Secretary on Demand

by Cathy Williams

  ‘Why would I want to do that?’

  ‘Because we’re both adults and adults should be able to deal with mistakes.’

  ‘You’re presuming,’ Kane said drily, ‘that I consider it a mistake.’

  ‘And don’t you?’ Shannon swung to look at him. Having initially breathed a sigh of relief that the room was in semi-darkness, she now wished that it was bathed in fluorescent light which might have enabled her to read his expression. As it was, his face gave her no clue to his thoughts and she felt like a swimmer, thrashing around in the dark in pursuit of the nearest piece of land. ‘Why did you stop, then?’

  ‘Because I need to know that this isn’t going to end up being a mistake for you.’

  ‘Very magnanimous of you, Mr Lindley,’ Shannon said cuttingly. ‘And what about you? What if it turns out to be a mistake for you?’

  ‘I can handle myself.’

  ‘And I can’t?’

  ‘Not if your experience with Eric Gallway was anything to go by.’

  There he goes again, Shannon thought despairingly. Even on the brink of passion, his wretched sense of consideration took over. Was he like this with all the women he hopped into bed with? Or had he just singled her out as incompetent when it came to taking care of herself? Maybe he was trying to warn her off him. Was that it? Her madly whirring brain tried to deal with every possible hidden meaning behind his attitude and eventually appeared to short circuit.

  She gave a short laugh and said sarcastically, ‘You certainly know how to kill passion.’

  ‘Oh, is that what I’ve done?’ His dark eyebrows rose beguilingly. ‘My passion still seems to be very much alive.’

  ‘Oh, it does, does it?’

  ‘Why don’t you find out for yourself if you don’t believe me?’

  The full extent of her inexperience hit her like a blow and she let out a strangled squeak.

  ‘Sorry, what was that?’

  Shannon cleared her throat while her body resisted all attempts at sophistication and went up in flames at the thought of touching him. He was less alarmed at the prospect and he gently took her hand in his and placed it on his lap so that there was now no mistaking the throbbing arousal that told its own story.

  ‘Do I prove my point now?’ he asked huskily, and she nodded.

  ‘P-perhaps we should t-talk,’ she stuttered, which was rich considering, she thought, that she could barely make her vocal cords get it together to form a sentence, never mind string sentences together to form anything halfway coherent. Every part of her body was actually vibrating, like an engine waiting to race away from the starting post.

  ‘You want to make love with me, don’t you, my little flame-haired beauty? I know. I can feel it. I can smell it. And I want to make love with you, but if we do, once isn’t going to be enough. Not nearly enough.’

  His words swam in her head, muffling her thoughts, and she had to fight to concentrate on what he was saying.

  ‘You mean you want to have an affair with me?’ she whispered.

  ‘More than that.’

  For the merest of split seconds, she was overcome by a swooping sensation of elation as the prospect of marriage flashed on the horizon. Marriage to Kane Lindley, weeks and months and endless years of sharing her love, having his children, basking in the blissful knowledge that they would grow old together, two trees forever entwined.

  ‘I want you to enter into this knowing that we’ll be lovers.’

  ‘Lovers? For how long?’

  ‘That’s a question without an answer, Shannon.’ His voice was gentle. ‘I can’t and won’t make you rash promises of wedding bells and happy-ever-afters and I know you might find that impossible to accept.’

  Disappointment was like a wave crashing over her, and it took her less than a second to make her mind up. ‘Yes,’ she said, closing her eyes. ‘Yes, yes, yes.’

  ‘Yes, yes, yes…what? Yes, you find it impossible to accept?’

  Shannon opened her eyes to look at him and felt the breath catch in her throat at the thought of all the things they would never share, but they would share enough. He was right, life was hard and there were no happy-ever-afters. All she could hope to do was snatch her piece of happiness while she could and let her dreams take care of themselves.

  ‘Yes. I’ll be your lover.’ Because I love you, she added silently to herself. Those were dangerous words that would have to be contained, but she could do that because the alternative was turning her back on what her heart needed and yearned for.

