made her brain race in circles. How the hell had she let this happen? She’d been dead set against this, exactly this—she and Gideon in a pile of sweaty post-sex haze.
Well, not dead set against really fantastic sex with Gideon, but dead set against leaving herself vulnerable to him. Vulnerable to him, to her job, the way they related to each other. To how they worked together.
Sabrina swallowed. She had to get out of her office. And, oh, why did it have to be her office? She’d never be able to look around this room again and not remember exactly what they’d done.
How big a fool did she have to be to have sex in her office with her boss? During normal working hours? With everyone outside? Oh God, Cynthia’s desk was directly outside her door.
Flushed for an entirely different reason than Gideon’s hard body pressed close against her, Sabrina ignored his even breathing, ignored the way she loved his arm pulling her closer to him, and ignored the hum of arousal that even now sparked to life.
She had to get out. Now.
As carefully as she could, Sabrina eased out from under Gideon’s hold. She blinked down at herself. When had she lost her skirt? The last thing she remembered was his hands, his gorgeous, large hands, pushing it to her waist.
Looking around her office, she saw it flung aside. Sabrina swallowed, her mouth dry at the memory that now stirred. Oh, yes. Gideon had tugged it off her and threw it behind him.
Her legs unsteady, she stood and hastily tried to fix her top. Her suit jacket hung half off her shoulders, and several buttons were now missing from her shirt. With fingers that shook, she tried to right the material and slip her skirt back on.
No matter how clothed she now was, standing in the center of her office, Sabrina still felt exposed.
Gideon only now stirred. He was half clothed, his chest marked from her nails, his open shirt revealing an angry bruise from where she’d, apparently, bit him. Sabrina swallowed and took a hasty step back, tripping in her heels.
“Why are you so far away?” Gideon asked, his voice heavy.
She should not be as turned on by that sound as she was. Sabrina ignored it. Her body clearly had no right to a vote in whatever this thing between she and Gideon was. Her mind was the only reliable witness here. Even if her mind tended to focus entirely on Gideon whenever they were in the same room.
Her entire body had turned traitor.
“Because I’m leaving.” She swallowed and her voice sharpened. “And you should get dressed. Properly. And return to your office.”
He stood up, watching her warily as he did so. Gideon tugged his pants up and absently fastened them. Sabrina tried not to watch as he righted himself.
“I need to get out of here for a while,” she managed through panic and the sound of her pounding heart.
Gideon took a step forward, and, though her legs refused to cooperate, Sabrina took a wobbly step back. Why did the best sex of her life have to be with the one man she knew she could never truly have?
“What’s wrong?” He sounded honestly co
ncerned.
“We shouldn’t have done that.” Sabrina shook her head. Her eyes slid from his and looked around her office. The shreds of her stockings lay in front of her desk, panties on top. She grabbed them and shoved them in her bottom drawer.
“It was stupid.”
Really stupid. Monumentally stupid. She never should’ve given into her attraction, her…her lust for him. What had she been thinking? Oh. Right. She hadn’t been.
Her body disagreed. In fact, her body still buzzed with the glowy aftermath of fantastic sex, and her traitorous body wanted to feel all that again. But Sabrina already knew she couldn’t trust her body’s reaction when it came to Gideon Marquez.
He didn’t take another step closer, and she’d have been relieved if she hadn’t seen the look he gave her. Sabrina tore her gaze from his again. Gideon shoved his hands in his pockets and she tried not to notice how deliciously rumpled he looked. With his tie askew and shirt still half unbuttoned and untucked. His mouth…
Best not to think about his mouth.
“I don’t regret it. And I don’t want you to regret it,” he said firmly.
Sabrina shook her head. Her gaze slid to his then away again. She kept a wide berth as she rounded her desk—seriously, they had to start this whole bad plan on her desk? Yanking her purse from its drawer, Sabrina took the same wide route out from her desk.
“I need to leave. I have to get out of here.”
Gideon tried to stop her, but she sidestepped him and he didn’t force the issue.
“I’ll make an excuse to Cynthia as to why you’re still here. I need to leave.”
Sabrina grabbed her jacket from the coat tree by the door and left, leaving the door half closed as she did so.
She didn’t even look at Cynthia as she stopped at the other woman’s desk. “Gideon’s looking over plans in my office,” she lied. “I’m not feeling well and going home.”
“Can I get you anything?” Cynthia asked, concerned.
“No,” Sabrina said too fast. Her gaze swept over Cynthia but then focused on the other woman’s desk. “Reschedule anything I have for another day.”
Cynthia stood and rounded the desk. “Should I check on Mr. Marquez?”
Panicked, Sabrina shook her head. “No.” Swallowing, she tried again in what she hoped was a more normal voice. Probably wasn’t. Sabrina had no idea what normal was, at the moment. “No, just let him finish what he’s doing.”
Without giving Cynthia time to ask any more questions, Sabrina left.
It took forever for the elevator to arrive, and she swore the stupid car hit every floor. Sabrina didn’t make eye contact with anyone. All she heard was the rushing sound of blood in her ears. All she saw every time she blinked was Gideon’s hard, dark gaze boring into her as if he could see straight through her. Great. Now she felt like she was doing the college walk of shame.
Tears clogged her throat and it hurt to swallow, but she kept a tight control on her emotions. She’d not give in, refused to do so. Not yet. Not here. She needed to get a grip. She needed to control her fingers as she slipped her purse on her shoulder.
She needed to remember how to breathe.
But every time she took a breath, she smelled Gideon’s faint aftershave. The scent of his skin as she wrapped herself around him. The smell of sex.