  Kane smiled and brushed the hair away from her temple. Shannon held his hand, leaning into his palm with her cheek.

  ‘Are you quite sure, my darling?’

  ‘Quite sure.’ She leant towards him and opened her mouth against his, taking the initiative to still any further questioning on the subject. This was enough because it would have to be enough, and she could deal with the consequences.

  This time there was sweet savagery as his tongue clashed with hers, and when she pressed her hand against him, she could feel him stirring against her, his urgency matching her own. As his mouth left hers, she arched back, groaning as he trailed a path wetly along her neck with his tongue, pausing to tease the tender flesh behind her ears and to tickle her ear with the tip of his tongue.

  ‘What do you like, Shannon?’ he asked in a deep, uneven voice. ‘What feels good for you?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered back. ‘But this feels…nice.’

  ‘Just nice?’ He laughed softly into her ear and his breath sent a shiver through her.

  ‘Well, maybe…wonderful… Would that do?’

  ‘For the moment.’ Kane slipped his hand underneath her jumper and delicately traced the outline of her bra, running his fingers along her rib cage, then down to her flat stomach, stopping at the waistband of her skirt. Then he resumed his explorations, down to where her skirt was rucked up against her thigh and then underneath so that the barrier of her flimsy tights felt like iron cladding separating his fingers from her bare flesh.

  ‘But right now,’ he murmured, ‘I want you to get undressed for me. Very slowly. I want to feast my eyes on every inch of you.’

  Shannon stood up and watched him as he watched her. Did he want her to perform a striptease? Instead of feeling nervous at the prospect of that, she felt wantonly erotic. She slowly tugged the jumper over her head and then dropped it to the ground, then undid the zipper of her skirt and stepped out of it, kicking it aside. Then her boots, bending over to release the laces until she could ease them off. No one had ever seen her naked before, not like this.

  The excitement was pulsing inside her like waves of hot lava and as she removed her tights she looked up at him and their eyes clashed. Now she was bare other than the lacy flesh-coloured bra and her underwear. She reached behind her, unclasping the bra and letting it fall to join the rest of her clothes. Her instinct was to cover her exposed breasts with her hands, a gesture of modesty, but the naked hunger on his face was an immense turn-on. Instead, she walked towards him and he pulled her to sit on his lap, so that the pointed tips of her nipples were on a level with his mouth.

  With a soft sigh, Shannon curled her fingers into his hair and looked down to watch as he suckled at her nipples, drawing first one then the other into his mouth, rubbing his tongue over the sensitive tips until she could barely stand the explosion building up inside her.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to take things nice and easy with you…’

  As he continued to suck her ripe nipples, hard and engorged now and slick with the wetness of his mouth, his hand moved along her rib cage and he stroked the flat planes of her stomach. Then he slid his hand down beneath the silky elasticised waistband of her underwear, cupping her, and with gentle pressure he rubbed the sensitive mound between her thighs with his palm. Shannon gasped and began to move against his hand, throwing her head back, her mouth half-open as she moaned her pleasure.

  ‘Do you like me touching you there?’ he groan
ed unsteadily into her ear. ‘I know you do. You’re wet for me.’ He eased her off him, laying her flat on the sofa, and she watched as he stood up and began to remove his clothes.

  He was as beautiful as she’d imagined he would be. As he stripped off his shirt, she noticed, with feverish excitement, how defined his muscles were. The breadth of his shoulders emphasised the narrowing of his waist and hips and as he stood, finally, in proud nudity for her to absorb, her eyes were drawn to the dark hair curling tenderly at his groin, framing his thrusting erection. She wanted to touch it so badly that she reached out and felt a shudder of heady power as it moved beneath her hand, responding to the lightness of her stroking.

  He curled his fingers into her hair and she sat forward to obey his silent command, taking his hardness into her mouth.