Sabrina burst out of the elevator and stalked across the lobby floor. She didn’t bother to wave to the doorman as she burst out of the doors and onto the crowded New York street. The cool spring wind whipped between the buildings, but she ignored it.
She had to get out before Gideon followed her.
Quickly flagging down a cab, she left. Her fingers were cold on the strap of her purse as she gave her address to the driver. Normally she took the subway to and from work, arriving early enough and leaving late enough to avoid most of the rush-hour crowds. Today she couldn’t handle any delay.
Once at her apartment complex, she rang the doorbell for Audrey and Duncan’s apartment. She needed to talk to her best friend but had a feeling yesterday had been the day Eliza had left for that special she was working on in the Hamptons.
Granwood, Duncan’s butler, answered the door. “Miss McKenna,” he said, clearly surprised.
“Is Audrey home?” Sabrina asked, her voice wavering just a little.
Her voice sounded very distant, not at all like what she heard when she normally spoke. Whatever Granwood heard in her tone, it clearly worried him since he actually called her by her first name.
“I’m sorry, Sabrina,” he said, but stepped back and gestured for her to enter. “She and Lord Thornhill are out at the moment. But if you’d like to come in, I’ll make you a cup of tea.”
Since Duncan had moved in a couple months ago, Sabrina and Granwood had often shared tea as Granwood tried to explain British colloquialisms to her. It was always fun and relaxing, and Sabrina enjoyed her time with the butler. Not today.
“No.” Her voice caught, and the tears that had threatened since leaving her office pushed closer to the surface. “No, thank you, Granwood.”
She backed away, trying to smile at him and knowing she failed miserably. Sabrina turned to her own apartment. She needed a shower. She could still feel the slow slide of Gideon’s hands on her, and her body responded even now. Could still taste him on her lips. Feel him moving within her.
Logically she knew a shower wouldn’t help, but in the shower, no one could hear her cry.
Sabrina knew she was a complete and total mess when, after drying off from her shower, she realized she missed the scent of Gideon on her.
“God, I’m hopeless,” she muttered in the steamy bathroom.
With her hair wrapped in a towel and her body wrapped in a robe, she headed for the kitchen. How was she ever going to go back to the office? How was she going to face her own working space again, let alone Gideon? Sabrina had no idea how she was going to face Gideon again.
“Macau.” The single word echoed around the empty kitchen as she contemplated ice cream flavors. She could head out to that project and personally oversee it. Macau was, what, seven thousand miles from New York? She could do seven thousand miles.
The downstairs buzzer rang. Who the hell was—Gideon. It had to be him. She almost didn’t answer it, but doing so had been engrained in her, and she felt compelled.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“Flower delivery from Emilia’s.”
Not Gideon’s voice, not even close. So she buzzed him up and waited. Sure enough, the delivery guy stood outside the peephole, flowers in hand. Relief warred with disappointment as Sabrina took the vase from the delivery guy.
She closed the door behind him and set the vase on the counter. Could be from Eliza’s Mr. Married Office Sex guy as some sort of apology. Or from Duncan to Audrey, though Audrey had moved into the adjacent apartment almost from the day Duncan had moved to America to prove to her he truly loved her.
The note simply read “Gideon.”
The knock at the door shouldn’t have surprised her, but it made her jump. Maybe Audrey had returned? Possible. And Granwood would’ve said something to her about Sabrina’s earlier visit. And no doubt the mess she’d been. Because she was so much better now.
Taking a deep breath, butterflies surging frantically in her belly, Sabrina looked through the peephole, already knowing who it was.
Audrey wouldn’t have knocked.
“Why are you here?” Sabrina asked. She hadn’t opened the door.
“Didn’t you think I was clever?” Gideon asked instead of answering. “Following the delivery guy?”
Sabrina would not smile. Nope. She bit her lip, the imagined taste of him still there. She didn’t care she looked like hell. No makeup, dressed only in her robe, her hair still in a towel. She yanked the towel from her hair and ran her fingers through the long, damp locks.
She had some pride left. With a deep breath, she opened the door.
“You’re all sorts of clever, Gideon,” s
he said.
He entered and closed the door behind him. “Sabrina.” He flicked the lock on the door without looking. “I expected a smile and a kiss after what we did.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, and it was only then she realized he hadn’t changed.
His shirt was haphazardly buttoned beneath his suit jacket. And while his tie was neatly done up, there was a button missing from his shirt. For a brief, panicked moment, Sabrina wondered if Cynthia noticed. Of course she had—Cynthia noticed everything.
“Not,” he added ruefully, “chase after you, using clever ways to speak with you.”
“You confuse me, Gideon.”
The confession surprised Sabrina. Not as much as it seemed to Gideon, if the look on his face was any indication.
Gideon took a step closer. “Sweetheart,” he said, and her heart flipped at this first use of an endearment. “I don’t want you to be confused. I wanted you for a long time.” His grin widened. “I’ve been trying to show you for weeks—months! But you’re a tough nut to crack.”
His hand hovered by her cheek, his fingers brushing her skin so softly she might’ve imagined it. He dropped his hand but didn’t move back. “I thought maybe this could be a real beginning for us.”
“I don’t know that I’m ready for this, Gideon.” She waved a hand in a feeble attempt to encompass this. “I didn’t even know we’d been dating for two months!” Sabrina swallowed what would’ve surely been a pathetic laugh. “I didn’t expect it. I didn’t go looking for it.”
“But you want it.” Gideon sounded so sure, she didn’t know whether to smack him or agree with him. Because she had wanted it. Oh, how she’d wanted it. “Or was what we just did in your office a mirage?”
Sabrina swallowed hard and stepped back. She needed distance. She needed space. She couldn’t think with him so close. With the memory of what they’d shared hovering between them, drawing her closer.
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