  ‘Yes, my darling, just like that.’ He controlled the rhythm with his hand on her head. He gave a shudder and tilted her face upwards so that he could look down at her.

  ‘Now, where did you learn to do that?’ he asked with a soft, shaky laugh, and Shannon stretched back along the sofa, her arms provocatively raised above her head to hang limply over the edge of the soft cushions.

  He pulled her underwear off but, instead of joining her on the massive sofa, he remained standing to stare intimately at her fully unclothed body and Shannon obligingly parted her legs just slightly, enough to afford him the briefest glimpse of her scented womanhood.

  They devoured each other with their eyes and when she could bear her mounting need no longer he knelt down and eased her towards him, parting her thighs still wider, then he blew gently between her legs and she whimpered involuntarily.

  ‘You tasted me,’ he said, catching her eye and laughing softly as she blushed at the directness of his statement. ‘Now it’s my turn.’

  Kane peeled aside the softly swollen lips sheathing her femininity to expose the small nub, then ran his tongue over it, applying a delicate pressure that made her cry out and buck against his mouth. Her fingers scraped along his shoulders, curled in frenzied passion into his hair, and the delicate pressure became firm strokes.

  He eased himself into her so fluidly that Shannon felt not the slightest twinge of discomfort. Her body was ripe and ready for him and his slow thrusts, building up as he moved quicker and faster, brought her to a shuddering climax that seemed to go on for eternity.

  Her body was still alive and he gently stroked the flanks of her thighs, as if he were soothing an excited horse. Then, tentatively, he traced the outline of her breast, spiralling his finger in small circles until he was feathering her pink, engorged nipple.

  ‘I think I’ve developed a taste for you,’ he murmured huskily, and she gave a shuddering sigh.

  ‘Is that good or bad?’

  ‘Perhaps I ought to remind myself of it to find out.’ He laughed under his breath, a dark, sexy laugh that made her head spin.

  Then he pulled her so that she understood what he wanted, easing her along him until his flared nostrils could breath in the musky scent positioned provocatively above his mouth. From her advantageous position, Shannon could see his tongue flick out to touch her sensitised womanhood. Just those delicate flicks were enough to make her arch back and her legs stiffened as his finger moved inside her to touch her deepest depths while his tongue caressed and rubbed until she had to close her eyes, gasping as another orgasm shuddered through her body, as powerful as the first.

  This time, as she finally lay beside him, she felt drained. Beautifully drained. There were no thoughts in her head and she might have dozed off if he hadn’t spoken, with infinite gentleness.

  ‘I think it’s time for bed.’

  ‘Already?’ She sighed languorously.

  ‘My bed,’ he said gravely, and she gurgled her pleasure.

  ‘But what about Eleanor?’

  ‘Asleep and oblivious. As I’m your boss, it’s your duty to comply with my orders.’ He cupped her breast in his hand while his thumb stirred her resting nipple into upright alertness.

  ‘Are you saying that I have no choice?’ she teased, wriggling on the sofa.

  ‘Correct.’

  She giggled and obediently complied. Trusting in the darkness, they grabbed their clothes and hand in hand headed for his bedroom, their footsteps making soft, padding sounds along the carpet.

  She had never felt so whole in her life before. The thought that this was simply the start of an affair, no strings attached and no promises given for anything beyond that, was not enough to quell the bubble of joy that had spread through her.

  ‘Are you taking anything…?’ he asked, chucking his clothes on the deep two-seater sofa by the window, and Shannon looked at him blankly.

  ‘Anything like what?’

  ‘Anything like contraception?’ he asked.

  She hadn’t given that a moment’s thought. She knew enough about the biological workings of her body, however, to realise that the chances of becoming pregnant were pretty slim. ‘I’m in a safe period,’ she said quickly. ‘Why? Do you think I should go on the Pill? I’m not sure I like the thought of—’

  ‘Shh.’ He took her in his arms and cradled her head against his shoulder. ‘It’s my responsibility as much as yours. If you don’t want to take the Pill, I’ll make sure I use the necessary protection.’

  Shannon closed her eyes and smiled. How could she ever not have fallen in love with this man? He made her feel safe, as if his presence could cocoon her against everything unpleasant in the world.

  ‘Don’t you mind that I’m so…’

  ‘So what?’ He led her towards his king-sized bed and then covered them both with the sprawling duvet, wrapping his big body around her small one so that they were nestled into one another.

  ‘So…hopeless,’ Shannon said. ‘I mean…well, I bet all the other women you’ve slept with in the past were on the Pill. I bet you didn’t have to worry about accidents happening…’

  ‘You mean apart from my wife…’

  ‘Well, yes.’

  He absent-mindedly stroked her thigh and she covered his leg with her own.

  ‘I’ve always been careful,’ he told her thoughtfully. ‘It’s better to be in control of a situation than to discover down the line that the situation was in control of you…As to you being hopeless…maybe I like it…’ He nuzzled her jawline and then raised himself on his elbows to look down at her. ‘You bring out the caveman in me…hadn’t you noticed?’

  ‘Mmm. Not sure I like the sound of that…’

  ‘Maybe I mean protector…’

  ‘Oh, yes, I can see that,’ Shannon said wryly. ‘My mother’s surprise visit was proof enough.’

  ‘And how pleased she would be to know that I’m going to carry on protecting you,’ he told her smugly. ‘Keep my eye on you, stop you from straying off the straight and narrow…’

  ‘Thrilled, I’m sure,’ she said with a laugh.

  But, she thought to herself, that was a little piece of information she definitely would be keeping to herself.

  More difficult, she thought three weeks later as she walked into her office, was keeping it from all her friends at work. No one had said anything, but Shannon was sure that they’d noticed the difference between herself and Kane. For a start, he came to the office canteen for lunch whenever he happened to be in the building, and instead of discreetly sitting at a distant table, out of sight, he always made sure to sit where she was, seemingly oblivious to any abrupt silences that greeted his arrival. Lunching with the head honcho reduced even the most garrulous to awed, stuttering silence.

  ‘People will suspect,’ Shannon had told him the week before.

  ‘Suspect what?’ He had moved across to perch on her desk and idly played with a strand of her hair.

  ‘Suspect what’s going on.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because you never used to go to the canteen before? Because you always come and sit where I am? Because most people can add two and two and get four?’

  ‘
I’m just a good boss,’ he’d said soothingly, ‘taking an interest in what’s going on on the ground floor.’ And that had been the end of that.

  ‘Christmas,’ he said, as soon as she walked into his office with his ritual cup of coffee, very strong and black.

  Shannon was now well accustomed to his lack of preliminaries when it came to conversation.

  ‘Two weeks’ time.’ She sat primly in the chair, facing him, and felt that familiar stirring as he leaned back in the swivel chair and looked at her from under his lashes.

  ‘I want you to stay here with me. With us.’

  ‘I can’t,’ she said with a little sigh. ‘Mum would hit the roof.’

  ‘We could go away. Somewhere hot. Two weeks in the Maldives. Wouldn’t it be nice? Making love on a beach every night?’

  ‘Every night?’ She blushed and he pushed himself away from the desk and patted his lap invitingly.

  ‘I bet you’ve never done it on a bed of sand before…’

  ‘You know I haven’t.’

  ‘Come and sit closer and tell me why you won’t consider it.’

  ‘We can’t…not here, Kane…not in the office… What if…?’

  That was another thing she had become accustomed to. The deceptively chivalrous nature that fooled you into thinking that all his actions were ruled by an inner code of good behaviour. In public perhaps, but in bed, he threw off that mantle and was thrillingly primitive in his love-making. He was also thrillingly inventive.

  ‘You worry too much, my sweet,’ he said, crooking his finger for her to come to him. ‘The outer door is closed, isn’t it?’

  ‘Well, yes, but…’ She glanced nervously over her shoulder and obediently sidled around the desk to be yanked down forcefully on his lap.